HMS Boston was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

On 16 April 1797, Boston was 18 leagues (87 km) north north east of Cape Finisterre when after a six-hour chase she captured the French privateer Enfant de la Patrie, of 16 guns and 130 men.

Enfant de la Patrie was eight days out of Bordeaux but had not taken anything.

The captain of the privateer was drunk, and so decided to resist, firing his guns, small arms, and running his vessel into Boston.

His rashness resulted in five of his crew being killed, ten wounded, and he himself drowning.