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SS Britain “floated” on a sea of neon-green jelly for UK Museum at Night season

SS Great Britain a familiar sight in the Falklands for over a century (Photo: BBC)

The SS Great Britain that in the seventies was recovered from the Falkland Islands and is currently moored in Bristol has been “floated” in a sea of neon-green jelly as part of a cultural festival.

The SS Great Britain, which is now a visitor attraction, is one of 10 sites to be matched with artists as part of the UK Museum at Night season.

The ship's glass “sea” has been covered with 55,000 litres of jelly which will be lit from below after sunset. A spokesman for the tourist attraction said the jellymongers' work would make a “stunning” piece of modern art.

Artist Harry Parr, from jellymongers Bompas and Parr, said the mixture used sodium alginate derived from seaweed, industrial dye and lime flavouring. “It smells incredible, we're setting the ship afloat on a sea of lime green jelly,” he said.

“I've never done anything like this before... the team's going to push the jelly around the boat which will take about six hours.

”It will look beautiful during the day with its fluorescent green glow but as the light falls later it will be lit from below and will be really spectacular.“

Rhian Tritton, who is the ship's director of conservation, came up with the idea.

”I thought the conjunction of jelly, which is a perfect 19th Century food, worked well with the SS Great Britain, which is a perfect 19th Century ship. The obvious thing was to have jelly on the glass plate,” she added.

The SS Great Britain was an advanced passenger steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company’s transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had previously been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic, which she did in 1845, in the time of 14 days.

When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat. However, her protracted construction and high cost had left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846 after the ship was stranded by a navigational error.

Sold for salvage and repaired, Great Britain carried thousands of immigrants to Australia until converted to sail in 1881. Three years later, the vessel was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until scuttled in 1937.

In 1970, Great Britain was returned to the Bristol dry dock where she was first built. Now listed as part of the UK National Historic Fleet, Core Collection, the vessel is an award-winning visitor attraction and museum ship in Bristol Harbour with over 150.000 visitors annually.