On 12 April 1801, Trelawney Planter, White, master, was on her way to Suriname from London when a French frigate of 38 guns and 300 men captured her.

She was carrying 23 ladies and gentlemen who had been passengers on board Trelawney Planter, White, master, which had been on her way to Tobago from London when the French privateer ship Psyche had captured her and landed them at Madeira.

[7] From February 1802 to December 1802 Psyché was a merchantman under capitaine de vaisseau provisoire Jacques Bergeret, or Bonsergent.

On 9 April 1804, while under the command of Captain Trogoff, she encountered HMS Wilhelmina, which was escorting the country ship William Petrie to Trincomalee.

[5] Psyché carried 36 cannon, a broadside that was more than double that of Wilhelmina: twenty-four 12-pounder guns, two 6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades.

[5] Nevertheless, Captain Henry Lambert of Wilhelmina sailed towards Psyché to give William Petrie a chance to escape.

Light winds meant that the engagement did not begin until 11 April, when both ships opened fire, exchanging broadsides and attempting to tack around to rake their opponent.

Both ships had sustained heavy damage, Wilhelmina to her masts and rigging, while Psyché was reduced to a near-sinking condition.

[16] On 14 February, Psyché, Pigeon, and Thetis encountered HMS St Fiorenzo, now under the command of Captain Henry Lambert (acting), off the Malabar Coast of India.

[17] The French abandoned Thetis as San Fiorenzo approached and Lambert put a prize crew aboard her under the command of a midshipman, and continued his pursuit.

At ten minutes past eight, San Fiorenzo and Psyché started to exchange broadsides at about a cable length (720 ft (219 m)) from each other.

After one hour, San Fiorenzo could hardly govern; Bergeret seized the opportunity to manoeuver and rake her, but as Psyché had lost all her carronades and several guns, her fire was ineffective.

[18] Seeing the hopelessness of his position, Bergeret sent Ensign Hugon on a boat to negotiate a capitulation, offering to surrender Psyché in exchange for the British permitting his crew to keep their personal weapons and effects and to stay aboard overnight to attend to the wounded.

[19] Psyché entered British service as HMS Psyche, being commissioned under Commander William Woolridge in about August 1805.

His father, Rear Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, "Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels in the East Indies", sent Psyche and Caroline to reconnoitre the port of Surabaya.

[21] Psyche arrived at Samarang at midnight and next morning her boats captured and brought out from under the fire of shore batteries an armed 8-gun schooner and a large merchant brig.

[22] Next, Psyche accompanied Doris to Manila in search of two French frigates, and to induce the government of the Philippines to side with Spain against France.

[22] Captain Robert Worgan George Festing, who had been serving on shore with the Army, received promotion to Post-captain on 9 October 1811 and assumed command of Psyche.

[29] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to any surviving participants that claimed it.

[30] This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.