HMS Pilote

HMS Pilote was a cutter launched for the French Navy at Dunkirk in 1778. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1779 and took her into service under her existing name. It sold her in 1799.

Origin and capture
Pilote was commissioned in Dunkirk in March 1779 under Captain Denys. She was valued at 58,700 livres tournois.

On 2 October 1779, HMS Jupiter (1778) captured two French cutters, each of 14 guns and 120 men. One was Mutin, under the command of Chevalier de Roquefeiul. She was pierced for 16 guns but carried 14, either 4 or 6-pounders. The other was Pilote, under the command of Chevalier de Clonard. She carried the same armament as Mutine (or Mutin). The cutters surrendered after an engagement that left Mutin dismasted. The Royal Navy took both into service essentially under their existing names. Jupiter shared the prize money with Apollo, HMS Crescent (1779), and HMS Milford (1759).

HMS
Pilote underwent fitting at Plymouth between 28 March and 12 July 1780. Lieutenant Richard Boger commissioned her in May for the Irish Sea. She shared with HMS Echo (1780) and HMS Kite (1778) in the proceeds of the capture on 24 December of the Dutch vessel Vryhied. That same day and the day before, Pilote was in company with Rattlesnake and they shared in the proceeds of the capture of Jussrow Johanna, Adriana, and Vrow Maria. Pilote shared with a number of other vessels in the proceeds of the taking of the Union American, and the retaking of the brig Industry.

In April 1781 Pilote was at Plymouth again where she underwent copper sheathing. In 1781 Pilote captured the Dutch vessel Linderbloom.

Pilote was under the command of Lieutenant Charles Seymour Lynn on 5 December 1782 when she captured the Dutch ship Fortunée. She was paid off in May 1783 and then Lynn recommissioned her.

Between 1786 and 1787 Pilote was under the command of Lieutenant Warwick Oben.

From 1791 she was still in the Irish Sea and under the command of Lieutenant Henry Gunter. In March 1793 she was driven on shore at Waterford from her moorings.

Between June and July 1794 Pilote was yet again at Plymouth undergoing work, this time for conversion to a brig. Pilote was under the command of Lieutenant Jackson Dowsing when she captured the French vessel Maria Theresa.

Pilote was among the many vessels that benefited from the proceeds of the Dutch men of war, East Indiamen, and other merchant vessels that the navy seized at Plymouth on 20 January 1795.

In 1795 Pilote was under the command of Lieutenant Farmery Predam Epworth. While in Pilote he carried dispatches to the West Indies and the Channel Fleet. He received promotion to Commander in HMS Wasp (1782) in December 1796.

In 1797 she was under the command of Lieutenant Henry Compton. On 26 May she captured the French privateer lugger Justine Adélaïde. Pilote had seen a convoy safely to St Helens when she encountered and captured Justine Adélaïde ten leagues SSE from Beachy Head. Justine Adélaïde mounted two guns and two swivel guns, carried a chest of small arms, and had a crew of 20 men. She was three days out of Fecamp, but had taken nothing.

On 12 July Pilote captured the Danish ship Emilie, and her cargo. In June 1798 Pilote recaptured the brig Amity.

On 28 June Pilote was in company with the 50-gun fourth rate HMS Romney (1762), HMS Wolverine (1798), and HMS Plover (1796), also later HMS Daphne (1776), and possibly the 24-gun post ship HMS Champion (1779), when they fell in with a Swedish convoy of 21 merchant vessels and their escort, a 44-gun frigate. Because Sweden and Britain were not at war, Captain Lawford of Romney shadowed the convoy while sending a lieutenant back to the Admiralty for instructions. On 30 June the lieutenant returned, but his instructions are now lost. Lawford decided to detain the Swedish merchant vessels, which he did on 1 and 2 July, without the Swedish frigate intervening. Ultimately, the Swedish vessels sailed into Margate where they were held for some months before the authorities sent most on their way. Prize money for some part of the capture was paid in June 1804.

Fate
The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "His Majesty's Brig Pilote, of the Burthen of 218 Tons, Coppered and Copper-fastened, with Masts, Yards, Furniture, and Stores, as per Inventory" at Sheerness on 29 April 1799. They sold Pilote at Sheerness in May to Robert Elliot for £920.