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Oil on canvas, 46cm x 76cm
The place of SS Great Britain in history is assured: she was the first ocean-going iron steamship, the first significant vessel to be fitted with a screw propeller and the first iron screw steamer to cross the Atlantic.
Walter shows her in port profile with all sails stowed, steaming into the wind. Passengers can be seen on deck despite the swell, their main interest being a nearby unidentified sailing vessel. The vessels are communicating and Great Britain is displaying the message "has been adopted" (2,3,8 in the Marryat Code).
Great Britain was built in 1843 to a design of Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company. After a disappointingly slow maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York she underwent an overhaul to improve her speed including the removal of a mast (this helps us date the piece). In 1846 on only her seventh voyage she went aground at Dundrum, Ireland and was subsequently laid up. She was sold in 1850 for 20% of her original cost. In later years, and following rebuilding, she served on the Liverpool to Australia route, then as a wool and coal hulk in the Falkland Islands. A campaign to preserve her resulted in Great Britain being brought back to Bristol in 1970 where she is now a major visitor attraction.