USS Frolic was a sloop-of-war

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 that served in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 in 1814. The British captured her later that year and she served in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in the Channel and the North Sea until she was broken up in 1819.

Construction

Frolic was one of a class of three heavy flush-decked sloops of war, designed by William Doughty and constructed late in the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

. Her sister ships were USS Peacock

USS Peacock (1813)

The first USS Peacock was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Peacock was authorized by Act of Congress 3 March 1813, laid down 9 July 1813 by Adam & Noah Brown at the New York Navy Yard, and launched 19 September 1813. She served in the War of 1812, capturing twenty ships...

 and USS Wasp

USS Wasp (1814)

USS Wasp was a sloop-of-war that served in the U.S. Navy in 1814 during the War of 1812. She was the fifth US Navy ship to carry that name....

. Frolic was launched on 11 September 1813 by Josiah Barker at Charlestown

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

United States service

Frolic first put to sea on 18 February 1814 with Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 Joseph Bainbridge (younger brother of Commodore William Bainbridge

William Bainbridge

William Bainbridge was a Commodore in the United States Navy, notable for his victory over HMS Java during the War of 1812.-Early life:...

) in command, standing out of President Roads in Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...

 at Boston, Massachusetts, for a cruise in the West Indies.

On 29 March 1814 she destroyed a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 merchant ship, and later on the same day she sank an unnamed Spanish-American privateer

Privateer

A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

, sailing from Cartagena

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...

 in present-day Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 after a brief action, in which nearly 100 of the privateer's crew drowned. (Privateers from several countries seeking independence from Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 were preying on ships of all nations in the Caribbean.)

Frolic sank another British merchant ship on 3 April 1814.

While in the Florida Strait on 20 April 1814, Frolic encountered the British 36-gun frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 HMS Orpheus and 12-gun schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 HMS Shelburne

HMS Shelburne (1813)

HMS Shelburne was the American privateer schooner Racer, built in Baltimore in 1811 and captured by the British in 1813. She served on the American coast, capturing the American brig Frolic...

. Frolic beat away to southward, making for the coast

Coast

A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...

 of Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 as the two British ships gave chase. Frolics men labored to lighten their ship, cutting away the starboard anchor

Anchor

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...

, and casting overboard the guns mounted on her port (lee) side and small arms. Overtaken after six hours, Frolic was forced to surrender to the superior British force when about 15 miles off Matanzas

Matanzas

Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. It is famed for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero.Matanzas is called the...

, Cuba.

British service

After her capture, the Admiralty purchased Frolic for £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

8,211 1s

Shilling

The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

 7d and took her into service as the post ship

Post ship

Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the Age of Sail to describe a ship of the sixth-rate that was smaller than a frigate , but by virtue of being a rated ship , had to have as its captain a post captain rather than a lieutenant or commander...

 HMS Florida. She was commissioned in June at Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

under Captain Nathaniel Mitchell. She arrived at Woolwich on 30 August 1815. She was recommissioned in September under Captain William Elliot and fitted for Channel service on 22 December.

In April 1816 she sailed for the North Sea under Captain Charles S. J. Hawtayne, where she was employed in searching for and catching smugglers. In February 1818 she was re-rated as a 22-gun sloop.

On 11 May she captured St Thomas, a galley out of Calais with a crew of 12 men. In making the capture, Florida's master's mate, Mr. Kieth Stewart shot and killed one of the smugglers in self defense.