The SS Great Britain

Spent the night at Mark and Erica's flat. Great pizza and lovely company. Sunday dawned a little too early for Mark and Erica, however we were off to see what the Bristol harbour had to offer. We had a few hours solo while Mark and Erica were at church. Seeing though we didn't want to spend our time coercing the girls into walking, we decided on visiting the SS Great Britain which  involved first catching a little ferry across the harbour.

Built in 1843, the SS Great Britain was the longest passenger ship in the world until 1954. Initially built to service the transatlantic route from Liverpool to New York, this ship recorded 3 seasons of intermittent service before expenses became higher than profits.

The SS Great Britain was sold with the new owners organising a complete refit in order for the ship to commence the England - Australia route. Taking advantage of the Australian gold rush in the 1850's, the SS Great Britain ferried up to 700 immigrants to Melbourne per trip. This service was so popular that the SS Great Britain continued for another 30 years.

In 1882 the ship was converted into a supply ship to transport bulk coal. However during 1886 a fire on board while in the Falkland Islands damaged the ship beyond repair. For the next 50 years the SS Great Britain remained in the Falkland Islands as a storage hulk. Then was abandoned.





A salvage operation in 1970 saw the SS Great Britain floated onto a pontoon and towed back to Bristol where she was lovingly resorted and today is a museum boat attracting thousands of tourists.







The SS Great Britain is an excellent exhibit. Lots of hands on activities to be involved in including dressing up in olden day clothes! The girls like being on the deck however as soon as we went below, they both were scared. Not sure what the trigger was - whether it was the life-like statues or the dark claustrophobic atmosphere. Back up to the fresh air above we all go. I don't blame them really - I know I'm glad I wasn't around for trips like that!