During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering "firsts". He assisted the building of the first tunnel under a large river. He designed the SS "Great Britain", the first propeller-driven ocean-going iron ship, at the time (1843) the largest ship ever built. He was the first designer of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The bridge had a complicated history. It was a long span at a great height over the River Severn. Brunel died before the bridge was completed, and before the first voyage of his ship the SS "Great Eastern".