She was designed by the naval architect Josiah Fox and built at the Gosport Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, between 1806 and 1809, and was commissioned under her old name on 18 April 1809, Lieutenant Christopher Gadsden, Jr., in command.

[3] Shortly after her commissioning, Ferret cruised along the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia to aid in the enforcement of the Embargo Act of 1807.

[2] During the war, Viper proved woefully inadequate in deep water operations against the larger, more heavily gunned British warships.

[2] On 17 January 1813 the 32-gun frigate HMS Narcissus captured Viper off the coast of Belize, British Honduras and took her to New Providence in the Bahama Islands.

[4][a] Renamed Mohawk by the Royal Navy, she was commissioned under Commander Henry Dilkes Byng for operations in the Chesapeake.

[6] Mohawk was one of the vessels of Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron that contributed boats and men to the cutting out expedition up the Rappahannock River on 13 April 1813.

The British party under Lieutenant J. Puckinghorne rowed 15 miles upriver to capture four American letter of marque schooners: Dolphin, Lynx, Racer and Arab.

Scorpion made good her escape up the Chesapeake, but Asp's poor sailing qualities forced her to put back into the Yeocomico River.

Midshipman Sigourney and ten of his 20-man crew were killed defending their ship while the remainder escaped ashore when further resistance became hopeless.