Frolic Vs. Wasp
In October 1812 the Frolic was serving on the North American station, protecting a convoy of six merchantmen off Virginia. On a passage from the Bay of Honduras, a gale dispersed the convoy and carried away Frolic's main top yard and sprung her main top mast.
On 18 October, while the convoy was reassembling and Frolic was working on the damage, a strange sail was spotted. Frolic sent the convoy on its way and hoisted a Spanish ensign as a ruse to buy time.
The strange sail turned out to be the USS Wasp, of 18 guns, commanded by Jacob Jones. The ships closed. Initially Frolic fired more rapidly but less accurately, but the gale damage had rendered her unmanageable. Within 40 minutes the Wasp had repeatedly raked Frolic, killing 15 and wounding 43 out of the 120 seamen and boys aboard, including Whinyates. The Americans boarded Frolic and all resistance stopped. The Americans had 5 killed and 5 wounded.
Frolic was only temporarily in American hands. Later that day the British 74-gun Poictiers captured both ships. Captain John Poo Beresford of Poictiers restored Whinyates to command of Frolic. The subsequent court martial for the loss of the ship honorably acquitted Whinyates, his officers and his men.
Read more about this topic: HMS Frolic (1806)