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S.S. Great Britain
The last surviving steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the S.S. Great Britain had a career spanning the years 1845-1937, serving in almost all capacities that a civilian ship could. From 1937 to 1970, the ship was abandoned in the Falklands, but against all odds was returned to Bristol, for restoration in the same dockyards in which it was built. Being the largest ship in the world wh…
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S.S. Great Britain, Picture 30, Edited Version, Br…
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 1, Edited Version, Bri…
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A few days before I went to Bristol, I was going through Wikipedia entries on on 19th-Century steam ships, partly because of my concern regarding the U.S.S. Olympia, which is in danger of scrapping. One of the preserved steamships that I read about was the S.S. Great Britain, which I had presumed was long scrapped. To my surprise, I read the story of its rescue and preservation in the 1970's. I had forgotten it was sent to Britain, and when I saw it in the harbor I just assumed it was an old whaling ship or even a U.S. Navy ship (due to the black paint with the white stripe down the side). My taxi driver noticed me looking at it, and brought it up. He asked if I knew what ship it was. I mentioned that I had been reading about old ships, and that I knew it couldn't be the Great Britain. He corrected me that it really was, so I went to see it the next day. I took a large number of photos of it, and the ones I'm posting to iPernity are only a small portion of them. This is the stern, of course. The dry dock that it's displayed in has been permanently pumped out, and wavy glass resembling water has been installed around the waterline, with a little bit of water pumped over it. Visitors are allowed under the glass to see the hull below the waterline.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 2, Edited Version, Bri…
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 3, Edited Version, Bri…
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Here's a shot further back. The way it's displayed is reasonably convincing from a distance, in that it looks like it's still in the water.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 6, Edited Version, Bri…
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Unfortunately, having been abandoned from the 1930's to the 1970's, and having been run into the ground (literally) before that, the S.S. Great Britain is in such bad condition that preservationists have given up hope of relaunching it. The hull is riddled with rust holes, in spite of repainting, dehumidifiers in the drydock, and so on. I noted that the Great Britain's condition was much worse than the Olympia's, and by a wide margin. I think this is something the Olympia's custodians should bear in mind, that the Great Britain was preserved in spite of its condition.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 7, Edited Version, Bri…
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This is the propellor. However, this one's a replica of the original, which was not used for very long. The reason it was replaced was that it had too much pull for the alloys of the time, and tended to damage itself. The engine was also not quite powerful enough for it. The rudder is also a replacement, as the original is in extremely bad condition.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 9, Edited Version, Bri…
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This is the Caisson of the drydock, which is a real one, but is actually backed by concrete to both preserve it, and protect the S.S. Great Britain from an implosion. As I already said, the custodians of the Great Britain have no plans to relaunch it.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 10, Edited Version, Br…
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This is the ship's bell, although I don't know if it's original. It looks worn enough to be real, though.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 13, Edited Version, Br…
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This is the anchor winch, if I'm not mistaken. It isn't connected to anything, and it isn't clear if it was steam powered. More information would be interesting.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 14, Edited Version, Br…
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These are some of the gears in the engine, which is turned over by an electric motor for display purposes. The engine is actually not original, as the original was lost when the ship was converted to a sailing ship in 1881. The new engine is a replica that appears operable, but which actually is a very convincing fake. It was constructed and financed by a coalition of companies and charities that included Rolls Royce.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 15, Edited Version, Br…
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 17, Bristol, England (…
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This is the sick bay. They chose to make it a far less disgusting display than would be realistic. The blue cast is, I think, a result of the lighting, which isn't original. While the Great Britain had a higher level of technology than the typical 1840's hotel, electric lighting simply wasn't made yet. In all likelihood, the original oil lamps wouldn't have caused the blue cast.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 17, Edited LoRes Versi…
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To correct the blue cast, I fiddled with the photo a bit in Gimp, with only limited luck. The auto levels feature didn't work, so I tried to do it manually. It probably could still use some tweaking.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 19, Edited Version, Br…
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This is the deck immediately below the topside. The plaques claimed these were the first class cabins, although they seem very numerous for first class. On the other hand, the lower decks haven't been preserved (see my later photos for details). In all likelihood, these cabins would have been a small percentage of the ship's capacity.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 23, Edited Version, Br…
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This cabin doesn't look first class, but it is one of the ones on the corridor shown earlier. It may have been that first class didn't provide a huge amount of space. In reality, all passengers on the Great Britain would have enjoyed far more comfort than on other ships of the time.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 24, Edited Version, Br…
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 25, Edited Version, Br…
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The propeller on the S.S. Great Britain wasn't directly driven, as the engine was mounted transversely. This was probably a legacy of the design being changed during construction, from a paddlewheeler to a screw steamer. As a result, a Brunel (the designer) had to devise a chain drive. When his steam engine was replicated for the S.S. Great Britain's restoration, this had to be replicated as well, and here's part of it. The flywheel is one of the biggest single parts of the ship.
S.S. Great Britain, Picture 26, Edited Version, Br…
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Here you can see the flywheel in motion, with the Brunel-style chain wrapped around it. The Clifton Suspension Bridge (which I posted photos of earlier) used similar chains, in spite of the application being quite different.
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