two days until the flames reached the water's edge. After the fire had burned itself out a coffer-dam was built and the wreck floated by means of steam pumps. It was found that a portion of her cargo of grain had swollen to such an extent as to start the knees and beams of the lower hold, and that the hull was otherwise badly strained and buckled. She was therefore condemned and abandoned to the underwriters. The ships Joseph Walker and White Squall were also destroyed in this fire.
The wreck of the Great Republic was subsequently sold by the underwriters to Captain N. B. Palmer and taken to Greenpoint, Long Island, to be rebuilt by Sneeden & Whitlock, and she eventually became the property of A. A. Low & Brother. The rebuilding occupied more than a year, and when the Great Republic again appeared, much of the original beauty of her hull had been restored. The spardeck had not been replaced, but her freeboard was nearly the same, as the height of the bulwarks was only a little below the former upper deck, and the same sheer line had been preserved. Forward, the eagle's head which had been destroyed was replaced by a carved billet head and scrool, and her bow was still exceedingly handsome. A great change had been wrought aloft; her sail plan had been cut down and all of her spars greatly reduced in length—the fore and mainmasts 17 feet, the fore and mainyards 20 feet, and all other spars in proportion. She still carried four masts, but her rig had been changed to Howes's double topsail yards.
As rebuilt the Great Republic registered 3357 tons, and was still the largest merchant ship of her time,
