Hugh Seymour needed vessels for the Jamaica Station despite Admiralty restrictions on purchasing ships without permission. He leased the Bermuda sloop Sting for roughly £1 a day, then bought her for £25,000 in December 1800. His friendship with the Prince of Wales, the future George IV, made disciplining him politically awkward. The Admiralty accepted the acquisition in February 1801. The origin of the name Pickle remains uncertain: it may have been an Admiralty joke about the predicament, or Seymour may already have renamed the vessel with the same joke in mind.
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How Seymour secured Pickle without prior Admiralty approval
Local operational needs and Seymour's political connections helped secure approval for an unauthorized ship purchase.