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ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL'S SS GREAT BRITAIN
A recent popular poll placed Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the
second Greatest Briton of all time, second after Sir
Winston Churchill. He was without doubt Britain’s
greatest engineer, and of all the legacies he left to
the world, one of his greatest was the ss Great Britain.
The wrought iron steamship was built in 1843 in Bristol,
under the supervision of Brunel for the Great Western
Steamship Company. The Great Britain set the design
standards for today’s modern shipping and eminently
demonstrated the industry and inventiveness of the
Victorian era. Almost single-handedly Brunel shaped the
future of mass passenger travel and international
communications.
Originally conceived as a paddle steamer, her design was
quickly altered to take advantage of the new technology
of screw propulsion, and her engines were converted to
power a massive sixteen foot iron propeller. When
launched in 1843 she was by far the largest ship in the
world, at almost 100 metres she was over 30 metres
longer than her nearest rival, and was the first screw
propelled, ocean-going, wrought iron ship. Weighing in
at a massive 1930 tons, she was designed initially for
the Trans-Atlantic luxury passenger trade, and could
carry 252 first and second class passengers and crew of
130.
Whilst
her first few voyages demonstrated her technological
ability, they were not a great financial success,
attracting far fewer passengers than anticipated. Her
career in this trade was thus short lived, and after she
ran aground on the sands of Dundrum Bay in Northern
Ireland in 1846, her engines were so badly damaged that
she was sold on.
 Under
Gibbs Bright and Co, the ship prospered. The new owners
took advantage of the increase in emigration caused by
the Australian gold rush, and re-built the ship as an
emigrant carrier, taking people to Australia. With a
new upper deck added and a new engine fitted, she could
now transport 750 passengers in three classes.
Over
the next 24 years and 32 voyages
she carried over 16,000 emigrants to Australia, and was
known in her time as one of the fastest, most elegant
and luxurious emigrant clipper ships – the ‘Greyhound of
the seas’.
The average time she took on the return journey to
Australia was 120 days - very competitive for the
mid-19th century. Passage on the ss Great Britain could
virtually guarantee that a passenger would arrive on
time, well ahead of any sail powered rivals.
As meat went off easily on these long voyages, large
numbers of live animals were carried for food, giving
the ship the appearance of Noah's Ark rather than an
emigrant ship. On one voyage in 1859, the ship carried
133 live sheep, 38 pigs, 2 bullocks, 1 cow, 420 fowl,
300 ducks, 400 geese and 30 turkeys. Passenger diaries
record the ship as smelling and sounding like a
barnyard!
Between
1854 and 1855 she was chartered by the Government to
carry troops to and from the Crimean War, and over the
course of the conflict transported over 44,000 troops.
Following the war she was rebuilt yet again before being
chartered by the Government for further troop
transportation duties, carrying the 17th Lancers and 8th
Hussars to the Indian Mutiny.
In
1861, for a marginally less serious conflict,
the Great Britain also carried the first ever English cricket
side to tour Australia. The tour was immensely
successful with a 15,000 crowd attending the opening
match at Melbourne. The tourists played 12 games in
all, winning 6, drawing 4 and losing 2.
And bad news could often follow glad news, such as when
the onboard newspaper the ‘Great Britain Times’ reported
death of the pet koala bear belonging to the ship’s
carpenter. Apparently the marsupial died of ‘pulmonary
consumption’ on 25 October 1865, much to the sadness of
crew and passengers.
One of the ship’s more eccentric captains, Captain Gray,
climbed each mast at least once a week and interrupted
one voyage to Australia to claim the uninhabited island
of St. Martin for the Empire. He held a banquet that
evening to celebrate.
By the late 1870’s the Great Britain was showing her
age, her engines were removed, and she was converted
into a fast three-masted sailing ship. In this
unrecognisable guise, the once proud ship transported
Welsh coal to San Francisco. On her third trip, however,
she ran into trouble around Cape Horn, and was forced to
run for shelter in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
Damaged as a result of this, she was sold as a coal and
wool storage hulk in Port Stanley.
 In all the Great Britain had 25 accidents entered in her
logs – ranging from collisions with other vessels,
running aground, lost spars and mast damage, to losing
that eccentric Captain Gray in mysterious circumstances.
She remained in Port Stanley through the First World War, with coal from
her hold helping to replenish the battle cruisers
Inflexible and Invincible before the decisive
battle of the Falkland Islands on 7 December 1914, in
which the armoured cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst
and light cruisers Nurnberg and Leipzig were sunk.
By 1937
the Great Britain’s hull was no longer watertight, and
after being towed a short distance from Port Stanley,
she was beached and abandoned to the elements.
Attempts to rescue her in the late 1930’s and 1960’s
failed, but finally in 1970 an epic salvage effort
refloated the ship, and she was towed back home across
the Atlantic to Bristol.
Despite spending nearly 100 years suffering in the harsh
South Atlantic weather, the Great Britain was able to
float up the River Avon herself! After covering over a
million miles, Brunel’s 155 year old iron hull had stood
the test of time superbly.
Following yet another refit, this time costing in the
region of £11.3 million, Brunel’s ss Great Britain is
scheduled to be re-launched as one of the world’s most
important maritime museums – in time for her anniversary
celebrations in July 2005. For further details visit
www.ssgreatbritain.org
Photographs courtesy of
the ss Great Britain Trust
©
HUK
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