HMS Pickle was a topsail schooner of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting, of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as a tender on the Jamaica station. Pickle was at the Battle of Trafalgar, and though she was too small to take part in the fighting, Pickle was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory to Great Britain. She also participated in a notable single-ship action when she captured the French privateer Favorite in 1807. Pickle was wrecked in 1808, but without loss of life.
Origins
Originally named Sting, Pickle was built in 1799 in Bermuda, where this type of vessel was known as a Bermuda sloop. Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour, the commander in chief on the Jamaica Station, formally purchased Sting in December 1800 for £2,500, after having leased her for some time at £10 per day. His purchase was in defiance of orders not to purchase vessels. However, faced with a fait accompli, the Admiralty issued an order in February 1801 that her name be changed to Pickle.
Between April and June 1800, on the Leeward Island station, a Pickle participated in the capture of four prizes and a recapture. Sting may have been known as Pickle on station long before the Admiralty made her name change official; the London Gazette seems to have no mention of a Sting during this period.
That said, the Naval Chronicle numbers the "schooner Sting" among the vessels escorting the convoy in which Lowestoffe wrecked on 10 August 1801. The Admiralty admonished Stings commander after September 1801, Lieutenant Thomas Thrush, to cease referring to her as Sting and to refer to her as Pickle.
The 28 November 1801, Bermuda Gazette (not to be confused with the later Royal Gazette) reported his Majesty's schooner Sting as having departed Jamaica on the morning of 17 September 1801, for Great Britain, carrying the body of Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour.
French Revolutionary Wars
On 9 April 1800, the tenders Pickle and Garland recaptured the schooner Hero. She had a crew of seven men and was 136 tons burthen (bm). She was out of Guadeloupe, sailing from Pointe Petre to Saint Bartholomew with a load of cordwood. A week later, the same two vessels captured the Dutch schooner Maria. She had a crew of 19 men, armed with small arms, and was of 35 tons burthen (bm). She was from Curaçao, sailing from Curaçao to Guadeloupe with a cargo of dry goods. Then on 9 May, Pickle alone took the schooner Jack, of Boston, sailing from Boston to Martinique with a cargo of cattle. Pickles commander is given as Mr. William Black.
Later, on 26 May, Pickle, described as the tender to Captain William Browell's ship of the line recaptured the schooner John, William Jeffrey, Master. The French privateer Brilliant had captured the John, which had been sailing from Boston to Martinique. Lastly, on 30 June, Pickle and the tender captured the French privateer schooner Fidelle, which was armed with four guns and had a crew of 61 men. She was from Guadeloupe and on a privateering cruise when the two British vessels captured her.
On 11 September Captain Frederick Watkins sailed Nereide to Curaçao to forestall the French from taking it. Then on 13 September he took possession and signed the terms of capitulation on behalf of the British. Sting apparently acted as a tender to the flagship there.
The schooner Sting is listed as one of the escorts of a convoy that formed on 29 July 1801 when came to escort it. Lowestoffe and five merchant vessels were wrecked, with little loss of life, on 10 August. The subsequent court martial of Captain Robert Plampin of Lowestoffe, which exonerated him and his officers, took place in Kingston, Jamaica on 3 September.