Brunel’s SS Great Britain is one of the most important historic ships in the world.
When she was launched in 1843, she was called ‘the greatest experiment since the Creation’.
The ss Great Britain enjoyed a long working life from 1845 to 1933 thanks to Brunel’s engineering skills.
In 1886 she was badly damaged in a storm and her ocean-going career came to an end. Bought by the Falklands Islands Company she spent the next 47 years as a floating warehouse. In 1937, after becoming too unsafe even for this, she was towed to Sparrow Cove, a remote bay near Port William, and scuttled in its shallow waters.
And there she might have remained, a sorry sight left to rust and rot, gradually losing her fittings to trophy hunters and visited only by the occasional picnic party or curious penguin.
But destiny had a different fate in store for this lucky ship.
SSGreat Britain
When she was launched in 1843, she was called ‘the greatest experiment since the Creation’.
The ss Great Britain enjoyed a long working life from 1845 to 1933 thanks to Brunel’s engineering skills.
In 1886 she was badly damaged in a storm and her ocean-going career came to an end. Bought by the Falklands Islands Company she spent the next 47 years as a floating warehouse. In 1937, after becoming too unsafe even for this, she was towed to Sparrow Cove, a remote bay near Port William, and scuttled in its shallow waters.
And there she might have remained, a sorry sight left to rust and rot, gradually losing her fittings to trophy hunters and visited only by the occasional picnic party or curious penguin.
But destiny had a different fate in store for this lucky ship.
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