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 , her gross tonnage of 18,915 was only surpassed in 1901 by the 21,035-gross-ton , and her 4,000-passenger capacity was surpassed in 1913 by the 4,935-passenger . The ship's five funnels were rare and were later reduced to four. The vessel also had the largest set of paddle wheels.