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