0:00:29 > 0:00:34For more than 800 years, the people of the Humber have traded with Europe and beyond.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36In peacetime, ports promised prosperity,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39but in wartime, they invite attack.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41The sea trade made Hull
0:00:41 > 0:00:44a great port and a prime target.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52'In the Second World War, the threat came from the sea and the air,
0:00:52 > 0:00:57'a threat felt acutely in this north-east corner of England.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02'The Luftwaffe were expected to make a beeline for the Humber,
0:01:02 > 0:01:09'the vast waterway acting as a signpost pointing to the industrial heartlands of the North,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12'so when war broke out, men were sent out to sea.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15'Men like Geoff King.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19'In 1939, he embarked on a mission to defend the Humber.'
0:01:19 > 0:01:22That was a bit more exciting than I was expecting.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24'This was his outpost -
0:01:24 > 0:01:28'an isolated river fort at the mouth of the Humber,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33'where up to 200 men would be stationed for weeks on end.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37'In September 1939, when war on Germany was declared,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39'19-year-old Geoff came to the fort
0:01:39 > 0:01:44'to watch for an onslaught from the air.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50'Little did he know then, he'd wait only weeks for what would become the biggest day in his young life.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54'In early November, Geoff was on duty, manning the searchlight.'
0:01:54 > 0:01:57We heard a plane coming over at night,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and the Gunnery Officer thought it was one of our planes,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02and so he put the searchlight on.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06He thought it was a plane in danger, probably landing, you see.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10My searchlight was put on, which is protruding there,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14then the plane came round and machine-gunned us.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17There was a Lance Bombardier on top.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19He was hit by a ricochet,
0:02:19 > 0:02:25and I gather that's the first enemy action of the Second World War.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31On his lonely outpost, Geoff witnessed probably the first casualty on home territory.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33The Second World War had come to Britain.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39As battle raged, Hull was hit hard by the Luftwaffe,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43with 9 out of 10 houses damaged or destroyed.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:02:45 > 0:02:48The city was reduced to rubble from the air,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53but any serious threat of invasion around the Humber was from the sea.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Across the estuary, in the famous fishing port of Grimsby,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02the experience of its seafarers was badly needed,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04as the Navy was stretched.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13So the fishermen dropped their nets and became Pirates.
0:03:14 > 0:03:21A fighting fleet was drawn from hundreds of requisitioned fishing trawlers, whalers and tugs.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Known unofficially as Churchill's Pirates,
0:03:24 > 0:03:29the Royal Navy Patrol Service was primarily made up of local fishermen.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Today, a handful of the Pirates remember their comrades.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39We are an island nation. Without the free movement of shipping, we'd have faced starvation.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43'And they also remember how they got their nickname.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:47We were classed as Churchill's Pirates.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Churchill was at a dockside when one of these old trawlers was coming in,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and everybody was there dressed different, with woolly hats on, fishermen's jerseys,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57anything they'd going.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Nobody had been shaved or anything and they looked a bit rough,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and he said "Good God, what's this?"
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Somebody said, "Royal Navy Patrol Service, Prime Minister. Minesweepers."
0:04:06 > 0:04:09He said, "They look like a gang of bloody pirates, but I like them.".
0:04:11 > 0:04:13The Pirates' effort was invaluable.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15The Admiralty believes
0:04:15 > 0:04:19more than 1,200 mines were swept from the Humber in fewer than 100 days
0:04:19 > 0:04:21at the height of the conflict.