Brunel's ss Great Britain timeline: from World's greatest ship to Bristol treasure
Isamard Kingdom-Brunel's ss Great Brtain was the biggest and fastest ship the world had ever seen.
When she was launched she was called 'the greatest experiment since creation' as the innovative Brunel built her from iron and fitted her with the most powerful engine used at sea.
Brunel also rejected using conventional paddle wheels to drive his ship. Instead, he opted for a screw propeller, a new innovation in maritime technology.
Until that point sea travel in wooden sailing vessels had always been slow, unpredictable and highly dangerous, but the ss Great Britain combined steam and sail, meaning when the wind dropped, the engines kicked in.
She was so powerful she could get to Australia in just two months.
On 26 July the ss Great Britain began her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York.
Captain James Hosken and his 45 passengers, made the journey in 14 days and 21 hours.
The ship underwent modifications - the original engine was replaced with a more efficient one, a second funnel was added, and the ship's rudder and propeller were replaced.
An upper deck was also built to accommodate more passengers and allow her to carry up to 700 people from the 300 it had before.
Historians say the ss Great Britain was more like a floating city - on board there were surgeons, stables, kitchens and galleys.
A total of 15,000 emigrated to Australia on the ss Great Britain, with around 300,000 Australians descended from those who landed.
What the passengers could expect on board:
In 1882 the ss Great Britain was converted into a sailing ship to transport cargo.
For four years she ferried coal and other cargo including wheat across the south Atlantic.
In 1886, storms off Cape Horn badly damaged the ss Great Britain.
The damage forced her Capitan, Henry Stap, to seek shelter in the first port of refuge - Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
It was decided the cost of repairs was too high, and the ship sold to the Falkland Islands where she was anchored and used as a floating storehouse for coal, cotton and wool.
After becoming unsafe as a warehouse the ship was towed to Sparrow Cove, a remote bay near Port William, where holes were drilled her hull and she was left to rust.
What divers discovered:
Naval architect Ewan Corlett helped organise a rescue mission to bring the ss Great Britain home to the UK.
Funded by Sir Jack Hayward the team patched up the ruptured hull using a combination of mattresses, donated by Falkland Islanders, and timber.
She was successfully lifted onto her pontoon, and 24 April her trip back to Bristol began.
Robin Goodwin talks about donating his mattress:
On 5 July the ss Great Britain was towed up the River Avon into Bristol.
Crowds lined the final few miles as she passed under Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge and cheered as she sailed by.
Memories from the ss Great Britain's homecoming:
Exactly 127 years to the day after her launch in 1843, on 19 July, she arrived in the dock where she was built, welcomed by Prince Philip.
Commander Joe Blake was charged with her restoration, overseeing carpenters, plasterers and welders.
A survey in 1998 discovered the hull, which was continuing to corrode in the humid atmosphere, had only years before it was destroyed completely.
In 2005 extensive conservation work was carried out, and a large glass plate installed across the dry dock at her water line.
This protected the most fragile parts of the ship - keeping it water and air tight. Two special dehumidification machines create a dry chamber, keeping the air as dry as the Arizona desert. The upper part of the ship was also treated.
Watch a full look back the ss Great Britain's history:
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