Episode 1 The Harbour

Aberdeen Harbour on the north-east coast of Scotland.

SHIP HORN BLARES

One of Britain's oldest businesses.

It's just like a conveyor belt, it just never just stops.

And one of Europe's most modern ports.

-You've got clearance to sail now.

-This is a glimpse into a hidden world...

On our way. He's under the bell now.

..of men and women who keep the harbour running.

It's what you would call a typical woman.

I'm a poor, defenceless female so watch it.

24 hours a day...

-Things change like...

-HE CLICKS HIS FINGERS

It's getting on for a force 10 now.

-Hang fire on that bell.

-This is just madness.

..365 days a year.

Goodbye, cruel world.

God, just when he greeted me.

-Jimmy!

-How are you, my friend?

It has been my pleasure.

The Harbour.

SHIP HORN BLARES

The sheltered estuary of the River Dee

has always been a natural harbour.

Quickly now, in position, come.

More than 8,000 ships pass through its waters every year.

And nearly all of them rely on the boatmen...

Hey! Slack.

..whose job it is to tie and untie the vessels heading out to the North Sea.

I've done it for 30 years now

so about another 30 years wouldn't be too bad.

When they're not on the quayside, they're in the boatmen's bothy,

waiting for the next vessel to arrive.

I was at MI before this. I was a male stud before that.

BOTH LAUGH

-Alcoholic before that.

-Aye, alcoholic before that!

On shift today are Alan Cowper and Norman Campbell,

who've lived in the city all their lives.

Jeremy Kyle and what do you cry him? In America?

-Oh, your mate, Springer.

-Aye, Jerry Springer's magic.

Mind, there was a whole weekend of him,

Jerry Springer was on for a whole weekend, long ago.

Never went out the whole weekend.

The offshore oil and gas industry accounts for 15% of Scotland's entire economy.

And the harbour's crucial to its success.

The main centre of activity for all its marine support operations.

Out in the bay is the Bibby Sapphire,

a dive support vessel, which services the region's oil rigs.

And Hugh Jones, the ship's master, is looking forward to dry land.

It's nice to see good, old Aberdeen every now and then. That's for sure.

Two weeks out, back in, even if it's only for 12 hours.

The underwater channel at the harbour's entrance is only 33 metres wide.

And larger vessels have to be brought in by an experienced hand known as a pilot.

The vessels are relatively big compared to the size of the harbour, and getting bigger all the time.

The pilot cutter heads out to open water.

Bibby Sapphire, pilot.

Hello, boat Sapphire.

That's a pilot boat on its way out to you.

Boarding a ship in conditions like these is always a challenge.

They have a ladder hanging out over the side of the boat.

Once we are alongside that,

we'll try and jump from here on to the ladder.

It's the most dangerous part of a pilot's job.

Pilot to the starboard side.

It's not high-tech, no.

Same way they've done it the last 2,000 years, I suppose.

He has to time it exactly so that he jumps onto the ladder

at the top of the swell.

If he miscalculates, he could fall back,

be crushed by the boat, or plunge into the North Sea.

But Finn Froekjaer-Jensen's an old hand at this.

-Hi, long time, no see.

-Yeah, how are you?

-How are you doing, big man?

-Yeah.

-Bit bumpy coming out there.

-Ah, bit rough, like, but...

-You Scandinavians can cope with it, can't you?

-Exactly.

-Will you be doing the steering yourself?

-Yeah.

-That's magic.

The good part is it only takes 28 minutes to half an hour.

So before they get fed up with me, I'm off again!

Keeping a watchful eye on her approach

is the harbour's control tower,

or VTS, as it's called.

'VTS, Bibby Sapphire.'

That's fine, you're cleared to proceed. Call again as you approach the bottom of the river.

VTS, or Vessel Traffic Services, coordinates all activities within the harbour.

Steady as she goes.

It takes between two and three years' training to become a pilot.

What we do know is local knowledge,

as you can say. Anybody can read a chart, like,

but we know the currents, and what to expect.

The master, he puts his faith in us.

As the ship progresses,

there's a constant dialogue between the skipper, the pilot and VTS.

Nice and slowly, there's one vessel coming across into Victoria Dock.

-Just keep it coming, Captain.

-A 6,000-tonne ship like the Bibby Sapphire can be tricky to manoeuvre,

especially if the port is full, as it is today.

-INTERCOM:

-Yeah, go ahead.

Afternoon, lad.

It's OK, vessel's coming up to you now. We'll adjust this.

As soon as we're all by the berth we'll stay off about 10, 15 metres.

OK then, Finn, standing by, waiting.

'Cheers, buddy.'

Well, it's a diving boat that goes out and inspects the pipelines, rigs

and things like that. I don't know too much about them.

As I say, my job's just tying them up.

He's also an extra pair of eyes on the quayside.

Yes, Alan, that's correct. All the way up to the east end.

OK, I'll go up to the east end and give you a shout

when your bow's clear to come in.

Cheers, buddy.

The ship's thrusters can turn through 360 degrees,

so Hugh can push the boat in any direction he wants.

All I am doing is pushing on with the thrusters

at each end of the ship now

straight on to the quayside. Keeps us steady on the quay.

It helps if the boatmen are steady on their feet.

Grrr, you swine!

-FINN ON INTERCOM:

-Bibby Sapphire alongside.

Another one under our belt, and everybody happy. That's a good thing.

As long as the harbour's busy and the boats are still coming in,

there'll still be a job for me.

Now, I need to check to see if that looks OK.

Make sure my boobs look OK for the night.

This is mascara and you go quick as you like.

It's Halloween.

And over in Torry, Val Morrison is getting ready for work.

Now, I wonder if that looks scary enough.

Like Alan, she's an Aberdonian, born and bred.

Look at that.

Valerie, you look phenomenal. Sex on legs.

Sex on legs, maybe...

FLAILING TRUMPET PLAYS

..but a witch's hat in the gusty North East

is probably not the best choice of headwear.

Val is just one of more than 11,000 people

who keep the harbour running 24 hours a day.

'It's been my life for 20 year

'and from the day I went in it, I just said to myself,'

"Oh, this is just for you."

Val's the harbour's best-known barmaid.

CHEERING

Aye, hear him. "She worked here during the First World War!"

You idiot!

Over the years, Val's become a favourite with the sailors

and has her own unique way of dealing with them.

SLAP Yeah, I got hit.

Speak proper, you little sod.

Vodka coke.

-Can I pay you next week?

-No.

Just to keep Val company,

many of the pub's customers have dressed up too.

-LAUGHS

-Hello, Derek!

-You leave him alone, you fat

-BLEEP.

I thought I'd make a bit of effort for young Val here.

Well, I think she's a little gem actually.

A bit of a rough diamond, I would say.

She knows how to stop them in their tracks.

-I'm going home now.

-Do I phone Frances and telling what you're saying, you fat git?

Terrible.

-And as for you...

-SLAP

Her boss, Jill, also knows that it's Val's particular people skills

that bring the customers back for more.

Lick it off!

Jill says she's going to keep me there until I'm 92.

And she says, "Valerie, God forgive you never will, but if you ever die I'll get you stuffed,

"put you in the corner of the bar and when you come in,

-"just shout, 'Oi, you little

-BLEEP,

-where have you been?' "

Whenever she's in dock, the Bibby Sapphire stocks up with supplies.

There are around 95 crew members on board,

and diver Terry Dearlove is one of them.

While he's on board, this is where Terry will be living.

This one's like the Hilton, this one.

That one there is like Travelodge and the one at the end is like B&B.

Locked away in this sealed unit,

the divers can be kept at just the right pressure

to work at depths of up to 185 metres.

-I've seen much smaller ones than these.

-Yeah, there's been some terrible ones.

This is like a DFS showroom compared to some of them.

And when divers can spend up to 28 days

living in such close proximity, it helps if they get on.

You have two types of saturation diving.

One where you're in with another two guys and as soon as you get out

you never want to see them again or the other type

-where you don't want to separate from them when you come out.

-Yeah.

-It's like that, isn't it?

-We'll use this one.

Come on then, let's go to bed.

One person who always knows which ships are arriving and leaving

is Val in the Crown and Anchor.

We had the Skandi Buchan in, the Skandi Marstein was down here.

We had the Skandi Rona.

I just ken what boats are in the harbour all the time.

'It's just my life.

'The boats and the boat guys and the pub. It's my life.'

# I fall to pieces... #

On the quayside, the Bibby Sapphire's ropes are untied

and she heads out to the North Sea.

# ..You tell me to find someone else to love

# You walk by and I fall to pieces. #

-WHOOPING AND WHISTLING

-Well done, eh!

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

As sun rises over the harbour,

it's another busy day for all those who work at the quayside.

You're OK there, that's fine there, Ralph.

Hey, sort your hair!

For a frustrated sailor like Alan,

this is as close as it gets to a life on the ocean wave.

When I left school I tried to go to sea

but I failed my maths test.

I don't know why you needed maths.

I can count like hell now, cos ever since I started drinking and playing darts

I can count backwards, forwards, everywhere!

Only person that's never been to sea, I suppose, and loves the boats, you know.

That's him away, another happy customer.

REM Supplier, VTS, good afternoon.

VTS controller Barry Standerline spent 27 years at sea before he came to work at the harbour.

In comparison to working on cargo ships,

this is an absolute breeze.

As well as the life aquatic, there's another thing Barry and Alan have in common -

a competitive love affair...with boats.

-You can let go of the spring.

-Alan?

-Quiet afternoon until he comes on duty.

-PHONE RINGS

OK, boys.

Barry takes pictures of boats and I take pictures of boats.

It's like a busman's holiday.

Alan's on the docks all day handling boats,

while Barry has a bird's eye view from the top of VTS.

Proper ship.

Little cargo boat, nice ship.

They're the perfect jobs for boat spotters.

Dinnae put porn up, for the lassies are here.

Here's my pictures of boats, you see.

Now there's a good-looking ship, that is a good-looking boat.

Wait a minute, here's a lassie naked... Oh, no, it's nae.

Fine figure of a lady. Yeah, very well proportioned.

And the two of them can compare notes -

or trade insults - over the intercom.

Pervert! Boat pervert.

Alan, do you nae see enough boats at your work without having to look at them on a computer?

-BLEEP,

-what's it got to dae with you?

BOTH LAUGH

There's a lull in his busy day

so Alan takes the opportunity to visit VTS

and see who has photos of the most recent ships.

We don't get time for coffee, that's why.

-Blue Fighter, have you got him?

-No, not yet.

-Oh!

-I got...

-Olympic Commander, New Olympic Commander?

-No, I haven't got Olympic Commander.

-Oh, you're falling behind.

-I know.

-Grampian Dawn?

-No.

-Oh!

It's 3-1 to Alan, but Barry has other things on his mind.

We can just see the south breakwater.

A thick fog is creeping across the harbour

and visibility has dropped to less than a quarter of a mile.

-WALKIE TALKIE:

-I'm just not certain of the wisdom

of going at the moment.

Harbour office, magic.

It's taken the Bibby Sapphire 13 hours to reach the Janice FPU,

or Floating Production Unit, 175 miles out at sea.

Saturation diver Terry Dearlove is getting ready for another day on the sea bed.

-HIGH VOICE:

-Terry, getting coffee in bed.

Yeah, for a change.

HIGH-PITCHED CHUCKLES

Once Terry has adapted to the pressure of working at depth,

his body needs to maintain that pressure.

So he lives in a pressurised chamber,

and breathes in a mix of helium and oxygen

that makes him sound like Donald Duck.

Once they're kitted up, they make their way to a dive bell

through a tunnel attached to their living chamber.

Dave Marsh, or Swampy, is the dive controller in charge of operations.

Roger that, and we have a seal, you can take out five, please.

You don't normally have to think of so many things at the one time.

Right, I'm good to come up on the cylinders. Coming up.

Swampy is also responsible for controlling the dive bell,

which is slowly moved over an opening in the ship's hull.

They'll trolley across the deck,

go down through the moon pool to the working deck.

Say when. OK, Bob, coming down. Hello, guys, on our way.

He lowers the bell, until it reaches a cradle at the bottom

of the ocean, which is attached to the ship by guide wires.

The guide wires guide the bell up and down.

If there were no wires, it'd just be swinging around the breeze and disaster.

Getting close.

Red 47, bell at depth.

Before Terry can leave the bell,

there's a rigorous process of safety checks.

Check the diver's umbilical's secured to the harness.

Diver's bail-out and function test is proven from the panel.

On at the bottle, off at the hat,

and the pressure is 280. Roger.

That's Terry there now, just going out the bell.

He's under the bell now in the water.

OK, then. Good for leaks? Good for leaks, Terry.

Finally, Terry can start work -

installing a pipeline from an underwater well to the rig above it.

It costs in excess of £100,000 per day

to charter a ship like the Bibby Sapphire.

The entire vessel with its 95-strong crew

exist for one reason only -

to support Terry and his buddy.

It's another day at The Crown & Anchor,

where Val's discovered a softer side to the sailors she serves.

Oot in that harbour, we've got hundreds of guys

that gives me a lot of respect really.

But as they say, "Well, Val, you give us respect, cos you look after us."

One of her regulars is Lee Pooley, a 25-year-old deck hand.

Well, darling, I'm everybody's mother in here, I think.

Have I never challenged you at pool, my darling?

Oooh, I feel a challenge coming on here.

'Lee is such a lovely guy.

'He turned round and says to me that I was the mother that he never had.'

Two shots to me, sod off!

Some mum she is, isn't she(?)

Get off till I play my shot. Move!

But, for Val, it's not really about winning.

-Chris, play pool cos he's a cheating little

-BLEEP!

'When you're a barmaid, you have to be a wife, a mother, a sister,

'an agony aunt and everything.'

You all right, Lee?

But Lee isn't all right. He's due back at work in 40 minutes -

and he shouldn't be drinking.

He's... You're on watch at six o'clock.

I know. I've just telt him, he's on his way back,

-you cannae get off with nae back.

-No, you cannae, no.

OK, Terry, I'm going to hand you over to Rob now.

You've been very semi-professional all the way.

On the Bibby Sapphire, it's crew change time -

and Rob Jones has joined at a critical juncture.

They're about to lower a work basket of tools down to the divers,

and where they put it is crucial.

No, that's fine, mate.

Take your time cos we need to obviously get this right.

The nearer to the job, the better.

Yeah, dive control, that's the main crane changed over to whip line

and it's ready to over-board.

But not so close that they injure the divers or damage the well head.

Right, coming down all the time, Terry.

It's Rob's job to co-ordinate the whole process.

You've got a visual on that.

As the basket's lowered,

Terry's responsible for making sure it's positioned correctly.

OK, you want me to put that move in, Tel? Roger.

Ford now, bridge.

Five metres ahead, bridge, you're clear to move.

-Right, bridge. Let's move.

-On the move, guys.

In the crane, down easy, just watch your umbilicals, guys,

we obviously don't want to lay this on top of anyone's umbilical.

The umbilical is the divers' lifeline.

It connects them to the ship, and supplies the gas they're breathing.

The main thing we have to worry about is,

we've got two guys on the sea bed

and everything we do...

I would like to think, is geared up for them.

The divers, the crane and work-basket are constantly monitored.

That's the frame out the water.

Mission accomplished.

The crane is all stopped - vessel move, stop, please.

'All is stopped, vessel move complete.'

Vessel move is complete, guys.

OK, nice one, fellas.

Lee's still in the Crown & Anchor -

and struggling to tear himself away.

I've told him, I've just finished telling him

he's on shift at 6 o'clock.

Back on the boat.

Get your butt round here,

get your bag and get back on that boat, darling.

He's a rare lad.

-Good night, Val.

-See you later on.

There's a zero tolerance policy on drinking -

something Lee should already know.

You have to be here for them because they've got naebody else.

There is a lot of lonely people... a lot.

Sea fog - or haar, as it's known in the North East -

is an occupational hazard for those that work at the harbour.

Visibility, I'd estimate, is about half a mile from our station.

It happens when a parcel of warm air passes over the notoriously cold North Sea.

Fog plays tricks on people and you don't really know

what they are going to do.

People do strange things in fog, probably things

they wouldn't do otherwise, when they can see something.

Even VTS is helpless if they can't see what's going on.

I hate fog, I hated fog when I was at sea.

I don't like it any more now.

At home, after another shift, Val's had news of Lee - and it's not good.

He never went on his shift and he actually got the sack.

I just think he needs somebody there to show him a bit of love, I think.

I just like to show him it when he is here in the pub with us.

Hearing about Lee makes Val reflect on her relationship with her own son.

Me and my son kind of parted ways for a while.

A lot of things, fault on both sides, not just his, mine, as well.

I was standing at Marks & Spencer's and this old neighbour

I used to have fae North Anderson Drive came up and she says to me,

"I thought you were dead, your son said you were dead".

And I said, "Pardon? As you can see, I'm very much alive".

That really, really hurt

and I thought, "Oh, my God, does my son really think that of me?"

Maybe that's why I mother a' the guys that come out the boats now,

because they all cry I mother them, but...

Me and my son'll sort it oot.

In the icy depths of the North Sea, Terry's approaching the end of his dive.

He's worked without a break since he left the dive bell.

And hasn't eaten since breakfast. But there's only one thing on his mind...

X Factor, yeah, I'll get you back for that.

Ah, it's Saturday night, isn't it?

And we have a slight improvement in visibility from our station here.

As quickly as the fog arrives, it lifts.

That's fine, you have traffic clearance inwards following the Maersk Forwarder.

Beautiful evening now.

His buddy pulls Terry back into the dive bell,

which returns to the ship.

And when a diver's social life is so restricted,

it's the little things that matter...

I've just been through and spoke to the chef.

He's fine with the steaks, omelettes, eggs.

He is a little bit confused if you want beans and chips with it,

or a jacket potato, or... Chips and beans, is that OK?

Installing the pipeline is a non-stop 24-hour operation.

There are four sets of divers on the Bibby Sapphire,

each working a six-hour shift.

'If you can pull it astern of the wheel station, clear of the diver.'

The oil industry pumps out 3.2 million barrels of oil a day.

The Bibby Sapphire is an essential part of that process.

-IAN:

-Scary thing looming up the darkness.

Almost another day over. Another day in paradise!

Coming up next week, a storm lashes the harbour...

Whatever you do in this weather, don't mess about.

..and saturation diver Terry makes a startling observation.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd