THE P.S. GREAT WESTERN was Brunel's very first ship. It was built to connect Bristol with America. The Great Western was 236ft long and displaced 2300 tonnes of water. Because of the space required for this type of transatlantic ship, Brunel had to take into account the stresses put upon it by the Atlantic. It was of conventional structural design with oak frames forming the bottom and sides, and for extra strength, he added four staggered rows of iron bolts running the entire length of the ship. The hull was sheathed in copper below the waterline.
The size of the engine and the amount of fuel required was questioned by Dr. Lardner who said there would not be enough room to carry the amount of coal needed for a transatlantic crossing. On the 8th of April, 1838, the Great Western set out for New York from Bristol. The ship arrived on the 23rd of of April, with coal to spare. The story is not the same for a rival paddle steamer, known as the Sirius, who left Cork, on the 5th of April and arrived twelve hours before The Great Western. All the coal had been used up,and so had some of the fittings. The Great Western had bettered the Sirius's time by almost four days. The Great Western became the Queen of the Atlantic, regularly crossing between Bristol and New York from 1838 to 1846.
Construction on THE S.S. GREAT BRITAIN began in 1839. It took 4 years to build and was first floated in Bristol dry dock on the 19th July 1843. It was 322ft long and displaced 3675 tonnes. The engines and propeller were installed in December 1844 and official trials commenced in January 1845. Its maiden voyage started in July 1845. The six bladed propeller was damaged because of the stress on the small blades, so a four bladed propeller was added instead. After 2 years it was sold to another company and underwent a huge refit. The engines were replaced and another funnel added, the number of masts was reduced to four, and to increase the number of passengers an upper deck house was added. This was when the S.S. Great Britain started service between England and Australia, the first voyage took 83 days carrying 630 passengers. In 1876 it was converted into a cargo sailing ship having had its engines removed and hull strengthened.
Ten years later, The S.S. Great Britain was caught in a storm, rounding Cape Horn, and found shelter in the Falkland Islands. Then the ship was bought again, this time as a store ship, and stayed in Port Stanley for fifty years. In 1937, the Great Britain was towed to Sparrow Cove, which was nearby, and was left to disintegrate, beached there until 1970. It was then that the ship was refloated and towed 7000 miles back to Avonmouth, passing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, into the floating harbour and put into dry dock for restoration to Brunel's original design.
THE P.S.S. GREAT EASTERN was launched in 1858. It was 692ft long, and displaced 27380 tonnes of water. The paddles were 52ft in diameter and the propeller was 24ft in diameter. Nothing much has survived from the Great Eastern. It was intended to go from England to Australia, but didn't make many trips.
Where do you want to go?home, Clifton Suspension Bridge, or Great Western Railway