HMS Widgeon was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner built by William Wheaton at Brixham and launched in 1806.

[2] During a heavy snowstorm on 20 April, at 2:30am she ran into a reef two miles to the northwest of Banff.

[3] Her crew threw shot overboard and fired guns of distress.

[3][4] The subsequent court martial on her loss sentenced Widgeon's pilot, Alexander Layell, to six months incarceration in the Marshalsea Prison and to be fined all pay due to him.

Instead, Layell had gone below, leaving a bosun's mate in charge, who had let Widgeon drift towards the shore.