The Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 Osprey-class sloop.

[4] All the ships of the class were provided with a barque rig,[4] that is, square-rigged foremast and mainmast, and fore-and-aft sails only on the mizzen mast.

[5] Some of the supernumeraries may have been bound for ships already on station in the Pacific; one of the survivors, Engineer Walker, was due to join HMS Garnet.

She was launched on 2 March 1880 from Number 3 slip, and was named by Miss Hunt-Grubbe, daughter of the captain of Steam Reserves at Chatham.

Barnaby, Doterel's designer, was an enthusiast of heavily armed but un-armoured frigates, sloops and corvettes, arguing that the Navy's tasks were best accomplished by a number of small, cheap ships.

[8] The system of colonial cruisers provided an inexpensive peace-keeping force for the protection of British interests, and gave imperial representatives a supply of sailors, marines and guns to deal with local rulers, rebellions and banditry.

[8][9] Doterel was assigned to the Pacific Station, which included the western coasts of North and South America as well as China and Japan.

[3] Eyewitnesses described how objects of every type were thrown high into the air, and a huge column of smoke was seen to rise from the ship.

[6][12] Commander Evans, the captain of Doterel telegrammed the Admiralty from Montevideo on 3 May 1881: 'Doterel' totally destroyed and sunk by explosion of fore magazine at Sandy Point,[Note 1] 10 a.m., April 26.

Commander Evans, Lieutenant Stokes, Paymaster Colborne, Engineer Walker (of Garnet), Carpenter Baird, Gunner's Mate Pengelly, Quartermaster Trout, Caulker's Mate Ford, Shipwright Walkers, Ordinary Seaman James Smith, Stoker Turner, Marine Summers.

[14] The contemporary rules governing pensions allowed the widow or dependent children of the dead men a gratuity equal to a year's pay,[15] although the loss of their property was not compensated.

[22][26] While cleaning the leaking explosive liquid from beneath the forward magazine, the men may have broken the rule of not having an open flame below decks.

[14][26] The Admiralty ordered xerotine siccative to be discontinued from use in the fleet,[27] and a system of ventilation was recommended for all ships of the Royal Navy.

[26] Arthur Conan Doyle referred to the sinking of Doterel in the short story "That Little Square Box".