The highlight of the second day in Bristol was a visit to the SS Great Britain. This ship was built in the 1850's, and was the largest ship built up to that time. It was designed by the great engineer Brunel, and was a precurser to even larger ships to follow.
It served for over 90 years, and had circumnavigated the globe 32 times. It made frequent trips to San Francisco and Australia. It had a long career as both a steam and wind powered ship.
It wasn't until it suffered damage in a storm off the coast of Argentina that her traveling days ended. The company who owned it at that time decided not to spend the money to repair it, but instead sold it to a company to use as floating warehouse. It wasn't until it was practically falling apart that this company decided to scuttle the ship.
In the 60's a movement began to raise the ship, return it to Bristol, and renovate it as a museum. There is a great deal of exhibit that shows the complicated process the ship underwent to be brought back up to the surface, transported on a barge over 7000 miles form Argentina to Bristol, and them made seaworthy enough to float back up the river Avon to the same dry dock in Bristol where the ship was built. A truely amazing story.
They've done a magnificent job making it appear that the ship is floating when in fact, there is a glass structure built around the ship, which holds a few inches of water.
This allows you to go under the water and see the preserved iron hull. It is an impressive thing to see how large a vessel this was, and what an amazing engineering achievement it was for it's time.
It was also one of the first propeller driven ships instead of a side paddle. The ship allowed for retracting the propellers when opting to use favorable wind power to conserve fuel.
After going under the ship where the hull has been preserved in its current state, you can go up on top and inside the ship where it has been restored to its original 1850's configuration.
We took the audio tour, which gives you a lot of insight into what it must have been like to have traveled on this ship from Bristol to Australia - a 56 day journey.
Inside you can tour the first, second, and steerage class areas of the ship to get an idea of the differing accomodations. Niether group looked to have neither excessively luxurious nor excessively poor conditions on the ship.
One of the highlights for me was seeing a restored Brunel Engine. It is over 3 stories tall and sits center of the ship (I'm guessing due to weight). It was powered by coal and steam. A very impressive sight.
I could not help but think of the movie "Titanic", while viewing this ship. It is certainly a close relative to that ship which would be built about 55 years later.
Back on deck, I got to fulfill the fantasy of standing at the steering wheel of this magnificent ship.
The Great Britain is the #1 attraction in Bristol, and it certainly warrants a visit. It won the award for best museum the year it opened, and it is a terrific place to visit.
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