The morning broke with great splendour after the gloom of the previous days, and the tide, as soon as it had turned, began to rise with unusual rapidity. It had been arranged that all the men should be at their posts at the presses and crabs by eleven o’clock; but the tide was not only very high, but exceptionally early; and, although a considerable margin had been allowed, it was not sufficient. Mr. Brunel and his assistants hurried the men to their places, the presses were set to work, and the ship was put in motion down the ways for the last time.
At a little before one o’clock observations taken by levels showed that the ship had ceased to descend, although she was still being pushed forward. Shortly afterwards Captain Harrison, who had gone on board, sent Mr. Brunel word that all the wedge-pieces had floated up on the outer side of the ship; and at twenty minutes past one the stern was seen to be afloat. Mr. Brunel had been loath to haul out the ship by the river tackle, lest the wedge-pieces might get jammed; but, as soon as he was informed that they had floated up, he sent orders for a strain to be put on the bow tackle. This was at once done, and by twenty minutes to two the bow rose from the cradle.
Mr. Brunel then ordered the checking gear to be secured, that the ship might be sooner hauled clear of the cradles, and he went on board. He had scarcely done so when a serious difficulty arose. It has been already said, that in order to keep the ship from moving up or down stream, cables had been carried out to moorings ahead and astern; and both these chains had been hauled up tolerably taut, at least the slack had been taken out of them, so that if required they might be at once available. Now when Mr. Brunel had given the order for the bow out-haul tackle to be hauled upon, Captain Harrison, in order to supplement it, ordered the tug-boats to haul the bow off. This order was by some one conceived to have been given with the object of hauling the ship ahead; and to facilitate this the stern mooring-chain was let go.
By this time, though the tide was still running up the river, its strength was much diminished; and the drag of the chain at the bow of the ship was sufficient to pull her forward against the tide. The paddlewheel on the shore side then came in contact with the upright timbers of the forward cradle. Mr. Brunel ran down from the ship into a boat and examined the place where the wheel was fouled. He then hurried back on board, where, as through some blunder the stern outhaul had also been let go, he had now little but the tug-boats to depend upon. They were of course of but small value for a dead pull as compared with the chain tackle. He had the bow chain veered out and the tugs all set to work, assisted by the tide, to haul the ship up the river.
In about twenty minutes time, the paddlewheel was got clear of the cradle, and this great difficulty was overcome. Fortunately, the tide was an extraordinarily high one, and the time of available high water was long.
The ship had not been moved far towards her berth when another mishap delayed her progress. The barge of the bow purchase came foul of the starboard paddlewheel, and the only way of freeing the ship was to scuttle the barge. When this was done it sank away clear of the wheel, and the ship proceeded to her berth on the Deptford side of the river.[172]
By about seven o’clock she was safely moored; and the cheers of the men, as Mr. Brunel went down her side, announced that the launch of the ‘Great Eastern’ was at length accomplished.
NOTE A (pp. [348], [368], [372]).
Experiments and Observations on Friction.
In January 1857, Mr. Brunel took steps to form an estimate of the amount of hauling or of retarding force that would probably be required in the launch.