Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-12-03

weighed anchor and, with the cheers
of the crowded river banks ringing
across her decks, steamed steadily
out to sea. The thirty-ton rudder
responded perfectly to the touch of
the guiding lever, and she turned her
nose south toward Dover. Although
driven only by her propeller, the
great vessel attained a speed of
fifteen knots an hour. The owners
were delighted - she had proved
herself the fastest ship afoat |!
What rate could she make, they
wondered, if both paddles and
sails were called into play More
over, they had had their grave
doubts as to the worth of her an
chors, yet, when the huge steel
barbs were dropped she was held as
firm as any island. The news went
broadcast over the world that the
Great Eastern had proved distinct
success, and America Joined in the
universal praise.
But as the liner cruised swiftly
down the whitecliffed English coast
news came to the United States
that Brunei, the man who planned
the big ship, had already paid for her
with his life. Fate ruled that the eye
which was first to measure the
gigantic proportions of her hulk
was never to look upon the Great
Eastern in all her glory. At the
very moment of her triumph, when
all the world was sounding her
praises, Brunei died from paralysis
brought on by overwork.
Fast on the heels of this report
came the news of a terrific explosion
in the boiler-room of the Great
Eastern. The mighty ship tore out
the heart of her powerful engines,
killing seven of her crew. Super
stitious folks whispered that it was
violent grief at the untimely death
of her creator. She was forced to
put into the nearest port and there
remain for many months till the
necessary repairs could be COM
pieted.
! 1t was but the beginning of the
end. Before the Great Eastern
finally started for this country she
broke down again and again. Hun
dreds of thousands of dollars we're
spent on repairs, and twice she was
thoroughly overhauled at enormous
expense. In the following June the
much-heralded ocean greyhound
crossed the sea and locked at New
York, discharging her cargo in care
of our company. But she had lost
so much money to her owners that
they were almost ruined. She piled
for a year, but was not success.
The truth then began to sink slowly
into mems minds that this huge
vessel was entirely too big and too
elaborate for the times in which she
lived. 1t daWned on them that
the trade and conditions suitable
to ship of her enormous bulk
were not yet come.
In despair, the owners offered the
Great Eastern to the British govern
ment as troop ship, and during
the year 1861 the big vessel was
put to transporting soldiers from
England to Canada. From a car
rier of human freight she degener-
ated to cabelaying boat. At the
time of the Paris Exposition in 1867
the owners sought to restore her to
her former position of naval respect
ability by reftting the deserted
cabins and putting her on a pas
senger schedule between New York
and Paris. But in this she failed
miserably. The scheme was aban-
doned and the Great Eastern was
reduced to cable work again.
From then on her decline was
rapid. In 1884 she was used as a
coal hulk in the harbor of Gibraltar.
Two years later, in the River Mer-
sey, the big vessel was mere ex-
hibit, her sides serving to blazon
the name and fame of a Liverpool
clothing establishment. In 1887
the largest ship in the world, the
ship that was bigger than Noah's
ark, sold at auction for $4,000 and
was broken up for junk. Her career
cannot but remind one, by the very
vividness Of contrast, of the success