This extraordinary ship was commenced at Millwall on the Thames, in May, 1854, and was completed in 1857, at a cost of nearly £5,000,000. When ready for launching, her estimated weight was some 12,000 tons. As no such load had ever before slid down the ways of a shipyard, every precaution and appliance that skill could suggest were brought into requisition. She was to be hauled down, broadside on, by an elaborate arrangement of chains and stationary engines; but when the critical moment arrived the ponderous mammoth would not budge, and it cost something like £600,000 and constant labour for three months before she reached her destined element. The _Great Eastern_ was 692 feet long, 83 feet in width, and 58½ feet deep. She was reckoned at 22,500 tons burthen. Her four engines were collectively of 11,000 indicated horse-power. She was fitted up in grand style to accommodate 4,800 passengers. As a troop-ship she could carry comfortably an army of 10,000 men in addition to her own crew of 400. She was provided with both paddle-wheels and a screw-propeller. The wheels were fifty feet in diameter, making twelve revolutions per minute; the four-bladed screw was twenty-four feet in diameter, adapted for forty-five revolutions per minute. Her estimated speed was fifteen knots, but her best average never exceeded twelve knots. Her first voyage from Southampton to New York was made in 10 days and 21 hours; the highest speed by the log was fourteen and a half knots, and the greatest day’s run three hundred and thirty-three knots. Her arrival in New York, June 27th, 1860, created a great sensation. Fort Hamilton saluted her with a discharge of fourteen guns—the first instance of a merchant vessel being thus honoured in America. She returned home _via_ Halifax, making the run thence to Milford Haven in 10 days and 4 hours. In May, 1861, she made another voyage to New York, carrying one hundred passengers, but with no improvement in her speed. On her return to Liverpool she was chartered by the British Government to bring out troops to Canada. She arrived at Quebec, July 6th, 1861, with 2,528 soldiers and forty civilians, and during her stay there was visited by large crowds of people. Leaving Quebec, August 6th, she reached Liverpool on the 15th. A couple more voyages to New York, and her career as a passenger ship was ended. She had been singularly unfortunate. Her first commander, Captain Harrison, was drowned in the Solent by the upsetting of a small boat. On her trial trip, by the bursting of a steam jacket, six of her crew were killed and the ship was badly damaged. She had broken her rudder in mid-ocean, and lay for days a helpless mass in the trough of the sea during a gale of wind, rolling frightfully. Worse than all, she had got on the rocks entering New York harbour, with serious damage to her hull. The momentous question arose, What was to be done with her?