Note 170 — Chapter XII · STEAM NAVIGATION—THE ‘GREAT EASTERN’ STEAM-SHIP. THE LAUNCH. A.D. 1857—1858. ÆTATIS 52.

Mr. Brunel received a great many suggestions for launching the ship. Puncheons, gas, artillery, and especially levers, were among the appliances recommended. With the desire of behaving civilly to well-meaning persons who were wishing to do him a service, Mr. Brunel adopted a plan similar to that which he had found useful when the ‘Great Britain’ was on shore. He had a circular letter printed, thanking his correspondents for their suggestions, but saying that the number of such communications had become so great that it was impossible for him to do more than cause the receipt to be acknowledged, with thanks for the intentions of the parties writing.

This plan had, however, the effect of increasing the number of his correspondents, as several of them wrote a second time to express their regret that their letters had had no better effect than to be classed with the numerous communications which Mr. Brunel said he had received on the same subject, which had seemed unworthy of his notice; and they explained that though other people’s schemes were, no doubt, worthless, still that their own, if adopted, would launch the ship.