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- Elizabeth clashes with Daniel over his support for the Manchester Ship Canal, which she fears will weaken Liverpool as a port. Her anger is compounded when she is approached for patronage by charismatic young orphanage director Marcus Simmons, who tells her that families are being evicted to clear the land for the canal's construction. Daniel is innocent of this fact but it enables him to expose a business partner immorally buying up land to sell at a profit to the constructors and he supports the orphanage. James travels to Africa with missionaries as passengers, Reverend Webster and his daughter Hannah, relatives of Anne, his late wife. Hannah's religious zeal, however, proves to be a liability whilst Letty has still not told James her news.
- James learns of Charlotte's situation but refuses permission for her to marry William, whom he regards as worthless, and sends her out of Liverpool to have her child. He also encourages Daniel to stand against the greedy Beaumont as a councillor to thwart the banker's aim to take more land for himself if elected though Elizabeth is still unhappy about her husband's support for the ship canal. Captain Baines brings home a ship from South America, whose dying captain is an old enemy of his. Baines falls for the man's wife and considers buying the ship when her husband dies but James beats him to it.
- Leaving Letty feeling adrift in their new, large country house, James sails to Belfast, persuading cash-strapped Captain Seth Burgess to cut him into his steamship line. William returns from two years abroad and instantly detects the cool atmosphere between his parents. Samuel and Charlotte make it clear to him that they want nothing to do with him but feel remorseful after William dies, saving a group of children from being trampled by a runaway horse and cart. His death also goes some way to reconciling his parents.
- Charlotte is reunited with her father after visiting him in jail. Margarita and Samuel pursue the man suspected of planting the necklace on James' ship, only to find he is dead. However a letter arrives from Betsy, addressed to Letty, who was good to her, outlining how Van Der Rheede used her to get the necklace. Furthermore Captain Baines, now anxious to help Onedin, establishes that Van Der Rheede planted it in a chart he knew that the captain was returning to James' ship. The family confronts the Dutchman and force him to confess, whilst Elizabeth hears that Daniel is returning home to be reconciled with her.
- Letty tells James that she is pregnant and Charlotte gives William the same news. He is stunned and, as he does not love her, refuses to marry her - although she has confided in Samuel that she believes they will wed. Samuel takes the news badly and, when he and James, sailing to Ireland, come across a deserted steamer full of high explosives, feels sufficiently reckless to help James put the cargo overboard, though they are successful and claim the salvage rights. William turns twenty-one and inherits his mother's share of the Frazer yard, which he intends to sell.
- The Doyles return to Liverpool and Samuel declares his love for Helen but Charlotte refuses to divorce him - whilst Sarah and Fergus spend time together. Elizabeth learns that Daniel is the new ambassador to Turkey, an appointment engineered by Marston's father so that she will be obliged to leave Liverpool and join her husband. Helped by Tom, for whom he has arranged a master's apprenticeship, James tracks down Burgess, who has stolen back the ship the 'Black Pearl'. However he lets him keep the ship and returns to Liverpool, finding his house full of children following a fire at Letty's orphanage.
- Seth Burgess obtains a contract to take China clay to Jamaica but whilst James is transporting it, Burgess elopes with Charlotte and her Onedin line shares. Whilst Samuel shows no interest in pursuing them, James offers a reward for their apprehension. Having found a baby left on her doorstep, which she hands onto the orphanage, Letty plans to open her own home for waifs and strays with the money obtained from Samuel for the sale of her factory. With Daniel now permanently in London, Elizabeth meets Charles Marston, wealthy heir to a colliery and steelworks, with whom she strikes up a business deal.
- Devastated by Tom's death, Captain Baines blames Onedin for hectoring the boy into running away and joining the 'Sea Spray'. With no ship of his own he allows Van Der Rheede to bail him out but Van Der Rheede, holding Onedin responsible for his brother's death, is determined to break him and plants a stolen necklace, acquired from Betsy, a fence, on James Onedin's ship. He arranges for Betsy to be sent away and James is arrested and sent for trial. The family suspect Van Der Rheede and Elizabeth accuses him to his face but they can do nothing.
- Whilst Charlotte becomes bored with life with Samuel, James learns that Elizabeth is sailing to South Africa with a mysterious and dangerous cargo. She is in fact gun-running. James needs money for the repair of his steamer and sails after his sister, illegally using a bogus distress flag to get her to stop. He persuades her that she is in an awkward position and buys the guns from her as a job lot. However, when he tries to sell them to Major Nesbitt in South Africa, he makes a heavy loss, which amuses Captain Baines.
- James takes Mr. Da Silva and his cargo of lemons to the Azores, but crew members Harris and McDade bully cabin boy Tom into helping them rob his possessions and kill the bosun when he tries to stop them. Eventually Tom does the decent thing, leading to their arrest. Samuel gives Charlotte three thousand pounds but, charmed by Seth Burgess, she gives it to him supposedly as a business investment. However he intends to buy back his ship 'The Black pearl' with it and leave her behind.
- James is importing jute from Scotland and is not happy to learn that Letty's mill-workers are repairing old jute sacks, which, given that she believes in a fair wage, is under-cutting him. They argue and she is injured but, to make atonement, he takes her on his next voyage. Daniel impresses with his generosity by buying Sarah a venue for a seaman's mission but he and Elizabeth are united in their desire to stop William seeing Charlotte. They plan to send him to London but he calls their bluff.
- An ancient cannon Captain Baines believes to have belonged to Henry Morgan and spirited Margarita, daughter of South American president Juarez, join James' latest cargo, but on arrival in Margarita's home country James finds that her father is about to be overthrown in a revolution by his brother-in-law. When the rebels attack, James and Tom help the Juarezes to escape but the president is shot by a sniper, and, as the surviving trio row back to the ship under fire, the cannon comes in very handy. Elizabeth counts the financial cost of putting up ransom money for her brother.
- As the council election approaches, Elizabeth, equally disapproving of her husband's interest in the Manchester Ship Canal and his rival Beaumont's plan to enrich himself with his 'new' Liverpool, ensures that each hears of, and publicizes, the other's plan so that both lose the election to her candidate, Marcus Simmons. Daniel then announces that he will be standing as a Manchester M.P. James, stuck in Ireland thanks to port inspectors with vested interests, finally returns to Liverpool for the birth of his son, though the child is weak and is not expected to survive.
- James pursues Charlotte and Burgess to Cyprus where he exposes the young captain's interest in his daughter as being purely mercenary, persuading a despairing Charlotte to return home with him. Samuel is smitten by charming actress Helen Doyle and she too is fond of him whilst accepting that her father Fergus is using Samuel's acquaintance to get Sarah to finance his new play. Samuel is saddened when the Doyles' touring company moves on and makes it clear to the returning Charlotte that their marriage is over. Marston is keen to marry Elizabeth and is angry when his father approaches her asking his help in finding a wife for his son.
- Still in Bulgaria having dropped off the disguised, fugitive Prince Alexander, Onedin and Captain Baines are captured by Tsarists, a fifty thousand pound ransom being required for their freedom. By selling off some of her shares and four of her brother's ships, Elizabeth raises the money and travels to Bulgaria with Samuel to hand it over. However the captives have already been rescued by the quick-thinking Tom and James is far from grateful to his sister for her gesture, which, he claims, will ruin him.
- Daniel is anxious to break the Liverpool to Manchester railway's transport monopoly of the Merseyside docks and rail board. Elizabeth suggests that they use the canal system to beat the railways. Daniel is initially unresponsive but sees the prospect of steamers being used on the canals. Samuel continues to develop his idea of mail order trading. James accepts a cargo with no questions asked or papers only to find it is from the proceeds of a robbery in Manchester.
- Letty faces opposition to establishing her orphanage from bigots who feel it will lower the tone of the area. Despite herself Elizabeth finds she is falling for Charles Marston and agrees to ship a cargo of wine over in time for his father's birthday. However her ship needs repairs so she gets James to do it instead. As Marston is now in his debt James gets him to persuade the lease-holder of the proposed orphanage, a family friend of the Marstons, to sell it to Letty despite the local protests. He also finds out where Charlotte and Burgess are.
- Newly elected to Parliament Daniel joins with Elizabeth to prevent William from selling the Frazer Line to an apparent consortium, actually a front for Beaumont. To take his mind off his son's death, James sails to Africa with Captain Baines to find diamonds, but they end up adrift in an open boat for three months. Letty never doubts that he will come back and, on his return, he gives half of the Onedin Line to Samuel, who has married Charlotte just in time for the birth of her son.
- James marries Margarita and they sail to Sumatra to establish trade in the East Indies, staying with Dutch ship-owning brothers Max and Theodore Van der Rheede. The brothers are not happy to learn that James has undercut them on a tobacco contract and the dominant Max suggests to his younger brother that they sell up and return to Europe. On the voyage home Margarita intercedes on behalf of a sailor she believes to be harshly-treated, influencing Baines to show him leniency. Back in Liverpool they find that Max has moved there ahead of them but his brother has drowned himself.
- Captain Baines leaves the Onedin Line and, with Tom aboard, collects his first cargo as owner of the 'Sea Spray'. James suffers as some clients will only trust their freight to his old ship-mate and the vengeful Van Der Rheede - who is out to break him - calls in the debt sold on by Samuel, who returns from New York with a wealthy American bride. To compound matters Charlotte arrives back in Liverpool as a music-hall singer. Ultimately, though, it is Captain Baines who pays the price of pride as his ship blows up, killing Tom.
- Letty has died from diphtheria caught from nursing sick orphans and Elizabeth has returned from Turkey to manage urgent Fraser business. Sarah is on a Cook's tour of the world, Samuel has his own ships, bought from selling the shares William left his son Robert, as well as becoming the youngest chairman of the chamber of commerce. He divorces Charlotte and is awarded custody of the children but agrees to repay the shares in the little boy's account. Having suggested to Elizabeth that the Onedin and Frazer lines merge, James takes Prince Alexander, exiled by the Russian Tsar, to reclaim the throne of Bulgaria. There is an assassination attempt aboard ship, and even when the ship reaches Bulgaria, the prince's return is far from triumphant.
- Returning from the Mediterranean with Letty aboard, James comes across Egyptologist Professor Dawson and his daughter Emma, who is clearly ill, adrift in a small boat. The professor has a mysterious item which he keeps in a bag and, learning that they have escaped from a ship carrying lepers, James quarantines them. However a sailor called Jimmy also falls ill. The professor throws the casket that he has been hiding, stolen from a Pharaoh's tomb, overboard upon which Emma recovers but Jimmy dies. Elizabeth discovers not only that Daniel has been cheating on her but that Samuel, who now has a daughter with Charlotte, is refusing to let William see his son.
- James Onedin returns to Liverpool, his ships laden with grain from Turkey. The sale of this will pay off the interest on the debt and start him back on the road to solvency. As further collateral, he offers the house which he bought for Letty Gaunt and Charlotte, who will now move in with him. It is a business arrangement but Letty perhaps seeks more from him.
- James and Captain Baines sail to Palermo to pick up emigrants for America. Whilst James is ashore with his Sicilian agent Benito, several Mafia bandits led by local don Ranocci take over the ship and in the subsequent gun-battle the mate is killed and Captain Baines and the crew taken hostage. They will be released if James gives Ranocci the money taken from the locals for their voyage, but James has other ideas and leads the oppressed Sicilians against the Mafia. At home Letty goes into business and William is as disapproving of his parents' relationship as they are of his intense friendship with Charlotte.
- Samuel does not let sentiment cloud his father's death, proposing to Letty that her mill-workers make bed linen which he will sell through a catalogue for his store, though Letty drives a harder bargain than he had imagined. William is shocked to learn that the 'Indian Queen', a Frazer ship which he chartered to a Mr. Lillie without his parents knowing, was deliberately sunk, with loss of life, for the insurance money. James has his suspicions but, even with the use of a diver, cannot proved that the cargo was never loaded.
- Fearing unrest in South Africa, Daniel asks James to bring home a large amount of gold from the country - unofficially. James naturally wants his cut. Tim, a young crew member, is subjected to a crossing the line ritual during which a man falls overboard and drowns. A cargo of wool on the ship catches fire, after which it is discovered that the gold has been stolen. Tim is responsible and speaks up to Onedin about inequality. In Liverpool Robert's son Samuel returns home whilst Elizabeth's son William declares his intention to be the richest man in the port in five years' time.
- William's death causes a rift between Charlotte and Samuel, not helped when they learn that William left his son twenty thousand pounds. Seth Burgess is duped by the infamous tavern-keeper Paddy West into paying him for a crew to sail to New York with James. However they are not seamen but largely European immigrants, including a Count and his pregnant wife. James is reluctant to put them ashore on Ellis island but changes his mind after the count saves him from an attack by a fugitive murderer. Captain Baines recovers the money from West by arm-wrestling him.
- Whilst Charles Marston goes into partnership with Elizabeth to build a South American railway, Sarah accepts a marriage proposal from steamboat captain Dampier. Captain Baines sails to France with a passenger, likeable young Thomas Bullen, who saves the life of cabin boy Tom. When Bullen is recalled to England to answer a theft charge brought about by Marston, James, who dislikes his sister's new partner, and Captain Baines are pleased when Bullen proves his innocence. Unfortunately Bullen also, unwittingly, alerts them to the fact that Dampier is a penniless fortune-hunter so James pays him off to leave Sarah.
- Letty tells James she invested in William's steam engine project and he buys a flour mill in her name, sailing to Pennsylvania to buy loose grain from an ex-Cavalry officer who drives a hard bargain. James gets what he wants after a drinking bout but the grain, known as dead man's cargo, starts to shift when the ship hits a storm and needs to be moved else the ship could capsize. A man dies in the process. Daniel and Elizabeth rekindle their old flame but their decision to tell William his true parentage proves to be unwise.
- On the eve of his voyage to Montevideo, Letty tells James she will marry him - in her own good time. She also gives William financial backing for his engineering schemes. Samuel meanwhile stows away on James's ship and, when caught, James sees that he is harshly treated to put him off sea-faring, but the boy will not be deterred and travels on to South America, where James makes a profitable deal.
- Having exposed Macauley's insurance scam, James proposes to Letty, who accepts. Daniel also returns to Liverpool, now a very wealthy man. Robert considers opening a department store and travels with Captain Baines and Samuel to New York, where he is robbed and very nearly press-ganged. James takes on a voyage to import some sheep but it causes him to postpone the wedding and Letty, as a consequence, declares the engagement and wedding off.
- Max Van Der Rheede is imprisoned and James is free. He beats Samuel to the contract of transporting nitrate and sets sail with his first cargo. Against his orders Margarita accompanies him. She is pregnant and eventually gives birth to a son. James is overjoyed. Elizabeth, on the other hand, receives distressing news. Daniel's ship has sunk returning to England and he has drowned, making her a widow for a second time.
- Defying the superstition that it is bad luck to set sail on a Friday, James travels to Africa and outwits a local witch doctor to establish a trading post on the Niger. However he falls out with Captain Baines, who now has his own ship, 'The Sea Spray', in the process. Back in Liverpool Margarita is mugged whilst exploring the city alone and Samuel uses his uncle's debt to pay Van Der Rheede for a warehouse in New York.
- Five years have elapsed. Onedin is a prisoner in a settlement in South America from where he is rescued by Captain Baines, and they return to Liverpool. Macaulay, a wealthy Australian, keen to invest in the shipping trade with South Africa, does business with the Onedins but when the bank crashes, the Onedins lose out as their collateral is taken. Robert loses his shop and James's ships are forfeited but he manages to get them out of port before Macaulay claims them.
- William makes his peace with his parents but assures them that his interest in developing steam engines supersedes his desire to inherit the shipyard. James's failure to listen to William results in the engine blowing on the ship he is using to take Polish emigrants to New York and he puts in to Liverpool for repairs. Maritsa, one of the emigrants, is a talented lace-maker, and Robert wants to employ her in his sweat-shop but a sympathetic Samuel advises her she would be better off going on to New York. Unfortunately another accident with the steam engine leads to the ship lurching violently, trapping Maritsa's fingers in a door and requiring two to be amputated.
- Five ships, all carrying iron plate, have foundered - people betting on the losses, including Mr. Dunwoody, Elizabeth's clerk, who buys the company house where Robert and Sarah live, forcing them to return to live over the shop. James accepts a cargo of iron plate and discovers the ship is being sabotaged by Kirk, a sailor in the pay of Macauley, who also sunk the other five. Whilst Elizabeth's son, William, is only interested in commerce, Robert's boy, Samuel, is keen to go to sea. James returns to Liverpool and finds that Letty, tired of waiting for a marriage proposal, has gone.
- James and Sir Daniel combine to thwart William in his bid to buy the five ships belonging to elderly Captain Murchieson on behalf of devious banker Josiah Beaumont, whom Elizabeth sees as a bad influence on her son. William moves into his own flat, where he secretly sees Charlotte, though Letty finds out. Captain Baines is tricked into buying a piano to sell in Norway, but ultimately turns the situation to his own advantage.
- A near tragic car accident between mechanic Thomas Watkins in his auto and nanny Sara Moffat results in the one-time couple reuniting.
- William takes a Frazer ship out in fog and gets it in a collision with one of the Onedin ships. It is arranged that the elderly, weak Captain Oliphant should be held responsible. Oliphant later kills himself and William is filled with remorse. Elizabeth is relieved to see that he possesses some humanity. However he is seeing Charlotte, supposedly the fiancée of a dissatisfied Samuel, who wants a more active life than working in the family shop. At dinner Samuel's father Robert chokes on a bone and dies.
- James goes to stay in London with Robert, who suggests he consider the Honorable Hugh Kernan's proposal to build the British-Mexican Railway. Captain Baines returns as a passenger from America, along with a Mr. Wallace, who has been investigating the railway as a possible investment for the Rothschild family. The ship sinks and Mr. Wallace dies. Baines survives but discovers in the dead man's belongings that Kernan's proposal is not viable, as the terrain is unsuitable for a railway. Back in London, Kernan has been seeing Leonora. It is presumed she was with him when Kernan left London shortly before Baines' news is made public. After a few days Leonora returns to London explaining she had fled to Liverpool because she could not live with a man like Kernan.
- Previously the confirmed bachelor, Captain Baines falls for his landlady Mrs. Darling, and, as a favour to her, agrees to take her brother, Tom Ballantyne, on his next voyage. Tom does not approve of Baines as a suitor for his sister and animosity rises between the two men. Finally Baines strikes Ballantyne and gets into trouble as a result. Though the matter is ultimately closed it ends the captain's relationship with Mrs. Darling.
- James is anxious to buy the Salt Line, a fleet of six ships which seem to belong to a foppish dandy, Sinclair, who does nothing with them. In fact they are owned by his aunt, captain's widow Mrs. Salt, now old and bed-ridden but reluctant to sell as she has promised them to her nephew. James discovers that Sinclair has huge gambling debts, which he pays off in return for being given the ships. He and Sinclair go to see Mrs. Salt for her approval but she has died in her sleep and so James takes over the Salt Line, putting Captain Baines in charge of it.
- Sarah is suspicious when Robert visits mystery woman Beatie Mays, though it turns out he is only helping her regain possession of her hat shop and is not being unfaithful. Her trust in him gives him the self-confidence which he feels the rest of his family undermine. Meanwhile on a voyage home from Brazil, Matt takes over captaincy when Baines is injured and, when the ship is becalmed, the crew put it down to the presence of an albatross. However they return to Liverpool in time for Christmas. Matt accepts a partnership with the Frazer Line but Captain Baines is outraged that James has evicted his niece and her children to make way for his expansion plans and quits the Onedin Line.
- Elizabeth and Matt are in Falmouth to buy a tug, the 'Alice', which she wants to turn into a ferry but James arrives with Robert, also interested in the boat, hopeful for a quick deal and departure. However the 'Charlotte Rhodes' gets stuck on a submerged wreck. Elizabeth buys the tug and offers to pull the 'Charlotte Rhodes' clear but, as James let the insurance lapse, he would be unable to claim the expense and finally the ship is floated off, thanks to the underwater skills of its carpenter. Matt, however, is annoyed that again Onedin places cost-cutting over the risk to human life.
- Five pounds is stolen from the office of the Frazer Line and Uncle Percy Spendilow is accused, found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison. Elizabeth finds this hard to believe and so she sets a honey trap, leaving money lying around. It is taken by Drumond, a clerk, and, as a result, Uncle Percy is freed. However, he has an unpleasant surprise in store for Elizabeth.
- James and Letty are to be married on board ship by Captain Baines but this nearly does not happen when a group of shanghaied sailors attempt to overwhelm them, the plan being foiled by elderly Captain Jack and the marriage does go ahead. Daniel Fogarty has returned from Australia a rich man. He has begun a charity, the Albert Fund, and is knighted for his services. He marries Elizabeth at last but James's experience has prevented him from being their best man.
- Caroline's acquaintance Henry Wickham asks Onedin to smuggle valuable rubber seeds out of Brazil so that he can start a plantation in India. Onedin and Caroline set sail but they fall foul of local big-wig Ortega and, for their own safety, have to return home without the seeds. Eventually they discover that they were being used as decoys by Wickham, who, with Fogarty, set out on a separate expedition and obtained rubber seeds.
- The 'Helen May is importing barrels of petroleum into Liverpool in thick fog. A barrel is leaking and the ship explodes when a seaman, holding a lantern, investigates. Baines believes more effort should have been made to look for survivors, Onedin insists there were none. One sailor, however, does survive, and gives evidence at the inquest. The ship was sailing too fast and the blame is attached to its dead captain. Elizabeth, meanwhile, learns that Albert has died in South America.
- Anxious to gain a contract with wealthy Zebediah Pringlehoffer, James travels to Foochow to bring home a cargo of tea. Leonora accompanies him and continues to rise in his estimation as she copes with an injury on board. James plans to bring his cargo round the Cape of Good Hope but ultimately loses the contract to Fogarty, who has vied with him in bringing home a tea cargo but used the overland railway to save time. Robert becomes a member of parliament and moves ,with Sarah, to London.
- Jack Frazer dies. He is angry and bitter to learn that his supposed grandchild was Fogarty's. Elizabeth becomes instrumental in running the Frazer line. She and James and Pierre Legrande, an old associate of Albert's, travel out to South America in order to bring back his plans for refrigerated holds, allowing meat to stay fresh for days.
- A behind-the-scenes look at classic British cult television series.
- Accompanied by Portuguese speaking Caroline and the Braganzas Onedin, Frazer, Baines and Fogarty take four ships up the Amazon with a view to establishing a coal trade with the Brazilian railways. Fogarty's men are spooked when they are attacked by natives. Ultimately Caroline knows from her understanding of the language that the locals have no intention of doing anything but fleecing the visitors and they all withdraw. However Jose Braganza is killed by natives, causing his father to terminate his dealings with Onedin.
- Samuel Plimsoll returns to Liverpool to investigate the dangerous over-loading of ships. Inevitably he crosses swords with Onedin and prepares to take him to court for contravening the limit. However he comes to learn that Fogarty has actually bribed a surveyor to falsely claim that Onedin is breaking the rules to gain advantage over his rival. To show good faith Onedin invites Plimsoll on his next voyage and impresses him with his seamanship when the ship hits a storm. Annoyed by Fogarty's dirty dealings Plimsoll agrees to drop the court case providing Onedin ships carry the Plimsoll line.
- The 'Prince Edward', a Frazer Line ship, is put in quarantine by order of strict new medical officer Dr. Darling after its captain, Corcoran, and his daughter fall ill. James is concerned that if he cannot move the ship he will be sued for breach of contact. Lucy dies but ultimately it is shown that she had the plague, caught from fleas on her pet guinea pig, and the Onedins are exonerated. The port is still closed but this is 'force majeure', beyond Onedin's control, so the contract is not broken after all.
- Elizabeth takes over as head of the Frazer Line. Several other owners aim to take advantage of her sex and try and persuade her to join them in a cartel but, putting into effect her know-how as a shop-keeper's daughter, she undercuts them all and starts to profit, as well as romancing Matt Harvey, one of the line captains. James is persuaded by Letty Gaunt, the nanny for his young daughter Charlotte, to spend more time with his child and the three of them have a picnic together.
- Both shipping companies are anxious to open up trade in Brazil and James learns from Caroline that her uncle has sold the 'Anne Onedin', renamed the 'Scotch Lass', to a navigation company with a view to Daniel taking it up the Amazon. Senor Braganza is anxious for his son, Jose, to become his business representative in England but the young man is only interested in tropical biology. Captain Baines goes to Portugal and drugs the lad with a view to bringing him to England but ultimately James takes him to South America, where he can study the flora and fauna.
- James and Captain Baines travel to Africa to bring home wealthy young socialite William Blanshard, who has a collection of native memorabilia, as well as an African consort, Alice. Captain Baines attempts to travel up river to see if trading posts could be established but finds a huge water-fall blocking any chance of the enterprise. He contracts sleeping-sickness but is nursed back to health by Alice. Back in Liverpool Leonora learns that Caroline rejected James' marriage proposal.
- Caroline and James are returning from Baltimore, where she has been sorting out her husband's affairs. There is a new crew, hastily gathered by the shifty Bartholomew and a passenger called Draygon, escorting a thousand dollars' worth of gold bullion. On the voyage, Draygon leads the crew in a mutiny in order to gain possession of the bullion but they are thwarted by Onedin and Captain Baines. Elizabeth is in possession of a patent for hydraulic steering aboard steam-ships left her by Albert; Fogarty, now alone, is emigrating to Australia and asks her to accompany him but, on learning that he was only interested in the patent, she refuses. After his return to Liverpool, Leonora refuses James' marriage proposal in favour of his cousin, Richard.
- Steam is now in the ascendancy and sail looks as if it is danger of becoming obsolete. James' main rival Briggs is investing heavily in steam-ships and Elizabeth urges Frazer to build some more for him. Briggs also buys the 'Anne Onedin' from James but James buys a fleet of six sailing ships from elderly Captain Fowey in the knowledge that a miners' strike is sending coal prices rocketing, giving sail the temporary advantage.
- James Onedin plans to sail to Sweden with iron rails and bring home a cargo of timber for use in the Biddulph mines. Leonora, piqued at the attention James is giving Caroline, agrees to part-finance the trip and accompanies him. In Sweden Count Ericson plays hard to get, haggling for a high price for his timber but James knows he must give in else the ice floes will form and block the return voyage. Leonoras helps enormously, both by getting the count to drop his price and, when the ship is in danger of ice, donating dynamite for her father's mine, to blast its way out. However, on return to Liverpool it is Caroline whom James ends up kissing.
- Onedin's contract with Biddulph is jeopardised when the coal miners go on strike. Onedin eventually breaks the strike by getting some of the miners drunk, then signing them up as sailors and having them arrested if they refuse shipboard duties. Samuel Plimsoll is horrified. James Onedin also picks up a lone woman in a boat off the South American coast. Initially amnesiac she proves to be Jack Frazer's niece, Caroline Maudslay, sole survivor of an attack attack by natives on her husband's engineering expedition.
- A spin-off series from "Jackanory", was "Jackanory Playhouse" (1972-85), which was a series of thirty-minute dramatisations.
- Captain Baines is marooned in revolution-torn Venezuela but gets permission to leave if he will take Colonel Flores, who is accompanying some art treasures to prevent the rebels seizing them. However Baines discovers that Flores is attempting to smuggle gold to America and has him arrested. Ada Mitchell, widow of the man to whom Frazer sold the 'Scotch Lass' tells James Onedin that she will give him the ship if he marries her but he refuses. He is about to propose to Caroline when he learns that Fogarty, sailing the 'Scotch Lass' home, is in severe difficulties so he rushes off to salvage the ship. When he returns Caroline turns down his proposal, feeling that any wife must come second to the shipping line.
- Baines and Onedin find an uncharted island, rich in guano, which they intend to mine without telling anybody. However, Matt Harvey learns about it and sets sail in a Frazer Line ship but fails to locate the island. Instead he returns with valuable whale-bone and claims that the guano was too acidic for use. Elizabeth believes she has got one over on her brother until she discovers that he already knew this fact.
- Widowed James busies himself with work. On his new steamship the 'Anne Onedin' the passengers number coal merchant Biddulph, who arranges a shipping contract with James, and his daughter Leonora. The Callons have difficulty managing their line and sell Jack Frazer, father of Albert who is now working in Argentina, the bulk of the company whilst Daniel returns to sea. His first ship sinks due to shoddy workmanship - the rivets used to hold the boat together are inferior, or sea devils. Initially Onedin is blamed but Captain Baines discovers that the fault lay with the original builders and James is exonerated. Samuel Plimsoll, however, the 'sailor's friend', comes to Liverpool to support Robert in his bid to become a Liberal councillor, is unimpressed by James' obsession with profit.
- After being arrested for stealing fruit while passing through a small village, a wandering minstrel serves his time in a creepy monastery.
- Anne lodges with a grateful Mrs. Jessop but initially has trouble finding work until she becomes a bookkeeper in a shop. James discovers a stowaway, Peter Thompson, whom he puts to work on the 'Charlotte Rhodes' but the boy is unused to sailing and has a bad fall. James is annoyed to discover that Peter's father is a wealthy potato merchant who, after learning of Onedin's treatment of his son, not only refuses to deal with James but also has him beaten up.
- In Ireland an enigmatic woman, Miss Indigo Jones, asks James to get her damaged ship the 'Samantha', with its cargo of guano, home to Liverpool. James is suspicious that there is something wrong but, motivated by greed as usual, consents. The ship is filthy but James has it cleaned and, having bribed a relation of Albert he gets it through customs. Only then does he learn the horrifying truth. Miss Indigo has killed several crew members because they had Yellow fever, which even now may have entered Liverpool. Captain Baines attempts to reconcile the Onedins but each is too stubborn to give way.
- In Liverpool Jessop sets about organizing a strike though many seamen feel they cannot afford it. When the strike finally occurs Anne, shocked by her husband's callous attitude, helps the strikers' families. James is prepared to negotiate with Jessop, brokering a separate deal giving the advantage to the Onedins and not the Callon line. However Fogarty calls in strike breakers, leading to a full-scale riot during which Robert's shop is burned down. Anne, unable to cope with James' opposition to her charitable actions, leaves him.
- Robert lets slip to Albert about the paternity of Elizabeth's child and Callon appoints Daniel a marine supervisor. James is taking emigrants to Canada, including the Stirlings, relatives of Robert's wife Sarah, who, as family members of the Onedins, travel for free. On the voyage out the Stirlings are found to have smallpox and the husband dies. James falsifies the log, allowing the ship to carry on without having to face quarantine restrictions and loss of money. Anne is not pleased.
- The series was set around a general practice in north London and leading cast members included: Justine Lord, Nigel Stock, Barry Justice, Richard Leech, Isla Blair and Lynda La Plante (billed as Lynda Marchal). Nigel Stock's character, Dr. Thomas Owens, was the lead in a later spin-off series, Owen, M.D., which aired between 1971 and 1973. Most of the episodes produced are missing from the archives; 139 of the 160 shows are thought to be lost.
- Anne is pregnant and Elizabeth urges James to buy a house and move out of the warehouse for the baby's sake. James comes across the immaculate but deserted ship the 'Maria da Gloria', and travels to Ireland, where it is to be the subject of a low-key auction, as it is a former slave ship but extremely fast. Daniel arrives and competes with James to buy the ship. It goes to James but he has paid more than he intended and thus cannot afford a house. However, on return to Liverpool, he is sad to find that Anne has miscarried.
- Returning from a voyage to China, James picks up an old man floating in a life-boat. He is John Hennessy, sole survivor of a shipwreck, but when odd things start to happen the crew want to throw him overboard as a Jonah. Baines saves him but he admits that he killed the other occupant of the lifeboat in an act of self-preservation. Albert falls for music hall singer Carrie Harris, who ends up pregnant by him. She can be bought off but it casts a shadow on his marriage.
- Anne is pregnant and at last James buys a house for them. Sailing on the 'Lady Lazenby', Baines suffers an accident and in danger of needing his leg amputated. Onedin opposes this, believing that the leg can be saved if it is set, and he is proved right. Albert and Elizabeth prepare for divorce but ultimately decide to give the marriage another chance. Fogarty admits to Emma that he fathered Elizabeth's child but they still plan to marry.
- Callon and his son are killed in a fire and the company passes to his niece, Emma. Daniel, attracted to her, wastes no time in offering his services as her business advisor. James charters the 'Star of Bethlehem' for a voyage to the West Indies with a man named Jessop amongst the crew. He is a Union man and quick to assert the sailor's rights to decent treatment. When a man falls overboard and dies, Jessop blames James, as does Anne, who annoys her husband by using his money to help the widow at an auction of his belongings.
- A ship James chartered from Callon has been badly damaged but insurance under-writer Chubb will not pay out because it was carrying gunpowder and thus negates the insurance terms. After unsuccessfully trying to compromise Chubb with light lady Kate, James steals back the 'Charlotte Rhodes' from Callon, who has confiscated it as surety. In revenge Callon confiscates Robert's shop, planning to build a dock on its site.
- The Onedins and Albert travel to Turkey, where James is annoyed to find that Albert is about to agree to a ten year contract making steam engines for a local pasha. Albert is even considering living with Leyla, a concubine, unaware that back home a row between his wife and Daniel has ended in a kiss. When the pasha is murdered by enemies, however, Albert is implicated and the Liverpool party must flee as a nearby volcano erupts.
- James is delivering a cargo to the Southern states of America but the Civil War is raging and the North are blockading ports. With him are Anne, who dislikes the idea of helping slave-owning states to profit, and Albert. A nervous pilot is not keen to run the blockade so James decides to run it himself. He is captured by Captain Ferguson, a Northern captain but fortunately for him Ferguson has a great enthusiasm for steam-ships, and, impressed by Albert's plans for a new steam vessel, the 'Golden Nugget', not only allows James to go about his business but defects to join Albert.
- Without revealing her identity Elizabeth goes to see Carrie Harris, who is not pregnant but told Albert she was to get money from him. She knew Albert was married and this makes Elizabeth determined to leave him. Captain Baines is given command of the 'Pibroch', an old ship with a mysterious cargo. In fact it is a coffin ship, one that the owners deliberately want sunk because it is too old for service but sinking means they can claim the insurance. The ship is indeed sunk, Baines saves the crew with help from James but is barred for six months from captaining another ship.
- To finance the building of a new steam ship James floats a public company pounds worth of shares on the market. However, he is tricked by Callon, who, using other nominees to buy them for him, ends up as the majority share holder and virtual owner of the now depleted Onedin Line, as, to add to James' concerns, Baines, now made up to captain, has lost the 'Pampero' in a storm at Cape Horn. Anne reminds him that he still has the 'Charlotte Rhodes'.
- Yellow fever hits the port. Albert is convinced James caused it by docking Indigo Jones' ship. Albert's father is to head the tribunal enquiring into the source of the epidemic and appoints Fogarty as an independent assessor of the deaths of Liverpool seaman. Fogarty takes great delight in in telling Elizabeth he will use the evidence to finish Onedin. However Albert persuades his father that James kept quiet to protect the good name of the Frazers, with whom he was associated, and James is exonerated. The outbreak starts to abate and there is a reconciliation between James and Anne when she is suspected of having the illness and he rushes to her hospital bedside.
- Following the enquiry into the 'Pibroch''s scuttling, Baines is temporarily reduced to mate. The head of the board, Sir Walter Teal, asks Baines and Onedin to take his young son David as an apprentice. The boy is keen for a mariner's life and his father hopes the harsh realities will make him change his mind. James and Baines are very hard on him, which Albert notices, but James tells him he would be better occupied patching things up with Elizabeth. David ultimately proves himself as a very capable sailor and even puts in a good word for Baines with his father.
- James goes to Paris to collect an old debt, despite the fact that the city is in the hands of the Citizen Communards, and they are involved in a civil war with the rest of France.
- James travels to Zanzibar, where he meets Said Ben Salim, a sheikh who asks him to take some Islamic pilgrims to Mecca. However, it soon transpires that these are not pilgrims but slaves and James puts them ashore in Africa, enabling them to return home. On his return to Liverpool he learns of an unusual challenge. He and Daniel Fogarty are to race each other to Foochow in China and back with a cargo of tea, the winner assuming the overall control of the Onedin Line. He is well and truly up for this, as is Daniel but Emma is less enthusiastic as the race is to start on their wedding day.
- In Liverpool the Frazers combine to try and smuggle Jessop, who has been imprisoned and is now on the run, to Ireland. He is apprehended but they stand by him at court. The race between James and Daniel has begun, both captains having their wives on board. James reaches Foochow first but learns that Daniel aims to cut corners by using a second ship. However Daniel gets caught in the monsoons whilst Baines negotiates James' ship through them. Anne goes into labour as the Onedins approach Liverpool and James risks losing the race by breaking protocol and rushing her to the port without taking on board the pilot. However he is declared the winner but his joy is short-lived for Anne dies giving birth to their daughter.
- Louisa urges Charlie to get on with his life and a smooth and very suave actor beds Violet, who promptly gets the sack.
- James has taken emigrants to Australia where he hopes to make enough money to buy off the Pampero by bringing home a cargo of wool, but the sheep-farmers have all left to join the gold rush. He agrees to ferry a load of 'lost souls' from Papua to Victoria for McPherson, a parson, but discovers the parson is actually a slave trader intent on taking the group to the West Indies. After the Papuans have set fire to the 'parson' James returns them to their homes.
- With a beetle destroying Portuguses vineyards, Senor Braganza asks James to import new vines from Brazil. He sets sail in the 'Pampero', a ship bought by Braganza, who is now his partner for a five year tenure. Worried by the presence of a bullying passenger Dom Vasco, James detours to Baltimore where he strikes a deal with a railroad boss but loses several crew when they decide to join the railroad gangs. He returns to Portugal with his vines having transferred Vasco to another ship.
- Callon proposes Robert buy another shop from him but Albert points out this would put Robert in Callon's behest and finances another premises. James is charged to take a mysterious passenger to Italy, who turns out to be the revolutionary Garibaldi. Attempts are made by enemies posing as crew members to kill Garibaldi but he shoots them, using his new, six-shooter revolver and is safely delivered.
- With James and Robert now aware of Elizabeth's condition, they insist that she reconcile with Mr. Fogarty and marry him without delay. Immediately after Fogarty's return from a sea voyage, they inform him of the situation and he agrees to marry her. Elizabeth has her own ideas however. James faces ruin when the Charlotte Rhodes is abandoned by her crew some six miles from shore due to weather conditions and a fire in the forward hold. Mr. Callon sends his son Edmund on their fastest ship to claim her for salvage. James is desperate - he didn't insure the vessel for this trip - and asks Albert Frazer if his steam-powered ship could get there first. No one is sure what will happen but off they set in what most sailors are calling a teapot.
- It appears that a mutiny has occurred on a ship James chartered but the crew explain that there was no mutiny, the captain had gone mad and they were taking the ship over in order to act for the best. James discovers that Kirkwood is indeed mad, a religious zealot, claiming people are out to kill him. He eventually hangs himself after trying to sink the ship and James makes sure that the crew are all acquitted of any mutiny charges.
- Louisa takes a callow chauffeur in tow and tries to turn him into a 'proper gentleman,' when his kind, elderly and wealthy employer dies suddenly and leaves him the bulk of her estate.
- With more barrels than he has room for James needs a warehouse to store them and finds one owned by the widowed Mrs. Arkwright who wants six hundred and fifty pounds for it so that she can return to France and buy a house there. Callon attempts to gazump James but Mrs. Arkwright agrees to sell to James on condition that he takes her to France for free. A rag and bone dealer Ada Gamble is also using the warehouse but is persuaded to leave when it is discovered that she fences stolen property. Robert's wife Sarah gives birth and Anne and James move into the warehouse on the discovery that Webster has mortgaged his house.
- Michael Adams, an old flame of Anne, visits and James takes him on his next voyage, to Cape Verde to collect coal. Anne travels with them. Michael explains that he has been an outlaw for four years following a death on board ship for which he was suspected of being the killer. George Bethell, a crew member, tells Michael that he is in the clear because the death was logged as being an accident. Albert is too taken up with his new scheme to design steam-ships for a living to listen to Elizabeth when she tries to explain that the baby she is carrying is Daniel's.
- James Onedin is in a battle with his former employer and main competitor, Mr. Callan, to keep what few clients he has. Callon has put the squeeze on Mr. Watson, who recently consigned a small shipment to Onedin, telling him they will refuse to carry his trade to India unless they get 100% of his business. Callan's son Edmund begins to set his eye on what few assets James has managed to acquire. When Mr. Baines fails to return from a visit to his sister, James knows it has to be Callan's handy work. With Mr. Fogarty away, Elizabeth is at her wits end and Anne thinks she knows what the problem is. Albert Frazer inherits a house and invites not only James and Anne but also Elizabeth, who is the prime reason for extending the invitation.
- Elizabeth is engaged to Fogarty, who is soon to be made a ship's captain but she is still interested in Albert Frazer. Callon floods James with a load of Braganza's empty wine casks which he is obliged by contract to take but has no room for them. Albert comes to his rescue by offering to store the casks for him and James begins to see that Albert would be a far more profitable brother-in-law than Daniel.
- On the return trip from Portugal James teaches Anne the rudiments of navigation. This comes in useful when James and several other crew members become seriously ill, due to rotten meat provided by Robert and which Anne throws overboard. Despite superstitious views that a woman on board brings bad luck, Anne works with the illiterate sailing master Captain Baines to read the charts and brings the ship safely home to Liverpool, where Robert is made to compensate the sick crew and Anne agrees to teach Baines literacy. Elizabeth is torn between two suitors, young sailor Daniel Fogarty and the dandified shipyard owner's son Albert Frazer.
- In Liverpool in 1860 sailor James Onedin, working for the hard-nosed shipping owner Callon, is desperate to gain a ship of his own and finally acquires the 'Charlotte Rhodes' from drunken old Captain Webster in exchange for marrying the captain's daughter, unglamorous but spirited Anne. He makes his mark when he beats Callon in a race to secure a contract with the Portuguese wine exporter Braganza. His brother Robert and wife Sarah run a chandler's shop, assisted by discontented and frivolous younger sister Elizabeth.
- Four inmates are ordered to enter an annual four day walking tournament. When they get over their initial annoyment, each one of them finds a way to take advantage of their time out of jail.
- Two teams of three alternate between giving and guessing the meanings of obscure English words.