A History Society Talk About The Amazing SS Great Britain

Photo by mattbuck [CC BY-SA 2.0 or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Specialist lecturer Ian Caskie will be travelling from Bristol to give what will be a fascinating lecture on this amazing ship on Friday 29th May at the Memorial Hall at 7.30pm.

His title will be 'SS Great Britain: From Launch to Re-launch', and he describes it as follows:

In building SS Great Britain, the second of his three great ships, Brunel successfully combined and adapted the very best of cutting-edge technologies to create the world’s first transatlantic liner – a true wonder of the Victorian age.

She was the first ocean-going steamship with an iron hull, and the first driven by a propeller. This extraordinary ship, launched in 1843 as the largest and fastest afloat, transformed shipbuilding and sea travel for ever.

About Ian Gaskie

Ian was born and raised on Merseyside, where he spent many an hour watching the arrivals and departures at Liverpool’s busy Pier Head in the 1950s and 60s. This led to his lifelong passion for ships – especially ocean liners. He was a primary school head teacher and school improvement adviser in Bristol for many years, and has been a Visitor Services volunteer with the SS Great Britain Trust since 2007.

Ian’s enthusiasm for his subject is clearly evidenced in his illustrated talk which tells the ship’s remarkable story from her original design, through the different phases of her working life. It also describes her incredible salvage and return to Bristol in 1970, and finally her restoration, preservation and ‘re-launch’ as a multi-award winning museum of international renown.

Ian has delivered his very popular talk at the National Maritime Museum, Falmouth as well as to a large number of groups including Probus and U3A branches and various lecture societies.

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