SS Great Eastern: Too Big To Sail
2024 ж. 4 Мам.
510 642 Рет қаралды
Look, we get that Isambard Kingdom Brunel wanted a big ship, but this was just silly.
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“Too Big To Sail” Operated for thirty years, laid the first transatlantic cable, and generally still had a more successful career than most steamships of the time, not to mention much more remembrance of its existence.
well, i doubt they used sails for all that cable laying
@@Slowcause The sails on steamships back then were there as a precaution. Steam power then was still new when she was built . If a ship ran out of coal, why not have sails as backup
Oh, so they meant "sail" in the specific meaning "sail powered by sails", not in the broader meaning "move on water"
@@panda4247 Yes. I believe this video’s clickbait-y title makes it sound like the ship was too useless to even move itself, regardless of its methods of propulsion.
Just a quick note, the SS Great Britain is still around after a long existence. She's on display in the drydock where she was originally built in Bristol England.
thats why i need to go to europe
You must go! If u are an USAnian (or how to call an american chitizen) it is not so hard to have a visa to England.
@@Seregium Yeah, you call an American citizen an American...
It's a fab day out. You get a good feel for what a long voyage would have been like. You can walk "under water" too, I'm sure there are lots of photos on their website.
Amazing how it survived so long, even as a big abandoned rusting hulk (somehow not scrapped/recycled for metal). It was saved and refurbished while in a really derilect state.
I have a rivet head from the Great Eastern sitting on my mantlepiece from when she was broken up. My great great grandfather was one of the men who oversaw her being broken her up.
Brunel and his boys have epic top hats, quite a mega-project all by themselves.
They look like a Lincoln lookalike competition lol
Love those top hats...any taller and they could have been back ups for the ships funnels.
Stovepipe Chapeau Union #212
@@pickeljarsforhillary102 Epic middle names in those days too. I wish my parents had called me.... 👁 👁 👁️ 👁️ 👁 👁 👄 👄 👄 Penis KINGDOM McWhirtar
The epic top hat was a sign of success and greatness.
Oh, as wide as the height of two giraffes. I was thinking "damn those are some really thick giraffes".
The giraffe must become the standard unit of measure on all of Simon's channels, I can't think of a more elegant gauge.
But how many bananas has you can have?
I'm sure there is a standard unit of pineapple.
It's an east mistake to make but giraffes are only referenced by their height, never anything else because only their height defines them. They are 1-dimensional creatures if you will.
@@kaltaron1284 by that reasoning, if you're gonna go by width, I'd suggest elephant or even hippopotamus. How often do you see giraffes laying next to each other head to feet? ;-}
British people: Make fun of Americans for using other measuring systems. British people: Tw0 gIrRaFFes wIDe
2 giraffes = 8 Cheetas 1 cheeta = 6 rabbits 1 rabbit = 53 mice Ah, the good old animaletric measuring system.
Worked fine till cats started getting fat...
Lllllloooool😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 this had me rolling ahagagagahhaha
He referenced feet first
To be fair I think that was a joke. We usually user double-decker buses, the cricket pitches, football pitches, then Wales (the country, not the animal). This is also a joke, though true!
Maybe you should do an entire episode on Isambard Kingdom Brunel, his life and the projects he worked on. He really was an amazing engineer.
Hard to top Jeremy Clarkson's program on KB
@Adam Smith Give us all a brake. This guy and Clarkson both desecrate the name of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Maersk Triple E class container ships... Not just one ship, but a fleet of 31 monsters
9:55 "This was about as bad a start as You can imagine!" The Vasa puts on its best "I'm not here, don't look at me, I never happened!" expression.
Same for the RMS Titanic. Also, the Titanic's Captain Edward Smith was previously the captain of the Titanic's sister ship the RMS Olympic when she collided with HMS Wolfe while leaving port.
The SS Principessa Jolanda too, since she was launched fully fitted out without ballast and had sank due this XD
Brunel has been one of my engineering heroes my whole life. The innovations he made set the path for many of the standards and practices today. The fact that a number of his feats stand tall and proud today are a testament to his skill!
The story of Brunel's death is a bit more tragic than you let on. The boiler explosion and deaths upset him so much that he suffered a fatal heart attack. So, in a way, the Great Eastern killed him, although his design was eventually largely vindicated.
Time Team did an episode on the Great Eastern. They studied the remains of the slipway (still there) and found an error had been made when the slipway was built which caused the vessel not to be launched as planned. Basically there was a high point and the ships total weight was resting on one spot.
Megaproject Suggestion. Longest deep bore ice core in Antarctica. Took years, loads of drama with it and they found some cool stuff like a fresh water lake under the ice containing previously unknown lifeforms. Would go Well with the other hole projects that are popular Speaking of deep holes, how about the Kidd Mine as well?
I’ve never heard of this one! I’d love to see this too!
I see this so much in the comments. Sounds interesting.
yes please
Ha deep holes!
@@jameszipp6673 We like em deep, we like em holey.
You forgot about the entire period of the Great Easterns history where it sat idle on the shore, reduced to being a gigantic billboard.
he also didnt mention the story of the deaths during her construction, nor the story of two bodies sealed between the hulls during construction, the skeletons found during her deconstruction... (note: i believe the story is just a legend, but it wouldnt surprise me if it were true... plus its an interesting part of the ships history)
....And, the temporary repair after striking the Great Eastern Rock and opening up the hull. It was done before the ship could return to England.
@@CrazyPetez And the fact that the ship was saved by her double hull.
@@spartan09_Oni Its curious cus, When I was a kid like in kiddergarten i was fascinated by titanic and so i shearched by info arround the matter I then discovered ss great eastern, I knew there was the need for two rebitors(?) To be in both sides of a plate to unify them so I questoned myself as a kid *how could they have put the last plate if there would not be a exit* i as a kid believed someone would have needen to sacrifice themsefs for that (a morbid thought) later abandoned that idea but today i got back to the *ss great eastern and find this* . No worry its a legend mutch debunked
UK: Hey US check out this bigass ship we just made! US currently undergoing a civil war: Uh neat, kinda busy tho.
Also the US: Hey Everybody! Check out my aircraft carrier!
Yep
@@BlackEpyon my 20 aircraft carriers*
Interestingly, the iconic photo of Brunel with the giant chains behind him was taken at Millwall yard.
Didn’t he collapse just after that photo?
@@Erakius323 i saw a documentary maaany years ago and i do believe you are right
Missed it, was mesmerized by that fascinating eggskull
Yes he did Master Erakius. (great name pal), honestly.
@@scotmac5143 Thank you. It matches my narcissistic and arrogant nature perfectly. :) It was a damm shame what happened to his ship.
Excellent introduction to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but you did rather forget to mention that his father, Marc Brunel, was an absolute titan in the world of engineering himself. It really did run in the family.
He was mentioned during his biographics channel. Only issue was he was crap at finances though a genius on engineering.
Yeah, that’s more of a Biographics detail on Brunel himself. Highly recommend his video. 🙂
Yes. There used to be a display - at Greenwich, I think - of the machines that Marc Brunel developed to produce blocks and sheaves (pulleys) for sailing ships. The Royal Navy of the day used hundreds of thousands of these, and of course they wore out, cracked, or were destroyed by flying chunks of iron fired by rude strangers. Brunel took what had been basically a "one-off every time" device, and built a whole system of machines that formed a uniform production line, each machine doing just one thing. Wood went in one end, and finished pulley blocks came out the other. The models were really interesting, and I hope the display still exists. (Note to Henry Ford: sorry, you didn't invent the idea of an assembly line using machinery). I came across the Marc Brunel display by accident; I had gone to see one of the original Harrison #1 or #2 chronometers. And come to think of it, Harrison's Chronometer really was another engineering masterpiece, and qualifies as a technology Mega-Project. although not physically large. Harrison was truly a wizard.
Still waiting for the episode on Simon's beard.. the pinnacle, of Mega Projects.
Followed by Simons glasses, and then Simon's joint rolling skills!
Eeeewhat. Yes! The creams the dews. The stuff you talk bout on doller shave club but for your man sail.
@@derrekvanee4567 You forgot the butter. He likes to make sure he is covered in butter first before he lubes up his dry bits.
Simon's wife cancelled the megabeard project.
@@rockets4kids lmao! nice
Jules Verne in 1871 wrote a novel after a trip on board the Great Eastern . It's title is a floating city .
It's said that plates from the Great Eastern can still be found in the mud off Rock Ferry on the Wirral (opposite Liverpool)
I’ve actually seen a documentary where they found a piece. I want to buy some lol
While the ship had problems, the fact it survived them when they surely would have sunk any other is a testament to it's design genius.
Trains don't ride so well on aquaducts...
Of course they do! You just got to keep the speed up and the course straight... Or freeze them over and do the Polar Express drifting thing! :D
Aquaducts or viaducts?
You beat me to a rant on the rail aqueductics plus the Thames tunnel was surely started by his father Marc, with another engineer credited for the tunneling shield ?
The steam engines needed water to make the steam and for cooling. Where else would you get water if not from an aqueduct.
They ride fine for a short while, but then you get a sinking feeling.
There was a paranormal twist to the Great Eastern story. Decades ago in high school, i read a ghost book that had about it. Supposedly, the reason for all the bad luck with the ship was that she was haunted/cursed by those who died building her. It was said that one could hear pounding and muffled screams from the double hull. When she was scrapped, two skeletons were found in the space between the double hulls along with shipbuilding tools.
You should know that some books are purely works of fiction written for entertainment and, while taking place at real locations, are not based on facts or even actual rumours.
I read that story too. Given that Simon didn't even mention it I doubt there's any truth to it. Pretty sure that 'worker trapped between the hulls' meme has appeared a lot since the advent of iron and steel shipbuilding.
To be honest because of great eastern we had Lusitania, Mauretania, the Olympic class and all of he others great ocean liners. Because of this guy that made so much for developing England In the XIX century we have not only the ships as we know today but a huge number of any other things. So thanks so much rich eccentric English engineer.
... of French origins.
@@dinos9607 Father French, mother English.
@@stevenlowe3026 And of course ethnicity comes from father. Granted, Brunel felt British not French so there you have it.
Sadly, if the 'unsinkable' Titanic had incorporated the Great Eastern's double-hull, things might have turned out much better for her passengers in 1912!
The gash was really deep. It might not have mattered.
@@TheCaptainSplatter Unlike reports in contemporary newspapers and 1950s movies, expert opinion today is that the Titanic did not suffer a long continuous gash, but most likely a series of punctures, sheared rivets and separated plates. Also, in addition to the double hull, the Great Eastern's watertight bulkheads extended up to the main deck, while many of the Titanic's only went up part-way. After the sinking, Titanic's sister-ship Olympic was pulled from service and internal hull-plating was added to extend the double-bottom into a double hull above the waterline, and several internal bulkheads were increased in height. My sources include the book "Falling Star", a history of the White Star Line, and the 1953 book "The Great Iron Ship" detailing the story of the Great Eastern. Interestingly, the Great Eastern did suffer a deep gash when it struck that uncharted rock off Long Island in 1861. It concluded it's voyage to New York with only a slight list, but might have wound up marooned there indefinitely, as no facilities existed in the US to handle a vessel that size, and with the Civil War raging, no 1-inch iron hull-plate was available to make the repairs. Eventually, some 7/8-inch boiler-plate was found, deemed acceptable, and a very unique method of 'underwater' repair was employed.
Would bet most Brits know his name, he did after all win that poll (putting him ahead of Newton, Maxwell and Hawking) and being British im one of them
He didn't win, he came second to Churchill.....
I agree with your name
Rather funny his father was French.
I would bet a good portion of them would only remember him because of his badass middle name.
@@exsappermadman25055 Well, by win i meant came second. Considering theres millions of Brits i would count anyone in the top 100 as winners :)
My 2nd Great Uncle, Capt. John F. Clooney began his ship-building career in Boston, MA. and later was employed on the SS Great Eastern, which helped lay the first telegraph cable beneath the Atlantic Ocean. He later had his own ship-building company in Moss Bluff, Louisiana and became one of the most prominent ship-builders of the area. He was well known to the traders all along the Gulf and Atlantic coast and was praised for his workmanship. He was presented with a piece of the Trans Atlantic cable as a souvenir, which he always treasured. He has an island on the Calcasieu River and a street named in his honor in Lake Charles, LA. .
The Great Eastern may have been "too big to sail," but it turned out to be just the right size to lay the Transatlantic Cable (in fact, no other ship at the time was large enough to carry that much cable.) And, since it was out of service for so long, the cable-laying company was able to get it for a song, which made it economical as well. Which just goes to show that even the most useless-looking of things can still have some uses.
I would say today's modern equivalent to the Great Eastern would be the Airbus A380; an enormous vessel built to carry huge amount of passengers but became a commercial failure.
Please do one of these on the Big Musky the largest drag line mining machine ever made.
Maybe The Captain, (the Marion 6360) as well!
Through out her existence people said to have heard a 'knocking' from her hull. It was always attributed to her steam engine, but when scrapped a skeleton was found between the double hull. It's been assumed that this was why the Great Eastern had been such an unlucky ship.
Bristolian here, Brunel is our city's hero! Back in the days when you could be an engineer for anything, bridges, rail lines, ships, harbors, hydrolic loch gates. He did it all!
Speaking of ships, how about making a video about Dreadnaught. It's the kinda first of its kind and the rest is history.
HMS Dreadnought is a too big/too important project for this channel. Simon should create a new one - RevolutionaryProjects and add it there [maybe with renault FT and Maxim gun]
@@grlt23 ..........and a Citreon 2CV (Lol)
Drachinfel has a whole lot on this.
@@ferky123 Drachinfel has a lot on anything that floated and had gun at any point of time... This guy can take 19th century russian repair ship and make a video about it - and make it so good that it become instant meme.... XD
HMS Dreadnaught had a remarkably short and uneventful career for such a revolutionary deign. The ship was out of date even before WW I began. It was relegated to coastal guard and convoy escort duty, and was one of the first British ships scrapped under the Washington Naval Treaty. She became a victim of her own success, everyone wanted a bigger and better version as soon as they understood how important she was.
I suggested this a few weeks ago! So happy that you finally got around to make a Megaprojects video about this ship. Thank you - love the channel :)
This ship sounds a lot like another in a maritime story I read as a child some 50 years ago. Most of this ships life sounds just like that story with a few details changed though. 1st the cause of the disasters was attributed to the ghost of a worker inadvertently sealed between the hulls, his hammer could be heard tapping inside the hulls, he was never retrieved. Preceding each disaster the tapping of the hammer was heard throughout the ship. The boiler explosion rings a bell and an incident related to the cable laying operation, specifically the failure of the ship to stop in time to make a splice from one cable coil to the next before losing the end over the stern. Retrieving the cable end took weeks of activity. Finally during ship breaking the skeleton of the riveter was found between the hulls. Thanks for another great video. Really enjoyed it.
The SS United States would make a great video. One of the last great ocean liners, potential weapon in WW3, fastest passenger ship ever, it's got everything you need!
And a cameo in the movie The Munsters goes to Europe.
@Jan Brady she was built to Navy specs in case the government needed a giant troopship in another war, the way the Royal Navy used British liners before. That's why she has such a strong hull and was so crazy fast.
@@Alexanderthe_Ok One detail that's stuck in my memory about her fitting out was her designer's insistence on developing a grand piano made of Aluminum, to save weight. That by itself must have been a challenge.
Mr Isembard Kingdom Brunel is definitely one of my favorite historic characters ever
Isambard Kingdom Brunel He sure could engineer well
For a Biographics video???
@@russellfitzpatrick503 nah he's mentioned in this one. The ship was his idea, he was in charge of building it. My comment is a reference to another channel.
Is this a Sweet reference? "Alexander Graham Bell he did know darn well that he could find the only way to talk across the USA: Telephone, telephone never be on your own! Many many years ago he started something with his first 'hello, hello'..."
@@vaclav_fejt Nah that's from MrWeebl
Jeremy Clarkson did a great video on Brunel. It was on KZhead. Doesn't shy away from his various issues either, mainly regarding finances.
Correction; The gap between the inner and outer hulls was what was 0.86 meters WIDE! Thus the outer hull was NOT 0.86 meters "thick". Annnnd some of the script explaining the "Spec.'s" of the ship are explained wrong, particularly that of "Bulkhead(s)" orientation/placement as affixed to the "Inner Hull"! BUT this channel is still a super fun channel to watch...very informative, the production values are top notch! Carry on...as you were....
You forgot the ghost story. According to legend, she had a non stop clanging coming from the hull. Something loose that was swinging as the ship rocked, they figured. But while she was being scraped, the skeletons of two riveters were found between the hulls, having been accidently sealed in during construction. Both of them holding hammers, of course.
I remember a book in our school library when I was a kid. It was about ghosts and the supernatural. There was a story about people that died building this ship, causing knocking sounds from being sealed inside a panel on the ship.
it was on the Titanic,john smitherson. on the great eastern,legend says it was two men,but...not clear,there where reports on newspapers that they found the bodies when scrapped,but...
I did read somewhere that the remains of children were found between the hulls when she was scrapped. They used to use them to distribute rivets. Evidently a corner was cut somewhere and the poor souls found themselves trapped in the darkness off the hull. Sorry for the grim factoid.
@@jjskn93 yes, 2 workers, a man and his boy assistant went missing. Their remains were found trapped in the double hull when the ship was broken up.
When they dismantled this ship they discovered a skeleton of a worker in the keel area.Superstitous people believed it was the cause of the bad luck this ship faced during its years of service.
The story of a riveter and his young helper being trapped inside the double hull and their bodies being found when the ship was scrapped was told, many years ago, on the TV show "Ripley´s Believe it or Not", hosted by Jack Palance. I would be gratful if someone could provide some reference supporting this story.
I recently heard this story on the Dork-O-Motive podcast. Because of the format, the host could go into a lot more detail. The runtime is nearly 1 1/2 hours. Brunel and his creations were and are absolutely fascinating!
As I already mentioned on your SideProjects channel, I love watching things about history. And obviously I love watching your channels. It's a great distraction during these times, so keep up the good work, thank you Simon and your crew :)
one of the greatest ships ever... how would they have laid the cables without this ship?
Watch their video on the transatlantic cables
By splicing cables carried by multiple ships together.
@@calvingreene90 I imagine using one big ship was more convenient.
@@TheCaptainSplatter From my reading of laying the initial transatlantic cables that is why they used the Great Eastern.
@@calvingreene90 There was still a problem. Only the Great Eastern had the coal capacity to reach Australia. Which meant that it had the coal capacity to stay on station while laying the cable. It would have been difficult with ships that only had limited coal supplies. They may have needed sailing ships to bring replenishment during the laying process.
This is exactly the type of MegaProject I'm looking for. Lots of cool, important stuff to learn, not too long, and a bittersweet ending.
A Good idea would be an episode of the Ships of State during the Depression Era from 1929-39. This includes Germany’s SS Bremen and SS Europa, Italy’s SS Rex, France’s SS Normandie, and England’s RMS Queen Mary. Each ship was a revolution of ship building and also proved to be symbolic of the world leading up to the Second World War.
BBC’s “Seven wonders of the industrial world” series (I think it’s from the early to mid-2000’s?) has an excellent episode about this ship. And the sewers designed by Bazalgette, the Hoover Dam, the Bell Rock lighthouse, the Panama Canal, the Brooklyn Bridge and America’s transcontinental railway. Highly recommend watching if you can find it. It used to be on Netflix, but no longer for where I live. (And the DVDs are long out of print!)
hey at least she helped in the telecommunication development with her placing the telegraph cables under the sea, that is important too.
Especially seeing how many times they dropped it, lost it, dropped it again then fished it back out again.
I love how there are still many who know about this truly magnificent vessel
I think you should cover the Fletcher class destroyers of the us navy. Although the ships themselfs weren't exactly incredible like the yamato however they were the most mass produced destroyers of ww2. I'd really love to see you make a video about them
Very informative videos simon.. a pleasure to watch
Quick note about the Great Eastern's launch. It was actually the result of uneven winching between the bow and stern, allowing the ship to slide down the slipway at an angle and become stuck. At one point, Brunel, desperate to save his ship and his dwindling reputation (not to mention being in serious danger of needing to sell his house and all worldly possessions to pay for the project's completion) employed every hydraulic ram in the UK at the time and all of the industrial sized chain that the Royal Navy would lend him only to watch the rams explode one by one and the chains snap. Eventually Brunel was forced to send a plea for help to his lifelong engineering rival but otherwise dear friend Robert Stephenson. Rising from his own death bed, Stephenson joined Brunel at Millwall and helped devise the system that would coax the Great Eastern into the Thames tide by tide. It would be the last engineering achievement by either man; Brunel died 15 Sept. 1859, with Stephenson following 12 Oct.
Now i understand why Jeremy Clarkson used the term extremely "Brunelian" when describing certain Bentleys
Please do a Megaprojects video on the Bristol Brabazon.
I find Brunel to be absolutely fascinating. That man could engineer and design like no one before him. I really think that Brunel was a man born much, much too early. His "atmospheric system" for trains was actually brilliant. Too bad the synthetic materials it required hadn't yet been invented. Even if it had worked, it would have been superceded by things such as mag-lev, but it certainly would have revolutionised railways in Britain. I think his Great Eastern was incredible. Had she been allowed to realise her full potential. she would have been the first means of non-stop travel between the UK and Australia, voyage of at least 10,000 miles--that's almost halfway around the globe. I think it's hard to appreciate such an innovation in an age when nonstop travel from the UK to Australia is done routinely, wich is why some might think that the Great Eastern's size was ridiculous. I don't think it was when you take into account the vast stores of coal and food/water needed to make her voyages non-stop. It's sad that she was never allowed to show what she could do. Only one person here, but I would have been more than happy to have been able to sail non-stop from the UK to Australia. There are a couple of interesting parallels between Brunel and Thomas Andrews of Titanic fame. Both built ships that were the biggest at the time of launch. Both had innovative ideas for ships and both were killed by their ships--Brunel because of the all the stress of getting the Great Eastern built and launched, which resulted in Brunel's Bright's disease (nephritis) and stroke. Yes, he was a heavy smoker but all the stress from the Great Eastern certainly didn't help. And Andrews died during the sinking of the Titanic. he only thing I don't get is why Brunel decided to go with paddlewheels and a single propeller when the SS Great Britain (another Brunel ship) had only a single propeller. Maybe because of the Great Eastern's greatly increased size and displacement? That's the only reason I can think of. Nevertheless, both ships were magnificent and ahead of their time.
Simon you should make a video about the 1893 Columbian Exposition/the White City in Chicago! It’s a great story about architecture, overcoming engineering challenges, and its sudden tragic end. It would make a perfect video for mega projects
You should do a mega project on the Bruckless Footpath. It’s about 20 meters long and 3 meters wide for so reason.
"It took almost 1 men and over 4 kilos of concrete" 🤣
@@khutikhuti aye 😂
Yes 8000hp sounds like much but when you compare to a modern ocean liner, they produce around 110.000hp. And a top fuel dragster produces 10.000hp.
Back in the 1800s though ............
@@russellfitzpatrick503 Yes 8000hp is pretty impressive considering it was in the 1800's. And with steam power.
A modern ocean liner is massive, so you need a horse power to displacement ratio (dont know if thats an official thing, but from the little i know its how id measure it). Sort of like how some cars will tell you a horsepower to weight ratio. A heavy car with a big engine wont go as fast as a light car with a big engine
Simon, your voice and personality are very comforting my friend! Good job!
It is also the ship which Jules Vernes used to travel to the US in 1867. He wrote a book about it "Une ville flottante" (a floating city)
There's a Jules Verne book about that ship: The floating city.
I'm looking this book up thanks!
Jules Verne sailed on the Great Eastern, experienced the great ship’s tremendous rolling.
Him and that damn CIGAR!!!!!!!
Really enjoy your delivery and presentation Simon.
fun fact, a piece of her original forward funnel that was blown off by the explosion is still preserved at a museum. Another fact, despite the ship having very weak propulsion mechanisms (propeller, rudder, and paddles) when it came to scrapping the ship, it was discovered that her hull was extremely well built and that the only good methods of breaking her apart was by using an iron wrecking ball. breaking the ship apart was not a clean task and over at the sight where she was broken up you can still find fragments of her hull plates that were disposed poorly years ago.
On another nautical note, I'd recommend the USN's Los Angeles Class of attack submarines. These were the boats built to hunt Typhoons and outfight any attack submarine or surface vessel the Soviets could put out. They're the most numerous class of nuclear submarine ever built, and enormously capable. They were the quietest, fastest, and smartest submarines of their day, and the later variants are still in their prime, scattered across the world's oceans escorting missile subs, tapping undersea cables, and just generally being the closest thing on this planet to an honest-to-god starship.
.40 seconds that's in my home town, there is a wooden model in the old cable station which is now a museum
Nice. Was looking forward to this one.
This is what is so interesting about 19th century enginnering. They were very forward thinking and their prototypes for all sorts of inventions and megaprojects were startling. One of my favorites is the Beach Pneumatic Subway.
I don't know why you say his reputation has dimmed. He is immensely famous.
Suggestion: The reversal in flow of the Chicago River.
Thank you for the metric measurement translations! Great video, as always!
Wonderful! There’s so little on KZhead about Brunel’s masterpiece. Thank you.
Suggestions: the Messmer-plan in France the EPR the Taymyr (or Rosatomflot in general), the internet, the british empire, Windscale/Sellafield
Jesus can’t even Learn about a ship for 5 minutes without KZhead commercials
fantastic! this is a huge improvement over your first videos!!! loved it!
Thank you Simon for making it..
Since were in the topic of ships Please cover the SS Normandie the biggest turbo electric Powered ship ever built as well as a former blue riband holder of the atlantic and also one of the biggest transatlantic liners ever built.
Suggestion for Simon: USS Hornet and the Jimmy Doolittle Raid.
This would be good for two unique Megaprojects reasons: A WWII U.S. aircraft carrier, and how the minds at the time had to "un-mega" several long range bombers in order to accomplish the mission.
b-25 mitchell special
@@spliffburger8798 thanks, I couldn't remember which bomber type it was and wasn't compelled to look it up.
really enjoy your content and your channel
I have a piece of the great Eastern, as I live near new ferry where the ship was broke up there are still remnants in the mersey you can find at low tide. I have even managed to locate what piece of it I have , it's a piece of the decking plate as it has a 4and half inch angle iron beam which was used to join the deck to the hull. It's in a display case in my garage.
MEGA PROJECT suggestion: the ss United States, the fastest oceanliner ever put to sail to this day
It was a bit like Concorde: an technical success, but a financial failure as it had no running mate and came just as jet travel across the Atlantic started.
@@shebbs1 it technically did have a running mate in the ss America but the America was significantly slower so it made it harder to arrange their schedules
I first heard of this ship in an old Ripley's Believe it or Not book. It was allegedly haunted.
I lived in New Ferry on the wirral merseyside next to the great eastern pub, which had some of the ships original wooden figments installed in the pub,, the pub was knocked down quite a few years ago though
I've watched a lot of Simon's videos and I will keep doing so. He gives off the same vibe as the late '90s and early 2000's History and Science Channel which I watched as a kid religiously. I wish those channels would go back to these types of shows.
Tomcat and Aim 54 please!!
Tomcat, the Java application server? I didn't know that the AOL Instant Messenger ever reached version 54. Neither of them are Megaprojects material... More context please!
Talk to me Goose.
@@johnniemiec3286 No real geese anywhere to be found. Google did talk to me and said something about fighter jets. Really? Are we that shallow? Shouldn't Simon consider renaming the channel into "Military Aircraft Projects" first? Go ahead, press the dislike button on my comment...
@@johnniemiec3286 MAVERICK!?! PULL UP!!!
Tomcat, Aim-54 and Intel 4004 CPU. All in one variable-sweep wing, supersonic, supersexy fighter aircraft.
gobekli tepe! Probably impossible to do, its so old.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel - when your parents decide to name you after a random word and darts game with the world map.
It was the first boat in history to exceed the dimensions of the legendary Noah's Ark. Just years before, a ship that size was thought technically impossible to create. It took a man like Brunel to think the impossible. One of the really striking things about the SS Great Eastern was just how well built its double hull was. The hole in its side caused by the Great Eastern Rock was absolutely mammoth, yet there was no danger of it sinking as a result. Most of the passengers weren't even aware there'd even been an accident. By comparison a much smaller rip in the hull sent the RMS Titanic to the bottom of the Atlantic. Its paddle-wheel/screw propeller combo was also a major success, and gave the ship manoeuvrability that craft a fraction of its size would be envious of. It's true, the SS Great Eastern was built 40 years too soon. It could carry 5X the passenger numbers of its competitors, but there was no demand for 5x the volume of people seeking voyage. It would have been a big hit in 1900 but by that time the SS Great Eastern had long since gone to the breaker's yard. Like a number of Brunel's ideas (such as the Atmospheric Railway which was essentially the same concept as the Hyperloop), he was designing for a future he knew was coming but didn't realise how long it would take to reach it.
Brunel was an engineer way ahead of the time.
Wait, what about the grizzly tale of the 2 ship yard workers that went missing? When the ship was finally broken up, their 2 skeletons were found sealed between the double hull.
That called going down with the ship😰
@bademeister thank you for the insight,
This is one of your best presentations. Brunel has always fascinated me.
Thank you for this video, was waiting to see you cover this early construction.
When "S.S. Great Eastern" comes up, I think of "transatlantic telegraph cable."
Fun fact: 2:12 "the world's longest tunnel, the Box Tunnel" The sunrise shines along the tunnel on Brunel's birthday. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Tunnel#Brunel%27s_birthday
There was a story that a riveter and his assistant were accidentally sealed inside the double hull. It was said that crewmen over the years reported hearing pounding deep within the ship. When the ship was being scrapped, the breakers discover the skeletal remains of the unfortunate pair.
You beat me to it - thank you.🙂 I was surprised this didn't get a mention. 🤔
I know it's a myth, but such stories are interesting and entertaining. As for men not being occasionally entombed during the construction of double hulled ships, especially during the early days of such ship building, stories of it happening are not uncommon, which, despite the efforts taken to prevent it, suggests it did happen on occasion. Did the ghosts of such unfortunates haunt or curse the ship, as was claimed in the case of the Great Eastern? Of course not. But maritime stories are full of haunted and cursed ships. It's part of the fun.
In my encyclopedia of ships I’ve got many well worn pages. The Great Eastern is one of them. Beautiful ship. Imagine what it would have been like to see it in the day. That said, it comes in what, around the size of a South Dakota class battleship? And that’s something I’m very very familiar with, having grown up seeing the Massachusetts every year.
Wasn't paying attention to my phone while drinking coffee, thought you said "mega sh*t". Almost lost it.
To be fair, she did lay a heap of cable.
You made several mistakes about him. The Thames Tunnel was his father's design & the Clifton bridge was finished by others after he died & the design was changed. He was a serious dude but even for him, facts matter.
Great Eastern was built using a system of double plating, to create an inner and outer hull skin arrangement. This was to create strength and had added benefit of reducing the possibilities of sinking in case of outer hull breach.. Had this system been used in the construction of Titanic 60 odd years later......
Nice! Not seen some of the pics before. The final story about the ship, was that during scrapping (allegedly) the skeletons of two workers were found in double hull.