Diary pages from an anonymous SS Great Britain Passenger Diary, 1874
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Object number1998.066.2
TitleDiary pages from an anonymous SS Great Britain Passenger Diary, 1874
DescriptionOne sheet containing pages 11-12 of a diary believed to be from an unidentified passenger on the SS Great Britain. It is possible that this diary belonged to someone called George Prengt Hughes, who travelled with his younger brother Charles P Hughes on this voyage in 1874. This would have been the 42nd voyage the ship made- it was travelling from Liverpool to Melbourne on the 4th of June 1974, carrying 601 passengers and 141 crew. The voyage took 57 days, and in this diary, the writer talks about passing the fort at the mouth of the Mersey river- it is written, ‘we duely saluted both by lowering colours and by firing a canon.’ The author goes on to write about sailing around the Welsh coastline- we found ourselves at sunset not far from Carnarvon castle with a gentle swell’. On page 12 of the diary, the author writes about spotting porpoises near the Bay of Biscay, and mistaking a petrel at first for ‘a large species of swallow’.
Transcript available
Production date 1874 - 1874
Object namediary sheet
Object categorypersonal record
Materialpaper
Techniquehand-written
Dimensions
- height: 200 mm
width: 185 mm