84-447: Autumn Oaks is a late 19th-century painting by American artist George Inness . Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a grove of oak trees in the American countryside. Inness painted Autumn Oaks almost immediately after his return from a four-year trip to Europe during which he painted many naturalistic works. As opposed to some of his earlier works, Inness painted Autumn Oaks with
168-466: A total solar eclipse in 1865 while passing the coastline of Brazil en route from Australia to England; they were able to observe stars in the daytime . On 8 October 1868 The Argus reported "To-day, at daylight, the fine steamship Great Britain will leave her anchorage in Hobson's Bay, for Liverpool direct. On this occasion she carries less than her usual complement of passengers, the season not being
252-618: A "stream of thought", as well as his ideas concerning how mystical experience shapes one's perspective toward nature. Inness was the subject of a major retrospective in 1884, organized by the American Art Association , which brought him acclaim in the United States. He earned international fame when he received a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition . After Inness settled in Montclair, New Jersey in 1885, and particularly in
336-613: A dull start, the weather brightened with only a few intermittent showers. The atmosphere of the day can best be gauged from a report the following day in The Bristol Mirror : Large crowds started to gather early in the day including many people who had travelled to Bristol to see the spectacle. There was a general atmosphere of anticipation as the Royal Emblem was unfurled. The processional route had been cleaned and Temple Street decorated with flags, banners, flowers and ribbons. Boys of
420-454: A favourite one with colonists desiring to visit their native land. Great Britain , however, has a full cargo, and carries gold to the value of about £250,000. As she is in fine trim, we shall probably have, in due time, to congratulate Captain Gray on having achieved another successful voyage." Gray died under mysterious circumstances, going missing overnight during a return voyage from Melbourne, on
504-612: A map engraver in New York City, first for Sherman & Smith, and then N. Currier. During this time he attracted the attention of French landscape painter Régis François Gignoux , with whom he subsequently studied. Throughout the mid-1840s he also attended classes at the National Academy of Design , and studied the work of Hudson River School artists Thomas Cole and Asher Durand ; "If," Inness later recalled thinking, "these two can be combined, I will try." He debuted his work at
588-489: A mathematical, structural approach to composition: "The poetic quality is not obtained by eschewing any truths of fact or of Nature...Poetry is the vision of reality." Inness died in 1894 at Bridge of Allan in Scotland. According to his son, he was viewing the sunset, when he threw up his hands into the air and exclaimed, "My God! oh, how beautiful!" , fell to the ground, and died minutes later. A public funeral for Inness
672-447: A number of advantages of iron over the traditional wooden hull. Wood was becoming more expensive, while iron was getting cheaper. Iron hulls were not subject to dry rot or woodworm , and they were also lighter in weight and less bulky. The chief advantage of the iron hull was its much greater structural strength. The practical limit on the length of a wooden-hulled ship is about 300 ft (91 m), after which hogging —the flexing of
756-439: A pair of smaller, lighter and more modern oscillating engines, with 82.5-inch (210 cm) cylinders and 6-foot (180 cm) stroke, built by John Penn & Sons of Greenwich . They were also provided with more support at the base and supported further by the addition of both iron and wood beams running transversely across the hull, which had the added benefit of reducing engine vibration. The cumbersome chain-drive gearing
840-413: A prestigious new customer for his own company, agreed to lend Archimedes to Brunel for extended tests. Over several months, Smith and Brunel tested a number of different propellers on Archimedes to find the most efficient design, a four-bladed model submitted by Smith. Having satisfied himself as to the advantages of screw propulsion, Brunel wrote to the company directors to persuade them to embark on
924-571: A private gentleman, was accompanied by his equerry -in-waiting, personal secretary, the Marquess of Exeter , and Lords Wharncliffe , Liverpool , Lincoln and Wellesley . Introductions were made, followed by the "Address to His Royal Highness the Prince Albert", by the town clerk, D. Burgess. Honours were then bestowed on him by the Society of Merchant Venturers , and there were speeches from members of
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#17329021755651008-613: A prolific career that spanned more than forty years and 1,000 paintings, his works consistently earned acclaim for their powerful, coordinated efforts to elicit depth of mood, atmosphere, and emotion. Neither pure realist nor impressionist , Inness was a transitional figure. He worked to combine both the earthly and the ethereal in order to capture the complete essence of a locale in his works. A master of light, color, and shadow, he became noted for creating highly ordered and complex scenes that often juxtaposed hazy or blurred elements with sharp and refined details to evoke an interweaving of both
1092-568: A richer palette, and more focus on lighting and color contrasts as opposed to detail. Inness' painting was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by George I. Seney in 1887, and remains in the Met's collection. This Metropolitan Museum of Art article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was an American landscape painter . Now recognized as one of
1176-546: A screw shaft of 25 ft (7.6 m) in length and with a diameter of 16 inches (41 cm) at the stern. Total length of the three shafts was 130 ft (40 m), and the total weight 38 tons. The shaft was geared upward at a ratio of 1 to 3, so that at the engines' normal operating speed of 18 rpm, the propeller turned at a speed of 54 rpm. The initial propeller was a six-bladed "windmill" model of Brunel's own design, 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter and with pitch of 25 ft (7.6 m). The interior
1260-412: A second chance encounter occurred, the arrival of the revolutionary SS Archimedes at Bristol, the first screw-propelled steamship, completed only a few months before by Francis Pettit Smith 's Propeller Steamship Company. Brunel had been looking into methods of improving the performance of Great Britain ' s paddlewheels , and took an immediate interest in the new technology. Smith, sensing
1344-502: A second major design change, abandoning the paddlewheel engines (already half-constructed) for completely new engines suitable for powering a propeller. Brunel listed the advantages of the screw propeller over the paddlewheel as follows: Brunel's arguments proved persuasive, and in December 1840, the company agreed to adopt the new technology. The decision became a costly one, setting the ship's completion back by nine months. Reporting on
1428-516: A set of four massive inverted-tooth or "silent" chains, operated the smaller secondary gear near the keel, which turned the propeller shaft. This was the first commercial use of silent chain technology, and the individual silent chains installed in Great Britain are thought to have been the largest ever constructed. Great Britain ' s main propeller shaft, built by the Mersey Iron Works,
1512-609: A shilling each to inspect her. She operated on the England–Australia route for almost 30 years, interrupted only by two relatively brief sojourns as a troopship during the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny . Gradually, she earned a reputation as the most reliable of the emigrant ships to Australia and carried the first English cricket team to tour Australia in 1861. Alexander Reid, writing in 1862, recorded some statistics of
1596-465: A similar plan to the after saloons, with the upper "promenade" saloon having 36 berths per side and the lower 30, totalling 132. Further forward, separate from the passenger saloons, were the crew quarters. The overall finish of the passenger quarters was unusually restrained for its time, a probable reflection of the proprietors' diminishing capital reserves. Total cost of construction of the ship, not including £53,000 for plant and equipment to build her,
1680-433: A single white stripe running the length of the hull highlighting a row of false gunports. The hull was flat-bottomed, with no external keel , and with bulges low on each side amidships which continued toward the stern in an unusual implementation of tumblehome —a result of the late decision to install propeller engines, which were wider at the base than the originally planned paddlewheel engines. Brunel, anxious to ensure
1764-415: A stop at Bristol. Brunel dispatched his associates Christopher Claxton and William Patterson to make a return voyage to Antwerp on Rainbow to assess the utility of the new building material. Both men returned as converts to iron-hulled technology, and Brunel scrapped his plans to build a wooden ship and persuaded the company directors to build an iron-hulled ship. Great Britain ' s builders recognised
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#17329021755651848-647: A storage hulk (coal bunker) until 1937, when she was towed to Sparrow Cove , 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Port Stanley, scuttled and abandoned. As a bunker, she coaled the South Atlantic fleet that defeated Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee 's fleet in the First World War Battle of the Falkland Islands . In the Second World War , some of her iron was scavenged to repair HMS Exeter , one of
1932-510: A studio there above that of painter William Page , who likely introduced the artist to Swedenborgianism . He returned to America with his wife on the SS Great Britain in May 1852. In 1853 he was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1868. During trips to Paris in the early 1850s, Inness came under the influence of artists working in
2016-469: A typical voyage. The ship, with a crew of 143, put out from Liverpool on 21 October 1861, carrying 544 passengers (including the English cricket team that was the first to visit Australia), a cow, 36 sheep, 140 pigs, 96 goats and 1,114 chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. The journey to Melbourne (her ninth) occupied 64 days, during which the best day's run was 354 miles and the worst 108. With favourable winds
2100-481: Is a museum ship and former passenger steamship that was advanced for her time. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1853. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859), for the Great Western Steamship Company 's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York City. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller , Great Britain
2184-410: Is this last quality in particular which distinguishes Inness from those painters of like sympathies who are characterized as Luminists . In a published interview, Inness maintained that "The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist's own spiritual nature." His abiding interest in spiritual and emotional considerations did not preclude Inness from undertaking a scientific study of color, nor
2268-516: The Barbizon school of France. Barbizon landscapes were noted for their looser brushwork, darker palette, and emphasis on mood. Inness quickly became the leading American exponent of Barbizon-style painting, which he developed into a highly personal style. In 1854 during one of these trips, his son George Inness, Jr. , who also became a landscape painter of note, was born in Paris. In the mid-1850s, Inness
2352-545: The Tonalist movement but also displayed an original and uniquely American style. George Inness was born in Newburgh, New York . He was the fifth of thirteen children born to John William Inness, a farmer, and his wife, Clarissa Baldwin. His family moved to Newark, New Jersey when he was about five years of age. In 1839 he studied for several months with an itinerant painter, John Jesse Barker. In his teens, Inness worked as
2436-447: The spar (upper) deck , a crew of 120, and was fitted to accommodate a total of 360 passengers, along with 1,200 tons of cargo and 1,200 tons of coal for fuel. Like other steamships of the era, Great Britain was provided with secondary sail power, consisting of one square-rigged and five schooner -rigged masts—a relatively simple sail plan designed to reduce the number of crew required. The masts were of iron, fastened to
2520-595: The Bristol clergy. The royal party then had breakfast and, after 20 minutes, reappeared to board horse-drawn carriages. At noon, the Prince arrived at the Great Western Steamship yard only to find the ship already "launched" and waiting for royal inspection. He boarded the ship, took refreshments in the elegantly decorated lounge then commenced his tour of inspection. He was received in the ship's banqueting room where all
2604-731: The City School and girls of Red Maids were stationed in a neat orderly formation down the entire length of the Exchange. The route was a mass of colour and everybody was out on the streets as it was a public holiday. The atmosphere of gaiety even allowed thoughts to drift away from the problems of political dissension in London. Prince Albert arrived at 10 a.m. at the Great Western Railway terminus. The royal train , conducted by Brunel himself, had taken two hours and forty minutes from London. There
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2688-781: The English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers . Now listed as part of the National Historic Fleet , Great Britain is a visitor attraction and museum ship in Bristol Harbour , with between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors annually. After the initial success of its first liner, SS Great Western of 1838, the Great Western Steamship Company collected materials for a sister ship, tentatively named City of New York . The same engineering team that had collaborated so successfully on Great Western — Isambard Brunel , Thomas Guppy, Christopher Claxton and William Patterson —was again assembled. This time however, Brunel, whose reputation
2772-630: The National Academy in 1844. Inness opened his first studio in New York in 1848. In 1849, he married Delia Miller, who died a few months later. The next year he married Elizabeth Abigail Hart, with whom he would have six children. In 1851 a patron named Ogden Haggerty sponsored Inness's first trip to Europe to paint and study. Inness spent fifteen months in Rome , where he studied landscapes by French artists Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin . He rented
2856-549: The New York run. After only one further round trip she was sold again, to Antony Gibbs & Sons , which planned to place her into England–Australia service. Antony Gibbs & Sons may have intended to employ Great Britain only to exploit a temporary demand for passenger service to the Australian goldfields following the discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 , but she found long-term employment on this route. For her new role, she
2940-480: The avoidance of hogging in a vessel of such unprecedented size, designed the hull to be massively redundant in strength. Ten longitudinal iron girders were installed along the keel, running from beneath the engines and boiler to the forward section. The iron ribs were 6 by 3 inches (15.2 cm × 7.6 cm) in size. The iron keel plates were an inch thick, and the hull seams were lapped and double riveted in many places. Safety features, which also contributed to
3024-402: The bows. Unfortunately, the steam packet Avon had started to tow the ship into the harbour and the bottle fell about 10 feet (3.0 m) short of its target and dropped unbroken into the water. A second bottle was rapidly obtained and the Prince hurled it against the iron hull. In her haste, Avon had started her work before the shore warps had been released. The tow rope snapped and, due to
3108-454: The cargo capacity to be almost doubled, from 1,200 to 2,200 tons. The four-bladed propeller was replaced by a slightly smaller three-bladed model, and the bilge keels, previously added to reduce the tendency to roll, were replaced by a heavy external oak keel for the same purpose. The five-masted schooner sail-plan was replaced by four masts, two of which were square-rigged. With the refit complete, Great Britain went back into service on
3192-458: The emotive use of color, these paintings placed Inness among the best and most successful landscape painters in America. In 1877 Inness built a home and studio at Tarpon Springs, Florida . He ignored the characteristic palm and painted what some considered the drab pine woods. His painting Early Morning – Tarpon Springs depicts this environment. Eventually Inness's art expressed the influence of
3276-492: The engines, with eight furnaces each – four at each end. In considering the gearing arrangement, Brunel had no precedent to serve as a guide. The gearing for Archimedes , of the spur-and-pinion type, had proven almost unbearably noisy, and would not be suitable for a passenger ship. Brunel's solution was to install a chain drive . On the crankshaft between Great Britain ' s two engines, he installed an 18-foot (5.5 m) diameter primary gearwheel, which, by means of
3360-481: The following year. In her second season of service in 1846, Great Britain successfully completed two round trips to New York at an acceptable speed, but was then laid up for repairs to one of her chain drums, which showed an unexpected degree of wear. Embarking on her third passage of the season to New York, her captain made a series of navigational errors that resulted in her being run hard aground in Dundrum Bay on
3444-444: The grounding, was completely renewed along a length of 150 feet (46 m), and the owners took the opportunity to further strengthen the hull. The old keelsons were replaced and 10 new ones laid, which ran the entire length of the keel. Both the bow and stern were also strengthened by heavy frames of double angle iron . Reflecting the rapid advances in propeller engine technology, the original engines were removed and replaced with
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3528-466: The harbour authorities finally agreed to the lock modifications, which began in late 1844. After being trapped in the harbour for more than a year, Great Britain was, at last, floated out in December 1844, but not before causing more anxiety for her proprietors. After passing successfully through the first set of lock gates, she jammed on her passage through the second, which led to the River Avon . Only
3612-537: The hull as waves pass beneath it—becomes too great. Iron hulls are far less subject to hogging so the potential size of an iron-hulled ship is much greater. The ship's designers, led by Brunel, were initially cautious in the adaptation of their plans to iron-hulled technology. With each successive draft however, the ship grew ever larger and bolder in conception. By the fifth draft, the vessel had grown to 3,400 long tons (3,500 t), over 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) larger than any ship then in existence. In early 1840,
3696-546: The last decade of his life, he expressed this mystical component by a more abstracted handling of shapes, softened edges, and saturated color ( October , 1886, Los Angeles County Museum of Art ), a profound and dramatic juxtaposition of sky and earth ( Early Autumn, Montclair , 1888, Montclair Art Museum ), an emphasis on the intimate landscape view ( Sunset in the Woods , 1891, Corcoran Gallery of Art ), and an increasingly personal, spontaneous, and often violent handling of paint. It
3780-424: The local dignitaries and their ladies were gathered. After the banquet and the toasts, he left for the naming ceremony. It had already been decided that the christening would be performed by Clarissa (1790–1868), wife of Philip John Miles (1773–1845) and mother of Bristol's MP, Philip William Skinner Miles (1816–1881), a director of the company. She stepped forward, grasped the champagne bottle and swung it towards
3864-591: The most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River School at the start of his career. He also studied the Old Masters , and artists of the Barbizon school during later trips to Europe. There he was introduced to the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg , which was significant for him; he expressed that spiritualism in the works of his maturity (1879–1894). Although Inness's style evolved through distinct stages over
3948-594: The night of 25/26 November 1872. On 22 December, she rescued the crew of the British brig Druid , which had been abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean. On 19 November 1874, she collided with the British ship Mysore in the Sloyne , losing an anchor and sustaining hull damage. Great Britain was on a voyage from Melbourne to Liverpool. In 1882 Great Britain was converted into a sailing ship to transport bulk coal. The work
4032-541: The northeast coast of Ireland on 22 September. There was no formal inquiry but it has been recently suggested by Dr Helen Doe in her book 'SS Great Britain' that it was mainly due to the captain not having updated charts, so that he mistook the new St John's light for the Calf light on the Isle of Man. She remained aground for almost a year, protected by temporary measures organised by Brunel and James Bremner . On 25 August 1847, she
4116-462: The panoramic and picturesque, topped by cloud-laden and threatening skies. It included views of his native country ( Autumn Oaks , 1878, Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Catskill Mountains , 1870, Art Institute of Chicago ), as well as scenes inspired by numerous travels overseas, especially to Italy and France ( The Monk , 1873, Addison Gallery of American Art ; Etretat , 1875, Wadsworth Atheneum ). In terms of composition, precision of drawing, and
4200-410: The physical and the spiritual nature of experience. In Inness's words, he attempted through his art to demonstrate the "reality of the unseen" and to connect the "visible upon the invisible." Within his lifetime, art critics hailed Inness as one of America's greatest artists. Often called "the father of American landscape painting," Inness is best known for his mature works that not only exemplified
4284-426: The prevailing record. She made the return trip in 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 days, again an unexceptional time. Brunel, who prior to commencement of service had substituted a six-bladed "windmill" design of his own for Smith's proven four-bladed propeller design, now decided to try to improve the speed by riveting an extra two inches of iron to each propeller blade. On her next crossing to New York, carrying 104 passengers,
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#17329021755654368-445: The resultant delay, the Prince was obliged to return to the railway station and miss the end of the programme. Following the launch ceremony, the builders had planned to have Great Britain towed to the Avon for her final fitting out. Unfortunately, the harbour authorities had failed to carry out the necessary modifications to their facilities in a timely manner. Exacerbating the problem,
4452-521: The saloon opened onto the stern windows. Broad iron staircases at both ends of the saloon ran to the main deck above and the dining saloon below. The saloon was painted in "delicate tints", furnished along its length with fixed chairs of oak , and supported by 12 decorated pillars. Beneath the after saloon was the main or dining saloon, 98 ft 6 in (30.02 m) long by 30 ft (9.1 m) wide, with dining tables and chairs capable of accommodating up to 360 people at one sitting. On each side of
4536-452: The saloon, seven corridors opened onto four berths each, for a total number of berths per side of 28, or 56 altogether. The forward end of the saloon was connected to a stewards' galley, while the opposite end contained several tiers of sofas. This saloon was apparently the ship's most impressive of all the passenger spaces. Columns of white and gold, 24 in number, with "ornamental capitals of great beauty", were arranged down its length and along
4620-558: The seamanship of Captain Claxton - who after naval service held the position of quay warden (harbour master) at Bristol - enabled her to be pulled back and severe structural damage avoided. The following day an army of workmen, under the direct control of Brunel, took advantage of the slightly higher tide and removed coping stones and lock gate platforms from the Junction Lock, allowing the tug Samson , again under Claxton's supervision, to tow
4704-564: The ship after she ran aground at Dundrum Bay in County Down near Newcastle in what is now Northern Ireland , after a navigation error. In 1852 she was sold for salvage and repaired. Great Britain later carried thousands of emigrants to Australia from 1852 until being converted to all-sail in 1881. Three years later, she was retired to the Falkland Islands , where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until she
4788-529: The ship had been widened beyond the original plans to accommodate the propeller engines, and her designers had made a belated decision to fit the engines prior to launch, which resulted in a deeper draught . This dilemma was to result in another costly delay for the company, as Brunel's negotiations with the Bristol Dock Board dragged on for months. It was only through the intervention of the Board of Trade that
4872-561: The ship ran into heavy weather, losing a mast and three propeller blades. On 13 October, she ran aground on the Massachusetts Shoals. She was refloated and after obtaining a supply of coal from the American schooner David Coffin resumed her voyage. After repairs in New York, she set out for Liverpool with only 28 passengers and lost four propeller blades during the crossing. By this time, another design flaw had become evident. The ship rolled heavily, especially in calm weather without
4956-555: The ship safely into the Avon that midnight. When completed in 1845, Great Britain was a revolutionary vessel—the first ship to combine an iron hull with screw propulsion, and at 322 ft (98 m) in length and with a 3,400-ton displacement, more than 100 ft (30 m) longer and 1,000 tons larger than any ship previously built. Her beam was 50 ft 6 in (15.39 m) and her height from keel to main deck, 32 ft 6 in (9.91 m). She had four decks, including
5040-471: The ship travelled under sail alone, the screw being withdrawn from the water. Three passengers died en route. The captain was John Gray , a Scot, who had held the post since before the Crimean War. On 8 December 1863, she was reported to have been wrecked on Santiago , Cape Verde Islands whilst on a voyage from London to Nelson, New Zealand . All on board were rescued. Her passengers and crew witnessed
5124-483: The ship's arrival in New York, in its first issue Scientific American opined, "If there is any thing objectionable in the construction or machinery of this noble ship, it is the mode of propelling her by the screw propeller; and we should not be surprised if it should be, ere long, superseded by paddle wheels at the sides." The launching or, more accurately, the float-out took place on 19 July 1843. Conditions were generally favourable and diarists recorded that, after
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#17329021755655208-549: The spar deck with iron joints, and with one exception, hinged to allow their lowering to reduce wind resistance in the event of a strong headwind. The rigging was of iron cable instead of the traditional hemp , again with a view to reducing wind resistance. Another innovative feature was the lack of traditional heavy bulwarks around the main deck; a light iron railing both reduced weight and allowed water shipped in heavy weather to run unimpeded back to sea. The hull and single funnel amidships were both finished in black paint, with
5292-678: The spring of 1870, living in Rome and touring Tivoli , Lake Albano , and Venice . In 1878, he returned to New York City, taking a studio in the New York University Building. The same year, he also participated in the Universal Exposition in Paris. In addition to painting, he published art criticism in the New York Evening Post and Harper's New Monthly Magazine . His work of the 1860s and 1870s often tended toward
5376-598: The steadying influence of the sail, causing discomfort to passengers. The shareholders of the company again provided further funding to try to solve the problems. The six-bladed propeller was dispensed with and replaced with the original four-bladed, cast iron design. The third mast was removed, and the iron rigging, which had proven unsatisfactory, was replaced with conventional rigging. In a major alteration, two 110-foot-long (34 m) bilge keels were added to each side in an effort to lessen her tendency to roll. These repairs and alterations delayed her return to service until
5460-451: The stern. On each side of the saloon were corridors leading to 22 individual passenger berths, arranged two deep, a total of 44 berths for the saloon as a whole. The forward part of the saloon, nearest the engine room, contained two 17-by-14-foot (5.2 m × 4.3 m) ladies' boudoirs or private sitting rooms, which could be accessed without entering the saloon from the 12 nearest passenger berths, reserved for women. The opposite end of
5544-399: The structural strength of the vessel, included a double bottom and five watertight iron bulkheads . The total amount of iron, including the engines and machinery, was 1,500 tons. Two giant propeller engines, with a combined weight of 340 tons, were installed amidships. They were built to a modified patent of Brunel's father Marc . The engines, which rose from the keel through
5628-505: The studio, drawing on his visual memory to produce scenes that were often inspired by specific places. But the artist was increasingly concerned with formal considerations. Inness moved from New York City to Medfield, Massachusetts in 1860, where he converted a barn into a studio . In 1862–63, he was an art teacher to Charles Dormon Robinson , who became known for works of California. Inness moved to Eagleswood, New Jersey in 1864. (See George Inness House .) He returned to Europe in
5712-409: The theology of Emanuel Swedenborg . Of particular interest to Inness was the notion that everything in nature had a corresponding relationship with something spiritual and so received an "influx" from God in order to continually exist. Another influence upon Inness's thinking was William James , also an adherent of Swedenborgianism. In particular, Inness was inspired by James's idea of consciousness as
5796-477: The three lower decks to a height just below the main deck, were of the direct-acting type, with twin 88 in (220 cm) bore , 6-foot (1.8 m) stroke cylinders inclined upward at a 60° angle, capable of developing a total of 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) at 18 rpm . Steam power was provided by three 34-foot (10 m) long by 22-foot (6.7 m) high by 10-foot (3.0 m) wide, 5 psi (34 kPa) "square" saltwater boilers , forward of
5880-451: The walls, while eight Arabesque pilasters , decorated with "beautifully painted" oriental flowers and birds, enhanced the aesthetic effect. The archways of the doors were "tastefully carved and gilded" and surmounted with medallion heads. Mirrors around the walls added an illusion of spaciousness, and the walls themselves were painted in a "delicate lemon-tinted hue" with highlights of blue and gold. The two forward saloons were arranged in
5964-556: Was scuttled in 1937, 98 years after being laid down . In 1970, after Great Britain had been abandoned for 33 years, Sir Jack Arnold Hayward , OBE (1923–2015) paid for the vessel to be raised and repaired enough to be towed north through the Atlantic back to the United Kingdom, and returned to the Bristol dry dock where she had been built 127 years earlier. Hayward was a prominent businessman, developer, philanthropist and owner of
6048-523: Was a guard of honour of members of the police force, soldiers and dragoons and, as the Prince stepped from the train, the band of the Life Guards played works by Labitsky and a selection from the "Ballet of Alma". Two sections of the platform were boarded off for the reception and it was noted by The Bristol Mirror that parts were covered with carpets from the Council House. The Prince Consort, dressed as
6132-503: Was also provided with secondary masts for sail power. The four decks provided accommodation for a crew of 120, plus 360 passengers who were provided with cabins, and dining and promenade saloons. When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat. But her protracted construction time of six years (1839–1845) and high cost had left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846, having spent all their remaining funds refloating
6216-465: Was at its height, came to assert overall control over the design of the ship—a state of affairs that would have far-reaching consequences for the company. Construction was carried out in a specially adapted dry dock in Bristol, England. Two chance encounters were profoundly to affect the design of Great Britain . In late 1838, John Laird's 213-foot (65 m) English Channel packet ship Rainbow —the largest iron- hulled ship then in service—made
6300-551: Was commissioned by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to create paintings which documented the progress of DLWRR's growth in early Industrial America. The Lackawanna Valley , painted c. 1855, represents the railroad's first roundhouse at Scranton , Pennsylvania . It integrates technology and wilderness within an observed landscape; in time, not only would Inness shun the industrial presence in favor of bucolic or agrarian subjects, but he would produce much of his mature work in
6384-410: Was divided into three decks, the upper two for passengers and the lower for cargo. The two passenger decks were divided into forward and aft compartments, separated by the engines and boiler amidships. In the aft section of the ship, the upper passenger deck contained the after or principal saloon, 110 ft (34 m) long by 48 ft (15 m) wide, which ran from just aft of the engine room to
6468-532: Was done by Messrs. C. & E. Grayson, Liverpool. She made her final voyage in 1886, after loading up with coal and leaving Penarth Dock in Wales for San Francisco on 8 February. After a fire on board en route she was found, on arrival at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands where she ran aground, to be damaged beyond economic repair. She was sold to the Falkland Islands Company and used, afloat, as
6552-482: Was floated free at a cost of £34,000 and taken back to Liverpool, but this expense exhausted the company's remaining reserves. After languishing in Prince's Dock, Liverpool for some time, she was sold to Gibbs, Bright & Co. , former agents of the Great Western Steamship Company, for a mere £25,000. The new owners decided not merely to give the vessel a total refit; the keel, badly damaged during
6636-455: Was given a third refit. Her passenger accommodation was increased from 360 to 730, and her sail plan altered to a traditional three-masted, square-rigged pattern. She was fitted with a removable propeller, which could be hauled up on deck by chains to reduce drag when under sail power alone. In 1852, Great Britain made her first voyage to Melbourne , Australia, carrying 630 emigrants . She excited great interest there, with 4,000 people paying
6720-593: Was held at the National Academy of Design. A memorial exhibition was conducted at the Fine Arts Building in New York City. He is buried in Montclair, New Jersey's Rosedale Cemetery , as is his namesake son. The Montclair Art Museum is the only museum in the world that has a gallery dedicated to Inness and as of 2023 has a renowned collection of 24 works by Inness. SS Great Britain SS Great Britain
6804-399: Was replaced with a simpler and by now proven cog-wheel arrangement, although the gearing of the engines to the propeller shaft remained at a ratio of one to three. The three large boilers were replaced with six smaller ones, operating at 10 psi (69 kPa) or twice the pressure of their predecessors. Along with a new 300-foot (91 m) cabin on the main deck, the smaller boilers allowed
6888-424: Was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship . She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean, which she did in 1845, in 14 days. The ship is 322 ft (98 m) in length and has a 3,400-ton displacement. She was powered by two inclined two-cylinder engines of the direct-acting type, with twin cylinders 88 in (220 cm) bore , of 72 in (180 cm) stroke . She
6972-414: Was the largest single piece of machinery. 68 ft (21 m) long and 28 inches (71 cm) in diameter, the shaft was bored with a 10-inch-diameter (25 cm) hole, reducing its weight and allowing cold water to be pumped through to reduce heat. At each end of the main propeller shaft were two secondary coupling shafts: a 28-foot (8.5 m), 16-inch (41 cm) diameter shaft beneath the engine, and
7056-574: Was £117,000 —£47,000 more than her original projected price tag of £70,000. On 26 July 1845—seven years after the Great Western Steamship Company had decided to build a second ship, and five years overdue— Great Britain embarked on her maiden voyage, from Liverpool to New York under Captain James Hosken , with 45 passengers. The ship made the passage in 14 days and 21 hours, at an average speed of 9.25 knots (17.13 km/h; 10.64 mph) – almost 1.5 knots (2.8 km/h; 1.7 mph) slower than
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