Lapwing was a sloop of 34 tons (bm), launched in 1787, that in 1790 traded between London and Africa. Lloyd's Register gives her master as Williams and her owner as G. Sharpe. Granville Sharpe acquired her to facilitate the work of the St. George's Bay Company in providing a safe haven for destitute Africans in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. The broker for the company purchased Lapwing for £186 on 12 February 1790 at the Customs House. Lapwing herself was in the "condemned hold", a location in Wapping, London where ships seized for smuggling were held before Customs disposed of them.