HMS Arethusa was a 46-gun Leda-class fifth-rate frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1810s.

[2] Arethusa, the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,[3] was ordered on 22 November 1812, laid down in February 1815 at Pembroke Dockyard, Wales, and launched on 29 July 1817.

[2] She sailed for Plymouth Dockyard on 21 August 1817 and was completed for ordinary on 27 September at the cost of £25,923.

[4] The ship was never on active duty and was converted for service as a lazarette for Liverpool in April–June 1836.

Arethusa was renamed HMS Bacchus on 12 March 1844[1] to release her name for the large frigate being built[5] and converted into a coal hulk in 1851–52.