'GREAT EASTERN' Captain Harrison died 1860, LSC

Stereo view on a square-cornered cream/white mount with blindstamp of The London Stereoscopic Company. William Harrison was the first captain of the visionary but doomed vessel, the largest of its time. Built in spite of numerous obstacles by Isenbard K. Brunel, its greatest triumph was in laying the Atlantic cable. Its early years were marked by misfortune. Harrison himself died in 1860 while coming ashore from the ship at Southampton. Other views of Harrison refer to him as "The Late Captain Harrison." This rarer, earlier view, shows him alone against the ropes that seem to be holding the lifeboat. The related portrait of Brunel against the anchor chains is one of the iconic images of this period. There is a line from the crack on the original glass negative in the right view, so there can not have been many of these produced.