HMS Latona was a 38-gun, 18-pounder gun armed fifth-rate

Fifth-rate

In Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...

 frigate of 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...

. 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

HMS Minerva (1780)

HMS Minerva was a 38-gun fifth-rate Royal Navy frigate. The first of four Minerva-class frigates, she was launched on 3 June 1780, and commissioned soon thereafter. In 1798 she was renamed Pallas and employed as a troopship...

; 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

Ketch

A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...

  Amphion, armed with 12 guns and 70 men at sea 22 October 1805.

At the Action of 10 February 1809

Action of 10 February 1809

The Action of 10 February 1809 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a British Royal Navy squadron chased and captured the French frigate Junon in the Caribbean Sea...

, 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 class frigate Felicite.