Inside the SS Great Britain

The ship that launched a thousand faces. And many more great steamships

Following the Stiff Little Fingers gig in Bristol, I stayed over night in Bristol with the intention of having a quick look around the SS Great Britain. I'd been round this as a student when it was little more than an empty hulk in the mid-eighties when it was included as a visit to support our history of design lectures.

The reconstruction of the interior is stunning compare to the empty and broken shell I saw back the 80s. This is the Promenade deck and it must have been a fantastic feeling to walk here while at sea in any kind of weather. The natural light has been used to brilliant effect.

The hull is still very holey. This view is from inside the forward hold and shows the light coming through what should be very thick iron plates. It's incredible how the SS Great Britain managed to float back into Bristol, a case of sheer determination over the laws of bouyancy The big shiny ducts are part of the de-humidifying system

Since then it has changed virtually beyond all recognition and the quick visit became in an depth wallowing in anti-corrosion technology and sheer reconstruction chutzpah. What was an empty hulk is now a steam ship once more and with all the interior fittings re-created you can understand what an extraordinary vessel this must have been when it was launched. It's the grand progenitor of all modern vessels. There were steam ships before but this one was so fast, so powerful and so big - the dock where it rests today had to be built specially for it - the SS Great Britain made unarguable economic sense. It was fast, powerful and big so could carry more passengers a greater distance more quickly. Lots of similar vessels followed but the SS Great Britain was the first.

The story of its recovery from the Falkland islands is epic in itself and I remember being fascinated by the idea of a ship having a piggy-back ride halfway round the world. That's how it was explained to this seven year old anyway.

But in 2001(Check) the custodians of the SS Great Britain realised with horror that the salts that had impregnated the iron hull had reacted irreversibly with the metal and that unless something drastic was done the ship would crumble away to nothing below the water line in a few more years.

To arrest this, a vast dehumidifying system now operates in the dock under a glass ceiling and any moisture that seeps through the walls of the dock is carried away in progressively bigger pipes.

Deep Thought II is one of two industrial strength dehumidifiers that keep the hull crumbling away to nothingness. The humidity in the dock equals the Arizona desert i.e only 20%. I got thirsty. I'm used to a more overcast 99.99%. 100% is where it would be raining.

Its future now appears assured, whereas in 1980-something I couldn't help but be struck by the monumental task of looking after this great iron edifice in the open air in a damp dock (rather than a dry dock) not so far from the salty seaside.

I particularly liked the engines. Reconstructed to the original design, these were awaiting overhaul since they have worked far longer and turned far more revolutions than the prototype ever did. Technological advances happened so quickly that it was cost effective to replace this somewhat inefficient design after only 9 years.

This is the chain that connects the crankshaft above to the propeller shaft below.

The chains that drive the propellor shaft reminded me of the chains on the Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar, a bridge I know well from the weekly commute into Plymouth. They seem to have been something of a Brunel trademark. The Royal Albert Bridge chains were originally destined for the Clifton Suspension Bridge but when the money ran out and construction stopped they were sold off to be used across the Tamar. Bridge building at Clifton was eventually resumed after Brunel's death and it was completed in 1864, 21 years after the SS Great Britain was launched and 33 years after rioting arrested construction. Two of the lengths of chains that were eventually used came from the Hungerford pedestrian bridge that Brunel designed. A third set of links for Clifton was made by the original ironfounder.

When the SS Great Britain came home, it was the first time it had ever travelled under the Clifton Suspension Bridge!

My ticket allows me free entry for another 12 months so I hope to see this gigantic inverted V4 running.

When it was built this 1000hp engine was the most powerful in the world. 9 years later the owners rebuilt the vessel with something more efficient, such was the state of technological advances in those years.

The impression I had admiring all the conrods and chains and gears was of being in a giant watch. It's a sensation that any steam punk would love and in one of the salons you can sit by a waxwork of Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself - although in real life I don't he ever sat down or was still for long.


Another reason for returning is to find out how they manage corrosion on the ironwork above the waterline. It's still exposed to the elements and I forgot to ask what paint they use.