Pic of the Day

[Jordangbr]

Brunel just entombed a couple of riveters inside the hull on the Great Eastern.....

[Mike Bull]

We'd never get an engine AND Al in there! Though maybe if we feed Al a load of beans first we can kill two birds with one stone?!

[Dominic Owen]

Brunel just entombed a couple of riveters inside the hull on the Great Eastern.....

Although now impossible to either prove or disprove conclusively, the accepted likelyhood is that this is, in fact, pure myth;

Riveters worked in gangs of five. Two of the gang were 'boys' and it is they who had the task of working in the narrow space between the hulls. None were reported as missing in such a fashion during the build.

During construction, the inner hull wasn't sealed and had many inspection/access hatches which weren't closed until much later. One of the reasons for this is that, upon completion, both inner surfaces of the cavity were painted in their entirety to abate corrosion. Logic might dictate that any previously unnoticed body would have been discovered at this stage.

The cavity between the hulls was flooded extensively and pumped out on two seperate occasions - once during launch and again after running aground, during which an 86 foot gash was torn in the outer hull. It was during the latter that the story of entombed workers resurfaced in ernest: Gangs involved in the repair reported hearing knocking in the hull, attibuted it to the ghosts of riveters and refused to return.

The final perpetuant of the story was the unsupported tale of a dried out skeleton being discovered by workmen dismantelling the great ship for scrap, however, no official report was ever made and all acounts seemed to be 3rd party and annecdotal. Although a cover-up would not have been beyond the realms of possibility, neither the owners or dismantlers would have had anything to gain from doing so.

Between construction, launch, a boiler explosion, a stack collapsing, a mooring accident in NY and other lesser incidents, the Great Eastern is recorded as claiming 31 lives (one for every year she was afloat) but none by way of people being sealed in the hull. Such tales abound for a great many ships but, as in this case, none have ever really been substantiated. Such a tale exists even for RMS Titantic and, as everyone knows, it didn't even have a second hull to hide any bodies.

All I can say is make sure every member of the riveting team is counted into and out of K7 religiously - there are enough myths surrounding the old girl without leaving the door open for one more!

[StewDurham]

Pics looking good, thanks. Still much appreciated. Nice to see those fabulous lines coming out now the panels are going on.

Stew.

[Terminator]

Hi Stew if you think the pic looks good you should see K7 in the flesh so to speak totally mind blowing! By chance I got a Wednesday afternoon/ evening session in recently and boy she is amazing to work on! Can't quite put it into words how I feel when working on her now things are fast taking shape. With Ritchie on the block and me on the gun the rivets were banging home one after the other. Those skin pins on the rear tail cowling are disappearing fast becoming history themselves. We are being watched very carefully from behind though and hopefully he is admiring our commitment to his memory and what he was trying to achieve on that fateful day. Patience is a thing I never thought I would have but on K7 a quality job is paramount ask the Boss. She will be ready when she is ready and not before.
Awesome in the extreme !!!
Novie
Rivets you must have known I was coming

[Mike Bull]

Home-s.jpg

When the old girl tries even my patience- which she's been doing lately with the air intakes- it boggles my mind- and puts it all back into perspective- to think that some of the lads had to take the whole damn thing apart in the first place as well!

[Terminator]

Not sure if I was there on that particular day when the engine came out Mike but my single chain 1.5 ton pulley blocks on permanent loan from British
Coal were However I think I must have been as I distinctly remember we had real problems getting the air intake skin etc out from underneath and separating it from the fuel tank We tried everything before reality came to dictate and had to use my pulley blocks to rag it apart. I also thank Bill for allowing me to be the first person apparently to open the fuel cap in over 40yrs I think it was. A proud moment for me personally. I remember the floor being taken apart and the removal of a zillion rivets and the rear shoe coming off after a mammoth session of rivet removal. We thought we had removed what was holding the rear planing wedge but then no it still was held fast and more rivets were revealed. We got the bu--er in the end though Paul was present that day for sure as Bill told him he would have to be there when it was refitted

Novie
I've Gone

[StewDurham]

Hi Stew if you think the pic looks good you should see K7 in the flesh so to speak totally mind blowing! By chance I got a Wednesday afternoon/ evening session in recently and boy she is amazing to work on! Can't quite put it into words how I feel when working on her now things are fast taking shape. With Ritchie on the block and me on the gun the rivets were banging home one after the other. Those skin pins on the rear tail cowling are disappearing fast becoming history themselves. We are being watched very carefully from behind though and hopefully he is admiring our commitment to his memory and what he was trying to achieve on that fateful day. Patience is a thing I never thought I would have but on K7 a quality job is paramount ask the Boss. She will be ready when she is ready and not before.
Awesome in the extreme !!!
Novie
Rivets you must have known I was coming

Looking forward to it - hope to get up later in the year to lend a hand, and will do when it gets wet. - trying to get 'tother half kicking and screaming to the end of her MSc in a few months at the moment after life's chucked some substantially awful events at her over the last few years, Watching the build on this website's been a great distraction for me, and has prompted many a LSR/WSR related purchase and a trip to Ambleside to buy a stunning photographic print of the tin thing from the bloke who took it 2 days before I was born. Cheers lads & girl - you've cost me a blooming fortune!

[Mike Bull]

hope to get up later in the year to lend a hand, and will do when it gets wet.

Without meaning anything in particular to Stew, I suspect that a lot of people will suddenly want to 'help' when all the hard work is done and the boat is finished!

[alslad]

hope to get up later in the year to lend a hand, and will do when it gets wet.

Without meaning anything in particular to Stew, I suspect that a lot of people will suddenly want to 'help' when all the hard work is done and the boat is finished!

I'm sure there will be some glory hunters creeping out of the woodwork when the time comes. Just a shame Mike quoted Stew's post to make the point - especially as I have noticed Stew has mentioned his purchases to help support the project. There are many of us who quietly give a quid or two here and there that may end up getting tarred with that same brush just because we can only get to the old girl's first outing in 45+ years rather than the workshop every week leading up to it...