The torpedo gunboat Niger (length 230 feet between perpendiculars, beam 27 feet, draught 12 feet; displacement 810 tons) was to have its boilers replaced by Palmer's Shipbuilding Company. The Skipjack (length 230 feet between perpendiculars, beam 27 feet, draught 10 feet 6 inches; displacement 735 tons) had gained 3 knots after having had its boilers and engines replaced by Palmer's.