Brunel's race to cross the Atlantic | History | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

Heating up water creates...
- ice
- rocks
- steam ✓
What does a sextant measure?
- distance ✓
- time
- speed
Which tool on a ship is very similar to a clock or watch?
- sextant
- compass
- chronometer ✓
What new feature helped steamships move through the water?
- sails
- propeller ✓
- rudder
What else did steamships have that was useful on long journeys?
- heating system ✓
- extra rooms
- spare sails
Put the ships in the order in which they were invented, starting with the earliest.
- 1
  
  ⇔
  
  canoes
- 2
  
  ⇔
  
  longboats
- 3
  
  ⇔
  
  junks
- 4
  
  ⇔
  
  steamships

What was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's job?
- engineer ✓
- nurse
- teacher
Which of these ships were designed by Brunel?
- SS Great Britain ✓
- SS Sirius
- SS Great Western ✓
What was the hull of the SS Great Western made from?
- wood ✓
- plastic
- iron
True or false? Both the SS Great Western and the SS Great Britain had a wooden hull.
- True
- False ✓
The engine of a steamship can move a...
- propeller ✓
- sail
- mast
Complete the sentence. Brunel wanted to win the '______ across the Atlantic Ocean'.
- 'race' ✓

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Just under 200 years ago, a race was underway to see which would be the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.
A British engineer called Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed the SS Great Western to try and achieve this.
It was a wooden hulled steamship with masts, sails and a paddle wheel.
The SS Great Western was narrowly beaten by the SS Sirius, which became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.
Brunel then designed and built the SS Great Britain, the first iron steamship with a propeller to cross the Atlantic.

Pupils may think that the 'race across the Atlantic' was an actual race, like on school sports day.

At around the same time, people in different places were trying to achieve the same thing, so whoever achieved it first won the 'race'.

Steamship - a steamship is a ship that uses a steam engine to help it move
Paddle wheel - a paddle wheel is a large wheel, turned by a steam engine, used to move a boat
Propeller - a propeller is something that spins in the water to move a ship forward