Dutch frigate Mars

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Mars was a Dutch frigate built in 1769 by John May at the Amsterdam naval dockyard for the Dutch Republic. It was a fifth-rate ship of about 696–702 tons, carrying 32–36 guns.

During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, British forces captured the island of Saint Eustatius on 3 February 1781. Mars, commanded by Van Bijland and the only Dutch warship left in the roadstead, was captured along with several other ships after two British vessels fired on her without orders. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Mars and brought her to England, arriving at Portsmouth on 28 June 1781. She was paid off in August, surveyed in February 1782, and sold on 25 March 1784 for £505.

Richard Bush bought Mars and had her refitted as an East Indiaman by Adams, who also measured her in 1786. Under Captain William Farington, she sailed from The Downs on 26 April 1786 for China, on behalf of the British East India Company. Mars reached Whampoa on 11 December 1786, crossed the Second Bar on 22 March 1787, and was at Mew Bay by 11 May. She then travelled to Mauritius (15 June), St Helena (21 September), and returned to the Downs, arriving on 8 December 1787. She wrecked on the Margate Sands the following day due to pilot error, with the East India Company losing about £70,000 of cargo.