She served on the North America and West Indies station for less than two years before her loss by stranding on the Bajo Nuevo Bank in the Caribbean on 26 February 1859.

Developed during the Crimean War as an enlarged version of W. H. Walker's Albacore class, the Algerines were an acknowledgement that gunboats designed for coastal operations would inevitably be called upon to act in a cruising role, both in shallow and in deeper water.

[Note 3][1] This engine drove a single screw, which for the first time in a gunboat was provided with a hoisting mechanism; this ensured a better performance under sail than previous classes.

[1] Service on the North America and West Indies station in the late 1850s involved deterring the slave trade on the western side of the Atlantic.

Although there was considerable activity in chasing and examining potential slavers, it was rare to find a vessel engaged in the slave trade which could be legally detained.