HMS Rattler was the mercantile Hope that the Royal Navy purchased at Leith in 1797.

She returned to the name Hope and became a merchantman trading with Hamburg, Gibraltar, and lastly, Cowes.

The Royal Navy commissioned Rattler in September 1797 under Lieutenant John Gibbs.

He died, probably before but possibly after Lieutenant Samuel Wickham took command of Rattler in June 1798, for the North Sea.

Rattler returned to her original name, Hope, and first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1802.