The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-15 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN.

The following letter has been addressed to a eon-
,emporary

Sir,—Those Londoners who deplore the abolition
of the time-honoured Greenwich Fair have reason
to feel grateful to the promoters of the Great Ship
Company for the very succescrul revival, on board
the Great Eastern, of that venerable institution.
Certainly the scenes witnessed there would not have
disgraced Greenwich, oven before the police had
shorn it of somewhat of its ancient glory.
The neighbourhood and the mode of conveyance
make the comparison the more enact. The same
pushing, squeezing, and overflowing on board the
river steamers as in clays gone by. After half an
hour's steaming the boat reaches the Leviathan,
whose majestic height towers above the funnel of
its puny neighbour, and here the scene begins.
Although the great ship is of unprecedented length,
of course there could be but one small gangway for
the pushing eager crowds, whether going or re-
turning, and the crush and pressure occasioned by
this simple arrangement, both on the landing stage
and on the deck of the great ship, were terrific, and
one boat can only embark or land its passengers at
a time.

The steps leading up the side of the ship are very
simply constructed, being little more than ladders
with planks behind them, and being steeply pitched,
females, when ascending or descending, are com-
pelled, especially those addicted to the present ex-
tensive fashion, to 'make a greater di: play of their
•eharms than is strictly warranted either by decorum
or propriety, and to the extreme amusement of
those waiting below. And now on board the ship,
the scene is quite consistent with the ideas sug-
gested by the outside arrangements. The vast
deck is quiet enough, but shouts of uproarious
mirth are heard proceeding from the lower depths.
A visit there reveals the cause. To facilitate the
inspection of the internal arrangements a ladder
has been obligingly placed in such a position as
makes the descent thereof not only very dangerous,
but also a most undignified act for any one pom-
pously inclined; but here again the greatest amuse-
ment is caused by the occasional descent of those
members of the soft sex whose curiosity has at-
tained a greater development than their ideas of
propriety, and roars of laughter from groups assem-
bled below greet their somewhat awkward efforts.
To increase the run, there has been placed in
close proximity another ladder, which reaches just
half way up to a doorway, whither the unwary are
allured by the bait of prospectuses being obtained
there, and this ladder furnishes to the numerous
collection of lurking characters a capital means of
playing sundry practical jokes ; for instance, upon
the appearance on the doorway of a portly gentle-
man, returning, perhaps, with a prospectus in his
hand, the ladder is surreptitiously removed, to the
astonishment and indignation of the said gentle-
man, and no bribe, however great, is sufficient to
insure its restoration.

Another source of amusement—caused, perhaps,
more by the sin of omission than that of commis-
sion—is presented by the numerous port-holes in
the ship's bulkheads ; any person curiously putting
his head through one of them is reminded that he
is not alone in the vessel by a shower of corks,
pieces of biscuit, &c.
Doubtless these inefficient arrangements caused
much amusement to some, but to others who came
to see 'an immense ship—one of the greatest
triumphs of British enterprise—they excited much
indignation, and they certainly did not prepossess
one in favour of the new management. Let us
hope, however, that the arrangements for the ad-
mission of sight-seers arc not to be taken as any
criterion of the way in which more important mat-
ters are likely to be managed.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant,
Dec. 14.

A VISITOR.