Viper, 1797
Type: Cutter ; Armament 14 x 4-pounders ;
Purchased : 1797 ;
Complement : 43 men ;
Disposal date or year : 13 Feb 1809
Disposal Details : departed from Cadiz for Gibraltar and not since heard of. Commanding Officer - not known.
Complement : 48
Notes:

13 Mar 1797 capture of the Spanish brig-privateer Piteous Virgin Maria, 10 guns, 8 swivels and 42 men in the Straits of Gibraltar.

13 Jan 1799 Plymouth, arrived.

3 Mar 1799 Plymouth, arrived the Viper Cutter, Lt Pengelly.

1 Apr 1799 Plymouth, departed for Africa.

3 Aug 1799 Plymouth, arrived from Sierra Leone, after a short passage. As she ran down the coast, Lt. P. found the settlements very healthy.

26 Dec 1799 the capture of the French lugger privateer Furet.

28 Dec 1799 at Falmouth, refitting following the action with the Furet, during which the main mast was seriously damaged, as were the sails and rigging.

30 Dec 1799 Plymouth, letters from Falmouth state, that the Viper cutter, 12 * 4-pounders and 43 men, Lt. Pengelly, had captured and brought in there, after a gallant action, the French privateer La Furet, 14 guns, and 64 men, Citoyen Louis Bouvet, out two days from St. Maloes. Circa 21 Jun 1800 prize money for the capture of Le Furet due on arrival of the Viper in Port.

5 Jan 1800 Plymouth, arrived the Viper cutter, Lt. Pengelly, with the privateer Ferret, 14, and 63 men, which she captured after a long and gallant action.

Circa Feb 1800 the Lords of the Admiralty have advanced Lt Pengelly, of the Viper cutter, for his gallantry in capturing a French lugger privateer of superior force, a Commander in the Royal Navy ; and appointed him to the Pegasus, 28 guns, fitted as a troopship.

25 Mar 1800 Plymouth, the large ship the Juliana, Hanson, from Mogadore to Altona, with cotton, wool, &c. was yesterday sent off without breaking bulk, by order of the Privy Council (being suspected of infection, having a cargo similar to those sunk off Gravesend) ; the Viper cutter departed with her, with positive orders to see her to her destined port, but not to have any communication with her on her passage.

27 Apr 1800 Plymouth, arrived from a cruise.

5 Jun 1800 joined the Impetueux, at Quiberon bay and the Morbihan to aid the royalists.

Circa 1 Aug 1800 cut out the French gun brig Le Cerbere, 3, from Port Louis. See pp 153-4 of Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, for details, available in GoggleBooks. Letters from the Impetueux and other ships speak in the highest terms of Lt Coghlan and his little crew's gallantry, and Admiral Earl St. Vincent presented her commanding officer with a sword worth one hundred guineas for his bravery, and Sir E. Pellew's squadron gave up their shares of the prize money.

11 Sep 1800 in Stoneham Pool.

23 Jan 1801 with secret orders for the Straits, departed Plymouth Sound.

3 Feb 1801 arrived Plymouth Sound a French schooner Mont Blanc from Cayenne to Bourdeaux, laden with cocoa, cotton, indigo, elephant's teeth, &c., prize to the Viper, Lt Coghlan.

21 Feb 1801 arrived Plymouth Sound a French brig with wine, prize to the Viper.

1 Apr 1801 in company with the sloop Atalante, fell in off Land's End with 4 French privateers : 3 of them hauled off, and after a chase of 17 hours, captured Le Heros brig of St. Maloes, Renne Crosse, Master, mounting 14 guns, and manned with 73 men.

5 Apr 1801 arrived Plymouth Sound at noon, L'Heros French privateer, of St. Maloes, of 16 guns, and 50 men, out 5 days and had not made any prizes, captured after a long chase by the Viper, of 14 guns, Lt J. Coghlan ; the Atalante, of 18 guns, Captain Griffiths, in sight.

17 Apr 1801 arrived Falmouth, the Viper cutter, Lt Coghlan, from a cruise.

12 Jul 1801 came into Plymouth Sound from Sir E. Pellew's squadron off Rochefort, which she left all well the 8th instant, the French squadron in Rochefort being still there.

24 Jul 1801 departed Falmouth, to join Sir E Pellew off Rochefort.

4 Sep 1801 letters received from the Ajax, dated Aboukir Bay, the 12 Jun., received by the Viper, state that the fleet and the army were in the highest spirits ; provisions of ail kinds excessively cheap and plenty, and the people well disposed to the British allies.

28 Oct 1801 the Viper, 14, Lt J. Coghlan, paid off, and her crew discharged.

12 Jul 1802 arrived Plymouth Sound from Cork, where she had been with discharged seamen, the Viper Cutter, Lt J. Coghlan.

9 Aug 1802 arrived Plymouth Sound the Viper cutter, Lt Coghlan, from a cruise.

22 Jan 1803 went into Stonehouse Pool to refit.

Circa 12 Sep 1803 Lieut Jump apptd to the Viper.

19 Oct 1803 came down from Stonehouse Pool into the Sound the cutter Viper, Lieut Jump, and made a signal for a convoy to the Westward.

24 Oct 1803 departed Plymouth with a convoy for Liverpool.

18 Nov 1803 departed the Downs the Immortalite, Trompeuse, Lark and Lynx, sloops, Conflict, Mariner, and Bloodhound, gun brigs, and Viper cutter, on a cruise off the Coast of France.

20 Nov 1803 arrived Spithead, from Plymouth, the Viper, Lieut Jump.

Circa 9 Apr 1804 the Nereide is ordered to be commissioned for service along the coast, in the region of Mount's Bay, where French privateers have been taking English ships, and the Plover off Land's End, where the French privateer Hirondelle has been taking English merchant coastal shipping without any opposition. Similarly, the 18 gun vessels Nimrod, Hazard, Seagull, and cutter Viper, 12, are to cruise from Land's End to Mount's Bay.

May 1805 Plymouth Sound.