Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1856-05-31
The "Great Eastern

The new number of the Quarterly Review has
an article entitled the Triton and the Min.
nows," devoted to wholesale laudation of this
leviathan, whose dimensions are illustrated by
| some curious examples. 1t is said that ten wa
ter-tight bulkheads, 60 feet apart, divide the
ship transversally, while two longitudinal iron
walls, ~ feet apart, traverse $50 feet of her
length. If we could take Mivarts Hotel, and
drop it into one Of these; take Farrance's and
drop it into the second take Morley's, at Cha
ring Cross, add fit it into the third; and to ad-
just the Great Westero Hotel, at Paddington,
and the Great Northern, at Kings Cross, into
compartments, four and five, we should have
some faint idea of the accommodation to be af-
forded Each compartment will be a distinct
hotel, with its splendid saloons, upper and lower,
of 80 feet in length, its bedrooms, its kitchen
and its bar. The ''big ship" is designed be it
remembered, to carry 300 first class, 1000 Sec
ond class, and 1900 third class passengers ma
king total of four thousand guests, indepen.
dent of the crew. The total length of the vessel
will be 692 feet. To make the capacity of these
figures better understood it may be stated that
neither Grosvenor nor Belgrave square could
take the ''Great Eastern in; Berkley square
would barely admit her, and when rugged, her
mizzen boom would project some distance up
Davis street, whilst her bowsprit, if she had one,
would hang long way over the Marquis of
Lansdowne's garden. She is one eighth mile in
length, and consequently four turns up and
down her deck will afford the passengers a walk
OF mile. Mr.. Brunels object in giving her
this enormous length, is said to be. among other
things, that she may be able to ride at once up
on three of the ''mountaiu waves" of ocean
besides carrying her own coal for the whole
voyage to India and Australia Her width is
80 feet, the width of Pail mall across her pad
dle-boxes her bredth is ia feet; and if she had
to steam up through Portland place, she would
scrape the houses on each side
This floating town will be propelled by three
powers-paddle, screw and SAIL Her paddle
wheels, 56 feet in diameter or considerably lar
ger than the circus at Astleys will be propelled
by four engines. The screw is "a feet in diam
eter, and the four fans remind the spectator of
the blade-bones Of some large antediluviau mon
ster. Its shaft is 100 feet in length and weighs
80 tons. Thus the ship will be pulled and pushed
in its course like an invalid in bath-chair, and
the sails will only be used with strong wind in
the direction of her course-say breeze going
twenty-five miles per hour, for which she is pre-
pared with seven masts and $500 square yards
Of canvas. As speaking trumpets would be USE
less on board a vessel Of the dimensions of the
IS Great Eastern" semaphore will be used to
signal the hemsman by day and system of
colored lights by night. The engineer will be
communicated with by the electric telegraph.
A standard compass will be placed upon q stage
forty feet in height, and the helmsman will Ell
ther read off the points through transparent
card, illuminated like clock front, or the sha-
low of the needle will be projected down long
tube upon card below, so as to avoid the ne
sessity of the helmsman looking up, and to OBJ
giate the difficulty which would be felt in fogs.
Her ten anchors will weigh IS tons: her 800
athoms of chain cable, SO tons; and her cap
STAINS and warps 100 tons; total, 253 tons of ap-
oliances to make her fast Gas will be manu-
actured on board, and led on to all parts of the
ship; and the electric light will be fixed at the
mast head. The operation of launching will be |
IS great novelty as the vessel herself. Not
that her weight, when that moment
arrives, will be no less than IL, 900 tons, she is
% enter the water broadside on, by means of an |
Inclined plane, which is the reason why she is |
building parallel to the river.