History of sea travel [audio 30min]

Journalist John McCarthy gets on board the SS Great Britain, the world’s first steam-powered, propeller-driven ship, now restored as a museum in Bristol, England. It is the winner of numerous awards, and Bristol's Dockyard Museum charts the history of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's masterpiece. To hear how this first-ever luxury ocean liner transformed the way people travelled as its speed enabled the development of tourism by sea, McCarthy is joined by Matthew Tanner, Nancy Chambers and Captain Chris Young from the SS Great Britain Trust; cruise ship captain Alistair McLundie; Martyn Heighton, head of the UK government's office for national historic ships; and Alec Lewis, director of fundraising for the Waverley Steam Navigation Company. McCarthy discovers that, although modern passenger sea travel is flourishing, it is almost entirely in the leisure market, whether for cruises or day trips.