Hired armed vessels

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy used a considerable number of hired armed vessels.

These were generally smaller vessels, often cutters and luggers, that the Navy used for duties ranging from carrying despatches and passengers to convoy escort, particularly in British coastal waters, and reconnaissance.

[citation needed] The Admiralty provided a regular naval officer, usually a lieutenant for the small vessels, to be the commander.

[citation needed] However, Admiral John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, wrote that throughout his life he "discouraged any friend of mine from serving in a cutter or hired armed vessel.

Some of these hired armed vessels also sailed under a letter of marque, either before (e.g. Duke of York) or after their service with the Royal Navy (e.g., Kitty or London Packet).

With the resumption of war against France in 1803, the British government spent a great deal of money arming coastal vessels so that they might protect themselves against privateers.