The International Festival of the Sea, 1996 was a maritime festival, held in and around the Floating Harbour

Bristol Harbour

Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It has existed since the 13th century but was developed into its current form in the early 19th century by installing lock gates on a tidal stretch of the River Avon in the centre of the city and...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 port city of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. Held in 1996, it was the first of a series of International Festivals of the Sea

International Festivals of the Sea

The International Festivals of the Sea are a series of maritime festivals, which have been held in various British port cities since 1996. The festivals are intended to be celebrations of the sea, bringing together sailors, musicians, artists, entertainers, ships and boats from all points of the...

 that have since been held in various United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 ports.

The key theme of the Bristol festival was John Cabot

John Cabot

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...

's pioneering voyage of discovery to the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

. As part of the festival, a replica of Cabot's ship, the Matthew

Matthew (ship)

The Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship , but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The...

, was dedicated prior to its reenactment of Cabot's voyage the following year. Other vessels taking part included the tall ship

Tall ship

A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall Ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or festival....

s Eye of the Wind

Eye of the Wind

The Eye of the Wind is a ship built in 1911 by C Lühring of Brake, West Germany, originally as a topsail schooner named 'Friedrich'.-History:The 'Friedrich' was initially used as a schooner for the South American hide trade...

, Pride of Baltimore

Pride of Baltimore

The Pride of Baltimore was an authentic reproduction of a 19th-century Baltimore clipper topsail schooner commissioned by citizens of Baltimore, Maryland. It was lost at sea with four of its twelve crew on May 14, 1986...

, Rose, Kaskelot

Kaskelot (tall ship)

Kaskelot is the flagship of the Square Sail fleet and is based out of her homeport of Charlestown, Cornwall, UK . She is a three-masted barque and one of the largest remaining wooden ships in commission. The Kaskelot was built in 1948 by J...

and Earl of Pembroke. The sail training

Sail training

From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea , sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and off the water....

 ship Royalist

TS Royalist

TS Royalist is a brig owned and operated as a sail training ship by the of the United Kingdom.-Description:Royalist is 83 GRT and her hull is long, with an overall length of . As well as her sails, she is equipped with two Perkins diesel engines of each...

made the news by going aground in the tricky passage of the Avon Gorge

Avon Gorge

The Avon Gorge is a 1.5-mile long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles from the mouth of the river at Avonmouth. The gorge forms the boundary between the unitary authorities of...

 on the approaches to the Floating Harbour; fortunately no casualties or damage was sustained and the ship was subsequently refloated.

Unlike the annual Bristol Harbour Festival

Bristol Harbour Festival

The Harbourside in Bristol, England, has hosted the Bristol Harbour Festival for 40 years, with over 250,000 visitors attending live music, street performances and a variety of live entertainment. The festival includes music stages, a dance stage, street theatre performances, and water displays...

, the International Festival of the Sea was a ticketed event. This necessitated cordoning off the, usually publicly accessible, harbourside areas, together with nearby parts of the city centre. Within this cordon visitors were able to view the visiting ships and boats, and watch live music, street performances and other entertainments. The festival was brought to a close by a firework display.

The festival was extensively covered by BBC Television

BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

, with several live programs broadcast from the event. The coverage was presented by Peter Snow

Peter Snow

Peter Snow, CBE is a British television and radio presenter. He is the grandson of First World War general Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, and cousin of Jon Snow, the main presenter of Channel 4 News, nephew of schoolmaster and bishop George D'Oyly Snow, and the brother-in-law of historian-writer Margaret...

, Jill Dando

Jill Dando

Jill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was murdered by gunshot outside her home in Fulham, West London; her killer has never been identified....

 and Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...

, with additional material by Tony Robinson

Tony Robinson

Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...

 and Antony Worrall Thompson

Antony Worrall Thompson

Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson is a British celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.-Biography:...

.