Frolic - class gunvessel The " Frolic " - class gunvessels were a class of composite gunboat s built for the Royal Navy in the early 1870s . They were generally deployed overseas to the East Indies , West Africa , and China Station s . In addition to showing the flag , the ships fought pirates and suppressed the slave trade in East Africa . They were placed in reserve in the mid - 1880s , and two of them were sold for scrap by the end of the decade . The other pair survived for longer as they were either modified for harbour service or became a training ship before being sold or scrapped . The last survivor , " Ready " , was used in support of William Beebe ' s expedition in his bathysphere in 1930 near Bermuda . Design and description . The four ships of the " Frolic " class were repeats of the preceding " Beacon " class despite being begun four years later . The ships were long between perpendiculars and had a beam of . Forward , the ships had a draught of , but aft they drew . They displaced as built and had a burthen of 462 tons . The depth of hold was and the hull was subdivided by watertight bulkheads . Their crew consisted of 80 officers and enlisted men . The supply of engines from the old Crimean War gunboats had been exhausted by that time and they were given brand - new engines . Unlike their half sisters , these ships received new compound - expansion trunk steam engines from John Penn and Sons . Each engine powered a single propeller . The engines produced between which gave the ships a maximum speed between . The new engines proved to be more powerful than those used in the " Beacon " s , but they were as uneconomical as the simple steam engines used in the older ships and fell from favour as a result . Three cylindrical boilers provided steam to the engines at a working pressure of . The ships carried of coal which gave them a range of at 10 knots . The hull shape of the " Frolic " s was identical to that of their predecessors and they had a very full hull shape with squared - off bilge s and a flat bottom . Admiral G . A . Ballard commented that they were built " along the lines of an extremely elongated packing crate . " This made them steady gun platforms and gave them quite a bit of buoyancy . If they ran aground , this shape allowed them to be pulled off easily and they remained upright if stranded by a receding tide . However , this hull shape made their steering erratic at low speeds or in a following sea and they made a large amount of leeway in a strong side breeze . The class was barque rigged and their best speed under sail alone was over if running before the wind , despite the drag of the propellers , which could neither be hoisted out of the water , nor feathered . In a headwind , Ballard described them as " quite unmanageable under sail alone " because of their shallow draft and flat bottom . Their funnels were hinged to lower horizontally to reduce wind resistance while under sail . A poop deck was added in between commissions , but this was the only major structural change made during their careers . The ships were initially armed with a mix of 7 - inch and 64 - pounder 56 cwt rifled muzzle - loading guns and a pair of 20 - pounder rifled breechloading guns . The and 64 - pounder guns were mounted on the centreline as pivot gun s while the two 20 - pounder guns were mounted at the bow and stern as chase gun s . The 16 - calibre 7 - inch gun weighed and fired a shell . It was credited with the nominal ability to penetrate armour . A lighter , , 7 - inch gun developed in the 1870s replaced the heavier gun in " Frolic " and it replaced both heavy guns in " Rifleman " . Service . These ships were primarily designed for service in Southeast Asian waters , including the rivers , and " Frolic " and " Kestrel " spent at least one commission there . Their duties included protecting British lives and property and fighting pirates . Another major deployment area was the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa where " Frolic " and " Rifleman " served part of one or more commissions . " Frolic " , " Ready " , and " Rifleman " served at least one commission off the south - east coast of South America . " Kestrel " , " Ready " , and " Rifleman " each made one or more deployment to the East Indies Station where they helped to suppress the slave trade between East Africa and the Persian Gulf . At the beginning of the Anglo - Egyptian War of 1882 , " Ready " seized the assets of the Suez Canal Company , including its dredger s . At the end of 1873 , " Kestrel " was on the China Station , " Ready " off South America , and " Rifleman " in the East Indies . A few months later , " Frolic " was one of the ships that blockaded the mouth of the Klang River in Malaysia in an attempt to suppress piracy supported by the local sultan . Together with the survey ship , " Rifleman " helped to suppress a rebellion in Mombasa against the British - supported Sultan of Zanzibar in 1875 . All four ships were placed in reserve in the mid - 1880s and " Kestrel " and " Rifleman " were sold in 1888 and 1890 respectively . " Frolic " became a training ship for the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1888 before being assigned to the Coastguard in 1893 as Watch Vessel " W . V . 30 " and later " W . V . 41 " . She was sold for scrap on 7 April 1908 . " Ready " was converted into a tank vessel in 1894 , renamed " Drudge " in October 1916 and sold in Bermuda on 25 February 1920 . Her new owners converted her to a lighter and she carried the winch that hoisted William Beebe ' s bathysphere up and down in 1930 . Her ultimate fate is unknown .