The barque-rigged steam frigate _Penelope_ attracted as much attention in the Admiralties of the world as did the advent of the first _Dreadnought_ a few years ago. She was an ordinary 46-gun frigate, and might have attained neither more nor less publicity than fell to the lot of other ships of her class. Her conversion in 1843, however, into a steam frigate made her famous. She was described as “a war steamer of a magnitude unequalled in our own or any foreign service, with an armament that will enable her to bid defiance to any two line-of-battle ships, especially as her steam will give her the means of taking a commanding position.”[95] She was one of the old French _Hebe_ class of frigates, of which there were between thirty and forty lying in the various British ports in good condition, but considered useless, as larger frigates had been introduced by other powers. She was cut in half amidships and lengthened by 63 feet, the new middle space being devoted to her engines and boilers and to bunkers capable of holding 600 tons of coal. In addition to her crew of 300 officers and men, she could accommodate 1000 soldiers, with provisions and water for a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope. Her armament as a steamer consisted of two 10-inch pivot guns, each weighing 4 tons 4 cwt.; eight 68-pounders capable of firing both shot and shell, and fourteen 32-pounders. Her two steam-engines were believed to be of greater power than any yet made, having a combined horse-power of 625 horses. The cylinders had a diameter of 92 inches with a piston stroke of nearly 7 feet. The engines were direct-acting, and similar to those of the _Cyclops_, _Gorgon_, and other steam frigates in the Navy. A recess between the two foremost boilers contained the step for the main-mast, which therefore stood almost in the centre of the engine- and boiler-room. The funnel was placed abaft the main-mast, but the paddles were before it. [95] _Illustrated London News_, July 1843. In 1845, Admiral Fishbourne adopted Scott Russell’s wave-line principle and made certain recommendations as to the lines on which a ship of war should be built. These were: “the buttock-lines are continuous curves, to minimise pitching; with the same object a fine bow and full afterbody are provided. To promote steady steering there is a long run of perpendicular side, a long keel, a lean forefoot, and a fine heel, while to insure powerful action of the rudder the draught of water is greatest aft; the floor rises aft from the midship section.”