Archimedes, Great Britain, and Rattler show the screw's value

Smith reached the water first partly because Ericsson went to the United States in search of backing, while Smith had developed a connection with Isambard Kingdom Brunel and British funders. SS Archimedes then showed that a screw-driven steamship could work reliably, even though it remained a limited early-generation vessel rather than a strong performer. Brunel's access to the ship helped inform the screw propulsion adopted by SS Great Britain, launched only five years later and subsequently the first iron steamship to cross the Atlantic. The Royal Navy then compared the screw-driven HMS Rattler with the paddle steamer HMS Alecto in an 1845 tug-of-war. The trial made the practical advantage plain, although propeller design continued evolving before stabilizing in a recognizably modern form late in the nineteenth century.