| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Flirt |
| Operator | Royal Navy |
| Ordered | 23 March 1781 |
| Builder | Thomas King, Dover |
| Laid down | August 1781 |
| Launched | 4 March 1782 |
| Commissioned | March 1782 |
| Fate | Sold December 1795 |
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Flirt |
| Owner |
|
| Acquired | 1795 by purchase |
| Captured | 22 July 1803 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Speedy-class brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen | 20886⁄94, or 189[2][3] (bm) |
| Length | 78 ft 3 in (23.9 m) (overall); 58 ft 11+3⁄8 in (18.0 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 25 ft 9+3⁄4 in (7.9 m) |
| Depth of hold | 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m) |
| Complement | 90 |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | Two decks and three masts |
HMS Flirt was launched in 1782 but was completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence. She then spent most of the years of peace in British waters. She sailed to Jamaica in 1791, but was laid up in Deptford in November 1792, and did not return to service before being sold in 1795. Daniel Bennett purchased her, had her almost rebuilt, and then employed her as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. A French privateer captured her in 1803 as Flirt was returning to Britain from a whaling voyage.
- ^ Winfield (2008), pp. 275–6.
- ^ Clayton (2014), pp. 121–2.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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