Huddled around a table at the River City bar on Spike Island in Bristol, staff of the ss Great Britain swapped stories about Brunel's famous steam ship.

The bar's owner Rob Merchant nursed his pint as he listened to them, and occasionally dropped in his own memories of the great ocean liner.

But this wasn't just a casual after-work drink for the ss Great Britain's team, but a fact-finding mission to gather memories of her return to Bristol in 1970.

Next July marks the 40th anniversary of the ship's salvage from a cove in the Falkland Islands and her triumphant return to Bristol.

To commemorate the occasion, volunteers and staff are gathering memories of those involved in her rescue, her 8,000-mile trip back across the Atlantic and her homecoming at the Great Western Dockyard – the very site from which she was launched in 1843.

They have already gathered the recollections of hundreds of people involved in the ss Great Britain's return, from the divers and crew who successfully raised her from the rocks at Sparrow Cove, to BBC documentary maker Ray Sutcliffe and the ss Great Britain Trust's Lord Strathcona, who planned the return.

But equally important to the project are the memories of those who gazed on in wonder at the ship's last few miles up the River Avon, under the Suspension Bridge and into the Floating Harbour on July 19, 1970. According to records, about 100,000 people lined the River Avon to watch the ss Great Britain's return, while a staggering eight million tuned in to watch Magnus Magnusson present coverage of the homecoming on TV.

To collect these snippets of history, the trust's team have placed memory collection boxes all around the city.

Last night they embarked on a "pub crawl" around the city docks, dropping in to The Cottage, the Nova Scotia, The Ostrich, The Shakespeare and The Mardyke, taking old photos of the ss Great Britain's hulk covered in barnacles to jog people's memories.

Among those who remembered the return was Mr Merchant, a former dock worker and crane driver in Bristol and Avonmouth.

Mr Merchant, 55, from Portishead, owns the River City bar – formerly The Albion pub – and works as an instructor for the Bristol Sailing School and as a volunteer crane driver in the Floating Harbour. He clearly remembered the excitement of the day the ss Great Britain returned home.

He said: "It was a big thing at the time, as the ship was coming back.

"I was about 18 and was working at MaCarthy's in the Bristol docks when they brought her back. I remember the tugs, dragging her in, and everyone was talking about it. You could see this rusty old hulk, and I was used to new boats and ships being launched from Charles Hill's dock.

"It is wonderful what has been done with the ss Great Britain. She is a real icon for the city."

His wife, Alyson, was nine or 10 at the time, and remembered watching the ship coming back on TV. Now 48, she said: "The bit I remember was it coming up the River Avon and coming under the Clifton Suspension Bridge on a floating platform.

"It is such a long time ago, and I didn't really understand completely as I was a young child. It was so old it seemed ancient, but there was a sense of excitement, it coming back to its original city. The fact that it has stayed in Bristol is fantastic."

Many of those involved in the salvage are now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, but the staff at the ss Great Britain have also been trying to track down a nine-year-old Bristolian boy, who was so excited that he wanted to sell his toys to help save her.

Dr Kate Rambridge, oral history project officer at the ss Great Britain, said: "We wanted to go to traditional dockside pubs where workers would have gone to drink, and we are hoping to gather the memories from local people who have lived, worked and socialised around the old docks."

All the memories the ss Great Britain's team collect will be incorporated into an exhibition, called The Incredible Journey, which will feature stories, pictures and film of the salvage and will open in the Dockyard Museum in July.

Rhian Tritton, director of the ss Great Britain's museum and educational services, said: "It seems that everyone involved in the salvage operation has extremely strong memories of the events of 1970. People had a sense of history and occasion. The memories of those we have already collected capture that and also the emotion of the event. When the ss Great Britain was launched in 1843, nobody could have imagined she would return in 1970, and that almost 40 years later the ship would be at the heart of a museum."

The project, which costs £90,000, is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and members of the ss Great Britain Trust.

Memory boxes are around the city, including the library, the Tobacco Factory, and the Bristol Old Vic.