Volage was built by Richard Chapman, of
Bideford, who launched her on 23 March 1807. She sailed to the
Mediterranean in October 1807, soon after commissioning in May 1807 under Captain Philip Rosenhagen. On 6 November she was off
Galita Island when she captured the French cutter
Succès, of ten guns and 59 men, under the command of
lieutenant de vaisseau Bourdé Villehuet. According to her captain,
Succès had sailed from Toulon three days earlier on a cruise; Rosenhagen suspected that she was actually carrying despatches that Villehuet had had time to destroy. Rosenhagen also thought that
Succès may have been in British service as the
Sussex. The next year, on 28 July 1808,
Volage captured the French brig just north of Corsica after a chase of nine hours during which
Requin threw her boats, boom, and anchors overboard.
Requin was only 14 months old, armed with 16 guns, though pierced for 18, and had a crew of 108 men under the command of
capitaine de fregate Bérard, a Member of the
Legion of Honour. She had just left Ajaccio where she had delivered prizes that she had taken on her way from Algiers to Toulon. Rosenhagen took his prisoners into Malta before returning to his station. A French account reports that
Requin endured two-and-a-half hours of fire, returning three broadsides, before surrendering to the English frigate
Volage, of 40 guns. Earlier, in May, had chased and engaged
Requin for some 88 hours and 369 miles before having to give up the chase when
Requin was able to gain the protection of the guns of Fort Goleta in the bay of Tunis. The British took
Requin into service as HMS
Sabine. Almost a year later,
Volage captured two more privateers. On 6 September 1809 she captured
Annunciate, of two guns and 40 men. Then on 20 September,
Volage captured
Jason, of six guns and 69 men. In June 1810, boats from
Volage and , under the command of Captain John Duff Markland of
Bustard, entered a port a few miles south of
Cortone. There they destroyed 25 vessels carrying stores and provisions for
Joachim Murat's army in Sicily. In 1810 Captain
Phipps Hornby took command and she served in the
Adriatic, fighting at the Battle of Lissa and driving off a much larger French ship during the action. The action cost
Volage 13 men killed and 33 wounded.
Volage was badly cut-up in the battle. On 2 June she sailed from Malta for England in company with and the prizes from the battle. She carried with her
Lord Byron as a passenger. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded all surviving claimants from the action the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Lissa". Following this victory,
Volage came briefly under the command of Arthur Bingham in February 1812, or so. She then was sent to the East Indies under Captain
Donald Hugh Mackay. She was carrying Sir
Evan Nepean, who was taking up his post as governor in Bombay, and escorting three
cartel ships. On the way she arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 24 June. She then served under the orders of
Sir Samuel Hood in the Eastern Archipelago and the China seas. In June 1813,
Volage was under the command of Captain Samuel Leslie when her sailors took part in
the capture of the pirate settlement at
Sambas, in Borneo. There they helped capture five batteries, one after another, in half an hour. In September
Volage participated in the operations in support of the restoration of the Sultan of
Palembang. Leslie left
Volage on 1 January 1814. Then for while she came under the command of her
first lieutenant (acting captain) John Allen. In March
Volage next came under the command of Captain Joseph Drury, followed by Captain Charles Biddulph in April. However he died in April 1815. In February 1816 she came under the command of Captain Johnathan Bartholomew Hoar Curran, who sailed her back to Britain.
Disposal: Volage was sold on 29 January 1818 for £1,600 to a Mr. Lackland for mercantile use. She then assumed the name
Rochester. ==Mercantile career==