by Eduard von Knorr aboard Ariadne. The ship's first operation in Chinese waters began on 27 September, while the gunboat was in Amoy. The schooner Anna had been seized and run aground by a group of Chinese pirates at Fuzhou, who had murdered the ship's captain and helmsman. Cyclop sent a landing party ashore, who found the pirates, who were in possession of part of the schooner's cargo. Knorr planned further anti-piracy operations in the area, but the German ambassador in Beijing intervened to prevent an escalation between Germany and China, leading to the chief of the (Imperial Admiralty), Albrecht von Stosch, to issue new orders that restricted the ability of German naval commanders in the region to act. In February 1876, Cyclop sailed to Taiping Island in the South China Sea; she carried a memorial that was sent to commemorate the assistance given to the crew of the schooner F.S. Robertson, which had been wrecked on the island three years earlier on 8 July 1873. The local populace had come to the aid of the ship's crew, treated the injured, and helped to salvage the cargo, and the government had refused any reward from the German shipping company. Otto von Bismarck, then the German Chancellor, suggested to Wilhelm I that a monument be sent instead to recognize the efforts to help the crew. The monument arrived in early 1876, and Cyclop carried it to Taiping Island, helping to erect it there on 22 March. Cyclop departed two days later and sailed to Hong Kong, where she met Ariadne and Hertha. There, they awaited the arrival of the screw frigate , whose commander, Alexander von Monts, replaced Knorr as the local commander. Hertha and Ariande thereafter returned to Germany, being replaced by the corvette and the gunboat ; the four ships were thereafter organized as a squadron. Cyclop remained on station in East Asia through 1880, and during this period, she cruised throughout the region, visiting major ports as far north as Siberia and conducting hydrographic and topographical surveys. The ship typically spent the winter months at Tianjin. At the time, the ship's white paint was unusual, which led to her nickname "the white gunboat" among the crews of other warships in the region. By late 1880, the ship was in need of a thorough overhaul, and so she was relieved by the gunboat . On 1 January 1881, Cyclop