On 28 March Lion and Union, Lieutenant Marriott, commanding, were in the Colorados Archipelago off the northwest coast of Cuba when they observed a large schooner.

The fire lasted for four-and-a-half hours before the sloop apparently was able to escape, at which time the pirates on shore dispersed into the woods.

The British found a schooner of 80 tons (bm) and one gun moored up a narrow creek, apparently being fitted out for a pirate cruize.

[2] On 30 March Lion, Union, and Tamar were in Las Carnas Bay in the Colorado Reefs when they came upon a third schooner, this of 80 tons (bm), and armed with one large gun on a pivot mount.

During his tenure, Lion participated in the destruction of several nests of pirates on the coast of Cuba, and captured nine of their vessels, some of their prizes, and a slave ship.

[3] On 24 November the French ship Calypso, Ducoumier, master, arrived at Key West with a full cargo of coffee.

[4] On 14 December 1824 Lion, Lieutenant Liardet commanding, captured the slave ship Relampago (Sp: lightning flash), at 23°8′N 79°17′W / 23.133°N 79.283°W / 23.133; -79.283, about 200 miles east of Havana.

Captain Garay testified that he had accepted the slaves in payment for the goods he had brought, the King at Mesarcoh (Grand Mesurado) being unwilling to pay with gold dust or other commodities.

[5][6][b] In March 1825, the frigate HMS Dartmouth, the schooners Lion and Union, and the USS Gallinipper participated in an operation against Cuban pirates.

United States Navy Lieutenant Isaac McKeever led an attack against a schooner at the mouth of the Sagua la Grande.

Lion retrieved Isabel and the ten slaves still onboard, and brought them into Havana where the Court of Mixed Commission condemned her.