HMS Jason (1804)

HMS Jason was a 32-gun fifth rate Thames-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804 at Woolwich, named for Jason of Greek Mythology.

Service
Jason entered service in 1805 under the command of Captain P. William Champain, and served in the Leeward Islands as the flagship of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. In October, Jason captured the French corvette Naiad off Barbados and a Spanish merchant ship Three Brothers. The following year, command passed to Captain Thomas John Cochrane and in June was involved in an attack on a Spanish gun battery at Aguadilla on Puerto Rico. Although the attacking force came under heavier fire than expected, the battery was eventually carried successfully.

In 1807, Jason was detached, together with the brig HMS Wolverine (1805), to the coast of Surinam to search for the French sloop Favorite, which she discovered in January and captured in a short engagement. Favorite had been a Royal Navy sloop that the French had captured in January 1806; the Royal Navy took her back into service as HMS Goree.

In 1808 the frigate was involved in a mutiny off New York, when a shore party was persuaded by local inhabitants to revolt. The rebellion spread to the ship and it was only with difficulty that the officers subdued the mutineers, the first lieutenant driving them below with a pike and locking them in; 45 men were later court martialled at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 1809 command passed to Captain William Maude and Jason participated in the attack on the Topaze off Guadeloupe in the successful Action of 22 January 1809. Command later passed to James William King and then Charles John Napier, returning to Captain King in 1811. She served on the Jamaica and North Sea stations in 1812 and 1813 and in 1814 formed part of the escort for King Louis XVIII of France and later for the Russian and Prussian Emperors during the negotiations to end the Napoleonic Wars.

Fate
In 1815 at the end of the war, Jason was broken up at Plymouth.