During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy employed at least two cutters designated His Majesty's hired armed cutter Nile. First hired armed cutter Nile The first hired armed cutter Nile was of 136 tons (burthen). She carried ten 12-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder bow guns. Her contract ran from 29 March 1799 to 21 November 1801. From at least May her commander was Lieutenant George Argles. On 17 November, Captain Sir Richard Strachan in chased a French convoy in to the Morbihan where it sheltered under the protection of shore batteries and the 20-gun corvette Réolaise. Lieutenant Argles skillful maneuvered Nile, as the first British vessel up, and kept the corvette from the north shore. was then able to force the corvette onto the shore at Port Navale, though she got off again. The hired armed cutter Suworow then towed in four boats with Lieutenant Hennah of and a cutting-out party of seamen and marines. Nile and the hired armed cutter Lurcher towed in four more boats from Magicienne. Although the cutting-out party landed under heavy fire of grape and musketry, it was able to set the corvette on fire; shortly thereafter she blew up. Only one British seaman, a crewman from Suworow, was killed; seven men from Captain were wounded. However, Suworow's sails and rigging were so badly cut up that Captain had to tow her. Nile captured a merchant vessel that was then burnt. Nile and Argeles captured the brig Assistance, A.H. Stark, master, on 12 October 1800. This was the Swedish brig Assistansen, Alex Stark, master, that had been sailing from Bayonne to Stockholm with a cargo of rosin and that Nile brought into Plymouth on 22 October. About three weeks later, on 13 November, Nile and Lurcher captured the French brig Prothee. Five days later they captured a French privateer brig of 14 guns. On 7 December, Nile discovered a convoy of 15 or 16 small vessels coming round the point of Croisic near the mouth of the river Vilaine in Quiberon Bay. Lurcher joined Nile and together the two cutters captured or destroyed nine vessels at a cost of only one man wounded on Lurcher, despite fire from shore batteries. The four largest were decked and Argles believed that they could be sailed back to England. The others were not. The four largest had been sailing from Boulogne to Brest with