Engraving showing the Steamship 'Great Western' being struck amidships in a gale during a crossing from Liverpool to New York in 1846. At this point in the voyage, the Captain was trying to wear ship, but the wind was so great that the sails he set were blown off the yards. Launched in 1837, this wooden paddle steamer was designed by I.K. Brunel and gave service to the Great Western Steamship Company and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She was scrapped at the Castle's Yard, on the Thames, in 1856.