French corvette Hussard ( 1799 ) The 20 - gun French corvette Hussard ( or Hussar ) was launched in 1799 and the British captured her that same year when they captured Suriname . The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS " Surinam " , as there was already an . The Dutch captured her in 1803 , naming her " Suriname " , but the British recaptured her in 1807 and sent her to Britain . Thereafter she never again served on active duty . She disappeared from the Navy lists in 1809 , but her fate is unknown . Capture . On 20 August 1799 , a British force under the command of Lieutenant - General Thomas Trigge and Vice Admiral the Right Honourable Lord Hugh Seymour captured the Dutch colony of Suriname . Among the various items of booty was the French corvette " Hussar " . ( The British also captured the Dutch brig - sloop " Kemphaan " , which they took into service under the name " Camphaan " . ) The letter reporting the corvette ' s capture describes her as " The French Corvette L ' Hussar , a very fine Vessel , only Seven Months old ; mounts Twenty Nine - Pounders " . The British renamed her " Surinam " and Lieutenant Christopher Cole , of was appointed to command her . British service . " Surinam " then served on the leeward Islands station . Over a period from late March to early April 1800 Cole captured two French privateers and recaptured a merchant schooner . First , on 24 March , he captured the sloop " Consolateur " , of one gun and 35 men . She had left Point - à - Pitre , Guadeloupe on a cruise . Second , two days later he captured the sloop " Renard " , of three guns and 15 men . She two had left Point - à - Pitre . Lastly , on 3 April re recaptured the schooner " Lack " . Cole also introduced new regulations aboard his ship that kept his men in good health in the Caribbean Sea . In 1801 , Seymour died from a fever , but Cole ' s activities had already been noticed by Sir John Thomas Duckworth who replaced Seymour and Cole was made a post captain on 30 June 1801 in Duckworth ' s flagship . Cole ' s replacement was Lieutenant Randall MacDonnell . His replacement , in 1803 , was Commander Robert Tucker ( acting ) . Commodore Sir Samuel Hood sent Tucker and Surinam on a mission to Saint - Domingue to try to secure the release of two British officers reportedly in the hands of the rebels at Gonaïves . On discovering that one of the officers had already been executed and that the other had escaped , Tucker then sailed to Jacmel , where he assisted the besieged French garrison . Two days after leaving Jacmel , " Surinam " sustained damage and Tucker then put in at Curaçao for repairs . Capture by the Dutch . While Tucker was at St Anna Bay , Curaçao , the Dutch found out , from a prize that Tucker had sent to Jamaica for news and that had returned , that war had been declared between Britain and Holland . The Dutch then seized Tucker and " Surinam " on 23 June , despite Tucker ' s best efforts to escape . The Dutch first released " Surinam " s crew , and then Tucker and his officers , in hopes of an exchange of prisoners . Tucker himself spent some four months in close confinement in a dungeon . At his subsequent court - martial , Tucker was acquitted of all blame for the loss . However , the court - martial did reprimand Tucker for unofficerlike conduct in his dealings with the Dutch authorities . It ordered him to be put at the bottom of the list of Commanders ; thereafter he never again was employed in the Royal Navy . The Dutch took " Surinam " into service as " Suriname " . Recapture and fate . On 1 January 1807 , , , , and captured Curaçao , and with it " Suriname " . The Dutch resisted , and " Suriname " suffered five men wounded , including her captain , Jan Van Ness ; one of the wounded died later . The British described her as having 22 guns . The British also captured the Dutch frigate " Kenau Hasselaar " , which they took into service as ( or " Halstaar " ) . Her captain , Cornelius J . Evertz , had also commanded the Dutch naval force in Curaçao . In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " Curacoa 1 Jany . 1807 " to the 65 surviving claimants from the action . Captain Charles Brisbane , captain of " Arethusa " and commander of the squadron , also received a gold medal . In February 1807 Commander Henry Higman was appointed to command " Surinam " on the Jamaica station . Towards the end of the year he sailed her back to Britain . Some records suggest that " Suriname " was later renamed " Sasnarang " , the Navy having already commissioned another " Surinam " . A more likely name is " Samarang " , Sir Edward Pellew in " Psyche " having captured several Dutch vessels at Samarang in August . " Surinam " ( or " Samarang " or " Sasnarang " ) saw no further active service . She remained on the Navy lists until 1809 , but her eventual disposition is unknown .