2012

This is the bow of the S.S. Great Britain, of course. The ship resembles a clipper, and when it was converted to sail it became one of the fastest sailing ships in the world, in spite of never having been designed as one.

Here's an alternate shot of the bow.

Even before being converted to sail, the S.S. Great Britain had the option of sailing if it ran out of coal. However, the ship was the largest ship in the world when built in 1845, being 322 feet long, 50'6" wide, and drawing 16 feet (although I don't know if this was the loaded draught). Displacement isn't reported consistently in the sources I've found, but is given as between 3,018 and 3,675 long tons. It was so large that a larger ship wasn't built until 1854, when the troop ship H.M.S. Himalaya set a new record of 4,690 tons displacement. So...this meant that the masts installed on the S.S. Great Britain had to be so large that the difficultly of finding large enough trees would have made traditional wooden masts impractical. For whatever reason, Brunel chose not to use iron masts, and the result was that instead "built" masts were used. These where constructed by combining wood from several trees, much like in cabinet making. This, in a sense, was another very modern feature of the S.S. Great Britain, as in the future there would be a need to preserve trees as the world's supply of old growth timber dwindled. Similar difficulties arose during the recent restoration of the U.S.S. Constitution.

Here are the original built masts, or at least an older set of built masts, from the S.S. Great Britain. Over the years, several different sets of masts have been used, so it isn't clear if these are the originals. In any case, while suitable for display, they aren't in good enough condition even for non-functioning use on the actual ship anymore. The mizzen mast is missing, being on display in Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands. The S.S. Great Britain was moored in the Falklands from 1884 until 1970, and when the ship was returned to Bristol the mizzen was left behind for public display. A number of other parts of the ship were also salvaged over the years, particularly when the Battle of the Falkland Islands (in 1914) badly damaged several Royal Navy ships, most notably H.M.S. Exeter. During the battle, and during the months when there were naval battles in the South Atlantic, S.S. Great Britain provided coal to the fleet, making this the only time that S.S. Great Britain saw combat (if somewhat indirectly, as there was never any armament installed that I'm aware of).

Old steamships are a casual interest of mine, but I'm certainly not an expert. Therefore, I'm not sure what this is. It looks like an anchor float, but really I have no idea. I don't even know if it's from the S.S. Great Britain, although it's displayed next to it.

This is obviously an admiralty pattern anchor, although again I don't know if it's from the S.S. Great Britain. Prior to the popularity of iron ships like the Great Britain, these were very common. However, the only reason there are so many left today is that there were so many of them made earlier.

Here's an alternate shot of the S.S. Great Britain's stern.

Here's another look at the rust on the hull.

Here you can see that the rust has spread even behind the propeller, exactly where they've done restoration work. It appears to be quite a challenge.

Here's the interior shot of the lower decks, or where they used to be, as I promised earlier. The people preserving the U.S.S. Olympia should perhaps look at this, but it's probably worse than anything they have to deal with. One thing that I don't know, given the apparently new wood above, is how much of the upper decks are real and how many (and how much material) is reproduction.

The propeller that replaced the original on the S.S. Great Britain had four blades, but some years later this two-blade retractable propeller was fitted. The reason for it was the expectation that the backup sails would have to be used, and leaving the propeller in the water could cause it to windmill, creating massive drag. What I don't know is when this was installed, or how it was preserved given that the Great Britain was sail only from 1881 to 1970.

This is the original, badly rotten rudder that I mentioned earlier. As you can see, it was actually made of wood, in spite of the ship and propeller being iron.

Although the washbasins on the S.S. Great Britain lacked taps, they were otherwise fairly modern. This cabin was close to the area claimed to be first class, although I don't know if this specific cabin was. It was decorated as if it were used by a hunter.

These are wrenches which were displayed in the engine room. Whether they're original is another story. It would have been unlikely for them to have been left abandoned in the ship between 1937 and 1970, as the ship was abandoned deliberately, so it's an interesting question where they were, along with many of the other small items on board.

This was the galley. The fires are fake, but I don't know how much of the machinery is. If it's all authentic (whether really original or not), then it looks incredibly advanced for 1845. Indeed, this would have been a state-of-the-art kitchen in a hotel or restaurant of the time.

Contrary to what some people may think, bathtubs were already in use in 1845, and the S.S. Great Britain had them. What's striking to me is how much so many bathtubs (at least in Britain) still look like this today. Again, there aren't any taps for this one, but like the basin pictured earlier it has a modern drain.

This is the corrosion in the bathtub. To be fair, I've used bathtubs this chewed up from time to time. Actually, this is a nice touch, as it illustrates the authenticity of it.

This is one of the flush toilets. These were one of the most advanced things on the ship. After all, steamships had already been around for many years, but flush toilets were still state-of-the-art. This is actually more modern than it looks, as the lid looks like something from an outhouse. I wasn't able to locate information on the plumbing used in the ship, but it would have been necessary for a number of different things including these toilets.