Tarleton was a 14-gun brig launched in 1780 at Glasgow. She was a letter of marque that made one capture. The French captured Tarleton in October 1782 in the Caribbean. They took her back to France in 1783 and she was subsequently stationed at Brest, where she served in the Mediterranean. The British recaptured her at Toulon in 1793 and she then served in the Mediterranean until no later than 1798 when she disappears from the lists. Origins Tarletons origins are uncertain. Though the name was unusual, it was not unique at the time. There were at least two Tarletons in French hands in early 1783, with different commanders. Supposedly the Tarleton of this article had been a vessel the Royal Navy had captured and lost to the French in 1782. However, there are no readily accessible Royal Navy records of any capture, service, or subsequent loss. There was a mercantile Tarlton [sic], of New York, with Young, owner, that escaped Yorktown shortly before its fall in 1781. The ambiguous report of "Jonas Rider, a Black Man", raises the possibility that the French captured this vessel, only to lose it to the British. If the French then recaptured it, it may have been the Tarleton that the Royal Navy reportedly captured and lost in 1782. Tarleton (I) The Archives of the State of Maryland record on 3 January 1783 that two armed vessels, Pole Cat and Tarleton, had arrived from Baltimore and sailed into Chesapeake Bay to drive out the British forces there. On 25 February there was a memo to Captan de Barrass, of Tarleton. On 19 March a second memo mentioned Captain de Barrass of the sloop Tarleton. Lastly, a memo on 19 May discusses the return to Tarleton of her sick that have recovered. Tarleton (II) In late 1782 Tarleton, Captain Lecamus, was at Saint Domingue when the governor sent her to Boston. On 3 January 1783, the French brig Tarleton, of 14 guns, and under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau le Camus, encountered an 18-gun brig that escaped Tarleton only by its superior sailing. Tarleton forced the enemy brig to abandon a Spanish prize that it had taken. Tarleton suffered one man wounded in the engagement. The mention does not make clear where this occurred, but a second mention is more specific. On 9 February, Tarleton was leaving Port-au-Prince, having returned there for repairs. As