The order for Surly was placed with T & W Smith on 4 October and her keel was laid in Newcastle on 15 October.[2]
Surly was fitted with three cylindrical boilers and a horizontal single expansion direct acting engine supplied by Maudslay, Sons & Field.[1] [2] Fitted with sails as well as her single screw, she was capable of 7.50NaN0 and could carry 25long ton of coal for fuel.[1] The vessel was launched on schedule on 18 March 1856,[3] [2] and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 5 July, having cost £9,867, of which the hull accounted for £5,656 and machinery £3,298.[2]
The Albacore-class were armed with a single muzzle-loaded smoothbore 68-pounder gun (95 cwt; barrel length 10 feet) mounted on a pivot at aft, and a muzzle-loaded smoothbore 32-pounder gun (56 cwt; barrel length 9.5 feet) at the ships' forward. They were also fitted with two 24-pounder howitzers on broadside gun carriages. The Albacore-class carried a crew of 36-40 men.[1]
Upon commissioning Surly went straight into the Royal Navy's Steam Reserve at Sheerness Dockyard. In April 1861 she was serving with the Coastguard Reserve at Hull as tender to HMS Cornwallis and later HMS Dauntless.[2] In Royal Navy service Surlys signal letters were GTWB.[4] Surly was paid off in April 1869 and sold out of service at public auction on 21 October 1869, making £1,025.[2]