She had been the pirate ship Zaragozana operating out of Havana that the British Royal Navy captured on 31 March 1823, and took into service.

[5] Some records report that a Zaragozana, of five guns and 75 men, was one of four privateers under the Spanish flag that the Consulado of Havana fitted out in 1817.

Her captain, Cayatano Arogonez (or Cayetano Aragonés), boasted after his capture that it was he who had killed Lieutenant Allen.

[9] On 10 February 1823 Saragozana entered the port of Nuevitas and there took the American schooners Lady's Delight, of Baltimore, and Lively, of Philadelphia.

[10] In March 1823 Admiral Sir Charles Rowley ordered HMS Tyne and Thracian to search for Zaragozana.

On an island in the harbour of Nerangos they found 1100 casks of wine and spirits that pirates had looted from vessels they had captured.

[b] Renegade's first commander was Lieutenant John Harvey Boteler, who supervised her arming and crewing, and then sailed on a cruize during which she engaged in affreightment.

letters from Jamaica dated 9 September 1823 reported that Renegade, Lieutenant Fiott, had her mainmast shattered by lightning that also killed one man.

[15] United States papers reported that on 20 March 1824 Lieutenant Fyatt, of Renegat, (ex-Saragozana) had fired a shot at the brig Caroline, Jones, master, for failure to heave-to during a calm while she was repairing her sails while she was on her way from Savanna to Havana.

On 27 March Fyatt had fired on the schooner Allen, Dunham, master, off St Nicholas Mole.

[16] A court martial at Port Royal acquitted Lieutenant Fiott on 6 May 1824 of charges brought against him by one of his men.

Towards the close of 1824, Lieutenant Henry Ommaney Love was appointed to the command of the schooners Union and Renegade.

During her service, Renegade shared with five other vessels, three like her captured pirate ships, in convoy escort duties and suppression of piracy and the slave trade.