0:00:02 > 0:00:06Britain is an island surrounded by a cold and unforgiving sea.
0:00:06 > 0:00:11For centuries, it protected us from attack.
0:00:11 > 0:00:17But to prosper and thrive, we would need to do more than just hide behind her salt water shield.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Britain needed brave men, willing to venture out into the unknown.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24And she needed good boats to take them there.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29I've spent my life at sea.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Now I'm going to take passage on six boats that, together, tell the story of modern Britain.
0:00:34 > 0:00:42Built for exploration, war, fishing, industry and our very survival...
0:00:42 > 0:00:47these are the boats that built Britain and changed the way we live forever.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55This time, I'm sailing on a square-rigger.
0:00:55 > 0:01:02This one form of rig did more to shape the world we live in today than anything else afloat.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Carrying goods all over the globe, the square-rigger was the workhorse
0:01:07 > 0:01:14of the industrial revolution and the ship that turned Britain into the richest country in the world.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35This is the Phoenix.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39She's got two masts which makes her a brig, and to see her come over the
0:01:39 > 0:01:44horizon, thundering down on you on a windy day with a bone in her teeth and her topsails bellowing out
0:01:44 > 0:01:48to the wind, is one of the great thrills this world has to offer.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54It's been said that the wooden square-rigged
0:01:54 > 0:01:59sailing ship was the most important vehicle ever devised by man.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04These were the vessels that took sailors to the four corners
0:02:04 > 0:02:09of the earth, and made Britain the world's first industrial superpower.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14At the beginning of the 19th century, with the Royal Navy
0:02:14 > 0:02:18policing the high seas after the battle of Trafalgar,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21the world opened up for ships like these.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Now, merchants were free to trade around the globe without fear of attack.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31And it was the square-rigged ship, with its forest of shrouds, stays
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and spars, that became the vessel of choice.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43Pushed by the trade winds that circle the world, these ships could travel huge distances, sailing
0:02:43 > 0:02:49non-stop for weeks at a time and handling everything that the oceans could throw at them along the way.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Vessels like this made fortunes for their owners
0:02:56 > 0:03:01in the mid-19th century, but to understand where they've come from, we have to understand that
0:03:01 > 0:03:05trading on the water goes back to the days before the dawn of history.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11As an island, Britain has always depended
0:03:11 > 0:03:15on trade with the outside world for things we can't produce ourselves.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Long before the Romans came over here and stirred things up a bit, the Celtic tribes living in these
0:03:23 > 0:03:29south coast harbours and creeks used to trade with their opposite numbers over in Brittany.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34Back then, trade was simple and restricted to a few luxury goods.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Maybe wine from the Rhone, or olives from Provence.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43It's a simple equation, trading one thing for another.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47But as boats got bigger and the world grew smaller,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51the complexity and scale of sea-trade began to grow.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56And with the expansion of the British Empire at
0:03:56 > 0:03:59the beginning of the 19th century,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Britain was exploiting business opportunities all over the world.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Here at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the very fabric of the
0:04:10 > 0:04:15building testifies to the vast wealth this period was generating.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21And on the museum walls, pictures capture the world the sqaure-rigged ships created.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25One painting in particular depicts a scene that must have been repeated
0:04:25 > 0:04:29thousands of times at docks up and down the country in the 1800s.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Henry O'Neil's The Parting Cheer.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39Wow. It's alive, isn't it?
0:04:39 > 0:04:43It really gives you the feeling that the world is expanding.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46These people are going out looking for new horizons.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49It's...I guess boom time for the British Empire.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Absolutely. You're talking about the mass movement of people
0:04:51 > 0:04:55and goods, but also ideas and cargos
0:04:55 > 0:04:58all moving round the British Empire,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and for that you need a step change in the size of ships as well.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05As this shipping company atlas proudly shows,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08by the middle of the 19th century, Britain either
0:05:08 > 0:05:12controlled or was trading with virtually every country on earth.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15And it was the square-rigger that tied it all together.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20So, until really quite late in the nineteenth century, square-riggers are
0:05:20 > 0:05:27carrying the bulk of Britain's trade, especially the high bulk, low value goods like coal and cotton and this
0:05:27 > 0:05:32is still an age of high adventure on the high seas for Britain's sailors.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35So how did these sqaure-rigged merchant ships come about?
0:05:35 > 0:05:42Britain had been trading with the Far East and the Americas since the beginning of the 17th Century.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46But with the European powers almost continually in conflict,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50and pirates lurking behind every other headland,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52the sea was a dangerous place in those days.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Merchant ships looked more like men of war,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59weighed down with the guns and troops they needed for protection.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04But as the oceans became safer following Trafalgar,
0:06:04 > 0:06:09merchants were finally free to trade without fear of constant attack.
0:06:09 > 0:06:16Now, speed, sailing ability and cargo capacity were more important than firepower alone.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Relieved of the need to carry a serious battery of artillery,
0:06:21 > 0:06:27merchant ships could become leaner, faster, more manoeuvrable craft.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Time was becoming money, and ship builders looked to new designs.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38The efficient brig and her big sister, the full-rigged three-master, now developed rapidly.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44And as the focus switched from war to wealth, these rigs drove sharper, speedier hulls.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48They would soon become the backbone
0:06:48 > 0:06:52of the greatest merchant fleet the world had ever seen.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Fortunes were there to be won.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03And it wasn't just foreign goods, Eastern spices and silks, that were making money.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Every corner of Britain was getting into trade,
0:07:06 > 0:07:11exploiting whatever was at hand in the pursuit of profit.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14And one place captures this new attitude perfectly.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18And it's here, in deepest Cornwall.
0:07:19 > 0:07:25You don't expect to see slag heaps and open casts pits like this in Cornwall, do you?
0:07:25 > 0:07:31But they're a mute witness to the Cornish people's urge to get rich quick over the past 150 years.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37These vast mines once produced tens of thousands of tons of clay.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41The particularly fine clay demanded by makers of bone china,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46the must-have domestic item for any fashionable 19th century household.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52The only problem was that British manufacturers were based up in the Midlands.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56With land transport ineffective and prohibitively expensive,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00only the sea offered a viable means of conveyance,
0:08:00 > 0:08:08and the mine owners stopped at nothing to get their cargo ships as close to the clay as they could.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12This is Charlestown harbour, carved out of the solid rock of the hillside.
0:08:12 > 0:08:18An impressive feat of engineering in a place where nature never intended there to be a harbour at all.
0:08:18 > 0:08:24But it was all in a day's work to the industrialists and ship owners of the mid-19th century.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28The sort of thing they would do at the drop of a hat in the pursuit of profit.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33And that profit was made by the ships that could now come and go,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38laden, in the case of Charlestown, with the clay mined just inland.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Throughout the 19th century,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45this little dock would have been packed with all the boat-related
0:08:45 > 0:08:49businesses you need to keep a fleet of trading vessels afloat.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Most of that has long gone now, of course.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55But here at Charlestown, you can still get a flavour
0:08:55 > 0:09:00of what it must have been like when square-riggers were the shuttles of the loom of industry.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Today they're replacing the mast on one of these great ships.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11And it shows the first thing you need if you're going to build a square-rigger...
0:09:11 > 0:09:12wood.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Lots of it!
0:09:15 > 0:09:20Francis Browne is a skipper and shipwright who has spent his life working on square-riggers.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25He knows every inch of what goes into making one of these wonderful craft.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29This is the inside planking. It's known as the ceiling.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34This planking runs all the way fore and aft on the vessel
0:09:34 > 0:09:39and it adds terrific longitudinal strength to the vessel.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43You can see the thickness of the planking here, this is a good three inches thick.
0:09:43 > 0:09:50It's very solid. And the frames behind and then, of course, the external skin of planking,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53which on this vessel, is another three and a half, four inches.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56So, there's a massive amount of timber in these vessels.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58It's unimaginably strong, isn't it?
0:09:58 > 0:10:01- Very, very strong.- And we've got metal work here, haven't we?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04This is actually iron work,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08forged iron hanging knees, and they run right down inside.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12And that's continuing here under the deck.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15This beefs up these
0:10:15 > 0:10:17deck beams and ties it all together.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21It's very much a living component.
0:10:21 > 0:10:29The way it's been constructed, it all works together and it all does move a little bit at sea.
0:10:29 > 0:10:37Nothing is so rigid that it can't move and give a little bit as it makes it way through the seas.
0:10:37 > 0:10:43And every one of these planks had to be hand made and fitted by a team of craftsmen.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Today, another of the Charlestown fleet is in dry dock having new
0:10:47 > 0:10:51planks fitted to her hull, which gives us a chance for
0:10:51 > 0:10:55a close-up view of the work that goes into building and maintaining these boats.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02First of all, the gap left by the plank to be replaced is measured and a template is transferred
0:11:02 > 0:11:06onto the new plank so it can be cut to the right size.
0:11:06 > 0:11:13They then have to make sure that the bevel of the plank is correct so that it fits perfectly.
0:11:13 > 0:11:20Now, the boys are drilling the plank so it won't split when they fasten it in with giant nails.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Before the plank can be offered up into place,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26the edges are greased with tallow to help it slide in more easily.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Of course, they're hoping that their measurements are right, so that when
0:11:34 > 0:11:38they insert the plank, it fits perfectly.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40Good job, lads.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45Now, it's 'hold the forward end up with a jack and hammer it home',
0:11:45 > 0:11:48leaving the aft end over-length so they can cut the exact fit
0:11:48 > 0:11:52after she's been half-secured.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Once they're happy, they can start fastening
0:11:54 > 0:11:58by driving six inch nails through the plank and into the frames.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04To finish off, the nails are countersunk to really make sure they're not going anywhere.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12It's great to see these guys whacking away with these big hammers.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14The explosive force that they're using
0:12:14 > 0:12:18to drive in these great big spikes and every single one of those bangs
0:12:18 > 0:12:21is putting strength into this ship.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24The strength in a wooden boat is remarkable
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and this is the way they've been built since time immemorial.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29These are ancient skills.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31With 19th-century Britain crying out for ever more ships
0:12:31 > 0:12:37to meet demand, vessels like these were being built in their hundreds
0:12:37 > 0:12:39up and down the country.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42And it was happening in some unlikely places.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46It wasn't just fully-fledged shipyards that were carrying out this work,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50boats were being built anywhere they could find the materials and the labour.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55I've just brought you in here while the lads are sledging in the plank
0:12:55 > 0:12:57under the ship out there to make a point.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01We're in a full on shipyard here, great bit shed, all sorts of things
0:13:01 > 0:13:04going on around us, substantial establishment.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09It wasn't always like that, and in fact, in the 19th century,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13a lot of ships were built in an extremely vernacular environment.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19There's a picture here of a schooner being built literally under a cliff in a Cornish village.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21You see the size of the chaps here?
0:13:21 > 0:13:23This is a substantial vessel.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29What really impresses me about her is this beautiful shareline and the sweet shape of her stern.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32That is an extraordinarily beautiful vessel.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Her masts are rigged and ready to go.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39They've done the whole thing, these guys, these villagers on the beach.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41No shipyard, no nothing.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Just a bunch of guys who could do it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47This was happening all over Britain.
0:13:47 > 0:13:54Today, large-scale wooden ship-building is virtually a lost craft, kept alive by a few good men
0:13:54 > 0:13:58who still have the skills that were once so common.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01- That the last one, Scott? - That is the last one.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05They're now in the final stages of fixing this one plank in place,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08a job that's taken the whole afternoon,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12and this boat is skinned with more than 200 planks.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Now, the plank's in. The last lap is caulking to make her watertight.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25The caulking material is oakum, hemp fibres soaked in pine tar.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29It's hammered in with a special tool called a caulking iron.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34When the boat gets back in the water the planks will expand,
0:14:34 > 0:14:40squeezing the oakum even tighter, an effective and natural way to get a strong, tight hull.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46The whole process is rounded off with a liberal application of tar.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Planking a wooden ship like this is a timeless art.
0:14:54 > 0:15:00But what's under the water on a square-rigger is only half the story.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05Her real glory, the part that gives her the name, is up in the sky.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08A cathedral in wood and rope.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16This riot of a maze of wood and rope up here looks like chaos
0:15:16 > 0:15:20to a landsman, but to a seamen, it is the pure poetry of motion.
0:15:20 > 0:15:28It's the beating heart of sqaure-rig, where every spar and every rope is counted.
0:15:29 > 0:15:35And before you set sail on a square-rigger, it's as well to understand the basics.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40If we look at the main mast here, we can see that there are three spars going across it.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44The sails are attached to those at the top edge.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48The rest of the sail comes down and fills the gap beneath the spar.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51The spar is called a yard.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53The bottom one is called the main yard.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58The next one up, that's the topsail yard and the sail is set then underneath it.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01That's a big, big sail when that yard is hoisted
0:16:01 > 0:16:04but it's the working sail of the rig, the powerhouse.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08The one above it, for fair weather, is the royal.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13But the reason why this is so special, is because it is a single sail.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18It took a lot of men to handle that sail and there's some brutal work attached to doing it, too.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23Later on, square-riggers divided their topsails into two halves, one above the other.
0:16:23 > 0:16:31This made the rig easier to handle, and allowed it to be sailed more cheaply with smaller crews.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36That single topsail proves to us that she's as she would have been in the middle of the 19th century
0:16:36 > 0:16:42at the height of trade at the peak of empire, and at the zenith of sqaure-rig.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50Now I'm going to get the chance to sail one of these iconic ships for myself.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57Skipper says we've got to get on top of the tide, so we've got to go. It's the only time they can.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02Still, I've been looking forward to sailing on this little ship for a long time, so...here we go.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04Over the wall.
0:17:12 > 0:17:18As we hit the top of the tide, we're faced with the task of manoeuvring the ship out of the dock.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23Today we've an engine, but it's still a highly-skilled operation.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27150 years ago, without the benefit of diesel power,
0:17:27 > 0:17:32we'd have had a team of dockers armed with rope, capstan and work-hardened muscle,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34inching the boat out to sea.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Ease it down gently, now. Ease down gently.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42It's nerve-wracking stuff and it's a tight fit.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46But the skipper and crew know what they're about
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and with only the merest kiss of the dock wall, we're out.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02Now that we're safely clear of the harbour, we can begin the serious business of setting sail,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06which is no small undertaking in a boat this size.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15On modern boats, the furling and loosing of the sails is done from the deck.
0:18:15 > 0:18:22With a square-rigger, you've got to go to the sails and that means climbing the mast.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Back in the 19th century, they'd never heard of health and safety
0:18:28 > 0:18:34and for a young seamen, getting sent up the rigging at sea was one of the first tests of nerve he'd face.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42And looking at the heights involved, it isn't hard to see why you'd feel just a little apprehensive...
0:18:45 > 0:18:50OK. The boys and girls have gone aloft to release the topsails.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55The two topsails are the first we're going to set, so the guys have got to undo the gaskets.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58That will let the sails fall a little way away from the yard
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and they're then free to be handled from the deck.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07What you don't want when you're half way through hoisting that yard is a foul up.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10She's coiling up the little gaskets, the ropes, coiling them up neatly
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and just tossing them down over the front of the sail.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17With so many sails and lines, there's a lot that can go wrong.
0:19:17 > 0:19:23So it's vital that each task is done neatly, properly, and in the correct order.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Back in the 19th century, practice over and over again would
0:19:27 > 0:19:32have drilled every seamen to get it right at any time in any conditions.
0:19:32 > 0:19:39Wondering whether you're tying the right knot 70 feet above the water in a gale of wind wasn't an option.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Just the windage of the rig, the weight of the wind just blowing
0:19:42 > 0:19:47in the rigging and those two little rags of canvas, is blowing this ship along at three knots.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56As each additional sail is set, the speed of the ship slowly builds up.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02The mate and her hand here are working the braces.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Those are the ropes that actually control the angle of the yard to the wind,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09so they're now actually controlling the set of the sail.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Troops are giving the halyard another tweak and the boat is picking up speed.
0:20:16 > 0:20:22We've now got two topsails and a jib set, and already, The Phoenix is travelling at a fair lick.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28But even with gale force eight forecast, there's more canvas to set.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Next it's the main staysail.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36The skipper wants more speed, so we're going to set the forecourse,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41that's the big sail at the fore end of the ship, set on the foremast.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Unlike their navy counterparts, merchant skippers couldn't rely
0:20:46 > 0:20:49on military discipline to control their crews.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53With small crews relatively free to jump ship, a more consensual approach
0:20:53 > 0:20:58was required to maintain morale and get the job done.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And what's so nice about this is that this is a small crew.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06It's the sort of crew that would have sailed this vessel had she been a cargo vessel 150 years ago.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16It's great teamwork, isn't it?
0:21:16 > 0:21:21Now, as then, a well-drilled crew is the way to get the best from a boat.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25With five sails set, The Phoenix is starting to move beautifully.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Back in her working days, a boat Phoenix's size would have carried a cargo of around 80 tonnes.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41Sometimes bulk goods like Cornish clay, but mostly high-value merchandise
0:21:41 > 0:21:47such as tobacco from America, a journey she'd have made in around 30 days.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Out on the high seas for long passages like that, square-riggers could run into some serious weather.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55But these were capable, ocean-going vessels,
0:21:55 > 0:22:01and today with the wind touching gale force, Phoenix is handling it without a second thought.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Absolutely marvellous. This is the power.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10This is the wind that drove these ships around the world, because it was harnessed by the sailors.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12They made it work for us,
0:22:12 > 0:22:16they turned it into miles and they turned those miles into profit.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22The wind, the free engine of God.
0:22:24 > 0:22:25With a steady wind behind her,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28a square-rigger will just keep on going.
0:22:28 > 0:22:34And by the 19th century, huge amounts of data had been collected about those winds,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38put together by thousands of English-speaking captains sailing the oceans,
0:22:38 > 0:22:44all of whom needed to know just what the wind would be doing, where and when.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48The special charts that were compiled from this data meant that with a little forethought,
0:22:48 > 0:22:53a merchant captain could be confident of finding what became known as the north-east trade winds,
0:22:53 > 0:22:59and the powerful westerlies that would drive his ship across the oceans and get the job done.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Ocean sailing is all about planning.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07A lot has been known for centuries about the way the wind blows in oceans.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12Suppose you're going to trade sugar from London to the Caribbean.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Once you can get down here, you've got almost guaranteed
0:23:15 > 0:23:18north-easterly winds that are going to chase you
0:23:18 > 0:23:19across the Atlantic.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21That will take you to the Caribbean.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Down here, down the coast of Spain and Portugal,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28You've got almost certain northerly winds, which are absolutely fine.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31With a bit of luck, you'll have some southerlies
0:23:31 > 0:23:34and south-westerlies to bring you up the coast of North America.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Once you get into the North Atlantic,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38you're almost guaranteed to have westerlies
0:23:38 > 0:23:40to carry you home again to London.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45So, if you can plan to be in the right place at the right time,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50the wind's fair. The square-rigger is bowling along without a care in the world.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01With the trade winds and westerlies to power them, square-riggers straddled the world,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05from the West Indies to South East Asia, and all points in between.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Driven by a rig, perfectly adapted to the job in hand.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18It's been a good few years since I went aloft on a square-rigger,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22but without getting up into the rig, there's no way you're ever going to
0:24:22 > 0:24:26understand what these boats are really about.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30This is absolutely amazing.
0:24:30 > 0:24:38I'm up here in the engine that drove commerce, from the time of Noah
0:24:38 > 0:24:42until steam started to take over in the latter part of the 19th century.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47And the feeling is of flying through the air like a bird.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52If you're not used to it, it's a little bit frightening. It's year since I've been aloft.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54But I won't have missed it for anything.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59From here, of course, you've got a fantastic view of the horizon.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Sailors have been seeing stuff coming up over
0:25:01 > 0:25:05the edge of the earth from here since the Vikings and before.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10But the best views of all were in that latter part of the 19th century,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13when the masts were tall, and the ships were fast
0:25:13 > 0:25:18and the yards were well slung and the sailors were at their very peak.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23This is the place to see the sea.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33This was the golden age of sail.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38And as the 19th century progressed, the ships got bigger and ever faster.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45But just as these glorious craft were reaching their peak, a new technology arrived that
0:25:45 > 0:25:49was to exert a slow stranglehold from which they could never recover.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Steam ships didn't have to wait for a favourable wind to make progress.
0:25:56 > 0:26:02They could travel anywhere, at any time, and they could guarantee a schedule.
0:26:03 > 0:26:09In a world where time was now money, the writing was on the wall for sail.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Today, very few of the great square riggers remain to paint
0:26:16 > 0:26:20a true picture of the incredible scale of the trade they drove.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28But at ports like Liverpool, a harbour which once handled cargo from all over the world,
0:26:28 > 0:26:35you get some idea of the astonishing place these craft once held in our national and international life.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44Believe it or not, this is sailing-ship country.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46They walked them into here.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49There's a capstan on the quay over there
0:26:49 > 0:26:54that's left over from the days that the last sailing ship was in here.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56It's a place of ghosts.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Remarkable atmosphere.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05You can hear the crowd singing the shanties
0:27:05 > 0:27:12as they walked round that capstan to get the sailing ship out to go out through that gate,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14turn starboard into the river, pick up her tug,
0:27:14 > 0:27:20down to the bar, spread her topsails and away for Australia.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26Today, the square-rigged ships are long gone from Liverpool.
0:27:26 > 0:27:32But the memory of the time they filled these docks lives on in the songs that the sailors sang.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35And in Liverpool's harbourside pubs, you can still find men who
0:27:35 > 0:27:40know the tunes that once rang out on British ships all around the world.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42INSTRUMENTS OBSCURE VOCALS
0:27:51 > 0:27:53# Running the east wind now
0:27:53 > 0:27:55# Running the east wind now... #
0:27:55 > 0:27:58The docks are still here,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01but the men who worked them have faded away.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05They've been replaced by ever-more efficient machines.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07You can't argue with progress, can you?
0:28:07 > 0:28:10But I wonder if in 50 years' time,
0:28:10 > 0:28:15men will still be writing songs in praise of container ships.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23But it's not hard to see why they sang about the square-rigger,
0:28:23 > 0:28:28a magnificent ship that changed Britain and the world for all time.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:54 > 0:28:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk