0:00:11 > 0:00:13The west coast of Scotland.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Remote mountains and moors.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19A magnificent coastline -
0:00:19 > 0:00:21lochs and islands,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25linked by wild and often treacherous seas.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33A romantic place - Britain's last great wilderness.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43This is now an often empty landscape but once it thrived.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50For hundreds of years, people worked, travelled and traded here.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56I'm going to search out these trade routes of the west coast of Scotland...
0:00:57 > 0:01:01..travel narrow canals blasted through the Highlands' rock
0:01:01 > 0:01:04and explore the arteries of industry
0:01:04 > 0:01:07that made the heart of Scotland rich.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44We are sailing in my boat Rocket,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47taking a shortcut through the Crinan Canal,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51down the western coast of Scotland, around the Isle of Bute
0:01:51 > 0:01:54and from there up the great River Clyde to the second city
0:01:54 > 0:01:57of the British Empire, Glasgow.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15My starting point is the small village of Craobh Haven.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Before we set sail, John Holden, my sailing companion wants, as ever,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24to buy a few more bits and pieces for the boat.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Good afternoon.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30- How much is this, by the way? - £2.50 a metre.- How much?
0:02:30 > 0:02:32- £2 a metre.- £2 a metre.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35- So we want... - 14.- 14 metres times two.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38- I shall do that for you. - Do we need anything else?
0:02:38 > 0:02:42- Shall I have a look around?- No! It will be fatal if you look around!
0:02:42 > 0:02:44- Keep spending!- Yeah, keep spending!
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Hello, Stanley.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50'Joining us on Rocket are the rest of the crew -
0:02:50 > 0:02:51'veteran sailor Peter Lucas...'
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Don't get your beard caught in it.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57- I'll try not to. Yeah. Very cosy. - '..my younger son Fred...
0:02:59 > 0:03:02'..oh, and John's dog Stanley.'
0:03:02 > 0:03:04- Ready? Just give us a little push. - Yes.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Lovely. Thank you.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17This is the first time Rocket has been in these waters
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and it's very exciting to be here. It's a very untypical day.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24The sun is shining, the sea is flat and there is just a little breeze.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26You could be in the Mediterranean.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29But these waters are dangerous waters.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32They have strong tides and currents and whirlpools,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and when the westerly gales blow, they come all the way from America.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Keep that gaff. The gaff's fallen down. Hey!
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Who is on the peak?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Stanley, you are really not allowed to sit there, on this bit.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50OK? Lovely.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54- Let's have the jib, then.- John, can you get Stanley out the way?
0:03:54 > 0:03:58- John, we can't use the jib cos Stanley is sitting on it.- Come on.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01- Ready?- Ready when you are.- Let's go.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11There's not much wind so we've set all sail,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13hoping to beat the tide
0:04:13 > 0:04:16to see the mysterious whirlpools of Dorus Mor.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22You see the rough sea, there, it's just a great whirlpool.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24It's calm everywhere else and suddenly, here,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27we are in rough water. And this is a quiet day.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29You imagine this when there is a gale blowing.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35Very, very nasty place to be. It is difficult to get through here.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38The boat spins as we go. Look, here we are. We're turning.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44We are being turned, there, to port. Can't control it. Look.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47This is all the current swirling underneath the boat.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51It's very exciting.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58This is a part of the world where people couldn't,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02for centuries, travel overland. There were no roads.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05This is how people travelled - by sea.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09These are the pathways marked between headlands,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11into lochs, up creeks.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14For centuries, this was the only way of getting about.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Sailing down the Sound of Jura, we are entering one of lochs
0:05:20 > 0:05:24which, for centuries, has been a gateway to the heart of the Scottish Highlands.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31Territory once ruled by the powerful Scottish clan, the Campbells.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37This is Duntrune Castle...
0:05:38 > 0:05:41..standing proudly on its outcrop of rock.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Built over 800 years ago,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47and it protects a very important route from the Western Isles
0:05:47 > 0:05:52to the Scottish mainland, and it's said to be the longest inhabited
0:05:52 > 0:05:54castle in the whole of Scotland.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Fred, you get in and get yourself sorted. John will take the bow line.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Pete's got the stern line.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09'The water here is too shallow for Rocket
0:06:09 > 0:06:11'so we are going over by dinghy.'
0:06:11 > 0:06:14- Are you ready?- I am.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Ah. I tell you, I have fallen out of this dinghy before now.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I don't intend to fall out this time. Lovely.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Thank you very much. OK.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Let's go. Thank you.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28See you in a bit.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41'Over 200 years ago, the Campbells sold Duntrune Castle
0:06:41 > 0:06:45'to another Highland clan, the Malcolms.'
0:06:47 > 0:06:52A little bit on your right. Now, I think we go in here.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Yeah. That's it. It goes up there.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56'Robin, the chief of Clan Malcolm,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00'still lives here with his wife, Trish.'
0:07:00 > 0:07:02- Hello.- Welcome to Duntrune.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06- Thank you very much indeed.- Hello, David. How do you do?
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Nice to see you. What do I call you? Chief? Chieftain?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11- Robin, please.- Chief Malcolm.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15They don't do that in Scotland. In America, yes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20- This is wonderful. 800 years old. - The ground floor.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22The bit above, 400 years old,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26and there is a bit round the back that's 200 years old.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28But it looks...
0:07:28 > 0:07:31It looks rather grim from the sea. Is it liveable in?
0:07:31 > 0:07:33It looks like a prison to me.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Come and see. Come inside and we will show you.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40It's damp and it's draughty and it leaks like a sieve.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The castle was built on this promontory
0:07:45 > 0:07:47to guard the trade route that passes through the loch
0:07:47 > 0:07:51from pirates, marauders and rival clans.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Look, a courtyard. This is extraordinary.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58It doesn't look as large as this from outside.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01It's deceptive from the outside, isn't it?
0:08:01 > 0:08:03So, when do you think the last time it would have,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05so to speak, fired a shot in anger?
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Been really seriously used for the defence of the coast?
0:08:08 > 0:08:12- Between 1560 and 1580.- Right.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15That was when the Campbells and MacDonalds...
0:08:15 > 0:08:18MacDonalds were at their peak, I suppose, then.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23They were seen off by the Campbells and never tried again.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27But when were the first invasions in this case? Cos you have been...
0:08:27 > 0:08:29It has been permanently, it seems, under attack.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34- Permanently at war with somebody. - I don't think we were alone in that.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37The Vikings went about hitting Britain all around the coast.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40I'm a Viking myself. Yes. We are Vikings.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42The Dimblebys are Vikings.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44- The Dimblebys are Vikings? - Yes. From Lincolnshire.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47There is a village in Lincolnshire called Dembleby, where we come from.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50- Oh, really?- We pride ourselves on our Viking blood.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54- So your lot would have attacked our lot.- Rape and pillage is our forte!
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- Anyway... Can we have a look inside? - Please. Do.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01The castle is a family home now
0:09:01 > 0:09:03but there remain traces of its military past.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09- You see, we are on the ground floor but you're looking down.- Yes.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- But you are at the very bottom of the castle.- Yes.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14We are looking right down.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16And there is this rubbish chute,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20- where they chucked their rubbish out.- Oh, yes. I see.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24- Where are we going up to now? - The main room.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27This is an original staircase.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- Yes.- As far as we know. - Probably. As far as we know, yes.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Wow!
0:09:33 > 0:09:37This is lovely, isn't it? This is a great room. This is wonderful.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39- What would this have been? - It's described...
0:09:39 > 0:09:41400 years old, this bit?
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Yes, 400... 450, something like that.
0:09:45 > 0:09:51Described as the Great Hall in the old plans of the place.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58As a garrison castle, Duntrune would have been austerely furnished,
0:09:58 > 0:10:02but Trish is no fan of the austere.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- This is my private floor. - Oh, my goodness! I don't believe it!
0:10:08 > 0:10:13- This is crazy!- Look. - Look, a power shower in the castle!
0:10:15 > 0:10:18- This is incredibly grand. - It is brilliant.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21- A huge bath! - Well, Robin is large.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26When we first did it, this was all plastered over.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29We took the plaster off and then we found there was a huge stone
0:10:29 > 0:10:32up there that was being held up by dust
0:10:32 > 0:10:36and it was about to fall on my head any minute. I said,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39"I don't mind meeting my maker, but not with my knickers down!"
0:10:39 > 0:10:41THEY LAUGH
0:10:46 > 0:10:51An hour's walk across the glen from Duntrune,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54but 800 years further back in history,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57are the remains of a much earlier civilisation.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02I am at the heart of the ancient Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata,
0:11:02 > 0:11:08the home of the people called Scotti, who gave Scotland its name.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15This is the top of Dunadd Fort.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19This was the headquarters, if you like, of the kings of Dal Riata.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23This is where they were crowned, this is where they had their seat.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25But they weren't isolated here.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29This great walled encampment actually traded
0:11:29 > 0:11:33with places as far away as France - 600AD, we're talking.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38There were traces found here of pots that contained wine and corn.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42There were precious metals, there were jewels.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46In other words, this place was not what it is now, an empty landscape.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51This was a thriving centre of industry at the time.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Most of the evidence of that earlier prosperity
0:11:55 > 0:11:57has been claimed by nature.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02This is the kingdom of Dalriada as we know it today.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Back on board Rocket,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11we're crossing the loch to the little harbour at Crinan.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Where are you taking us to?
0:12:14 > 0:12:18- I'm not sure.- Get us to the hotel. - I'll go wherever you want.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Head towards Crinan, is a better way of putting it.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23- Dad, I can't see when you're standing there.- OK.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31- We don't need to put the cover on the topsail, do we?- No.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35'We are dropping anchor here and heading off for an early night.'
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Tomorrow, we are up against a man-made
0:12:40 > 0:12:43wonder of the landscape - the Crinan Canal.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05The Crinan Canal is a marvel of the industrial age.
0:13:05 > 0:13:06Only nine miles long,
0:13:06 > 0:13:12it cuts out a journey of 120 miles by sea around the Mull of Kintyre.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17It was opened in 1801 to carry trade from the Western Isles
0:13:17 > 0:13:20to the Clyde and Glasgow,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24a symbol of Scotland's prosperity at the beginning of the 19th century.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29It took 600 men eight years to build one of the most picturesque
0:13:29 > 0:13:31shortcuts in Britain.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Like a staircase, it climbs up from Loch Crinan
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and then down again to Loch Fyne.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Of the 15 lochs, all but two are operated by hand.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Thanks.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Wind it back.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57I don't know whether you can reach.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Rocket's going on ahead
0:14:05 > 0:14:07but I'm travelling the first stretch of the canal
0:14:07 > 0:14:12in the way that it was designed to be travelled - by Clyde puffer.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Hundreds of these steam cargo boats were working the Western Isles
0:14:19 > 0:14:22and used this canal in the 19th century.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27VIC 32 is the last working seagoing Clyde puffer.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31'Nick Walker has owned her for 35 years.'
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Hello. I mustn't shake hands with you because for some reason
0:14:34 > 0:14:36that I can't remember, you're not supposed to.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Marine superstition that we will both be dead by nightfall
0:14:38 > 0:14:40if we shook hands over water.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43- So either I come on to land or you come aboard.- I will come on.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46- You come on the boat and I can say hello, David.- Thank you very much.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49- How do you do?- How do you do?
0:14:52 > 0:14:56The first Clyde puffer dates back to the 1850s,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58when sailing barges were converted
0:14:58 > 0:15:01to steam power, and had a wheelhouse added.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04They were the lorries of the sea lanes,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07carrying whisky from the west coast and islands of Scotland
0:15:07 > 0:15:11to Glasgow, and going back with coal and grain.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20- Is this you coming up to my wheelhouse?- Terrifying!
0:15:20 > 0:15:24- This is the nerve centre.- I will talk to you from here.- That's fine.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27This is so narrow, I can't believe you can do this.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30This bit of the canal is absolutely fine for a sailing boat or yacht,
0:15:30 > 0:15:35no problems, but for a puffer with its 18-foot beam
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and 8 foot 6 draught, we struggle a bit.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43I like the idea that you are following a tradition of 200,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46- 300 years, really.- Right.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50In making not this journey but making journeys around this area.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53- Look at these cliffs, here.- I know. - Is this all blasted away?
0:15:53 > 0:15:55- All blasted away by hand. - Really?- Yeah.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Is that the highest bit of cliff? No, there's another.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59- Another bit coming up, yeah. - Why "puffer"?
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Where does the word come from?
0:16:01 > 0:16:04It's onomatopoeic. Puff, puff, puff, puff.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06- But you're not making any sound at all.- We don't puff.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09We condense the steam and make it back into hot water,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12but in the old days, the puffers - puff of steam, puff of smoke,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14puff of steam, puff of smoke.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Apparently they used to blow smoke rings.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27- Where do I go from here? - Keep coming down, David.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30- And then down one more?- One more.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35'Narrow ladders lead deep down inside the puffer to the heart of the boat.'
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Look at this! This is like a Victorian steam engine.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42'Lyle Simpson understands the mysteries of the steam engine.'
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Even though the vessel was built in 1943,
0:16:46 > 0:16:51all the technology in here dates right back to about 1905.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55- What have we got here? What is this?- That's the boiler.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00- Yup. That is the main ingredient of the boat.- Where does coal go in?
0:17:00 > 0:17:03- Just there in front of you, David. - Is that hot?- Yeah.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06- If you just grab hold of the handle quickly and open the door...- What?
0:17:06 > 0:17:09- What? What? God Almighty! - HE GROANS
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Oh, my God!
0:17:18 > 0:17:20- Just like that?- Just like that, yes.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24I won't put too much on.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30How often do you have to put more in?
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Running at this speed along the canal,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37it's probably only about every 15 minutes, or something like that.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53It's pure magic, sailing down this canal.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57This boat that barely fits, touching each bank from time to time
0:17:57 > 0:17:59and occasionally touching the bottom
0:17:59 > 0:18:03and yet gliding tranquilly down, the steam engine making no sound,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07just turning peacefully like that as it goes along.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10It's so narrow that you feel like you're like toothpaste
0:18:10 > 0:18:13being squeezed out of a tube and yet, on the other hand,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17this, of course, is the heart of the Industrial Revolution in Scotland.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20These boats backwards and forwards to the islands
0:18:20 > 0:18:24and across to the mainland, bringing industry and creating wealth
0:18:24 > 0:18:26and changing Scotland, in effect,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29from a country that was impoverished
0:18:29 > 0:18:32to one that began to experience proper prosperity.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38We are drawing in to the basin at Bellanoch to rejoin Rocket.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48One mile done, eight to go.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53The canal was designed by the Scottish engineer John Rennie,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56who also built London and Waterloo bridges on the Thames
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and many other canals, lochs and lighthouses.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05By the middle of the 19th century, apart from whisky and coal,
0:19:05 > 0:19:11it carried 2,000 cattle a year, 27,000 sheep and 33,000 passengers.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38The secret to going through a lock is to take it slowly
0:19:38 > 0:19:40and keep the boat straight,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43so that it can be moored snugly to the quayside far above.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Here you are, Peter.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47Around there.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51We've got a little bunch, here.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Oh, Fred! Fred, what happened there?
0:19:58 > 0:20:00- You didn't throw it far enough. - You didn't pass it to me!
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Excuse me!
0:20:02 > 0:20:05You're going to get it... You're going to get it wet this time.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07I usually expect my...
0:20:08 > 0:20:10He's a bit out today, isn't he?
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Opening the sluices.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27That's all right, looks fine.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36You OK there? Pete?
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Yes, good, yes. We're coming up nicely.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44So, what we've done now is, we are at lock number ten.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48We have come from 15, from the sea, right down there, at Crinan,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51we're coming up here and we're almost at the top of the hill.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Got one more lock, and then it's downhill all the way,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58through new locks to the sea again on the other side.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13The most famous boat to use this canal,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15apart from Rocket of course,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17was a Royal barge called the Sunbeam,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21in which Queen Victoria travelled, in August 1847,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25the whole length of the canal on her journey around Scotland,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28the famous Royal Route she took that drew so much attention.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31And she said, as she watched the horses that drew her
0:21:31 > 0:21:36and the four men with them in scarlet uniforms, she said,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40"It was a very tranquil, beautiful journey looking at the scenery."
0:21:40 > 0:21:45But she did find all those locks a little bit tedious.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Mind you, she didn't have to do the work we've had to do
0:21:48 > 0:21:49to get through them.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56It has taken us all day to get through the Crinan Canal
0:21:56 > 0:21:59and back out onto the open sea at Loch Fyne.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08It was Queen Victoria's love of Scotland, its lochs and its glens,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12that made it a fashionable destination for the English.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17They came here to admire the scenery,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19rugged and mysterious...
0:22:22 > 0:22:25..an image exploited by many painters of the 19th century.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31But the first person to turn the drama of Scotland
0:22:31 > 0:22:32into popular romance
0:22:32 > 0:22:36was a now almost forgotten poet, James Macpherson.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43In 1761, he wrote an epic saga called Ossian,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46which became an international bestseller.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Ossian tells the story of a mighty Gaelic warrior called Fingal,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54who overcame the giants and demons of the Highlands.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Fingal was exactly the kind of hero to appeal
0:22:57 > 0:23:01to people who were looking for a powerful, primitive force,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05something that came from these wild Highlands of Scotland.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09He was described as "tall as a glittering rock".
0:23:09 > 0:23:12His spear like a "blasted pine".
0:23:12 > 0:23:15His shield like the "rising moon".
0:23:15 > 0:23:20And when he went into battle, his heel removed woods,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24rocks fell from their place, rivers changed their course.
0:23:24 > 0:23:25You can see the attraction.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28And he was read not just here in Scotland,
0:23:28 > 0:23:30but in England and throughout Europe,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33where the whole idea appealed to a different,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36romantic view of nature and of people.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Interestingly, Napoleon Bonaparte
0:23:41 > 0:23:45always carried Ossian wherever he went.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Indeed, he probably had it with him at the Battle of Waterloo.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58We are sailing down Scotland's longest sea loch to visit
0:23:58 > 0:24:00a famous herring port,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02the fishing village of Tarbert.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06They have been catching the fish here since the 9th century.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Traditionally, teams of women gutted the catch on the quayside
0:24:15 > 0:24:17then skewered them on long poles
0:24:17 > 0:24:21to be hung in the smokehouse and turned into kippers,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23one of Scotland's great delicacies.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Fishing has always been a very important industry for Scotland.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33In the Middle Ages, medieval times, it was helped
0:24:33 > 0:24:36because the Church banned the eating of meat on Wednesdays,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Thursdays and Fridays, which of course boosted the industry.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43They also took tithes, the 10% of your income you had to
0:24:43 > 0:24:47pay to the Church in herrings.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51And you could even pay your rent in herrings.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52Try that today!
0:24:59 > 0:25:03'I'm heading out to sea from Tarbert with two local fishermen,
0:25:03 > 0:25:05'Ross McKay and Peter McLean.'
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Fishermen were idealised by painters in the 19th century,
0:25:12 > 0:25:17given the Victorian virtues of independence, honesty, hard work.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24They were seen to be in touch with nature, still heroically
0:25:24 > 0:25:28battling the elements, not slaves to the Industrial Revolution.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37A buoy marks where, a couple of days ago, Peter and Ross put out
0:25:37 > 0:25:39their baited baskets.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Today, it's not herring they catch, but the shellfish langoustine,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50eaten in Britain as scampi.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- That's a big one, is it?- Aye.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56- But they're priced on size?- Aye.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59So who decides that's a one - you or the guy who buys?
0:25:59 > 0:26:01- It's me that decides, like.- Right.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05'When caught, the langoustine are placed in separate compartments
0:26:05 > 0:26:07'so that they don't fight.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11'Then they will be exported live all the way to Spain.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14'Every year, 30,000 tonnes of langoustine
0:26:14 > 0:26:18'are caught in Scottish waters, worth £82 million.'
0:26:19 > 0:26:23- You have a very quick eye for them. - Aye, you do. Aye, you get that.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27You just know immediately what it is that you want and what you don't.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33- Why do you throw those away? - It's just squats. I don't keep them.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36- I've eaten those in Glasgow.- Aye.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39They have a little tiny scoop of flesh on the back.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41- Squat lobsters, they're called. - Squat lobster.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44They don't keep for transport, like.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Strange animal.
0:26:46 > 0:26:47- Anyway, he goes back?- Aye.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49- Aye.- Goodbye.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58- So what's the strangest thing you've ever caught?- Probably a machine gun.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02- A shooting gun?- A machine gun. - A machine gun?!- Aye.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05A general-purpose MP60, I think it was.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07- Did you get a reward?- No.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11- Nothing?- We thought we might.- Yeah, I thought you would get a reward.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14So you've caught a gun. What else have you caught? Any bodies?
0:27:14 > 0:27:16- No, no.- No, that's good.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18THEY LAUGH
0:27:18 > 0:27:21We're just going to lift and shoot them back again.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23- You're going to shoot them back? - Aye.- OK.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27'Once today's catch has all been brought in,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31'the baskets are baited again and put back over the side.'
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Fishing and the fishing industry are so important
0:27:42 > 0:27:45that at the end of the First World War, in 1919,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48the Ministry of Reconstruction issued a proclamation.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Peter, I want you to you hear this.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54"The inshore fisherman should be perpetuated at all costs,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58"for he comes nearer than any other type of man to embodying
0:27:58 > 0:28:01"those qualities of grit and self-reliance which
0:28:01 > 0:28:03"we all agree to be the greatest of national interests."
0:28:03 > 0:28:05- Aye, well, there you go. - There you go.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07I wouldn't have known that unless you told me.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09DAVID CHUCKLES
0:28:09 > 0:28:13- "State neglect of his interests would weaken the race."- Ah, well.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15You learn something new every day.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Do you feel yourself... Do you feel that you come nearer than any other
0:28:18 > 0:28:22type of man to embodying qualities of grit and self-reliance?
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Well, you get hard days out there, right enough, so I suppose you do.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- And you can take on the world? - Take on anything!
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Back aboard Rocket, we're leaving Tarbert.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47We're now sailing around the southern tip
0:28:47 > 0:28:52of the Isle of Bute on our way to its port of Rothesay.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56We seem to be making good progress, but according
0:28:56 > 0:28:59to my reading of our instruments, we're actually aground.
0:28:59 > 0:29:00So what's the...?
0:29:00 > 0:29:02'Some mistake, surely.'
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- That's the 5.2 nautical miles, there.- Oh, dear.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Pete, you've gone on the rocks here.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10- He is actually on the rocks. - Sorry about that...
0:29:10 > 0:29:12We're going to have to start the...
0:29:12 > 0:29:15No, when I say... You are aground now, officially aground.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19- There seems to be a sheep walking by, yeah.- No, because look, Dad.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24- One nautical mile is that.- Yeah. - And there's about that much space.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27So it's about a quarter of a nautical mile.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32We are officially aground in 48 metres here, so is that all right?
0:29:32 > 0:29:33I don't mind.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37We are approaching Rothesay on the Isle of Bute,
0:29:37 > 0:29:42the nearest island to Glasgow and an escape from the smoke of the city.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Look at that house up there in the trees. Great thing.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Looks like Agatha Christie... Looks like Greenway.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55These large houses were built as holiday homes by wealthy
0:29:55 > 0:30:00Glaswegians, who took the 90-minute boat trip "doon the watter"
0:30:00 > 0:30:01to get here.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Most of the Isle of Bute has been owned by a single family
0:30:06 > 0:30:09for the past 700 years, and they erected on the island
0:30:09 > 0:30:14one of Scotland's biggest and most romantic houses...
0:30:14 > 0:30:15Mount Stuart.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24Built in 1880, it was the lifelong passion of the 3rd Marquess of Bute,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26John Patrick Crichton-Stuart.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43The richest man in Britain,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46the 3rd Marquess inherited a fortune
0:30:46 > 0:30:50made from the coalfields that powered the Industrial Revolution,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53and the building of dockyards that traded with the Empire.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08This is one of three libraries built here at Mount Stuart by John,
0:31:08 > 0:31:09the 3rd Marquess.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11He was an absolutely fascinating man.
0:31:11 > 0:31:17He spoke 21 different languages. He was very well-travelled.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21He was interested in religion, archaeology, astronomy
0:31:21 > 0:31:25and architecture. He helped people restore houses.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27He didn't just build this one.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31And it was because of the wealth that he inherited, huge wealth,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34that he was able to pursue these passions.
0:31:39 > 0:31:46Mount Stuart took 30 years to build and with 127 spectacular rooms,
0:31:46 > 0:31:50it cost over £50 million in today's money.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06One of the most expensive homes ever built in Scotland, it is
0:32:06 > 0:32:09a lavish display of wealth.
0:32:10 > 0:32:1580 foot high, this is the centre of the house, the Marble Hall.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Gothic arches, looking like a cathedral. Indeed, was taken
0:32:21 > 0:32:27from the design of a cathedral. Italian marble in different colours.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Wonderful ambers and greens and greys. And white.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35And the tops of the pillars, the capitals as they are called,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39are all of plants taken from Mount Stuart.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44For instance, there's seaweed from the seashore, roses
0:32:44 > 0:32:45and the Scottish thistle.
0:32:47 > 0:32:54And the ceiling, decorated with the position of the stars
0:32:54 > 0:32:56when they first designed this house.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00They went out, looked at the night sky,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03drew the position of the stars, and then reproduced them here.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08The Marquess was obsessed by his great project,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11and nothing escaped his eye.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14His attention to detail was astonishing,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16and his execution meticulous.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Just look at these. These are the door hinges.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22You wouldn't normally see them, because when the door's closed,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25obviously, you can't. We have opened it. Look at this.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Vine with bunches of grapes.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30And there is a reason for them.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Over here...
0:33:33 > 0:33:35the motif is repeated again.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40The bell push, with bunches of grapes all round it.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44And the reason for the grapes was that this was
0:33:44 > 0:33:48the room for eating and drinking. The dining room.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56And he decided, because everyone else was eating, the little frieze
0:33:56 > 0:34:00of birds round the wooden panelling should be allowed to eat as well.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Come and see this.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09There's a little bird here, look, about to eat a butterfly.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12There's a snail being eyed by this bird.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18Along here, look, there's a caterpillar who,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22for some reason, seems to have escaped. This bird hasn't noticed.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25And then right over here, look at his face.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28This bird looking down, about to snap up the fly.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32So everybody's feasting.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35Mount Stuart looks like it has been here
0:34:35 > 0:34:39since the Middle Ages with its Gothic arches and marble trimmings,
0:34:39 > 0:34:44but in reality, it was at the cutting edge of modernity.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47It was the first house in Scotland to be lit by electricity
0:34:47 > 0:34:51and one of the first in the world to have an indoor heated swimming pool.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56The Marchioness's bathroom is well worth a look.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00It had all the latest equipment. Fine marble fireplace, of course.
0:35:00 > 0:35:05This rather wonderful tap bends over and...
0:35:08 > 0:35:10A jet of water.
0:35:10 > 0:35:16And then there's a toilet there, oh, and here in the window, a bidet,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19with all these controls and a mahogany seat.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21What does this say?
0:35:21 > 0:35:25"Wave, douche, back shower, bottom shower."
0:35:25 > 0:35:26Let's try the bottom shower.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Here we go.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Oh, my goodness! Oops!
0:35:32 > 0:35:35That's the bottom shower!
0:35:35 > 0:35:37Help.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Stand by to go about. Ready about.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Leaving Rothesay and the Isle of Bute behind, we are
0:36:00 > 0:36:04now heading to the entrance of the River Clyde, Toward Point.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17Toward Lighthouse warns vessels of the promontory and hidden rocks.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23It guides them up the River Clyde.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Built in 1812 by one of our greatest lighthouse builders,
0:36:27 > 0:36:29the Scottish engineer, Robert Stevenson.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Lighthouses are a testament to Victorian engineering.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44But throughout the 19th century,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47they stood as a romantic image for artists.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Not just elegant designs,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54but beacons symbolic of hope in the darkness.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01A guiding light and man's heroic struggle against nature and the sea.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09Painters such as Turner exploited the fear of shipwreck
0:37:09 > 0:37:12to evoke terror and stir the imagination.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17One of his most famous paintings is the Bell Rock Lighthouse
0:37:17 > 0:37:22off the east coast of Scotland, also designed by Stevenson.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Stevenson's special genius was that he invented something called
0:37:28 > 0:37:33shuttering, the automatic opening and closing of the light,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36so that he could time the flashes that came from it.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40This one, for instance, flashes once every ten seconds.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43Other lighthouses will have different paces -
0:37:43 > 0:37:45once every three seconds, once every seven.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48So, when you are at sea, you can look at the chart
0:37:48 > 0:37:51and identify which lighthouse you are looking at and, therefore,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55what danger it is you are to avoid and where you are on the ocean.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Robert Stevenson created a kind of family dynasty
0:38:00 > 0:38:02of lighthouse builders.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06His three sons all became lighthouse builders.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10The only disappointment to the family was his grandson.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13He was called Robert Louis Stevenson and he was a famous writer.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17He wrote Kidnapped and Treasure Island.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20But he, too, was very proud of what the family had achieved.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25He once wrote, "When the lights come out along the shores of Scotland,
0:38:25 > 0:38:29"I like to think they shine more brightly because of their genius."
0:38:32 > 0:38:35We're now entering the mouth of the River Clyde,
0:38:35 > 0:38:40one of our greatest rivers, heading for James Watt Dock in Greenock.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Quite by chance, we have come alongside the Waverley,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51the paddle steamer.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Able to carry nearly 1,000 passengers,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57she is one of the last seagoing paddle steamers.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Very pretty sight, isn't it?
0:39:06 > 0:39:11This line of red buoys marks a superhighway of the sea.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14You wouldn't think it today, looking at this empty expanse of water,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17but of all the seaways we have travelled in Scotland,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20this was by far and away the most important.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25This is where all the trade came up to Glasgow, bringing wealth
0:39:25 > 0:39:29to that city and making it the second city of the Empire.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35From the 18th century, ships laden with sugar,
0:39:35 > 0:39:40cotton and tobacco came here from the Americas.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42It was the shortest sea route.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46Bringing goods into Glasgow instead of London cut up to
0:39:46 > 0:39:49three weeks off the journey time, a very big saving.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55By the second half of the 19th century, heavy industry took over.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57A quarter of the world's locomotives
0:39:57 > 0:40:01and a fifth of the world's ships were built on the Clyde.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09In the 19th century, this southern side of the Clyde would have
0:40:09 > 0:40:14been all docks and shipyards where now it's just infill.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17And this scene was immortalised by the Victorian painter
0:40:17 > 0:40:22John Atkinson Grimshaw, painting the scene here at Gourock.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Grimshaw made a profitable business out of painting romantic
0:40:27 > 0:40:31images of the thriving ports all along the Clyde,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34a far cry from the grim, industrial reality.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38A fellow artist said,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41"And when the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry,
0:40:41 > 0:40:43"as with a veil,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47"and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky,
0:40:47 > 0:40:53"the whole city hangs in the heavens and fairyland is before us."
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Today, the James Watt Dock has relaunched itself as a marina,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04though it can never recapture its glory days
0:41:04 > 0:41:08when it was the most accessible port for the largest ships.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13The Glasgow merchants were using bigger
0:41:13 > 0:41:17and bigger ships to bring goods from America to Scotland,
0:41:17 > 0:41:19but they couldn't get right up the river.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Here, at Greenock, they invested their money in building this
0:41:23 > 0:41:26magnificent dock, the James Watt Dock,
0:41:26 > 0:41:30and building warehouses behind, all for the sugar trade.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32These are known as the Sugar Sheds.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35It was so successful that in no time,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39400 ships a year were stopping here in Greenock.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46These sugar sheds date from 1886.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50By then, a quarter of Britain's sugar was being processed here,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52in 12 sugar refineries.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56It's an industry that continued in Greenock all the way
0:41:56 > 0:41:58up to the very end of the 20th century.
0:41:59 > 0:42:05It was the Act of Union in 1707 that changed Scotland's prosperity.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08It allowed free trade with the British Empire
0:42:08 > 0:42:11and, in particular, with the English colonies in America.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13And it wasn't just sugar.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17By 1750, more tobacco was coming up the Clyde than into all
0:42:17 > 0:42:19the English ports combined.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23It created huge wealth.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25The Tobacco Lords, as the merchants were known,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30lived like aristocrats, even had streets named after them.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38In the 18th century, most of the tobacco was turned into snuff,
0:42:38 > 0:42:40it wasn't smoked as cigars or pipe
0:42:40 > 0:42:42or, indeed, cigarettes,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46and it led to a great etiquette for taking snuff,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50which concentrated primarily on the snuffbox.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54This one, for instance, a particularly good example, with
0:42:54 > 0:43:01a tortoiseshell surround and then in the centre, a portrait of George I.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03It's the kind of thing a Glasgow merchant
0:43:03 > 0:43:05might well have carried to show
0:43:05 > 0:43:07his loyalty to the Crown.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10This is quite interesting. This is...slightly later.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12That's where the snuff goes.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14And then, at the back,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18there's a little trap that opens for a snuff spoon.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21Women took snuff as well as men, and sometimes they,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24so they didn't get their fingers dirty,
0:43:24 > 0:43:28just took it in a tiny silver spoon and sniffed it, like that.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32And this one, now, this is a very pretty one.
0:43:32 > 0:43:39Inlaid, it's silver with a stone of moss agate set in it.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41When you hold it up to the light,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44you can see these wonderful swirls of green.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48And as it has got some snuff in it, I will take some.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Schoolchildren did this because the school rules banned smoking,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53but they forgot to mention snuff.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57I remember taking it as a schoolboy occasionally.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00It used to make me sneeze. This is how you take it.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03One way is just putting a little bit in the corner, like that.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Sniffing not too hard
0:44:06 > 0:44:09so it doesn't go right up to the back of your nostrils.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Or you can just sniff it like this.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17And it's the sign of an amateur if you sneeze.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19Shows you have taken too much snuff.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22I've got a handkerchief with me, just in case.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24INHALES SHARPLY
0:44:24 > 0:44:26No, I think I'm all right.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28It's very delicious.
0:44:30 > 0:44:31Lovely.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36A couple of miles upriver, and once at the heart of the Clyde's
0:44:36 > 0:44:40great shipbuilding industry, is Port Glasgow.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47Ships have been built along the Clyde for hundreds of years,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51and in the 1950s, the industry was still booming.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01At its height, there were 35 shipyards along the Clyde,
0:45:01 > 0:45:03employing more than 100,000 men.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13More than two-thirds of Britain's iron steamships
0:45:13 > 0:45:15were launched from here.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41Today, there is only one commercial shipyard
0:45:41 > 0:45:43still working on the lower Clyde.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49It's built over 300 ships in its 110-year history.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53Today, there are only two small ferries under construction,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56but they both employ pioneering technology
0:45:56 > 0:45:59powered by a diesel-electric engine.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04'I asked Andrew Miller and Craig Osborne,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07'engineers at Ferguson's, how the future looks.'
0:46:07 > 0:46:10It's a bit quieter now. We don't build many ships on the Clyde.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14These two hybrid ferries we're building is the first ships
0:46:14 > 0:46:16we've built for a few years.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19And hopefully more to come.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21Why did it go downhill?
0:46:21 > 0:46:25Um, I think just a downturn in shipbuilding in general.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29You've got other places like Korea, China and all that.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31They're just building them probably cheaper
0:46:31 > 0:46:33and faster than what we can now.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35They learned all their skills from...
0:46:35 > 0:46:38A lot of them learned the skills from the Clyde.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41We taught them what to do and now they've turned it back on us.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43Do you think there's something special about this
0:46:43 > 0:46:46part of Scotland that made people good at engineering?
0:46:46 > 0:46:50Because that old joke about, you know, I can't remember what it was,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53- you put your head down the engine room and shout...- Jock.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Jock, that was it, yes.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58- You shout "Jock" and the chief engineer will come up.- Yeah.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Do you think the spirit was different,
0:47:00 > 0:47:02the kind of mood of the place was different?
0:47:02 > 0:47:06I think, in shipyards, you've always what they call the shipyard banter.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09And it's what the guys use to get through the day.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12One of your most famous comedians, Billy Connolly, who was a welder,
0:47:12 > 0:47:13that's how he made it,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16because he had all the funny stories from the shipyards.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18There's not a day goes by that you don't come in
0:47:18 > 0:47:20and have a belly laugh at work.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23You always have a day where... It's always funny.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25What's today's funny story?
0:47:25 > 0:47:28David Dimbleby's coming to the yard!
0:47:28 > 0:47:29THEY LAUGH
0:47:34 > 0:47:37During both World Wars, the work here on the Clyde was vital.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43In 1940, to boost national morale,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46the Ministry of Information commissioned the artist
0:47:46 > 0:47:50Stanley Spencer to celebrate the skills of the shipbuilders.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57This scene shows the burners, as they were called,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01cutting sheets of metal with oxyacetylene cutters,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04and making all kinds of different shapes that will form
0:48:04 > 0:48:07the hull of the ship when it is finished.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09All of them very focused,
0:48:09 > 0:48:13not talking to each other, not acknowledging each other,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17but absolutely concentrated on this very complex work of just
0:48:17 > 0:48:19cutting exactly down the line.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23They don't wear hard hats or any protective clothes
0:48:23 > 0:48:25except leather gloves.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28There is one person who seems to have exhausted himself,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31a young boy, mopping his brow.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33He's taken his cap off, his goggles,
0:48:33 > 0:48:38he's just exhausted, sitting on the plate that he's cutting.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41There's something almost spiritual, mystical,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45about the way Spencer paints these people,
0:48:45 > 0:48:49partly because the light all comes from the torches they're working on,
0:48:49 > 0:48:54so they're all lit like angels would be lit
0:48:54 > 0:48:57from some mysterious spiritual glow.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02And then, down here, we come down here,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05the railway lines that were laid through the docks.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Somebody working on the rails here.
0:49:08 > 0:49:15And then, one, two, three people hauling a trolley of steel bars.
0:49:15 > 0:49:21And then, finally, at the end, the ship itself takes shape.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24The ribs of steel all delicately
0:49:24 > 0:49:28and rather fantastically painted in different colours.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32When the ship's completed, the wooden props will be knocked away
0:49:32 > 0:49:36and the ship will slide down into the Clyde.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39You just see this little glimpse of landscape here, a little breath of
0:49:39 > 0:49:43fresh air after the claustrophobia of the working in the shipyard.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Here, the River Clyde, and above, the green hills.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Leaving Port Glasgow, we're travelling upriver to
0:49:57 > 0:50:03one of the most historic sites on the Clyde, Dumbarton.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15In the 1800s, this part of the Clyde was regularly dredged
0:50:15 > 0:50:17so they could get trading ships up.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20In fact, they still dredge it every year now.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22But one of the advantages of this was not just
0:50:22 > 0:50:26that the ships could go upriver, but they could build ships upriver too.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31In fact, in the years before the First World War, almost half the
0:50:31 > 0:50:36tonnage of ships built in the world were built here on the River Clyde.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42And one of the largest yards was just under here,
0:50:42 > 0:50:44under Dumbarton Castle at Denny's.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Little remains of Denny's today,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58but artists and photographers show us what it was like
0:50:58 > 0:51:01during its heyday towards the end of the 19th century.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13The Maritime Museum keeps the memory of Denny's alive.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17They built the first steamship to cross the English Channel
0:51:17 > 0:51:20and the first all-steel merchant ship.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22Their technicians were among the finest in the world.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26One of the key members of a shipbuilding team was
0:51:26 > 0:51:32the draughtsman, who put on paper the lines proposed for the ship.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34It looks easy enough to draw the shape of the cabins
0:51:34 > 0:51:37and, you know, the layout and all that,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39but what really mattered was to get the underwater shape
0:51:39 > 0:51:44so that the hull that had been chosen for efficiency and speed
0:51:44 > 0:51:48could be interpreted by the shipbuilders from the drawings.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50And these are drawings done by David Kirkcaldy,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53one of the finest draughtsmen of the era.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59These are the drawings of a paddle steamer called the Persia.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03After her launch, the Persia set the record for crossing
0:52:03 > 0:52:06the Atlantic, the Blue Riband, in 1856,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09a record she held for several years,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13crossing at an average speed of just over 13 knots, just over 15mph.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19These are immaculately detailed drawings, and beautifully painted.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24A cross-section of the ship from the bow there right through
0:52:24 > 0:52:26the engine room...
0:52:27 > 0:52:29..and back to the stern.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33And then all the passenger cabins all along here.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45The drawings of the Persia that David Kirkcaldy did
0:52:45 > 0:52:47were done after she had been built.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51They were designed to illustrate the work of a draughtsman.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54And they were so good, apart from being exhibited in Paris
0:52:54 > 0:52:57and at the Royal Academy, he won this medal for them, awarded
0:52:57 > 0:53:01"for a correct and beautifully executed drawing of the Persia".
0:53:01 > 0:53:05And the Maritime Museum has his notebooks that were
0:53:05 > 0:53:06done at the time.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10Meticulous drawings of every little detail of the boat.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13With all the measurements...
0:53:14 > 0:53:16..done in ink.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20This work, spread over three-and-a-half years.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23And here are all the cabins.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26And the numbers of the cabins. You can see everything.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31The kind of mind that is needed to do this sort of work is
0:53:31 > 0:53:37obviously extremely meticulous and disciplined.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39And he was so disciplined
0:53:39 > 0:53:44that he kept this notebook of the hours that it had taken.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47"Started in January 1857.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51"Finished in July 1860.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56"Pencilling, 275-and-a-quarter hours.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00"Inking, 292-and-three-quarter hours.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04"Colouring, 643-and-a-quarter hours.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09"Total, 1,213-and-a-quarter hours."
0:54:15 > 0:54:16Model-making, too,
0:54:16 > 0:54:20occupied thousands of man-hours in the industry.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25It was elevated to an art, with no detail too small.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31The model of a newly finished commission was a calling card
0:54:31 > 0:54:32for the next.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39This is a model of the passenger and cargo ship Baccalieu,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42which was built by Ferguson's on the Clyde
0:54:42 > 0:54:46and launched in 1940 to go to St John's, Newfoundland.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49And it is... It is an exquisite model.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53I mean, starting at the bow, you have got the windlass.
0:54:53 > 0:54:55Then, coming back, you've got...
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Oh, up here, there's the binnacle, the compass.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01Then on the bridge itself, the telegraph to signal to the
0:55:01 > 0:55:05engine room "full ahead" or "slower stern", or whatever it is.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10Lifeboats in their davits with their block and tackle,
0:55:10 > 0:55:12ready to lower them.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14And coming back, the masts, of course,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17everything absolutely perfectly modelled.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19And at the very back here in the stern,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23the emergency steering wheel and even a rope, neatly coiled.
0:55:30 > 0:55:31It's a beautiful model.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34I've always stopped and paused
0:55:34 > 0:55:36and looked in the windows of the shipping lines that have
0:55:36 > 0:55:42these on display, because I drool over the thought of going
0:55:42 > 0:55:47to the tropical islands or across the Atlantic or across the Pacific.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Without the cost and discomfort of actually going to sea,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55this model just takes you there.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07We're now on the last leg of our journey,
0:56:07 > 0:56:12motoring up the Clyde to our final destination, Glasgow.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26The river is narrowing to 200 metres, and it is eerily quiet.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30Not quite how it would have been 100 years ago.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35The boom years on the river may yet return but, sadly, not quite yet.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43Ahead of us, though,
0:56:43 > 0:56:49is a symbol of Scottish prosperity at its height - the Glenlee,
0:56:49 > 0:56:53built here on the Clyde in 1896.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58She spent 23 years carrying cargo between Glasgow, Liverpool,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00Australia and South Africa.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04Our journey is almost done.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07We're mooring up on the outskirts of Glasgow.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11The splendours of the city lie just upriver,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15a city that proclaims the wealth of the nation.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18CHATTERING
0:57:30 > 0:57:32From the earliest times,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36Scotland prospered by mastering the sea, first close to home,
0:57:36 > 0:57:41then trading with the wider world, with the Americas, with the Empire.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46And it was this commercial triumph that inspired this great city,
0:57:46 > 0:57:48built on a heroic scale,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52justifying its claim to be the second city of Empire.
0:57:52 > 0:57:58This truly is a country that rose from the sea.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25I'm sailing along the coast of East Anglia to see
0:58:25 > 0:58:31how our view of the sea changed to a place for pleasure and escape.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34I'll explore how a day out at the seaside became
0:58:34 > 0:58:37an irresistible subject for artists...
0:58:37 > 0:58:39I'm stopping now.
0:58:39 > 0:58:40..artists of all kinds...
0:58:40 > 0:58:44She looks like one of those pilots, you know. Argh!
0:58:44 > 0:58:50..and how it created a world that was and remains uniquely British.
0:58:51 > 0:58:53- PEOPLE YELL - Agh!
0:58:55 > 0:58:57Here's to the British seaside.
0:59:00 > 0:59:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd