Cameron’s Cache Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Southerntrekker: Hi There

As the owner has not responded to either my log or my colleague's previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.

Please note that once the cache has been archived, this can not be undone. This is explained in the Help Center - http://support.groundspeak.com//index.php?pg=kb.page&id=70

You will need to create a new listing, put it back in for review and as long as it meets today's guidelines and no other caches have been published in the area causing a proximity problem, then it will be published.

Regards

Southerntrekker
Volunteer UK Reviewer North Wales, London and Isle of Man - http://www.geocaching.com
UK Geocaching Wiki - https://wiki.groundspeak.com/display/GEO/United+Kingdom
Geocaching.com Help Center - http://support.groundspeak.com//index.php
UK Geocaching Information and Resource site - http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

More
Hidden : 12/12/2011
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This micro cache is placed at the site of where Brunel’s Great Eastern was built and launched into the Thames.

This cache brings you to the ship yard and launch site of the SS Great Eastern, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–59). His original concept was that this vessel would be able to sail carrying four thousand people to the other side of the world without stopping for fuel. However, the unfolding story was to have a sad ending for the vessel and her engineer designer.

The SS Great Eastern was, at the time, the heaviest manmade structure in the world weighing in at 18.915 tons and 692ft in length. Construction commenced on the 1st May 1854 and launched on the afternoon of 3rd November 1857. The construction and fitting out of the Great Eastern by John Scott Russell bankrupted the company.

The vessel was vast in every way. The hull, had a series of watertight compartment which were double skinned and was driven by a number of paddle-wheels 58ft in diameter and a screw propeller powered by separate engines. With the additional benefit of sail it was regarded as innovative. Her six masts were reputedly named after the days of the week.

With such an enormous vessel it was impossible to launch straight into the river as there was neither the depth nor the width to take SS Great Eastern. The only way was to launch broadside. A technique which had never been tried before.

The launch was recorded by Charles Dickens:

‘A general spirit of reckless daring seems to animate the majority of the visitors. They delight in insecure platforms; they crowd on small, frail, house-tops; they come up in little cockle-boats, almost under the bows of the great ship. In the yard, they take up positions where the sudden snapping of a chain, or the flying out . . . of a few heavy rivets, would be fraught with consequences that they either have not dreamed of, or have made up their minds to brave. Many in that dense floating mass on the river and the opposite shore would not be sorry to experience the excitement of a great disaster, even at the imminent risk of their own lives. Others trust with wonderful faith to the prudence and wisdom of the presiding engineer, although they know that the sudden unchecked falling over or rushing down of such a mass into the water would, in all probability, swamp every boat upon the river in its immediate neighbourhood, and wash away the people on the opposite shore.’

The launch was supposed to be a smooth operation pushing and pulling in a controlled manner. All was going well during the first few minutes but then disaster struck as workmen were knocked flying by the whirling handles of the large windlass on the brake drums. One man was killed instantly and when the second brake was applied the ship came to a halt and the launch abandoned. The Great Eastern was finally launch on the 31st January 1858.

Such stresses and pressures brought about Brunel’s early death after he suffered a stroke while on deck the day before her maiden voyage. He died a few days later.

The Great Eastern never went to India although she did make a few transatlantic-crossings before being used for cable laying in the North Atlantic and briefly opened as a public attraction at Liverpool, before being broken up.

If you go towards the edge of the Thames at low tide, you can see further evidence of the slipway.

This cache has been placed for our first grandson who lives close by and who will be maintaining the cache. When finding the cache and having signed the log book take care when rehiding. Please be mindful of the occupants of the apartments and houses in the area. GPS could be a little bouncy being close in to high buildings.

A note of warning: this grassed area is used by dog muggles, not all of whom take home their little ‘jobs’.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Zntargvp, ol sbhegu yrt

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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