"THE GREAT EASTERN."

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 404, 17 September 1856, Page 2

"THE GREAT EASTERN."

The new number of the "Quarterly" (in every respect a most excellent one) has an admirable paper, " The Triton and the Minnows," in which are most graphically rendered the dimensions of " The Great Eastern," as she is sometimes called ; that is, the wonderous ship now building in Scott Russell's dockyard, opposite. Woolwich. We {New Zealander) quote a few passages, referring to the paper -in extenso.

As you traverse her mighty deck, flush from stem to stern, the great compartments made by the transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, or parti-walls of iron, appear in the shape of a series of parallelograms, sixty feet in length-bv thirty-six in width; numerous doors in the walls of these yawning openings at once reveal that it is here that the hotels of the steam-ship will be located. If we were to take the row of houses belonging to Mivart's and drop them down one gulf, take Farranee's and drop it down the second, take Morley's at Charingcross and fit it into a third, and adjust the Great Western hotel at Paddington and the Great Northen at King's cross into apertures four and five, we should get some faint idea of the nature of the accommodation 'The Great Eastern 5 will afford. We speak of dropping hotels down these holes, because the separate compartments, will be asdistinet from each other as so many different houses: each will have its splendid saloons in upper and lower,-.of. sixty feet, in length ; its bedrooms or cabins, its; kitchen aud its bar; and the passengers will no more be able to walk from the one side to the other than the inhabitants of one house in Westfjourae-terraee could communicate through, the parti. T walls with their, next door neighbours. The only process by which visiting can be carried on will be by means of the upper deck or main thoroughfare of the ship. Nor are we using figures of speech when we compare the space which is contained in the new ship to the united accommodation afforded by several of the largest hotels in London. She is destined to carry 800 first-class, 2,000 second-class, and 1,200 third-class passengers, independently of the ship's complement, making a total of 4,000 guests.... .Let us return, however, for a hw moments to the deck, in order to give the reader a clear idea of the magnitude of the structure under our feet. The exact dimensions 'over all' are 622 feet. There are few persons who will thoroughly comprehend the capacity [of these figures. Neither Grosvenor nor 'Belgrave-square could take the ' Great Eastern' ir ; Berk-eley-square woultl barely admit her in its long dimension, and when rigged, not at all, for her mizenboon would project some little way up Davies-street, whilst her bowsprit, if she had one, would hang a long way over the Marquis of Lansdowue's garden. L, short, she is the eighth of a mile in length, and her passengers will never be able to complain of being ' cooped up,' as four turns up and down her deck wilt afford a mile's walk, iler width is equally astonishing. From side to side of her hull she measures 83 feet, the width of Pall-mall; but across the paddle boxes he? breadth is 114 feet,—that is she could just steam up Portland-place scraping with her paddles the houses on either side. With the exception of the sky lights and openings for ventilating the lower saloons, her deck is flush fore and aft. However splendid this promenade might appear with respect to those of other ships, we question if it is at all too large for the moving town to whose use it is dedicated.

Room must be found for the holiday strolling of between three and four thousand persons whilst she is careering through the heated atmosphere of the tropics, and not merely for a few score of blue-nosed gentle?. meu,such as use the deck of the trans-Atlan-tic steamers for severe exercising ground. The manner in which this moving city rather than ship will be propelled with the speed of locomotive through the ocean is not the least noticeable of the arrangements connected with her. Mr. Brunei has, we think wisely, decided not to trust so precious a human freight and so vast an amount of valuable cargo to any single propelling power, but has supplied her with three— the screw, the paddle, and the sail. Her paddle-wheels, 56 feet in diameter, or considerably larger than the circus at Astley's, will be propelled by four engines, the cylinders of which are 6 feet 2 inches-in diameter, and the stroke 14 feet. The motive power of these will be generated by four boilers. Enormous as are these engines, having a nominal power of 1,000 horses, and standing nearly 50 feet high, they will be far inferior to those devoted to the screw. These, the largest -ever constructed for marine purposes, will be supplied with steam by six boilers working to a force of 1,600 horses—the real strength of the combined engines being equal to 3,000 horses.

..... Her great proportions will indeed almost deceive her passengers into the idea that they are sojourning iv some noble mansion. Let us imagine her saloons blazing at night with gas, which will be manufactured on board and supplied to every part of the ship ; let us picture to ourselves her magnificent sweep of deck filled with gay prorr.enaders, listening to the band as she sails over a summer's sea ; annoyed by no smoke, for, in consequence of the use of anthracite coal, none will be emitted from her five funnels ; and distressed by no motion, as, inconsequence of her length, she will stride with ease over the waves of the Pacific. We might also dwell for a moment upon the mighty larder of our Leviathan prepared for her flight of five and thirty days, without a stoppage, across the ocean desert with a whole town on board ; or we might draw a comparison between her and the Ark (which, by-the-bye, had not half her capacity,) as she receives on board her flocks and herds to furnish fresh meat for the passage. But we believe we have said enough to enable those who have not visited the rising edifice, to realise the vast extent of this latest experiment in ship-building. And as a contrast to this fair side of the medal, let us fancy her rushing through the night in full career—an arrow 27,000 tons in weight, propelled by a bow of 3,000 horse-power. Can we without a shudder contemplate the possibility, of a collision with such a resistless force ?. A line-of-battle ship with a thousand hands on board cleft intwo as swiftly as the apple by the. shaft of Tell. Every precaution will indeed be taken to avoid such a catastrophe. The electric light will be fixed: at the mast-head, so that in dark nights the ship will carry a moonlight atmosphere wherever she o-oes. In case of any fatal injury to herself, which could not well happen, boats have been provided capable of taking off her passengers, even if counted by thousands. Thus 3 she will have two screw steamers of 90 feet in length as paddle-box boats, and in addition to these she will carry a large number of new collapsing, or bellows boate, as the sailors call them. These curious structures, the invention of tlie Rev. E. L. Berthon, expand and shut like a Gibus hat or the hood of a carriage, occupying so little room that a half-a-dozen of them of a'large size can be stowed away in the same space as would be occupied by an ordinary jollyboat, and eeem to be as easily opened as a parasol or umbrella. t