page_title: HMS Briton (1812)
section_title: Convoy escort and other duties in the Pacific
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Briton (1812) / Career / Convoy escort and other duties in the Pacific
caption_attribution_description: English: Taken from: SHILLIBEER (JOHN) A Narrative of the Briton's Voyage to Pitcairn's Island; including an Interesting Sketch of the Present State of the Brazils and of Spanish South America, second edition, 12 etched plates (2 folding including view of Rio de Janeiro, one in sanguine), [Ferguson 697; Hill 1563; Sabin 80484], 8vo, Law &amp; Whitaker, 1817, See page 8. &#91;1&#93; Drawn and etched by John Shillibeer Lt RM of Walkhampton, book dedicated to officers of the corps of Royal Marines and Royal Marine Artillery.&#91;2&#93;
context_page_description: HMS Briton was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy's Leda class. She was ordered on 28 September 1808 and her keel laid down at Chatham Dockyard in February 1810.
  Navy veteran Sir Thomas Staines was appointed her first captain on 7 May 1812 but did not join the ship until 17 June 1813 owing to his being at sea aboard HMS Hamadryad. After a period of cruising in the Bay of Biscay, the vessel set sail for South America where during the course of several missions she unexpectedly encountered the last member of the crew that had seized HMS Bounty from its captain Lieutenant William Bligh during the 1789 mutiny aboard the ship. With the coming of the Pax Britannica in 1815, Briton undertook various voyages before she was broken up in 1860.
context_section_description: On 31 December 1813 HMS Briton under the command of Thomas Staines sailed from Spithead off the south coast of England for the East Indies as part of an escort for a convoy of 49 merchant ships. Briton left the flotilla to assist the disabled East Indiaman Fort William and sailed to Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira where the merchant vessel underwent necessary repairs. Eight days later the two ships set sail for Rio de Janeiro via Cape Verde, arriving on 20 March 1814.
  After docking at Rio, together with HMS Tagus, under the command of Captain Philip Pipon, Briton received orders to proceed to the Pacific around Cape Horn where HMS Phoebe and HMS Cherub were hunting for the American frigate USS Essex, which had attacked British whalers in the area.
  
  When Briton and Tagus arrived in Valparaiso on 21 May, the Phoebe and Cherub had already captured Essex following the Battle of Valparaiso. The four British ships left port on 26 June 1814 arriving at Paita further up the coast of Peru on 2 July. They left the same night and continued northwards close to the shore then anchored near the mouth of the Tumbes River on the border with Ecuador.
  "It was on this place a boat belonging to the Phoebe was upset, which occasioned the death of Lieut. Jago, and the Purser, but whether they were drowned or eaten by the Alligators is uncertain. Several of these frightful creatures were seen next morning basking themselves in the sun, and both these gentlemen being good swimmers, one may be led to conclude they reached the shore only to die a more wretched death."
caption: HMS Briton off Rio de Janeiro, March 1814
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