[1] Built by R&H Green at the Blackwall Yard as HMY Emperor, she was presented to the Tokugawa administration by James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin as a present for the "Emperor" from Queen Victoria on the 26 August 1858, to commemorate the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce.

[2][3] During the Boshin War, Banryū participated in the Naval Battle of Awa, Japan's first engagement between two modern fleets, on 28 January 1868.

Under the command of Bankichi Matsuoka, she was one of the ships seized by Enomoto Takeaki and other Tokugawa loyalists in their escape to create the Republic of Ezo in Hokkaido later that year.

Matsuoka was dispatched to participate to the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay in March 1869, but had to return to Hachinohe due to the weather.

Afterwards, she was demilitarised, and served as a whaling ship out of Kochi, and later as a transport, passing through several owners until she was scrapped in 1897.