From February 1806
Minerva served under Captain
George Collier in the
English Channel. On 27 April she took the 14-gun Spanish privateer
La Finisterre with .
Minerva then took part in a number of small-boat operations on the coast, including taking an 8-gun fort and
cutting out 5 Spanish
coasters on 22 June. For this action her First Lieutenant,
William Mulcaster, received a sword of £50 value from
Lloyd's Patriotic Fund. On 11 July of the same year, her barge successfully took the 1-gun
lugger La Buena Dicha after a chase of nearly 40 miles around
Guarda. On 29 October while reconnoitering the approaches to
Pontevedra,
Minerva cut out 2
chasse marées from
Porto Novo, and 2 days later her barge took a Spanish lugger which had sailed from
Avilés. Staying active, Captain Collier led the ship's
cutter and barge to take a 24-pounder
gun-boat and 30 men on 2 October, still in the vicinity of Pontevedra. In October 1807
Minerva was serving alongside and , sharing in
Naiads prize of the ship
Vigilante. By the end of the year Captain Richard Hawkins had assumed command. On 17–18 March 1808,
Minerva captured the Spanish ships
La Purissima Consecion,
La Caroline, and a lugger.
Minerva continued serving off the Spanish and French coasts, taking the 8-gun privateer
La Joséphine on 23 September 1808.
La Joséphine overset in a gale as she was captured, and
Minerva was only able to save 16 of the 50-man crew. In October 1808 she took the 14-gun ''L'Améthyste
and on 14 April 1809 the Danish brig Edward
. By August 1809 Minerva
was serving off Ushant and took the Carl Ludwig
alongside , , , and on 2 August. She took another ship, the chasse marée Le Bienfaisant
, on 10 August. Minerva
continued this run of successful captures into October, taking the French ships L'Emerance
and L'Emulation
on 3 and 12 October respectively and the chasse marée La Victoire'' 8 days later. By 3 December 1810
Minerva was part of the joint expedition of Vice-Admiral
Sir Albemarle Bertie and Major-General
John Abercrombie which successfully
captured Isle de France. On 28 December she detained the ship
Mary while in company with and . She sailed for Newfoundland on 6 May 1811, participating in convoy duties from North America to the West Indies between 1812 and 1813.
The London Gazette shows that
head money was paid to the crew on 5 March 1811, while chroniclers in 1828 describe elements of the Brest blockading squadron chasing her ashore. However, there is no concrete evidence of such a ship existing on the French establishment. The previous was destroyed at the
Battle of the Nile in 1787.
William O'Byrne suggests it was a new ship that
Charles Dashwood fought in 1801, however,
William James could find no evidence of the existence of a ''L'Artémise'' apart from Dashwood's engagement and her reported destruction by
Minerva in 1808. Thus, while it is assured that
Minerva destroyed a ship by running it ashore on 18 August 1808, the identity of that ship is unknown. ==Fate==