The _deck_ of the _Great Eastern_ is double, or cellular, after the plan of the Britannia Tubular Bridge. The upper deck runs flush and clear from stem to stern, and he who takes four turns up and down it from stem to stern walks upwards of a mile. The strength of this deck is so enormous that if the ship were taken up by its two extremities, with all its cargo, passengers, coals, and provisions on board, it would sustain the whole. The deck has been covered with teak planking, and has been planed and scrubbed to man-of-war whiteness. Not even a stray rope's end breaks the wonderful effect produced by its immense expanse. Her fleet of small boats, which are about the size of sailing cutters, hang at the davits, ten on each side. There are six masts and five funnels. The three centre square-rigged masts are of iron. They were made by Mr Finch of Chepstow, and are the finest specimens of masts of the kind that were ever manufactured. Each is made of hollow wrought iron in eight-feet lengths, strengthened inside by diaphragms of the same material. Between the joints, as they were bolted together, was placed a pad of vulcanised india-rubber, which gives a spring and buoyancy to the whole spar greater than wood, while at the same time it retains all the strength of the iron. The other masts are made of wood, and the canvas that can be spread is no less than 6500 square yards. On deck are four small steam winches or engines, each of which works a pair of cranes on both sides of the vessel; and with these five thousand tons of coals can be hoisted into the vessel in twenty-four hours. The _engines_ and boilers are of immense power and magnitude. There are both screw and paddle engines, the former being capable of working up to 6500 horse-power, the latter to 5000. There are ten boilers and one hundred and twelve furnaces. The paddle engines, which were made by Messrs. Scott Russell and Company, stand nearly 40 feet high. Each cylinder weighs about 28 tons, and each paddle-wheel is 58 feet in diameter, or considerably larger than the ring in Astley's Circus. The screw engines were manufactured by Messrs. Watt and Company of Birmingham. They consist of four cylinders of 84 inches diameter and 4 feet stroke. The screw propeller is 24 feet in diameter and 37 feet pitch; and the engine-shaft is 160 feet long, or 12 feet longer than the height of the Duke of York's Column. The paddles and screw, when working together at their highest pitch, exert a force equal to 11,500 horsepower, which is sufficient to drive all the cotton-mills in Manchester! The consumption of coal to produce this force is estimated at about 250 tons per day. Besides these engines there are also several auxiliary engines for pumping water into the boilers, etcetera.