Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-07-06
A Visit to the Great Eastern.
Nrw YonK- Inlr . 1een

Eastern, and will try briefly aud lrnrliedly
:, TO give your readers some idea of nv view
8 OF the monster, without Initiating tile de-
tailed descriptions which they have been
reading at Intervals for the list eighteen
months She lies in the North River, her
pow ut.the foot of Hammond street. and
her great length stretching past four sept
Tate streets, nearly abreast of Ninth,
! Ienth, Eleventh, and Twelfth streets; so
that she is about opposite Grace Cbnrrb
> in Broadway. She lies very near the pier
Ia space OF 30 or 40 feet only interyen- :
ing,-and thus displays her enormous mag.
nltude ike block of houses built out Of
the water, far overlapping any of the
miserable little tencments that are found
J in that vicinity. When the external OBJ.
server begins to recover himself from the
mere impression of grandeur, which fas.at
Nlagara) at first overwhelms all other
considerations in his mind, he notices
especially her sharp straight bow, without
ngurechead or bowsprit, perpendicular
line from the deck to the Water-her
immense wheel amidships, and the great
rudder astern; the numerous boats hanging
from the bulwarks, no less than fve Of
large SIZE on each quarter;-thc FIVE smoke
pipes and the six maSts, the Inst standing
IN bold relief against the sky. The num-
her or size of all these characteristics
mark the vessel as of unusual magnitude.
seen from the pier, close at hand, / do not
thlnk TINT 1t is n correct criticism which
suggests that her elegant proportions tend
to diminish the true idea of her size, al
though this may perhaps be the effect of n
view from some little distance when she is
in motion. From the wharf, she seeing in
very truth genuine monster
+, visitors are not usually admitted on
board at the present time and the rule of
exclusion is enforced with great strictness.
The many efforts to gain access to her
mysteries have naturally been somewhat
annoying to the officers in charge, who are
pressing forward the preparations to fit
her for company by Tuesday next, and de-
sire not to De interrupted. A special per-
init for which was indebted to the courte-
sy of Messrs. Griunell, Minturn & Co., the
the consignees, nevertheless, proved an
open sesame to pass the portal, after due
examination ofthenotcby the quartermas-
ter, the sailor in the little boat ut the foot
OF the stairs was permitted to take me
across the short ferriagc from the wharf
to the monster, and mounted as ono
might enter by ladder third story WIN
dow. Once on deck, the impression of
vastness is fully confirmed. l paced the
length and breadth to gain positive assur-
ance that the recorded numbers are no ex-
ed to find them quite correct; we are so
used to large figures on pape rand dcscrip-
tIons, that these scarcely give an adequate
idea OF the proportions of the vessel; rs
one is sometimes provoked to find the
Thermometer refuse fully to sustain his in-
vide from onfsd5esR to RS utse%peratnre
die boxes, and COG feet long, or more tL@Ht
one-eighth of a mile.
The open space upon the deck is broken
by number of things, such as the five
smoke pipes, the six musts, lettered with
their names as follows: jlgger-mast, miz-
Zcn-mast, after-main mast, main mast,
foremast, and one not named, numerous
additional boats of great size, several
structures for the wheel-house, comman-
der's quarters, &C., the compass, mounted
upon II patent adjustment for the use of
iron ships, the hosting and steering Nppa-
r"tus, the latter placed upon great hOri
zontnl wheel, at least 80 feet in diameter.
There are also the huge anchors, with their
appropriate chains, forged in links of pom
derous magnitude, and other characters
| ties, again reminding the observer n every
! point of the vastness of the proportions of
the vessel.
Numerous hNtchways invite q descent,
/ especially this morning when the sun is
pouring down his raysSOf intensest heat
upon the unshaded deck. Below, howev-
er, rs general thing, think the remark
able size of the vessel is less appareuti the
various parts DO not seem very different
from those of other ships of ordinary pro-
portions. To this remark there are some
conspicuous exceptions. The grand sa-
loon, for instance, is quite unique. 1t is
of ample dimensions, and lofty. Gener-
ally on ship-board--even upon our big
gcst steamboats-the large saloons have
something in their shape, or in their low
studded ceilings, to remind the passenger
that he is in IL floating palace, although
palace it may be. But the saloon of the
| Great Eastern has no ship-like feature of
this sort to distinguish it from an ordina.
1 ry drawing room. The large space rescrv-
| ed for this purpose, (much smaller than it
might have been, if greater size Ind been
desired not touching the sides of the
vessel Mt any point, has the exact rectan-
| gular form, even corners, and lofty walls
of stately apartment in q building upon
land. tits finished handsomely, with grey
and gold decorations. A pianoforte and
volume of James's novels, with other
books in English edition, sustain the idea
of a room in some house upon tho other
side of the Atlantic.
I shall not weary your readers with n
repetition of the whole catalogue of
wonders to be- found within the Great
Eastern. The engines of course attract
particular attention; there are great
many in different parts of the vessel, for
various purposes; one of them was at
work this morning pumping water. The
largest, engines, of course, are those which
drive tho paddIe-wheels, and these are
indeed of enormous proportions. Yet the
immense cylinders did not look to me
larger than that upon Mr.. Ericssons hot
air ship, which 1 saw in New York harbor
several years ago; the peculiar constrnc-
ton of his machinery requiring cylinders
of great size. The paddle-wheel engines,
-. IL: IL