The corvette H.M.S. Amazon, 481 tons, began her life as La Panth©ere, a French sixth Rate built at Brest in 1744. Measuring 115½ feet in length with a 31 foot beam, she was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 160. Captured by H.M.S. Monmouth in July 1745, during the War of the Australian Succession, she was added to the Royal Navy under the name Amazon and put into immediate commission. First in action on 14 October 1747 at Hawke's defeat of the French off Ushant, she took part in the bombardment of Basse Terre, Guadaloupe, on 23 January 1759, and the Capture of Martinique on 16 February 1762. Between those two major operations there was a brief return to Home Waters during which she and H.M.S Soleby captured the French privateer Chevrette which had run ashore west of Calais on 30 January 1761. After the conclusion of the Seven Year's War in 1763, Amazon was one of a number of vessels sold out of the service when no longer needed.

The Royal Caroline, 232 tons, was a ship-rigged royal yacht built at Deptford in 1749 and launched on 29 January 1750. Curiously, her design was the result of a competition amongst the Master Shipwrights of the various naval dockyards, the Surveyor of the Navy and his assistant; the Surveyor won and the vessel was named in honour of Queen Caroline, the wife of George II. Mounting 10 guns and measuring 90 feet in length, she was re-classed as a Sixth Rate in 1761 at the same time as she was renamed Royal Charlotte in honour of the new Queen.