French corvette Vénus ( 1794 ) Vénus was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800 . Renamed HMS " Scout " , she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked by accident in 1801 , a few days after taking a major prize . French service . " Vénus " was begun in Bordeaux in 1793 as a privateer but the French Navy bought her while she was still on the stocks . She was launched in January 1794 as the " Vengeance " and completed for service in the following April , but was renamed " Vénus " in May 1795 . The French commissioned her as a corvette and initially armed her with 26 guns : twenty - two 8 - pounders on her upper deck and four 4 - pounders on her galliards , i . e . her quarterdeck and forecastle . By 1796 she had had 4 obusiers ( the French equivalent of the carronade ) added on her gaillards , but by July 1798 these had been removed and she carried ten 4 - pounders on her galliards . " Vénus " took part in the Expédition d ' Irlande and under the command of Captain André Senez , was in Commodore Savary ' s squadron at the Battle of Tory Island . Capture . On 22 October 1800 captured " Vénus " off the Portuguese coast . The " Indefatigable " had been chasing " Venus " from the morning when in the afternoon came in sight and forced " Vénus " to turn . Both British vessels arrived at " Vénus " at about 7pm . " Vénus " was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men . She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal . Later , " Indefatigable " and " Fisgard " shared the prize money with , , and the hired armed schooner " Earl St Vincent " . Fitting for British service . The Royal Navy commissioned " Vénus " as " Scout " in November 1800 under Commander George Ormsby . She was fitted out at Plymouth until March 1801 . However Ormsby died in January 1801 . Ormsby ' s successor was Commander Henry Duncan . " Vénus " was too small and too weak for the Royal Navy ( RN ) to take her in as a sixth - rate frigate or even a Post - ship . She was designed for short - range privateering in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay , rather than the longer - range escort or patrol work of a naval corvette . Accordingly she couldn ' t stow as much in the way of stores as the Admiralty needed ; reducing her armament , relative to her French establishment , would have permitted her to carry the larger weight of stores she had to carry in RN service . HMS " Scout " . In March 1801 , " Scout " was in company with the hired armed vessels " Sheerness " and the " Lady Charlotte " when they captured a large Dutch East Indiaman off St Alban ' s Head . She was the " Crown Prince " , of 1 , 400 tons and 28 guns , and had been sailing from China to Copenhagen with a cargo of tea . Fate . " Scout " was wrecked on the Shingles , Isle of Wight , on 25 March 1801 . The crew attempted to lighten her but all efforts had failed by late afternoon on 27 March . Due to the efforts of and the master attendant of the dockyard all the crew were saved . On 1 April a court martial was held at Portsmouth on for Commander Duncan , his officers and crew for the loss of " Scout " . The court acquitted Duncan , the pilot the officers and the crew of all blame , ruling that the sinking was due to a strong tide catching " Scout " when she was vulnerable . Postscript . Duncan received command of the " Premier Consul " , which had captured on 5 March 1801 , and which the Admiralty renamed " Scout " . " Scout " foundered with the loss of all hands in 1801 or 1802 . Naval opinion was that she went down off Newfoundland .