Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: ship

Even before being converted to sail, the S.S. Great Britain had the option of sailing if it ran out of coal. However, the ship was the largest ship in the world when built in 1845, being 322 feet long, 50'6" wide, and drawing 16 feet (although I don't know if this was the loaded draught). Displacement isn't reported consistently in the sources I've found, but is given as between 3,018 and 3,675 long tons. It was so large that a larger ship wasn't built until 1854, when the troop ship H.M.S. Himalaya set a new record of 4,690 tons displacement. So...this meant that the masts installed on the S.S. Great Britain had to be so large that the difficultly of finding large enough trees would have made traditional wooden masts impractical. For whatever reason, Brunel chose not to use iron masts, and the result was that instead "built" masts were used. These where constructed by combining wood from several trees, much like in cabinet making. This, in a sense, was another very modern feature of the S.S. Great Britain, as in the future there would be a need to preserve trees as the world's supply of old growth timber dwindled. Similar difficulties arose during the recent restoration of the U.S.S. Constitution.

Here are the original built masts, or at least an older set of built masts, from the S.S. Great Britain. Over the years, several different sets of masts have been used, so it isn't clear if these are the originals. In any case, while suitable for display, they aren't in good enough condition even for non-functioning use on the actual ship anymore. The mizzen mast is missing, being on display in Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands. The S.S. Great Britain was moored in the Falklands from 1884 until 1970, and when the ship was returned to Bristol the mizzen was left behind for public display. A number of other parts of the ship were also salvaged over the years, particularly when the Battle of the Falkland Islands (in 1914) badly damaged several Royal Navy ships, most notably H.M.S. Exeter. During the battle, and during the months when there were naval battles in the South Atlantic, S.S. Great Britain provided coal to the fleet, making this the only time that S.S. Great Britain saw combat (if somewhat indirectly, as there was never any armament installed that I'm aware of).

Here's an alternate shot of the bow.

This is the bow of the S.S. Great Britain, of course. The ship resembles a clipper, and when it was converted to sail it became one of the fastest sailing ships in the world, in spite of never having been designed as one.

Here's a variation of the connecting rod photo I took earlier.

Here's another, sharper view of the flywheel. When I took these pictures, everything was in motion, so I presume my shutter was faster in Pictures 25 and 27 than in Picture 26.

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.

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.

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.

Here's another view of the engine. It looks absolutely real, but isn't.

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.

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.

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.

Here's the helm, presumably no longer connected.

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.

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.

This is the ship's bell, although I don't know if it's original. It looks worn enough to be real, though.

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.