Helen Doe; ‘SS Great Britain: Brunel’s Ship, Her Voyages, Passengers and Crew’

HELEN DOE; ‘SS Great Britain: Brunel’s Ship, Her Voyages, Passengers and Crew’

This was Isambard Brunel’s technical triumph, the world’s first iron propeller driven ship. It sailed the world, across the Atlantic, both north and south and across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. This ship carried many thousands of passengers and was eventually left abandoned in the Falkland Islands. Today she is proudly restored in her original dock in Bristol. In this book, the lives of the passengers and crew are revealed as well as the long career of this innovative vessel. There are also a disastrous navigation error, Australian emigrants, a missing captain, and a Victorian sex scandal.

Helen is an internationally recognised maritime historian and author. Among her many publications are three books on Brunel’s ships, an award-winning ‘Maritime History of Cornwall’ and ‘Enterprising Women in Shipping’. She is a regular contributor to television programmes, most recently with Mariella Frostrup discussing Daphne du Maurier. Helen is a government advisor to the National Historic Ships, Trustee of the SS Great Britain and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

This event is taking place in Christ Church.