THE GREAT EASTERN cix 



V. 



Of the 1869 cruise in the Great Eastern, I give what I am 

 able ; only sorry it is no more, for the sake of the ship itself, 

 already almost a legend even to the generation that saw it 

 launched. 



< June 17, 1869. Here are the names of our staff in whom I 

 expect you to be interested, as future Great Eastern stories may 

 be full of them : Theophilus Smith, a man of Latimer Clark's ; 

 Leslie C. Hill, my prizeman at University College ; Lord Sack- 

 ville Cecil ; King, one of the Thomsonian Kings ; Laws, goes for 

 Willoughby Smith, who will also be on board ; Varley, Clark, 

 and Sir James Anderson make up the sum of all you know any- 

 thing of. A Captain Halpin commands the big ship. There 

 are four smaller vessels. The Wm. Cory which laid the Norder- 

 ney cable has already gone to St. Pierre to lay the shore ends. 

 The Hawk and Chiltern have gone to Brest to lay shore ends. 

 The HawJc and Scanderia go with us across the Atlantic and 

 we shall at St. Pierre be transhipped into one or the other. 



' June 18. Somewhere in London. The shore end is laid, as 

 you may have seen and we are all under pressing orders to 

 march, so we start from London to-night at 5.10. 



' June 20. Off Ushant. I am getting quite fond of the big 

 ship. Yesterday morning in the quiet sunlight, she turned so 

 slowly and lazily in the great harbour at Portland, and bye and 

 bye slipped out past the long pier with so little stir, that I could 

 hardly believe we were really off. No men drunk, no women 

 crying, no singing or swearing, no confusion or bustle on deck 

 nobody apparently aware that they had anything to do. The 

 look of the thing was that the ship had been spoken to civilly 

 and had kindly undertaken to do everything that was necessary 

 without any further interference. I have a nice cabin with 

 plenty of room for my legs in my berth and have slept two 

 nights like a top. Then we have the ladies' cabin set apart as 

 an engineer's office, and I think this decidedly the nicest place 

 in the ship : 35 ft. x 20 ft. broad four tables, three great 



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