Just five old British gunboats already in worse condition according to the Dutch newspaper Nederlandsche Staatscourant 11 may 1860

An item referred to an examination ordered by the British Admiralty of two gunboats at Chatham, England with as result that it was discovered that the wood was completely decayed and immediately was decided to break them both up. Both gunboats were together with the other gunboats of the Chatham flotilla just built around five years ago during the war with the Russian empire [the Crimean war] by private shipyards. Using worthless timber and worse craftsmanship resulted in already completely useless gunboats. The expectation was that many of the other gunboats were in a similar condition. In the meeting in the House of Commons of the British Parliament on the 7th two members announced that they would ask for answers/explanations if necessary even demanding for an inquiry. Already many people thought that all this was an example to let warships not be built by private shipyards.