The Bustling South Britain's Secret Seas


The Bustling South

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The waters around the UK

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hide treasures and surprises we rarely get to see.

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Powered by Arctic currents to the north

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and the Gulf Stream from the south,

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our island occupies a unique position

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in the Atlantic ocean.

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'I'm explorer Paul Rose.

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'I was Base Commander of the British Antarctic survey for ten years

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'and I've scuba-dived all around the world.'

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I've got to be careful doing this! Oop!

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But now I've come home

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to lead a team of specialists

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to uncover the secrets beneath our seas.

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Divers up!

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Joining me is marine biologist Tooni Mahto.

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Her underwater expertise

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will reveal the unexpected riches

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of British marine life.

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This is a colony of loads of individual animals.

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Journalist and underwater archaeologist Frank Pope

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will examine the bigger picture of our relationship with the sea

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and explore our maritime history.

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The remains of the 60-odd crew men are still inside.

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This series will take us on a journey right around the British coastline,

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to uncover the most startling underwater wonders.

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This time, we're exploring Britain's south coast.

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It's our busiest coastline,

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packed with ferries,

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fun-seekers and pleasure boats.

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But below it all,

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there are mysterious wrecks and magical creatures.

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This time we're investigating our bustling southern shores.

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Beneath our waves is a world of secrets.

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Our expedition begins in Poole,

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bang in the middle of Britain's south coast.

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This busy seaport

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has been a hub of maritime activity

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since the 12th century.

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But just metres below the waves lies a secret,

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which has lain untouched for centuries.

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Out there in the Swash Channel, archaeologists have uncovered a mysterious wooden shipwreck.

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It's a spectacular wreck, we know that much, but not much more.

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-It's full of secrets and mystery.

-Look at that!

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-Have you ever seen anything like that?

-Certainly not.

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That's a very intricate carving.

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No-one knows when it sailed, no-one knows exactly who built it,

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where it was going, or even how it sank.

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-There's no records of this thing at all.

-I'm really looking forward to this.

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I've used all kinds of tools underwater,

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but not on something as delicate and as precise and as important

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as maritime archaeology.

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So I'm super-keen on this one.

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-You will be careful won't you, Paul?

-Yes, I'll do me best!

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Frank and I are joining a team of archaeologists from Bournemouth University

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who have been working on the site night and day.

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We want to find out all we can about this puzzling wreck.

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'I didn't realise how close we would be to passing ships.'

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Here comes the Cherbourg ferry

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in the main shipping lane called the Swash Channel.

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It's defined by... You can see these buoys -

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there's the green one there and the red one right there.

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And our wreck, the Swash Channel wreck,

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is right underneath us, on the very edge of the channel.

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The wreck would have laid there undiscovered,

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seven metres below the surface,

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were it not for a dredging boat

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clearing a channel for the ferries.

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'Head archaeologist Dave Parham

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'has drawn a sketch map of the site.'

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And this was actually part of the bow castle.

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We've also got the gudgeons for the rudder.

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-But the rudder is in front of...

-The rudder has come off,

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it's become displaced and swept underneath the wreck and then covered in sediment.

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-If it hadn't been covered in sediment it wouldn't have survived.

-So lucky!

-Unusual to find a rudder.

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'The archaeologists believe the wreck dates from the 17th century.

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'With no historical records,

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'her true identity remains unknown.'

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As an archaeologist, your job is to try and put together the different clues

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that might give you a picture of what the wreck was

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and the sort of people that lived in her.

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The thing is, when you first get down to it,

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it's going to be enormously confusing,

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its going to be a very distorted picture, and often incomplete.

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What you're going to do, boys,

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is go down to this part of the wreck here.

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What we want you to do is dig along here to try and define this edge.

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Be aware there are fairly delicate things lying around.

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If you're going to sit down, look at what you're sitting on first.

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LAUGHTER

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Are we ready to go?

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Have a good one.

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'Lying at only seven metres,

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'it takes just moments to reach the wreck.'

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Oh, look at this!

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Oh, wow.

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Look at that!

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Now, this is interesting.

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-These large pieces of wood look like ribs of some kind, don't they?

-Yep.

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It's beautiful condition, you see here where the wood has been freshly exposed.

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It's absolutely beautiful, it's mint condition.

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That's fabulous.

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'As an archaeologist himself,

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'Frank starts to recognise parts of the ship we're swimming over.'

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You can see the big frames of the ship.

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Gosh, she was really quite a heavy ship.

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And these amorphous lumps...

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These are actually the heads of iron bolts

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that would have helped held the ship together.

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They've kind of erupted in this reaction with the seawater.

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'While Frank looks for more clues,

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'I join one of the team excavating new parts of the wreck.'

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This here's the dredge

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and it's like an industrial underwater vacuum cleaner.

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You know, I've used these water dredges

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as part of salvage work before,

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but I must say I've never used them to try and reveal an ancient ship.

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You can see I can quite carefully expose these ancient timbers,

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just a centimetre at a time.

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The sediment, sucked up here,

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gets pumped out again fifteen metres away,

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so it doesn't settle back over the wreck.

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Blimey, I nearly sucked a fish up then! Look at that.

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He must be a strong swimmer.

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'Every tree has a unique pattern of growth rings,

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'which can be matched against a global database to identify it.

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'By analysing the timbers,

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'the archaeologists have discovered

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'that the ship was built from wood felled in 1629.

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'They can even tell that this wood

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'came from close to the border between Germany and Holland.'

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When you see what I'm doing here

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and then look at the amount of wood that's been exposed,

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you get a pretty good idea of how hard work it is. This is a big job.

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'From her size and design,

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'the archaeologists know this was a merchant vessel,

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'and the discovery of a layer of pine over the hull

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'gives them a clue as to where she was headed.'

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This is beautiful. So what you can really see here is the two types of wood.

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This is the actual hull of the ship here.

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This is the hard wood and then the sacrificial layer on top which is made of pine.

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'This protective cladding

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'was only found on ships heading for the warm waters of the tropics.'

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It's fascinating to see.

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I've never seen this on a site before

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and you can only see it on a couple of other sites around the world.

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'This ship was part of the very beginnings of trade with the East,

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'but it was carrying more than just cargo.'

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Oh, holy smokes!

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I've just figured out what this is.

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This is a cannon.

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I could have just swum over this and think it was a white rock.

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'This is just one of six cannon the team have discovered,

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'making her a heavily-armed merchant ship.'

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This is a big old gun,

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probably a 24-pounder.

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'The excavation work has revealed much about this important ship,

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'but Dave Parham has taken Frank to see one discovery

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'which marks this wreck as something quite extraordinary -

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'the ship's rudder.'

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Up here, we have the carving of a human head.

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Wow! Look at that.

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You've got the hair, his face,

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an eye socket with an eye in it,

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his nose and a moustache on his mouth.

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I have never seen anything like it.

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It's absolutely beautiful.

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Wow, what a thing!

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This is like finding a pharaoh's tomb.

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'This intricate carving is one of three they've found so far.

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'It covers just the top part of the rudder,

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'which is over eight-metres long and weighs almost two tonnes.'

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This isn't just any old wreck, this was a really high-profile ship

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and you can tell that by the carving.

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'Piecing together the clues,

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'we can now start to build a picture

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'of what this ship may have looked like.

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'This was a large wooden trading ship,

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'built at a time when Charles I was on our throne

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'and Europe was engaged in the very beginnings of empire building.

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'From the timber,

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'we know she sailed from Holland or Germany

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'and was headed to the tropics.

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'But the heavy cannon and ornate carvings

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'suggest this was far more than just a standard merchant ship.

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A beautiful wreck, my God.

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You know what's so poignant is

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you've got this wonderfully-carved wood that's just been exposed

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and you can almost see the chisel marks of the guys who made this. This was hundreds of years ago -

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probably 1630 that this stuff was made -

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and it's right there. And by touching it, you really feel

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like you're connecting with the guys who built that and who sailed in it.

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'After months of excavation,

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'the fate of this important wreck

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'now hangs in the balance.

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'Saving a ship like this

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'is a complex and expensive process.

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'But the archaeologists are running out of time,

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'as the wreck is being destroyed before their eyes.

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'Later on, we'll be back to find out why.'

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The English Channel is the world's busiest shipping lane,

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so it's no surprise that our southern waters are full of wrecks.

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But the shipwrecks of the Channel don't just give us a glimpse back in time...

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they're also home to some surprising sea creatures.

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There's one animal which is renowned for hiding out in wrecks.

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Rumoured to be big, vicious,

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and no friend to divers.

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The beast in question is the conger eel

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and despite being one of the most common animals in our waters,

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it's also one of the most secretive.

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We really don't know much about them.

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I want to find out if this giant beast

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really does deserve its fearsome reputation.

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'Here in Plymouth,

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'I've found some conger experts.

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'But they're not biologists, they're expert anglers.'

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So what is it about the conger eel

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that evokes such a passion for it?

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I'll tell you what it is.

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It's mean, moody

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and magnificent.

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And I think that sums up the conger eel.

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'Bryn Lavis and Mike Millman

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'run the British Conger Club

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'and are devoted to all things conger.'

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Now then, what's the biggest one that's ever been caught in British waters?

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133-and-a-quarter pounds, by Vic Evans out of Brixham.

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I mean, it's a mighty eel.

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-Boy, that is a whopper.

-Yeah.

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133 pounds and the width of this one?

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It's about 42 inches at its widest point.

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42 inches - hang on... Bigger than my chest, and how long?

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Nine feet...plus.

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-Nine feet, two inches, I think it was.

-Holy smokes!

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So when you catch them

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and all of a sudden you've got this huge great thing on board,

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what happens then?

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-Well, it's not finished.

-No, I can imagine!

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Cos there must be teeth going and there's a lot of activity.

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It's not so much the teeth that are the problem,

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they've got very small teeth.

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But they've got a terrific clamp pressure.

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Think of a crocodile, an alligator.

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If they've got hold of something and try to get away,

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-they start revolving...

-So here's your finger?

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-Oh gone, just twisted off.

-It is ripping off?

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Yes, it's rip. It's not a bite off, it's rip off.

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Ow!

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'The Conger Club are sport fishermen

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'and they throw the congers back in once they've landed them,

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'but I don't want to catch one.

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'I want to dive into conger territory

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'to see just how close I can get

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'to one of these ferocious beasts.

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'Although congers are found all along our southwest coast,

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'the deep waters of Plymouth Harbour are famous for congers.

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'Massive eels have been caught just metres from these shores.'

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Conger eels are really opportunistic hunters - they'll eat anything, even each other!

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I'm going to take some mackerel with me to entice them out of their lair.

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And I'm going to take no chances whatsoever,

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so I've got these special Kevlar gloves just in case.

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Away you go, Paul.

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'Can you hear me?'

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Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear.

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Have a good dive, fellas.

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Good luck with the congers.

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'30 metres down is a wreck,

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'one of almost 5,000 in the English Channel.

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'It should be the perfect conger hideout.'

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There's a fair bit of nice life down here.

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That's a good sign, look at that.

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'It won't be easy to get close to a conger.

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'They're ambush predators

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'and tend to hide away in nooks and crannies

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'so they can lash out at passing prey.

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'That's not the kind of close encounter I'm after!'

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It stands to reason we should find them in some of these holes.

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Oh, there she is!

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Look at this.

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Now, with any luck,

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with some of this squid bait,

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I just might get her out.

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I've got to be careful doing this

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because she's got very sharp teeth.

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Come on then, girl, out you come.

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Ooh!

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Ha!

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You notice I'm saying "her" and not "it" or "him",

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and that's because I'm absolutely certain that she is a female.

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Cos we never see males in our waters. Never, not one.

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'Female congers spend up to 15 years in our waters

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'before heading to deep Atlantic seas to breed.

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'Scientists think they may be drawn to our rich waters

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'so they can fatten up before spawning.

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'But they've still no idea where the males go.'

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Here she comes.

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Here she comes.

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'She seems pretty fearless.

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'I'm amazed how close she's letting me get to her.'

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Ooh!

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Ha-ha!

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I don't think we're going to get this one out, you know.

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She's too smart for me,

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no surprise there.

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See you.

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'That conger was less than a metre long,

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'certainly not one of the giants the anglers were talking about.

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'So I'm going to keep on looking.'

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These are the boilers.

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And you can imagine all these great holes are perfect places for conger.

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I've found one!

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She's just a beauty!

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She is a beauty.

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Look at her!

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I don't even have to feed this one,

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she's just curious as to what's going on.

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I know the anglers said they were mean, moody and magnificent,

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At the moment, I'm just going to stick with the last one -

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magnificent. She is beautiful.

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Hello! How are you?

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HE LAUGHS

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Hello!

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Well, this is a tremendous experience.

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I'm not going to stick my fingers in there so she can get it,

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that's for sure.

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'She's certainly not the fearsome monster I was led to expect.

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'In its own environment,

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'the beautiful conger eel is a secretive and magnificent creature.'

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'And in all my years of diving,

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'I can honestly say I've never been kissed by a fish before!'

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I think that was the perfect conger eel encounter.

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I don't think you could possibly get any better.

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You could get a sense of the beauty and grace of this fabulous animal,

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even though she was one side of the boiler and I was on the other.

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I'm in love!

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The calm seas and warm climate of the south

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bring a huge variety of marine animals to these shores.

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But they're not the only ones who flock here.

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The wildlife has to share these seas.

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In Dorset's Studland Bay, there's a conflict of interest

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between our actions and the needs of some very special marine creatures.

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Tooni went to investigate.

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This bay is home to one of Britain's most unexpected inhabitants.

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Small in size, but large in character,

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you might think you'd only see them in tropical waters.

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But Studland Bay is famous for its seahorses.

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Six years ago, local conservationist Steve Trewhella

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discovered a pregnant seahorse here,

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suggesting that Studland Bay is home to a breeding colony.

0:22:390:22:43

I know it sounds silly, but when we're looking for seahorses

0:22:430:22:46

you have to go into seahorse mode.

0:22:460:22:48

You have to think like a seahorse. Where would you be if you were a seahorse?

0:22:480:22:52

They are very, very hard to find.

0:22:520:22:55

Studland Bay is now recognised as one of the most important seahorse sites in Europe,

0:22:580:23:02

and there's a good reason they're here.

0:23:020:23:05

'Just a few metres deep, lies this bed of thick eel grass,

0:23:070:23:11

'a perfect seahorse habitat,

0:23:110:23:13

'but one that makes them difficult to find.'

0:23:130:23:16

So, Steve, what's the best method to try to find seahorses in the eel grass?

0:23:180:23:23

A combination of extreme patience and good eyesight!

0:23:230:23:27

You have to just really take your time

0:23:270:23:29

-and just sort of sweep through carefully.

-OK.

0:23:290:23:32

Eel grass needs shallow, protected waters to flourish,

0:23:340:23:37

so the sheltered bays of the south coast are ideal.

0:23:370:23:41

Eel grass beds are incredibly important for a whole range of species,

0:23:410:23:48

because it provides this fantastic wealth of places to hide,

0:23:480:23:54

it would be incredibly difficult

0:23:540:23:56

for a predator to come in here and find anything,

0:23:560:23:58

as it's proving for us to find a seahorse.

0:23:580:24:02

Ha-ha!

0:24:130:24:16

Look! I have found a spiny seahorse.

0:24:160:24:20

I know you're not meant to get sentimental about creatures,

0:24:240:24:27

but she's so beautiful.

0:24:270:24:31

Astonishing!

0:24:310:24:32

'Seahorses may not look like it,

0:24:330:24:35

'but they are in fact fish.

0:24:350:24:37

'They blend into the weeds,

0:24:370:24:39

'and prey upon passing tiny animals.'

0:24:390:24:41

And these little spines that are coming off her head,

0:24:430:24:46

they help her camouflage herself

0:24:460:24:49

to basically disappear into the eel grass.

0:24:490:24:51

'We've only just discovered that seahorses are breeding here,

0:25:100:25:14

'and yet we could be about to lose them.

0:25:140:25:16

'The rich eel grass essential for their survival is incredibly fragile

0:25:160:25:21

'and is being destroyed...by us.'

0:25:210:25:25

'While I'm with the seahorses,

0:25:280:25:30

'Frank is finding out how this precious habitat is being damaged.'

0:25:300:25:34

These mooring buoys look pretty harmless,

0:25:390:25:42

but underneath this float and the rope

0:25:420:25:44

there's about a ten-metre length of chain sitting on the sea bed.

0:25:440:25:48

And every time the tide changes,

0:25:480:25:51

that chain scythes round in a circle and before long,

0:25:510:25:55

you've got a 20-metre wide bald patch on the sea bed.

0:25:550:25:58

These chains are the big problem.

0:26:010:26:04

Just adjacent to it, it's just bare sand

0:26:040:26:08

and I literally can't see any eel grass growing around me.

0:26:080:26:13

I mean, it's cleared as far as I can see.

0:26:130:26:18

And it's not just the buoys.

0:26:310:26:33

At the height of the summer,

0:26:330:26:34

there are up to 300 boats dropping anchor in this bay.

0:26:340:26:38

It's difficult to persuade people that doing something like chucking an anchor into what looks like weeds,

0:26:410:26:47

is actually destroying a very vulnerable and critical habitat.

0:26:470:26:51

'To study the impact on the seahorse population,

0:26:540:26:57

'Steve has been closely monitoring them.

0:26:570:27:00

'He has a special licence to tag these tiny creatures

0:27:010:27:05

'and track their movements.'

0:27:050:27:07

Bearing in mind they're not radio tags, they're purely visual -

0:27:080:27:12

you have re-find the animal -

0:27:120:27:14

it proves that they're highly territorial.

0:27:140:27:16

We're going back to the same location every week

0:27:160:27:19

and re-finding many of these tagged seahorses.

0:27:190:27:23

Well, I sincerely hope that you see her again later in the year

0:27:230:27:26

and that you manage to see her a few times.

0:27:260:27:28

Well, hopefully we will,

0:27:280:27:30

and next time we see her she may well be with a mate,

0:27:300:27:32

so, hopefully breeding successfully - that's what she's come here to do.

0:27:320:27:36

Bye-bye, beautiful.

0:27:390:27:41

When you look out on Studland Bay,

0:27:540:27:57

it's easy to see how the destruction of this precious seahorse habitat

0:27:570:28:01

is going unnoticed.

0:28:010:28:02

By highlighting the plight of the seahorses

0:28:040:28:07

and the importance of the eel grass they live in,

0:28:070:28:10

perhaps the conservationists can now raise public awareness

0:28:100:28:14

and keep these magical creatures safe.

0:28:140:28:17

'Just north of Studland Bay, Frank and I are back with the team

0:28:230:28:27

'investigating the Swash Channel wreck,

0:28:270:28:30

'one of the archaeological finds of the century.

0:28:300:28:33

'But time is running out...'

0:28:330:28:35

The archaeologists are working every hour they can

0:28:410:28:44

to document and excavate the mysterious Swash Channel wreck.

0:28:440:28:47

Frank is underwater with them now

0:28:470:28:50

to investigate why the archaeologists have to work so fast

0:28:500:28:54

in order to save this wreck.

0:28:540:28:55

All of what you see here is only here

0:28:560:28:59

because it was once covered by sediment.

0:28:590:29:01

That sediment's now gone.

0:29:010:29:03

'The natural erosion of the sea bed,

0:29:030:29:06

'which has exposed the wreck from beneath the sand

0:29:060:29:08

'has also exposed her to danger.'

0:29:080:29:11

First of all, you get the scouring from the sand as the currents swish past

0:29:110:29:16

and then you also expose it to oxygen

0:29:160:29:18

and therefore bacterial decay starts eating the wood.

0:29:180:29:21

But there is one further, much more sinister threat

0:29:210:29:25

that this wreck faces.

0:29:250:29:27

'She's now under attack from some small but brutal sea creatures.'

0:29:270:29:31

At Bournemouth University, marine archaeologist Paola Palma

0:29:380:29:42

is trying to find out how fast the ship is being destroyed.

0:29:420:29:46

The surface of the wreck is being eaten away

0:29:460:29:49

by a small crustacean called a gribble.

0:29:490:29:53

-Hi.

-Hi.

0:29:530:29:55

'Tooni's gone to her lab

0:29:550:29:56

'to see these shipwreck wreckers for herself.'

0:29:560:30:00

So these are obviously very tiny

0:30:000:30:03

and they don't go inside the core of the wood,

0:30:030:30:07

but they stay on the surface.

0:30:070:30:09

And what they do, they cause all this superficial degradation.

0:30:090:30:13

-Bits flaking...

-Yes, bits falling off everywhere.

-Absolutely.

0:30:130:30:16

The damage that these organisms cause is fast

0:30:160:30:20

and is quite ferocious.

0:30:200:30:23

But as damaging as the gribble is,

0:30:230:30:26

there's an even more destructive animal at large on the wreck.

0:30:260:30:30

So the gribbles are causing this roughing of the surface,

0:30:300:30:34

but it's something different that's causing this actual real structural damage.

0:30:340:30:38

It is indeed. This is the shipworm.

0:30:380:30:40

And you can see it even better here.

0:30:400:30:43

You see a perfect example

0:30:430:30:46

of the kind of tunnels that are left by the shipworm.

0:30:460:30:50

You can also smell it, probably!

0:30:500:30:52

-I can!

-It smells quite badly, doesn't it?

0:30:520:30:54

And it's something that...

0:30:540:30:56

looks like this...

0:30:560:31:00

It turns out shipworm is not a worm at all, but a mollusc,

0:31:010:31:06

like a mussel or a cockle.

0:31:060:31:08

They burrow into the wood,

0:31:080:31:09

leaving behind them these chalk-lined tunnels.

0:31:090:31:13

But to see the full extent of the damage,

0:31:150:31:17

we need to take a look inside.

0:31:170:31:21

A bit of archaeological baking.

0:31:210:31:24

Back in a minute.

0:31:240:31:25

As you can see, they are quite impressive.

0:31:290:31:32

You can even see, very clearly,

0:31:320:31:35

the shell of the organism.

0:31:350:31:38

I guess the main thing about the shipworm is that it's not actually biting into the wood,

0:31:380:31:43

it's literally boring into the wood with these incredibly impressive bivalve shells.

0:31:430:31:48

And it's only when you see them on the close-up on the microscope,

0:31:480:31:52

that you see every single serrated edge.

0:31:520:31:55

And it's actually this rotation of this shell

0:31:550:31:58

that's literally diving and digging down

0:31:580:32:01

into the timbers of the shipwreck.

0:32:010:32:02

Parts of this wreck could be entirely destroyed by these creatures

0:32:040:32:07

in just a few short years.

0:32:070:32:11

It's an absolute disaster.

0:32:110:32:12

We're not just talking about one single organism,

0:32:120:32:15

but we're talking about millions of organisms.

0:32:150:32:18

So the damage that they cause is absolutely, you know, horrendous.

0:32:180:32:23

We're seeing that already, in one year,

0:32:230:32:26

the damage is irreversible.

0:32:260:32:28

'Back on the Swash Channel wreck,

0:32:320:32:34

'lead archaeologist Dave Parham

0:32:340:32:37

'is all too aware of the damage these creatures cause.'

0:32:370:32:41

This is what the timber surface would've been like when it was first uncovered.

0:32:410:32:45

Outside of that you can see shipworm and gribble tunnels.

0:32:450:32:50

This is really a case study in how well sediment can preserve wood.

0:32:500:32:54

Cos when this is covered, this is protected.

0:32:540:32:57

But give it a few years and it'll be gone completely.

0:32:570:33:00

And that same degradation you can see all the way along the line.

0:33:020:33:07

This wood is rotting away before our eyes.

0:33:070:33:10

So there's a real sense of urgency here.

0:33:100:33:12

With the site under attack and the clock ticking,

0:33:140:33:18

Dave and his team must do everything they can

0:33:180:33:20

to preserve this precious ship.

0:33:200:33:23

Frank and I will be looking into this later.

0:33:230:33:26

Our southern shores host some of Britain's favourite holiday destinations,

0:33:290:33:34

with seaside attractions and beaches drawing millions of people.

0:33:340:33:38

But sometimes the real treasures are just beneath our feet.

0:33:380:33:42

Tooni's gone to Brighton to see what's beside us,

0:33:420:33:45

when we're beside the sea.

0:33:450:33:47

Brighton, in East Sussex,

0:33:510:33:53

was one of the UK's first seaside resorts

0:33:530:33:55

and still throngs with visitors today,

0:33:550:33:58

attracting over eight million people a year.

0:33:580:34:01

And many of them will visit Brighton's famous palace pier.

0:34:010:34:06

It was built in 1899,

0:34:100:34:12

at a time when the well-to-do liked to stride out into the ocean,

0:34:120:34:15

gaze across the sea, decide which small nation to conquer next,

0:34:150:34:19

all without getting their feet wet.

0:34:190:34:21

But I'm not here for the fairground rides and candy floss,

0:34:280:34:31

I've come to see the attractions below the pier.

0:34:310:34:35

It may have been built for pleasure,

0:34:350:34:38

but this pier has created a huge artificial reef.

0:34:380:34:41

And we've been given special permission to go underneath it.

0:34:430:34:46

This 500-metre long intricate lattice of steel beams

0:34:500:34:53

creates the habitat that allows marine life to flourish.

0:34:530:34:58

That looks good. Does it feel OK?

0:34:580:35:01

-MUFFLED

-That feels good.

0:35:010:35:03

It's very eerie being down here underneath the pier.

0:35:210:35:25

Funny to think of everybody playing the slot machines and eating doughnuts above.

0:35:250:35:29

'The first arrivals to colonise this space

0:35:320:35:34

'would have been the "clingers"

0:35:340:35:36

'- barnacles and mussels.

0:35:360:35:38

'Without rocks to latch on to,

0:35:380:35:40

'these creatures would not be here.

0:35:400:35:42

'But the steel beams of the pier

0:35:420:35:44

'effectively create a 12-metre skyscraper for them to live on.'

0:35:440:35:49

This is just absolutely jam-packed full of mussels,

0:35:490:35:53

all filter feeding and open.

0:35:530:35:56

And where one thing comes, many others will too

0:35:560:35:59

and you get an entire eco-system,

0:35:590:36:02

so predator and prey.

0:36:020:36:04

But it's the mussels and the starfish

0:36:040:36:06

that are right at the basis of that food chain here.

0:36:060:36:09

These starfish are the mussels' worst enemy.

0:36:120:36:15

They're actually voracious predators,

0:36:150:36:17

but they feed on mussels in quite an interesting way.

0:36:170:36:20

The starfish yank the shell apart

0:36:200:36:23

and then evert their stomachs.

0:36:230:36:25

So they literally pull their stomach out through their mouth,

0:36:250:36:30

sink it into the mussel

0:36:300:36:32

and digest the mussel in its own shell.

0:36:320:36:35

Everywhere you look, it's just mussel, after mussel, after mussel,

0:36:390:36:43

being eaten by starfish, after starfish, after starfish.

0:36:430:36:47

'And mussels aren't their only prey.

0:36:520:36:55

'This whelk will soon succumb to the starfish's deadly embrace.'

0:36:550:37:01

Look at this amazing fish.

0:37:070:37:09

It's a gurnard.

0:37:090:37:11

They live completely on the sea floor, don't really swim that much.

0:37:110:37:14

Camouflage is their main defence against predators.

0:37:140:37:19

What we're swimming over at the moment

0:37:230:37:25

is pretty much what the sea floor would have been like

0:37:250:37:29

had the Victorians not built this pier above.

0:37:290:37:32

Flat, barren with not much for life to cling on to.

0:37:320:37:36

Here, on the other hand,

0:37:380:37:40

marine life has completely encrusted the surfaces of these metal structures.

0:37:400:37:45

SHE LAUGHS

0:37:490:37:50

Little tompot blenny

0:37:500:37:53

just hiding in this pipe here.

0:37:530:37:57

They're really beautiful fish.

0:37:570:37:59

Just goes to show that every single nook and cranny

0:37:590:38:03

is utilised by one animal or another.

0:38:030:38:06

'It may have started as a Victorian playground,

0:38:090:38:12

'but this pier is now a thriving eco-system,

0:38:120:38:15

'home to millions of sea creatures.'

0:38:150:38:18

-SHE LAUGHS

-Now you see him, now you don't!

0:38:180:38:21

It's remarkable.

0:38:240:38:25

'It's good to know that sometimes our actions help marine life to prosper...

0:38:250:38:30

'even if it's entirely accidental.'

0:38:300:38:33

Good down there?

0:38:420:38:44

Yep, it's very, very murky.

0:38:440:38:48

It's crazy and gloomy down there.

0:38:480:38:51

And it's hilarious just coming out

0:38:510:38:53

and watching people walking along on the pier above you

0:38:530:38:56

and hearing this thumping music,

0:38:560:38:58

when you've just been down amongst the peace and quiet

0:38:580:39:01

and the gloom of the mussel beds.

0:39:010:39:03

Fantastic.

0:39:030:39:05

Nearly 200 kilometres away from the bustle of Brighton is Lyme Bay,

0:39:140:39:19

part of Dorset's sweeping Jurassic coast.

0:39:190:39:22

This huge sheltered cove, warmed by the gulf stream,

0:39:220:39:27

is one of the country's richest areas of marine life

0:39:270:39:30

and home to beautiful British corals.

0:39:300:39:33

But it's also an area vital to our fishing industry.

0:39:330:39:36

Scallops are one of my favourite foods

0:39:380:39:40

and the ones here in Lyme Bay are just legendary.

0:39:400:39:45

But while we might all enjoy a tasty fish supper,

0:39:450:39:47

how much do we really know about the journey our seafood takes

0:39:470:39:51

from the sea floor to our dinner plate?

0:39:510:39:55

Increasing numbers of us choose to buy free-range chickens

0:39:560:40:00

or organic beef.

0:40:000:40:02

But how many of us ask how our seafood is sourced?

0:40:020:40:05

Most scallops are caught by dredging.

0:40:070:40:09

Dredgers are great heavy metal rakes that get dragged along the sea bed,

0:40:090:40:14

a bit like my fingers in the sand.

0:40:140:40:16

And they're very, very efficient,

0:40:160:40:18

collecting thousands upon thousands of scallops.

0:40:180:40:21

But the problem is they collect everything on the sea floor,

0:40:210:40:24

not just the scallops.

0:40:240:40:27

'To see first-hand the impact dredging may have on our seabed,

0:40:280:40:33

'Tooni has gone out into Lyme Bay.'

0:40:330:40:36

There's a lot of debate about the pros and cons of dredging.

0:40:360:40:40

Is our love of seafood putting the marine environment at risk,

0:40:400:40:43

or can we find a way for the two to peacefully co-exist?

0:40:430:40:46

'I'm going in,

0:40:480:40:50

'to explore the scallop beds which get regularly dredged.'

0:40:500:40:54

'The only scallops left here are the ones too small for the dredge nets.'

0:40:560:41:00

SHE GIGGLES

0:41:090:41:11

Such funny animals!

0:41:160:41:18

They are total comedy molluscs.

0:41:190:41:23

Love them.

0:41:230:41:25

It's as though they're puppets being pulled by strings.

0:41:250:41:28

Off you go.

0:41:280:41:30

SHE LAUGHS

0:41:300:41:33

That movement is actually the adductor muscle inside them

0:41:340:41:37

which opens and shuts the shell.

0:41:370:41:41

But unfortunately, it's that that we're so keen on eating.

0:41:410:41:45

'Although the dredgers are designed

0:41:450:41:48

'to leave the smaller scallops behind,

0:41:480:41:50

'as they trawl a path across the sea bed

0:41:500:41:53

'there's little else left in their wake.'

0:41:530:41:55

Eugh. Such a muddy, horrible bit of seabed.

0:41:560:42:03

It just feels really desolate,

0:42:040:42:06

like a desert, essentially.

0:42:060:42:09

I don't know. It really does feel like some huge destructive force

0:42:090:42:14

has really gone through the whole place

0:42:140:42:16

and just left it a real wasteland.

0:42:160:42:20

'But left alone,

0:42:240:42:25

'the sea bed can look very different.

0:42:250:42:29

'I've come to another part of the bay

0:42:290:42:32

'where the sea floor is scattered with large boulders.

0:42:320:42:35

'These can damage the towing gear,

0:42:350:42:37

'so this area has never been dredged.'

0:42:370:42:39

'This reef is home to some extraordinary creatures.

0:42:430:42:47

'These pink sea fans are actually slow-growing, cold-water corals.'

0:42:470:42:53

This is a colony of loads of individual animals,

0:43:030:43:06

growing in this wonderful fan-shaped structure.

0:43:060:43:11

Now, they're all aligned, perpendicular to the current,

0:43:110:43:14

which flows directly through them.

0:43:140:43:16

That's so they get the maximum amount of food.

0:43:160:43:20

Now the thing about pink sea fans is

0:43:230:43:25

they're exceptionally slow-growing.

0:43:250:43:28

This colony here would be about 10 to 15 years old.

0:43:280:43:33

What a beautiful perch of reef.

0:43:350:43:37

Not something you'd expect off the south coast of Britain.

0:43:390:43:43

To protect this fragile marine environment,

0:43:460:43:49

the government has now made part of Lyme Bay an exclusion zone.

0:43:490:43:54

Within these 155 square kilometres,

0:43:540:43:57

no scallop dredging is allowed.

0:43:570:44:00

But not everyone is a fan of the protection scheme.

0:44:020:44:05

The fishermen here feel that the exclusion zone is too big

0:44:050:44:10

and that they are paying the price.

0:44:100:44:13

Nick Prust has been fishing this area since he was 15.

0:44:140:44:18

A lot of our most lucrative grounds are now taken.

0:44:180:44:22

What we're saying is, within the Lyme Bay closure area,

0:44:220:44:26

there are areas that are not reef,

0:44:260:44:28

that hold considerable stocks of scallops

0:44:280:44:30

-that could still be fished.

-Right.

0:44:300:44:33

The worrying part is the speed that it's all happening.

0:44:330:44:35

To us, it's too much, too quick.

0:44:350:44:39

What do you think are the solutions for Lyme Bay?

0:44:390:44:41

Areas should be opened up, away from the reefs,

0:44:410:44:44

we know where they are,

0:44:440:44:45

and let the fishing industry continue to fish,

0:44:450:44:48

because it'll work.

0:44:480:44:51

This is a complex issue

0:44:560:44:57

and tensions are understandably high.

0:44:570:45:02

Is there a way to protect the livelihoods of our fishermen,

0:45:020:45:06

without destroying our slow-growing corals?

0:45:060:45:10

We're a nation of fish-eaters

0:45:160:45:18

and it's our demand that drives the dredging industry,

0:45:180:45:21

so it doesn't help to point the finger at fishermen

0:45:210:45:24

whose livelihood depends on that dredging.

0:45:240:45:26

There are no easy answers, but ultimately we all have a choice.

0:45:280:45:33

So the next time you buy fish,

0:45:330:45:35

it's worth asking where it comes from and how it's been caught.

0:45:350:45:39

'Delicate corals aren't the only secrets hidden in Lyme Bay.'

0:45:450:45:49

Its strategic position and calm waters

0:45:490:45:52

led to it becoming the site of a key naval base

0:45:520:45:55

which played a crucial role in both world wars.

0:45:550:45:59

'Frank is delving into the fascinating story

0:46:010:46:04

'of a truly incredible naval invention.'

0:46:040:46:07

She was a British submarine called the M2

0:46:090:46:12

and she's got a unique place in Royal Naval history.

0:46:120:46:16

The HMS M2 was built in 1920

0:46:160:46:21

and was originally fitted with a single 12-inch gun.

0:46:210:46:25

But after four years,

0:46:270:46:29

she was withdrawn from service

0:46:290:46:31

and reassigned for experimental use.

0:46:310:46:35

The navy had a cunning idea.

0:46:350:46:37

They took the huge gun off the M2

0:46:370:46:39

and replaced it with a watertight aircraft hangar.

0:46:390:46:42

Then they commissioned a miniature two-seat biplane

0:46:420:46:46

that fitted inside it,

0:46:460:46:47

and could be catapulted off the front.

0:46:470:46:50

Suddenly, the navy had an incredible new weapon.

0:46:500:46:54

They had the range and stealth of a submarine,

0:46:540:46:57

but they also had an eye in the sky.

0:46:570:47:00

The ingenious plan was to send her ahead of the battle fleet

0:47:020:47:06

as a reconnaissance scout.

0:47:060:47:07

The sub would surface,

0:47:070:47:10

its tiny plane unfolded and launched,

0:47:100:47:13

all within a matter of minutes.

0:47:130:47:15

'As a marine archaeologist,

0:47:210:47:22

'I've always been fascinated by the history of the M2

0:47:220:47:26

'and the dive support team are keen to hear her story.'

0:47:260:47:29

That's obviously them launching the plane out the hangar,

0:47:290:47:32

but look at how low in the water she is.

0:47:320:47:35

-That looks hairy to me.

-No freeboard there at all.

0:47:350:47:38

The pilot would sit there with the engine going...

0:47:380:47:40

HE IMITATES ENGINE

0:47:400:47:41

..screaming, and then go...

0:47:410:47:44

and give the thumbs up,

0:47:440:47:45

and then on the deck beside him is the stoker.

0:47:450:47:48

The stoker is the guy that can launch the catapult,

0:47:480:47:51

but he can't actually do it himself,

0:47:510:47:53

because you have to wait for the captain's word.

0:47:530:47:56

So he signals up to the seaman on the conning tower,

0:47:560:47:58

who turns to the captain and goes, "Ready to launch, Sir?"

0:47:580:48:01

Meanwhile the guy is still... And then the captain goes, "Launch",

0:48:010:48:06

and the seaman goes "OK, launch" and goes like this to the stoker

0:48:060:48:09

who finally goes "Boof", and releases the catapult

0:48:090:48:12

and they hit 60 knots in - how far is that? About 40 foot.

0:48:120:48:17

It was an ambitious design.

0:48:200:48:22

But perhaps it's no surprise

0:48:220:48:24

that this eccentric vessel wasn't without its problems.

0:48:240:48:28

On the 26th January 1932 during routine exercises,

0:48:300:48:34

the M2 disappeared.

0:48:340:48:36

Eight days later, she was found at the bottom of the ocean.

0:48:380:48:41

One of the main things that they had to do in training,

0:48:420:48:45

was to cut the amount of time that it would take them to get to the surface,

0:48:450:48:49

and get that plane off, so they could hide that submarine again.

0:48:490:48:52

'All attempts to lift the submarine failed,

0:48:550:48:58

'so no-one's absolutely sure why the M2 sank.

0:48:580:49:02

'She's still lying 30 metres below the surface,

0:49:020:49:06

'just as she was almost 80 years ago.'

0:49:060:49:08

'As we descend the line, it soon becomes obvious we've got a problem.'

0:49:160:49:20

'We've dived into a thick bloom of plankton.'

0:49:250:49:28

So where is the ship?

0:49:320:49:34

Here we are and we've made the M2,

0:49:440:49:46

but, my God, we could be anywhere.

0:49:460:49:49

But anyway, there in the murk you can see...

0:49:490:49:52

Oh, I've lost it.

0:49:540:49:55

Frank to surface, Frank to surface.

0:49:590:50:02

We cannot see a thing down here.

0:50:020:50:05

I'm afraid we're going to have to call this off. Over.

0:50:050:50:08

'OK. Got that, loud and clear. Thank you.'

0:50:080:50:12

'It's a huge disappointment,

0:50:120:50:16

'but the M2 has intrigued me for too long to give up now.

0:50:160:50:20

'I'll be back when the water has cleared.'

0:50:200:50:23

We were here three weeks ago and the visibility was just terrible.

0:50:320:50:36

We could hardly see our hands in front of our faces.

0:50:360:50:39

But the word is that the plankton bloom has died off

0:50:390:50:42

and the visibility has cleared right up.

0:50:420:50:44

Hopefully this time we can see something and have a look around.

0:50:440:50:47

OK, I've got a lot more vis now.

0:50:570:51:02

Wow, here she is, looming out of the murk.

0:51:040:51:08

Absolutely wonderful.

0:51:110:51:14

The scale of the thing takes your breath away.

0:51:190:51:22

Magnificent.

0:51:220:51:24

So, this here is the periscope.

0:51:340:51:39

And here is the conning tower

0:51:450:51:47

where the officers would have stood when the submarine was at the surface

0:51:470:51:52

and they'd be scanning the sea.

0:51:520:51:54

And then when the time came,

0:51:580:52:00

they would give the order to launch the airplane up in the sky.

0:52:000:52:05

'The amazing thing about the wreck of the M2

0:52:090:52:12

'is that 80 years after she sank,

0:52:120:52:15

'she's almost completely intact.

0:52:150:52:18

'Which means the clues as to why she sank are still here.'

0:52:180:52:22

Here is the aircraft hangar.

0:52:250:52:28

This is where the miniature biplane was stored.

0:52:280:52:34

Look at this, it's incredible.

0:52:370:52:39

You can see that these doors are still wide open,

0:52:420:52:46

this is the prime suspect here for what caused the end of the M2.

0:52:460:52:52

These crews were trying very, very hard to make this concept work.

0:52:580:53:03

The question is, were they trying too hard?

0:53:030:53:06

Perhaps this was opened too fast

0:53:080:53:11

when the submarine came to the surface.

0:53:110:53:13

As the aircraft was being pushed out,

0:53:130:53:15

the sea rushed in,

0:53:150:53:17

flooded the interior of the submarine

0:53:170:53:20

and sent it down to the bottom where we see it today.

0:53:200:53:23

'Many believe the sinking of the M2 was down to human error,

0:53:260:53:31

'but it could have been a technical malfunction.

0:53:310:53:35

'She sank so fast

0:53:350:53:37

'that no-one lived to tell the tale.'

0:53:370:53:40

During the attempts to salvage the M2,

0:53:430:53:46

all of the access hatches were sealed with concrete.

0:53:460:53:49

They only ever recovered two bodies.

0:53:490:53:53

So the remains of the 60-odd crew men are still inside.

0:53:530:54:00

The M2 is a designated military grave,

0:54:000:54:04

it's a steel coffin on the sea bed.

0:54:040:54:07

'This unique wreck is a poignant reminder

0:54:110:54:14

'of what an unforgiving place the ocean can be.'

0:54:140:54:17

Back outside Poole harbour,

0:54:230:54:26

the archaeologists excavating the mysterious Swash Channel wreck

0:54:260:54:29

are fighting to save her.

0:54:290:54:33

They may not know her full story,

0:54:330:54:36

but they do know what an important discovery they have on their hands.

0:54:360:54:40

It's interesting and important because we've got bits of ship that don't exist anywhere else.

0:54:440:54:48

If you were to summarise what you've learnt so far?

0:54:480:54:50

We've learnt, since the beginning of this really...

0:54:500:54:53

Initially this was quite a small wreck of unknown character,

0:54:530:54:56

now we know it's a large wreck, it's high-status, it's in these carvings.

0:54:560:55:00

It's built and constructed to trade out to the tropics

0:55:000:55:03

in a period when this was something new.

0:55:030:55:06

What this ship was engaged in, and other ships like it were engaged in,

0:55:060:55:10

is the reason why we have Japanese cars and Chinese videos.

0:55:100:55:14

So actually, in world-history terms, this is an important object.

0:55:140:55:18

But you are now engaged in this race,

0:55:180:55:21

because this thing is deteriorating fast, right?

0:55:210:55:24

So you're in a big, big race.

0:55:240:55:26

We've watched it fall apart in front of our eyes for five years.

0:55:260:55:29

But you can only do one thing at a time.

0:55:290:55:32

'With such rapid deterioration,

0:55:320:55:35

'there's pressure on the team to preserve the ship.

0:55:350:55:38

'And the basics of preservation are a lot simpler than you might think.

0:55:400:55:44

'Some of the wreck can be covered up

0:55:440:55:47

'and protected for the future.'

0:55:470:55:49

What happens is all the sediment finds its way into the nooks and the crannies between these sandbags

0:55:490:55:55

and that actually forms a seal.

0:55:550:55:57

It might sound a bit rudimentary, but it actually really works.

0:55:570:56:00

'And what can't be covered, can at least be recorded.'

0:56:000:56:05

What you can do is take pictures of exactly what the sea bed looks like

0:56:050:56:11

and build that up into a sort of photomosaic.

0:56:110:56:14

And I do row after row after row,

0:56:140:56:18

so that all is not lost -

0:56:180:56:21

when this wreck is physically gone,

0:56:210:56:23

the information isn't.

0:56:230:56:25

'Ultimately, the best way to preserve a shipwreck

0:56:310:56:34

'is to lift it from the water altogether.

0:56:340:56:36

'But the expense and logistics involved

0:56:360:56:39

'make that almost impossible.'

0:56:390:56:41

'But remarkably, that's just what's going to happen

0:56:430:56:47

'to large parts of the Swash Channel wreck.'

0:56:470:56:50

We're going to raise the first 12 metres of the bow,

0:56:510:56:54

the rest of it, we're going to bury in situ and leave it there.

0:56:540:56:57

But to you archaeologists, it seems quite routine.

0:56:570:57:00

Let's chop it right off and bring it up. In archaeological terms, that's probably quite normal.

0:57:000:57:05

No, it's not normal at all!

0:57:050:57:06

-It's completely extraordinary, no-one's done it for 30 years.

-Wow!

0:57:060:57:10

Last time in Britain it was in the Mary Rose.

0:57:100:57:12

It's as extraordinary as I thought then!

0:57:120:57:15

Raising the Swash Channel wreck will be an arduous task

0:57:170:57:21

which Dave and his team will attempt later this year.

0:57:210:57:24

There's still a long way to go

0:57:260:57:28

before we discover all of the secrets of the Swash Channel wreck,

0:57:280:57:31

but due to the painstaking work of the archaeologists,

0:57:310:57:34

she has now been revealed as one of the most important wrecks in our waters.

0:57:340:57:39

This series has revealed the secret world

0:57:430:57:45

that lies beneath Britain's seas.

0:57:450:57:47

I've never seen anything like this,

0:57:470:57:50

I'm just being surrounded by dorsal fins.

0:57:500:57:52

Uncovering our magical marine life, mysterious wrecks,

0:57:520:57:57

and our ever-changing relationship with the sea.

0:57:570:58:00

These are what we're after.

0:58:000:58:02

Look what else has come up as well!

0:58:020:58:04

Our native waters are every bit as dramatic,

0:58:040:58:08

colourful, and surprising

0:58:080:58:12

as any of the oceans of the world.

0:58:120:58:14

You can really get a sense of how fast they hit the water

0:58:140:58:17

and stun those fish!

0:58:170:58:19

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:220:58:25

E-mail [email protected]

0:58:250:58:28

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