It appeared that Mr. Brunel was going down to Captain Claxton’s assistance by the long ladder which reached from the fore-hatch to the keelson, and put his foot on a burnt rung. He fell about 18 feet, striking an iron bar in his descent. Had he not fallen on Captain Claxton he must have struck the keelson or floor and been killed, and had not his head been raised at once he would have been suffocated by the water into which he fell. He was so severely hurt that he could not move, and he was laid on a sail on deck until the fire was extinguished, and then lowered into a boat, and landed on Canvy Island, where he remained some weeks. Although his sufferings were very great, he was able, within three days of the accident, to dictate a long letter to Captain Claxton on the state of the ship and engines. The fire was soon got under, the ship resumed her voyage to Bristol, and anchored at Kingroad in the afternoon of Monday, April 2, to the great surprise of the good people of Bristol, who had heard that she had been burnt in the Thames. Their astonishment was increased by finding no outward signs of the disaster; but, as a fact, the deck above the boiler was charred a fourth of its thickness, and so remained till the ship was broken up. The ‘Great Western’ started on her first voyage to New York on Sunday, April 8, at 10 A.M.,[124] and struck soundings off Newfoundland on the ninth day. She arrived at New York at 2 P.M. on Monday, the 23rd, having consumed three-fourths of the coal she had taken on board. She found that the ‘Sirius’ had arrived before her; but under all the circumstances the palm was due to the ‘Great Western,’ for the ‘Sirius’ had left Cork eight hours before the ‘Great Western’ left Bristol (which lies a whole day’s run further from New York), and had only arrived at New York in the morning of the day in the afternoon of which the ‘Great Western’ came in; and, what is after all the most important point for comparison, the ‘Great Western’ had nearly 200 tons of coal left, while the ‘Sirius,’ when she dropped her anchor at Sandy Hook, had not only consumed all her coal, but also all the combustible articles which could possibly be thrown on the fire, including (to repeat the well-known anecdote) a child’s doll! The ‘Great Western’ was received at New York with well-deserved honour. According to the journal of one of her passengers, ‘Myriads were collected, boats had gathered round us in countless confusion, flags were flying, guns were firing, and cheering rose from the shore, the boats, and all around loudly and gloriously, as though it would never have done. It was an exciting moment, a moment of triumph.’ The ship started on her return home on May 7, 1838, with sixty-eight passengers on board. She made the voyage in fourteen days, although twenty-four hours were lost by a stoppage at sea.