HMS Mohawk was purchased by Horatio Nelson Lay, Inspector General of the Qing Dynasty Chinese Maritime Customs Service, on 20 September 1862, as part of an effort to bolster the Qing Dynasty naval force in response to the ongoing Taiping Rebellion.

[1][2] Thereafter she was renamed Pei King (also as Pekin, Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng; lit.

[3] Upon her arrival in China, the Qing government ordered the ship to be renamed as Chin T'ai (Chinese: 金台; pinyin: Jīntái).

[1][4] Disagreements between the Qing government and Lay over the command of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla led to its disbandment in 1863, and Pekin returned to the United Kingdom.

[5] When the American Civil War ended in 1865, she, along with China and Tientsin, were sold in an auction to Egypt on 30 December 1865 for £20,500.