Viper remained off the Gulf Coast enforcing the Embargo Act until the outbreak of the War of 1812. During the war, Viper proved woefully inadequate in deep water operations against the larger, more heavily gunned British warships and was captured by the 32-gun frigate HMS Narcissuss (Capt. John R. Lumley, RN) off the coast of Belize, British Honduras, on 17 January 1813 and taken to New Providence in the Bahama Islands. Nothing is known of her subsequent career.