It was at one time thought possible that the launch might be effected in October. But it was found that it would be impossible to be ready before the spring-tides at the beginning of November; and even then, when the time came, there was considerable hurry, and important matters were, as will be seen, insufficiently attended to.

The cradles were put together and wedged up under the ship, and every effort was made at low water to extend the ways as far as possible; so that, by moving her further down the slope, a greater margin might be obtained, to allow for any falling off in the expected level of the tide, or for any miscalculation in the ship’s draught.

In the memorandum already referred to on the launching arrangements Mr. Brunel instructed Captain Harrison to superintend the moorings for the river tackle, and to satisfy himself of their sufficiency. A few days afterwards he wrote to Captain Harrison on the subject:—

September 30, 1857.

I fancy (I may be wrong) that you hardly estimate sufficiently highly the forces that we may require to get the ship down if she sticks at all, or to drag the cradle from under her, or to force her off the cradle at the last. She may move down pretty easily, and the cradles may possibly not stick; but if she does stick at all, it is as likely to require a dead pull of 500 tons as not, and we must not shut our eyes to the real exact amount of strain which may and will come upon purchases and moorings, &c., if this force is required and is exerted; but we must provide for it. The several moorings must really be good for the 80 and 100 tons respectively mentioned in the memorandum—and we must not rest satisfied with the feeling that the moorings are stronger than any generally sold or than common tackle will effect, but must apply purchases that will produce the strain, and if necessary we must strain them to it; and our moorings ought to be beyond a doubt.

We are going to move 11,000 tons, a far greater weight than ever was moved before, and we must not hesitate at providing a clear pull of 500 tons; but bear in mind that 500 tons clear pull is something much beyond what one is accustomed to. The power usually brought to bear with purchases, chain cables, &c., is never measured, but is very small; and we must take care and not be misled by comparison with them. 80 tons is a heavy pull, and nothing under 2 or 2¼ chain will be safe....

These are great strains we have to deal with, but they must be had, and therefore we must meet them boldly.

Frequent enquiries were now made relative to the time of launching; and the number of applications which poured in for admission to the yard led Mr. Brunel to write the following letter to the Directors of the Company, and it was published by them in the newspapers. In it he not only removed current misapprehensions as to the nature of the proposed operations, but he also took the opportunity of pointing out that there would be no risk to the ship in the mode of launching adopted, and that, although it might at first be unsuccessful, further power could be applied, and the ship safely launched.

October 23, 1857.

The difficulty of replying to the numerous enquiries made respecting the period at which the ship will be launched seems to render it desirable that some means should be taken of giving the information generally, that it may be uncertain, up to the end of next week, whether the ship will be launched on the 3rd proximo or the 2nd of December, and also of correcting the erroneous impressions which exist as to the nature of the operation, which can only lead to the disappointment of those who are erroneously anticipating a display, on an unusually large scale, of that which is a beautiful spectacle with ships of ordinary dimensions.