The Humber in Wartime Coast

For more than 800 years, the people of the Humber have traded with Europe and beyond.

In peacetime, ports promised prosperity,

but in wartime, they invite attack.

The sea trade made Hull

a great port and a prime target.

'In the Second World War, the threat came from the sea and the air,

'a threat felt acutely in this north-east corner of England.

'The Luftwaffe were expected to make a beeline for the Humber,

'the vast waterway acting as a signpost pointing to the industrial heartlands of the North,

'so when war broke out, men were sent out to sea.

'Men like Geoff King.

'In 1939, he embarked on a mission to defend the Humber.'

That was a bit more exciting than I was expecting.

'This was his outpost -

'an isolated river fort at the mouth of the Humber,

'where up to 200 men would be stationed for weeks on end.

'In September 1939, when war on Germany was declared,

'19-year-old Geoff came to the fort

'to watch for an onslaught from the air.

'Little did he know then, he'd wait only weeks for what would become the biggest day in his young life.

'In early November, Geoff was on duty, manning the searchlight.'

We heard a plane coming over at night,

and the Gunnery Officer thought it was one of our planes,

and so he put the searchlight on.

He thought it was a plane in danger, probably landing, you see.

My searchlight was put on, which is protruding there,

then the plane came round and machine-gunned us.

There was a Lance Bombardier on top.

He was hit by a ricochet,

and I gather that's the first enemy action of the Second World War.

On his lonely outpost, Geoff witnessed probably the first casualty on home territory.

The Second World War had come to Britain.

As battle raged, Hull was hit hard by the Luftwaffe,

with 9 out of 10 houses damaged or destroyed.

AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS

The city was reduced to rubble from the air,

but any serious threat of invasion around the Humber was from the sea.

Across the estuary, in the famous fishing port of Grimsby,

the experience of its seafarers was badly needed,

as the Navy was stretched.

So the fishermen dropped their nets and became Pirates.

A fighting fleet was drawn from hundreds of requisitioned fishing trawlers, whalers and tugs.

Known unofficially as Churchill's Pirates,

the Royal Navy Patrol Service was primarily made up of local fishermen.

Today, a handful of the Pirates remember their comrades.

We are an island nation. Without the free movement of shipping, we'd have faced starvation.

'And they also remember how they got their nickname.'

We were classed as Churchill's Pirates.

Churchill was at a dockside when one of these old trawlers was coming in,

and everybody was there dressed different, with woolly hats on, fishermen's jerseys,

anything they'd going.

Nobody had been shaved or anything and they looked a bit rough,

and he said "Good God, what's this?"

Somebody said, "Royal Navy Patrol Service, Prime Minister. Minesweepers."

He said, "They look like a gang of bloody pirates, but I like them.".

The Pirates' effort was invaluable.

The Admiralty believes

more than 1,200 mines were swept from the Humber in fewer than 100 days

at the height of the conflict.