, 1859-11-04
The Steamship Greal Easlern.

The London correspondent Of the Bos-
Ion Post, under date Of August 10Th, gives
the following description of the great
steamship:
The Great Eastern steamship is now an
architectual, moving, living, sailing, dash
ing, magnificent, splendid reality. Had
she EXISTED"
When brave Achailles fought the Trajans,
she would have been immortalized in Ho-
mer's verse, and Greek historians would
have recorded an Eighth Wonder in the
World. The Hercules, or rather the Vak
can Of the mighty marvel" would have
been Mr. John Scott Russell In what
way can a man describe the Great Eastern?
You can't begin at one end of her she is
so large you cannot find the ends after get
ting on board, without walk that reminds
you of stroll over large field. The up
per deck is all one level plain, 692 in length
and 83 feet broad in the centre, containing
altogether about one acre. She is in ten
water-tight compartments, aud the cabins
for passengers are like five immense hotels,
each 80 feet by go. The decks being IA
feet apart, good portion of each cabin is
separated by centre floor, making two
tiers or stories of rooms for sleeping cab
ins, each nearly feet high. The ship has
accommodations for 500 first class passen-
gers, 1900 second class, and 2500 third
class, or 1900 in all. Used as a military
transport ship she will carry 10000 sold
ers The crew will number at least 400
1t will be almost impossible for the Great
Eastern % fill and founder in consequence
of collision, running on rock, or spring
ing leak You might fire q ten inch
solid shot through her at the water line,
causing two compartments to Gil with wa
ter and at the same moment stave in her
bow by striking rock, and only three out
of ten compartments filling, she could not
sink.
Straight across the ship, from the outer
portion Of the paddle boxes, is l20 feet
The paddle boxes are 56 feet in diameter,
and the paddles orsaoats l3 feet long. In
the making the ship consumed $4,000 su-i
perfcia feet Of wrought iron plates, and
1000 900 wrought iron rivets, all driven
and clinched while hot The plates below
the water line are inch thick, and above
the water Z of an inch Aside from the
ten water tight compartments, the entire
ship up to three feet above the water line
is built doublej a ship in a ship, the outer
skin being two feet ten inches from the in
ner. She might be stove in from the out
side and not affect q single compartment
of the ship unless the harm extended to
the inner skin. Her boats for the accom-
mediation of passengers in time Of danger,
and in embarking and disembarking, are
twenty in number, besides tloo screso steam
ers, suspended aft of her paddle 6ores, eaeh
100 feet long and about 70 tons burden,-I
as large as the sea-going vessel that took
me to Iceland in 1859 If the great ship
should founder at sea, in voyage round
the world, the two steamers would be large
enough to take 500 of the crew and pas
sengers on their way rejoicing, ready toI
brave any weather and sea where any ship
could live-the balance Of the 5000 could
settle group Of islands in the Pacific and
raise up nation that in hundred years
could come back and dispute the sovereign
ty of the mother country.
So much for her accommodations. She
has six masts, two square rugged, like a
line-ofbattle ship, and the remainder
schooner rugged, carrying in oil $500
square yards of canvas. The mizzen mast
is wood; the others hollow iron tubes
Mr.. Brunei calculates speed of Is to 20I
knots an hour a rapidity Of running that
would send her round the world in sixty
dOys, without being obliged to stop for
coal, food, or water She has ten anchors,
which, with 800 fathoms Of chain cable,
weigh 1853 tons. She has both screw and
paddles; the screw being worked by two
and tie paddles by four engines, with to-
tai actual power equal to 10000 horses.
The screw is "a feet in diameter, with four
fans, and the shaft $50 feet long, made of
wrought iron, and weighing SO tons.
The ship was designed by I. K. Brunei,
and built by John Scott RuesSell, ESQ.,
The screw engines are the largest ever
manufactured for marine purposes. The
paddle engines were made by Mr.. Scott
Russell, the builder Of the ship. They are
direct acting, with oscillating cylinders,
each lS feet long, and feet inches in
hO 70 II luz w
inders are cast iron, each one weighing %
tons, or 62,72O pounds. These engines
stand so feet high, and are made on the
disconnecting principle, so that they can
be used jointly or separately, and both or
either of the paddle wheels can be put in
independent motion. The vessel will draw
80 feet of water when laden, aud 20 feet
only when light There are ten boilers
placed longitudinally along the centre of
the ship, each boiler having ten furnaces,
or 100 furnaces in all Each boiler weighs
IS tons, aud they can be used entirely in
dependent Of each other. There are in all
FIVE tunnels, each funnel acting for two
boilers. There are several detached aux
iliary enginess on board, Of about ten horse
power each, for pumping, raising and low,
ering the boats, cOaIiDg, taking out and
putting on board cargo and luggage, and