Fisgard was a continuation of the successful Leda class that had been designed by Sir John Henslow and served during the Napoleonic Wars.

[2] She came under the command of Captain John Alexander Duntze on 13 May 1843 and spent some time in the Pacific,[3] which included an assignment to assess the naval potential of Fort Victoria in what would eventually become the capital of British Columbia.

On 18 September 1847, during a voyage from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Portsmouth, Hampshire, she ran aground off East Cowes, Isle of Wight; she was refloated.

Commodore James John Gordon Bremer hoisted his flag aboard her on 24 October 1847, the first of a number of such officers.

On 20 December 1858 Fisgard became the flagship of Commodore James Robert Drummond, the commander-in-chief at Woolwich.