How Britain Worked

Episode 5: Brixham Sailing Trawler

November 18, 2012 • 45 min

Guy helps restore the oldest surviving Brixham sailing trawler, the boat that launched the modern fishing industry and transformed the way a nation ate. Guy learns how the trawler's radical design saw off the competition, tries his hand at the precision joinery that made that design possible, tests his own version of an Industrial Revolution life jacket by jumping into the sea, and makes rope using the original machines that wove the ropes for Nelson's HMS Victory. He experiences deep sea trawling - said to be the most dangerous job of the 19th century - for himself, and discovers how Britain acquired its taste for fish and chips.