USS Free Lance, a small yacht built in 1895 at Elizabethport, New Jersey, was loaned to the Navy during the Spanish-American War. During that conflict, she was employed as a patrol vessel off New York City, and was returned to her owner in early 1899.

Renamed Freelance after 1905, the yacht reentered Navy service during the First World War, and was again used on patrol in the New York area. She was decommissioned and returned once more to her owner in December 1918.