 HMS Victory will be at the centre of celebrations |
A year-long celebration of Britain's maritime heritage - to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar - was launched on Friday. SeaBritain 2005 was kick-started at the International London Boat Show.
It will include the International Festival of the Sea, featuring up to 160 ships and an International Fleet review on the Solent in the summer.
The Royal Navy will mark the anniversary of Trafalgar itself at a ceremony in Portsmouth on 21 October.
 |  SeaBritain 2005 and the Trafalgar Festival have really captured the public imagination  |
That will focus on Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, while beacons will be lit around the country. On 22 October, there will be a night of music, called Nelson Night, at the Royal Albert Hall.
From 4 August to 11 September there will be a New Trafalgar Dispatch - a symbolic recreation of the way the news of the battle was brought to England's shores and relayed overland to London.
In the autumn, primary school children will join a nationwide programme of tree planting to commemorate the Trafalgar bicentenary.
SeaBritain 2005 chairman David Quarmby said: "SeaBritain 2005 and the Trafalgar Festival have really captured the public imagination."
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