The story of SS Great Britain

When she was launched in 1843, this ship was by far the largest vessel ever built. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for a passenger service between Bristol and New York, and she changed shipbuilding.

Other ships had already been made of iron, or driven by a screw propeller, but the Great Britain was the first large ocean-going ship to combine both – one of the most advanced ships of her age. In 1845 she became the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean, taking 14 days.

From 1845 to 1853 she was the largest passenger ship in the world: 322 feet long, with four decks for a crew of 120 and 360 passengers, who had cabins, dining saloons and promenade saloons. But she took six years to build and cost so much that her owners ran into trouble and went out of business in 1846. Walk around her hull and then step aboard to imagine the voyage to New York.