2-888-465 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interior of the Tube - Mr. Stephenson Driving the Last Rivet, 1850. Opening of the Britannia Tubular Bridge across the Menai Straits in Wales. '...a very interesting episodical proceeding took place in the interior of the Carnarvonshire land tube - that of putting the last rivet into the plates, making exactly the 2,000,000th that have been used. The rivet having been put in by Mr. Mare, was driven home and fastened by Mr. [Robert] Stephenson, by successive strokes with a huge hammer. This ceremony was followed by the waving of hats and the deafening acclamations of the workpeople'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.