Busy was the sole vessel of her class. Her designer was John Henslow, and she was identical with his contemporaneous except that Busy was a brig-sloop and Echo was a ship-sloop. Henslow's designs were in competition with Sir William Rule's designs for a brig-sloop () and a ship-sloop (). Rule's brig-sloop design won as the Admiralty ultimately ordered 106 Cruizer-class brig-sloops.
