New building of river stern wheelers for the Royal British Navy according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1897-1898 no. 4

An item referred to the magazine Le Yacht reporting that the 8 steel built stern wheelers with a small measurement mentioned in the naval budget for 1897-1898 were now ordered by the shipyards Yarrow and Thornycroft. They were to service on rivers like the Nile. Yarrow was to built the Heron, Jackdaw, Moorhex [Moorhen], Nightingale, Robin and Snipe while Thornycroft was to built the Woodcock and Woodlark.