[1] She was one of the largest ships ever built by the Royal Navy at that time, with a crew of 900 men.

Royal William was fitted with screw propulsion in 1860 but never put into seagoing state for operation.

As the new Clarence, she was ultimately also destroyed by arson, on 26 July 1899 on the River Mersey near New Ferry on the Wirral Peninsula in England.

[2][3] The figurehead of Royal William (in its original state) was for many years placed beside the historic 1775 Mutton Cove "covered slip number 1" in Plymouth harbour.

In the 1990s it was replaced by a fibreglass copy, the wooden original is now preserved in The Box, Plymouth.