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 $2⁄94$ 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 $73⁄94$ 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 HMS Resolution (1770) 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, HMS Lynx (1794) 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 $59⁄94$ 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. HMS Skylark (1806) 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.