Transit was the name given to an innovative sailing ship designed for speed by Captain Richard Hall Gower and built in 1800.

All three Transits designed by Gower had fine lines at bow and stern, uniform frames mid-ships with concave and convex sweeps and a deep keel.

The Patent granted to Gower in 1799 details his theory about the relationship between speed and the length to beam ratio, as well as details of many features of his novel form of rigging, which allowed almost all activities normally conducted aloft to be performed from the deck (including the replacement of damaged masts) ; thus only the foremast was fitted with ratlines.

At the instance of John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Transit was sailed against HMS Osprey in 1801.

The reasons given for the rejection of Gower's proposal included the observation that because of her deep keel she would fall over at low tide in many of the east coast ports from which she might have to operate and that the deck was so narrow that guns could not be arranged symmetrically on each side for fear of their recoil causing them to collide.