Aréthuse was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, built from 1789 following plans by Ozanne.

She escaped to Portoferraio when the city fell, and was brought into Royal Navy service as HMS Arethuse.

[1] On 9 February 1796, she sailed for the Leeward Islands under the command of Henry Roberts.

She then joined Captain Thomas Parr, in the fourth rate HMS Malabar, as part of the squadron that occupied the Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice in April and May.

[3][4] On 27 August 1796, under the command of Robert Winthrop, she was wrecked on the Morant Cays in the West Indies.