| Description | The Eastern Steam Navigation Company was founded in 1851 to open new passenger mail routes to India, China, and Australia, but from 1852 it was concerned solely with the building of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's enormous iron ship, 'Leviathan', or 'Great Eastern', as she was eventually known; she was to remain unsurpassed in size for over fifty years. The Eastern Steam Navigation Company was wound up in 1858 but two members of its board then formed the Great Ship Company to fit the vessel for sea. The papers record in detail the running of the greatest ship-building project of the 19th century. |