MEDIA RELEASE 8 JUNE 2006

TV'S JEREMY CLARKSON BRINGS BRUNEL'S ss GREAT BRITAIN BACK TO LIFE

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, a huge fan of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, will start up the engine and bring the ss Great Britain back to life for the first time in 160 years.

The project has been made possible thanks to the ReDiscover fund for museums - created by the Millennium Commission, the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation - as well as the support of Rolls-Royce.

Jeremy Clarkson, who visited the ship as an advocate for Brunel during the BBC's Great Britons series, will throw the lever that will set the Great Drive Wheel in motion this week.

Work to put back the powerful steam engines on board Brunel's ss Great Britain will further enhance the remarkable restoration of the great man's maritime masterpiece

By piecing together fragments of information from engravings, sketches and contemporary steam engine designs, a full-scale reproduction has been created of the original engine that powered the world's first great ocean liner.

Engineers have been working in the cramped conditions on board the ship for almost five months putting together the various parts that make up the engine - many of which were so bulky that they had to be lowered by crane through the skylight on the top deck.

The official 'starting up' ceremony will take place in the evening on June 9 at an invitation only event that will be attended by many of those who have supported the project and with Jeremy Clarkson as the guest of honour.

From June 10, visitors to the ship will have access to the ship's engine room, where they will be able to experience Brunel's innovative engine design close-up. The four huge pistons will rise and rotate the immense 18ft drive wheel that turns the propeller shaft through a giant chain drive.

Visitors will be able to play the part of ship's engineers, altering the speed of the three-storey high engine and controlling the pressure of the steam in the boilers.. They will be able to see close-up why so many Victorian passengers asked if they could come and see the ship's original engine.

Glasgow-based Heritage Engineering has transformed a static model built for the ss Great Britain Trust in the 1980s into a working facsimile of the engine that took the ship on her maiden voyage to New York in 1845. The company, which specialises in restoring steam engines and cast iron structures, has been working to bring the vision of the Trust to fruition.

The original cast iron engine had to be ditched overboard when the ss Great Britain ran aground on the sands of Dundrum Bay in Ireland in 1846, where it remains.

Jeremy Clarkson said: "In my programme about Brunel for the BBC's Great Britons series I said 'Brunel built modern Britain and Britain built the world, which means Brunel built the world'.

"Well, not only did he build the world but he invented fast international travel around the world by designing the ss Great Britain, powered by this engine!

"The engine is the single most important part of the ship and will help visitors to Brunel's ss Great Britain understand the mechanics behind this innovative wonder."

Matthew Tanner, Director of the ss Great Britain Trust, said: "The recreation of the original engine at the heart of Brunel's ss Great Britain will greatly enhance the experience for visitors to the restored ship.

"We are delighted that Jeremy Clarkson has agreed to come back to the ship and throw the lever that will start the engines again and bring the ship back to life for our visitors."

Jim Mitchell, Engineering Director of Heritage Engineering, said: "This has been the most challenging project we have undertaken to date.

"The need to design lightness and efficiency into such massive components has been technically demanding for our design and manufacturing team. We believe this engine is a milestone in heritage interpretation."

Rolls-Royce plc, which has a major plant in Bristol, has provided both expertise and money to realise the dream of recreating Brunel's engine.

Colin Green, former president of the company's Bristol-based Defence Aerospace business and a key supporter of the engine project, said: "Rolls-Royce is pleased to support the ss Great Britain Trust. Brunel's ship was at the front of technology in the 1840s much as Rolls-Royce is today and this project helps maintain that link in a very vivid way."

Notes

Funding worth £600,058 for the £1 million engine project has come from 'ReDiscover' - the renewal fund for science centres and museums across the UK. 'ReDiscover' represents an important partnership between the National Lottery, through the Millennium Commission, and major charitable funders the Wolfson Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world; spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind.

The engine project follows the 're-launch' last summer of Brunel's ss Great Britain following work costing £11.3 million to transform the historic ship into a major visitor attraction and museum as well as preserve the vessel for future generations. Visitors can now explore the restored ship's interior and see how the hull is being conserved beneath the glass 'sea' with modern technology in her original dry dock. In addition to Brunel's masterpiece, there is also the Dockyard Museum with its massive iron artefacts and state-of-the-art interactive displays.

Issued by the ss Great Britain Trust, Great Western Dockyard, Bristol BS1 6TY www.ssgreatbritain.org

BACK TO TOP