The Great Eastern
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The SS Great Britain was the biggest ship in the world, but Brunel decided to go bigger. He set out to design the biggest ship ever, five times larger than any other, which would carry enough coal to travel vast oceans without refuelling. This was the Great Eastern, 692 ft long and displacing about 32,000 tons (the Great Western was only 112 ft long and displaced 2,300 tons).
The construction and launch of the Great Eastern was beset with problems and arguments. Preparing for its maiden voyage in 1859, Brunel suffered a seizure on board. Ten days later he was dead.
Brunel built the Great Eastern to carry 4,000 passengers, although she never did. Instead, she carried mass communication into the modern era, laying 5,000 tons of telegraphic cable from Ireland to Newfoundland, connecting America and Europe across the ocean floor. Brunel had built the only ship big enough for this step into the future, and the Great Eastern proudly carried on this work around the world.
This page shows two stamp proposals featuring the Great Eastern, although neither of them was adopted for use. Brunel's greatest ship was not surpassed in length until 1899, nor in tonnage until 1901.
