Great Eastern paint scheme

[Steve Jones]

All,

In most all of the BW photos I've seen of her, there is a distinct (3)
colors on her hull.

The book "The Great Eastern S.S. Great Eastern" by George Emmerson, the
photos are very clear
In particular page 48 shows her on the river bank still in her cradles.
It can be seen the three (3) different shades of color. The upper most
color band appears as Black, the two lower bands are (2) different colors
or shades.

Steve Jones

[Christian]

Steve,

I just await a copy of this book, my friend and fellow GE researcher got one for me. I know by now that the GE had at launch had a black upper hull, copper paint below water line and red lead paint (later known as anti-fouling red) at the lowest part. The two tone lower hull can be seen quite clear at page 150 in the book "Brunel's ships" as well. By now I'm convinced that the GE had a two tone lower hull when launched. Until when is an entirely different story.....

We are trying to contact the gentleman featured in Model Boats magazine who built a large scale GE model with just this paint scheme.

Best

Christian

[ushumgal]

Two other images (perhaps the same ones) can be seen on pages 44-45
of "The Big Ship" by Patrick Beaver. The clearest is a roughly 45
degree shot of the starboard bow, and less distinct is a full length
side shot (also starboard). On pages 60-61 of the same book is a
good shot of her 'on her gridiron at New Ferry'. The photo is
undated, but she still has 5 funnels, and I believe she still has her
original paddle wheels, so it must be fairly early. At this point
she still appears to have the copper stripe (though it could be a
light red - there is no clear line between the copper and the red, so
I could be misinterpreting natural shading). On page 82, another
image 'back at Milford Haven for repairs' after her encounter with a
nasty storm shows she still has the stripe then. On pp. 118-119,
'laid up at Milford for 12 years' she still appears to have the
stripe. On pp. 26-7, during her infamous 'billboard' phase, she does
not appear to have anything but a very thin white (?) stripe at the
top of the red, but on pp. 132-3, just before being broken up, she
appears to have a broad, light-colored stripe again. These
observations were made from a photocopy of that book, so I could not
benefit from the full resolution of the images, and I also assumed
that they were in roughly chronological order, which certainly may
not be the case.

Anyway, I hope this has helped, rather than further confused the
issue.

Jamie
LU2.DUB.SAR

[Christian]

Hello PJ,

>Christian, I apologize if I come across as being a "smartypants"
>but....

Absolutely not. I didn't claim to point out the best offer, I rather wanted to be abole to show pictures through URL's and didn't want to come up with the BN page where the book is out of stock. Thanks for pointing out, that these books are much cheaper to buy elsewhere. Yes I agree 30 pounds is outrageous and the BN used book store list is unreliable and expensive.

BTW: The Beaver book is much harder to find and the Emmerson book even took my friend and me over a year. I might have asked long ago but I didn't know this book.

When I started GE research, most people only knew the Revell model, the Dugan book and "heard about" guys who made models of her.....

.......................

Ushumgal:

About the two tone hull on later pictures: On pictures where the GE appears beached in Milford Haven for repair works we can clearly see sea an irregular line between the darker and the lighter part of the lower hull. There is most certainly sea growth so it is hard to tell it apart from an actual paint scheme. The most secure are the many construction photos. BTW, I have heard that Emmerson actually mentiones the word "copper stripe" between the black and red areas. I will receive the book in maybe a week and will check it.

Best

Christian

[Christian]

PJ,

Sorry, I probably wasn't very clear in my last email. You didn't sound like
"smartypants" at all :-) I highly appreciate your help. Ebay is most
definitely not the best source for used books since we are talking auction.

BTW, the areas where we are still a bit foggy is the rigging (exact detail
especially for larger scale models) and the good old question about funnel
colors (never trust shades in old ortochromatic - non true gray steps -
photographs) and cross section. No shots from above in the mid 1850s, they
haven't invented the darn airplane yet....

We are also riddling about the existence of the wheel house. It doesn't
appear in plans and the pictures of the GE in NYC 1860 after her maiden
voyage clearly show the (4) ship's wheels free standing.

At the moment I am contacting two persons who might be of tremendous help in
filling the remaining gaps.

Any comments from members of this group highly welcome - I am far away from
being a Great Eastern "expert".

Best

Christian