HMS Egeria
Class overview
Name	Fantome-class sloops
Builders	Pembroke Dock Blackwall Yard Chatham Dockyard Money Wigram & Sons
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Eclipse class
Succeeded by	Osprey class
Cost	Egeria: Hull £32,468, machinery £10,414[1]
Built	1873–1874
In commission	1873–1911
Completed	6
Scrapped	6
General characteristics
Type	Screw composite sloop
Displacement	949 long tons (964 t)
Tons burthen	727 bm
Length	160 ft (48.8 m) (p/p)
Beam	31 ft 4 in (9.6 m)
Draught	14 ft (4.3 m)
Depth	15 ft 6 in (4.7 m)
Installed power	836–1,011 ihp (623–754 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft 1 × 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine 3 × cylindrical boilers
Sail plan	Barque rig
Speed	10–11 knots (19–20 km/h; 12–13 mph)
Range	1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	140
Armament	2 × 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns 2 × 6.3-inch 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns

The Fantome class was a six-ship class of 4-gun screw composite sloops ^[2] built for the Royal Navy during 1873 and 1874.

Fantome and her sister ships were constructed of an iron frame sheathed with teak and copper (hence 'composite').

A two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine provided by Humphrys, Tennant & Co. powered an 11-foot (3.4 m) diameter screw. Steam was provided by three cylindrical boilers working at 60 pounds per square inch (4.1 bar). The indicated horsepower varied from 836 to 1,011 ihp (623 to 754 kW). Daring was fitted with a trunk engine provided by John Penn & Sons.^[1]

All the ships of the class were provided with a full barque rig.

The Fantome class carried two 7-inch (180 mm) and two 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifles, all mounted on pivots.

Built at a time of great technological change in naval architecture, these composite sloops were obsolete before they were completed. Nevertheless, they served a useful function on the far-flung stations of the British Empire, including participation in minor wars, such as the Perak War. They were also used for hydrography, and for this reason Egeria was retained until 1911.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fantome class sloop.

• Ballard, G. A. (1939). "British Sloops of 1875: The Smaller Composite Type". Mariner's Mirror. 25 (April). Cambridge, UK: Society for Nautical Research: 151–61.
• Roberts, John (1979). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.