ng men were arranged in
gangs, each gang consisting of two riveters, one holder-up, and three
boys. Two boys were stationed at the fire or portable forge, and one
with the holder-up. This boy's duty was to receive the red-hot rivet
with his pincers from the boy at the forge, and insert it in the hole
destined for its reception, the point protruding about an inch. The
holder-up immediately placed his heavy hammer against the head of the
rivet, and held it firmly there, while the two riveters assailed it in
front with alternate blows, until the countersunk part of the hole was
filled up, after which the protruding head was cut off smooth with the
plate, the whole operation scarce occupying a minute. In riveting the
double part of the ship the holder-up and his boy were necessarily in
the interior part of the tubes, and passed the whole day in the narrow
space between, (of two feet ten inches wide), in comparative darkness,
having only the glimmer afforded by a single dip candle, and being
immediately under the deafening blows of the riveters.

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