Home > Shop > Marine Sector 1859 The Great Ship Company Ltd   Click on thumbnail to enlarge Stock Code GSC1859   Certificate, for one share in this shipping company, dated 1st March 1859. Printed signature of the company secretary. Red and white certificate with imprint of Great Eastern as the company seal. Certificate size is 21 cm wide x 13 cm high (9" x 5.5"). A perfect personalised gift for someone who: works or worked in the shipping industry or About This Company Framed Certificate Price : £120.00 Certificate Only Price : £75.00     Order Now - Free Worldwide Shipping! Options Certificate Only £75.00 GBP Framed Certificate £120.00 GBP

The Great Ship Company's most famous asset was the Great Western which was purchased from Brunel and renamed the Great Eastern. On June 17th 1860 it made its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.The huge cargo holds never were filled to capacity, and in 1864, after years of deficit operation, the ship was sold to the Great Eastern Steamship Company, which used it as a cable vessel until 1874. it was during this time that it laid the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable. Cable laying was interrupted in 1867, when it made a voyage from Liverpool to New York to attract American visitors to the Paris Exhibition. Jules Verne was on this passage and wrote about the ship in his novel Une Ville flottante (1874; The Floating City). It was broken up in 1889.