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The Great Britain has not been scrapped, but is now fully restored and a major tourist attraction in her home city of Bristol.

Built in 1843, she was the first ever ocean liner to use screw-propeller drive only, as oppose to paddle-wheels or screw / paddle combinations. Initially she plied the Atlantic route, but was beached in Ireland following a navigational error three years later and sold for salvage by her owners.

After being refloated, she was used as an emigrant vessel on the Australia run, carrying thousands of settlers to the new country until 1881, when she was converted to sail only and had her engines removed. She was thereafter used as a collier taking coal to the Falkland Islands, but after a fire on board in 1886 she was found to be damaged beyond economical repair, and was retired in Port Stanley Harbour for use as a coal store and as a quarantine ship. Coal from her stores was used to fuel the Royal Navy's South Atlantic Fleet, which defeated Admrial von Spee in the First World War. She was officially declared a derelict in 1937 and scuttled in Sparrow Cove, three miles from Port Stanley.

In the last World War, some of her iron plating was salvaged to repair the HMS Exeter, which had fought the Graf Speein the Battle of the River Plate.

A project to recover her and restore her to her original glory was launched in 1969, and she was brought back to Bristol aboard the trans-Atlantic barge Mulus III, arriving in Bristol on 5th July 1970.

Ever since thenshe has been fully restored to her original condition, and now rests in the dry dock where she was built. Thousands of visitors go to see her every year, although her engines are non-functional replicas that could not power her under steam, and her propeller is a reproduction of the original.

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13y ago

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