0:00:03 > 0:00:05This is what they call a rescue sack.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08It will give you about ten minutes of air. It's just a safety precaution.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12- Pull it off.- Pull it off, put the mask on, breathe in, get out.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13And get out.
0:00:14 > 0:00:15Happy?
0:00:18 > 0:00:19Coming down.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26I'm 12 feet below Belfast High Street.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30This is where the River Farset comes down off the hills.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32When the tide comes in, it will come up from the Lagan
0:00:32 > 0:00:34and it will be above my head.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38I've got all the bustling streets of Belfast above me,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41but you can see the sea meets river down here.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42You can even see little barnacles.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47400 years ago, this was where modern Belfast was born.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Belfast started life as a river settlement on the edge
0:00:58 > 0:01:00of the Lagan estuary.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01In many ways, it still is.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05The estuary became Belfast Harbour,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09and it's an area that's fascinated me since I was a child.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11We drove along this way every week from Bangor
0:01:11 > 0:01:13to visit family in Belfast.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Just how did this estuary help Belfast
0:01:17 > 0:01:19grow into an industrial powerhouse?
0:01:21 > 0:01:23We think it took over ten years for the men to
0:01:23 > 0:01:26dig about 600mm of material.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Whoa, that's two feet.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33What kind of people moulded this pool of mud into all this?
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Were they doing it for themselves or were they doing it for Belfast?
0:01:37 > 0:01:38A bit of both.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53It's two o'clock in the morning, and high tide.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58In Belfast Harbour, just like hundreds of years ago,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01a pilot boat is on its way to meat a coal ship.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Today, the ship in question is the Maritime Champion...
0:02:17 > 0:02:22..a 180-metre-long bulk carrier that's bringing the equivalent
0:02:22 > 0:02:26of over six million sacks of coal to Belfast from Long Beach California.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32- How far out are we going? - We'll be going about eight miles out
0:02:32 > 0:02:33into Belfast Loch.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35The actual captain, has he been to Belfast before?
0:02:35 > 0:02:39No, that's why we're going out there. He's never been here before.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42He can't know all the ports in the world.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45We go out there, we've got a lot of knowledge about this port,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48where to do certain manoeuvres and all the rest.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55We've got the ship handling skills that we've got. We can get them in.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56Put them alongside.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01How do you actually get on to the ship? It's a big, old ship.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Well, they put a pilot ladder over.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07- Which is basically a rope ladder. - A rope ladder.- Yeah.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Dedicated marine pilots have been working on the harbour
0:03:22 > 0:03:24for over two centuries.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25Watching Dougie this morning,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29I don't think the way they get onto the boats has changed one bit.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Thank goodness it's a lovely calm day.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Imagine doing that in a force eight gale!
0:03:52 > 0:03:55On Stormont Wharf, waiting for the ship are the linesmen.
0:04:02 > 0:04:03HE SIGHS
0:04:03 > 0:04:04What's that about?
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Well, the lines have to be heavy enough, don't they?
0:04:10 > 0:04:12Aye, we'll have to hold that ship.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13HE LAUGHS
0:04:15 > 0:04:19while most of us are tucked up in bed, people are working really hard
0:04:19 > 0:04:22to bring ashore all the materials we need for our modern lifestyle.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23What I really like about this is
0:04:23 > 0:04:25nothing's really changed. There's nothing new.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28All right, it used to be wooden ships and small loads,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31but it's still the same process.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33The port is our connection to the outside world.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45It's now 6.30, and up from Stormont Wharf at Victoria Terminal 2,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48the overnight ferry from Liverpool has just arrived.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55The rest of the port is getting ready to begin another day.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Wind at the moment is currently northwest at nine knots.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03It's been pretty much like that the whole night.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09OK, can we go through what everybody's doing today?
0:05:09 > 0:05:14- Mark, facilities. - Yes, we are crew ship preparation.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Just looking for berth availability for getting in there
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and cleaning Stormont Square.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Just an update on the shipping.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Whilst we have the Crystal Serenity coming tomorrow,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25the Maritime Champion should complete today.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Let's be careful out there.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28OTHERS: Thanks, Mark.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39At a glass workshop in Lisburn,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42artist Anne Smith is finishing the final
0:05:42 > 0:05:46sketches for a stained-glass window that's been commissioned
0:05:46 > 0:05:49by the harbour to celebrate Belfast's 400th anniversary.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54It's a remarkable journey that started where the Lagan meets
0:05:54 > 0:05:57the Farset, here in High Street.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02400 years ago, a small river settlement of around 200
0:06:02 > 0:06:06people was granted a royal charter of incorporation.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Belfast was now officially a town and a port.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Up here you can really imagine where it all began.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19The Farset's coming down High Street at high tide,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22all of this area is filling up with water so that ships can come
0:06:22 > 0:06:25and load and unload, never mind the pavements down there,
0:06:25 > 0:06:26they're quaysides.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29There's bars, there's merchants at the side.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33There's a real bustle here. People are meeting from all over the world.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Although Belfast might have taken its first few steps 400 years ago,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42it came of age in the 19th century.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47An industrial powerhouse that celebrated its dominance with
0:06:47 > 0:06:49the construction of City Hall.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55What I want to find out is how Belfast travelled
0:06:55 > 0:06:57so far in such a short time.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Archaeologist Ruairi O Baoill has agreed
0:07:02 > 0:07:03to take me right back to the start
0:07:03 > 0:07:08with the 1613 Royal Charter, granted by King James I.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Arthur Chichester, who was Lord Deputy,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15was awarded Belfast in 1604
0:07:15 > 0:07:19as one of the spoils of war after the Gaelic Lords had been defeated.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24Can I just confirm that? Sir Arthur Chichester, it was his.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26- It was his.- So democracy wasn't part of the game here?
0:07:26 > 0:07:29No, it was one of the spoils of war after the nine-year war
0:07:29 > 0:07:31where the Gaelic Lords were defeated.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35Chichester was given various lands and he was given Belfast,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39which in the medieval period had belonged to the Clandeboye O'Neills.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42He was granted Belfast in 1604.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45We know he set up a market in 1605 and a fair in 1608,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and that there were English, Scots and Manx people living there
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and that Chichester was building a castle for himself.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55What exactly is the Belfast Town Charter?
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Well, this charter set up the provisions for a corporation
0:07:58 > 0:08:00to run the new town that Chichester built,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03and it also set up provision for a port.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Is the charter still important to Belfast today?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11I think it is, because the work that Belfast City Council and the Harbour Commissioners
0:08:11 > 0:08:15do today, the seeds and the provisions for that were
0:08:15 > 0:08:17actually specified in the 1613 Charter.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26The seeds of modern Belfast may have been sewn in the 17th century.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30But the story really begins much before that at a very
0:08:30 > 0:08:33specific point on the River Lagan.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37The reason that Belfast arose as a settlement was there was
0:08:37 > 0:08:39a crossing point or a ford,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42probably a couple of hundred metres down from what the modern bridge is.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44A couple hundred metres? Hold on, we're nearly there.
0:08:44 > 0:08:45Somewhere around here.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48- Just about this area.- Yes.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51You see, the settlement grew up because of the ford.
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Timescales for that?
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Timescales. Well, the earliest references to a ford and to Belfast
0:08:55 > 0:08:58are to the 660s in the Irish histories where there was
0:08:58 > 0:08:59a battle at the river.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02- Sorry?- 666.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04- No, we're talking seventh century? - Yes.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08That's not the 1613 charter timescale, this is much earlier.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10No, but there is still the importance of the ford.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15In fact, Belfast is known as Le Ford, The Ford, up to about the 1500s.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18It gets its name Belfast from about 1500 onwards.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Take me through the map. What are we actually seeing here?
0:09:21 > 0:09:22This is Belfast Loch around 1570.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24You can see that Carrickfergus
0:09:24 > 0:09:27is still the main port and the main town. It had the castle, etc.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Belfast is shown as just simply a castle.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32For me that's really interesting because today you come
0:09:32 > 0:09:33and visit Belfast - huge.
0:09:33 > 0:09:34It's our city. It's our city.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Carrickfergus just at the end of the loch there,
0:09:37 > 0:09:39it's got a nice old castle, it's very quaint.
0:09:40 > 0:09:41- Complete reversal.- Absolutely.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Well, the picture changed with the coming of Arthur Chichester
0:09:44 > 0:09:47and the re-founding of the town in the early 17th century, the charter.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53- This is the first map of Belfast.- You can actually recognise streets here.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54- They still exist.- Absolutely.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56You can see ships coming into High Street.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58High Street wasn't covered over until the 1770s.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01We can see the starts of the building of the Long Bridge.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Long Bridge was completed by the end of the 17th century.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10It spanned nearly a kilometre and stood for almost 150 years
0:10:10 > 0:10:14when it was replaced by the wider, shorter Queen's Bridge.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21The construction of Long Bridge meant any port of Belfast
0:10:21 > 0:10:25would always be downstream in the sprawling Lagan Estuary.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32To get an idea of what building a port here might entail,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35I need to get a higher vantage point,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38so Robert Childs has agreed to take me up Goliath, one of Harland
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and Wolff's iconic gantry cranes.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45I came down here as an electrical apprentice.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Served four years in the training centre.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50From there I progressed out into the electrical drawing office.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53- What age did you arrive at?- 16.
0:10:53 > 0:10:5616 you decided you'd come an work here, yeah? Family tradition?
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Oh, absolutely.
0:10:58 > 0:10:59No, my father,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02in fact my mother as well worked here in the canteen for a while.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05I've had generations of grandfathers, great grandfathers.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08I'm looking at where you work.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I think I would wet myself if I had to go down that yellow chute
0:11:11 > 0:11:12and hang out over the edge.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14First time you did it, what did you think?
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Em, absolutely apprehensive, of course.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20I think once you start concentrating on the job,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22you basically lose touch with where you are.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25You're so focused on what has to be done on the ground.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27You're listening very carefully to the commands you're
0:11:27 > 0:11:29getting from the rigging crew.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32So the height soon becomes irrelevant.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35I mean, for 90% of the time, it's fine.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37We do get the occasional emergency stop
0:11:37 > 0:11:40and it does get pretty violent, I have to say that.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42You do get thrown about the bubble.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43Yeah. It's quite funny.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46I'm having a chat with you, I keep looking over my shoulder thinking,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48"Robert lives in the little red bit at the end there."
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Goliath's task today is to lift the roof of a temporary painting shed.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01While Robert gets busy with that,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05I've come up Goliath's younger sibling Sampson.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08A bit further up the yard, it gives a wider view of the harbour.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13You get a real feel for the estuary when you're up here.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16If I follow the road around, I can see the high land on one side,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20down here the Sydenham Bypass. They're bounding the estuary.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23There would have been nothing here. Sand, mud banks.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25The Lagan meandering through.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Even the land this crane's on, it's been reclaimed from the sea.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33By the end of the 17th century,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38most of what was to become Belfast Harbour did not exist.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40At low tide, you would still have been able to see
0:12:40 > 0:12:43the shape of the meandering Lagan.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46At high tide, small ships navigated the river to
0:12:46 > 0:12:49unload their goods at quays constructed in High Street.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Slightly further upstream, Long Bridge provided a reliable
0:12:54 > 0:12:57crossing point between County Down and County Antrim.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18It's midday.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22On the tip of Queen's Island, scrap metal from Dublin is being
0:13:22 > 0:13:25unloaded and graded before being sent on to Europe.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36Across on the Antrim side of the dock,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39a paper shipment has arrived from Canada.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44It'll be used in newspapers across Ireland.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46From the Cork Courier to the Derry Journal.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52One scrape will pay havoc with the printing presses,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55so all the unloaded equipment is pressure controlled.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Mark, we'll just do a wee patrol round here then,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07see if we can see any sign of this vehicle, over.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Over on Sydenham Road, a traffic incident has been reported.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The Harbour Police were established in 1847 to keep law
0:14:17 > 0:14:20and order in an area that could get pretty lively.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23They had the same power as any other force, although their
0:14:23 > 0:14:27jurisdiction is still no more than one mile from the harbour boundary.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30We've the same powers as the PSNI do,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33it's just a localised area of the harbour.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37There wasn't so many people lived on the harbour.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Now there's a lot of people live on the harbour,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41a lot of visitors, a lot of tourists,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44which has completely changed the dynamic of what we do.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47From what we used to. We used to just deal with boats and sailors,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49things like that. Stowaways.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Now it's all more commercial policing.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Two floors up from the police station is VTS,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58the control centre for the port.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00I'm with Richard Bates.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02I'm hoping to find out how a modern port deals with
0:15:02 > 0:15:05the logistics of handling over 5,000 ships a year.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15The traffic information? Nothing outward at this time to affect you.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20The weather within the port - wind, north-easterly, maximum three knots.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23He's going to Gotto Wharf, south. This is Gotto Wharf here.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27He's just been to the south end of this vessel for the stevedores to
0:15:27 > 0:15:29work the cargo.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Put in the wrong place, it's a bit embarrassing, isn't it?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Yes, it would be. It would be a bit.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35HE LAUGHS
0:15:35 > 0:15:37You've been here seven years now. What about the changes?
0:15:37 > 0:15:40What have you seen with those changes the last seven years?
0:15:40 > 0:15:44Massive changes in the port. The port's developing all the time.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49One of the biggest developments we've had the approach channel
0:15:49 > 0:15:51and the inner harbour have been dredged.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54It allows us now to bring in deep-drafted vessels.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55- Bigger.- Yeah, bigger ships.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Generally, shipping wise, things have got quite busy.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08I wonder how today's harbour compares with the town centre
0:16:08 > 0:16:10docks of the 18th century.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The population of Belfast had now risen to nearly 9,000.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20It had also replaced Carrickfergus as the most important
0:16:20 > 0:16:21port in Ulster.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Dr Jonathan Wright is a research fellow at Queen's University.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30He's agreed to take me through the town's links
0:16:30 > 0:16:32with the rest of the world.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Jonathan, I've got a list here of the imports
0:16:34 > 0:16:38and exports out of Belfast in the last month or so. Quite interesting.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Lots of fuel coming in. We've got wine and sugar as well.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44We're also bringing in grains and feed and coal.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46We've got our exports, we've got scrap metal going out,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48we've got stone going out.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51How's that compare to the 18th century?
0:16:52 > 0:16:54In some respects, it's quite similar.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56In the 1780s, the Duke of Rutland described Belfast's
0:16:56 > 0:16:59merchants as having a trade that was immense.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01They were importing all sorts of things -
0:17:01 > 0:17:03timber was coming from the Baltic region.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05You had timber coming in as well.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10You have tobacco, you have flax seed coming from North America.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Sugar and rum coming from the West Indies.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14So a lot of similarities with the list from today.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17The actual mainstay of the trade, what was the mainstay?
0:17:17 > 0:17:19What kept Belfast turning over?
0:17:19 > 0:17:23What really kept Belfast turning over in terms of its output was linen.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Linen was Belfast's major export.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Also then the provisions trade as well for the West Indies.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31You've got salt fish going out,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35you've got shoes being sent out for slaves on slave plantations.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Hold on, hang on a minute, we may not have been dealing in slaves,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42but money that built Belfast did come from the slave trade.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Very much so. You don't need to trade or sell slaves
0:17:45 > 0:17:47to make money off the back of slavery.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Belfast is a prime example of that.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52It's also an example of some of the paradox involved in that.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55You have radicals in Belfast who oppose slavery,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58but are making money off trades that are linked to slavery.
0:18:03 > 0:18:04A mile or so away from the harbour,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07is the First Presbyterian Church of Belfast.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11In the 18th century,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15its congregation was full of the town's biggest movers and shakers.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Who am I here to meet?
0:18:17 > 0:18:19The man in this memorial is William Tennent, who,
0:18:19 > 0:18:24when he died in 1832 was one of the richest men in Belfast.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28And he's a man who exemplifies how hard working and active Belfast's
0:18:28 > 0:18:32mercantile community in the late 18th and early 19th century was.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Was Tennent born a wealthy man?
0:18:34 > 0:18:35No, he wasn't always successful.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37He was a man from very humble origins.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39He was the son of a clergyman from County Antrim
0:18:39 > 0:18:43and he started off in the Belfast Sugar House and he worked his way up.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45He was a strong-willed man, a hard-working man,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49a somewhat unusual man - he had a very unconventional private life.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53He had 13 illegitimate children before he had his first
0:18:53 > 0:18:54legitimate child.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Illegitimate children in the late 18th, early 19th century,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00surely society would have shunned him.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02One would think so, but he appears not to have been.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06And Belfast of the time, what was the economic climate like?
0:19:06 > 0:19:09In the late 18th century, Belfast was a town where there were
0:19:09 > 0:19:12opportunities for ambitious young men to make money, certainly,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15and William Tennent, grabbed them with both hands.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19The 18th century might have offered
0:19:19 > 0:19:22opportunities for merchants like Tennent,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26but in the harbour, new berth and deeper channels were badly needed.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33In 1795, the chamber of commerce was given permission to set up
0:19:33 > 0:19:34the Ballast Board.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39In 1847, it was replaced by the Harbour Commission,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and they're still responsible for running the port.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Today, it's the monthly board meeting,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48and the chairman is Dr Len O'Hagan.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52So what's on the agenda today?
0:19:52 > 0:19:54- It's a very busy port.- Absolutely.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58And with 68% of all trade in Northern Ireland,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00it's very important we keep our finger on the pulse.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04So a lot of investment decisions to be made, at most board meetings.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10The current harbour office was built in the Victorian era.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11Everywhere you look,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14you get the sense that this was a building where important
0:20:14 > 0:20:18people met, and where the wealth of Belfast was created and enjoyed.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22You must feel the history of all the people who have gone before you,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25because all of the harbour and port is about people, isn't it?
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Very much so, and every chairman has his portrait painted.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30So, you have them all around the place and, you see,
0:20:30 > 0:20:32these are the people who really built Belfast
0:20:32 > 0:20:34because the port and the city are symbiotic.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37So you're really part of a tradition.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40I'm just passing through, the board is just passing through,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43so we've got to leave something behind that is better than what
0:20:43 > 0:20:45we actually inherited.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46And that's, really, I think
0:20:46 > 0:20:50what's important about this Belfast Harbour Commission and the board.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53All the archives here, maps, all kinds of things...
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Journalist and historian Alf McCreary has spent
0:20:56 > 0:20:59years in the Harbour Commission's archives,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01unpicking the history of the harbour.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04..marvellous plans of the harbour in various stages.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Among the treasures he's found
0:21:06 > 0:21:09are the record of the Ballast Board's first ever meeting.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And the minutes have got attendees here, and
0:21:13 > 0:21:17"unanimously agreed and resolved," they're going to have a common seal.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22It's going to be made of steel, about the size of a crown.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24In the middle, there's going to be a ship, the words "Belfast"
0:21:24 > 0:21:28are on it, they got together and they approved their logo.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Ladies and gentlemen, the board meeting shall now commence.
0:21:31 > 0:21:32Thank you very much.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35If you'd like to come through.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38The original harbour commissioners, the Ballast Board,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40- what sort of people were they? - They were old men, for a start.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43That's the time, isn't it? That's the era.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46They were very important people, they were movers and shakers,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49they were businessmen, merchant ship owners.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54They saw a land-locked harbour, which they wanted to improve.
0:21:54 > 0:21:55And when they were doing it,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58were they doing it for themselves or were they doing it for Belfast?
0:21:58 > 0:22:00A bit of both.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02They wanted to make money, they wanted to make profit,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05but because they were so good at what they did,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07they opened up the harbour, which helped Belfast.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11So there's a kind of symmetry about these people, that they saw their
0:22:11 > 0:22:16destiny in a bigger, richer harbour and they were part of that destiny.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21The first major problem tackled by the Ballast Board is
0:22:21 > 0:22:24the same issue that has faced every generation of the harbour
0:22:24 > 0:22:26since the 18th century -
0:22:26 > 0:22:31how do you mould a modern port out of the shallow Lagan Estuary?
0:22:34 > 0:22:38It's a battle against nature, that's created deeper channels
0:22:38 > 0:22:42and an estate that is now one fifth of the city of Belfast.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Port engineer Eugene McBride has agreed to explain how they did it.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57A natural harbour would naturally be very deep - deep walls,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59deep water depth.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Belfast is more of a saucer shape.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Very shallow, which means, turning it into a harbour -
0:23:03 > 0:23:05lot of work to be done.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08An awful lot of work dredging out the material from the seabed to
0:23:08 > 0:23:10deepen that channel to get the ships in.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18What am I digging up here, Eugene?
0:23:18 > 0:23:21You're digging up all the sediments and all the marine shells
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and all the materials that accumulates in the Belfast Lough.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27If I want a channel out there, 200 metres wide, 11 metres deep,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29how long does it take to dig that?
0:23:29 > 0:23:32200 years ago, that would have been virtually impossible.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36For example, we think it took over ten years for the men to dig
0:23:36 > 0:23:38about 600mm of material.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40That's two feet.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43That's only two feet in ten years, yes.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Would they really have done it by hand?
0:23:45 > 0:23:46Everything would have been by hand, yes.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49They might have used horses to pull drag lines on the shore.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Drag lines, you're talking about buckets
0:23:51 > 0:23:53put out there and pulled back?
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Big buckets or medium-sized buckets with a chain or a rope
0:23:56 > 0:24:00and they would have scooped the material out of the channel.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Look, all the water's come straight back in.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Yes, it would all collapse back in and basically their work was
0:24:07 > 0:24:10never done - they would have to go back and do it again the next day.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Here I am, wasting my time a little bit, but this stuff, if I turn
0:24:13 > 0:24:17this into reclaimed land, they just piled it up and stamped it down?
0:24:17 > 0:24:19Just piled it up.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21This stuff isn't that bad, there is
0:24:21 > 0:24:24much worse material in Belfast Lough than this.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26- What is that? - That would be Belfast sleech.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Is that this goop? Sleech?
0:24:29 > 0:24:31What do you mean by sleech? Is this safe to touch?
0:24:31 > 0:24:33It is safe to touch, yeah.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Aye, having said that...
0:24:35 > 0:24:38There's no way you're going to build on that.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40No. It has very low bearing capacity.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41Bearing capacity -
0:24:41 > 0:24:45- how much weight you can put on it before it goes "squish". - That's exactly true.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49Right. OK. So we're reclaiming some land, and we throw our sleech...
0:24:51 > 0:24:53There we go - big pile of sleech.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55How are you going to build on that?
0:24:55 > 0:24:58You just wouldn't dump it on the ground like that, Dick, you would
0:24:58 > 0:25:02put stone grounds or a stone bond around it, to restrain the material.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07I put stones, and these stones stop my sleech from moving out too much?
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Is that the norm? And that's happened around the Lough itself?
0:25:11 > 0:25:14And that continues to happen to this very day.
0:25:14 > 0:25:15Looks quite good!
0:25:15 > 0:25:18I'm reclaiming my own little bit of the Lough here.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21It's still squidgy and I'm not building on that, Dick.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23What do we have to do next then?
0:25:23 > 0:25:25You have to surcharge that material, you have to put manners on it.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30Manners? I like the idea of giving that sludginess some manners.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35Well, manners, you pour a layer of stone on top of that,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37and the weight of that material pushes the sleech down
0:25:37 > 0:25:39and gives it manners.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Makes it nice and robust, gives it strength.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44You know what I'm going to do?
0:25:44 > 0:25:47- I'm going to put a building on it. - Right.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50You're braver than me.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51That's pretty solid, you know,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54considering we've only just built that.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55That's pretty solid, isn't it?
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Well, you've just demonstrated the technique
0:25:57 > 0:26:01that we use to reclaim land.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03By the end of the 18th century,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07an extensive hand-dredging programme had removed the worst of the
0:26:07 > 0:26:11sandbanks and deepened the approach to Belfast port by two feet.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16The port itself was still situated around the mouth of the Farset.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The dock at the end of High Street had now been built up,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22strengthened and renamed Chichester Quay.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Around the corner, William Ritchie, a shipbuilder from Scotland,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29was establishing a shipyard on the Antrim side of the Lagan.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31The Ballast Board invested heavily in ship repair
0:26:31 > 0:26:33and building facilities,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37this included graving dock number one and graving dock number two.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41This is one of the graving docks
0:26:41 > 0:26:44commissioned by the Ballast Board to try and encourage shipbuilder
0:26:44 > 0:26:48William Ritchie to increase his operations here in Belfast.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53It's nearly 200 years old, and I just love the simplicity of this.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55You open the gates, you bring your ship in,
0:26:55 > 0:27:00you prop it up against the side and then you pump the water out.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05The facilities built by the Ballast Board encouraged Ritchie to stay,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09and allowed his ship building business to grow.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It's a business model that's been repeated at the harbour's
0:27:12 > 0:27:14latest facility, D1.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17£50 million was spent to create a holding area
0:27:17 > 0:27:19for equipment for offshore wind farms.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24The biggest job was strengthening the berth and harbour floor,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27ready for the project's two installation vessels.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31This is the Pacific Orca,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34it helps to install five wind turbines a week.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39I'm looking at the Pacific Orca, and I haven't actually seen
0:27:39 > 0:27:43a ship come into a harbour before and jacking itself up to load.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46That's not a concept you see everywhere, is it?
0:27:46 > 0:27:50It's not a concept you see everywhere. There's only a few of these vessels out there.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53- It just jacks itself up... - It just jacks itself up.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57It tries every leg first, takes about half an hour to settle,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59then all of a sudden it jacks up.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01There's nothing normal about this -
0:28:01 > 0:28:04the propellers aren't going the right way, what's going on?
0:28:04 > 0:28:07The propellers are actually used to position the vessel.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09It can position itself perfectly.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13I suppose the accuracy of this is quite important cos in a wind farm,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16you tend to want to put your turbines in the right place.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Exactly. But also, there's cables
0:28:19 > 0:28:22and there's all sorts of other things in that particular wind farm.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And the positioning of the vessels and the foundations themselves,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29it's an accurate business, yeah.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34As you can see, the next load is already ready.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36- That's the next cargo? - That's the next cargo.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38- Hasn't even left yet?- Oh, yeah.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41That's just to put a little pressure on the guys installing them.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Guys, your next load is already there. Get a move on.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50DONG Energy have now signed up for a ten-year lease,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53but matching facilities with business is not an easy job.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57One of the people responsible for thinking about the port's
0:28:57 > 0:29:00future is commercial director Joe O'Neill.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- This is the stone of Northern Ireland?- Yes.- What's so special about it?
0:29:05 > 0:29:07It's got a particular polished surface value,
0:29:07 > 0:29:10a high-resistance value, which means it's a very durable stone,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13very appropriate for road building.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16- It's not skiddy. - It's not skiddy, yeah.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17Technical phrase.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20Today, we export over a million tonnes of that a year.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Joe's keen to show me another side of the port's recent history.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37He's taking me to Gotto Wharf.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41A few years ago, it was bursting at the seams,
0:29:41 > 0:29:43today, it's like a ghost town.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47OK. We're quite empty in here. What was in this warehouse?
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Timber. Entirely filled with timber.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Inside here, the next four warehouses filled with timber,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55- everything outside - timber as well. - Where is it all?- Gone.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59It's down to a fifth of what it used to be in volume terms.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02The downturn in the housing market - the construction market for new
0:30:02 > 0:30:06houses just disappeared and our timber volumes disappeared.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13This is not the first time something like this has happened.
0:30:13 > 0:30:14In the 19th century,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18the American Civil War caused a collapse in cotton imports.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Luckily, Belfast and the port were ready to fill the void with linen.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26Whose responsibility is it to make decisions about the future
0:30:26 > 0:30:28of the port?
0:30:28 > 0:30:31The board - the Belfast Harbour Commissioners board.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35We're a trust port, so we make a surplus rather than a profit.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37We pay tax, like any other company,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40and anything that's left after that is ploughed
0:30:40 > 0:30:43back into the business, into the development of the business -
0:30:43 > 0:30:47building new quays, building new terminals, building new wharfs, building roads.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49When it comes time to make your decisions,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51what do you use to base your decisions on?
0:30:51 > 0:30:54Party scientifically informed, partly economically informed
0:30:54 > 0:30:57and just in small part your gut feeling as to what
0:30:57 > 0:31:00trades are going to have to be accommodated in the future.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04It's now late afternoon.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08In Lisburn, the stained-glass window that celebrates
0:31:08 > 0:31:11the port's 400-year history is coming on.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Engineering is a prominent part of the design,
0:31:21 > 0:31:23and it's still a big part of the port.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26At Harland and Wolff,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30they're working on a new type of wind turbine foundation.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33They're hoping it will revolutionise the industry.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48Up the road from Harland and Wolff is an RSPB reserve.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54A few minutes ago there was an unusual discovery.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Hi, Chris. Have you indentified it for me?
0:31:57 > 0:31:59I definitely think it's a wood sandpiper.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Most of these birds have been coming here for generation after
0:32:03 > 0:32:05generation after generation.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Therefore, they've become habituated
0:32:07 > 0:32:09with the noises that are around them.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12We've got the airport to one side, the pipeline to the other
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and we've got the Stena Line opposite us.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19So there's always noise, it's not a peaceful, quiet place to work.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23It's sort of a man-made accident cos it is reclaimed land, and as
0:32:23 > 0:32:26it started to settle, it started to gather rainwater
0:32:26 > 0:32:30and then the birds started to come and then it became a special place.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Across the harbour, there's a shipment of animal feed.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48The stevedores are hoping to finish unloading in a few hours.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03The general loading berth cranes are maintained by the port engineers.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07One of the team is Grace Davitt, she came here from Dublin Airport.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I don't like sitting in an office, I like going around - you don't
0:33:12 > 0:33:14know what you're doing from one day to the next.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Obviously the downside to that is in the winter you've no heating,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21you're out in the freezing cold, up high in the cranes
0:33:21 > 0:33:25and just out in the elements.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Yeah, but it's a good job all the same.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34I'm just checking these here, so you can work away, OK.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37I think initially when I started,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40the boys were a bit shocked that a woman was coming into the workshops,
0:33:40 > 0:33:45but they work well with me now and it's just, I'm part of the team.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03While grain ships have been coming to the harbour for centuries,
0:34:03 > 0:34:08in the last 20 years, smaller loads predominantly arrive in containers.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Watching them come on and off the boats is hypnotic,
0:34:20 > 0:34:25an apparently perfect creation of order in a chaotic world.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32If I was to say to you, that blue one on the top, what's in it,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34could you actually work out what's in it?
0:34:34 > 0:34:37I'd have to make a call, but, yeah, I could find out.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40- Could you?- Yeah.- Go on.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42Can you check a container for me?
0:34:42 > 0:34:45GESU 3119.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48Cheers. Bye.
0:34:49 > 0:34:56It's 28.7 tonne of waste paper, destined for Euromax in Rotterdam.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02The plastic and the cardboard will be separated and packed
0:35:02 > 0:35:05and then sent, usually, to China.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Every year, Belfast handles over 19 million tonnes of cargo,
0:35:14 > 0:35:18that's over ten tonnes per person living in Northern Ireland.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28But all this could never have happened without a fundamental
0:35:28 > 0:35:32decision made by the Ballast Board in the 1830s.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35A decision that would transform the harbour
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and make Belfast ready for the modern world.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42First half of the 19th century, what were the issues with Belfast
0:35:42 > 0:35:44developing into a big, successful port?
0:35:44 > 0:35:50The restriction would have been this section of the channel.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54You've got a pool here, which is relatively deep water and you've
0:35:54 > 0:35:59got this meandering channel, which is restricted water depth.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01What solution do we go for?
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Well, this is the solution here.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07An engineer looking at it, seeing this meandering river...
0:36:08 > 0:36:10It's a civil engineer!
0:36:10 > 0:36:13We don't like bends, we just get a straight one down the middle.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15We've got a bendy river, just chop a line through the middle of it.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18That's it, Dick, just chop a line through the middle of it
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and take the bends out and deepen it.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22I love the simplicity of that.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Nice, simple solution - dig a trench all the way to Belfast.
0:36:26 > 0:36:27That's right.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32The first and second cuts created a three-metre-deep channel,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34ready to carry all the materials
0:36:34 > 0:36:37needed to fuel industries like linen.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40The river was also deepened between Queen's Bridge,
0:36:40 > 0:36:45which has now replaced Long Bridge, and the start of the channel.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48The old town docks round the end of High Street have been
0:36:48 > 0:36:52filled in and Queen's Quay and Clarendon Docks have been created.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54On the County Down side,
0:36:54 > 0:36:58the spoil from Victoria Channel has created an island.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02By the middle of the 19th century, it has been planted with trees.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05It's already open to the public, with pleasure gardens,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08bathing pools and Belfast's very own crystal palace,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10modelled on the one in London.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25Creating a deep channel may have transformed Belfast as a port, but
0:37:25 > 0:37:27it's no good getting the big ships in
0:37:27 > 0:37:29if you can't unload them quickly.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33The success of Belfast as a port, is as much down to the stevedores
0:37:33 > 0:37:34and dockers as it is to
0:37:34 > 0:37:38those in the boardrooms at the Harbour Commissioner's Office.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41This is a tough and dirty job, and it always has been.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48The sheer scale of the operation here is what surprises me,
0:37:48 > 0:37:49cos that's a big old crane.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Well, it is.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55What you're finding is that ships are getting bigger.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59As the demand for cheaper commodities, etc, is happening
0:37:59 > 0:38:02you're finding that they're having to come in in larger parcels.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05This particular vessel is 30,000 tonnes.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08And what are we actually working...this is coal?
0:38:08 > 0:38:12- It is a form of coal called petcoke.- Coke?- Petcoke.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15How do they get it all out? How do you get in the corners?
0:38:15 > 0:38:18We put in bobcats, so it's a combination of the bobcat
0:38:18 > 0:38:21and the actual men with brushes and shovels.
0:38:21 > 0:38:22Everything has to come out.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24- Completely clean.- Completely clean.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27This vessel could be going for a cargo of grain back to
0:38:27 > 0:38:30South America to load soya bean or something like that.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33- So...- 100% spotless.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Many dockers come from families whose involvement in the port
0:38:39 > 0:38:41goes back generations.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Brian Morgan is fourth generation.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47His first day at the docks was 34 years ago.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Just as I was starting, I think,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58a few years before there was no bobcats so all the coal had
0:38:58 > 0:39:02to be shovelled out underneath on the inside.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04So, you would have had maybe
0:39:04 > 0:39:0710, 12 men shovelling out from dusk till dawn, you know.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10The actual physical movement of whatever is in the hold to the
0:39:10 > 0:39:13middle to be lifted up, all done by hand?
0:39:13 > 0:39:15All done by hand and wheelbarrows.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17If it went too far back, they'd put it in wheelbarrows,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19wheeled it out into the middle of the hatch.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Of course, this port's built on men using their sweat
0:39:23 > 0:39:27- and wheelbarrows and shovels, isn't it?- It is indeed, yes, it is indeed.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30You know and obviously with modernisation too, you know, the
0:39:30 > 0:39:33number of men has been drastically cut, you know,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37so now there wouldn't be half the men there was.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Four generations of family before you, Brian, what about the future?
0:39:40 > 0:39:43I've actually, in the last few years,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47I've got two of my nephews in and they're now stevedores, dockers.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50So, they're fifth generation, my own son as well,
0:39:50 > 0:39:52we'll see what happens, you know.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59For hundreds of years, boats were unloaded by hand.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Traditionally, the men who did it lived close by in Sailortown.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07I've come here with political historian Eamon Phoenix to try
0:40:07 > 0:40:10and find out what being a docker might have been like.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Now, this is Sailortown but there isn't actually sailors here, is there?
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Name goes back really, I suppose, to the 18th, early 19th century,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19when this was a centre for immigration to the Untied States.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Sailors, mariners living here but by the 1860s, '70s,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25it became a very closely knit,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29working class community of really deep sea dockers.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31It ran in the blood, it ran in the families.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35We're on our way to the Dockers' Club to meet some men who began
0:40:35 > 0:40:37working in the docks in the '40s and '50s.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42Their memories echo the experience of dock workers that go back centuries.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47There was tremendous tension always in a casual system at the docks.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52In that there was long periods when there would be more men than jobs.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54All sounds very casual,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57I'm not hearing much of security of income or anything here, am I?
0:40:57 > 0:40:59The information was only the bush telegraph.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04There was no such thing as a board saying there's X, Y and Z here today.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09You know, you come out in the morning time and you just spoke to people.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12They told you they heard there was a boat there,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14there wasn't a boat there.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Employers were at the docks when they required labour.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22As soon as that was not a requirement, they were away.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25Tell me the nature of the cargos you were dealing with.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28What were the worst sort of things to be taking out of a hold?
0:41:28 > 0:41:32Say fishmeal, a fishmeal boat, it stinks,
0:41:32 > 0:41:38it's dreadful and you had to stand where the heaves come down.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42Sometimes some of these heaves burst and stuff like that.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45I was a delegate to a fishmeal boat
0:41:45 > 0:41:49and a couple of days before that I had met a girl for the first time
0:41:49 > 0:41:52and we had agreed to go out and I had to meet her at
0:41:52 > 0:41:56the General Post Office in Royal Avenue at the time.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58And as soon as I get up,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01you could see the look of terror on her face
0:42:01 > 0:42:04and she was looking all around to see where this smell was
0:42:04 > 0:42:08coming from and we headed for the picture house
0:42:08 > 0:42:11and she walked about 15 feet in front of me.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15And when we came out of the picture house, she said, "Bye-bye."
0:42:15 > 0:42:17I never saw her again.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20But we were used to that, we were used to coming home
0:42:20 > 0:42:24smelling of something or coming home covered in something.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28You just got on with it.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31Belfast's economy was built on stevedores
0:42:31 > 0:42:34and loading raw materials and loading up exports.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37I'm wondering exactly what the activity in the port
0:42:37 > 0:42:40was like in the second half of the 19th century,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43when Belfast reached its industrial golden age.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49Helping me make sense of the figures is historian Olwen Purdue.
0:42:49 > 0:42:521861, what have you got coming in in coal?
0:42:52 > 0:42:571861, coal, we have 412,000 tonnes.
0:42:57 > 0:43:03412,000 tonnes. Come forward to the end of the century. What's this?
0:43:03 > 0:43:05This is 1896.
0:43:05 > 0:43:091,160,000 tonnes. That's nearly four times as much.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11That's a massive increase.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Huge increase over the second half of the century. Why was that?
0:43:14 > 0:43:16Well, the coal was being used to fuel the industries that were
0:43:16 > 0:43:18growing in Belfast at this time.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21This was a period when industries were springing up all over
0:43:21 > 0:43:25the place. We had a massive growth in linen, for example.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28- OK and how much linen are we talking about?- OK.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31What have you got back in the 1860s?
0:43:31 > 0:43:36- OK, so in 1861 we had 57,000 packages.- Packages?
0:43:36 > 0:43:43Right, well, cos at the end of the century we've got 44,000 tonnes.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45- That's an awful lot of linen going out.- Massive growth.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49- What's caused the growth in linen? - Linen had always been around.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52People had been producing linen in particular
0:43:52 > 0:43:56the north of Ireland for many years but very much in a domestic scale.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59What we see in the 19th century is it moving from the domestic
0:43:59 > 0:44:03scale to being large, industrial scale
0:44:03 > 0:44:07and what really was happening was that people were, entrepreneurs
0:44:07 > 0:44:11in particular, developing ways of producing linen in factories.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13I'm loving these books by the way.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15The amount of information we've got here.
0:44:15 > 0:44:21We imported 5 hundredweight, that's 40 stone of tortoises!
0:44:21 > 0:44:23Yeah, what do you do with 40 stone of tortoises?
0:44:23 > 0:44:26And we've got cigars, we've got brandy.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30We've even got exotic things like rice, which really surprises me.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32We've got people dealing in lemons and lentils.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34You know, we've got hare coming in.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37It must have been a really entrepreneurial feel about Belfast.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39I think there was.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41You get the real impression that it was a city on the rise,
0:44:41 > 0:44:44that it was boom time but the other side of the city
0:44:44 > 0:44:47and the other side of the growth of the city at this stage was
0:44:47 > 0:44:49also that there was a tremendous amount of poverty.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51Not everybody was successful.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54If you couldn't work, if you were injured, if you were a woman and you
0:44:54 > 0:44:56got pregnant and you weren't able to work,
0:44:56 > 0:45:00then very often the workhouse was the only solution.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04By 1900, almost 300 years from its charter,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Belfast had become bigger than Dublin.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Its population was now over 350,000.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14The city was also famous enough to attract the world's leading
0:45:14 > 0:45:19film-makers, the Lumiere brothers, who came here in 1897.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21The harbour had also grown.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24At the turn of the century,
0:45:24 > 0:45:28the High Street docks have now completely disappeared.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32New quays further downstream on the Antrim side of the Lagan are now
0:45:32 > 0:45:36receiving the raw materials needed for the booming local industries.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41Victoria Channel has also been extended and there's a new Musgrave Channel
0:45:41 > 0:45:44behind Queen's Island on the Down side of the harbour.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47On Queen's Island itself,
0:45:47 > 0:45:52the Crystal Palace destroyed by fire has never been replaced.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56Iron shipyards, first established on the island in the 1850s,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00have now gobbled up all available space.
0:46:00 > 0:46:01When it was built,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05Alexander Dock was the longest dry dock in the world.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09But in 1911, the Harbour Commission went one better.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16This is Thompson Graving Dock,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19built by the harbour to be large enough for a new
0:46:19 > 0:46:24generation of passenger ships, commissioned by the White Star Line.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26It's where Olympic and Titanic were completed
0:46:26 > 0:46:30and although they represent the pinnacle of Belfast shipbuilding,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34to me the dry dock where they were created is just as impressive.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39If you have a look at this dock,
0:46:39 > 0:46:42you get a feel for the size of the operation.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45This was built in 1911.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50850 feet long, it could be extended another 37 and a half feet.
0:46:50 > 0:46:57It's 128 feet wide, 44 feet deep, holds 21 million gallons of water.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01This is huge!
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Today, the large ocean going pleasure ships that
0:47:04 > 0:47:08dock in Belfast are built elsewhere but names like Olympic
0:47:08 > 0:47:11and Titanic still ring out across the ages.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15It wasn't just Harland and Wolff, the so-called "wee yard"
0:47:15 > 0:47:20of Workman and Clark launched over 500 vessels in its 55 years.
0:47:22 > 0:47:23For historian Eamon Phoenix,
0:47:23 > 0:47:28though, the name that really rings out from this era is William Pirrie.
0:47:28 > 0:47:29Chairman of Harland and Wolff
0:47:29 > 0:47:33and a prominent member of the harbour board for 12 years.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35We think of Harland and Wolff,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38the two great founders of the shipyard in 1861,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40when the channel was deepened
0:47:40 > 0:47:43and raw materials were brought in from England and Scotland
0:47:43 > 0:47:47but, of course, Pirrie arrived here as a gentleman apprentice
0:47:47 > 0:47:49in the 1860s, aged about 15 years of age.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Though born in Canada, he was an Ulsterman by parentage.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57He had a great aptitude for engineering, he had personal charm,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01he had a sense of the role of Belfast shipyards in the world.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03What, you say, you know, Harland and Wolff
0:48:03 > 0:48:05and Pirrie in the same sentence.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07Is he as important to you as Harland and Wolff?
0:48:07 > 0:48:11He's probably more important, in that it was his, kind of, ideas
0:48:11 > 0:48:16from the 1870s on that built up the firm and expanded the workforce to 30,000.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Right, I know I've got a real treat in store for you.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22- We've actually got up in the boardroom Pirrie's book.- Yes.
0:48:22 > 0:48:23Before I let you see that,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25I have got to go and talk to a man about some of this metal.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27That is a thing of beauty,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30- do you mind coming to have a quick peek at this.- Yeah, absolutely.
0:48:30 > 0:48:31- Because this is what we're all about.- OK.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34We're still making things.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44- Now, I love it, what is it?- These are suction bucket foundations.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47What, what, what? What is a suction bucket foundation?
0:48:47 > 0:48:51Basically, the bottom part of this is a large suction bucket.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55It's innovative foundation for the offshore wind market.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00When you bring them out to sea, they lower them into the water and at
0:49:00 > 0:49:03the start they self-penetrate into the sea bed by their own weight.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06So, it's a bit like being on the sand, wiggling your toes,
0:49:06 > 0:49:07you get stuck in there.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Yeah, it's like being on the beach
0:49:09 > 0:49:12and putting a bucket into the sand and trying to drag it back out.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14That's what the whole concept works on.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18- So, these are the first ones being made and they're in Belfast?- Yes.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21- How many are you going to make? - Hopefully, up to 200 a year.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22Good man!
0:49:24 > 0:49:25I love the fact that Harland and Wolff
0:49:25 > 0:49:30are still involved in innovative engineering.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33It's something I'm sure Pirrie would have approved of.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Eamon, this book is absolutely gorgeous, isn't it?
0:49:38 > 0:49:39Oh, I think it's totally unique.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42- It's so much history in one document.- Absolutely, it's all here.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45And, of course, the Royal Victoria Hospital, pictured in the book,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49which he and his wealth helped to found at the turn of the 20th century.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52And you have at the end, of course, you have the new engines.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55Look at the technology and the engineering that had
0:49:55 > 0:49:59developed from the masted ships, you know, to the edge of Titanic.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02It's a bit like "This Is Your Life", the big red book!
0:50:02 > 0:50:03I think that sums it up very well.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06I mean it really is a very personalised tribute to Pirrie on
0:50:06 > 0:50:11his life's achievement but towards the end, we have Pirrie's reply.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Reply the Right Honourable, the Viscount Pirrie, read by his wife at
0:50:15 > 0:50:20the function at which this book was presented and clearly added later.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22And, of course, he talks about his love for Ireland,
0:50:22 > 0:50:24his love for the city of Belfast
0:50:24 > 0:50:27but he also reflects on the serious sectarian
0:50:27 > 0:50:30and political troubles that were bubbling
0:50:30 > 0:50:33away in the Belfast of 1922 and against that background
0:50:33 > 0:50:37he writes, "Difficult problems abound, which can only be overcome
0:50:37 > 0:50:39"With patience and common sense."
0:50:39 > 0:50:41And he talks about conflicts of opinion.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43These words are still right today, aren't they?
0:50:43 > 0:50:46"We need common sense and patience."
0:50:46 > 0:50:49People say it on the Six O'Clock News in Northern Ireland every night
0:50:49 > 0:50:52and we're still trying to achieve it but Pirrie was saying it,
0:50:52 > 0:50:53you know, nearly a century ago.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57The First World War, followed by partition,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00marked the start of a difficult period for Belfast.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05During the Second World War, there was heavy bombing.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09The harbour was the main target but the city was also badly damaged.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Despite the devastation, the production of warships
0:51:13 > 0:51:17and aircraft for the British war effort helped cushion the effects
0:51:17 > 0:51:21of a collapsing world economy and the harbour recovered quickly.
0:51:21 > 0:51:22In the '60s,
0:51:22 > 0:51:26films still celebrated the harbour's contribution to the wider world.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29This shipbuilding yard, with its 18 building berths
0:51:29 > 0:51:32and its huge marine engineering establishment is the largest
0:51:32 > 0:51:34single shipyard in the world.
0:51:34 > 0:51:39Wherever you go, you will find the spirit of youthful enterprise.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42The harbour continued to grow and develop.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45In the '30s the new Herdman Channel provided increased
0:51:45 > 0:51:48access for ships on the Antrim side.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51On the County Down side, a massive dredging and reclamation
0:51:51 > 0:51:56programme created 365 acres of land on the Sydenham foreshore.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58That's over 200 football pitches.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01Some of this will provide the site for a new airport,
0:52:01 > 0:52:03which was opened in 1938.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11It's now 7.30 and the 6.40 flight from Edinburgh is
0:52:11 > 0:52:16arriving at what's now known as George Best Belfast City Airport.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19The airport handles over 100 flights a day.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25Over at the harbour office, this stain glass window is being
0:52:25 > 0:52:28installed, ready for an unveiling ceremony.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32The window will provide a record of the harbour's finest achievements
0:52:32 > 0:52:35and there's lots to be celebrated.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38But in the archives, there are accident books
0:52:38 > 0:52:40and they tell the other side of the story.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44Mr Birch was struck in the face with a wench,
0:52:44 > 0:52:49had his hand and lip cut but he continued working.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54You come down, Samuel Jamieson was pulling a chain with a chain hook,
0:52:54 > 0:53:00the hook slipped, he fell, injured his shoulder, unable to work.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05And here, the one that I think just says it all, really.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10"William Purse, deck hand, lost his life through drowning."
0:53:11 > 0:53:13Looking at records like this makes you
0:53:13 > 0:53:16aware of the thousands of people who made Belfast Harbour,
0:53:16 > 0:53:19whose names we'll never know.
0:53:19 > 0:53:20It also makes you realise
0:53:20 > 0:53:24this is not a romantic story of human endeavour.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Jim, you all knew it was a dangerous job,
0:53:26 > 0:53:27but you still wanted to do it.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32Unemployment is a great discipline and, at the time
0:53:32 > 0:53:34that I joined the union,
0:53:34 > 0:53:39the prospects of other work were absolutely nil.
0:53:39 > 0:53:46So, the lack of other work was a big factor in people
0:53:46 > 0:53:48seeking to become employed at the docks.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52I mean, the reason I went on the dock was my father had died,
0:53:52 > 0:53:53there was five of us left.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59I was 16 in 1952, November.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01My uncle took me down.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04The first job I got nearly killed me, nearly murdered me.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09My back all broke out, scabs, open wounds.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13And one Saturday morning the bed was covered in blood and my mum said,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15"You're not going back there."
0:54:15 > 0:54:17I said, "I have to go back. I have to."
0:54:17 > 0:54:22"You're not going back." So, I went back to bed and about an hour later,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25footsteps on the stairs, someone running up the stairs,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29the bedroom door got smashed open, and it was my Uncle Davey.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34"Never mind. Your back will heal. Get back down to your work.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37"If you're going to start listening to your ladies you'll end up
0:54:37 > 0:54:38"being a lady yourself.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41"There's men down there doing your work. Get down."
0:54:41 > 0:54:46So, I went down and, as he said, later on,
0:54:46 > 0:54:48the back healed itself.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51So, when I'd be out and I'd be dancing in the Plaza or
0:54:51 > 0:54:54somewhere, and you held hands in those days,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56the girl would say to you, "Where do you work?"
0:54:56 > 0:54:58I'd have said, "At the docks."
0:54:58 > 0:55:01She said, "Your hands are too soft. You couldn't work at the docks."
0:55:01 > 0:55:03I said, "Do you want to see my back?" Leather.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05LAUGHTER
0:55:06 > 0:55:09It's the end of another day in Belfast.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16At D1, the Pacific Orca,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19is getting ready to sail to a wind farm just north of Blackpool.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27Over at Stormont Quay, coal dust and grain are being cleaned from
0:55:27 > 0:55:31the dockside, ready for the arrival of a cruise ship tomorrow morning.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34Down at Titanic Quarter,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38the police are carrying out their evening foot patrols.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44While VTS remain vigilant, at the harbour office,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46the great unveiling ceremony has begun.
0:55:46 > 0:55:51APPLAUSE
0:55:51 > 0:55:54It's absolutely fabulous to see the window installed
0:55:54 > 0:55:56after about seven months working on it.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59I feel it's like a celebration, really, of all the achievements
0:55:59 > 0:56:03from people in Belfast to make the port what it is today.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08While the Commissioners celebrate 400 years,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10at the ferry terminals it's another busy night.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18Victoria Terminal 4 has been open for just a few years.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21It's built on the latest parcel of land reclaimed from the sea
0:56:21 > 0:56:22less than ten years ago.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28By the '60s, the harbour had firmly established roll on,
0:56:28 > 0:56:33roll off services, with new ferry terminals built at Donegal Quay.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37The SeaCat operated from here right up to 2005,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40but the harbour was expanding its reach out to sea
0:56:40 > 0:56:43and an area of reclaimed land to the north of the harbour would
0:56:43 > 0:56:47eventually house a container terminal and two ferry terminals.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49The plan for the future is to reclaim more
0:56:49 > 0:56:53land on the end of VT4, extending the port's
0:56:53 > 0:56:56reach beyond the estuary right out into Belfast Loch.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00Over on Queen's Island, the collapse of shipbuilding in the
0:57:00 > 0:57:03'70s have seen a return of leisure facilities to the island.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08This year will also see the creation of new births for cruise ships.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14RADIO CHATTER
0:57:14 > 0:57:16It's 5.30 in the morning.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20A cruise ship, the Crystal Serenity, has picked up its pilot.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Later today, it will host a reception, given by the harbour,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30for politicians and businessmen to explain the need for the
0:57:30 > 0:57:34multimillion pounds investment in a new cruise ship birth.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42Before the VIP guests arrive, I'm getting my own sneaky look.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48I wonder if the passengers ever give a thought to the remarkable
0:57:48 > 0:57:50story of the port their sitting in.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57It doesn't matter how much time I spend at the harbour,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01the sheer of things coming in and out - very impressive.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06And all of this activity and industry,
0:58:06 > 0:58:10I'm just so amazed it's all carved out of a sand bar.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Think of the tens of thousands of people that have created this.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20Respect.