The Musquito class was a Royal Navy class of two 4-gun floating batteries built to a design by Admiral Sir Sidney Smith specifically to serve with his squadron in French coastal waters.

[1] Smith had the two vessels built with tapered, flat-bottomed hulls, so that they could go into shallow waters.

For stability he had them fitted with three Shank sliding or drop keels (actually removable centreboards).

[1] (The Shank keels were the invention of naval architect Captain John Schank.)

A gale blew her out of the anchorage at the St Marcou islands and wrecked her on the French coast on 20 June 1795, with the loss of five lives,[2] including McCarthy.