In 1885, the Royal Navy purchased the tug Indra, which was under construction by the shipbuilder W. B. Thomson at their Dundee shipyard for service at Calcutta in India. The tug was launched on 18 April 1885 as Yard number 65.[1]
The ship was 212feet long overall, with a beam of 30inchesft0inchesin (ftin) and a draught of 13inchesft5inchesin (ftin). Displacement was 13000NaN0, with a tonnage of 719 GRT and 156 NRT.[1] The ship was powered by two 2-cylinder Compound steam engines, rated at 2400ihp, driving two propeller shafts.[1] This gave a speed of 14kn. Armament was two 4 inch (102 mm) BL and two 12 pdr (76 mm) BL guns.
The ship underwent builders sea trials from June 1886, with acceptance trials completed in August that year, and sailing from Dundee to Chatham Dockyard on 5 September 1885. The ship was renamed to HMS Hearty on 7 December 1885.[1] She was commissioned in September 1886, serving as a Special Service Vessel, employed on Fishery Protection duties in the North Sea and as a tug,[1] and later was employed for harbour service at Chatham and Sheerness.
On 11 November 1907, Hearty was carrying a cargo of lifejackets between Chatham and Sheerness when she encountered heavy fog, which caused the journey to be aborted. When the fog lifted later in the day, she attempted the journey again, only to collide with and sink a barge and then run aground.[2] In September 1908 she was employed, together with the battleship and the repair ship, in towing targets for the Nore division of the Home Fleet for battle practice in Moray Firth.[3] She was recommissioned as a survey ship in 1910,[4] and was based at Dover for a series of deep tidal surveys of the English Channel,[5] before being assigned to survey duties in the North Sea.[1] In 1912, she was assisted by the surveying trawler Esther in her North Sea surveying duties.[6] She continued on survey duties based at the Nore during the First World War.
In April 1920, she was listed for sale,[7] and she was sold to M.S. Hilton for use as a salvage vessel on 6 November 1920. She was renamed Dalhousie in 1921, and on 12 May 1922 was transferred to the Ocean Salvage Co Ltd of London, being employed in the Baltic. She was registered to the Ocean Salvage & Towage Co Ltd of London on 15 November 1922. In 1930, she was sold to the Swedish shipbreaker Karlshamns Skepsvarv, and she was scrapped in 1935.[1]