There the officers of the Malta Yard surveyed her; after she was found fit for service the navy commissioned her as . From November 1803 until August 1804 Cameleon patrolled the coast between Genoa and Marseilles. Off Marseilles she chased a large corvette and a brig back to their anchorage. During the cruise she captured 10 vessels, destroyed one at Port Maurice, assisted at the capture of three others, and brought off a raft of spars and timber from a beach at Hieres. Nelson then permitted Staines to cruise the Adriatic. However, the three-month-long cruise left no record of any notable events. From December 1804 to April 1805 Cameleon was employed protecting the Levant trade. In particular, she escorted a large convoy from the eastern Mediterranean to Gibraltar. On 15 June 1805, while Cameleon was lying becalmed, a flotilla of Spanish gunboats approached. However, when Cameleon got out her sweeps and a breeze sprang up they withdrew. Cameleon and then operated together under the command of Captain George Digby of Beagle. At one point Cameleon emerged unscathed after running a gantlet of fire from batteries as she was reconnoitering between the shore and Ascombrera Island (now Isla Escombreras, and connected to the shore). Then, off Carthagena, Cameleon sighted a garda-costa escorting six merchant vessels as they sailed eastward. The Spaniards were too well armed and were able to repel Cameleons boats, causing losses of five men killed, wounded or missing. The missing either drowned in trying to board the garda-costa, or were captured after gaining her deck. Cameleons last adventure took place on 15 August. She was forced to throw carronades, shot and stores overboard to escape from a Spanish 74-gun ship. While Beagle sailed towards Cameleon to take her in tow, a breeze came up that aided the Spaniard. Just in time for Cameleon, the Spaniard and the two British vessels sighted four sail off to the south-west. The British made signals as if the four unknown vessels were British warships, leading the Spanish 74 to withdraw back to her anchorage, with Beagle and Cameleon in pursuit. Fate Cameleon was paid off at Portsmouth in September 1805. The Commissioners of the Navy offered her for sale there on 20 September 1810. Cameleon was broken up at Portsmouth in April 1811. Notes, citations, and references Notes Citations References Nelson, Horatio, 1st Vicount (1845) The dispatches and letters of vice admiral