0:00:19 > 0:00:22THREE BLASTS ON THE WHISTLE
0:00:23 > 0:00:26BELL RINGS
0:00:31 > 0:00:36# Somewhere beyond the sea
0:00:36 > 0:00:37# Somewhere... #
0:00:37 > 0:00:40They were once as much a part of the great British seaside
0:00:40 > 0:00:42as fish and chips.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51Pleasure steamers linking industrial cities to seaside resorts,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54treating ordinary people to all the trappings
0:00:54 > 0:00:59of a glamorous ocean voyage on day trips along the British coast.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03It was a fantastic experience
0:01:03 > 0:01:05to be on board in your best clothes sailing
0:01:05 > 0:01:08to magical places that you could only dream of
0:01:08 > 0:01:09from the centre of the city.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23These tourists suddenly found that they had effectively
0:01:23 > 0:01:27a baby cruise liner on which they could go for the day
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and they had all the luxury
0:01:29 > 0:01:31that you could expect on a much, much larger ship.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39The excursion steamer was the first form of mass transport,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42creating a market for travelling for pleasure
0:01:42 > 0:01:44long before the arrival of railways.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49More than anything, what they did was to democratise luxury.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54With fares aimed at the working family,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58once aboard, the emphasis was on style and service.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02The lower deck, there was an atmosphere
0:02:02 > 0:02:04almost akin to a London hotel.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10They offered the latest in entertainment.
0:02:10 > 0:02:16Onboard that day the star attraction was the sex symbol of the day.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19At a time when drinking hours were highly regulated ashore,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21at sea, anything went.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Yes, and pretty hairy sights on the way back at ten o'clock at night,
0:02:26 > 0:02:27I can assure you.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29High teas on the high seas.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32They brought the adventure of an ocean voyage,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35whilst rarely venturing out of sight of land.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Open to all, they were the people's liners.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56It's the early 1950s
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and Britain's inshore steamer fleets are eager for a business,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02offering coastal voyages from seaside piers
0:03:02 > 0:03:04that got you back in time for tea.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Ashore is an era of post-war austerity.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12The offer afloat is a taste of luxury.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18The steamers operated from ports all around Britain...
0:03:20 > 0:03:23..but the greatest concentration of steamers and piers
0:03:23 > 0:03:27had was been along the Clyde Riviera and on the Bristol Channel.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34The Bristol Channel was crisscrossed with excursion routes,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37operated by large paddle steamers
0:03:37 > 0:03:40each carrying between 500 and 1,000 passengers.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45After the Second World War, they were all operated by one company.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Everybody knew P&A Campbell, the White Funnel Fleet as it used to be called.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53They were a very, very big organisation.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56We are probably looking at something about the equivalent of First Bus
0:03:56 > 0:04:00or the local regional, one of the regional, big regional airlines.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01It was the household name.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05If you wanted to go out for a trip, you went on Campbell's.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13With the World War still a recent memory,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18a weary public in flight from drabness did indeed spend a day
0:04:18 > 0:04:20the White Funnel way,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23rediscovering the joys of the seaside.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28# Fly me to the Moon
0:04:28 > 0:04:33# and let me play among the stars. #
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Leaving the industry of Bristol and the South Wales coalfields,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38they voyaged across the Channel,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40the Bristol Channel that is,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44to the resorts of the Devon, Somerset and Welsh coasts.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Most people didn't have a car in the '50s,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51so the trip to Ilfracombe on the boat,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53that was where the holiday started.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57To a lot of South Walians, it was like, obviously,
0:04:57 > 0:04:58a different world.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Some of these miners obviously could have been in the pit one day
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and the next day they were in sunny Ilfracombe,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07maybe having a cream tea.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Maybe having a lobster tea, even.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14And there was this sense of, well, they were going away.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16They were going abroad.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19They were going to England.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22My childhood memories of the initial trips
0:05:22 > 0:05:26I made on these ships was from Newport to Weston-super-Mare.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31Without fail, we went there every year for our week's holiday.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34We always went on the steamer as a family.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39Mother, father, three, four, sometimes five youngsters.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Staying, then, in B&Bs
0:05:43 > 0:05:46and the type of place then was you went out at nine in the morning
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and you didn't come back until six or seven o'clock at night,
0:05:49 > 0:05:50regardless of the weather.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Spending days on the beach.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Visiting the grand pier and its attractions.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00The donkey rides on the beach.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03The ice cream cones capped with chocolate sauce
0:06:03 > 0:06:05which set immediately it hit the ice cream.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Steamers were far more than a mode of holiday transport.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Having disembarked their first load,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21typically holiday-makers staying for the week,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24they would then welcome day-trippers up the gangplank
0:06:24 > 0:06:28for a jaunt along the coast and back.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32In an age of limited holiday choices and leisure opportunities,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35an excursion by steamer was a thrilling ride,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37the holiday highlight.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43From the deck, you might be on passage from Cardiff to Weston.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Down below, though, you could be on a transatlantic liner.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52The inside was very luxurious.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Big staircases going down
0:06:54 > 0:06:56and seats around
0:06:56 > 0:07:00and a lot of upholstered seats
0:07:00 > 0:07:02in moquette and that sort of thing.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Oh, yes.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Lovely furnishings.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Some people have tried to draw a parallel between ocean liners
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and paddle steamers, which you might think far-fetched
0:07:12 > 0:07:15but actually there are comparisons,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17as it were. The People's liners, the paddle steamers that the
0:07:17 > 0:07:22average person could travel on were hugely luxurious.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26A taste of that refinement could be found in the restaurant.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Luncheons included salmon, hams and roasts
0:07:31 > 0:07:33served by immaculate uniformed waiters.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Neil O'Brien's father was a chief steward.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Neil spent school holidays bunked down in his cabin
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and so experienced this elegance first-hand.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Tables were immaculate in the dining saloon
0:07:48 > 0:07:53with the actual flowers and all the cutlery and condiments.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56And the restaurant was silver service.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58They were renowned even after the war,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00P&A Campbell, for their food.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03However refined your palate,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07dining on a steamer came with a sense of occasion.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Fish and chips for high tea.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14In a saloon. My goodness.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18Only grown men went into saloons
0:08:18 > 0:08:22and I was never allowed to eat fish and chips.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25So this was a great thrill.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30The thrills didn't stop there.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34On some trips entertainment was thrown in, too.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36And it wasn't just any old entertainment.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Like their upmarket ocean-going cousins,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46these people's liners showcased the stars of the day.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51The entertainers were quite exceptional.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53I remember
0:08:53 > 0:08:56on one occasion
0:08:56 > 0:09:00even Shirley Bassey was on board.
0:09:01 > 0:09:09# I've got you under my skin. #
0:09:09 > 0:09:12I don't know whether she would like to remember that
0:09:12 > 0:09:15in her star-spangled future
0:09:15 > 0:09:16but she was there.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Shirley Bassey wasn't the only celebrity to grace the decks.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30Campbell's used to do a lot of showboats.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Summer showboats, midsummer showboats
0:09:35 > 0:09:38and I can remember Easter 1956 they did, er,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42they did an Easter showboat
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and onboard that day the star attraction
0:09:45 > 0:09:50was the, well, it was the sex symbol of the day
0:09:50 > 0:09:51in the UK anyway
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and her name was, it was Britain's answer to Jayne Mansfield then,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57and her name was Sabrina.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Oh, she was a sensation.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Sabrina came on board the Glen Gower for the day.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Caused all sorts of mayhem, havoc.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18People really enjoying her presence
0:10:18 > 0:10:19and, if I can remember,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23even the crewmembers were enjoying her presence as well.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28The captain suddenly noticed that the ship had slowed down
0:10:28 > 0:10:29and lost speed.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34He looked round and found that all of his stokers
0:10:34 > 0:10:36from the stoke hold
0:10:36 > 0:10:40had sneaked up on deck to get an eyeful.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42That evening, we were...
0:10:42 > 0:10:46I stayed on board the Glen Gower in Cardiff with Dad,
0:10:46 > 0:10:47with my father,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and prior to this
0:10:50 > 0:10:52I made it known to the crew,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55I said to a couple of members, I thought it would be great
0:10:55 > 0:10:59if maybe Sabrina could kiss me goodnight.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02You've got to remember, I'm only eight years of age now.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06Do you know, she actually came down into the dining saloon
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and she did kiss me goodnight.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16My school friends, they never believed me when I did eventually
0:11:16 > 0:11:20get back to school and told them Sabrina had kissed me goodnight.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24But I did have some evidence, you see,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26which I still have today.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29And that was actually a photograph
0:11:29 > 0:11:31that Sabrina gave me,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34signed, "To Neil. Love, Sabrina."
0:11:35 > 0:11:41"I had this Easter 1956 on the White Funnel Fleet. Neil O'Brien."
0:11:45 > 0:11:47A thing that I will always remember.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53On the cusp of major social change,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57British society in the early 1960s was still fairly in insular.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00People grew up, married
0:12:00 > 0:12:03and settled in the same locality as their parents.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Around the Bristol Channel though,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08the steamers helped to broaden horizons,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11enabling connections across the water,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13relationships blossoming in their wake.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20If you mingle about in Swansea
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and in Ilfracombe,
0:12:22 > 0:12:28you'll find that there is an exchange of personnel, as it were.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31People met and married.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Some settled in Swansea,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35others settled in Ilfracombe.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41One Sunday evening, we'd just backed out of Ilfracombe.
0:12:41 > 0:12:42I had just put my ropes away.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45I spotted this very attractive young lady sat with a much older
0:12:45 > 0:12:49lady drinking tea in the lounge.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51I caught her eye and she caught mine.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I went in and asked them.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55And this girl was on my mind.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59I went back out to the lounge, sat with them,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01introduced myself and offered them a cup of coffee.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04"Oh, yes, please."
0:13:04 > 0:13:07I subsequently sat with them for most of the way back up Channel
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and made a date for the following Thursday.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12We got married three and a half years later
0:13:12 > 0:13:14and we are still married now
0:13:14 > 0:13:15and have produced...
0:13:15 > 0:13:17How many children?
0:13:17 > 0:13:18HE LAUGHS
0:13:19 > 0:13:22The steamers not only helped to create families,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25there was a sense of family on board, too.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Robin Wall's father was a Purser on the Campbell Fleet.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33One thing that I'll say about the Campbell's family,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36and I don't mean the Campbell's themselves, I mean their workforce.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Half of them I called "Uncle," although no relation.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Whenever we stepped aboard the ships we were treated like royalty.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Robin would sometimes stay aboard and lend a hand,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49mucking in with the crew,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52some of whom acted as childminders.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54My dad would be wanting to go ashore for a pint so he'd say,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57"Just go down and give Mr Munden a hand polishing the engine."
0:13:57 > 0:14:00You know, "Yeah, all right, Dad. Thank you very much."
0:14:00 > 0:14:04And I'd be there, a ten-year-old, working away while he had his pint.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Robin eventually joined Campbell's himself,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12becoming a White Funnel man in 1960.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15As an ordinary seaman,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18he found himself working alongside his father.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24And days afloat on the Bristol Channel
0:14:24 > 0:14:27often meant nights ashore in South Wales.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30It was wonderful. We were based mainly in Cardiff.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And all the delights of Tiger Bay and stuff like this
0:14:34 > 0:14:36as a 16-year-old kid.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Cardiff's Tiger Bay was one of Britain's first
0:14:38 > 0:14:41multiracial neighbourhoods.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45By the early 1960s there were over 50 nationalities living there.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50I never saw a black face when I was a little boy.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52And we walked through Cardiff and you hardly see a white face
0:14:52 > 0:14:54and all these guys knew my dad.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58"Hi there, Mr Wall." And we'd walk up and I thought this... you could... the smell...
0:14:58 > 0:15:02And a Chinaman playing mah-jong, you know, and, oh.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05I thought, if this is going to sea, I'm going to have a bit of this.
0:15:05 > 0:15:06It was wonderful.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09In the predominantly white society of the time,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Robin's nights out in Tiger Bay
0:15:11 > 0:15:14were a foretaste of multicultural Britain.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Also this reflected in the crew members as well, on board.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22They came from all races and all walks of life.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24It had a profound effect on me.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30Very much part of the communities
0:15:30 > 0:15:33they served around the Bristol Channel,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36the White Funnel ships were witness to a changing society
0:15:36 > 0:15:39ahead of their times in many ways.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Excursion steamers were also agents for change
0:15:41 > 0:15:43right around the British coast
0:15:43 > 0:15:46and had been since the first steamboat arrived on the Clyde
0:15:46 > 0:15:48in the early 19th century.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Freed from the vagaries of the wind,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03this first passenger-carrying steamship, The Comet,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05cast off in 1812.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10The Comet is the equivalent of Concorde
0:16:10 > 0:16:12and within a decade
0:16:12 > 0:16:16there are dozens of boats plying from the big cities.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23The advent of the steamship was a transport revolution,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27predating the first steam railway by almost 20 years.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34Prior to this steam engines had been housed in industrial buildings
0:16:34 > 0:16:38so, for many people, the early steamboats were the first time
0:16:38 > 0:16:43they'd experienced the wonder of steam.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47The excursion steamer makes tourism.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52People start to get into the habit of travelling for pleasure.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Within six years of The Comet's maiden voyage
0:16:56 > 0:17:00steamboat operators were advertising sightseeing trips
0:17:00 > 0:17:03and trying to attract the widest possible clientele on board.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09The democratisation of the steamboat
0:17:09 > 0:17:12and later the railway,
0:17:12 > 0:17:18comes from the fact that they enabled all to travel,
0:17:18 > 0:17:23whereas previously travel in any sort of comfort
0:17:23 > 0:17:25had been the prerogative of the rich.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30We like to think that Thomas Cook, a former Baptist preacher
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and active member of the Temperance Society,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35invented the excursion with his railway tours,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39but he was, in fact, following in the steamboat's wake.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42The steamboats in Scotland invent excursions.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47The railways follow suit and Thomas Cook, of course,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50picks up this idea in 1841.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Ironically, his day trips are
0:17:52 > 0:17:55designed as part of the Temperance Movement,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59to give people an alternative to wasting Saturday in the pub.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02In Scotland, it works the other way round.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05What we get in Scotland is the Sunday steamer
0:18:05 > 0:18:08being used as a way to drink.
0:18:08 > 0:18:14In Scotland, the steamer actually sabotages temperance.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18In England, the railway makes temperance with Cook.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20What happened is that in Scotland
0:18:20 > 0:18:24there is legislation passed in the 1850s
0:18:24 > 0:18:28that says you can only get a drink on a Sunday
0:18:28 > 0:18:30if you are a genuine traveller.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33And within two weeks of this legislation
0:18:33 > 0:18:38an enterprising steamboat proprietor was organising what nowadays
0:18:38 > 0:18:41we call booze cruises down the Clyde.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46So popular was this Sunday pastime,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49it helped coin a piece of Scottish slang,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53in which "steaming" means an advanced state of intoxication.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57And that's why in Glasgow patois
0:18:57 > 0:19:00steaming is steaming.
0:19:00 > 0:19:01The boats meant drink.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05A favoured destination for Sabbath steaming
0:19:05 > 0:19:08was Rothesay on the Isle of Bute,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10to some the Blackpool of the Clyde.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16You got, on a Sunday, this mob of happy holiday-makers
0:19:16 > 0:19:20swilling off the boats - and it's no accident that the biggest urinal
0:19:20 > 0:19:23in Scotland is on the pier at Rothesay -
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and then spending a merry Sunday
0:19:26 > 0:19:28perhaps drinking a little more,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32going to the beach, stripping off, swimming,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36all the things that would offend middle-class proprieties.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42So the steamers are really an agent of mass working-class tourism.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47They are called by one local MP the cheap trams of the working class.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54The Victorian and Edwardian era was the high tide for Clyde steamers.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58There were probably around 30, 40, 50 paddle steamers
0:19:58 > 0:20:02beginning of the 20th century, end of the 19th century,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04all competing for the business,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07all with a different colour of funnel,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10different colour of hull, all with different things on board -
0:20:10 > 0:20:12a hairdresser, a post office,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16some that sold no alcohol, the famous Ivanhoe.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18So they all had their point of difference
0:20:18 > 0:20:20but the steamer that could race to the pier
0:20:20 > 0:20:24and be first at the pier was the one that got all the passengers,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27and that was the one that got all the glory.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31MUSIC: Song Of The Clyde by Kenneth McKellar
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Chasing the desires of the day, steamers got faster,
0:20:40 > 0:20:45larger and ever more luxurious, each with a devoted following.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51A 1930s flyer was the Jeanie Deans, the most commodious, the Queen Mary.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58The Queen Mary and the Lucy Ashton were the ones that we travelled on.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01We always hoped it would be the Queen Mary because it was plush.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04She was big, she was fast.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09She still had a residue of her pre-war grandeur.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12People thought of her as a liner rather than
0:21:12 > 0:21:14a steamship on the River Clyde.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16She was a cut above the rest.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22On her daily trip, the ten o'clock from Glasgow to Dunoon
0:21:22 > 0:21:26and Rothesay, Queen Mary would pass the Clyde shipyards,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29where Cunard's latest luxury liner was taking shape.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35The directors of the Cunard company decided to build a new
0:21:35 > 0:21:41and vast liner for the transatlantic and call her Queen Victoria.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43And they felt they had to have Royal approval
0:21:43 > 0:21:46and they went to see King George V
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and they said that they were going to name her Queen,
0:21:49 > 0:21:54at which point he is reputed to have butted in and said, "How wonderful!
0:21:54 > 0:21:57"My wife, Queen Mary, will be quite delighted."
0:21:57 > 0:22:00So they never got to tell them that it was going to be Victoria,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and they were far too embarrassed to say anything.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05They had the accept the Royal will.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07When they got back to headquarters, they discovered,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09to their horror, that there
0:22:09 > 0:22:14already was a Queen Mary plying her legitimate life on the Clyde.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18And so they came cap in hand, the board of Cunard, to the board of
0:22:18 > 0:22:20the Caledonian Steam Packet Company
0:22:20 > 0:22:23and begged to have the name Queen Mary.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26And it was graciously agreed that the one on the Clyde would
0:22:26 > 0:22:28become Queen Mary II.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33She would have a wonderful huge painting of Queen Mary
0:22:33 > 0:22:36in the foreground gifted by the Cunard company.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Dealt with as equals by the owners of the world's fastest luxury liner,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48the Clyde steamers were at the height of their prestige.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Then war was declared.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Within days, excursion steamers all around the coast were being
0:23:05 > 0:23:09requisitioned by the Admiralty, and by early 1940,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13some 30 vessels had swapped deckchairs for armaments
0:23:13 > 0:23:17and were engaged in one of the most hazardous naval duties of the war.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Paddle steamers made superb minesweepers
0:23:21 > 0:23:24because they were shallow draft so they could often float over
0:23:24 > 0:23:27minefields where other ships would hit the mine.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30They were fast, they had broad decks
0:23:30 > 0:23:33and they were ideal for minesweeping kit to be carried.
0:23:35 > 0:23:36Fundamentally,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40what was done was a wire was paid out each side of the ship over
0:23:40 > 0:23:46the stern attached to a paravane, which was a torpedo-shaped float.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48The idea was that the wire would cut the mooring
0:23:48 > 0:23:51lines of the floating mines
0:23:51 > 0:23:53and they would float to the surface where they'd then be
0:23:53 > 0:23:56sunk by gunfire or rifle fire from the deck of the steamer.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05But if that was dangerous, it was nothing compared to what
0:24:05 > 0:24:08they steamed into at perhaps Britain's most desperate hour.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12'May 26th, 1940.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15'The beaches at Dunkirk and the beginning of an eight-day
0:24:15 > 0:24:20'saga that prevented the complete annihilation of the Allied Armies.'
0:24:20 > 0:24:23With the British Expeditionary Force cornered on the beaches
0:24:23 > 0:24:27of Dunkirk, the call went out for any ships to rescue them.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30The minesweeping flotillas were very quickly called in
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and told to make for Dunkirk.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37Amongst the crowds awaiting rescue was army supply driver Jim Chivers.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42We got dive-bombed from Stukas and that.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47We were just lucky we didn't get hit or anything.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54We just lay waiting there, eating some blooming biscuits
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and bully beef or something or other, whatever was going around,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00until we got the orders, you know, to go up to the boat.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05That boat was the Medway Queen.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10I went down below and I just flaked out.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13The Medway Queen, yeah, I'm definitely thankful to her
0:25:13 > 0:25:16cos I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19And she's often been called the Heroine Of Dunkirk
0:25:19 > 0:25:22because she took more people off the beaches than any other paddle
0:25:22 > 0:25:26steamer, and possibly more than any other merchant ship.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30She made seven crossings, no change of crew,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and carried over 3,500 people off the beaches.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43The day after Churchill's "we shall fight them on the beaches" speech,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Yorkshire-born writer JB Priestley, author
0:25:46 > 0:25:52of An Inspector Calls, broadcast the first of his BBC radio postscripts.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55'We have known them and laughed at them,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58'these fussy little steamers, all our lives.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01'We have called them the Shilling Sicks.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02'We have watched them load
0:26:02 > 0:26:06'and unload their crowds of holiday passengers -
0:26:06 > 0:26:09'the gents full of high spirits and bottled beer, the ladies
0:26:09 > 0:26:13'eating pork pies, the children sticky with peppermint rock.'
0:26:14 > 0:26:16'But they were called out of that world.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18'Yes, these Brighton Belles
0:26:18 > 0:26:23'and Brighton Queens left that innocent foolish world of theirs
0:26:23 > 0:26:27'to sail into the inferno, to defy bombs, shells, magnetic mines,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31'torpedoes, machine-gun fire, to rescue our soldiers.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33'And our great-grandchildren,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37'when they learn how we began this war by snatching glory
0:26:37 > 0:26:41'out of defeat and then swept on to victory,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44'may also learn how the little holiday steamers made
0:26:44 > 0:26:48'an excursion to hell and came back glorious.'
0:26:53 > 0:26:58Of the 50+ paddle steamers called up for service, 17 were sunk throughout
0:26:58 > 0:27:04hostilities, six of those at Dunkirk and a further 11 had to be scrapped.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10So the end of the war in 1945 brought the urgent need for new steamers.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17With government compensation to fund new builds,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20most steamer companies looked to the future...
0:27:20 > 0:27:23MUSIC: Tomorrow by Johnny Brandon with The Phantoms
0:27:28 > 0:27:31..and chose efficient diesel motor propeller ships.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Emblems of post-war modernity, they embraced the technology
0:27:37 > 0:27:38and design of the day.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45But on the Clyde and Bristol Channel,
0:27:45 > 0:27:50the two busiest steamer regions, operators opted for what they knew.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52Four brand-new paddle steamers were commissioned -
0:27:52 > 0:27:56two for Scottish waters, the Waverley and Maid of the Loch...
0:27:58 > 0:28:00..and two for P&A Campbell's White Funnel Fleet.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05All new builds but, in terms of design and appearance,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08they all looked back to an earlier age.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13MUSIC: Tomorrow by Johnny Brandon with The Phantoms
0:28:22 > 0:28:25The two paddlers launched by White Funnel were the largest
0:28:25 > 0:28:30and most regal yet - Bristol Queen and Cardiff Queen.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Their pre-war elegance struck a chord with post-war holidaymakers
0:28:34 > 0:28:37and they became firm favourites on the Bristol Channel,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41each building a devoted following with passengers and crew.
0:28:43 > 0:28:49Bristol Queen was very special. She was the cream of the cream.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53She was lovely inside, a first-class passenger ship.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58The decision to stick with paddle propulsion also proved popular.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00My mum described it,
0:29:00 > 0:29:02it was like a swan coming out of the river over the top of the water
0:29:02 > 0:29:05and all you could hear was "flop, flop, flop, flop, flop!"
0:29:05 > 0:29:06of the paddles.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11It's a beautiful sound, a paddle,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13the sound of paddles going through the water.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22It's the sound of power and an overall sense of "hey,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24"yeah, we're going somewhere!"
0:29:25 > 0:29:27In the late '40s and early '50s,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30Campbell's certainly WERE going somewhere.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33They ran six White Funnel paddle steamers.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Passenger numbers were buoyant.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42One steamer institution that was as popular as ever was the bar.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Drinking culture at the time was still a mostly male preserve
0:29:48 > 0:29:51and alcohol was mainly drunk behind closed doors
0:29:51 > 0:29:53or on a steamer below decks.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Fathers' perennial desire to go down and see the engines was
0:30:01 > 0:30:03a euphemism across steamer fleets.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Licensing laws ashore restricted drinking hours, but once at sea,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11the bar was always open.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Of course, there was no Sunday opening in South Wales
0:30:16 > 0:30:17so, of course,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21they would flock across on the ferry boat from Cardiff Penarth to
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Weston, and on Weston Pier, they had a restaurant,
0:30:23 > 0:30:25they had a bar and they had a bit of a fairground.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Some people wouldn't go off the pier and, similarly,
0:30:28 > 0:30:29further down the Channel,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31the Swansea people were going across to Ilfracombe.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34They could drink all the way across because as soon as the ship
0:30:34 > 0:30:35sailed, the bar was open,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39so if it was half past nine in the morning, that was fine.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42The whole of the South Wales valleys would descend on Cardiff
0:30:42 > 0:30:46pierhead on a Sunday morning and it could be thousands and thousands.
0:30:46 > 0:30:52And the steamers on the way back, it was just like a church choir,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54really.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58They'd be in the bars or even in the saloons or even if
0:30:58 > 0:31:00they had enough, they'd be up on deck.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03The actual songs that they sung, as we know,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07that Wales is the land of song, they would be there singing,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10and I can hear that sound, those sounds, even now.
0:31:10 > 0:31:18MUSIC: Sosban Fach Welsh Traditional Song
0:31:19 > 0:31:24And yeah, some pretty hairy sights on the way back at
0:31:24 > 0:31:27ten o'clock at night, I can assure you!
0:31:27 > 0:31:3216 years old, blonde hair, blue eyes, and women would tease you
0:31:32 > 0:31:38and sort of goose you and, you know, that sort of stuff.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42You certainly saw the variety of life.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57The boozy boisterous bars were also a feature of steamers
0:31:57 > 0:32:02north of the border. Post-war, business was booming.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04From the bar up to the promenade deck,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07it was steaming as usual on the Clyde.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12The 1950s were the heyday, the halcyon days of the steamers,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and there were still 14 of them on the Clyde.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17They were full every day.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22# We could have gone to Monte Carlo... #
0:32:22 > 0:32:26People would go on the steamers for their main fortnight's holiday.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29That was their main fortnight's holiday.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32My parents used to take us on holiday to Island of Arran.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37# We could have gone to some island paradise
0:32:37 > 0:32:39# And there have had a tear
0:32:39 > 0:32:43# But there was no appeal we feel real
0:32:43 > 0:32:46# Like going doon the watter fur the ferr... #
0:32:46 > 0:32:51And from Glasgow, there is this immense exodus called
0:32:51 > 0:32:57"doon the watter", which lasts until the late 1950s, early 1960s.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01# So we're going doon the watter
0:33:01 > 0:33:05# Ach, we're going doon the watter fur the ferr
0:33:05 > 0:33:08# We'll wend our way to Rothesay Bay
0:33:08 > 0:33:09# Cos our heart lies there... #
0:33:09 > 0:33:12At the height of the season, there was
0:33:12 > 0:33:16a daily departure doon the watter from Glasgow, along with
0:33:16 > 0:33:21further sailings downriver, ten each morning from Gourock alone.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23# We're going doon the watter fur the ferr. #
0:33:24 > 0:33:30The steamers could carry between 500 and 1,500 passengers per trip.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Queen Mary II had room for over 2,000.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36Demand was high.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40The person charged with looking after all these passengers on board
0:33:40 > 0:33:42ship was the purser and his assistants.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48One young assistant was student teacher Duncan Graham,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52who worked across the Clyde fleet over five consecutive summers.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57It gave him a porthole on to 1950s dreams and aspirations.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01To be transported to Rothesay was just as magic as for you or
0:34:01 > 0:34:06I to be transported to the Canaries or the south of Spain.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11Rothesay had palm trees, beautiful gardens, beautiful views,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15entertainment. You could take a rowing boat.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20But it was a playground with cleanliness, beauty,
0:34:20 > 0:34:25it was like lifting a curtain on to a different world.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29The same steamer would call at a number of resorts per trip.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Part of the purser's job was to sell tickets
0:34:32 > 0:34:37and Duncan noted that different groups chose different destinations.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Working class people made either for Largs or Rothesay,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45which was laughingly called Scotland's Madeira, by the way.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51'Come on, China, or we'll miss the boat.'
0:34:51 > 0:34:57Having called at Rothesay, some steamers would continue on to Arran.
0:34:57 > 0:35:03The Isle of Arran was above all the middle class holiday resort.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08Chaps wore shorts and shirts and played golf and hiked in Arran
0:35:08 > 0:35:12and the boarding houses were a class above.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15They hid the HP sauce, it wasn't in the windows,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19as it was in the boarding houses in Rothesay.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22So if you were a sort of middle class holidaymaker,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24you went to Arran.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31Class differences were also apparent between officers and crew.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Being a purser on the Clyde steamers was a wonderful introduction
0:35:35 > 0:35:41to human life for a young innocent student like myself.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43I mean, the first day on a payday
0:35:43 > 0:35:46when we handed out the wages in cash
0:35:46 > 0:35:49and I saw the women on the pier desperately trying to get
0:35:49 > 0:35:52hold of some money before their husbands dashed off to the pub,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55I learned about the harshness of life.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57At the other end of the social scale,
0:35:57 > 0:36:02Duncan also witnessed the excesses of some of the Clyde captains.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06Ladies came aboard, some of whom were very charming,
0:36:06 > 0:36:07particularly to myself,
0:36:07 > 0:36:12who in my innocence I did not realise were ladies of the night.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16Of who quite the most wonderful was a lady called the Duchess.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19She lived permanently, as far as I knew,
0:36:19 > 0:36:21in the Royal Hotel in Innellan.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26Drove down to the boat down the steep hill in a car with
0:36:26 > 0:36:30a chauffeur and came aboard, dressed in all her finest.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32She looked like a duchess.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37I believed she was one, in my innocence. And she...
0:36:37 > 0:36:42I would hand her aboard and she would go up to the captain's
0:36:42 > 0:36:46cabin and she would reappear three hours later,
0:36:46 > 0:36:52once we had done whatever cruise we were doing, she would come down.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56And she would give me half a crown, as she left the boat.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01She would sweep half a crown into my hand, along with a ticket.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Cos she had a ticket, which was interesting. And off she would go.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08The hired car would be waiting at the end of the pier and of course,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12years later, I learned all about the Duchess and learned that the
0:37:12 > 0:37:16steamer I worked on wasn't the only one that she visited.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18She had a very select clientele.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Appearances were often deceptive in the world of the steamers.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28On their daily voyages down the Clyde,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31the pleasure boats passed an unremarkable vessel.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35It sailed a very similar route from city centre to the coast,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38but few people gave her a second glance.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41She carried the lowliest of human cargo.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45Shieldhall's role was to take treated sewage out to sea
0:37:45 > 0:37:47and dump it.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Alongside her utilitarian function,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Shieldhall had a surprising double life.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Fares across steamer fleets were priced at a level the majority
0:37:57 > 0:38:02could afford, but unique to Glasgow, the corporation offered free
0:38:02 > 0:38:07excursions to those who couldn't pay for the usual trips.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09It was carrying on a tradition that
0:38:09 > 0:38:13started around about the time of the First World War for groups
0:38:13 > 0:38:15of people, particularly pensioners,
0:38:15 > 0:38:19who really couldn't afford an excursion or a day out,
0:38:19 > 0:38:24and she'd take 60 or 70 people out for the day.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26They would then steam the ships down the Clyde
0:38:26 > 0:38:30and around about a mile and a half off Garrach Head,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34the ship would steam in a slow circle and drop the cargo.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39The passengers by this time would typically be in at lunch,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43unless they particularly wanted to see the cargo being discharged.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48The ship would then steam around in a big circle,
0:38:48 > 0:38:53complete the discharge, turn around and go back up the Clyde again.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01As living standards began to rise,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04there wasn't the same social need for Shieldhall's free trip
0:39:04 > 0:39:09and lunch, so the excursion was thrown open to community groups
0:39:09 > 0:39:13and a whole new set of passengers came aboard.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17By the time that the late '50s, early '60s came along,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19there was groups such as the local Wine Circle,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23the Women's Institute, would receive an invitation to present
0:39:23 > 0:39:28themselves at the sewage works, again completely free of charge.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31By the early 1960s, the steamers had become such
0:39:31 > 0:39:34institutions that they seemed a mainstay of Clyde life.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39But with growing affluence, holiday horizons were expanding
0:39:39 > 0:39:43and the incredible enterprise that had turned a sewage
0:39:43 > 0:39:48vessel into a quasi cruise ship was struggling to keep pace.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50Once you could have a cheap holiday
0:39:50 > 0:39:53and you could sample the delights of Marbella rather than
0:39:53 > 0:39:57that of Rothesay, and once you took the weather into account,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00then it was a non-starter and like all the seaside
0:40:00 > 0:40:05resorts in Britain, Rothesay and Largs began a slow decline.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Maybe people are not quite as hardy as they used to be.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15The days of braving it out on the decks of a Clyde steamer when
0:40:15 > 0:40:19the rain's tipping down and people's aspirations moved up a notch really.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25And for the first time since the invention of the Comet, the excursion
0:40:25 > 0:40:31steamer, once an agent of change, was now out of step with social change.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Personal mobility was also moving up a gear.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40In the 1950s, few families, including my own, had cars
0:40:40 > 0:40:45and then there came the mass market, the Mini I think in 1959.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50By the mid '60s, people wanted boats to take them across the river,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53so they could carry out their own life on excursions.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56It was the beginning of the age of the car ferry.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04With the rise in car ownership nationwide,
0:41:04 > 0:41:08it was also the age of the motorway and at the top end of the
0:41:08 > 0:41:12Bristol Channel, a modern motorway bridge linking South Wales to the
0:41:12 > 0:41:16south west of England was taking shape,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19casting a long shadow over the steamer trade.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21In the '60s, the trade declined,
0:41:21 > 0:41:26partially attributed to the Severn Bridge in 1966 being built.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30So, instead of going from Treharris in Cardiff to
0:41:30 > 0:41:36Ilfracombe on a ship, being ill, being cold, being wet,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39you could drive there in three hours with the whole
0:41:39 > 0:41:43family for three gallons of petrol, you were down there for two quid.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49And steamers had become dated.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52An independent generation no longer content to
0:41:52 > 0:41:55follow in their parents' holiday footsteps were finding
0:41:55 > 0:41:59destinations and distractions of their own.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02# I'm not like everybody else
0:42:02 > 0:42:05# I'm not like everybody else... #
0:42:05 > 0:42:07It wasn't the in thing to do,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11to go on board a paddle steamer to go down to Ilfracombe.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13# I'm not like everybody else... #
0:42:13 > 0:42:15They just fell out of fashion, I think.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Perhaps that's the kindest thing to say.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23# Like everybody else. #
0:42:23 > 0:42:27Whilst the '60s swung, the steamers were shunned.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29As incomes fell, maintenance was cut back.
0:42:29 > 0:42:34Bristol Queen and Cardiff Queen, pride of the Bristol Channel
0:42:34 > 0:42:38and only launched 20 years before, started to look scruffy.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43The ships were clanking around and running late with paddle trouble.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Something Ross Floyd experienced on board
0:42:46 > 0:42:51the Bristol Queen on a trip to Lundy Island in the summer of 1966.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54She was clanking and banging and eventually,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57the purser came on and said that due to a technical malfunction,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01the steamer would be returning to Ilfracombe, a great groan went up
0:43:01 > 0:43:04and that was the end of the getting to Lundy for that year.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09Slowly, they disappeared.
0:43:13 > 0:43:1713 days after the Bristol Queen did a celebratory cruise to mark
0:43:17 > 0:43:22the opening of the Severn Bridge on the 8th of September 1966,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24her sister ship was laid up.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Any sailor falls in love with his first ship
0:43:27 > 0:43:29and my first ship was the Cardiff Queen.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32And um... She was taken to Newport,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36someone had the idea of tying her up in the River Usk and making her
0:43:36 > 0:43:39a nightclub and the ship obviously didn't agree with this cos
0:43:39 > 0:43:42she broke adrift. So they took her down the river a couple of yards to
0:43:42 > 0:43:46Cashmore's yard and I got pictures of people sat there with
0:43:46 > 0:43:48burning gear, burning up the Cardiff Queen.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50But that was her end.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Bristol Queen lasted just one more year.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59By this time, Ted Davies was an apprentice pilot in
0:43:59 > 0:44:04Barry, South Wales, and on his weeks off, did relief work on the Queen.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09I was on the Bristol Queen for six days as ordinary
0:44:09 > 0:44:12seaman in August '67.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15And the day after I left her, I had to return
0:44:15 > 0:44:19to my job as an apprentice on the pilot boats at Barry.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Ted arranged to meet his Bristol Queen shipmates for a night
0:44:22 > 0:44:24out in Cardiff the following Saturday.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Unfortunately, that Saturday never came
0:44:27 > 0:44:32because she backed out of Barry one morning on her way down to
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Ilfracombe, she sounded a mournful three blasts on the whistle...
0:44:36 > 0:44:40WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:44:40 > 0:44:42..which bounced off the harbour walls
0:44:42 > 0:44:45and I saw her go out into the Channel
0:44:45 > 0:44:47and thought nothing more of it.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51'Just as we got to the marker buoy, which is
0:44:51 > 0:44:55'three miles from Barry, I heard a thud and then a crash.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58'We must have hit something very, very heavy.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00'It must have been submerged,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03'sort of floating just under the surface cos I saw nothing.'
0:45:03 > 0:45:07I could see her out in the Channel, drifting for a while.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10She eventually managed to get under way
0:45:10 > 0:45:14and she limped back up the pontoons in Cardiff.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Bristol Queen had suffered catastrophic damage to
0:45:17 > 0:45:19a paddle wheel.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22I was due to do a trip down to Lundy Island.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27And I never sailed on her again.
0:45:28 > 0:45:34On the 21st of March 1968, Bristol Queen was towed away for scrap.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I saw her come down, emerge
0:45:37 > 0:45:40and slowly make her way down towards Barry.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46And feeling so sad that a ship that I had enjoyed working on
0:45:46 > 0:45:50and enjoyed seeing over the years and the last of Campbell's
0:45:50 > 0:45:57paddle steamers being towed away to her demolition.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00It was like a part of me sort of went as well
0:46:00 > 0:46:03when the Bristol Queen actually went.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12Oh, I've listened to this record twice, three times a year
0:46:12 > 0:46:18every year since the Bristol and Cardiff Queen were taken off service.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22HOOTER SOUNDS ON RECORD
0:46:22 > 0:46:24Oh, there she is! Blowing the hooter!
0:46:26 > 0:46:28She was wonderful.
0:46:29 > 0:46:34HOOTER SOUNDS AND ENGINE CHUGS
0:46:38 > 0:46:43That sound still sends shivers up my spine.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Hopeful that there was still life in the British seaside holiday
0:46:55 > 0:46:59though, P&A Campbell finally moved into the age of the propeller
0:46:59 > 0:47:02ship, the second generation of diesel powered steamers.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07And so they brought Balmoral,
0:47:07 > 0:47:10a former Isle of Wight excursion ship, to the Bristol Channel
0:47:10 > 0:47:13and ran her with two other twin propeller motor ships.
0:47:16 > 0:47:21Launched in 1949, Balmoral had the looks of luxury motor yachts of the
0:47:21 > 0:47:25era and was built as a replacement for paddle steamers lost in the war.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29Now, she was replacing the much loved Queens.
0:47:31 > 0:47:36The replacement of the paddle
0:47:36 > 0:47:40steamers by motor ships was
0:47:40 > 0:47:42a difficult period.
0:47:42 > 0:47:50All right, I love paddlers, but Balmoral is something very special.
0:47:51 > 0:47:58There were purists, dangerous people, who said,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01"I shall never go on a motor ship,"
0:48:02 > 0:48:08but as time went on, the lure of being able to go to sea was
0:48:08 > 0:48:14paramount and you saw the old faces begin to return.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20I can always remember when Balmoral first came to the Bristol Channel.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22I was on board and I went up on to the bridge
0:48:22 > 0:48:26and her first captain was Captain Jack Wide, he more or less
0:48:26 > 0:48:29skippered all the pre-war and post-war paddle steamers.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32I said to him, "What do you think of her, Captain?"
0:48:32 > 0:48:35And I can remember his words now, "Neil, she's a flyer."
0:48:35 > 0:48:37And by God, could she move!
0:48:37 > 0:48:44Flying the flag of the White Funnel Fleet, Balmoral continued the line.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48The traditions of over 80 years of coastal cruising being
0:48:48 > 0:48:51carried on the decks of one ship.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59By 1971, the sole survivor in the Bristol Channel.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04She basically got into a set pattern.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08Normally, on a Tuesday, Thursday, and sometimes on a Saturday,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12we'd do the Swansea run, across to Ilfracombe,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15and then out to Lundy Island.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18That was a lucrative run in those days. Ilfracombe to Lundy Island.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20Lundy Island, in the early '70s,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24was where everybody seemed to want to go.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Nothing for us to take 700-800 passengers out to Lundy Island.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31And all these passengers had to be landed by launch as well.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37And then interspersed with that,
0:49:37 > 0:49:42we'd be running day trips from Swansea up the Bristol Channel
0:49:42 > 0:49:45to Cardiff and Weston, the odd occasional trip to Tenby as well.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Balmoral kept White Funnel steamers afloat,
0:49:52 > 0:49:56linking the same destinations as the Queens.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00# This is a tale from the water meadows
0:50:00 > 0:50:03# Trying to spread some hope into your heart... #
0:50:06 > 0:50:10But even Balmoral, the fuel efficient motor ship,
0:50:10 > 0:50:12couldn't halt the inevitable dip in trade,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16as the British seaside holiday continued to decline.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19I suppose I was aware that the writing
0:50:19 > 0:50:24was on the wall for Balmoral and P&A Campbell Ltd, as it was,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27from the mid '70s.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31You only had to look at the crew. They were all old men.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35It had to end because they were all getting older
0:50:35 > 0:50:38and there was not the interest and there wasn't the demand or
0:50:38 > 0:50:40the requirement for new people to come in.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51Neil O'Brien, by this time Balmoral's purser, went to see his boss,
0:50:51 > 0:50:53the Trilby wearing Mr Clifton Smith-Cox.
0:50:57 > 0:50:58I was a youngster, you know,
0:50:58 > 0:51:04and I genuinely could see a demise in Campbell's. It was such a shame.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06I didn't want to see it and I thought to myself,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09"Hey, there's no career here for me."
0:51:09 > 0:51:14I said, "Mr Smith-Cox, I think I've got to throw the towel in here
0:51:14 > 0:51:18"because I can't see this going on much longer,"
0:51:18 > 0:51:21and Mr Smith-Cox was absolutely superb about this.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23He agreed with me entirely and I said,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26"Look, I'm going to go to pastures new,"
0:51:26 > 0:51:29and so unfortunately, I left Campbell's, I joined then
0:51:29 > 0:51:32Cadbury's and sold chocolate for them for 25 years.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43Balmoral ploughed on, but the end came in 1980.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46P&A Campbell's folded
0:51:46 > 0:51:49and after almost a century of White Funnel pleasure
0:51:49 > 0:51:54trips on the Bristol Channel, Balmoral, the last steamer, was sold.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03She went off as a floating bar, somewhere up in Dundee.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05I thought I'd never see her again.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08Balmoral sailed for a Scotland
0:52:08 > 0:52:10that was also losing its steamers...
0:52:17 > 0:52:19The Clyde had witnessed a catastrophic drop
0:52:19 > 0:52:21in the excursion trade
0:52:21 > 0:52:23and no-one was better placed to know
0:52:23 > 0:52:26the commercial realities than John Whittle,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30General Manager of ferry operators Caledonian MacBrayne,
0:52:30 > 0:52:32which now ran the Clyde steamers.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35One Friday I went to Arran on the ferry...
0:52:37 > 0:52:39..came back on the last journey
0:52:39 > 0:52:41and there was myself,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43two other passengers and a car on board
0:52:43 > 0:52:45for a crew of 28.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47My heart sank a bit at that.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53One by one the much loved steamers were scrapped
0:52:53 > 0:52:56until there was only one paddler left on the Clyde,
0:52:56 > 0:52:58the post-war Waverley -
0:52:58 > 0:53:00and even she was struggling.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05We had to face reality and bite the bullet.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09But...it was part of our heritage.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Paddle steamers had made such a dramatic impact
0:53:12 > 0:53:14on the shipping services
0:53:14 > 0:53:16and this was the last of the line.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21John had only one business option -
0:53:21 > 0:53:23the Waverley had to go.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25He invited Douglas McGowan,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28a leading member of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society,
0:53:28 > 0:53:30to meet him.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35You can imagine my absolute surprise and astonishment
0:53:35 > 0:53:40when he said that he was going to offer the ship to us
0:53:40 > 0:53:43as a gift.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49And so began Waverley's preservation,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05Nothing gives me more pleasure today than seeing families, like today,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08enjoying themselves on the decks of the Waverley, having fun
0:54:08 > 0:54:13and looking at those children watching the pistons going around,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16eyes almost popping out of their heads. Amazing.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30Waverley now calls at ports all around the UK,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33but for a few weeks each year,
0:54:33 > 0:54:34she sails her home waters...
0:54:35 > 0:54:38MUSIC: Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros
0:54:44 > 0:54:48..and connects once more with the communities she was built to serve.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Decks chatter with sightseers...
0:54:59 > 0:55:02..father really does go down to see the engines...
0:55:05 > 0:55:07..and hen parties flock to Rothesay...
0:55:07 > 0:55:10MUSIC: I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Keeping alive theses traditions,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Waverley has now sailed longer in preservation
0:55:18 > 0:55:20than as a commercial Clyde steamer.
0:55:32 > 0:55:33And down on the Bristol Channel,
0:55:33 > 0:55:35the Balmoral is back...
0:55:36 > 0:55:40..leading a drive to revive coastal cruising here, too.
0:55:41 > 0:55:46At Sharpness docks, a dedicated team strive to ready her for sea again.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55I work on board doing odd jobs,
0:55:55 > 0:56:01which range from helping to keep the woodwork in nice condition
0:56:01 > 0:56:03and, when she's laid up,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06I can also clean out the lavatories.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09You know, the little things have to be dealt with, as well,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12and I'm not ashamed to do them.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Three years of volunteer endeavour
0:56:16 > 0:56:20and the last in the line of the Bristol Channel White Funnel ships
0:56:20 > 0:56:22is about to cast off once more.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30BELL RINGS
0:56:31 > 0:56:33With a good crowd aboard,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36it's slow speed ahead down the River Avon
0:56:36 > 0:56:38towards the Bristol Channel,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41following the course of the first White Funnel excursion steamer
0:56:41 > 0:56:44over 125 years before.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50With her go the dreams of a former age.
0:56:51 > 0:56:52Oh, my goodness.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56This is a really magical moment.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Here we are in the river,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01making our fresh start
0:57:01 > 0:57:06just like it was in the old days.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09Amazing.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12To hear the engine room telegraphs when we set off
0:57:12 > 0:57:14and hear the ring when they put her ahead,
0:57:14 > 0:57:16coming out of the Cumberland Basin,
0:57:16 > 0:57:18that was just...
0:57:18 > 0:57:21That brought the hairs up on my neck. Absolutely brilliant.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26I've personally been sailing on the ship since I was 12 years old
0:57:26 > 0:57:29and I've been sailing on her ever since,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33so to be back afloat and underway on her again is just wonderful.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36MUSIC: The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding
0:57:36 > 0:57:38# Sitting in the morning sun
0:57:38 > 0:57:42# I'll be sitting when the evening comes
0:57:43 > 0:57:47# Watching the ships roll in
0:57:47 > 0:57:51# Then I watch them roll away again... #
0:57:53 > 0:57:55A greater cross-section of society
0:57:55 > 0:57:57has travelled by these people's liners
0:57:57 > 0:58:01than on the better-known elite ocean liners.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03As the last operational vessels of
0:58:03 > 0:58:05the two generations of excursion steamer,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08the paddler and the propeller ship,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10Waverley and Balmoral,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13are direct links to a forgotten part of our maritime heritage.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Once boisterously, now more sedately,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20from the early 1800s on,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24the pleasure steamer translated our national love affair with the sea
0:58:24 > 0:58:27into something easily accessible and open to all...
0:58:28 > 0:58:31..a gloriously populist pursuit.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34THE DOCK OF THE BAY CONTINUES...
0:58:56 > 0:59:00THREE TOOTS ON THE WHISTLE