Topaze was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1809 and she then served with the Royal Navy under the name Jewel, and later Alcmene until she was broken up in 1816. French service She was built in Nantes in 1803 on plans by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait and launched on 1 March 1805. She was put into service in September. She departed from Nantes in June 1805 for Fort-de-France to carry new instructions to Admiral Villeneuve, but failed to reach him as the fleet was already heading for Europe. On 19 July she was the lead vessel of a squadron of four vessels that captured . The other three were the 22-gun corvette Départment des Landes, the 18-gun Torche, and the 16-gun brig-corvette Faune. On 14 August, a British squadron comprising the 74-gun , and HMS Raisonnable captured Faune, which was trailing. Two days later, the British caught up with the three remaining ships, and Baudin had to abandon Torche, which surrendered after a token resistance against Goliath. Raisonnable chased Topaze, which she engaged in the morning of 17 August. The two ships were becalmed at first and unable to manoeuver, until Topaze caught some breeze. Baudin prepared to board Raisonnable, but abandoned the project after considering that his frigate was ferrying the crew of Blanche; he later told Captain Mudge to testify that Raisonnable would have been taken, had it not been for Mudge's presence on Topaze. On 13 January 1803, Topaze, Pierre-Nicolas Lahalle, approached Cayenne. She was carrying flour and was under orders to avoid combat. At the time, the sloop HMS Confiance was at Cayenne, supporting the Portuguese conquest of French Guiana. However, three-quarters of her crew, as well as her captain, James Lucas Yeo, were ashore, attacking the French defenders. Midshipman G. Yeo, Yeo's younger brother, another midshipman, the remaining 25 men of the crew, and 20 local Negroes that the two midshipmen induced to join them, set sail towards Topaze. Topaze, judging from the sloop's boldness that she had company that would be forthcoming, turned away. A little over a week later, Topaze met HMS Cleopatra, which captured Topaze in the subsequent action of 22 January 1809. The British took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Jewel. British service After the loss of Alcmene in 1809, Jewel was renamed Alcmene later that year. On 5 October 1809 Alcmene was in