Stan.J
28-02-2008, 20:04
A giant in her day and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel the Great Eastern was unusual in that she had Sail, propellor and also Paddle Wheels.She was built in the Isle of Dogs on the Thames. In size she was a record breaker and she even had to be launched sideways into the tideway. The hull was double and divided by bulkheads into ten watertight compartments.(A long lived but false myth, was that a riveter had been sealed into the vessels double-skinned iron hull in the course of her construction.) The name first assigned to her was Leviathan, however this was soon changed.
Her two sidewheels were 56ft and she had a 24ft propellor. There were seperate engines for each drive. She was fitted with six masts the second and third square rigged, the remainder fore and aft rigged. the six masts could support more than 15,000 sq.ft of sail.
There was passenger accomodation for 4,000, with 2,000 in second class and 1,200 in third. She could also carry 6000t of cargo.
Like many ships built by visionaries, she was ahead of her time and was commercially a failure.. Despite her size she had a tendency to roll and few harbours could accomodate her. She was too big for the tugboats to handle.
Brunel died in 1859 before final fitting out was completed.
Brunel had the route to Australia in mind when he planned her but the Great Eastern began on the North Atlantic route and made ten return voyages before being withdrawn.
Her greatest value was as a cable layer. Between June 1865 and August 1866 she laid two cables across the atlantic; she went on to lay another three plus the trans-oceanic cable between Suez, Aden and Bombay.
Length 692ft.
Beam 83ft
Depth 30ft.
Displacement 18,915 t.
She was sold to the French in 1874 and made just one trip across the Atlantic between France and New York. Then she was laid up in Milford Haven,Wales between 1875 and 1886. Used for two years as a floating exhibition site in Liverpool, She was finally broken up in 1888.
Her two sidewheels were 56ft and she had a 24ft propellor. There were seperate engines for each drive. She was fitted with six masts the second and third square rigged, the remainder fore and aft rigged. the six masts could support more than 15,000 sq.ft of sail.
There was passenger accomodation for 4,000, with 2,000 in second class and 1,200 in third. She could also carry 6000t of cargo.
Like many ships built by visionaries, she was ahead of her time and was commercially a failure.. Despite her size she had a tendency to roll and few harbours could accomodate her. She was too big for the tugboats to handle.
Brunel died in 1859 before final fitting out was completed.
Brunel had the route to Australia in mind when he planned her but the Great Eastern began on the North Atlantic route and made ten return voyages before being withdrawn.
Her greatest value was as a cable layer. Between June 1865 and August 1866 she laid two cables across the atlantic; she went on to lay another three plus the trans-oceanic cable between Suez, Aden and Bombay.
Length 692ft.
Beam 83ft
Depth 30ft.
Displacement 18,915 t.
She was sold to the French in 1874 and made just one trip across the Atlantic between France and New York. Then she was laid up in Milford Haven,Wales between 1875 and 1886. Used for two years as a floating exhibition site in Liverpool, She was finally broken up in 1888.