HMS Aetna (or HMS Etna) was the mercantile Success launched in 1803 at Littlehampton. The Admiralty purchased here in 1803 to convert her to a Royal Navy bomb vessel. Aetna participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. Later, she participated in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. The Navy sold her in 1816 and she returned to mercantile service under her original name. She sailed to Calcutta, to Rio de Janeiro, and more locally until she was wrecked in 1823. Mercantile origins Aetna was the merchant vessel Success, launched at Arundel, equally Littlehampton, at the mouth of the River Arun. She appeared in the Register of Shipping (RS) in the volume for 1804 with W.Birch, master, J. Coney, owner, and trade London. The Admiralty purchased Success in 1803. Naval career Aetna was commissioned in December 1803 under Commander George Cocks and first served in the Mediterranean. His replacement was Commander Richard Thomas. In December 1805 she came under the command of Captain John Quillam and in February 1807 or so under Commander William Peake, still in the Mediterranean. She was recommissioned in June 1807 under Commander William Godfrey for the Baltic. There she took part in the siege and bombardment of Copenhagen between 15 August and 20 October 1807, resulting in the capture of Danish Fleet by Admiral Gambier. Battle of the Basque Roads On 6 April 1809, Aetna, eight fire ships, and a transport with Congreve rockets, joined Captain Lord Cochrane's fleet of frigates, sloops and gunbrigs off the Chasseron lighthouse where Cochrane was preparing to attack French warships in the Basque Roads. Aetna was the only vessel of her class present. On the night of 11 April Aetna, the frigate and the sloop were stationed near the north-west of the Île-d'Aix while the fire ships were launched against the enemy. At 11:00 on the 13th Aetna, , the gun-brigs and the rocket cutters moved up to the mouth of the Charante to fire on the French ships , and Indienne which had been driven ashore. Aetna split her 13-inch mortar in the attack. At 16:00 the falling tide forced them to return to their former anchorage under fire from shore batteries. By the evening of the 14th she had