The Dutch brig Komeet was launched in 1789 at Amsterdam. captured her on the Irish station in 1795. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Comeet; it renamed her HMS Penguin in 1798. It sold her in 1808.
Dutch service
In 1791 Komeet sailed to Cape of Good Hope, in company with the Dutch naval corvette Scipio, leaving on 17 December 1791. Scipio arrived on 27 March 1792 and Komeet arrived on 4 April.
In May 1795, Komeet, under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Mynheer Claris, and Scipio, under the command of de Jong, set out with a convoy of nine East Indiamen for Europe. The problem was that France had occupied the Dutch Republic and its successor the Batavian Republic was now a French ally and thus an enemy of Great Britain. The Dutch captains decided to sail via the Shetland Islands to ports in then-neutral Norway.
On 28 August 1795, the convoy encountered Unicorn, in company with and . Unicorn captured the Dutch East Indiaman Cromhout or Crumhout. The Cromhouts capture resulted in at least £40,000 in prize money to be distributed among her captors. Then Unicorn parted company with the rest of the squadron and after a chase of 13 hours captured Komeet. Captain Thomas Williams of Unicorn described her as a remarkably fine vessel, only four years old, sails extremely well. She was armed with 18 English 9-pounder guns and was provisioned with water and food for 110 men for a nine-month cruise. The Royal Navy took her into service as Comeet. Scipio and the remaining seven Indiamen reached neutral Norway.
British service
French Revolutionary Wars
The Royal Navy commissioned her in May 1796 under Commander John King Pulling. Although some records suggest that she was renamed to Penguin on 2 October 1798, she was already sailing under the name Penguin at the time that she captured her first prize in 1796.
On 10 April, Unicorn recaptured the brig Thames while in company with Penguin and the hired armed cutter Fox (the third). At some point between 28 March and 19 April, Penguin saved the crew of Prince of Wales, which had foundered on her way from Galway to Cork.
On 18 September Penguin captured the brig Mary, of Liverpool, after a chase of 10 hours. The French privateer lugger Taupe à L'Oeuil (or Tap à L'Oeil), of eight guns and 42 men, had captured her 5 days earlier. Discovering that Mary was faster than their own vessel, the privateers exchanged vessels, putting all their English prisoners in the lugger, after transferring their guns, small arms and ammunition to Mary, which they renamed Taupe à L'Oeuil. At the time that Penguin captured the French privateers, they had been out of Brest for 18 days and had taken four prizes, all of which Pulling was pleased to report Penguin had recaptured. The four were:
Iris, Samuel Walters master, of and from Swansea, which had been sailing to Cork with a cargo of coal, taken on 10 September and retaken two days later; Betsey, William Biggs master, from Exeter, belonging to Teignmouth, sailing to Milford with a cargo of pottery, and ransomed. She had been taken on 12 September. When Penguin recaptured Mary, she also liberated the ransomer and the bond that had been paid. Mary, John Laughton master, from Leghorn, belonging to Liverpool, sailing to Bristol with a cargo of merchandise. Liverpool, Underwood master, from Lisbon, belonging to Liverpool, sailing to Bristol with a cargo of cotton. She had been taken and recaptured on 18 September. Penguin shared the prize money for Liverpool with Fox and .
On 24 May 1797 Penguin was off The Lizard with a convoy sailing to Cork when she encountered the French lugger privateer Terrible. After a short chase Penguin was able to capture her quarry, which was armed with four guns and had a crew of 25 men. She was a week out of Morlaix but had not captured anything.
Penguin had one more notable action under Pulling's command. On 21 August she saw two vessels sailing towards her. They were flying the English flag, but then revealed themselves to be French. Within half-an-hour of an exchange of fire the rearmost struck. However, the seas were too rough for Pulling to take possession, and the other vessel was larger, so Pulling set off after her. A running fight lasting one hour and 40 minutes ensued before the second French vessel struck. She turned out to be the French privateer corvette , pierced for 20 guns but carrying sixteen 9-pounder guns and two long French 12-pounder guns. She had a crew of 119 men, of whom one was killed and five wounded in the pursuit.