Great Eastern is best remembered as the ship that
helped lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable.
The cable linking America with Europe was put in
place in September, 1866.
Designed
Isambard Kingdom Brunel,
Great Eastern was the largest ship at the
time of her 1858 launch,
six times larger than any ship ever built.
693 feet
long, the ship had five funnels, each 100 feet high
and 6 feet in diameter. The two paddle wheels were
58 feet in diameter, and the propeller 24 feet! She
had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers around
the world without refueling.
Great Eastern would only be surpassed in length in
1899 by the
SS Oceanic II and in tonnage in 1901 by
the
SS Celtic II. Brunel called her
affectionately as the "great babe."
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