Etna was a French naval Etna-class ship-sloop launched in 1795 that the Royal Navy captured in November 1796.

[6] In the night of 13 to 14 November 1796, Etna departed Le Havre, and was chased in the morning by HMS Melampus and Childers, which she tried to distance.

Melampus came within range around 15:30 Etna resisted for two hours before striking her colours as Childers joined the battle.

Etna was armed with eighteen 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 137 men under the command of Citizen Joseph La Coudrais.

[9] Then on 24 November 1797 Cormorant was in company with Cynthia and Grand Falconer when they captured the French merchant sloop Necessaire.

This manoeuvre, and the warlike appearance of the Indiamen, deterred the French admiral from attacking them; the whole fleet reached Lisbon in safety.

[14] On 10 November she took possession in the harbour of Port Mahon of the Spanish ship Francisco Xavier, alias Esperansa, which had a cargo of drugs and bale goods and which had been on her way to Cadiz.

Letters received at Plymouth from Gibraltar reported that Cormorant... had captured a Spanish packet from Rio di Plata for Barcelona, very valuable.

Lieutenant W. Wooltiridge then gallantly boarded her in the jolly boat with eight men, took possession of her though there were fifty five Spaniards, and brought her into Gibraltar.

The wind and seas were bad and it was difficult to get a prize crew of volunteers aboard Batador, and it proved impossible to remove the prisoners.

[22] Cormorant was sailing to Egypt with dispatches for Sir Sidney Smith when she reached the African coast near Benghazi on 15 May.

In the morning the shore was visible about a mile and a half away, with what proved to be the town of Damietta, which is east of Alexandria, in the distance.

[23] Boyle, his officers, and his men remained prisoners until their release on 27 July, having suffered a "cruel imprisonment and savage treatment".

[24] The subsequent court-martial at Minorca absolved Boyle of any blame, attributing the loss to the "great incorrectness" of the available charts.