Brunel's ss Great Britain

QUEEN Victoria will be meeting her subjects as part of a royal visit to John Lewis at Cribbs Causeway on April 8 and 9.

The first in the 2009 tour of Brunel’s ss Great Britain ‘Gert Big Stink Challenge’, it follows a special invitation from the store.

Her Royal Highness – an actor in character and costume – will instruct shoppers to sniff boxes, inspired by the odours on board the ss Great Britain from crusty bread rolls, to oil, stables, carbolic soap, and even vomit.

Mr Brunel, who usually leads the challenge, had to humbly request his monarch’s services as he had a prior engagement to greet visitors on board his ship, docked in Bristol.

A young Queen Victoria met Mr Brunel when she visited the ss Great Britain, in London in 1845. She was hugely impressed by the size of the ship, the onboard technology, as well as the quality and luxury of the First Class accommodation.[Please see Notes to Editors 3 & 4, for  historic and whiffy fact file]

The visit to the ss Great Britain followed her husband’s role in launching Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s iconic vessel in 1843, in Bristol’s Floating Harbour.

Shoppers at John Lewis are more likely to know about the royal couple’s married life through the recently released film ‘The Young Victoria’, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and starring Emily Blunt.

As well as being fun, the ‘Gert Big Stink Challenge’ will give shoppers the chance to discover a little more about what life must have been like for Victorian passengers and crew on a two-month voyage to Australia – before modern sprays and deodorants.

All who enter will receive a signed certificate to frame and cherish! They will also be able to use the certificates to gain FREE admission for a friend or relative to Brunel’s ss Great Britain, in a ‘buy one get one free’ offer. The ticket allows for FREE unlimited return visits for a year, and includes daytime events.

Queen Victoria (actor Anthony Churchill), commented: “It is an honour to be representing Brunel’s ss Great Britain at the prestigious John Lewis shopping emporium. We very much look forward to meeting our subjects and challenging their sense of smell.

“Life in the 21st century seems to be a lot less pungent than 150 years ago… with the exception of that truly marvellous ship, the ss Great Britain.

“Although the terminology of the challenge is a little odd for royal ears – we understand it is Bristolian or ‘Brizzle’ – it is jolly good fun. We are amused by the ‘Gert Big Stink Challenge’.”

Her Royal Highness, who will be accompanied by a Lady in Waiting, added: “John Lewis is a marvellous store and we do look forward to a spot of shopping at Britain’s favourite retailer… although we believe prices have gone up since the 1840s.

“We would also like to warn shoppers that in real life we are not quite as beautiful as in the film, which they may have seen. The technology of the 21st century is truly wondrous, the film company, and a little make-up, have really taken years off the royal personage… almost as impressive as the technology behind Mr Brunel’s ss Great Britain!”

Staff at John Lewis decided to invite the ‘Gert Big Stink Challenge’ into the store after renewing their corporate support for the ss Great Britain Trust, which contributes to the Trust’s ‘Brunel Institute – conservation and learning centre’.

John Hayes, Managing Director of John Lewis Cribbs Causeway said: “Here at John Lewis Cribbs Causeway initiatives within the local community are a key part of our business. We are proud to support this Bristol landmark, which continues to provide education and inspiration to the city of Bristol and to visitors from around the world.”

• Easter events at Brunel’s ss Great Britain include: ‘Catheads! Rats’ tales!’ workshops (April 4 & 5); Mr Brunel visits his ship from April 4 to 19 (except April 8 & 15); Over the Easter weekend search out clues for chocolate prizes (April 10 to 13); Take cover from the Crimean War re-enactors and seek out Victorian medical advice from the surgeon and his leech (April 11 to 13)! All daytime events are included in admission, and children can take their artwork home. 

Gert Big Stink Challenge:

The name of the challenge is inspired by the affectionate ‘Brizzle’ (or Bristolian) tag for the ss Great Britain. For non-locals the ‘Gert Biggun’ translates into standard English as the ‘Great Big One’!

Queen Victoria and the ss Great Britain:

• Queen Victoria visited the ss Great Britain on April 23, 1845, whilst the ship was in London, on a major publicity tour. The Queen, Prince Albert (who had launched the ship in Bristol on July 19, 1843), and a retinue of six were joined by the Board of the Admiralty.
• She was met on board by the director of the Steamship Company, Mr Busy, and other directors – Were, Miles, Pycroft, Captain Claxton, Guppy – and by Brunel and Smith.
• Lieutenant Hosken, the Captain, welcomed the royal party and took them on a conducted tour. The Queen was ‘quite amazed at the enormous length of the ship, one-third longer than any battleship in the service’.
• After inspecting the ship’s Weather Deck, they descended below, to view the saloon (admiring the stunning carpet), and state rooms, and were shown a working model of the engines and screw propeller whilst Brunel explained how they worked.
• The royal party visited the engine room. A witness report stated: ‘the immense chain which turns the screw shaft seemed to particularly to engage Her Majesty’s attention’.
• The Queen inspected the after quarters and was astonished by their size. Claxton gave the Queen two copies of the description of the ship at the end of the tour.
• On leaving the ship following her visit in 1845, Queen Victoria told Captain Hosken: ‘I am very much gratified with the sight of your magnificent ship and I wish you every possible success on your voyages across the Atlantic’. 
       (Accounts taken from: ‘The Iron Ship’, Ewan Corlett)
• ‘The Dining Saloon is immense and the lounges for passengers for both decks are very large. The berths are very small, but there are nearly 300 of them. The contrivances and securities against danger are extremely ingenious. All the fittings and decorations are very fine and everything made as comfortable as possible’. Queen Victorian’s journal, April 22, 1845    

Whiffy fact file and trivia, relating to Brunel’s ss Great Britain:                                                           

• ‘Some of the passengers had a nice fright today. Whilst getting up luggage from the hold, a strange smell made itself perceptible… it grew stronger and stronger –evidently something must be burning, hair or wool. The smell seemed strongest near the door of the hold and at last it was found that a man’s waistcoat was on fire. The stupid old fellow had put a pipe in his pocket without putting it out.” Anon diary 1860s
• The Gibbs family who owned the ss Great Britain became rich by importing bird dung (guano). Trade was so good they built Tyntesfield, a country mansion near Bristol.
• Soot from the engine - “In consequence of the wind being in our teeth, the blacks from the funnels completely prevent anyone from walking in the quarter deck. Our shirts get dirty with this and the extreme heat, in one day. Altogether the ship is in a most filthy state and it is only within the last few days that the coals have been removed from the decks.” Olcher Fedden 7th Sept 1852
• Bathing: “There was great excitement at breakfast occasioned by the report that a bath, having been pumped up by the cabin boy for a lady, while she was coming, one of the Fore Saloon passengers quietly stepped in, locked the door, and took it for himself. This was trebly wrong as the bathroom on that side was only for ladies. He was not even a first class passenger, and he obtained it ready pumped whereas all the gentlemen have to pump their own which takes them ten minutes, and as some think, not worth the trouble for the sake of the advantage.” Annie Hemming 17th August ?
• Smoking: Rules and Regulations adopted 11th November 1854, by the committee to keep order in the lower cabin: John Henry Chatterton ‘any person found smoking below [deck] be immediately reported to the officer on the watch.
• Cleaning: ‘All cabins to be cleaned twice a week – and – weather permitting, all bedding to be aired on deck twice a week.’
• All slops to be emptied twice a week, and oftner if necessary
• Cleanliness: Mother Mary Paul Mulquin “… the rooms are washed out every morning by the passengers who get no breakfast if they have not the berths cleaned before that hour – the passages are washed every night and everything is very clean and neat.”  2nd Nov 1873
• Cleanliness: I have just been on deck looking at the sailors washing their clothes. They have pumps to get water – two men pumping while the others are washing… and lines across for drying.” Elizabeth Joseph, March 26th 1870
• Ventilation: “Our berths are pretty well ventilated but very confined and dark. The State Room (as they please to call it) allotted to us holds four persons. The distance between our berths for the purposes of dressing is 2ft broad and 6ft long, so confined that only one can dress at once…”
• Rats: Mother Mary Paul Mulquin “The Captain tells a very droll story of a rat running up his beard (a very bushy article indeed) while he was unmolested…” 1873
• Food: “I have had two meals , breakfast, which was very nice coffee, meat, eggs, and dinner which was first rate, quite such as you would get at the best hotels: soup grouse, pigeon and veal pies, pork, ham, and other meat dishes, sundry puddings and tarts and jelly, blancmange, cheese, celery and after all a dessert.” JM Hardwick (First Class passenger) 26th August 1852
• Animals: one cow, three bullocks, 30 pigs, 500 chickens, 400 ducks, 100 geese, and 50 turkeys (1864)
• Passenger and crew numbers - Mr JA Gurner “All told we are over 800 people on board…. Who as was customary and as was inevitable on a long voyage, often quarrelled and fell out, more especially the ladies, and when they did Captain Gray displayed great tact in handling the unruly crowd.”1869
• 1873: In steerage Mrs Donaldson a young Scotswoman has just given birth, and she lies exhausted, holding the infant against her breast. An older woman who has acted as midwife is cleaning up after the birth. Passengers who could not afford to pay for cabin accommodation had to live in cramped, unpleasant conditions for more than two months at sea.
• Engine room: “The stokers were many and I never saw them idle. They partook, in this at least of the character of every moveable part of the mechanism. The temperature in which these men work and live when on duty is 120 degrees Fahrenheit. When his short watch of two or four hours is over the stoker comes upon deck, reeking with sweat… they now seek the very coolest part of the steamer, between the lower edge of a sail and the deck, where would be the strongest draft and drink in the cool breeze.” Walter Channing A Physician 1856

The Albatross, record of a voyage from Victoria to England in 1862, edited by Col Sir James E Alexander KCLS:

• Sickness:  “There was the usual amount of sea-sickness and its attending discomforts among some of the passengers whilst others ‘roughed it’ bravely and attended regularly at meals; gradually all emerged from their berths and hiding spaces till the tables were respectably filled.”
• Smoking and spitting: “Suffer me to ask also that notice be taken of the habit of passengers smoking on the starboard side of the ship… The smoking in itself is offensive, and leads to expectoration, which unfortunately is swept up by our dresses.” Letter to the editor S.X.
• Hygiene: “As we are now fast approaching a more genial clime, I think it my duty to impress upon the minds of all passengers the necessity of strictly carrying out the sanitary regulations of the ship, the same being essentially conducive to the health on board, and I feel assured that your kind cooperation may be relied upon.” John Gray capt
• “There were headaches and seasickness, as at the commencement of our voyage. On Wednesday the ship buried her head in the waves, pitched fearfully, and rolled to such a degree that portmanteaus, carpet-bags and hat-boxes became most lively, and beyond all control in their playfulness in the cabins whilst soup, gravy, and mustard followed their example in the saloobn.”18th Oct 1862
• Capt Henry Stap, from a letter to his brother 27th Dec 1882: “The wind blew for five days… the ship rolled and laboured so much that I expected the main mast to go every minute… one man fell overboard and drowned as we could not render him any assistance.”

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