Great Britain

A steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built in 1843 by W. Paterson, Wapping Warf, in Bristol for the Great Western Steamship Company. At the time of building the largest ship in the world measuring 86,87×15,39×5,49 meters and 3443 ton gross and 1016 tons net. Built of iron and equipped with propeller as well as being rigged as a six-masted top-sail schooner.

Contemporary description from Scientific American Vol. 1 (1845).

After having successfully served on the Australian passenger trade she was converted into a pure cargo carrying sailing vessel rigged as a three-masted fullrigged ship.

After having been partially dismasted off Cape Horn in May 1866 she put back to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, where she was condemmed and converted into a floating coal hulk. In which capacity she served until 1937 when she was beached in a nearby cove and abandoned and forgotten until the 1960s.

Brought back to Bristol in 1970 carried on a barge and was put in the drydock where she was built. She is now being restored back to her original appearance when launched in 1843.

1839 July: Keel laid at Wapping Warf, Bristol.
1843 July 19: Launched.
1846 September 22: Ran ashore at Dundrum Bay, Belfast, where she remained until August 27, 1847.
c1849: Sold to Gibbs, Bright & Co. for £ 18.000 and was equipped with a new set of engines and a lifting screw. She was also re-rigged as a four-masted jackass barque.
1852 June: Sailed from Liverpool [?] for Melbourne [?], but had to stop at St Helena to re-fuel.
1852 November 11: Arrived in Melbourne.
>1852: Re-rigged as a three-masted ship and a single funnel.
1853: Sailed from England to Australia in 66 days.
1854: Sailed from England to Australia in 66 days.
1855: Engaged in trooping for Great Britain.
1856: Transferred to the Liverpool and Australian Navigation Co.
1858 December 24: Paricipates in a joint service between the Black Ball Line and the Eagle Line.
1876: Last Australia voyage.
1882: Sails for Montevideo for Anthony Gibbs, Sons & Co. as owners and with Captain Henry Stap as master.
1886 February 25: Received storm damage off Cape Horn and was forced back to the Falkland Islands where she was condemned.

Select Bibliography:

Ewan Corlett: The Iron Ship.
A. Ball & D. Wright: SS Great Britain.
Young, Chris: SS Great Britain Project the Search for Solutions.
Third International Conference on the Technical Aspects of the Preservation of Historic Vessels, San Francisco, CA, 1997.

Updated 1999-10-25 by Lars Bruzelius

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