The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-28 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN.

Each day this monstrous vessel becomes in her
vapid progress towards completion a greater and a
:Teeter Eastern still. For nearly four years she
la 4 loeyned in dim immensity over the river side
dike sem° pre-Adamite leviathan—for nearly four
years she has stood an iron enigma, exciting and
ealiFng all conjecture as to how she was to be got
-Town to the water, and how she was to be managed
seld controlled when in it. To the majority of
t:dendoners she has been little else than a colossal
.ailor's folly, as little likely to be moved from the
place in which she rose as the banks of the Thames
AEA!, in which it was generally believed the Great
gasterrr was destined to remain a permanent orna-
ment—a reproach to mariners, and a beacon of
warning to future enterprising companies of all
kinds. It will, however, relieve the minds of our
leaders to know for certain that, whatever other
fate may be in store for this gigantic undertaking,
the vessel is at least not doomed to remain where
she has been for so long. The hours of the Great
Easte n's stay on land are now numbered ; each day
diminishes more and more the connection between
tL e shore and the ship, and on Tuesday next, soon
after daybreak, it will be finally sundered, and the
Great Eastern launched into that e!ement on which
her appearance will be the forerunner of a new era.
It is only within the last few hours that the hour
for the launch has been decided on, and the morn-
ing of Wednesday, the 3d, definitely fixed. Until
recently it was quite impossible to say when the
launch really would take place, for, in spite of the
labours of 1,100 men, who have worked without
cessation day and night, so much was to be done
that at ono time a further postponement seemed in-
evitable. Only by the constant care and untiring
energy of all connected with the works has this
delay been prevented, and the novel difficulties
presented in the construction of the launching ways
overcome within the allotted time.
Just now the Great Eastern has reached her culmi-
nating point of preparations. During the next few
days they will cease and determine altogether ; but
at present they are rampant, and in the great chaos
which reigns upon and round the vessel, iron and
paint, woodwork and shavings seem to struggle for
her inastery and possession. It is almost hard to
say which monfrpredominatos. Judging from the
state of his clothes on his return, the visitor is apt
to give a hasty verdict in favour of the paint, though
his recollections of the works—the gong-like uproar
With which the punching, rolling, welding, and ri-
veting of iron goes on—the endless variety of steam
and hand saws always at work, and the amount of
ti:nber either sawed or being sawn—leaves him after
all in a perplexed state to say in which branch the
Great Eastern is most progressing. Since our last
notice the whole exterior of the hull, from deck to
keel, has been re-painted and finished off according
to the appearance she is intended to present when
in the water. This change has made a great im-
provem.ent ; instead of a red unmanageable looking
pile, heavy and awkward to the eye, her beautifully
modelled form, and slender tapering bows are now
brought forth in all their perfect symmetry. She is
painted three colours—red lead up to the 20 feet or
light load water-line ; for 15 feet above this up to
the heavy low-water line copper co!our, and the
remainder (32 feet) up to the top black. The mere
painting of the vessel, slight as the fact may appear
as hen mentioned, involves a labour of no common
magnitude, for the painted surface of the Great
tast3rn is, inside and outside nearly 120,000 square
y trhs in extent, or more than 24 acres. The num-
Ler of tons of paint which it requires is a calculation
n which we dare not venture. As regards the pre-
petations for the launching, we have already de-
cribed at length the peculiar construction of the
Lunching ways over which the vessel will glide
into the water. Perhaps, however, a brief repeti-
tion of the main plan on which they are made may
not even now be without interest to many of our
readers. Two launching " ways" or broad and
powerfully-built tramways, have been constructed
by the railway contractors, Treadwell and Co. run-
ning from under the fore and after portions of
the vessel down into the river at low water
ipring-tide mark. Each of these "ways" is 300
feet long by 120 wide, and the distance between the
t 'co is also about 120 feet. To guard against the
shafting nature of the river mud both, th• "ways"
are cons' tructed with unusual solidity and strength.
The foundation of each is formed upon seven rows
of piles, the four outside rows being driven at three
f, et intervals, and the three inner rows at six feet.
These piles are all forced home to the gravel of the
river be), so that they graduate from a length of
32 fset under the- ship's bottom to 10 feet at the
low-water mark.

To both sides of the heads of the rows of piles
strong timbers, 12 inches by 12 inches, are securely
bolted, and the whole area of the " way" covered
with coucrete to a thickness of two feet. Above
the c mcrete longitudinal timbers of great strength
are secured at intervals of three feet six inches from
e litre to centre, and run the entire length of the
"we v.." Over these again are placed transverse
iiiii;ers of the same solidity, but only 3 feet apart,
which are bolted together and again bolted down
to he walings to keep them fixed under the pros-
ear,' they will have to bear, and prevent them
floe lug at high tide: On these transverse timbers,
but running straight from the vessel to the water's
edge, are screwed railway metals at intervals of 18',
inches:apart. They are the ordinary solid bridge
rails used by Mr. Brunel on the permanent way of
the Great Western Railway, and are, of course, of
tee strongest kind. The rails complete the "ways,"
which, thus resting on a bed of piles and concrete,
form a massive road of crossed and recrossed tim-
bers stretching from under the Great Eastern to
lo .v- water mark at an inclination of lin 12. Down
the i ailway metals on these " ways," then, the
ship will be slowly lowered into the water on the
cr :dies, which are constructed under her. The
cr Iles are, of course of the-same width as the
"ways" over which they are to run. They are
of large balks of timber, wedged and driven
in with a ponderous machine like a battering
raw, ,83 as to perfectly fit the ship's
bo tom. The timbers are principally laid
atlreartships, with longitudinal beams and shores
f ened to the outer sides. All are riveted to-
gether. with iron bolts and screws and loaded with
et oe ballast to prevent their floating with the vessel.
Tee bottom of the iron cradle consists of iron lairs
seven inches wide and an inch thick, placed at in-
tervals of a foot apart and with their edges carefully
g-ound-off, so as to offer no resistance to the railway
me ale of the ways over which they will have to
T.a.se • Both launching ways rise slightly at the
cell tree where the piles are driven at wider intervals
in order to allow for the depression which is certain
t he produced by the passage of such an enormous
weight over their surface. Before the launch all
tte metals of the ways will be thickly coated with a
coalposition of tallow and black lead, so as to offer
uo obstruction from friction.

The. chief points on which the energies of Mr.
unel are now concentrated are, first, to overcome
the momentum of such a mass down an inclined
pl .ne.of 1 in 12, and prevent her, when once in
motion, dashing entirely away ; secondly, if stopped
fr An any cause upon the ways, to overcome the re-
si,tance of her enormous weight and provide suffi-
cient, purchase from the water to pull her slowly
into motion again. The latter is quite a secondary
coas'deration, for it is upon the strength and good
working of the.check tackle that everything will
depend. As far as human ingenuity and skill can
f ,resee the strain which is to come upon this tackle
danger has been provided against, and the whole
Apparatus forms the most ponderous system of check
tackle that has ever yet been constructed. We
have already explained what the cradles are, and
how the timbers of which they are compoged are
wedged in by means of a huge battering ram till
the whole is crushed into one compact mass, bolted
together with mapsive iron rods. To the centre of
each of these cradles is fastened the iron sheave to
which the check tackle is attached. These sheaves
or pulleys have been especially made for this
work ; they ara of solid cast iron, and weighing
5 tocis • each. One sheave will he fastened to each

cralle, and wrought iron wain cables of tho
Lrgct size connect these with two other sheaves,
each' of which is secured to a "drum," which pays
rou.t. the chain and in fact regulates the whob ope-
ration. These drums and the framework on which
theytl rest having to bear the strain of the whole
mans
tilikemnottion, extraordinary precautio s have
be
made
by
any
onrender them as massive as they could
iron. :114.e y known combination of mod and
shape
rig that of an ordinary reel, the
axle of which
striO 'of wrought iron by teams of timber and
bound together so as to form
a drum about 20 feetbc7l9Trll and 9 feet in diameter.
At each end of the
i..on
it
ill
weighing
upwards
of 20
weuaeche'sofofsotlhicei drum or discs, 1U feet in diameter,
it, ,
so that the
weight of each drum is more Orat:6sd tons in all.
The axle, of the discis set in a i
a ound As outer edge passes a band of ovrfriruogonh,twirhoiplc,
to work in thomanner of a friction clutch,
Thi-t, with tt* arid of strong iron lowiers 20feet lona
brings such4pressure to bear upon the discs ofilta
drum as to lower its revolutions, or entirely stop
theriain case the chain is being payed out to') fast.
Our readers, however, may naturally ask what re-
t.AitiS these drums themselves. Well, 'then, the
frame in which they work is set in a solid bed of
tituher formed by driving down a mass of piles 40
feat inlet:mit, so as to form a solid piece of timber
f bout 20 get square and going down to the gravel.
The whole of this is bound together with iron, and
strong shores.
l(d of piles paw from the cube of piles to the
, on Which the launch
~•ot tat, in fact, ;rig ways are built.
no mantetettr. -e
what therain, it Would
be 'impossible for the setting of the drums to give,
ul leas the whole river's bank gave way with them.