The Boats that Built Britain is a British award winning documentary television series directed by Lawrence Walford

Lawrence Walford

Lawrence Walford an award winning British television director.He works for Form Films with Jonah Weston.-Filmography:*Boats that Built Britain, 2010 Director*Twitchers A Very British Obsession, 2010 Executive Producer...

 and produced by Form Films for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. Presented by sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe

-Biography:Cunliffe learnt how to sail in a 22ft gaff sloop as a teenager on the Norfolk Broads. After nearly being killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 19 he read Law at university, but chose not to enter the profession. Instead he worked as Mate on a coasting merchant vessel before...

, it covers various significant ships in the maritime history of Britain. The show was broadcast in 6 episodes, first broadcast on BBC Four

BBC Four

BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

 from 4 May 2010, before starting on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 from 15 May 2010. The show was produced in conjunction with an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

.

Episodes

1. "The Matthew" - Cunliffe sails a replica of Matthew
   Matthew (ship)
   The Matthew was 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 , but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The...
   
   , sailed by John Cabot
   John Cabot
   John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...
   
    in 1497, the first Western boat to discover America
2. "The Pickle" - Cunliffe sails a replica of , the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar
   Battle of Trafalgar
   The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
   
    back to Great Britain
3. "The Phoenix" - Cunliffe sails Phoenix
   Phoenix (tall ship)
   The Phoenix was built by Hjorne & Jakobsen at Frederikshavn, Denmark in 1929 as an Evangelical Mission Schooner.-Missionary and cargo ship:Twenty years later she retired from missionary work and carried cargo until her engine room was damaged by fire. In 1974 she was bought by new owners who...
   
   , a 1929 Danish built example of the archetypal 'square rigger', crucial to the rise in 19th century British trade
4. "The Reaper" - Cunliffe sails the restored 1901 built Reaper
   Reaper (sailing vessel)
   Reaper is a restored historic Fifie herring drifter which is registered by the National Historic Ships Committee as part of the Core Collection of historic vessels in the UK, and currently operates as a museum ship.-History:...
   
   , the biggest sailing lugger
   Lugger
   A lugger is a class of boats, widely used as traditional fishing boats, particularly off the coasts of France, Scotland and England. It is a small sailing vessel with lugsails set on two or more masts and perhaps lug topsails.-Defining the rig:...
   
    ever to fish the seas
5. "Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter" - Cunliffe sails the 1904 built Cariad, an example of a Bristol Channel
   Bristol Channel
   The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
   
    pilot cutter, considered by many to be the finest sailing boat design ever
6. "World War Two Landing Craft" - Cunliffe sails an LCVP
   LCVP
   The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...
   
   (Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel), the 'one boat did more to win World War II than any other piece of machinery'

External links

• Boats that Built Britain at the National Maritime Museum
• Tom Cunliffe