''The Boats that Built Britain'' is a British documentary television series directed by Lawrence Walford and produced by Form Films for the BBC. Presented by sailor and writer

Tom Cunliffe Tom Cunliffe (born 1947) is a British yachting journalist, author and broadcaster. Biography Cunliffe learnt how to sail in a 22 ft gaff sloop as a teenager on the Norfolk Broads. After studying law at university, he chose not to enter th ...

, 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 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

from 4 May 2010, before starting on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

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

Episodes

# "The Matthew" - Cunliffe sails a replica of ''

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

'', sailed by

John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...

in 1497, the first Western boat to discover America # "The Pickle" - Cunliffe sails a replica of , the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar back to Great Britain # "The Phoenix" - Cunliffe sails '' Phoenix'', a 1929 Danish built example of the archetypal '