Brunel's S.S. Great Britain

Occasionally my interests in engineering and my maritime history hobby intersect, as they did when I visited Bristol in 2006, home to two monuments to the genius of Civil and Mechanical engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. One is the Clifton Suspension Bridge, of which I have previously shown some photos here. The other is the S.S. Great Britain, which is preserved at a museum there.

The 3,400 ton S.S. Great Britain viewed from the port stern. My lens at the time wasn't the widest, so I couldn't fit her all in.

Here is a picture of a model in the museum to give an idea of her size. Not sure why I am getting the evil eye through the glass case.

Built in 1845, she was the first ocean-going vessel to combine an iron hull with steam propulsion driving a screw propeller, and at the time was the longest ship in the world. She was also provided with auxiliary sail power, and indeed was converted entirely to sail later in her career. After reaching the end of her operational lifetime, she then spent around 86 years laid up in the Falklands, and was scuttled in 1937, before being returned on a barge to Bristol after 1970 where she was restored and remains to this day.

Looking aft along the port side.

The S.S. Great Britain is actually on display in the graving dock within which she was built.

Great Britain looks out over a portion of Bristol Harbour from her graving dock.

Looking out over the bow.

The ship's wheel.

Looking forward along the deck.

Looking aft.

Spending so many years in a salt water environment has taken its toll on the ship's hull. Even after the graving dock was drained, the moisture in the air of the graving dock allowed corrosion to continue, and it was determined (as I recall) that salt had bound to the iron in the ship's hull. Conservation measures, in the form of a glass roof over the graving dock interior and de-humification equipment both in the dock and within the ship's hull, were installed to preserve the ship.

The caisson that seals off the end of the graving dock from the harbour outside.

Looking aft from the ship's bow. Part of the de-humidification system's ductwork runs along either side of the keel.

Looking forward along the port bow.

A close-up of the ship's plating.

Another plating close-up, this time showing some of the holes in the hull.

In many locations, you can actually stick your finger through the hull, as this man is doing.

Approaching the stern.

A replica of the ship's original screw propeller. It was deemed unsatisfactory, and was replaced by a 4-bladed model.

The rudder and propeller.

Rudder and propeller.

Later in the ship's life, possibly when put on the run to Australia, Great Britain was operated primarily under sail for economy, only resorting to her machinery when the wind died. Propellers create considerable drag when a ship is under sail, so the propeller was mounted on a lifting frame that allowed the propeller to be raised when the ship was under sail, and lowered and re-coupled to the propeller shaft when it was necessary to run the engines.

A working version of the lifting frame, with what looks like an original rudder, is housed in one of the nearby museum buildings.

The ship was originally built as a liner, and as such the interior would have been nicely finished, some of which has been recreated in the restored ship. Later refits increased the passenger capacity, presumably at the expense of passenger comfort.

The skylight above can be seen in the photo of the ship's wheel earlier in this post.

The ship's machinery is recreated within, and was designed especially for the ship by Brunel himself.

Great Britain's machinery.

Pistons from the crank shaft down to the steam pistons.

The large wheel on the top, installed on the ship's crankshaft, drives the series of chains that in turn drive the ship's propeller shaft at the bottom of the photo. The chain drive arrangement was replaced in later years.

Ship's interior looking forward.

I found the ship and museum to be very interesting, and well worth the visit if you are ever in Bristol.

As a final note, another ship (also worth a visit) moored nearby when I was in Bristol was the Matthew, a replica of John Cabot's vessel from his 1497 voyage from Bristol to Newfoundland, probably Bonavista or St. John's.

A replica of John Cabot's Matthew.

This same vessel actually sailed the Atlantic in 1997, and as I recall I visited her that summer in Shelburne, NS. While working a summer work term for the Canadian Hydrographic Service at BIO, we got to sign a nautical chart that was to be given to the crew. In addition to this ship, there is a second replica of the Matthew in Bonavista itself.

Touring Great Britain (2006)

Having family in the "old" country still, I have been lucky enough to visit Great Britain four times over the years, most recently in 2006 when I attended a relative's wedding. While I would love to go back sometime, finances currently don't allow for it, and I will instead make do with revisiting my images from 10 years ago.

I landed at Heathrow, and upon renting a car, immediately headed to Chatham which is home to a former Royal Navy dockyard, now a museum. 

HMS GANNET.

The Chatham Dockyard is currently home to three historic vessels, including HMS GANNET above. After leaving Chatham, I traveled the south coast and stopped in at Beachy Head where a lighthouse sits at the foot of a chalk cliff. It was a very windy day, and I had to actually lay on the ground and shoot out under the lowest rail of the railing on the path I was on to keep out of the wind and keep the camera steady.

Beachy Head.

Brighton.

During my south coast travels, I also visited the historic dockyard in Portsmouth.

Looking up at the transom of HMS VICTORY.

I will cover my dockyard visits in some future post, and move on to other photos in this post. After Portsmouth, I stopped in Yeovilton to see the Fleet Air Arm museum and to visit someone we consider to be family, one of the children sent from the UK to Canada during the Second World War that my grandparents took in.

My B&B near Yeovil backed onto a church.

After leaving Yeovil, I headed into Cornwall, and passed through Dartmoor.

According to Jeremy Clarkson on the old BBC Top Gear motoring show, the Vauxhall Vectra is a truly nasty car. I kind of liked mine, at least in part because it had a built-in Sat-nav which kept me from getting lost (much).

Sheep in Dartmoor.

I went near to the tip of Cornwall and photographed Mount's Bay, though unfortunately was running out of time that day, and missed a number of other Cornish sights that I would have love to have seen.

Kite-surfer on Mount's Bay, Cornwall.

Kite-surfer on Mount's Bay, Cornwall.

I spent the night near Tintagel, and when I got up and left my B&B the next morning, it was cloudy and raining. I had planned to take in the castle at Tintagel, and almost gave up due to the weather, but headed over anyway. As I arrived, a hole opened up in the clouds, and I had blue sky for my entire tour of the castle ruins. 

The approach to the mainland portion of the castle ruins at Tintagel (with puddles on the path, in case you thought I was lying about the rain).

There is a separate set of castle ruins on a peninsula that extends out from Tintagel that is only accessible by a bridge that connects from the mainland.

Because I am an engineer, I had to stop in at Bristol and see two of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's creations. Built in 1864, the Clifton Suspension Bridge is still in use for road traffic.

Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge spans the Avon Gorge in Bristol, England.

Clifton Bridge.

Clifton Bridge.

Brunel's other creation that captured my interest is of course the SS Great Britain, an early steamship built for the run between the UK and Australia, and eventually abandoned in the Falkland Islands before being recovered and returned to the UK on a barge.

SS Great Britain is kept in an old graving dock with the water pumped out. A plexiglass roof over the top of the dock keeps the rain out, and a sophisticated de-humidification system prevents further corrosion of the ship's iron hull. Again, a post for another day.

After leaving Cornwall, I headed to Wales. I had previously visited the northern portion of Wales in 1999 during a previous trip, but only for an hour or so before heading back to Liverpool. This time I was able to see a few more sights. 

Southern Wales.

My Vauxhall Vectra once again littering up the countryside.

I didn't spend much time in south Wales, and headed north through Brecon Beacons National Park, and over to Carmarthen. Dryslwyn Castle is nearby, and I happened upon it by chance one morning.

The view from the ruins of Dryslwyn Castle in Wales. The Welsh seriously need to use another vowel than the "sometimes Y".

This sheep was entirely unconcerned about my presence in the castle ruins.

Same sheep.

Too bad Wales isn't a short drive away from my home.

I spent a night outside Aberystwyth at a B&B which was an adventure and a half to find (it was a fair distance down a dead-end driveway, with no additional signage after the sign on the road), and the next day headed up through Snowdonia National Park.

Views in Snowdonia.

Views in Snowdonia.

After Wales, I was a bit behind schedule, and was forced to beetle my way north, visiting a great uncle (brother of the man for whom I am named) in Dumfries (my first stop in Scotland). The next photos I appear to have bothered to process are of Loch Lomond, north of Glasgow.

Loch Lomond.

When working in India years before, I had been given a calendar of UK landscape images (that I cut up and hung from the walls of my room), one of which was of Kilchurn Castle near Lochawe. I just had to visit, so I tracked it down on my way up the west coast of Scotland. I didn't tour the castle itself, but rather trudged through a field on the other side of the loch to get some photos.

Kilchurn Castle.

It being autumn, and with Old Scotland's more northernly location (than, say, Nova Scotia), I found that lighting throughout the day was nice and warm. The "magic hour" sometimes seemed to last all day, and these photos are perfect examples.

Kilchurn Castle.

I continued north to get to Morangie for the family wedding that I was supposed to be attending and photographing.

This photo is ever-so-helpfully labelled "Scotland".

So's this one. I think it is near Glencoe.

Seriously, more bloody Scotland?

Guess where?

Finally, a better photo label: "Foot of Ben Nevis".

And then, for lack of anything better to do, I took more photos of....wait for it....Scotland.

"Scotland".

Note to self: take better notes when travelling.

"Scotland".

Finally, an image that I know precisely where it was taken:

An abandoned church within a graveyard in North Ballachulish, Glencoe, Scotland.

Also in the churchyard in North Ballachulish, Glencoe, Scotland.

Apparently I wasn't beetling as quickly as I thought, because I had time to take photos of another castle. Even if I hadn't labelled it, I would know which castle this is, having photographed it previously in 1999, and I have slides my grandfather took in the 1950s and 1960s.

Eilean Donan Castle, near Dornie.

A bridge in "Scotland".

"Scotland".

"Italy". OK, you caught me, it's really "Scotland".

Soon after these last photos, I arrived in Morangie and spent several days visiting family. My photography seems to have dropped off, but I will finish off with some images from the area around Morangie and the lighthouse at nearby Tarbat Ness.

Ponies near Morangie.

The road approaching the lighthouse at Tarbat Ness.

Tarbat Ness lighthouse near Portmahomack, north-eastern Scotland.

Hay bales near Portmahomack, north-eastern Scotland.

If only my hankering to go back to the UK was matched with the appropriate funds in my bank account!