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We're about to embark on a voyage of discovery. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
Our destinations are the glorious islands of the British Isles. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:43 | |
Jewels set in spectacular seas | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
with a treasure trove of secrets in store. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
This is an epic adventure to explore the mysteries of the Isles. | 0:00:53 | 0:01:00 | |
My own magical mystery tour starts here on Orkney. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:08 | |
Orkney is actually a collection of 70 islands. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
The harbour at Stromness has been a settlement | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
since the time of the Vikings. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
The sea was the highway the islanders needed to survive. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:26 | |
Stromness was once a jumping off point for global adventure. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:31 | |
The town was connected to the wider world | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
by mighty sailing ships stopping over in the port. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
If only we could've been here in the great days of sail. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:43 | |
Well, how about that? | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
I'm hoping to hitch a lift on an island-hopping ride. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
Every year, a fleet of tall ships | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
races around the harbours of the globe | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
recreating historic trade routes. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
This year, they're passing through the Northern Isles of Scotland. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
The community here was transformed by the tall ships. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
They brought wealth, but they also took men away. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:09 | |
It's a classic dilemma for all small isles. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:12 | |
When the wider world comes knocking, | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
is the attraction of island life strong enough | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
to keep communities together? | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
-Permission to board, captain. -Welcome aboard. -Thank you. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
To explore the effect these vessels had on the islanders, | 0:02:22 | 0:02:26 | |
I'm signing on as a crew hand | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
aboard the Norwegian tall ship, Sorlandet. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
My destination is Shetland | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
but I'm planning to stop off at tiny Fair Isle. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:38 | |
It barely registers on the map, but the community there thrives, | 0:02:38 | 0:02:42 | |
even though many other Scottish isles have been abandoned. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
It's a mystery how those on Fair Isle manage to hang on. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
I wanted to discover the secrets of their success. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
With a favourable wind, we'll get to Fair Isle within two days. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
We're under motor power now, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
but soon it'll be all hands on deck to unfurl the 27 sails. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
The islands of Orkney are disappearing below the horizon. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:23 | |
I'm just putting myself in the shoes of the islanders | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
who boarded ships just like this to sail to new lives in faraway lands. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:32 | |
It must have been hugely exciting. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
But their excitement was tempered | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
by the prospect of hard graft and so is mine. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:42 | |
They've just taught me how to coil a rope, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:47 | |
which is actually quite simple. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
It would be if you were standing on your kitchen floor at home. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
This floor is moving around all over the place. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
Then, before we've really got going, apparently, it's time for bed. | 0:03:56 | 0:04:01 | |
The ship runs on shift work and I'm on an early. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:06 | |
But sleep doesn't come easily when the boat is lurching | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
and there's only a few hours of darkness. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
It's four o'clock in the morning and I've just got out of my bunk. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:21 | |
I'm on the four to eight watch. I've got to get up on deck. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
Boat is going all over the place. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
I think they put all the sails up in the night. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
Like sailors of old, I'm keeping a log, a video diary of my voyage. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:34 | |
We're far out to sea. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
We've been blown along under a rig full of sails. Look at this. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:42 | |
What a sight. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:46 | |
This is what square rigging looks like, | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
under a lot of sail out in the North Atlantic. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
Pretty impressive. | 0:04:57 | 0:04:58 | |
There's precious little time to take in the view. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
Bad weather is blowing in and we've got to crack on towards Fair Isle. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:09 | |
Mind your footing, mind your footing, people sleeping below. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
While the ship swings into action, the captain calmly plots our route, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:20 | |
heading for a small speck of land. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
Fair Isle looks like a tiny rock in the middle of the ocean | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
completely on its own. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:28 | |
Why do you want to take the ship to Fair Isle? | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
-There is barter with the inhabitants of Fair Isle. -Barter? | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
Yes, where you trade things that you have for things that they have. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
They used to do this with the ships in the old days. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
They trade their woollen mittens for fish hooks, | 0:05:42 | 0:05:46 | |
oars and things like that. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
What have you brought from Norway | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
to trade with the inhabitants of Fair Isle? | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
We've bought some goat cheese, some brown, Norwegian goat cheese. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
OK. Do you think they'll like that? Do you know they like goats cheese? | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
I think it remains to be found out. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
The only issue we have now, is if the seas pick up too much, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:07 | |
we'll have an issue with anchoring at Fair Isle. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
This tall ship is too big to get into the tiny harbour on Fair Isle. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:19 | |
Instead, we're planning to drop anchor offshore. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:24 | |
the bad weather could scupper that plan. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
I've just come off watch | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
and Fair Isle is just off the ship's rail. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
It's the most remote inhabited island in the British Archipelago | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
and I've been wanting to set foot on it for most of my life. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
Just seeing it is exciting, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
but we don't know yet whether we're going to be able to go ashore | 0:06:51 | 0:06:55 | |
because there's a strong wind and a big swell. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
We're just going to have to wait and see. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
Weather permitting, | 0:07:02 | 0:07:03 | |
I'm hoping to meet the small community here on Fair Isle | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
to discover how they've kept going when other isles were abandoned. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
It's just one of the marvellous mysteries to explore | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
in the Scottish islands. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
Shrouded in cloaks of sea mist, | 0:07:25 | 0:07:29 | |
the Western Isles can seem like a shadowy, secret world. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
Fertile territory for the making of myths. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
Spectacular sights and tall tales | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
captivated a new breed of tourists around 150 years ago. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:48 | |
They departed from new gateways to adventure, like here at Largs. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:54 | |
Following in the footsteps of Victorian travellers, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
Tessa's searching out the truth of an island tale | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
that seems much stranger than fiction. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
In the late 1800s, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
the sleepy town of Largs was a thriving tourist destination. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:13 | |
The golden ticket for travel hungry adventurers of the Victorian age | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
was a grand tour of the Western Isles. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
The new craze for paddle-steamer voyages | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
drew people here from far and wide, | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
especially those obsessed with a scientific sense of discovery. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:30 | |
One such traveller was French author Jules Verne, | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
a founding father of science fiction. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
In 1879, Verne, in search of new wonders, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
travelled to the Western Isles. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
The man who wrote Around The World In 80 Days | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
was inspired here to write a book about a natural phenomenon. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:51 | |
Part fact, part fiction. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
The mysterious and elusive green ray. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
In the book, Jules Verne describes a fleeting green flash of light | 0:08:57 | 0:09:02 | |
that reveals itself just as the sun sets. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
He called it Le Rayon Vert, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
meaning the green ray, more commonly known as the green flash. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
The novel tells the story of a young woman, Helena, | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
who, having read of the green ray, | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
sets off on a voyage to the Western Isles | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
to try and see it herself. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
Legend tells that the green ray destroys illusions | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
and will allow her to find true love. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
Joining me as I begin my voyage into the islands, is Ian Thompson, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
who has studied Verne's book. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
Does the green ray really exist? Will we be able to see it? | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
Yes, the phenomenon certainly exists. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
We don't know that Verne himself witnessed it. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
There's nothing in the correspondence or diaries | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
to prove that, but it certainly does exist and has been witnessed, | 0:09:56 | 0:10:00 | |
photographed and I have here an example where we see, | 0:10:00 | 0:10:05 | |
just for a few seconds, this green flash or green ray. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
That was what Verne's heroine was after. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
And it's what I'm after too. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
Like both Jules Verne and his heroine, Helena, | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
I'm boarding a steamer to travel to the Western Isles. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
The green ray is very interesting in Verne's huge output, | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
because it's the one novel that follows exactly | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
his own travel and his travels in Scotland. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
He adored all the myths and legends and history of Scotland | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
and he regarded it as more or less his ancestral home. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
Why, in particular, are the Western Isles a good place | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
for seeing this green flash phenomenon? | 0:10:56 | 0:10:58 | |
The western coast of the Western Isles | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
offered a completely unblocked view of the horizon and sunset. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:06 | |
So, in other words, here, where we are right now, is no good. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:12 | |
You can't see over the horizon. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
It's clearly not an easy phenomenon to capture. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
It does require very specific atmospheric conditions. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
What do you think our chances are? | 0:11:20 | 0:11:22 | |
Pretty slim. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
To have any hope, I need to push on to the open sea. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
Like Helena, I'm determined to witness the green flash. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:35 | |
Has anybody else here seen it though? | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
-I wonder, Sir, if you've ever heard of the green ray. -I haven't, no. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:42 | |
-I don't suppose you know anything about the green flash, do you? -No. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
I haven't, I'm sorry, I don't. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
-Have you ever heard of the green flash? -Oh, yes, I have. -Have you? | 0:11:47 | 0:11:52 | |
In fact, I've seen the green flash. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
Just as the sun goes down, just as it disappears over the horizon, | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
there's a green flash. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
It's quite amazing to see it. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:01 | |
Reassured, I continue heading west. It's a race against the sun. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:07 | |
Back in Verne's day, | 0:12:12 | 0:12:13 | |
the fashionable sets in London, Paris and Berlin | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
saw the Western Isles as the last wilderness of Europe. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:20 | |
It's clear that Verne too was captivated by this place. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
As he made his way to the lochs and out to the islands, | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
natural wonders like the Corryvreckan Whirlpool fuelled his imagination, | 0:12:32 | 0:12:37 | |
as did the imposing island of Staffa and the wondrous Fingal's Cave. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:44 | |
With sunset approaching, the paddle steamer leaves me behind. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:51 | |
I've arrived at the island where Verne's heroine got her chance | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
to see the green flash. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
But she had better luck than me. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
I've got a view of the horizon, but the clouds have closed in. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
The sun's nowhere to be seen, the elements are against me. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:11 | |
But I was brought up in Scotland, so I am not daft enough | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
to have left the green flash to chance. I've got a Plan B. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:19 | |
'I am meeting Johannes Courtial, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
'who is giving me my very own green flash demonstration.' | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
How does a green flash actually work? | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
There's the sun, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:30 | |
and, when it's setting, the light from the sun reaches the observer | 0:13:30 | 0:13:36 | |
by entering the atmosphere, where it gets bent. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
When the sun sets on the horizon, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
the light goes through a bit of atmosphere a bit like a prism. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:47 | |
-I happen to have one here. -So if the atmosphere is like a prism, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
what effect does that have on the light? | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
What this does is it splits the sun's light | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
into, effectively, a rainbow. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
The red bit is at the bottom, the blue bit is at the top, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:02 | |
and as the sun sets below the horizon, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
this rainbow disappears. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:06 | |
The blue is at the end, so that would set last, | 0:14:06 | 0:14:10 | |
but the green flashes green and not blue, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
and that's because blue light is scattered by the atmosphere. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
This is why the sky is blue, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:17 | |
and that's why, in this rainbow, | 0:14:17 | 0:14:19 | |
blue is missing and then the top colour is green. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
The last colour that is disappearing below the horizon is a bit of green. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
-When that sets, that's the green flash. -Eureka! | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
-Can you re-create the green flash here? -Well, we'll do our best. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:33 | |
We have all we need, I think. We have a fish tank with angled sides. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
This will act like a prism. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
'To make the tank mimic the bending power | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
'of the Earth's atmosphere, we fill it with water.' | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
'Add powder to scatter the light, and finally a torch, our sun.' | 0:14:46 | 0:14:52 | |
I can see some form of rainbow here. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
I do see it actually, a kind of blue-y green rim. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
But I thought that that green flash was meant to be at the top, | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
the last bit of the sun to disappear, not on the right-hand side. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
That's because our atmosphere is standing on its side. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
This way is up. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:09 | |
'With a little magic touch, | 0:15:11 | 0:15:12 | |
'it starts to look a lot more like the setting sun, | 0:15:12 | 0:15:16 | |
'complete with mysterious green flash.' | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
Given what we've been up against, I think you've worked wonders. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
This is amazing. I actually understand it. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
'And though I may have cheated a little, | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
'with the help of a German scientist and a plastic fish tank, | 0:15:29 | 0:15:33 | |
'I've joined the lucky few to have seen | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
'the rare and mysterious green flash.' | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
I'm sailing aboard the Norwegian tall ship Sorlandet | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
on a voyage between the northern isles of Scotland. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:58 | |
We've arrived at Fair Isle, a wonderfully remote community. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
I've wanted to come here for years, | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
since I first heard about it as a boy. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:10 | |
But tall ships are too big for Fair Isle's tiny harbour, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:16 | |
so we need to find calmer water to launch a boat. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
We seem to be sailing to and fro among the shore of Fair Isle. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
-Is there a problem? -In the north end there where the other ships are, | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
there's a bit of swell, so now we're at the south end of the island, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:32 | |
we're going to pass it, turn the ship around, come back, | 0:16:32 | 0:16:37 | |
and see if we can anchor just about where we are now | 0:16:37 | 0:16:39 | |
and a little bit closer to shore. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:40 | |
And it ought to be safe. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
We are hoping to drop anchor off this remarkable island, | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
still home to about 70 people. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
A tiny stepping stone between Orkney and Shetland, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
Fair Isle is surrounded by an ocean of sea. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
3,000 miles over there is Canada, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
and hundreds of miles that direction is Norway and mainland Europe. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
Fair Isle is sat in one of the biggest shipping lanes in the world. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
Arriving by trading ship helped solve the mystery | 0:17:13 | 0:17:16 | |
of how small island communities used to support themselves out here. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:23 | |
Whenever the people on the island saw a sailing ship coming past, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
they would try and sail out or row out to meet it. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
'Today, we'll try and meet them, and barter with the islanders.' | 0:17:29 | 0:17:35 | |
Step in quickly. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
'But getting off a big ship isn't easy. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:43 | |
'These are tense moments.' | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
Give us a line. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
That was one of the most exciting embarkation moments | 0:18:07 | 0:18:11 | |
I've ever had in my life. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
We are now going to head for the shore through a pretty impressive swell. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
Fair Isle looks pretty remote on a map, | 0:18:18 | 0:18:21 | |
but it feels more remote once you've arrived at it. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
Finally, after years of anticipation, | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
I get to set foot on Fair Isle. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
This is a big moment for me. I feel quite emotional about it. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
ISLANDERS CHEER | 0:18:35 | 0:18:38 | |
Thank you! Thank you! | 0:18:41 | 0:18:42 | |
Thank you very much. That's a very nice welcome indeed. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
'In the past, islanders would exchange fresh goods | 0:18:46 | 0:18:51 | |
'and their famous knitwear for brandy, tea, | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
'flour and other essentials from the trading ships. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:58 | |
'They've been frantically knitting fishermen's hats, | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
'which they hope to barter.' | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
This is the famous Norwegian brown cheese. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:09 | |
This is Linie Aquavit. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:13 | |
< Over there, over there. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
I think we'll have to open that tonight for all the knitters first. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:20 | |
'It's easy to see this as a bit of fun, | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
'but exchanges like this happened for hundreds of years, | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
'keeping island communities alive.' | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
Fantastic! CROWD CHEERS | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
'Barter complete.' | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
I've just an hour or so left to explore this fascinating island. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:40 | |
There's a mystery at the heart of this community that intrigues me. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:46 | |
What made them stay when life became difficult? | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
Not so long ago it was touch and go here on Fair Isle. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
I've got an article here from the Shetland Times of 1956. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
The really dramatic passage in this article says, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
"The report indicates that, by this summer, | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
"it is possible that the island will reach the point of no return | 0:20:04 | 0:20:08 | |
"as far as manning essential services is concerned, | 0:20:08 | 0:20:12 | |
"so that evacuation will become inevitable." | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
In 1956, a film crew came to capture the dying days of Fair Isle. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:22 | |
The tall ships had gone. The island was increasingly isolated. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
Young men were forced to leave to find wives. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
The population was just 47. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
But the proposed evacuation never materialised. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:39 | |
So how did Fair Isle come back from the brink? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
I'm meeting Anne Sinclair to share memories of life back then. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:48 | |
Look at that. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
-So that's the lighthouse just down there. -Yeah. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:53 | |
Here's some Fair Isle knitting patterns. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
-They haven't changed at all, have they? -No. It's called traditional. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
And that, I think, is my Auntie Molly's hands. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
You can recognise your aunt's hands? | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
Yep. They're the same as mine. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
Anne's parents were from Fair Isle, but like many others, they'd left. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
When the call came to help save the island, the family returned. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:17 | |
-Which year did you come back? -'57. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
-You came back at the most difficult time in the island's history? -Yes. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
Dad especially was really quite keen to come back here. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
They said, if young farmers didn't come, they'd evacuate Fair Isle, | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
so that was the final thing, and Dad said, "Right. Let's go." | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
Why did Fair Isle survive as a community | 0:21:35 | 0:21:40 | |
when so many islands off the north coast of Scotland | 0:21:40 | 0:21:43 | |
became depopulated and abandoned? | 0:21:43 | 0:21:47 | |
I think it was sheer determination to a certain extent. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
But I think a lot of people saw this was a good way to live, | 0:21:49 | 0:21:53 | |
and there were a lot of young families that came back | 0:21:53 | 0:21:58 | |
and it stayed fairly young, and I think that's important. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:02 | |
A lot of people have the idea, | 0:22:02 | 0:22:03 | |
"Oh, Fair Isle, get away from it all. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:05 | |
"It'll be like a magic place." | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
And in fact, we're all human beings same as everywhere else. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
It's a magical place but it won't solve anybody's problems. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:14 | |
They won't get away from anything. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | |
Right now, I've got to get back to the tall ship waiting for me | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
offshore to continue my magical mystery tour towards Shetland. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:25 | |
I'm leaving Anne with a DVD of memories | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
in exchange for a Fair Isle cap. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
Right. Now you put it to the side. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
Ah, that's warm! | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
A typical Fair Isle fisherman. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
I'm not tough enough to be a Fair Isle fisherman. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
I'm en route for Shetland, following in the wake of islanders | 0:22:53 | 0:22:58 | |
who left a familiar life on land for the mysteries of the sea. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
To find out what lay in store, like them, | 0:23:03 | 0:23:07 | |
I'm travelling 19th-century style. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
Back then, ships like this carried island men to adventure | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
across the sea, but it wasn't a free ride. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
They often had to work their passage. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
I think I better do the same. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
At sea, a boat becomes an island in itself. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
Everyone needs to pull together and tow the line. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:31 | |
While some jobs are mundane, others are exhilarating. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:37 | |
I'm about to have the biggest adventure you can have | 0:23:37 | 0:23:39 | |
on a tall ship, which is going up in the rigging. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
I've got a camera mounted on my nut, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
and the man whose taking me up is David, | 0:23:44 | 0:23:46 | |
who has a lifetime's experience on sailing ships. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
-David, take me up. -If you go first. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
Here we go. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
This is... | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
Already the deck is receding below me. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
Whoa, gosh, the wind is strong. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
The wind is one third stronger up here. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
The ship's moving all over the place. This is really difficult. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
-Is this where I clip on? -Yes, please. On the wire itself. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:25 | |
-That's it. -Clip done. This is the moment. Up and over the edge. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:31 | |
Looming out over the deck. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
Arms out straight. Push with your feet. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:37 | |
One foot on the platform, two feet on the platform. I'm up. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:45 | |
Expletive deleted. Oh, man. What a sight. What a sight. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:51 | |
To be up in the top of the rigging of a tall ship | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
looking out across the ocean, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
the sails billowing with wind, totally timeless moment. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:12 | |
This is exactly what seafarers for hundreds of years have seen. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:17 | |
This is a voyage of real highs | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
and lows, snatching sleep when you can. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:27 | |
There's one very odd thing that happens, which is your body clock goes completely peculiar. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:37 | |
Eh...right now, I have no idea what time of day it is. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:43 | |
It must be evening, cos I slept for two hours. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
I got out of this bunk. I was sleeping fully clothed, like now. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
Then I ate the meal, which turned out to be supper. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
Getting a bit tired. In fact, I'm now permanently tired. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
But the ship doesn't sleep. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:03 | |
There's an important tack at midnight. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
Everyone's needed to move the massive sails. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:11 | |
-Are you ready to do this? -Yeah! -Yeah! Very good. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:16 | |
It's all gone badly wrong. We've got some of the sails on one side of the ship, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
some on the other. We got caught by the wind. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
Now there's a rush on to try to get the ship straightened out. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:28 | |
Suddenly, everyone stops. The crew must rethink. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:41 | |
A palpable air of tension on the deck now. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
Pull it towards me. Pull it towards me. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
Here we go. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
Despite our efforts, the ship did more of a three-point turn than an elegant tack. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:06 | |
Orkney was where I started my island adventure. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:20 | |
Four long days and short nights later, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
the edge of Shetland sits on the horizon. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
Journey's end. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
We've arrived off the Shetland Islands, | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
we're waiting for the pilot, the big seas have abated, | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
it's as calm and almost as flat as the Mediterranean, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
and the Shetlands look as welcoming to me | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
as they always have done to voyagers coming in from across the ocean. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:52 | |
A wonderful sight. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
I've made it. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
And I'm absolutely exhausted. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:02 | |
But what a way to arrive in Shetland! | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
For a rare gathering of square riggers from around the globe. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
Permission to come ashore. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
Lerwick is absolutely packed, it's as if the whole island | 0:28:19 | 0:28:23 | |
has poured down to the quaysides to see the ships come in. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:27 | |
The tall ships are on their annual race. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:31 | |
This is just a brief stop-over for them but for me, | 0:28:31 | 0:28:36 | |
the experience of life under sail will linger long in the memory. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:42 | |
Friendships forged at sea, | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
formed from the shared experience of pulling together. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:49 | |
Making landfall on new shores, | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
with a warm welcome for a stranger from down south. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:56 | |
CHEERING | 0:28:56 | 0:28:58 | |
I've travelled far, but always felt at home. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:01 | |
Our islands hold a mysterious attraction. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
Their magic spoke to our ancestors, and it still calls us. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:10 | |
One thing that unites us across these isles | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
is that we're all islanders, | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
whether we live on rocks in the sea that are very large or very small. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:19 | |
Maybe the joy of coming to the coast is that here, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:22 | |
we can still experience the very essence of our island story. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:28 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:29:45 | 0:29:48 |