Phaeton (carriage) most impressive phaeton was the English four-wheeled high flyer. The mail and spider phaetons were more conservatively constructed. The mail phaeton was used chiefly to carry passengers with luggage and was named for its construction, using "mail" springs originally designed for use on mail coaches. The spider phaeton, of American origin and made for gentlemen drivers, was a high and lightly constructed carriage with a covered seat in front and a footman's seat behind. Fashionable phaetons used at horse shows included the Stanhope, typically having a high seat and closed back, and the Tilbury, a two-wheeled carriage with an elaborate
HMS Phaeton (1782) 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop "Harrier", Captain Edward Ratsey. After exchanges of fire first with "Harrier" and then with "Phaeton", "Sémillante" took refuge under the guns of a shore battery. Unable to dislodge her, the two British vessels eventually sailed off, each having suffered two men wounded. "Sémillante" was reported to have suffered 13 killed and 36 wounded. After resupplying at San Jacinto, "Sémillante" intended to sail for Mexico in March 1805 to fetch specie for the Philippines; the encounter with "Phaeton" and "Harrier" foiled the plan. Motard returned to the Indian Ocean, operating for the next three years against British