How does one define an ocean liner? A quick Google definition would classify an ocean liner as an oceangoing passenger ship used on a regular line. The story of the ocean liner dates back to 1843, with the launch of SS Great Britain. She was the largest ship in the world, boasting an iron hull and new screw-turbine propellors. This new ship was unlike anything the world had seen before, and was deemed "The greatest experiment since the creation". Here is the story of the liner that changed the shipping world forever.
SS Great Britain today, restored as a museum for visitors to explore
The Beginnings
SS Great Britain was designed by Isambard Brunel, most known for the construction of the Great Western Railway, and later for the SS Great Eastern. In the 1830s, Brunel became interested in transatlantic shipping, believing he could revolutionise shipping through large, steam powered ships that would be large enough to carry both cargo and enough fuel to power them across the Atlantic. His first attempt at this would be with SS Great Western, built mainly from wood with iron reinforcements, and powered by a steam-powered paddle wheels and masts. However, a fire onboard the ship delayed its maiden voyage, and the title of first ship to cross the Atlantic fully under steam power would go to Sirius.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Great Western would prove to be a great success, capturing the Blue Riband and proving itself to be a reliable enough ship to make commercial transatlantic shipping viable. This success enabled Brunel to begin the construction of a sister ship, which would later be christened, SS Great Britain.
SS Great Britain would prove another successful step in maritime innovation. Her iron hull was not only lighter than wood, but it was more durable against the elements of the sea and would not be susceptible to rot. She was also fitted with screw propellors instead of the conventional paddle wheels. This was after Brunel argued that screw propellors were more cost-effective, took up less space, and were more fuel efficient than the paddle wheel. Once again, Brunel would be proven right, and the screw propellor would subsequently become the preferred propulsion method of naval engineers.
On 19th July 1843, the new ship was launched by Prince Albert, to a large crowd of eager spectators. However, it would take two more years of fitting out before the ship would be ready to set sail, due to a number of delays.
On 26th July 1845, SS Great Britain was finally ready. She was by far the largest ship ever built, with a length of 332 feet and weighing 3,400 tonnes, a true marvel for shipbuilding at the time. She had a capacity of around 360 passengers and 120 crew, and enough storage for around 1,200 tonnes of coal. Her steam engines also had a lot to boast, coming in a 1000hp, the most powerful for the time. The size, the design and the propulsion were revolutionary for the time and set the standard for what we think of as a traditional ocean liner.
The Launch of Great Britain, 1843 (taken from The Launch Of The Great Britain Steamship, 1843 - SS Great Britain)
Maiden Voyage and Early Career, 1845-1850
She boasted a maximum speed of up to 12 knots, although she was never able to beat her running mate, the Great Western, for speed. On her maiden voyage, it took 14 days 21 hours to travel from Southampton to New York, and 13 days on the return crossing, a fairly unremarkable time for this era.
However, Great Britain's sleek and advanced designs did not come without its problems, which soon became apparent. The first issue was the propellor design. Rather than using the traditional four-bladed propellor, Brunel opted for his own six-bladed propellor design, in hopes of improving speed. However, over the course of the next few months, the ship repeatedly lost propellor blades due to storms, and eventually the six-bladed propellor was replaced.
Another issue for Great Britain was stability. Four masts and lack of a sail meant that the ship was improperly balanced and rolled significantly as a result, not something you would want as a passenger going to bed at night! To fix this, the third mast was removed, and a bilge keel (a long strip which runs across each side of the hull) was installed to minimise rolling.
In 1846, the ship was back in service, but only months later, she would find herself run aground in Dundrum bay after a series of navigational errors. It would take a year and £34,000 (£4.5 million today) to re-float her and return her to Liverpool. The expense to re-float the ship drained the finances of the already struggling company, and in 1950 was sold to Gibbs Bright and Co. for just £25,000 (£3.3 million today).
Great Britain grounded in Dundrum Bay, 1846/47
The keel of Great Britain was totally replaced after it sustained severe damage in the grounding, and her engines were replaced with more modern, smaller and more efficient oscillating cylinder steam engines. Her three boilers were replaced with six smaller ones, which operated at higher pressure and allowed more capacity for cargo.
Finally she was ready for service again, but after just one trip to New York and back, she was sold to Antony Gibbs and Sons.
Services to Australia, 1851-1882
Gibbs and Sons gave Great Britain yet another refit in order to ready her for a new route, England to Australia. The Victorian Gold Rush of 1851 saw a huge influx of population and financial capital into Australia, and gave Great Britain a new life as a migrant ship. With a new capacity of 730 passengers and a traditional three-masted look, she was ready for service by 1852. Great Britain quickly found success on this route, with high numbers of migrants and widespread excitement to sail on her. For the next thirty years, she would continue in this role, with fairly reliable services carrying migrants to a new life in Australia, and colonists back to their native land.
She would also briefly serve as a troopship in the Crimean War in 1855-56, and then again to squash the Indian Mutiny.
By 1882, Great Britain was almost Fourty years-old and was becoming increasingly less viable as a passenger liner. As a result, she was converted into a sailing ship for coal transport between Wales and San Francisco, which would continue until 1886.
Great Britain's Later Career and Abandonment
In1886, whilst embarking on a voyage to San Francisco, a fire broke out and Great Britain ran aground near Port Stanley. The damage was so severe that it repair was deemed not viable economically.
Instead, she was used as a floating coal bunker in the Falkland Islands, and her coal was used during the First World War to fuel ships such as H.M.S. Invincible.
By 1937 however, the condition of the ship was degrading, and she was towed to Sparrow Cove and abandoned. Parts were taken from the wreck in the Second World War in order to repair damage ships.
For the next few decades, the once glorious ship was left to ruin 8,000 miles from her home of Bristol.
Salvage Operation and Restoration
Fortunately, Great Britain's story did not end there, for a project called the "SS Great Britain Project" began in 1967 led by Dr. Ewan Corlett to return her to Bristol. However, it wasn't until 1970 that the project received the necessary funds to begin the operation, thanks to a philanthropist, known as "Union" Jack Hayward.
Although the ship was deemed strong enough to be re-refloated, the hull was severely damaged that she likely would not survive being towed 8,000 miles back. Instead, the team used a submersible pontoon which was placed under the hull to keep it out of the water so she could be safely towed.
The operation was successful, and on 7 April she began the voyage to Bristol.
Two months later, on 27 July, she returned to the dock in the river Avon to a crowd of over 100,000 spectators all eager to watch the ship, which was now a shadow of the once spectacular piece of British engineering, returning home.
Great Britain being towed back into Bristol, 1970
After decades of renovation and conservation work, the ship was opened to the public as a museum in July 2005. Inside the ship includes rooms from both first class and steerage, a massive connection of Brunel's personal artefacts, and other activities which allow visitors to get a sense of what life was like onboard. The museum has been highly successful, with over 150,000 visitors each year, alongside winning numerous awards.
SS Great Britain restored and serving as a museum
My Final Thoughts
SS Great Britain marks the beginning of the ocean liner as we know it. No one had yet endeavoured to build a ship so vast, created from iron rather than wood, crossing the Atlantic almost entirely under her own steam. All these features which make the ocean liner what it is originated with SS Great Britain, and although her career was not always plain-sailing, her legacy is one of the greatest in ocean liner history. Thankfully, she is still with us today and can be visited, so one can explore even just a glimpse of the once magnificent ship.
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