The accidents which had happened to the ship had not, however, materially damaged either the hull or the machinery; and the _Great Eastern_ was refitted, and afterwards employed in a service for which she had not been designed, but which no other vessel could have attempted. This was the work of carrying and laying the whole length of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable of 1865, of which 2,600 miles were shipped on board in enormous tanks, that with the contents weighed upwards of 5,000 tons. The ship has since been constantly engaged in similar operations.[1] The _Great Eastern_ is six times the size of our largest line-of-battle ships, and about seven times as large as the splendid steamers of the Cunard line, which run between Liverpool and New York. She has three times the steam power of the largest of these Atlantic steamers, and could carry twenty times as many passengers, with coal for forty days’ consumption instead of fifteen. Her length is 692 ft.; width, 83 ft.; depth, 60 ft.; tonnage, 24,000 tons; draught of water when unloaded, 20 ft.; when loaded, 30 ft.; and a promenade round her decks would be a walk of more than a quarter of a mile. The vessel is built on the cellular plan to 3 ft. above the water-line; that is, there is an inner and an outer hull, each of iron plates ¾ in. thick, placed 2 ft. 10 in. apart, with ribs every 6 ft., and united by transverse plates, so that in place of the ribs of wooden ships, the hull is, as it were, built up of curved cellular beams of wrought iron. The ship is divided longitudinally by two vertical partitions or bulkheads of wrought iron, ½ in. thick. These are 350 ft. long and 60 ft. high, and are crossed at intervals by transverse bulkheads, in such a manner that the ship is divided into nineteen compartments, of which twelve are completely water-tight, and the rest nearly so. The diagram (Fig. 61) represents a transverse section, and shows the cellular construction below the water-line. The strength and safety of the vessel are thus amply provided for. The latter quality was proved in the accident to the ship at New York; and the former was shown at the launch, for when the vessel stuck, and for two months could not be moved, it was found that, although one-quarter of the ship’s length was unsupported, it exhibited no deflection, or rather the amount of deflection was imperceptible. Fig. 62 is from a photograph taken during the building of the ship, and Fig. 63 shows the hull when completed and nearly ready for launching, while the vignette at the head of the chapter exhibits the big ship at anchor when completely equipped. The paddle-wheels are 56 ft. in diameter, and are turned by four steam engines, each having a cylinder 6 ft. 2 in. in diameter, and 14 ft. in length. The vessel is also provided with a four-bladed screw-propeller of 24 ft. diameter, driven by another engine having four cylinders, six boilers, and seventy-two furnaces. The