[161] See below, note A, p. 389.
[162] The reason for stopping was lest the ship should float at high water during the night.
[163] It remained a doubtful point whether or not the bow cradle was stopped by the brakes. Subsequent experience favoured the opinion that it had stopped of itself.
[164] The ship had always been spoken of as the ‘Great Eastern,’ and this name was specially agreeable to Mr. Brunel. It was not a point on which he set much store, but his views were pretty well known; and, as the name had not been of his choosing, but had rather grown out of the name of the Company, and the natural association of ideas with his first ship, the ‘Great Western,’ it might reasonably have been supposed that it would have been adopted. But some fastidious person suggested that the name was objectionable, as consisting of two adjectives. A list of names was prepared and submitted to Mr. Brunel on the day of the launch at the moment when he was busiest. He said off-hand that they might call it ‘Tom Thumb’ if they liked. The Directors, however, selected the name ‘Leviathan,’ and so the ship was christened. The new name never stuck to the ship, and she was registered as the ‘Great Eastern.’
[165] The action of an hydraulic press is limited to the length of stroke of the ram. Hence, as soon as the ship moved a distance equal to the length of the stroke, it became necessary to relieve the water pressure in the cylinder, to pull back the ram into it, and to insert between the ram of the press and the cradle an additional length of timber. This operation of pulling back the ram and putting in another length of timber was called ‘fleeting’ the press, a term used in many mechanical operations when the motive arrangements are reinstated in their primary position ready for a further advance in the work.
[166] On this occasion Mr. Brunel had his way, and there were not a dozen spectators in the yard.
[167] See note A at the end of the chapter.
[168] At this time the friction when the ship was in motion was not much greater than it had been on previous occasions; but, the adhesion being greatly increased, a large excess of power became stored up in the elasticity of the abutments and the chains. This excess of power, on the ship commencing to move, discharged itself in giving her velocity, and therefore she moved by short slips, instead of by a gradual motion, as had been the case previously, when the resistance due to friction and that due to adhesion had been more nearly equal. For observations on the friction, see [note A] at the end of the chapter.
[169] Mr. Stephenson went with Mr. Brunel into all the facts relative to the operations and all the experience gained therefrom, and examined carefully the investigations which had been made by means of self-recording apparatus, and which showed that the friction diminished as the velocity increased. So struck was Mr. Stephenson at these results that he urged Mr. Brunel on no account to neglect having the brakes properly attended to; lest the great adhesion should cause a large amount of stored-up power, which might give the ship such a velocity that the force of gravity might exceed that of the friction. The brakes had not been hitherto neglected; but, in conformity with Mr. Stephenson’s suggestion, it was thenceforward made a rule that, when a moderate amount of slack had been overhauled from the drums, the brakes should be put down, on a signal being given that the pressure in the presses was rising.
[170] Mr. Brunel received a great many suggestions for launching the ship. Puncheons, gas, artillery, and especially levers, were among the appliances recommended. With the desire of behaving civilly to well-meaning persons who were wishing to do him a service, Mr. Brunel adopted a plan similar to that which he had found useful when the ‘Great Britain’ was on shore. He had a circular letter printed, thanking his correspondents for their suggestions, but saying that the number of such communications had become so great that it was impossible for him to do more than cause the receipt to be acknowledged, with thanks for the intentions of the parties writing.