She remained laid up for some time, before being put to varied use around England, Scotland and Ireland. In November 1846, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's iron ship SS "Great Britain" ran aground on the sands of Dundrum Bay, Ireland. There was doubt as to whether she could be re-floated. Brunel advised that if anyone could rescue the ship then the man to do it was the naval engineer James Bremner. He was engaged and the "Great Britain" was re-floated on 27 August 1847 with the assistance of HMS "Birkenhead".