0:00:02 > 0:00:07Comedienne Sarah Millican was born in South Shields in 1975.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11She recently moved to her new home, near Manchester.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13It's a bit weird buying a house,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15cos I've never owned anywhere before,
0:00:15 > 0:00:18so it's nice having different rooms for different purposes,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22instead of an office/living room/kitchen/diner!
0:00:22 > 0:00:24APPLAUSE
0:00:26 > 0:00:30In 2008, Sarah scooped a Best Newcomer Award.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32APPLAUSE
0:00:32 > 0:00:33Hello!
0:00:33 > 0:00:36And she's now one of the country's most sought-after comics.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38You all having a good night?
0:00:38 > 0:00:39CHEERING
0:00:41 > 0:00:45She attributes her success to a life-changing experience -
0:00:45 > 0:00:48when her marriage, of seven years, ended.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'He just stopped loving me, and,'
0:00:51 > 0:00:56while that was horrific at the time, thank God it happened because...
0:00:56 > 0:00:58it gave me...
0:00:58 > 0:01:00such balls, if you like.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03I'd hoped that I'd make a living doing stand-up comedy.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07I never really thought that I'd be where I am.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08APPLAUSE
0:01:09 > 0:01:11'I'm very proud to be from the North East.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14'I think it's important to remember where you come from.'
0:01:16 > 0:01:20I want to find out if my family have always been in South Shields.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Isn't that ridiculous?! The whole world that they could be in,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25and you just think I bet we've just lived, I bet they lived,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28like, two or three streets away from where my mum and dad are now.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I hope I don't find out anything really horrible!
0:01:31 > 0:01:36I do hope it's positive and nice and something that we can be proud of.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14I'm off to see my parents in South Shields...
0:02:14 > 0:02:18cos my dad's done a little bit of digging re the family tree,
0:02:18 > 0:02:20and I want to see where he got up to.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25This journey to my mum and dad's, I've done a lot.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28I've even got, this is really sad, I've got a playlist
0:02:28 > 0:02:30on my iPod for, erm...
0:02:30 > 0:02:34driving home, that is just full of Geordie songs. It's-It's just...
0:02:34 > 0:02:37it has, it has got some awful, awful things on there.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39It's got Robson and Jerome on, I don't mind telling you,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41it's got Robson and Jerome on.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47Sarah's parents, Valerie and Phillip, were married in 1965.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Her mother was a hairdresser
0:02:49 > 0:02:53and her father worked at the local colliery, for over 30 years.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57He absolutely hates laziness.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01When I was a kid, he used to work down the pit seven days a week,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04sometimes, sort of, 12-hour shifts.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06My mam's got a very dark sense of humour,
0:03:06 > 0:03:07which I think I've inherited.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10She's potentially the funniest of all of us -
0:03:10 > 0:03:12but don't... don't tell her I told you that.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15DOORBELL RINGS
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Right, Sarah.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19- Hello. - Hi, darling, how are you, all right?
0:03:19 > 0:03:22- It's nice to see you.- Lovely to see you. All right, come in.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Now, you've done...you've done a little bit of research
0:03:26 > 0:03:28- into the family tree, haven't you? - Yes.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Now, what do you know about your side?
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Well, what it was, was, I got stuck - I found it...it was expensive
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and then I found you've got to have a lot of time available.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Did you get stopped at your grandad? Was that where you got stuck?
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Cos you never met your grandad, did you?
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Never met any of me grandads, er...
0:03:46 > 0:03:47and me dad died when I was 15,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50so I never had time to actually, you know,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54- find out off me dad all the information, you see.- Hm.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Do you think, through generations gone by,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00that we've always been based,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02not necessarily South Shields, but in the North East in general?
0:04:02 > 0:04:05- Do you think we've always been here? Have you..?- No, I don't.- No.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Something said about me dad's side of the family being from Scotland.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12Where they were, I don't know.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14I think it's quite nice to think that your family have always
0:04:14 > 0:04:17been in the North East, and stayed because they liked it.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19I find it quite boring. I'd love to think...
0:04:19 > 0:04:20You think that people have had adventures?
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Oh, absolutely, absolutely, yes.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28Cos I'm 67 and I'm going to start adventures any time.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30- Really?- Yep.- OK.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Are you going to let us know when you're going?
0:04:32 > 0:04:33THEY LAUGH
0:04:33 > 0:04:35- Yeah.- Ah, well!
0:04:35 > 0:04:37OK. Now, Mam,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39what do you know about your side?
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Cos you think there's money from way, way, way back, don't you?
0:04:42 > 0:04:43- I know there is.- You know there is?
0:04:43 > 0:04:45- Yep.- What makes you think that?
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Well, me, erm, mum's mum, had their own house which was...
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Years ago, nobody bought their own house.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57What they had in the house was a beautiful, erm...piano, grand piano.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59- Ooh, posh!- Dead posh.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02So, I definitely know there was money,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05but me mum never, ever saw any of it at all.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08- So, this is a picture of your mum and dad.- That's right, yes, yeah.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Er, James Prince and Gladys Hoult.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13So, this is the side of the family that you think the money's on?
0:05:13 > 0:05:16- Money, yeah. That's it. - On her side?- Yeah, yeah.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Don't you think everybody thinks that there's money in their family?
0:05:19 > 0:05:20I think everybody thinks,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24"Is there somebody in the past who's squandered me inheritance?"
0:05:24 > 0:05:25THEY LAUGH
0:05:25 > 0:05:27- Who's spent our money? - Spent our money!
0:05:31 > 0:05:32Both my mam and dad think that we haven't
0:05:32 > 0:05:34been in South Shields for ever.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37My mum seems to think that we have travellers
0:05:37 > 0:05:39and adventurers in the family - cos I think
0:05:39 > 0:05:41that's what you want, really, isn't it?
0:05:41 > 0:05:43So, it's interesting to see if there is a history of that,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45that I have rebelled against.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49What I want to find out now is whether it is a myth that
0:05:49 > 0:05:53there's money in the family, er, or whether it's true.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00To find out if there was a fortune, on her mother's side,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Sarah has asked for a maternal family tree to be drawn up,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06by local genealogist, Katherine Pringle.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Right, Sarah, this is the family tree on your mother's side, OK.
0:06:13 > 0:06:14Oh, my god!
0:06:16 > 0:06:19So, oh, so, right, OK, so we work our way up.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21It's all lovely, laid out and everything, isn't it?
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Yeah, it's beautiful writing.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25So, OK, so this is who I know.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29So, this is where we get, so, er, Grandma, who I never met.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32So her...her dad was a fitter...
0:06:32 > 0:06:34ah, William the fitter
0:06:34 > 0:06:37and father, William the fitter.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39A ship's stoker.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40- Wow, isn't it amazing?- Yeah.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43So, these are all very, sort of, traditional, North East trades.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Yes. Yeah. You know, it's like me dad,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48where they're all proper Geordie bloke jobs, aren't they?
0:06:48 > 0:06:49Yeah, they really are.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52It's really weird to see it all laid out -
0:06:52 > 0:06:55to think that I'm related to all of these people, you know, it's...
0:06:55 > 0:06:56Yeah, right, all your ancestors.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58And a diver!
0:06:59 > 0:07:01- A diver!- Yeah.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03And that was in the 1800s?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Yep, 1812, so...
0:07:05 > 0:07:07- A diver!- Yep.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09I'm astonished by that.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11In all the years I've been researching family trees,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- I've never come across a diver before.- Really?
0:07:14 > 0:07:16So, this is a really unusual occupation.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22So, James, the diver, is her great grandparents' great, great...
0:07:22 > 0:07:25- great, great, great.- Yep. - Three greats.- Yep, yep, yep.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28- Three greats equals awesome. - It does, yeah.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31I assumed somebody hadn't written that right.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32I did glance and think...
0:07:32 > 0:07:34(it means driver!)
0:07:35 > 0:07:38I was still thinking, it's really quite impressive, isn't it?
0:07:38 > 0:07:41I only passed me test five years ago!
0:07:41 > 0:07:42- Oh, right!- I'm quite impressed!
0:07:42 > 0:07:45- That would be an achievement, then. - Yeah!- Yeah. Yeah.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47- Hello! In Kent.- Whitstable!
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Mum and Dad are going to be gutted -
0:07:49 > 0:07:52they're not going to be pleased we've got Southerners in the family.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54I think they were hoping it would be North...
0:07:54 > 0:07:56- Oh, right.- Or Scottish or, yeah...
0:07:56 > 0:07:59And, it's just, it's completely floored me.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02My mam has this thing where she thinks that there's money
0:08:02 > 0:08:05in the family and I wonder where, cos, you see, none of these jobs,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08the fitters and that - your money comes in, your money goes out.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- Yeah.- That's, you know, how you survive. But, a diver!- Yes.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14I don't...I've never met a diver, I don't know,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16presumably that's quite well-paid, compared to these.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Anyway, you would think so.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22- Mother, you might be right. - She might be right.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26How would you be a diver, as a job, in the 1800s?
0:08:26 > 0:08:29- I'm going to go to Kent and find out why.- Yeah.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Sarah's starting her search for information by heading south
0:08:35 > 0:08:38to Whitstable, on the Kent coast.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46She's meeting diving historian, Dr John Bevan.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48- Hello.- Hello.- Lovely to meet you.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50- Lovely to meet you, too. - Thank you very much, love.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59So, John, I found out that my great, great, great, three greats,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03my great, great, great grandad, James Hoult, was a diver
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and was born here in Whitstable in 1812.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08What can you tell me about him?
0:09:08 > 0:09:12I've found one or two interesting things about James Hoult.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14I'm very excited! Tell me... Tell me more!
0:09:14 > 0:09:16- OK.- What have you got?- Right, well,
0:09:16 > 0:09:17this is one of the things I turned up.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20This is, actually, the registration of a boat.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Wow, there's a lot of swirly writing, isn't there?
0:09:23 > 0:09:24Yeah, it's quite old.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26So, William is..? That's the name of the ship?
0:09:26 > 0:09:27That's right.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32So, the 1st of January, er, 1837...
0:09:32 > 0:09:34there he is, James Hoult,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36- 25.- That's his, erm...
0:09:36 > 0:09:37- Seaman.- Position, Seaman.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40"Seaman. Played the whole time fishing in..."
0:09:40 > 0:09:43- Assisting.- "..assisting ships in..."
0:09:44 > 0:09:45God, I feel like I'm five again.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47- Sorry.- Distress.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49I'm glad you're here! Distress. Oh, in distress...
0:09:49 > 0:09:52- Yes, it's a funny spelling. - The whole of the time.- Hmm.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Now that means he's a salvager.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Now salvaging is very dangerous - er, you have to go out there in...
0:09:57 > 0:09:59in horrendous conditions.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02These are expert boatmen, they would go out there during a storm
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and they'd go and assist people, save their lives, but then,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07of course, they'd help themselves to the cargo, if they could.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11- Oh, OK.- And that's salvage. - So, brave and smart.- Absolutely.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13The law of salvage - if you bring a vessel in, er,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16- you're entitled to the value of it. - Finders keepers.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18That's quite canny, isn't it?
0:10:18 > 0:10:21If you were very lucky, you'd make a lot of money out of salvage.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Every now and then, there could be a bonanza.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25- A bonanza!- Hmm.- Good word.- Hm.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31By navigating the treacherous waters along the Kent coast,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33salvagers, like James, became expert boatmen...
0:10:35 > 0:10:37..but their income was unpredictable.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40They hoped to land a fortune,
0:10:40 > 0:10:45but day-to-day made a living pulling up sunken cargo off the sea bed
0:10:45 > 0:10:47and recovering abandoned anchors.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Unable to salvage beneath the water,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54all they had were ropes and basic grappling tools,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57which they used from the boat above.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00And, this is where it gets really interesting.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02Have a look at that.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05OK. So it's now 1838...
0:11:05 > 0:11:07James Hoult, and he's now, er,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09"played the whole time in fishing and diving."
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Ah, now this is diving - cos it was fishing and, er,
0:11:13 > 0:11:14and boats in distress.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17The fact that that says "diving" there is extremely important,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20because the fact they've actually written it in as a...occupation
0:11:20 > 0:11:24means they are using the word diving for one of the first times.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26As a job, wow!
0:11:26 > 0:11:29This is the sort of helmet that James Hoult would have been using.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Wow! You see, this is what I thought, this is what I visualised,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35- when I found out that he was a diver. - Hmm.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37This is what's called a Deane Open Helmet.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41The diving helmet had first been invented in the early 1800s.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45John Deane, the co-inventor of the diving helmet, lived in Whitstable.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47This is why the diving industry started here -
0:11:47 > 0:11:50it went around the rest of the world from Whitstable.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53So James Hoult becomes one of that first group of divers.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54Wow, really?
0:11:54 > 0:11:56So, James Hoult is very special.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59So, one of the first divers ever, not just in the UK, but ever?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Ever.
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Wow!
0:12:02 > 0:12:04That's amazing, isn't it?
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Er, this is actually called an Open Helmet.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09- Mm-hm.- And, it's called that because the principle is,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11it's like having a bucket over your head
0:12:11 > 0:12:13with the water level at the bottom of the bucket,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16being supplied with air from the surface.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19The disadvantage of this, of course, is if you lean forward...
0:12:19 > 0:12:22- Oh, yes.- ..the air rushes out the back, and the water rushes in,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and you can drown.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25Sounds horrific.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27So, this was, obviously, an incredibly risky job.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Was there a high proportion of deaths by this, then?
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Er, by the end of the 1830s there must have been
0:12:33 > 0:12:36about 30-odd divers, most of them in Whitstable.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40And, out of these 30 divers, at least five of them died.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42God!
0:12:42 > 0:12:43So, that's one in six divers.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46- That's a huge proportion, isn't it? - It's a huge proportion.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49- It was very dangerous, was... - But not James...not James!
0:12:51 > 0:12:54The chance of drowning was a risk these early divers,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57like James, were prepared to take.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00For the first time, they could go underwater to depths of
0:13:00 > 0:13:04up to 60 feet and search for valuable cargo on the sea floor.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10To me, these are very brave people, seriously brave people.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13To just...just go down there in the darkness and feel around.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Yes. But know that there's a treasure somewhere, with your name on it.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Absolutely! Yeah!
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Amazing! Thank you ever so much.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28I'm thrilled by what I've just found out.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32Erm, I think just the fact that there was somebody in the family who was
0:13:32 > 0:13:35a real pioneer, and really adventurous and a real risk taker,
0:13:35 > 0:13:40considering that's the opposite of what I am in every way, is astonishing.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Divers, like James, were starting to put Whitstable on the map.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50This small coastal town, known for its oyster fishing,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53became the birth place of the modern diving industry.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00To experience for herself the early diving gear
0:14:00 > 0:14:04James would have worn, Sarah is meeting Gary Wallace-Potter
0:14:04 > 0:14:07and Peter Wingett from The Historical Diving Society.
0:14:07 > 0:14:08- Hello.- Hello, Sarah.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11- Hello, hiya.- Hello, I'm Peter. - Nice to meet you, I'm Sarah, hello.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14- I'm Gary. - Nice to meet you, Gary, thank you.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16That's very exciting. Wow!
0:14:16 > 0:14:17Oh, my god.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20- Would you actually like to try a suit on?- Absolutely.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21- Yeah?- Yeah.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- Well, we can do that.- OK.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26- OK. So, erm... - What size is it?
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- One size fits all.- Really?- Yes.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30I've been in that situation before, you know!
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Yeah, no, honest, yeah, one size fits all.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I hope you've got a couple of shoehorns!
0:14:35 > 0:14:36- Yeah.- Oh, my god!
0:14:36 > 0:14:39What I'm going to do is put talc on the seals,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41makes it easier to get in and out.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44OK. I'm more worried about these at the front, to be honest.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47All right. The next thing is we're going to put the breast plate on.
0:14:47 > 0:14:48There we go.
0:14:50 > 0:14:51We'll tighten this right down,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and this is to make sure that you don't get wet.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58- Now it's the helmet. - Yeah. Oh, no!
0:14:58 > 0:15:00OK.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03The open bucket type of helmet that James started diving in was
0:15:03 > 0:15:08superseded in the 1840s by a helmet which was closed and watertight.
0:15:08 > 0:15:09That's it.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12HE KNOCKS ON HELMET
0:15:12 > 0:15:13Come in!
0:15:16 > 0:15:17Right, there you go.
0:15:17 > 0:15:18Wow, that is heavy.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23James could now move more freely underwater to salvage.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Air was pumped to his helmet, keeping him alive,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31but was also trapped in his suit, making him buoyant.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33The only way James could stay underwater was to carry
0:15:33 > 0:15:36a huge amount of weight.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38- D'you actually want to try the full weight?- Yeah.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40- Yeah?- Totally.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Right, so...
0:15:42 > 0:15:44- bring your hands up. - Yeah, yep.- All right.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46How much do these weigh?
0:15:46 > 0:15:51They're 40 lbs or, what's that? About 18 kilos each.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53So, you've got one on the front, one on the back.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56The boots had a lead sole to counteract the buoyancy.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59- Um, right.- If he lost his boots, you could be talking about
0:15:59 > 0:16:02- a diver being inverted.- Oh, my god. It's horrific, isn't it?
0:16:02 > 0:16:03- Yeah.- Whoa, they weigh a ton.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06- Right, OK.- Wow, OK.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09That is heavy.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11- I can't believe I said yes to this!- Right.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Right. Here we go, then.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17- Here we go. - Leave go, yep. Both leave go.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22That's 9½ stone on your shoulders.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25- And then another 2½ stone on your feet.- Really?
0:16:25 > 0:16:27And then you'd have to climb down the ladder,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30- over the side of the boat. - I've gotta do a ladder...!
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- Yeah.- ..after all of this!- Down the ladder, into the water.- Yes.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35But then, of course, the worst bit is - face plate.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37- Face plate in now.- Oh, no!
0:16:40 > 0:16:41KNOCKS ON HELMET
0:16:41 > 0:16:43SHE LAUGHS
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Let's get her out.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47- Yep.- Now that was claustrophobic. - OK, all right.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50- Yeah, yeah.- Helmet coming off. - All right.- Yep.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Oh!
0:16:52 > 0:16:53- Wow.- There you go.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57It's amazing to think that this is what James Hoult did.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00You know, this was probably every day, do you think?
0:17:00 > 0:17:03- That's right.- You're right. - I'm impressed with James Hoult.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07The Whitstable divers, like James,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09earned a reputation for their risk-taking
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and specialist salvage skills.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Insurance companies, like Lloyds, hired these daredevils
0:17:17 > 0:17:20to recover valuable cargo from ships which had sunk.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25James would earn a percentage of the value of the recovered goods.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Do we know what sort of jobs, er, James might have worked on?
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Well, I have got a reference...
0:17:34 > 0:17:36- Ooh. - ..from our Divers' Index.- OK.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38- OK.- There he is.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40- Yep, there's James Hoult. - James Hoult.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45Now, the first conclusive reference we have to him, is in 1843,
0:17:45 > 0:17:50and it's referring to Hoult working on the wreck of the Pegasus in Holy Island.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52So, in order to find more out about the Pegasus,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55- I suppose I should go to... - Holy Island.- ..Holy Island.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58- Yeah, I think so. - That's very exciting.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02James set off for Holy Island in 1843.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05This time he'd be diving in unfamiliar waters.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08But if the Pegasus was a valuable wreck,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12for a bounty hunting salvager, like James, it could be a windfall.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Sarah is returning to her native North East.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Holy Island lies two miles off the Northumberland coast.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30She's searching online to see
0:18:30 > 0:18:33if she can find any information about the Pegasus.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40I'm going to type in 1843, which is the day that it sunk,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42and see what we can find.
0:18:44 > 0:18:45Oh, here we go.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49So, I've found the front page of The Illustrated London News
0:18:49 > 0:18:52for the week ending Saturday, July 29th, 1843.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56And, if I scroll down...
0:18:56 > 0:18:59there is the Pegasus sinking - how horrific.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04It says, "It was our painful duty to announce the melancholy catastrophe,
0:19:04 > 0:19:09"the loss of the Pegasus steamer, plying between Leith and Hull.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12"The only authentic narrative of the sad occurrence
0:19:12 > 0:19:14"has been given by a seaman," and he says,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17"The children seemed unconscious of the danger.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22"The surface of the water was covered in the dead and the dying.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25"The screeching was fearful."
0:19:25 > 0:19:26Wow.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29That's horrific, isn't it?
0:19:30 > 0:19:32"Covered in the dead and the dying."
0:19:35 > 0:19:39I think I'd like to know just what James was doing,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42whether he was, you know, sort of,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44recovering the belongings of the survivors...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48..which is quite, sort of, icky, isn't it? Kind of...
0:19:50 > 0:19:52..like, moving a body aside to bring up somebody's case
0:19:52 > 0:19:54just feels really wrong, doesn't it?
0:20:00 > 0:20:03The sinking of the Pegasus was the worst maritime disaster
0:20:03 > 0:20:06off the English coast in 1843.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Sarah's keen to know if her ancestor profited from this tragedy.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18To find out, she's meeting local historian Jane Bowen.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22So, Jane, we're here on Holy Island.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24- Yep.- Can you tell me whereabouts the Pegasus sank?
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Yes. She sank behind Lindisfarne Castle.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34She had been coming from Leith and then she was going on to Hull.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38It was a passenger steamer on a route which they did once a week.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41- OK. - But, for reasons that aren't clear,
0:20:41 > 0:20:42she actually missed the channel
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and went straight in to the sunken rock - the goldstone.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50There was probably a loss of some 55 or so people.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52- It's huge, isn't it?- It is.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53It's awful.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Some of the passengers who died on the Pegasus are buried here,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02in the parish churchyard.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11Jane has found some information about James Hoult's involvement in the salvage operation.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14- Perhaps you'd like to read an account...- Thank you.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17..which was published in the Stamford Mercury.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20"By accounts received from Holy Island, we're informed
0:21:20 > 0:21:23"the divers are actively engaged about the wreck of the Pegasus.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27"The divers on that day brought up a box of the Reverend Mackenzie,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29"whose body was found some days before.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33"Some things of Miss Briggs, a box of Mr Hodgson
0:21:33 > 0:21:36"and a bag of Miss Flowers, whose body has not been found.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39"The divers have 40% on the value of all they bring up.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42"It's described as melancholy work wrenching open boxes
0:21:42 > 0:21:46"and tearing out their saturated contents.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49"In one box there were many little infants' clothes...
0:21:50 > 0:21:52"..all most beautifully made and mended,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54"proving what a careful mother had been with them."
0:21:56 > 0:21:57- That's awful, isn't it?- It is.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01"Then there were relics of so much affection...
0:22:01 > 0:22:02"its only hopes destroyed."
0:22:06 > 0:22:10So, they were bringing up a lot of possessions.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Obviously, the job that James was doing
0:22:14 > 0:22:16is clearly very important.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20- Yeah.- Cos I think, when it says that they got 40% of whatever
0:22:20 > 0:22:23they brought up, that does feel quite money-driven.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26- Yeah.- Whereas, it was incredibly important for the...for the families.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Keepsakes, I don't know whether...
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- It was keepsakes, it was something for you to cling to.- Yeah.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35And what some of them did was that they actually had notices
0:22:35 > 0:22:38published to try and encourage people to look for the bodies.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42- And this is one of the several that were actually published.- Wow!
0:22:43 > 0:22:46"A reward of three pounds will be paid for the recovery of either
0:22:46 > 0:22:50"of the bodies of two children, Master Field Flowers
0:22:50 > 0:22:53"and Miss Fanny Maria Flowers, cabin passengers
0:22:53 > 0:22:57"on board the Pegasus steamer. Age of Master Flowers, 13 -
0:22:57 > 0:23:00"forehead and upper teeth projecting, fair hair."
0:23:00 > 0:23:01It's awful.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04- Imagine having to describe the body of your child.- Yeah.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Oh, God, it's gut-wrenching, isn't it?
0:23:07 > 0:23:08It said a reward of £3.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Can you tell me how much that would be equivalent to these days?
0:23:11 > 0:23:14That would be about three months' wages...
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- OK. - ..for a working person.
0:23:16 > 0:23:17- It's huge, isn't it?- It is.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20You can see that people were really desperate to be able to
0:23:20 > 0:23:24give them a burial and not lying in a watery grave somewhere.
0:23:26 > 0:23:27In Victorian Britain,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31customs relating to death were extremely important.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34The Christian ideal of "the good death"
0:23:34 > 0:23:37was to die peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41Being lost at sea
0:23:41 > 0:23:45meant there would be no grave at which the family could mourn.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53There is another account of the divers at work.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57"The divers are still at work getting up cargo
0:23:57 > 0:23:59"and passengers' luggage.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02"They have succeeded in recovering some very valuable luggage,
0:24:02 > 0:24:04"Messrs Gann and Hoult..."
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Yep, that's him.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11(Sorry.)
0:24:15 > 0:24:17"..masters of the diving smacks,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19"have most handsomely given up..."
0:24:19 > 0:24:20SHE SOBS
0:24:22 > 0:24:23Sorry.
0:24:25 > 0:24:26SHE SOBS
0:24:31 > 0:24:33"..have most handsomely given up all that they brought
0:24:33 > 0:24:36"from the bottom to the orphan children, free of any charge."
0:24:41 > 0:24:43The children had lost their father...
0:24:44 > 0:24:49..seven children, and there was nobody left to support them.
0:24:49 > 0:24:50And this is why...
0:24:52 > 0:24:55..your relative was making over money to try and provide
0:24:55 > 0:24:59some sort of provision for these children.
0:24:59 > 0:25:00SHE SOBS
0:25:02 > 0:25:05So, while they were left with very little, they at least had something.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07They had something.
0:25:08 > 0:25:09I like him.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14It's...it's astonishing just to do such a horrific job
0:25:14 > 0:25:18- and then the reward is helping people.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22It was, sort of, important to know th-that
0:25:22 > 0:25:25- he wasn't just doing it for money.- Yeah.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27- That there was...that he had a good heart, you know.- Yes.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30- Sorry for getting...- No.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34I..I quite lost it for a second there.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36- What a good man.- Yeah.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39Oh, I'm going again! Sorry.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46I think it's really important that... he wasn't just doing it for money.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52SHE SIGHS
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- I am knackered.- Yeah? - I'm emotionally drained.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59But thank you, Jane, it means an awful lot to me.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07I like what I've just found out about James,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09I like that I know more about his character,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11that he had a good heart and that he had a conscience
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and that he...he did the right thing.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16And I think that's... that's what you want in an ancestor -
0:26:16 > 0:26:19you want somebody who was essentially a good man.
0:26:21 > 0:26:22I'm interested to see
0:26:22 > 0:26:26when he started to think about maybe becoming a father himself,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29because that's a hard thing to have to recover,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31the bodies of small children.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35And that maybe that's when you start to think about a family of your own.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Sarah is meeting historian Margaret Lewis.
0:26:40 > 0:26:41So...Margaret,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43what I'd like to know about James Hoult
0:26:43 > 0:26:45- is a little bit about his home life. - Yeah.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50We can find out more about him from the 1851 census.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Oh, wow! OK. Let's have a look.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56So we've got to find the Hoults. Erm...
0:26:56 > 0:26:58- Yes.- Oh, and there he is.- Yep.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00So James Hoult, aged 39.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03- Yes.- And still a diver.- Yeah.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05- Wow! After all that as well. - Yes, yeah.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07- He still continued, very impressive. - That's right.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09- And he was married.- Yes.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11- And then, children.- Yep.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13- Er...three.- Yes.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16- Yeah, and it goes to the next page. - More.- More.- More children.
0:27:16 > 0:27:17There's more children.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20He was 39 with five children. I'm 37.
0:27:20 > 0:27:21- Mm.- And I've got a cat.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24THEY LAUGH
0:27:24 > 0:27:26- Ah...- North Shields.- North Shields. - Yes.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30So they would have moved about 1849-50.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33- Would you have any idea why they would move...- Yes, yep.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35..up to...up to North Shields?
0:27:35 > 0:27:37We do know, by this time,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40- that he was working for the Tyne Commissioners.- Oh, really?
0:27:40 > 0:27:42So, you know, he had a very, very important job -
0:27:42 > 0:27:46to make sure any wrecks, or other obstructions,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49on the River Tyne were cleared as quickly as possible.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52- So...- So, he moved for work and took his family with him.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54He did.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Instead of going round trying to find speculative diving work,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59he had a really good, regular income.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02And he never went back to Whitstable or anywhere else,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04he stayed put with his family.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08And, here, you might be interested in this.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13OK. So the Shields Gazette...1867.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15"Sudden death at North Shields on Saturday afternoon -
0:28:15 > 0:28:19"Mr James Hoult died at his residence of concussion of the brain.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23"Deceased, who was a native of Whitstable,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27"and was much respected for his genial and affable disposition."
0:28:29 > 0:28:31- So, how old was he? - 55 when he died.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34- That's very young, isn't it? - Fairly young, but, of course,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37with the arduous sort of work he was doing and the risk...
0:28:37 > 0:28:40- It's going to take its toll, isn't it?- It would have taken its toll.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42- But that is a lovely obituary, I think.- Yes.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47- "A genial and affable disposition." Yeah, an all-round good man.- Mm, mm.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49I like that a lot.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Now, there's a...there's a thought in...in our family
0:28:54 > 0:28:57that there was some money somewhere along the line.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02Er...I did wonder if he was where the money came from.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- Erm, we certainly haven't found a will.- Mm.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08So I don't think, unfortunately, there was a lot of money.
0:29:08 > 0:29:09- OK.- Yeah.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12- Thank you for that. - That's a pleasure.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17I'm really proud to have James Hoult as an ancestor.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19Not just because of the diving
0:29:19 > 0:29:21and pioneering this whole new industry,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25but, also, he was clearly a very strong, brave man,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28kind-hearted and...and that people liked him.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33I like that he came up North, and that we kept him.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43Sarah's now turning her attention to her ancestors on her father's side.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50My dad thinks that there are Scottish roots on his side of the family.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55So I've asked Katherine, who did the family tree for my mum's side,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58to do one for my dad's side, and I've got it here.
0:29:58 > 0:30:03So, I'm very excited about what this might hold.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11OK, let's have a look.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13So we start with me and my dad.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15SHE CHUCKLES
0:30:15 > 0:30:16This is good paper...
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Paperweights can't handle it.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21There we go.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25So me and my parents and my grandparents.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27So, let's go up on Arthur's side.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31So Arthur...born in South Shields, OK.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33South Shields again, OK.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37And then, Lincolnshire, ah...
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Oh, Scotland! There we go! Oh, he was right!
0:30:40 > 0:30:43My dad thought there were Scottish roots, but I didn't know...
0:30:43 > 0:30:46I assumed that it would be, maybe, just over the border.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Er...the Orkney Islands, that's crazy.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52My geography is based on where I tour, generally.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57My knowledge of the Orkneys is...is nothing.
0:30:57 > 0:31:001791. God, that is so long ago.
0:31:01 > 0:31:08John Malcolm is my great-great-great-great-grandfather,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11so we've gone a generation further than we did on my mum's side.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Hudson's Bay Company, servant.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18It'd be good to know what kind of servant that was
0:31:18 > 0:31:20and what kind of company that was,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22and what kind of... what kind of life he had.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27I think the best place to find out more about John Malcolm
0:31:27 > 0:31:28is the Orkneys.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32A servant, it's like Downton Abbey, so exciting. Aah!
0:31:37 > 0:31:42The Orkney Islands lie just off the northern coast of mainland Scotland.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Sarah's in Stromness,
0:31:51 > 0:31:53the main sea port,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56to meet local historian Jeanette Park.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58- Hello.- Hi.- I'm Sarah. - Pleased to meet you.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Erm...now, I found out that one of my ancestors, John Malcolm,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05was born here, on the Orkney Islands, in 1791.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08What can you tell me about Orkney at that time?
0:32:08 > 0:32:13Life in Orkney would have been quite hard and poor,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16but the majority of the population would have lived on the land.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20I guess the options, it's quite limited, isn't it, really?
0:32:20 > 0:32:22But that was life as they knew it.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27So my ancestor, John Malcolm, what I know about him,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31I know that he was a servant for Hudson's Bay Company.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34- Now that's...that's literally all I have.- Right.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36Can you shed any light on that?
0:32:36 > 0:32:40A servant was used in the way that we would use employee nowadays.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44Anything from a labourer to a blacksmith or a joiner.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47- OK. Worker.- Worker.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Well, that massively changes things,
0:32:49 > 0:32:51cos I was all Downton Abbey all over it.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53Well, er...no.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55What can you tell me about...I don't know anything
0:32:55 > 0:32:57about the Hudson's Bay Company.
0:32:57 > 0:32:58- It was based in London.- OK.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01- Erm...London.- But, Hudson's Bay is here, isn't it?
0:33:01 > 0:33:03No, it's...it's across in Northern Canada.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Oh, OK. Thrown completely, sorry.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10- So it's... So it was... Hudson's Bay itself is in Canada.- Yeah.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13So what did the Hudson's Bay Company do out there?
0:33:13 > 0:33:15They were set up as a fur trading company.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17- So fur traders.- Fur traders.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21In the 17th Century,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24the fashion for fur had led to over-hunting in Europe.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30To meet demand, the French looked further afield
0:33:30 > 0:33:34and established a fur trade in the east of modern-day Canada.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40The British were also eager to exploit this new world.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45In 1670, King Charles II granted a royal charter
0:33:45 > 0:33:49to a group of London businessmen to form the Hudson's Bay Company.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54It gave them monopoly trading rights
0:33:54 > 0:33:56over a vast, unclaimed territory
0:33:56 > 0:33:58around Hudson's Bay.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01The company needed a hardy workforce,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and Orcadians, like John, desperate for employment,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07were eager to sign up.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11That was a recruitment poster.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Aah. "Wanted - blacksmith,
0:34:13 > 0:34:14"joiner and boat-builder,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17- "also several labourers, apply early."- Yeah, yeah.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Obviously, very popular. It's sort of an advert for an adventure, isn't it?
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Yeah. It's a bit like with Boy's Own adverts.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26It does make it look very exciting, doesn't it? Especially for young men.
0:34:26 > 0:34:27Oh, yes.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29The ships would arrive from London.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33- Uh-huh.- And go on up round the top of Scotland,
0:34:33 > 0:34:35and stopped off on Orkney, en route.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Picking up all their employees on the way.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Stromness would be one of the last landfalls
0:34:39 > 0:34:42before they went across the Atlantic to Hudson's Bay.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45- It was a long trip at sea. - It's a long trip, isn't it?
0:34:45 > 0:34:47But obviously worth...worth it when you got there.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50- It was...a five-year term of employment.- Really?
0:34:50 > 0:34:53- That's it, that's right, yeah. - Which must have been so attractive.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56And you wouldn't have to pay for accommodation or food out of that,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58so you basically had the chance to save most of your pay.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00They would be able to come home
0:35:00 > 0:35:02and basically set themselves up in their own piece of land.
0:35:02 > 0:35:03- Your nest egg, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07- And maybe marry their childhood sweetheart...- Ah! - ..and set up a family.
0:35:07 > 0:35:08So, it was a great opportunity.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11I suppose it's just the chance of such solid work.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14- I think people these days would snatch your hand off, wouldn't they? - Yeah.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20A Hudson's Bay Company ship would arrive twice a year
0:35:20 > 0:35:22to pick up new recruits like John.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28- I have here a document. - What have you got?
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Let's have a look. So what is this?
0:35:30 > 0:35:35It's a ship's log from one of the Hudson's Bay Company ships.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Oh, there he is, John Malcolm, 1817.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43- So that makes him 26? 27... - Yeah. Something like that.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45My maths is rough.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49He was one of 28 passengers that were Orcadian, out of a list of 33.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51Really?
0:35:51 > 0:35:54They were all starting a new life out in Hudson's Bay.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59- Passengers from the Orkneys to Moose River.- Yeah.- OK.
0:35:59 > 0:36:00SARAH CHUCKLES
0:36:00 > 0:36:03I'd love to find out more about what happened to John Malcolm
0:36:03 > 0:36:06when he actually got there, what sort of things he would be doing.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10And Moose River certainly needs some investigation, doesn't it?
0:36:10 > 0:36:11It sounds like it's just a river
0:36:11 > 0:36:14that's just, you know, guarded by moose.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16It's very intriguing, isn't it?
0:36:16 > 0:36:17Thank you, Jeanette.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27It's a 3,000-mile journey from the Orkney Islands
0:36:27 > 0:36:29to Hudson's Bay in Canada.
0:36:29 > 0:36:34In 1817, it took John Malcolm three months by ship.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43Even today, it's taken Sarah two days and three flights
0:36:43 > 0:36:45to reach this remote part of Canada.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54I've finally arrived here, in Canada.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56It's very, very cold.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00I wouldn't hesitate before I said it was absolutely bloody freezing.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Sarah is heading to Moose Factory Island,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06which lies at the mouth of the Moose River.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10The Hudson's Bay Company had their main outpost here,
0:37:10 > 0:37:14and it's where John Malcolm arrived 200 years ago.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20With the outside temperature at -25,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Sarah can drive across the frozen river to get there.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Dr Scott Steven is an expert in the history of the Hudson's Bay Company.
0:37:31 > 0:37:32Hello, Sarah.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35- Welcome to Moose Factory. - Thank you very much.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37It is worth pointing out, Scott, how different we look,
0:37:37 > 0:37:42considering we're both dressed for the exact same temperature, isn't it?
0:37:42 > 0:37:43It is slightly ridiculous.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46I've got three pairs of socks on and a wrap-around duvet,
0:37:46 > 0:37:47and you've got, like, trainers on.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49I just stick out like a sore thumb.
0:37:49 > 0:37:50SHE LAUGHS
0:37:50 > 0:37:53- Don't worry, you'll get used to it. - Good, I hope so.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Now, what can you tell me about John Malcolm's arrival?
0:37:55 > 0:37:58- Well, that's why we're standing here.- Oh, OK.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02Because this is basically the spot
0:38:02 > 0:38:04where John would have disembarked from the boat.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06- Ah, really?- Yes.- Wow.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09It's worth pointing out that is a body of water.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11That is the river out there.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15We drove over it to get here, which just blows my mind.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Winter is, obviously, a major fact of life here, in Hudson Bay.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22It's so different from Orkney.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25An entirely different world from what John had been used to.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Scary, isn't it?
0:38:27 > 0:38:29- Why don't we go inside? - Yeah.- OK, let's go.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41So, Scott, what would John have found when he arrived here?
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Well, we actually have an image...
0:38:44 > 0:38:47- Oh!- ..of Moose Factory.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50- So that's the first thing he would have seen?- Uh-huh.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55Now, I read on the passenger list, in Orkney, that John was a labourer.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Do you know what sort of thing he would be...he would be doing?
0:38:58 > 0:39:00We talk a lot about fur traders.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04Now, John Malcolm, himself, isn't trading any fur.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08He's going to be doing support roles, a lot of manual labour -
0:39:08 > 0:39:11cutting firewood, shovelling snow.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13- A cog in a big machine. - Exactly.- Yeah.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17It's necessary work to support the Hudson's Bay Company traders.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21- Mm.- So the Cree, the indigenous people in this area...
0:39:21 > 0:39:25- Wow.- ..they'll make the journey down rivers like the Moose,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and trade their surplus furs
0:39:28 > 0:39:30in exchange for manufactured goods,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33like copper kettles and guns.
0:39:33 > 0:39:34OK.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37What skins and furs would the Indian hunters have been after?
0:39:37 > 0:39:41The Hudson's Bay Company will take anything that has fur on.
0:39:41 > 0:39:42SHE LAUGHS
0:39:42 > 0:39:47But some furs are particularly valuable in Europe at this time,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51and first and foremost among these is the beaver.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53- Oh.- Which you can use to make...
0:39:53 > 0:39:54Lovely hats!
0:39:54 > 0:39:56- A range of lovely hats.- Wow.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00- I've actually got some furs here. - Oh, really?
0:40:00 > 0:40:03- What is this?- This is a beaver fur.
0:40:03 > 0:40:04Really?
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Now, a lot of what you see on top here is not valuable.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10- It's the...- It's the soft underfur.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12- That's the pricey stuff. - That's the pricey stuff.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15- That's what the felt would have been made from.- Exactly.- Understood.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Here we've got a...a wolf skin,
0:40:17 > 0:40:19and then, here's a...
0:40:19 > 0:40:21- Oh, wowzers!- ..here's a fox.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23Oh, it has a head! OK.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25It was over the end of the table, I hadn't seen.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28There would be, literally,
0:40:28 > 0:40:33tens of thousands of animal skins passing through Moose Factory.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37I am quite pleased that John was very much a behind-the-scenes kind of guy in this.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40I wouldn't wear fur myself, but I don't think I realised
0:40:40 > 0:40:45how against it I actually am until I see it all.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47But I know the time that we're talking
0:40:47 > 0:40:50was a totally different situation.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53So I will forgive John Malcolm, just this once.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56Good, I'm glad they're leaving.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58SHE CHUCKLES
0:40:58 > 0:41:00So the standard contract would have been five years.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Do you know if that's how long John stayed?
0:41:03 > 0:41:08Well, 1817, it's a difficult year for the Hudson's Bay Company.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12They are in a very intense period of competition
0:41:12 > 0:41:16with a rival company, known as the North West Company.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20The North West Company was an alliance
0:41:20 > 0:41:24of independent Scottish fur traders and French settlers.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28They knew the Hudson's Bay Company trading posts
0:41:28 > 0:41:29were mostly along the coast.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32So ignoring the HBC monopoly,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35they set up rival posts inland.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42Here, they could intercept the Cree en route to the bay,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44and secure the best furs.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47With vital business being lost,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50the Hudson's Bay Company was forced to take action
0:41:50 > 0:41:54and also pushed further into the harsh interior.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58John arrived in 1817,
0:41:58 > 0:42:03as the battle for control of the fur trade was raging.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05We've got the Moose Factory Journal
0:42:05 > 0:42:07from the year that John Malcolm arrived,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10and if we flip through, there we are.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15So this is September 10th, 1817 -
0:42:15 > 0:42:19"Mr J Davis, Mr D McDonald, James Spence, John Malcolm...
0:42:19 > 0:42:23"went on board the Gipsy to proceed to Albany."
0:42:23 > 0:42:25So, he wasn't there very long, then?
0:42:25 > 0:42:27No, not even two weeks.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30There's a real sense of desperation
0:42:30 > 0:42:33from the Hudson's Bay Company to send men inland,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37- where that competition...- OK. - ..with the North West Company
0:42:37 > 0:42:40- was really taking place. Now there's...- Yeah.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42..us at Moose Factory.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44There's Albany.
0:42:44 > 0:42:49He, and seven other men, were sent inland, up the Albany River to here.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51It's an inland post named Gloucester House.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55That's about 350 miles from Albany.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57Oh!
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Oh, my god.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05Considerably more remote and farther away from assistance or supplies.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Sounds horrible. Poor bugger.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12I feel sorry for him, because he's got here after three months
0:43:12 > 0:43:15and gone, "So this is home for the next, you know,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17"for the foreseeable future,"
0:43:17 > 0:43:20and, he's moved on again, before he was ready, possibly.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Normally, rooky labourers, like John,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30would spend at least a year at Moose Factory,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33where they'd learn essential skills from the local Cree,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37like how to use snowshoes and fish from frozen rivers.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42But pressure from the competition meant John was sent
0:43:42 > 0:43:45to the remote Gloucester House outpost after just two weeks.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50In order to identify a little bit more
0:43:50 > 0:43:55with what John Malcolm had to deal with in a tiny, tiny way,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57I want to have a go with the snowshoes,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01and I think I want to see if I can do a little bit of ice fishing.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05Just to get a taster of some of the things he had to endure.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11Sarah is meeting local Cree guide, Nolan Tozer.
0:44:11 > 0:44:12- Hello, Nolan.- Hello.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18- This is what...my ancestor, John Malcolm would have worn.- Yep.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21These are the exact kind of style he would have worn 200 years ago.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23OK. And these are snowshoes?
0:44:23 > 0:44:25Yeah, these are snowshoes.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27I've never worn anything like this before. Erm...
0:44:27 > 0:44:30- I'll give you a hand here.- Yes, please.- So I'll set this one down.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32So you'll probably really feel
0:44:32 > 0:44:35- like your ancestor learning for his first time.- That's true.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38And I imagine he probably fell too, so I wouldn't feel that bad.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40- So just point your toe up.- OK.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42And, slowly, one step at a time.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45It was essential John learnt to use snowshoes,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48to walk in snow that was often waist deep.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51By distributing his weight over a larger area,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54they'd stop his feet sinking in too far.
0:44:55 > 0:45:00It's a lot easier than walking without them, that's for sure.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04I've never been in such deep snow in my life.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06So what do you think of the snowshoes so far?
0:45:06 > 0:45:10I mean, they're...it's still hard, it's really hard. Ooh!
0:45:10 > 0:45:13I can't even put my hands down to help myself.
0:45:13 > 0:45:14There we go, up.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Thanks, love.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18Oh, God, I've gone quite deep.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21In I go, that's better. OK, I'm walking.
0:45:21 > 0:45:22It's horrendous to think
0:45:22 > 0:45:26that my ancestor had to walk hundreds of miles in these.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Oh, yeah, he would have had some really long days.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Wow. It's good to know what it feels like, yeah.
0:45:32 > 0:45:37Labourers like John had to master fishing when the river was frozen.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40This is the traditional way that he would've done it.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43- OK.- And how about I let you have a go?- OK.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46The catch was a vital food supply
0:45:46 > 0:45:47at remote outposts
0:45:47 > 0:45:49like Gloucester House.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51So what fish would be there when we got there?
0:45:51 > 0:45:53- Well, we have trout.- Yeah.
0:45:53 > 0:45:54And white fish.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02So how long would you have to wait before you got a bite, usually?
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Well, sometimes they catch them right away,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09and you can be sitting here all day and not get a single bite.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11- Wow.- So it varies.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21Scott Steven has been searching the company records
0:46:21 > 0:46:25for information about John Malcolm's time at Gloucester House.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31This is what Gloucester House would have looked like.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33Is that still there now, to see?
0:46:33 > 0:46:36No, I'm afraid that's long gone.
0:46:36 > 0:46:41- But we do have the Gloucester House Journals.- Oh, really?
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Which I...I have made some, some transcriptions
0:46:44 > 0:46:45of some of the entries here.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47Thank you.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49"November the 16th -
0:46:49 > 0:46:52"The men employed taking up nets
0:46:52 > 0:46:55"that was set fast in the ice, got five fish."
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Five, that's not going to be enough. For how many men?
0:47:01 > 0:47:02Ten men.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04Ten men.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08"November the 17th - Richard Thomas making snowshoe frames,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10"John Malcolm cutting firewood,
0:47:10 > 0:47:12"six fish from the nets." God!
0:47:12 > 0:47:15So that's five fish one day and six the next.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20"November the 23rd - Finding it now impossible to maintain
0:47:20 > 0:47:22"the number of men that is here,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25"being unable to procure so many fish per day
0:47:25 > 0:47:27"as would scarcely serve two.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29"I have given five men orders
0:47:29 > 0:47:32"to prepare to set off on Tuesday for Albany.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35"Magnus Backie, Samuel Harvey, John Goudie,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37"John Johnstone and John Malcolm."
0:47:39 > 0:47:42So how long has he been there, and he's going again?
0:47:42 > 0:47:43He's been there a month.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45- About a month and a half. - A month and a half.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48And he's gotta go again, back to Albany.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51And, this time, the river is freezing up,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54so they're going to have to go overland, on foot,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56with snowshoes and sleds.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01They're undernourished, it's going to be very, very difficult for them.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04On the 25th of November,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07John set off from Gloucester House
0:48:07 > 0:48:09on the 350-mile trip back to Albany
0:48:09 > 0:48:12with four other men.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15God, he's having it tough, isn't he?
0:48:15 > 0:48:17There'd better be a happy ending here, Scott.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19Well...
0:48:20 > 0:48:23"December the 11th - Late in night,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26"an Indian arrived with a few skins and informed me
0:48:26 > 0:48:30"he had fallen in with the track of someone walking without snowshoes.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32"That he followed it for some time
0:48:32 > 0:48:35"and at length came up with a white man.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37"He states the man to be in a miserable condition
0:48:37 > 0:48:38"having much froze his feet
0:48:38 > 0:48:40"and from the description he gives of him,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43"I conjecture it to be John Malcolm."
0:48:43 > 0:48:46So he's lost his way - so they didn't stick together, then?
0:48:46 > 0:48:48Apparently not, and...
0:48:48 > 0:48:50Why wouldn't they stick together?
0:48:50 > 0:48:54Unfortunately, the documents don't tell us that.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58- Maybe visibility's bad, he just lost his way and...- Yes.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02..was at the end of the group and they hadn't realised he'd gone.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05It must have been terrifying to be all alone in such an environment,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07especially if, you know, you'd been in a group
0:49:07 > 0:49:09and then, all of a sudden, everybody's gone,
0:49:09 > 0:49:11and how scary that must have been.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17When I had the snowshoes on, I lost one and, if I had been on my own,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20it's too scary to think what could have happened.
0:49:20 > 0:49:21Poor John.
0:49:24 > 0:49:25Thank God for the Indian.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27John's saviour there.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31John was found all alone,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35almost three weeks after he had set off for Albany,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38and was brought back to Gloucester House.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40It was the middle of winter,
0:49:40 > 0:49:44when temperatures often fall as low as -40 degrees.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47I'm really curious as to what happens next.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51I just...I hope something good happens.
0:49:52 > 0:49:53Let's take a look here.
0:49:55 > 0:49:56Thank you.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59"December the 15th - John Malcolm in a shocking condition
0:49:59 > 0:50:03"and at present there appears no likelihood of his ever recovering."
0:50:04 > 0:50:06Wow.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12"January the 19th - John Malcolm still much the same."
0:50:12 > 0:50:14He's hanging on in there, isn't he?
0:50:14 > 0:50:16- He's a tough one.- He is.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Can I have a look and see how long ago that was?
0:50:20 > 0:50:22That was...December?
0:50:22 > 0:50:27- Yeah. He's hanging on in there. - Over a month.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30- Maybe no improvement, but he's still there.- Uh-huh.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Now, unfortunately, that's all
0:50:33 > 0:50:36that the Gloucester House Journals tell us.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40But I've found a letter from William Thomas,
0:50:40 > 0:50:42the gentleman in charge of Gloucester House,
0:50:42 > 0:50:46written to his superior, later on in 1818.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51"John Malcolm is now laying here in a miserable condition,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54"having froze his feet in so dreadful a manner
0:50:54 > 0:50:57"that since I have been obliged to cut both off."
0:51:01 > 0:51:02Erm...
0:51:02 > 0:51:03Wow!
0:51:08 > 0:51:11It's horrendous that he's had his feet taken off.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14The frost bite has caused er...major, major damage
0:51:14 > 0:51:17to the...to the nerve endings.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20But he's still alive.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24It must have been to give him a better chance of survival.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27- So he must have been... He's clearly fighting.- Yes.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Because the rest of his health must have been more at risk
0:51:31 > 0:51:33- with the feet on.- Right.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36William Thomas was the gentleman in charge of the post,
0:51:36 > 0:51:40and so he was in charge of cutting off John's feet.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47The Hudson's Bay Company did employ a few surgeons,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49but not at remote outposts
0:51:49 > 0:51:51like Gloucester House.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53To amputate John's feet,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57William Thomas would have used saws and knives,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59and to manage the bleeding,
0:51:59 > 0:52:00just basic twine or rope.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05The operation would have taken several hours.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08The most John could have hoped for, to numb the pain,
0:52:08 > 0:52:09was a bottle of rum.
0:52:12 > 0:52:1426 and he's now lost both of his feet.
0:52:17 > 0:52:18And this is not the life
0:52:18 > 0:52:22- that was talked about in pubs on Orkney, I'm guessing.- No.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33The fact that John was abandoned and the fact that he was alone,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36it makes me furious, weirdly.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39It's really weird to be furious about somebody who's been dead a long time,
0:52:39 > 0:52:41but I'm absolutely furious.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44And if you stood the men in front of me now who abandoned him,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46I wouldn't be able to take my hands off them.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52What happened to John was so horrific,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55I feel I need to see a bit more of his journey.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58I think I need to get a sense of the remoteness.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01I need to see the kind of terrain that he had to handle.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04So I'm going to go and have a look close to the Albany River.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14The landscape all around me is just...
0:53:14 > 0:53:17is just...it's sort of never-ending, it just... There's nothing.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21It's just nothing for miles and miles and miles,
0:53:21 > 0:53:22just trees and snow.
0:53:26 > 0:53:27Just nothing.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34This is the Albany River,
0:53:34 > 0:53:41this is where John Malcolm would have been 200 years ago,
0:53:41 > 0:53:46and...I've never been anywhere this quiet before.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48All I can hear is my heartbeat.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53There's nobody here to help you.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57I can't imagine how terrified he must have been.
0:53:59 > 0:54:00And I mean, this is daytime,
0:54:00 > 0:54:03I can't imagine how harsh it gets at night
0:54:03 > 0:54:05and how much colder it gets at night.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08You know, to have had such little time to adjust
0:54:08 > 0:54:12and gain any skills that would be useful here...
0:54:12 > 0:54:16His story makes utter sense,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19that he got such severe frostbite.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21Of course he did,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24cos I can't see any way how you couldn't.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40I'm intrigued as to how disability was dealt with in those days,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44whether he ever got back to Orkney and had a family.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49To find out about John Malcolm's life as an amputee,
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Sarah is meeting historian Dr Vanessa Warne.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56So, Vanessa, can you tell me what happened to him next?
0:54:56 > 0:54:57I'd love to know.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00I'm pleased to tell you that, er...
0:55:00 > 0:55:04we have these entries from the Moose Factory Journals.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06OK.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08This is April the 19th, 1819.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10"Christopher Corrigal and John Malcolm,
0:55:10 > 0:55:15"the former lame with rheumatism, the latter a cripple, picking oakum."
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Doing stuff.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19What he's doing is he's unravelling old rope,
0:55:19 > 0:55:22and then they would use that material to make new rope.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25- It was very monotonous. - But he's working.- But he's working.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28And he's earning and he's still a valid member of the team.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31- He's contributing to the community. - That's amazing.- Yes.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36(I didn't think you were going to say that.)
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Sorry.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46- Would you like to learn more about what's happening...- Yeah. - ..in his life?
0:55:46 > 0:55:48I really would.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50So we do know that, in September 1819,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54- John left Moose Factory and returned to the UK.- Really?
0:55:54 > 0:55:56- Uh-huh.- Wow.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59The men that he was living and working with passed the hat,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01put together some funds
0:56:01 > 0:56:05to help support John after he returned to Britain.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09After serving only two years of his five-year contract,
0:56:09 > 0:56:11John returned to the Orkney Islands.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15The Hudson's Bay Company managed the funds
0:56:15 > 0:56:18that gave John a small income each year.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23Vanessa has found more information about his life back home.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26John made an application to the Hudson's Bay Company
0:56:26 > 0:56:29for an increase in this annual payment.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Er...so this is to John Malcolm -
0:56:32 > 0:56:35"Your plea of a wife and family of the ages you mention,
0:56:35 > 0:56:37"is not a good one, as this is a circumstance
0:56:37 > 0:56:39"which, though it must reduce your limited means,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42"has unquestionably taken place since you suffered the misfortune
0:56:42 > 0:56:45"through which you have obtained relief from the company."
0:56:45 > 0:56:48- He has a family.- He does.
0:56:48 > 0:56:49This is amazing, isn't it?
0:56:49 > 0:56:54So we know that, since his operation, and since he came home,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58he fell in love and he had a child or children.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02That's astonishing. Do you have any specific information?
0:57:02 > 0:57:06I have for you an 1841 Census document.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08OK. Let's have a look...
0:57:08 > 0:57:11John Malcolm.
0:57:11 > 0:57:12Wow!
0:57:12 > 0:57:14He got to 50? That's awesome!
0:57:14 > 0:57:17- And there's more.- Oh, really? Wow! - Yes!
0:57:17 > 0:57:20- Five kids!- Yes.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22- He's done very well for himself. - He's been busy.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25THEY LAUGH
0:57:25 > 0:57:27I'm so relieved.
0:57:27 > 0:57:28I have one more record for you.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32It's the 1851 Census.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34South Shields.
0:57:34 > 0:57:35So they moved.
0:57:37 > 0:57:38He's still married.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40SARAH LAUGHS
0:57:40 > 0:57:42As a divorcee, I'm just impressed by that alone.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44THEY LAUGH
0:57:44 > 0:57:46Who could have predicted,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49he was so close to death for such a long period of time...
0:57:51 > 0:57:53..that all of this has happened?
0:57:53 > 0:57:56You couldn't... You couldn't make it up, could you?
0:57:56 > 0:57:58That's amazing, what a great story.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07What I really wanted was to be proud of my ancestors.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11They were quite similar in a lot of ways, James and John.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13They were incredibly brave,
0:58:13 > 0:58:16much braver than I have ever been.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21I feel a little bit like, from now on, I can have
0:58:21 > 0:58:24James Hoult and John Malcolm on my shoulders.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26They were both really inspirational.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30They've both had incredibly hard times and tough things to deal with,
0:58:30 > 0:58:33but they both got through it.
0:58:33 > 0:58:38I was unprepared for how protective I would feel of my ancestors,
0:58:38 > 0:58:41and, you know, family's family.
0:58:41 > 0:58:43Dead or alive, family is family.
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