The _Ly-ee-moon_, launched in 1860 by the Thames Iron and Shipbuilding Company, resembled in some respects the steam-yacht of the Queen. She was built for Messrs. Dent and Co. for service between Hong-Kong and Shanghai, and was 270 feet in length and 27 feet 3 inches beam with a draught of 12 feet 6 inches. She was of 1003 tons register and 1394 tons displacement; her oscillating engines had cylinders of 70 inches diameter, with a stroke of 5¹⁄₂ feet. She was the first merchant vessel fitted with Lindsay’s apparatus for scaling the boilers with superheated steam. The paddles were 22 feet diameter. She had two masts, the foremast carrying lower yard, topsail yard and topgallant yard, and the trysails reached to the topmast head and gave her a good spread of canvas. She also carried several guns, and the sponsons were so fitted that the guns could be worked on them in case of need. Her speed was from 18 to 19 miles an hour. She afterwards passed into the possession of the Japanese; the story goes that when she was making her first run with Japanese only on board, the Japanese engineers, being unable to stop the engines, put the helm hard over and sat down to wait with true Oriental patience until the steam gave out and she stopped of her own accord. The _Ly-ee-moon_ afterwards passed into Australian ownership and she ran for a long time in the excursion and coastal trade, and was finally wrecked in March 1886, when seventy persons lost their lives. The paddle-steamer _Leinster_ was one of four constructed of iron for the mail service between Holyhead and Kingstown in 1860 by Samuda Bros. She had nine water-tight bulkheads. A vessel intended for this service, on which exceedingly rough weather is at times encountered, through which the vessels are driven at full speed in order to ensure the punctual delivery of the mails, has to be built very strongly to stand the strain of the rough seas. For this purpose the paddle-boxes were formed of iron plates internally, continued from the sides and bulwarks of the vessel together with a strong girder extending from each bow. Two of the four, the _Ulster_ and _Munster_, were withdrawn from the service in 1896-7 and turned into barquentines, their places being taken by larger vessels of the same names. The present bearers of the names are twin-screws and have triple-expansion engines. The engines of the former boats had each two oscillating cylinders, 98 inches in diameter and having a stroke of 78 inches, situated immediately below the paddle-shaft. They had each eight multitubular boilers bearing steam at 20 lb. pressure, arranged in pairs, four before and four abaft the engines, and with their ends backed to the sides of the vessel so as to allow of the stoking of the furnaces from a middle gangway. The paddle-wheels, 32 feet diameter, had fourteen floats 12 feet in length by 5 feet in width. The indicated horse-power was 4751, and the average speed in all weathers was 15¹⁄₂ knots.