Tales out of school

by Frank R. Stockton

The scene on the deck is a busy one, for the vessel is being prepared for a voyage; the workmen are putting on the finishing touches in the way of carpenter-work and painting; and the sailors are busy with the sails and rigging. Hundreds of people are employed with steam engines, hoisting cranes, and various machines, and yet there is plenty of room for them to do their work without confusion.

For the upper deck of this great steamer measures 680 feet from stem to stern, which is twice the length of the largest of other ocean steamers. The deck, in the widest part, is 82 feet wide. From this deck rise six great masts, and five smoke stacks.

Great care has been taken to make the vessel proof against very heavy seas. The hull is double, and is made of iron plates. Ten thousand tons of iron were used to build the hull, and it took no less than 3,000,000 rivets to fasten on the iron plates.

The Great Eastern carries a cargo of 28,500 tons; and can accommodate 10,000 passengers. So, if you went across the ocean in her, when she has her full complement of passengers, it is not at all likely that you would know all your fellow-voyagers. It would be very strange if you were even to see them all.

PREPARING THE VESSEL FOR A VOYAGE.

PASSENGERS GOING ON BOARD.

She is an English vessel, and has been to this country several times. She was visited by crowds of people while lying at the wharf in New York. She also went to Norfolk, and Baltimore. And, everywhere she was an object of curiosity and wonder. But the expense of sailing so monstrous a vessel is very great, and her owners have not always known exactly what to do with their ship. She was very useful in laying the Atlantic Telegraph Cable a few years ago. She was the only ship that could conveniently carry such a tremendous weight as this cable which was to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and connect two continents.

The vessel, as you see her in the picture, does not lie close to the wharf, and small steamers are employed to take the passengers out to the ship when she is ready to sail. These steamers seem like baby vessels when they are lying alongside the Great Eastern. Her great hull rises far above their chimneys. The “gangway” is a long flight of stairs; and it is quite a slow process to get all the people out of the small steamers, up the stairs, and on to the deck of the Great Eastern.