HMS Glasgow was a wooden screw frigate

Screw frigate

Steam frigates and the smaller steam corvettes were steam-powered warships.The first vessel that can be considered a steam frigate was the Demologos which was launched in 1815 for the United States Navy....

, the fifth ship of the name to serve in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

Glasgow was launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 28 March 1861. Despite ironclad ships being introduced in 1858 and effectively rendering wooden hulls obsolete the Glasgow was built of wood to use up some of the extensive stocks of ship building timber then stored in Britain. Indeed the Glasgow would be one of the last Royal Navy Vessels to be made entirely from wood. Her one and only foreign deployment was as flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 to the East Indies from 1871-5. From 24 May 1871 until her decommissioning she was commanded by Captain

Captain (Royal Navy)

Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...

 Theodore Morton Jones. During this time she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral James Cockburn

James Cockburn (Royal Navy officer)

Rear Admiral James Horsford Cockburn was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station.-Naval career:...

 and then of Arthur Cumming

Arthur Cumming (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Arthur Cumming KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was born in Nancy, France to Sir Henry Cumming, a general in the British Army and received naval education at the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth...

, following Cockburn's death. Glasgow was paid off on 20 July 1875 and sold for breaking up in December 1884. The Glasgow was used by Sultan Bargash of Zanzibar

Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar

Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid, GCMG, GCTE , son of Said bin Sultan,was the second Sultan of Zanzibar. Barghash ruled Zanzibar from October 7, 1870 to March 26, 1888....

 as the model for his royal yacht HHS Glasgow

HHS Glasgow

His Highness' Ship Glasgow was a royal yacht belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar. She was built in the style of the British frigate HMS Glasgow which had visited the Sultan in 1873. The Glasgow cost the Sultan £32,735 and contained several luxury features but failed to impress the Sultan and she...

, Bargash having been impressed by the ship when it visited Zanzibar in 1873.