MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands: memories needed for a thesis on the SS Great Britain, Bristol’s main heritage attraction

In 1970 Brunel’s SS Great Britain would travel 8.000 miles back to its original birthplace in Bristol’s harbour

PHD student James Muirhead, based in Bristol’s Brunel Institute, is preparing for a trip to the Falkland Islands where he hopes to collect memories of the SS Great Britain which was abandoned there at Sparrow Cove in 1937.

As part of his research, he will visit the Falkland Islands from the 5 July to the 3 August to talk to islanders about their memories of the SS Great Britain. He is hoping the trip will shed new light on the relationship between the Falklands and the ship, illuminating an often overlooked part of her life.

In 1886, the SS Great Britain was badly damaged in a storm as she attempted to round the Cape Horn bringing to an end her 45 year command of the ocean. Having limped back to the Falkland Islands, she spent the next 47 years functioning as a floating warehouse for the Falkland Islands Co.

In 1937, after becoming too unsafe even for this purpose, she was towed to Sparrow Cove, the remote bay near Port William, and scuttled in its shallow waters. The ship would remain in Sparrow Cove until 1970, becoming a familiar landmark on the Island.

After a mammoth rescue mission which saw the ship travel 8000 miles back to its original birthplace in Bristol’s harbour, Brunel’s SS Great Britain is now one of the UK’s best loved attractions.

James explained, “Families would often make the trip out to Sparrow Cove and have a picnic; children would pick mussels that had attached themselves to the ship’s hull”.

“I want to speak to those with childhood or family memories of the SS Great Britain. It doesn’t matter how insignificant you think your memories are, I’m looking forward to hearing them all”.

“The memories of those people who remember the SS Great Britain in the Falkland Islands will play an important role in my PhD thesis - examining the function of the ship after she was a ‘working vessel’ and before she became a heritage attraction.

“I hope this will contribute to a greater academic understanding of historical objects as they existed before being relocated to a museum setting.”

If you have a childhood memory that you would like to share with us please get in touch with James by emailing jm8648@bristol.ac.uk.

James Muirhead is a PhD student at the University of Bristol. This is a collaborative project between the SS Great Britain and the University of Bristol. The Brunel institute maritime research centre sits alongside the SS Great Britain in the Bristol’s Great Western Dockyard.