Episode 1

Rory McGrath, Griff Rhys Jones and Dara O Briain head to America to join a birthday party flotilla celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, in New York harbour.

They start in the cradle of American history, New England, and have just ten days to find a suitable vessel and get to New York.

Their first stop is America's oldest boat shop, the 220-year-old Lowell's in Massachusetts. Its owner takes them to the port of Gloucester on the 20th anniversary of the perfect storm. They end up in the Crow's Nest bar, where they meet local fisherman and a relative of the crew that drowned during the storm.

In Boston, Dara retraces his youth by going to visit the house he used to live in. All it's missing is the blue plaque to commemorate his stay there, but that's soon fixed. Rory gets to grips with the Boston accent, and Griff discovers that the Statue represents more than one form of American Liberty when he visits the African Meeting House.

In Plymouth, Rory and Griff are offered the chance of time travel when they become re-enactors at the Plimoth Plantation, a living museum, while Dara gets an invitation for them all to attend a Native American clambake on the beach, a two-mile paddle away in a primitive craft.