0:00:02 > 0:00:06Britain is an island, surrounded by a cold and unforgiving sea.
0:00:06 > 0:00:11For centuries it protected us from attack.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13But to prosper and thrive
0:00:13 > 0:00:17we would need to do more than hide behind her salt-water shield.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Britain needed brave men, willing to venture out into the unknown.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24And she needed good boats to take them there.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29I've spent my life at sea.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Now I'm going to take passage on six boats that, together, tell the story of modern Britain.
0:00:34 > 0:00:42Built for exploration, war, fishing, industry and our very survival,
0:00:42 > 0:00:47these are the boats that built Britain and changed the way we live forever.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55Now I'm sailing on the Matthew - the ship that discovered North America and launched Britain on a
0:00:55 > 0:01:01maritime adventure, the like of which the world had never seen.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20I've come to Bristol
0:01:20 > 0:01:22to see this remarkable boat.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Over 500 years ago,
0:01:26 > 0:01:2918 men crammed in here with explorer and map maker John Cabot
0:01:29 > 0:01:35to set sail on a voyage that many of the onlookers must have thought was suicidal.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41The year was 1497.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Only five years earlier, Columbus had discovered the islands of the Caribbean.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48But his friend John Cabot was convinced he could find
0:01:48 > 0:01:53an alternative route to the East and make a fortune of his own.
0:01:53 > 0:02:00Instead, Cabot discovered North America and changed the course of British and world history forever.
0:02:03 > 0:02:11This is an exact replica of the Matthew, the craft he chose for their seemingly impossible mission.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17A common cargo ship, she was more used to coastal trading than crossing oceans.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25Only 78 feet long, she feels a tiny vessel for such a momentous journey into the unknown.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33But what she lacked in space and sophistication,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38she more than made up for in strength and reliability.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43And in 1497 she was the best boat for the job.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46So, crowded in and with no real idea of where they were going
0:02:46 > 0:02:48or how long they would be at sea,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Cabot and his crew of 18 men pushed off into the abyss.
0:02:56 > 0:03:02I want to know more about this boat that changed the world and sail her for myself.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07In particular, I want to see the world as a 15th century sailor would have understood it.
0:03:07 > 0:03:14I want to get inside their heads and find out exactly what they thought they were doing.
0:03:14 > 0:03:20And what it must have been like to sail beyond the limits of the known world in this tiny little ship.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31But to understand the Matthew and her voyage
0:03:31 > 0:03:33we need to go back another 200 years,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37to when Marco Polo made a momentous overland trip into Asia.
0:03:37 > 0:03:43His book, The Marvels Of The World, talks of roofs tiled with gold,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48chests filled with pearls and spices by the sack load.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56As Europe emerged from the uncertainties of the medieval period, curiosity about the world
0:03:56 > 0:04:02grew and John Cabot was given a copy of the book by none other than explorer Christopher Columbus.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06And Polo's tales of Eastern riches convinced him
0:04:06 > 0:04:10that he too could make his fortune and secure a name for himself.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16But the problem was getting there.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Hard-line Ottomans controlled the trade routes and, for a Christian
0:04:20 > 0:04:27explorer, a journey over land was more likely to end in a nasty death than untold riches.
0:04:27 > 0:04:34If Cabot was to make his fortune, he needed to find another way - across the sea.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40BELLS CHIME
0:04:44 > 0:04:50In the 15th century, understanding of the world's oceans was extremely limited
0:04:50 > 0:04:53and map making was the preserve of the monasteries.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59The resulting world-view, more superstition than science,
0:04:59 > 0:05:05can be seen in all its glorious confusion here at Hereford Cathedral
0:05:05 > 0:05:07on the famous mappa mundi.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12The map bears almost no relationship to the round world we now know,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15but is based on myths and legend.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20Drawn up by monks, it only shows how they imagined distant lands,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24with no proper understanding of where they really were.
0:05:24 > 0:05:31And for many people the belief was that beyond the edge of a map like this lay untold horrors.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33But I, for one, believe that medieval
0:05:33 > 0:05:37seamen had a much more sophisticated sense of the shape of our world.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43As children, we were all shown images of medieval seamen sailing
0:05:43 > 0:05:49over the edge of a flat earth and plunging down to destruction with expressions of despair.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Well, you know,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55from the medieval seaman's point of view that was a load of absolute tosh.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56They never thought that at all.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59You see, they knew the world was round.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04When you see a ship coming up over the horizon, the first thing you see are the top sails.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06And, as she comes closer, the hull comes up.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10First she's hull down, then she's hull up.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14That's the old phrase, and it's nothing to do with her being too far away to see,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18it's to do with her coming up over the edge of the world. They knew that full well.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22They also knew when they looked at the horizon, they could see a
0:06:22 > 0:06:25tiny little bit of curvature on it. It all stacked up.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30For explorers to succeed, they needed maps based on
0:06:30 > 0:06:35sound science that backed up the observations of sailor men.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40And towards the end of the 15th century just such maps were appearing.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Hungry for knowledge, scholars were scouring library
0:06:43 > 0:06:50shelves and discovering that the Greeks and Romans had known a lot more about the world than they did.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54But for explorers, one work stood out.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59Ptolemy, the great Roman mathematician, had already mapped much of Europe and Asia.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04And when his maps were printed for the first time in 1477,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07they caused a sensation.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The maps showed the extent of the known world,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14a world that started in Spain and ended in China.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18For anyone wanting to find a short cut to the riches of the East,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20the maps offered a tantalizing idea -
0:07:20 > 0:07:25an idea that would change the world forever.
0:07:25 > 0:07:26Here's a flat world map.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30If you're going to put it on a piece of paper, it's the only way you can do it, really.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33But if you're a sailor and a world traveller,
0:07:33 > 0:07:38or perhaps a scholar who understands that the world is round,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40all you've got to do
0:07:40 > 0:07:42is that.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44And suddenly
0:07:44 > 0:07:46you can go the other way.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48There's another route altogether.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53And it goes across this unknown ocean which, as yet,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56nobody has mapped or even sailed across.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01The idea was brilliantly simple.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07If Cabot was right, he'd have found a shortcut to the treasures of the East.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09But it was a huge gamble.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12And to prove his point he'd need to find a wealthy backer
0:08:12 > 0:08:16willing to pay for the boat and men required for the voyage.
0:08:22 > 0:08:28So, Cabot arrived here in Bristol to try and bring his plan to life.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34And I've come here to meet Dr Evan Jones, who has spent years studying Cabot's voyage.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39I want to ask him more about the man behind this historic journey.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44Well, Cabot - proper name Zuan Caboto - was a Venetian merchant.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46But by 1489 he'd got into trouble.
0:08:46 > 0:08:52And he left Venice as an insolvent debtor, then to be pursued by his creditors in Spain.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57He goes to Valencia and he, first of all, proposes he's going to build a new harbour there.
0:08:57 > 0:09:03But he doesn't get funding for that, so he moves on, with his creditors just behind him, moves on to Seville.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06There he proposes the building of a bridge across the Guadalquivir.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09But the whole thing falls through, and it seems to be only after that,
0:09:09 > 0:09:15around about 1494-1495, he starts to a get a new idea.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19What he's going to do is lead an expedition across the Atlantic.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22So, first of all, he tries to persuade people in Seville to fund it. Doesn't get any joy.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26He moves on to Lisbon, tries to persuade the Portuguese to fund him.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Again, no success.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32It's only after that, in 1495, that he comes to London
0:09:32 > 0:09:36and tries to backing there from Henry VII and his court.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Turned down all over Europe,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42Cabot had finally found a willing patron in Henry VII,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46a monarch desperate to play colonial catch-up with Spain and Portugal.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50He immediately issued Cabot with a charter
0:09:50 > 0:09:54giving him the power to claim whatever land he found as British.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58"To find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01"regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in
0:10:01 > 0:10:07"whatsoever part of the world placed which, before this time, were unknown to all Christians."
0:10:09 > 0:10:11That's pretty non-PC these days.
0:10:11 > 0:10:17- What's it mean?- It means that wherever Cabot went with his ship, so long as the territories
0:10:17 > 0:10:20hadn't been found by Christians, which in practice meant the Spanish
0:10:20 > 0:10:24or Portuguese, anything which is non-Christian, that's fair game.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27These are heathens, you can do what you want.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Cabot had his theory.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33He had a royal backer.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37What he needed now was a boat.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41When Cabot walked the Bristol waterfront
0:10:41 > 0:10:46with the King's charter in one hand and the King's shilling in the other, he was looking for a ship.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51A ship capable of a voyage of indeterminate length
0:10:51 > 0:10:54through some of the roughest seas in the known world.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59When he saw the Matthew, he knew he'd found her.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03As an Italian, Cabot would have recognised the Matthew's lines immediately.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08She was a caravel, a type of cargo ship popular in Southern Europe and Portugal.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13But, as well as carrying cargo, the caravel was also starting to
0:11:13 > 0:11:18make a name for herself in the world of exploration.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Two of the three boats Columbus sailed to the Caribbean
0:11:21 > 0:11:23five years earlier were caravels.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26And by the standards of the 15th century, they were considered
0:11:26 > 0:11:32excellent sailing vessels - tough, versatile and seaworthy.
0:11:32 > 0:11:38But judged by today's thinking, the Matthew leaves a lot to be desired.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44Looking around with a seaman's eye, I can see that this vessel has serious limitations.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48For a start, she's not going to be able to sail properly to windward, in our terms.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52That means she'll go across the wind, either way, and downwind.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56And if the wind's coming from where you want to go, tough luck, mate. You'll have to wait.
0:11:56 > 0:12:02And for her crew, 18 men assembled from the dockside, a ragtag mixture
0:12:02 > 0:12:10of able seamen, fortune hunters, a priest and a cook, it was going to be an uncomfortable ride because
0:12:10 > 0:12:16she's built like a barrel, with a gently rounded hull designed to take the ground in rivers and harbours.
0:12:16 > 0:12:23At sea, though, that means she'll roll from side to side, a sickly motion in any sort of swell.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28But she gives a feeling of being strong and reliable.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Even the rig feels pretty bullet proof, actually.
0:12:32 > 0:12:39And for the guys going off across the Western Ocean, that was probably the most important single thing.
0:12:39 > 0:12:45When the crew stepped onto this boat, they may not all have been convinced by Cabot's theories.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48But the boat certainly looked up to the job.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56So, Cabot's got his charter, he's got his money and he's got his men.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01And now we're going to go to sea on the Matthew and find out what it really felt like out there.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Seeing her out on the water for the first time,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10it's obvious that she's definitely not built for speed.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14But she feels like an honest boat.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16And she was all Cabot had.
0:13:16 > 0:13:23And, for better or worse, from now on his fate and the Matthew's would be inextricably linked.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33So, in May 1497, Cabot and his men pushed off into the unknown.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37And, with good weather ahead of them, the crew hoisted sail
0:13:37 > 0:13:40in the hope of catching a fair wind westward.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Up here now the guys are preparing the foresail for hoisting.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Now, there's something very interesting about this.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53It's taking half a dozen guys to hoist what is quite a small sail.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55It probably was always like that.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58This is a labour-intensive rig and there were plenty of men available.
0:13:58 > 0:14:04But the second thing which is really interesting is that the sail is being hoisted from the deck.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Modern square riggers tend to keep their yards permanently aloft.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12But on the Matthew the yards are stowed on deck.
0:14:12 > 0:14:18The sails are prepared down there, then the whole shooting match is hoisted up the mast.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21OK. Two, six. Heave! Heave!
0:14:21 > 0:14:23It's tough, heavy work.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26But with a new crew keen to get going
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and put on a good show for their captain,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32there'd have been no shortage of willing hands motivated
0:14:32 > 0:14:35to wring every knot of speed from their boat.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Phew, a bit of a cardiac job, that.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Still, there she is. Up and drawing.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Skipper's up there on the poop asking for another foot when we were all thought we'd done.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Then we're there, then he asks for another.
0:14:49 > 0:14:50They're all like that, skippers.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Once the sails were set,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59the Matthew would be hoping for strong easterly winds.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Because of her rig, her progress is limited to sailing with the breeze.
0:15:03 > 0:15:11If the weather was coming from the wrong direction, the crew would be struggling to make any headway.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Even more frustrating would be no wind at all.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19That's how the sea deals with you very often.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Looking up aloft at these sails slashing against the mast, how many
0:15:22 > 0:15:27times have I sat in mid-ocean looking at that, just praying for God to send me some wind?
0:15:27 > 0:15:29It absolutely drives you nuts.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34Everything's crashing and banging about because there are always waves slopping around that are left over
0:15:34 > 0:15:36from the last bit of breeze that you had.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40The sea is never quiet. The sails are banging, the ropes are chafing,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42you can't get a moment's sleep.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Plus you're going nowhere.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48And actually, if you're trying to get Newfoundland or Nova Scotia across the North
0:15:48 > 0:15:53Atlantic, you're going backwards at 20 miles a day because that's where the current's taking you.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57So that is the sort of frustration and sheer agony
0:15:57 > 0:16:01that Cabot must have gone through when his ship was short of breeze.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06That agony would have been felt throughout the crew.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11And, to make matters worse, compared to today's comfort on
0:16:11 > 0:16:16the high seas, living conditions would have been pretty gruesome.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20And Rob Salvage, who looks after this perfect replica of the Matthew,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24has a good idea of what life on board was like.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Sort of very pleasant mess deck, isn't it? Nice atmosphere.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30It is and we have these canvas cots where we sleep now.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Very basic, but actually it wouldn't have been like this.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36This would have been chock full of stores and provisions.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40There would have been barrels, lots of sacks of grain, some root vegetables -
0:16:40 > 0:16:42they would have brought everything they needed for the voyage.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45And certainly the foodstuff would have all been down here.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47They really didn't live down here at all.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50No, I don't think so. They would have lived mostly on deck.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55They would have been working hard. They would have been up on deck many hours at a time, getting exhausted.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00Once they got on this ship and once they were up and running, and once they got into the routine of
0:17:00 > 0:17:05battening things down, going through some heavy weather, drying out, getting things sorted out, mending...
0:17:05 > 0:17:10You know, that routine of daily life on board would have been all that they would have thought about.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17Working in shifts night and day, the men would need proper rest.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20But with the only real cabin of the ship taken by Cabot,
0:17:20 > 0:17:22the ship's master and a priest,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25the sleeping arrangements would have been far from comfortable.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29And not only that, the crew would be bedding down with the livestock.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32Come on, girl.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Well, as you can see, there's enough space for me up here.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39I could put a palliasse down here and doss down, I suppose, on the lee side on a quiet night.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42But if I had ten or a dozen ship mates, it would be
0:17:42 > 0:17:46no joke at all. But that's how it was.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51You can't imagine, really, how these chaps managed to survive with this.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56There was absolutely no comfort at all, let alone luxury.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00And if the sleeping quarters were this rough,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03I wasn't holding out too much hope for the food.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13Bill Jones, the Matthew's chef, has researched the food they would have taken on the voyage.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19He's preparing me a dish that's typical of what they'd have tucked in to 500 years ago.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20What's cooking, Bill?
0:18:20 > 0:18:24- Well, we're cooking a bit of gruel. A bit of medieval gruel.- Gruel?
0:18:24 > 0:18:27- That'll be nice, won't it? - I don't know, I don't like the sound of that. What's in it?
0:18:27 > 0:18:33Made from oat grains called groats, the ships cook would have added salted meats and anything else he
0:18:33 > 0:18:38had to hand, stirring the whole lot into a sort of savoury mush.
0:18:38 > 0:18:39And then we'll pour that in.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42- Water and all?- Water and all.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45They needed ingredients that would keep for months.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48And, in those days, there wasn't much around.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Well, of course they hadn't discovered a lot of ingredients we use. They didn't have potatoes.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55No potatoes, of course.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59They didn't have tomatoes, they didn't have chillies, capsicums, things like that.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03But they did have spices, because they'd got them from the Middle East.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08We can use things like cloves, pepper they used a lot of.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Anything to help disguise the taste of the bland ingredients.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20They liked sweet stuff as well as savoury, so a lot of honey was used in the cooking.
0:19:21 > 0:19:27Today The Matthew is fitted with a modern galley, complete with gas and running water.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32But back in 1497, cooking facilities would have been far more basic.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37They would have cooked everything on deck and they would have had an open
0:19:37 > 0:19:40fire in what was called a firebox, which was a metal box that they had the fire in.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44So it would be on the open deck, they'd perhaps have some sort of cover if it was bad weather.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Everything would be done topside.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50The proof is in the porridge, you might say.
0:19:50 > 0:19:57I've eaten some dire concoctions on long voyages before, so I wonder how I'll fare this time?
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Well, its lunch time and despite Bill's assurances,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03none of the hands up there seem to be up for having the real thing.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Here goes.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14I've never had anything quite like that in my life.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18In texture it's a cross between a risotto and porridge.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22But in taste, tastes great, not too salty.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I reckon if the lads ate this,
0:20:26 > 0:20:31all the way across the Atlantic, they would arrive well fed...happy
0:20:31 > 0:20:36and as long as the cook kept his duties going, morale would have been sky high.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47And keeping morale up would have been crucial on a small boat like the Matthew...
0:20:47 > 0:20:53when the monotony and uncertainty could drive even a seasoned sailor round the bend.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01With all the preparation in the world
0:21:01 > 0:21:05they really were playing a waiting game.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12Day after day it would be the same old horizon.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15An unchanged sea,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17a familiar cloud pattern
0:21:17 > 0:21:21and the constant motion of this lumbering boat.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27These guys must have just sat in mid ocean rolling about like this.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33My first lesson in 15th century seamanship is definitely patience
0:21:33 > 0:21:36and I'm slowly beginning to understand how this ship sails.
0:21:41 > 0:21:48So here we are, the guys wrestling to get the last tiny little fraction of a knot out of the vessel.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52As they're taking an inch or two on the sheet here,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55slacking away on a brace, doing their level best to see what
0:21:55 > 0:22:00they can get out of the boat and actually what they're getting is about a knot and a half.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03OK, a knot and a half. What's that? A mile and a half an hour?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05You see in landsman's terms that's nothing.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12But look at it like this,
0:22:12 > 0:22:18a day at sea, is 24 hours and a knot and a half in 24 hours is 36 miles.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24And that's how The Matthew crossed the Atlantic.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27On a bad day she'd do 36 miles.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30On a good day 100 plus.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36And inch by inch, mile by mile, she clawed her way across an unknown ocean.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43When I'm sailing an ocean myself I always like to show the crew
0:22:43 > 0:22:45our progress on the chart to keep morale up.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50But The Matthew didn't have a chart because no-one knew where they were going!
0:22:50 > 0:22:55So just how did Cabot and his crew record the Matthew's progress?
0:22:55 > 0:23:00This is a traverse board, this is a method for recording
0:23:00 > 0:23:03the distances they were running and the courses they were steering.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06So every half hour they would be putting a peg
0:23:06 > 0:23:12in one of the concentric rings on the boards for direction and they would be putting a peg in the
0:23:12 > 0:23:14board down here for speed.
0:23:14 > 0:23:20There's eight rows of holes for the potential for one to eight-ish knots.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Many of the guys on the ship wouldn't have been able to read and write,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26except for guys like Cabot, maybe a mate, maybe a priest.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28Educated people.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32So the rest of the watches, the rest of the crew would be recording
0:23:32 > 0:23:36that critical information of course and speed with this board.
0:23:39 > 0:23:45As the Matthew sailed west, the mood must have grown more tense by the day.
0:23:45 > 0:23:4918 tough Bristol seamen and one increasingly
0:23:49 > 0:23:53nervous Italian, who'd sold them his wild theory about land to the west.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56But then, someone would have given the shout that
0:23:56 > 0:24:02got Cabot off the hook and makes every navigator's heart soar...
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Land ahoy!
0:24:08 > 0:24:13Landfall after an ocean passage in a small sailing boat
0:24:13 > 0:24:16is an absolutely magical experience.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18You're a long time out there.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21It might be two weeks, but it could easily be five or six,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25sometimes more for guys like Cabot.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30They weren't ever sure where they were going to get to until they arrived and finally
0:24:30 > 0:24:36he sees a coast like that and he thinks to himself, "Have I made it?"
0:24:36 > 0:24:40"Is this it? Is this where I make my name?"
0:24:40 > 0:24:46He wasn't to know, but what he did know was that the wind was perhaps dying on him like this.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49It so often does at the end of the day, close to land.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54He could settle down and let the boat drift, let her roll,
0:24:54 > 0:25:00be at piece knowing that at least for now he's arrived somewhere new.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09After 2,000 miles and a month at sea, The Matthew arrived at what we now
0:25:09 > 0:25:12know was somewhere in Eastern Canada.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16They then sailed along the coast only to find an endless wilderness
0:25:16 > 0:25:20that stretched out for miles in either direction.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22They ventured ashore just once,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25but there was no sign of the native Americans,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29whose lives would ultimately be so disastrously affected
0:25:29 > 0:25:30by the discovery.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Cabot decided to call it New Found Land -
0:25:34 > 0:25:37A name which still stands today.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38And with supplies running out
0:25:38 > 0:25:42he wanted to make sure he could still make it back to Britain
0:25:42 > 0:25:45with the triumphant news that he'd discovered a new continent.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52So after just three days the order was given to bring the ship around.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57This boat, The Matthew, had bravely brought them all this way and now
0:25:57 > 0:26:03they were ready to return home, having claimed what would become North America for Britain.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07As Columbus had claimed the Caribbean for Spain.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16By the time Cabot and his crew got back to Bristol,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19I wonder just what their mood would have been?
0:26:20 > 0:26:22They'd discovered the country that
0:26:22 > 0:26:27would one day be Britain's most influential colony.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32But they weren't exactly weighed down with the spices, gold and silver that Cabot had promised.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Well, I've been for a sail on The Matthew.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41I've stepped of her and I can have some inkling now of what it
0:26:41 > 0:26:44must have been to have crossed the Atlantic on her.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47But he didn't come home laden with the pearls of the Orient, did he?
0:26:47 > 0:26:52I wonder if by the standards of his day the voyage was considered a bit of a damp squib?
0:26:52 > 0:26:57Well, yeah, as you say, they were looking for China, they came back and all they found was North America.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59I mean, what use was that?
0:27:00 > 0:27:05So he didn't make any money at the time but by the end of the 16th century, the British Empire was being
0:27:05 > 0:27:11founded and the voyages began to be recognised as England's first attempt to establish a maritime empire.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Later on, 16th century, 17th century, people became very interested in
0:27:15 > 0:27:21these voyages as an example of that and today we are standing here by Cabot Tower.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24This was built in 1897, just one of the monuments built
0:27:24 > 0:27:28to celebrate what was seen by that time as a great imperial achievement.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Looking out over the harbour from which the Matthew set sail,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37today Cabot tower is only one of the landmarks
0:27:37 > 0:27:41commemorating Bristol's favourite adopted son.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47But what happened to Cabot?
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Having found land he wanted to learn more about this great continent to
0:27:53 > 0:27:58the west and set out on another, far bigger expedition.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01This time he was never heard of again.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07But his discovery was the beginning of a new era.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09And it was The Matthew that took him there.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15This boat opened the door to an unknown continent.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Her voyage showed Britain a world beyond her shores
0:28:19 > 0:28:23and started a thirst for knowledge and exploration
0:28:23 > 0:28:27that would change this island nation and the people that live here forever.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:52 > 0:28:54E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk