The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-27 00:00:00

VOYAGE of the GREAT BRITAIN
STEAM-SHIP from BRISTOL to BLACKWALL.

The Great Britain steam-ship arrived in the River
Thames yesterday afternoon, and anchored off Black-
wall at four o'clock, after a boisterous but most
triumphant voyage. This unequalled specimen of
naval architecture, which is probably the finest ship
in the world, left her anchorage in King-road
Bristol, at seven, F.M., on Thursday evening. She
cannot, however, be said to have commenced her
voyage till nine o'clock, as upon her anchor righting,
it brought up with it some fragments of the gear of a
schooner which had been run down in the Channel at
the commencement of the winter. It took a consider-
able time to get clear of this impediment, and conse-
quently the ship did not commence steaming at any
rate till nine o'clock, when the Holmes light was in
sight. She then went off with fourteen rotations of
her engine per minute. Subsequently the bearings
got somewhat heated (a mishap common to all new
engines), in consequence of which her progress was
further delayed. At the time of her weighing anchor
the wind was from S.S.W., blowing somewhat fresh,
and with squalls of rain. After twelve o'clock the
wind veered to W.S.W., and it afterwards in-
creased, until, at about three A.M. of Friday,
it blew a stiff gale. There was at the same time a
very heavy cross sea of a very " nasty " kind running.
The gale kept on increasing, and the ship which,
from her having no cargo on board, was very light in
the water, rolled tremendously, but at the same time
very easily. She seemed as if determined to keep
the waves under, and made no water over her quar-
ters but the spray of the sea. Among the persons
on board of her were Mr. Brunel, Capt. Crispin,:B.N.,
commander of her Majesty's yacht (who attended by
order to inspect the vessel); Mr. Lloyd, chief en-
gineer of Woolwich Dockyards (deputed by the Ad-
miralty) ; Mr. Smith, inventor of the screw ; Mr.
Maude, civil engineer ; Mr. Baly, civil engineer ; Mr.
Hammond, civil engineer; Captain Claxton, R.N.,
Captain Bracon, and other gentlemen conversant with
nautical matters, all of whom expressed themselves in
terms of admiration of the performances of the ship.
The weather was in every way calculated to test
her powers severely during the entire of her pas-
sage from the Holmes to the Landsend. At seven
A.M. she was struck by a sea with some force on her
bows ; and at ten A.M., when a few miles above Pad-
stow, a second sea struck her on the star-
board bow with tremendous violence. A com-
mander of a vessel present, who had re-
peatedly made voyages to India, China, America,
&c., assured me that he had seldom or never seen a
sea strike a ship so heavily; and another nautical gen-
tleman expressed his belief that such a sea would have
completely swept the decks of an ordinary Channel
vessel. For a moment or two the blow seemed to
bring the Great Britain to a stand, and to paralyse
her engines; but she almost immediately heaved out
of the sea, and went on stemming the waves as before.
O❑ examining her afterwards it was found that the
violence of the sea had cracked her iron plates above
deck in two places, dashed in her bull's-eye windows,
frames and all, buckled the diagonal iron bars under
her forecastle deck, started the frame-work of the
doors, &c., and other trifling damage. The spring
ebb tide was at this time strong against her, and
increased the difficulties with which she had to con-
tend. She proceeded onwards, however,
" Walking the waters like a thing of life,"

and seemed to defy adverse powers ; for under cir-
cumstances, during the continuance of which an
ordinary vessel would scarcely hold her own, she
kept her course, making at no period of her voyage
less than 4 knots an hour. At 845 P.M. she passed
the Long Ships, and having rounded the Landsend, got
into the English Channel, where she had a fairer sea,
and ran before the wind. From this point to the
Downs, where she anchored at about half-past one
A.M. on Sunday (a distance of 350 odd statute miles),
she ran under, occasionally, adverse circumstances of
ebb tides, &c., in 28 hours 55 minutes, being after
the rate of upwards of twelve miles an hour. She
weighed anchor in the Downs on Sunday at 7 55 A.M.
The wind had changed during the night to W.N.W.,
and was blowing a stiff breeze from that point, so
that, after entering the Queen's Channel, she had all
the way to Blackwall to bear up against an exceed-
ingly strong head-wind. She seemed to be an object
of considerable interest to the crews of the numerous
vessels passed by her in her progress, and was re-
peatedly cheered. At twelve P.M. she overtook the
Water Witch steamer, of Hull (a very fast boat), and
passed her. She gained on this vessel five miles in an
hour and a half, and subsequently got up to Blackwell
an hour and eight minutes before the Water Witch
arrived there. The Great Britain was commanded' by
Captain Hosken, R.N., and was piloted through the
Bristol Channel by Mr. Paynes, and up the English and
Queen's Channel. She steered with the utmost ease,
and the only trifling mishap which occurred in steer-
ing her in and out through a numerous fleet of vessels
off Gravesend, was the carrying away a part of the