Aviso

An aviso (formerly also an adviso) was a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat". The term continues to be used in the French and some other navies. It is similar to the modern use of "sloop" in other countries.

The Dictionnaire de la Marine Française 1788 – 1792 (by Nicolas-Charles Romme) describes avisos as "small boats designed to carry orders or dispatches". This use became obsolete with the development of means of communicating detailed information at a distance.