SNOWBOW PRODUCTIONS

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Back in the good old days of ocean travel, merchant seafarers could sail to almost any part of the world of their choice, and what amazing array of fascinating, exotic destinations they had to choose from, but perhaps the most interesting, exciting and adventurous of them all awas a voyage to Brazil and the mighty Amazon. Well that's exactly what you will experience in this remarkable programme, starting your long voyage from Liverpool aboard the small Booth Line ship, the "Cuthbert".

Our voyage starts as we leave a cold, grey wintery Merseyside quayside, heading out into the Atlantic for the Caribbean Island, before heading on to the Amazon itself. Now of course, it's easy these days to just hop aboard a modern, air-conditioned cruise liner and have an everything provided cruise up the Amazon as far as Manaus, but on a working cargo ship back on those days, with no air-conditioning and just the very basic navigational aids, such a voyage was memorable indeed and, going much further up river to the small settlement of Iquitos.

The crew has to deal with tropical storms, dark, dark nights, millions of insects and unbearable heat, so it's no wonder that from time to time they found their ship parked in the jungle as they misjudged a sharp bend in the river, but all in all, the beauty, the magic and the overall experience in sailing through the greatest rain forest in the world is just something you really must watch and experience for yourselves!

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Ref: SB1038D

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We always try to give you something different with each new DVD we manage to produce and this one is no exception. This one starts with some ship launches during the heyday of our Merchant Navy and then staying in the same period, moves onto an actual build and launch of a cargo passenger ships at the Belfast Yards of Harland and Wolff

We then go to London's Royal Docks where we join Port Line's handsome "Port Auckland" for a voyage around the world, calling at a myriad of small ports on the way. How exciting to sail aboard a real ship.

Then for something different we travel forward in time to watch one of the new, huge ferries docking in Dover and then go back in time to the days of P&O/Stena Line cross channel ferry services, joining the ferries as they speed across the busiest shipping lanes in the world as seen from on deck and from the ship's bridge. It's amazing how their crossings and turnaround timing is almost to the minute, to enable them to maintain such tight schedules.

Finally and as a grand finale, we take you over to America's East Coast to join what many consider to have been one of the most handsome and perfect ocean liners, the beautiful Sagafjord as she sets sail on a Caribbean cruise, which also takes us through the Panama Canal. With all these ships we see them from top to bottom and really get to know them so well, in fact so good is the film that sometimes you feel you're actually aboard them for real. This is another DVD you will never tire of viewing.

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Ref: SB1039D

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Des Cox introduces this programme from a crowded quayside in the Mediterranean, full of modern day cruise ships, and wonders what seafarers in the past would have made of these giant ships, especially back in the 17th Century and to help illustrate this thought, with the use of more very rare film, he actually takes us on a voyage from Plymouth to America aboard the 1950s replica of the 1620s Mayflower, and what a fascinating sea-going experience this is ... And I thought I had it tough!

This alone makes the whole programme worthwhile, but there's so much more to follow, for next we're taken on a voyage aboard one of the all-time great classical ships, Swedish Clipper Line's 1920s "Stella Polaris" ... fantastic! Next we go to London's Royal Docks in the 1950s and follow a seafarer joining a Ben Line ship. He believes he's on just another regular Ben Line voyage to the Far East, but then discovers their destination is top secret! I can't reveal this destination as that would spoil everything, but I can tell you the crew got the shock of their lives when they found out, and it's all on film!

Finally we go to Vancouver in the early 1950s where we witness the arrival and sailing of what surely was one of the most handsome

ships of that era, Orient Line's magnificent "Orcades" ... For me it's the best film I've ever seen of those beautiful ships. This DVD, with such high quality and rare content is truly outstanding and one I am sure you will watch over and over again

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For our 40th episode in this epic, award winning series, we have come up with something quite special. To start with it has a running time of 75 minutes, that?s absolutely packed with some truly rare archive film, most of which has never been made public before.

In this episode we take you to the North East of England to the Tyne, a place that not so many years ago, was home to one of the biggest and busiest maritime stages in the world. Ships filled every berth of the Tyne all the way from its estuary to Newcastle and beyond. It was a scene of constant activity, with ships of every shape and size arriving from and sailing to, ports all over the world.

The rare film we have used allows you to be able to step back in time and experience this, almost as if you were there in person. But the Tyne had so many more maritime wonders to show, for it was also the home of some of the world?s biggest ship building industries that not only built ships for the UK, but also for most of the world as well.

In its day it built and launched over 4,000 ships, including some of the most innovative and famous ships ever to sail the seven seas. In this programme we include the building launch of some of them including the Mauretania and the Dominion Monarch, the magnificent Port Line ships, as well as Ellerman Lines, Shaw Savill and many more sights we never ever thought we would ever be able to see.

But, this programme also has many surprises for you in the form of great maritime stories that up until now have gone largely untold. They include the remarkable story of the old paddle tug, "Eppleton Hall". When she finally retired after over half a century of dedicated work, she was dumped unceremoniously on a mud bank and left to rust away as she waited for her turn to face the scrapyards. But then one cold, foggy day, something quite amazing happened. Along to river bank came an American ship enthusiast, looking for memories of the Tyne's heyday, when suddenly he stumbled across the remains of the poor "Eppleton Hall" and unbelievably, just fell totally in love with her.

He arranged for her to be taken to a small Sunderland yard, where he set about the almost impossible task of trying to make her seaworthy again. After several years hard work he decided she was ready, not just to go to sea, but to actually sail all the way across the Atlantic to San Francisco, a journey of some 7,000 miles and one almost everyone said would end in disaster. Well, after battling horrendous storms and all the other close-encounters a flat bottomed paddle tug could ever encounter in the open seas, after best part of a year she actually made it!

The other great story is one that will shock and stun most of the maritime world, for, I was always told that one of the reasons we lost our great ship building industries was because we no longer had the facilities and skills to be able to compete with the rest of the world and yet, we tell you how, during the making of this programme, we discovered that way back in the mid-1960s, ship builders Swan Hunter had advanced plans to construct three giant, one million ton super, super tankers, which would have, even to this day, been the biggest ships ever built. Perhaps for the first time ever, we tell this amazing story, a story that is so truthful, talks were already well advanced with oil companies interested in buying these would be giants of the sea. Who said we hadn't got the facilities and skills to compete with the rest of the world!

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Running Time: 75-mins (1hr 15min)

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Ref: SB1041D

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With the use of more very rare archive film, all unique to us, we take you back in time to the mid 20th. century to experience just what it was like to have been in these great North East Coast ports in their heyday. The carefully restored film and sounds enables us to feel as though we are actually there in the docks, surrounded by so many ships of every shape and size, and the many Dockers and shore workers that were once an everyday part of those exciting maritime places

We start in Hull and go through to the 1960s looking at all the ports in this area just to see what they were like in an age when working conditions in the docks were often far from easy and most of this rare film has never been made public before, so it really is a very special treat. For me (Des), well I just loved being taken back to those bleak yet so wonderful days, days when even someone armed with a cine camera could just wander around the docks without fear of being stopped, questioned and then thrown out. Thank goodness they could, or else we would never had been able to make this amazing programme, and all the wonderful scenes it contains would have been lost forever... What a tragedy that would have been.

There's great footage of ships both arriving and departing and being worked on in their berths. There is also beautiful old film showing the general hustle and bustle of these once very busy ports, giving us lots of tugs and coaster to enjoy as well as the larger ships.

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Running Time: 75-mins (1hr 15min)

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In this remarkable series, that as so far taken over twenty years to make, we have shown you so much of just how life used to be when the UK could boast of having the biggest shipping industry in the world. Just finding the rare film alone is a momentous task, a task that includes a global search to find film most people thought had been lost forever. Once found, the film and sounds have been professionally restored, researched and then produced into this Award Winning Series, which now consists of over 40 x 65 minute volumes, volumes that cover every aspect of shipping in the 20th Century, ranging from the once great ocean liners, to cargo liners, conventional cargo ships, tankers, bulk carriers, ferries, coasters, tugs... you name it and its almost certainly to be here.

This episode is no exception, and you know, one thing we love to try to do if humanely possible, is to recreate just what it was like to have worked or visited the nations once great ports in their heyday, when they were crammed full of ships of every type. In this programme we take you to the once great ports of South Wales including Newport, Cardiff and Swansea... It is just so good, and the variety of ships and great maritime scenes the rare film shows is, well, it really is special.

This is followed by another very special treat. We have actually managed to restore film of an operational voyage aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's magnificent ship the Sir Lancelot. She lost her sister the Sir Galahad in the Falklands war, so this makes this film even more special. We board the ship at her Solent base and then sail with her on a voyage to Malta, Suez, Aden, and Africa, and as we go, so we are privy to her tasks and life at sea with the RFA... Such film is very rare, for RFA operations were mostly of a secret nature and cine cameras were now allowed, so for me personally, it was absolutely fascinating and something I never thought I would ever be able to experience.

Then, as if all this wasn't enough for a great DVD on its own, we take you over to the East Coast of America, to join the Cunard cruise ship the Cunard Princess. It has taken twenty years to find this film, but as is always the case with such film, the end result makes all the work we do, so worthwhile.

As we set sail on a Caribbean cruise, we are greeted on board by her Captain, who together with other senior officers give us a complete tour of the ship from top to bottom. For those of us not fortunate enough to have sailed aboard her, we get to discover what a beautiful and special ship she was, and to end the cruise, we do a complete transit of the Panama Canal, which is and probably will always be, the highlight of any cruise.

And... And there?s more, for at end of the programme we bring happiness to all those people who love cargo ships and, especially those that just love stormy weather, for more rare film takes us on a Houlder Bros bulk carrier as she battles her way across a very stormy Bay of Biscay... What a way to end.

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Running Time: 65-mins (1hr 5min)

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Ref: SB1043D

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All the rare film in this production has never made public before, and the end result is 75 mins of sheer maritime magic starting with a wonderful 11 mile cruise down the Thames in the early 1960s, from Tower Pier to Margate, via all the docks en-route and the hundreds of ships of all sizes to be seen.

Next we join B.I's beautiful Uganda as she sails from Malta on a Mediterranean cruise in the mid-1950s. How different things were back then with no crowds or queues and such a stress-free way to enjoy being at sea, so far removed from the hustle and bustle of modem day cruising.

We are so fortunate to be able to show you these rare films and next comes the magnificent Queen Mary and Elizabeth, starting with the QE's first commercial sailing to New York in 1946. We also look back at their wartime service including extra rare film of the QE's secret sailing from the Clyde to NY, taking with her surprised John Brown workers who had been told they were going to Southampton for final fitting-out.

Then we go to the "Queen Mary's" final departure from NY and arrival in Southampton. The footage of her is the best we have ever seen, as she arrives to an ecstatic reception. Then for the first time we can show you wonderful footage of the "Queen Elizabeth's" penultimate sailing, and then the maiden departure to NY of the "QE2".

Finally we sail all around South America, via the Panama Canal on GracelDelta Line 1950s and 80s cargo liners. So exciting to be on working cargo passenger ships, especially the amazing experience of transiting the Straits of Magellan. A truly great DVD and one your will watch over and over again!

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We doubt we will ever find more rare film of London Docks in their glorious heyday, when it was the biggest and busiest port in the world, but if we were to find enough to produce 100 programmes, each would be so interesting and different, as is the case with this amazing production. There are so many ships of every shape and size to watch as they play their part in the ports staggering 66,000 ship movements a year, and when you watch it, well one things for sure, you'll never recognise the Thames as it is today.

For instead of all those high rise luxury apartment blocks, expensive restaurants, hotels and high fiance offices of today, are so many working docks such as St Katherine's, Surrey, East India, Canada, Canary Wharf, the Royal Docks, Tilbury & many more, all crammed full of ships, with each one being so special, with not only its own name and individually sounding whistle, but also its own shape and identity, and whether they be ocean liners, cargo liners, conventional cargo ships, bulk carries, ferries, tankers, coaster or tugs, they all look absolutely wonderful in all this carefully restored film.

We will never be able to see sights like this ever again, but after 23 years of work to find and restore this film, at least we can now by playing this DVD, turn the clock back and see for ourselves just what it was like to have visited the great Port of London in its unrivalled heyday. You will never tire of watching what is one huge treat for every ship lover, be you an ex-seafarer or a ship enthusiast so come on, treat yourself and enjoy this 60 minute maritime extravaganza, it's so better than almost anything that comes on modem day TV!

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Written by: Des Cox
First published on DVD: 2018
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Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 70-mins (1hr 10min)

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Ref: SB1045D

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One of the most requested subjects for us to cover in our Award Winning Great Liners video series is the Panama Canal. To do this properly would involve finding rare archive film of its actual construction, the earliest ships transiting it and ships through the ages right up to modern day.

After two years of work, we have managed to do this and the end result is the story of the Panama Canal as never seen before.

We take you through the Canal as it is today whilst going back in time to see ships of all shapes and sizes using it through the ages including the earliest such as Cunard's famouse Maurentania 1 and White Star's "Georgic". we even take you down into the locks themselves to show you how they work and just what it's like to to stand down there as the great ships, almost within touching distance, negotiate their way right before your eyes... over 70mins of total maritime magic and something you will watch over and over again.

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People often ask me which of the ships I (Des) sailed on was my favourire. Well, I loved tflem all, but if I had to choose the I think it would have to be one of the bealltiful little cargo liners I was so fortunate enough to have enjoyed,

Film of grear liners of the 20th.century such as Queen Mary is incredibly rare and film of cargo ships of that period is rarer still, so that's why this episode is so special, for it not only shows you so many cargo ships, it also takes you with them on their voyages around the world; voyages that take you to both great ports and ones that hardly existed at all. To New York, Sydney, Rio, San Francisco, Montreal or perhaps a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific or Indian oceans. Yes, when you sailed on a cargo ship you seldom knew how long you would be at sea or where you might be sailing to.. absolute magic and this episode shows it all on rare archive film.

It also shows you how ports such as Liverpool were operated back in those pre-computer days, when all of the cargo, customs, dockside workers, tugs, ships, crews and so much more were all operated using just pen and paper.. unbelievable these days. We also show how large shipping companies such as the famous Ben Line operated globally in much the same way!

Even tor me, (Des), to watch such film of cargo ships brings back many wonderful memories of days when dreamily sailing through the magic of a South Seas starry sky at night, or through warm blue seas watching flying fish and dolphins play or through mountainous seas in horrendous storms. As a 16 year old boy, how I enjou=yed the wonder of sleeping out n desk on top of the hatch covers at night with just the rhythmic throbbing of the ship's great Doxford engines and the gentle swaying of her mast as its navigation light seemed to dance with the stars above. Yes those were fantastic days and a life far removed from the mad hustle and bustle of today's crowded, samely cruise ships.

For seafarers, those years were the best years of their lives. And if you have never been to sea or never sailed on a cargo ship you will so enjoy this magical, maritime experience.

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Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 65-mins (1hr 5min)

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