0:00:10 > 0:00:13On the east coast of England at Spurn Head,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16a fragile finger of sand flirts with the surf.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23The romance of land and sea has always attracted admirers,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26people who come to dream of distant shores.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31But others are drawn to the coast to fight,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to fight for our freedom to dream.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39'As the Nazis stalked our shores, Britain was the last island of hope.
0:00:39 > 0:00:45'In our darkest hour, men and women were mobilised to fortify the coast.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50'Alice joins up with veterans on a journey back to where they fought a secret war.
0:00:50 > 0:00:56'It's age-old conflicts between land and sea that are puzzling Nick.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01'Miranda is in search of birds who battle for the bounty of the seas.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03'Mark's fighting the elements...
0:01:05 > 0:01:09'..and I'll be following in the tracks of my hero,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13'whose dream victory ended with news that shocked the nation.'
0:01:14 > 0:01:16This is Coast.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Crossing from Denmark, our final journey takes us south,
0:01:47 > 0:01:52along 200 miles of coast, heading to the Thames and onto the capital.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55We start on another great estuary - the Humber.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07For more than 800 years, the people of the Humber have traded with Europe and beyond.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10In peacetime, ports promised prosperity,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13but in wartime, they invite attack.
0:02:13 > 0:02:14The sea trade made Hull
0:02:14 > 0:02:18a great port and a prime target.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25'In the Second World War, the threat came from the sea and the air,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30'a threat felt acutely in this north-east corner of England.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35'The Luftwaffe were expected to make a beeline for the Humber,
0:02:35 > 0:02:42'the vast waterway acting as a signpost pointing to the industrial heartlands of the North,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45'so when war broke out, men were sent out to sea.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48'Men like Geoff King.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52'In 1939, he embarked on a mission to defend the Humber.'
0:02:52 > 0:02:55That was a bit more exciting than I was expecting.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58'This was his outpost -
0:02:58 > 0:03:01'an isolated river fort at the mouth of the Humber,
0:03:01 > 0:03:06'where up to 200 men would be stationed for weeks on end.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10'In September 1939, when war on Germany was declared,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13'19-year-old Geoff came to the fort
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'to watch for an onslaught from the air.
0:03:17 > 0:03:23'Little did he know then, he'd wait only weeks for what would become the biggest day in his young life.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28'In early November, Geoff was on duty, manning the searchlight.'
0:03:28 > 0:03:30We heard a plane coming over at night,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and the Gunnery Officer thought it was one of our planes,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and so he put the searchlight on.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Why would he think it was one of...ours?
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Well, because it was hovering around
0:03:40 > 0:03:44and he thought it was a plane in danger, probably landing, you see.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47My searchlight was put on, which is protruding there,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51then the plane came round and machine-gunned us.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54There was a Lance Bombardier on top.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56He was hit by a ricochet,
0:03:56 > 0:04:01and I gather that's the first enemy action of the Second World War.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08On his lonely outpost, Geoff witnessed probably the first casualty on home territory.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11The Second World War had come to Britain.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16As battle raged, Hull was hit hard by the Luftwaffe.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20After London, Hull was our most bombed city in the war.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Thousands of people were displaced,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27with 9 out of 10 houses damaged or destroyed.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:04:29 > 0:04:32The city was reduced to rubble from the air,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37but any serious threat of invasion around the Humber was from the sea.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Across the estuary, in the famous fishing port of Grimsby,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47the experience of its seafarers was badly needed,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49as the Navy was stretched.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57So the fishermen dropped their nets and became Pirates.
0:04:59 > 0:05:05A fighting fleet was drawn from hundreds of requisitioned fishing trawlers, whalers and tugs.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Known unofficially as Churchill's Pirates,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13the Royal Navy Patrol Service was primarily made up of local fishermen.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17Today, a handful of the Pirates remember their comrades.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23We are an island nation. Without the free movement of shipping, we'd have faced starvation.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27'And they also remember how they got their nickname.'
0:05:27 > 0:05:31We were classed as Churchill's Pirates.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Churchill was at a dockside when one of these old trawlers was coming in,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39and everybody was there dressed different, with woolly hats on, fishermen's jerseys,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41anything they'd going.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Nobody had been shaved or anything and they looked a bit rough,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46and he said "Good God, what's this?"
0:05:46 > 0:05:50Somebody said, "Royal Navy Patrol Service, Prime Minister. Minesweepers."
0:05:50 > 0:05:53He said, "They look like a gang of bloody pirates, but I like them."
0:05:55 > 0:05:59The Pirates' effort was invaluable. The Admiralty believes
0:05:59 > 0:06:03more than 1,200 mines were swept from the Humber in fewer than 100 days
0:06:03 > 0:06:05at the height of the conflict.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20Facing the Nazis across the North Sea meant the whole east coast became a fortified line.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26So not only fishermen were called to serve.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Scientists were also mobilised in defence of the realm...
0:06:34 > 0:06:36..and they came up with this.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45This is a radar transmitter tower,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49a few miles inland from the Lincolnshire coast near Louth.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58The tower here was part of an east-coast early-warning system against air attack.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02During wartime, RAF technicians had to climb these masts
0:07:02 > 0:07:07in all weathers and under attack to carry out urgent repairs,
0:07:07 > 0:07:08and now it's my turn.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17OK, don't look down. Look straight ahead. That's not any better!
0:07:22 > 0:07:26- How high is this, Paul? - Oh, it's just about 50 feet now.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Might be just 50 feet to you, climbs like 100 to me.
0:07:30 > 0:07:38I've got the RAF watching my back, but I can't forget this radar tower was built in 1940.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43I've got it easy compared to the men and women who had to clamber up here back then.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Oh, it's horrible, Paul. I hate it.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49- Hate every minute of it.- Think how much exercise you're getting!
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Oh, my hands are like budgies' claws!
0:07:52 > 0:07:56'During the war, radar technicians had to
0:07:56 > 0:07:59'climb the towers on a daily basis to carry out vital maintenance.'
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Oh, dear. So wrong up here.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Oh, look at that, will you?
0:08:08 > 0:08:09That's a heck of a thing.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Right. Finally...finally here.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22That's quite a sensation.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Exhausted and scared - what a combination.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29The thing is, when you stand here, this is a nice day -
0:08:29 > 0:08:31it's a sunny day with just a light wind -
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and you can feel the whole thing's gently moving and vibrating.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Wobbly they may be, but these were war-winning towers.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46We'll explore their secret origins on our journey south.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53Today, in more peaceful times, the coast is a playground for tourists,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57but as summer fades, the holidaymakers go home,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and it's time for the locals to play,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03like here at Mablethorpe.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06'I'm Ross McGregor. I'm 21.'
0:09:06 > 0:09:10I've got a passion for coming down to Mablethorpe Beach in the winter.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29This sport is sand racing.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32The first time you're out on sand, your instinct is to go slower
0:09:32 > 0:09:35because sand actually moves underneath you.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38You find the faster you actually go, the more stable the bike becomes.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42The sensation you get is almost like you're on marbles.
0:09:42 > 0:09:48You can't teach what you know riding down here really, you just learn it from experiences.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53I was four years old when I first rode a motorbike, ten years old when I first raced one.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57You get to a point where you stop thinking about what you're doing and you just do it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06There's a lot of atmosphere, and occasionally you do notice there's other things going on,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09but from our point of view, we just stick to the job in hand.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16A lot of people frown upon what we're doing,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19but the club try very hard to look after the beach and preserve it.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21We show the town a lot of respect.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28I don't think I'll ever get bored of doing it.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30I think I'll be doing it for a long time.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Riding a bike's what I have always done, so that's what I do.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48On our journey south,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53we're approaching a huge tidal estuary - The Wash.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56It's where Lincolnshire meets Norfolk,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and where you come across some curious constructions.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Legacies from the recent past.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08They may look like proof of alien landings,
0:11:08 > 0:11:13but these concrete donuts were an experiment in the 1970s
0:11:13 > 0:11:18to see if parts of The Wash could be converted into freshwater reservoirs.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34When the tide goes out, an enormous muddy landscape emerges,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37and where there's muck, there's grub.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Thousands of wading birds flock here to feed every day.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Miranda's down on the shore to discover the birds' breakfast options.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51An enormous expanse of flat, flat mud,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54twice a day scrubbed clean by the tide.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56No wonder it's called The Wash.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01Out here, the horizon seems to stretch for ever in every direction.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03The sky is huge, the mudflats are vast,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and somewhere out there,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07there's a point where the land meets the sea.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13More than 100,000 wading birds like knot,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16oystercatcher, redshank
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and dunlin come here to feed every autumn.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23The mudflats are oozing with molluscs and crustaceans,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26just the sort of food that waders love to eat.
0:12:27 > 0:12:33RSPB warden Jim Scott is here to share this amazing sight with me.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36What I love about this place is that there's always something to look at.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38The place is never still.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39All sorts of activity going on.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42What other species are out there at the moment?
0:12:42 > 0:12:47Well, we've got some ring plover and dunlin working their way along the edge of the mud here.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49As the tide pushes in beyond them, further out,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53there's some bar-tailed godwits and black-tailed godwits in amongst them,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56all concentrating as the tide just covers this last area of mud.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Some redshank.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02All busy feeding away, as well, as the tide is sort of coming in.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05I guess it's almost like a feeding frenzy happening on the mudflats.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09They're trying to get as much energy as possible before the tide comes in
0:13:09 > 0:13:13and then covers that, and the feeding stops for the next half of the day.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Absolutely, yes. They're spending most of the time feeding away,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19getting as much fuel on board as possible.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22The fascinating thing is that they all feed in different ways.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26They all have slightly different beaks, designed for that purpose.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28That's right, yeah.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Things like the bar-tailed godwit, which has a great big long bill.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33It probes around in the mud,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35so it's going for whatever shellfish and worms
0:13:35 > 0:13:37are buried deep in the mud.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40We've got species like grey plover,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43which is feeding more on the surface.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46It has big eyes and it looks for prey on the surface,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48little crabs or whatever.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Oystercatchers feed on mussels and cockles.
0:13:51 > 0:13:52So, no one species
0:13:52 > 0:13:54is really in competition with another?
0:13:54 > 0:13:57There's a bit of overlap between some of the species,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59but they use a wide range of techniques.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03'As the birds are making the most of the mud,
0:14:03 > 0:14:04'it's also my chance to get mucky
0:14:04 > 0:14:08'and see the tasty morsels, which bring them here in the first place.'
0:14:08 > 0:14:09Look at those.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12- These are just little clams, are they?- Yes.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15- What's feeding on these, Jim? - It'll be things like knot.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Knot particularly like these,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19cos they're not too far from the surface.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22The rag worms, they're quite big and fat.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Yeah, quite a few calories in one of those.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27I think things like redshank will feed on these.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32The Wash is like a giant bed and breakfast for waders.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Some check in briefly en route to sunnier destinations.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Others make themselves at home for the winter.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42They haven't got long to stock up - the tide is already turning.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47And as the tide races in, the birds just take off.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51But the birds aren't necessarily going far.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Some rest on a nearby shingle bank,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59where they run the risk of becoming a banquet themselves.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02A young peregrine falcon is looking for lunch.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Once the danger's passed, the knot return to rest,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17and the birds of The Wash wait for their next meal.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31People come to the coast to indulge their passions.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33While Miranda is away with the birds,
0:15:33 > 0:15:38it's one of my ultimate heroes that's brought me here,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40to the home turf of Horatio Nelson.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47I think there's something mesmerising about the sea that turns us all into dreamers,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and I suspect, as a boy, Nelson was no different.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57I imagine young Nelson coming here, looking out,
0:15:57 > 0:16:02dreaming of dashing victories, distant battles, faraway seas.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07But the truth is, not even his wildest dreams could have matched the reality of his own life.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15You've got to admire Nelson.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18I think he was a tactical genius.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23Without his naval victories over the French in the Napoleonic Wars,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Britannia wouldn't have ruled the waves.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29But mighty as Nelson's reputation is now,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32he was born into humble surroundings.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37On from The Wash, just a mile inland from the north Norfolk coast,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40is the small village of Burnham Thorpe.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Nelson was the son of the local parson here.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50In 1787, during a period of peace,
0:16:50 > 0:16:5629-year-old now Captain Nelson was temporarily unemployed.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01So like many of us have, he moved back home,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04where he spent the next five years waiting for war.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08The parsonage at Burnham Thorpe is long gone,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10but its garden is still here,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13and this is where he left a lasting legacy.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Frustrated not to be fighting the French,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Nelson did some digging instead.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25In fact, it's said that he dug out this pond.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28But he was still dreaming of the sea.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31He dug this pond to represent the deck of a ship.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36That's why this end is square - this is the stern, the back of the ship.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41If you imagine being at the top of the crow's-nest, on top of the mast,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44the whole thing narrows to a point 30-odd feet away.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46That's the bow, the pointy bit of the ship.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It's a lot smaller than the gun deck of The Victory,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53but you can see that if all these lilies and all the grass and slime was scraped away,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56it would be quite obvious - it's shipshape.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02After five landlocked years,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Nelson was recalled to the Senior Service.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Finally, he was back at sea, where he belonged,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and 10 years later, he achieved his destiny
0:18:11 > 0:18:15on board his flagship - The Victory.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18It's impossible to walk through this village without constantly
0:18:18 > 0:18:23catching glimpses and reminders of the life and times of Nelson.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35As a parson's son, the church in Burnham Thorpe would have been a second home for Nelson,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40so it's fitting that memorabilia of my hero hangs from every wall.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48And there's the man himself -
0:18:48 > 0:18:51a bust of Nelson -
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and he's looking over the graves of his mother and father.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Now, the great warrior wanted, at the end of everything,
0:18:58 > 0:19:04to rest in peace in this church beside the graves of his mother and father,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06but that didn't happen.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Nelson's mortal remains are in St Paul's Cathedral.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Nelson's great adventures took him far from home shores,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36but these beaches have their own epic tale to tell.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40At low tide, they expose the remains of mysterious hidden forests.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Nick's exploring evidence of a lost landscape.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49This is Titchwell Beach on the north Norfolk coast,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53and I'm heading for that dark area down by the sea.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55I think it might hold some clues.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59I'm looking for signs that this shape-shifting coastline
0:19:59 > 0:20:04only reveals on a very low spring tide -
0:20:04 > 0:20:07evidence that this area hasn't always been a sandy beach.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13This looks very like a bed of ancient peat.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18It's been scoured clean of sand by successive tides.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20It's black and...
0:20:20 > 0:20:24if you press your thumb into it,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27it's spongy and water squeezes out.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31It's old reed swamp, brushwood, bits of tree.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Look at that!
0:20:33 > 0:20:35A perfectly preserved piece of tree root.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40It's Mesolithic - 7, 8, 9,000 years old - part of a submerged forest.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Almost 100 years ago,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48the study of these tree stumps became an obsession for one man,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52determined to make sense of a riddle written into these sands.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58In 1913, a retired Victorian geologist, Clement Reid,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01published his work on Britain's submerged forests.
0:21:01 > 0:21:08In his book, Reid revealed that he'd found ancient forests all along the east coast.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Noah's Woods, the locals called them -
0:21:11 > 0:21:13trees submerged by a great flood.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17His research led Reid to a remarkable conclusion.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20He said the discovery of tree stumps here at low tide,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24proved that forests once stretched far, far offshore,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26way out into the North Sea.
0:21:29 > 0:21:36Surprisingly, Reid's writing on the submerged forests didn't make much of a splash at the time.
0:21:36 > 0:21:43Now, 100 years later, scientists are beginning to take Clement Reid's little book very seriously.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48In the book, Reid proposes an amazing idea.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51His maps speculate that Britain was once connected to Europe
0:21:51 > 0:21:56by land that stretched across the North Sea, over the Dogger Bank.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04Reid imagined there was no sea here, the water locked up in ice during the last ice age.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10After years of studies, the existence of this land bridge was confirmed.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14But only recently have a team at Birmingham University
0:22:14 > 0:22:20used core samples from the sea bed to reveal the detail of the complex landscape lost to the sea.
0:22:23 > 0:22:29'Simon Fitch is going to show me where this lost territory - now dubbed Doggerland - once was,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31'and what it looked like.'
0:22:31 > 0:22:35So here we are, Simon, bobbing around on a fishing boat in the North Sea,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38but 7, 8, 9,000 years ago, we couldn't have done this.
0:22:38 > 0:22:39We'd have been on land.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Yeah, we'd have been actually sitting on the big plane of Doggerland,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46with the rivers, the trees behind us, and the little hills.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It would have been a diverse landscape we'd have been sitting on.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Just off our coast, there's a lost world.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Mighty rivers once ran through Doggerland,
0:22:59 > 0:23:04a wetland paradise rich with fish and birdlife to feed the early Europeans.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09Around 10,000 years ago, as the ice started to melt, sea level rose.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Doggerland were submerged.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Its residents moved on, some into Britain,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17which became an island as Doggerland disappeared.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22But it left clues - submerged forests along the coast,
0:23:22 > 0:23:28an ancient message Reid decoded in his slim volume full of big ideas.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32So when Clement Reid talked of a vast alluvial plane stretching the whole way from
0:23:32 > 0:23:36what's now Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark, he was right.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Oh, yeah, he was very right, and some of his early maps and that
0:23:39 > 0:23:42are very close to the truth. It's kind of scary.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45All those years ago with the evidence he didn't have,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48he could still come up with these kind of conclusions.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57But the ancient flood that engulfed Doggerland
0:23:57 > 0:24:01wasn't the end of the story in Reid's remarkable writings.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05He said that following the slow flooding of Doggerland,
0:24:05 > 0:24:10the coastline here in Norfolk was also radically different to what we see today.
0:24:12 > 0:24:19In his book, Reid speculated that the vast estuary once cut deep into the heart of Norfolk.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Well, I grew up in Norfolk, sailing and canoeing this huge wetland,
0:24:23 > 0:24:28and for some time now I've been looking out for signs of that lost great estuary.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38Today the landscape of this part of Norfolk is just that - land.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43But go back 2,000 years and I believe there wasn't just a river here,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46but a vast estuary to rival the Thames.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Clues to the existence of the estuary date back to Roman times
0:24:52 > 0:24:57when two forts were built to guard this enormous inlet from marauders.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01This is one of them. It's called Burgh Castle and it's enormous.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Just look at the scale of it!
0:25:05 > 0:25:09'Look at the position of the fort now in the middle of a field, guarding nothing
0:25:09 > 0:25:11'and it doesn't make any sense.
0:25:11 > 0:25:18'I think these walls once stood at the entrance of a thriving Roman seaport.'
0:25:18 > 0:25:21This is where the great estuary must have been.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24It helped make this one of the most important parts of Britain.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28This would have been a trading haven to rival the Thames.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35But around 1,000 years ago, the estuary silted up
0:25:35 > 0:25:40and the coast re-wrote itself, leaving the river we see today.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45Another chapter in the epic shape-shifting story of this shore
0:25:45 > 0:25:49that Clement Reid first worked out in his little book of submerged forests.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11As our journey to the capital continues down the coast of Norfolk,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14you can't help but notice the odd holiday park...
0:26:14 > 0:26:17or two...or three.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Row upon row of caravans crowd this coastline -
0:26:24 > 0:26:28family upon family coming here for decades
0:26:28 > 0:26:31to enjoy cheap, cheerful, fun breaks.
0:26:37 > 0:26:43This stretch of coast boasts the highest concentration of caravans in Europe.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Some loathe them,
0:26:45 > 0:26:46many love them.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53I think it's impossible not to feel affection for these places and these kinds of holidays.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57It's just good times for as many people as possible on the coast.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Attracting visitors is the ambition on this coastline today,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06but 70 years ago, it was the lack of prying eyes,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10which made this remote shore attractive to the military.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15On this quiet shingle spit, top-secret radar technology
0:27:15 > 0:27:20was developed before the outbreak of the Second World War.
0:27:23 > 0:27:29In the 1930s, a desperate race was on at Orford Ness.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34They were racing to save Britain from the Luftwaffe.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Alice is off there to discover more about radar.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47'In the First World War, the Germans used zeppelins to bomb Britain.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52'In the 1930s, the aerial threat escalated to terrifying new heights,
0:27:52 > 0:27:59'as the Nazis assembled a formidable air force, whose bombers might win the next war.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06'Without a way of detecting incoming enemy planes, we were helpless,
0:28:06 > 0:28:11'so in the mid-1930s, an extraordinary scientific struggle started,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14'to shield Britain from the bombers.'
0:28:14 > 0:28:22On the 12th of February 1935, scientist Robert Watson-Watt sent this memo to the Air Ministry.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24It's been called the birth certificate of radar.
0:28:24 > 0:28:30"I enclose herewith a memorandum on the detection of aircraft by radio methods.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36"It turns out so favourably that I'm still nervous as to whether we've not got a power of ten wrong,
0:28:36 > 0:28:42"but I thought it desirable to send you the memorandum immediately rather than to wait for close re-checking."
0:28:42 > 0:28:46It was this memo that started the race for radar.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Watson-Watt could barely believe his calculations.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58In theory, by measuring radio waves bouncing off a plane,
0:28:58 > 0:29:03they might be able to detect enemy bombers over 100 miles away,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06day and night, and in any weather.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09It seemed too good to be true,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12so they had to find out if it would really work, and quick.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17On the 26th February 1935,
0:29:17 > 0:29:23just two weeks after that memo was sent about the theoretical detection of planes using radio waves,
0:29:23 > 0:29:31its author was trying it out using a real bomber and a BBC radio transmitter.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Now some 75 years later,
0:29:33 > 0:29:40we're about to try to recreate that original war-winning experiment.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45The first plane they tried to detect was a Heyford bomber.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47Ours is a bit more modern.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Radar pioneer Watson-Watt had help from Arnold Wilkins.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59I've got radio boffin Steve Randall to mastermind our experiment.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03The original transmitter they used was a BBC radio mast.
0:30:03 > 0:30:10'Technology has moved on, so our signal's coming from a television transmitter nearby at Sudbury.
0:30:10 > 0:30:11'Steve knows the plan.'
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Here's a little example of what we're going to try and do today.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19- So this is a model. - Yeah, it's trying to show how this is going to work.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Here, we've got the Sudbury TV transmitter.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25It's sending signals out in all directions,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28and we'll try and bounce those signals off of an aircraft.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32And I presume that this is the building we're actually in,
0:30:32 > 0:30:37and this is the plane - rather more glamorous, I have to say, than the one we're using.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40So this is coming in from the sea,
0:30:40 > 0:30:46and you're hoping that we're going to be able to receive the reflected waves being bounced off that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48That's right. What we're going to try and do
0:30:48 > 0:30:51is to get the radio waves to bounce off of the aircraft
0:30:51 > 0:30:53and be received by our receiving station.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56How optimistic are you that we'll get the signal from the aircraft?
0:30:56 > 0:30:57Quite optimistic.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59I'm visual with you now.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04'With the plane on its way, like the radar pioneers of the 1930s,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07'we'll watch the signal on an oscilloscope screen.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10'Now it's just showing output from the TV tower.'
0:31:10 > 0:31:12John, can you see him?
0:31:12 > 0:31:16Yes, he's about one-and-a-half, two miles
0:31:16 > 0:31:18more or less straight ahead of us,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20so about 1,500 feet.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Oh, yes, I've got him. Yeah.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25Map position south-east.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Yeah, that looks pretty good, Phil.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32Phil reckons that the plane is about a mile away now, so are we seeing anything.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Yes. Not a huge amount, to be honest.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38We heard the drone of the bomber in the distance,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42and we looked anxiously at our Cathode Ray Tube
0:31:42 > 0:31:46to see whether the expected phenomenon was taking place.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50It's still difficult to see anything on the raw data.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54It wasn't and we became rather concerned.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59'I'm slightly concerned too, as the plane is getting rather close.'
0:31:59 > 0:32:01Is that OUR plane I can hear?
0:32:01 > 0:32:05'Surely we should be seeing some change on the oscilloscope.'
0:32:05 > 0:32:09As the noise of the bomber increased,
0:32:09 > 0:32:15we began to see slight fluctuations in the line on the Tube.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20Oh, there's some wider pulses coming through, some wider waves.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25These increased as the bomber got nearer to us.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27We can see these big waves
0:32:27 > 0:32:30coming through on the oscilloscope, very clearly. Look at that.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34When the noise of the bomber was fairly loud
0:32:34 > 0:32:36and it was fairly close to us,
0:32:36 > 0:32:41we were getting quite a marked deflection of this line.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45We then realised that the experiment was successful
0:32:45 > 0:32:48and there was something in our arithmetic
0:32:48 > 0:32:51that we'd done some days previously.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54I can hear him now, he must be really close.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Yeah, there he is.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58PLANE ENGINE RUMBLES
0:33:02 > 0:33:05It's suddenly gone much wider. The aptitude has increased...
0:33:05 > 0:33:09OSCILLOSCOPE WHINES ..and you can hear it.
0:33:09 > 0:33:10You can really hear it.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14That's fantastic! Amazing concept, that you can use radio waves
0:33:14 > 0:33:17to detect a moving object in the sky.
0:33:17 > 0:33:23It must have been so exciting for these scientists in the 1940s... '30s, in fact!
0:33:23 > 0:33:26To see that for the first time, yeah, it must have been.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31The next challenge was to turn waves on a screen into
0:33:31 > 0:33:33a long-range early-warning system,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36to detect enemy aircraft approaching our coast.
0:33:36 > 0:33:42To tackle this daunting task, the engineers moved down the east coast
0:33:42 > 0:33:48to a Victorian manor house at Bawdsey to build the first radar station.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52What went on here was top secret.
0:33:52 > 0:33:58'I'm going to meet two of the people drafted to Bawdsey on a clandestine wartime assignment.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02'Back then, Gwen Reading and Peggy Haynes were two young women sworn to silence.'
0:34:02 > 0:34:06Because Gwen and Peggy worked on radar.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16'The ferry that runs the short distance from Felixstowe to Bawdsey
0:34:16 > 0:34:21'transported these raw recruits to an adventure of a lifetime.'
0:34:21 > 0:34:23It's a lovely calm day today.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26I don't expect it was always calm making this crossing.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30No, occasionally the ferry couldn't run because it was so rough.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34- So how does it feel coming back to Bawdsey?- Amazing.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36We won't know until we see the manor.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40Well, I think we've got a car waiting for us.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Oh, that will be good. We certainly didn't have that. A bike, maybe.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59I can see our windows from here.
0:35:00 > 0:35:05Gwen and Peggy were part of a secret service -
0:35:05 > 0:35:10radar operators called to the coast to scan the skies.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15I came in April '43. Yes, it was my first posting after Cranwell.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19And if it's not terribly rude, how old were you when you arrived here?
0:35:19 > 0:35:22- 20.- 20, and how about you, Peggy?
0:35:22 > 0:35:24She was old. I was 19.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27How did you feel when you first arrived here?
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Did you know what you were coming to?
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Well, most people got posted to camps and lived in Nissen huts,
0:35:33 > 0:35:38and when we found we were going to live in the manor house, we thought we'd done pretty well, really!
0:35:38 > 0:35:41It must have been quite exciting to be posted here.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45Yes, well, it was for me, because I bullied them to get here
0:35:45 > 0:35:46because my fiance-to-be
0:35:46 > 0:35:52was just up the road, at Dunwich, on another station.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55Did you know what it would involve before you arrived here?
0:35:55 > 0:35:57No, not really, because it was so secret.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59- We had to sign the Secrets Act. - You did?
0:35:59 > 0:36:01We weren't allowed to say anything,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04- and they thought we were all very stuck-up.- Really?
0:36:04 > 0:36:08- Whereas, actually, you just had to keep it secret.- Yes.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14The Germans thought these towers were for radio messages.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18In reality, they were designed to transmit and receive radar signals.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21The technology was perfected at Bawdsey,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24but one site on its own would be useless,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28so the design was replicated along the coast.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33By the start of the war, there were 20 so-called Chain Home radar stations,
0:36:33 > 0:36:38but the chain would break without operators to interpret the incoming signals.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41That was Gwen's job.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45- So how many people would have been in here?- About eight.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47About eight, and lots of equipment.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50There would be a console across here,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54where people sat and the map where they plotted.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56Get me control, please.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01And if you had 1,900 planes on your screen, that was quite an undertaking.
0:37:01 > 0:37:08- 1,900?!- Yes, but they would be in blocks of 200 here, 100 there, a single one there.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Zero, 5,000.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16'Gwen has brought along a photograph taken in this room in 1945.'
0:37:16 > 0:37:19That's lovely. Now, are you in this photo?
0:37:19 > 0:37:21- Yes, that's me. - Wearing the headphones.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25It must have been a job which required an enormous amount of concentration.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28It did, it could be very stressful at times.
0:37:28 > 0:37:29If we were very busy,
0:37:29 > 0:37:34we'd try to get someone who was fairly expert on the Tube.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38How does it feel coming back to this room that you spent so many hours in?
0:37:38 > 0:37:43Well, it's very strange because those three-and-a-half years
0:37:43 > 0:37:46seem a major part of my long life.
0:37:47 > 0:37:53Without the development of radar and the crucial contribution of operators like Gwen and Peggy,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56we wouldn't have won the Battle of Britain.
0:37:59 > 0:38:06During their years at Bawdsey, the women had to keep mum to the wider world about what they were up to.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08While you were working here,
0:38:08 > 0:38:12you were very aware that what you were doing was incredibly important,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14but it's not until articles like this appear
0:38:14 > 0:38:19in the papers after the war that most other people must have realised how important radar was.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24I was very pleased that, at last, we could say something about it.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28You found people sending you newspapers, both local and national,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31and in fact, the chap I eventually married
0:38:31 > 0:38:36sent me a picture from the Picture Post. He said, "Is that you?"
0:38:36 > 0:38:37THEY LAUGH
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Is that how he found you again?
0:38:40 > 0:38:43No, no, that's another long story.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52It's humbling to think that revolutionary radar experiments
0:38:52 > 0:38:56conducted 70 years ago at this manor house on the coast of Suffolk,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59would touch so many lives.
0:38:59 > 0:39:04We all owe a debt of thanks to people once sworn to secrecy,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08but now happy and proud to tell their stories.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19The radar stations that ring this shoreline kept the Nazis at bay,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23but 1,500 years ago, Germanic settlers were sailing across the North Sea
0:39:23 > 0:39:28to colonise this coast and beyond, deep into Britain.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41Those tribes - the Saxons and Angles - were master mariners.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Seafaring was a way of life for the Anglo-Saxons.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48It was also crucial to their way of death.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Around 1,300 years ago, a boat was making its way along this river
0:39:52 > 0:39:58carrying the body of a dead king - Redwald, an Anglo-Saxon king.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01They were a people whose connection to the sea was so strong,
0:40:01 > 0:40:05they buried their leaders in their boats.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11The king's men sailed his boat seven miles up the river Deben.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21The boat that had served the monarch in life
0:40:21 > 0:40:23had become his funeral vessel.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27Its final journey wasn't on water, but on land.
0:40:33 > 0:40:39The boat, 27 metres long and solid wood, with the dead king inside it,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43had to be hauled up here, about a mile from the river, by the warriors.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46It's a herculean effort by any standards.
0:40:46 > 0:40:52This is Sutton Hoo, which means Sutton Hill.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56It's the site of one of the most significant archaeological finds in British history.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00The Anglo-Saxons crossed the sea from Northern Europe
0:41:00 > 0:41:04to occupy this land after the Roman Empire had retreated from Britain.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07It's a time of myth and legend,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11made glorious reality by the Anglo-Saxon king's funeral boat.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16It was discovered buried at Sutton Hoo in 1939.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19The scale and extent of the finds were staggering.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23What they revealed would rewrite our history books.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31Inside this mound was buried a huge boat and a great treasure.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36The posts at either end mark the position of the stern and then the bow of the boat.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Now, this roped off area marks the position
0:41:40 > 0:41:44of the burial chamber itself, deep below where I'm standing.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Now, the king, the body of the king, was placed into the hull of the boat
0:41:47 > 0:41:49and he was surrounded with his treasures.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53The beauty and age of the finds was immediately apparent,
0:41:53 > 0:41:58but what they tell us about the culture of the mysterious Anglo-Saxons
0:41:58 > 0:42:00make these artefacts priceless.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05Most precious of all of the treasures to come out of the king's grave was a helmet.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09This is a brilliant replica of it, and it's extremely heavy.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11It's made of silver and gold,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15every inch of it symbolises power and conquest.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20But obviously the most stunning element of the whole piece
0:42:20 > 0:42:22is the gold ornamentation of the face.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26This is Britain's Tutankhamun's mask.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33The ancestors of the people who buried their king in this mound around 1,300 years ago,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36had come across the sea from foreign shores.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40They called their new home Engla Land, land of the Angles.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44This sacred site reminds us that the English,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47like all of us in these isles,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51owe their identity to many migrations through our coast.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55There's no great church or cathedral here,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58but there is a sense of spirituality.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04There's an essence of how much this place mattered to our ancestors - Angles and Saxons,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08seafaring folk who came here and helped forge Britain.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18Boats were crucial to the culture of our early ancestors,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22a heritage that's alive and well around our coast.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25In living memory, sailing boats were still used
0:43:25 > 0:43:27as fishing and cargo vessels
0:43:27 > 0:43:29all around this coastline.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37Today, enthusiasts prefer to race them.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44So Mark has risen early to join a crew on competition day.
0:43:51 > 0:43:56'Andy Harman, skipper of a Thames sailing barge, the Edme.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59'He's hoping for a strong start.'
0:43:59 > 0:44:01GUNSHOT There's the gun.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05Look at them all lined up down there!
0:44:05 > 0:44:09The secret to this racing lark is start first and finish first.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22The Edme's a Thames thoroughbred. Built of wood in 1898,
0:44:22 > 0:44:27they could achieve high speeds with a small crew.
0:44:27 > 0:44:34Today, a big group of enthusiasts bring these swift cargo carriers back to life by racing them.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38They do it for the sheer love of sail.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45GUNSHOT AND CHEERING
0:44:46 > 0:44:50'We finish first, but what counts is the camaraderie of the competitors
0:44:50 > 0:44:53'and the joy of handling a living piece of history.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58'It's amazing that these vessels survive.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00'Despite the tide of progress,
0:45:00 > 0:45:04'people will go to extraordinary lengths
0:45:04 > 0:45:06'to preserve old working boats...
0:45:08 > 0:45:11'..even resurrecting their wrecks.'
0:45:15 > 0:45:20This is the remains of the Xanthe, an Essex fishing smack,
0:45:20 > 0:45:21about 100 years old.
0:45:29 > 0:45:34Look, you can see the ribs perfectly preserved under all this seaweed.
0:45:34 > 0:45:35This must be the stem.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39You can see it's all... Take the seaweed off,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42there she is.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45Boats like this are actually worth a fortune.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49People spend something like £50,000 to £100,000
0:45:49 > 0:45:53restoring Essex fishing smacks like this.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57I just want to know what makes these boats quite so special.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06Smacks were workhorses, used for dredging and trawling.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09You appreciate their sheer beauty in action.
0:46:09 > 0:46:10Cue another competition -
0:46:10 > 0:46:14oyster dredging this time.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16They love contests here.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Hi.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22- You must be Gerard. - Mark, hello. How are you doing?
0:46:22 > 0:46:26'I've joined the crew of the Kate, skippered by Gerard Swift.
0:46:26 > 0:46:32'Gerard and his wife Helen have lovingly restored this Essex smack.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36'It's a far cry from the skeleton I've just seen in the mud.'
0:46:36 > 0:46:40So why are these oyster smacks so special?
0:46:40 > 0:46:43They're very graceful craft from very much earlier...
0:46:43 > 0:46:46Just work boats, but very yacht-like in their appearance
0:46:46 > 0:46:50with the long counter-stern and very weatherly, fast, easy boats to sail.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53For workboats, they were something really special.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57The design frees up space to work at the stern.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01The three dredges are thrown overboard
0:47:01 > 0:47:04and hauled in at regular intervals.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07So you've got just enough sail to drag them along the bottom.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11- Yeah, going along like a garden rake.- Here's the first catch.
0:47:11 > 0:47:12Look at them all!
0:47:13 > 0:47:15Most of it's dead shell.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17I've only got one.
0:47:17 > 0:47:18THEY LAUGH
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Not a good day in the oyster beds.
0:47:21 > 0:47:23We're in the wrong spot.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25How many do you reckon we're going to get?
0:47:26 > 0:47:29I'd like about 10 kilo, that'd be nice.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Well, we've got four oysters at the moment.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35The competition has two prizes -
0:47:35 > 0:47:37one for the most oysters,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41another for the smack which dredges with the most style.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44That's bound to be us.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47What are the points that the judges are looking for?
0:47:47 > 0:47:52The boat going the right speed, the dredgers towing evenly, the boat in control,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55just going along whilst the guys work the dredgers, basically.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58There's the judges' boat over there. They're checking us out.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01So what do you think you should mark the Kate?
0:48:01 > 0:48:03- Certainly an eight.- An eight, yeah.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06'Eight out of ten isn't bad.
0:48:06 > 0:48:12'Right now, it's double our number of oysters, but the morning is still young.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14'The competition takes two hours...'
0:48:14 > 0:48:18- It's hard work.- Back-breaking.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21'..by which time we're all exhausted.'
0:48:21 > 0:48:25- Is that it? - That's it, the last.- The last one.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27There's another one, Mark.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29- Oh, fantastic!- And another.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34- Bonus time. I reckon the last has been our best.- Yes, it probably has.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38We haven't brought the greatest weight, I don't think.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40I'm sure we had the greatest style.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42Hope so, hope so.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46'We take our meagre catch to Packing Shed Island,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50'where oysters have been packed for more than 100 years.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54'The weigh-in is very strict.'
0:48:54 > 0:48:56Let's get ours weighed in, shall we?
0:48:56 > 0:48:58- Moment of truth.- 2.8.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02'Needless to say, less than three kilos isn't a winning catch,
0:49:02 > 0:49:07'and we're robbed of the trophy for the most stylish dredging too.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11'But the real reward is in taking part,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14'putting these historic boats back to work,
0:49:14 > 0:49:19'dredging for oysters as they were perfectly built to do.'
0:49:32 > 0:49:35And so we're into the mighty Thames Estuary.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Just 12 miles out to sea from here,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43you're beyond our territorial waters.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47Handy if you're in a business that's not strictly legal.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52In the 1960s, that was pirate radio.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Back then, listeners only had one option - the BBC -
0:49:56 > 0:50:01so a group of DJs took to the waves to broadcast their kind of music.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05They called their station Radio Caroline.
0:50:05 > 0:50:10One former DJ is off to visit a boat that rocked.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14# Her name is Caroline... #
0:50:14 > 0:50:18I'm Tom Anderson, and I was one of the last DJs on the Mi Amigo,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21the Radio Caroline ship, nearly 30 years ago.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24I grew up in Clacton-on-Sea,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27where I saw the pirate-radio era start from my bedroom window.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29It was in my blood to start with,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32but the main reason it was Caroline, was the music.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35We were on the cutting edge of music at the time.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39The whole operation was very clandestine, it was rough and ready.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Often we ran out of very basic supplies.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47Sex and drugs and rock and roll? I doubt it very much, to be honest.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49We knew the boat was on its last legs,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51but we thought she was invincible,
0:50:51 > 0:50:53and when you're young, you think you're invincible
0:50:53 > 0:50:57and none of us ever foresaw the day that she'd sink at sea.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01'Well, we're sorry to tell you that due to the severe weather conditions,
0:51:01 > 0:51:07'and also to the fact that we're shipping quite a lot of water, we're closing down. Tom.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10'Yeah, it's not a very good occasion, really.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14'I'm going to have to hurry this because the lifeboat is standing by.'
0:51:14 > 0:51:17It's nearly 30 years ago that I uttered those words,
0:51:17 > 0:51:19and now I'm on my way back.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24The Port Of London Authority regularly check wrecks in their area,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and they have allowed me to come along with them.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29Here we are at the moment, tracking along,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31then the wreck site is bounded by this red square.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33That's where we're heading.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35Look forward to seeing my old home.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43So this is the 3-D image of the wreck.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46That's superb, that really is incredible.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49The lifeboat approached us from this side here,
0:51:49 > 0:51:50and we were told to bring nothing,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53and I stuffed a carton of cigarettes up my jumper.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Absolutely everything went with it.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01There were some very valuable autographed copies of records by The Beatles that are no more.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Very sad.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10The pirates haven't sunk without trace.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Their offshore antics ushered in commercial stations,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16which made radio broadcasting into a business.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36Profit and loss are shipmates on this shore.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Just as the Humber at the beginning of my journey
0:52:39 > 0:52:41drove the success of Hull and Grimsby,
0:52:41 > 0:52:46so the Thames was the revenue stream for the growth of Britain's capital.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53They're abandoned now, but the expansion of London's docks in the 19th century
0:52:53 > 0:52:57was built on global trade from the Empire.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06British companies enjoyed the freedom to sail the globe because the Royal Navy ruled the waves,
0:53:06 > 0:53:12thanks to the heroic efforts of a seafarer that London honoured in stone at the heart of the capital.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18By the time that Nelson's Column was completed in 1843,
0:53:18 > 0:53:24the true scale and significance of his victory at Trafalgar was plain for all to see.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33Nelson won his greatest and final victory in October 1805.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35The French fleet was crushed
0:53:35 > 0:53:39and the British Navy went virtually unchallenged
0:53:39 > 0:53:40for more than 100 years.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50The news of triumph and tragedy at Trafalgar
0:53:50 > 0:53:53was painfully slow to filter back to London.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55A small ship left the battle immediately
0:53:55 > 0:53:58with a message for the Lords of the Admiralty.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06On the night of 6th November, just after midnight, William Marsden,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09the First Secretary to the Admiralty,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12was still working in the boardroom.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16Making his way to meet Marsden as fast as his horses could carry him
0:54:16 > 0:54:20was British Naval Officer Lieutenant John Richard Lapenotiere.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26Just 37 hours earlier, his schooner, The Pickle, had docked at Falmouth,
0:54:26 > 0:54:28returning from the Battle Of Trafalgar.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33Now, after 21 stops for fresh horses, the news had finally reached London.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Lapenotiere arrived exhausted into the cobbled courtyard of the Admiralty.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45He headed straight to the boardroom
0:54:45 > 0:54:48to deliver his bitter-sweet message
0:54:48 > 0:54:50to the First Secretary of the Admiralty.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58Sir, we've gained a great victory, but we have lost Lord Nelson.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06'If only these walls could talk.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09'Stepping into the Admiralty boardroom,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12'it looks almost exactly as it did to Nelson himself.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17'He'd come here to receive his orders ahead of the Battle Of Trafalgar.
0:55:17 > 0:55:23'The Lords of the Admiralty no longer sit here, so they're not here to meet me,
0:55:23 > 0:55:25'but Professor Andrew Lambert is,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29'an expert in naval history and as much of a Nelson fan as I am.'
0:55:29 > 0:55:33How much of a plan of battle did Nelson have?
0:55:33 > 0:55:37He's not such a fool as to have a detailed point-by-point plan
0:55:37 > 0:55:39because they always go wrong,
0:55:39 > 0:55:41so this is Nelson's concept of battle.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44It's a very brief sketch jotted down on the back of an envelope.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Quite literally, it's a scrap piece of paper,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49and he shows this linear battle,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51and we're going to have to break through the formation
0:55:51 > 0:55:54to set up this close-quarters or pell-mell battle,
0:55:54 > 0:56:00and great leadership is about setting up the position for his subordinates.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05He knows that if his captains and crews are led to battle in the right way, they can do the job.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Just how significant, then, was the victory at Trafalgar?
0:56:09 > 0:56:11Trafalgar is the capstone on 150 years
0:56:11 > 0:56:16in which the British have gone from being a significant European player
0:56:16 > 0:56:19to being the first true global power.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Nelson is the capstone on that, so it's the defining moment
0:56:23 > 0:56:28when Britain goes from being a European power to being THE world power.
0:56:49 > 0:56:50After triumph at Trafalgar,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53the threat of invasion from France was gone,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56and the Royal Navy reigned supreme.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08Nelson, the boy from Norfolk who stood on the shore and dreamt of glory at sea,
0:57:08 > 0:57:12had helped propel Britain into an unparalleled age of empire.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25From earliest times, the coast nurtured the people of our isles.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29It welcomed settlers and repelled invaders.
0:57:29 > 0:57:35Reaching out from the coast, the Empire would draw in more than 400 million people,
0:57:35 > 0:57:41enriching and expanding our small island with bonds across the seas.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45Our links to foreign shores are all around us -
0:57:45 > 0:57:51in the language, the culture and the people who make up our island race.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56We embrace our coast for all sorts of reasons, and our coast embraces us.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01And remember, wherever you are in these islands -
0:58:01 > 0:58:06North, South, East, West, or right in the middle -
0:58:06 > 0:58:11you're never more than 72 miles from the sea.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:31 > 0:58:35E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk