The Recherche was a 20-gun Marsouin-class scow of the French Navy, later reclassified as a 12-gun frigate. She earned fame as one of the ships of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux' expedition, along with Espérance. Both Recherche Bay, Tasmania and the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia were named after her.

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The Recherche and Espérance, by François Roux
History
France
Name	Recherche
Namesake	Research
Builder	Bayonne
Laid down	March 1787
Launched	October 1787
Christened	Truite
Commissioned	November 1787
Out of service	September 1794
Reclassified	Frigate in 1791
Fate	Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type	Marsouin class
Type	scow
Displacement	c. 400 tonnes
Length	36.4 m (119 ft)
Beam	9.1 m (30 ft)
Draught	3.9 m (13 ft)
Propulsion	Sail
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	200
Armament	12 6-pounders
Armour	Timber

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The ship was built as Truite and served under this name until July 1791, when she was renamed to Recherche and recommissioned as a 12-gun frigate.

She departed from Brest on 29 September 1791 for an exploration mission in search of Lapérouse, sailing to New Caledonia. Bruni d'Entrecasteaux died aboard on 21 July 1793.

On 28 October 1793, Recherche was captured by the Dutch at Surabaya, only to be returned to France in February 1794. She was sold to Holland in September and sold for scrap two months later.

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671–1870. p. 372. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.

• European and American voyages of scientific exploration