Episode 5 The Harbour

Aberdeen harbour.

Yeah, so you can pick up to a speed

of between five and six knots, please.

A multimillion pound business

at the cutting edge of maritime technology...

Right, bridge on the move, Bob.

Roger, on the move, guys.

..where everyone works together...

They can't swim, these guys, you know. They want to!

HE LAUGHS

You've got to be on the ball, you've got to be alert.

..in the most challenging conditions...

If he gets caught in that, it'll drag him over the side.

-What the

-BLEEP

-happened there, man?!

..to keep the harbour running...

Oh, my God!

Come on. Come on!

Urgh!

CHEERING

..every single day of the year.

We are looking good on starboard side.

No, we don't drive a St Marie.

The navigation channel at the harbour's entrance

is only 70m wide...

..and many of the larger vessels have to be taken in

and out by a more experienced hand...

like Derek Cloots or new pilot Ali Akbar.

This has been the best day of the year.

It's the best morning I've seen.

We'll certainly start seeing the oil.

Yeah, definitely, lucky.

They are heading out to the bay for the Stolt Redshank.

On this ship, I am a trainee.

And I don't have the licence to bring her in on my own

so that's why Derek is here with me.

OK, Ali, I think we can call them in. Say, six knots or so.

Stolt Redshank...

It's a challenge to bring in the fully loaded tanker.

This one is a little bit tricky

because she does not manoeuvre very well.

This one doesn't like stopping.

Stopping, yes, she is very difficult to stop.

And when you do stop she tends to go one way or the other.

But the most dangerous part of a pilot's job is

crossing from one boat to another.

As deckhand Charlie Monroe knows only too well.

Make sure the deck's OK.

The ladder, inspected before they go on board.

Because some ships, their ladders are...not right, you know?

So, I've got to watch all this for these guys, you know.

Ali has been at sea for the past 15 years.

But this is the first time he's ever worked as a pilot.

There we go, we're keeping him right.

That's it.

What would you give yourself out of ten? Seven?

It was OK, I would say. It was good, it was not the best.

-Seven.

-Seven out of ten.

A seven out of ten job, no real errors, just not tidy.

You know, but at the same time the captain is very happy, told me

he did a very good job so at the end of the day, we got a happy customer.

We will learn slowly and

we will be able to do it on our own.

At home in Torry,

barmaid Val Morrison is getting ready for a charity parade.

If he was a nice looking man

and I was walking down the street, you would take a look

and think, "Jesus, that's like your granny out for a day!"

She'll probably kill me when she hears

what I've said about her sweatshirt.

Honestly, you could get two of me in there!

It was her friend Maggie who gave Val the sweatshirt.

You better give me a 16, I said,

because I said I won't get into a 14.

But I got a new tip off the internet -

how to come down in weight without dieting.

It says you have to take a hold of your belly like that, shake it up and

down, four times a day and I don't know what it is but you lose weight.

You do not need to diet. And I came by my belly.

Christ, it would've been out here!

Maggie runs Bosies,

a charity shop which raises money for breast cancer.

Maggie got her breast off for breast cancer.

So she kens first-hand.

She kens first-hand like it is.

I'm lucky, touch wood, I've sailed through my life and I'm really,

really lucky and if I can help somebody else, it's fine.

The only drawback is having to wear the pink top.

If it wasn't the parade today, buy me something that doesn't make me

look like a blancmange!

On dive support vessel The Bibby Sapphire...

..cook Haimi Pacia is hard at work.

Jimmy, as he is better known...is one of 13 Filipino crewmen.

I making a curry for tonight.

I am making three menus. One is a beef curry and one is hunter chicken.

SIZZLING

It will be cook slowly, slowly. Nice and tender.

Pappadum.

Six months we are on board and then three months at home.

His wife and four children are all back home in Manila.

Oh...

Every time you miss them. We miss them.

It's a good curry now, good colour.

It's very important!

Because everybody is working, they need to have nice food.

I normally come through about ten minutes before the hot food

is out and make all the salads and get all the cutlery and stuff ready.

Assistant life support technician, Nancy Orton,

also knows how crucial food is to the divers.

The whole time they are in the water they go hungry,

so their return meal is what they look forward to.

Especially when a diver can burn up to 5,000 calories a day.

Well, I like to make sure they have more than less, if you know I mean.

I think I probably feed them a bit too much, to be honest.

But...

You don't need all that extra energy.

No. No.

George does. Look.

HE LAUGHS

This is where we send through anything, laundry...

tea, coffee...

This one is a nice size, but some of them are really small.

When we blow it down we have to make sure there's no leaks coming out.

And then...

you blow it down slow, because it can explode or implode, anything,

that's in there.

-Take your door. OK. Hello, Nance.

-'Hello.'

-Take the door.

'Going for it now.'

I've exploded loads.

Soup mainly is my favourite to blow up.

But I've exploded salads, all sorts. You name it, I can blow it up.

-'You got that?'

-Yeah, we got it. Thanks, guys.

That's the weirdest part, sometimes you can do a whole trip

and not meet the diver.

They'll hear your voice and you'll sort of see their thumb

and that's all you get.

Yeah, and then they lock back their old stuff.

Many of the 8,000 ships that pass to the harbour every year

have a foreign crew.

You've just arrived? You poor thing. You OK for phone cards?

And Howard Drysdale gives them all a warm welcome.

We're open 6pm to 10pm every night.

Take care, my friend.

Howard is port chaplain

and superintendent of the Seafarers' Centre.

Let's have some light.

HE HUMS

We need a bit of hoovering, I think.

It opened in December 2011,

after Howard spent years trying to get it off the ground.

The centre has just gone from strength to strength.

It costs roughly 100,000 to run the centre and £80,000 is my salary

and 20,000 for opening the centre.

I wish!

HE LAUGHS

If only!

If only. I'm going to go and put the computers on.

HE HUMS

The centre is just across the road from the harbour.

A place where seafarers can come for advice and support.

Make yourself at home, boys. All right?

-Is it free?

-Free, yeah, no charge, no charge.

-You know you can send a message?

-Yeah, here.

When did you join the ship?

-Just...a week ago.

-So you just arrived?

-Yeah.

-And how long are you staying for?

-Six months.

-Six months?

-Six months.

As you see, I don't preach at the guys.

If they talk about spiritual issues I'll talk about them,

but if they don't, then I'm not going to.

-And they're very open with me.

-And my wife is here.

She is a queen! A princess!

There's a problem with the pilot ladder.

On a ship that Ali's just brought in.

It's not good enough, you know.

That ladder shouldn't be like that.

It should be straight, because in bad weather it will shoot up.

There's just one more ship waiting to come in.

Yeah, good morning, guys.

If you'd like to make your way towards the entrance now,

I'll board you starboard side.

It's the only ship that Derek has to steel himself to board.

This is the boat that broke the ladder.

This is the one where the ladder fell away.

The deckie caught me on the deck

but stopped me going in between the two boats.

He was off work for a month with his injuries.

It nearly killed me.

It's a psychological issue with this one but I'm getting over it.

That's why I'm coming out now. Before, I would never have done this.

I'd just say to Ali, "You get this one, I'll get the other one."

It's only the second time that Derek has brought her in

since the accident.

The company procedures have all been shaken up.

I've got no issues at all with how they dealt with things.

They've made things better for us all, yeah.

Got a nice cup of coffee and a handful of peanuts,

so can't complain, really, you know.

WOMEN CHATTER

That looks good, doesn't it? Nice and pink.

It's just over an hour until the parade begins.

And Val's given in to wearing the pink sweatshirt.

Nice!

SHE LAUGHS

Look! It hugs you on your belly.

Val is not the only one from the harbour taking part.

Just waiting for the sun to come out. It's dry.

HE LAUGHS

-How are you feeling, ladies?

-We're fine.

-What's your breast charity?

-Bosies!

Jut checking our breasts.

I'm going to play about wi' your breasts.

Listen, wi' a sexy T-shirt like this,

naebody's gonna friggin' play about wi' MY breasts!

LAUGHTER

On the Bibby Sapphire,

they're connecting the pipeline to the new oil well.

Or tying in the flexible.

Diver one, coming to you.

There's the flexible there,

there's the flange that they are tying into the well there.

Close up just now.

Just trying to close in slowly without disturbing them at work.

Got the flange split there?

Taff Reese is the dive supervisor.

When you're happy it's separated,

you can remove the connection from that bleed valve, yeah?

As an ex-diver himself,

he knows the challenges his men face underwater.

People assume that you can't swing a hammer. You can still swing hammers.

The hardest thing sometimes is finding purchase points to do so.

But I mean, it's a great job, really, you know what I mean?

-You still love it, John, don't you?

-'Yeah!'

HE LAUGHS

You're living the dream, aren't you, John?

You're like a machine today, John. You're like a machine.

So the next phase now would be to clean this up

and then get that oil and gas pumping.

But after six hours in the water it's time for the next team

to take over.

Up on diver one, please, mate.

He just climbs, it's like the Indian rope trick.

Hand over hand up his umbilical.

OK, he's climbing.

Yeah, John is like a young gazelle, so he's up there really quick, look.

Gercha!

He's gone back inside.

OK, he's got you.

-Bridge, 19.

-That's the bell going.

-Bridge, bell on surface 06.

-'Roger.'

-Clamps on.

-Good work. Have the rest of the night off.

-'Yeah, it's a good seal. Thanks.'

-All right, mate, speak to you later.

-Going off-comms. Have a good one.

-'Roger.'

And that's it.

Howard is preparing for a very special afternoon.

I love doing christenings. They're always good fun.

They are happy occasions.

Most of the ships that I've christened I've got

a very good relationship with.

I go on and they're always, "Oh, hi, Bish, what's the latest?"

Now for the moment of glory.

Off we go.

With my executive briefcase!

The ship being christened

is platform supply vessel, the Sea Falcon.

Right, well, I'll hold the bottle and you tie it.

Peter Ferguson runs an events management company

and it's only the second christening he's done.

It is not proving easy, to be fair,

but I'm sure we'll get it to stick on with some gaffer tape.

-There we go. That's a really pretty bow.

-Yes. Does it reach the boat?

-It reaches the boat.

-Now, does it...?

-I hope it stays there!

-HE LAUGHS

-HE LAUGHS

-Oh!

-It's coming away!

-What's coming away?

-It's slipping!

HE LAUGHS

Ohhh...

Then Howard arrives.

Here comes Howard. Jolly good timing.

With the rain.

-You must be Howard. Peter. Pleased to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

I'm getting more and more stressed as the minutes go on.

-Getting this damn bottle to hang over right.

-LAUGHTER

-I love a challenge.

-You need a sharp edge on the boat.

If it goes at that angle it's not going to break,

I tell you right now.

-I've cuffed it at the back.

-I'll take your word for it.

-We'll wait and see.

-LAUGHTER

It'll go skiting right along!

It's always a worrying moment for the godmother.

Will the bottle smash?

I'm sure it will.

Just wait and see what happens.

Thank you. Bye.

One of the benefits of being a pilot is the amount of time

that Ali is able to spend with his family.

Thank you.

I have three daughters and...

11 years old, eight and six years old.

That is for your birthday!

He's taking the whole family for a short cruise around the harbour.

Up! Up!

-I want to sit down here.

-Me too.

-You want to sit on here?

You can sit on here.

We are going to show them about ships, because they are very

curious about what I do and what type of ship I bring into the port.

You see these three ships alongside each other?

It's not long before he spots his own boat.

The pilot is boarding the ship. This ship is sailing.

-And Ali even recognises the pilot.

-That is Tim.

Wave your hand! Wave your hand! Wave your hand!

The pilot is here!

-PILOT:

-Hello!

ALI LAUGHS

They think that I just bring in the ship and take them outside,

but how we actually do it, they don't know anything about it.

She is the only one with interest in my job.

Even if his daughter has some strange ideas

about what his job entails.

-Do you drive a submarine?

-No, we don't drive a submarine.

WHOOPING

WHISTLES BLOW

It may not be real,

but there's definitely a carnival atmosphere

on Aberdeen's main street.

What a brilliant atmosphere! Smashing!

CHEERING

Hello, ladies!

-I'm glad I put on a

-BLEEP

-sweatshirt now, cos it's freezing!

3,500 people,

representing over 130 charities,

have all come to raise their profile.

One, two, three, Bosies!

And collect some cash.

I hope you put money into my jar!

-If you can buy designer claes, you miserable

-BLEEP,

you can put 10 pence in here!

Gies some money for our box!

-Give us 10 pence, you miserable

-BLEEP.

-Get your money out!

Move!

Hello! The Lord Provost himself!

Hello, Lord Provost, how are you?

Can we shake your hand, yes? This is the best charity.

Hey, Maggie, wait for me!

As the afternoon progresses, the weather deteriorates.

Oh, my God!

Death by red carpet!

I think we just take it away, roll it up. Take it away.

-It's too windy.

-I didn't realise you were supplying a flying carpet.

The Sea Falcon took two years and cost around £30 million to build.

It's a momentous occasion for everyone involved.

Sea-farers generally are a very superstitious, religious

mix of people who would be very uncomfortable sailing on a vessel

that's not been christened.

I prayed for the rain to stop. I forgot about the wind!

Well caught!

Hello! Good afternoon, how are you?

As the guests arrive, Peter is there to welcome them.

Windy!

But the wind is one thing he has no control over.

Who would have thought naming a ship would be so stressful?

I think we're going to get started a wee bit sooner.

Everybody's here. Get you in out of the wind.

Rather earlier than anticipated, the ceremony starts.

I came down to the vessel this morning at 8:30,

and it was heaving with rain, so I said a prayer,

"Lord, just take that rain away," and he's done it! Wonderful!

But I forgot about the wind!

Blessing a ship is a tradition that's many thousands of years old.

It is my honour to formally name you the Sea Falcon.

May God bless you,

and may everlasting happiness and good fortune

follow you and your crews.

Thank you.

And as for that bottle...

First time, well done!

HORN SOUNDS

OK, that'll do.

Even if they do get carried away with the horn.

Stop, stop, stop!

It has taken 13 hours for the Baby Sapphire to reach Aberdeen.

Ship's captain Hugh Jones is letting his chief officer

drive her into the harbour.

He's got to learn so we let him do it, when we can.

I have to elbow him out the way sometimes. Get my hands on it.

Good morning. That's us full stop half a mile from the port.

On shift today is Ali.

-How are you, sir?

-Very good, thanks.

Draft at 6.5? Region 4?

Region 4.

-He's going to take us all the way to the berth.

-Fine, sir.

This is only the second time that they have brought the ship in.

Baby Sapphire on approach.

We are reducing the speed slowly, slowly, sir.

It will be a testing time for both men.

You can bring her to 310.

They have to make sure she can turn in the basin.

And start the swing. Yes, please.

Even when there's not much room to manoeuvre.

She's wide clear from the installation. No problem.

We are looking good on starboard side.

The heading will be 115, will be OK.

-If you just get alongside there.

-Thank you.

He's in position now so he's just going sideways.

Baby Sapphire, alongside region 4, making fast.

Looking good.

Just got to tie up now. The boy done good.

Enjoy your holidays.

-Thank you, Ali.

-I'll see you next time.

Nice job and I'll see you next time. Thank you, sir.

Bye.

That's my job done.

What you do, you do it on your own yourself

and when you finish a job,

you get that satisfaction, which you wanted.

That's what I need and I'm here for that reason, and I'm enjoying it.

Coming up, Howard gets a royal seal of approval.

These centres make a real difference to their lives

but to the lives of their families too.

And Val's crowned the Harbour Queen.

"Harbour Queen aka Val." That's lovely!

You're welcome.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd