The class, made up of three vessels, was ordered on 16 July 1825 by Vice-Admiral Sir Lawrence Halsted, the commander-in-chief of the West Indies Station.

The class was modelled after the 2-gun schooner HMS Assiduous, a pirate vessel that the Royal Navy captured in 1823 and subsequently operated at Jamaica to combat piracy.

[5] On 16 August Magpie was in company with the 18-gun sloop HMS Pylades when they chased the slave ship Minerva into Havana.

Minerva landed her 200 slaves during the night; the captain general there refused to seize the ship and halt her activities, and as such Magpie and Pylades were unable to take any action against the slaver.

The six remaining men continued in the boat, forced to let it drift with the current while they suffered from extreme tropical heat and a lack of drinking water.

Four more died, including two who swam away while delirious, before at 6 a.m. on 29 August the boat was located by the American merchant brig Aspasia off the coast of Matanzas, rescuing the final two crew members.