But by this time her owners had had enough of her, and she was sold for less than one quarter of the £100,000 she had cost. After alterations to her rig and her engines, she was employed in the Australian trade. She was next relieved of her engines, and turned into a sailing vessel, and then used as a coal-hulk off the Falkland Islands. Finally she was broken up at Barrow. [Illustration: THE “GREAT BRITAIN” (1843). _From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._] [Illustration: PROPELLER OF THE “GREAT BRITAIN.” _From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._] But apart from her size, the _Great Britain_ possessed other novel features which are worthy of notice. We have already remarked that as the length of ships increased, so did the longitudinal strain, and new methods had to be devised in order to overcome this. The _Great Britain_ was specially strengthened longitudinally, and furthermore she was divided into five water-tight compartments. The original purpose of transverse bulkheads was that if a vessel were holed by collision or grounding, or--in the case of naval vessels--pierced by shell, she might yet remain afloat. Nowadays they do more than this, for, when carried up to the strong deck, they add to the longitudinal strength of the ship. The _Great Britain_ also possessed another novelty, in bilge keels, which extended for about one-third of her length. The object of these, which are so well-known a feature of modern steamships, was to lessen rolling. Her bulwarks consisted of iron rails with netting running round the ship. Here, again, was a new departure. In the older ships the heavy wooden bulwarks were a relic of the days when the guns were sheltered behind them; but from the view of seaworthiness they were really a false safety. If a heavy sea were shipped, the water was held in and not allowed to get away easily; in the case of the _Great Britain_ the water could escape just as quickly as it came aboard. Facing page 128 will be seen a reproduction of a model of the _Great Britain’s_ engines, as originally placed in her before she ran ashore. Steam was generated in a double-ended boiler. The nominal horse-power was 1,000, but twice that amount could be obtained, and a speed of over 12 knots. There were four direct-acting cylinders--of which two will be seen in the foreground of the illustration--placed as low down in the ship as possible. The early engines which were used for the screw did not drive the latter directly, and on reference to the illustration it will be seen that in the centre of the crank shaft was a drum, which was connected with another drum just below it on the propeller shaft by means of four chains.