The Great Eastern ended up as a floating music hall and advertising billboard in Liverpool before being broken up in 1889. Such was the sad ending to a glorious vision. A bizarre footnote to this tale that is probably of interest only to ardent soccer fans is that in 1891 when the famous British football club Liverpool was being founded, they searched for a flagpole for their new stadium and purchased the top mast of the Great Eastern for that purpose. It still proudly stands there today.
