breakwater; it fell,
and the red light was seen no more. The danger was now imminent. The
cables could evidently bear no more, and the gale was increasing; so the
screw was set going, but the wreck of timber from the breakwater fouled
it and brought it to a dead-lock. Then the wind veered round more to
the north-east, sending a tremendous swell into the harbour, and the
_Great Eastern_ began to roll heavily. In this extremity the paddle
engines were set going, and the ship was brought up to her anchors, one
of which was raised for the purpose of being dropped in a better
position. At this moment the cable of the other anchor parted, and the
great ship drifted swiftly toward what seemed certain destruction; but
the heavy anchor was let go, and the engines turned on full speed. She
swung round head to wind, and was brought up. This was the
turning-point. The gale slowly abated, and the _Great Eastern_ was
saved, while all round her the shores and harbour were strewn with
wrecks.

After the gale the _Great Eastern_ started on her return trip to
Southampton, which she reached in safety on the morning of the 3rd
November. In this, as in her previous experiences, the mighty ship was
well tested, and her good and bad points in some degree proved. At the
very outset the steam gear for aiding in lifting the anchors broke down,
and one of the anchors refusing to let go, was broken in half. The
condenser of the paddle engines seems to have been proved too small in
this trip. For some time she went against a stiff head-wind and sea--
which is now well known to be the great ship's forte--with perfect
steadiness; but on getting into the channel she rolled slowly but
decidedly, as if bowing--acknowledging majestically the might of the
Atlantic's genuine swell. Here, too, a wave actually overtopped her
towering hull, and sent a mass of _green_ water inboard! But her roll
was peculiarly her own, and wonderfully easy.

The vessel made eighteen knots an hour. She was under perfect command,
even in narrow and intricate channels, and, despite her varied mishaps
and trials, passed through this stormy period of her infancy with
credit.

_Disaster to "Great Eastern" in September 1861_.--Having made three
successful voyages to America, the Great Eastern, after all her
troubles, was beginning to establish her reputation, to confirm the
hopes of her friends and silence the cavils of her enemies, when the bad
fortune that has be