Great Western Steam Ship Co.: Books - History and Ships

SS Great Britain Transatlantic Liner 1843

The SS Great Britain, designed by Isambard Brunel, was the first ocean-going vessel to be screw-driven and built entirely of iron. When she was launched in 1843 she was twice the size of any previous ship and her revolutionary design heralded a complete break with traditional ship construction.

Written by experts and containing more than 200 specially commissioned photographs, each title takes the reader on a superbly illustrated tour of the ship, from bow to stern and deck by deck. Significant parts of the vessel - for example, the propeller, steering gear, engine and accommodation - are given detailed coverage both in words and pictures, so that the reader has at hand the most complete visual record and explanation of the ship that exists. In addition, the importance of the ship, both in her own time and now as a museum vessel, is explained, while her design and build, and her career prior to restoration and exhibition are all described.

The SS Great Britain Story

The SS Great Britain Story is a concise account of one of the most famous steamships ever built. The great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel embraced the latest innovations, including an iron hull and a screw-propeller, to create an ocean liner that was decades ahead of its time.

Launched by Prince Albert in 1843, the SS Great Britain was nearly lost three years later when she ran aground in Dundrum Bay, Ireland. Fortunately she weathered the winter storms and went on to enjoy a long and chequered career.
She spent many years transporting emigrants to Australia, served as a cargo vessel, and almost ended her days stranded on the Falkland Islands.

Following an incredible rescue mission in the 1970s, fully documented here, she was returned to dry-dock in Bristol, where she was originally built, and is now the centrepiece of a fascinating and ongoing restoration project.

The First Atlantic Liner - Brunel's SS Great Western

The Great Western is the least known of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's three ships, being overshadowed by the later careers of the Great Britain and the Great Eastern.
However, the Great Western was the first great success, confounding the critics in becoming the fastest ship to steam continuously across the Atlantic, and began the era of luxury transatlantic liners. It was a bold venture by Brunel and his colleagues, who were testing the limits of known technology.

This book examines the businessmen, the shipbuilding committee and Brunel and looks at life on board for the crew and the passengers using diaries from the United States and England. The ship's first voyage made headline news in New York and London and involved a race with the small steamship Sirius.

The Great Western's maiden voyage was a triumph, and this wooden paddle steamer became the wonder of her age. She linked antebellum New York with the London of Charles Dickens and the youthful Queen Victoria. The ship continued to carry the rich and the famous across the Atlantic for eighteen years.

In the Footsteps of I.K. Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is arguably the greatest engineer in British history and as one of the great Victorian engineers who laid the foundations of modern Britain his achievements are still widely celebrated.
This detailed guide covers the extraordinary legacy that Brunel has left for all to see. The triumph that is the Great Western Railway, the first tunnel under the Thames, the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain will be familiar to many, but even his spectacular failures such as the gargantuan SS Great Eastern and the Atmospheric Railway in Devon have left traces in the landscape that can be still be discovered today.

Recent developments in the story of Brunel's legacy are included such as the recently discovered Bishop's Bridge at Paddington, the proposal to make the Great Western Railway a UNESCO World Heritage site and the government listing of structures all along the route.
This extensive guide not only provides contemporary and present day illustrations of Brunel's lasting legacies, but also an extensive gazetteer of places where his work can still be seen today.

Brunel's Ships and Boats

This book provides for the first time a complete look at all of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's contributions to the great age of steamship design. From modelling boats as a child to his youthful dreams of leading a fleet of ships, he was excited by maritime ventures. Brunel was fortunate to be part of an exciting age of maritime steam and he was the great innovator, bringing together the best of the emerging technologies.

His first ship was the Great Western, a wooden paddle steamer launched in 1837, and he is well known for the Great Britain and the Great Eastern. But these are not his only vessels and here they are all revealed. From humble industrial craft, his work with the Admiralty on the first screw propelled warships to vast ocean liners, Brunel was constantly sketching out his ideas.

His ships travelled the world, speeding up communications and carrying large numbers of passengers across the oceans. This book provides an overview of all of Brunel's vessels, small and large, from boats to ships, leisure craft to gunboats, and follows his progression as he pushed boundaries and tested new technology.