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
Steamship before by F. P. Smith's Propeller Steamship Company. Brunel had been looking into methods of improving the performance of "Great Britain"s paddlewheels, and took an immediate interest in the new technology, and Smith, sensing a prestigious new customer for his own company, agreed to lend "Archimedes" to Brunel for extended tests. Over several months, Smith and Brunel tested a number of different propellers on "Archimedes" in order to find the most efficient design, a four-bladed model submitted by Smith. When launched in 1843, "Great Britain" was by far the largest vessel afloat. Brunel's last major project, the , was built