5/8. Collins. Before the late 1700s sailors couldn't fix their position at sea and had to sail close to land, increasing the risk of shipwreck. So when Greenville Collins's charts of Britain's coastline were published in 1693, hundreds of lives and ships were saved. Explorer Nicholas Crane navigates Cornish waters in a square-rigger of the period to reveal the extent of Collins's achievement.
Series producer Michael Waterhouse (AD)