The Daily Dispatch: November 8, 1860., [Electronic resource]

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The Conversion of sailing vessels into steamers.

Among the six or seven line-of-battle ships which the Naval Board, after careful examination of all the sailing vessels in our Navy-Yards, have selected from the sailing vessels as the only ones capable of being converted into steamers, is the mammoth line-of-battle ship Pennsylvania. The public will be surprised to learn that anything can be done with that monument of Government extravagance. She never made but one voyage, from Philadelphia where she was built, to the Elizabeth river, where she is still anchored, and has only served the purpose of a receiving ship, which might as well have been performed by any ordinary vessel. The imposing looking, but unmanageable hulk, had long ago been considered as much a fixture of our seashore scenery as the towns of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and her bulwarks have become so decayed that they crumble even under a slight pressure of the hand. We take it for granted that she will be razed, as her lower decks and timbers are believed to be sound. If the Naval Board can make a fine frigate, or even a sloop-of-war, or a gunboat, out of the old Pennsylvania, it will be more than the public ever expected.