[1] The Banterer class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, the Admiralty Director of Naval Construction.

The ships were of composite construction, meaning that the keel, frames, stem and stern posts were of iron, while the hull was planked with timber.

This had the advantage of allowing the vessels to be coppered, thus keeping marine growth under control, a problem that caused iron-hulled ships to be frequently docked.

In appearance they were distinguishable from the preceding Forester class (also a Barnaby design) by their vertical stems.

[1] Two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engines built by Barrow Iron Shipbuilding, Maudslay, Sons and Field or J. and G. Rennie provided 440 indicated horsepower through a single screw, sufficient for 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph).