The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-10 00:00:00

The Great Eastern Steamship.

Every exertion is being used by the Atlantic Tele-
graph Construction Company, into whose hands the
Great Eastern steamer has provisionally passed, to

equip and prepare her for the service for which she
is intended—that of laying the new Atlantic Tele-

graph cable between this country and America. The
great ship still remains at her moorings in the Med-
way, near Saltpan-reach, a short distance below

Chatham, which she has occupied since her arrival
from Liverpool, the experience of the late autumn
and winter having proved that these were the best

possible moorings which could have been selected
for her on any part of the coast, as in addition to

an excellent anchorage ground she is well protected
from the westerly and southerly gales, while her
proximity to the Thames allows the shipment of the

Atlantic cable to be carried on with the least possi-
ble delay. During the autumnal gales not the least

anxiety was experienced for her safety, and the large
ship, in short, would appear to be as safe in the ex-
cellent anchorage of the Medway as if she were in

dock in the Thames. For several months after her
arrival in the river a considerable sum was realised

from the large numbers who visited her, but for the

last few weeks all visitors have been rigidly ex.

eluded in order that the work of fitting the ship for
the important service on which she is to be employed
may be carried on with the least possible interrup-
tion. The principal work now being urged forward

on board is the preparation of the enormous tanks
in which the different lengths of the Atlantic cable
will be coiled in .readiness for its paying out. To

provide the necessary space which these tanks will

occupy a considerable portion of the interior of the
Great Eastern, to the wing passages of the ship,

has been removed, together with two of the decks,

for nearly their entire length, both fore and aft,
the machinery, of course, not being interfered with.
The entire length of cable will be deposited in
three monster tank; and it is in the construc-
tion of these that every expedition is being used by
Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and Co., who have
taken the contract. The largest of the three tanks
is piaced in the after part of the ship, occupying the
space formerly devoted to the second-class saloon,
and necessitating the entire removal of two of the

decks. This tank is 58ft. in diameter and 20ft. 6in

in height. It is constructed entirely of iron, and
will be perfectly watertight, the cable being placed
in water from the time it is received on board until
it is finally deposited in its bed in the Atlantic. The
plates of -which the tanks are formed are all five-
eighths of an inch in thickness for three courses
from the bottom, and half an inch to the top. They
are formed with butt-strip joints, and single-rivetted
throughout, with double rivetted in alternate butts.
This, the largest of the tanks, is calculated to hold
between 800 and 900 miles of the cable. The mid-
ship tank is 58ft. 6in. in diameter and 20ft. 6in. in
depth, allowing for about the same quantity of stow-
age as the after tank. The forward tank is 51ft. in
diameter and of the same depth as the other two,
the quantity of cable it will hold being calculated at
between 600 and 700 miles. This tank is entirely
finished, and will be filled with water to-day, in
readiness for the reception of the first portion of the
cable. The after tank is about three parts complete,
but no commencement has yet been made with that
which will occupy the midship portion of the vessel
further than the removal of the cabins, decks, and,
indeed, the entire interior portion of the ship. In
order to sustain the enormous additional weight
which will be placed on the decks when the whole
of the nearly 3,000 miles of cable is on board, the
deck on which -the tanks are erected is being
strengthened by a system of knees and deck-beams,
while the lateral pressure of the cable against the
sides of the tanks will be overcome by
an arrangement of beams and supports, having
for their object the confining the dead
weight of the cable to the centre of the ship,
and Preventing or rather overcoming the outward
pressure of the 'enormous mass when the vessel is
r,..1,-;11g---as the Great Eastern does roll—at sea.
This, not the least important portion of the work,
is being carried o,t-
by Mr Canning, the company's
engineer, towhom '
also confided the generalsuper-
intendence of the equipment that gentlema
IProent of the vessel, the ex-
periencethe former Atlantic tel.'''. gained in assisting to lay
advantage in making theegrnaPil cable being of great
the present undertaking. new Preparations for
b ea of cable, giving
respectively 817, 803, and finenithii" tanks will hold
a.total length of 2,253 miles ;
intended to
place a length of cable of 2,4oollLiit
is
miles on
" board
d to
f
allow for slack. About 800 miles,
the cable, has been completed at the worte-
Glax, Elliot, and Co., Morden-wharf Grf
the rate at which it is turned out being about
miles per week. The first portion of the cable is
expected to be shipped on board in about a fort!
• night from the present time, and one, of the sailing
vessels of war belonging to the Chatham ordinary
has alreadx, been despatched to assist in conveyin,-,
the cable from the works to the Great Eastern. The
new cable encloses a conductor of copper strand,
consisting of seven wires--six laid round one—and
weighing 3001 b. per nautical mile, imbedded for
solidity in Chatterton's compound. The gauge of
the single wire is .048, or equal to the ordinary 18
gauge, and the gauge of strand -144, or the ordinary
No. 10 gauge. In the old Atlantic cable, sub-