Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, many Royal Navy warships were laid up before being sold into merchant service or for breaking up. Large numbers of sloops, schooners and cutters had been built for war service between 1803 and 1814, mostly in private shipyards. The versatility of these smaller classes of vessels was evident in their diverse and demanding wartime roles and subsequently in mercantile trading or whaling. One such vessel, the Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Pilot (1807), was commissioned in 1808, served until 1816 and, after an extended period in reserve, was sold out of naval service in 1828. As a commercial whaling bark, the Pilot made five voyages in the British Southern Whale Fishery between 1830 and the early 1840s before being condemned in 1845. This article provides a case study of one vessel's career in naval and mercantile service, which was typical of the period.