A new chapter for the SS Great Britain
This morning, Bristol Dockyards welcomed 120 guests - Trustees, members, media, and friends of the organisation - to celebrate the opening of our new SS Great Britain Experience museum. For 25 years, the SS Great Britain Experience has told the story of Brunel's revolutionary ship and the people whose lives were shaped by her. The new museum builds on that legacy, bringing fresh research and new voices into how that story is told.
"The most important thing we've kept is a fascination with all the stories this ship still carries. For the past twenty-five years, we've been sharing these stories with hundreds of thousands of visitors. We've also been working slowly to understand more about our ship's history.
"Since 2020, our team has included new researchers from Bristol's communities. We support them to ask their own questions, and we help them to find the sources and skills to explore those questions."
The museum features stories selected by four of our Community Researchers. Here's a closer look at what each of them has uncovered.
Ben Rickard
Ben's research has given insight into the working communities who built the SS Great Britain - looking beyond Brunel himself to the shipwrights, labourers and tradespeople whose skill and effort brought the ship into being on Bristol's harbourside.
Souima Seradj
Souima's research uncovered a striking detail in the ship's history: a North African regiment that travelled aboard the SS Great Britain to Crimea in 1856. It's a discovery that reshapes our understanding of who actually sailed on this ship, and why.
Tarjinder Kaur
Tarjinder is currently researching the ship's role in carrying troops to India in 1857 - a chapter of the SS Great Britain's history that connects her story to some of the defining events of the British Empire in South Asia.
Shani Whyte
Shani's research has uncovered stories of people of colour whose histories are entwined with the ship's own - the ship's Jamaican cook, and a Bermudian passenger who charmed his way into First Class - bringing perspectives and lives to light that have long sat at the margins of how maritime history has traditionally been told.
The museum officially opens to the public on Saturday 18 July, forming part of an expanded SS Great Britain Experience. Come and see Ben, Souima, Tarjinder and Shani's research in person.
Explore the new museum after hours
