Sean from Breakfast started off by trying to design the ultimate ship – he looked at historical and modern day boats, picking out his favourite bits and putting them onto his ultimate ship!

These included tiny boats like coracles and tree trunk canoes, Ancient Egyptian boats and longships, right through to huge  galleons and some very famous ships like the Mary Rose.

Then, with some help from his ship-wise Boat-a-dex, Sean worked out which bits from each craft he would mash together to make the ultimate ship.

Here’s Sean looking round the SS Great Britain…

Now while Sean’s Ultimate Ship looked great, it wasn’t that practical… or safe.

So Sean is now looking at how to make his Ultimate Ship both safer – adding things like radar, making it more stable, having some safety devices on board (a life boat is always a good one we tell him!) as well as using better materials than some old wood.

Sean’s also a bit green and so would like his Ultimate Ship to be more sustainable. He therefore has also investigated using wind power rather than oil as a fuel, as well as new materials to make his ship lighter, faster and more efficient.  We also said he should look at how some everyday things on his ship can affect the environment – like the paint he used and his loo!

When doing all of this Sean came across his old relatives – like his Great Grand Uncle Bert who was the grandson of the famous pirate Argus Thornblower.  he also bumped into Captain Blackbeard.

Want to learn more about the ships Sean will be exploring? Check these out…

• Coracle
• Canoes and Kayaks
• Large Wooden Vessels
• Carracks, Galleons and Galleys
• Fast Wooden Vessels
• Sail to Steam
• Iron-clad Wooden Ships
• Modern Metal Ships
• Channel Ferry
• Container Ships

Listen to Sean’s Ultimate Ships below!

> Visit Sean’s Ultimate Ship’s homepage
> Download the free podcast from iTunes