Which ocean liner became the first to carry more than 2,000 passengers on a single voyage?

SS Great Eastern became the first ocean liner to carry more than 2,000 passengers on a single voyage.

Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and launched in 1858, Great Eastern was vastly larger than contemporary passenger ships. Its size allowed it to carry thousands of passengers, although its commercial career was troubled by high construction costs, technical problems, and weak demand for such an enormous vessel.

The ship could carry passengers in several classes and was later adapted for cable-laying work. Its greatest long-term achievement came in 1866, when it helped lay the successful transatlantic telegraph cable, linking Europe and North America with rapid communication.

Great Eastern is often mentioned alongside Titanic because both represented engineering ambition, but they belonged to different eras. Great Eastern was launched more than five decades before Titanic and was substantially longer than most ships of its time.