The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-22
The new OCEANIC SLAIN IN AFRICA
Every Berth Taken On
Her Maiden Trip.
Nine Hundred Dollars for the Mil
Iionaire Suites Of Slater
Carries Two Thousand.

LONDON, Sept. 3.-Monday will be
a red-letter day for the White Star
line. On that day the great steamship
Oceanic will start on her maiden voy-
age across the Atlantic, carrying, in
Guiding the 420 who form her crew,
1895 souls, OF whom 315 are first-class
passengers. The greatest interest is
being taken on this side in the big
ship, and every berth. first, second and
third-class, has been taken. On her
speed trial the Oceanic did not make
more than % knots an hour, but she
is not intended to be a record breaker
In point of luxury, however, there is
none on the sea like her. The suites
of rooms for millionaires, according to
the Daily Mail, lead one to the convic-
ton that, if passengers who can pay
the fare Of 5000 are plentiful, it is like
ly they will patronize the Oceanic.
The White Star steamer Oceanic is
a greater ship than the Great Eastern.
Her length between perpendiculars is
691 feet cover all, 7O4 feet; breadth,
6S feet Az inches; depth, 40 feet;
tons; weight of hull, $500 tons. An
idea of the enormous scale upon which
this vessel is constructed may be
gained from the fact that if one of her
smoke tunnels were laid on it's sides,
two electric car tracks could be laid
through it, side by side, and the cars
would have abundant room to pass
each other. She SurpasSeS in size any
thing that has ever been af1Oat on the
ocean. This enormous ship is built on
such lines that she does not appear
very large. The James Bay bridge at
Melbourne is 701 feet long, or feet
shorter than the Oceanic, and 80 feet
wide, or just little more than half as
wide as that vessel The Oceanic is
not expected to be a very speedy YES
sci, although she will be much faster
than the Great Eastern.
Many Advertiser readers will remem-
Der the furore created by the construc-
ton of the Great Eastern, which was
supposed at the time to be the very
climax of naval architecture. She was
designed by 1. K. Brunei, and was
launched in 1858. She was the wonder
of the world In 1860 she made her
first transatlantic voyage, but did not
prove success. She was then sent
bition voyages. In 1865 she was en-
ployed in laying the Atlantic cable, and
proved so useful for that purpose that
for a time it was thought that her.
mission had been discovered. But there
was a limit to this kind Of work, and
the Great Eastern was rapidly becom-
ing antiquated, so speedily was ma
rine architecture advancing. In 1884
this famous ship was dismantled and
converted into a coal hulk. and two
year Aater, being found too cumbrous
for this service, she was sold as junk,
and went to the scrap-heap as old iron.
The Great Eastern's dimensions We're:
Length between perpendiculars, $50
feet Overall, 691 feeD; breadth, SO
feet; depth, So feet; draught, ID feet;
II ,S44 tons; weight OF
null, 5000 tons. She was truly an i'm
mense ship, and it is not surprising
hat originally it was proposed to call
her the Leviathan, the name being
abandoned only because her construct
or saw with prophetic eye that
greater monster of the sea would one
lay take her laurels from her This
lream has been fulfilled.