HMS Pilchard was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Samuel Crew in May 1804, launched in 1805, and completed at Plymouth in 1806. Although Pilchard was often near naval engagements, she seems not to have had to fire her cannons before she was laid up in 1812. Entries in Lloyd's Register indicate that she continued in mercantile trade from at least 1817 until 1833, under a variety of owners and masters, and as far afield as Africa and Valparaiso.