Hired armed cutter Lion Two vessels have born the designation , HM hired armed cutter " Lion " . The first served during the French Revolutionary Wars , capturing five privateers and several merchant vessels . The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars and seems to have left almost no record beyond her existence . Both vessels operated in the Channel . The two cutters may have been the same vessel ; at this juncture it is impossible to know . First hired armed cutter " Lion " . This vessel served on a contract from 30 March 1793 to 27 January 1801 . She was of 85 tons ( bm ) and was armed with ten 3 - pounder guns . She may have been built in 1789 . She was commissioned under Lieutenant W . R . Davies . In late 1793 " Lion " served in a small squadron under the command of Sir James Saumarez in the frigate , together with the frigate and the brig . They convoyed some transports with troops for Jersey and Guernsey , and their picked up pilots for Rear - Admiral MacBride . On 28 November Saumarez detached " Lion " to take the pilots to MacBride . Lieutenant Thomas Baker was appointed acting commander from December or perhaps January 1794 . He served on her in the Channel as part of the forces under MacBride , before moving into the lugger " Valiant " on 20 May 1794 . On 8 March 1795 " Lion " , while under the command of Nick Simmons ( or Simmonds , or Symonds ) captured the ship " Apparencen " . On 16 August 1796 , " Lion " and the revenue cutter " Swallow " were four leagues WSW of Beachy Head when they observed a signal from the signal post alerting them to the presence of an enemy vessel . They set out in pursuit and captured a privateer lugger and her prize , a sloop . The privateer was armed with swivel gun s and small arms , and had a crew of 17 men . She was three days out of St Valory and had only captured the sloop . The next month , on 12 September at 6a . m . , " Lion " was three leagues SE of Beachy Head when she spotted a French privateer cutter . " Lion " , under the command of her master , Nick Simmonds , immediately gave chase , but at 7a . m . , the privateer , seeing that " Lion " was going to persist , came up , exchanges several shots with " Lion " , and the struck . The privateer was the " Turot " , of four 4 - pounder guns , some swivel guns , and small arms , and 25 men under the command of Bernard Emanuel Turat . She was four days out of Havre de Grace and had not yet taken any prizes . ( The name of the privateer was later corrected to " Turo " . ) Three months later , on 15 December , " Lion " , still under the command of Nick Simmonds , captured a French privateer off the Owers after a four - hour chase . The privateer was the cutter " Hazard " . She was armed with two carriage guns , two swivel guns , and small arms , and had a crew of 17 men . She was two days out of Fécamp but had captured nothing . Then in the evening of 2 ( or 3 ) February 1797 , " Lion " , was off Dungeness Point , when she took possession of a French privateer sloop . Captor and prey were astern of a convoy that ranged to eastward . The privateer was the " Requin " , of Dieppe , armed only with muskets , and having a crew of 20 men . " Lion " was in company with the " Dolphin " . In late 1797 or early 1798 , " Lion " was in company with the hired armed cutters " Telemachus " and " Peggy " when they captured the " Ledia " . Home Riggs Popham led an expedition on 8 May 1798 to attack the sluice gates at Ostend . The expedition landed 1300 troops under Major General Coote . The army blew up the locks and gates on the Bruges canal but was then forced to surrender . " Lion " , under the command of Lieutenant S . Bevel ( or Bevill ) was part of the naval portion of the operation . " Lion " carried some soldiers from the 23rd Regiment of Foot , which she landed , together with 15 of her crew . They carried some of the mines ( explosives ) used for blowing up the locks and gates . On 16 November a French privateer appeared off Hastings . Captain Edward Henry Columbine was the commander of the Sea Fencibles for the area , and Mr . Wexham , master of the " Lion " , volunteered his vessel to go after the privateer . Columbine put a number of Sea Fencibles aboard " Lion " , which set out in chase . " Lion " had to fire on the privateer before she would strike , which cost the life of one Frenchman . The privateer was the " Success " , of Cherbourg . She was armed with four guns and carried a crew of 24 men under the command of Nicholas Dubois , master . She had been out four days without having made any captures . " Lion " , and the hired armed cutters " Dolphin " and " Lord Duncan " were in company on 26 March 1799 when they recaptured the brigs " Triton " and " Search " . On 11 October " Lion " , under the command of Lieutenant William Yawkins , and the hired armed cutter " Ann " recaptured three small vessels . One of the three was the " Elizabeth " , of Whitby , Thomas Smith , master . Shortly after he was brought on shore at Deal , Captain Smith died of wounds he sustained when the privateer captured the " Elizabeth " . Smith ' s wife , who was on board at the time of the capture , arrived safely . Late in 1799 , " Lion " was at Goeree - Overflakkee . Three Dutch vessels had taken refuge there and an overage merchant vessel , the " Overyssel " , was to be sunk at the mouth of the harbour to impede their escape . A sudden gale overturned the " Overyssel " , but a boat from " Lion " saved some of the crew . At the end of December or in early January 1800 , " Lion " took up station at Newhaven , at the behest of the merchants of Lewes , for the " protection of ships trading to and from that port " . In February 1800 , Lieutenant W . Tatham , the former first lieutenant of , which was being decommissioned , was appointed to command " Lion " . In April " Lion " captured , off Scaford , Sussex , a smuggling vessel from Folkstone , with 500 pieces of contraband . In April , " Lion " captured the French fishing boats " Julie " and " Recompense " . Then on 17 June " Lion " and the sloop sailed from The Downs with a large number of merchant ships . Second hired armed cutter " Lion " . This vessel served between 15 June 1804 and 23 August 1805 . She was of 86 tons ( bm ) and was armed with eight 12 - pounder carronade s . On 17 September 1804 " Lion " came into Portsmouth with a vessel with a cargo of salt that she had detained , and then immediately left again on a cruise . " Lion " arrived at Portsmouth on 22 January 1805 and reported that off Havre she had come upon a sloop floating keel uppermost . " Lion " had left the sloop " Isle of Wight " towing the vessel .