Advantages: Authenticity. History. Experience. Educational. Setting. Photogenic. Disadvantages: Crowded in Summer.
It is many moons since last I wrote about a ship, that being the S.S. Great Britain, which given the slightest opportunity, I urge you to visit in Bristol.
Why mention that here? Well, there are many similarities between the two preserved ships and, I rather suspect that, an enthusiast of one is likely to find much of interest in the other. Both are equally important milestones in the history of shipping, Isambard Kingdom Brunel?s Great Britain being the first iron hulled steam propelled ocean going liner, Isaac Watts? HMS Warrior being the first Iron Clad Warship.
If it were possible to look at the two ships side by side, anyone could be forgiven for assuming that they were contemporaries, in fact they were built and launched almost a generation apart ? the Great Britain in Bristol in 1843 and the Warrior in Blackwall, on the Thames ...
Advantages: Very intresting, stair -lift for disabled people Disadvantages: Low celinged, windy corners
HMS Warrior pride of Queen Victoria is one of the last surviving iron clad ships made by Isembard kingdom Brunel. If you don't know who he is, he was the designer of the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. She joined the fleet in 1860 as part of Britain's answer to a troubled peace with France - & worries over French naval plans. Warrior could be driven by both steam & sail, her crew were about 700 men, they were:
42 officers
3 warrant officers
455 seaman and boys
3 Royal Marine officers
6 Royal Marine NCOs
118 Royal Marine artillerymen
2 chief engineers
10 engineers
66 stokers and trimmers
Open from 10am - 5pm. When you arrive at Warrior there's a long ramp which goes up to the deck, wheelchairs can access this but it can be a steep push up. Once on board there's a chairlift operated by a member of staff ...
