VIEWER COMMENTS

"This was truly a first-rate show of the highest quality. We applaud the excellent editing, music, and overall creativity you employed though your documentary. The show did an excellent job of linking the active sailing programs aboard the schooners Tecumseth and Bee to the broader context of 19th century history and overall Canadian heritage. One truly got a sense of the past in a dynamic and active way. Shows like this truly share the Canadian experience and bring us closer together across the country." - Bill Brodeur, Executive Director, discovery Harbour, Penetang, ON

This program takes viewers back to the era of tall ships on the Great Lakes, and tell us stories about the ships and the people who sailed them. Viewers will find out why many people around the world are still caught up in the romance of the sea, and why there has been a resurgence of interest in the traditional art of sailing tall ships in recent years

Visitors to Discovery Harbour at Penetanguishene, Ontario become crew members on the HMS Tecumseth or the Bee, two working replicas of tall ships that were part of Britain's Great Lakes defence fleet during the War of 1812. They actually become working sailors, and learn how to sail a tall ship.

The captain and officers are dressed in authentic period garb, and give orders in the same rough way they would have nearly two centuries ago. It takes a dozen people to hoist the mainsails in these ships, and it is quite a spectacular sight to see the huge width of canvas suddenly unfurl and swell with the breeze.

With a sense of humour, the captain and officers give visitors a taste of what it really would have been like to be a sailor in the British Navy in the nineteenth century.. A new crew member who is accused of stealing the captain's cheese is threatened with a flogging with the cat-o-nine-tails.