HMS Latona (1781)

HMS Latona was a 38-gun, 18-pounder gun armed fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was designed by the senior surveyor John Williams. In this era it was common for each surveyor to produce independent designs for new ship types, and this design was a counterpoint to Edward Hunt's HMS Minerva; together the two draughts represent the prototype of the thirty-eight gun, 18-pounder armed frigate.

Latona, commanded by T.L.M. Gosselin, captured the Spanish ketch  Amphion, armed with 12 guns and 70 men at sea 22 October 1805.

On 1 January 1807 Latona, HMS Arethusa (1781), HMS Anson (1781), HMS Fisgard (1797), and HMS Morne Fortunee (1804) captured Curaçao. The Dutch resisted and Latona lost one men killed and two wounded; in all, the British lost three killed and 14 wounded. On the ships alone, the Dutch lost six men killed, including Commandant Cornelius J. Evertz, who commanded the Dutch naval force in Curaçao and seven wounded, of whom one died later. With the colony, the British captured the frigate Kenau Hasselar, the sloop ''Suriname (a former Royal Naval sloop), and two naval schooners. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp “Curacoa 1 Jany. 1807” to any surviving claimants from the action; 65 medals were issued.

At the Action of 10 February 1809, Latona was involved in the capture of HMS Junon in the West Indies.

On 7 June 1809, commanded by Captain Hugh Pigot, Latona captured the French 36-gun frigate Félicité.