Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/224

* GREAT EASTERN. 198 GREAT FALLS. GREAT EASTERN. At the time of her con- stiiution. ll»' largest ship in the world. It was not until lltOl, when the Vellic was completed, that her etiual in size was produccil. She was never a tiiiancial success, having heen built when the trade an<l conditions suitable to a ship of her size did not exisl. In 18.52 the Eastern Steam Navigation Company was formed, to maintain an ocean steam route to the East round the Cape of Good Hope. In 1853 the directors came to a conclusion tluit, owing to the cost of maintaining coaling stations on the way, such a route would not pay unless the ship could carry coal enough for the voyage out and home, besides a large number of passengers and a great cargo. The scheme was for a ship that would accommodate 1000 passengers, 5000 tons of merchandise, and 15,000 tons of coal for fuel. The result was the construction of the Great Eastern. Her arrange- ments (setting aside later alterations) were brief- ly as follows: Length, GSO feet between perpen- liiculars, or 692 feet upper deck ; breadth, 83 feet, or 118 over paddle-boxes; height of hull, GO feet, or 70 to top of bulwarks. The propelling power comprised both paddle and screw. The paddle engines had 4 boilers, each with 400 brass flue- tubes; there were 4 engines, with cylinders of 14-foet stroke and 74 inches diameter; the paddle- wheels were 56 feet diameter by 13 deep, with 30 arms or radii. The screw engines had 6 boilers; the 4 engines had cylinders, each 4 feet stroke by 84 inches diameter, with piston-rods 7V> inches thick; the propeller-shaft w-as 160 feet long, and in some parts 24 inches in diame- ter, with a screw propeller 24 feet in diameter. The vast wall-sided compartments of the ship had facilities for conversion into cabins for 800 saloon passengers, 2000 second class, 1200 third class, and 400 officers and crew; or 5000 might and the voyage abruptly came to an end at Wey- mouth. The ship started again on .June 17, 1860, from Southampton, and crossed the Atlantic in eleven days, reacliing New York on the 28th. Continuing on this route during the remainder of 1860 and the greater part of 1861, she made numy voyages to and fro, continually losing money for the owners and constantly requiring repairs. In December, when political relations with the United States looked ominous, the Oreat Eastern served as a troop-ship. In 1864 negoti.i.lions were entered into with the Atlantic Telegraph Company and the Tele- graph Construction and JIaintenanee Company for the employment of the Great Eastern as a cable-laying ship, and the arrangement and ser- vices of the ship in 1865 and 1866 will be found brielly noticed under Atlantic Telegraph. In 1867 the vessel was reconverted from a cable- laying to a pas.sengcr ship, in order to provide for the travel to the Paris Exposition, and extensive renewals of machinery were made. The ship started from Liverpool for New York in May; but the speculation proved an utter failure. In 1868 a new arrangement was made by which the ship was to be permanently chartered by the Telegraph Construction and ilaintenance Com- pany. The name, which had been changed from Leviathan to Great Eastern, and then to Great l^hip, was again changed to Great Eastern. Be- tween 1860 and 1874 the Great Eastern success- fully laid some of the most important telegraphic cables — across the Atlantic, in the Jlediterranean, in the Red Sea, etc.; in 1884, became a coal hulk in the harbor of Gibraltar; in 1887 was sold, to be broken up. for $82,500. The following table gives a comparative state- ment as to the more recently built steamships, showing the proportionate developments: NAME OF eeiP When completed T.enf::tll be- tween perpen- diculars, feet Lenjjth over all, feet Beam, feet Depth, feet Gross tons 1869 1893 1898 1899 1901 1902 Bldg. (1903) 680 600 626 685 mi. 622. 648.6 704. 698.7 706.5 630. 83. 05.25 66. 68.4 75.4 72. 73.5 48.2 41.5 43. 49. 49. 62.5 .55.7 18,915 12.500 14.349 17,274 Celtic 20,880 Kaiser Wilhclm II 19,500 Two vessels building at New London, Conn., for the tran.i-Paeiflc service of 21.000 have been accommodated in all, if emigrants (u- troops. Twenty years of the ship's history presented a singular series of vicissitudes. During 1854-57 its building proceeded at Millwall. By Novem- ber of the latter year the ship had advanced to the launching condition. Either the ship was too heavy (12,000 tons) or the slope was too gradual, for it required various attempts, be- tween November 3. 1857. and .Tanuary 31. 1858, and an expenditure of £60.000, to effect the launching. During 1858 and 1850 the work con- tinued as fast as the company could supply money. Uncertain how far the original intention nf a trade to and from Australia could be re- alized, the directors determined on a trial trip across the Atlantic. It was a disaster. The ship left the Thames September 8. 1850. An ex- plosion of steam-pipes took place off Hastings; seven persons were killed and several wounded, GREAT ELECTOR, The (Der grosse Knr- fiirst). A name given to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenbuig (1640-88). wlio, because of his wisdom and labors in behalf of bis people, is looked upon as the founder of Prussia's pres- ent greatness. GREAT EXPECTATIONS. A novel by Charles Dickens, originallv issued in .ill the Year Round (1860 to 1801)'. published 1861. The story opens w'ith the kindness shown by a child. Pip. to an escaped and starving convict, who, when his little benefactor has grown to early manhood, pensions him anonymously. The climax of the tale is the disillusion of Pip when the con- vict, whose hard-earned wealth he has accepted, is finally recaptured and dies in prison, and the great expectations vanish. GREAT FALLS. A city and the county-seat of Cascade Cmmty. ilont., 1)8 miles northeast of