0:00:02 > 0:00:06The River Clyde, Scotland's most iconic waterway.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Today, it's a bustling commercial hub,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14but 150 years ago
0:00:14 > 0:00:17this was the beating heart of an industrial revolution...
0:00:20 > 0:00:22..and fuelling it were its shipyards.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31I'm David Hayman and I grew up surrounded by those yards
0:00:31 > 0:00:33and the magnificent ships that they produced.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37But it's where they went and what they did
0:00:37 > 0:00:40and the lives they touched that's always fascinated me.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47In this series, I'm going to uncover the secrets of the great ships
0:00:47 > 0:00:50that laid the foundations of today's Commonwealth of Nations.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55It's a journey that's going to take me around the world
0:00:55 > 0:01:00to tell incredible stories and unearth extraordinary characters.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08If you want to know why Britannia ruled the waves
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and where the Commonwealth was born, look no further than here.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29In 1884, a Clyde-built ship headed out of Glasgow
0:01:29 > 0:01:33and across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada to become
0:01:33 > 0:01:35part of something truly ground-breaking.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44And this is her - the Mackay-Bennett.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48This little Clyde-built steamer was about to find herself at the centre
0:01:48 > 0:01:52of one of the most incredible chapters in maritime history.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01The creation of a underwater cable network that connected Britain
0:02:01 > 0:02:05with her future Commonwealth for the first time
0:02:05 > 0:02:09and in doing so sparked a communication revolution that would
0:02:09 > 0:02:14change the world forever and shape the way we lead our lives today.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20It's a story that tells me why I can send an e-mail
0:02:20 > 0:02:24or make a phone call from my home city of Glasgow
0:02:24 > 0:02:27and receive it here, nearly 3,000 miles away
0:02:27 > 0:02:29on the other side of the Atlantic.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30PHONE RINGS
0:02:33 > 0:02:36But the Mackay-Bennett's lasting legacy lies not
0:02:36 > 0:02:40just in the birth of modern day telecommunications.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45It's also about her role in the most tragic incident in maritime history.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47The Titanic disaster.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54For the men on this Scottish steamer would play a heroic
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and, until now, untold part in this tragedy and, in doing so,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02would come to be at the centre of a fascinating DNA mystery
0:03:02 > 0:03:05that would take over 100 years to solve.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22It was late 19th century
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and Glasgow was in the midst of a golden age of shipbuilding.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30An estimated 300 vessels a year were heading down these slipways
0:03:30 > 0:03:32feeding the Industrial Revolution
0:03:32 > 0:03:35that had made Britain the powerhouse of the world.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46The Empire's burgeoning colonial rule was brilliantly
0:03:46 > 0:03:50serviced by her Glasgow ships, but there still remained one thing
0:03:50 > 0:03:53that made Britannia feel distinctly disconnected.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58She was an island.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00And that made communication with the rest of the world
0:04:00 > 0:04:02really, really slow.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07So everything, from business to politics,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11was desperate to find a more effective way to communicate.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The potential for new forms of communication had already
0:04:19 > 0:04:21been established in the 1840s
0:04:21 > 0:04:24by inventor Samuel Morse.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Morse code was a system by which electrical pulses were transmitted
0:04:28 > 0:04:32down a wire and received as a series of dots and dashes
0:04:32 > 0:04:34that made up letters and words.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37His invention had proven that messages could be
0:04:37 > 0:04:42sent and received almost instantly between one country and another.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51But sending an electrical current
0:04:51 > 0:04:54down a short piece of wire was all well and good,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58but what Britain desperately wanted was the means to communicate
0:04:58 > 0:05:01not just across rivers and countries,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05but across vast wild oceans and between continents.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08Something new was needed.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16The real prize was the transatlantic telegraph -
0:05:16 > 0:05:18a cable link that would connect the British Empire
0:05:18 > 0:05:22with North America. And that meant crossing a stretch of water
0:05:22 > 0:05:26over 4,000km across and 4km deep.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Simply making a cable long enough to span the vast
0:05:37 > 0:05:41expanse of an entire ocean was an engineering problem in itself.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43For the greater the distance
0:05:43 > 0:05:46along which the electrical signal was sent,
0:05:46 > 0:05:47the weaker it would become.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56So when, on top of this, you added in the physical feat of actually
0:05:56 > 0:05:58laying it in such a hostile environment,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01this really was a technological challenge.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10By the 1850s, the race was on.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15After a number of false starts, in 1858, two converted warships,
0:06:15 > 0:06:20HMS Agamemnon and the USS Niagara, ran the first successful
0:06:20 > 0:06:23transatlantic cable from Ireland to Newfoundland in Canada.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30'It was an engineering triumph.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42'I've come to meet cable historian John Packer
0:06:42 > 0:06:45'of the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum in Cornwall
0:06:45 > 0:06:48'to find out more about just what a significant turning point
0:06:48 > 0:06:51'these first successful connections were.'
0:06:52 > 0:06:57John, when these first transatlantic messages began to be exchanged,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01how important a development do you think that was to us all?
0:07:01 > 0:07:03It caught the public imagination
0:07:03 > 0:07:06in the same way, in the last century,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10that the space age and landing a man on the moon,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14it was almost that sort of interest
0:07:14 > 0:07:16and wonder to the general public.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Here we could send a message to North America in a few seconds and
0:07:21 > 0:07:24get a reply back that same afternoon or even half an hour later.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Whereas prior to that, we wrote a letter,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28it took weeks to cross the Atlantic
0:07:28 > 0:07:30and, by the time you got a reply back,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33probably the person you had sent the message to had died!
0:07:33 > 0:07:35It was so long winded.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37And I guess in the beginning
0:07:37 > 0:07:40it must have been a seriously complex issue.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Yes. It was all in code, rather like Morse code, only this was
0:07:44 > 0:07:48cable code. There were no dots and dashes, there were lefts and rights.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50- Could you demonstrate it for me?- Certainly.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55At the sending end, there's a key.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58It's like a Morse key but there are two of them on the same base.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02You press one key, you send a current down the cable.
0:08:02 > 0:08:03If you press the other key,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07you send a current in the reverse direction down the cable.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12So, at the receiving end, we have a spot of light on a screen
0:08:12 > 0:08:15and it moves either to the left or the right.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19So if you watch the spot of light and I send the signals,
0:08:19 > 0:08:25the letter F for example is left, left, right, left.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27And it was developed specifically for
0:08:27 > 0:08:29- this particular kind of operation? - It was. Yes.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35'Because left and right signals were easier to decipher than dots
0:08:35 > 0:08:39'and dashes over large distances, the transatlantic pioneers had
0:08:39 > 0:08:44'finally cracked a system that worked between continents
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'and, for the first time in history, an American president was
0:08:47 > 0:08:52'able to speak to a British queen across a vast ocean void.'
0:08:54 > 0:08:59"May the Atlantic Telegraph under the blessing of Heaven prove to
0:08:59 > 0:09:03"be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between kindred nations."
0:09:03 > 0:09:04This rather lovely message
0:09:04 > 0:09:08was sent from the American President James Buchanan to
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Queen Victoria on 16th August 1858.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16And it must have been a momentous moment for Britain,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19because suddenly, in terms of communication,
0:09:19 > 0:09:20she was no longer an island.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27The modern telecommunications age was born
0:09:27 > 0:09:29and there would be no turning back.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30Within a decade,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34the transatlantic telegraph network was beginning to grow
0:09:34 > 0:09:38as Britain continued in her quest to connect herself with North America.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45She was now starting to rule both under and over the waves.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50But as had been the case so often in the past, servicing this
0:09:50 > 0:09:55latest ambition of the Industrial Revolution required ships.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And, once again, the Empire looked toward Clydeside
0:09:59 > 0:10:00to provide the answer.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05A new breed of cable ship was on its way.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15But these cable ships had very specific needs.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19They certainly presented unique engineering challenges
0:10:19 > 0:10:22even for the great shipbuilders of the Clyde.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Clydeside designers were celebrated for building the fastest vessels
0:10:29 > 0:10:34in the world, but the cable ship had to be not just aerodynamic
0:10:34 > 0:10:38but incredibly stable in order to overcome the challenge of sitting
0:10:38 > 0:10:43still in huge seas for long periods whilst laying or repairing cables.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50The danger of capsizing was a serious obstacle
0:10:50 > 0:10:51that had to be overcome.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58But it was one small and fledgling company that actually managed
0:10:58 > 0:11:00to crack the problem in the first place.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09The Commercial Cable Company had been set up in 1883 in an attempt
0:11:09 > 0:11:13to grab a piece of this flourishing but highly competitive new industry.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Industrialist John William Mackay
0:11:17 > 0:11:21and New York Herald newspaper magnate James Gordon Bennett
0:11:21 > 0:11:24were the men behind the bold new venture
0:11:24 > 0:11:26and they were about to build a ship that would re-write
0:11:26 > 0:11:31the rule book and, in the process, lead the way in cable ship design.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Mackay and Bennett commissioned their ship from John Elder & Sons
0:11:41 > 0:11:43and the Fairfield Shipping Company,
0:11:43 > 0:11:47in its day probably the most dominant yard on the Clyde.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50It's still in existence today, as you can see behind me.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52It's run by BAE Systems.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Sadly, it's the only major yard left on the river.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Elder & Sons had built an enviable reputation engineering
0:12:07 > 0:12:10state-of-the-art compound steam engine technology that was
0:12:10 > 0:12:12both more efficient and faster.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Their work attracted the military
0:12:23 > 0:12:27and Elders quickly become the world's best producer of warships.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31And that is exactly what made them
0:12:31 > 0:12:33of such interest to Mackay and Bennett
0:12:33 > 0:12:35and the fast, sleek-hulled ship
0:12:35 > 0:12:37they had planned for the North Atlantic.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Fred Walker used to be a steel works manager at this yard.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49He knows all about what made this new type of cable ship so special.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54The Mackay-Bennett was generally superb.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57She was built of steel, an alloy of iron,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00which made the ships stronger, lighter
0:13:00 > 0:13:03and much, much longer if required.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06So she was at the height of technology.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And her particular design, was there anything unique about it?
0:13:11 > 0:13:16Yes, the hull shape was fairly streamlined for the time.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And she had bilge keels.
0:13:19 > 0:13:20What were they for?
0:13:20 > 0:13:24The bilge keels are down at the bottom of the ship.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28They would put little plates coming out, probably
0:13:28 > 0:13:33about 40cm in length, and these would run along the ship's length.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39The purpose was to stop the ship rolling too badly.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42They actually give a damping effect on the ship.
0:13:42 > 0:13:43Stability must have been very
0:13:43 > 0:13:46important to the job they were doing.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Yes. The stability, which includes of course
0:13:50 > 0:13:56ensuring that the ship remains upright, is of extreme importance.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01But it wasn't just the issue of stability that
0:14:01 > 0:14:03the Mackay-Bennett overcame.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Another unique John Elder design quirk allowed this little
0:14:07 > 0:14:12steamer to turn and manoeuvre in a new way that was truly cutting edge.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16What was very unusual was that she had two
0:14:16 > 0:14:20rudders - one at the bow and one at the stern.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25And this really was the start of our study of manoeuvring of ships.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28So this must have given her extraordinary manoeuvrability
0:14:28 > 0:14:30for the laying of cables or the repair of cables
0:14:30 > 0:14:32out in the middle of the Atlantic.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35It gave you the possibility of finite adjustment.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37You are still, of course, at the mercy of the wind,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40you are still at the mercy of the seas.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44But it was altogether a very, very excellent means
0:14:44 > 0:14:45of controlling the ship.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51The fitting of two rudders on any ship was a pioneering
0:14:51 > 0:14:56if unusual addition but the ability to turn very quickly
0:14:56 > 0:15:00that this feature gave her was the very thing that its owners hoped
0:15:00 > 0:15:03would give the Mackay-Bennett that competitive advantage.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:15:09 > 0:15:15The ship was completed in late 1884 and named after her wealthy owners.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17It was a moment of celebration.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19A new ship for a new age.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28She slide down her Govan slipway
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and soon she'd be steaming across the Atlantic to Halifax,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35where she was to become part of the telecommunications revolution.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40And this exciting new era that she was to be part of had
0:15:40 > 0:15:43already expanded beyond belief even in the year
0:15:43 > 0:15:46since the Mackay-Bennett had been built.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51The cable network was now no longer just a transatlantic endeavour,
0:15:51 > 0:15:53but a worldwide operation.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Through the late 1800s, this Victorian internet had
0:15:59 > 0:16:02rapidly spread to become a vast underwater highway
0:16:02 > 0:16:06spanning every ocean and joining up every continent.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14And the Brits dominated most of it.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19By the 1880s, Britain owned two thirds of the world's undersea
0:16:19 > 0:16:23cable networks, all spreading out across the globe
0:16:23 > 0:16:28from unassuming little huts like this one in Porthcurno in Cornwall.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40These odd little buildings were the exchange points
0:16:40 > 0:16:45out of which Britain ran her entire telegraphic empire.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47They were hubs that became very busy places.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54In just two decades, Britain had literally connected herself
0:16:54 > 0:16:58with the world. From Europe and the Americas to Asia
0:16:58 > 0:17:02and beyond, just about every country that would become part of her
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Commonwealth was now connected to Britain by the telegraph.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12But why had this network grown so rapidly?
0:17:18 > 0:17:21John, what motivated the expansion of the cable network?
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Well, it was simply demand for business.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Not private people sending telegrams wishing happy birthday,
0:17:28 > 0:17:34but business deals. If you could conclude a good business deal by
0:17:34 > 0:17:39telegram in a matter of days, well, then another company in a similar
0:17:39 > 0:17:43business would have to use telegraph to conclude their business because
0:17:43 > 0:17:47otherwise they would be left behind in the race towards the future.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52So did this mean that with the advent of this
0:17:52 > 0:17:55technology there was an explosion in trade between countries?
0:17:55 > 0:17:59There was and, as far as Britain is concerned,
0:17:59 > 0:18:04at that time, we had the world's largest empire, with business
0:18:04 > 0:18:09interests all around the world and therefore there were business
0:18:09 > 0:18:14needs as well as government needs for communications worldwide.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Communication was certainly big business
0:18:20 > 0:18:24and although the telegraph now covered the globe, as far
0:18:24 > 0:18:27as Britain was concerned, the North Atlantic network still
0:18:27 > 0:18:31remained the biggest and most profitable gateway of them all.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37By the time the Mackay-Bennett docked in Halifax to join
0:18:37 > 0:18:42the revolution, this unassuming Canadian port had become
0:18:42 > 0:18:46the central hub for the entire North American cable network
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and it's where the Mackay-Bennett's story has brought me.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Locals dubbed the underwater highway that ran out of this city
0:18:56 > 0:18:58the octopus
0:18:58 > 0:19:00and it was the little Scottish steamer's job to
0:19:00 > 0:19:04help maintain all 500,000km of it.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08It's a task that is all the more remarkable when you
0:19:08 > 0:19:12understand the sheer complexity of what was involved in doing this.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21A transatlantic cable was about as thick as my arm
0:19:21 > 0:19:26and it was laid three miles down at the bottom of a deep,
0:19:26 > 0:19:32dark ocean that was approximately 32 million square miles in size.
0:19:32 > 0:19:33Awesome!
0:19:35 > 0:19:40That's like me throwing this pebble into that water
0:19:40 > 0:19:42and trying to find it.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45How on earth did the Mackay-Bennett do it?
0:19:52 > 0:19:55This extraordinarily complex process began with
0:19:55 > 0:19:59the challenge of finding the damaged cable in the first place.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02When a signal became lost or distorted,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05the Mackay-Bennett would first be dispatched to the approximate
0:20:05 > 0:20:09points of latitude and longitude given by the cable's last signal.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Once at the rough location of the problem, the ship would
0:20:15 > 0:20:19lower its huge grapnel hook to the sea bed and repeatedly pass up
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and down the area until the cable was hooked and raised.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29After conducting another electrical test to more accurately
0:20:29 > 0:20:34verify the exact point of the fault, a marker buoy was attached
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and the cable lowered back into the water.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42The Mackay-Bennett would then steam along the route of the cable
0:20:42 > 0:20:44and beyond where the fault was thought to be.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Using the same process, the grapnel was again
0:20:49 > 0:20:53dragged along the sea bed until the other end of the cable was found.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00This time it was brought on board, cut and a new section spliced on.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06The Mackay-Bennett then turned around and retraced her steps,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09feeding the new cable all the way back to the marker buoy.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16The new section was then connected and a test signal sent
0:21:16 > 0:21:21down the entire line to confirm that communication was fully restored.
0:21:25 > 0:21:26Job done.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40With such a logistically complex procedure, maintaining
0:21:40 > 0:21:44the entire telegraph network was a tricky and arduous job.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49So when the weather systems of the North Atlantic were
0:21:49 > 0:21:54factored in, cable repair was not a job for the faint-hearted.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59The ships attracted only the hardiest of men
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and the Mackay-Bennett was no exception.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11A former British soldier, Captain Frederick Larnder,
0:22:11 > 0:22:17put together a crew of 75 sea-hardened deckhands and engineers
0:22:17 > 0:22:20to form a crew that was to become known
0:22:20 > 0:22:23as the hardest crew in the North Atlantic.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29And they had to be.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32With a daily routine of sub-zero North Atlantic temperatures,
0:22:32 > 0:22:37pounding ocean swells and unpredictable machinery,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40simply doing their job was an almost impossible challenge
0:22:40 > 0:22:44for the Mackay-Bennett's Canadian crew and her British captain.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50"I have never known a more challenging job than this.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54"On one occasion last year, we repaired a cable in five days.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58"This year, having to effect a repair to the same cable,
0:22:58 > 0:22:59"it took five months."
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And little has changed in the 100 years
0:23:04 > 0:23:08since the Mackay-Bennett was patrolling these waters.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Today's cable ships setting out from Halifax
0:23:13 > 0:23:15might be a little bigger,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19but the job they do is still essentially the same.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23It's what modern cable repair ship manager Dan Lundrigan does
0:23:23 > 0:23:28for a living and he can tell me more about just how tough the job is.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33It's very dangerous on that deck, because you have a lot a strain
0:23:33 > 0:23:37on the equipment, on the rope, on the shackles, on the grapnels,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42so you try and avoid trenches, you try and avoid obstacles as best
0:23:42 > 0:23:47you can. If the weather turned nasty then you'd have high seas coming
0:23:47 > 0:23:55over the bow of the ship, washing men around and people just go.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58It's a dangerous job in some of the worst conditions.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00What kind of men are attracted to this life?
0:24:00 > 0:24:02The men had to be very tough.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04On the older cable ships,
0:24:04 > 0:24:09the majority of the work was all done on the open deck.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13If you're up north and you have stormy weather,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16you do not go back in until the repair is completed.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18So if your vessel is icing up,
0:24:18 > 0:24:23all hands are on deck to break ice and lessen the load on the ship.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27It does not sound like a job for wimps like me!
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Ah, you'd do it. You'd do it.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34No, sir, I wouldn't last five minutes.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40So working along the transatlantic cable network was certainly
0:24:40 > 0:24:43not a job for the faint hearted.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47But just how tough the Mackay-Bennett men had to be
0:24:47 > 0:24:51is evident through the account of one of her most infamous voyages.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58It was the dead of winter and the year was 1901.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04The steamer was sent 400 miles out there into the North Atlantic
0:25:04 > 0:25:08and its job was to repair a cable that had instantly cut
0:25:08 > 0:25:10the whole of the transatlantic network.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20They reached the point of the fault and set to work fixing the cable.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22But before the job was completed
0:25:22 > 0:25:25the harsh Arctic weather suddenly took hold.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Within an hour, the temperature had plummeted
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and the ocean began to freeze around them.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41"The northern edge of the ice was down on us
0:25:41 > 0:25:44"in what seemed like minutes.
0:25:44 > 0:25:45"It enveloped the ship."
0:25:47 > 0:25:51The men of the Mackay-Bennett found themselves trapped in a sea of ice.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56"We rushed operations,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59"worked all night and managed to complete the repair.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03"Then we had to hammer our way 350 miles through the ice back to port."
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Work on the cable ships of the North Atlantic was clearly
0:26:17 > 0:26:22a daunting physical challenge but it was also extremely lucrative work,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24which made competition fierce
0:26:24 > 0:26:27as many other ships joined the Mackay-Bennett,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30all vying for the same highly paid cable contracts.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38But with her unique design features, the Mackay-Bennett quickly
0:26:38 > 0:26:42showed her star qualities in the face of this fierce rivalry.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Between 1884 and the end of the 19th century, the Mackay-Bennett
0:26:54 > 0:26:57and the Commercial Cable Company that owned her dominated
0:26:57 > 0:27:00the North Atlantic network.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03She would pick up much of the cable repair work to be had
0:27:03 > 0:27:04and was, in effect,
0:27:04 > 0:27:09chiefly responsible for keeping Britain connected to North America.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But this job wasn't simply about keeping telegraph lines connected.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23The Mackay-Bennett didn't know it, but her work was helping transform
0:27:23 > 0:27:25the face of global economics forever.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33As the world entered the 20th century,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37the British Empire's vast underwater network of cables
0:27:37 > 0:27:39had made her richer than ever before.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43She had managed to become a true economic powerhouse.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47And this new form of communication enabled and allowed her to
0:27:47 > 0:27:51forge new and exciting trade links and political allegiances,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54particularly across the Atlantic
0:27:54 > 0:27:57where our so-called special relationship began to form.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06More Brits than ever before were heading
0:28:06 > 0:28:10stateside as the telegraph stimulated both transatlantic
0:28:10 > 0:28:13migration and the beginnings of the Empire's new Commonwealth.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24So this obviously meant more ships to carry more people
0:28:24 > 0:28:28and very soon we were introduced to the largest of them all.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36On 10th April 1912, one of the world's biggest passenger ships
0:28:36 > 0:28:39left Southampton en route to New York.
0:28:43 > 0:28:49Named the Titanic, this grand liner had been funded by JP Morgan,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52one of the many Anglo-American industrial giants that had
0:28:52 > 0:28:55grown out of this new telegraphic age.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01She was the ultimate in opulence and luxury, a fitting tribute
0:29:01 > 0:29:05to the shared economic success of Britain and North America.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16On board this famous ship were 2,209 people
0:29:16 > 0:29:18and they all ranged from the very poorest -
0:29:18 > 0:29:23families who were escaping poverty for a new life in the New World -
0:29:23 > 0:29:27to the world's richest man - John Jacob Astor IV.
0:29:29 > 0:29:36So as this unsinkable ocean liner sailed across the very telegraph
0:29:36 > 0:29:41cables that helped finance her, the Mackay-Bennett and her crew, berthed
0:29:41 > 0:29:46in Halifax, were about to play a very important part in her story.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54At 11.40pm on 14th April,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58the Titanic struck an iceberg near an area of the North Atlantic
0:29:58 > 0:30:00known as the Grand Banks.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Within 40 minutes, she was listing heavily.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Within three hours, she had broken in two
0:30:14 > 0:30:17and was at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Only around 712 people, mainly women and children,
0:30:23 > 0:30:27managed to get abroad the few lifeboats that were provided.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Most fell victim to the Atlantic's freezing waters.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42On the night of the tragedy,
0:30:42 > 0:30:48the water temperature would have been about two degrees.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52A fit, healthy adult would last no more than 15 minutes.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57On that cold, clear night, the nearest rescue ship,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01the Carpathia, was one and a half hours away.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04They didn't stand a chance.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08HE GASPS
0:31:15 > 0:31:20Ironically, given that they were in a new age of speedy communication,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23news of the sinking was incredibly slow to reach the mainland
0:31:23 > 0:31:27and what word did eventually filter through was confused.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Initial telegraph messages reported that all passengers
0:31:34 > 0:31:38and crew were safe and well and being transported to Halifax.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Titanic owners White Star quickly chartered a train to take
0:31:46 > 0:31:49everyone from the Canadian port and on to New York.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56But it wasn't to be and, a few hours later,
0:31:56 > 0:31:58the world would learn the awful truth.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07White Star officials must have been completely stunned
0:32:07 > 0:32:11and shell-shocked by the enormity of what had happened.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14They had an empty train standing by here in Halifax.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20So they put out a call for any ship in this port
0:32:20 > 0:32:24that was capable of assisting in the grim task of recovering,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28unfortunately not the living, but the dead.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35The Mackay-Bennett was one of three idle ships in port
0:32:35 > 0:32:39but, crucially, the only boat with a hold big enough to carry
0:32:39 > 0:32:43the estimated numbers of dead and a crew tough enough and
0:32:43 > 0:32:47experienced enough to stomach the terrible task of recovering them.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58Just before noon on 17th April, Captain Larnder
0:32:58 > 0:33:03assembled his crew, but he'd enlisted two extra men.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07One of them was John Snow, a local undertaker.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10The other was Canon Kenneth Hinds,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13a priest's assistant from Halifax's All Saints Church.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20The Mackay-Bennett also loaded up a large supply of grim
0:33:20 > 0:33:22provisions to help with the task ahead.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30'To learn more about how the ship and her men
0:33:30 > 0:33:32'prepared for this disaster,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36'I'm meeting with historian and Titanic expert Dan Conlin.'
0:33:38 > 0:33:40Mackay-Bennett had to get ready in a big hurry.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43They'd just repaired a cable that was crushed by an iceberg
0:33:43 > 0:33:46and were only in Halifax for a day or two then they get this call
0:33:46 > 0:33:49that you've been chartered by the White Star line
0:33:49 > 0:33:53to seek Titanic bodies so they just had a day to get the ship ready
0:33:53 > 0:33:56for this very difficult but unpredictable task.
0:33:56 > 0:33:57What were the supplies?
0:33:57 > 0:34:00What did they need to take, knowing what was ahead of them?
0:34:00 > 0:34:02You can just imagine the scene at Mackay-Bennett's wharf
0:34:02 > 0:34:04as not only the coal and the food for the crew arrive,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08but then these wagon load after wagon load of coffins. 125 coffins.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11The White Star Line had hired a funeral company, bought every
0:34:11 > 0:34:14coffin in Nova Scotia and shipped it down to Mackay-Bennett's wharf.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16And then there were the embalming supplies.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Jar after jar of embalming fluid, enough to embalm 70 bodies.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21And then came the ice, the ice wagons.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24Everybody remembers the ice There was 100 tonnes of ice.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27These big slabs cut from lakes around Halifax and Dartmouth.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29100 tonnes of ice alone!
0:34:29 > 0:34:32100 tonnes of big slabs of ice which they stored in the
0:34:32 > 0:34:34big round cable tanks aboard the ship that are usually
0:34:34 > 0:34:37used to hold the miles and miles of underwater telegraph cables.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39So there was all the supplies and you have to
0:34:39 > 0:34:42remember that these guys had no idea what they were going to find.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45They didn't know if they'd find a dozen bodies or 1,000.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47Newspapers were full of university professors saying,
0:34:47 > 0:34:48"They won't find any bodies,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50"the giant ship will have sucked them all down."
0:34:50 > 0:34:54Nobody knew just exactly what to expect, but everybody was worried.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05White Star officials had decided to play it safe by over-supplying
0:35:05 > 0:35:08the Mackay-Bennett with tools for the job.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12What they didn't realise was that their provisions would, in fact,
0:35:12 > 0:35:13be woefully inadequate.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Poor weather and heavy fog meant that it took the ship almost
0:35:21 > 0:35:25four days to sail the 800 miles out to the disaster site.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30As she steamed towards the Grand Banks, one seaman,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34luckily for us, began to commit his thoughts and his feelings to
0:35:34 > 0:35:40paper and this remarkable document is still with us today.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48I'm meeting with this Mackay-Bennett diarist's granddaughter to
0:35:48 > 0:35:52take a rare and privileged look at the crewman's unique testimony.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58"Thursday. Steaming towards the wreck.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02"Passed by several icebergs.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07"Arrived at spot where ship went down at 7.15
0:36:07 > 0:36:09"and laid to all night till daylight."
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Will you tell me something about the seaman
0:36:16 > 0:36:18who is responsible for this extraordinary but
0:36:18 > 0:36:22rather insignificant looking little document?
0:36:22 > 0:36:27Well, he was my grandfather, Clifford Crease, and when he
0:36:27 > 0:36:32wrote this book he was 24 years old. He was an assistant engineer.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35How did you come to know about the existence of this little book?
0:36:35 > 0:36:40One night when my father and my grandfather were watching
0:36:40 > 0:36:44television, my grandfather looked over at my dad and said,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47"I have some stories I need to tell you before I go."
0:36:47 > 0:36:49HE GASPS Yeah.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52- Oh, goose bumps time. - Yeah, goose bumps.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55So he told my dad all that had happened for him out there.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04"A large iceberg about four miles from the ship.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07"Supposed to be the one Titanic struck.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09"Lots of wreckage floating about.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12"Four bodies passed by through the night."
0:37:17 > 0:37:19That must have been eerie.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22It's always so touching to touch this piece of...
0:37:22 > 0:37:25It must, knowing it belonged to your grandfather
0:37:25 > 0:37:28- and those are his experiences and his feelings.- Yeah.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40At daybreak on that freezing morning of 21st April,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43the crew lowered their recovery boats into the water
0:37:43 > 0:37:45to begin the gruesome task
0:37:45 > 0:37:48and something terrible quickly became clear.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54"Picked up the first bodies at 6am
0:37:54 > 0:37:57"and continued all day until 5.30pm.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02"Recovered 51 bodies - 46 men, four women and one baby.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05"Never seen so many dead."
0:38:09 > 0:38:12The crew were soon overwhelmed.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15The sea was covered in hundreds of dead bodies, all floating face
0:38:15 > 0:38:19upwards in their life jackets, looking not dead but simply asleep.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29The Mackay-Bennett men soon realised that there would not be
0:38:29 > 0:38:31enough room on the ship to carry all the bodies.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Captain Larnder then had to make what must have been
0:38:36 > 0:38:38the hardest decision of his life.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43It was decided that some bodies would be saved
0:38:43 > 0:38:45whilst others would not.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52The system was brutal and went like this -
0:38:52 > 0:38:56first class passengers were carefully embalmed
0:38:56 > 0:38:57and put in coffins.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Second class passengers were wrapped in simple canvas.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Third class passengers were slipped back into the sea.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17This horrific production line of corpses was a difficult thing
0:39:17 > 0:39:21to stomach and, even for the toughened cable
0:39:21 > 0:39:24men of the Mackay-Bennett, the task began to take its toll.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31"April 23rd. Tuesday. Weather fine.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35"Picked up 128 bodies -
0:39:35 > 0:39:39"127 men and one woman."
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Can you describe the psychological and emotional effect
0:39:45 > 0:39:47that must have had on these men.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49You're talking about hard-bitten seamen who do
0:39:49 > 0:39:53one of the toughest jobs in some of the wildest seas in the world.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56So to come across this must have been quite, quite profound.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58They could never have been prepared for what they found out there.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01That's over 300 bodies they found.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05It must have affected them for the rest of their lives.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08As the days passed, the task only became grimmer.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13More and more bodies were being dragged out of the water.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17From the world's richest man, John Jacob Astor IV,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20identified only by the million-pound diamond and platinum ring
0:40:20 > 0:40:25on his finger, to the Titanic's band leader Wallace Hartley, pulled
0:40:25 > 0:40:29from the Atlantic with his music case still strapped to his body.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38By April 26th, the Mackay-Bennett men had spent almost a week
0:40:38 > 0:40:40fishing corpses from the site.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45Her hold was crammed with almost 200 bodies.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48A further 116 had been returned to the sea.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Neither she nor the crew could take any more.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01But amongst those pulled from the water
0:41:01 > 0:41:04lay one in particular that had touched
0:41:04 > 0:41:07the hearts of the Mackay-Bennett crew more than any other.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10And because it was third class, it wasn't
0:41:10 > 0:41:12even supposed to have been recovered.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21"Sex - male. Estimated age - two. Hair - fair.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25"Clothing - grey coat with fur on collar and cuffs.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30"Probably third class. Unable to identify from clothing."
0:41:31 > 0:41:35That is the cold, detached coroner's report on the tiny infant
0:41:35 > 0:41:39body that had been floating for six days in the North Atlantic
0:41:39 > 0:41:42before the Mackay-Bennett reached him.
0:41:43 > 0:41:48And that image must have seared itself into the hearts
0:41:48 > 0:41:51and the psychology of those tough, tough men.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55They couldn't save him. They couldn't save anyone.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59But they decided there and then that that unknown child was going
0:41:59 > 0:42:02to have a proper burial on land.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08This small child would be
0:42:08 > 0:42:11the only third class body kept by the Mackay-Bennett
0:42:11 > 0:42:14as she headed back to Halifax with her gruesome cargo.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23With the Halifax city church bells tolling,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26she docked back at port on the morning of the 30th of April.
0:42:40 > 0:42:4430 teams of undertakers from all over Nova Scotia
0:42:44 > 0:42:47gathered at Halifax's Mayflower ice rink,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50which became a makeshift morgue for the process of preparing
0:42:50 > 0:42:53almost 200 corpses that the Mackay-Bennett had picked up.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05As the bodies of the victims were brought to the ice rink,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09they laid the coffins and the canvas sacks down one side.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13On the other side were the grieving relatives,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15aided by some medical staff,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and the coroner's office, who must have been working overtime
0:43:19 > 0:43:21just to deal with the sheer volume.
0:43:27 > 0:43:32Gradually, they were identified, claimed and removed one by one.
0:43:34 > 0:43:40John Astor was of course the first to go, followed by another 129
0:43:40 > 0:43:44until eventually just a few remained unclaimed.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50One of them stood out simply because of its size.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55It was the tiny body of that baby boy that the crew of
0:43:55 > 0:43:59the Mackay Bennett had decided was not going to have a burial at sea.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11After four days, that same little body still remained.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18And it was at this point that these hard-nosed Atlantic seamen
0:44:18 > 0:44:21did something quite out of character.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33They decided to claim the child as their own.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35Pooling together their wages,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38they paid for the cost of the burial and a headstone.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45And, on the morning of the fourth of May 1912,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48the Mackay-Bennett cable men carried the tiny coffin
0:44:48 > 0:44:51through this cemetery and to his final resting place.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56There was only one burial
0:44:56 > 0:44:59that May morning
0:44:59 > 0:45:02and it was attended not only by the entire crew
0:45:02 > 0:45:04of the Mackay-Bennett,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08but also by many thousands of the townspeople of Halifax,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12who lined the streets in tribute to this tiny, emotive symbol
0:45:12 > 0:45:19of that terrible tragedy, that had obviously touched their hearts.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Inside the coffin,
0:45:23 > 0:45:27the Mackay-Bennett crewmen placed a small metal plaque
0:45:27 > 0:45:30and it read simply: "Our babe."
0:45:35 > 0:45:36The service ended.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40The Mackay-Bennett men returned to the Atlantic
0:45:40 > 0:45:41and the curtain came down
0:45:41 > 0:45:44on history's greatest maritime disaster.
0:45:52 > 0:45:53Until that is,
0:45:53 > 0:45:57a man walked into a museum 100 years later,
0:45:57 > 0:45:59holding a pair of old shoes.
0:46:01 > 0:46:02And this is them...
0:46:02 > 0:46:06a tiny pair of size two leather sandals,
0:46:06 > 0:46:07just 14cm long.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16Dan, what on earth has this little pair of shoes
0:46:16 > 0:46:20got to do with the world's worst maritime disaster?
0:46:20 > 0:46:24The shoes came to us via the grandson of a policeman in Halifax in 1912,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Sergeant Clarence Northover,
0:46:26 > 0:46:28one of the policeman assigned to guard
0:46:28 > 0:46:30the personal effects of the Titanic victims
0:46:30 > 0:46:33and he was there when the janitor was, literally, sweeping up
0:46:33 > 0:46:36the clothing with a broom and he saw these shoes that had just been taken
0:46:36 > 0:46:38from the two-year-old boy, who was even then known as
0:46:38 > 0:46:41"the unknown child". He put them in a drawer
0:46:41 > 0:46:44and kept them there until he retired as deputy police chief
0:46:44 > 0:46:48and he gave the shoes to his son, who then would tell this story
0:46:48 > 0:46:51to his son. Earle Northover inherited the shoes
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and then he approached our museum in 2002, saying,
0:46:54 > 0:46:58"These are the shoes from the Titanic."
0:46:58 > 0:47:00That was very honourable of him, wasn't it?
0:47:00 > 0:47:04Surely there must be some value attached to these shoes?
0:47:04 > 0:47:07As a museum, we are always having people coming to us and saying,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09"I have a belt buckle from the Titanic",
0:47:09 > 0:47:13"I have a steamer trunk from Titanic" and it's usually very clear,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17very quickly, that there's no family history and no documentary evidence.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20The shoes were very different, though, because they had
0:47:20 > 0:47:22a very detailed family history about them and that made us
0:47:22 > 0:47:26take this case very seriously. The first thing I did was pull the file
0:47:26 > 0:47:28for the unknown child and, right on the inventory,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32it lists a pair of brown shoes, so that built this very detailed
0:47:32 > 0:47:35documentary case that told us the shoes WERE from Titanic,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38WERE from this little boy.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42It had to have been from that body and the evidence supported that.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47The Mackay-Bennett's unknown child and these little shoes
0:47:47 > 0:47:50were about to become two parts in a fascinating DNA riddle
0:47:50 > 0:47:52that would for ever
0:47:52 > 0:47:56connect the Clyde cable ship with the world's most famous sinking.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07Back in 1912, nobody knew for sure the identity of the unknown child,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10but, because his body had been found floating next two adults
0:48:10 > 0:48:14named Paulson, the coroner's best guess had been that it was
0:48:14 > 0:48:17their son, Gosta Leonard Paulson,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21a Swedish boy counted as missing on the passenger roll.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28But it was just that - a guess - and, for many years,
0:48:28 > 0:48:33it remained an intriguing mystery, just begging to be solved.
0:48:36 > 0:48:37'And there was one man desperate
0:48:37 > 0:48:39'to try and do just that.
0:48:39 > 0:48:44'Alan Ruffman had been fascinated by the story
0:48:44 > 0:48:46'of who the unknown child was all his life.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50'He knew that the only way to finally get to the bottom
0:48:50 > 0:48:55'of this mystery was through modern science, by gaining DNA.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58'And the only way to do that was to go through the complex
0:48:58 > 0:49:01'and sensitive process of exhuming the grave.'
0:49:06 > 0:49:09And so, in 2001, after careful negotiation
0:49:09 > 0:49:12and with the help of forensic scientist
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Professor Ryan Parr, he did just that.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18And he would do it with a little help
0:49:18 > 0:49:20from the Mackay-Bennett cablemen.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26As we went down with the shovel and got the first bit of wood
0:49:26 > 0:49:29that was when we could see the shape of the coffin
0:49:29 > 0:49:33and realised that we had at least a chance of finding some bone material.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40And what did you find inside the coffin?
0:49:40 > 0:49:42We found pieces of glass,
0:49:42 > 0:49:46stems of flowers and the two corroded pieces of metal,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49that, ultimately, we realised were a coffin medallion.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54So, the piece of metal that you found was the same little plaque
0:49:54 > 0:49:57placed in that grave by the crew of the Mackay-Bennett?
0:49:57 > 0:50:01The men of the Mackay-Bennett bought this as their tribute to
0:50:01 > 0:50:05the small child. It read "Our babe" and this would have been a very
0:50:05 > 0:50:11common tribute to place on the grave of a child. We found, in fact,
0:50:11 > 0:50:13an exact drawing of the same medallion
0:50:13 > 0:50:15in catalogues of undertakers.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18And that plaque, somehow, aided the DNA process?
0:50:18 > 0:50:21We think that the plaque was right above the folded arms
0:50:21 > 0:50:25of the child, ie this bone of the arm,
0:50:25 > 0:50:30and it slowed the dissolution of the bone, to the extent that there was
0:50:30 > 0:50:33still 6cm of bone for us to work with and that's what we were able to,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37ultimately, extract the mitochondrial DNA from.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41So, the medallion assisted that preservation of the signal
0:50:41 > 0:50:43that we needed to find.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47This DNA signal, or clue, left behind by the Mackay-Bennett men
0:50:47 > 0:50:52proved to be the key that unlocked the riddle.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Initial results were inconclusive,
0:50:56 > 0:51:00but thanks to advances in the accuracy of DNA analysis,
0:51:00 > 0:51:05by 2011, Ruffman was finally able to narrow his findings
0:51:05 > 0:51:10down to two possible matches - a Finnish child called Eino Panula
0:51:10 > 0:51:15and a young British boy, who provided an even closer DNA match.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19And this is him...
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Sidney Leslie Goodwin,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25a 19-month-old boy
0:51:25 > 0:51:30and the person Parr and Ruffman, along with their DNA results,
0:51:30 > 0:51:35concluded, with 98% certainty, was the unknown child.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41But to be 100% certain, they had one more question to ask -
0:51:41 > 0:51:43would the shoes fit?
0:51:45 > 0:51:48And to answer that, Ruffman enlisted the help
0:51:48 > 0:51:53of historian Dan Conlin, whom the Titanic shoes had been donated to.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59One thing that perplexed us a bit as the DNA results started to come out
0:51:59 > 0:52:03was they were suggesting a 13-month-old possible identity,
0:52:03 > 0:52:05a little Finnish boy.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08We looked at the shoes and growth charts from the early 20th century
0:52:08 > 0:52:10and these are big for a 13-month-old child.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14So we were scratching our head as this DNA project was going on
0:52:14 > 0:52:16and all the growth charts suggested they were a better fit
0:52:16 > 0:52:20- for a two-year-old.- Which is where the Goodwin child came in.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22The Goodwin child was 19 months old,
0:52:22 > 0:52:26much closer to two years old, and those shoes were able to cling
0:52:26 > 0:52:29to his feet for the six and a half days that he was in the water
0:52:29 > 0:52:33before he was brought ashore or brought to the ship.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36All in all, it's quite a wonderful and exciting piece of detection.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40- It's a detective story, isn't it? - It is, in the classic museum sense
0:52:40 > 0:52:43of gathering and weighing evidence, to solve a mystery
0:52:43 > 0:52:46and that's very much what we did with these shoes, and it's left us
0:52:46 > 0:52:49with these very compelling little icons of the tragedy
0:52:49 > 0:52:53and you can see how that little boy moved the crew of the Mackay-Bennett.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Just the tenderness of these little shoes,
0:52:55 > 0:52:58through this one little boy lost helplessly in the sinking.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Modern science, together with a little help from the cablemen
0:53:10 > 0:53:13of the Mackay-Bennett had finally solved
0:53:13 > 0:53:15this 100-year-old Titanic mystery.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20And it's a conclusion that brings me full circle,
0:53:20 > 0:53:25back to where the Mackay-Bennett was built, here in Glasgow.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30I've come home to find out exactly why this story lives on.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35- Gilly. Hello.- Hello. - Lovely to...
0:53:35 > 0:53:39'This is Gilly Johnston, the living descendent of Sidney Leslie Goodwin,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42'and person who provided the DNA that allowed Ruffman
0:53:42 > 0:53:46'to finally identify the Mackay-Bennett's unknown child.'
0:53:48 > 0:53:52Gilly, you are the woman that the world's been hunting for
0:53:52 > 0:53:55in this great Titanic mystery.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58How does it feel to be the missing link in this 100-year-old story?
0:53:58 > 0:54:02It's unique, isn't it, to find out that you have a cousin
0:54:02 > 0:54:07that is the unknown child. It was a little bit upsetting, as well,
0:54:07 > 0:54:11to think that a young baby was there. But it was lovely to know that
0:54:11 > 0:54:13they found out who he was.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17- It's lovely to, at last, be able to put a name on the gravestone.- Yes.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21It's extraordinary to think that these hard-bitten, weather-beaten
0:54:21 > 0:54:24men... I mean, something about the floating body
0:54:24 > 0:54:28of a 19-month-old baby boy touched them so deeply.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32I can't think of words to thank them for what they did,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35otherwise, we'd never have known who he was.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47The discovery of young Sidney is a very beautiful end
0:54:47 > 0:54:51to an extraordinary tale that really started with a simple
0:54:51 > 0:54:57and moving act of kindness by some burly seamen of the Mackay-Bennett.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00And I wonder what they would have thought, if they knew that,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03100 years later, the mystery would be solved.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06But I guess he meant so much to them and moved them so much
0:55:06 > 0:55:09that they would have approved wholeheartedly.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12But those seamen had no time to dwell on it.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20For the steamer returned to service the ever-expanding
0:55:20 > 0:55:22North Atlantic cable gateway.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26She would do so for another decade, but the steamship was quickly
0:55:26 > 0:55:32becoming something of a relic in the telecommunications revolution.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38In the 30 years since she had begun life as a cable ship,
0:55:38 > 0:55:43the world had come to rely on its telegraphic connections
0:55:43 > 0:55:47and now demanded bigger, faster and more versatile vessels
0:55:47 > 0:55:49to service the network.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54And for the Mackay-Bennett, that meant the end of the road.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00She was eventually to return to Britain, to be rather
0:56:00 > 0:56:04unceremoniously used as a storage hulk in Plymouth,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08where she was to remain for the rest of her days.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13By that time, she had surpassed her lifespan by over half a century.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20The Mackay-Bennett was gone, but the telegraphic network
0:56:20 > 0:56:24that she helped create and the legacy she left behind,
0:56:24 > 0:56:26would never be forgotten.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30It's one that affects almost everything we do today.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32From communication to commerce,
0:56:32 > 0:56:35our underwater gateway lets us do it all.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44Today, 95% of all communication in the world comes through
0:56:44 > 0:56:49undersea cables and not, as most people suspect, from satellites.
0:56:50 > 0:56:51Now, to highlight this,
0:56:51 > 0:56:55I have a report here from 2009,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58which tells us of a breakage in the Atlantic cable
0:56:58 > 0:57:01from the continent of Europe to the west coast of Africa.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04Banking systems failed, markets collapsed
0:57:04 > 0:57:08and mobile phone connections were non-existent.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11In effect, the west coast of the continent of Africa
0:57:11 > 0:57:14was disconnected from the rest of the world.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20And that story demonstrates to us how much we owe
0:57:20 > 0:57:23the plucky exploits of that tiny little Clyde-built steamer,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26the Mackay-Bennett, and those that came after her.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31It's a legacy that has, literally, changed the way
0:57:31 > 0:57:32we live our lives...
0:57:33 > 0:57:34..for ever.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Next time, I investigate the story of the Robert E Lee,
0:57:45 > 0:57:50a blockade-running paddle steamer that supplied the Confederate south
0:57:50 > 0:57:52during the American Civil War.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54These ships are going to run guns.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56I visit Bermuda,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00to see the watery grave of a Clyde-built blockade runner.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04- Ever imagine you'd be in Bermuda holding a piece of Glasgow?- No!
0:58:04 > 0:58:08And I reveal the secret history of Glasgow's industrial past.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10If we hadn't been as good at building ships,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved.