HMS Dido was an wooden screw sloop built for the Royal Navy in 1869. She was the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was reclassified in 1876 as a corvette, and in 1906 renamed Actaeon II. She served as a mine depot ship and was merged into the Torpedo School at Sheerness, being sold for breaking in 1922. Design Designed by Edward Reed, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, the hull was of wooden construction, with iron cross beams. A ram bow was fitted. Propulsion Propulsion was provided by a two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine by Humphrys, Tennant & Company driving a single screw. Sail Plan All the ships of the class were built with a ship rig, but this was altered to a barque rig. Armament The Eclipse class was designed with two 7-inch (6½-ton) muzzle-loading rifled guns mounted in traversing slides and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns. They were re-classified as corvettes in 1876, carrying 12 guns. History Launch and Commissioning Dido was launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 23 October 1869 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 20 April 1871 for service on the West Coast of Africa, leaving England on 6 May. West Africa Station (1871) Dido called at Madeira, arriving at Sierra Leone on 9 June. She relieved HMS Sirius at Fernando Po on 16 July. The Times of Thursday 8 June 1876 tells the story of her next adventure: In December 1871 Dido arrived at Simonstown, where Captain Chapman was to act as the Senior Officer during the absence of the Commodore on the West Coast. Five months later, on 16 May 1872, she left the Cape for Sydney, having been ordered to join the Australian Station. Australia Station (1872 - 1875) On her way to Sydney Dido paused at St. Paul's, where the remains of Megaera were still to be seen. She arrived at Sydney on 3 July 1872, and then spent nine months in New Zealand, followed by a journey to Fiji in February 1873. The islands of Fiji were in a state of chaos, with the relationship between the government of King Cakabau and the European settlers brought to crisis point by the murder of the Burns family. The Times relates what happened: After remaining in Fiji for six months she left for Sydney, pausing at the islands of the New Hebrides, Solomon, New Ireland,