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
Sophia Kingdom Sophia Kingdom Sophia Kingdom, Lady Brunel (c. 1775 – 1855) was the daughter of William Kingdom, a contracting agent for the Royal Navy, and the army. She was born in Plymouth, England. She was the youngest of sixteen children. When she was eight years old, her father William died (1783). Sophia was sent to France to improve her knowledge of the language. While working there as a governess she met Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1849) at Rouen in the early 1790s. In 1793, Brunel had to flee the revolution, going to the United States, but Sophia remained in Rouen. During the