Great Eastern

The largest vessel ever built until the Celtic was constructed; designed by the great English civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who was born in 1806 and died in 1859; built by Scott Russell at Midwall on the Thames, for the Eastern Steam Navigation Company; construction begun May 1, 1854; built broadside to the river on very flat pitch ways, necessitating the launch to be effected sideways; launching process commenced November 3, 1858, and occupied three months, hydraulic power being employed; iron used in construction of hull; length, 680 feet; beam, exclusive of paddle-boxes, 82 1/2 feet; inclusive of same, 118 feet; height of side to bulwark rail, 70 feet; freeboard from water line to covering board or plankshear, 37 feet; draught, 27 feet; tonnage, 20,000; eight engines; aggregate horse-power, 11,000; both screw propeller and paddle-wheels; steam pressure, 25 pounds; revolutions of screw 55 per minute; revolutions of paddle-wheels, 12 per minute; ten anchors; one mile of chain cable; six iron masts, the forward one a pole mast, on which was set a fore-staysail and a gaff foresail; second and third masts square rigged; fourth, fifth, and sixth masts were pole masts like the first and carried gaff sails; masts were named respectively as follows, beginning with the forward one: fore-staysail mast, fore-mast, main-mast, mizzen-mast, jigger-mast, and spanker mast; iron masts and yards: 7,000 yards of canvas in the sails; two large steam launches; twenty large row-boats; double bottom; five smoke pipes; wire standing rigging. The Great Eastern visited New York in 1860, and again in 1867, the latter time carrying passengers and freight from Havre, France. She was ever a financial failure, and was sold in 1864 by her original owners for pound 25,000. In 1888 she was sold as junk and broken up for her iron.