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Interesting piece on it's break up on New Ferry shore. It's repeated at 10.30on HD.

They uncover some of the ships plate in the mud.
Posted By: RUDEBOX Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 25th Jul 2010 9:43pm
Watched that. It was very interesting.
BBC iplayer link for anyone who wants to watch it: Coast Series 5 Episode 1
Posted By: davew3 Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 25th Jul 2010 10:42pm
Watched it very interesting but hasn't that area been used to scrap ships which where classed as total write off's during WWII,I suppose all the metal detectorists will be out on the mud from tomorrow as soon as the tide is low.
They won't have to look very hard. The piece they found on coast was huge. I had no idea they used to break ships up there. Interesting stuff.
Posted By: Wheels Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 26th Jul 2010 7:32pm
it starts at the 48 min mark. I want to go out and find the piece they found and take it home smile
Posted By: bert1 Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 26th Jul 2010 8:37pm
She was broken up for scrap at Rock Ferry on the River Mersey by Henry Bath & Son Ltd in 1889–1890 — it took 18 months to take her apart

Attached picture 220px-Great_Eastern_SLV_AllanGreen.jpg
Posted By: Wheels Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 26th Jul 2010 8:47pm
at a loss tho the video said.
Posted By: jimbob Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 26th Jul 2010 8:53pm
The ship breaker company operated from a yard at the bottom of St Pauls Road. Prior to the Rockfery Bypass been built you had simply to walk down the lower section of St Pauls road from the junction at New Chester road. I spent a lot of my childhood playing on the various ships that lay off the fore shore when the tide was out during the late 40s
Really intresting programme.
Posted By: bri445 Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 20th Aug 2010 4:42pm
Has anyone found any more pieces yet?
I wonder how easy it really was to find the pieces in all that mud. I'm amazed that the iron hasn't sunk without trace!
Some stills attached.

Attached picture GE5_resize.jpg
Attached picture GE18_resize.jpg
Attached picture GE BBC_resize.jpg
Attached picture GE3_resize.jpg
Nice work bri445
Posted By: huw717 Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 20th Aug 2010 7:29pm
hi, i was the guide who accompanied the beeb onto the beach at new ferry in order to film that piece of plate, if anybody really wants to see it id be happy to show them where it is!
Posted By: Gibbo Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 24th Aug 2011 9:43am
I've extracted the bit from Coast about the Great Eastern and uploaded it to Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLObOWZjo5I

[youtube]HLObOWZjo5I[/youtube]
Posted By: kiwiconvert Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 19th Jun 2015 10:42am
As teenagers travelling to and from school (Kirklands) we often visited the breakers yard in St Pauls Rd. We used to get 9pence if we were lucky enough to find a copper rivet in the smouldering timbers. We used to get home filthy but rich.
Posted By: cools Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 19th Jun 2015 11:06am
Just read this thread about Great Eastern, thanks for reviving it Kiwi and Gibbo for putting up coast on you tube. Found it fascinating, always on that beach and Rockferry beach metal detecting. I went to Kirklands too Kiwi, remember us girls had to run the gauntlet of passing the boys part of the school before we got to ours, lol. And the times I had my beret pinched and thrown up a tree. Good times tho......
Posted By: granny Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 19th Jun 2015 2:00pm
Not knowing much about the Great Eastern, I have read a bit about her on Wikipedia and other sites.

it states :

1861 government charter

Upon Great Eastern's return to England, the ship was chartered by the British Government to transport troops to Quebec. 2,144 officers and men, 473 women and children, and 200 horses were embarked at Liverpool along with 40 paying passengers. The ship sailed on 25 June 1861 and went at full speed throughout most of the trip arriving at her destination 8 days and 6 hours after leaving Liverpool. Great Eastern stayed for a month and returned to Britain at the beginning of July with 357 paying passengers.[12]

Can anyone expand on this, surely she didn't take all those troops and horses in one sailing ? a) how many voyages she did do, with dates if possible b) was it always from Liverpool, c) why were these troops going to Quebec, d) when was she broken up ? Also, does anyone know if there was a crew list for this vessel ?

No doubt I could find more, but I'm being lazy today.
Posted By: bert1 Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 19th Jun 2015 4:20pm
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/SS_Great_Eastern

Attached picture great eastern.JPG
Posted By: granny Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 19th Jun 2015 6:10pm
happy Thanks Bert .
I'm still a bit sceptical about that metal belonging to the Great Eastern as I believe it is on the North side of where the pier was. The proximity of the rivets over an area (not even a single or twin line) would also be unusual for a ship, I'd be more inclined to think it was a plate off the pier itself.

The only detailed description of the position of the Great Eastern was that it was south of the Pier. To this day you can see the remains of the roadway that was built down to the river where the Great Eastern was. This roadway is immediately south of New Ferry Terrace, it has had a house built in the middle now.

In answer to another post, the Great Eastern was massive, it was over one eighth of a mile long and would easily hold that number of people and horses.
Posted By: Erainn Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 20th Jun 2015 9:13am
DD, My G-Grandfather was one of many who broke-up the GE.
Great Eastern ended its days as a floating advertising hoarding for Lewis's - picture below.
To answer one of the previous questions, the ship was broken up between 1889-1890, and it took about 18 months to do so. The other picture shows it on the shore awaiting breaking.

Attached picture GtEasternLewis.jpg
Attached picture Great_Eastern_RockFerry.jpg
Posted By: rocks Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 22nd Jun 2015 8:44am
2yrs ago i found two very old rusted rivets down that area of the old shore and wondered if they could be from the ship
Posted By: marty99fred Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 22nd Jun 2015 12:10pm
Not wishing to impugn the accuracy of the great god Wikipedia – Heaven forbid! – according to contemporary records the Great Eastern started from the Mersey on her voyage to Quebec at noon on 27th June 1861, not the 25th. She had been chartered by the Government on 11th June to convey troop reinforcements to Canada, and was rapidly fitted out by Laird’s with the necessary berths for the men and stalls on deck for the horses. She was due to carry 7 officers, 220 men, 20 women, 25 children and 110 horses belonging to the 4th Field Battery, Royal Artillery, 39 officers, 868 men, 80 women, 120 children and 6 horses of the 30th Regiment of Foot, 39 officers, 868 men, 80 women, 120 children and 6 horses of the 4th Battalion 60th Rifles, and 4 officers, 102 men, 9 women and 19 children from units of the 16th, 17th, and 100th Foot and the Canadian Rifles. The ship had been due to sail on the 26th, but was delayed by the late arrival of some of the men of the 60th Rifles and 17th Foot, who had to come by steamer from Ireland, much to the disappointment of the thousands of spectators who had lined the banks of the Mersey to watch her departure on the 26th.

The Great Eastern reportedly arrived at Father Point at Rimouski on the St Lawrence, where she picked up her Canadian pilot, at noon on 6th July, after exactly 8 days, and berthed at Quebec on Sunday the 7th. She started on her return voyage to Liverpool at 4am on 6th August, arriving back in the Mersey at 8.30pm on the 15th, carrying 241 cabin passengers and 125 steerage.

The reason for sending some 4,000 extra troops to Canada at this time was officially stated to be to restore the garrison strength in the British territories to the levels they had been at before the Crimean War. But of course the real reason was to protect the material interests of the British in North America by augmenting the policing of the frontier in case of any trouble caused by the confusion and uncertainty that followed the outbreak of the American Civil War.
Posted By: bert1 Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 22nd Jun 2015 12:55pm
A couple of snippets from 2 Newspapers, Hampshire Advertiser & The York Herald, June 15, 1861,

A question asked in Parliament and a report titled, The American Civil War, crisis at hand.


Attached picture troops, canada.JPG
Attached picture troops2.JPG
Posted By: granny Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 22nd Jun 2015 5:51pm
All this is really interesting. Thank you all for answering some more of my questions. smile
Posted By: Tatey Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 23rd Jun 2015 6:22am
If anyone ever gets the chance to listen to a talk on the GE by Peter Bingham, please do so. A very interesting man.
Posted By: Norton Re: piece on the Great Eastern (Ship) on Coast - 20th Jul 2015 5:46pm
It seems that it's 150 ago this week thet the SS Great Eastern laid the second cable (or the first sucessful one).
BT have put up a news page at Transatlantic Cable 150 years old
I've not read it yet, but their reporters are not the best...
Originally Posted by diggingdeeper
I'm still a bit sceptical about that metal belonging to the Great Eastern as I believe it is on the North side of where the pier was. The proximity of the rivets over an area (not even a single or twin line) would also be unusual for a ship, I'd be more inclined to think it was a plate off the pier itself.

The only detailed description of the position of the Great Eastern was that it was south of the Pier. To this day you can see the remains of the roadway that was built down to the river where the Great Eastern was. This roadway is immediately south of New Ferry Terrace, it has had a house built in the middle now.

In answer to another post, the Great Eastern was massive, it was over one eighth of a mile long and would easily hold that number of people and horses.



After many years of trying to find the exact position the Great Eastern was broken up, I finally have some proof that it was indeed a distance south of New Ferry Pier, perhaps even a bit further south than I believed.

Attached picture SS_Great_Eastern_-_rudder_post.jpg
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