1864. | SamvELSON on Steam Navigation. 241 
carry a very large quantity of coal, and must be provided with great 
engine power; she would therefore have to be constructed of such 
dimensions as would enable her to comply with these requirements ; 
hence they determined. to build a ship of wood, called the ‘ Great 
Western.’ 
She was built at Bristol in the year 1837, by Mr. William Patterson ; 
her principal dimensions being 212 feet by 35 feet beam and 84 feet 
deep. These dimensions were at that time considered gigantic, and 
the idea of being able to make a steamer of these proportions (that is 
to say, of so great a length in comparison with her breadth) to cross 
the Atlantic with safety was scouted by many scientific men as utterly 
impracticable ; one of the great objections raised being that such a 
ship must inevitably break her back when poised between two waves, 
the middle being unsupported. Dr. Lardner was the foremost amongst 
the scientific men of the day who proved most satisfactorily to “ him- 
self” that the ‘Great Western’ must be an utter failure, both from a 
scientific point of view and also as a mercantile speculation ; and yet 
Lardner has compiled many really useful works, and has manifested 
considerable intelligence on most subjects with which he has dealt. 
It certainly shows us how easily scientific theorists, arguing from 
assumed data and not from experiment, are led to make the most posi- 
tive assertions, which prove to be wide of the actual results; at the 
same time we must not forget that sound practice can only be acquired 
in conjunction with, or assisted by, sound theory; the latter should, 
however, always be deduced from careful experiment. 
In spite of the forebodings of Dr. Lardner and other wise pro- 
phets, the ‘Great Western’ was built and successfully launched, being 
at that time regarded as a greater wonder than is the unfortunate 
‘Great Eastern’ at this day. 
She was fitted with side lever-engines of 420 horse-power, manu- 
factured by Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, and Field, of London; the 
cylinders were 74 inches diameter, with a stroke of 7 feet ; the paddle- 
wheels were 28 feet diameter, the paddle-boards being 10 feet long, 
2 feet wide, and 20 in number. At length this wonder of steam-ships 
was ready for sea, and on the 8th April, 1857, she started on her first 
voyage across the Atlantic, with only 7 passengers on board. The 
run to New York was accomplished in 15 days 10 hours, which was 
certainly for that time a very remarkable performance; and towards 
the end of May she made her appearance in England with 66 passen- 
gers, having performed the voyage in 14 days; thereby falsifying the 
sage predictions of those worthy philosophers who had so confidentially 
prophesied her incapacity to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She continued 
to run with the greatest success, weathering the most tremendous gales, 
and proving herself to be what might well be called, even in these 
advanced days of steam navigation, a most satisfactory ship. As a 
specimen of sound shipbuilding, good engineering, and mercantile 
prosperity, she was an unexceptionable undertaking. She was econo- 
mical with her coal, burning from 36 to 42 tons per day, or about 4 to 
43lbs. per indicated horse-power per hour, a consumption of fuel quite 
as economical as that of the average of steamers at the present time, 
