HMS Hazard was launched in 1749 For the Royal Navy as brig-rigged sloop. She had a 30-plus year career with the navy, during which she captured several small French privateers. At the end of the American War of Independence, the navy sold her and she became the merchantman Joseph. After almost a decade as a merchantman trading with Spain, a new owner made a whaler of her. She made seven whaling voyages and was no longer listed after 1804, two years after her return from her last whaling voyage.