Year: 1860




Saturday last, the 9Th of June, was the day
fixed for the sailing of this monster steamship.
She will come straight from Southampton to New
York-not going to Portland at all, although the
people of that enterprising CITY, in anticipation Of
her visit last year, went to unusual expense and
trouble in preparing for her reception. The large
hotel which was built at Portland to accommodate
the crowd which the Great Eastern was expected
to draw will, we imagine, prove almost dead loss
to its proprietors. H9&&S IA


But New York, never lacking in enterprise and
activity has managed to divert the great steam
ship from Portland to her own harbor. She has,
moreover, sent to England special pilot to con-
duct her along the waters contiguous to New York
city. Whatever may be the expense incurred, the
people Of New York know that they will be am
ply reimbursed in the thousands and tens of thous-
ands of people whom the presence of this great
leyathan Of the deep in New York harbor will
attract to that city. 4 ast-9 VI
The Great Eastern, it will be recollected, broke
down on her trial trip. Some of her machinery
gave way, and there was sort of an explosion.
This was not to be wondered at, however, in view
of the colossal proportions of the vessel, and the
difficulty of properly adjusting so much and so
heavy machinery The errors of construction
which her trial trip developed have since been
rected. Improvements in her machinery have
been made, and it is believed that she will make
the trip across the Atlantic safely and speedily.
Even if she make no better time than on her
first trial, she will have shorter passage
the ocean than any steamer that has preceded
her. On that trip she made fourteen knots an
hour-but the recent improvements in her ma
chinery will enable her now to make fifteen or
| sixteen. An average of this speed will bring her
| to New York in quicker time than the Persia or
any other vessel has made. 1t would not surprise
us if she reached New York in eight or nine days.
| Barring accidents, she will arrive there just in
| time to divide the honors with the Japanese Com
| missioners. W. t.@M 49,. WV
| The English papers state that the sea-going
| qualities and capacities of the Great Eastern will
| not be tested even by trip to New York. She
| must make the long voyage to India and Australia
| for which she was especially designed and con-
| structed-before her merits can be accurately
ascertaned. The trip to New York is, indeed,
| nothing but an extended g 'trialtripn Think Of a
steamship crossing the Atlantic from one continent
| to the other on mere trial trip! What would old
| Christopher Columbus think of this, if he could
| now rise from the dead?


4 But she will bring to New York not only passen-
| gers, but cargo of merchandise. The number of
| passengers has been limited to three hundred at
one hundred and twenty-five dollars piece, or
two hundred dollars tile round trip. 1t is supposed
that she will stay at New York about two months,
or longer, if she should prove a great attraction.
| We suspect that she would make more money by
merely anchoring in New York harbor, and charg-
| ing fee for admittance and inspection, than by
carrying passengers and freight backwards and
l forwards across the Atlantic =.. .a.m4.. s-..0


Whether the Great Eastern prove successful or
not, as mere pecunary speculation, her construc-
tion is undoubtedly one Of the grandest triumphs
of ma al architecture and mechanical skill ever
yet achieved It is thought by many that she is
too large to pay as an investment; that the enor.
nous cost OF her construction, and the heavy ex-
pense Of sailing her will make it impossible to de-
clare dividend to the stockholders. We are not
80 sure of this; but the question will be sufficiently
tested after she shall have made one or two voy-
ages to Australia and the East. There is one other
port in this country, besides New York and Port
land, which this huge steamer can easily enter
and that is Norfolk, in Virginia. The authorities
and people of that city might benefit their own in
terests as well those of the steamer by inviting
her to Norfolk after she has ceased to prove at