The Sultana was built in Boston, Massachusetts and was one of the earliest examples of schooner building in North America. She was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1768 and was the smallest schooner ever to be registered on their lists. She spent her first four years carrying 8 guns, 12 swivels and 25 men to patrol the East Coast of North America as a dispatch boat and revenue cruiser. She is one of the most thoroughly documented vessels from the early Revolutionary period.