Browse content similar to Belfast's Forgotten Hero: HMS Caroline. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
A century ago, one of the largest sea battles in history | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
began in the North Sea. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
It was May 1916, at the height of the First World War, | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
and the two most powerful navies in the world, | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
Britain and Germany, faced off just off the coast of Denmark. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
It was to be the only full-scale clash of battleships | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
in the entire war. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:32 | |
It lasted just 12 hours. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
But the sheer scale of the encounter was unimaginable. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
250 warships and over 100,000 sailors engaged in the battle. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:47 | |
It was called the Battle of Jutland | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
and here in Belfast is the last remaining warship of that fight - | 0:00:49 | 0:00:54 | |
HMS Caroline. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:55 | |
Although she survived this legendary showdown, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
HMS Caroline has recently been engaged | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
in a different kind of battle - | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
to avoid being sent to the scrap-yard. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
But now her future's been secured. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:12 | |
Over the last four years an army of engineers, specialists | 0:01:12 | 0:01:16 | |
and craftsmen have been working against the clock to turn | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
HMS Caroline into a floating museum, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
in time for the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, | 0:01:22 | 0:01:26 | |
on May 31st 2016. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
Ever since she arrived here at Alexandra Dock in 1924, | 0:01:52 | 0:01:56 | |
HMS Caroline has remained a still and silent fixture, | 0:01:56 | 0:02:00 | |
largely overlooked by the Belfast public. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:04 | |
Very few realised that what they were looking at is a unique | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
piece of naval history. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
From the very beginning, she was special. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
In her day, HMS Caroline was at the forefront of naval engineering. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
She was designed to slice through the battering waves of the North Sea | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
at unprecedented speeds. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
She could steam at over 28 knots, | 0:02:27 | 0:02:29 | |
making her one of the fastest ships in the entire Grand Fleet. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:33 | |
Her state-of-the-art design was in demand. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
As war loomed in Europe in early 1914, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
the naval arms race with Germany accelerated. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
Britain needed a ship like Caroline and they needed her quick. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:45 | |
And that is precisely what they got. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
Her keel was laid at Birkenhead's Cammell Laird shipyard | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
on 28th January 1914. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
Just eight months later, she was ready for launch. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
That's more than a month quicker than most ships in her class. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
But 100 years later, it's going to take another major | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
feat of engineering to restore HMS Caroline to her former glory. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:28 | |
And we're going to be there for every step in the process. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
I'm going to be getting my hands dirty | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
to understand what it takes to bring a warship back to life | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
and fit for the 21st century. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
While I'll be diving into the history of this incredible ship | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
and examining her heroic day at the Battle of Jutland. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
Together, we're going to pay service to one of the greatest | 0:03:46 | 0:03:48 | |
ships in Belfast's history. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
The story of this historic vessel's restoration begins in 2011, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:58 | |
not here at Alexandra Dock, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:00 | |
but less than two miles away, | 0:04:00 | 0:04:02 | |
in the heart of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
This is where HMS Caroline's military career officially ended. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
When she was decommissioned in 2011, it wasn't in Portsmouth, | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
it was right here at St Anne's Cathedral. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
At the time she was the second-oldest ship in active service. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:27 | |
What few people knew is that apart from her starring role | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
in the Battle of Jutland, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
most of Caroline's career was spent as a training ship | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
here in Belfast for Northern Irish recruits entering the Royal Navy. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
But once she was decommissioned, Caroline's fate was uncertain. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:45 | |
There was talk of towing her back to Portsmouth and restoring her there. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:49 | |
Or of scrapping her. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
The National Museum of the Royal Navy, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
backed by the Northern Irish Government, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
launched a campaign for funding and for a change of ownership | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
to keep her in Belfast and restore her here. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:05 | |
But as the debate dwindled on, | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
the effects of another brutal winter took their toll on Caroline. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:11 | |
Her days looked numbered. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
When you look at Caroline from here, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
it's easy to imagine her cutting through the waves in a battle. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
She was built for war... | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
..and in early 1914 it looked as if she was going to get it. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
Germany's shipbuilding industry had been | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
hard at work during the early years of the 20th century. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
For nearly a decade, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
a naval arms race between Germany and Britain had raged. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
Naval tactics and technology were evolving consistently | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
in the ten years or so before the start of the First World War. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
And the Imperial German Navy had begun to realise | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
that they could not out-build Great Britain | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
in terms of battleships and battle cruisers. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
So the Imperial German Navy said, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:04 | |
"We'll build torpedo-boat destroyers," | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
and that's where Caroline came in. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:08 | |
She was specifically built to screen | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
the battle cruisers and the battleships of the Grand Fleet | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
from torpedo-boat destroyers. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
Britain may have ruled the waves for 100 years, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
but Germany was eager to compete. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
A confrontation would signal which power was now the greatest. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
In a deliberate plot to lure the British Fleet out into open waters, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
where they'd be most vulnerable, | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
Germany moved her fleet up to Jutland, | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
off the Danish Coast, on 31st May 1916. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
The British Grand Fleet followed. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
The stage was set for the biggest naval action, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
and only fleet action, | 0:06:52 | 0:06:53 | |
since the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
As the debate over her future dragged on, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
time was running out for the rapidly deteriorating warship. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
While Caroline's only ship-keeper, Billy Hughes, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
did everything he could to stop the decay, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
Captain John Rees, the restoration-project chairman, | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
was all too aware they were fighting a losing battle. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:29 | |
What we have here is the effects of the corking failing, | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
the wood expanding with the ingress of water. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:39 | |
And this particular piece of iroko has now sprung. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
You can see that actually the doweling piece | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
is no longer holding it in. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
And ultimately if these sections of the deck are not treated | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
then the water will continue to penetrate, | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
destroy larger areas of the wood, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
and penetrate and corrode the deck below, | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
and water will ingress into the interior part of the ship. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
But then, in late 2013, after two years of debate | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
and uncertainty about her future, there was a breakthrough. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:15 | |
A small press conference on board the ship announced that | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
HMS Caroline had a double cause for celebration. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
A transfer of ownership that ensured Caroline would stay in Belfast, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:25 | |
and a heritage funding package of almost £2 million. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:28 | |
Thank you for all coming here today. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
Special occasion. Marks two things. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
First of all, the official transfer of the ship | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
to the National Museum of the Royal Navy. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
We now own it. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:40 | |
And it is fortuitous that we could all be here today, because | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
it is the 100th anniversary of the laying of the keel of Caroline | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
in Birkenhead. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:47 | |
We're very excited that she is staying, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
and more than that, she has secured that amount of funding that will | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
allow us to bring her back to life, | 0:08:54 | 0:08:56 | |
so we're delighted that we've got to this day. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
This first tranche of funding wasn't enough to complete | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
the restoration, but it would get the process started. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
The first priority is to have a look at her hull. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
In early May 2014, | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
a team of divers braved the murky waters of the Alexandra Dock. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:18 | |
They examined every inch of the hull, | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
and the waters surrounding the ship. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
No easy task when you're dealing with something over 420 feet long, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:28 | |
weighing close to 4,000 tonnes. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
I've done a few ships now | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
and on this one especially it's got 30 years of marine growth on | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
so as you can imagine the barnacles and whatnot are really thick, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
like, literally, you can put your fist through them | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
and it just keeps going. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:48 | |
The reason for this detailed underwater survey | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
is to prepare for one of the most challenging phases | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
of the proposed restoration - | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
moving the ship to a dry-dock facility, | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
right beneath two of Belfast's most famous landmarks. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:06 | |
Belfast has a rich shipbuilding history. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
And there is no company here more famous than Harland & Wolff. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
They built the Titanic, of course. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
And today the company's giant cranes are the most iconic | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
feature of the Belfast skyline. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:21 | |
So the plan is to tow Caroline here | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
so that vital work can be carried out on her hull. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
The first time she'll be taken out of Alexandra Dock | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
in a quarter of a century. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
But first, an even more urgent priority is to tackle | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
the rotting wooden deck. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
In charge of the project, ship-restoration expert Craig McCoo. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
My journey started 31 years ago as a labourer with the shipyard, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:51 | |
helping the shipwright to repair the very decks we're standing on. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
I had a very chequered examination result | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
and my father who was in the shipyard at the time | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
decided to teach me a lesson, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
which sort of backfired, | 0:11:05 | 0:11:06 | |
because it was an extremely enjoyable time in my life | 0:11:06 | 0:11:11 | |
before I decided to go back and pass those exams. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
Since the start of the project we have taken up the rotten decks. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
We've got the new wood ready to put down. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
We've got the portholes. 117 portholes have to come off, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:29 | |
replace the broken glass, get them polished up and get them back in. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:34 | |
The whole trick is to get the fabric of the ship back to | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
where it was in 1915 when it was built. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:40 | |
The £2 million heritage money was a lifeline that would cover | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
Caroline's most basic repairs, | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
and prevent further deterioration. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
What was really needed was a huge injection of cash | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
to completely overhaul and restore Caroline to her former glory. | 0:11:56 | 0:12:01 | |
You've done a bit of Grattan's-catalogue modelling or something, I can tell. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:06 | |
And then in October 2014, amid a flurry of media attention, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
Captain Rees and the team announced they'd received a £12 million grant, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:15 | |
the Heritage Lottery Fund's single largest award to Northern Ireland ever. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:20 | |
Well, the money will now allow us | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
to do a major conservation programme on the entirety of the ship. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
To know now that we can carry on literally full steam ahead | 0:12:26 | 0:12:30 | |
with the conservation and interpretation of Caroline | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
is wonderful news. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:34 | |
With all the funding in place, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
the plan now is to turn HMS Caroline into a museum | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
in time for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, | 0:12:43 | 0:12:46 | |
on 31st May 2016. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
That's just 19 months away. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
As anyone who's worked on massive engineering projects before knows, | 0:12:56 | 0:13:00 | |
the best-case scenario is always tempered by reality. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
And it rarely goes according to plan. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:06 | |
And the team's racing against the clock. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
They've got some really tight deadlines. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
As project manager for the entire Caroline restoration, | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
it's Jonathan Porter's responsibility | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
to see the job through. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:21 | |
What part of the project or job scares you the most? | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
The time. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:27 | |
The time is the issue for us and we have absolutely no spare time left. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:32 | |
How are you going to overcome this lack of time? | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
We're looking now at getting contractors started | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
before the previous contractor's finished. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
And that's more like a relay, with the different teams, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
-as in they're overlapping? -Well, exactly. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
In a relay you pass the baton from one runner to another, | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
whereas in this case the second runner will start running | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
before the baton is passed. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
It sounds a bit more complicated, | 0:13:51 | 0:13:52 | |
but how many teams have you got in action | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
over the course of this project? | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
Yeah, we have six different contracts in place at the same time. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:01 | |
So, yeah, there'll be a lot of people working on the ship, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
a lot of bodies, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
and they've all got their own agendas to get their own bit done. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
We're really looking forward to seeing the final job. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
And anything I can do to help along the way as well, | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
I'll get stuck in, cos I love what you're doing. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
-I think I'll take your phone number! -THEY LAUGH | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
Demolition, but without ruining history. That sounds quite tough. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:23 | |
-But I'll give it a go. -Good! | 0:14:23 | 0:14:24 | |
When the Fleet sailed out from Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
toward Jutland, it was under the command of Admiral John Jellicoe, | 0:14:29 | 0:14:33 | |
who knew that the stakes were incredibly high. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
Churchill once said of Jellicoe | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
that he was the only person who could lose the war in a day. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
And by that he meant that Great Britain had established a principle | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
of command of the sea. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:49 | |
The reason why Jutland was so important | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
is that what the Germans wanted to do was to try and achieve parity. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:58 | |
And for that they had to sink a large number of the British fleet. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:03 | |
HMS Caroline was a crucial part of the British defence strategy. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
She was engineered to be different. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
And her secret weapon can still be seen today in the heart of the ship. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
What is so special about this are the Parsons steam turbines. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:20 | |
They're the only ones in situ anywhere in the world, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
and these steam turbines, along with burning oil, not coal, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:28 | |
was a revolution, certainly in 1914. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:34 | |
And the combination of this technological innovation | 0:15:34 | 0:15:39 | |
really made her the greyhound of the ocean. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
This was a Formula One racing car of the Grand Fleet. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:47 | |
These vast turbines are the jewels in Caroline's crown. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:54 | |
They are what made her one of the fastest war ships of her day, | 0:15:54 | 0:15:58 | |
with a top speed of 28.5 knots. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
Typically, she had to be quick enough to run down on torpedo-boat destroyers, who could go faster. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:11 | |
When she'd spotted the capital units of the High Seas Fleet | 0:16:11 | 0:16:16 | |
she also had to be fast enough to run back | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
and then pass the messages to the Grand Fleet. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
HMS Caroline is a ship steeped in history. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
Her long and varied career poses a challenge for Jef Maytom, | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
Director of Interpretation for the restoration of Caroline. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
Now, how do you choose the date in HMS Caroline's history | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
and say, "That's how we want to restore her"? | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
It's a key question. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:48 | |
And a lot of time is spent thinking which places we should keep | 0:16:48 | 0:16:53 | |
and which we should change, or put back. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
For example, the drill hall, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
or what we now call the drill hall, | 0:16:58 | 0:17:00 | |
that was built as a gunnery school in 1924, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
that was a gunnery school, and four of Caroline's guns were put | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
in the corner of that space, and that was used for teaching. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
We have no intention of removing that. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
We have to take into consideration the story we're trying to tell. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
The Jutland story is a strong story. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
That is the spine of the story and hanging off that | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
are all these other little changes | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
and training she's done over the years. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
Before any serious restoration work can begin, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
one big problem urgently needs to be addressed. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
The ship is riddled with asbestos. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
Shipbuilders of the early 20th century loved asbestos | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
because of its incredible physical properties. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
Not only is it flame-resistant, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
but it absorbed sound, which in a ship like Caroline | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
makes all the difference when you're on the open seas, | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
and the engines are roaring down below. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
For the sailors who worked Caroline's mighty engines, | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
noise was an occupational hazard. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
But for all her crew, | 0:18:04 | 0:18:05 | |
it was those all-important fire and heat resistant properties | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
that made asbestos a vital component of the ship. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
Out at sea, laden with cordite and other explosive materials, | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
a fire on board would have been disastrous. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
Under enemy attack, like she was at Jutland, | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
asbestos could literally save lives. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
Today we know that far from being a life-saver, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
asbestos is a very dangerous substance | 0:18:35 | 0:18:38 | |
giving off lethal, cancer-causing fibres. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
For Caroline, that means | 0:18:41 | 0:18:42 | |
nearly a century after the asbestos was put in | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
it's time to remove it, or make it safe. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
Fortunately, the team has been given a head start. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
The Ministry of Defence already dealt with | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
the worst of the asbestos while the ship was still in active service. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
We took hundreds of samples from different areas of the ship. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
And the discovery was that she's not actually in too bad a condition | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
as far as asbestos is concerned. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
There are some areas that we have found asbestos, | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
in the engine room, within the actual Parsons turbine engines, | 0:19:13 | 0:19:18 | |
as it was used to help insulate, | 0:19:18 | 0:19:21 | |
and we've found it behind some of the wall panelling, | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
so we're working with specialist contractors to do that. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
-So, you have a gasket here, on the flange. -Yeah. -Right. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:32 | |
The man in charge of that specialist team is Peter Carberry. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
He's been in the asbestos business for 20 years. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
But while carrying out the survey, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
he discovers something that surprises even him. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
We did find a particularly rare type of asbestos called anthophyllite. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:49 | |
I have some of it here. It's this. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
-Wow. -And you can see it's fluffy but very lethal. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
And I think it was probably used because it might | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
absorb shock waves, or explosions, better than the other types. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:05 | |
And I suppose even though it's a horrible material, | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
-it is part of the history of this restoration, really. -Exactly. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:12 | |
Peter's task is probably the longest-running single challenge | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
of the entire refit. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
His team will be on the ship for four months, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
searching for, and either treating or removing, | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
every last trace of deadly asbestos. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
For over a century, | 0:20:33 | 0:20:34 | |
sailors walked these corridors while serving in the Royal Navy. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
That's an awful lot of stories, and that's an awful lot of history. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
In the months and weeks before the Battle of Jutland, | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
life for the 289 crew stationed on HMS Caroline | 0:20:48 | 0:20:52 | |
could be tough and uncomfortable. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
Their day-to-day regime included regular patrols in the North Sea. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
And the ship had the reputation of always being on the move. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
So life would have been busy. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
The sailors did their own laundry in the communal wash stations, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:10 | |
helped with the preparation of their meals, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
and when the men weren't carrying out drills, | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
there was time for a bit of fun. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
HMS Caroline was affectionately known as Carrie, | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
and the crew often had "Carrie-Ons", | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
and entertained themselves by singing and dressing up, | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
sometimes as women. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:30 | |
On 31st May 1916, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
all the training and preparation of Caroline's crew | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
would be put to the test, | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
as she was called into battle. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
The Battle of Jutland lasted just 12 hours. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
Yet Caroline was involved in two major incidents, | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
one in which she could have been sunk, | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
and the other where she tried to do the sinking. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
Three hours into the battle, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:57 | |
Caroline narrowly avoided being hit, | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
with torpedoes running past either side of her. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
Just hours later, she was in action again. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
But this time she turned the tables, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
firing three torpedoes at a German vessel. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
Diaries of the men on board Caroline at Jutland reveal what happened next. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:16 | |
By all the rules of gunnery, the next broadside should have | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
finished our career, but our guardian angel | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
was still protecting us, for the next broadside missed us, | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
the shells screamed over our heads. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:29 | |
Guns were hurling 15" shells into opposing fleets | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
with roars and flashes, | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
as if scores of thunderstorms had met and got angry. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
The sea, which before had been calm, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
became churned into waves and foam, | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
caused by the speed and movements of scores of ships. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
Of course, that was 100 years ago, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
and there's no-one alive today who can tell us | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
actually what it was like to be there at Jutland. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
However, we do have a first-hand account. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
Incredibly, we've found a copy of a home recording | 0:23:12 | 0:23:16 | |
made in 1971 of Caroline's chief gunner at Jutland, James Weddick. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:23 | |
He was born in Limerick, | 0:23:23 | 0:23:24 | |
and his naval career began at the tender age of 15, | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
back in the 19th century. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
The recording really hammers home the reality of | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
what Caroline's young sailors faced at the Battle of Jutland, | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
and afterwards, when she served in the East Indies, | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
before she came out of active service, moved to Belfast, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
and was modified to serve as a training vessel in 1939. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
Broadly after the Second World War, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
this area was enclosed by a rather unlovely structure | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
and was used as the .22 rifle range by the Royal Naval Reserve. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:42 | |
As you can see now, it's a bit of a lay-apart store. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
The team has decided to restore the port waist to its original glory, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
which means the rifle range has got to go. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
It's a big job. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
First, welders must cut away the solid-steel structure. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
Then they need to attach metal anchor points | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
so they can individually lift | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
each huge and heavy slab by crane onto dry land. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
Once the decision's been made to get rid of the newer partitions, | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
it's time for the real action to begin. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
Demolition. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:25 | |
Now, it won't take the team long, | 0:25:25 | 0:25:26 | |
so I'm going to see if I can go give them a hand. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
Spence, what's the plan? What's going on here? | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
The aim in this area | 0:25:38 | 0:25:39 | |
is to strip back to the original features of the ship | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
that were present when it was built in the early 1900s. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
Cool. I'm ready to help. Can I join in? | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
-Of course you can. -All right, let's go! | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
I'm winning, I think. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
The problem is these are hard conditions | 0:26:08 | 0:26:11 | |
but everyone in here's doing a good job. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
Only thing I'm a bit embarrassed about is these guys are making me look bad, | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
so...better get back to work. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
Meanwhile, back at the project's headquarters, | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
Jef makes a surprise discovery. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:32 | |
An old newspaper, dating back more than half a century! | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
Now, someone's put this on our desk, | 0:26:36 | 0:26:38 | |
so we're not entirely sure where they've got it from. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
It's the Northern Whig, a local Belfast paper, isn't it? | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
There we are, June 29th 1951. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
I suspect it would have come from behind partitioning | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
put in in the '50s. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
I bet it's in the... | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
I wonder if it's where they cut through the disabled heads, | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
-in that battery room. -Maybe, that's where they've been working. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
CONTRACTOR: Or maybe captain's pantry. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
That actually has all the wood shavings still in the floor space, | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
so, you know, out of sight, out of mind. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
I think what's significant about the date is it coincides with | 0:27:12 | 0:27:16 | |
the big Harland & Wolff fit-out, | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
which we've got plans for, so '51, '52. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
Ha, fantastic! | 0:27:21 | 0:27:22 | |
Another way of bringing the role of the ship in the Battle of Jutland | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
into focus is to view the ship from where the captain would have stood. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:33 | |
For that, you have to climb to one of the highest areas of the ship. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
-Captain's sea cabin. -Wow. -Chart room. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
-Yeah. -But we're going further up. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
-Up here. -Great. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
'I don't know exactly where Jef is taking me, | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
'but he promises it will blow me away!' | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
-Wow! Ooh! -THEY CHUCKLE | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
So was this the crow's nest? | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
Well, in a sense. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
This, actually, it's one of the most important spaces on the ship. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
This is where Caroline was commanded from, | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
so you have to imagine the captain, Captain Crooke, stood here, | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
the officer of the watch, canvas on these rails here, | 0:28:07 | 0:28:12 | |
simple glass windscreen above that, and that's it. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
Quite exposed, though, to the... | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
-Completely exposed. -So good old-fashioned British weather. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
Put on your duffle coat and stand here in the British weather, | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
but it's here he would have stood and commanded Caroline. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:25 | |
Compass binnacle, centrally here. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
Various voice pipes, because below here we've got | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
the helmsman, or coxswain, he's steering the ship. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
So it's, like, two degrees starboard... | 0:28:33 | 0:28:34 | |
Yep, all those commands, and either side we've got engine-room | 0:28:34 | 0:28:38 | |
telegraphers who are running the machines, ding, ding, ding... | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
-Going back to the engines. -Back to the engine room. -Wow. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
So all the commands from here to steer the ship. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
What if they couldn't hear? If they were shouting down, it was too windy? | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
Well, they'd thought of that one. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:51 | |
Just here was a little brass grating | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
and they could shout down there. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
So if all else fails, on your knees, shout down there, full steam ahead. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:59 | |
Simple as that. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:01 | |
This is the archaeology, up here as well. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:03 | |
This decking, this teak decking, | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
it was hidden beneath a layer of bitumen. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
-So you've actually stripped it back? -That's been stripped. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:11 | |
There was a steel structure came off the top, heavy steel structure, | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
took off the bitumen, and we found this original planking. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
-It's in great condition as well. -Fantastic condition. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
I have to say, it's quite sad, | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
but I think this is probably one of my most favourite features | 0:29:22 | 0:29:24 | |
that I've seen on the entire ship. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
It's lovely to find this evidence. We've lost the front, sadly. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:30 | |
Someone's hacked that off, but this is just fantastic, | 0:29:30 | 0:29:34 | |
and every reason to believe that it was on the ship at Jutland. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:37 | |
So they actually would have stood here. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
They actually stood here, | 0:29:39 | 0:29:41 | |
and commanded the ship and looked out | 0:29:41 | 0:29:43 | |
-and saw the Battle of Jutland. -Gosh. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:45 | |
-So it's a fantastic space. -Yeah. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
When Caroline was built in 1914, | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
steel warships had only been around for half a century. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:56 | |
Steel offered greater strength and protection, | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
but also brought some new problems | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
that required a bit of creative thinking. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:04 | |
This is Caroline's navigation bridge. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
This is where the helmsman would be behind the wheel | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
taking orders from the commander up above. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:13 | |
One of the key pieces of equipment here was, of course, | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
the ship's compass. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:17 | |
But because it relies on the earth's magnetic field, | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
the compass wouldn't work in a structure made of steel. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
So the solution was simple. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
Build the entire thing out of a non-magnetic metal. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:30 | |
This structure is made entirely from brass! | 0:30:30 | 0:30:35 | |
The brass exposed by the restoration process provides | 0:30:36 | 0:30:40 | |
another clue to the ship's past. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
When Caroline was designed, before the First World War, | 0:30:42 | 0:30:46 | |
her bridge originally had six glass windows. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:49 | |
When it became clear that she was going to battle for real, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
four of these six vulnerable weak spots | 0:30:54 | 0:30:56 | |
were covered up with brass plates, like this one. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
It meant poorer visibility, but greater protection, | 0:30:59 | 0:31:02 | |
and it may well have been one of the reasons that Caroline | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
survived the Battle of Jutland. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:07 | |
But she was one of the lucky ones. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:15 | |
Six hours into the battle, night was beginning to fall, | 0:31:15 | 0:31:19 | |
and visibility was poor. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
Yet both the fleets continued to engage. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:23 | |
The casualties were numerous on both sides | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
and as night closed in the British withdrew to devise a new plan. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
The British fleet planned to manoeuvre into a position of attack | 0:31:33 | 0:31:35 | |
by first light, and cut the German fleet off from the port. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
But under cover of darkness the Germans attacked the light forces | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
that made up the British rear guard and broke their way through. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
By catching the British off-guard, | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
the German fleet sneaked past and headed home. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:51 | |
The battle was over. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:52 | |
It would take days for both sides to take stock of their losses, | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
and, crucially, to determine who had won. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:58 | |
For her new role as a 21st-century floating museum, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:07 | |
it's vital that Caroline is accessible to everyone. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
But she was built with vertical ladders, cramped spaces | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
and narrow doorways. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
Clearly, some drastic changes are needed. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
So what the guys are doing is actually widening | 0:32:20 | 0:32:22 | |
some of these doorways below decks. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:24 | |
And that's because obviously 100 years ago | 0:32:24 | 0:32:26 | |
able-bodied seamen could easily navigate the ship. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
But now we want everyone to be able to enjoy HMS Caroline. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:33 | |
So, by making them a little bit wider, cutting through the steel, | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
it's going to be perfectly suitable for disabled access. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:39 | |
Widening a few doorframes is one thing, | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
but what about something a lot more substantial? | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
To allow for maximum public access, | 0:32:48 | 0:32:50 | |
the team also plan to install several lift shafts. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:53 | |
Definitely not a feature she'd have had in her Jutland days. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
But how do you do that | 0:32:58 | 0:32:59 | |
without ruining 100 years' worth of architectural heritage? | 0:32:59 | 0:33:03 | |
This is just one of a thousand headaches facing the project's | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
Director of Interpretation, Jef. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
We're in the lower deck. These were officers' cabins. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
But this is a space that we want to compromise by putting a lift. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:22 | |
I mean, a historic ship is a tremendous challenge. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
It has many periods, many phases, there's original fabric, | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
there's things that have been added and taken away. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
But to simply say we will turn it back to a certain thing, | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
that doesn't necessarily make it accessible for the public, | 0:33:34 | 0:33:37 | |
so a key part of what we do is to open up the ship | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
so the public can actually access her safely. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
So if we put a lift here, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:48 | |
we will have to compromise some of these major beams, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:51 | |
and that is historic intervention. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:53 | |
When we take that out, | 0:33:53 | 0:33:55 | |
we will preserve it, | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
so that if at a future date there was a different plan, different scheme, | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
and someone said "We don't need a lift any more, | 0:34:01 | 0:34:05 | |
"we want to put that beam back," | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
theoretically that can all be put back | 0:34:07 | 0:34:09 | |
and the ship returned to its original state. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:11 | |
It's now August 2015, | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
and the asbestos team are about to begin work on | 0:34:18 | 0:34:21 | |
Caroline's four mighty Parsons turbines. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:25 | |
The engine room will be out of bounds | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
until this hazardous job is finished. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
The areas are monitored by CCTV. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
We've got four cameras on in there, | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
and you can see the guys, | 0:34:37 | 0:34:38 | |
and we know what they're doing. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:40 | |
We're able to monitor them. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:41 | |
Is it slow? How many guys do you have in there at a time? | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
There's ten men in there. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
They're in there seven days a week. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:47 | |
Doing that sort of work in these awkward conditions, I mean, | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
have you got specialist tools and equipment? | 0:34:50 | 0:34:52 | |
-No. -No? -No. It's all hand tools, scrapers, wire brush. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:57 | |
Power tools will release more fibres than wire brush and all that. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:02 | |
-A lot of elbow grease in there. -A lot of elbow grease. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
The asbestos team has to work | 0:35:07 | 0:35:09 | |
in dark, difficult and cramped conditions, | 0:35:09 | 0:35:13 | |
not dissimilar to the men who worked in the engine room a century ago. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
It's now just six months before the ship has to be completed, | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
and one thing is becoming increasingly hard to ignore. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:25 | |
Instead of being towed off to Harland & Wolff | 0:35:26 | 0:35:29 | |
like we expected, | 0:35:29 | 0:35:30 | |
Caroline is still right here in Alexandra Dock. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
So, Jonathon, since I saw you last time, how have you been getting on? | 0:35:36 | 0:35:40 | |
We've had some challenges in terms of getting lease agreements | 0:35:40 | 0:35:45 | |
signed for the Alexandra Dock | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
and for the pump house, which will be the visitors' centre. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:51 | |
That's obviously the bureaucracy associated with | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
getting these things across the line | 0:35:54 | 0:35:55 | |
and the legal process is taking a little bit longer. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:58 | |
Is that a diplomatic way of saying you're not where you wanted to be? | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
Well, yes, it's a diplomatic way of saying that. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:04 | |
We're basically unpacking the project in three separate phases now. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:08 | |
Phase one is the ship. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:09 | |
Phase two is the dry docking, to do some repair works to the hull, | 0:36:09 | 0:36:14 | |
and phase three is the pump house and visitors' centre. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
So, phase one, the ship, will be 100% complete come May. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:22 | |
With just six months until the Jutland centenary, | 0:36:22 | 0:36:26 | |
looking around the ship as she is today | 0:36:26 | 0:36:28 | |
makes completing even phase one, the ship itself, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:31 | |
in time for the opening seem like an impossibly daunting task. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:36 | |
Are you confident the next time I come back that you're still | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
going to be on schedule? | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
That depends when you come back. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
-HE LAUGHS -How long do you need? | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
No, we're on programme to complete in May 2016, | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
and we will be complete in May 2016, the ship works. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
Well, I'm sure I'll be along to help at that point, I hope so. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:55 | |
-I hope so too. -Yeah, well, good luck. -Good on you, thank you. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
By late October, the asbestos-removal team have completed | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
their work in the engine room, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:06 | |
and the engines have been cleaned, | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
another highly specialised and time-consuming task. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:13 | |
I've been waiting for ages to come and have a look down here. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:18 | |
-I just can't get over how enormous it is. -Yes. | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
Also a lot of metal and engine and turbine for your money, isn't there? | 0:37:20 | 0:37:25 | |
There is. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:26 | |
Cleaning this, I mean, what exactly did you have to do? | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
There was probably 20 or 30 layers of paint on these turbines. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:35 | |
Now, we didn't think we were going to get them back to the standard that they're at. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:39 | |
They probably haven't been in such good condition for 100 years. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:43 | |
That's quite a restoration, isn't it? | 0:37:43 | 0:37:45 | |
-Yes, they've done a really good job. -Yeah, and just looking around, | 0:37:45 | 0:37:49 | |
some of this wouldn't have been seen for quite some time. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:51 | |
No. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:52 | |
The likes of these markings here wouldn't have been seen... | 0:37:52 | 0:37:57 | |
I suppose maybe even from the day it was painted. | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
And one thing that really did surprise us | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
was all these bolts here, individually marked. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:07 | |
Oh, yeah. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:08 | |
-Why was that, then? -If there was an issue with the bolt, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:13 | |
they would know exactly where to go. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:15 | |
What, say, if there was... in battle there was some confusion, | 0:38:15 | 0:38:19 | |
then they would be able to spot the dodgy one. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:21 | |
Turbine 1, bolt number 10. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
And how much of a major step towards completion | 0:38:23 | 0:38:26 | |
is getting this bit finished? | 0:38:26 | 0:38:28 | |
It's critical. It's absolutely critical. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:30 | |
This is going to be the main attraction on the ship, | 0:38:30 | 0:38:33 | |
and it has to be made safe. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:35 | |
I know you've got to make it look a little bit smarter for visitors, | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
but...it's awe-inspiring. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
-I quite like it like this. -Yeah, yeah. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
A major part of turning Caroline into a museum | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
is replacing parts of her that don't exist any more. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
Prop master Brendan Power has been tasked with the daunting challenge | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
of recreating the eight 4" guns | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
and the two 6" guns that made up her impressive armament at Jutland. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:05 | |
-Hi, Brendan. How are you doing? -Hi, James, good to see you. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
-So this must be the 6" gun? -This is the 6" gun. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:11 | |
-It's enormous, look at it. -This one's a lovely one, yeah. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:15 | |
It's going to be here for hundreds of years, as well, | 0:39:15 | 0:39:17 | |
so you must see a lot of... I'm looking around and I'm seeing a lot of kit | 0:39:17 | 0:39:20 | |
that's going to be seen by the public for years to come. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:23 | |
-Yeah, hopefully, yeah. -Can you give me a bit of a tour? | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
-Yeah, sure. -I feel like this is sort of the coolest part. -No problem. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:29 | |
These are obviously the 4" guns. | 0:39:29 | 0:39:31 | |
Same again. They've got specific places on the boat for these. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:35 | |
-We're making safes over there. -I can see a fireplace down the end. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:39 | |
And we're making it look realistic as we can. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
Talking about that, | 0:39:42 | 0:39:44 | |
I'm not too hot at metalwork but I'm all right with a paintbrush | 0:39:44 | 0:39:48 | |
-if there's anything I can do. -Yeah, I'll get you working straight away. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
-What about doing a shell or something? -Yeah, no problem. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:53 | |
Yeah, come and have a look, yeah, sure. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
This is Michael, he's painting up the shells that would go with | 0:39:56 | 0:40:02 | |
the guns that we've been looking at. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
-Am I allowed to have a go? -I'm sure Michael wouldn't mind that at all. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:09 | |
So, this is all... | 0:40:09 | 0:40:10 | |
I'm seeing these plans here, this is actual original-based stuff. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
That's the photo reference that we got with these shells. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:17 | |
So, just like colouring it in. | 0:40:17 | 0:40:19 | |
It's mad the amount of detail you must have to do on every single one. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
It's very time-consuming. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
Oh, cool. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:27 | |
It's quite crazy seeing how long every single element | 0:40:27 | 0:40:31 | |
of this project takes. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:32 | |
-Am I doing all right? -Yeah, that's the best one you've done. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:35 | |
Can I take it off? | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
-That's not bad. -Not bad! 6" gun. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
Cool. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:49 | |
Well, look. I'm going to leave it to the professionals. Cheers, mate. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:54 | |
There's so much going on, isn't there? You've got a massive job. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:58 | |
Then I get a call from Jef, who has found something intriguing | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
in the room where Caroline's real shells were stored. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:10 | |
Down into the belly of the beast. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:11 | |
Jef is taking me three decks down into what was once | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
the ship's magazine. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
So is this where the shells would have been kept? | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
It is where shells would have been kept. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
When Caroline was built, | 0:41:25 | 0:41:27 | |
this was part of a larger space, the 4" magazine for the 4" guns on the fo'c'sle. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:34 | |
Here would have been a notice that would have listed | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
the contents of the shell room and they've painted round these notices. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:41 | |
Meanwhile, and you imagine you're going to climb the ladder, | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
and to steady yourself, put your hand back | 0:41:44 | 0:41:46 | |
-on the edge of that notice. -Yeah, with my slightly greasy... | 0:41:46 | 0:41:49 | |
So, and you can see, on the corner bit of timber... | 0:41:49 | 0:41:53 | |
So those are hundred-year-old mucky fingerprints? | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
-Yeah. Hundred-year mucky fingerprints. -Wow. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
When the lagging was first taken out | 0:41:59 | 0:42:01 | |
they thought, "We've discovered 1914 handprints." | 0:42:01 | 0:42:04 | |
If you start to look at the plans of when she went for refit, | 0:42:04 | 0:42:07 | |
in 1919, she was sent out to the East Indies, much hotter climate. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:12 | |
And clearly they're getting concerned about the heat, | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
the new level of heat. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:16 | |
So they decide - this is what we think - | 0:42:16 | 0:42:19 | |
they lag the magazine against the heat of the East Indies. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
When they put the lagging in, all that was preserved. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:26 | |
It's a bit like an archaeology dig. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:28 | |
But instead of mud and dinosaur bones, you're talking to me about... | 0:42:28 | 0:42:34 | |
-Grease, brass and steel. -And paint. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:37 | |
No, it is completely archaeological. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:41 | |
-They tell several stories. -They tell several. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
Active service, Caroline was adapted for the West Indies. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
And you can gauge all of that from a piece of wood and some... | 0:42:47 | 0:42:50 | |
We can gauge all that. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:51 | |
Above our heads, I spotted one feature that seems completely | 0:42:53 | 0:42:56 | |
out of place in the magazine of a historical warship. | 0:42:56 | 0:42:59 | |
Was it a shower room at some point as well? | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:43:03 | 0:43:04 | |
No, not at all. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:05 | |
Yes, they're shower heads, | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
yes, it is a water system, | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
but the last thing you want in a magazine is a fire. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
Ships at Jutland were lost...they were hit and lost within 30 seconds, | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
thousands of men killed, because sparks came down, | 0:43:16 | 0:43:20 | |
caught fire the magazines and the ship blew up. | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
This is an emergency flooding system. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:26 | |
If you were in charge of this magazine, and sparks came down, | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
you could flood this magazine. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
But if you look at the cogs here... | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
..they connect to a rod and a wheel that goes up through the decks. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:39 | |
So it's possible to do exactly the same, | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
flood this magazine from above. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:44 | |
Were there any cases of that, say, at the Battle of Jutland? | 0:43:44 | 0:43:47 | |
There is a case where an injured officer, | 0:43:47 | 0:43:50 | |
his legs have been blown away, | 0:43:50 | 0:43:52 | |
the last thing he does is order the magazine beneath him to be flooded. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:56 | |
That actually saved the ship. | 0:43:56 | 0:43:57 | |
Other ships at Jutland were blown to smithereens. | 0:43:57 | 0:43:59 | |
The 12 intense hours of battle took its toll on both sides. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
A total of 14 British ships were sunk at Jutland, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
and took the lives of over 6,000 men. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
German losses were less, with 11 vessels and 2,500 men. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:17 | |
In fact, reports from German newspapers | 0:44:21 | 0:44:23 | |
just two days after the battle | 0:44:23 | 0:44:24 | |
claimed they'd defeated the Grand Fleet. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
The British population were shocked, | 0:44:27 | 0:44:29 | |
and Jellicoe was criticised for allowing the Germans to escape. | 0:44:29 | 0:44:33 | |
But by the 7th of June | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
details of the German casualties became clearer | 0:44:36 | 0:44:38 | |
and they realised they couldn't sustain such losses in the future. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:42 | |
Thus they ended their forays into the North Sea, | 0:44:42 | 0:44:44 | |
which was a victory for the British. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:46 | |
In fact, both sides claimed victory at the Battle of Jutland, | 0:44:50 | 0:44:54 | |
and it's still a topic of debate to this day. | 0:44:54 | 0:44:56 | |
But one thing was clear. | 0:44:58 | 0:44:59 | |
It changed naval tactics, | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
bringing the end to full-scale battleship warfare | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
in the First World War. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:06 | |
It's now March 2016, | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
and there are only two months to go until the opening. | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
It might look quiet on the outside, | 0:45:17 | 0:45:20 | |
but under the protective covers the contractors are busier than ever. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:24 | |
Almost every area on the ship is currently being worked on | 0:45:24 | 0:45:28 | |
as they push towards the finish line. | 0:45:28 | 0:45:30 | |
It's the final countdown. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:39 | |
We have seven weeks to go, now, until 31st May. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:42 | |
It's a hive of activity out there. | 0:45:48 | 0:45:50 | |
The volume of contractors we have on board at the minute, | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
we have three separate teams. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:54 | |
We're doing the last pieces of installation of furniture | 0:45:56 | 0:45:58 | |
at the moment, and the final painting. The decking's going down, | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
and we've all the internal fit-out happening as well, | 0:46:02 | 0:46:05 | |
in terms of light fittings, alarm systems, fire safety. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:08 | |
We've made quite a bit of progress in the last month alone. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:14 | |
I'm a little bit more comfortable now in terms of | 0:46:15 | 0:46:18 | |
being able to have all of the works completed. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
I mean, that was the key risk to the entire project, | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
that we wouldn't get it done in time. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:27 | |
We're not there yet, but we're on track and we're on programme, | 0:46:30 | 0:46:34 | |
which is good news for me. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:36 | |
For the last two years, | 0:46:48 | 0:46:49 | |
the team have been working furiously towards a deadline, | 0:46:49 | 0:46:51 | |
and now it looks like it's within reach. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
And we're getting a sneak preview of the inside | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
before she's officially revealed to the public. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
Yeah, she looks all wrapped up like a Christmas present. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
It's like a secret! | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
'Jonathan is showing us around and our very first stop is | 0:47:06 | 0:47:10 | |
'the busiest area on the ship...' | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:14 | |
'..where the team are laying the new deck.' | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
-Amazing. -Look at all that, matey! | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
How many people have you got doing the decking? | 0:47:19 | 0:47:21 | |
There's about 50 joiners at the moment, working in four different areas on the ship, | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
so we've got about 20 up here and 20 up at the back | 0:47:24 | 0:47:28 | |
and the rest are on the two waists. | 0:47:28 | 0:47:30 | |
Can't get over how much activity is going on here. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
Yeah, well, once the guys finish the waists they'll then move to the aft. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:37 | |
The aft will be finished, then the whole team will move to the fore. | 0:47:37 | 0:47:40 | |
Most of this timber will actually be installed | 0:47:40 | 0:47:43 | |
by the end of next week and then everything else falls behind that. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:47 | |
What about guns? This is where the guns are, where are they? | 0:47:47 | 0:47:50 | |
Yeah, we're actually going to install the guns over here. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
It looks like you've still got a lot of things to put back on top | 0:47:53 | 0:47:56 | |
when you eventually finish the decking. | 0:47:56 | 0:47:58 | |
Exactly, well, this is an example of one of the gun plates. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:01 | |
This is all original. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:02 | |
Yeah, these are the original gun mounts for the 4" guns | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
that would have been on the ship back in the day. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:07 | |
When you actually get the deck finished | 0:48:07 | 0:48:09 | |
and start putting the guns in, you start dressing it, | 0:48:09 | 0:48:11 | |
it becomes a warship. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:12 | |
Yeah, exactly, that's going to add the wow factor to the ship. | 0:48:12 | 0:48:15 | |
At the moment we've got all the painting done, | 0:48:15 | 0:48:17 | |
and we're finishing the decking. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:19 | |
As soon as we add the guns, it's going to give it the X factor. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:21 | |
With a surface area of 780 square feet, | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
43 tonnes of wood, | 0:48:26 | 0:48:27 | |
and a crew of 40 men working around the clock for six weeks, | 0:48:27 | 0:48:31 | |
decking is the single biggest job left for the team. | 0:48:31 | 0:48:35 | |
Only when it's finished | 0:48:35 | 0:48:36 | |
can the scaffolding and large covers on the top | 0:48:36 | 0:48:38 | |
finally be removed. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
It's been a while since I was last on board, | 0:48:41 | 0:48:43 | |
and it's starting to look really impressive. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:45 | |
The guys are going to be working hard to the very last second | 0:48:45 | 0:48:48 | |
to get it finished in time. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:50 | |
As I walk around the ship, | 0:48:54 | 0:48:56 | |
it's hard not to be impressed by the dedication of the teams | 0:48:56 | 0:48:59 | |
who've been working tirelessly day and night | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
to get HMS Caroline ready to open to the public. | 0:49:02 | 0:49:05 | |
The range of jobs being undertaken simultaneously is just mind-blowing. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:10 | |
And one of the most simple-looking tasks | 0:49:11 | 0:49:13 | |
is the traditional process called caulking. | 0:49:13 | 0:49:16 | |
-Jason? Hiya, I'm James. -How are you doing? | 0:49:16 | 0:49:18 | |
How are you doing? What's going on here? | 0:49:18 | 0:49:20 | |
This looks like a massive job. | 0:49:20 | 0:49:22 | |
Yes, it's massive. | 0:49:22 | 0:49:24 | |
What's happening? | 0:49:24 | 0:49:25 | |
We're caulking the decks, so we're sticking oakum, | 0:49:25 | 0:49:28 | |
which is hemp impregnated with oils, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:30 | |
in-between the seams to tighten all the planks up, | 0:49:30 | 0:49:33 | |
take any movement out, | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
then we'll put pitch over the top of it, | 0:49:35 | 0:49:37 | |
which will make it watertight. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:38 | |
Looks like a very manual... hard graft to get this done. | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
-Is this something they would've done 100 years ago? -Exactly the same. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:45 | |
The amount of decking I've seen on HMS Caroline is quite significant. | 0:49:45 | 0:49:50 | |
-About 6,000 metres. Six kilometres?! Yes. -Whoa. How much have you done? | 0:49:50 | 0:49:53 | |
Well, about 20 metres a day. Per group. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:58 | |
-So you'll be finishing at Christmas time? -I think we've got a month. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:02 | |
Right, OK, so with that deadline in mind, teach me how to help, | 0:50:02 | 0:50:06 | |
and I'll have a go, that'd be great. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:08 | |
-You start with a knife iron. -Yeah. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:10 | |
And so you want to put the oakum into the seam. | 0:50:10 | 0:50:13 | |
I'm just imagining the number of hammer blows | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
to do the whole of HMS Caroline must be thousands. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:22 | |
Thousands and thousands. | 0:50:22 | 0:50:24 | |
-And then you get a fatter iron just to harden it up. -Right. | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
And make it nice and tight in there. | 0:50:27 | 0:50:29 | |
I think you're deliberately making this look easy. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
-Go on, then, let's have a go. -Have a go! | 0:50:34 | 0:50:37 | |
-OK. So I'm on to the thinner one to tuck it in. -That's right, yep. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:41 | |
Jason, this is pretty tough. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:47 | |
I'm just looking at the amount of hammer blows to do all of this. | 0:50:47 | 0:50:50 | |
So, I reckon I'll try and do at least, I don't know, | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
-ten metres for you. -OK. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
-I'll regret that, won't I? -Race? | 0:50:55 | 0:50:57 | |
Race?! I'm not going to race you, no way! | 0:50:57 | 0:50:59 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:50:59 | 0:51:00 | |
Although there's still an enormous amount of work to do above deck, | 0:51:03 | 0:51:07 | |
down below, many areas are finished. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
The old drill hall has been transformed into | 0:51:10 | 0:51:13 | |
an audio-visual theatre. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:15 | |
The public bathrooms installed. | 0:51:15 | 0:51:17 | |
The original kitchens restored. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:20 | |
And the private quarters of the officers are nearing completion. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:25 | |
But there is one space in particular that we are very excited to see. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:30 | |
This is the captain's flat we're entering into. | 0:51:31 | 0:51:35 | |
This space here he actually shared with the chief surgeon | 0:51:35 | 0:51:38 | |
and the chief engineer. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:39 | |
You'll see that he has his own kitchen. | 0:51:39 | 0:51:41 | |
-He's got his own kitchen? -Yeah, he's got his own kitchen. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:44 | |
-So they've got pretty small cabins. -They've got pretty small cabins, | 0:51:44 | 0:51:47 | |
but if you follow me, you can see the rest as they are. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:49 | |
Wow! It's spacious, isn't it? | 0:51:49 | 0:51:51 | |
Yeah, I mean, this is his actual living area, living quarters. | 0:51:51 | 0:51:54 | |
Next door we've got his bedroom, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:56 | |
and on ahead then there's his bathroom, with his own bathtub. | 0:51:56 | 0:52:00 | |
Captain's got a very luxurious space, hasn't he? | 0:52:00 | 0:52:02 | |
It's a pretty nice little en-suite, actually. | 0:52:02 | 0:52:04 | |
Yeah, he's got his own en-suite. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:06 | |
Next-door is his dining room. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:08 | |
Decent quality of life. | 0:52:08 | 0:52:09 | |
Yeah, exactly. He is the captain of the ship | 0:52:09 | 0:52:12 | |
so he does get the best accommodation. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
Can we see how the rest of the shipmates lived? | 0:52:14 | 0:52:17 | |
I'm curious if the crew got this much space. | 0:52:17 | 0:52:20 | |
Yes, we'll go and show you where the junior rates lived. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:23 | |
I could live there quite happily. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:25 | |
-What, there? -Yeah. | 0:52:25 | 0:52:27 | |
Our next stop will be the location of the public cafe | 0:52:31 | 0:52:34 | |
once the ship's opened. | 0:52:34 | 0:52:35 | |
It's the very same area that the crew on board HMS Caroline | 0:52:35 | 0:52:39 | |
would have sat in at mealtimes. | 0:52:39 | 0:52:41 | |
It's obviously the restaurant. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:45 | |
Yeah, this is actually the junior rates' mess | 0:52:45 | 0:52:48 | |
and we've reinterpreted it as that. | 0:52:48 | 0:52:50 | |
So, you can see all the bench tables, | 0:52:50 | 0:52:52 | |
and the idea was that all the tables were collapsible, | 0:52:52 | 0:52:55 | |
so at night the tables would be folded down | 0:52:55 | 0:52:58 | |
and they'd have slung hammocks to the hammock hooks in the ceiling. | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
How many people? | 0:53:01 | 0:53:03 | |
Well, you could have had up to 40 people using this space at night. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
These are really close together. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:08 | |
Sort of crammed in, like sardines, actually. | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
It could have been less than a foot between you and your fellow officer. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:14 | |
So, unbelievable. | 0:53:14 | 0:53:15 | |
I'm trying to imagine this place with lots and lots of hammocks. | 0:53:15 | 0:53:19 | |
-And all these people in there. -Very different to the captain's. | 0:53:19 | 0:53:21 | |
Well, I mean, when you look at the officers' accommodation | 0:53:21 | 0:53:24 | |
and compare it to the captain's accommodation, | 0:53:24 | 0:53:26 | |
it's totally different. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:27 | |
This is all but done, isn't it? | 0:53:27 | 0:53:29 | |
Yeah, this area is complete, | 0:53:29 | 0:53:31 | |
the end at the forward is basically for hammock and table storage, | 0:53:31 | 0:53:36 | |
and we just have to basically do some set dressing in here. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:39 | |
They've got their own individual lockers. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:41 | |
Yeah, we've remanufactured the lockers | 0:53:41 | 0:53:44 | |
to represent the lockers they would have had at the Battle of Jutland. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:48 | |
So these are an exact replication. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:49 | |
I can't imagine how it'd have been when it was hanging with hammocks. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:53 | |
The idea, as well, of, like, 100 years after Jutland, | 0:53:53 | 0:53:56 | |
having people back in here eating again, | 0:53:56 | 0:53:58 | |
that buzz and that noise when visitors fill it. It'll be special. | 0:53:58 | 0:54:01 | |
Yeah, what you see now is actually what it was like at Jutland. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:05 | |
Before we got to start doing the refurbishment, | 0:54:05 | 0:54:08 | |
it was all covered over with woodchip, wallpaper. | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
We remember that! I remember knocking down some up on deck. | 0:54:11 | 0:54:14 | |
We actually took a lot of stuff off the ship | 0:54:14 | 0:54:16 | |
and revealed the true nature of the vessel. | 0:54:16 | 0:54:20 | |
Fabulous. It looks fabulous. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:22 | |
I would like to see you get up in a hammock as well. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:25 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:54:25 | 0:54:27 | |
I'm not built for a hammock. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:29 | |
My dad may not have been comfortable in a hammock, | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
but I'm intrigued to know what it must have felt like | 0:54:35 | 0:54:37 | |
for Caroline's junior mates to sleep shoulder to shoulder, | 0:54:37 | 0:54:40 | |
crammed into the mess hall at night. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:42 | |
For a junior rate, life at sea would have been at very close quarters, | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
crammed into hammocks like these just a foot apart. | 0:54:47 | 0:54:50 | |
There's definitely a lot more space in one of the personal cabins | 0:54:50 | 0:54:53 | |
that the officers had, and I have to say, in high seas, | 0:54:53 | 0:54:56 | |
I wouldn't like to be in one of these, rocking. | 0:54:56 | 0:54:59 | |
But it is quite comfy. | 0:54:59 | 0:55:00 | |
Finally, a moment I've personally been waiting for. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:09 | |
Jonathan is taking me into the heart of the ship, | 0:55:09 | 0:55:12 | |
to Caroline's engine room. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:14 | |
The expertise that's gone into restoring | 0:55:14 | 0:55:17 | |
these enormous engines is remarkable. | 0:55:17 | 0:55:19 | |
These are the jewels in Caroline's crown, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:23 | |
and for me, the most amazing part of the ship. | 0:55:23 | 0:55:26 | |
Jonathan, it's been a while since I've come down here, | 0:55:28 | 0:55:31 | |
and the engine blocks are all still looking amazing, | 0:55:31 | 0:55:33 | |
and this walkway's new. What's going to happen in here? | 0:55:33 | 0:55:35 | |
What we're doing here is we're installing a walkway | 0:55:35 | 0:55:38 | |
so that the visitors who come to visit the ship can actually get | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
down here so that they can actually view the Parsons turbine engines | 0:55:41 | 0:55:44 | |
that would have driven Caroline. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:46 | |
The scale of the engines are enormous, they are super powerful. | 0:55:46 | 0:55:49 | |
Are you going to finish them off, or is this it? | 0:55:49 | 0:55:51 | |
What you see now is we've actually taken | 0:55:51 | 0:55:53 | |
27 different layers of paint off the engines, | 0:55:53 | 0:55:56 | |
and sort of revealed them now in the form that you see, | 0:55:56 | 0:56:00 | |
and we're now going to Waxoyl the engines, | 0:56:00 | 0:56:03 | |
and that'll be an ongoing conservation project. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:06 | |
What's the experience going to be like for people | 0:56:06 | 0:56:08 | |
when they actually come down here, | 0:56:08 | 0:56:10 | |
how are you going to convey the power and the noise? | 0:56:10 | 0:56:12 | |
The experience is going to be special. | 0:56:12 | 0:56:15 | |
We're going to project images onto the engines and the condensers, | 0:56:15 | 0:56:19 | |
as well as the sounds in the background, | 0:56:19 | 0:56:21 | |
just to make it really atmospheric. | 0:56:21 | 0:56:22 | |
You know, you're going to get | 0:56:22 | 0:56:24 | |
that sort of dark, eerie, special... atmosphere down here. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:28 | |
And with all the sounds playing in the background, | 0:56:28 | 0:56:30 | |
it's really going to make the area feel special. | 0:56:30 | 0:56:32 | |
Engine block. People don't want to see a paint job, | 0:56:32 | 0:56:35 | |
-they want to see HMS Caroline's power. -Yeah. | 0:56:35 | 0:56:37 | |
These are the only engines of this type left in the world, | 0:56:37 | 0:56:40 | |
so, yeah, we want to show them off as best we can. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:43 | |
I'm pretty aware that the walkway needs to be completed. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:46 | |
Thanks for giving me the tour, but we should probably move on. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:48 | |
-I think we should move on. -Yeah. | 0:56:48 | 0:56:50 | |
Over the last 100 years, | 0:56:53 | 0:56:54 | |
HMS Caroline has been on a long and ever-changing journey. | 0:56:54 | 0:56:59 | |
She has faced many battles, | 0:56:59 | 0:57:01 | |
many uncertainties about her future, | 0:57:01 | 0:57:03 | |
but she has remained undefeated. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:05 | |
Her transformation has been a fascinating | 0:57:07 | 0:57:09 | |
and often very challenging process, | 0:57:09 | 0:57:12 | |
and it's now almost complete. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:15 | |
Her forgotten glory has been restored, | 0:57:15 | 0:57:17 | |
and now her future is secure. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:19 | |
After years of work on this century-old ship, | 0:57:21 | 0:57:23 | |
it's going to be fantastic to see all of the elements come together, | 0:57:23 | 0:57:26 | |
and to be revealed in an incredible attraction here in Belfast. | 0:57:26 | 0:57:30 | |
HMS Caroline is going to be here for at least another 100 years! | 0:57:30 | 0:57:33 | |
Yes, another amazing feat of shipbuilding for Belfast. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:38 | |
Just three years ago, | 0:57:38 | 0:57:39 | |
she was doomed, and set to leave this city for ever. | 0:57:39 | 0:57:42 | |
Now she's primed to take her place in Belfast's historic naval tour. | 0:57:42 | 0:57:46 | |
We've got Nomadic. We've got Titanic Belfast. | 0:57:46 | 0:57:48 | |
But there's nothing in the world like HMS Caroline. | 0:57:48 | 0:57:51 | |
The sole survivor of Jutland... | 0:57:51 | 0:57:53 | |
..and now restored to her former glory! | 0:57:54 | 0:57:56 |