[3] Unlike Calliope, the more famous member of the class, Calypso had a quiet career, consisting mainly of training cruises in the Atlantic Ocean.

Corvettes were designed to operate across the vast distances of Britain's maritime empire, and could not rely on dry docks for maintenance.

The class was well-suited to its designed role: trade protection and distant cruising service for the British Empire at its Victorian peak.

In 1890, Britain gave up the isle of Heligoland in the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, and Calypso was assigned to carry out the ceremony of transfer to the German Empire and bring back the island's last British governor.

[15] In 1895 Calypso was part of the squadron which conducted surveys well above the Arctic Circle, and a landfall and cluster of buildings on Svalbard, Norway, now a cultural heritage site, were named in honour of its visits to those waters.

[18] On 26 June 1897 Calypso was present at the Review of the Fleet off Spithead held to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne.

[19] Paid off into reserve at Devonport in 1898,[12] it was no longer considered a fighting ship by the turn of the century, and it was felt it could best be employed in training naval reservists for service at sea.

[26] These objections were felt to be outweighed by cost, convenience, and accessibility of staff to the colonial government, and St. John's was chosen to host the ship.

Without sail or working boilers the vessel could no longer go to sea and was permanently moored wharfside at the western end of the St. John's harbour.

[30] She also provided home defence,[29] including manning coast artillery at the entrance to the St. Johns harbour,[31] and the protection of Newfoundland's shore and shipping.

Relocation would have been a significant expense to the Admiralty, and the Colonial Office was informed that the dominion would accept complete withdrawal of the vessel.

(From the Historical Committee, Royal Canadian Legion, Grand Falls Branch #12, NL) These remnants are not the sole remaining legacy.

[42] In the final chapter of James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses, Molly Bloom recalls having had a brief affair with a sailor from Calypso in Gibraltar circa 1886.