HMS Merlin was an 8-gun yacht of the Royal Navy. In 1671 she played an important role in provoking the Third Anglo-Dutch War. While carrying the wife of the British ambassador Sir William Temple, Dorothy Osborne, through the Dutch fleet anchored near Den Briel, the Dutch warships fired 'white smoke' as a salute, as was mandatory under treaty, but did not lower their flags. The 8-gun royal yacht started firing live rounds.