She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting, of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as a tender on the Jamaica station.

[2][3] Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour, the commander in chief on the Jamaica Station, formally purchased Sting in December 1800 for £2,500, after having leased her for some time at £10 per day.

[7][9] Lastly, on 30 June, Pickle and the tender Gipsy captured the French privateer schooner Fidelle, which was armed with four guns and had a crew of 61 men.

The subsequent court martial of Captain Robert Plampin of Lowestoffe, which exonerated him and his officers, took place in Kingston, Jamaica on 3 September.

[12] Then on 25 September 1801 a privateer hoisting the Spanish flag unsuccessfully engaged Pickle in a single-ship action that resulted in the death of her commander, Lieutenant Greenshields, and the wounding of Midshipman Pierce, the master, Thomas Hayer, and seven others of her crew.

[13] At 11am, some five or six miles NW of the Isle of Ash (aka Île à Vache or Cow Island, south of Hispaniola), Pickle sighted a vessel flying the British flag and sailing towards it.

[b] He then received the duty of bringing Seymour's body back to England,[3] the admiral having died on 11 September, of a fever.

She was carrying urgent dispatches, so after meeting with Rear-Admiral Dacres her captain rushed off in a post-chaise and four for the Admiralty while the vessel itself went into quarantine at Coney Cove, Stonehouse Pool.

[15][d] In 1803, Pickle was attached to Admiral William Cornwallis' Inshore Squadron, where she reconnoitered enemy harbours during the blockade of Brest, Rochefort and Lorient.

[27] Then on 9 October, Pickle accompanied Weazel (or Weazle) when they went to assist Captain Henry Blackwood in watching the coast off Cádiz, and to provide reconnaissance services for the fleet.

Pickle managed to sail close enough to the coast to provide an exact count of the enemy warships in Cadiz harbour.

[28] During the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805), Pickle and the other small vessels kept well back from the fighting, as a single broadside from a ship of the line would have sunk her instantly.

In the later stages of the battle, Pickle, Entreprenante, and the boats of Prince and Swiftsure went to the rescue of the crew of the French ship Achille, which had caught fire and subsequently exploded.

Together the British vessels rescued two women and somewhere between 100 and 200 men[e] French guns "cooking off" as they became heated killed two or three seamen in other boats.

[28] Pickle was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar to Great Britain, arriving at Falmouth on 4 November 1805, after a hard voyage in bad weather.

Collingwood sent Pickle, captained by John Richards Lapenotière, back to Britain with the dispatches telling of the great victory.

After arriving in Falmouth, Lapenotière took a chaise to London to deliver the dispatches to the Admiralty, stopping 21 times to change horses.

The Admiralty duly promoted him to Commander for this service, and the Committee of the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund gave him a sword worth 100 guineas and £500 in cash.

[2] On 15 April 1806, Pickle, with two Scilly pilot boats in company, captured the Prussian ship Elizabeth Henrietta.

In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue to all remaining survivors of the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Pickle 3 Jany.

On 26 July 1808, Pickle was carrying dispatches from England for Admiral Lord Collingwood at Cadiz when Cannadey sighted Cape Santa Maria in the evening.

[32] The court martial on 2 August, attributed the wrecking to "an unaccountable error in reckoning" the distance travelled, and reprimanded Cannadey, recommending that he be more careful in the future.