Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-30
The GREAT

1t Might Have Been a Success on the
Ocean of Some Planet Forty Times AS
Large rs Ours.
The steamer Great Eastern is on her
way from Liverpool to New Orleans.
The huge craft will be asort OF ''sidc-
show" to the great exhibition, 1t will
be tiled up in the Mississippi on n
side of the Exposition grounds. After
IL has discharged its cargo, which con-
qsists mainly of articles intended for X
hibition. ii will be used rs a restaurant
and hotel Persons other than guests
will be allowed to visit the huge hulk
on the payment of u small fec. The
Great Eastern has for Il quarter of q
century been the .'whitc clcphant'' of
the seas. 1t is excellent for a show,
but has proved to be utterly useless for
other purposes. If her stockholders
derive any profit from this trip, it will
be the first time they have succeeded in
doing so. The enormous craft has
never been a paying investment. though
high hopes We're entertained OF its sac
cess. il might have been called with
propriety the '.Great Expectations" 1t
was to reyolutionize the carrying OF
passenger and heavy frcights. Origi-
nally intended to carry five thousand
passengers at Il time between England
and Australia, it never made the trip.
aud has hardly carried in all the num-
Der OF passengers it could accommo-
dale at one time. 1t made a
trip to New York for the pur-
-so>o of taking two thousand passcn-
gers to Liverpool. but returned with
less than onc-tenth that number. 1t
was not found to be q desirable vessel
for transporting large bodies of SOL
diers. Old sailors predicted from the
iirst that the Great Eastern would be
unlucky. Her history shows the truth
OF their predictions. She stuck fast ut
her launch. lost one of her tunnels on
her first voyage, and ran on a rock
during h"r next trip. The vessel has
been in the hands of the Sheriff, has
a2cei. seized Tor wages of sailors, and
aas passed through chanccry. Alto
s%set!,er, she has had an evcntful life.
But the Great Eastern has been of
advantage TO the world if not to her
owncrs Three Atlantic cables have
&ecn stored on her ample deck and
passed over her stern. Her hull has
proved the superiority of iron owe
wood ior the construction OF ocean
vessels. Ihnse have been times in the
history of the world when the giant
steamer would have been ''just the
siaing.n Noah could have used the
craft in the place Of the ark he built.
William the Silent once considered the
-,7r,i..ct Of ,,,,Etirn oil tlu ,,nD,1n ~
Holland, together with their cattle and
treasures, on board of vessels and
taking them 10 India. where they would
ae secure against the bloody Spaniards.
Aiai he carried out this plan he might
have found a ship like the Great East
ern Fright handy. Last spring it was
proposed to load the vessel at New
castle and take her to Gibraltar to be
alsed as u GOAL hulk. This was, of
course, an igHoble employment, but it
was the only ouc that could be found.
Fortunately the idea OF taking her to
New Orleans presented itself, and was
considered tayorably by her stockhold-
;ers. She should be given a cordial
reception among a people given
TO hospitality, for She seems deserving
of a better fate than has fallen to her
Got. But her history is moi alone in
aa1his respect. There was never any
asfailg the matter with her. The
trouble was with something else.
There We're never five thousand per-
sssis ready to go from one place to an
,Ptlcr at the same time and in the same
aasfi.s>.. All the warehouses jn a great
were never ready to be emptied at
tiic !apll OF a single captain. The Great
E:>steA was too large for any business
t!use w:s to transact. Like some men
of grcas:c"pacity, she could not come
down tolittle things. The size of the
vessel was disproportionatc to hat of
fthn otlrc;r things in this world. 1t
7Isight }tsIe been 4 great success on the
ocean Of some planets forty times as
large as ours.-CHdcago Times.