The ship was built in partnership with an experienced ship designer, John Scott Russell. Unknown to Brunel, Russell was in financial difficulties. The two men disagreed on many details. It was Brunel's final great project, as he collapsed after being photographed on her deck, and died a few days later.

The ship was launched--after many technical difficulties--in 1858. She was 692 feet long, 83 feet wide, 60 feet deep (draught was 20 ft unloaded and 30 ft fully laden) and weighed 32,000 tons. In comparison the Persia, launched in 1856, was 390 feet long and 45 feet in breadth.

The hull was an all-iron construction, a double hull of 0.75 inch wrought iron in 2 ft 10 in plates with ribs every 6 ft. Internally the hull was divided by two 350 ft long, 60 ft high, longitudinal bulkheads and further transverse bulkheads dividing the ship into nineteen compartments. She had both paddle and screw propulsion, the paddle-wheels were 56 ft in diameter and the four-bladed screw-propeller was 24 ft across. The power came from four steam engines for the paddles and an additional engine for the propeller, total power was estimated at 8,000 hp.

After only a few passenger voyages and a series of accidents, she was sold for £25,000 (her build cost has been estimated at £500,000) and converted into a cable-laying ship. She laid 2,600 miles of the 1865 transatlantic telegraph cable and took part in other similar operations before being broken up for scrap in 1889.