Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1860-07-13
NO. Is.

lows off Portland Race, and it was with some.
thing like the same ebullition of delight that
we saw the mighty ship cast her silent dis.
position off and make her obcisancc to tho
still mightier deep. Her motion was gentle
and majestic swing from side to side, to tho
extent OF three or four degrees, and now and
then, when billow fell away from her bow,
and swell at the same time would roll underA
meath her stern, she would mildly yield her
head, not short and sudden, with plebian
start, but with a monarch's measured grace,
as If she felt herself to be the master, and only
yielding to the courteous laws Of life. Itwas
great treat to see her thus leaning her way
from side to side through the parting waters,
while good-sized ships, which were then in
sight were rolling uneasily or pitching from
stem to stern. IT was like some Accommodated
swimmer who sweeps forward gracefully hand
over hand, compared to clumsy novice who
barely manages to keep himself afloat through
the rapidity Of a short digging motion. The
Great Eastern was alive, but mighty as she
was, still she was amcanable to that vast
throb and pulsation of the sea, which IL
mightier than the mighticst Nevertheless
she proved, 10y the comparison before us, her
superiority to all ordinary ships as well as
any disturbing motion. In fact, her soft un-
dulations gave actual relief and pleasure to
every one who stood upon her deck. And all
the while this motion was upon her the skit.
ties were played at one of the after holes.--
Nevertheless, let it be noted here. that the
theory that ships above a certain size will
march through the waves superior to tho
perturbation of the sea, is ended by our ex.
pertinent forever. No ship can be made large
enough to entirely ignore the gigantic pulsa-
ton OF the ocean, The foresail and foretop.
sail were drawing well at dark, and the wind,
which now struck us almost astern, was
whlstling through our cordagc with great
noise
I'VE ought to go along at the rate of fr-
teen or sixteen knots with this breeze to help"
said our pilot, as we descended for the night
the cabin stairs.
The evening passed away pleasantly in tho
grand saloon, under the soothing influences
OF two professors of music who presided at
the piano and cornet in the service of the ship.
When the regulations shut this voluntary
concert off at 10 o'clock, l retired to my state
room, and the evening and the morning
were the first day."
THIRD DAy--TUEsDAY, JUNE 10.
| was awakened little after midnight bv
the bowling Of the wind, the shouts of tho
seamen taking in sail, and great trampling
overhead. The vessel was rolling more than
she had at any time beforc--say about eight
or nine dcgrees-and could now feel little
vibration Of her bow, impaired by the screw
as it smotc and scuddcd into the water when
ever the motion Of the vessel lifted its blades
above the surface. l went to my window,
but the night was too thick for anything but
darkness to be seen, and all could distinctly
hear was the measured wall of one hundred
and twenty men (for both watches had been
called up) in chorus, to "haul the bowline.
haul! while engaged in trying to take in the
mainsail and maintopsail. The wind seemed
to soften little at two o'clock, but perhaps
that was the action Of my drowsiness, for I
fell asleep at that hour while the men were
still as busily engaged at the mainsail as ever.
l afterwards learned that it had employed
them five hours to furl it, in the furious TEN.
pest that prevailed. The cause Of this diff
Guilty was partly owing to tho violence of tho
gale acting upon the immense area Of the sail,
and partly the unhandy size of the tackle by
which it must necessarily be worked. Every
thing is exaggerated in the way Of size OH
board the Great Eastern, and to be handled
aloft as other ships, she requires an extra
breed OF men. The gallo subsidized little in
its fury at 4 o'clock, but when arose, at 7,
/ still found it blowing very hard, and the
sea covered with thread-Iike foam, which
filled the hollows as well as whitened on tho
billow-tops. Still the ship rolled only eight
degrees, and her stately nod did not disturb
a plate upon the table. The storm-rack was
laid at breakfast to protect the dishes, but it
was not needed, for my full tca-cup sat out
side Of it without being in the slightest peril
OF slip; Nevertheless, three thousand-tun
vessel would have been pitching sadly. The
motion did not succeed in making single
person sca-sick, though there were among our
passengers several who had never been to sea
before
The wind moderated still more during tho
afternoon, and ne set all our topsails, but the
ship kept up her course, and went frolicking
along her path as full of life as clipper-brig
or pilot boat. Nothing could be more beau
tiful than to stand upon the elevated grating
in her bow, and see her stern lift itself majes-
tcally against the sky, as we drophed into
some yielding wave before us; or, to behold
her rising sideways to her equilibrium, like
some frolicking beauty, lifting her shoulder
in her downy bed. could hardly realize, a.
viewed her buoyant step upon tho deep,
that 1000 plates Of iron, representing ~
900 tuns Of inert metal, ciamped by 5000
900 riyets, and bearing within, besides her
pondcrous engines 5000 tuns Of coal, could
career thus, cork like upon the bosom Of tho
thin and shifting element below. Yet there
she rode, ship-like and sweet, "a thing of
beauty and Of JOY forever" The most strik-
ing idea Of her size, however, aud tho great
est demand upon your wonder that she swims
so lightly, is obtained by going down by her
sponsons, outside and aft tho paddle boxes
which enables you to see tho entirc Of her
towering section abaft the wheel From that
point you face up and down her massive
sides, ard seo Gle 5;,Gck warehouse it
looks not like ship-grandIy rise and fall
in the Kissing and downy foam which tho
wheels send flying by her run. This flying
foam unites beneath her stern, and Is there
strcwn into lacework by the propeller, and
goes seething on its broad path for miles,
] think the scene from this platform of gang.
way gives the finest idea, while in motion, Of
the vast power and grandeur Of the ship
The deck and rigging, on the other hand be-
ing seen all together, lose in = little whilo
thciTicommand upon the wonder, for their great
symmetry SO wins upon tho eye that they
mingle together in apparently usual degrees.
IL il only Wl1pn II. rfesnuov3ro,, 18th e<,vv,.,