SS Great Eastern SS Great Eastern SS "Great Eastern" was an iron sailing steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by J. Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers from England to Australia without refuelling. Her length of was only surpassed in 1899 by the 17,274-gross-ton RMS "Oceanic", her gross tonnage of 18,915 was only surpassed in 1901 by the 21,035-gross-ton RMS "Celtic", and her 4,000-passenger capacity was surpassed in 1913 by
Isambard Owen may have acted as medical advisor to the Prince, who lived in London and was a philologist with an interest in the Celtic languages including Welsh. Isambard Owen Sir (Herbert) Isambard Owen (28 December 1850 – 14 January 1927) was a British physician and university academic. He was the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol and a deputy Chancellor of the University of Wales. Owen was born in Chepstow in Monmouthshire, south Wales. At the time his father, William Owen, later chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, was building the South Wales Railway under Isambard Kingdom Brunel, from