3-017-257 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Spanish iron-clad frigate Numancia in the harbour of Callao, 1865. Engraving of a drawing by Clement Penny of H.M.S. Leander. 'The disputes of late between Spain and the Republic of Peru have brought a powerful Spanish squadron into the harbours of South America...the Numancia, with 34 guns, is the most notable vessel of the squadron, having been built in France, and being the first European iron-clad that has floated on the waters of the Pacific. She is a very bad sea-boat, owing to excessive rolling; but, as she is built with a projecting board under water, she rises more readily to the sea than might be expected. Her engines are also of French manufacture, of 1000 (nominal) horse-power, capable of driving the ship thirteen knots an hour. The great defect in the ship seems to be in the manner in which her ports are cut, as they only allow the guns (68-pounders) to be trained two or three points either way. She carries them, moreover, very low in the water, and has none on her upper-deck, which is defended by two turrets, pierced for musketry...One of the most striking things one notices...are the numerous scupper-holes cut in the water-ways of the upper-deck, by which she almost instantly frees herself of any water she may ship on deck'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.