Could You Survive as a Sailor on a Victorian Ocean Liner?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- What was working on SS Great Britain really like? Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain is undoubtedly one of the most important historic ships in the world. When she was launched from Bristol by Prince Albert in 1843, she was called 'the greatest experiment since the creation'. No one else in the Victorian era had designed an iron ship so vast or revolutionary. It was also the world's first great luxury ocean liner, carrying passengers to the United States and Australia throughout her long career.
SS Great Britain changed history. As well as being built of iron and steam powered, Brunel rejected using conventional paddle wheels to drive his ship. Instead, his revolutionary screw propeller was the newest invention in maritime technology.
But what was it like to work on SS Great Britain? What were the jobs aboard ship? And did the crew get to share the comforts of passengers aboard the world’s first luxury ocean liner?
History Hit presenters Louee Dessent and Luke Tomes step aboard to experience the life of the crew in the 19th century, to see what it was really like serving on the world's first ocean liner. But while Luke gets to enjoy the relative ease of life as an officer, Louee takes on the less enviable jobs of stoker and able seaman.
As well as getting into authentic Victorian costume, the pair are put to work flag raising, map reading and climbing the rigging. Louee also takes on the Go Aloft! Challenge, climbing out across the yard arm for a better view of the Bristol dry dock where SS Great Britain was launched.
Visit www.ssgreatbritain.org/ to explore the ship's story further - and be sure to check out SS Great Britain's on Instagram (@ssgreatbritain) and TikTok (@ssgreatbritain)
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00:00 Introduction
01:09 SS Great Britain Artefacts
04:16 Sailor Carvings
06:18 Sailor Accomodation
09:46 Promenade Deck
11:53 Engine Room
14:12 Steam Engine
18:51 Able Seaman Responsibilities
22:28 Captain's Cabin
25:22 "Dandy Funk"
26:48 The State Room
29:37 Climbing the Rigging
Hope you enjoyed guys! Which job do you think was the WORST aboard a Victorian steamship? 🤔
Any role dealing with the passengers!
@@pacman1386 😁
Still true today!
This was so enjoyable! Thank you! Poor Louee. There is zero chance I would do that for any amount of money. Makes Lukes tiny bed look like a room at the Savoy.
stoker of course!
Imagine climbing that mast in rough weather with the ship rolling side to side and up and down ..... ! .... Yikes ! Took some serious balls to do this work, no joke.
I worked on a replica of gaf rig clipper an I can tell you in a storm I'm grateful for harness... But there were times there wasn't time for harness... You just climb an rule is always keep 3 points of contact at all times whilst climbing.. I've worked on several schooners an sailboats as well as Tug Boats... I may be a woman but the sea she calls to me... An I go!! I live in my own sailboat!! ✌🏼💗😊⛵
@@donnakawana I work on boats too and absolutely love it!! Shattered my calcaneus (heel) while on the job and now bedridden for 3 months 😭. Boy do I miss it. I’ll wake up sometimes swearing I can feel the boat swaying but then soon after realizing I’m on dry land and it’s such a bummer
The "Up and down" is known as "heaving", as in "pitching, rolling and heaving".
@@donnakawanaThat's such an awesome story. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, we're all the same, but I have alot of respect for you for serving aboard such prestigious types of boats/ships. It's something that I've always wondered if I could handle it, but I never had the opportunity to attempt!
Captain John Gray simply disappeared during a return voyage. The crew went to awaken him one November morning and he was gone - never to be seen again. When the ship docked back in Liverpool several weeks later, his wife and daughter were waiting for him on the dock, unaware that he'd disappeared, as there was no way for the crew to send the news ahead.
Are there any theories on how he disappeared? Fell overboard? Foul play? Suicide? I am curious.
@@b-rextheprgoddess1872 5:43
@@b-rextheprgoddess1872 probably suicide. I’ve worked at sea for many years and Suicide is an all too common occurrence. The most common distress call you hear is an a man overboard due to suicide. Stress, loneliness and lack of hope is a common feeling for those who live at sea away from all that they know
@@oliverlane9716 same here! Engineer. I trained in Brittany where we learn through apprenticeship at 14. I'll never forget on my first trip the chief walking past with his luggage saying "I'm going home". I was with other crew members, we figured he was preparong to leave for the next morning when we got into port. Next day a letter was found in his cabin.
Was there a second captain on the ship to take his place?
I have always wondered how the early liners were able to cross the Atlantic, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a revolutionary, but the race between the Sirius and Great Britain was such an awesome story. The Great Britain was held up by a storm and Brunel was almost washed overboard, but the Sirius won after being forced to burn ALL of the ship's furniture after the amount of coal loaded onboard was underestimated. Still, Brunel laid the way for SO many great liners that came afterwards. After he built the railroads, then he blazed the way across the Atlantic. I just wish his Great Babe, the Great Eastern had been a better success than it turned out to be...and preferably before his death so he could've seen his dream come to fruition. Brunel was truly a visionary.
feel lucky to see this ship every single day
Do you see the red headed bird?lol
Amazing that they managed to rescue this fantastic ship for us all to enjoy today .
The lady managing the logbook is so passionate it’s contagious 😊
Shouldn’t they also be wearing face masks to stop any spittle landing on the log book?
I remember when the empty hull was first returned to the drydock where it was built, it is incredible to see what exceptional talent has done to give us a view of the ship in its heyday.
Is none of it original? Just the hull?
Me too, I was only about 6 at the time. The quality of these videos is outstanding. As good if not better than the stuff on mainstream TV.
And thanks to the efforts of Brunel to preserve his ship from the storms while beached in Dundrum Bay. The owners wanted to write the vessel off.
when was it back?
What a fantastic ship. And a great history. Thank god for Jack Arnold Hayward for paying for her to be raised and repaired enough to be brought back to Britain across the Atlantic. Big Thumbs Up for this video. Thank you. 👍
Well said
I agree
It’s an amazing machine and testament of English engineering.
I’d think the steam/ sail idea is really neat.
Build more
Who's the guys in the thumbnail
@@richardstrachmesserschmiti4979 HMS Warrior is another good example of Steam and Sail. I agree with you. What a great idea. Its amazing to think that a ship such as SS Great Britain was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1845-1854. They may have come a long way since then for size and luxury, but they don't look half as stunning.
@@rmstitanic8163 Iv seen the Warrior
I didn’t know it also had steam POWR. That’s really amazing.
Extremely efficient and I could imagine a better fuel delivery system could be possible- worm drive coal or even uranium fuel to boil water.
That 1840s tech works and works good- sail ship without an engine is in big trouble near coasts or bad weather.
And leaving all that wind power go unused is a waste.
In my opinion, these and first Olympic class ships are by far the best of the ship tech.
Tech had a nice balance of power from 1850-1950
From sea planes / trains/ ships/ air ships
Cargo/ passenger is most efficient
But , I guess they where used for too many schemes.
I wonder why the Great Eastern was scrapped so early or Great Western- odd
The engineering and finishing work is extraordinary, truly amazing.
This ship seemed to have logged thousands if not 100s thousands of miles - another unique quality of these ships.
I saw the Uss Constitution last week - 200+ years old and still sailing.
Obsolescence is bs
@@richardstrachmesserschmiti4979 That's really odd you mention USS Constitution. (old iron side). I was reading up on her just weeks ago. With its reputation, I thought I would do a comparison check on how it would have faired against HMS Victory. And the result was pretty conclusive in Victorys favour. As for SS Great Eastern and Western. What a combination they had with steam, sail and paddle. I've never understood why ships like these are just scrapped in the end of their usage. The same goes for RMS Olympic. She was the only survivor of the three sister ships with a fine history attached. Imagine seeing the likes of these great ships, in a waterside museum. There are so few around considering how many were built originally. Portsmouth docks is a good place to visit with Victory, Warrior, Mary Rose, and the only 1st world war M29-class monitor, HMS M 33 of the Gallipoli Campaign to survive. I would have loved to been able to have seen RMS Olympic, along side SS Nomadic. White Starlines only surviving ship, of which Thomas Andrews designed.
I remember an episode of "worst jobs in history" when Tony Robinson climbed up there. He's terrorifed of heights so it took a while but I respect him for doing it at all.
Yeah, I’d make it about 6” off the ground, before losing my mind!🤣
Absolute respect for all who could do it!
To the hosts of the show and everyone behind the scenes, keep going, love the content, it must be nerve racking doing the shows bit we all appreciate what you lot do, keep it going👌
Thanks!
I cannot even fathom how that must felt the blood sweet and tears and the hard work to maintain a ship like that is unbelievable and how many people it takes to keep that ship in tip top shape and the responsibility to do and the history of the people is wob took part on the voyage for three months for three months! That is insane but I absolutely love how yall step in the shoes in the sailors and the works and the reading the stores for the people it must have taken some bravery to get on that ship
And the conditions they had to deal with that is unbelievable but I think its important to understand what it was like during the 19th century and ect but its very important to learn and to feel what it was like yo work on this ship that had to be dangerous work on a ship like that during the 19th century it must take a long time to build the ship but also having to maintaining the ship conditions and ect
Having done a transatlantic crossing mid-December on the world's only current ocean liner, Queen Mary 2, I can't begin to imagine how much SS Great Britain would've bounced around in a storm.
I was Able Sailor at the Norwegian Full Rig Christian Radich. We had to climb as fast as we could. The only Safety Gear was a rope with a hook on. An we worked in the Rig in all sorts of weather 50 meters over the Deck. First time I was nearly dead of Anxiety. But after a short time you feel safe, even at the top of the Rig. No one has ever fallen down from the Rig.
Very interesting story! Sounds like very hard work.
@@leza6288 It was hard work; those guys had forearms like blacksmiths.
My great great great grandfather was Sir William Gray (afaik no relation to Capt. John Gray) Hartlepool shipbuilder and first Mayor of the united boroughs.
They built mainly cargo vessels from about the 1850s to 1962, among them, the first Oil tanker to traverse the Suez, The Murex, and another, the ship that brought the obelisk "Cleopatra's Needle" from Alexandria to NYC in the 1880's.
They employed famed steam engine designer Thomas Mudd.
I had the pleasure to tour the SS Great Britain when I lived in England. As an FYI the later SS Great Eastern laid the last of the Transatlantic Cable near my Great Great Grandparents property in Newfoundland. As a Newfoundlander it was also nice to visit the replica of Cabot's Matthew in Bristol. There is another replica in Bonavista, Newfoundland as well. Love the channel.
I just can’t get over the 60°C heat for the firemen. How on earth did they survive that?!!
Vicky - for a very short time!!!
That SHIP IS SWEET - really nice
Steam/ sail 1843
The British really did very good here. A milestone of engineering
That is worth much more than most people can imagine.
The skill, cooperation, funding, integrity and engineering is off the chart . Really good
Sailing around the Baltic Sea and Norway would be the ideal environment for this ship.
Never obsolete
Great film, really informative, but I have one minor technical correction, as someone who has sailed on five different modern square riggers: The horizontal bit that supports a sail is called the YARD, the lowest one being the Course Yard. At the very end of each yard is an arm where there's no foot rope to stand on and that's called the Yard Arm. Sorry, but it really grated every time someone used the wrong term.😊
Theres lots of little niggling errors but on the whole...its a decent programme.
The redhead is LOVELY 😍
These sailors where serious bad ass and unimaginable hard workers just 💯 % respect
Visited this ship two days ago; your video helped me to understand a lot more about the ship, thank you.
Kudos to the cameraman who climbed the mast as well as operating the camera.
Can’t even imagine surviving a trip like this!!!
This was a fantastic episode!! I loved how each working area of the ship was explored. I learned a lot. Great job everyone!
Glad you enjoyed it!
The history, workings and people who enabled it all to happen were incredible. Thank you for such a wonderful, informative video.
I work on Discovery, and was there the day Dan climbed her rigging (without a harness, I should add!) I climb the rigging everyday, with full harness and fall arrest gear!
I'd jump at the chance to clamber all over SS Great Britain.
Great content as usual! Thanks guys!
I was a Boatswain mate 2 class on a 74 ft landing craft LCM 8 for the USN it was a challenging job. Going through ruff waves getting drenched in the well deck.
Wonderful story, it brings to mind the " Swiss family Robinson" stories and helps bring them to life. On a three hour tour ? Passenger travel then was really an adventure. Thx. 👍
This reminds me of the Discovery channel circa 1998. Awesome production guys!!
What an amazing exhibit. A living recreation with the ship beautifully restored. I'd love to pay a visit one day.
Fantastic video with Detailed information. Thank you.
This is awesome! Rough, yet glorious at the same time.
Amazing drone shots of Bristol!
Thanks a lot!
So much History, so little time...... What a view of Bristol from the Main Mast Yardarm, I would do the climb if given the chance, FUN..... Looks like you two had a great day.
Felix Grenyer's auto-biography (featured at the start) has been re-printed. Makes for very interesting reading.
Fantastic masterpiece of engineering! Thanks for the video!
Holy bleep! I don't even like standing on a step ladder to change a lightbulb.
I've climbed that rigging, view is amazing out on the yard!
Years ago I toured a WWII submarine, USS Bowfin at Pearl Harbor. The captain's cabin on Bowfin was only slightly more roomy than on this ship, mainly because it doubled as his office and had some sink/toilet facilities.
I really enjoy how Luke and Louee swap roles in each video - must be lots of fun!
I have a wooden walking stick which I believe belonged to my Great Grandfather. There is a band on it that reads "A relic of The Great Eastern 1892". Also a brass anchor that hangs on the wall. I have just read the history of this Great Ship. It's extremely interesting.
That's cool!
One could pick up, in junk shops, little 4cm high wooden barrels with a small plate stating from which ship the wood had been retrieved, even during a refit rather than dismantling. I do not think people gave them a second look and many were just thrown away when their houses were cleared. the last one I saw said 'Foudroyant'.
Really enjoyed this guys! I had picked the firemen as the worst job in your survey but tbh, past or present I prefer to be on land. As someone else stated the change of music from the officer relaxing to the able seaman on the mast was hilarious! Thank you!
Thanks!
Seriously fascinating
Wow, this was fascinating!
I’m absolutely loving these history videos!
Thanks mate!
W,S, Gilbert was famously in love with sailing. For the operetta 'H.M.S. Pinafore', he based the set design on Nelson's flagship, H.M.S. Victory. In Captain Corcoran's introductory song, 'I Am the Caption of the Pinafore', he mentions that he can 'hand, reef, and steer', as well as 'ship a selvagee'. (Smyth’s Sailor’s Work Book of 1867 defines selvagee as “a strong and pliant hank, or untwisted skein of rope-yarn marled together, and used as a strap to fasten round a shroud or stay, or slings to which to hook a tackle to hoist in any heavy article.” This is as quoted in the OED (228). To ship a selvagee is to place it in working position.) Gilbert was a stickler for accuracy, so it's great to hear the phrase used by Natalie at 30:15.
Nice video and thank you for sharing it
That was so interesting ! Thank you !
12:49 Thank you for this explanation of what the tour guide was saying.
What an incredible restoration considering this ship was a stripped out and abandoned hulk. Noy only a tribute to Brunel, but also to those who resurrected his magnificent ship.
Oh so the SS Great Britain was both steam and sail powered. I think that was a great idea.
Sailing by wind power is great but when the wind drops, it's good to have a plan b
I was going to say before the disclaimer came up that you weren’t working at 1000 degrees c
I was a stoker in the navy and on my class of ship the engine room got to around 55 degrees operating around the equator. After an hour in there you were cooking
60 seems realistic and manageable for 4 hours, would have been bloody hard work though
Thanks, really informative.
The fact that Able seamen used to climb the rigging, no saftey gear, under storm and fire, blows my mind. Like that was standard practise. It makes freestyle climbing look like child's play.
The rule was "One hand for the ship; one hand for your self."
Actually, sailors falling from the rigging seldom happened; fear kept them safe!
This is like a sophisticated episode of Below Deck.
i was thinking the same thing
The thought of going up that rigging with a hangover oh my God x
I really like how the guide is doing the tour
My Grandfather sailed from Portland, Oregon to Capetown with a cargo of lumber, then on to Australia on the Britsh Clipper Segura in 1912.
Fantastic video! I (an American), had the opportunity to tour the Great Britain at 10years ago, and it was fascinating. Kudos to you for going out on the yardarm... you're a better man than me!
I can't believe they made him do that. No wonder they fell off especially during a storm when the wind gusts could be 50-60 mph and then the ship is bouncing around too. No thanks! 😮😵
Great video guys. So informative in a fun real way but if I have to hear absolutely one more time 😂
Having experienced sea sickness for the first and l hope last time during a stormy group cruise round the Channel Islands, l cannot imagine how people resisted being I’ll on such a huge ship during such unpredictable weather conditions in the high seas, and how it was coped with without mod coms and decent bathroom conditions. The memory of that is the one thing that deters me from going on any more cruises. ( Even the captain got sick in my case. His wife was tending to all12 or so of us)
Love this history
Just imagine! Before ships similar to this had engines, they might have to wait for weeks for favorable winds to even get out of port.* And on journeys to places like Australia or anywhere involving the southern hemisphere, they could be idling for even more weeks in a region around the Equator called the doldrums, where there is very little wind at any time. The backers of the SS Great Britain must have seen such promise and profit in a vessel that could sail on schedule, even when the winds were not favorable.
*While navy ships often had enough crew (and the ability to motivate them) to tow ships out of port by various means, merchant and passenger vessels would be very unlikely to do so. Steam tugboats for this purpose came into use starting in the late 1700s.
Fantastic tour guide 😊
Harness or not, still a fine effort. Well done.
Great videos
fantastic!
great! very interesting
Very interesting video !!!
Somehow it reminds me of my duties as a flight-crew. ;-)
I know very little about sailing but my impression is that hammocks don't swing back and forth. The ship rocks back and forth so if you are standing next to a hammock it appears to be moving when in realty you're the one moving and the hammock is holding still in relation to the world. On the other hand I can see that hammocks would still be very uncomfortable being that you can only be on your back in them.
Love it!
from other episodes i remember that ,sailing to Australia or India, the word - posh- came into use. known only by the passengers who knew...
PORT out, STARBOARD home...
the cabins that is. so when the ship came to the hot parts of the world, the cabins were on the -other side - .
and the sun was not beating down on them all day long.
no air condition back than, only open a porthole...or window...
I was in the Merchant Navy from the late sixties, looking at this ship I realize I had a cushy time compared to the men who crewed this ship…
How times have changed, hardly 25 odd crew to run the biggest of the ships, wish I could have sailed in that time.
wow everyone in this doco are young!
Do you mind organizing your playlists as to general periods? Medieval, etc.
*”people then, were about 5” shorter, than average height today…”*
Me; *{laughs in 4’8”}* 🤣❤️👍
Good Video!
Yes, what a great video they made.
Probably, I graduated from the U.s MC Recruit Depot at Parris Island, SC. Being on that boat would be a piece of cake.
Really good.
So sad to hear about the good captain's unfortunate demise.
Rave people all of them, crew and passengers were really special.
Hope you will do a video on the HMS Belfast one day.
👀
My father was a ship's Engineer, although not quite yet on his first job, a screw driven steam sail ship. He would have worked in the engine room, although not shovelling as he had a college degree. He would have been a lower officer. He said that ship sank and it was the captain's second sinking. Everyone got off ok, anyway.
Just out of curiosity just looking at the size of that engine and coal that was needed to run it how much weight in cargo, food, passengers and etc could this ship handle safely each voyage?
Question: how many of the officers worked their way up the ranks? As I watched the cut scene from the guy on the rigging to the captain chilling on the bench, the stark contrast of safety hit me. But then, I was reminded that John Grey started worked his way up to captain, so presumably he had experienced the difficult work of the men under him. So, did many/most captains work their way through the ranks, and was there more room for a person of lower birth to rise to a prominent position?
I love how cape of good hope lethality is down played where the home of the rogue wave’s live fyi even modern ships are not safe against the rogue’s and the crew’s competence is essential
Love your work 👍
Thank you! Cheers!
If you want to see what life was like as a sailor on a Square Rigger THE must watch video is Capt John Irving's film of the Sailing Ship Peiking going round Cape horn under sail in BAD weather - unmissable. (It's on Utube)
By the way if you are intetested in visting historic ships, the Peiking is currently in Hamburg her home port undergoing a complete refit for the Hamburg Sea Museum so I am not sure if she is open yet to the public. I visited her when she was in the South Street Sea Port Museum in New York an amazing experience.
happy new year!
Is this ship used for tv/movies? Looks well kept!
I learned that people centuries ago took better notes than I could ever hope to
Love all these videos and love us history needs indulging ourselves! These presenters are also both very handsome, is there a video about them? Are they historians?
I am sure my ancestors travelled on this ship in the mid 1800s, from Scotland to Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺, I need to do some further investigating🙂
3 year old ships biscuit. Perfectly fresh. Steve1989 ate one from the US Civil War.
And he ate a Boer War meat ration. Steve1989 has a voice that's easy to fall sleep with.
I love the SS Great Britain - and, ooh, you went out on the lowest yardarm (with safety gear) ... lol
He climbed up the rigging while the ship was safely docked, plus he had a robust safety harness on plus a hard hat, plus he was being filmed and had a camera attached to his hard hat. It doesn't get much safer than that on a ship. But those poor 19th century sailors would be doing the same out at sea, in far worse conditions, with no safety harnesses whatsoever, no safety equipment whatsoever, no cameras on them and if they fell then it was their loss. Not even if they were family would a ship try and rescue any fallen sailor. And those sailors would have slept badly in those hammocks and had to eat three year old ship biscuits soaked in gruel for meals. Those 19th century sailors were tough as they come. All respect to them. They make modern day men look like precious little weeds.
It would be great if Luke and Louee could perhaps do a collaboration with Eve Goodman on a video for “Victorian Farm: The Next Generation.” :D
"Bosun, start that man there, acreeping up the rigging like a bloody Landsman. YOU sir, yes you, get aloft this instant sir, or I'll have the skin off your back by all that is holy !".