HMS Halifax was a ship-rigged sloop of the Merlin class built in 1806 for the British Royal Navy at the Naval Yard in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

[2] Built to fill a pressing need for coastal patrol sloops on the North American Station, Halifax was one of the few warships built at Halifax Naval Yard in the Age of Sail as the yard's primary function was supply and refit.

[4] A deserter from HMS Halifax, Jenkin Ratford, was one of the men seized from USS Chesapeake in 1807 during the controversial Chesapeake-Leopard Affair.

[5] Halifax arrived in Plymouth on 16 January 1808 to make good defects.

On 2 March, Halifax, still under Townshend's command, captured a fast, new French schooner, Caroline,[6] which was subsequently commissioned as HMS Caroline.