The project of building this enormous ship was received with enthusiasm by the public. Every item of news, correct or otherwise, was welcomed eagerly, and the newspapers vied with each other in the extravagance of their assertions. She had both paddle-wheels and a screw propeller, and it was confidently stated that she would attain a speed of even twenty-five miles an hour, and this, it was thought, might be exceeded if she had a strong favourable wind and used both her mechanical aids. Her size was expected to make her indifferent to the storms of the ocean, and her behaviour at sea was confidently prophesied under all sorts of conditions.
Chambers’ Journal published an article in which the powers of the vessel were set forth, and in which it said:
“It has generally been conceived that the ill-fated President steam-ship snapped across some Atlantic wave, as a match might be snapped between the fingers; the still more gigantic Great Western, Himalaya, Atrato, and Persia have, however, since that unfortunate accident, continued to plough their ways in safety through the ocean storms. The Great Britain lay for months among the breakers of the rock-bound coast of Ireland, and yet finally floated off unscathed, to render good service to the British Government as a transport in time of need. The grand experiment of the cyclopean order of naval architecture is, however, in preparation, and shortly to be put to the test. The Great Eastern Steam Navigation Company have for some time been engaged in building an iron ship upon a scale, both as regards absolute dimensions and strength of material, that will at once change all its leviathan predecessors into pigmies.
“The upper deck runs flush and clear from stem to stern for a breadth of about twenty feet on either side, thus affording two magnificent promenades for the passengers just within the bulwarks. These promenades will be each rather more than the eighth part of a mile long. Four turns up and down either of them would exceed a mile by 256 feet. The vessel when launched will be more than as long again as the steam-ship Great Britain; it will be nearly three times as long as the line-of-battle ship the Duke of Wellington, and nearly as long again as the Himalaya; eighty-eight feet more would make it as long again as the Persia, at present the longest vessel afloat upon the ocean.
“It is anticipated that this multiplication of internal braces and supports will be sufficient to enable the hollow hull to resist, as a whole, very much more violence and much heavier strains than the elements can ever inflict upon it.
“It is calculated that a sharp long wedge of this kind, impelled by the force of nearly 4000 horses, and extending its length on the water along a distance of nearly 700 feet, will pass through it with the speed of twenty miles an hour. This would be amply sufficient to enable it to make the voyage to India, round the Cape of Good Hope, in thirty days, or to Australia in thirty-three days.
“The anchors alone will weigh 55 tons, and there will be 200 tons of capstans, cables, and warps connected with them. These ponderous implements obviously could not be wielded by human hands, and accordingly steam-sailors will be prepared to do what the flesh-and-blood sailors would not be able to accomplish. There will be journeymen steam-engines stationed conveniently for effecting the anchoring and weighing, and, indeed, for performing many other services ordinarily carried out by the crew. Possibly there will be steam-steersmen for the guidance of the mass. It is on account of this supplementary and subsidiary steam-service that only 400 men will be needed to work so vast a ship.
Longitudinal Section of the “Great Eastern.”