of the _Great Eastern_, and like her they were a financial failure. They could not carry enough fuel for the voyage, and this and other considerations led Brunel to design the great ship in an attempt to solve the difficulties to which these vessels had directed attention. He estimated that the vessel would be able to attain a speed of 15 knots at a less coal consumption per ton than any steamer in existence. The Eastern Navigation Company was formed in 1851 and decided on the construction of a steamer in accordance with his views. It was proposed to run a line of big steamers to the East, via the Cape of Good Hope, and as the vessels were referred to as Leviathans the name _Leviathan_ was chosen for the first (and, as it happened, the last) vessel the company ever owned. This was the _Great Eastern_. The lines of the vessel were designed by Russell, who also built the hull. The details of the ship’s construction were settled by Russell and Brunel; the longitudinal system was adopted, together with the bulkhead system, to which Russell attached such importance. The _Great Eastern_ was built with an inner skin from the keel to the water-line, thus being a double-hulled vessel. The inner and outer skins were of the same thickness of iron plates, the bottom plates being one inch thick and the other plates three-quarters of an inch. The space between the two hulls was 34 to 36 inches, and this was estimated to hold 2500 tons of water-ballast if required. The transverse iron bulkheads divided the ship into a number of compartments, each sixty feet long, and in order to add to the strength of the ship and increase her safety in case of collision, there was no opening in these bulkheads lower than the level of the second deck. For 350 feet of her length the vessel had two longitudinal bulkheads 36 feet apart, beside which there was a second intermediate bulkhead up to the main deck, forming a coal bunker. Five of her six masts were of iron and hollow, and the sixth of wood. [Illustration: MODEL OF THE “GREAT EASTERN.”] The project of building this enormous ship was received with enthusiasm by the public. Every item of news, correct or otherwise, was welcomed eagerly, and the newspapers vied with each other in the extravagance of their assertions. She had both paddle-wheels and a screw propeller, and it was confidently stated that she would attain a speed of even twenty-five miles an hour, and this, it was thought, might be exceeded if she had a strong favourable wind and used both her mechanical aids. Her size was expected to make her indifferent to the storms of the ocean, and her behaviour at sea was confidently prophesied under all sorts of conditions. _Chambers’ Journal_ published an article in which the powers of the vessel were set forth, and in which it said: