SS Great Britain
The SS Great Britain is Isambard Kingdom Brunel's iron steamship, launched in Bristol in 1843 as the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ocean liner, and now a museum in the dry dock where she was built. In her time she was the largest ship in the world.
In practice
The ship carried passengers across the Atlantic and later emigrants to Australia, before ending her working life as a storage hulk in the Falkland Islands. In 1970 she was floated home to Bristol and returned to the same dock where she had been built. Today she is preserved under a glass "sea" that keeps the hull dry, with a museum telling the stories of Brunel, the crew and the passengers.
Why it matters to newcomers
The SS Great Britain is one of Bristol's most visited attractions and a source of civic pride in the city's engineering past. Tickets usually allow repeat visits for a year, which makes it good value if you have visitors to entertain.
Related
- Clifton Suspension Bridge - Brunel's other Bristol landmark
- Harbourside - where the ship's dock is
- Pay on the nail - the merchant city she sailed from
Source: Brunel's SS Great Britain.