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The third and greatest ship built to the designs of the naval architect I. K. Brunel, was the Leviathan, renamed the Great Eastern when she was launched. In size and design she was forty years ahead of her time. The ship was intended to carry passengers and cargo from Europe to India and Australia and had to be economical over long distances. Construction was started in May 1854 at John Scott Russell and Co. in Millwall. The ship was all-iron and had four decks. The bottom and sides were of double cellular construction.The hull had a longitudinal system of framing and was subdivided by transverse bulkheads into twelve watertight compartments. The Great Eastern had five funnels and six masts with square and fore-and-aft rigging, with a sail surface area of about 6,500 square yards (5,435 square metres). The ship was designed to carry 4,000 passengers in three classes ' and 6,o0o tons of cargo in addition to 12,200 tons of coal. The crew numbered 400.
The Great Eastern had paddle wheels at the sides, each with a diameter of 56 feet (17 metres) and 30 radial paddles and a four-bladed cast iron screw pro
peller with a diameter of 24 feet (7.315 metres). The paddle wheels were driven by two steam engines which had a nominal output of woo h.p. The screw propeller was driven by a four-cylinder 1,622 h.p. steam engine. Steam was supplied by four double-ended tubular boilers.
The Great Eastern was launched on 31 January 1858 and her first voyage was to New York in 186o. She arrived after 11 days at sea and covered the distance at an average speed of 14 knots. However, because of the relatively small output of the engines and her paddle wheels, which were far too big and unsuitable for rough seas, the Great Eastern did not prove very successful either as a passenger or a cargo ship. In 1864 she was converted to a cable-laying ship, in 1885 taken out of service and was scrapped in 1888. ' Dimensions: length between perps. 68o feet (207.26 metres), width of the hull 82.7 feet (25.21 metres), width over the paddle wheels 118 feet (36 metres), depth 48.2 feet (14.69 metres), draught 3o feet (9.15 metres), displacement 18,915 tons.

Built for the Australian run but never used in that capacity. Sailed the Atlantic as a passenger ship but was not successful. Purchased by Daniel Gooch in 1864 and offered to the Atlantic Telegraph Company to lay their cable. Ended her days as an advertising hoarding for Lewis's department store. Breaking up began on 1 January 1889 and it took two years to finish the task.

CABLE WORK

1865     Ireland - Newfoundland (Failed, recovered and completed in 1866)
1866    Ireland - Newfoundland
1869    France - USA
1870    India - Aden (Part of Indo European cable)
1873    Ireland - USA
1874    Ireland - USA

The two Portuguese stamps depict Great Eastern laying the Portugal - England section of the Indo European cable. CS HIBERNIA laid this section.

Concise guide in colour SHIPS by Hamlyn.
"Bill Glover/Atlantic-Cable.com Website"
http://atlantic-cable.com/stamps/index.htm

Bhutan SG801, Brit Virgin Is SG621 MS623, Cambodia SG MS1594, Canada SG1244, Congo SG507,511, GB SG1368, Monaco SG530,828, Portugal SG1399/1400

Literal translation of the caption of this Jules Verne stamp is "A floating town", and it would seem probable that the ship depicted is the famous paddler Great Eastern. She was built during the French writers lifetime and may well have stirred his creative imagination. For many years she was used as a standard of comparison when speaking of size. "Half as big as the Great Eastern" with variations, became a common phrase. In weight she surpassed the total tonnage of the three next largest steamers in the world, and for about 40 years she was the longest ship afloat. Designed by I. K, Brunel and J. Scott Russell she was built on the River Thames at Blackwall, her owners being the Eastern Steam Navigation Company. In 1860 she made a voyage to New York, and in later years she was employed on cable laying operations.
Between the years 1865 and 1873 she was engaged by the Telegraph Maintenance and Construction Company, laying Atlantic cables and the Bombay-Suez cables, tasks which utilised her great size to the best advantage. The Great Eastern was eventually sold by auction in 1888 for £16,000 and was broken up on the River Mersey. It was said that the material removed from her hull realised about £60,000. Her principal dimensions were —length on upper deck, 692ft.; length of keel. 630ft.; breadth of hull 82.7ft.: breadth over paddle boxes, 118ft.; depth of hold 48.2ft.; and draft, 30ft. She was a vessel of 18,915 gross tons.
Monaco SG530, Cambodia SG1594MS. Sea Breezes 7/55

Great Britain 2006 47p sg?, Scott?
Paraguay 1981 50c sg?, scott 2000b
Central African Republic 2021 850 fcfa sg?, Scott? and 3300 fcfa sgMS?, Scott? (in margin is also GREAT EASTERN)

Great Eastern

Guinea

Monaco 1965, S.G.?, Scott: 614.

Niger 2001, S.G.?, Scott: 10676.