Length, 692 feet; beam, 83 feet; depth, 58 feet. Subdivision: Double hull; nine main bulkheads, 53 feet high, extending to upper deck, and six sub-bulkheads 35 feet high, extending to lower deck. Two longitudinal bulkheads through machinery spaces.
Longitudinal Section and Plan of the Great Eastern, 1858
The estimated speed of the Great Eastern was 15 knots; her best actual performance on an extended voyage was an average speed of 14 knots, which was realised on one of her trips to New York. She was designed to carry 4,000 passengers, namely 800 first, 2,000 second, and 1,200 third class, besides a crew of 400. She had a capacity of 5,000 tons of cargo, and 12,000 tons of coal. When fitted up for the accommodation of troops she could carry 10,000. Fully laden with passengers, cargo, and coal, she displaced, on a draft of 30 feet, about 27,000 tons;—her actual draft was from 26 to 28 feet. The accommodations for passengers would have done credit to one of our modern liners. There were five saloons on the upper, and another five on the lower deck. The uppermost deck afforded two unbroken and spacious promenades, one on each side of the ship, each of which was 20 feet wide and over 600 feet in length.