USS Julia was a schooner in the United States Navy during the War of 1812. Initially the privately-owned schooner Julia, she was captured at the onset of the war by armed boats looking for violators of President James Madison's embargo of trade with the British. Purchased by the United States Navy, the vessel was armed with two guns and made part of the squadron on Lake Ontario. Julia took part in the Battle of York and the Battle of Fort George. In August 1813, the schooner was captured by the Royal Navy after failing to execute a turn and was put in service as HMS Confiance. The vessel continued as a warship in British service for a couple of weeks before being converted to a troop transport. In October, Confiance was recaptured by the Americans and renamed Julia. No longer considered capable as a warship, the vessel was retired from service. Description and early career Julia was a schooner constructed at Oswego, New York and launched in 1811 for trade on the Great Lakes. Measuring 53 tons burthen, Julia was taken as a prize in June 1812 on the upper Saint Lawrence River by armed boats of the United States Navy for having violated President James Madison embargo of trade with the British. The master of Julia had failed to gain the proper certification showing that the schooner had cleared its last American port. War of 1812 In September 1812, Lieutenant Melancthon T. Woolsey purchased Julia for the Navy on Lake Ontario for $3,800. The ship was fitted with two guns, a long gun on a pivot and a gun and the ship had a complement of 40. Julia sailed from Sackets Harbor on 8 November 1812 with Commodore Isaac Chauncey's flotilla. That afternoon lookouts on the American ships spotted , flagship of the Provincial Marine, off False Ducks Island and sent her fleeing into the Bay of Quinte where she escaped due to nightfall. The next morning they again sighted her and resumed the chase. When the British ship reached the shelter of the shore batteries at Kingston, Upper Canada, Chauncey decided to follow her in to test the strength of the defenses and, if possible, to capture the warship. Led by and Julia, Chauncey's vessels, stood toward the harbor entrance despite the fire from on shore and Royal George. Approaching nightfall and threatening weather forced Chauncey to retreat