HMS Espoir (1797)

Espoir and Liguria, with Gibraltar in the background. An aquatint by Nicholas Pocock, 1801
History
France
Name	Espoir
Builder	Bayonne
Laid down	December 1787
Launched	March 1788
Completed	April 1788
Renamed	Lazouski, 28 September 1793 Espoir, 30 May 1795
Captured	By Thalia, 18 September 1797
Great Britain
Name	HMS Espoir
Acquired	by capture, 18 September 1797
Commissioned	June 1798
Decommissioned	December 1799
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Espoir 7 Augt. 1798" [1]
Fate	Sold, September 1804
General characteristics [2]
Class and type	Hasard-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen	267 (bm)
Length	92 ft 10 in (28.3 m) (overall); 75 ft 1 in (22.9 m) (keel)
Beam	25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Complement	In French service (1794): 125 In British service (1797): 80
Armament	In French service (1794): 12 × 6-pounder guns In British service (1797): 14 × 6-pounder guns

L'Espoir was a French brig-sloop (Fr. brick-aviso) that served for 9½ years in the French Navy before HMS Thalia captured her in September 1797. In her subsequent short career in British service as HMS Espoir she captured three prizes, with the capture in 1798 of the more heavily armed Genoese pirate Liguria earning her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. Espoir was laid up in 1799 and sold in 1804.