Pine was cheaper and more abundant than oak and permitted noticeably faster construction, but at a cost of a reduced lifespan.

[1] On 24 March Pactolus recaptured the Swedish ship Maria Christina while in company with Seahorse and another warship.

[a] On 8 August 1814 Pactolus was part of a small squadron made up of herself, the brig Dispatch and the bomb vessel Terror, all under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Hardy in Ramillies.

Stonington was known for preparing and harbouring "torpedoes", that is naval mines, and for supporting American attempts to destroy British warships off New London.

The water was too shallow for Pactolus to follow, so Dispatch withdrew, having suffered casualties of two men dead and twelve wounded.

As they started their bombardment, the Americans withdrew their guns from the battery to the outskirts of town where a large force of militia had gathered.

They took nearly 70 pieces of heavy artillery (mostly French thirty-six-pounders), including many mortars, all of which they completely spiked and whose carriages they rendered useless.

[9] In January 1816 Captain William Hugh Dobbie took command of Pactolus for the Halifax, Nova Scotia, station.