The ships of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

The 1999 Brunel stamp (Mi 1784, Y 2072) was announced as showing either the Great Britain, the Great Western or the Great Eastern. However, when you look at the stamp, there is no doubt it is the Great Britain. The picture on the stamp is rather small, but the ship has 6 masts and one funnel. There are no signs of paddle wheels. The Great Western had only 4 masts and clearly visible paddle wheels; the Great Eastern (which had paddle wheels as well as a screw propelller) had 6 masts and 5 funnels. The paddle wheel should have been visible.

The oldest of the three was the Great Western, in fact the first steamer constructed for transatlantic service. She was built of wood to the plans of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, for the Great Western Steamship Company. On 8 April 1838 she left Bristol to arrive in New York on 23 April, only a few hours after the Sirius. The Sirius, the first vessel to cross the Atlantic under continuous steam, had left Cork on 4 April. She was chartered by the British and American Steam Navigation Co. because their own vessel, the British Queen, was not completed in time. After a second crossing, the Sirius was used for home and continental services - that was what she was built for. The Great Western crossed the North Atlantic 64 times in all until she was sold in 1847 to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. Ltd. Until she was broken up in 1857 she sailed between Southampton and the West Indies. There is a stamp showing the Great Western (Malagasy, 1993; SG 998, Mi 1464, Y 1161) and one issued by Great Britain in 2004 (Mi 2215). The Guernsey stamp of 1989 (SG 464, Mi 461, Y 463) shows another Great Western, built in 1872.

The Great Britain was built in 1843 and was the first screw steamer to cross the Atlantic. She, too, was designed by Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company. She was built of iron and had more than twice the tonnage of the Great Western. The Great Britain had an incredibly long service life: 31 years as a passenger ship, 10 years as cargo only, 51 years as storage vessel in Stanley Harbour. In September 1846 the Great Britain run ashore at Dundrum Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It took until August 1847 to get her afloat again. She was sold and drastically reconstructed: she got 4 masts, twin funnels and new engines. A few years later she was refitted again with three masts and a single small funnel. Until 1876 she made voyages to Australia. After having been laid up, she was converted in 1882 into a real cargo sailing ship carrying South Wales coal to Panama and San Francisco, returning with wheat. In 1886 the Great Britain got into severe trouble at Cape Horn, but managed to reach Port Stanley at the Falkland Islands. However, she was too badly damaged to sail again and was used to store coal and wool. In 1937 she was towed to Sparrow Cove (Falkland Islands), beached and left to rot. Until she was placed on a pontoon and towed back to Bristol in 1970 where she now is in the same dock as where she was built. She is being restored and can be visited.

The Great Eastern was also designed by Brunel, this time for the Eastern Steam Navigation Co. for the Indian and Australian trade. She had both paddle wheels and a screw propeller. In 1860 she made her first trip to New York, in 1861 she was chartered as a troopship. Due to the relatively small power of her engines, and her consequent low speed, she never was a success. Her most valuable work was done between 1865 and 1873 when she laid a number of transatlantic cables. In 1888 she was sold as old metal.