Chapter XIII
Eastern Steam Navigation Company—Detailed proposals of the directors—Capital subscribed to build the Great Eastern—Relative size and speed of sailing-ships—Mr. Brunel proposes to build a ship five or six times as big as any existing vessel, and is supported in his views by Mr. Scott Russell—Plan of construction, size, &c.—Mr. Atherton considers the views of the directors are not supported by their data—The Great Eastern commenced May 1, 1854—Details of her dimensions and mode of construction—Practically, one ship within another—Compartments and bulkheads—Floor—Construction of the iron plates for hull—The deck and its strength—Enormous steam-power from combination of paddle and screw—Paddle-wheel, auxiliary, and screw-engines—Donkey-engines—Proposed accommodation for passengers, &c.—View of deck, &c.—Saloon—Intended to carry twenty large boats and two steamers—Compasses—Size of sails—Magnetic apparatus of Mr. J. Gray—Apparatus for steering—Rudder and anchors, and note—The ship itself a marvel though, commercially, a failure—Preparations for, and details of, the launching of the Great Eastern.
[Sidenote: Eastern Steam Navigation Company.]
In tracing the progress of steam navigation to the East the various tenders for the conveyance of the East India and Australian mails have been incidentally noticed. Among those which were lodged, in reply to an advertisement from the Admiralty issued on the recommendation of Lord Jocelyn’s Committee of 1851, there was one from a new undertaking—the Eastern Steam Navigation Company—offering to convey the mails from Plymouth to Sydney and to the East Indies, &c., monthly, viâ Alexandria, in vessels of from 1300 to 2100 tons, with engines of from 400 to 600 horse-power.[412] This company had been incorporated by royal charter with a nominal capital of 1,200,000_l._ in 20_l._ shares, having power to increase it to 2,000,000_l._ The projectors of the proposed undertaking were, in the highest degree, respectable, comprising some men of great wealth, and others of well-known scientific attainments. They were, in every way, competent to carry out the service they had tendered to perform. The general impression, at the time, seemed to be that they intended to act in concert with the Austrian Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Company, a well-known undertaking trading from Trieste to different ports in the Mediterranean and represented in London by the late Mr. Joseph Edlmann, a merchant of the highest standing, whose name appeared as one of the directors of the new undertaking. But, as the ships the company intended for the service to India and Australia were not mentioned, and more especially as the directors did not state in their tender the sum they required for the performance of the latter service, their offer was not accepted, though it may have been considered.
[Sidenote: Detailed proposals of the directors.]
After the directors had communicated to the shareholders the result of their tender, some of them, on the suggestion of Mr. I. K. Brunel, recommended the construction of a steam-ship of extraordinary dimensions to trade with India. On looking at the export and import trade of Great Britain they observed that the main line of commerce passed round the Cape of Good Hope towards India, China, and Australia, following nearly the same track as far as Ceylon. On the fact of this great pathway of commerce they grounded, and not without plausible reasons, their scheme for the profitable employment of various vessels of gigantic size between England and Ceylon, from which place smaller vessels were to diverge to the other parts of India, as well as to China, Japan, and Australia; the intention, however, being to despatch their first great vessel, when ready, direct either to Calcutta, Sydney, or Melbourne.
Having made the calculations (to their own satisfaction) that such ships would maintain a speed of fifteen knots per hour, there was in their judgment no doubt that they would “attract so large a portion of the traffic as to afford full cargoes at remunerative rates both outward and homeward.” The voyage from England would thus be accomplished in thirty days to Trincomalee, which had been selected for their central station, as it offered every facility for such a purpose. Thence they estimated that the voyage in ordinary steam-vessels could be accomplished to Madras in two days, Calcutta in four, Hong Kong in ten, and Sydney or Melbourne in fourteen respectively; the auxiliary steamers on these lines transferring the outward cargo from the leviathans, and bringing to them “the valuable products of all these countries as a back freight to England.”
“Should the great ships,” they said, “fulfil only the most moderate of the anticipations, in regard to speed, and be able to land goods in Calcutta within thirty-five days of their shipment in London, in Hong Kong within forty, or in Melbourne within forty-four, it is certain that they will take up at higher freights a large amount of goods now conveyed in ordinary vessels. Of the whole Eastern tonnage, all that portion which will bear a minimum freightage of 5_l._ per ton, may be fairly calculated on as cargo available for their ships. Of such are the silks and silk piece-goods of India and China averaging from 2000_l._ to 3000_l._ per ton in value; indigo from 500_l._ to 1000_l._ per ton; tea, coffee, spices, lacdye, shellac, &c., of the value of between 100_l._ to 300_l._ per ton. Among the export goods intrinsically valuable enough to pay the higher rates of freightage may be reckoned the principal manufactures of Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, and Leeds: woollens, silks, satins, velvets, millinery, haberdashery, oilmen’s stores, and hardware, besides the costly productions of France and Germany.”
Going into various calculations in detail, they arrived at the conclusion that out of the exports to India there would be 180,000 tons of goods able to afford the minimum freight, without considering the goods at that time transported by the overland route in the ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the greater portion of which the directors of the great ship company felt certain they would secure, while they were, further, convinced that their ships would “attract a considerable portion of the exports to Australia were a line of branch steamers to be laid on from Trincomalee to the Australian ports.”
The import trade, in the opinion of the directors, was even more valuable than the export, and could “well afford a higher freightage in return for speedy transport.” The Aberdeen clippers they said “obtain from 8_l._ to 12_l._ per ton for the carriage of fine teas from China, in which trade they will be utterly unable to compete with their great ships should they reduce the voyage from 80 to 40 days.” Estimating at least 50,000 tons of tea from China should the freight not exceed 6_l._ or 7_l._ per ton, and, without considering the large and rapidly increasing amount of that article imported from Assam and the Himalayas, the tea from China in itself would be, in the opinion of the directors, an enormous source of profit. Then, should they reduce the voyage from Australia to 45 or 50 days, they might calculate with certainty on obtaining “the conveyance of all the gold from that country.” In a word, they were of opinion that, after making the most ample allowance for working expenses, wear and tear, depreciation and insurance, “a surplus would remain equal to 40 per cent. per annum on the capital invested.”[413]
[Sidenote: Capital subscribed to build the Great Eastern.]
Nor were the vast and increasing number of passengers overlooked in their calculations as affording a larger source of profit than even gold or merchandise, while, in their opinion, “for the transport of troops the capabilities of their ships would be such as always to command a preference from Government over vessels of smaller burden.” Such were the views and calculations of the directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company.
Nevertheless, in spite of these glowing prospects, many of the shrewd and more cautious shareholders in the original undertaking, including nearly all the persons interested in the Austrian Lloyd’s Company, preferred receiving back the money they had deposited, on account of their shares, and declined to support the new company. Others, however, and among them many men of great capital and of high position in the world of science, consented, and, after considerable difficulty, sufficient capital was raised to construct the Leviathan, the largest ship ever known either in ancient or modern times, and the first, as well as the last, of the ships of this size they had contemplated building.
[Sidenote: Relative size and speed of sailing-ships.]
About this time the important question of increased speed in combination with increased dimensions was receiving the special attention of scientific men, and was discussed with great animation at the meetings of various associations. Mr. Charles Atherton, the chief engineer of the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich,[414] had taken the lead in forming public opinion on the novel problem of steam-ship capability. As regards sailing-vessels it had been observed that the average length of their voyages to Australia bore the following relation to their tonnage:
Tons. 750 to 1000 took 140 days. 1000 to 1500 took 112 days. 1500 to 2000 took 95 days. 3000 and upwards took 70 days.
[Sidenote: Mr. Brunel proposes to build a ship five or six times as big as any existing vessel, and is supported in his views by Mr. Scott Russell.]
The inference drawn from these and similar observations, more or less founded on correct data, was that, to obtain high velocities in sea-going vessels, it was merely necessary to make them large; it being argued that a mass of two or three thousand tons, once set in motion at a given speed, would overcome the resistance both of atmosphere and water with greater ease than a mass of half its weight. Mr. I. K. Brunel carried these opinions to an extreme length, and argued that there need be no limit to the size of a vessel, except what tenacity of material must impose. He further argued, from scientific theory and actual experience, that as the “tubular principle” provided the greatest amount of strength of construction with any given material, it, therefore, was possible to construct a ship of six times the capacity of the largest vessel then afloat, and one, too, that would steam at a speed hitherto unattainable by smaller vessels. Mr. Brunel, having originated this conception, communicated it, at the outset, to Mr. Scott Russell, and suggested the construction of a steam-ship large enough to carry all the fuel she might require for the longest voyage; and Mr. Scott Russell shared with Mr. Brunel in the merit of contriving the best method of carrying out these views. The idea of using two sets of engines and two propellers (screw and paddle) is solely due to Mr. Brunel, as was, also, the adoption of a cellular construction, like that at the top and bottom of the Britannia Bridge, in building the Great Eastern, the name this huge ship was now to bear.[415] These main characteristics distinguished the Great Eastern from all other vessels then afloat. Her model and general structure were in other respects identical with those of the ships built by Mr. Scott Russell, on the principle of the “wave line,” which he had systematically carried out during the previous twenty years.[416]
[Sidenote: Plan of construction.]
Having obtained the requisite capital, the directors now concluded provisional arrangements for the construction of the screw-engines with Messrs. James Watt and Co., of the Soho Works, near Birmingham, and for the paddle-engines and hull with Messrs. Scott Russell and Co., of London. But, considering the novelty and magnitude of the undertaking, it may be interesting and instructive to review, still further, the grounds on which the projectors anticipated its success.
The ship, the directors said, “would be built in the Thames, to be completed in eighteen months; and would fulfil certain conditions, the most important of which was that she should not be obliged to stop at any place on the way to take in coal, stoppages for coal not only causing great delay by the time required for taking it on board, but compelling the vessels to deviate widely from the best route, in order to touch at the necessary coaling stations;” and, in avoiding the delay of coaling on the voyage, the ships would also escape the great cost of purchasing coals at a foreign station. “These ships,” they added, “will carry, besides their whole amount of coals for the voyage (out and home[417]), upwards of 5000 tons measurement of merchandise, and will have 500 cabins for passengers of the highest class, with ample space for troops and lower class passengers. These the company will carry at rates much smaller than those of any existing steam-ships and, moreover, with an unprecedented degree of safety, comfort, and convenience which the great size of their vessels will afford.” In thus increasing the size of their ships, the directors said, “they believed they were also obtaining the elements of a speed heretofore unknown: and if, hereafter, coals applicable to the purposes of steam navigation could be supplied from the mines of Australia, their carrying capacity both for cargo and passengers would be proportionately increased. The great length of these ships will undoubtedly, according to all present experience, enable them to pass through the water at a velocity of 15 knots[418] an hour, with a smaller power in proportion to their tonnage than ordinary vessels now require to make 10 knots.”
[Sidenote: Mr. Atherton considers the views of the directors are not supported by their data.]
These views were, however, not allowed to pass unquestioned by many scientific men, and more especially by Mr. Atherton, who rejoined that, whatever pride the projectors might reasonably feel in the production of such an extraordinary vessel as the Great Eastern, the data relied on by them did not support their anticipations. He argued that, if based upon the performance of the Rattler, the size of the vessel that would be required for the due fulfilment of the conditions of the project, as announced by the directors, would, probably, be not less than 100,000 tons displacement, and that the whole capital of the company, as proposed in their prospectus would, probably, be much more than absorbed in the construction of a single vessel of the stupendous size indispensable for the performance of 25,000 nautical miles, without recoaling, at the average speed of 15 nautical miles per hour. As an engineer, Mr. Atherton was not opposed to the construction of large ships, but he, like many other scientific and practical men, questioned the fulfilment of the mechanical conditions as respects the combination of a 15-knot speed with a 25,000-mile voyage without recoaling, on which the Eastern Steam Navigation Company had founded their project. Indeed, both practically and theoretically, he declared himself in favour of the superior capabilities of large ships as respected either speed or distance, but he forewarned the proprietors of the Great Eastern of the mercantile disappointment to which extravagant expectations, as to the combination of high speed and great length of voyage without recoaling, by the mere agency of size, would, in his opinion, inevitably lead.
The directors might, therefore, have seen that extreme caution was necessary for all mercantile steamship undertakings requiring the maintenance of so high a rate of steaming speed as they contemplated. Indeed, taking the actual results of the most successful steam-vessels of that day, it was more reasonable to doubt the realization of the hopes entertained by the projectors.[419]
[Sidenote: The Great Eastern commenced, May 1, 1854.]
Nevertheless, the sanguine expectations of the directors were in no way shaken and, under the advice and personal superintendence of Mr. I. K. Brunel, Mr. Scott Russell commenced the arduous undertaking in his yard at Millwall on the north side of the Thames.[420]
[Sidenote: Details of her dimensions.]
To prepare the ground for the reception of the enormous weight about to be placed upon it, 1500 huge piles of timber were driven through the loose surface soil into the more solid stratum below. These were girded so as to form a platform bound together by transverse and longitudinal balks of timber, between which thick beds of concrete were embedded, and, on this structure, iron rails were laid to form the launching ways, of which the following is the longitudinal section.
On this platform the first plates of the great ship, built entirely of iron, were placed, May 1st, 1854.
[Sidenote: And mode of construction.]
The hull of the Great Eastern,[421] which is of immense strength, is divided transversely into ten separate compartments of 60 feet each, and rendered perfectly water-tight, in all its parts, by bulkheads through which there is no opening, whatever, below the second deck: two longitudinal walls of iron, 36 feet apart traverse 350 feet of the length of the ship. Instead of the usual keel there is a flat plate of iron in its place, about 2 feet wide and 1 inch thick, running the entire length of the vessel from stem to stern, and so set up as virtually to form part of the base on which all the rest of the fabric is raised, whether of plates or girders. The bottom and sides which ascend immediately from this keel plate are also 1 inch tapering to three-quarters of an inch thick, the entire structure having been raised from below by adding plate to plate upwards. These plates are fastened together by more than 3,000,000 rivets, each an inch in diameter, the whole being hammered in when at almost a white heat, and welded so close as to form parts of the plates which they bind together.
[Sidenote: Practically, one ship within another.]
From the keel to the water-line the hull is double, having an inner and outer skin of the same thickness of iron, 2 feet 10 inches apart, between which, at intervals of 6 feet, run horizontal webs of iron plates thus materially increasing the power of resistance both of the inner and outer skin. So far, therefore, as regards the portion of the vessel immersed when laden, the Great Eastern is, practically, two ships, one within another, as may be seen by the transverse section, page 498, which exhibits the principle of her construction.[422]
The danger of a collision at sea is, thereby, greatly lessened, for if the outer skin is pierced, the inner one, remaining intact, as it would, except under very extraordinary circumstances, the safety of the vessel would not be endangered. Looking, also, at this arrangement in a commercial point of view, should the ship require ballast, the space between the outer and inner skin can be filled with water, so that whatever may be necessary in this respect can be obtained in a very economical and expeditious mode, to the extent in weight of 2500 tons.
[Sidenote: Compartments and bulkheads.]
Besides the principal bulkheads, there is in each compartment a second intermediate bulkhead forming a coal bunker and carried up to the main deck, which can on an emergency be closed. Two continuous tunnels run through the principal bulkheads near the water-line in one of which the steam pipes pass, and, under the most improbable circumstances of damage to the ship, arrangements are made, so that facility and ample time would be afforded to close them leisurely, and to make them perfectly water-tight.
[Sidenote: Floor.]
The floor of the ship is perfectly flat, the keel being turned inwards, and riveted to the inner skin. The bow and stern have additional strength imparted to them by strong iron bulkheads specially fitted to those parts of the ship.
[Sidenote: Construction of the iron plates for hull.]
Every distinct plate employed in the construction of the hull was moulded, beforehand, to the exact shape required by the situation it was to occupy. They were each gauged according to mathematical principles, wooden moulds being first prepared from the gauges, and the iron plates and angle iron accurately fashioned to correspond with the moulds.
10,000 tons of iron plates were used in the construction of the hull, or 30,000 plates (with about 100 rivets to each), each plate weighing on an average a third of a ton.
[Sidenote: The deck, and its strength.]
The deck of the ship is double or cellular, and is formed of two half-inch plates, at the bottom, and of two half-inch plates at the top, between which are webs of iron which run the whole length of the ship. The upper deck runs flush and clear from stem to stern for a breadth of about 20 feet on either side of the skylights and hatchways, thereby affording two magnificent promenades for the passengers just within the bulwarks; these promenades are altogether more than the eighth of a mile in length, as four turns up and down either side of them exceed a mile by 640 feet. Between the two side promenades of the upper deck are several quadrangular openings edged with low bulwarks, and looking down into the recesses of the structure. These openings are 42 feet wide, and nearly 60 feet long, the longest being 100 feet, and there are deck gangways connecting the side promenades between each of them. In these spaces the skylights of the large passenger saloons are fixed.
[Sidenote: Enormous steam-power from combination of paddle and screw.]
The distinguishing feature of the Great Eastern, in addition to her vast size, is the combined application of both the paddle-wheel and the screw. The engines are considerably larger than any previously made for marine purposes. There are ten boilers and five funnels, and each boiler can be cut off from its neighbour and used or not, as desired. The boilers are placed longitudinally along the centre of the ship, and are entirely independent of each other. Every paddle boiler has ten furnaces, and each screw boiler twelve furnaces, thus giving to the whole, the prodigious number of 112 furnaces. The funnels are each about 100 feet in length measuring from the floor of the boilers to the top of the funnel.
The paddle-wheel engines, of which the following is a transverse section, are a magnificent piece of workmanship, combining vast strength with great beauty and apparent lightness of design.
When these, combined with the screw engines (to which reference will presently be made), are at work the mind is lost in wonder at the amount of mechanical power which is thus brought to play in the propulsion of one vessel, and the smoothness and harmony with which that duty is performed, in a space necessarily confined and limited, and amid the violent turmoil of the ocean. No work of art ever yet produced furnishes more exalted ideas of man’s genius and skill than the unceasing and regular motion of these gigantic engines, especially, when we consider the tremendous shocks to which they must be at times subjected, and the delicate nature of some portion of the machinery, resting as this does, not upon solid granite as is the case with land engines, but on the ever straining ribs of a ship.
[Sidenote: Paddle-wheel,]
The paddle-wheel engines have a nominal power of 1000 horses, they have four cylinders, the diameter of each being 74 inches, with a stroke 14 feet in length, giving 14 strokes per minute. Each cylinder with piston and piston-rod weighs no less than 38 tons, while each pair of cylinders with its crank, condenser, and air-pumps, forms in itself a complete and separate engine, and each of the four cylinders is so constructed that it can be, at once, disconnected when required, from the other three, so that the whole forms a combination of four engines, altogether complete in themselves, whether worked together or separately. The two cranks are connected by a friction-clutch by means of which the two pairs of engines can be connected or disconnected, by a single movement of the hand and at a moment’s warning. All the engines are provided with expansion valves, and their combined force, when working 11 strokes per minute, indicates 3000 horse-power, with steam in the boilers at 15 lbs. on the inch and the expansion valve cutting off at one-third of the stroke. But as all the parts of the engines are so formed and proportioned that they will work safely and smoothly at 8 strokes per minute, with the steam at 25 lbs. and fully open without expansion (beyond what is unavoidably effected by the slides), or at 16 strokes per minute, with the steam in the boiler at 25 lbs. and the expansion valve cutting off at one-fourth of the stroke, they can be made to give a power of 5000 horses. The paddle-shafts are each 38 feet long and weigh 30 tons, while the intermediate cranked shaft, 21½ feet in length, weighs 31 tons.
[Sidenote: Auxiliary,]
Two auxiliary high pressure condensing engines are fixed, adjacent to the paddle engines, for working the pumps and performing other necessary duties on board of the ship; these auxiliary engines are equal to 60 horse-power and can be worked to double that power if necessary.
[Sidenote: and Screw engines.]
But the screw engines are even more surprising than those of the paddles: they are also of 1000 horse-power with four oscillating cylinders each 84 inches in diameter with 4-feet length of stroke and performing 50 revolutions per minute. They can work up to 4500 horse-power with steam in the boiler at 15 lbs. and revolving at 45 strokes a minute, the expansion valve cutting off at one-third of the stroke; but, with steam at 25 lbs., without expansion, and cutting off at one-fourth of the stroke, they can propel with a power of 6000 horses, so that the combined force of paddle and screw engines gives the tremendous power of 11,000 horses! The propeller shaft, in two parts, is 160 feet in length and weighs 60 tons, while the screw-propeller itself is 24 feet in diameter with 44 feet pitch. The paddle-wheels are, however, still more stupendous, being no less than 58 feet in diameter with a boss which alone weighs 16 tons, each wheel when complete weighing 90 tons.
Abaft the bulkhead of the screw engine-room are placed two auxiliary engines of 20 horse-power each for moving the screw-propeller, when the larger engines are disconnected, at such a velocity as will prevent the speed of the vessel from being retarded when the ship is under weigh with paddles alone, or when under sails and paddles.
There are, also, two auxiliary high pressure engines, each of the nominal power of 10 horses, for working the pumps, shafting, or other parts of the machinery, and for hoisting sails, taking in or discharging cargo, lifting the anchor, and for performing many other services usually carried on by the crew.
[Sidenote: Donkey-engines.]
Each set of boilers is provided with donkey-engines, with independent boilers, and pumps of power sufficient to feed both sets of boilers, and are capable of being connected or disconnected, so that one donkey-engine may supply any set of boilers. These are each of about 10 horse-power.
[Sidenote: Proposed accommodation for passengers, &c.]
This mighty vessel was destined to afford accommodation for 4000 passengers, viz., 800 first class 2000 second class, and 1200 third class, independently of the ship’s complement of crew, amounting to about 400. The series of saloons, which were elegantly fitted and furnished, together with the sleeping apartments (as will be seen by referring to the longitudinal section in the frontispiece to this volume) are situated in the middle of the ship and extend over 350 feet of her length.
[Sidenote: View of deck, &c.]
As everything about this vast ship is really of historical interest, I present my readers (see frontispiece) with a view of her deck as seen from the bridge between the paddle-wheels, looking towards the stern, a sight which affords a more imposing appearance of her magnitude than any other view. The first skylight covers the passage to the engine-room and the captain’s cabin, which is in itself a moderate-sized house, consisting of several rooms; behind it there are other two companions or staircases leading to the after saloons. As the old-fashioned speaking trumpet would be useless in such a ship, the captain signals his orders either from his cabin or from the bridge by semaphore arms during the day and by coloured lamps at night; while electric telegrams convey his wishes, not merely to the engine-rooms, but to other places below the decks where it may be necessary that his instructions should be instantaneously communicated. With regard to the main or upper deck itself, there is ample clear space to drill a full regiment of soldiers.
[Sidenote: Saloon.]
The lofty saloons and cabins are very imposing, differing as they do in most respects from those of ordinary passenger steam-ships, indeed, more resembling the drawing-rooms of the mansions of Belgravia of London or of the Fifth Avenue of New York. The one of which an illustration is furnished (page 506) bears the name of the “Grand Saloon.” The illustration, however, shows only one half of this magnificent apartment, which is 62 feet long, 36 feet in width, and 12 feet in height, with a ladies’ cabin, or rather boudoir, adjoining, 20 feet in length. Massive looking-glasses in highly ornamented gilt frames decorate its sides; the strong iron joists (beams) overhead are encased in wood, the mouldings being delicately painted and enriched with gilt beading. Around two of the funnels which pass through this gorgeous apartment are large mirrors, with alternate highly ornamented panels, and at their base are groupings of velvet couches. The columns (staunchions) which support the beams are richly decorated, while the iron work of the railings of the staircases leading to the lower cabins, or surrounding the open spaces necessary for more perfect ventilation, are, by some particular process, made to resemble oxidized silver, which is relieved by gilding. The walls (sides) are hung with rich patterns in raised gold and white, and at the angles are arabesque panels ornamented with groups of children and various emblems of the sea; other illustrations personify, in graceful forms, the arts and sciences connected with the construction and navigation of ships, while sofas covered with Utrecht velvet, buffets of richly carved walnut wood, carpets of surpassing softness, and portières of rich crimson silk to all the doorways, give an elegance to the whole, combined with a display of taste and beauty far surpassing, and an extravagance almost equalling, the gigantic toy ships of ancient monarchs.[423] Nor are the dining-rooms and family cabins much inferior in style, while the bed-rooms, in space, fittings, and comfort are all that the most fastidious voyager could expect, if not all they would desire.
[Sidenote: Intended to carry twenty large boats and two steamers.]
The Great Eastern was planned to carry twenty large boats on her deck or hanging from the davits. Some of these boats are patents on very ingenious principles. In addition, it was intended she should carry, suspended abaft her paddle-boxes, two small steamers, each 100 feet long and of between 60 and 70 tons burden. These were to be raised or lowered by small auxiliary engines and kept in all respects completely equipped for sea, but to be principally used for embarking or landing the passengers with their luggage.
[Sidenote: Compasses.]
The compasses were placed at a height of 24 feet from the deck on a staging, in order to remove them from the disturbing influences inherent in the vast masses of iron below; and it was proposed that strong shadows of the needle should be cast down a tube so that the steersman might by watching the shadow of the points at once follow the movements of the compasses above.
[Sidenote: Size of sails.]
Besides the mizen-mast, which is of wood, there are five other masts of hollow wrought iron. Two of these carry large square sails, the others fore and aft sails, the fore-mast having a jib as well as trysail, there being neither bowsprit nor jibboom. The standing rigging consists of iron wire rope, and the lower mast shrouds of this material are 8½ inches in circumference. The running gear, manufactured chiefly from Manilla hemp, is beautifully made. Instead of the ordinary dead-eyes and lanyards, an ingenious contrivance has been devised for letting go the shrouds instantaneously on an emergency. When under full sail the Great Eastern will spread 6500 square yards of canvas.
[Sidenote: Magnetic apparatus of Mr. J. Gray.]
The magnetic apparatus or floating compass invented and patented by Mr. John Gray, of Liverpool, is to the navigator, perhaps not the least interesting instrument of the great ship. The binnacle consists of an isolated battery of magnets adjusted by vertical screws, which move them in proportion to the deviation of the compass arising from the influence of the iron used in the construction or equipment of the ship. The original error having been ascertained by careful observations (a duty invariably devolving on the makers of the instrument) and the compass thus adjusted and regulated, the process of readjustment, when necessary, is so simple that, by the officer of the ship merely placing her head in two positions—north and south, east and west—the compass in the northern hemisphere can be made perfect. If any alteration takes place in the ship’s magnetism of an opposite character in the southern hemisphere, by reversing the position of the magnet and by adopting the same process, the instruments will be found as correct as in the northern. There are other applications all calculated with the utmost precision for navigating the ship, one of which is highly important, in that it corrects the dangerous influence arising from heeling. A vertical magnet is made moveable in the centre of the apparatus so as to obviate errors arising from this cause,—errors sometimes amounting, by the deflection of the needle, to 50 or even a greater number of degrees. As these disturbances produce considerable oscillating of the card when the vessel rolls, their repetition often causes a momentum that ultimately makes the card revolve with such velocity as to render it useless to the helmsman.
The patent floating compass, constructed to prevent vibration from affecting the centres of action, consists of an inner bowl floating in an outer one, the object being to render the former insulated in its water bed, the exterior being solely influenced by the action of the ship. Through a very ingenious mechanical arrangement in the interior of the inner bowl the hardest gems and the finest centres may be applied without fear of oscillation of the card. The entire combination of these essential points insures steadiness of action, perfect indication, and great durability.
There is also a vertical double disk to register the ship’s course and to show whether the man at the helm has attended strictly to his instructions with regard to the course to be steered. On each side of the binnacle there is a metal box containing soft iron for the adjustment of any small amount of deviation in the quadrants, which remains stationary with its contents throughout every change of latitude.
[Sidenote: Apparatus for steering.]
Nor must I omit notice of the mode of directing the course of the ship. On one side of the platform between the casements of the paddle-wheels (the deck most in use by the commander and officers of all steam-ships), stands an ingenious apparatus, in which there is a compass, the duplicate of the one in the binnacle, and before it an officer stands when the ship is under weigh, who is under the immediate eye of the captain. This pedestal is covered with a brass circular slide, with an aperture sufficiently large to permit of one of the points on the card being seen through it. The captain or officer in charge of the ship, by turning a handle, exposes the point at which he wishes the ship’s head to be kept, and by means of connecting rods a coincident point is disclosed on the compass in the binnacle, which is watched by the steersman, who thus knows in a moment the course he has to steer, so that, without verbal orders (which are frequently indistinctly heard and sometimes misunderstood, even when the officer is close to the helm) the ship is directed on her course with more ease than an ordinary sized vessel.
Beyond the original plan contemplated of manufacturing gas on board to be laid on to all parts of the ship, it was further intended to carry the electric light so as to secure a perpetual artificial moonlight around the vessel.
[Sidenote: Rudder and anchors.]
The rudder[424] is constructed of two plate-iron cheeks framed together on a wrought-iron rudder-post, tapering from 14 inches diameter downwards, the frame being 9 feet wide from back to belly. The space between the 2 plate-iron cheeks within the rudder-frame is filled with solid blocks of wood, bound together and bolted through the plates, combining great strength with lightness.
There are ten anchors on board which, with their stocks, weigh 55 tons, and 800 fathoms of chain cable weighing 98 tons, the capstan and warps weighing 100 tons, so that there are 253 tons weight of appliances on board devoted exclusively to the purpose of anchoring or mooring the great ship. Through the centre of her stem there are two hawse-holes each 18 inches in diameter, so that the large cable runs straight out from the stem; and, besides these, there are additional hawse-holes on each side of the cutwater.
[Sidenote: The ship itself a marvel though, commercially, a failure.]
Such is or, rather, was the Great Eastern in all the leading features of her construction and equipment, and, however fallacious many of the calculations of the directors and designers may have proved, (and none were more so than those referring to the project as a commercial undertaking),[425] they and the constructors have produced a ship which is not merely a marvel in size, but, in beauty of symmetry, strength of hull, completeness of machinery, organization, and arrangement of details, equals, if she does not surpass, any vessel that has yet been constructed for ocean navigation.
It is to be regretted that the plans for launching the monster were not (for the credit of science and the great mechanical knowledge of the age) as perfect as the ship herself. Instead of constructing a dock, wherein she could have been built with less labour than upon piles, and which would have been valuable as a graving-dock when she was floated from it, they built her in a yard, and, contrary to the established custom, built her broadside to the element into which she had ultimately to be launched.
[Sidenote: Preparations for, and details of, the launching of the Great Eastern.]
The apparatus for launching the ship consisted of two inclined planes, each about 200 feet long by 80 feet broad, and nearly 140 feet apart, falling at an inclination of one in fourteen, to low-water mark. On these ways two cradles, each 80 feet square, were destined to slide, the object being that the great ship should be moved sideways into the river on two massive platforms, underlaid with transverse bars of hard iron, and corresponding in length to the width of the launching ways upon which they rested.
The cradles were provided with two enormous chains, with crab blocks and tackle, the standing part fastened to the further bank of the river and the ends carried through two portholes, and under the ship’s bottom. Two small steam-engines in the yard worked the crabs and blocks attached to the chains whereby the ship was, if necessary, to be dragged down the launching ways, which were prepared with an anti-attrition composition to facilitate the movement of the enormous mass. Besides these powerful tackles, there were two hydraulic presses, each of one thousand tons lifting power, placed behind the cradles, to which they could be applied to set the vessel in motion should the engines prove inadequate for that purpose.
But, in order to regulate the descent of the vessel, and check her progress, should it become too rapid, two immense friction drums or capstans were constructed, and fastened firmly by means of piles into the earth, so as to resist any possible strain that might be placed upon them. These drums, seven feet diameter in the barrel by twenty feet in length, were furnished with iron cables, each link of which weighed seventy pounds, attached by a double purchase to the cradle, and regulated by two gigantic break-levers worked by blocks and pulleys, a gang of men being at hand ready to apply instantaneously on receipt of signal this powerful check to the momentum of the vessel should it be found too great.
Such were the vast preparations made to launch the Great Eastern.
FOOTNOTES:
[412] See Appendix to Report of Committee, 1851.
[413] See Report of 6th August, published in the Times, 8th August, 1853.
[414] Author of important works on “The Construction of the Steam-engine,” and “The Capability of Steam-ships.”
[415] As every important fact connected with the design and construction of this vast ship must prove of historical interest, I think it desirable to give an extract from the letter which Mr. Scott Russell himself wrote at the time on the subject, addressed to the editor of the Times, and which appeared in that journal on the 20th April, 1857:
“My share,” says Mr. Scott Russell, “of the merit and responsibility is that of builder of the ship for the Eastern Steam Navigation Company. I designed her lines and constructed the iron hull of the ship, and am responsible for her merits or defects as a piece of naval architecture. I am equally responsible for the paddle-wheel engines of 1000 horse-power, by which she is to be propelled.
“But Messrs. James Watt and Co., the eminent engineers of Soho, have the entire merit of the design and construction of the engines of 1500 horse-power, which are to propel the screw.
“It is to the company’s engineer, Mr. I. K. Brunel, that the original conception is due of building a steam-ship large enough to carry coals sufficient for full steaming on the longest voyage. He, at the outset, and long before it had assumed a mercantile form, communicated his views to me, and I have participated in the contrivance of the best means to carry them into practical effect. I think, further, that the idea of using two sets of engines and two propellers is original, and was his invention. It was his idea also to introduce a cellular construction like that at the top and bottom of the Britannia Bridge into the construction of the great ship. It will be seen that these are the main characteristics which distinguish this from other ships, and these are Mr. Brunel’s. Her lines and her structure in other respects are identical with those of my other ships, which are constructed like this on a principle of my own, which I have systematically carried out during the last twenty years, and which is commonly called the ‘wave’ principle. In other respects, also, her materials are put together in the manner usual in my other ships.”
[416] See article in the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ 7th edition, on “Steam Navigation.”
[417] Whatever may be gained by not requiring to stop at any intermediate port, I consider it a mistake, in a commercial point of view, to suppose any advantage is to be derived from taking on board a steam-ship, especially when engaged on distant voyages, sufficient coal to carry her out and home. The space the coals occupy in a steamer ought to be of more value, for the reception of cargo, than the cost of sending coals in sailing-vessels to the ports abroad where required, and than any loss sustained by the expense and detention of shipping them there.
[418] Equal to 17¼ statute miles.
[419] I need not dwell upon these points, for which see Times, 28th February, 1854, and Mr. C. Atherton’s note, 20th April of that year.
[420] The precise dimensions of the Great Eastern will be found with the Frontispiece illustrations.
[421] I take the description of the vessel and everything relating to her from Mr. Scott Russell’s “Great Eastern Steam-ship,” H. S. Clarke and Co., Strand, London, 1857, the public journals of the period, the reports of the directors, and from my own observations at the time, as I more than once inspected the ship, when on the stocks and when afloat, for which every facility was afforded by her builders.
[422] The following references will serve more fully to explain the illustration of the transverse section of the hull of the Great Eastern: 1, upper saloon or main deck; 2, principal saloon in lower deck; 3, side cabins and berths; 4, tunnels for steam and water pipes; 5, boiler; 6, coal bunkers; 7, space between skins of ship; 8, skylights to principal saloons; 9, double deck.
[423] The decorations of this saloon, which were exceedingly beautiful, were executed by Messrs. Crace, of Wigmore Street, London.
[424] As I have been frequently asked when the “rudder” was invented, I may here state that I really do not know, and I should be disposed to question the accuracy of any writer who fixed any epoch or any age for its invention. Before me I see, at this moment, a swan in pursuit of other swans which have evidently been poaching upon its manor on that portion of the River Thames where, on its banks, I now revise the proof sheets of this volume. It is in full chase, with its wings so arranged as best to gain advantage from the breeze; its feet are paddling it onward with great vigour, but to turn the corner opposite to where I sit, I see that the swan sweeps itself round by the operation of one of its feet, which has been brought close to the surface, and is performing exactly the same part, only in a more rapid and perfect manner, which the rudder, attached to a boat, performs, when sweeping round the same bend of the river. Perfect rudders may, therefore, be said to have existed from the creation, for nothing could be more complete in the shape of a rudder, than this action of the swan’s foot in the water. A similar action may be seen in the fins and tails of fish.
Turning to mechanical contrivances which had this object in view, it will be found that, during the earliest historic ages, the paddle of the canoe was used, not merely to propel, as in the case of the gondola of the middle ages as well as in the gondola of to-day, but also to guide, and was, in itself, one of the most powerful mechanical rudders which have yet been produced. The oar over the quarter followed, and if my readers will refer to the sculptured illustration of a vessel on the leaning Tower of Pisa (see ante, vol. i. p. 521) erected A.D. 1178, they will find, that that was the only description of a rudder represented at that comparatively recent period. At a later period, by referring to the contracts still extant which Louis IX., King of France, entered into, A.D. 1268, with the Venetians and Genoese for the construction of various ships (ante, vol. i. p. 510), “two rudders” for each vessel (one on each side) “nine palms long” are required to be provided, showing that this mode of steering, which is no advance upon what may be found on the ancient sculptures of Egypt, was, then, the only one known, or at least in use, among the most celebrated navigators of the middle ages; and from their dimensions, the vessels which Louis IX. ordered to be built were large ships, not boats, which the one represented on the Tower of Pisa may have been.
In the drawings of some vessels of a subsequent period, a hole is shown in the stern above the stern post, through which an oar, sweep or “rudder” was passed for guiding the course of the vessel, its lower extremity being probably worked by tackles from each quarter; from this appliance the hanging rudder now in use no doubt originated, being improved on by slow degrees, and gradually assuming a more and more perpendicular position; thence, the transition to hanging it by a second ligature was easy and natural; thence, the gudgeons and pintals, by which the rudder now swings from the stern post; and, hence, the tiller and, subsequently, the wheel to move the tiller, the blade of the rudder itself being increased in size according to the force required to turn the vessel. Thus, the foot of aquatic birds first gave the idea of the paddle, and this, in time, was displaced by the oar, from which the rudder evidently sprung. The Dutch and German word for oar is now and always has been “Ruder.”
[425] In the summer of 1857, the late Robert Stephenson and I paid a visit to the ship. We were accompanied by Brunel. The hull was then drawing towards completion, and preparations for launching were about to be commenced. After thoroughly inspecting everything about the vessel, Brunel asked me what I thought of her. “Well,” I replied, “she is the strongest and best built ship I ever saw and she is really a marvellous piece of mechanism.” “Oh,” he said, rather testily and abruptly, “I did not want your opinion about her build. I should think I know rather more about how an iron ship should be put together than you do. How will she pay?”
“Ah,” I replied, “that is quite a different matter;” and, seeing that I did not care to answer his question, he repeated it, adding, “If she belonged to you in what trade would you place her?” “Turn her into a show,” I said, with a laugh, “something attractive to the masses; for, if you insist on having my opinion about her commercial capabilities, it is only in that direction where you can look for profit. She will never pay as a ship. Send her to Brighton, dig out a hole in the beach and bed her stern in it, and if well set she would make a substantial pier and her deck a splendid promenade; her hold would make magnificent salt-water baths and her ’tween decks a grand hotel, with restaurant, smoking and dancing saloons, and I know not what all. She would be a marvellous attraction for the cockneys, who would flock to her in thousands.” And, as I saw he was far from pleased with my answer—no wonder—though given half in joke and half in earnest, I added, “As you would insist on having my opinion, I have given it to you candidly, for I really do not know any other trade, at present, in which she will be likely to pay so well.” Stephenson laughed, but Brunel never forgave me.
Chapter XIV
Commencement of launch of the Great Eastern, November 3rd, 1857—Christened by Miss Hope—Comparative failure—Renewed efforts scarcely more successful—Hydraulic ram bursts—Floats of her own accord, January 31st, 1858—The whole scheme of this launch a thorough mistake—Difficulties of the company—Offer to Government wisely declined—Further proposal to employ her as a cable layer—Makes her first sea trip, September 9th, 1859—Accident off Hastings, and the opinion of the pilot—Reaches Holyhead; and details of her voyage—Makes her first voyage across the Atlantic, June 1860—Second voyage, May 1861—Third voyage to Quebec, July 1861—Fourth voyage, September 1861—Heavy gale off S.W. coast of Ireland, and compelled to return to Cork—General remarks on the sea-going qualities of different ships, and on the effect of wind in causing “rollers”—Real truth about “momentum”—Very large ships not so safe as smaller ones, as their damages are less easily repaired—Chief later use of the Great Eastern as a cable layer, but, not even here, remunerative—Concluding remarks.
[Sidenote: Commencement of launch of the Great Eastern, November 3rd, 1857.]
After various unavoidable delays rendered necessary by such an unexampled experiment, the day for the launching of the Great Eastern was fixed for the 3rd of November, 1857.
A vast concourse of people assembled on land and river to witness the launch. Crowds of naval and scientific men from all parts of the world were there, and, in spite of the inclement season of the year, numerous members of the aristocracy came to see this marvellous feat; nor indeed was royalty, itself, unrepresented. Probably no such multitude had on any previous occasion congregated on the banks of the Thames. It was a magnificent sight, but one, also, the practised eye could not survey without apprehension of danger. The preparations for her launch were, it is true, made with the object of lowering the vessel slowly into the water by means of cradles erected on the launching ways, but if the huge mass had received the impetus which in all similar cases is given to vessels when the retaining and supporting shores are removed, the cables, though of unusual strength, would have proved altogether insufficient to restrain so ponderous a weight when once in motion; they must have snapped asunder like hempen cords, and, considering the number of small boats and steamers full of people at the time on the river, and the crowds on its banks, no one can contemplate without a shudder the loss of life which, under such circumstances, would have probably occurred.
By reference to the following illustration the reader will better understand the nature of the danger apprehended, and, also, see at a glance the position of the great ship as she lay on the cradles ready for launching.
[Sidenote: Christened by Miss Hope.]
The ceremony of christening the vessel was performed by Miss Hope (now Duchess of Newcastle), daughter of the Chairman of the Great Eastern Steam Navigation Company. When the moment for launching arrived, the interest of the vast assembly of people who had gathered together to witness the operation became intense, increasing as the shores were one by one struck from under her and the last cable fastenings loosened. But the leviathan did not seem to move, and it was, only, when the stationary engines tightened the chains which passed from the vessel to the opposite shore, that any motion became perceptible. A tremendous cheer then burst from the excited multitude. Immediately afterwards, however, there was a pause: silent suspense again prevailed, with increased anxiety blended now with evil forebodings. A whisper passed along the dense crowd that the slide down the inclined plane of 3½ feet at the stem and 7 feet at the stern thus effected, was of an alarming character. It was one, too, which had not been anticipated; and, when it became known that the rapid revolution of the drum and fly-wheels caused by the sudden motion of the vessel had seriously injured several of the men employed upon these ponderous machines, there were grave apprehensions of further danger.
[Sidenote: Comparative failure.]
Some delay in the operations now necessarily occurred, but, at a quarter past three P.M., the time of high water, when the engines were again set to work, expectation was once more raised to the highest pitch. Every eye was now directed towards the cradles, but this time they did not stir an inch, and, as the chains tightened it became too apparent that if the vessel was not forced towards the water they must break. At length, subjected to a strain greater than ought to have been applied, the ponderous chain attached to the fore part of the vessel snapped asunder, and then all hopes of launching the leviathan were ended for that day. It would be superfluous to dwell on the many speculations as to the cause of this failure; certain it is that it was great and lamentable, and, as it was impossible to repair the injury the launching machinery had sustained, in time for further operations on the following day, no time was, then, fixed for resuming action.
However, on the 19th of November, these operations were again begun, the alleged object on this occasion being to move the great ship 40 feet lower down than the position she then occupied, so as to be ready for launching when the tide suited; but this effort equally proved abortive. The immediate cause of this second failure is accounted for by the abutments of the piles, against which the bases of the hydraulic rams rested, yielding under the enormous pressure exerted between them and the ship’s cradle, in many cases giving way or breaking down altogether.
[Sidenote: Renewed efforts scarcely more successful.]
Most of the subsequent operations of the company were kept as far as possible secret, and the presence of the public, which had been courted to witness an anticipated triumph, was now as studiously avoided, under the prudential plea of avoiding accidents, involving loss of life, by the too rapid motion of the ship towards the river. But a fresh experiment, after prodigious efforts, and the snapping of one of the 3-inch chains, proving likewise unsuccessful, the report of it soon got mooted abroad, and the public, always fluctuating between extremes, now began to entertain serious doubts whether the Great Eastern would ever get afloat.
[Sidenote: Hydraulic ram bursts.]
A third attempt, on Saturday, November 28th, proved however more successful than the previous efforts. On this occasion the Great Eastern was gradually lowered down the launching ways some 25 feet in a slow but satisfactory manner; while, on the 1st December, when the tedious process of moving the gigantic structure was recommenced, she moved steadily, for a time, at the rate of half an inch a minute, but, suddenly, soon after slipped 5 inches forward and 9 inches aft, to the terror of every person engaged in the operation; and, when renewed efforts were made in the course of the afternoon, one of the ten-inch hydraulic rams burst, as might have been anticipated, under the tremendous pressure of 1300 pounds to the square inch of its cylinder: consequently, the work of launching was suspended for that day.
Six weeks elapsed ere the operations were resumed, and, this time, with the most sanguine hope on the part of Mr. Brunel that the great ship would reach her destination by the spring tides of the 28th or 30th of January, 1858. On this occasion the plans could not be kept secret. Crowds of people were again in attendance, among whom were the Duchess d’Orleans, the Comte de Paris, and various other distinguished personages, as well as many men of science. The Great Eastern was, indeed, not merely the wonder of this age, but she created more sensation among men of scientific and maritime pursuits in all parts of the world than any vessel had ever done in any age. Nor was she an object of much less interest at the time to the general public, while the difficulties of her launch and the appliances for this purpose were freely discussed, often in no friendly spirit, at the meetings of the learned institutions, as well as in the gay gatherings of Belgravia, and in the more humble homes and workshops of Mile End and Poplar. The subject was one of hardly less interest throughout Europe and the United States. But shrewd practical men, while envying the superabundant wealth of the shareholders, and admiring their boldness in investing in her as a commercial undertaking with so questionable a chance of profit, quietly sneered at the futile attempts to launch the leviathan. Though of unusual weight and size, they said, that had the ordinary process been adopted, she would have found her way to the water with as much ease and safety as a vessel of ordinary dimensions. There was no need, they remarked, to launch her broadway to the Thames, as, in their opinion, she might have been so built that when started from her ways she would shoot either up or down the river, as hundreds of vessels launched from the banks of much narrower streams had done before her.
[Sidenote: Floats of her own accord, January 31st, 1858.]
However, on this occasion, the efforts at launching were so far attended with success, an average advance of 20 feet having been obtained in the course of the day, so that when the tide reached its height, the monster was 7½ feet in the water; but the only distance accomplished on the following day, was one solitary slip of “2½ inches,” and in this state she lay until Tuesday, the 31st January, when the great ship quietly floated of her own accord, the tide having risen sufficiently high to lift her from the cradles on which she had so long lain.
[Sidenote: The whole scheme of this launch a thorough mistake.]
The struggle of hydraulic power with the monster the company had created, and other appliances proved most expensive, the launch of this ship having cost no less than 120,000_l._ when 10,000_l._ or even 5000_l._, it was said, might have sufficed;[426] nor, indeed, is it easy to understand how, with all the data before them, the tons weight to be lifted, the angle of inclination, and the well-known rate of friction, dynamic science could not have calculated with the utmost accuracy the amount of force requisite to move the Great Eastern on her launching ways. No adequate consideration, however, seems to have been given to these important matters, for additions were made, day by day, to the force applied, and these, too, experimentally, and not, as might have been expected, as the result of careful, previous calculations. No doubt the chief cause of this expensive failure is attributable to the fact that Mr. Brunel (it was well known at the time that Mr. Scott Russell strongly opposed Mr. Brunel’s plan of launching) was permitted to try the almost insane experiment of launching the ship on iron instead of wooden ways, as has, hitherto, invariably been adopted in the launch of all other vessels.
The expenses attending the launch exhausted the funds of the Great Eastern Company; and brought it to the brink of dissolution. Nor was this the only trouble to which the Great Eastern was exposed. On the 5th of April, 1858, a sharp north-easterly squall, which swept the river with considerable violence, subjected her moorings to a strain so severe, that one of the chain cables on the port-bow parted about 20 feet below the hawse-hole, and for a time exposed the vessel to great danger; fortunately, however, this unfair weight snapped, also, the second stern-chain, and thus allowed the vessel’s bows to swing in towards the Deptford shore, thereby saving the Great Eastern from more serious loss.
[Sidenote: Difficulties of the Company.]
[Sidenote: Offer to Government wisely declined.]
The difficulties, however, in which the company were involved had now become a matter of public notoriety; the more so, that the vessel remained for more than a year equally unfinished as on the day she launched herself, and was in fact nothing more than a vast iron hulk lying on the waters of the Thames. Ineffectual efforts were made to induce the public to come forward and subscribe the extra capital requisite to complete her, but the launch, and other circumstances, had increased the doubts long entertained by men of business with regard to the prospects of the ship, as a commercial undertaking; hence, the public could not be induced to re-invigorate the exchequer of the company with sufficient money to equip her for sea. The various suggestions made to persuade the shareholders of the company to come forward with additional capital, were of no avail and they all, alike, failed in raising the requisite funds. A negotiation was even opened with the Government with a view to the purchase of the vessel, the press, all at once, teeming with articles to the effect that, whether important or not as a mercantile adventure, the great ship, as a vessel of war, would be “almost invaluable.”[427] This discovery, it is true, had been previously overlooked, but it soon became the theme of general discussion.
The difficulties of the existing means of oceanic communication it was said, compelled Government to maintain larger forces at all points of the empire, and at the same time, than were actually requisite; consequently, it was argued that, with two or three such stupendous vessels as the Great Eastern, such a necessity would be obviated, and Government would really have increased strength, even though her present military establishments were greatly reduced. It was, further, urged that continental nations were well aware that the secret of England’s weakness, as a military power, is not so much from the smallness as from the wide dispersion of her army. Once shown that means exist for obviating this necessity, and that she is able, in a few days, to transport an army of 10,000 men to any part of Europe, and England’s position, as a military empire, would be established. It was asserted that the political results, accruing from any Government having at its disposal such a class of ships, would be equally important; while the facility provided for the transportation of large numbers of soldiers across the seas would necessarily consolidate more closely the power of Great Britain with that of her distant possessions. The revolution a squadron of such vessels would effect in war would be as great as their results in commerce; moreover, for the first time, steam would achieve on the ocean what it had already achieved on land.
But the arguments employed by the negotiators, backed as these were by suggestions artfully thrown out by a portion of the public press, to the effect that foreign powers might become possessed of this invaluable ship to the prejudice, disadvantage, and dishonour of Great Britain, terminated in failure. Government decided against the proposal, and no alternative remained, but to wind up the affairs of the existing company and to endeavour to make some arrangement whereby fresh capital could be raised to complete the vessel.
[Sidenote: Further proposal to employ her as a cable-layer.]
The Atlantic cable, which was to form a telegraphic communication between Europe and the United States, was completed in the summer of 1858, and the vessels of war employed in laying it across the Atlantic having made an unsuccessful voyage on the first occasion, it was strongly urged upon Government[428] that the Great Eastern should be fitted up by the Admiralty for the purpose of laying it down, as the whole of the cable could be contained in this one vessel, thus diminishing the risks of failure necessarily inseparable from employing two ships, each starting in opposite directions from the middle of the Atlantic. But the prevailing opinion then was, though it changed a few years later, that the Great Eastern from her height out of the water was unadapted for such a service, and, further, that there were no public grounds on which the application of the necessary sum from the Exchequer to assist the operations of a private company could be justified: therefore, Government distinctly refused to entertain the proposal.
Renewed endeavours were now made to reorganise the undertaking, and after much difficulty the affairs of the original company were wound up, the sum of 160,000_l._ having been accepted for the sale and transfer of the vessel to a new company, which came into possession of her in the beginning of the year 1859.
[Sidenote: Makes her first sea trip, September 9th, 1859.]
Somewhere about 300,000_l._ having been subscribed for the new undertaking, which received the name of the Great Ship Company, the directors, after paying for the ship, had 140,000_l._ left to equip her for sea; but it was not until September 1859 that the Great Eastern was sufficiently complete to make her first trial trip. On Wednesday, the 9th of that month, she took her departure from the Thames under the most favourable circumstances, the weather being very fine with a light breeze of wind and blue sky overhead. Starting with four tugs, two on the bow and two at the quarter, to guide her through the narrow parts of the river, she, after some delay and a few slight mishaps, reached Purfleet, where she anchored for the night. At daylight, on the following morning she started for the Nore, where she arrived about noon, having obtained a speed of “13 knots” an hour, though only at “half-speed”, her engines making not more than eight revolutions a minute.
From the Nore the Great Eastern proceeded successfully to Whitstable, where she anchored, getting under weigh, thence, at a quarter past nine on the following morning with a fresh breeze. After passing Margate she encountered a stiff gale, where, as represented in the following woodcut, she appears “quite at ease,” when “large ships were under double reefed topsails” and small vessels were obliged to “lie to.”
[Sidenote: Accident off Hastings, and the opinion of the pilot.]
But an unfortunate accident occurred to her, when off Hastings, through the explosion of one of her funnel-casings, causing the death of six men employed in the engineering department, injuring various others, and destroying nearly all the mirrors and other ornamental furniture in the grand saloon. Though appalling enough at the time, no injury was done to the hull or machinery of the vessel sufficient to prevent her proceeding on her voyage to Weymouth, which she reached without any further misfortune on the afternoon of Friday, within the time anticipated for her arrival.
[Sidenote: Reaches Holyhead; and details of her voyage.]
On her arrival, the pilot who had been in charge of the Great Eastern from Deptford to Portland (Weymouth Bay), made an official report of her performances to the company,[429] confirming, in some measure, the glowing accounts in many of the public journals and realising the sanguine expectations of the directors, though their hopes of profit had been somewhat damped by the accident which, apart from the loss of life, entailed an outlay of 5000_l._ The necessary repairs having been completed, the Great Eastern proceeded from Portland to Holyhead, but without passengers as originally contemplated. Starting at noon of the 8th of October, she made the run to Holyhead in forty hours at an “average speed of close upon 13 knots or more than 15 statute miles in the hour,” having on some occasions attained a speed of 15 knots an hour, the engineers and other experienced men on board feeling “thoroughly convinced that, when in the condition which the company has a right to expect, she will make easily 18 knots or 21 miles an hour.”
The paddle-engines, during one portion of the passage where a careful record was kept, appear to have made from 8¾ to 9¾ revolutions per minute, and the screw from 32 to 33½ revolutions in the same time, the pressure being 20 pounds per square inch in both cases with the throttle-valves half closed and both engines working on the second grade of expansion, giving an average speed of 12 knots an hour, but with an outlay of “10 tons of coal per hour.” On another occasion when the sails were set, and the weather more favourable, she is said to have attained a speed of 15 knots, with the screw making from 38 to 40, and the paddles from 10½ to 11 revolutions per minute, and, at this rate of speed, the screw boilers consumed on the average at the rate of 170 tons per day, and the paddle-engines on the average 110 tons, giving a consumption of 280 tons of coal each day under favourable circumstances. During the highest rate of speed the engines made 11 revolutions for the paddles per minute and 43 for the screw. A special trial gave the speed of the ship under paddle-wheels alone 7¼, and under the screw alone 9 knots an hour.
[Sidenote: Makes her first voyage across the Atlantic, June 1860.]
Having made the trial trip to Holyhead to the satisfaction of her directors, the Great Eastern left that harbour shortly after noon on the 2nd of November for Southampton, but did not leave that port on her first voyage across the Atlantic until the morning of the 17th of June, 1860, reaching New York on the 28th of that month. The greatest speed attained during the passage was 14½ knots an hour, and the greatest distance run in any one day 333 knots.[430] Only thirty-six passengers were found bold enough to accompany her on this voyage, besides two of the directors. But the Americans gave her a warm and hearty reception on her arrival at New York; hundreds of small vessels crowded with people having gone out to meet her and bid her welcome, the scene in the North River, where she moored, being described[431] as a “perfect ovation.”
In the report which the directors issued to the shareholders[432] shortly after the Great Eastern returned to Milford Haven (where she was placed with great skill on a gridiron and had her bottom cleaned and painted) they state that 14,000_l._ had been remitted from the agents at New York, and, though they had not then furnished their accounts, the directors expressed a hope that the receipts would cover the expenses of the trial trip to America without trenching on the capital; they, however, stated that heavy outstanding claims remained unsettled, and that they would require, to meet these demands and put the ship into good working order, an additional capital of from 30,000_l._ to 40,000_l._
[Sidenote: Second voyage, May 1861.]
The requisite sum having been provided, the Great Eastern left Milford Haven on her second passage for New York on the 1st of May, 1861, with 100 passengers. On this occasion she consumed from 159 to 295 tons of coals per day; the entire distance (3093 miles) being accomplished in ten days, though the wind, by her log, appears to have been ahead during a considerable portion of the voyage. In one day, she accomplished a distance of 348 nautical miles, her greatest speed being 14½ knots an hour, or one half knot per hour less than the average speed anticipated on a voyage to India.[433]
[Sidenote: Third voyage to Quebec, July 1861.]
On the return of the Great Eastern to England in the following month of June, the apprehension of war with the United States occasioned by the Trent affair induced the British Government to engage her, with other steamships, to transport troops and munitions of war to Canada. But those embarked (or rather, for prudential reasons, allowed to embark) fell far short of the number her designers had contemplated; they had estimated 10,000, but the Government wisely limited the number to 2079 men, 46 officers, 159 women, and 244 children, besides 40 cabin passengers who were civilians. Having landed her troops at Quebec, she left that place on her return to England at four o’clock on the morning of the 6th of August, and, though detained twelve hours in crossing the bars in the River St. Lawrence, she arrived at her moorings in the Mersey on Thursday at 8.30 P.M. of the 15th of that month.
[Sidenote: Fourth voyage, September 1861.]
[Sidenote: Heavy gale off the S.W. coast of Ireland, compelled to return to Cork.]
Early in the course of the following month, the Great Eastern sailed from the Mersey on her fourth Transatlantic voyage with 400 passengers of different classes for New York. On this occasion she encountered, on the 12th and 13th of September, a heavy gale of wind when about 280 miles off Cape Clear, and sustained so much damage that she was obliged to put back and seek shelter in Cork Harbour. Various accounts of this disaster appeared, at the time, in the daily journals. Her paddles, it would appear, were seriously injured, and her rudder “rendered useless.” Nor do the writers of these accounts speak very highly of the anticipated superior sea-going qualities of the great ship, or of her freedom from that violent motion in a gale, to which ordinary vessels are subjected. Indeed, one of her passengers on this occasion, in a letter he addressed to the Times, gives the most melancholy account of her, but this description of the disaster and the imminent danger to which her passengers were exposed, is probably exaggerated.[434] Landsmen in a gale, especially when anything goes wrong, generally, take the most gloomy view of matters; they picture to themselves dangers which have no reality, and, when they see the seamen hurrying to and fro to rectify, as far as possible, any damage the ship may have sustained about her spars, rigging, or bulwarks, they too frequently give themselves up for lost.
So long as the hull of a ship keeps sound the action of the ocean, however disturbed, does not, materially, affect her safety, but, in this action, the landsman, too frequently, sees just that kind of danger which the sailor is said to have dreaded during a gale on land, from falling slates and broken chimney-pots, congratulating himself that he was at sea and not on shore in the midst of the storm.
[Sidenote: General remarks on the sea-going qualities of different ships,]
On the other hand, the anticipated ease and safety of the Great Eastern during a gale was about as much exaggerated, as the discomforts and danger the narrator of the gale has described. One enthusiastic writer, among numerous others equally sanguine, in his description of what might be expected from the great ship in a storm, remarks “she will set circular sailing at defiance,” as if circular sailing has anything whatever to do with the sea-going qualities of a vessel. He then exclaims: “The line which in a tornado is said to make a steady but resistless run of 20 miles will be counteracted by the ‘wave line,’ which Mr. Scott Russell has adopted as the principle on which she has been built. Storms and tempests will be looked upon as merely sublime phenomena, in nowise menacing peril as things scarcely affecting the ship, but to be gazed upon out of snug cabin windows as interesting episodes of the voyage.”
[Sidenote: and on the effect of wind in causing “rollers.”]
So much for the two extremes, but from these glowing anticipations on the one hand, and the exaggerated account of the actual event on the other, some lessons may be learned. The wave line (whatever may be its advantage, if any, over the lines usually adopted by shipbuilders) can produce no sensible difference in the violent motions of a ship at sea, even if it tends to promote greater speed. Waves are of greater length and height, according to the force of the gale and its extent of sweep over the ocean.[435] In channels, where broken by projecting points of land or promontories, they are short and disturbed. When crossing the whole breadth of the Atlantic during a westerly gale, they are long, and, as they roll between the headlands forming the Bay of Biscay, they are also disturbed, rendering a voyage across that part of the ocean a proverbially unpleasant and, with deeply laden and badly found ships, a somewhat dangerous one. To insist, therefore, as some writers appear to have done, that the lines of a ship should be in conformity with the length and action of the waves, or that, by a careful study of the law of fluids, they can be so drawn as to render, under all the varied circumstances of a long voyage, one ship more easy or even more swift than another, is, I fear, attributing to science more than it can reasonably claim; for though, by its general application to the models of ships, great improvements have of late years been made, I can hardly suppose that lines, based on the action of fluids, which must be more or less disturbed by the weight and velocity of a vessel passing through them, and by the action of the winds on their surface, do really possess any superior advantages so far as regards greater ease, speed or safety.[436]
Nor had the idea, which prevailed at the time, that a ship of the vast dimensions of the Great Eastern would bid defiance to the danger of the ocean, much more foundation in fact. No doubt a vessel of 1000 tons is a much safer mode of conveyance across the Atlantic than one of 100 tons, and a vessel of 2000 tons may be still more so, but not to either the same degree or extent. Moreover, a ship of double that size, or say 4000 tons, is no safer, though she may be more comfortable, for various self-evident reasons, such as being less liable to receive on deck the crest of the waves, or by affording more space and better ventilation in her cabins; but anything beyond that size will, assuredly, not realize much greater speed, though she may afford greater comfort.
[Sidenote: Real truth about “momentum.”]
A vessel of 100 tons is lifted by every large wave, and, consequently, the distance she has to traverse is increased. As the size is enlarged this particular description of motion diminishes, in proportion to the length of the vessel. But there is a limit to this advantage, as there is to most other things, and a vessel of 5000 tons and 400 feet long, will be, similarly, borne on the crest of two or more of the largest waves as a vessel 700 feet in length, and, therefore, would lose nothing in speed from the ascending and descending motions: this fact has, indeed, been satisfactorily proved, as the ships of the Ismay, Cunard, Inman, Allan, and other lines of steamers employed in Transatlantic voyages have made more rapid passages than ever the Great Eastern did.[437] Speed, beyond a certain size, is determined by the model, and the power of propulsion, due regard being had to the weight to be propelled and the resistance offered by the depth and extent of immersion. The momentum, about which a great deal was said and from which so much was expected in the case of the Great Eastern, though of some importance, when vessels of 100 tons are compared with those of 1000, is of much less consequence in the case of vessels of unusual weight and dimensions. It is at best only transitory, while, to drive a vessel of 20,000 tons through the water at the rate of 15 miles an hour, somewhere about four times greater power would be necessary than to secure the same speed in a vessel similarly constructed, of 5000 tons, although less power in proportion to tonnage would suffice in smaller vessels.
[Sidenote: Very large ships not so safe as smaller ones, as their damages are less easily repaired.]
But, with regard to the first and by far the most important consideration, the safety of a vessel at sea, I am disposed to think, though contrary to the generally accepted view, that ships of vast dimensions are less safe, in exceptional circumstances, than those of ordinary size. Take for instance the case of the accident to the Great Eastern, to which I have just referred, in which she lost her rudder, or when, at all events, it was so seriously injured as to be rendered inefficient. I need say nothing of the difficulty, or it might be of the impossibility, of providing a temporary mode of guiding a vessel of such huge dimensions. The loss of the rudder of any vessel in a gale of wind is no doubt a serious matter and one which must ever cause peril, but that peril increases with the size of the ship, for, when thus rendered helpless, the greater the bulk, the greater is the resistance offered to the action of the waves as they strike her sides. This is exemplified, though to a far greater degree, by the fact that a strong ship, on which the beating of the waves in the open sea would make little or no impression, would be dashed to pieces by the same waves if she was stranded on a lee shore. A large ship without rudder and, consequently, helpless in the hollow or trough of the sea would offer resistance to the stroke of the wave in proportion to her weight, and the wave would, consequently, strike with the greatest force on the body of the greatest weight. This, in some measure, and not without reason, accounts for the alarm created in the mind of the passenger on board of the Great Eastern during the gale he so graphically describes.
[Sidenote: Chief later use of Great Eastern as a cable layer, but not, even here, remunerative.]
From the time of this disaster, the movements of the Great Eastern are not of much historical interest, so far as regards merchant shipping. It is true, that she proved of great value and importance in laying the Atlantic telegraph cable during the summer of 1865, and, in the very skilful feat of picking up from the depths of the ocean the broken ends, and in laying another Atlantic cable during the summer of 1866, when no other ship of sufficient dimensions could then have been found to perform that difficult and hazardous undertaking.[438] She has also proved very useful since, in other similar operations, in India and elsewhere; but, for ordinary commercial operations as various persons predicted,[439] when she was first projected and long before she was sent to sea, she has been a ruinous, though not a lamentable failure.[440] Even the work of laying cables was not remunerative, for, by a report of the directors issued in March 1869, it appears that the great ship had been arrested for a debt of 35,000_l._, that the current expenses had, considerably, exceeded the receipts, and that there were other claims which had to be met, before she could again proceed to sea. These difficulties were, however, overcome. The debt of 35,000_l._ was settled for the comparatively moderate sum of “4000_l._!” and the other demands, though not nearly so extortionate, were amicably adjusted. In 1868 the Great Eastern was again chartered by the Telegraphic Construction and Maintenance Company, for the purpose of laying a telegraph cable between Brest and Ducksburgh near Boston; and for the same company she laid a telegraph cable between Aden and Bombay in the spring of 1870.[441] In 1873 and 1874 she laid other two cables between Valentia and Heart’s Content in Newfoundland; and on the 25th of July, 1875, she completed her charter (20,000_l._ per annum), and was handed over to her owners. Since then she has been placed upon a gridiron to have her bottom cleaned, and I daresay her owners are now at a loss to know how she can be profitably employed.
[Sidenote: Concluding remarks.]
But it will hardly be gainsaid, that the building, launching, and navigating such a ship are events in the history of merchant shipping, sufficiently important to justify the extent of space devoted to her in these pages; and, should my imperfect record survive for the next hundred or fifty years, there may be found in these pages a collection of facts relating to a ship, more marvellous than that of Hiero, King of Syracuse, or of the Penteconter of Ptolemy Philopator. Perhaps, too, this record may contain more details of value, than the historians of those ships have handed down to posterity, for it may be that, a hundred or fifty years hence, the maritime commerce of the world may have grown to an extent sufficient to justify, with reasonable prospects of profit, another ship of the dimensions of the Great Eastern. I can only write of the past and the present, leaving the future to be dealt with by those who may follow me, and, perhaps, all that posterity will be able to say against the enterprising promoters of the Great Eastern may, hereafter, be condensed in the flattering eulogium, “their ideas in regard to dimensions were in advance of their age—they were only before their time.” Though far from realizing the expectations once entertained with regard to speed and small consumption of fuel, her failure is, mainly, to be attributed to the fact that, at the time she was constructed, there were no lines of traffic on which a vessel of such huge capacity could procure, with despatch, the amount of freight or passage money necessary to insure a profit. But, from first to last, even when the failures of her launch had become too apparent, the people of England were proud of her, and this is not surprising, for no other country could have raised, by voluntary subscription, and without any aid from Government, the capital requisite to construct and equip this monster ship for sea.
That their pride should have found vent in numerous paragraphs in the public press is only what might have been expected, for, though shrewd men shook their heads, and cautious men declined to invest their capital in the ship, she was a marvellous piece of workmanship, even the Americans admitting, that England might well feel an honest pride in having produced such a triumph of mechanical skill, and welcoming her as they did to their shores, as a characteristic evidence of the genius, energy, and pluck of their fatherland.
Although I have not hesitated to expose the want of forethought, which rendered the Great Eastern a commercial failure, and the grave mistake in her launch, I cannot refrain from admiring the extension of the spirit of national pride to private undertakings such as these. Much has been learned and much has still to be learned from her. Various mechanical contrivances, now in use, were first adopted in this great ship. In herself she indicates the most astounding progress. Indeed, when I consider that only forty years had elapsed since the small engines of the Comet which, though they puffed and strained, and made noise enough to frighten the people who watched the little vessel in her progress down the Clyde, were the finest of the period, and compare them with the vast engines of the Great Eastern, working in their combined action without the slightest jerk, and almost noiselessly, my mind is lost in wonder at the prodigious advance made, within my own time, in this mighty civilizing instrument.
FOOTNOTES:
[426] Mr. Brunel’s estimate to the directors of the cost of the launch was 14,000_l._
[427] “What fleet (exclaims the writer of a leading article in one of the London daily papers) could stand in the way of such a mass, weighing some 30,000 tons, and driven through the water by 12,000 horse-power at the rate of 22 or 23 miles an hour?”
[428] See Mr. Griffiths’ speech in the House of Commons, 9th July, 1858.
[429] Extract from the pilot’s report:
“On arriving at Sea Reach I found the vessel so completely under command with the use of her own paddle-wheels and steam-engines, that I decided on casting off the steam-tugs altogether, and proceeding afterwards without any assistance. On reaching the North Foreland, we experienced a stiff double-reefed topsail breeze, during which other vessels were pitching and tossing a good deal, and, on passing the Downs, the wind increased to a close-reefed breeze, and many large vessels were lying with two anchors down. Throughout, the vessel steered with the greatest ease, and, literally, without any perceptible motion, and for some time I have no hesitation in stating that, computing our distance by points on land, which admit of no mistake as to distance, we were making fully 14 knots an hour with both paddle-wheels and screw-engines working fully one-third under their pressure. The misadventure, which occurred off Hastings, in no way interfered with the working or progress of the vessel, and, with the single engineering accident in question, we made the voyage from Deptford to Portland without any check or interference of any kind. The vessel is, in every respect, an excellent sea-boat, and I may state without any hesitation that, with sufficient sea-room, she is even more easily handled and under command than an ordinary ship, either sailing-vessel or steam.”
[430] Her daily performances were as follows:
17th June 285 knots 18th June 296 knots 19th June 296 knots 20th June 276 knots 21st June 304 knots 22nd June 280 knots 23rd June 302 knots 24th June 299 knots 25th June 325 knots 26th June 333 knots 27th June 254 knots
[431] Letter from passenger in the Great Eastern.
[432] 14th October, 1860.
[433] In the various newspapers and reports I have searched for information about this ship, and other inquiries, I have never had any reason assigned for the Great Eastern not having been placed, when ready for sea, on the India line, from which so much was expected of her, and for which she was specially built; or why her new directors sent her, on hap-hazard and expensive cruises, down channel and across the Atlantic, when every trip showed a ruinous loss. But I suppose the true reason is to be found in the fact, that they could not obtain for either India or Australia sufficient goods and passengers to justify the heavy outlay necessary for such long voyages (the cost of outfit may in itself have been an obstacle), and that, in truth, there was no branch of maritime commerce wherein she could then be profitably employed.
[434] “Thursday.—This morning we have a fresh gale, with a good sea. Noon: A heavy gale; wind, from north to west; sea, tremendous. We roll very heavily, and ship many seas. I now begin to understand the true meaning of a gale in the Atlantic. The captain looks anxious, but the passengers have faith in the ‘big ship.’ The ‘rolling’ is fearful, and quite upsets all persons’ notions of the steadiness of the Great Eastern. Two o’clock: Things look worse. The captain tries to put our head to the wind. The port paddle gives way with a great crash in the attempt. The jib is set, I presume to aid in steering, but it is blown to ribands in a few moments. The rolling increases; the deck presents an angle of 45 degrees, and none but experienced seamen can walk about. Attention is suddenly drawn to the boats; they are suspended on either side, but mostly on fixed davits. The heavy rolling brings the boats in violent contact with the waves. The tackling of the long boat becomes deranged; a man and a boy enter it to remedy the evil, but the wind strikes the boat, and gives the occupants forcible ejectment, happily upon the deck, and in a moment it is floating far away from us. Four other boats share a similar fate in rapid succession. Continued efforts are made to bring the ship to the wind. I watch the men at the wheel—there is almost an army of them. 5.45.—Our position is indeed critical. A tremendous sea has just struck our stern. It has broken her rudder head. Still, we are not quite at the mercy of the waves; we have our screw, and we have our starboard paddle. The wind is now getting to the south-west.
“Friday, 6 A.M.—We are drifting before the wind at the rate of 3 or 4 knots an hour. We have never been more than 300 miles from land. We are drifting eastward now; but, even if the wind does not change, it will be many days before we can reach land in this manner. The pumps are all going. I do not like the sound, but am assured they have complete mastery over the water. The water has got in through the ports and by way of the deck.
“There is scarcely a cabin in the ship to which the water has not found its way. Many require a change of clothes, and the hatchways of the baggage stores are opened. The scene that presents itself defies all description. The water has got in, and in sufficient force to float even many of the larger articles. The rocking of the ship has set the whole mass in motion.”
[435] “From a paper of great interest it would seem that, approximately, the cube of the height of the waves is proportional to the square of the velocity of the wind. Most of the conclusions drawn in this paper are from observations made during the voyages of the Bonite and Astrolabe.” (“Naval Science,” October 1874, Part II., p. 159.)
[436] See paper on “The Difficulties of Speed Calculations,” by Mr. Denny, read at the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, 23rd March, 1875, pp. 2, 3, and 4.
[437] See Appendices Nos. 10 and 17, pp. 606 and 617.
[438] 1000_l._ per month was paid for the use of the ship alone. When the agreement expired in 1867, she was chartered by a French Company to carry passengers between New York and Brest for the Paris exhibition. Her cabins were then altered and redecorated, and new boilers fitted to the screw engines. But the French Company was unsuccessful, and the Great Eastern only made one voyage in its service.
[439] Towards the close of the year 1857, when the prospects of the Great Eastern were exciting much public attention, the author ventured to offer to his constituents at Tynemouth, nearly all of whom were interested in ships, the following remarks (reported in the newspapers of the period) with regard to her:
“Very shortly there will be launched a ship of vast and hitherto unparalleled dimensions: I allude to the Great Eastern. If that ship answers, I do not know where we shall be with our small vessels. As this is a subject, upon which opinions have been greatly at variance, perhaps you would like to hear mine. It must be a matter of deep interest to all present, because you are all directly or indirectly interested in the shipping trade, to know whether such a ship as the Great Eastern is, or is not, likely to answer in a commercial point of view, and I venture on this topic because I have heard strong opinions expressed to the effect that, commercially, she will be a great triumph. For my part, I believe her to be a great triumph of mechanical skill, I believe that no finer or stronger vessel has ever been put together: so far as regards her formation, I think she is a very splendid model: but, with reference to the speed she is expected to attain, I doubt very much whether she will ever realise the anticipation of her builder, though I think that we, as a nation, ought to be proud of having men who can produce so marvellous a piece of mechanism. But we must look, also, to the commercial element, because in this, I, and most of you are deeply interested. If such a ship as the Great Eastern be found to answer commercially, most of our property will go to the wall, for, in a short time, our small vessels will be of very little use to us. The course of commerce is this: If a Manchester merchant has 1000 bales of a particular description of goods to send to Calcutta, he does not send the whole of them in one bottom, because he might thus overstock the market. On the contrary, he sends them in from four to six different vessels, and he does this for two reasons: first, that by so doing he feeds the market; and, secondly, that he gets, thereby, quicker returns. The principle of commerce is to send out supplies in relays. Then again, we find that passengers do not go out in masses, but, at such intervals, as suit them best. And, in times of war, statesmen find it the wisest plan to send out not 1000, much less 10,000 men in one bottom, but from 400 to 600, at the utmost, in one ship. And this must appear to be sound policy, when we picture to ourselves what might be the result of sending out a whole army in the Great Eastern. I do not take into consideration the contingency of the ship going to the bottom. I shall not ask you to imagine so fearful a calamity, but, supposing anything happened to her machinery and occasioned a serious stoppage, when expedition was necessary to the attainment of a certain object, the effect would be that the whole army would be detained. No Government would dare to send so large a force in one vessel. Therefore, looking at the question, politically as well as from a commercial point of view, I am of opinion that we have nothing to fear from the competition of leviathans such as the Great Eastern.”
[440] If any further proof was required that the Great Eastern proved a failure in the two points, speed and comfort at sea, on which her protectors mainly built their hopes, it will be found in a small and amusing book by M. Jules Verne, translated from the French, and published by Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. (1875), entitled “The Floating City.” M. Verne, who made a voyage in this ship in 1867 from Liverpool to New York, records, from the official returns, her speed as not exceeding 250 nautical miles each day on the average, and he describes her movements during strong winds as “rolling frightfully, her bare masts describing immense circles in the air.”
[441] It has been stated that the loss upon the Great Eastern up to this period amounted to close upon 1,000,000_l._ sterling!