HMS Zebra, was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built of teak in the East India Company's Bombay Dockyard and launched in 1815 as the last of her class. She chased pirates in the Mediterranean, just missed the Battle of Navarino, sailed to East Indies, where she almost foundered, and on to Australia, chased Malay pirates, and was wrecked in 1840 during the Syrian War. Service Commander Robert Forbes commissioned Zebra in December 1815 to sail her to England. However, Philip Henry Bridges was acting commander of Zebra from December 1815 to November 1816, when he was promoted into . In May 1816, she arrived in Madras from Calcutta, and on 28 July 1816 she was at Simon's Bay where a terrible hurricane stranded and almost destroyed her and the frigate . By 14 December 1816, she had reached Portsmouth. There she was paid off into ordinary, where she stayed until 1825. In February 1825, she was recommissioned for the Mediterranean under Commander Edward R. Williams, and sailed in May. Mediterranean pirates On 6 January 1827, Zebra left for the Mediterranean. She arrived in Zante on 28 January 1827 carrying dispatches from Captain Gawen William Hamilton of for Captain Irby of . At Zante Williams learned that the Governor of Maina — Giovanni Mavromicali — had not fulfilled his pledge to bring his galliot and an Ionian prize to Zante to have their papers checked. Irby had warned Mavromicali that should the papers not be in order the British would seize both vessels, and should Mavromicali fail to comply, he should send his women and children into the mountains as the Royal Navy would be compelled to destroy his houses. Williams sailed on 30 January in search of Mavromicali. On 4 February, Zebras boats brought out from the port of Catecali a small local sailing boat belonging to the pirate Nicolo Cipriotti, which they burnt. The boats also rescued an Ionian trabaccolo that Cipriotti had seized. The boats continued their search for Mavromicali's galley along the shore towards Cape Kitries. On 8 February, near Scardamoula, they sighted a vessel that appeared to be their quarry, but were unable to catch it before it took refuge in a port. Williams sent all his boats into the port to demand that the surrender of the galliot. The boats then left, having received a promise that Mavromicali would sail