HMS Icarus was a Mariner-class

Mariner class gunvessel

The Mariner class was a class of 8-gun gunvessels built for the Royal Navy between 1883 and 1888.-Design:...

 composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns, and the third Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 vessel to carry the name. She was launched in 1885 at Devonport and sold in 1904.

Construction

Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby

Nathaniel Barnaby

Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, KCB was Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1885....

, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

, her hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. She was fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine driving a single screw, produced by Barrow Iron Shipbuilding. Uniquely among her class she was built rigged with no main yards, making her a barquentine

Barquentine

A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...

-rigged vessel; the rest of her class were barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

-rigged. However, later pictures show her rigged as a barque. Her keel was laid at Devonport Royal Dockyard

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 on 18 August 1883 and she was launched on 27 July 1885 by Miss Julia Wilson, the daughter of Admiral Superintendent Wilson

John Wilson (Royal Navy officer)

Rear Admiral John Crawford Wilson was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station.-Early life:Wilson was born in 1834 to James Wilson and Margret Wilson . He was the tenth of 12 children....

; the launch was originally planned for 11 July but was postponed following the admiral's death on 4 July. Her entire class were re-classified in November 1884 as sloops

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 before they entered service.

Career

Icarus was commissioned on 6 July 1886 at Devonport. After returning from the Pacific in 1890 she had additional Quick Firing (QF) guns added.

The ship's companies of Icarus, and were awarded the West Africa Medal

East and West Africa Medal

The East and West Africa Medal was a campaign medal approved for issue to officers and men of the British armed forces in East and West Africa. The obverse held a left-facing portrait of Queen Victoria with the inscription "VICTORIA REGINA"...

 with the bar "1887-1888" for their part in supporting the infantry of the West India Regiment

West India Regiment

The West India Regiment was an infantry unit of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. The regiment differed from similar forces raised in other parts of the British Empire in that it formed an integral part of the...

 between 13 November 1887 and 2 January 1888 against the Yonnie tribes in Sierra Leone.

In 1890 the levels of desertion and punishment under her commanding officer, Commander Annesley, was sufficiently high to prompt a question in the House of Commons. The reply by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord George Hamilton, reveals good reason for the concern, since Icarus only had a total complement of 126:
Her last years were spent on the Pacific Station

Pacific Station

The Pacific Station, often referred to as the Pacific Squadron, was one of the geographical divisions into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities...

, based in Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard at Esquimalt, in British Columbia, Canada.