Demon is the sole surviving gunboat from the gunboat era, built in 1891 as HMS Handy. As such she probably served in Admiral Hood's force on the Belgian coast in 1915. Gunboats were an invention of 1854 when shallow draft vessels were needed for fighting along the shoaline coastlines of the Riark and Baltic Seas in the Crimean War. In the later years of the nineteenth century many were permanently stationed in Colonial outposts to keep the Queen's peace.
As of 1978, the Demon was at Pound's Shipbreaking Yard, Tipnor, Portsmouth (closed to the public).
Bibliography
Sullivan, Dick. Old Ships, Boats & Maritime Museums. London: Coracle Books, 1978. Pp. 50-51.
Last modified 11 April 2006