Behind the scenes at the ss Great Britain

The ss Great Britain returned to Bristol in 1970, after travelling more than a million miles at sea. Since then, Brunel’s ship has become an interactive museum, where visitors can experience what it was like make the journey from Liverpool to Australia in the 1900’s.  It’s also home to the Brunel Institute, which hosts one of the world’s most extensive maritime collections.

Simon Strain
Active interpretation manager

“I play Brunel during the holidays and I’m in charge of volunteers who get dressed up as passengers and crew.

“My favourite part of the job is getting to spend time on the ship, she’s phenomenal, she’s completely unique, there’s nothing else like her in the world. Getting to spend time with the team that looks after her and shares her stories with future generations is quite a privilege.

“ I once met a family from Australia, they had a little baby just a few weeks old. They’d come over especially because their great, great, great grandmother was born on the ship, travelling in steerage on the way to Australia. I had the opportunity to show them around the very spot where their ancestor was born. That was phenomenal, they had tears in the eyes.  It was really very special.”

Favourite part of the ship: “Steerage. So many lives lived there, so many rich stories and tales to tell. It’s phenomenal.”

Luke Holmes
Interpretation officer

“My job is about taking stories from the amazing collections that we have on site, usually in the Brunel Institute, and finding ways to tell them to visitors.

“Recently I’ve been doing the steerage project, which is the third class area of the ship. This is where poorer areas would have bunked for over 60 days travelling from Liverpool to Melbourne. It’s involved digging into the diaries here, figuring out what the passengers took with them, what their thoughts and feelings were, and trying to rebuild the bunks to represent their journey. We’ve designed a brand new soundscape downstairs which allows us to create an immersive environment, so when people step into steerage they get a snapshot of what it would have been like for these passengers.

“The ss Great Britain is an incredible man made object. It’s almost unbelievable to think that people built this, they designed and constructed it without modern tools, techniques or processes. That’s something that’s really special. She’s survived more than 170 years despite what’s she’s gone through, she’s still here.”

Favourite part of the ship: “The dry dock. You can be right next to the hull of the ship, it’s a really peaceful place dominated by this absolutely enormous object. There’s something really special down there.”

Leyna Warren
Interpretation technician

“I look after all the props and interactive elements that visitors see on the ships, the dockyard and the site.

“My favourite part of the job is the variety. Every day is different, I could be given random tasks of making Victorian rag dolls or fake pig poo or making trap doors to look Victorian. Every day is a different challenge!”

Favourite part of the ship: “I do love the weather deck, it’s a great impact as visitors come onto site, but I would have to say steerage – it’s quite creepy!”

Paul Hutchinson
Costume interpreter 

“I am the able seamen first class and I act the part of a nineteenth century sailor.

“It’s my job to explain what the life of a sailor was like, using artefacts we’ve got on board. I get the kids scrubbing the decks, which they seem to love. Parents think it’s great but they won’t do it at home!

“We do things as costume interpreters that we shouldn’t do… we stand very still like statues until people come up, and then touch our caps . I can get some great screams!”

Favourite part of the ship: “The rigging, there’s about 10% of the full rigging on this but it’s still fascinating.”

Josh Rocky
Go Aloft supervisor and boatswain

“The boatswain is a bit like a caretaker for the ship, looking after the deck and the rigging. The Go Aloft supervisor takes care of the team that help people climb the rigging of the mainmast of the ship.

“I worked at sea for a number of years so this was a great way of translating these skills to a museum.”

Favourite part of the ship: “It has to be the rig, you get a great view of Bristol and you can just be above it all.”

Nick Booth
Head of collections

“I help run and manage the library, the archive and the museum collection.

“It’s a great source of history, not just on the ship and Brunel’s other works, but on maritime history. We’ve got passenger diaries, lists and a lot of Brunel’s own material, which is pretty amazing. You can go into the archive vault and see Brunel’s sketchbooks. He never stopped working.

“The best thing about my job is getting to look at these amazing treasures every day.”

Favourite part of the ship: “We’ve just got a new costume interpreter called the Quaker. He was one of the genuine passengers on the ss Great Britain, and had strong views about things like morality and drink. Watching people talking to him and reacting to him has been really interesting and fun.”

Read more: Behind the scenes at At-Bristol