Except during the time that Mr. Brunel was prevented from attending to business by the half-sovereign accident, he was in constant communication with the dockyard authorities on matters relating to the construction of the ship, with Messrs. Maudslay as to the multiplying-gear and engines, and with Mr. F. P. Smith as to the forms of the various screws to be tried. The engines and screw were fitted in the ship, after considerable delay; and, on October 24, 1843, Mr. Brunel reported on them in their completed state. On the 30th, the experiments were commenced. More than twenty trials were made between that date and the following October, when the ‘Rattler’ went to sea, and Mr. Brunel could not of course any longer personally superintend the experiments; but, except on one or two occasions when his place was supplied by an assistant, all the trials that were made during the first year were conducted in his presence, and he transmitted the results from time to time to the Admiralty.[137] The performance of the ‘Rattler’ was found to be satisfactory; and the position of the engines and screw being below the water line was so pre-eminent an advantage, that in 1845 the Lords of the Admiralty ordered more than twenty vessels to be fitted with the screw;[138] and since that time it has gradually superseded the paddlewheel for ships of war. The services which Mr. Brunel rendered to the country during the whole of these proceedings were given entirely without pecuniary recompense, and in the face of opposition and discouragement; but he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had been mainly instrumental, not only in introducing the screw propeller into the mercantile navy, but also in securing its adoption in Her Majesty’s fleet. CHAPTER XI. _STEAM NAVIGATION--THE ‘GREAT EASTERN’ STEAM-SHIP, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE UNDERTAKING TO THE LAUNCH._ A.D. 1851--1857. ÆTATIS 46--52.