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.

[2] 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.

[3] Then on 11 December 1812 Briton, together with the frigate HMS Andromache, took the American brig Leader from Boston bound for Bordeaux, France with a cargo of fish.

San Souci had been out six weeks and had captured two British vessels, Speculation, which had been sailing from Cork to Lisbon, and the South Seas whaler Frederick.

In January 1813 Briton and Andromache linked up with HMS Rota and on the 6th the three ships captured the brig Brutus travelling from New York to Bordeaux carrying cotton, coffee and sugar.

Belle Poule was in company with Briton and the hired armed cutter Fancy, with Dispatch and Royalist sharing by agreement.

[9][b] After a chase lasting seven hours, on 9 September 1813 Briton captured the fast sailing four-gun French privateer La Melance and her 26 man crew off Bordeaux.

[c] On 31 December 1813 HMS Briton under the command of Thomas Staines[14] 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.

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.

[17] Porter had built Fort Madison, Nuku Hiva and a villa on the island, which the natives destroyed after his ship left.

Before his departure, Sir Thomas Staines, with the consent of the local tribes excepting the "Typees" from the Tai Pi Valley, took possession of Nuku Hiva of behalf of the British Crown.

The ships were hove to, and, on hailing the Briton, it was determined to continue in that situation until daylight in the morning, to ascertain the exact position of the land in view, and, according to circumstances, to reconnoitre (sic) it, if necessary.

"Unbeknownst to anyone aboard the two visiting ships, the only surviving mutineer from the Fletcher Christian led 1789 Mutiny on the Bounty, John Adams, remained alive on Pitcairn.

[2][21][22][23] The Royal Marine Commander aboard Briton, Lieutenant John Shillibeer, wrote in his account of their arrival: "At this moment I believe neither Captain Bligh of the Bounty, nor Christian, had entered any of our thoughts, and in waiting the approach of the strangers, we prepared to ask them some questions in the language of those people we had so recently left.

"He was then about twenty-five years of age, a fine young man, about six feet high, his hair deep black, his countenance open and interesting, of a brownish cast, but free from all that mixture of a reddish tint which prevails on the Pacific islands; his only dress was a piece of cloth round his loins, and a straw hat, ornamented with the black feathers of the domestic fowl ... we were glad to trace in his benevolent countenance all the features of an honest English face.

"[20]From Christian and Adams, the visiting captains received an account of what had transpired since the mutiny, but as they had no instructions to take any action, they returned to Valparaiso, a journey that took about 25 days.