'The 'Great Eastern', 1860: The Vessel leaving Southampton on her First Voyage, June 17', (1901). The 'SS Great Eastern' was an iron sailing steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with John Scott Russell, the largest vessel afloat until she was broken up in 1888. Following earlier unsuccessful attempts, the 'Great Eastern' successfully laid a transatlantic communications cable across the Atlantic in 1866. The use of cable to relay telegraph messages reduced communication times from the length of a sea voyage to a few seconds. From "The Illustrated London News Record of the Glorious Reign of Queen Victoria 1837-1901: The Life and Accession of King Edward VII. and the Life of Queen Alexandra". [London, 1901]