8 APRIL 1838
Brunel's Great Western sets off from Bristol
The world’s largest passenger ship heads for New York City
The year leading up to the maiden voyage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s pioneering paddle-wheeled steamship, SS Great Western, was far from plain sailing. Built in Bristol’s Wapping Wharf, the vessel’s launch on 19 July 1837 resulted in the accidental death of a shipwright. Then, after being fitted with state-of-the-art engines in London, a fire broke out inside the boiler room as it was returning to Bristol in spring 1838.
The blaze was a public relations disaster: not only was Brunel injured while trying to extinguish the flames, but more than 50 passengers who had booked themselves on to the ship’s maiden voyage – from Bristol to New York City – cancelled their tickets.
In the end, the vessel embarked on its landmark journey across the Atlantic on 8, had beaten the to New York by a mere 12 hours, becoming the first vessel to complete a transatlantic crossing using steam power alone.
