The Great Eastern named The Leviathan, c.1858 (hand coloured litho on paper)

Artist: F. Sala & Co. (Lithographers) ‘Length 891 Feet Breadth 118 Feet Tonnage 22500 Tons'. Published in Berlin by F. SALA & Co Unter den Linden, 51. The SS Great Eastern was an iron sail-powered, paddle wheel, and screw-propelled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) and built at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames. After being launched in January 1858, the 'Great Eastern', then by far the largest ship ever built, was taken to Deptford where she was fitted out to the standards of a luxury hotel. She was subsequently used as a passenger liner between Britain and North America before being converted to a cable-laying ship, laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866. Having been used for some years as a floating music hall and advertising hoarding for the department store Lewis's in Liverpool, she was finally broken up on Merseyside in 1889.