The Aventurier encounter is 1798 not 1789 and this PR was a packet so not RN, but there have been numerous PRs throughout British history. It is one of those names in the RN that is perpetuated and ships of this name were invoved in just about every major engagement in British history. Of all the engagements of a ship of that name the Aventurier incident is by far the closest to our ballad and of course with just 40 bright seamen and little armament is not RN.

The date 14th February has no significance here. If you look at my article on 'The Bold Pirate' mentioned in Brian's post you'll see that each version of it has a different date. The main reason why 14th February is consistent in BPR is because it was copied endlessly on broadsides whereas 'Bold Pirate' only has one extant broadside.