HMS Squirrel was a development of the standardize 20-gun sixth rates and were built at the beginning of the 18th Century.

After commissioning she was assigned to the Channel and the Bay of Biscay.

She was recaptured during the French attempt to invade Scotland on 15 March 1708 and foundered.

[1] Squirrel was the fourth named ship since it was used for a discovery vessel with Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1682 and lost in 1583.

[2] She was ordered on in 1703 from Portsmouth Dockyard to be built under the guidance of their Master Shipwright, Thomas Podd.