96 Book of Steamships 



Another year went by, and in 1840 the 

 Admiralty had an iron paddle-wheeler of 

 their own. This was the Dover. 



A little later the Admiralty purchased, 

 ready-made, an iron screw-propelled 

 vessel. She was re-named H.M.S. Dwarf. 

 Of 164 tons, she showed a speed of about 

 10 knots at that time considered very 

 good for a steamer. 



Next on the " family tree " we have the 

 Birkenhead. She, too, was built of iron, 

 and was a paddle- wheeler. Though built 

 as a frigate, she was turned over to trans- 

 port duties. Her tonnage was 1,400. Of 

 her loss, off South Africa, with 454 per- 

 sons drowned, I need not tell, for if any 

 story is likely to find a permanent place 

 in the annals of the sea, it is that of the 

 loss of the Birkenhead. 



The outbreak of the Crimean War 

 aroused our Admiralty to the need for 

 steam warships, and they acquired two 

 paddle-wheel gunboats built in England 

 for the Prussian Government. They were 



