HMS Orestes ( 1781 ) HMS " Orestes was an 18 - gun Dutch - built brig - sloop of the Royal Navy . She was originally built as the privateer Mars " , and was captured by the British in 1781 . She went on to serve during the Fourth Anglo - Dutch War and the French Revolutionary Wars . The privateer was one of two captured in the North Sea in November 1781 , both of which were taken into the Navy . " Orestes " became an effective anti - privateer vessel , taking several enemy vessels while serving off the British coast . She divided her time between a number of the Royal Navy ' s stations , serving in the West Indies and departing for the East Indies after time spent on the French coast . Her career in the Indian Ocean was short - lived , as she disappeared at sea in 1799 , and is presumed to have foundered in a hurricane with the loss of her entire crew . Dutch service . " Mars " was built at Amsterdam in 1781 , to prey on British shipping during the Fourth Anglo - Dutch War . On 30 November she sailed from the Texel with another large privateer , the " Hercules " . The vessels were commanded by a father and son team , by the name of Hogenboome ; the father had been active as a privateer operating out of Flushing during the Seven Years ' War under the alias John Hardapple . The two vessels were estimated to have cost upwards of 20 , 000 " l " . Their career as privateers was short - lived , and they managed to capture only a single British fishing smack before the 40 - gun frigate , under the command of Captain John MacBride sighted them off Flamborough Head at 10 o ' clock in the morning on 3 December . Capture . The two Dutch vessels initially approached " Artois " , apparently appearing ' confident ' . The action began at 2pm , with one privateer standing off " Artois " s bow , while the other attacked her quarter . MacBride concentrated his fire on the ship on his quarter , forcing her to break away , while MacBride turned his attention to the ship off his bow . After thirty minutes this ship surrendered , while the other attempted to escape . MacBride wore around and chased her down , at which she struck her colours . MacBride wrote in his report that the two ships mounted ' 24 nine - pounders and ten cohorn s each . ' He described them as ' perfectly new , and alike ; sail as fast as the Artois , and are the completest privateers I ever saw . ' " Mars " was described as carrying 146 men , of whom nine were killed and fifteen were wounded . " Artois " had one man killed and six wounded in the whole engagement . Impressed by MacBride ' s report , the Admiralty approved their purchase for service with the Royal Navy , and she was registered as the sloop HMS " Orestes " on 16 February 1782 . Royal Navy service . " Orestes " was fitted out at Deptford between February and August 1782 , with her armament consisting of 18 short nine - pounders and ten ½ - pounder swivel guns . The cost for her to be fitted and coppered came to £3 , 961 . 19 . 11p . " Orestes " was commissioned in July 1782 under her first captain , Commander John Bowers , and on 30 November that year she captured the privateer " Complaissance " . Command of " Orestes " passed to Commander James Ellis in November the following year . In 1784 she was involved in a skirmish , the Battle of Mudeford with South Coast smugglers , during this fight her master William Allen was fatally wounded . Ellis remained as captain for the next two and a half years , being succeeded by Commander Manley Dixon in June 1786 . Commander Thomas Shivers took over in June 1789 , and in December 1790 Commander Sir Harry Burrard was " Orestes " s new captain . While he was in command " Orestes " s main armament was reduced from nine - pounders to six - pounders . Burrard sailed her to the West Indies in 1792 , where in January 1793 Commander Lord Augustus Fitzroy took over as captain . " Orestes " and Fitzroy returned to Britain in April 1793 , during the first few months of the French Revolutionary Wars . French Revolutionary Wars . Fitzroy was replaced in May 1794 by Commander Thomas Orrock , who was in turn superseded in September 1796 by Commander Christopher Parker . " Orestes " had been fitted with two eighteen - pounder carronade s on 26 August 1794 . Parker captured the privateer " Furet " in the English Channel on 3 September 1797 , and relinquished command in February the following year to Commander William Haggitt . " Orestes " served in the Channel and was one of the ships watching the Battle of the Îles Saint - Marcouf on 7 May 1798 , reduced to a spectator owing to the calm weather . Fate . " Orestes " sailed for the East Indies in August 1798 , remaining on that station until disappearing in the Indian Ocean in November 1799 . She is presumed to have been caught in a hurricane that struck the area and to have foundered on or about 5 November .