Transcriber’s Notes:
The spelling, punctuation and hyphenation from the original has been
retained with the exception of apparent printer’s errors.
Italic text is marked _thus_.
OCEAN STEAMSHIPS
[Illustration: A DRAMA OF THE SEA.]
OCEAN STEAMSHIPS
A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION
DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT
AND APPLIANCES
BY
F. E. CHADWICK, U. S. N.
J. D. J. KELLEY, U. S. N.
RIDGELY HUNT, U. S. N.
JOHN H. GOULD
WILLIAM H. RIDEING
A. E. SEATON
_WITH NINETY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1891
COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEAMSHIP 1
BY COMMANDER F. E. CHADWICK, U. S. NAVY.
SLOW GROWTH OF THE IDEA OF STEAM PROPULSION—MODELS SHOWN AT
THE LIVERPOOL EXHIBITION IN 1886—CLAIMS OF PRECEDENCE IN
THE INVENTION OF STEAMBOATS—WHAT FULTON ACCOMPLISHED—THE
CLERMONT—THE VOYAGE OF THE SAVANNAH IN 1819—THE FIRST WAR
STEAMER—THE ATLANTIC CROSSED BY THE SIRIUS AND GREAT WESTERN
IN 1838—FOUNDING OF THE CUNARD COMPANY—INVENTION OF THE
SCREW PROPELLER—ITS APPLICATION TO THE ARCHIMEDES AND THE
GREAT BRITAIN—EARLY FLEET OF THE CUNARD COMPANY—AMERICAN
ENTERPRISES—THE SCREW STEAMER PRINCETON—ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE PACIFIC MAIL—THE COLLINS LINE—ITS SUCCESS AND ULTIMATE
FAILURE—THE GREAT EASTERN—BEGINNING OF GREAT RIVALRY IN
SPEED—TRIPLE EXPANSION ENGINES—IMPORTANT CHANGES IN DESIGN.
SPEED IN OCEAN STEAMERS 57
BY A. E. SEATON.
THE VIKING’S CRAFT AND THE MODERN “GREYHOUND”—PROBLEMS
OF INERTIA AND RESISTANCE—PRIMARY CONDITION FOR HIGH
SPEED—WHAT IS MEANT BY “COEFFICIENT OF FINENESS” AND
“INDICATED HORSE-POWER”—ADVANCE IN ECONOMICAL ENGINES—WHAT
THE COMPOUND ENGINE EFFECTED—A COMPARISON OF FAST STEAMERS
FROM 1836 TO 1890—PREJUDICE AGAINST PROPELLERS AND HIGH
PRESSURES—ADVANTAGES OF MORE THAN ONE SCREW PROPELLER—ATTEMPTS
AT PROPULSION BY TURBINE WHEELS, EJECTIONS, AND PUMPS—THE
INTRODUCTION OF SIEMENS-MARTIN STEEL IN 1875 THE CHIEF FACTOR
IN THE SUCCESS OF MODERN FAST STEAMERS—DECREASE IN COAL
CONSUMPTION—IMPORTANCE OF FORCED DRAUGHTS—THE PROBLEM OF
MECHANICAL STOKING—POSSIBILITIES OF LIQUID FUEL—IS THE PRESENT
SPEED LIKELY TO BE INCREASED?
THE BUILDING OF AN “OCEAN GREYHOUND” 91
BY WILLIAM H. RIDEING.
THE COST OF AN OCEAN RACER—INTRICATE “FINANCING” OF SUCH AN
UNDERTAKING—THE CONTRACT WITH THE SHIP-BUILDERS—THE UNCERTAIN
ELEMENT IN DESIGNING—GREAT SHIP YARDS ALONG THE CLYDE—THE
PLANS OF A STEAMER ON PAPER—ENLARGEMENT OF PLANS IN THE
“MOULD LOFT”—WHAT IS MEANT BY “FAIRING THE SHIP”—THE “SCRIVE
BOARD”—LAYING DOWN THE KEEL—MAKING THE HUGE RIBS—WHEN A
SHIP IS “IN FRAME”—SHAPING AND TRIMMING THE PLATES—RIVETING
AND CAULKING—READY FOR LAUNCHING—THE GREAT “PLANT” WHICH IS
NECESSARY FOR THE BUILDING OF A SHIP—DESCRIPTION OF A TYPICAL
YARD—WORKS COVERING SEVENTY-FOUR ACRES—WHERE THE SHAFT IS
FORGED—THE LATHES AT WORK—THE ADJUSTMENT OF PARTS—SEVEN
THOUSAND WORKMEN.
OCEAN PASSENGER TRAVEL 112
BY JOHN H. GOULD.
THE FIRST OCEAN RACE—PASSENGER TRAFFIC IN THE OLD CLIPPER
DAYS—STATE-ROOMS AND TABLE FARE IN EARLY DAYS—THE FIRST
OCEAN MAIL CONTRACT—DISCOMFORTS FIFTY YEARS AGO—AMERICAN
TRANSATLANTIC LINES—GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES—NOVELTIES ON
THE COLLINS LINE—WHEN STEERAGE PASSENGERS WERE ALLOWED
ON OCEAN STEAMSHIPS—IMPORTANT CHANGES IN THE COMFORT OF
PASSENGERS WROUGHT BY THE OCEANIC IN 1870—THE PRESENT ERA OF
TWIN-SCREW SHIPS—THEIR ADVANTAGES—THE FASTEST VOYAGES EAST
AND WEST—RECORDS OF THE GREAT RACERS—MODERN CONVENIENCES AND
LUXURIES—THE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CABIN PASSENGERS FROM
1881 TO 1890—HOW THE LARDER IS SUPPLIED—ELECTRIC LIGHTS,
LIBRARIES, AND MUSIC-ROOMS—CUSTOMS PECULIAR TO THE FRENCH,
GERMAN, AND BRITISH LINES—LIFE IN THE STEERAGE—IMMIGRATION
STATISTICS—GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS.
THE SHIP’S COMPANY 149
BY LIEUTENANT J. D. JERROLD KELLEY, U. S. NAVY.
HAS STEAM RUINED THE GENUINE SAILORS OF STORY AND
SONG?—HAULING A LINER OUT OF THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS—THE TRAITS
OF MASTER-MARINERS—EDUCATION OF JUNIOR OFFICERS—A FIRE
DRILL—STOWING THE CARGO—DOWN THE CHANNEL IN A FOG—THE ROUTINE
LIFE AT SEA—THE TRIALS OF KEEPING WATCH—A BO’S’N’S RIGHT TO
BLUSTER—STEERING BY STEAM—SCRUBBING THE DECKS IN THE MIDDLE
WATCHES—FORMALITIES OF INSPECTION—THE MAGIC DOMAIN OF THE
ENGINE-ROOM—PICTURESQUENESS OF THE STOKE-HOLE—MESSES OF THE
CREW—THE NOON OBSERVATION—LIFE AMONG THE CABIN PASSENGERS—BOAT
DRILL—PLEASURES TOWARD THE END OF THE VOYAGE—THE
CONCERT—SCENES IN THE SMOKING-ROOM—WAGERS ON THE PILOT-BOAT
NUMBER—FIRE ISLAND LIGHT, AND THE END OF THE VOYAGE.
SAFETY ON THE ATLANTIC 185
BY WILLIAM H. RIDEING.
THE DANGERS OF THE SEA—PRECAUTIONS IN A FOG—ANXIETIES OF THE
CAPTAIN—CREEPING UP THE CHANNEL—“ASHORE AT SOUTH STACK”—NARROW
ESCAPE OF THE BALTIC—SOME NOTABLE SHIPWRECKS—STATISTICS
SINCE 1838—THE REGION OF ICEBERGS—WHEN THEY ARE MOST
FREQUENT—CALAMITIES FROM ICE—SAFETY PROMOTED BY SPEED—MODERN
PROTECTION FROM INCOMING SEAS—BULKHEADS AND DOUBLE
BOTTOMS—WATER TIGHT COMPARTMENTS—THE SPECIAL ADVANTAGE OF
THE LONGITUDINAL BULKHEAD—THE VALUE OF TWIN SCREWS—DANGERS
FROM A BROKEN SHAFT—IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MARINER’S COMPASS,
THE PATENT LOG, AND SOUNDING MACHINE—MANGANESE BRONZE FOR
PROPELLERS—LIGHTS, BUOYS, AND FOG SIGNALS—THE REMARKABLE
RECORD OF 1890.
THE OCEAN STEAMSHIP AS A FREIGHT CARRIER 217
BY JOHN H. GOULD.
REVENUE OF THE SHIP’S CARGO—AMOUNT OF FREIGHT CARRIED
BY EXPRESS STEAMSHIPS—GROSS TONNAGE OF IMPORTANT LINES
RUNNING FROM NEW YORK—THE MERCHANT MARINE OF THE UNITED
STATES—THE “ATLANTIC LIMITED”—THE SEA POST-OFFICE—IN
THE SPECIE ROOM—ENORMOUS REFRIGERATORS—THE NEW CLASS OF
“FREIGHTERS”—LARGE CARGOES AND SMALL COAL CONSUMPTION—THE
OCEAN “TRAMP”—ADVANTAGES OF THE “WHALEBACK”—VESSELS FOR
CARRYING GRAIN—FLOATING ELEVATORS—THE FRUIT STEAMSHIP—TANK
STEAMSHIPS FOR CARRYING OIL—PECULIARITIES OF THEIR
CONSTRUCTION—THE MOLASSES SHIP—SCENES ON THE PIERS WHEN
STEAMSHIPS ARE LOADING—STEAM HOISTING APPARATUS—HOW THE
FREIGHT IS STOWED—COALING—THE LOADING OF CATTLE SHIPS—“COWBOYS
OF THE SEA”—OCEAN TRAFFIC THE INDEX OF A NATION’S PROSPERITY.
STEAMSHIP LINES OF THE WORLD 253
BY LIEUTENANT RIDGELY HUNT, U. S. NAVY.
IMPORTANT PART TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES IN ESTABLISHING
OCEAN ROUTES—RIVALRY IN SAILING VESSELS WITH ENGLAND—EFFECT
OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA—THE CAPE HORN
ROUTE—AUSTRALIAN PACKET LINES—THE PROBLEM OF A SHORT ROUTE TO
INDIA—FOUR MAIN ROUTES OF STEAMSHIP TRAFFIC—CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE REGULAR SERVICE BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE EAST—PORT
SAID AND THE SUEZ CANAL—SCENES AT ADEN AND AT BOMBAY—THE
RUN TO COLOMBO, CEYLON—SOME OF THE BY-WAYS OF TRAVEL
FROM SINGAPORE—THE PACIFIC MAIL—FROM YOKOHAMA TO SAN
FRANCISCO—TWO ROUTES FROM PANAMA TO NEW YORK—SOUTH AMERICAN
PORTS—MAGNIFICENT SCENERY OF THE MAGELLAN STRAITS—BEAUTIES OF
THE PORT OF RIO—THE GREAT OCEAN ROUTE FROM LONDON TO AUSTRALIA.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
A DRAMA OF THE SEA, _Frontispiece_
SPECIFICATIONS OF EARLY PATENTS TAKEN OUT IN ENGLAND, 15
THE ETRURIA, 37
TRIPLE-EXPANSION ENGINE OF THE ALLER, TRAVE, AND SAALE, 41
THE GIOVANNI BAUSAN, OF THE ITALIAN NAVY, 49
THE NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMER KAISER WILHELM II., 65
THE WHITE STAR STEAMER MAJESTIC, 75
THE INMAN LINE STEAMER CITY OF PARIS, 81
GENERAL VIEW OF THE FRAMES OF
THE CITY OF NEW YORK—JUNE 25, 1887, 99
IN THE GRAND SALOON OF AN INMAN STEAMER, 115
THE END OF THE VOYAGE, 139
IN THE STEERAGE, 145
ON THE BRIDGE IN A GALE, 161
“MUSTER, ALL HANDS,” 167
NIGHT SIGNALLING, 177
OUT OF RECKONING.—A NARROW ESCAPE, 187
LANDING STAGES AT LIVERPOOL, 191
AT CLOSE QUARTERS, AMONG THE ICEBERGS, 201
THE DEEP-SEA SOUNDING MACHINE AT WORK, 207
LOADING GRAIN FROM A FLOATING ELEVATOR, 221
UNLOADING AND LOADING A COASTWISE STEAMER BY
ELECTRIC LIGHT, 227
THE “WHALEBACK” STEAMSHIP FOR GRAIN AND OTHER FREIGHT, 235
UNLOADING A BANANA STEAMSHIP, 241
A CATTLE STEAMSHIP AT SEA, 249
CHART OF THE WORLD, SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL STEAMSHIP ROUTES, 257
DECK QUOITS ON A P. AND O. LINER, 261
ENTRANCE TO THE SUEZ CANAL AT PORT SAID, 267
THE PORT OF VALPARAISO IN A NORTHER, 285
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
THE GREAT WESTERN, FROM AN OLD PAINTING, 10
CROSS-SECTION OF THE GREAT WESTERN, 11
THE GREAT BRITAIN, 13
PLAN OF THE HIBERNIA AND CAMBRIA, 22
MODEL OF THE PERSIA AND SCOTIA, 31
LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE WARSHIP DUILIO, 33
THE BRITANNIC, 34
CROSS-SECTION OF THE OREGON, 40
CROSS-SECTION OF THE SERVIA, 40
LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE CHAMPAGNE, 42
THE CHILIAN CRUISER ESMERALDA, 47
THE BELTED CRUISER ORLANDO, WITH TWIN SCREWS, 51
THE CITY OF ROME, 54
H. B. M. S. POLYPHEMUS AT FULL SPEED—18-5/8 KNOTS, 59
THE IMPÉRIEUSE GOING AT FULL SPEED, 64
PASSENGER STEAMER PRINCESSE HENRIETTE AT
FULL SPEED—24-1/2 MILES PER HOUR, 69
ENGINES OF THE COMET, 70
PASSENGER STEAMER DUCHESS OF HAMILTON AT
FULL SPEED—21 MILES PER HOUR, 71
PASSENGER STEAMER COLUMBA AT FULL SPEED—21 MILES PER HOUR, 72
THE TWIN SCREWS OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 84
THE PROPELLER OF THE NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMER HAVEL, 85
RECENT NAVAL ENGINE, 87
ITALIAN CRUISER PIEMONTE AT
FULL SPEED—22.3 KNOTS = 25-3/4 MILES PER HOUR, 89
THE UMBRIA JUST BEFORE LAUNCHING, 94
FRAMES OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, LOOKING AFT—JULY 19, 1887, 102
FRAMES OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,
LOOKING FORWARD—JULY 19, 1887, 103
THE MANGANESE BRONZE PROPELLER-BLADE OF THE WRECKED
STEAMER MOSEL, AFTER IT HAD BEATEN UPON A REEF, 106
A STERN VIEW, SHOWING TWIN SCREWS, 108
THE CITY OF NEW YORK READY FOR LAUNCHING, 109
MODEL OF A STEAMER DESIGNED TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC
IN FIVE DAYS, 110
THE STEAMER’S BARBER-SHOP, 121
MORE COMFORTABLE ON DECK, 123
A QUIET FLIRTATION, 125
SMOKING-ROOM OF A FRENCH LINER, 127
THE GANG PLANK—JUST BEFORE SAILING, 132
THE SALOON OF A HAMBURG STEAMER, 134
THE PILOT BOARDING, 135
REVENUE OFFICER BOARDING, NEW YORK BAY, 142
DOWN THE CHANNEL IN A FOG—A NARROW ESCAPE, 157
THE SKIPPER, 158
THE DECK LOOKOUT—“DANGER AHEAD,” 160
THE BOATSWAIN’S WHISTLE, 164
THE COOK, 165
WASHING DOWN THE DECKS, 169
THE STOKE HOLE, 172
IN THE FO’CASTLE, 174
WATCHING FOR THE SUN ON A CLOUDY DAY, 176
THE DECK STEWARD, 180
CAPTAIN’S BREAKFAST, 181
THE NIGHT SIGNAL OF A DISABLED STEAMER, 183
EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE, ENGLISH CHANNEL, 194
A WHISTLING BUOY, 195
LIGHTHOUSE, ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., 197
A BELL BUOY, 199
LIGHTHOUSE, SANIBEL ISLAND, FLA., 205
OFF FIRE ISLAND, NEW YORK, 210
GEDNEY’S CHANNEL, OUTSIDE NEW YORK HARBOR, AT NIGHT, 211
THE LIGHTSHIP, OFF SANDY HOOK, 213
BROKEN BOW OF LA CHAMPAGNE, AFTER HER COLLISION OUTSIDE
NEW YORK HARBOR, DECEMBER, 1890, 214
A SUNKEN SCHOONER, 215
THE SPECIE-ROOM OF A PASSENGER STEAMSHIP, 232
CROSS-SECTION OF A TANK STEAMSHIP, SHOWING THE
EXPANSION TANK, 244
LOADING A TANK STEAMSHIP WITH OIL, BY FORCE PUMPS, 245
THE PORT OF ADEN, ARABIA, 270
A DECK-BATH IN THE TROPICS, 271
PROMENADE DECK OF AN ORIENT LINER, 274
LANDING PASSENGERS AT NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA, 279
STEAMER AT ANCHOR, SIMON’S BAY, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, 291
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEAMSHIP.
BY COMMANDER F. E. CHADWICK, U. S. NAVY.
SLOW GROWTH OF THE IDEA OF STEAM PROPULSION—MODELS SHOWN AT
THE LIVERPOOL EXHIBITION IN 1886—CLAIMS OF PRECEDENCE IN THE
INVENTION OF STEAMBOATS—WHAT FULTON ACCOMPLISHED—THE CLERMONT—THE
VOYAGE OF THE SAVANNAH IN 1819—THE FIRST WAR STEAMER—THE ATLANTIC
CROSSED BY THE SIRIUS AND GREAT WESTERN IN 1838—FOUNDING
OF THE CUNARD COMPANY—INVENTION OF THE SCREW PROPELLER—ITS
APPLICATION TO THE ARCHIMEDES AND THE GREAT BRITAIN—EARLY FLEET
OF THE CUNARD COMPANY—AMERICAN ENTERPRISES—THE SCREW STEAMER
PRINCETON—ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PACIFIC MAIL—THE COLLINS LINE—ITS
SUCCESS AND ULTIMATE FAILURE—THE GREAT EASTERN—BEGINNING OF GREAT
RIVALRY IN SPEED—TRIPLE EXPANSION ENGINES—IMPORTANT CHANGES IN DESIGN.
It is a wonderful fact in the swift expansion of mechanical knowledge
and appliances of the last hundred years that while for unknown ages
the wind was the only propelling force used for purposes of navigation,
apart from the rude application of power through oars worked by men,
the whole scheme of steam transport has grown, practically, to its
present wonderful perfection within the lifetime of men yet living.
Of course, the idea, as is that of all great inventions, was one of
slow growth. It cropped up at various stages through the eighteenth
century, and there are faint evidences of gropings in this direction in
the latter part of the seventeenth; but these latter were not much more
definite than the embodiment of the idea of the telegraph in Puck’s
girdle round the earth, and the evidence that men really thought of
propelling boats by steam is very meagre until we come to the pamphlet
written by Jonathan Hulls, in 1737, in which he gave utterance to a
very clear and distinct idea in the matter. It struggled through a
very backward infancy of fifty years and more, certain memorable names
appearing now and then to help it along, as that of Watt (without
whose improvements in the steam-engine it must still have remained in
swaddling-clothes), Fitch, De Jouffroy, Rumsey, Symington, and finally
Fulton, who, however much he may have learned from his predecessors,
has unquestionably the credit of putting afloat the first commercially
successful steamboat. He is thus worthy of all the honor accorded him;
much of it came too late, as he died at the comparatively early age of
fifty, after passing through the harassments which seem naturally to
lie in the path of the innovator.
* * * * *
A graphic history of the wonderful changes wrought in this great factor
of the world’s progress was set forth during the summer of 1886, at the
International Exhibition at Liverpool, where, by model and drawing,
the various steps were made more completely visible and tangible than,
perhaps, ever before. True, the relics of the earlier phases of the
steamship age, when its believers were but few and generally of small
account, were sparse, but the exhibits of later models, from the date
of the inception of transatlantic traffic, preparations for which were
begun in earnest by laying down the steamship Great Western in 1836,
were frequent enough, and the whole of the steps in the development of
the means of ocean traffic from then till now were sufficiently well
shown.
The exhibition, of course, did not confine itself to the steam era
alone. It even had a model of an Egyptian vessel, which was exhibited
by the Liverpool Library Society, as taken from Thebes, and estimated
to date about 1,500 years B.C., and which Moses himself might thus
have seen. It was a long stretch, however, to the next in date, as
no others antedated 1700 A.D. There were many of the handsome and
dignified eighteenth-century men-of-war, built at a time when men began
to preserve a record of their work in the miniature ships which are now
esteemed an essential addition to almost every vessel of importance
put afloat. Firms now exist whose only business it is to make the
various minute fittings—the ports, chains, anchors, blocks, etc.—of the
Liliputian craft, so that every detail of the original is given with an
exact verisimilitude in very often most beautiful and elaborate work.
It would have been very interesting had the early struggles of the
steamboat been thus illustrated _in extenso_, but there is nothing of
its concrete history earlier than a small model of the original Comet,
built by Henry Bell, at Glasgow, in 1812, and so named because of the
extraordinary comet of that year, and the engines of her successor,
built in 1820. These recall, however, the vessel which was the first
steamer engaged in passenger traffic in Europe, and are thus worthy of
honor.
In looking over the beautiful array of models then exhibited, which
thus represented almost every stage of progress in British steamship
building, from the Comet onward, one could not help regretting that an
effort had not been made by our government to bring together models,
of which there must have been some, at least, available, illustrative
of our earlier practice, particularly as there is much in it peculiar
to us, and which would have been most interesting to the great public
which visited the exhibition. Models of the Clermont; of the Stevens
experimental screw boat; a later Mississippi steamer; the Savannah—the
first vessel using steam which ever crossed the Atlantic; the
Washington, the pioneer of regular transatlantic steam traffic under
our flag; the Adriatic; the Hudson River and great Sound steamers of
to-day, would, apart from any war-ship models of interest which could
have been sent, have made a most interesting and attractive collection.
The only things, however, which were visible were the drawings of a
New York ferry-boat (the type of which, by the way, we owe to Fulton),
so placed as to be scarcely discoverable. These boats are so typical,
so different from anything found in Europe, and so interesting to any
student of steam ferriage as a thorough adaptation of means to an end,
that a complete model of the boat and its ferry slip would have been a
most satisfactory addition.
It must be remembered that the steamboat had in its earlier days a
much greater extension in America than elsewhere. Our great rivers
were an especially attractive field for its use. The Mississippi had
but lately come under our control, and the beginning of the great tide
of Western emigration and exploration was almost coincident with the
steamboat’s advent, so that through these favoring conditions it had a
much more rapid growth among us than elsewhere.
The display, however, of British models was as complete as it could
well be made. Private owners and builders, the Admiralty, and Lloyds’
Registry, united to make the collection a very complete and perfect
one. Of continental European exhibits, that of the Italian Government,
which sent a very splendid collection of models of its great war-ships,
was the most important. Associated with it was the exhibit of the
Fratelli Orlando of Leghorn, who have done much of both the public
and private building of Italy. The only French exhibit was that of
the Bureau Veritas, which followed the example of its English rival,
Lloyds, in making a very striking and instructive show.
The only exhibits of modern war-ships were those of England and Italy,
unless we except the numerous vessels built for foreign powers by
English builders. The remainder of the display was chiefly connected
with the strife of commerce, and in this it is likely to remain as
complete and comprehensive as can be made in some time to come. It was
one also in which Britain might well take pride, as, however great the
United States were as pioneers or as more than equals in the beginning
of the race, we have long since been distanced by our kinsmen, and we
must refer, for some years at least, to Great Britain to study the
principal changes in hull and machinery of the last half-century,
though the great strides of the last six years, accomplished through
our war-ship construction, bid fair to once more put us in our old and
honorable place.
The Liverpool exhibition was the forerunner of a number of others of
like character, which have culminated in the “Naval Exhibition” of
1891 in London, which, however, is more concerned with war than was
its predecessor, and does not enter so fully into the details of early
practice.
It is useless to draw comparisons between the value of claims of
precedence in the history of steam navigation. The fact that Fulton’s
efforts finally started the world to building steamboats for actual
service is indisputable. All preceding cases were simply sporadic, and
had none of the contagious power possessed by the experiments on the
Hudson. Fulton himself had already built six steamboats before one was
built elsewhere than in America. His boats, from the beginning, were
of practical value, and not small experiments, the Clermont herself
being 136 feet long, 18 feet broad, 7 feet deep, of 160 tons; and the
diameter of her wheels was 15 feet.
In 1809 the first steamboat, the Accommodation, was seen on the St.
Lawrence, and in 1811 the first (built at Pittsburgh) appeared on the
Mississippi. A year after this the Comet, already alluded to, was put
upon the Clyde by Henry Bell. She was only 40 feet long on the keel,
and 10-1/2 broad, with two small paddle-wheels on each side, driven
by a gearing which geared into a wheel on the axle of each set of
paddle-wheels. Her original engines are still in existence, and are
deposited in the Museum at South Kensington, where they were set up by
the same engineer (Mr. John Robertson) who placed them in the Comet.
Fulton also has the honor of being the first to design and build a
war steamer, which for her time was a most remarkable production, and
by far the largest steam vessel built before 1838. She was a fitting
monument to the genius of the man who unfortunately did not live to see
her completion and successful trials.
The Demologos, or Fulton the First, was laid down June 20, 1814,
and launched October 29th of the same year. “Her dimensions were:
length, 150 feet; breadth, 56 feet; depth, 20 feet; water-wheel, 16
feet diameter, length of bucket 14 feet, dip 4 feet; engine, 48-inch
cylinder, 5 feet stroke; boiler length 22 feet, breadth 12 feet, and
depth 8 feet; tonnage, 2,475.”
The commissioners appointed to examine her say in their report:
“She is a structure resting upon two boats, keels separated from end to
end by a canal 15 feet wide and 66 feet long. One boat contains the
caldrons of copper to prepare her steam. The vast cylinder of iron,
with its piston, levers, and wheels, occupies a part of its fellow:
the great water-wheel revolves in the space between them: the main or
gun deck supporting her armament is protected by a bulwark _four feet_
ten inches thick of solid timber. This is pierced by 30 port-holes, to
enable as many 32-pounders to fire red-hot balls.
... She is rigged with 2 short masts, each of which supports a large
lateen yard and sails. She has 2 bowsprits and jibs, and 4 rudders, 2
at each extremity of the boat, so that she can be steered with either
end foremost. Her machinery is calculated for the addition of an engine
which will discharge an immense column of water, which is intended to
throw upon the decks and through the ports of an enemy.” She was also
intended to carry four 100-pounders.
She made her first trial on June 1, 1815, and on the Fourth of July she
steamed outside of Sandy Hook and back, a distance of 53 miles, in 8
hours and 20 minutes. She was then supposably light, as it is stated
that she was again tried September 11, 1815, with 26 of her guns on
board, and ammunition and stores to bring her down to nearly 11 feet
draught. She steamed from 4-1/2 to 5 miles an hour, Fulton having only
promised 3, and may certainly be considered to have been a success. She
was never commissioned, but was used as a receiving ship at New York
until June 4, 1829, when she accidentally blew up.
The general slowness with which men in the early part of the century
received the idea of the mighty changes impending may be recognized
when we look over the few publications connected with navigation then
published. Mind seemed to move more slowly in those days; communication
was tedious and difficult. Edinburgh was as far from London in length
of time taken for the journey as is now New York from New Orleans; few
papers were published; there were no scientific journals of value; no
great associations of men given to meeting and discussing scientific
questions excepting the few ponderous societies which dealt more in
abstract questions than in the daily advances of the mechanical world.
It was thus that the steam vessel came slowly to the front, and that
it took more than a third of the whole time which has elapsed since
Fulton’s successful effort to convince men that it might be possible to
carry on traffic by steam across the Atlantic. Dr. Lardner is almost
chiefly remembered by his famous unwillingness to grant the possibility
of steaming directly from Liverpool to New York; and by his remark,
“As to the project, however, which was announced in the newspapers,
of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was,
he had no hesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and that they
might as well talk of making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to
the moon.”[1] He strongly urged dividing the transit by using Ireland
as one of the intermediate steps, and going thence to Newfoundland.
He curiously limited the size of ships which might be used, and their
coal-carrying powers. Though a philosopher, he did not seem to grasp
that if the steamship had grown to what it was in 1835 from the small
beginnings of 1807 it might grow even more, and its machinery be
subject to development in later times as it had been in the earlier.
Lardner seems to have typified the general state of mind when in 1836
the Great Western Steamship Company was formed, from which really dates
transatlantic traffic.
A slight retrospect is necessary to enable us to understand the
status of steam at the time. Little really had been done beyond the
establishment of coast, river, and lake navigation in the United States
and coastwise traffic in Great Britain; a few small vessels had been
built for the British navy. In 1825 the Enterprise (122 feet length of
keel and 27 feet beam) had gone to Calcutta from London in 113 days, 10
of which had been spent in stoppages; and steam mail communication with
India was about being definitely established when the keel of the Great
Western was laid.
Up to this time America had undergone much the greater development,
both in number of steam vessels and tonnage.
In 1829 our enrolled tonnage was 54,037 tons, or rather more than
twice that of the United Kingdom. Charleston and Savannah had regular
steam communication with our northern ports. A few years later, in
1838, returns show that the former had 14 steamers, the largest being
of 466 tons; Philadelphia had 11, the largest being of 563 tons; New
York had 77, of which 39 were of a large class, exceeding generally
300 tons—the largest was the President, of 615 tons, built in 1829.
Liverpool had at this date 41 steamers; the largest was of 559 tons, 4
others exceeded 200 tons, and all the others were much smaller. London
had 169, of which the largest was the British Queen, just built, of
1,053 tons; the next largest was of 497 tons. Glasgow and Belfast had
been in regular steam communication since 1818; Glasgow and Liverpool,
London and Leith, since 1822. The first ferry-boat on the Mersey,
it may be noted, the Etna, 63 feet long, with a paddle-wheel in the
centre, began her trips in 1816.
* * * * *
In 1819 the Atlantic was first crossed by a ship using steam. This was
the Savannah, of 380 tons, launched at Corlear’s Hook, New York, August
22, 1818.[2]
She was built to ply between New York and Savannah as a sailing-packet.
She was, however, purchased by Savannah merchants and fitted with steam
machinery, the paddle-wheels being constructed to fold up and be laid
upon the deck when not in use, her shaft also having a joint for that
purpose. She left Savannah on the 26th of May, and reached Liverpool
in 25 days, using steam 18 days. The log-book, still preserved, notes
several times taking the wheels in on deck in thirty minutes.
In August she left Liverpool for Cronstadt. An effort was made to sell
her to Russia, which failed. She sailed for Savannah, touching at
Copenhagen and Arendal, and arrived in 53 days. Her machinery later was
taken out, and she resumed her original character as a sailing-packet,
and ended her days by being wrecked on the south coast of Long Island.
But steam-power had by 1830 grown large enough to strike out more
boldly. The Savannah’s effort was an attempt in which steam was only
an auxiliary, and one, too, of a not very powerful kind. Our coastwise
steamers, as well as those employed in Great Britain, as also the
voyage of the Enterprise to Calcutta in 1825 (though she took 113
days in doing it), had settled the possibility of the use of steam at
sea, and the question had now become whether a ship could be built
to cross the Atlantic depending entirely on her steam power. It had
become wholly a question of fuel consumption. The Savannah, it may be
said, used pitch-pine on her outward voyage, and wood was for a very
long time the chief fuel for steaming purposes in America. How very
important this question was will be understood when it is known that
Mr. McGregor Laird, the founder of the Birkenhead firm, in 1834, laid
before the Committee of the House of Commons on Steam Navigation to
India the following estimate of coal consumption:
Under 120 horse-power, 10-1/2 lbs. per horse-power.
160 „ 9-1/2 „ „
200 „ 8-1/2 „ „
240 „ 8 „ „
Or more than four times what is consumed to-day in moderately
economical ships. In other words, to steam at her present rate across
the Atlantic the City of New York, of 18,000 horse-power, would need
to start with something like 7,500 tons of coal on board were her
consumption per indicated horse-power equal to that of the best sea
practice of that date, which could hardly have been under 6 pounds per
indicated horse-power per hour.
This may be said to have been the status of affairs when, in 1836,
under the influence of Brunei’s bold genius, the Great Western
Steamship Company was founded as an off-shoot of the Great Western
Railway, whose terminus was then Bristol. Brunel wished to know why
the line should not extend itself to New York, and the result of his
suggestion was the formation of the steamship company and the laying
down at Bristol of their first ship, the Great Western.
Brunel’s large ideas were shown in this ship, though in comparatively
a less degree, as well as in his later ones. She was of unprecedented
size, determined on by Brunel as being necessary for the requisite
power and coal-carrying capacity. The following were her principal
dimensions: Length over all, 236 ft.; length between perpendiculars,
212 ft.; length of keel, 205 ft.; breadth, 35 ft. 4 in.; depth of hold,
23 ft. 2 in.; draught of water, 16 ft. 8 in.; length of engine-room, 72
ft.; tonnage by measurement, 1,340 tons; displacement at load-draught,
2,300 tons.
[Illustration: The Great Western, from an old painting.]
Dimensions of engines: Diameter of cylinders, 73-1/2 in.; length of
stroke, 7 ft.; weight of engines, wheels, etc., 310 tons; number of
boilers, 4; weight of boilers, 90 tons; weight of water in boilers, 80
tons; diameter of wheel, 28 ft. 9 in.; width of floats, 10 ft.
Her engines (side-lever) were built by the great firm of Maudslay &
Field, who had been for some time one of the most notable marine-engine
building firms of the period in Great Britain. They had, up to 1836,
built 66 engines for steamers; the first being in 1815, when they built
those of the Richmond, of 17 horse-power. The indicated power of the
Great Western was 750; and a notable measure of the stride which steam
has taken in the half-century since they undertook this contract is
that they have since constructed twin-screw engines from which they
have guaranteed to produce 19,500 horse-power. These drive a great
armor-clad, which has six times the displacement of the Great Western
and twice her ordinary speed.
The Great Western was launched on July 19, 1837, and was towed from
Bristol to the Thames to receive her machinery, where she was the
wonder of London. She left for Bristol on March 31, 1838; and arrived,
after having had a serious fire on board, on April 2d.
In the meantime others had been struck with the possibility of steaming
to New York; and a company, of which the moving spirit was Mr. J.
Laird, of Birkenhead, purchased the Sirius, of 700 tons, employed
between London and Cork, and prepared her for a voyage to New York.
The completion of the Great Western was consequently hastened; and she
left Bristol on Sunday, April 8, 1838, at 10 A.M. with 7 passengers
on board, and reached New York on Monday, the 23d, the afternoon of
the same day with the Sirius, which had left Cork Harbor (where she
had touched en route from London) four days before the Great Western
had left Bristol. The latter still had nearly 200 tons of coal, of the
total of 800, on board on arrival; the Sirius had consumed her whole
supply, and was barely able to make harbor.
[Illustration: Cross-section of the Great Western.]
It is needless to speak of the reception of these two ships at New
York. It was an event which stirred the whole country, and with
reason; it had practically, at one stroke, reduced the breadth of the
Atlantic by half, and brought the Old and New World by so much the
nearer together. The Great Western started on her return voyage, May
7th, with 66 passengers. This was made in 14 days, though one was lost
by a stoppage at sea. Her average daily run out was 202 miles, or about
8-1/2 knots per hour; in returning she made an average of close upon
9. Her coal consumption to New York was 655 tons, though in returning
it was 392 tons—due no doubt to the aid from the westerly winds which
generally prevail in the North Atlantic in the higher latitudes. She
made in all, between 1838 and 1843, 64 voyages across the Atlantic, her
average time from Bristol or Liverpool to New York, with an average
distance of 3,062-1/2 knots, being 15 days 12 hours, and from New York
eastward, over an average distance of 3,105 knots, 13 days 6 hours.
Her fastest westward passage was in 12 days 18 hours; her longest in
22 days 6 hours. Her fastest eastward was in 12 days 7-1/2 hours; and
longest, in 15 days. The largest number of passengers carried was 152,
and she averaged throughout 85. In 1847 she was sold to the West India
Steam Packet Company, and in 1857, about the time that Mr. Brunel was
launching his last and greatest ship, she was broken up at Vauxhall;
and her final province no doubt was to feed the drawing-room fires of
the West End of London, a fate to which many a worn-out wayfarer of the
seas is yearly devoted.
[Illustration: The Great Britain.]
Steam communication between England and America had thus been
demonstrated as possible beyond a doubt, and others were not slow to
make the venture. The Great Western Company themselves determined to
lay down a second ship; and it having been quickly seen that the mails
must be henceforth carried by steam, a gentleman from Halifax, Nova
Scotia, appeared upon the scene, who was destined to connect his name
indelibly with the history of steam upon the Atlantic. This was Mr.
Samuel Cunard, who had nursed the idea of such a steam line for some
years, and who now, with Mr. George Burns, of Glasgow, and Mr. David
McIver, of Liverpool, founded the great company known by Mr. Cunard’s
name. The establishment of this line and the building of the Great
Britain by the Great Western Company are two most notable events in
steam navigation the one putting the steam traffic between the two
countries on a firm and secure basis; the other marking a notable step
in the revolution in construction and means of applying the propelling
power, destined before many years to be completely accepted to the
exclusion of the wooden hull and the paddle-wheel. It is not fair
to speak of the use of iron in the Great Britain for the hull, in a
general way, as the beginning of the change; she was only the first
large ship to be built of this material. The credit of the introduction
of iron is largely to be awarded to Mr. John Laird, of Birkenhead, who
in 1829 built a lighter 60 feet long, 13 feet 4 inches in breadth,
and 6 feet depth of hold; and in 1833, a paddle-wheel steamer, the
Lady Lansdowne, of 148 tons, 133 feet long, 17 feet broad and 9 feet
6 inches deep. “In the following year Mr. Laird constructed a second
paddle-steamer, for G. B. Lamar, Esq., of Savannah, United States,
called the John Randolph. This was the first iron vessel ever seen in
American waters. She was shipped in pieces at Liverpool, and riveted
together in the Savannah River, where for several years afterward she
was used as a tug-boat.” Though Mr. Laird was the ablest upholder of
iron as a material for ship-building, and was the largest builder in
it, the idea existed before him—Richard Trevithick and Robert Stevenson
so early as 1809 proposing iron vessels, “and even suggested ‘masts,
yards, and spars to be constructed in plates, with telescope-joints
or screwed together; and in 1815 Mr. Dickenson patented an invention
for vessels, or rather boats, to be built of iron, with a hollow
water-tight gunwale” (Lindsay, vol. iv., p. 85). But nothing came of
these proposals, and the first iron vessel mentioned was built in
1818 by Thomas Wilson, near Glasgow—the first steam vessel being the
Aaron Manby, “constructed in 1821 at Horsley” (Lindsay). “Up to 1834,
Mr. Laird had constructed six iron vessels altogether;” the largest
of these was the Garryowen, of 300 tons, for the City of Dublin Steam
Packet Company. Others of considerable size by the same builder
followed, and the material began to come into use elsewhere. In 1837
the Rainbow, of 600 tons, by far the largest iron steamer which had
yet been built, was laid down at Birkenhead. It will thus be seen how
bold was the step taken by Mr. Brunel when, in 1838, he advised the
Great Western Company to use iron as the material for their new ship,
which was to be of the startling size of 3,443 tons displacement. Nor
were his innovations to stop with size and material. On his earnest
recommendation to the company it was decided, in 1839, to change from
the first design of the usual paddle-wheels to a screw.
[Illustration: Ericsson’s First Arrangement of Underwater Propeller
(Oct. 10, 1834).
Ericsson’s Propeller (July 13, 1836).
Smith’s Amended Specification (May 18, 1839).
Smith’s Specification (May 31, 1836).
Cammerow’s Specification (Dec. 10, 1828).
Specifications of Early Patents taken out in England.]
Three years before (in 1836), a Swede, whose name was destined to
become much more famous in our own land, had successfully shown the
practicability of screw propulsion, in the Francis B. Ogden, on the
Thames. “She was 45 feet long and 8 feet wide, drawing 2 feet 3 inches
of water. In this vessel he fitted his engine and two propellers, each
of 5 feet 3 inches diameter” (Lindsay). She made ten miles an hour, and
showed her capabilities by towing a large packetship at good speed.
There was no question of the success of this little vessel, which was
witnessed on one occasion by several of the lords of the admiralty.
Notwithstanding her unqualified success, Ericsson had no support in
England. It happened, however, that Commodore Stockton, of our navy,
was then in London; and witnessing a trial of the Ogden, ordered two
small boats of him. One, the Robert F. Stockton, was built, in 1838,
of iron, by Laird—63 feet 5 inches in length, 10 feet in breadth, and
7 feet in depth. She was taken—April, 1839—under sail, to the United
States by a crew of a master and four men. This little vessel was
the forerunner of the famous Princeton, built after the designs of
Ericsson, who had been induced by Commodore Stockton to come to America
as offering a more kindly field for his talents.
In the same year with Ericsson’s trial of the Ogden, Mr. Thomas Pettit
Smith took out a patent for a screw; and it was by the company formed
by Smith that the screw propeller was first tried on a large scale, in
the Archimedes, of 237 tons, in 1839. Of course the names mentioned by
no means exhaust the list of claimants to this great invention. Nor can
it be said to have been invented by either of these two, but they were
the first to score decisive successes and convince the world of its
practicability.
In 1770, Watt wrote to Dr. Smalls (who, a Scot, was at one time a
professor at William and Mary College, in Virginia, but returned to
England in 1785) regarding the latter’s experiments in relation to
canal navigation, asking him, “Have you ever considered a spiral oar
for that purpose, or are you for two wheels?” In the letter is the
sketch, a fac-simile of which is here shown:
[Illustration: Sketch of spiral oar]
Dr. Smalls answers that, “I have tried models of spiral oars, and
have found them all inferior to oars of either of the other forms”
(Muirhead’s “Life of Watt,” p. 203).
Joseph Bramah, in 1785, took out a patent for propelling vessels
by steam, wherein, after describing the method figured in his
specification of using a wheel at the stern of a vessel, in which he
places the rudder at the bow, he proceeds as follows:
“Instead of this wheel A may be introduced a wheel with inclined
fans, or wings, similar to the fly of a smoke-jack, or the vertical
sails of a wind-mill. This wheel, or fly, may be fixed on the spindle
C alone, and may be wholly under water, when it would, by being
turned round either way, cause the ship to be forced backward or
forward, as the inclination of the fans, or wings, will act as oars
with equal force both ways; and their power will be in proportion
to the size and velocity of the wheel, allowing the fans to have a
proper inclination. The steam-engine will also serve to clear the
ship of water with singular expedition, which is a circumstance of
much consequence.”
Bramah thus very clearly describes the screw, and in so doing must
unquestionably be numbered as one of the many fathers of this system of
propulsion. Fitch, as before stated, is recorded, on most trustworthy
evidence, to have been another: and Mr. Stevens, of Hoboken, not only
carried out successful experiments with the screw in 1804, at New York,
but even experimented with twin screws. Charles Cummerow, “in the
City of London, merchant,” patented, in 1828, “certain improvements
in propelling vessels, communicated to me by a certain foreigner
residing abroad,” in which the screw is set forth in a manner not to
be questioned. Who the “certain foreigner” was, who communicated the
invention to Mr. Cummerow, has not come down to us.
It had, however, like the steamboat as a whole, to wait for a certain
preparedness in the human intellect. Invention knocked hard, and
sometimes often, in the early years of the century, before the doors
of the mind were opened to receive it; and too frequently then the
reception was but a surly one, and attention deferred from visitor to
visitor until one came, as did Fulton, or Ericsson, who would not be
denied.
The transfer of Ericsson to America left an open field for Mr. Pettit
Smith, and the experiments carried out by the Screw Propeller Company
had the effect of permanently directing the attention in Great
Britain of those interested in such subjects. The screw used in the
Archimedes “consisted of two half-threads, of an 8 feet pitch, 5 feet
9 inches in diameter. Each was 4 feet in length, and they were placed
diametrically opposite each other at an angle of about 45 degrees on
the propeller-shaft” (Lindsay). She was tried in 1839, and in 1840 Mr.
Brunel spent some time in investigating her performance. His mind,
bold and original in all its own conceptions, was quick to appreciate
the new method; and, although the engines of the Great Britain were
already begun, designed for paddle-wheels, he brought the directors of
the company, who had undertaken the building of their own machinery, to
consent to a change. The following details of the ship are taken from
the “Life of Brunel:” Total length, 322 ft.; length of keel, 289 ft.;
beam, 51 ft.; depth, 32 ft. 6 in.; draught of water, 16 ft.; tonnage
measurement, 3,443 tons; displacement, 2,984 tons; number of cylinders,
4; diameter of cylinder, 88 in.; length of stroke, 6 ft.; weight of
engines, 340 tons; weight of boilers, 200 tons; weight of water in
boilers, 200 tons; weight of screw-shaft, 38 tons; diameter of screw,
15 ft. 6 in.; pitch of screw, 25 ft.; weight of screw, 4 tons; diameter
of main drum, 18 ft.; diameter of screw-shaft drum, 6 ft.; weight of
coal, 1,200 tons.
“In the construction of the Great Britain, the same care which had been
spent in securing longitudinal strength in the wooden hull of the Great
Western was now given to the suitable distribution of the metal.”
A balanced rudder and bilge keels were parts of her original
construction, and an unusual method of lapping the plates was used.
“Apart from their size, the design of the engines of the Great Britain
necessarily presented many peculiarities. The boilers, which were 6 in
number, were placed touching each other, so as to form one large boiler
about 33 feet square, divided by one transverse and two longitudinal
partitions.
“It would seem that the boiler was worked with a pressure of about 8
pounds on the square inch.
“The main shaft of the engine had a crank at either end of it, and was
made hollow; a stream of water being kept running through it, so as to
prevent heating in the bearings. An important part in the design was
the method by which motion was transmitted from the engine-shaft to the
screw-shaft, for the screw was arranged to go three revolutions to each
revolution of the engines. Where the engines do not drive the screw
directly, this is now universally effected by means of toothed gearing;
but when the engines of the Great Britain were made, it was thought
that this arrangement would be too jarring and noisy. After much
consideration, chains were used, working round different-sized drums,
with notches in them, into which fitted projections on the chains.”
On July 10, 1843, this (for the time) great ship was floated out of
dock; but it was not until January 23, 1845, that she left Bristol for
London, making on her voyage an average of 12-1/3 knots an hour. She
left Liverpool for New York on August 26th, and arrived on September
10th, having made the passage out in 14 days and 21 hours; she returned
in 15-1/2 days. During the next winter, after one more voyage to New
York, alterations were made, to give a better supply of steam, and a
new screw was fitted. She made two voyages to New York in 1846; and on
September 22d she left Liverpool on a third, but overran her reckoning
and stranded in Dundrum Bay, on the northeast coast of Ireland, when it
was supposed she was only rounding the Isle of Man. This unfortunate
event completed the ruin of the company, already in financial straits
through the competition of the Cunard line; and the ship after her
rescue, effected August 27, 1847, almost a year after grounding, was
“sold to Messrs. Gibbs, Bright & Co., of Liverpool, by whom she was
repaired and fitted with auxiliary engines of 500 nominal horse-power.
On a general survey being made it was found that she had not suffered
any alteration of form, nor was she at all strained. She was taken out
of dock in October, 1851, and since that time she has made regular
voyages between Liverpool and Australia.”
These last few lines appear in the “Life of Brunel,” published in
1870. But she was later changed into a sailing-ship, and only in 1886
stranded again at the Falkland Islands. She was floated; but being
badly injured, was sold to serve as a hulk, and there no doubt will be
passed the last days of what may be regarded one of the famous ships of
the world. She was, for the time, as bold a conception as was her great
designer’s later venture, the Great Eastern.