Zerah Colburn (locomotive designer) to England to take up a job as editor of "The Engineer", Britain’s leading weekly technical journal. In this position, Colburn made friends with members of the Institutions of Civil and Mechanical Engineers and became a member of both. He gave frequent lectures and contributed at meetings. It is almost certain that while in London Colburn met Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In 1860, Colburn returned to America on the maiden voyage of the "Great Eastern", Brunel's leviathan steamship. In America he launched a new weekly engineering newspaper, "The Engineer", but this lasted only a few months and Colburn returned to England
Millwall Iron Works John Scott Russell built complete ships in the works, fully fitted out, which they then floated out on to the river as ready to go ships. One of their earliest commissions was the iron steamer "Taman," completed in 1848 for the Imperial Russian government to operate from the Black Sea ports. On 31 January 1858, the largest ship of that time, the designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was launched from 'Napier Yard' the shipyard leased by Messrs J. Scott Russell & Co. The 211 metre (692 ft) length was too wide for the river, and the ship had to be