It was also found to have a more destructive broadside at close range, so that a smaller (and cheaper) ship could be more effective in naval actions than a much larger man-of-war.

Sir Henry Peake designed a small ship to operate in both shallow and deep waters, carrying eight 16-pounder or 18-pounder carronades plus two long 6-pounder cannon as forward-mounted chase guns.

These open flush-decked ships lacked a forecastle to deflect heavy seas crashing over the bow: one was added to Beagle in 1825 before its first voyage, together with a mizzen mast which improved the handling.

— Our decks fully deserved their nickname of a "half tide rock"; so constantly did the water flow over them",[5][6] but John Lort Stokes who was on all three survey expeditions praised Beagle: "The reader will be surprised to learn that she belongs to that much-abused class, the '10-gun brigs'—coffins, as they are not infrequently designated in the service; notwithstanding which, she has proved herself, under every possible variety of trial, in all kinds of weather, an excellent sea boat.

"[7] William James, in his Naval History written before May 1827, dismissed the supposed design faults, and said that it would be "surprising indeed that the navy board would continue adding new individuals by dozens at a time" to "this worthless class".

[citation needed] A more recent naval historian, Robert Gardiner, concurs, stating that there seems to have been no particular fault in their design, but they were considered to be somewhat too small for the global duties they took on.

[4] According to one experienced commander, they were not easy to sail but, "...if we put an officer who has always been accustomed to a line-of-battle-ship in to one of them, and he proves headstrong and self-sufficient, ten to one he upsets her, but in the hands of a good brig sailor, they are as safe as any other vessel".

HMS Lyra and Redpole were at the Battle of Basque Roads in 1809, guiding fireships to their target in the initial attack, and the latter also participated in the Walcheren Expedition later in the same year.

Six of the vessels originally ordered 25 March 1823 were swiftly re-ordered as paddle steamers in May 1824 – Alban and Carron (both at Deptford), Columbia, Confiance, Dee and Echo (all four at Woolwich).