The promoters of the Great Eastern Steam Navigation Company were very sanguine that the Government would frequently employ their vessel for the conveyance of troops, of which they estimated she could carry ten thousand. The Government very wisely never risked so great a body of men in one vessel. The only occasion on which the GREAT EASTERN was made use of as a troopship was during the threatened rupture between England and the Federal Government of America, in connection with the “Trent Affair.” She made her first entry into the port of Liverpool on the 4th June, having made the passage from New York in 9 days 11 hours. She had on board 212 passengers and a large cargo. On Thursday, 27th June, 1861, she sailed out of the Mersey on a voyage to Quebec, with troops to reinforce the Canadian garrisons. The day was cloudless, there was brilliant sunshine, and the piers and dock walls for five miles, as well as the landing-stages, were lined with spectators, who, as the great ship passed them, responded most heartily to the cheers raised by the soldiers who thronged the upper deck and the lower portions of the rigging. As she passed the landing-stages she fired salutes, and also on passing the Rock Battery. There were on board the GREAT EASTERN, not 10,000 troops as her promoters anticipated, but 2,125 men of all ranks, accompanied by 159 wives and 244 children of the soldiers. There were also about 40 civilian passengers in the saloon. She left Quebec on her return voyage on the 6th August, arriving in Liverpool on the 15th idem, and resumed her sailings to New York. She sailed from Liverpool for New York on the 10th September, under the command of Captain Walker, having on board 175 cabin and 193 steerage passengers. On the following Thursday she encountered a heavy gale, during which, when about 280 miles westward of Cape Clear, her steering apparatus became deranged and broken, and five of her lifeboats were carried away. For two days and nights she lay helpless, exposed to a terrific sea. Her internal fittings were in consequence seriously damaged, and her passengers greatly alarmed for their safety. The Captain decided to abandon the voyage and put back to Queenstown, arriving in the harbour on the Tuesday following. The passengers, when once more on _terra firma_, relieved their feelings by publishing some very angry letters in the Press, in which they reflected very severely on the managers of the company, but gave unqualified praise to Captain Walker for the manner in which he had handled the great ship in her disabled state. The laying of submarine cables, commenced in 1865, offered employment for which the GREAT EASTERN was specially suitable, and in which she was constantly engaged for a period of ten years.