Portsmouth could have won race to show off Brunel's great ship | Nostalgia

I wonder how many of you know that the SS Great Britain, now open to the public in Bristol docks, was to have come to Portsmouth?
SS Great Britain in Bristol. Picture: Shutterstock.SS Great Britain in Bristol. Picture: Shutterstock.
SS Great Britain in Bristol. Picture: Shutterstock.

The dream was to have the ship in the birthplace of its designer Isambard Kingdom Brunel but, the city council missed the boat, literally.

The ship was all but a rusting hulk when she arrived in Bristol on July 19, 1970, when she could have been the beginning of a maritime museum in Portsmouth and priceless.

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Carrying six masts and displacing 2,936 tons she was the largest ship in the world when launched on July 19, 1843.

The end for St Mark’s Church, North End, Portsmouth, in March 1971. Picture: The News archive.The end for St Mark’s Church, North End, Portsmouth, in March 1971. Picture: The News archive.
The end for St Mark’s Church, North End, Portsmouth, in March 1971. Picture: The News archive.

When she was to be laid up her engines were stripped and she was used to and fro to San Francisco carrying coal out and wheat back.

Her life ended in 1933 and in 1936 she was towed to Sparrow Cove in the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic where she remained for the next 34 years.

In 1971, the Great Britain Trust was ready to do business with Portsmouth as long as the city would pay the cost of towing the ship from Bristol.

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Eager council members were ready to raise the cash and asked for ‘first refusal’ despite the cost being anything up to £200,000 to bring the ship to Portsmouth.

Richard Goold-Adams, the chairman of the SS Great Britain project said the Great Western Dock in Bristol would be ideal and the charity was prepared to wait on a decision from Bristol City Council.

The fateful decision was made and Portsmouth lost the chance to have a tremendous tourist attraction alongside HMS Victory and later the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior 1860.

Portsmouth’s loss was Bristol’s gain and many think it a great loss to the city.

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For many people modern music just does not do it for them which is why Angel Radio based in Havant has been successful.

You might like to know that I am on the station three times a week,Tuesdays and Wednesdays, midday to 2pm and I have also just started a new show every Saturday evening from 6pm to 9pm.

Each of those three hours is dedicated to the decades of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. You can also email in with a request to [email protected].

If you want to listen to quality music of all genres, as they say these days, then please give Angel a go. We are on 89.3FM and online at angelradio.co.uk.

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One of the saddest sights is the demolition of a church and today’s final photograph shows the depressing scene inside St Mark’s Church, North End, Portsmouth, in March 1971 just before complete demolition.

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