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BRITON (38) Built in 1812, Chatham.
Hulk in 1841.

  • 1812 Capt. Sir Thomas STAINES, 05/1812.
    He was still at sea in HAMADRYAD on the date of his appointment and did not join until 17 June.
    For the next 18 months she was employed in the Bay of Biscay.
  • ANDROMACHE, Capt. TOBIN, who was senior officer off the Gironde, and BRITON captured the American brig LEADER of Boston, bound for Bordeaux with fish, on 11 December 1812, and on the 15th. BRITON took the French privateer SANS SOUCI of 14 guns and 120 men belonging to St. Malo.
    The two frigates captured the American brig COLUMBIA, taking sugar and coffee from Philadelphia to Bordeaux, and the brig STEPHEN, from New York to Bordeaux with cotton, potash and skins, on the 17th.
    They took the brig EXPECTATION, with cotton from Philadelphia to Bordeaux, on the 20th.
  • On 6 January 1813 BRITON, ROTA and ANDROMACHE captured the brig BRUTUS, taking cotton, coffee and sugar from New York to Bordeaux.
    The prize was not seen again and it was assumed that she had either been recaptured or had foundered at sea.
    BRITON captured the American letter of marque schooner JOEL BARLOW of 2 guns and 18 men off Bordeaux on 3 July and, after a chase of seven hours on 8 September, she captured the remarkably fast French letter of marque schooner MERLARICE with 4 guns and 26 men.
    American built, she was bound for Bordeaux from New Orleans.
  • BRITON sailed from Spithead on 31 December 1813 as part of the escort to an East Indies convoy of 49 merchantmen. She was detached at Madeira to assist a disabled Indiaman and shepherded her into Rio de Janeiro on 19 March 1814. Here she was ordered to the Pacific where PHOEBE and CHERUB were hunting the American frigate ESSEX. In fact they had found her at Valparaiso on 8 February and captured her on 28 March. Capt. STAINES found them at Valparaiso with the TAGUS frigate and she and TAGUS escorted PHOEBE and ESSEX as far as Juan Fernandez before going on to Callao, Paita, the Galapagos and the Marquises in search of another American frigate. They found nothing.
  • On 28 August Sir Thomas STAINES took formal possession of Nuku-Hiva, one of the Marquise Archipelago, which Capt. Porter of the ESSEX had claimed for the United States and renamed Madison Island, building a village and a fort there, which were destroyed by the natives as soon as the Americans left. (The islands are now part of French Polynesia annexed in 1880-82)
  • On his way back to Valparaiso Sir Thomas was surprised by the sudden appearance of Pitcairn Is.
    early in the morning of 17 September when his course should have taken him well to the eastward.
    BRITON and TAGUS hove to until daylight when they stood towards it. They were approached by four canoes and two men, both speaking good English, came on board. One was Thursday-October Christian, the son of Fletcher and George Young the son of the only midshipman to continue with the mutineers. Later the two captains landed and met the leader of the community, Alexander Smith, alias John Adams, one of the original mutineers, and the 41 men, women and children living in harmony on the island. BRITON and TAGUS were the only ships which had ever visited the island apart from an American trader TOPAZE, Mr Mayhew Folger, in February 1808. Adams was still living in 1826 when BLOSSOM visited the island.
  • BRITON continued in the Pacific until the end of April 1815 when she returned to Rio. The British merchants in Chile requested that a British warship should continue to protect their interests and nominated Sir Thomas STAINES as their preferred commander, but instead he received orders to return home.
    BRITON arrived at Plymouth on 8 July 1815 and was shortly afterwards put out of commission at Portsmouth.
  • 1822 Capt. Sir Murray MAXWELL, 11/1822, South America. (He removed from BULWARK.)
  • 1827 Capt. Hon. William GORDON, 03/1827, Plymouth.
  • 1830 Capt. J. D. MARKLAND, 04/1830, Portsmouth.
  • 1833 Out of commission at Portsmouth.
  • 1841 Convict hulk at Portsmouth.


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