Note 439 — Chapter XIV

Towards the close of the year 1857, when the prospects of the Great Eastern were exciting much public attention, the author ventured to offer to his constituents at Tynemouth, nearly all of whom were interested in ships, the following remarks (reported in the newspapers of the period) with regard to her:

“Very shortly there will be launched a ship of vast and hitherto unparalleled dimensions: I allude to the Great Eastern. If that ship answers, I do not know where we shall be with our small vessels. As this is a subject, upon which opinions have been greatly at variance, perhaps you would like to hear mine. It must be a matter of deep interest to all present, because you are all directly or indirectly interested in the shipping trade, to know whether such a ship as the Great Eastern is, or is not, likely to answer in a commercial point of view, and I venture on this topic because I have heard strong opinions expressed to the effect that, commercially, she will be a great triumph. For my part, I believe her to be a great triumph of mechanical skill, I believe that no finer or stronger vessel has ever been put together: so far as regards her formation, I think she is a very splendid model: but, with reference to the speed she is expected to attain, I doubt very much whether she will ever realise the anticipation of her builder, though I think that we, as a nation, ought to be proud of having men who can produce so marvellous a piece of mechanism. But we must look, also, to the commercial element, because in this, I, and most of you are deeply interested. If such a ship as the Great Eastern be found to answer commercially, most of our property will go to the wall, for, in a short time, our small vessels will be of very little use to us. The course of commerce is this: If a Manchester merchant has 1000 bales of a particular description of goods to send to Calcutta, he does not send the whole of them in one bottom, because he might thus overstock the market. On the contrary, he sends them in from four to six different vessels, and he does this for two reasons: first, that by so doing he feeds the market; and, secondly, that he gets, thereby, quicker returns. The principle of commerce is to send out supplies in relays. Then again, we find that passengers do not go out in masses, but, at such intervals, as suit them best. And, in times of war, statesmen find it the wisest plan to send out not 1000, much less 10,000 men in one bottom, but from 400 to 600, at the utmost, in one ship. And this must appear to be sound policy, when we picture to ourselves what might be the result of sending out a whole army in the Great Eastern. I do not take into consideration the contingency of the ship going to the bottom. I shall not ask you to imagine so fearful a calamity, but, supposing anything happened to her machinery and occasioned a serious stoppage, when expedition was necessary to the attainment of a certain object, the effect would be that the whole army would be detained. No Government would dare to send so large a force in one vessel. Therefore, looking at the question, politically as well as from a commercial point of view, I am of opinion that we have nothing to fear from the competition of leviathans such as the Great Eastern.”