Comus was a single-screw corvette (later classified as a third-class cruiser) designed for distant cruising service for the British Empire.
The ship initially carried two 7-inch muzzle-loading rifles, four breechloading 6-inch 80-pounder guns and eight 64-pdr muzzle-loading rifles, but the breech loaders proved unsatisfactory and were replaced in the rest of the class with more 64-pounders [REF].