Great Eastern help required

[Christian]

Hello group,

Great Eastern research for our upcoming site is still running at full speed. We are communicating with fellow ship modelers to find some answers. Much of the existing information is very unreliable and full of contradictions. Even the models at the NMM have proven to contain many mistakes. The only 100% prove is a photograph anyway. We are trying to dig up as many as we can. It is sad how much this revolutionary and beautiful ship has been neglected and underrated.

Many construction photos show what seems like a two tone lower hull. It is most unlikely that we are dealing with an unfinished paint job since the separating line is very sharp and straight. There are about two construction photos though where the lower hull seems to have one color only. The upper part is lighter than the lower one on the pictures showin a two tone lower hull. Since the Great Eastern has gathered marine growth on her lower hull on photos where she is seen beached, any two tone paint scheme would be hidden. No plan and no model, except the most recent one we came across, shows any two tone lower hull. Could it be that the upper part was a copper imitation paint since wooden ships were usually copper plated in the mid 19th cventury? Was faux copper paint available at this time?

Any ideas and info that help solve this riddle are highly appreciated

Best

Christian

[woodburner]

Dear Christian,

Glad to hear the Great Eastern site is progressing, and sorry to hear about the dearth of authoritative documentation. I'm afraid I dont have any information regarding GE hull painting, but I have noticed in photos of large liners a diversity of hull paint prior to, and sometimes after launch, the grey repainted black by sea trials. The Mauretania was grey with white upperworks to trials; Queen Mary entirely grey at launch, while Queen Elizabeth lanched in black and white, and so on. I also note variances in the position of white superstructure - Lusitania had a white band to the bow, painted black by maiden voyage. All of this is to say that shipyards and shipping companies had variable ideas about protecting the hull during construction phase and later in "dress" for service.

The best advice I could offer is to reseach the types of marine paints of the Great Eastern's era, their composition, etc. Publications like Engineering and so on may be helpful here, as well as Scientific American or its British counterpart.

As if a 680 foot 1858 ship was not hard enough.

Good luck!

Jim