Episode 5 The Harbour

Aberdeen Harbour, on the north east coast of Scotland.

HORN BLASTS

One of Britain's oldest businesses.

It's just like a conveyor belt, it kind of never stops, ken?

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 the men and women who keep the harbour running.

It's fit you would call a typical woman.

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

24 hours a day...

Things change like...

It's getting on for a force ten now.

Hang fire on that bell.

-This is just madness.

-365 days a year.

Goodbye cruel world!

God, just I'm greeting here.

-Jimmy!

-How are you, my friend?

It has been my pleasure.

The Harbour.

It's 2.45,

and the passengers are arriving at the North Link Ferry Terminal.

Including a coach party of 27 pensioners,

who have come all the way from Chester.

The ferry sails from Aberdeen to Shetland,

stopping off at Orkney three times a week.

-Hello there.

-Good afternoon.

Welcome to our air conditioned splendour here, there we go.

Michael Carter is the ferry's hotel director.

-Just over there on your right.

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

I'm responsible for passenger safety, passenger comfort,

smooth running of the operation and maintaining our company standards.

D'you have your boarding cards, folks?

Just check it doesn't say "Pirate" or "Terrorist" on it.

Aye, Maurice, we're going to be starting loading shortly,

can we get the stores, lift and skip off the car deck, please?

I'll see you's in a bit, boys.

Campbell Brennan is the second officer.

We're just going to get the freight list off the foreman here,

and then once I know how many trailers I've got,

I can make a plan up of where they're going

and where they should be on the car deck

for discharging later on in each port.

Do we have an ETA for the other trailers at all No?

We're still waiting for number four and number one for Orkney.

There's only six trailers, that's all the freight that we've got.

However we do have a lot of cars.

The dockers are going to come on now

and set the chains up for what's coming on.

I'll tell them where I'm putting my trailers.

Then they set up the chains, cos you need eight chains per trailer.

CHAINS RATTLE

You's know we're just doing two... one at the other end, yeah?

Today, the trailers contain mainly perishable goods,

food supplies for the islands.

Each one can weigh up to 30 or 40 tonnes.

And they all need to be secured before the cars are loaded.

We've got six in total, four are plug ins.

That's not a plug in, that one's running fine.

We're still waiting on one more trailer.

-He's going...

-He's going on top of five and he's a plug in, all right?

Plug ins are refrigerated cargo, so, like, milk and frozen products

and all that kind of stuff.

When they're on the road they run on diesel

and when they get on the ship,

because we can't run them on diesel because of the fumes and what not,

we plug them in to the ship's supply and they run on electric.

So, that's it plugged in to the ship's supply.

Turn her on there. She's on electric now, this one.

Put the flag up and if she's sucking, then it's all good.

At 3pm, the check in for all the other vehicles opens.

How you doing, folks? Just check your tickets, please.

And you can head straight on board,

just follow the white line all the way around.

And one more Lerwick car, Andy, and then park them up, OK.

Today, the ferry will stop at Kirkwall

before continuing to Shetland.

I'll just have a wee count.

And it's the loading officer's job to make sure

that no vehicle is blocked in.

All the remaining Lerwick cars then will be in Lane Three

right down there behind the luggage trolleys. OK?

The top deck can hold up to 95 cars.

OK, Alec, that's the last Kirkwall one coming on

so we're OK for buggies then. Luggage trollies after that.

So we're going to fit them all in again, just, I think.

Jeff Gaskin has been a pilot at the harbour since 2006.

We're going to sail the UAL America from Pacific Quay, 139m cargo boat.

I prefer the bigger ones to the very small ones.

I know that sounds stupid

but with these ships they tend to do as you expect of them.

Whereas the smaller ships I find they can be a bit

haphazard in the controls you get.

It's his job to navigate the ships in...

and out of the harbour.

Thank you very much, sir.

-VTS, UAL America.

-'Afternoon, Jeff.'

Afternoon, Barry. Have we got clearance?.

Yes, that's fine.

'Traffic clearance to let go and proceed.'

There's a tanker on the installation,

so we'll just come around the corner into the basin.

He left school at 17 to go to marine college,

and he's been a seafarer ever since.

I went to sea because I wanted to be at sea.

I enjoyed being at sea.

But the negative of that was I was away.

Ease to ten.

So I looked for a job that brought me back ashore

but actually still on the ships still.

BABY CHATTERS

His shift over, Jeff's now back at home,

with two year old daughter Eliza, and wife, Clare,

who's expecting their second child.

-Where's the ball?

-Where's the ball?

The baby's due in a week and a half's time.

Feeling more than ready to welcome baby into the family.

-A baby sister.

-Oh, a baby sister, we're going to have, apparently.

Have to wait and see. Hope she's not too disappointed

if it's a baby brother.

Clare also spent her career at sea.

Bet it'll be tastier when they're cooked.

Jeff and I had taken a decision that we'd wait and see

which option came first, whether I fell pregnant

or if I got promoted to staff captain and...

nature won. Had a baby first.

Quite a dilemma, especially when you're at sea as a female.

You really have to give up the job

because I was away for four months at a time.

Where's the other one?

I couldn't imagine leaving Eliza for four months now at a time.

-Can you see them?

-Oh, look!

-Did you make those?

-Oh, they look nice.

-Ohhh, well done.

Did you have a smell?

-Do they smell good?

-They're nice.

They're nice. You don't need to let them cool.

Tools of the trade. Suited and booted.

Billy Duguid is one of 12 boatmen at the Harbour.

And today he's helping an offshore vessel to berth.

Just got to line them up. KL Brisfjord.

I'm going to stand where your stern's going to be.

Part of his job is to act

as a visual reference point for the captain.

Some of them don't move.

You've got to give them a wee bit of impetus, you know.

Says me.

You know, it's not like driving a car.

It's a big lump of ship.

Two astern please, Brisfjord.

I'm wrapped up like a polar bear, but the cold...!

BILLY LAUGHS

OK.

I'd say it's on the plus side of freezing, maybe two, three degrees.

Mid Tropical.

Palm trees are swaying over in Torry.

Look, a few coconuts falling.

OK, finished here? Stern?

That's my colleague, Craig.

Craig's a Fittie loon.

We didn't get on at first.

I'm a Torry loon, he's a Fittie loon.

The great divide.

There's always been rivalry between Torry and Footdee,

or Fittie, as it's more commonly known.

Two fishing communities in Aberdeen,

which both have links to the harbour.

Job well done.

Back in the boatman's bothy, the sparring continues.

As they used to say years ago,

Fittie for steak, Torry for mince.

-Torry for talent.

-Eh? Oh, here!

Fittie for no talent.

That's Fittie and Torry at war again, throwing steens at each other

fae one side of the Dee fae the next.

The ferry's Chief Engineer is Dougie Allan.

It's his job to start the engine around 15 minutes before departure.

So as you can see, four engines,

two for the one shaft and two for the other shaft.

Once the engines are connected to the propeller shaft,

the ferry's ready to move.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Scott.

Welcome on board the Hjaltland.

Gangway clear, yep? Props clear?

Standby.

BELLS RING

So that's him, he can go anytime.

Control on the bridge wing, all systems tested.

VTS, Hjaltland.

'Hjaltland, VTS.'

Afternoon again, ready for departure. Ready for the tanks.

Steady at 15.

The first thing the captain must do

is manoeuvre the ferry out of its berth.

You see these sticks here?

So he's going ahead on the port,

and he's going astern on the starboard shaft.

Just to get the ship off, he'll better thrust,

get the ship off the quay.

Yep, seen him there, thanks.

It's quite tricky. You have to keep slow because with a ship this size

going past other vessels, there's a bit of suction,

and it can move them in the berth quite a bit.

And then it's a case of getting lined up for what we call the cut,

which is the narrow bit.

The ferry is the main conduit for goods and vehicles

between the mainland and the Northern Isles.

BELL RINGS

So that's us going into full away. Just under 25 knots.

To reach the islands on schedule,

the ferry has to maintain that speed.

OK, we're on four engines, flat out. It's a lovely night for a sail.

Tim Wingate is another pilot at the harbour,

who has a seafaring background.

I'd always wanted to be a pilot.

It was always my mission to be a pilot.

It's the thing I enjoy most about the shipping industry.

There's still only one way for the pilot to board another vessel.

It's slippy.

And there's even been the odd occasion

when a pilot has ended up overboard.

Grabbing people out the water. Yeah, you've got to do that quick

cos that temperature's in this water is so cold,

it would kill you in minutes, you know.

Charlie, you need to take your work more seriously.

His next job reminds Tim of a time he wasn't quite so lucky

with his jump from one boat to another.

It was the Island Empress.

It was another supply boat about the same size

as this one we're going too.

It's got a little door in the side, a hobbit sized door,

and it was quite a big swell. So I had to time my jump.

As I jumped in the boat went up even higher,

cos the ship must have rolled down

so I kept going up as I jumped across,

and obviously I was bent down like that

but I still caught the top of my head on the door frame

and split my head open.

Yeah, you've got to be careful with that kind of thing.

It's one thing that's a constant danger in this job.

Any day you could actually have a nasty accident.

That's one thing that always plays on my mind anyway.

Yeah.

Olivia...!

Like his colleague Jeff, Tim also has a young family.

Oh, there you are!

His wife Nicola is also just days away from giving birth.

I basically haven't been comfortable for the past three nights

and then last night I got some pains which,

I would say, were quite similar to what labour was like with Olivia.

They're both wondering how Olivia will cope with a baby brother.

She's obviously been used to having 100% of our attention

and with a new baby coming, she's quite demanding of the attention,

in a nice way.

Olivia, where's mummy's baby?

Not there. It's in mummy's tummy.

Ooh!

I hope that I don't have to ring Tim at work in the middle of the night.

At the boatman's bothy, Billy's making plans for supper.

I think I'll have a cup of coffee before I get my scallops.

Scallops, you'll be lucky...

Billy you're right enough, the Calisha is coming in.

It's just passing the...

I dinna like shellfish, but I like a prawn cocktail crisp.

-That's right, aye.

-Maybe get lobsters and all?

No, no that's nae my thing at all.

Because they're still alive, man, you've got to kill them.

You just stick them in a pan of hot water.

I do not kill lobsters,

even when I was gutting fish, you know what I mean?

Many a haddock's came to his death.

Once or twice a week, Billy comes to barter for fresh scallops.

I asked the captain if you can give me some scallops.

He says "Yeah, it's no problem."

I have a bottle here.

This is Portuguese moonshine.

Very, very strong.

Only needs small piece.

Yeah, very strong.

Don't be going glug, glug, glug.

He acquired a taste for scallops when he worked on fishing boats.

That's a queen scallop. I'll clean this and eat this.

To clean a scallop, you call it shucking. To shuck a scallop.

Won't do you any harm.

Just a wee bit of grit.

That's right out the sea.

Nowadays, there are only one or two fishing boats

that dock regularly at the harbour.

Who'd have thought we'd tie up a supply boat at the fish market?

I didn't, you know, but it's happening now.

But you've got to move on, you know?

The oil's been good for Aberdeen.

You know, absolutely.

It's keeping me in a job right now, you know,

and thousands of others.

And will do for maybe another ten, 15, 20 years.

Maybe even more, who knows?

Almost as soon as the ferry sets sail,

the passengers start appearing for supper.

There are 42 crew on the Hjaltland

including restaurant supervisor Emma Sheridan.

You got your spoons. Oh, sorry love.

-Hi, Ange.

-Hi there, how we doing?

-Good, good.

It's always this busy, hun, in the summer,

can reach up to 500 passengers.

I'll take these glasses away.

Empty glasses of wine's never good, is it?

Tonight there are 381 passengers on board.

We're all very happy here, folks.

This is for June, earlier now. Near enough every day,

we've got between one and two coach parties

right the way through to June.

Check on! One cheese and one potted crab to go.

At the moment, we have four chefs, and that covers our operating times

from half past five in the morning until half past nine at night.

Iain Scott is the executive chef.

Like the rest of the crew, he does an 11-hour day, seven days a week.

Then it's two weeks on...

..and two weeks off.

Bit of pork loin there, we'll put a nice pepper sauce on it.

Make sure it's nice and soft.

There are two restaurants on the ferry.

Is this all finished, everything OK, guys? Thank you very much.

We produce in excess of half a million meals

through all our food outlets over a year, which is quite something.

Spot on. Spot on.

For Iain, catering on ferries has changed dramatically

over the past ten years.

I was brought up over on the west coast and I used the ferry service

there and I remember vividly, going there,

and it was like a little hatchway,

where they would put out a burger or a cup of tea in a polystyrene cup.

Now the customers expect what we've been offering.

It's not always easy to maintain that.

Today, we've got strawberry cheesecake,

caramel gateaux or mandarin cheesecake.

You OK over here, boy?

Go and brush your hair!

Wait till I get my make-up on.

Where's the make-up department?

There's always a lot of banter in the kitchen. Always.

Any chink in your armour is very quickly exposed.

For example, my bald head.

We never say nothing about your bald head.

Emma's proving a hit with the coach party.

Do you want a nice roast? Yeah we sure have.

Spoiling you now, babe. Let's see what me other little madam wants.

D'you want it with rice or chips?

Some chips. Peas and carrots? All right, all right.

Come on then, missy. Come on. Got you some nice roast lamb.

-I'm not pushing in?

-No, don't worry, love, don't worry.

She is, love. She is pushing in.

There we go, sweetness, is that OK for ya?

If you need anything else, give me a shout.

I'm from Liverpool,

and this tour group is actually from not far from where I actually live.

It's nice to see a tour group from locally

coming up as far north as this, it's really nice.

Give me a kiss. Give me a kiss.

Thank you very much. Someone that understands my lingo.

I think we're done, man. Thank you, dear.

16 hours after his day began, Iain is finally finishing up.

It's a floating hotel, I call it. Because that's what it is.

Back at the bothy, Billy's saved some scallops for the boys.

Bit of seepage.

There's nothing worse than a bit of a fresh discharge in the bothy.

Craig's on hand to offer some culinary advice.

I told him you were a chef.

I trained as a chef.

Just pan fry it in butter.

Well, I'm going to put some butter in the frying pan.

As you can see, let that melt. Come dine with me.

I'll put the scallops in, cover them with that butter.

But these are fresh,

these were probably just caught maybe this morning even.

Not long now.

Aw that's beautiful, really.

Etiquette.

Here's Peppa in your book, isn't it?

On the 28th January 2012, baby Harrison was born.

It's a good job that he's a good sleeper.

I was off for my holidays, so we were both at home,

and then Nicola had the first inclination

that she was in labour in the morning, and then by the afternoon

we were in hospital in Aberdeen and in the evening he was here.

Just like that.

Come on, you going to sit on mummy's knee?

There. Ohh! You going to give him a kiss?

She's been really good, we were quite worried how she'd react,

-but she loves him I think.

-Is that your baby?

Only two years ago, I didn't have any children,

and now I'm like...a full family,

with two children, as you can see.

Yeah, some in the pond as well.

Are you going to stand up and throw your bread?

Three days later, Clare gave birth to Hannah.

Right, can daddy have the bread and I'll give you some?

You have to break it up for them and throw it.

Jeff is beginning to feel the odd one out in a house full of girls.

I just have to get the football, get the Sky package,

the sports package and assert my masculinity.

I go to work, and that's full of women anyway, so...

-Mrs Puddleduck.

-Go, Mrs Puddleduck.

This is it for us now. No more.

There's some more!

# The grand old Duke of York

# 10,000 men... #

It's been 12 and a half hours since the ferry left Aberdeen.

And it's now approaching Lerwick in Shetland, its final destination.

All four steering motors on for arrival,

so she's nice and reactive when we need to steer.

We're just setting up for service, which starts at half past six.

We're quite ahead of ourselves this morning, so we're doing quite well.

The coach party has also arrived for breakfast.

Bacon and sausage, please. Thank you, my darling.

Do you want a job making teas and coffees on the coach.

Yeah, you can do my job for the day, teas and coffees.

Tea and coffees on the coach if you want, Emma.

It's the first visit to the islands for Olive and Andy Shaw-Pollard,

who organise coach tours throughout the UK.

Evening meal last night,

I don't think we had a single complaint.

Well, they were all happy with that, weren't they? Good choice.

Half an hour before arrival, the deck crew are mustered.

That's us lining up for the buoys now in the harbour.

At the moment, the boys are setting up the lines for tying up.

All set up, ready to rock.

Through the buoys, bit of a turn out and then round

and onto the berth, lined up perfectly fine.

Steering clear of the buoys.

A bit chilly the day, Alec, with your coat on, man?

Thought you were a Shetland man, should be used to this.

In total, they use eight ropes to tie the ferry up,

four at each end.

Stern lines on. That's a perfect length there as well, my man.

Good today.

Three foot to go. Holding on, holding on.

All yours.

Make fast, boys, one and a half auto tension.

OK. Winches on one and a half.

So that's us all fast now.

The winches have been set on one and a half auto tension

so the lines won't get slack and we will be staying alongside

and in position perfectly fine.

The winches will do it themselves. All right?

Time to discharge now.

You're on Blind Date, darling.

The coach party is off for a guided tour of Shetland.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

We might get a toy boy if they show it anywhere, mightn't we?

Just hang on one second. I'll just go and find the last two.

Two, two, two.

But two of them are missing.

Joan?

Dennis? No, wrong one, sorry.

I think somebody's given me the wrong number.

Definitely not 222.

Oh, here they are.

OK then guys, let's go. Wagons roll.

You'll be wishing you'd left us at home.

The crew have just 12 hours

before the ferry is ready to leave.

Heads will roll.

And make the 269 mile return journey...

..back to Aberdeen Harbour.

Coming up, Billy takes a tumble.

Goodbye, cruel world!

And a naming ceremony doesn't quite go according to plan.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd