When Isambard Kingdom Brunei’s famous iron ship Great Britain was launched in Bristol by Prince Albert on the 19th July, 1843, she was larger than any vessel then in existence-and the dock entrance was not deep enough for her to pass through. But she found a suitable berth in Liverpool, and from there she operated a service to New York. The man who planned and built the docks that could accommodate what was then the largest ship in the world was Jesse Hartley.