Note 204 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
The dimensions of the Africa, built of wood by Messrs. Steele and Company, of Greenock, were as follows:
Builders’ Measurement. Ft. In.
Length of keel and fore rake 267 0
Breadth of beam 40 6
Depth of hold 27 6
Tonnage 2128 78-94ths
New Measurement.
Length on deck 265 0
Breadth on ditto at midships 37 2
Depth of hold at ditto 27 2
Tonnage 2226 24-100ths
She had a pair of side-lever engines, by Robert Napier of Glasgow, of 814 horse nominal power. Diameter of cylinders, 96 inches by 9 feet stroke; paddlewheels, diameter, extreme, 37 feet 7 inches, and 30 feet 10 inches effective; twenty-eight floats, 9 feet 2 inches by 3 feet 2 inches, three sets of twenty-eight arms, eight floats in the water at 19 feet draft of water. Four flue boilers, twenty furnaces; bunkers to hold 890 tons of coals; thirty-eight hands in the engine-room. The Africa was built of the best British oak, and planked double outside and inside, and the space between the frames was filled up, from the keel to the gunwale, with rock-salt, to preserve the vessel from the dry rot. The number of her berths enabled her to carry 180 passengers. She was manned by a full crew of chosen men, giving about one-third to each department. She was estimated to carry 900 tons of coal; and she had capacity for the transit of 600 tons of cargo, not including the stores of ship and passengers. Fitted up for carrying guns, the Africa could at any time be transformed, from the peaceful original, into an Admiralty ship of war. The saloons and berths were fitted with an evident regard at once to elegance and utility: there was nothing the most refined taste could desiderate, as there was nothing wanting which could add to the comfort, convenience, and pleasure of the passengers.