SS Great Britain at Bristol Harbourside, UK

Following from my last post about Bristol city center, I went over to the Harbourside in the afternoon. Bristol is located at River Avon and has been a major port since the 12th century. It started off transporting fabric to France and bringing back wine. Later on, it shipped goods to West Africa, and bought back...... people..... who were then shipped off to Carribean and sold to the plantation owners. Bristol thrived under this trade, something that has continued to haunt it up to this date hence the toppling of the Colston statue recently.

Wapping Wharf

Wapping Wharf is Bristol's historical harbourside and is where the SS Great Britain was built (see below). In the 19th century, Bristol was competing with Liverpool, another important port in England, for the lucrative tobacco trade, so the local merchants wanted to build a new port. An artificial waterway was built from the River Avon diverting it away from its original course and hence creating the new harbour.

A railway line was built in 1872 connecting Bristol Temple Meads Station to the harbourside. This allowed goods to be transported from the dockside to Temple Meads station for onward travel to London and other major cities. It ceased operation in 1964 but the disused railway line is still there and serves as a reminder of how busy this area used to be. It was very pleasant walking alongside a river with a railway line so close, I don't think you get that in many places.

This is the Fairbairn steam crane built in 1876. It was used to load goods from the ships onto the railway wagons, and can handle loads up to 35 tons. The crane was used up till 1974, two years short of its 100th birthday, I guess you can call it early retirement! This steam crane is the last surviving Fairbairn steam crane that exists today, another part of history that stays with Bristol. It's still in working order and in normal non Covid times is open during some weekends.

The 1950s was Bristol dock's heydays. The Fairbairn steam crane whilst powerful, wasn't fast enough to handle all the loading. It was time to move to electricity. These electrical cranes were made by a firm called Stothert & Pitt in Bath. The firm specialized in making these dockside cranes, and at one time nearly all the docks around the world used them.

Eight of these cranes were built for the quayside and they operated up till 1974. Like most of the quayside it fell into neglect until four were bought in a public auction and restored back to working order. You can take an electric crane cabin ride now (well not now now as they are shut due to Covid), and experience what it was like working as dock crane driver back in the fifties.

SS Great Britain

Maritime buffs may have heard of SS Great Britain. Built in Bristol and designed by the great Brtish engineer Isambard Brunel, SS Great Britain was the longest passenger ship at the time when she was completed in 1843. She is 98 meters long, 30 meters longer than any other ships built.

No one had ever designed so vast a ship, nor had the vision to build it of iron. Brunel fitted her with a 1000 hp steam engine, the most powerful yet used at sea. Perhaps most daring of all, Brunel rejected using conventional paddle wheels to drive his ship. Instead, he gave the SS Great Britain a screw propeller. This was the newest invention in maritime technology. By seeing how to combine these key innovations, Brunel created a ship that changed history.
Source : www.ssgreatbritain.org

SS Great Britain's maiden voyage in 1845 carried 45 passengers from Liverpool to New York. In 1852 she started carrying emigrants from Britain to Australia and did this for 30 years. By 1882 she was converted to a cargo ship carrying coal to the west coast of America. Her cargo life only lasted 4 years, and in 1886 she ended up on Falkland Islands after a fire on board rendering her beyond economic repair. The old lady was abandoned in the Falklands till 1970 when there were a rescue and restoration operation to bring her 8000 miles back home to her birth place 127 years ago.

Everytime I come to Bristol, I drive right past SS Great Britain. I know she has a significant history related to Bristol but as usual, I never paid much attention to her, nor ever visited her. She's now restored and docked at the Harbourside, and is one of Bristol's popular tourist locations. As expected, she was closed when I went, but what I didn't know was that she was due to re-open the day after!

I guess I have to go back again!

You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below