Isambard kingdom brunel great eastern

Powered by both sidewheels and screw propellers, she was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her launch, and had the capacity to carry 4, passengers from England to Australia without refuelling. Her length of feet m was surpassed only in by the foot m 17,gross-ton RMS Oceanic , her gross tonnage of 18, was only surpassed in by the foot m 20,gross-ton RMS Celtic and her 4,passenger capacity was surpassed in by the 4,passenger SS Imperator.

The ship having five funnels which were later reduced to four was unusual for the time. The vessel also had the largest set of paddle wheels. Brunel knew her affectionately as the "Great Babe". He died in shortly after her maiden voyage, during which she was damaged by an explosion. After his success in pioneering steam travel to North America with Great Western and Great Britain , Brunel turned his attention to a vessel capable of making longer voyages as far as Australia.

Great eastern tanker

With a planned capacity of 15, tons of coal, Great Eastern was envisioned as being able to sail halfway around the world without taking on coal, while also carrying so much cargo and passengers that papers described her as a "floating city" and "the Crystal Palace of the sea". On 25 March , Brunel made a sketch of a steamship in his diary and wrote beneath it: "Say ft x 65 ft x 30 ft" m x 20 m x 9.

These measurements were six times larger by volume than any ship afloat; such a large vessel would benefit from economies of scale and would be both fast and economical, requiring fewer crew than the equivalent tonnage made up of smaller ships. Brunel realised that the ship would need more than one propulsion system; since twin screws were still very much experimental, he settled on a combination of a single screw and paddle wheels , with auxiliary sail power.