HMS Serpent was a former Dutch hoy that the British Admiralty purchased in 1794 for service with the Royal Navy.

[1] Smith assigned all his gunvessels to the defence of the Îles Saint-Marcouf, which are some three and a half miles from the French coast and about nine miles south-east of Cape La Hogue, and which consist of two islands, West and East.

[2] On 7 September the French mounted an attack with 17 large boats filled with men.

They retreated in confusion after coming under fire from the redoubts the British had erected on East Island and from the gunvessels,[3] among them the hoys Badger, Shark and Hawke, and the Musquito-class floating battery Sandfly.

[1] On 4 July 1802 orders were received at Portsmouth for the hired armed cutter Swan, among a number of other vessels including Bulldog and Serpent, to be put in commission.