The SS Great Eastern - Brunel's Great Ship

Plans and Cross-Sections of Brunel's Steamship the Great Eastern
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The last and largest of Brunel's Great Ships, the tragic story of the Great Eastern is also the best known.

After his SS Great Western and SS Great Britain, Brunel pushed the frontiers of engineering even further. Designed to carry 4,000 passengers, the SS Great Eastern would eventually displace 32,000 tons and measure 682 feet long.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Beside the "Great Eastern," circa 1857
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The Great Eastern, originally called the Leviathon, was built to be the largest ship of its time, able to sail from Britain to Australia and back without refuelling. To propel the vast ship required a huge engines, capable of generating 8000 horsepower.

Uniquely she had both paddlewheels and screw propellors, making her not only fast (around fourteen knots) but extremely manouverable, and in addition boasted a full set of sails.

With a top speed of between 14 and 15 knots, she was one of the fastest ships of her day. Double watertight hulls completed the design, making her virtually unsinkable.

The Great Eastern under Way, July 23rd, 1865, from "The Atlantic Telegraph" - Buy This Allposters.com

With the design complete, work began and almost immediately ran into practical problems. The ship was simply too big for the technology of the time. Even at her launch she jammed on the slipway and hydralic rams had to be employed to move her into the river.

It was later realised it was as well this happened, as the wave from her impact could well have swept away the spectators.

She was finally launched in 1858, but not ready for sea trials until September 1859.

The commonly shown shot of Brunel standing in front of the anchor chains, each link as big as his head, does little to impress upon modern audiences the sheer size of the Great Eastern, particularly compared to the other vessels of her time. However this shot may help.

The side of the Great Eastern is shown with the naval frigate HMS Agamemnon. Consider the size of the Great Eastern's paddle wheel compared to the military vessel.

The Old Frigate Hms Agamemnon with Her Weight of Cable Alongside the Ss Great Eastern
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The Steamship of Brunel and Scott Russell in Full Steam
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Originally named "Leviathon" (and christened that due to a mistake at her naming) the SS Great Eastern was designed to be larger than any ship previously; to sail to Australia and back without refuelling carrying four thousand passengers.

With both paddlewheels and propellors she was fast and manoverable as well as large. Watertight bulkheads were designed to make her unsinkable.

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When she sailed in 1859, she was all of these things. She was also too far ahead of her time. People were not travelling frequently enough to pay for her ongoing upkeep, and the American Civil War killed US traffic.

She bankrupted a series of owners and was unable to draw enough passengers to cover her massive running costs.

Technical issues such as a boiler explosion on an early voyage did not help, and just as she began to turn a profit the captain struck an undersea rock, doing massive damage to the hull and incurring huge repair costs. Rumours began to surface that the ship was cursed.

Splicing the Cable after the First Accident
on Board the Great Eastern, July 25th, 1865
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She came to the attention of Sir Daniel Gooch, one of Brunel's friends and colleagues, and now head of a telegraph company. He persuaded the company to acquire the Great Eastern and refit it to lay the transatlantic cable. This was not purely sentiment: smaller ships could only take sections of cable and were vulnerable to cable breaks which meant dredging for the cable or relaying the whole length.

The Great Eastern was duly refitted and used to lay the first transatlantic cable across the Atlantic, the only ship large enough for the task. She was then used for the next several years to lay a series of other long distance cables. However this brief respite came to an end once the cables were in place.

The Great Eastern, 1857
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With the transatlantic cable laid and specialist vessels taking over that role, the owners needed to find a new role for the Great Ship. The SS Great Eastern was for a time used as a floating exhibition, a passenger liner and other roles, and failed to turn a profit in any of them.

All attempts to find a purpose for Brunel's masterpiece failed and in 1889 she was sold for scrap, ironically the only time she was sold for a profit during her existence. A sad end for Brunel's magnum opus and one of the greatest ships of its time.

She was so large, and of such sturdy construction, that it took two years to completely dismantle her. It was said that when she was taken apart two skeletons were found trapped between the hulls - riveters who had been sealed in during the ship's construction. However this is unlikely due to the inspection hatches in the inner hull, and has been said of other ships.

The shortest lived of Brunel's Great Ships, the Great Eastern was in service for scarcely thirty years (1860 to 1889), but Brunel did not live to see the tragic end of his great ship. During her first voyage, already in declining health, he had suffered a stroke and died aged 53. Many blame the stress of building the Great Ship for his early death; his struggles throughout with publicity, finances and the huge technical challenge of the vessel.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge, finished posthumously, is Brunel's official memorial. Perhaps that first Trans-Atlantic cable, which could only be laid by his huge, beloved, ship and which changed the face of the world's communications forever, is a less visible but equally fitting tribute.

The Great Eastern Laying Cables - Buy at AllPosters.com

Great Eastern Guide by spfino
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1859 - Boiler exploded during her sea trials.

1861 - the passenger boats ran aground on the way to the ship

1861 September - caught in a gale the ship was severely damaged

1862 - The Great Rock Incident. The Great Eastern suffered a huge gash when it struck an undersea rock. The damage was not discovered until it entered port.

1863 - Caught in a gale, the paddlewheel was lost. She was purchased for telegraph wire laying.

1865-1872 - she laid undersea cables successfully, including the first transatlantic cable.

1888 Finally scrapped after all commercial attempts had failed.

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