present position to enter at once upon the manufacture of the engines and boilers, in doing which we shall in part repay the cost of tools and shops, which must eventually be required, and by which we shall be more independent, and more capable of expediting the works, should it become desirable to incur any additional expense for that purpose, or to throw all the responsibility and risk on another party or contractor--the vessel, for which we could not easily contract, being still made in the Company’s yard? I have thus reduced the question to that state in which I can offer no further opinion or advice; it is now for you to determine. The question is one which has frequently to be decided upon by the Directors of public works; it is very much a matter of feeling, but it is simplified in the present instance by the circumstance that the expense in either case will be, to my view at least, about the same, and the work, I have no doubt, equally good in either case. Upon this point, as perhaps upon the subject of cost, I have no doubt there will be some difference of opinion. It will be said that the work done under our own superintendence can be more relied upon than the work of a manufacturer, and that even in the engines of the ‘Great Western’ steam-ship, coming from one of the most experienced manufacturers, many defects may be pointed out. I should agree fully with both these arguments, but I think these advantages are fully counterbalanced by that of the experience in all the details which is brought into operation in an old-established manufactory, and the great relief from responsibility and risk obtained by contracting for the whole work. The Directors having determined to make the engines, erected shops and fitted them up with proper tools. The services rendered to them by Mr. Brunel at this period were fully acknowledged at the next meeting of the shareholders.[126] Mr. Brunel’s attention was now anxiously devoted to the consideration of the numerous questions involved in the construction of the ship and her engines; and, in order to obtain reliable information on many points, he sent one of his assistants, Mr. Berkeley Claxton, in the ‘Great Western.’ His sole occupation during six voyages was to note the amount of rolling and pitching, and the exact performance of her engines, with the effect of the use of the expansion valves on her speed, and on the consumption of fuel. These reports furnished Mr. Brunel with information which was of great value, especially when, shortly afterwards, he advised the Directors to adopt the screw propeller instead of paddlewheels. The circumstances which led to the adoption of the screw propeller in the ‘Great Britain’ instead of paddlewheels were as follows:--