Under the Naval Defence Act there were included five vessels of an improved Sharpshooter class, named Halcyon, Harrier, Hussar, Hazard, and Dryad, laid down in the financial year 1892-3 in the dockyards, but supplied with machinery by contract. The first three were constructed at Devonport, and engined by Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn and Leslie, and Co., Newcastle; the fourth, the Hazard, was built at Pembroke, and engined by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow; and the fifth, the Dryad, was constructed at Chatham, and engined by Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, and Field, London. All the vessels were alike (length 250 feet, beam 30 feet 6 inches, depth 9 feet; displacement 1070 tons), and were much larger than the Sharpshooters. The Hazard built at Pembroke, and engined by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow, had been completed in 1894 and had successfully passed her speed trials. Her propelling machinery consisted of two sets of 22-inch by34-inch by 51-inch by 21-inch stroke inverted-vertical triple-expansion marine engines, operating on steam supplied by four modified locomotive boilers; armament, two 4.7-inch and four 6-pounder quick-firing guns.