Story of the Great Eastern.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 879, 4 January 1889, Page 9

Story of the Great Eastern.

The last page in the history of a mighty steamship will soon be written. The Great Eastern ia to bo broken up and sold for junk, where she lies beached on the banks of the Mersey river. There is something pathetic in the fate of this monster vessel and of the enterprise whioh brought her into being. In 1852 a company was formed in England to maintain an ocean trade to the East and around the Cape of Good Hope ; but it. was soon found that the venture would not pay if coaling stations had to be supported at points along the route, 'as seemed probable, since no ship then afloat could be expected to carry fuel enough for the round trip. Somebody hit upon the idea of building a vessel that would carry a thousand passengers, 5,000 tons of merchan. diae, and 15,000 tons of coal. Accordingly, iu November, 1857, the last bolt was driven in the Great Eastern. Her gross tonnage was nearly 19,000, and she was 690 feet long, 83 feet broad, and 60 feet deep. She carried eight engines, varying from 1,000 to 1,600 horse-power. So huge and heavy a ship, it was feared, could not be launched in the ordinary way, so. she was built with her broadside toward the water, and slid down an enormous wooden staging, the cost of the mere launch ng process being between £60,000 and £BO,OOO. Next an explosion occurred on board, killing several persons and requiring the expenditure of a large sum to make good the damage done. As there was no cortaintv about the profits of the Australian .trade, for which she was eapeoially designed, it was concluded to experiment with her on the usual route of transatlantic passenger steamers. She made several voyages, beginning in June, 1860, to and from the Harbour, of New York, but her owners steadily lost money, partly because the travelling public did not dare trust themselves on an experimental ship of her size, and partly because of the steady outlay for repairs. In December, IS6I, when there were threats of war between Great Britain and the United States, she proved her value as a transport ship, by bringing two thousand troops from England to Canada with scarcely any inconvenience and d scomfort, and three years later she was employed to advantage in laying submarine cables. Since then she has changed hands on one or more occasions, at her last sale commanding a price, of £20,000. She has been used chiefly as a coal-carrier between remote British ports. Her cost to various owners, it is estimated, has been somewhere near £6,000,000, and her final collapse is attended with the consoling reflection that the chance to throw money away on her will have gone with the breaking up of her hulk. She is the largest ship ever built, and is likely to hold that place in history undisputed, at all events for a good while to come. Steamers are now built between 500 and 600 feet long, and from 50 to 60 feet in beam, and show Bplendid sailing powers. The Umbria, which beat the City of New York on her last trip out, is 520 feet long and 59 feet broad. Her sister Etruria ia of the same dimensions ; but the point is rapidly approaching in ship-building, in the opinion of experts, where increase of size must he abandoned, on account not ODly of the strain which the great weight brings to bear upon the joints, but of the unwieldiness of so large a craft in the hands of even the most experienced navigator.