National Geographic Americas Pirate Fleet

Description: National Geographic Americas Pirate Fleet: Join the Deeptrek excavation team as they scour the Irish Sea for groundbreaking evidence of Benjamin Franklin's controversial navy in the America's Pirate Fleet. He may be celebrated as one of America's great statesman, but Benjamin Franklin had a lesser-known role in the American Revolution: as director of a cut-throat fleet of ruthless privateers. Tasked with capturing British merchant prisoners to exchange for US captives rotting in English jails, this rag-tag band of hired rogues terrorised the busy shipping channels of the British Isles. But their activities were, unsurprisingly, risky - and some of the specially commissioned ships never made it back to port. With local legend telling of a sunken vessel off the Welsh island of Holyhead, expedition leader Jay Usher and marine archeologist Jim Sinclair and their team hope to unearth conclusive proof that the lost ship was the Black Prince. Early dives confirm the presence of an 18th-century wreck but, faced with violent seas and a tight schedule, the race is on to find the lead vessel in Franklin's fleet, captained by legendary Irish pirate Luke Ryan. Will their swashbuckling search confirm that the sunken ship is connected to Franklin's pirate past?