Hired armed cutter Active During the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , there were two or three vessels known as the hired armed cutter " Active " that served the Royal Navy . The reason for the uncertainty in the number is that the size of the vessels raises the possibility that the first and second may have been the same vessel . The first Hired cutter " Active " . " Active " served the Royal Navy from 12 May 1794 to 22 November 1800 . She had a burthen of 71 tons ( bm ) and was armed with ten 3 - pounder guns . In 1795 " Active " served as Royal Escort for Princess Caroline of Brunswick . " Active " s next noteworthy appearance occurred when she signaled the approach of the Dutch fleet to Admiral Adam Duncan before his victory at Camperdown on 11 October 1797 . Her commander , Lieutenant J . Hamilton , was on the deck of " Venerable " when Vice - Admiral Jan de Winter surrendered his sword . " Active " participated in the disastrous expedition against the Batavian Republic under Vice - admiral Andrew Mitchell and Lieutenant General Ralph Abercromby . On 28 August 1799 , she and the Hired armed cutter " Swan " participated in the capture of the Dutch hulks " Drotchterland " and " Broederschap " , and the ships " Helder " , " Venus " , " Minerva " , and " Hector " , in the New Diep , in Holland . Prize money for these vessels was due to be paid on 24 February 1802 . On 22 November 1800 , while " Active " was on the River Ems and still under the command of Lieutenant Hamilton , a French privateer , together with some Dutch gunboats , captured her . The French took her into service as " Victoire " . The Hired armed brig " Lady Ann " , of 16 guns and under the command of Lieutenant John Lake , recaptured her off Flamborough Head on 16 May 1801 , after a running fight and chase of 17 hours . " Victoire " was operating as a privateer , was armed with fourteen 4 - pounder guns , and had a crew of 75 men . She was under the command of Jean Beville . Lake found his small crew far out - numbered by all his prisoners so he made first for Bridlington where he landed 55 of them , then on to Yarmouth with the prize and 20 others . The second Hired cutter " Active " . The second Hired cutter " Active " served the Royal Navy on two contracts . The first was from 5 June 1803 to 4 August . She was renamed the " Lord Keith " in 1804 . As the " Lord Keith " she served from 14 February 1804 to 11 January 1808 . " Lord Keith " had a burthen of 71 tons ( bm ) and was armed with six 4 - pounder guns . In 1805 she was under the command of Lieutenant Morris . Between 23 and 25 April 1805 , " Lord Keith " was a part of a squadron that captured the Dutch armed schuyts Nos 43 , 45 , 48 , 52 , 54 , and 57 , and the unarmed Transport No 3 , all off Boulogne . On 26 May 1807 , " Lord Keith " was in company with and some other vessels when they captured the " Hopet " and the " Neptunis " . On 28 June " Lord Keith " was in company with " Crescent " when they captured the " Liebe " . Two days later they captured the " Minerva " . Then on 15 July the cutter captured the " Vrouwengast " . On 6 August , " Resolution " , and " Lord Keith " were in company when they captured the Danish vessel " Adjutor " . On 3 August she and " Resolution " captured the " Zeldenrust " . Lastly , on 1 September , " Lord Keith " captured the Danish Ship " Welfornyet " . On 11 January 1808 a violent gale drove her into Cuxhaven where the French captured her . At the time of her capture , " Lord Keith " was under the command of Lieutenant Mitchell Roberts . The third Hired cutter " Active " . The third hired cutter " Active " served from 14 June 1803 to 4 May 1814 . She had a burthen of 77 tons ( bm ) , and was armed with eight 4 - pounder guns . In 1803 " Active " was under the command first of Lieutenant J . Walker and then Lieutenant E . Tritton . On 20 February 1804 , while under the commanded of Lieutenant John Williams , and with a crew of about 30 men and boys , " Active " was off Gravelines when she sighted 16 sail of French gun - boats and transports running from Ostend towards Boulogne . Williams immediately gave chase and soon commenced a running fight with the flotilla . Shortly thereafter he compelled the outermost vessel , a horse - transport , to strike . The delay occasioned in taking possession of the horse transport , the " Jeune Isabelle " , enabled the other vessels to get under the protection of shore batteries before " Active " could resume the pursuit . Prize money was due to be paid on 3 April 1805 . On 5 September 1805 , " Active " captured the " Sophia Amelia " . Ten days later " Active " , under the command of Lieutenant William Barnes , recaptured the sloop " Providence " . The next day " Active " recaptured the " Betsey Francis " . " Active " was in the Channel later in 1807 and there encountered the French privateer " Renarde " , of Calais . An inconclusive engagement followed in which the French vessel had eight men killed and seven wounded before she escaped . captured " Renarde " on 7 November 1807 . On 26 August 1807 , " Active " , under the command of Lieutenant T . B . A . Hicks , captured the " Boletta Elizabeth " . That same day he captured the " Junge Hendrick " . Two days later Hicks captured the " Fornoyelsen " . On 3 March 1810 prize monies resulting from the capture of the " Boletta Elizabeth " and " Fornoyelsen " were due for payment . The notice referred to Hicks , as " the late " . On 13 January 1808 , " Pandora " , Commander Henry Hume Spence , captured the French privateer " Entreprenant " , of 16 guns and 58 men . The chase took an hour and forty minutes and finished two miles from the French coast under the batteries near Cap Gris Nez . " Entreprenant " would not stop until her captain , M . Bloudin , her second captain and four or five men had been wounded and " Pandora " had run alongside her . She had been out of Calais for three days and had taken the brig " Mary " , of Sunderland . " Active " , under the command of Lieutenant Robert Ellary , joined in the chase and took off some of the prisoners . Lieutenant James Askey commanded " Active " in 1810 . On 11 January 1809 , " Active " , under the command of Mr . John Middleton , captured the French privateer " St . Jago et Erfurt " . On 4 July " Active " was under the command of Lieutenant Stephen Cousins when she captured the Dutch smack " Erasmus " . This may have occurred while she was participating in the debacle that was the Walcheren Campaign . On March 11 , 1811 " Active " arrived at Deal , Kent , with a prize , from off the Scaw at the entrance to the Kattegat . " Active " spent the rest of her contract carrying dispatches to and from Flushing . On 8 December 1812 , she arrived at Harwich , having brought his Excellency Prince Kollosky , Envoy Extraordinary from Russia to Sardinia , from Gothenburg . In 1813 , ' " Active " came under the command of Lieutenant James Bray . On March 27 March 1814 " Active " , under the command of James Rogers , recaptured the " Telemachus " . The next day " Active " arrived at Deal from the Scheldt having detained and brought in a brig from St Ubes , Portugal .