0:00:09 > 0:00:15I'm back on home territory, on Edinburgh's mighty seaway, the Firth of Forth.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24And I can promise you some extraordinary encounters.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Miranda Krestovnikoff gets dive-bombed by gannets.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31This is what gannets are really famous for -
0:00:31 > 0:00:35this plummet right into the water to catch the fish.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Dick Strawbridge has a riveting experience.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Imagine doing half a million of these.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46- Do you still believe you can move it?- Yes!
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Go!
0:00:49 > 0:00:52And some tough ladies pit themselves against a two-tonne lifeboat
0:00:52 > 0:00:56to test the legend of a famous rescue.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is Coast.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Where the Firth of Forth meets the North Sea,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30standing sentinel is Bass Rock.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Sir David Attenborough calls this huge rock
0:01:33 > 0:01:36and its 150,000-strong gannet colony
0:01:36 > 0:01:39one of the wildlife wonders of the world.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52Somewhere out there in amongst all that invigorating weather is the Bass Rock.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Now, I've tried on three separate occasions to land there for Coast,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00and every time the weather has defeated me, but Coast doesn't give up easily.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Maybe Miranda will have more luck.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Bass Rock looks almost welcoming in the early morning sun.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14'I really want to get out there to see the gannets close up.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20'And I'm not alone - Ben and Kirsty Burville are amateur wildlife photographers and keen divers.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24'In their day jobs, Ben is a doctor, and Kirsty is a teacher.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28'They've come to Scotland to attempt something really ambitious.'
0:02:30 > 0:02:35They're going to try and film the Bass Rock gannets diving underwater,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37something I have always wanted to do,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40and it's anything but straightforward.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45Even though they're amateur film-makers, their track record is pretty good.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49This footage of Ben diving with seals was taken by Kirsty
0:02:49 > 0:02:52just off the Farne Islands in Northumberland.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57So why gannets? What's the big attraction of filming gannets underwater?
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Over the Farnes every now and again, you get gannets diving down,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02but only ones and twos. It would be really, really interesting
0:03:02 > 0:03:06to see if I can could catch them as they going into the water from above the water and below,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08so where better to come but Bass Rock?
0:03:08 > 0:03:12- Kirsty, what are you being up to? - I'm going to be doing the filming topside,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16getting the gannets diving down, so it should be pretty spectacular.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19It's going to be a real adventure for the day for both of us.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23While our amateur film-makers head off to find gannets diving underwater,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26I'm taking the more direct route.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30To get a sense of the challenge Ben and Kirsty face, I need to see
0:03:30 > 0:03:35the birds up close, and you can only do that on their home base.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39It's not easy to set foot onto Bass Rock.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Strong currents swirl around the cliffs,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and the mooring site can be treacherous.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Today I'm lucky and I can venture onto the rock,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52with Maggie Sheddon of the Scottish Seabird Centre as my guide.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57This is absolutely splendid. You know this is a real first for Coast -
0:03:57 > 0:04:01no Coaster has ever been on Bass Rock, I'm the first.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06- Welcome.- This is amazing! I've never seen so many gannets in all my life.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11And it's the best time to be here, because the birds are rearing their young -
0:04:11 > 0:04:14that means the rock is full to capacity.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20150,000 birds and their demanding chicks all hungry for fish.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Out on the water, some of the gannets are starting to dive
0:04:23 > 0:04:26for their dinner within range of Kirsty's camera.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'Up here, it's a rare chance for me to get close to the gannets.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Normally you only see them in flight or as they're plunging into the sea.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40When they're diving, they hit the water at an incredible speed -
0:04:40 > 0:04:42how does their body actually cope with that?
0:04:42 > 0:04:47They can hit up to 60 mph. Basically they have air sacks that inflate.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53It tends to be around the neck, the upper chest area, they have a membrane that flips over the eye
0:04:53 > 0:04:57to protect the eye, and they have a moveable plate just at the back of the bill,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00so when they hit the water, everything is sealed,
0:05:00 > 0:05:06and literally, just before they dive in, the wings fold back like an arrow.
0:05:06 > 0:05:1160 miles per hour. With gannets hitting the water beak first at such high speed,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14getting hit by one would be serious for Ben.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19OK?
0:05:19 > 0:05:24'His plan is to shelter beneath the boat and try and film the dives from there,
0:05:24 > 0:05:30'so we'll have to encourage the birds to come as close as possible if Ben's going to have any chance.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:36To bring the birds in, we've got some really disgusting-smelling haddock heads here
0:05:36 > 0:05:41and some herring as well. The herring gulls have moved in, and now the gannets are coming in as well.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Now we're getting some plunging. Look at that, it's fantastic.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49'The gannets are diving closer to the boat, but still not close enough.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55'Sheltering under the boat, Ben will need to be within a few feet to get that crucial close-up.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59'To make things worse, he's battling strong tidal currents down there.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03'I'm using a pole camera to try and see how he's getting on.'
0:06:03 > 0:06:04I've found Ben.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11'Ben is surrounded by jellyfish, which makes getting close to the diving gannets even harder.'
0:06:13 > 0:06:16It's very, very difficult to get near to them.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19It's very hard to stay underneath the boat.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22'With Ben's dive time rapidly ticking away,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26'we finally manage to lure some gannet within range of his underwater camera.'
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Look at that!
0:06:30 > 0:06:34All of a sudden, they've just come right in.
0:06:34 > 0:06:41'We're seeing some great dives from up here, but underwater it's been a struggle.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:46'Ben's only had one chance. It's time to see whether
0:06:46 > 0:06:51'this amateur cameraman managed to get a shot a professional would be proud of.'
0:06:55 > 0:06:57So do you think you got anything good, then?
0:06:57 > 0:07:00I think there could be a couple of good shots in amongst the...
0:07:00 > 0:07:03As you can see, the visibility down there is not very good.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05- Bit green, isn't it? - A lot of green stuff there.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10- There you are! - Oh, well done! That was great!
0:07:10 > 0:07:15- So quick, isn't it?- Really quick, really quick. That's so brilliant, you did really well.
0:07:18 > 0:07:25Ben and Kirsty have managed to capture the spectacle of gannets diving underwater.
0:07:25 > 0:07:32'What I'm coming away with is a sense of wonder at this extraordinary bird city just off our coast.'
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Hidden away across the water from Bass Rock is a little secret.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51It's not easy to find, but Seacliff Harbour is reputedly Britain's smallest,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55and with an opening just 10 feet wide, I'm not going to argue.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59The harbour was constructed in 1890 by the local landowner,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03using a steam engine and compressed air to cut the stone.
0:08:03 > 0:08:09Once busy with small salmon fishing boats, now it's used by a solitary lobster fisherman.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20There's room at Dunbar Harbour for plenty of boats.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28But not far away was another invention,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33a tradition this time that's unique to fishing communities on the east coast.
0:08:35 > 0:08:3820 miles south of Dunbar is Eyemouth.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50When I woke up, I sort of forgot it was the big day,
0:08:50 > 0:08:56and then, when it dawned on me, all of a sudden the butterflies started up and...
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Oh...really nervous.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06Tamsin MacKechnie is about to be crowned the Eyemouth Herring Queen.
0:09:06 > 0:09:12It's a title created in 1939 to celebrate the life of the town's fishing industry.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16A new teenage queen is chosen each year.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21I had an interview with about five people, including the town provost,
0:09:21 > 0:09:22and later on that night,
0:09:22 > 0:09:26they came in and gathered us all together and told us who'd won.
0:09:26 > 0:09:32'I think they were looking really for someone who could be a role model to the younger children.'
0:09:32 > 0:09:37A lot of the past herring queens said to me it's pretty much like getting married, it's really a big day.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41I remember the pipers playing, I remember the parade
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and the great feeling for the day, it was fantastic.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Before all that, there's the traditional three-mile sea voyage,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54while ahead the town of Eyemouth awaits its queen.
0:09:56 > 0:10:02It was quite a privilege to be herring queen, I think - you felt you were representing Eyemouth.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06BAGPIPES PLAY
0:10:06 > 0:10:13During her year as herring queen, Tamsin will carry out civic duties. Today is her day.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15I'm really nervous, I'm shaking.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17There's all those people.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21I remember the last sentence of my speech was,
0:10:21 > 0:10:27"To fishermen all round our coast, I extend greetings and good sailing from this old fishing town."
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Next stop on our adventure south - Cullercoats.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57In the 19th century, Cullercoats was a thriving fishing village.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00It was the men who braved the North Sea,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05but what makes this place special is that it is the women of Cullercoats who are celebrated.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10I've got a copy of a painting here. What it shows
0:11:10 > 0:11:15is a group of villagers hauling a lifeboat along a beach, but when you look at it,
0:11:15 > 0:11:22almost the first thing you notice is that it's mostly women. In fact, the painting is called The Women,
0:11:22 > 0:11:29and there's an inscription on the frame that reads, "On New Year's Day 1861, the fisherwomen of Cullercoats
0:11:29 > 0:11:34"dragged the village lifeboat three miles along the coast in a blinding storm of snow and sleet,
0:11:34 > 0:11:40"to the rescue of the crew of a wrecked ship, The Lovely Nellie, and saved all the crew but one boy."
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Now, these must have been some tough women,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46but who were they?
0:11:47 > 0:11:51The women of Cullercoats were renowned for their strength and stamina.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54'They carried fish to sell around neighbouring villages,
0:11:54 > 0:12:01'ran the household and, according to some tails, even lifted their husbands out to the boats.
0:12:01 > 0:12:09'And to cap it all, my painting has them dragging a heavy lifeboat overland to rescue a stricken ship.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11'To get an insight into these hardy women,
0:12:11 > 0:12:16- 'I'm calling on the grand-daughter of one of Cullercoats' fisher wives.'- Come in.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Were women like your grandmother famous locally?
0:12:20 > 0:12:26It was only years after that people realised what a unique
0:12:26 > 0:12:28elite group they were.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33I just loved her. She was a lovely round little woman, you know, very kind and worked hard.
0:12:33 > 0:12:41You know, she had to walk miles and miles every day to sell the fish. She did that for 50 years.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43I've heard so much about how hard they worked.
0:12:43 > 0:12:50Well, the women did work hard. It was just their lives, and that's what they'd been dished out.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52They were tough!
0:12:55 > 0:13:00What I want to know is, are the modern women of Cullercoats as hardy as their great-grannies?
0:13:00 > 0:13:05There's only one way to find out - we're going to re-create the painting.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08The first volunteers have turned up...
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Women of Cullercoats...
0:13:10 > 0:13:11- ALL:- Yay!
0:13:11 > 0:13:16..legend has it that about 140 years the women of Cullercoats pulled a lifeboat
0:13:16 > 0:13:21through the teeth of a howling gale for three miles along the coast. That was then, this is now...
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Can you achieve the same feat?
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Yes!
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Well, the women seem to be game. All we need now is a lifeboat.
0:13:30 > 0:13:37'Luckily, Whitby Historic Lifeboat Trust have brought along a beautifully preserved specimen.'
0:13:37 > 0:13:43Is this more or less the kind of lifeboat that would have been used in that mid 19th-century rescue?
0:13:43 > 0:13:45It's the same type of boat.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48You'd find actually, if anything, she's one of the smaller ones,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52and that she's only 2¼ tonnes.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57You're saying this is one of the smaller ones. When I'm thinking of men hauling - or women - hauling it,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00it looks pretty big and heavy to me.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Do you think that women alone could have moved a lifeboat like that?
0:14:04 > 0:14:08- They did.- Oh, yes.- You would say that!- I would say that, but it is possible.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13- The question is, do they still make women like they used to? - That's going to be some effort.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16I'm intrigued to know why the women of old
0:14:16 > 0:14:20had to drag a boat weighing tonnes along this windswept headland.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30'Robert Oliver is a sixth-generation Cullercoats lifeboat man - perhaps he'll know.'
0:14:30 > 0:14:36In the painting, the boat's been dragged - where is it being dragged to?
0:14:36 > 0:14:39From Cullercoats here along the cliff top along to Brierdene,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43which is about two, two and a half mile north of our station.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47But it's a boat - why didn't they just put it in the water and go by sea?
0:14:47 > 0:14:52- On the day, it was a very, very severe weather, too bad to launch here.- So what did they do next?
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Some of the villagers would have got the horses and connected the horses
0:14:56 > 0:15:03- up to the boat to pull the lifeboat along the cliff top.- Horses?- Yes. - But it's women in the picture.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06The RNLI statement says there were horses.
0:15:06 > 0:15:07- They shouldn't be there!- Yeah.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12'Horses? That's really thrown me.'
0:15:14 > 0:15:17'I've got to dig deeper to discover the truth.'
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Robert was right.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23The Times of January 1861 says of the lifeboat,
0:15:23 > 0:15:30"It was dragged along the coast by six horses and launched from the sands amid great excitement."
0:15:30 > 0:15:35So The Times says there were horses - the painting shows women.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39To make sure OUR lifeboat gets dragged along the headland,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43'maybe the women of Cullercoats will need some help on standby.'
0:15:43 > 0:15:46- Hi, Charlie, how are you doing? - Nice to meet you.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50'These dray horses are powerful beasts and they're at the ready -
0:15:50 > 0:15:54'if needed - for our recreation of the Cullercoats lifeboat drag.'
0:15:54 > 0:15:58But what's nagging me is, if horses were used to pull the boat,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02then why aren't there any horses in my painting?
0:16:02 > 0:16:08If the artist wasn't recording a historical event, what WAS he trying to do?
0:16:08 > 0:16:12'I'm meeting local art historian Steve Ratcliffe.'
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Steve, what can you tell me about this painting?
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Well, this painting was painted by John Charlton in 1904,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23and at the time it was painted,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Cullercoats was a well-established artist colony.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30I don't think I expected to find great artists in this little corner of England.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36A lot of people are surprised by it, and they're quite stunned to find that a famous American artist,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Winslow Homer, was resident here for nearly two years.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46Over 20 years before Charlton painted the lifeboat drag, these pictures by the distinguished
0:16:46 > 0:16:51American artist Winslow Homer had already made the Cullercoats women famous.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56Homer captured the strength and dignity of the fisher wives. His work elevated them
0:16:56 > 0:17:00to near-mythological status, and these images of the Cullercoats
0:17:00 > 0:17:06women helped establish Winslow Homer as the greatest American painter of the 19th century.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09He painted the women time and time again,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13always engaged in the harsh day-to-day realities of coastal life.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Homer painted day-to-day life.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23Is this by Charlton a painting of plain fact?
0:17:23 > 0:17:29No, it's not, it's a symbolic painting - it's trying to express his feeling, his admiration for
0:17:29 > 0:17:36the women of Cullercoats through art, so he's used the historic background, the 1861 rescue of The Lovely Nellie,
0:17:36 > 0:17:42to let people know that he has a message to tell them of his respect and admiration for those women.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47'So, if my painting is a romantic image of the women of Cullercoats,
0:17:47 > 0:17:48'perhaps it was created'
0:17:48 > 0:17:54because a great artist had already immortalised them over 20 years earlier.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58But the legend of the lifeboat drag persists. It's an heroic story
0:17:58 > 0:18:04I still want to believe. Could the women really have done it? Time to find out.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09Right then, you said you could do this, do you still believe you can move it?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Yes!
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Three, two, one...
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Go!
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Now, the thing is, this is quite good fun in a way, but you have to remember
0:18:32 > 0:18:34that on New Year's Day 1861,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38the crew of a stricken ship, The Lovely Nellie, was somewhere
0:18:38 > 0:18:45out there in a dreadful storm, so this wasn't about fun that day, it was life and death.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51'On the flat, the women are getting a real momentum going,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55'but on the upward slopes it gets tougher and tougher,
0:18:55 > 0:19:02'and don't forget - on the night of the rescue, the boat was being pulled on a heavy wooden carriage.'
0:19:02 > 0:19:08Right, that's it, enough's enough, you've done far more than I expected, honestly,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11but I'm going to bring in the horses, so down ropes.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Well done!
0:19:16 > 0:19:20'Just as on the night of the rescue, what was needed to cope with the terrain
0:19:20 > 0:19:24'was the addition of some genuine horsepower.'
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Oh, no bother!
0:19:35 > 0:19:39'I've spent a long time piecing together the facts of the night of the wreck of The Lovely Nellie
0:19:39 > 0:19:44'over a 140 years ago. What I've discovered is that
0:19:44 > 0:19:49'the whole community AND their horses came to the rescue of the crew,
0:19:49 > 0:19:50'saving all the lives bar one.'
0:19:59 > 0:20:03And whether it was horsepower or woman-power that hauled the boat down to the water,
0:20:03 > 0:20:08it's the power of legend that's given life to the story of the Cullercoats women.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20A few miles south of Cullercoats, you come to the mouth of the Tyne and the city of Newcastle.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23For centuries, coal was exported down this river,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28but in March 1998 the last of the export vessels left the Tyne.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35These days, the river is handling coal again, but now it's imported -
0:20:35 > 0:20:39coal comes in here all the way from Russia.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44Looks like sending coals to Newcastle is no longer a fool's errand.
0:20:47 > 0:20:53Continuing south, we hit another famous north-eastern river, the Wear.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58Sunderland could once boast it was the largest shipbuilding town in the world.
0:20:58 > 0:21:06During the Second World War, over a quarter of our merchant and navy ships were built here,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11but as wartime production boomed, the seeds of a devastating decline were being sown.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19Engineer Dick Strawbridge wants to know what silenced the shipyards.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Boats were built here for over 600 years.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Busy shipyards jostled for space along this river.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31Now you'd hardly know it.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37In their heyday the Wearside Yards were world famous,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41sheets of steel came in, and finished ships rolled out.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44What I find amazing is that this massive enterprise,
0:21:44 > 0:21:49like the ships it produced, was held together by one little component.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52It was the dependence on this metal fastener
0:21:52 > 0:21:56that was both the strength and the weakness of the industry.
0:21:56 > 0:22:04Most of the historical metal frameworks that we marvel at are held together by rivets.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07And this is a rivet. It does the same job as a nut and bolt, holding
0:22:07 > 0:22:10two sheets of metal together, but it doesn't come undone.
0:22:10 > 0:22:16You heat it up until it's cherry red, then you put it through a hole, and then you bash both ends of it.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21It then holds the sheets of metal together, and when it cools down it contracts and holds it even tighter.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24It's an awful lot of effort, but it works.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Riveters worked in teams, or squads.
0:22:28 > 0:22:35A heater heated up the rivets in a stove, then passed them, or often threw them, to a catcher.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38The catcher's job was to take the red-hot rivet to a holder-up,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42who put the rivet in a hole connecting the two ship's panels.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45The riveter then pounded the rivet home.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It was a labour-intensive job,
0:22:49 > 0:22:55and, when the men left to fight in two world wars, women were trained up to keep the yards busy.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Shipbuilding towns reverberated to the sound of riveting.
0:23:03 > 0:23:09Phil Peek and Brian Hopkins worked as riveters in the shipyards of neighbouring Hartlepool.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14- Brian. Good to see you, Phil. - And you.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17This is where the shipyard was that you actually built ships.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21Where this one was built was over the other side there, a hundred yards away, if that.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25And how many rivets a day do you reckon a good team would put in?
0:23:25 > 0:23:27At least 800, 900 a day.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31We're really proud of the fact, the steel plate would come in there,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34when it left here, a finished job, it could go straight to sea and work.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37How much did they get paid for riveting?
0:23:37 > 0:23:39- Eight and ninepence a hundred. - Eight and ninepence a hundred.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Yes, all that was shared out amongst the squad.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48But if it rained, we got sent home, and signed the book for four shilling.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51'Mary Power was a catcher on Phil's team.'
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Mary, come and join us.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58You used to work with Phil.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01- Yes.- It's a very physical job, Mary, so what was it like as a woman
0:24:01 > 0:24:04being amongst all these men that were doing all this riveting?
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Well, you didn't think anything about it... < We won't answer that!
0:24:08 > 0:24:14You just you wore the overalls and the boots and you just go on with the job.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18- What was the environment like? Was it noisy?- It was very noisy. - You couldn't hear yourself speak.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24- I didn't know what they were on about, cos they used to speak with the sign language.- Yes, definitely.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26- Two, two and a quarter. - Two and a quarter rivets.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29- Two, two and three quarters. - Two, two and three quarter rivets.
0:24:29 > 0:24:30- That's the size?- Yes.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34- So calling for the size of the rivets.- And a short one.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38As a riveter, did you take pride in every single rivet you did?
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Certainly. Yeah. I was a good riveter.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45You knew that, when you were working for Grey's, you were
0:24:45 > 0:24:48one of the best shipbuilders going, and there was no two ways about it.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54So, if our shipbuilding was so good, where did it all go wrong?
0:24:54 > 0:24:59In the dark days of 1940 we desperately needed more merchant ships
0:24:59 > 0:25:03to keep the vital transatlantic supply lines open.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Churchill placed an urgent order for 60 cargo ships,
0:25:06 > 0:25:12but he didn't give the contract to British shipyards. Instead he gave it to the Americans.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15I'm meeting with David Aris to find out more.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20OK, David, why go to America?
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Because at that time, in 1940,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26the U-Boats were massacring our merchant fleet,
0:25:26 > 0:25:31particular in the North Atlantic, and Churchill realised that the ships were being sunk
0:25:31 > 0:25:35at a rate greater rate than we could replace them from our own shipyards,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37so we had to get the ships from somewhere else.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42And talking about the scale of building, how long would it take to build one of these ships here?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Probably about six months to build the ship here in Thompson's,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48and the ship was designed as a fully riveted ship,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52that was the practice here on the River Wear, and in other parts of this country,
0:25:52 > 0:25:57something like 480,000 rivets on one ship...per ship.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59- Half a million rivets.- Yes. - Per ship.- Of that order.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04With a war on, the Americans didn't have time
0:26:04 > 0:26:07or enough trained workers to put in half a million rivets per ship.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11A faster method of joining panels was welding,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16so now welding was adopted on an unprecedented scale.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19What the Americans did have was lots of space.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24In massive new shipyards, complete sections of the ship were constructed as separate units,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28before being craned into place and welded together.
0:26:28 > 0:26:35The American genius for mass production meant that ships were soon being built in under 50 days.
0:26:35 > 0:26:42This new merchant fleet helped win the war, by keeping Britain supplied with food, munitions and machinery.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44The techniques of welding and pre-fabrication
0:26:44 > 0:26:48that built these ships would spell the end for riveting.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56The problem for us was that mass production needs lots of space.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59The old British shipyards didn't have room to expand,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03and they struggled to cope with the new welding age.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06The industry fell into slow but terminal decline.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12These days riveting has all but disappeared
0:27:12 > 0:27:14but, even though we don't build many ships now,
0:27:14 > 0:27:20we still need riveters if we're going to preserve some of our historic maritime treasures.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24I've come all the way to Suffolk to see riveting at first hand.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Everybody's welding nowadays, I couldn't find any rivets being struck anywhere in the North East,
0:27:30 > 0:27:35so I had to bring Brian and Phil down to Lowestoft to the restoration of SS Robin,
0:27:35 > 0:27:40the oldest complete steam ship in the world, so they can give me their opinion on 21st-century riveting.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The SS Robin was launched in 1890.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51She's a steel ship with a fully riveted hull, but she needs attention.
0:27:53 > 0:27:59The team here are riveting some test plates in preparation for restoring the ship.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06They've done riveting work on bridges and machinery, but never a ship.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11It's a great chance for old hands Brian and Phil to pass on their wisdom.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15- How's his riveting?- OK.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18- What do you reckon? - He's getting the hang of it!
0:28:28 > 0:28:32- OK, what's your opinion? C'mon then, Phil.- The top row's the best.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35The top row's the best. That's too short, that.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38- Would you employ the team? - Certainly, yes.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42- You've done all right, son. - I've done all right, have I?
0:28:43 > 0:28:50'We may not make them like this any more, but the SS Robin will be back afloat, rivets and all, in 2012,
0:28:50 > 0:28:55'a monument to the glory days of British shipbuilding and riveting.'
0:28:56 > 0:28:59Thank goodness there are some people, not many,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04but still some people keeping alive the skills of our riveters.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:29:25 > 0:29:26E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk