According to F. P. Smith himself, the ship was constructed of English oak,[13] but a later entry in Lloyd's Register indicates that parts of the keel at least were of Baltic fir. The ship was 125 feet long,[14] 22½ feet wide, and 237 tons burthen. Built to a schooner pattern, with classic hull lines and a slender, raking funnel and masts, she was considered by contemporaries to be a beautiful vessel.[15]