Tonnage of Colonial Shipping. Same scale as larger diagram.
1837.—2,335,000 tons. 1897.—12,293,539 tons.
THE GROWTH OF BRITISH COMMERCE, AS INDICATED BY THE TONNAGE OF BRITISH SHIPS IN 1837 AND IN 1897.
The diagram illustrates at once the difference in type between the ships of the two dates, and the increase in tonnage of the whole mercantile marine, the latter being indicated by the comparative lengths of the ships. Each dotted square represents a million tons.
SECTION OF THE “GREAT EASTERN,” THE LARGEST SHIP EVER BUILT.
The “Great Eastern” was designed by Mr. Isambard K. Brunel, and built by Mr. Scott Russell of Millwall, at a cost of £732,000. Her keel was laid in May 1854 and she was launched on January 31, 1858. Her length was 692 feet; width between bulwarks, 83 feet; height, 60 feet; tonnage, 22,500; displacement when loaded, 27,384 tons; horse-power, 11,000. 30,000 wrought-iron plates were used in her hulk. She was built on the “cellular” principle, with two skins 2 feet apart, and driven by both paddle wheels and screw. As a passenger steamer she did not succeed; but she laid the first successful Atlantic cable (1866) and picked up and repaired the earlier one which had parted in mid-ocean. She was afterwards purchased for public exhibition and finally broken up in 1891.
J. Doyle (“H. B.”).] [Political Sketches.