HMS Grasshopper ( 1813 ) HMS " Grasshopper " was a Royal Navy 18 - gun " Cruizer " - class brig - sloop launched in 1813 . She was the second ship of the class to bear the name ; the first had been stranded at Texel and surrendered to the Batavian Republic on Christmas Day 1811 . Service . On 6 October 1813 , " Grasshopper " recaptured the " Dryades " , Humphries , Master . From 1814 " Grasshopper " served in the Mediterranean . On 29 April and 18 May 1815 , she captured the " Maruccia " , " Madonna del Montalleggro " , and the " Immaculata Concezione " . Unfortunately , " Grasshoper " s prize agents , Messers Lark and Woodhead , went bankrupt in 1816 . As a result , the last of the prize money from these captures did not arrive until 1850 , and then was minor . More importantly , on 13 May was part of the squadron that was present at the surrender of Naples during the Neapolitan War , though she herself was not actually there . A British squadron , consisting of " Grasshopper " , the 74 - gun , the frigate " Alcmene " , and the sloop blockaded the port and destroyed all the gunboats there . Parliament voted a grant of £150 , 000 to the officers and men of the squadron for the property captured at the time , the grant being paid in 1816 . Initially , " Grasshopper " was excluded from the payment as she was not actually present , having been sent on an errand . However , Sir Charles Barrard sued and eventually the court agreed that there had been a blockade and that " Grasshopper " had been part of the blockade and so was entitled to share in the grant . The money was paid in May 1819 , with the other officers and crew of the other three vessels being required to repay part of their grant . " Grasshopper " then spent 1816 and 1817 in Portsmouth . From 1818 she was assigned to the North America Station , being based at Halifax and Newfoundland . During this time her captain was Commander David Buchan , and in her he carried out an assignment from the Governor , Sir Charles Hamilton , to return the native woman Demasduwit to her people , the Beothuk s . Although she died of tuberculosis before the mission could be accomplished , he transported her body to a Beothuk camp by ascending the Exploits River in January 1820 . Seeing signs of the Beothuk , but meeting none , they left her body and possessions in a tent by Red Indian Lake and returned to " Grasshopper " by the end of February . In 1822 she returned to Portsmouth and was converted to a ship - sloop before returning in 1823 to Halifax . In 1827 she was in Woolwich Dockyard , presumably for another refit . From 1827 to 1830 " Grasshopper " served on the West Indies Station , based in Jamaica . There she was involved in suppressing the slave trade . Commander Abraham Crawford was appointed to the command of " Grasshopper " on 8 December 1827 . On 27 June 1828 she captured the " Xerxes " . Admiral Fleeming had ordered Crawford to patrol Cuba ' s northwest coast and it was there that " Grasshoper " encountered the " Xerxes " . The " Xerxes " was armed with one 18 - pounder gun , four smaller guns , and her 44 - man crew was well supplied with small arms . She had sailed with 426 slaves , of whom 406 were still alive . " Grasshopper " chased " Xerxes " for 26 hours before capturing her in the Gulf of Mexico ; " Grasshopper " then took her into Havana where British and Spanish Mixed Court condemned ( confiscated ) the vessel and nominally freed the now 401 surviving slaves on 12 July . On 22 November she captured the " Firme " , which was carrying 487 slaves when " Grasshopper " . captured her , having started out from the Gold Coast with 492 . She had a crew of 43 men , four passengers , and was armed with six guns , four 18 - pounders , one 12 - pounder , and one 24 - pounder . She too went into Havana and was condemned on 18 December . Crawford received promotion to post - captain in the hospital ship , which was at Port Royal , Jamaica , on 5 January 1829 ; he invalided back to Britain on 3 April in the yacht " Herald " later that year . In 1832 " Grasshopper " returned to Portsmouth . Fate . The Admiralty offered " Grasshopper " for sale at Portsmouth on 30 May 1832 . She was sold on that day to Thomas Ward .