SNOWBOW PRODUCTIONS

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From the archives of the two great shipping lines - The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. and the Orient Line - comes this unique record of their most famous eight great liners sailing around the world between the 1940's & 1970's: Orcades, Orsova, Oronsay, Oriana, Chusan, Himalaya, Arcadie, & Canberra.

We see just what it was like to have been a passenger or crew member aboard those majestic liners as they sailed from Tilbury and Southampton to the Far East via Suez, to Australia and New Zealand, across the Pacific Ocean to the USA and Alaska before navigating the Panama Canal and the Atlantic Ocean during the heyday of shipping in a style and pace that sadly will never return.

This is a treasury for those who served and sailed on the Great Liners.

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Running Time: 55-mins (0h 55min)

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Ref: SB1002D

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To make this video possible many ex-personnel from Union Castle have helped producer, Des Cox, access this rare archive material. It has been carefully renovated and restored where possible to almost original condition.

Every Thursday at exactly 1600 hrs, one of the great Union-Castle liners would sail from Southampton on the mail-run to Capetown. Now once again from the 1940s to the 1970s we can step aboard and sail on such beautiful lavender hulled liners such as Edinburgh Castle, Pendennis Castle, Windsor Castle, Transvaal Castle and Reina del Mar, with passing shots of the Pretoria Castle and many more as they make their way back and forth from Europe to South Africa and the Cape.

The volume also includes film of the ships being built and launched as well as spectacular passing sea shots of other ships in the fleet (a speciality of Union Castle) and the very emotional final sailing of Windsor Castle from Capetown.

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Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min)

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It's a difficult enough task trying to find rare archive film of what were the world's most celebrated passenger liners, but to find film of of the thousands of smaller, beautiful cargo liners is almost impossible!

In this episode we actually manage to sail around the world aboard ships of The New Zealand and Federal Steam Ship Company, sailing from London and Liverpool in the 1950's for Australia and New Zealand via Suez. As we cross the oceans so we pass many familiar ships all flying the Red Ensign. How exciting to be aboard real working ships - on the bridge - down the engine room - painting the decks - in the galleys, and to visit those small ports all around the New Zealand coast to discharge and load cargo.

Then homeward bound via Pitcairn Island, Panama and Curacao and out into the most exciting Atlantic storms ever to have been captured on film. After being away from home for over six months, there is a severe attack of the "Channels" as the Liverpool Pilot boards to take them safely into the Mersey and up the very busy Manchester Ship Canal.

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Running Time: 57-mins (0hr 57min)

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Ref: SB1004D

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When Cunard and White Star lines merged in the mid 1930's they formed one of the greatest shipping companies in maritime history. The amazing archive film in this DVD enables us to see and sail aboard some of the ships that made the company a household name, ships that were legends in their time, their every sailing and arrival in such ports as Southampton, Liverpool, London, New York, Cherbourg and Montreal etc., being almost a national event: Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Caronia, Franconia, Carmania, Mauretania, Aquitania, and many more from the 1930s to the more recent QE2.

Experience the excitement of boarding the Cunard boat­train at Waterloo station in the late 1940s, journeying down to Southampton to join the glorious Queen Elizabeth on another thrilling voyage to New York. We show the ship from top to bottom in full colour and sample the unrivalled opulence these great liners offered their very special passengers. In mid-Atlantic she passes her sister the Queen Mary and nothing can quite equal the breathtaking site of the two great Queens passing each other at a combined speed in excess of 70mph, sounding their sirens in an unrivalled nautical salute.

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Between the 1930?s and 1970?s ports were so full of life - of barges and tugs, trains and cranes, dockers and ships of every shape and size.

In this special 70 minute episode we pay tribute to two more of the world's most famous shipping companies - Shaw Savill and Royal Mail. We join Royal Mail's famous old Highland boats as they journey up the Thames to London's Royal Docks after voyaging to South America, sail from Southampton on the handsome Andes in the early 1940s as she departs for South America and later, on a Caribbean cruise. The Amazon was one of the last great liners to have sailed with Royal Mail. We join her on her maiden voyage to South America and experience the tremendous reception she was given there.

Shaw Savill had a reputation for being at the forefront of ship building design, in this episode we visit some of the UK's most famous shipyards and witness the construction and launching of the Dominion Monarch, Southern Cross and Northern Star. We join them whilst being fitted-out and on their sea-trials before sailing with them on their voyages around the world. We also join the Gothic on her Royal Tour of 1953 and sail from Wellington aboard her sister ship the Ceramic.

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First published on DVD: 1994 in VHS, 2003 on DVD
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
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Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

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

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In this episode we take a look at the ships and people of the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. This London-based Company retained an enormous network of passenger and cargo ships serving even the smallest ports east of Suez. British India was always the quiet member of the shipping world, shunning the spotlight so eagerly sought by the more glamorous, high profile Atlantic liners, but she was a very special company and millions of people all over the world fondly remember her classic ships, special service and often obscure ports which she so faithfully served.

In this episode, with the use of very rare film, we take you right back to the early 1920s to sail from London's Royal Docks aboard the old SS Maida on a long voyage east. We also sail aboard the Dunera, Rajula, Chantala, Nevasa, Kenya, Uganda as well as seeing the construction, launching and sea-trials of the Waroonga.

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Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min)

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A look at two of the world's greatest shipping companies - Ellerman Lines & Union Castle.

We sail aboard some of the ships that once serviced Union-Castle's intermediate services out of London: "Kenya Castle" - "Rhodesia Castle" and the "Braemar Castle", on their fascinating voyages through Suez and all around Africa. As well as seeing all the old ports just as they used to be, this episode also contains spectacular passing sea shots as other great Union-Castle liners steam past breathtakingly close, sounding their sirens to the great excitement of all aboard.

We also take a look at one of the Union-Castle's greatest rivals, Ellerman Lines, and sail aboard two of their most majestic liners, the "City of Durban" and the "City of Port Elizabeth" as well as aboard some of their handsome cargo ships on voyages around the world.

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Running Time: 58-mins (0h 58min)

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There is hardly a family in or around the Mersey that wasn't involved with shipping in one way or another in the past

Here we recreating those halcyon days from the early 1900s to the 1960s when Merseyside was one of the busiest and most vibrant centres of shipping in the world. There are the ships of Cunard - White Star- Canadian Pacific- Harrison - Blue Funnel- PSNC - Elder Dempster -

Lamport & Holt - Palm Line - Bibby Line - Anchor Line to mention but a few, plus a myriad of small coasters tugs and other river craft that once helped to make the Mersey such an exciting place to be.

We also sail in a wartime convoy aboard the Duchess of Richmond & Empress of Canada and on voyages aboard the Lancastria, Britannic and others.

However, nothing can quite prepare you for the unique moving picture/sound experience of the the final departure of the ill-fated Lusitania sailing from New York in 1915, sounding her mighty sirens for what was to be the last time - this has never been made available to the public before.

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Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min)

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Following on from episode 8, we go back to the 1950s/60s when just about every available berth in Merseyside was crammed with ships of every shape and size, sailing to every far comer of the world. During those halcyon days as many as a hundred ships would arrive on any given day.

In this episode we are able to take you back to those days and on voyages aboard ships that served some of the Mersey's most famous shipping companies. To the Caribbean and Central America with Harrison Line - to the Far East with Brocklebank and Blue Funnel - and to West Africa with Palm Line and Elder Dempster Lines.

Look out for examples of great seamanship, especially the "Ikeja Palm" navigating some of the most dangerous seaways and estuaries in the world including the River Niger in the days when the average cargo ship carried a crew of over 50-all fully trained.

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Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min)

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In this episode we feature some of the magnificent ships of Port Line and Ben Line. One ofthe most vivid memories any visitor to a big seaport during the middle of the last century has, is that of aII the ships lining the quays for as far as the eyes could see. For young crew members about to join their very first ship, this was nearly always a very intimidating moment. Fresh out of sea training school, these young boys with precious little experience of the outside world often didn't know whether to continue with their rather frightening, overawing journey into the strange world of the docks, or just turn around and catch the nearest bus or train back to the relative safety of their homes!

Here we take a look at some of the sea training schools that once used to be dotted around the UK, and experience just what it was like to have been one of those young boys, leaving their families and loved ones to go away to sea for the very first time.

Often those young boys had little knowledge of the ship they were joining or where it was going - those were the days when a trip to the nearest seaside was a major occasion let alone a voyage to the other side of the world! It might be their ship was going on a short voyage to the continent or, it could easily be an old tramp-ship about to go away on a two-year voyage to goodness knows where! If they were really lucky they would join a ship belonging to one of the nation's most respected shipping companies. In this episode we sail with these young boys aboard the handsome ships of Port Line and the Ben Line on voyages all over the world.

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There was a time when a seagull could have flown for eleven miles up river & never left London's docklands. In this remarkable episode, with the use of very rare archive film, producer Des Cox takes us back to those most memorable days where giant warehouse stood on what is now office blocks and luxury apartments when as many as 60,000 ships used the port every year and thousands of people were employed to tend them. 1,500 turning cranes swung the many different cargoes to and from the many quays. where the ships lay at rest, their floodlit funnels reaching beckoningly through the heavy darkness of a cold winter's morn.

There were Blue Stars - Federals - Union Castle Rangi boats - Blue Flues - Port Boats - British India - Glen Line - Ben Line - P & O - Cunard - Shaw Savill - Royal Mail - Ellerman Lines - Furness Withy - Harrisons and many more, all lined up as far as the eye can see. A heavy fusion of malty cargo and industrial smells, so uniquely characteristic of that London Dockland scene, lay thickly on the air of that very special world, an almost secret world, a world that, once, it seemed could never end.

Here we bring it all back in graphic reality and serves as a lasting historical document and tribute to all those people and ships that once made the Port of London, the greatest seaport in the world.

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First published on DVD: 1999
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
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Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 60-mins (1hr 0min)

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In this episode we give an insight into the Furness Withy Group, once one of the largest shipping organizations in the world. Starting from very modest beginnings in Hartlepool in the late 1890s, Furness Withy grew to become one of the most successful Shipping Organizations in the world, operating over 1500 ships in their time.

Using very rare archive film we take you to sea aboard some of the cargo ships that once flew the Furness Withy and Price Line colours with pride: "Newfoundland" - "Pacific Reliance" - "Egyptian Prince" - "Tudor Prince" - and the "Stuart Prince". There is a one of the best storm sequences on film with Newfoundland as it battles its way across the North Atlantic in a mid-winter hell (You had to be there to know just what it was really like!)

The second half of the video takes us right back to the 1920s to the Furness Bermuda Line, and the ships they operated from New York to Bermuda on what was once the most successful passenger liner route of all time. The marvelous old archive film, much of which the producers restored literally frame by frame, takes us right back to the founding of this service and on voyages aboard such famous liners as the "Bermuda", "Monarch of Bermuda", "Queen of Bermuda" and the "Ocean Monarch". When designed and built, these ships were amongst the most luxurious and technically advanced in the world and greatly prized by both their passengers and crews.

We also get a short glimpse of the "Monarch of Bermuda" in her later life when she served on the Australian emigrant trade as Shaw Savills "New Australia" Regardless of your nautical background, this video is a must, showing you a life at sea which has now long gone and sadly, will never return again. - Tremendous.

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Running Time: 58-mins (0h 58min)

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At last, using very rare archive film most of which has not been seen publicly before , you can now step back in time to an age when our nation had pride in its achievements, and experience just what it was like to have sailed aboard the world's most famous ocean liner, - Feel the excitement as you arrive in Southampton to join her for her maiden voyage and a little later, on the voyage she captured the prized Blue Riband for Cunard White Star and for a whole rejoicing nation.

We are able to examine her workings from top to bottom, the bridge decks, public rooms, restaurants, crews mess, radio rooms, Pursers office, hospital, printing shop,telephone exchange, passenger accommodation and we even manage to go deep down inside her cavernous engine room while crossing the Atlantic at speed. We sail with her on her maiden voyage as if actually there in person, experiencing for ourselves the unequalled spectacle and excitement of her sailing from Southampton (ships filled the Solent to salute her famous departure. Over a million people lined the shores from Southampton to Lands End trying to get a glimpse of her. Then her arrival in New York, a celebration unrivalled in maritime history. Finally we sail with her as she captured the prized "Blue Riband" for the nation.

Sadly, there will never be another great ocean liner quite like the "Queen Mary" and there will never be another video made about her to equal the content and quality of this one. This video doesn't contain any still pictures - footage of her in California today - or unnecessary interviews, only sensational, rare archive film, all shot professionally on 16mm film during her undisputed heyday as the Queen of the North Atlantic.

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Running Time: 59-mins (0hr 59min)

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Not the most romantic of titles but this video is truly superb. Using extremely rare archive film it takes you right back to 1861 when the story of sea-going tankers first began. Using only moving images the video tells the story of the Tanker and how it evolved from frail sailing ships to the giants of today. It shows some of the very earliest motorised tankers berthing and sailing from the Persian Gulf during the early part of the last century and in wartime service. We then join the crews aboard four tankers operated by Shell, BP and Esso during the 1940s/70s and sail with them, often through mountainous storms on their voyages around the world.

The crews of these ships had little idea when they would return home again, often receiving fresh sailing instructions while at sea. One ship we join has already been away when it receives the great news that she's to sail for the UK and home.

The video takes you above and below decks, allowing you to experience just what it was like to have gone to sea on those ships from the small vessels that first pioneered the tanker revolution at the turn of the last century, through to the ocean-going leviathans of today.

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So many people have contributed rare archive film, most of which has never been made public before, to enable us to make this DVD which we believe does justice to Southampton, the United Kingdom's premier passenger port.

We go right back to the turn of the last century and follow the story ofthe port through its truly glorious years when every berth was taken by the world's most famous liners, their magnificent funnels towering over all. The superb archive film in this production actually allows us to also join a German liner for a cruise to North Africa in 1938 and to cross the Atlantic aboard one of the world's truly great liners, the magnificent "Normandie".

There are so many rare ships in this DVD, big ones, small ones, coasters, cargo ships, tugs, ferries all sights we never thought we would ever see again. We look at Southampton through the war years and through its many ups and downs right up to the present time and how the great ships have returned to make it one of the world's busiest ports once again.

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Made in two 59-min parts as episodes 16 & 17 in this remarkable DVD series, "A Hundred Years of P&O" takes a unique look at this most famous of British Shipping Companies.

Part one starts aboard the impressive Aurora of today as she takes some 2,000 passengers on a Mediterranean cruise. Then using only unique, rare archive film, most of which has never been seen before, we magically step back in time to the turn of the last century. The era when, under the stewardships of one of their most inspirational Chairmen, Lord Inchcape, P&O became one of the greatest names ever in the international maritime arena.

We see and sail aboard such magnificent ships as the Mooltan - Moloja ­ Mongolia - Ranpura - Viceroy of India - Orion - Ormonde - Corfu - Canton - Maida, and Strathmore. We look at the losses suffered by P&O and its associated companies during World War 2 and the post-war replacement programme, with early voyages aboard Orcades, Chusan and the cargo passenger ship Sural. A truly remarkable production.

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In this part two of "100 Years of P & O", we follow the development of the P &0 fleet after World War II with the introduction of new breeds of passenger and cargo ships.

Using more rare archive film which has been carefully restored, we once again travel back in time to see, and sail aboard, such great ships as the Carthage - Stratheden - Straithard - Strathnaver - Oronsay - Orsova - Iberia - Himalaya - Arcadia - Chitral and Sea Princess. We also witness the emotional last sailing of those two grand old ladies of the sea, the Otranto and the Orontes.

Then, turning to the 1950's and to what many people consider to be the last of the great days ofthe British Shipping Industry, we witness the birth, building and launching of the two biggest and fastest liners ever to sail the Australian route. Orient Line's magnificent Oriana and P&O's Canberra. With the help of more rare footage we show what it was like to have worked and sailed aboard these two great ships.

We also show Canberra's famous return to Southampton from the Falklands War and her final arrival into Southampton. We also take a look at some of the ships operated by other famous shipping Companies in the P&O Group. Federal Steam - British India - Coast Lines - Strick Lines -Union Steam -NZ Co - as well as sail aboard dry cargo ships operated by P&O itself such as the Perin - Dongola - Aden - Patonga- Bendigo, and Trident Tankers Ardshiel.

As the programme becomes closer to present times we look at the many ships that once served in P&O's famous Strath cargo services. As this magnificent maritime panorama draws to a close, we look at other famous Companies and their ships that are part of the P&O Group today including: North Sea Ferries - P&O Stena - Princess Cruises, and finally the great liners of P&O Princess Cruises today. Another remarkable maritime DVD treat.

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Running Time: 59-mins (0hr 59min)

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We follow the ships around the busy UK ports as they discharge and load their cargoes. With the use of more rare film we take a look at some of the sea training schools and follow the boys as they go down to the docks to join their very first ships. Then it's that magical moment when the tugs come alongside, mooring lines are cast free, whistles blow and the ships set sail on their voyages all around the world.

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Continuing for the previous episode, we join the ships at sea and actually sail aboard them on their voyages as they battle through fierce

storms in the Atlantic and Bay of Biscay. We sail both easterly via Suez and westerly through the Panama Canal on voyages across the

globe, stopping at so many fascinating ports, enabling us to see just what it was like to have gone away to sea during those wonderful

maritime days.

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With the use of more archive film, some dating back right to the turn of the last century showing us so much of our maritime past including ships being wrecked in horrendous storms, we continue from episode 19 joining the ships as they approach their final outward destinations such as Australia and New Zealand. Then, almost as if we're there in person, we sail around the coastal ports discharging and loading cargoes. We also manage to follow the crews as they wander down the gangways and head ashore to enjoy the golden beaches and ... the local women and beer!

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As the ships continue around the ports loading their cargo for home, we join yet more outward bound ships operated by such famous names as Shaw Savill, Port Line, NZSCo, Blue Star, Ellerman Lines and Federal Steam. We also sail on the MANZ run between the UK, North America, New Zealand and Australia and follow the crews as they go ashore in such exciting place as New York.

Then it's back out to sea again, experiencing life aboard both above and below decks, through blue calm tropical oceans to raging storms. There is so much rare film to be seen in these marvellous DVDs and they really are very special indeed, giving us a wonderful 'moving image record' of the heyday of shipping.

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Written by: Des Cox
First published on DVD: 2000
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Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 63-mins (1hr 3min)

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The last of the cargoes are loaded, excited passengers are boarding and the ships are finally ready for their long voyages home. What a wonderful sight each sailing makes, but little is more emotional than witnessing one of the wonderful old ships setting sail for the very last time.

Most of the film used in this programme is dated 1950s/60s, which was an age of great change in our maritime history. New ships of super modem designs were coming into service, ships like the "Southern Cross" and her sister the "Northern Star". We take an in-depth look at these new ships and at the same time, rather sadly, we sail aboard those older ships on their final voyages ... very moving

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Written by: Des Cox
First published on DVD: 2002
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Running Time: 59-mins (0hr 59min)

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There are so many ships to be seen in this specially extended production, as we tell the story of the final days ofthe once great British Merchant Navy and Shipping Industry.

We follow the voyages of the ships belonging to many of the once great Shipping Companies, as they make their wayhome, many for the very last time, many having been away for as long as two years, on voyages that have taken them all around the world, from the frozen ports of North America in mid-winter to the Panama Canal and the warm waters of the Southern Oceans, calling at New Zealand and Australia before turning North for the Far East, Africa, Suez and the Mediterranean.

We show the ships both above and below decks and experience the many emotions felt by their crews as they sail closer to home and their loved ones. We also sail with them through some ofthe most spectacular and frightening storms ever captured on film. We also ask the question; how could we have gone from having the greatest merchant fleet in the world to almost nothing?

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We have had many, many requests to produce this programme, so join us aboard the good ship 'Discovery' as we embark on a unique voyage of Maritime Memories. Built in 1972 and formerly the 'Island Princess', the 20,000 gross tons 'Discovery' with her traditional design and wide-open decks is the perfect ship for these wonderful voyages, so come with us as we hoist the old shipping company house-flags and set sail from Lisbon on a voyage of excitement and adventure all the way to South America.

In order to try to make this experience feel as natural as possible, we have for once dispensed with our traditional

narration, allowing us to enjoy without interruption the whole of the voyage, joining the ship's Captain on the bridge as we s

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In the making of this series we get so many requests to show film ofthe smaller ships that once used to be so much a part of our Merchant Navy and in this unique production we can actually show those ships along with remarkable scenes of The Great Port of Bristol in its heyday.

We show Bristol City and Avonmouth as they are today and then as they were during the heyday of shipping, when every available berth was absolutely crammed with ships of every shape and size. I wonder what people today will make of this rare film showing the ports in the days when they employed hundreds of people in the dockside offices and aboard the ships that were once frequent visitors to those ports.

I never dared believe that such a production as this would ever be possible, but here it is, so make yourself comfortable, sit back and enjoy ajourney back in time to the turn of the last century and to the golden age of shipping.

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Running Time: 59-mins (0hr 59min)

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At last we can start to show you the real magic of the Port of Liverpool as it was during its heyday; a time when it was one of the busiest and most famous maritime ports in the whole world. The whole port was full of constant activity as ships that served every comer of the world filled every available berth.

For many of the ships featured in this unique production, Liverpool was their home port- Blue Funnel, Elder Dempster, Lamport & Holt, Canadian Pacific and so on, but there is also rare footage of overseas registered ships that were also frequent visitors to this great port as well as other craft

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With more very rare film we continue our visitto the great port of Liverpool, showing just what it was really like during its heyday with ships of every shape and size, berthed for as far as the eye could see. The port was so crowded that on the tide, ships could be seen sailing in and out, two or three abreast. Yes, those were truly wonderful days and just to make it completely realistic, we've recreated all the sounds so that they are exactly as they would have been back in those busy Port of Liverpool days. If you like, you can even close your eyes and just listen to those sounds ... whistles blowing, trains steaming up and down the busy quay-sides, cranes perfonningtheir own special ballet as they swung the cargoes on and off the ships ... magic.

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The Manchester Ship Canal was once one ofthe busiest waterways in the world. This DVD takes us back to those days as we follow ship after ship transiting the canal. There were over 100,000 people working in and around the docks, with 1 OOOs more working in the various ship support industries; it really was a magnificent maritime world and this amazing DVD will show you just what it was like to have been part of that great maritime spectacle including ships operated by Harrison Line, Clan Line, Brocklebank, Manchester Liners, Lykes Lines, Prince Line, Furness Withy to name but just a few, as we watch them making their way through the myriad of locks and bridges as they sailed in and out of Manchester.

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The great white liners of Matson Line were once a regular sighting on America's West Coast as they carried the rich and famous to and from Hawaii and on luxury cruises across the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia during the golden age of ocean travel, taking with them the cream of American society including such Hollywood legends as: Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Dorothy Lamour, and Alan Ladd. Carol Lombard, Mary Pickford, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart and Shirley Temple.

This DVD will be appreciated by everyone, especially those fortunate enough to have sailed aboard those great ships. We've also been able to include rare film of their magnificent cargo ships, operating a service around the whole of the States, but there are few maritime sights more striking than that of a great Matson Liner setting sail from America's West Coast, ... Amazing!

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If you go down to the waterside in the City of Manchester today, there is little to remind us that it was once one of the world's great sea-ports. The towering rows of luxury apartments, posh offices and high-class restaurants that line the sides of the old quaysides today were; not so very many years ago, home instead to rows and rows of towering cranes and magnificent ships.

Now, thanks to the discovery of more, rare archive film, we can take you back in time to show just what it was like to have lived in those special days and to have been part of The Great Port of Manchester. Back to an age when hundreds of ships sailed in and out of the port every year, carrying the vital raw materials for Britain's industries and then taking our many exports back out to sea, to every far corner of the globe.

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The film clips featured in this remarkable DVD have all been carefully selected by maritime experts, from Snowbow's widely acclaimed

DVD production, "The Great Liners". There are now over 30 episodes in this remarkable series and the extracts featured on this DVD have been chosen to give a good representation of British shipping back in those halcyon days.

There has never been such an amazing collection maritime film released like this before and there is hardly anything on television today that can equal this DVD for sheer entertainment pleasure; it really is something very special. So, pour yourself a drink, put this DVD on, sit back into your favourite armchair, press the start button and just let yourself drift offinto a world we never thought we would ever see again.

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The tracks on this second compilation DVD have been carefully chosen from Snowbow's highly acclaimed DVD series, "The Great

Liners", by a panel of maritime experts, to give you an overall view of our once great shipping industry, with footage showing magnificent

scenes of London Docks when it was absolutely crammed full of ships during its heyday (We have even recreated all those dockland

sounds, just as they were, back in those very special days).

There's also a very special treat for all you engineers as well, with rare engine­room footage at sea, showing Doxford engines in all their magnificence. And if all that isn't enough for you, then why not pour yourself another little drink and sit back to enjoy wonderful footage of a transit all the way through the Panama Canal, just as it was way back in the 1950s/60s and .... just for all you real seafarers, some ofthe best storm at sea footage you are ever likely to see

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So many of you ask if we could make a programme telling the story of those notorious WW2 "Arctic Convoys", which we knew wouldn't be an easy task, but we also knew the importance of such a programme, especially to all those brave seafarers who battled through the worst imaginable conditions to get those convoys through to Russia, thereby playing a huge part in the final victory.

It was so difficult finding any film of those actual convoys, plus surviving veterans to tell their stories, but after two years hard work, we actually managed to do everything we had hoped to achieve and the end result is a remarkable TV programme that tells the story of those "Arctic Convoys" as never seen before.

It is nail-bitingly tense as you find yourselves in the thick of some of the greatest sea battles of all time, but it is also very emotional as we share the hardship, suffering and loss of life of all those brave young men that gave so much for their country ..... It was this programme that eventually convinced the doubters (including governments) that a special Arctic Convoy Medal, which helped to make all the work we did in making this unique programme even more worthwhile.

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The first programme we made about WW2 "Arctic Convoys" was so well received and enjoyed, that we have been inundated with requests from all over the world including the Russian Government, asking for us to try to make one more, especially if we could produce it in a way that showed not only the convoys, but how the vital cargoes they carried actually got through to the front lines, without which, the chances are the allies would have lost WW2.

The Russians gave us access to previously unseen WW2 film, all of which helped us to make another remarkable programme; full of sea battles and action, and showing how those notorious WW2 "Arctic Convoys" were so important to the outcome of the war and the so called freedom we are able to enjoy today .. .it's absolutely wonderful, and just wait until you see the VIP send-off the Royal Navy gave us when we set sail from Portsmouth with some of the very last surviving WW2 convoy veterans aboard!

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This has to be one of the most remarkable maritime programmes ever made, using some ofthe rarest maritime archive film ever seen, to take you on voyages aboard three of the world's most famous ever, ocean liners.

Yes we actually take you on three trans-Atlantic crossings, firstly, in full colour, aboard the magnificent French super liner the "Normandie", the luxury and style of which, you just have to experience to believe! Then we tell the story of the "QE2" from her launch to the final voyage from Southampton, showing her life at sea as the world's premier ocean liner of her day ... fantastic!

And then, perhaps to top it all we actually take you aboard the "Titanic's" sister, the "Olympic", as she sets sail from New York for Southampton, not so long after the loss of her famous sister. You really won't believe your eyes, for this film is as close as anyone will ever get to experiencing just what it was like to have sailed aboard the "Titanic" itself!

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We never dared hope that we would ever be able to find more film of London, when it was the biggest and busiest port in the world, but we have, and you've just got to see it! -

As we view the many Thames docks all the way from Tower Bridge to Tilbury, there are ships lined up at every available quayside, for as far as the eye could see. There are ocean liners, ferries, cargo ships of every shape and size together with a myriad of handsome little coasters and busy, twisting, turning tugs, all coming together to create one of the most spectacular maritime shows ever seen. What wonderful, golden maritime days they were.

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First published on DVD: 2014
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Running Time: 70-mins (1hr 10min)

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

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