The Matthew: Your Ideal Filming and Photoshoot Location
The Matthew is a popular location choice for film and television productions – there simply isn’t another ship like it!
The Matthew is available for hire for film and television work and is also a fantastic location for your photo shoot. The ship is also available to take part in maritime and arts festivals in the UK and beyond. Our captain and crew are highly experienced in their knowledge of Bristol Harbour and the surrounding area and can work creatively with you to make sure setup and filming run smoothly. They’ve also been known to get involved as extras for some of the productions filmed on board!
Since the requirements for work of this nature is highly individual and no two jobs are the same, please contact The Matthew office to discuss the details of your project and get a quote for hiring the ship.
Film and TV work
The Matthew has featured in a number of film and television productions.
The ship has starred in both series of Disney's Galavant, was hired for location work on the World War II film Another Mother’s Son, is featured in the Netflix film The King, and in Exhibition on Screen’s 2025 film, Caravaggio. The Matthew was also chartered for the UK promotion of The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.
The Matthew has also featured in a number of TV productions, including Flog It!, Boats That Built Britain, The Hairy Bikers’ Pubs That Built Britain, and Celebrity Antiques Road Trip for the BBC, Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys with Timothy West and Prunella Scales, and Don’t Tell The Bride, and the Channel 5 documentary The Lost Ship.
We’ve even been used as a music video location for A Doubtful Sound!
A Doubtful Sound – Take It Away
Credits
Shot, produced, edited and directed by Lee Pretious
Slow-motion camera by Tim Price
PA and backline supplied by Firebird Studios
Band photography by Ian Skriczka
About The Matthew of Bristol
The Matthew of Bristol is a modern reconstruction of the original Matthew that John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland in 1497. The ship’s construction was finished in 1997, in time for the 500th anniversary of Cabot’s remarkable voyage of exploration. The modern Matthew followed in Cabot's wake, sailing across the Atlantic to Canada in May 1997.
Located in the heart of central Bristol in the city's historic Floating Harbour for much of the year, The Matthew is moored at Princes Wharf, just along from the historic cranes and the M Shed.
The ship is a fully decked vessel with a main weather deck, a forecastle deck and a poop deck over the after section of the ship.
Below decks, the ship is divided into three sections:
The forepeak, which contains the bosun’s stores and equipment
The main accommodation saloon, which includes the main propulsion engine, and
The galley, which contains modern catering equipment and a small, seated dining area.
The after bulkhead between the accommodation and the galley area includes a watertight door.
As a replica of a medieval caravel, The Matthew is rigged as a three-masted sailing vessel with square sails on the sprit, foremast and mainmast, and a lateen sail on the mizzenmast.
It is also possible to rig modern fore-and-aft sails to aid upwind performance. A large amount of rope work is spread across various areas of the deck and is made off on pin rails.
The ship’s modern equipment is powered by the main engine and a variety of battery banks. Powered equipment includes electronic navigational aids, bilge and fire pumps, lighting, plumbing, and a modern galley.
13-amp power sources are available to film crews when The Matthew is moored at its Princes Wharf mooring. However, there is no power source when the ship is away from our mooring, so film crews will need their own portable battery packs if filming is required while the ship is sailing.
Contact Sarah to discuss your LOCATION REQUIREMENTS
Photoshoots on Board The MAtthew
The Matthew is a great location for your natural light photoshoot – just take a look at our Instagram page to see some of the beautiful shots taken by both professional and amateur photographers! Bristol’s harbourside and, of course, the ship itself, both offer fantastic backdrops at all times of the day and in all weathers.
The ship was used as a location for one of our favourite photoshoots by Bristol Old Vic costume design graduate Madi Barnicoat. Madi’s graduating project was a costume design for the 18th-century pirate, Anne Bonny – The Matthew was a perfect location for the shoot, which resulted in some amazing photos for Madi’s portfolio.
credits
Costuming by Mad Harry Costumes
Photography by Shill Photography
Mary Reed modelled by Rhiannon Occhini
Anne Bonny modelled by Madi Barnicoat
If you’d like to use The Matthew for your photoshoot, please contact The Matthew office with the details of your requirements.
Maritime Festivals and other large events
The Matthew has appeared at various maritime festivals, both at home and abroad – Brest and Vannes in France and Falmouth, Plymouth, Gloucester and Portsmouth closer to home here in Bristol.
We’ve also starred as the Ancient Mariner’s ship for the 2016 Coleridge in Wales Festival, sailing into Cardiff Bay with a crew of zombies, and then touring along the South Wales coast to Swansea!
If you’d like The Matthew to take part in your maritime festival or other large event, please contact The Matthew office with the details of your requirements.
