The HMS Magnet, destroyed to prevent capture August 5th, 200 years ago. was a ten-gun schooner, later altered to a brig of the Royal navy in 1814. It saw service on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812 and was previously named Simcoe or Governor Simcoe for John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada.
While under this name, it was chased by a U.S. ship. It was never commissioned so wouldn't have been an HMS ship.
It was purchased by the British Navy in 1814 and renamed the HMS Magnet after British naval officer Sidney Smith. (Probably a story of why he was called Magnet.)
--Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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