Condor - class sloop The " Condor " class was a six - ship class of 10 - gun screw steel sloop s built for the Royal Navy between 1898 and 1900 . " Condor " foundered in a gale , prompting the Royal Navy to abandon sailing rigs for its ships . The last of the class , " Mutine " , survived until 1932 as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve drill ship . Design . The " Condor " class was constructed of steel to a design by William White , the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction . They were powered by a three - cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing and driving twin screws . Sail plan . The class was originally designed and built with barque - rigged sails , although some pictures show ships of the class with a barquentine rig . " Condor " was lost in a gale during her first commission , and the contemporary gunnery pioneer Admiral Percy Scott ascribes her sinking to the encumbrance of sails , and furthermore believed that her loss finally convinced that Admiralty to abandon sails entirely . All other ships of the class had their sails removed during the first few years of the twentieth century . Armament . The class was armed with six 4 - inch / 25 - pounder ( 1 ton ) quick - firing breech loaders and four 3 - pounder quick - firing breech loaders . Operational lives . The design of the " Condor " class differed from the screw sloops of the 1860s only in an evolutionary sense ( although constructed of steel and armed with quick - loading guns , they retained the sails and layout of the earlier vessels ) ; by the turn of the twentieth century they were thoroughly obsolete . The overseas stations of the Royal Navy were responsible for patrolling the maritime British Empire , and these ships were intended for that role . The rapidity with which they were converted to depot ships , training ships or survey ships gives testament to their outmoded design . According to " Hansard " , it was stated by the Secretary to the Admiralty about the almost identical " Cadmus " class in Parliament on 6 March 1905 that HMS " Condor " . During her short career , " Condor " served on the Pacific Station . On 3 December 1901 while on passage from Esquimalt to Hawaii she foundered in a gale off Vancouver Island ( position approximately ) . Her last contact was with the light station on Cape Flattery . All hands ( 130 ship ' s company and 10 supernumeries ) were lost . The tragedy occurred during her first commission and less than three years after her launch . In May 1949 the trawler " Blanco " hauled up wreckage from a depth of The wreckage included a ship ' s binnacle matching that supplied to " Condor " . HMS " Rosario " . " Rosario " relieved HMS " Rattler " on the China Station in June 1900 , and re - commissioned at Hong Kong on 5 November 1913 , becoming a depot ship for submarines . She was sold at Hong Kong in December 1921 . HMS " Mutine " . While being delivered from Birkenhead to Portsmouth an accident in " Mutine ' s " boiler rooms caused some loss of life and gave her a name as an unlucky ship before her career even began . She served on the China Station and became a survey ship , surviving until 1932 as an Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve drill ship , the last of her class to be sold . HMS " Rinaldo " . " Rinaldo " served in South - East Asia , including taking medical assistance to Brunei in August 1904 during an outbreak of smallpox . By 1914 she was tender and training ship to HMS " Vivid " , Devonport Royal Naval Reserve . She then saw service in West , South and East Africa until the end of WW1 . She was sold for breaking in October 1921 . HMS " Shearwater " . " Shearwater " served on the Pacific Station . She recommissioned on 27 November 1912 at Esquimalt . She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as a submarine depot ship in 1915 , sold to Western Shipping Co , Canada in May 1922 and renamed " Vedas " . HMS " Vestal " . " Vestal " served on the China Station , later becoming training ship and tender to HMS " Excellent " , Portsmouth . She was sold for breaking on the same day as " Rinaldo " .