Some of the Directors would not hear of so startling a proposition; but they nevertheless asked Mr. Brunel to become their Engineer; and he retained the post till February 1853. Two ships were built under his direction by Mr. J. Scott Russell--the ‘Victoria’ and the ‘Adelaide.’ It was, no doubt, his connection with the Australian Mail Company that led Mr. Brunel to work out into practical shape the idea of ‘a great ship’ for the Indian or Australian service, which had so long occupied his mind; and it appears that in the latter part of 1851 and the beginning of 1852 he devoted much time and thought to the subject. He collected facts relating to the trade with India and Australia which demonstrated the advantages to be gained by a rapid and direct communication for the conveyance of passengers and troops, as well as of merchandise. It was with these enlarged views that Mr. Brunel entered upon the construction of the ‘Great Eastern.’ He writes in February 1854, ‘In February and March 1852 I matured my ideas of the large ship with nearly all my present details, and in March I made my first sketch of one with paddles and screw. The size I then proposed was 600 × 70, and in June and July I determined on the mode of construction now adopted of cellular bottom; intending then to make the outer skin of wood for the sake of coppering.’ In the spring of 1852 he communicated the results at which he had arrived to Mr. John Scott Russell, Captain Claxton, and other scientific friends, and also to several Directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company. This Company had been formed in January 1851 for the purpose of establishing an additional line of steam communication by the overland route, for the conveyance of mails, passengers, &c., between England, India, and China, with a branch to Australia. However, in March 1852 the Government determined to grant the contract for the whole service to the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The Directors of the Eastern Steam Company were therefore obliged to report to their shareholders that the object for which the Company had been incorporated could not be carried out. At about this time Mr. Brunel’s scheme was brought before the Directors, and he submitted to them a detailed statement of his project. After describing the size and capacities of the vessels then used on the route between England and the East, and the amount and cost of the coals they consumed, he continued:-- June 10, 1852.