The "Great Eastern" was built by Messrs Scott Russell & Co. of Millwall, London, the keel being laid down on 1 May 1854. She was finally launched —after many technical difficulties— on 31 January 1858. She was long, wide, with a draught of unloaded and fully laden, and displaced 32,000 tons fully loaded. In comparison, SS "Persia", launched in 1856, was long with a beam. She was at first named the "Leviathan", but her high building and launching costs ruined the Eastern Steam Navigation Company and so she lay unfinished for a year before being sold to the Great Eastern Ship Company and finally renamed "Great Eastern". It was decided she would be more profitable on the Southampton–New York run, and she was outfitted accordingly. Her eleven-day maiden voyage began on 17 June 1860, with 35 paying passengers, 8 company "" (passengers who do not pay) and 418 crew.