oot by foot, in all
its gigantic proportions, the surrounding edifices dwindled down into
insignificance, and the busy population of artificers clustered upon her
like ants upon a prostrate monarch of the forest-trees.

The hull of the _Great Eastern_ is built entirely of iron, and is 680
feet in length, 83 feet in breadth, and 60 feet in height from keel to
deck. It is divided transversely into ten separate compartments of 60
feet each, rendered perfectly water-tight by bulk-heads, having no
openings whatever lower than the second deck; whilst two longitudinal
walls of iron, 36 feet apart, traverse 350 feet of the length of the
ship.

The mind will be better able to realise the magnitude of these
dimensions if we add that the _Great Eastern_ is six times the size of
the Duke of Wellington line-of-battle ship, that her length is more than
three times the height of the Monument, while her breadth is equal to
the width of Pall Mall, and a promenade round the deck affords a walk of
more than a quarter of a mile.

There is no keel properly so called, but in its place a flat keel-plate
of iron, about two feet wide and one inch thick, which runs the entire
length from stem to stern. This is the base upon which all the rest is
reared, plates and girders alike. The iron plates which form her
planking are three-quarters of an inch thick. Up to the water-mark the
hull is constructed with an inner and outer skin, two feet ten inches
apart, both skins being made of three-quarter inch plates, except at the
bottom, where the plates are an inch thick; and between these, at
intervals of six feet, run horizontal webs of iron plates, which bind
the two skins together, and thus it may be said that the lower part of
the hull is two feet ten inches thick.

This mode of construction adds materially to the safety of the vessel;
for, in the event of a collision at sea, the outer skin might be pierced
while the inner might remain intact. This space may also at any time be
filled with water, and thus ballast, to the amount of 2500 tons, be
obtained.

Some idea of the magnitude and weight of the vessel may be formed from
the fact that each iron plate weighs about the third of a ton, and is
fastened with a hundred iron rivets. About thirty thousand of these
plates were used in her construction, and three million rivets. The
fastening of these rivets was one among the many curious operations
performed in course of building. The riveti