It is not wonderful that the launch of a craft, at once so splendid and so curious, should have caused much interest and excitement in the neighbourhood in which it took place. A distinguished company witnessed the ceremony, while the crowd which lined the banks of the river Clyde numbered 10,000. A short service was conducted by three priests of the Greek Church, and the bows of the vessel were then sprinkled with holy water. After the conclusion of this ceremony, the yacht received her name from the Duchess of Hamilton, and was then launched. The launch was a complete success, the Livadia taking the water in gallant style, though the task was one of more than ordinary difficulty from the circumstance of the great breadth of the ship’s keel-less bottom, which much increased the friction to be overcome. At the luncheon which concluded the day’s proceedings, Mr Pearce, the chairman, who represented the firm of Elder and Company, stated that the principle adopted in the building of the Livadia would probably be more useful in the case of ships of war than of merchant vessels, but that builders of the latter might also derive valuable hints from the construction of the new ship. Whether this will prove to be the case time has yet to show.
A most interesting discovery of a Norse war-ship has recently been made at Sandefjord in Norway. The vessel, there can be no doubt, is one of the kind in which those formidable buccaneers, the Norsemen, used to harry the coasts of Great Britain and France ten hundred years ago. It was found buried in the ground, and seems to have been the sepulchre of some great Viking chieftain, who had probably many a time sailed forth in it to the terror and detriment of some less warlike and powerful neighbour.
The ship is unusually large, and very completely equipped. Its length is about seventy-five feet; and sails, rigging, a number of shields and other instruments of battle, were found on board.
Chapter Fourteen.
The “Great Eastern.”
The Great Eastern steamship deserves to be regarded as the eighth wonder of the world, beyond all question. She is at present by far the largest vessel in the world, and is the most magnificent creation of naval architecture that was ever launched upon the sea.
The substance of the following account of this interesting ship has been gathered principally from the Times and the Illustrated London News for 1859, the year in which the Great Eastern was launched, and from a pamphlet which was sold on board, by permission of the proprietors.
The Great Eastern was intended for the Indian and Australian route by the Cape of Good Hope. The result of large experience in steam navigation has proved that the size of the ship, (when steam is used), ought to be in proportion to the length of the voyage. Mr Brunel, the talented engineer to whose genius and perseverance this monster ship owes her existence, acting on this principle, calculated that the voyage to Australia and back being 22,500 miles—a vessel of 22,500 tons burden, (or a ton burden for every mile to be steamed), would require to be built, capable of carrying fuel for the entire voyage, it being impossible, without incurring enormous expense, to procure coal for such a vessel at intermediate ports.