Measuring 1,747 tons burthen she had 14 gunports, was fitted with fore, main and mizzen masts, a funnel, a stump bowsprit, and a figurehead depicting a male figure holding a hammer.

Following a trial on a target representing the side of the ship, it was decided that iron vessels were unsuitable for war purposes and, on 23 April 1847, Vulcan was ordered to be completed as a transport, with capacity for 677 troops (later that year, Thomas Ditchburn retired from the partnership and construction was continued by C. J. Mare & Co.).

"The Vulcan iron screw steam troopship, Commander Edward P.B Von Dunlop, arrived off Gravesend on Saturday afternoon, and cast anchor there for the purpose of landing 24 soldiers, 18 women, and 86 orphan children, brought home from Bermuda and other islands in the West Indies, the orphans being the sons and daughters of soldiers who had died of the late prevalent fever.

During the Crimean War, Vulcan operated in the Black Sea, transporting wounded troops from the battle of the Alma to Constantinople in September 1854,[5] and returning with reinforcements in November.

[7] In May 1858 HMS Vulcan carried 18 officers, 30 sergeants, 16 drummers, and 499 men (also 37 women and 38 children) of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of Foot (The Buffs), from England to Malta.