Her hull measurements were as follows:— Tonnage (builders’ measurement) 2447 tons. „ (registered) 1947 „ Length of keel 238 feet. „ between perpendiculars 252 „ Fore rake 14 „ Extreme beam 45½ „ Depth 29 „ Dead rise at half-floor 18 inches. Sheer 4½ „ Concavity of load line forward 2½ „ In strength of construction she was a considerable improvement on the _Lightning_. Her ends were as long but not quite so sharp or concave and were considered to be more harmoniously designed. She had an upright sternpost and her stern was semi-elliptical and ornamented with the Australian coat-of-arms. Her figure-head was a life-like representation of the old-time shellback and was an object of interest wherever she went. It is thus described by Captain Clark:—“One of the most striking figure-heads was the tall square-built sailor, with dark curly hair and bronzed clean-shaven face, who stood at the bow of the _Champion of the Seas_. A black belt with a massive brass buckle supported his white trousers, which were as tight about the hips as the skin of an eel and had wide, bell-shaped bottoms that almost hid his black polished pumps. He wore a loose-fitting blue and white checked shirt with wide rolling collar and black handkerchief of ample size, tied in the most rakish of square knots with long flowing ends. But perhaps the most impressive of this mariner’s togs were his dark-blue jacket and the shiny tarpaulin hat which he waved aloft in the grip of his brawny tattooed right hand.” The _Champion of the Seas_ had her greatest beam at the centre of the load displacement line, and, like the _Lightning_, she was fuller aft than forward. Her deck houses and cabin arrangements were also on the same plan as those of the _Lightning_, viz., a topgallant foc’s’le for the crew; a house, 50 feet long, abaft the foremast, for petty officers, galleys and second class passengers; a small house, 16 feet square, contained the chief mate’s quarters and sheltered the first class companion, whilst a large wheel-house astern had a smoking-room on one side and the captain’s cabin on the other.