Lavinia served during the Napoleonic Wars, at first in the English Channel and then the Mediterranean, part of a squadron under Vice Admiral Edward Thornbrough, operating in the Tyrrhenian Sea and later blockading the port of Toulon, France.

Lavinia was a Royal Navy frigate that was initially proposed as a copy of William Rule's Acasta, but was instead built to a Jean-Louis Barrallier design with an increased hull length.

[1] On 23 February, Lavinia was part of a squadron under Vice Admiral Edward Thornbrough, stationed off Palermo, when word was received that a French Fleet had been seen near Corfu.

Thornbrough immediately dispatched Lavinia and the fifth-rate frigate HMS Spartan to gain intelligence while he and the remaining ships went in search of Collingwood.

Spartan discovered the French on 1 April, between Cape Bon and Sardinia but by the time the two British frigates had rendezvoused with their fleet, Ganteaume was back in Toulon where, on 3 May, Thornbrough began a blockade.

Comprising more than 600 vessels and nearly 40,000 troops, it left The Downs on 28 July, intent on destroying the dockyards and arsenals at Antwerp, Terneuse and Flushing, and capturing the French fleet stationed in the river Scheldt.

[9] The two-day long bombardment of Flushing by Lavinia and her companions, forced its capitulation on 15 August and left the British in control of Walcheren, which they garrisoned with 10,000 troops.

[11] The deliberate destruction of dykes by the French had led to widespread flooding, and with disease spreading through the British army, it was decided to abandon the expedition in early September.