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 The Great Eastern under sail. © NMM |
The Great Eastern was a giant steam ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. At the time of her launch in 1858 she was the largest ship in the world.
Although the design of the Great Eastern was groundbreaking, Brunel’s mighty vessel was considered a commercial failure as a passenger liner.
After being laid up in 1864, the Great Eastern was sold for £25,000 (the equivalent of about £1.3 million today), a fraction of its original cost, to a Greenwich-based cable-laying company. This next stage of her career was by far the most successful. From 1865 until 1872 she laid four telegraph cables under the Atlantic, and others to link Bombay and Aden.
By 1872, however, the Great Eastern had been made obsolete by purpose-built cable-laying ships. She ended her career as a floating billboard before being scrapped in 1888.
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| Building the Great Eastern. © NMM |
The contract for building Brunel's Great Eastern went to John Scott Russell's yard at Millwall. It took several attempts over three months to launch the ship (sideways) so it could be towed to Deptford for fitting out.
After failing as a passenger liner, she was sold a Greenwich-based cable laying company: The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (an amalgamation of Glass, Elliot & Co. and the India Rubber, Gutta Percha & Telegraph Cable Co.).
| 1853 |
Work begins on the biggest-ever steamship to be built on the River Thames at Millwall. |
| 1857 |
The ship is named 'Leviathan', then the 'Great Eastern'. |
| 1858 |
After a long delay, the 'Great Eastern' is launched. |
| 1859 |
Undergoes sea trials. |
| 1860 |
The 'Great Eastern' makes her maiden voyage as a passenger liner. |
| 1861 |
A large Atlantic storm damages the ship. |
| 1864 |
The vessel is sold to a telegraph cable-laying company in Greenwich. |
| 1865 |
The 'Great Eastern' is used to lay a telegraph cable under the Atlantic Ocean from Western Ireland to Newfoundland in Canada. |
| 1866 – 1872 |
The ship lays three more cables under the Atlantic. |
| 1872 – 1885 |
The 'Great Eastern' is laid up in Milford Haven in Wales after being made obsolete by purpose purpose-built cable-laying ships. |
| 1885 |
Lewis’s department store in Liverpool hires the ship as a music hall, fun fair and giant advertising hoarding. |
| 1888 |
The 'Great Eastern' returns to the Mersey to be broken up by 200 men over the next two years. |
