BRUNEL

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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9.4.1806 Portsea/UK - 15.9.1859 London/UK

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In 1822 Isambard Kingdom Brunel returned from an apprenticeship in France to Britain and started working in his father's office for the Thames Tunnel. He there exhibited great courage and presence of mind in the emergencies occurring not infrequently, such as in 1828 during a flooding of the tunnel. His design for a suspension bridge over the River Avon at Clifton Gorge was accepted in 1831, and finished only in 1864 as a memorial to Brunel. During the following ten years, Brunel was in charge of railways projects culminating in the 312 km long Great Western line.

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As early as in 1835, Brunel had the idea of extending the line westwards across the Atlantic from Bristol to New York by means of a steamship. Accordingly, he took interest in the design of large ships. The 88 m long and 15 m wide "Great Britain" was screw driven and launched in 1843. The first voyage began in 1845 from Liverpool to New York. One year later, it ran aground and was later used for trips to Australia. Brunel's last, largest and most extravagantly conceived ship was the Great Leviathan, eventually named "The Great Eastern"; it had a double-skinned iron hull, together with both paddles and screw propeller. Brunel designed the ship to carry sufficient coal for the round trip to Australia without refueling, thus saving the need for bunkering. The ship's construction was started by John Scott Russell (1808-1882) in his yard at Millwall on the Thames, but the building was completed by Brunel due to Russell's bankruptcy in 1856. The hull of the huge vessel was laid down so as to be launched sideways into the river and then to be floated on the tide. The ship was 207 m long, 25 m beam and 18 m deep; the screw was 7.3 m in diameter and the paddles 18 m in diameter. Its displacement was 32,000 tons. The strain of overwork and the huge responsibility marked the end of Brunel. He was diagnosed as suffering from nephritis and a strike left him partially paralyzed ten days before he passed away.

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