HMS Mariner was the name-ship of the Royal Navy Mariner-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns.

[2] Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby,[1] the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, her hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking.

She was fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine driving a single screw, produced by Hawthorn Leslie.

Her keel was laid at Devonport Royal Dockyard on 8 January 1883 and she was launched on 23 June 1884.

Her entire class were re-classified in November 1884 as sloops before they entered service.