The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-09-02
The Great Easteru---The Celebration,
Speeches, &c.


The London papers of the Sth instant
contain reports of the formal celebration of
the mammoth steamship Great Eastern. A
banquet was given on board the ship, which
was honored by the presence of many of the
members of both Houses, and some of the
most distinguished engineers and scientific
men in the kingdom. 1t is said that such
progress has been made within short time
that the ship now looks as she will look
when proceeding to sea, and she ought to
look, to keep pace with her reputation as
the largest and finest specimen of naval ar
chitecture that ever flOated.
The deck has been planed and scrubbed to
man-Of-war whiteness, and not even a stray
ropes end breaks the wonderful effect prod
uced by the immense expanse. Her fleet of
small boats THAT is to say, about the size of
sailing cutters) hang at the davits, 10 on each
side. The whole vessel has been painted, the
saloons are finished, the cabins decorated and
even furnished The masts are fixed and
rugged with the exception of the yards
which will be sent up in day or two. The
three centre square-rigged masts are of iron.
Each is made of hollow wrought iron in
eight-feet lengths, strengthened inside by
diaphrams of the same material. The
breaking strain of the six shrouds to each
of these masts is over 800 tons, which gives
ample security for the masts being properly
supported, as the weight of each is only %
tons. On deck are four small steam winches
or engines, each of which works pair of
cranes on both sides of the vessel.
The value of this invention may be esti-
mated when it is stated that, with these four
double cranes alone, 5000 tons of coal can
be hoisted into the vessel in "a hours. Thus
the grave objections of those who speculat-
ed OH the loss of time required to coal the
Great Ship are entirely done away with.
The chief saloons-all save one-have only
been fitted to certain extent in temper
airy manner. The fittings are exceedingly
handsome and substantial, but the decora.
tions of the huge iron walls and girders
have been reserved until after her first trip,
and now are only painted of plain white.
The absence Of elaborate decoration in
them, however, is amply compensated in
the chief saloon, which has been finished to
show the superb style in which the whole
will be decorated when the Great Eastern
begins running to the East 1t is said that
the mirrors, gliding, carpeting and silk cur
tains for this apartment alone cost $4,000.
In the berths, of course, no attempt is
made at costly decoration of this kind,
though the fittings are good and sufficiently
luxurious. The berths are arranged in
three classes-those for parties Of six or
eight, and those are large rooms-those for
parties of four, and the rest in the usual
style of double cabins. All are very roomy
as cabins 60, very lofty, we'll lit, and those
on the outer sides exceedingly well ventilat-
larger, loftier, and more commodious than
those on the upper. Both the berths and
saloons here are, in fact, almost unnecessari-
ly high, having very nearly ID feet in the
clear. The kitchens, pantries and sculleries
are all on the same extensive scale, and
fitted with all the large culinary requisites
of first class hotels. The icehouse holds
upwards Of 100 tons Of ice, and the lofty
wire vaults-for such, in fact, they are-al-
ready contains wine enough to form a good
freight for an Oporto trader.
The London Shipping Gazette gives the
following concerning the celebration
The first movement of the gigantic cranks
and cylinders of the paddle engines was made
precisely at half.past one, when the great
masses slowly rose and fell as noiselessly as
the engines of Greenwich boat, but eXerting
in their great revolutions what seemed to be
an almost irresistible power. There was no
noise, no vibration, nor the slightest sign of
heating, and the tremendous frame of ironwOrk
sprang at once into life and motion with as
much ease as if every rod and crank had been
worked for the last ten years. The steam in
the boilers was about 81 h.; but, as matter
of course, the engines were turned but slowly
never exceeding six revolutions per minute
Even with this slow motion, and the slight i'm
mersion of the paddle floats, the effect of the
enormous power was at once visible upon the
ship. The great mOOring chains astern were
frightened to the utmost, and it seemed as if
even TrOtman's anchors themselves would
yield under the strain. Fortunately, however
these held fast, and then the screw engines
were got into motion, working the ship astern,
so as to counteract the effect of the paddles.
These latter engines worked with the same
marvellous ease and freedom there was no
noise, no sign of hot bearings, and the result
was considered by all the engineers on board
to be satisfactory in the very highest degree,
and far beyond what could have been ex-