HMS Polyphemus was an Alecto-class sloop designed by Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy.

[Note 1] Her first commission started on 25 February 1841 under the command of Lieutenant John Evans, RN for service in the Mediterranean.

[9] She was commissioned on 16 February 1852 under Commander Charles Gerrans Phillips for service on the west coast of Africa,[10] She returned and paid off at Portsmouth on 23 September 1854.

[11] She was commissioned under Commander Frederick Pelham Warren, RN for service in the Baltic on 22 October 1855.

[12] She was wrecked on a steep sandy beach seven miles from Hansholme on the Baltic Coast of Jutland on 29 January 1856.