From ancient ships to modern carriers, THE GREAT SHIPS lets you step on board to explore the design, construction, technology and armaments of history's great vessels of war and peace.

Documentary about shipbuilding on the Clyde. In 1960, Glasgow and other towns and ports on the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland, were still one of the world's great centres of shipbuilding. The film gives an idea of the business of building a ship - the largest moving thing made by man - from the naval architects who design her to the workmen, the shipbuilders in the yard, through to a ship's launching.

Take a step back in history and relive the terror of spotting a skull-and-crossbones flag with this fascinating look at the treacherous pirate ships that haunted the high seas in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Sneaky, speedy and deathly dangerous, these vessels ruined the careers and lives of many law-abiding sailors. The renegades who manned them lived outside the law, thriving on the adventure and rebellion of the pirate lifestyle.

Documentary detailing the search for the wreck of the steam vessel L.R. Doty in Lake Michigan and the subsequent search for the Lake Superior wreckage of the schooner Olive Jeanette, tied together through the story of the ship's cook, Frankie Waters.

For decades, countless ships have been lost to the Great Lakes. Thanks to modern technology, their stories are finally being dragged from the depths.