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
Marc Isambard Brunel his invention before the Admiralty. He sailed for England on 7 February 1799 with a letter of introduction to the Navy Minister, and on 7 March his ship, "Halifax" landed at Falmouth. Whilst Brunel had been in the United States, Sophia Kingdom had remained in Rouen and during the Reign of Terror, she was arrested as an English spy and daily expected to be executed. She was only saved by the fall of Robespierre in June 1794. In April 1795 Sophia was able to leave France and travel to London. When Brunel arrived from the United States, he immediately travelled