HMS Mercury was a British rank 6 frigate of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The keel for the ship was laid in 1778, the launch took place in 1779, and the commissioning for service in the navy - probably a year later (1780). The ship was built at the King and Queen Shipyard in the then city of Rotherhithe in Great Britain. The vessel was 36.8 m long and 10.3 m wide. The ship was armed with 6 18lb guns, 24 9lb guns, 4 6lb guns and 12 railing cannons.
HMS Mercury was an Enterprise class vessel and underwent very active service. It was created during the War of Independence of the United States (1775-1783) and took an active part in the final stage of this conflict on the shores of the future, new republic. After the conflict ended, he returned to England, where he was repaired and maintained. In the mid-1890s, he also took part in the struggle against the fleet of the revolutionary, and later Napoleonic, France, operating mainly in European waters. HMS Mercury was demolished in 1814 in Woolwich.
Le Coureur (free translation: runner) was a French sailing ship from the period of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). The vessel was built under the supervision of Jacques and Daniel Denys at a shipyard in the city of Dunkirk in northern France. The launch of the vessel took place in May 1776. The unit served under the French flag for a very short time, because already in June 1778, almost exactly two years after the launch, it entered a naval fight with the British HMS Alert and as a result was captured by the British. From 1778, the ship served in the Royal Navy under the name HMS Coureur and served primarily in the area of hostilities in North America. However, in June, this time in 1780, HMS Coureur changed its flag again as a result of being seized by enemy forces. This time, the ship fell into the hands of the emerging United States, which captured the ship in the waters of Newfoundland.