Hired armed cutter Admiral Mitchell The Admiral Mitchell served under two contracts for the Royal Navy as a hired armed cutter or schooner , one at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars and the second at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars . She participated in several notable small engagements and actions . In 1806 the Admiralty purchased her and took her into service as the Sir Andrew Mitchell in 1807 . First contract . " Admiral Mitchell " s first contract ran from 22 January 1800 to 26 October 1801 . An item in the " London Chronicle " indicates that a Lieutenant Shirley commanded her in May . However , items in the " Naval Chronicle " suggest that the " Admiral Mitchell " was thereafter under the command of Lieutenant John Derby ( or Darby ) . Her duties were to carry dispatches to and from the British fleet off the coast of France , and escort convoys . On 3 June 1801 , " Admiral Mitchell " arrived in Portsmouth from a cruise , having recaptured , off Boulogne , two vessels , laden with iron and timber , and sent them into Dover . On 29 June 1801 , " Admiral Mitchell " , recaptured three vessels : the brigs " Supply " and " Favorite " , and the sloop " Prince of Wales " . On 25 August letters reached Plymouth that Derby had brought into Dartmouth a large American ship that had been sailing from New York to Havre de Grace . She had a cargo of " India goods of various descriptions , valued per manifest at £50 , 000 , supposed French property as a French merchant , supercargo , and family on board going to Old Prance " . The cutter " Alert " was in company at the time . On 28 October , Derby sailed " Admiral Mitchell " into Catwater . There she and all the hired craft turned in their stores and guns to the yard and gunwharf . Second contract . " Admiral Mitchell " s second contract ran from 26 August 1803 to 6 April 1805 . Lieutenant Alexander Shippard assumed command , apparently before the contract took effect . " Admiral Mitchell " was attached to the fleet under Lord Keith for the guard of the Narrow Seas , that is , the English Channel . On 21 August 1803 Shippard landed Georges Cadoudal , the Chouan chief , at Biville , between Dieppe and Tréport , and on 16 January in the following year he landed General Pichegru at the same place . In between , on 21 October 1803 Captain Robert Honyman of sighted a convoy off Boulogne of six French sloops , some armed , under the escort of a gun - brig . He sent and to pursue them but the winds were uncooperative and the squadron was unable to engage . Instead , Shippard brought up " Admiral Mitchell " and attacked the convoy . After two and a half hours of cannonading , " Admiral Mitchell " succeeded in driving one sloop and the brig , which was armed with twelve 32 - pounder guns , on the rocks . " Admiral Mitchell " had one gun dismounted , suffered damage to her mast and rigging , and had five men wounded , two seriously . Lloyd ' s Patriotic Fund awarded Shippard a presentation sword worth 50 guineas . Shippard also received promotion to the rank of commander on 3 March 1804 . Head money for the brig was paid 24 years later , in December 1827 . However , Lieutenant John Harper commanded her briefly , possibly in late 1803 or early 1804 . ) Rear - Admiral Bartholomew S . Rowley , for whom Harper had been flag lieutenant , placed him the " Admiral Mitchell " , and sent him on a confidential mission to the coast of France . In 1804 " Admiral Mitchell " was under the command of Lieutenant Richard Williams . On 12 February 1804 , " Admiral Mitchell " and the revenue cutter " Hound " recaptured the " Perserverance " . At 4 P . M . on 23 October 1804 , a French flotilla of two prams and eighteen armed schuyts left Ostend for the westward . A British squadron consisting of , Commander John Hancock , the gun - brigs , Lieutenant John Hinton , , Lieutenant Charles Cutts Ormsby , , Lieutenant Edward Nathaniel Greensword , and , Lieutenant Joseph Gulstone Garland , and the hired armed cutters " Admiral Mitchell " and " Griffin " , gave chase . They succeeded in bringing the leading pram to action by 5 : 18 , and in a little over an hour silencing her . However , the tide was falling , darkness was coming on , and the vessels were in shoal water and in unfamiliar sands and currents . " Cruizer " hauled off and anchored but " Conflict " had already grounded , due to the fault of her pilot . When they found that they could not free her , Lieutenant Ormsby and his crew abandoned her and rowed her boats to " Cruiser " . Hancock sent Ormsby back with " Admiral Mitchell " providing cover in an attempt to recover or destroy " Conflict " , but they discovered that she was already high and dry on a sandbank , and in French hands . At high tide Hancock sent in boats to try and bring her off , or destroy her , with " Admiral Mitchell " and " Griffin " , reinforced for the purpose , providing support . However , by that time the French had hauled " Conflict " further onshore and brought up field pieces and howitzers . The boat party was forced to withdraw after having suffered three men wounded . In all , the British lost one man killed and 11 wounded , none from " Admiral Mitchell " . " Sir Andrew Mitchell " . The Admiralty purchased " Admiral Mitchell " in 1806 and took her into service on 19 February 1807 as " Sir Andrew Mitchell " . She was apparently commissioned in the Leeward Islands .