After a refit at Sheerness,
Racehorse was recommissioned in 1771 under Commander St John Chinnery, until paid off in early 1773. She was then refitted for Arctic exploration, and was part of a voyage of exploration in 1773, commanded by Commander
Constantine John Phipps, that unsuccessfully attempted to sail to the
North Pole. A young
Horatio Nelson served as a
midshipman aboard the second ship of the small squadron, under captain
Skeffington Lutwidge, second in command of the Phipps expedition. The expedition left the
Nore on 10 June and passed along the western coast of
Svalbard and advanced to
latitude 80°50'N before reaching impenetrable ice front. They came in sight of
Sjuøyane off Svalbard's north coast and midshipman John Walden, along with two pilots, landed on the westernmost island on 5 August of the same year. The island was later known as
Waldenøya, or Walden Island. Other islands named after expedition members are
Phippsøya and
Nelsonøya of
Sjuøyane. Additionally,
Cummingøya is named after watchmaker
Alexander Cumming, who made the
pendulum used by Phipps' expedition. According to
Gerard De Geer's 1913 Spitzbergen map, this is the island where Phipps tried to make a pendulum observation. == Later Navy service as
Thunder ==