Where was Brunel's mighty ship Great Britain aground for 83 years before being brought back to Bristol
SS Great Britain they were forced out of business in 1846, having spent all their remaining funds refloating the ship after she ran aground at Dundrum Bay in County Down near Newcastle in what is now Northern Ireland, after a navigation error. In 1852 she was sold for salvage and repaired. "Great Britain" later carried thousands of immigrants to Australia from 1852 until being converted to all-sail in 1881. Three years later, she was retired to the Falkland Islands, where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until she was scuttled and sunk in 1937, 98 years since being
SS Great Britain dock in Bristol, England. Two chance encounters were to profoundly affect the design of "Great Britain". In late 1838, John Laird's English Channel packet ship "Rainbow"—the largest iron-hulled ship then in service—made a stop at Bristol. Brunel despatched his associates Christopher Claxton and William Patterson to make a return voyage to Antwerp on "Rainbow" to assess the utility of the new building material. Both men returned as converts to iron-hulled technology, and Brunel scrapped his plans to build a wooden ship and persuaded the company directors to build an iron-hulled ship. "Great Britain"s builders recognised a number of advantages of