【明報專訊】As an island nation, Britain has a history inextricably entwined with boats. The Roman conquest of Britain was conducted by a newly built fleet called the Classis Britannica, and the success of its expedition marked the beginning of Roman rule that lasted nearly 400 years. The Norman conquest led by William the Conqueror, which took place 600 years later and culminated in the Battle of Hastings, made famous a boat called the Mora. A gift by his wife Matilda of Flanders, it was skippered by Stephen FitzAirard, whose son captained the much less propitious White Ship that ran aground off Normandy, killing the heir of Henry the I (son of William the Conqueror) and resulting in the Anarchy, a period of profound unrest and chaos even by the standards of medieval Europe.