Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-12-04
Daily ntet 6et


the Ghost orihe Great IeaEtsfii-Phs.
uBIes Ship, Reputed as HdtintedA.
RWhat has Rsen Heard and Seen by
SAILORS, Divers and SpirttttalE AIetlt-s
INNS at Sea and An Flushtng Bay.
From the London Post, Nov. Is. rltiiSS
Oh "wednesday 5aftern0on, at the rooms
of the Mercantile Marine Service Associa.
ton. Liverpool, Captain Walter Patton, of
the Great Eastern, steamship, delivered an
address, Illustrated by diagrams, upon the
repairs done to that vessel after her accl-
dent at New York. aud 'wAttle 'afoRt: Cap
tain Sproule, chaffmanI 0faths association,
presided, and there was q numerous audi
ence including several ladies. ..
The Chairman, 10 Introducing captain
Patton, said il was one of the wonders OF
. the age that ship of the magnitude OF
the Great Eastern shoald have. been re-
paired at port where there WAS no dock
10 receive her
Captain Patton said that the rock upon
which his ship touched was not laid down
on any of the Eve ditferen: charts that he
had on board; indeed the chart showed
not less than nine fsIhoms Of4water all
round. The rock had been since surveyed
by order oil the American government, and
named the Great Eastern Rock. APP
plAuse. The accident that had betallen
the big ship showed The value of double
bottomed vessels. The one rent which
was repaired in New York was Of
ninety feet IN length, aud IN some places
four'or Eve feet in breadth, quite sutictent
to sink any ordinary single Ps,ttorned chip
Whenys she struck, the Great Eastern ca
reened little and then went on her way,
and would have crossed the Atlantic again
with impuuity; but he thought IL better to
call in professional assistance, and the ship
was repaired by the eminent engineers,
Messers. Edward and Heafys Rehwiek, 70.
whom all the credit 0t The great engineer.
ing exploit was due. Alter having de-
scribed the construction of the hull of the
ship, Captain Patton detailed the mode in
which shewas repaired. IA
Then there was a belief thatthe old ship
was haunted. Tbe.tale was, that during
her building AN unfortunate riyeter was
himself ''closed I'M aud fiveted up in one
of the passages between the two skins
Certain it WAS that one of the workmens
mysterionsly disappeared, and did. d 5teyen
tnrn up on .satnt dAy night for his wages
The report was currehtsat Milford. Wien
the ship was there the hands would ire
quently rush on deck az night and declare
they would not go below againi tor they
could hear the riVeterss ghost hard attwoFk
rlyetiIR. One day az New York one ofthe
divers came=ups from the; water pale aud
trembling, stripped off his apparatus, and
said he would go down NO more; for he had
heard the ghost at,work Immediately over
his head when under the ships bottom
The divers generally gave full credit TO the.
story, aud they had several OF the New
York professional spirit mediums on board
THOUGH he captain Patol) did not know
of this till aiterWards-whos elemnly de-
clared that the poor riVeterS sodl and body.
Was confined 10 the bodyIot the ship. II
SO happened that the ghostwas only heard
when the ship was swinging at anchor; his
ghoetship never worked at sea. The ghost,
they would please to observe; was q real
ghost, he Captain Patonl often heard his,
itap, tap" 1t CHANGED that one day, he
vas pulling round the shipfih a boar; and
had his attention directed to the swivel az |
The bow by which The ship swung by tWoli
anchors. There WASH room for oifabodt |
his bit of iron-it weighed twenty-five |
hundred, and us the strain caInetupon it |
it made7a tchinck, cbinck, chink," which
could be heard all over the ship from the |
and might, under ertainicircnms
tdmbliug into bed ii the
lark, for instanee-be very well mistaken
for the noise made by a riveter hard at
work. So they laid they ghost on board
the Great Eastern. ELaughter.
Captain Patton minutely described how
the various difficulties were overcome of
Exipg on the new plates, aud riYeting them
with red hot rivets dropped through holes
drilled in the inner and outer skins of the
ship, and "headed up" on the inside of
the new plating. Altogether, he said that
eight hundred superficial feet of plating
was put on at New York, and the work
had not, as had been reported. be done
over again at Liverpool, for it was stout
aud good, and except a little caulking, had
not to be touched. tsts
a place hunter in Prussia having asked
Frederick the Great for the grant of some
rich Protestant bishoPric, the king express-
ed his regret that Il was already given