SS Great Britain
The ss Great Britain Trust’s curator looks after around 50,000 separate objects and archives, including, of course, the ss Great Britain, one of the world’s most important historic ships, and one of the biggest museum objects in the UK!
The ss Great Britain was a world first when she was launched in Bristol in 1843. This uniquely successful ship design brought together new technologies in a way which transformed world travel. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the most daring of the great Victorian engineers, conceived the groundbreaking combination of a screw propeller, an iron hull, and a massive 1000-horsepower steam engine.
She was immediately successful - on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic the ss Great Britain easily broke the previous speed record. Although effectively a prototype, she continued sailing until 1886, and travelled thirty-two times around the world and nearly one million miles at sea.
She was finally abandoned in the Falkland Islands, in 1937, after more than 40 years use as a floating warehouse. In 1970 an ambitious salvage effort brought her home to Bristol, where today she is conserved in the dry dock where she was originally built.
Technological innovation, inspirational design and some truly revolutionary features lay behind the development of the ss Great Britain, the world's first iron-hulled, steam-powered ocean going ship.
1845 - 46 Luxury Transatlantic Passenger Liner:
Originally conceived as a paddle steamer, the ss Great Britain's builders quickly recognised the advantages that the new technology of screw propulsion could give the vessel, and converted the ship and her engines to power a 16 foot iron propeller. At the time of her launch in 1843 she was by far the largest ship in the world, over 100 feet longer than her rivals, and the first screw-propelled, ocean-going, wrought iron ship. Designed initially for the transatlantic luxury passenger trade, she could carry 252 first and second class passengers and 130 crew.
1852 - 1876 Emigrant Clipper:
Under new owners Gibbs Bright and Co, the ship prospered, and her reputation was re-established. It was the height of the Australian gold rush and the company took full advantage of the increase in emigration to that country by rebuilding the ship for use as a fast and luxurious emigrant carrier, circumnavigating the globe.
1855 Troop Ship:
Between 1855 and 1856 the vessel was chartered by the British Government to carry troops to and from the Crimean War. Over the course of the conflict, she carried over 44,000 troops. She was then rebuilt, with her hurricane deck expanded breadthways to her bulwarks
1886 - 1970 Coal Hulk
Barely recognisable as the same vessel launched in 1843, she transported Welsh coal to San Francisco around Cape Horn. Here she remained through the First World War, with coal from her hold helping to replenish the battle cruisers HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible before the decisive battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914, in which the armoured German cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, and light cruisers Nurnberg and Leipzig were sunk.
Salvage and Conservation:
Finally, in 1970, an epic salvage effort re-floated the ship, and she was towed back home across the Atlantic to Bristol. Her new life had begun, but it took 35 years to complete the painstaking conservation and restoration we can all now enjoy.
Construction of a glass sea at the ship's water line provides the roof of a giant airtight chamber surrounding the ship's lower hull. Beneath the glass plate moisture is removed from the air using special dehumidification equipment. In this dry environment, the hull will no longer corrode. Never tried before, this groundbreaking method is akin to placing an historic artefact in a glass case but on a vast scale.
The glass sea is covered with a thin layer of water, so the ship appears to be floating. Visitors can descend beneath the glass plate into the dry dock, to see the ship's vast, curved flanks and her all-important propeller.
Although she will never sail again, Brunel's ss Great Britain is an invaluable educational resource and an international monument to British invention.
VISITROS INFORMATION:
Open daily, from 10am, except Dec 24 and 25 and Jan 10 2011
Closing times:
4.30pm (to Mar 26)
5.30pm (Mar 26 to Oct 31)
Admission Prices :
| Adults |
£11.95 |
| Concession* (aged 60 and over; unemployed; students aged 18 and over) |
£9.50 |
| Child (16 and under) |
£5.95 |
| Child (4 and under) |
Free |
| Students (aged 17) |
£5.95 |
| Family ticket (2 adults, with 2 or 3 children) |
£32.00 |
| Grandparent family ticket (2 seniors, with 2 or 3 children) |
£30.00 |
| Mini family ticket (1 adult, with 2 or 3 children) |
£21.00 |
| Mini grandparent family ticket (1 senior, with 2 or 3 children) |
£20.50 |
*Concessions include:
Seniors aged 60 and over
Unemployed
Registered disabled (companion/assistant free entry)aged 60 and over
Students aged 18 and over
Appropriate and valid identification must be provided
Your ticket permits FREE return visits for 12 months.
Please keep your tickets safe as replacements cannot be issued.
The annual ticket cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer e.g. group tickets, including schools, or venue hire guests.
Group Admission Prices (20-plus people)
| Adults |
£9.95 |
| Concession* (aged 60 and over; unemployed; students aged 18 and over) |
£7.75 |
| Child (16 and under) |
£5.45 |
| *Must provide appropriate and valid ID |
School Group Admission Prices
| School groups students/pupils aged 16 and under |
£4.95 |
| One adult free per six children Students aged 17 |
£5.45 |
FACILITIES:
Parking
Car and coach parking is available next to Brunel’s ss Great Britain, on Gas Ferry Road. The car park is pay and display.
Dockyard Café
Enjoy superb views on to the ship and Bristol’s historic floating harbour, home-cooked and freshly prepared food and refreshments. Inside, terrace and balcony seating available (open for visitors and non visitors).
Find out more about the Dockyard Cafe
Toilets
Toilets are located on the ground floor of the Dockyard Museum, onboard ship near the Dining Saloon and in the Dockyard Café Bar.
Baby Change Facilities
There are baby change facilities in the Dockyard Museum, on board ship, and just outside the Dockyard Café Bar (entrance by the Drawing Office).
Seating
There is seating in the Dry Dock, Dockyard Museum, on board ship, and bench seating around the dockyard itself including the Riggers’ Yard with waterfront views.
Lifts and Access
Brunel’s ss Great Britain is fully accessible. There are lifts in the Dry Dock, the Dockyard Museum and on board the ss Great Britain. They are principally for wheelchair and pushchair users and for visitors who find stairs difficult.