The Coming of Steam and Steel : 303 



water line, but it was awkward or impossible for driving a screw pro- 

 peller and probably accounted for the long delay in adopting this 

 more effective method of propulsion. Around 1850 it occurred to 

 designers that the cylinders could be carried on a framework with the 

 piston and connecting rod operating downward and with a shaft 

 placed low in the hull to drive a propeller below the water Une. Grad- 

 ually this became the standard practice. 



The first steamer driven by a screw propeller to cross the Atlantic 

 was the Great Britain in 1845. She was designed and built by Brunei 

 who had already, as we have seen, built the Great Western, and who 

 made himself the pioneer and champion of large steamers. Her rated 

 tonnage was 3,500. She was 322 feet long with a beam of 51 feet and a 

 depth of 31 feet. She was also unusual in that she was built of iron. 

 She was the largest steamer afloat and in 1846, carrying many impor- 

 tant passengers, had the misfortune to run aground on the Irish coast. 

 After this experience the passengers were happy to find passage on 

 the famous Black Ball packet Uner Yorkshire, commanded by Cap- 

 tain David G. Bailey. The Yorkshire then made a record crossing the 

 Atlantic westward in sixteen days which was better than the average 

 time of Brunei's steamer the Great Western. It is said that the passen- 

 gers included the girls of a Viennese ballet company and though the 

 record does not make it clear it is probable that their visit to America 

 was connected with that of the famous Viennese ballerina Fanny 

 Ellsler. However that may be, to celebrate the record crossing and to 

 express their joy at seeing America, the girls put on an informal bal- 

 let on the deck of the Yorkshire as she came blowing into New York 

 harbor. 



In 1 85 1 Brunei was at it again; in this year he projected the Great 

 Eastern, one of the most remarkable vessels of his or of any other 

 time. She was not ready to launch until 1857 and made her first voy- 

 age in 1858. She was 680 feet long and had a beam of 83 feet. Her 

 displacement tonnage was 27,384. She had an engine of 1,000 horse- 

 power driving paddle wheels, and of 1,800 horsepower driving a 

 screw propeller. The boilers to provide this power required her to 

 have five funnels on deck spaced out in line. Even with all this 

 mechanical equipment she was not purely a steamer for she also 

 stepped six masts to carry her complement of sail. She was designed 

 to carry 200 first-class passengers, 400 second-class and 2,500 in the 

 steerage. Her spacious accommodations were but poorly utilized at any 

 time in her history, and from the start she was an unfortunate vessel. 

 On account of her great length Brunei had decided that she would 



