The Russian cutter Opyt (also Apith; – Experience) was launched in 1806. The British 44-gun frigate captured Opyt in 1808 in the Baltic during the Anglo-Russian War (1807-1812) after her captain and crew put up heroic resistance. The Admiralty took her into service as HMS Baltic. She served briefly with the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez in the Baltic before being sold in 1810. Russian service Opyt was a purpose-built cutter that cruised the Baltic in 1807. On 1808, she arrived at Sveaborg from Kronshtadt to join the division under Captain of 2nd rank Lodewijk van Heiden (who went on to become the Russian Admiral at the Battle of Navarino in 1827), to help in the city's defense. On , Opyt put to sea in company with the sloop-of-war Charlotta to cruise between Sveaborg and Hanko. During this cruise the two vessels became separated. Opyt returned to Sveaborg and was sent to find Charlotta, but before she could meet up, she encountered Salsette. Capture On 1808, Captain Walter Bathurst and Salsette chased a Russian sloop-of-war to Reval and captured a galliot partly laden with spirits at anchor in the roads. As Bathurst was bringing out his prize he saw a Russian cutter off the north end of Nargen island (now Naissaar), which defends Reval from the sea. Salsette gave chase but in the evening, when the wind dropped, the cutter killed one of Salsettes marines in an exchange of fire and used her sweeps to pull away. Then a sudden squall enabled Salsette to catch up with the cutter. The cutter surrendered after the frigate had fired two full broadsides into her. The cutter was the Opyt (aka Apith), with a crew of 61 men under the command of Lieutenant Gavriil Nevelskoy (also Novelski). After doing more to satisfy Russian honour than reason required, Lieutenant Nevelskoy surrendered his heavily damaged cutter to the British commander, Captain Bathurst, only to have his sword returned by the astounded and admiring British captain, who had him landed ashore along with his surviving crew members. The British discovered that Opyt had left Sveaborg that day to join the Russian sloop Charlotta, which Salsette had unsuccessfully chased. Bathurst landed the survivors near Libau (now Liepāja, Latvia). Bathurst reported that the Opyt was approximately two years old, "exceedingly well fitted, and sound in everything." Saumarez ordered the purchase of the cutter for His Majesty's