Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-10-14
The Immonsity of the Great Eastern,

THE novelty of the Great Eastern has
passed away, but the ship is, in itself, as
much a wonder as ever. She is now in
New York, after her eighth voyage across
the Atlantic, and writer in the n. Y.
Herald gives an interesting sketch of her,
from which we quote the following, as
giving better idea of her mammoth
proportions than can be had by mere
enumeration of statistic regarding her
length, breadth, &c.
Like the Pyramids, she seems rather a
great work of nature than thing made
with hands, Numbers in feet and inch
es are of no assistance in the attempt to
understand her size Every link of her
great cables weighs seventy-two pounds;
she carries four thousand of such links,
as much iron as two hundred carmen's
carts could carry, forged into the single
item of chain cable 'by iron tools There
is one engine of sixty horse power, whose
only business is to manage these cables
and the hooks at the ends of them. These
hooks-anehors, if you prefer that name
with which the great ship tumbles
about in the deep for the granite forma-
tions, the ribs of an antediluvian world,
to hold fast by, were also made with tools
and have some weight of their own. There
are four of these. If one was cut into
seven pieces, each piece would be load
for one of the large coal carts which 60
about our streets, carrying, if the coal
dealers don't lie, two thousand pounds
apiece. Or it would take just forty-six
shots of General Gillmore's 300 FOUNDER
to throw one of these anchors from Nor
ris Island into Charleston city. The
four great anchors of the Great Eastern
would make one hundred and e:ghty-six
Of those pills. Oh! that they might fall
on the toes of JEFF. Davis.
Beside the four anchors which we have
thus reduced to pills and popular appre-
citation, the Great Eastern has six other
anchors for ordinary occasions, and not
SO large.
Similar heavy jobs to that of the an
chors are divided among the different
steam engines on board; for, in addition
to her crews of engineers and sailors,
this Great Eastern has a complete crew
of steam engines. These fellows are not
often mustered on deck; but they are
kept in none the less excellent order for
that. They number just thirty-three.
Now, thirty-three steam engines not only
require a very large number of tools to
make them, but, being made, they can do
an immense amount of work They do
all sorts of chores-lift heavy weights,
pump water and so on. They make
themselves generally useful. We num-
Der with the rest the main engine, by
means of which this great mass Of mate
rials is made to obey the least impulse of
her masters will, and to become tracti-
bic as a spaniel-engines by means of
which the great ship is made 'managea-
Bile as little yacht
Within the ship, several hotels have
been built, at which the prices of board
vary to suit the public purse. In all,
the accommodations are excellent; good
bedrooms, large parlors, and the best of
attendance Beside these hotels, there
are two Or three private houses, for the
accommodation of families, with nice suits
of rooms-dining-rooms, sitting-rooms,
and bed-chambers-in every respect COM
plete. Recently, the Captain explored
some hitherto undiscovered districts in
the ship, and erected three excellent
baths, and now passengers can be accom-
modated with salt or fresh water baths,
hot or cold, at any hour. There yet re-
main some extensive waste districts in
the ship, which will be explored and set
tied in due time, and be made to conduce
to the comfort of passengers as new i'm
provements suggest themselves. One
might cross the Atlantic in this ship and
hardly know that he was at sea, so com
plete are the arrangements for the com
fort of passengers, and so easy are the
ships movements.
The difference between the past and