SS Great Eastern

“ The Terrible kept about two miles away, regarding our operations with a melancholy interest. At 11·30 a.m., ship’s time, the Great Eastern signalled “We are going to make a final effort,” and soon afterwards, “We are sorry you have had such uncomfortable waiting.” At 1·56 p.m., Greenwich time, when buoy No. 2 was bearing E. by N. about two miles, the ship’s head being W. and by S., the grapnel was let go, and soon reached the bottom, as the improvements in the machinery and capstan enabled the men to pay it out at the rate of fifty fathoms a minute. ”

“ With what force must these wooden paddles strike the waves which are now gently breaking over them! what a boiling of water when this powerful engine strikes it blow after blow! what a thundering noise engulfed in this paddle-box cavern! when the "Great Eastern" goes at full speed, under the pressure of wheels measuring fifty-three feet in diameter and 166 in circumference, weighing ninety tons, and making eleven revolutions a minute. ”

“ After several queer movements, twisting myself like an analide, I reached the upper deck, where I buttressed myself, after the doctor's fashion. "We are in for it!" cried he to me; "this will last. Heighho! this Great Eastern! Just at the moment of arrival, a cyclone, a veritable cyclone is commanded on purpose for her." ”

“ And now, when I am sitting at my own table, if I had not my daily notes before me, I should think that the Great Eastern, that floating city in which I lived for a month, the meeting of Ellen and Fabian, the peerless Niagara, all these were the visions of a dream. Ah! how delightful is traveling, "even when one does return," in spite of what the Doctor may say to the contrary. ”

“ Now, how curiously our ideas expand by watching these conditions of the attraction of cohesion!—how many new phenomena it gives us beyond those of the attraction of gravitation! See how it gives us great strength. The things we deal with in building up the structures on the earth are of strength (we use iron, stone, and other things of great strength) ; and only think that all those structures you have about you—think of the “Great Eastern,” if you please, which is of such size and power as to be almost more than man can manage—are the result of this power of cohesion and attraction. ”

“ These people evidently regarded the Great Eastern as one of the wonders of the world. "The largest vessel ever seen in Bombay," said an enthusiastic Parsee, "used to be the Bates Family, of Liverpool, and now there she lies alongside of us looking like a mere jolly-boat."
While Sam and his friends were thus standing absorbed by the contemplation of the curious sights and sounds around them, one of the engineer staff, who had served on board during the laying of the 1866 Atlantic cable, chanced to pass, and, recognising Robin as an old friend, grasped and shook his hand warmly. ”

“ Men's spirits may be stunned and crushed, but they are seldom utterly overwhelmed so long as life endures.
Recovering from the shock, Mr. Canning set about the process of grappling for the lost cable with persistent energy. But fishing in water two and a half miles deep is no easy matter. Nevertheless, it was done. Again and again, and over again, were two monster hooks in the shape of grapnels let down to the bottom of the sea, with an iron rope for a line, and the Great Eastern for a float! ”

“ That man who can appreciate the feelings of one who has become suddenly bankrupt may understand the mental condition of those on board the Great Eastern when they were thus tossed from the pinnacle of joyous hope to the depths of dark despair. It was not, however, absolute despair. The cable was utterly useless indeed—insensate—but it was not broken. ”

“ Through the danger zone was a narrow channel, guarded by patrol boats and destroyers. The British Admiralty had obtained information of this opening and had used the knowledge to good advantage, when, early in the war, British submarines had paralysed Germany's trade with Sweden and the harbours of Stralsund, Danzig, and Memel were chock-a-block with merchantmen afraid to venture across the comparatively narrow stretch of water to obtain badly-wanted cargoes of Swedish iron-ore and foodstuffs. ”

“ The tendency of one flake or coil of cable to stick to the coil immediately below, and produce a wild irremediable entanglement before the ship could be stopped, was another danger, but these and all other mishaps of a serious nature were escaped, and the unusually prosperous voyage was brought to a close on the 27th of February, when the Great Eastern reached Aden in a gale of wind—as if to remind the cable-layers of what might have been—and the cable was cut and buoyed in forty fathoms water. ”

“ It is unreasonable beliefs that people usually hold with greatest tenacity," replied Sam; with a touch of sarcasm. "But tell me, have he and Stumps never once quarrelled since leaving England?"
"Never."
"I 'm amazed—they are so unlike in every way."
"You would not be surprised if you knew them as I do," returned Robin. "Ever since Slagg gave him that thrashing on board the Great Eastern in 1865, Stumps has been a changed man. It saved him from himself, and he has taken such a liking to Slagg that nothing will part them. ”

“ A group of convalescent passengers stood on the upper-deck, at the bows, looking at this waif which was floating three hundred miles from the nearest land.
Meanwhile the "Great Eastern" was bearing towards the object signalled; all opera-glasses were promptly raised, and there was no lack of conjecture. Between the Americans, and English, to whom every pretext for a wager is welcome, betting at once commenced. Among the most desperate of the betters I noticed a tall man, whose countenance struck me as one of profound duplicity. ”

“ While the much-advertised blockade of Great Britain was petering out, British submarines were playing havoc with German shipping in the Baltic—a sea which the Teutons regarded as being almost their very own. Yet what a difference marked the methods adopted by the humane commanders of our submarines when dealing with German mercantile shipping. A punctilious regard for the safety of the crews of overhauled merchantmen won admiration even from the seamen of the destroyed vessels. ”

“ Having received the "consideration" which he had anticipated, and had afterwards given up as lost, the waiter retired, and Sam, with his friends, went to inquire after the great cable with which they now felt themselves to be specially connected.
"Letta," said Eobin, as they went along, "you and I must part for a time."
"Oh! must we?" asked the child, with a distressed look.
"Yes, but only for a very short time, dear," returned Robin. "You know we cannot get you a berth on board the Great Eastern. They won't even take you as chief engineer or captain!" ”

“ If the Great Eastern is not merely a nautical engine, but rather a microcosm, and carries a small world with it, an observer will not be astonished to meet here, as on a larger theater, all the instincts, follies, and passions of human nature. ”

“ Scarcely had the Great Eastern tacked and presented her stern to the waves, than the pitching gave way to perfect steadiness; breakfast was served, and the greater part of the passengers, reassured by the ship's stillness, came into the dining-rooms, and took their repast without fear of another shock. ”

“ The commotion in the testing-room spread instantly to every part of the ship; the whole staff of electricians was at once roused, and soon afterwards the engines of the Great Eastern were slowed and stopped, while, with bated breath and anxious looks, men whispered to each other that there was "a fault in the cable." ”

“ Everything went well so long as we were protected by the Irish coast from the billows of the open sea; no rolling, no sea-sickness; the next day, even, the same stability; the passengers were delighted. On the 12th, however, the wind freshened towards morning; the "Great Eastern,' heading the waves, rolled considerably; the passengers, men and women, disappeared into the cabins. At four o'clock the wind blew a hurricane; the furniture began to dance; a mirror in the saloon was broken by a blow from the head of your humble servant ”

“ The engines of the "Great Eastern" are justly considered as masterpieces—I was going to say of clockwork, for there is nothing more astonishing than to see this enormous machine working with the precision and ease of a clock, a singular contrast to the screw, which works rapidly and furiously, as though getting itself into a rage. ”

“ But all this we must leave, and carry the reader back to old England faster than the Great Eastern could have rushed—ay, faster than the message on the flashing cable itself could have sped, for mind is more subtle than matter, and thought is swifter than even the Atlantic Telegraph. ”

“ Only think, this may be the 'Great Eastern's' last voyage; the one which she will never complete."
The bell for departure had rung, when one of the waiters from Fifth Avenue Hotel came running up to me, and put a telegram into my hands, dated from Niagara Falls:—"Ellen has awakened; her reason has entirely returned to her," said Captain Corsican, "and the doctor has every hope of her recovery."
I communicated this good news to Dean Pitferge.
"Every hope for her indeed! every hope!" said my fellow-traveller, in a sarcastic tone. "I also have every hope for her, but what good does that do? ”

“ The German submarine campaign may be dated from February 18, 1915, when Germany, citing as a precedent Great Britain's establishment of a military area in the North Sea, proclaimed a war zone "in the waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole English Channel," within which enemy merchant vessels would be sunk without assurance of safety to passengers or crew. Furthermore, as a means of keeping neutrals out of British waters, Germany declared she would assume no responsibility for destruction of neutral ships within this zone. ”

“ Our dear cousins on the other side of the Channel must have been rather disquieted by the loss of so much shipping at the hands of our boats or of our mines; and they must have realized that a new method of warfare had begun, for their fleet no longer paraded [46] in the North Sea or in any of the waters in the war zone. Their great, valuable ships were withdrawn, and the patrol of their coast was confided only to smaller craft and to the mine-layers, in order that their people might supposedly sleep in peace. ”

“ During the remainder of the day officers, sailors, and passengers continued to rest in accordance with established custom. Not a piano sounded in the silent saloons; the chess-men did not leave their box, or the cards their case; the billiard-room was deserted. I had an opportunity this day to introduce Dean Pitferge to Captain Corsican. My original very much amused the Captain by telling him the stories whispered about the "Great Eastern." He attempted to prove to him that it was a bewitched ship, to which fatal misfortune must happen. ”

“ It must be confessed the Doctor's words were not very comforting, the passengers would not have heard them without shuddering. Was he joking, or did he speak seriously? Was it, indeed true, that he went with the "Great Eastern" in all her voyages, to be present at some catastrophe? Everything is possible for an eccentric, especially when he is English.
However, the "Great Eastern" continued her course, tossing like a canoe, and keeping strictly to the loxodromic line of steamers. It is well known, that on a flat surface, the nearest way from one point to another is by a straight line. ”

“ The greatest of all German shipping centers, and, before the outbreak of the European war, one of the greatest seaports in the whole world.
Even on the third day of June, 1916, when the German warship on which Jack, Frank and Harris were prisoners steamed into Bremen the port was alive with activity. Great German merchant ships, useless since the war began, appeared deserted, but other and smaller craft dashed hurriedly hither and yon.
"Why all the excitement?" was Frank's comment, as the three stood well forward while the warship steamed through the harbor. ”

“ American and British shipyards were turning out anti-submarine craft with great rapidity; the industries of America, with their enormous output of steel, had been enlisted in the anti-submarine campaign. The American and British shipbuilding facilities were neutralizing the German campaign in two ways: they were not only constructing war vessels on a scale which would soon drive all the German submarines from the sea, but they were building merchant tonnage so rapidly that, in March, 1918, more new tonnage was launched than was being destroyed. ”

“ The Germans put their wits to work with hellish cunning. They wanted to surround Great Britain with a sea of death so full of mines and submarines that no ship could live. The mines were not placed at random, but where they would either kill their victims best or make them try another way where the lurking submarines could kill them. The sea-roads into great ports like London and Liverpool converge, just as railway tracks converge toward some great central junction. ”

“ If the wreck has only half the displacement of the lighters, the cables can be passed over rollers on the inner edges of the pontoons, the weight of the raising vessel being counteracted by water let into compartments in the outer side of the pontoons.
There are ten great salvage companies in the British Isles and Europe. The best equipped of these is the Neptune Company, of Stockholm, which has raised 1,500 vessels, worth over £5,000,000 sterling even in their damaged condition, among them the ill-fated submarine "A1." ”