A very warm Summer's day
Bristol Port
After lunch Ben suggested that we all take ferry ride down to the end of the port basin, get off and buy icecreams, have awander round and then get the ferry back, so we did. Here is "Emily" with her passengers.
On the way down we passed "The Great Britain"
Great Britain is a museum ship and former passenger steamship, which was
advanced for her time. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from
1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for
the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service
between Bristol and New York.
While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great
Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going
ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic, which she did in
1845, in the time of 14 days.
On the other side of the port was John Cabot, the early explorer's boat "The Mathew"
The Matthew is a replica of a caravel sailed by John Cabot in
1497 from Bristol to North America,
presumably Newfoundland. After
a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with
only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship (50 tons), but fast and
able. The crew consisted of only 18 men. The Matthew departed either
2 May or 20 May 1497. He sailed to Dursey Head (latitude 51°36N), Ireland,
from where he sailed due west, expecting to reach Asia. However, landfall was
reached in North America on 24 June 1497. His precise landing place is a matter
of much controversy, with Cape Bonavista or St.
John's in Newfoundland the
most likely sites.
Cabot went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast
for some time, probably departing on 20 July. On the homeward voyage his
sailors incorrectly thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a
more southerly course, reaching Brittany instead
of England. On 6 August he arrived back in Bristol.
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