 The Birkenhead was laid down at John Laird 's shipyard at Birkenhead as the frigate HMS Vulcan , but renamed soon after to Birkenhead after the town where she was built . She had two 564 horsepower ( 421 kW ) steam engines from Forrester & Co that drove a pair of 6 @-@ metre ( 20 ft ) paddle wheels , and two masts rigged as a brig . 
