Note 185 — Chapter IV

The Great Britain was launched on the 19th of July 1843. The machinery was constructed in the works of the company, as no engineers could be found willing to undertake the task by contract. But, by putting the engines into the vessel at the works, it was found that she was so deeply immersed as to be unable to pass out of the dock, and she was, consequently, detained for some months until the requisite alterations could be made for her release. Soon after her experimental trip, made on the 12th December, 1844, she was placed on the American station. Her career, however, was prematurely brought to a close by an accident (stranded on the coast of Ireland) which, though occasioning a serious loss to her enterprising owners, proved at this early stage the great strength and value of iron ships. During the whole winter that she lay on the beach at Dundrum Bay, coast of Ireland, she sustained very little injury, and though frequently altered and under repair since then, the Great Britain is still successfully employed in the trade between Liverpool and Australia, and to all appearance is as sound a vessel as she was when launched thirty-one years ago.