World's Greatest Ships

Here is the extraordinary story of the Flagship of England's most notorious pirate, Sir Francis Drake. Sent on a secret mission to plunder Spanish ships in the Pacific, the Golden Hinde's voyage was packed with adventure. Its tangled history includes witchcraft and attempted mutiny. The Golden Hinde became the first English Ship to sail around the world.

One of the most glamorous ships of her day, Cutty Sark made her name racking precious cargoes of tea from Shanghai to London. The ship endured long vagabond years of 'tramping', when she was mistreated by her captains and deserted by her crews. He uncovers the Cutty Sark's link to Prohibition, and a famous brand of whiskey, and how the ship survived fire with a remarkable piece of good luck.

This is the story of Henry VIII's great warship, a vast vessel that went down nearly five centuries ago, killing more than four hundred men. Over the years a host of theories have emerged to explain the disaster, including accounts of enemy fire, mistakes made by the ship's builders, an unruly crew, an inexperienced captain and even King Henry VIII himself. But who was really responsible?

Here is the extraordinary story behind what was once the longest passenger ship in the world. Designed by Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this vast vessel redefined shipbuilding, pioneering innovations that are still found on most modern ships. The ship was plagued by disaster, from running aground on the coast of Ireland to nearly capsizing in a storm.

Admiral Nelson's personal flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar was the largest warship in the world with firepower equivalent to a whole army on land. Its construction included the felling of 6000 oak trees for planking and 27 miles of rope rigging. Her most famous captain, Nelson was renowned as much for scandal as for his dazzling military leadership.

This the story of the only surviving British warship to bombard the Normandy coast on D-Day. Host Rob Bell clambers aboard, experiencing first-hand the awesome power of its guns. He gets a taste of life on board, from the daily tot of rum, to the hammocks and officers' cabins. He re-lives the Battle of North Cape where Belfast took on the mighty German battleship Scharnhorst.

This is the story of how a humble coal vessel became one of Britain's greatest ships. Capable of battling stormy seas, the ship carried the historic missions of Captain James Cook to explore the South Pacific. It was King George III who commanded Cook to find a mysterious continent rumored to lie within the vast Pacific Ocean. To do this, Cook would have to literally sail Endeavour off the map.

The most famous ship in the world, Titanic, was a marvel of engineering based on revolutionary new capabilities. It bristled with the latest technology and was said to be unsinkable. And yet, her maiden voyage become the most famous maritime disaster in history. In the Belfast shipyard where the Titanic was built is a piece of living history that links us to the legend: the SS Nomadic.

This humble British merchant ship carried one of history's most important voyages. It was hired by a group of religious dissidents to transport them to a new life of freedom in the New World. Facing fierce storms, mutiny, deprivation and death, Mayflower's crew and the Pilgrims overcame almost impossible odds to establish the colony that ultimately gave birth to the United States of America.

The world's first purpose-built scientific vessel, her bold journey to the most inhospitable continent on the planet, Antarctica, propelled Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton into the ranks of the world's most famous explorers. The diaries of Discovery's backers tell the incredible story of how a chance meeting in London would define the course of polar exploration.

This famous ocean liner serves as a staggering monument to British nautical engineering. Scaling the funnel and delving deep into the engine room, host Rob Bell finds out how the largest ship of her day could also become the fastest, achieving speeds that few large ships can match 80 years later. Before winning the hearts of two nations, this ship had to survive the force of a freakish rogue wave.

The Ark Royal was World War II's most famous aircraft carrier. Her survival in the face of Nazi Luftwaffe bombing raids and U-boat attacks was a testament to her ingenious design and courageous crew. Over the course of the war, she hunted down some of the Nazis' most feared warships. The Nazis were determined to sink her, but the crew of this 'lucky' ship continued to thwart their efforts.