Ladies should visit the...
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Where: Dublin, Ireland
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When: 01 January 1887
Try to find the date or year when this image was made.
The S.S. Great Eastern as gargantuan advertising billboard at North Wall, Dublin...
Thanks to all for great research on this one, and to nintytwo for helping us uncover that this was taken at the North Wall in Dublin, and that our catalogue was incorrect in saying this had been taken at Arklow, Co. Wicklow.
Date: Between 15 October 1886 and 3 April 1887
NLI Ref.: L_ROY_00426
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 45902
Thanks to all for great research on this one, and to nintytwo for helping us uncover that this was taken at the North Wall in Dublin, and that our catalogue was incorrect in saying this had been taken at Arklow, Co. Wicklow.
Date: Between 15 October 1886 and 3 April 1887
NLI Ref.: L_ROY_00426
Info:
Owner: National Library of Ireland on The CommonsSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 45902
ssgreateastern
greateastern
ireland
leinster
ships
steamship
advertising
robertfrench
williamlawrence
lawrencecollection
glassnegative
isambard
kingdom
brunel
leviathan
paddle
steamer
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easternsteamnavigationcompany
jscottrussellco
scottrussell
easterncompany
greatshipcompany
isambardkingdombrunel
isambardbrunel
cablelayingship
cablelaying
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1886
1887
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Niall McAuley
From Wikipedia: At the end of her cable-laying career [1878] she was refitted once again as a liner but once again efforts to make her a commercial success failed. She was used as a showboat, a floating palace/concert hall and gymnasium. She acted as an advertising hoarding—sailing up and down the Mersey for Lewis's Department Store, who at this point were her owners, before being sold. The idea was to attract people to the store by using her as a floating visitor attraction. By the time she was sold piecemeal at auction in 1888 she had become an embarrassment.
robinparkes
Thank you for the photo. So sad to see her in that state.
ccferrie
From PortCities : Eventually, in 1885, the unwanted hulk was hired by Lewis's department store in Liverpool. The store wanted to use her as a music hall, fun fair and a giant advertising billboard. The tired old screw engines were coaxed into powering the ship to the River Mersey, where it was opened to the public at a shilling (5 pence) a head. After exhibition trips to Dublin and the River Clyde, which did not make much money at all, the Great Eastern returned to the River Mersey in 1888.
Wendy:
great photo and unusual end use!
ccferrie
From History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications : By the time the Great Eastern reached Liverpool the port side facing Birkenhead carried the slogan ‘LADIES SHOULD VISIT LEWIS’S BON MARCHE CHURCH STREET’, while on the starboard side facing Liverpool: Towards the stern: LEWIS’S ARE THE FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE Lewis’s name was painted in 30 feet high letters. Towards the bows: RANELAGH STREET LEWIS’S BON MARCHE LIVERPOOL BASNETT STREET MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, BIRMINGHAM On the paddle box: THE BON MARCHE LIVERPOOL
Foxglove
surly beat hanging "bill boards" over cows in a field - which a few farmers have adopted recently - even the iuse of cows is publicity ! Sheep are used for the "items wanted" ---only joking I never realised that steamer ships grew to such sizes.
Reconstructing Light
What a sad end for such a magnificent ship :-(
FrigateRN
What an indignity to do this to a ship! NLI you have done it again, your pictures are fantastic, thank you for sharing in such an open and generous manner. You set an example I think that a lot of other museums should take note of and follow.
Brendan C.H.
Also from Wikipedia: Preparations were initially made for the ship to sail to North America on 16 June 1860 and the passengers boarded her on the 14th. After visitors had been sent ashore the Captain announced that he would not be sailing until the 17th, as the crew were drunk.
FrigateRN
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] I would have got ashore right then! What an announcement for a captain to have to make.
blackpoolbeach
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley 1878 "she was refitted once again as a liner" implies that the Saloon photographs were taken then, and not when the ship was new.
ccferrie
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackpoolbeach] that's right - see the discussion here We've narrowed it down to 1886-87.
DannyM8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alimarante Strongly agree with your first comment above.
DannyM8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/5726344942/ Painting showing the construction of Brunel's SS Great Eastern http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnrw/103963836/ Brunel standing alongside chains made by Brown Lenox for the SS Great Eastern
oaktree_brian_1976
Wow, reduced to a giant billboard. Once a majestic ship, now (at the time of the photo) just a giant piece of advertising.
DannyM8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5581988566 http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] At least she found a good resting place in her home port of Bristol.
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] Thanks Danny! So familiar with that image of Brunel and the chains my whole life, and never knew what it was...
Niall McAuley
The Great Eastern was 211 meters long, more than twice the size of the 98m Great Britain in http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]'s Bristol photo.
DannyM8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland Niall Of Course you are correct about Bristol, my Mistake. I had Lunch at Tinakilly Country House (Rathnew, Wicklow) where I read (from a book, no less) a little about Robert Halpin. Robert Charles Halpin, Master Mariner, born 16 February 1836 at the Bridge Tavern Wicklow, Ireland – 20 January 1894 and died at Tinakilly, Wicklow. He captained the Brunel-designed leviathan SS Great Eastern which laid transoceanic telegraph cables in the late 19th century. He was, arguably, one of the most important mariners in the 19th century. He helped make the world a global village by connecting empires and continents via submarine telegraph cables - in effect constructing the Victorian age communication network. The name Tinakilly is derived from the townland of Tinakilly on which the house is built. It comes from the Gaelic; Ti=house: na=of the: Coille=wood. So the whole name in Irish means "House of the Wood". It is probable that a farmhouse of the same name was on the site or close by. Some of the trees in the garden appear to predate the house which took ten years to build and was completed in 1883. Tinakilly was constructed for Captain Robert Halpin. Halpin is reputed to have been given an open cheque by the British Government to build his new mansion in gratitude for his contribution to improving world communications and thereby world trade. He recruited the then very fashionable Irish architect, James Franklin Fuller, to design the house. The timber, which is so evident and gives such character, was selected in London by Halpin. The doors on the ground floor are of Burmese mahogany with many panels of different woods, the best of which are in "birds eye" maple. The architrave's, window shutters and stairs are in American pitch pine. Fireplaces were imported from Italy with the exception of the drawing room where a fine Georgian one, probably from an old house in Dublin, graces the room. The cellar, with space for 2,000 bottles of wine, is built of brick while the rest of the construction is in stone and mortar. The original working drawings can be seen hanging in the AnteRoom to the Brunei Dining Room. In total, it cost £40,000 to build Tinakilly (about £4 million Sterling in today's value). The great hall cum living room with its fine gallery is the main feature. All ceilings are heavily corniced and are 14 foot high on the ground floor.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]] [http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland] That "iconic" image by Robert Howlett of Isambard Kingdom Brunel with chains at the launching of the 'Great Eastern' is worth a digression. The story behind the photo(s) - www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/how-to/icons-of-photography... Short video recreating the camera and glass negative to shoot Brunel things (fascinating) - news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7753000/7753202.stm
nintytwo
Hi, I wonder if the pic of the Great Eastern is not of the ship in Dublin in 1886. Could Arklow have taken a ship of this draft? And take a look at this picture of the ship in Dublin. You cannot read the writing on her side but the quay and the sailing ship behind her bow looks a bit familiar. And the mooring buoy in the river. www.flickr.com/photos/nintytwo/8214880780/in/photostream The story of the ship's visit to Dublin is interesting. The port authorities did not welcome the proposal for her visit . The Great eastern was then four times the size of any other ship in the world, 700 feet long and 120 ft beam. with a draft of 30 feet. The paddle wheels were 56 feet in diameter and her propellor was 24 feet in diameter. It was proposed by the owners that she berth at the then new North Wall Extension where the public could visit her. The port authorities would not agree to this for a number of reasons. There was the risk that she might go aground in the river and block the port indefinitely. She could be blown off the berth which might cause a similar problem and significantly she would occupy the space of four normal ships in this prime location. They eventually agreed that she could come to dublin but insisted that she must berth at the then newly constructed but not fully developed Alexandra Basin. There the great ship would have to take the ground at low tide. However as she sailed into Dublin the master refused to risk his ship taking the ground and the pilot having boarded the ship and taken her upriver agreed with the captain that it would be unsafe to try to take her into the Alexandra Basin, (possibly because they had allowe the peak of tidal depth to pass) So the great Eastern did in fact berth at the North Wall Extension, much to the chagrin of the Harbour Board. Since both the ships master and the pilot were acting in the interests of the safety of the ship there could be no legal challenge. To attempt to turn and reposition the ship was a risk nobody was prepared to take. The next objection by the Board was to the crowds visiting the ship. However as there was no gated entrance they could not stop them. Others came to visit by way of the ships passenger tender , the Cambria which had accompanied the ship from Holyhead. The ship remained in Dublin until 3rd April 1887 when she left having been sold. She was eventually scrapped in Liverpool in 1889.
nintytwo
farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8214990334_16ecf3ca69_m.jpg Look at this painting of the Great Eastern in all her glory. This painting is in the National Maritime Museum in Dunlaoghaire
DannyM8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nintytwo You make good points about Dublin as against Arklow. I think you might be right.
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nintytwo Hi yourself. Yes, as http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] says, you make very good points. It would certainly explain why I could find no mention in any contemporary newspaper of the Great Eastern visiting Arklow, but article after article, and advertisement after advertisement about the visit to Dublin...
ccferrie
The Dublin location makes a lot of sense. One slight correction in the timescale though. The ship was auctioned in October 1887 whilst berthed in Greenock where it had been towed after the Dublin trip (possibly via Liverpool). See www.atlantic-cable.com/Cableships/GreatEastern/
DannyM8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nintytwo http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland Others came to visit by way of the ships passenger tender , the Cambria which had accompanied the ship from Holyhead. I see a tender (which is also a paddle steamer) off loading people in the picture - could this be the Cambria? I have inserted a note on the face of the photo.
ccferrie
Could that be the Hill of Howth beyond the stern of the ship?
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
I am no expert but there is another helpful photo in the series - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000326022/Image?lookfor=http:... - which shows a wharf with a small lighthouse at the end, like the North Wall extension. Voting forDublin. GoogleMapsStreetView , which reminded me of this NLI photo - www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/6410717851/
robinparkes
I've spent enough time down by Ferrybank and the harbour. Knowing Arklow I couldn't figure what the land mass so far away was and, to my knowledge, there was never the ability for vessels to berth either side of a jetty. It does look as if it's not Arklow but I haven't a clue as to where it is. Most likely Dublin going by the previous comments.
ccferrie
I think the evidence for this being North Wall Quay Extension in Dublin, and not Arklow, is overwhelming. And the date would then be between 15th October 1886 and 3rd April 1887.
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] Will be changing everything in the next half hour or so! Oh the power - moving the biggest ship in the world (for a while anyway) miles and miles with just a keyboard... :)
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] I checked the original huge image, and while the tender's name is very blurry, there are the right amount of letters and it seems to start with CA and end in an A. So I think you're right - it's the CAMBRIA!
Niall McAuley
The North Wall Extension on OS 25" map of 1907. The view is similar to the one you see today crossing the East Link tollbridge heading North: Google Streetview
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley Thanks Niall! Reminded me to add them to our map! Plus I think all of these merit a "Location Identified" tag...
mambo1935
grace!
Concorps
I had no idea Brunels masterpiece had fetched up for a while on dublin shores, I wonder did she ever put into any western ports when laying cable. She must have been an epic sight at time.
O Mac
Liverpool FC
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] The SS Great Eastern, and parts thereof, certainly did get around! :)
robabell
Great Eastern sailed from Valencia, County Kerry in 1865 and 1866 to lay the Transatlantic cable
John Carson Essex UK.
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