The Mysteries of the Isles Coast


The Mysteries of the Isles

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Coast is home.

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We're back to explore the most endlessly fascinating shoreline

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in the world.

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Our own.

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The quest to discover surprising secret stories

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from around the British Isles continues.

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This is Coast.

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We're about to embark on a voyage of discovery.

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Our destinations are the glorious islands of the British Isles.

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Jewels set in spectacular seas

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with a treasure trove of secrets in store.

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This is an epic adventure to explore the mysteries of the Isles.

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We'll journey far into the North

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where Neil is intrigued

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by the curious case of the death of Lord Kitchener.

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His face was instantly recognisable.

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He was the poster boy of Army recruitment

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during the First World War.

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He arrived here in Scapa Flow on 5th June 1916.

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A few hours later, he was dead.

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In the South, England's biggest island beckons.

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It's a mystery how these needles of chalk

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on the Isle of Wight have hung on so long.

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Coast newcomer Andy Torbet is scaling new heights

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to solve a geological puzzle.

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This rock face represents about one million years,

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so, for every metre I go up, that's about 30,000 years.

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As we head way out west in Scotland,

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our voyage of exploration takes Tessa on a mission

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to see a magical light in the sky.

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Will sunset reveal the mysterious green ray?

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My own magical mystery tour starts here on Orkney.

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Orkney is actually a collection of 70 islands.

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The harbour at Stromness has been a settlement

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since the time of the Vikings.

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The sea was the highway the islanders needed to survive.

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Stromness was once a jumping off point for global adventure.

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The town was connected to the wider world

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by mighty sailing ships stopping over in the port.

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If only we could've been here in the great days of sail.

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Well, how about that?

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I'm hoping to hitch a lift on an island-hopping ride.

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Every year, a fleet of tall ships

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races around the harbours of the globe

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recreating historic trade routes.

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This year, they're passing through the Northern Isles of Scotland.

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The community here was transformed by the tall ships.

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They brought wealth, but they also took men away.

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It's a classic dilemma for all small isles.

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When the wider world comes knocking,

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is the attraction of island life strong enough

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to keep communities together?

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-Permission to board, captain.

-Welcome aboard.

-Thank you.

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To explore the effect these vessels had on the islanders,

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I'm signing on as a crew hand

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aboard the Norwegian tall ship, Sorlandet.

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My destination is Shetland

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but I'm planning to stop off at tiny Fair Isle.

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It barely registers on the map, but the community there thrives,

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even though many other Scottish isles have been abandoned.

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It's a mystery how those on Fair Isle manage to hang on.

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I wanted to discover the secrets of their success.

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With a favourable wind, we'll get to Fair Isle within two days.

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We're under motor power now,

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but soon it'll be all hands on deck to unfurl the 27 sails.

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The islands of Orkney are disappearing below the horizon.

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I'm just putting myself in the shoes of the islanders

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who boarded ships just like this to sail to new lives in faraway lands.

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It must have been hugely exciting.

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But their excitement was tempered

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by the prospect of hard graft and so is mine.

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They've just taught me how to coil a rope,

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which is actually quite simple.

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It would be if you were standing on your kitchen floor at home.

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This floor is moving around all over the place.

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Then, before we've really got going, apparently, it's time for bed.

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The ship runs on shift work and I'm on an early.

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But sleep doesn't come easily when the boat is lurching

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and there's only a few hours of darkness.

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It's four o'clock in the morning and I've just got out of my bunk.

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I'm on the four to eight watch. I've got to get up on deck.

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Boat is going all over the place.

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I think they put all the sails up in the night.

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Like sailors of old, I'm keeping a log, a video diary of my voyage.

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We're far out to sea.

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We've been blown along under a rig full of sails. Look at this.

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What a sight.

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This is what square rigging looks like,

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under a lot of sail out in the North Atlantic.

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Pretty impressive.

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There's precious little time to take in the view.

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Bad weather is blowing in and we've got to crack on towards Fair Isle.

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Mind your footing, mind your footing, people sleeping below.

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While the ship swings into action, the captain calmly plots our route,

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heading for a small speck of land.

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Fair Isle looks like a tiny rock in the middle of the ocean

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completely on its own.

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Why do you want to take the ship to Fair Isle?

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There is barter with the inhabitants of Fair Isle.

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Barter?

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Yes, where you trade things that you have for things that they have.

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They used to do this with the ships in the old days.

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They trade their woollen mittens for fish hooks,

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oars and things like that.

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What have you brought from Norway

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to trade with the inhabitants of Fair Isle?

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We've bought some goat cheese, some brown, Norwegian goat cheese.

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OK. Do you think they'll like that? Do you know they like goats cheese?

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I think it remains to be found out.

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The only issue we have now, is if the seas pick up too much,

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we'll have an issue with anchoring at Fair Isle.

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This tall ship is too big to get into the tiny harbour on Fair Isle.

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Instead, we're planning to drop anchor offshore.

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the bad weather could scupper that plan.

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I've just come off watch

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and Fair Isle is just off the ship's rail.

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It's the most remote inhabited island in the British Archipelago

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and I've been wanting to set foot on it for most of my life.

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Just seeing it is exciting,

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but we don't know yet whether we're going to be able to go ashore

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because there's a strong wind and a big swell.

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We're just going to have to wait and see.

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Weather permitting,

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I'm hoping to meet the small community here on Fair Isle

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to discover how they've kept going when other isles were abandoned.

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It's just one of the marvellous mysteries to explore

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in the Scottish islands.

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Shrouded in cloaks of sea mist,

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the Western Isles can seem like a shadowy, secret world.

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Fertile territory for the making of myths.

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Spectacular sights and tall tales

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captivated a new breed of tourists around 150 years ago.

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They departed from new gateways to adventure, like here at Largs.

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Following in the footsteps of Victorian travellers,

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Tessa's searching out the truth of an island tale

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that seems much stranger than fiction.

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In the late 1800s,

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the sleepy town of Largs was a thriving tourist destination.

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The golden ticket for travel hungry adventurers of the Victorian age,

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was a grand tour of the Western Isles.

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The new craze for paddle-steamer voyages

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drew people here from far and wide,

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especially those obsessed with a scientific sense of discovery.

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One such traveller was French author Jules Verne,

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a founding father of science fiction.

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In 1879, Verne, in search of new wonders,

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travelled to the Western Isles.

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The man who wrote Around The World In 80 Days

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and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

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was inspired here to write a book about a natural phenomenon.

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Part fact, part fiction.

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The mysterious and elusive green ray.

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In the book, Jules Verne describes a fleeting green flash of light

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that reveals itself just as the sun sets.

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He called it Le Rayon Vert,

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meaning the green ray, more commonly known as the green flash.

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The novel tells the story of a young woman, Helena,

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who, having read of the green ray,

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sets off on a voyage to the Western Isles

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to try and see it herself.

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Legend tells that the green ray destroys illusions

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and will allow her to find true love.

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Joining me as I begin my voyage into the islands, is Ian Thompson,

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who has studied Verne's book.

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Does the green ray really exist? Will we be able to see it?

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Yes, the phenomenon certainly exists.

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We don't know that Verne himself witnessed it.

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There's nothing in the correspondence or diaries

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to prove that, but it certainly does exist and has been witnessed,

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photographed and I have here an example where we see,

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just for a few seconds, this green flash or green ray.

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That was what Verne's heroine was after.

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And it's what I'm after too.

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Like both Jules Verne and his heroine, Helena,

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I'm boarding a steamer to travel to the Western Isles.

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The green ray is very interesting in Verne's huge output,

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because it's the one novel that follows exactly

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his own travel and his travels in Scotland.

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He adored all the myths and legends and history of Scotland

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and he regarded it as more or less his ancestral home.

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Why, in particular, are the Western Isles a good place

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for seeing this green flash phenomenon?

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The western coast of the Western Isles

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offered a completely unblocked view of the horizon and sunset.

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So, in other words, here, where we are right now, is no good.

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You can't see over the horizon.

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It's clearly not an easy phenomenon to capture.

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It does require very specific atmospheric conditions.

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What do you think our chances are?

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Pretty slim.

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To have any hope, I need to push on to the open sea.

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Like Helena, I'm determined to witness the green flash.

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Has anybody else here seen it though?

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-I wonder, Sir, if you've ever heard of the green ray.

-I haven't, no.

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-I don't suppose you know anything about the green flash, do you?

-No.

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I haven't, I'm sorry, I don't.

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-Have you ever heard of the green flash?

-Oh, yes, I have.

-Have you?

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In fact, I've seen the green flash.

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Just as the sun goes down, just as it disappears over the horizon,

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there's a green flash.

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It's quite amazing to see it.

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Reassured, I continue heading west. It's a race against the sun.

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Back in Verne's day,

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the fashionable sets in London, Paris and Berlin

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saw the Western Isles as the last wilderness of Europe.

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It's clear that Verne too was captivated by this place.

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As he made his way to the lochs and out to the islands,

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natural wonders like the Corryvreckan Whirlpool fuelled his imagination,

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as did the imposing island of Staffa and the wondrous Fingal's Cave.

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With sunset approaching, the paddle steamer leaves me behind.

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I've arrived at the island where Verne's heroine got her chance

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to see the green flash.

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But she had better luck than me.

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I've got a view of the horizon, but the clouds have closed in.

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The sun's nowhere to be seen, the elements are against me.

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But I was brought up in Scotland, so I am not daft enough

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to have left the green flash to chance. I've got a Plan B.

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'I am meeting Johannes Courtial,

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'who is giving me my very own green flash demonstration.'

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How does a green flash actually work?

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There's the sun,

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and when it's setting, the light from the sun reaches the observer

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by entering the atmosphere, where it gets bent.

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when the sun sets on the horizon,

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the light goes through a bit of atmosphere a bit like a prism.

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-I happen to have one here.

-So if the atmosphere is like a prism,

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what effect does that have on the light?

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What this does is it splits the sun's light

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into, effectively, a rainbow.

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The red bit is at the bottom, the blue bit is at the top,

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and as the sun sets below the horizon,

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this rainbow disappears.

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The blue is at the end, so that would set last,

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but the green flashes green and not blue,

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and that's because blue light is scattered by the atmosphere.

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This is why the sky is blue,

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and that's why, in this rainbow,

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blue is missing and then the top colour is green.

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The last colour that is disappearing below the horizon is a bit of green.

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-When that sets, that's the green flash.

-Eureka!

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-Can you re-create the green flash here?

-Well, we'll do our best.

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We have all we need, I think. We have a fish tank with angled sides.

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This will act like a prism.

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'To make the tank mimic the bending power

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'of the Earth's atmosphere, we fill it with water.'

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'Add powder to scatter the light, and finally a torch, our sun.'

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I can see some form of rainbow here.

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I do see it actually, a kind of blue-y green rim.

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But I thought that that green flash was meant to be at the top,

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the last bit of the sun to disappear, not on the right-hand side.

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That's because our atmosphere is standing on its side.

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This way is up.

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'With a little magic touch,

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'it starts to look a lot more like the setting sun,

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'complete with mysterious green flash.'

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Given what we've been up against, I think you've worked wonders.

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This is amazing. I actually understand it.

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'And though I may have cheated a little,

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'with the help of a German scientist and a plastic fish tank,

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'I've joined the lucky few to have seen

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'the rare and mysterious green flash.'

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I'm sailing aboard the Norwegian tall ship Sorlandet

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on a voyage between the northern isles of Scotland.

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We've arrived at Fair Isle, a wonderfully remote community.

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I've wanted to come here for years,

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since I first heard about it as a boy.

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But tall ships are too big for Fair Isle's tiny harbour,

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so we need to find calmer water to launch a boat.

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We seem to be sailing to and fro among the shore of Fair Isle.

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-Is there a problem?

-In the north end there where the other ships are,

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there's a bit of swell, so now we're at the south end of the island,

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we're going to pass it, turn the ship around, come back,

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and see if we can anchor just about where we are now

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and a little bit closer to shore.

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And it ought to be safe.

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We are hoping to drop anchor off this remarkable island,

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still home to about 70 people.

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A tiny stepping stone between Orkney and Shetland,

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Fair Isle is surrounded by an ocean of sea.

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3,000 miles over there is Canada,

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and hundreds of miles that direction is Norway and mainland Europe.

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Fair Isle is sat in one of the biggest shipping lanes in the world.

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Arriving by trading ship helped solve the mystery

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of how small island communities used to support themselves out here.

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Whenever the people on the island saw a sailing ship coming past,

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they would try and sail out or row out to meet it.

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'Today, we'll try and meet them, and barter with the islanders.'

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Step in quickly.

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'But getting off a big ship isn't easy.

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'These are tense moments.'

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Give us a line.

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That was one of the most exciting embarkation moments

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I've ever had in my life.

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We are now going to head for the shore through a pretty impressive swell.

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Fair Isle looks pretty remote on a map,

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but it feels more remote once you've arrived at it.

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Finally, after years of anticipation,

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I get to set foot on Fair Isle.

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This is a big moment for me. I feel quite emotional about it.

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ISLANDERS CHEER

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Thank you! Thank you!

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Thank you very much. That's a very nice welcome indeed.

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'In the past, islanders would exchange fresh goods

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'and their famous knitwear for brandy, tea,

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'flour and other essentials from the trading ships.

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'They've been frantically knitting fishermen's hats,

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'which they hope to barter.'

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This is the famous Norwegian brown cheese.

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This is Linie Aquavit.

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< Over there, over there.

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I think we'll have to open that tonight for all the knitters first.

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'It's easy to see this as a bit of fun,

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'but exchanges like this happened for hundreds of years,

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'keeping island communities alive.'

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Fantastic! CROWD CHEERS

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'Barter complete.'

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I've just an hour or so left to explore this fascinating island.

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There's a mystery at the heart of this community that intrigues me.

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What made them stay when life became difficult?

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Not so long ago it was touch and go here on Fair Isle.

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I've got an article here from the Shetland Times of 1956.

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The really dramatic passage in this article says,

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"The report indicates that by this summer,

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"it is possible that the island will reach the point of no return

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"as far as manning essential services is concerned,

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"so that evacuation will become inevitable."

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In 1956 a film crew came to capture the dying days of Fair Isle.

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The tall ships had gone. The island was increasingly isolated.

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Young men were forced to leave to find wives.

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The population was just 47.

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But the proposed evacuation never materialised.

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So how did Fair Isle come back from the brink?

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I'm meeting Anne Sinclair to share memories of life back then.

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Look at that.

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-So that's the lighthouse just down there.

-Yeah.

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Here's some Fair Isle knitting patterns.

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-They haven't changed at all, have they?

-No. It's called traditional.

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And that, I think, is my Auntie Molly's hands.

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You can recognise your aunt's hands?

0:22:450:22:47

Yep. They're the same as mine.

0:22:470:22:49

Anne's parents were from Fair Isle, but like many others, they'd left.

0:22:490:22:54

When the call came to help save the island the family returned.

0:22:540:22:59

-Which year did you come back?

-'57.

0:22:590:23:02

-You came back at the most difficult time in the island's history?

-Yes.

0:23:020:23:06

Dad especially was really quite keen to come back here.

0:23:060:23:09

They did say if young farmers didn't come they'd evacuate Fair Isle,

0:23:090:23:12

so that was the final thing, and Dad said, "Right. Let's go."

0:23:120:23:17

Why did Fair Isle survive as a community

0:23:170:23:21

when so many islands off the north coast of Scotland

0:23:210:23:25

became depopulated and abandoned?

0:23:250:23:29

I think it sheer determination to a certain extent.

0:23:290:23:31

But I think a lot of people saw this was a good way to live,

0:23:310:23:35

and there were a lot of young families that came back

0:23:350:23:40

and it stayed fairly young, and I think that's important.

0:23:400:23:43

A lot of people have the idea,

0:23:430:23:45

"Oh, Fair Isle, get away from it all.

0:23:450:23:47

"It'll be like a magic place."

0:23:470:23:49

And in fact, we're all human beings same as everywhere else.

0:23:490:23:52

It's a magical place but it won't solve anybody's problems.

0:23:520:23:56

They won't get away from anything.

0:23:560:23:58

Right now, I've got to get back to the tall ship waiting for me

0:23:580:24:01

offshore to continue my magical mystery tour towards Shetland.

0:24:010:24:06

I'm leaving Anne with a DVD of memories

0:24:060:24:10

in exchange for a Fair Isle cap.

0:24:100:24:12

Right. Now you put it to the side.

0:24:120:24:15

Ah, that's warm!

0:24:150:24:17

A typical Fair Isle fisherman.

0:24:170:24:19

I'm not tough enough to be a Fair Isle fisherman.

0:24:190:24:22

Few are fortunate enough to live in the Northern Isles,

0:24:220:24:27

so they seem remote to many of us.

0:24:270:24:31

But if you're looking for uncharted territory, surprisingly,

0:24:310:24:34

you can find it a stone's throw from the busy south coast of England.

0:24:340:24:40

On the Isle of Wight.

0:24:400:24:41

A short hop from the mainland, this is a popular holiday destination.

0:24:430:24:49

It's England's biggest island,

0:24:490:24:52

but you'd think tourists would have explored every inch.

0:24:520:24:55

Well, not quite every inch.

0:24:560:24:58

Zoologist and ex-soldier Andy Torbet

0:25:010:25:05

is about to have an adventure on rocks

0:25:050:25:08

where most would fear to tread.

0:25:080:25:10

The Isle of Wight

0:25:140:25:16

is a great location to explore geology and action.

0:25:160:25:19

The strut of different rock types are exposed for all to see, untouched.

0:25:190:25:25

But, there's one part of this island where the geology remains a mystery.

0:25:250:25:31

Geologists have been pouring over the Isle of Wight for hundreds of years,

0:25:310:25:36

but there's one bit they've never been able to reach.

0:25:360:25:39

This is the geological map of the UK,

0:25:410:25:44

where the different colours represent different rocks.

0:25:440:25:47

If we zoom into the Isle of Wight, you'll see this thin, light green band represents the chalk,

0:25:470:25:52

but if we zoom in even closer,

0:25:520:25:56

you'll see The Needles aren't coloured in,

0:25:560:25:59

and that's because geologists haven't been able to get out there and take a sample.

0:25:590:26:03

So they've asked me to help.

0:26:030:26:04

There's no doubt it's chalk, but what sort of chalk?

0:26:120:26:16

And why has it resisted the sea

0:26:160:26:19

when the surrounding chalk crumbled away long ago?

0:26:190:26:21

To find out, the geologists need a sample from the point of The Needle,

0:26:240:26:29

chalk that's not contaminated with the sea gunge around the base.

0:26:290:26:32

There are very few records of this needle ever being climbed.

0:26:350:26:38

And up close, I can see why.

0:26:380:26:41

I'm an experienced climber but I've never tried to scale

0:26:420:26:46

a chalk stack in the middle of the sea.

0:26:460:26:49

I need to enlist a buddy with some local knowledge

0:26:490:26:52

for a bit of training.

0:26:520:26:53

It's getting that first six feet.

0:26:540:26:56

Dave Talbot has climbed on chalk before.

0:26:560:26:58

It poses a unique challenge.

0:26:580:27:02

Crumbly chalk is made up of the bodies of tiny sea creatures,

0:27:040:27:07

built up on the seabed over millions of years.

0:27:070:27:10

It's very old and not very stable. Bits break off all the time.

0:27:110:27:17

This is a typical section of chalk.

0:27:190:27:20

You can see things like this that look really loose.

0:27:200:27:24

I don't know quite how... Yeah, I mean, that's...

0:27:240:27:26

That's incredibly loose.

0:27:260:27:28

Even sections like this that appear more solid,

0:27:280:27:30

you can get kind of...

0:27:300:27:32

If you get your hand on as if you were climbing, you can kind of...

0:27:320:27:34

Just crumbles away. It's really unpredictable.

0:27:340:27:37

Some of the sections can be quite solid but other bits really loose.

0:27:370:27:41

We don't know what we are going to encounter when climbing it.

0:27:410:27:44

Even these spikes driven into the rock can't be relied on

0:27:440:27:46

in the event of a slip.

0:27:460:27:48

It's not solid. Chalk's not solid.

0:27:510:27:53

That's what were doing, just trying not to fall off.

0:27:530:27:55

And if this glorious weather holds out,

0:27:580:28:00

we'll be attempting the climb tomorrow.

0:28:000:28:03

We're going to have to keep our wits about us.

0:28:030:28:05

You've seen what that chalk's like.

0:28:050:28:06

It's going to be crumbly, flaky, unpredictable

0:28:060:28:09

and slippery at the bottom.

0:28:090:28:11

It's going to be like climbing cheese.

0:28:110:28:13

Hanging out on that stuff over sea is going to be quite interesting.

0:28:130:28:17

The next morning, we're all kitted up and ready to go.

0:28:250:28:28

-Nice bit of weather this morning.

-A little bit of breeze.

0:28:280:28:30

Morning, guys.

0:28:330:28:34

And we've been joined by Pete Hopson and Andy Farnt,

0:28:340:28:37

two scientists from the British Geological Survey.

0:28:370:28:41

Although the water looks calm, the swell is a worry.

0:28:440:28:47

The wind's picked up so the swell's picked up.

0:28:550:28:57

Getting on the rock is going to be much harder than we thought.

0:28:570:29:02

Safely off and kitted up, Dave nominated me to lead the climb.

0:29:140:29:19

We need a pure sample of chalk from the summit to work out

0:29:220:29:26

why this pinnacle has defied the sea for so long.

0:29:260:29:28

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

0:29:370:29:38

Where is my next handhold?

0:29:420:29:44

Hello?

0:29:440:29:46

You just can't trust anything you're doing.

0:29:480:29:50

That's what I'm talking about.

0:29:500:29:51

It's fragile, it's crumbly, it's unpredictable,

0:29:510:29:55

and every time you pull on a hold or step up your heart's in your mouth.

0:29:550:29:59

But it's an amazing place to be, especially on a day like today,

0:29:590:30:02

and it might not be the safest place,

0:30:020:30:04

but it's pretty spectacular.

0:30:040:30:07

The geologists tell me that from the sea line, the top,

0:30:170:30:21

this rock face represents about a million years,

0:30:210:30:24

so for every metre I go up, that's about 30,000 years.

0:30:240:30:29

Whoa. Hello?!

0:30:340:30:38

CHALK SPLASHES IN SEA

0:30:390:30:42

That's a bit easier.

0:30:560:30:57

Done it. Champion. Still in one piece.

0:31:010:31:03

As we're climbing for the British Geological Survey,

0:31:050:31:08

we're able to take a sample of chalk away.

0:31:080:31:12

It's not something we'd be doing otherwise.

0:31:120:31:14

-Nice one, well done.

-Beautiful, mate.

-Good effort. Cheers, buddy.

0:31:160:31:20

That was awesome. It's a bizarre way to climb. It's quite intimidating.

0:31:200:31:25

-We've got to figure out how to get down now.

-Yeah.

0:31:250:31:27

We'll get the rock samples the guys need,

0:31:270:31:30

get ourselves down and that will be mission accomplished.

0:31:300:31:33

Cool.

0:31:390:31:40

Our chalk sample will need detailed analysis at the lab.

0:31:490:31:55

Nice bit of chalk.

0:31:550:31:56

But sample in hand, hopefully we can clear up one mystery right now.

0:31:560:32:01

Why The Needles lasted so long.

0:32:010:32:05

Is the chalk harder than the surrounding coast?

0:32:050:32:08

-We've got a way to find out.

-This is a very simple field test.

0:32:080:32:14

It's called a Schmidt hammer.

0:32:140:32:15

This device will get a number to the hardness of our sample.

0:32:150:32:20

There's the bang. Now we have a reading. This one's 22.

0:32:200:32:25

That's quite hard for chalk.

0:32:250:32:28

Now we need to compare it with the chalk the geologists have brought along from the mainland.

0:32:280:32:34

It's barely reading ten on here,

0:32:360:32:38

which is significantly lower than the one from The Needle.

0:32:380:32:42

This is much, much harder.

0:32:420:32:45

Why is the needles chalk much harder than normal chalk?

0:32:450:32:48

This chalk was moved by Earth forces and it was bent over

0:32:480:32:55

until it was nearly vertical. The compression on that chalk

0:32:550:32:59

has created quite a lot of internal pressure.

0:32:590:33:02

The little pore spaces between the individual grains have been

0:33:020:33:08

filled with calcite minerals because of that pressure on the rock

0:33:080:33:13

and that is what's made it significantly harder than

0:33:130:33:17

other samples of chalk that we see around the South of England.

0:33:170:33:20

So all the information we brought back today

0:33:200:33:23

will finish the map?

0:33:230:33:24

Now we can move forward and finally print the new geological map.

0:33:240:33:29

With The Needles on the map, there's one mystery less on our isles.

0:33:330:33:39

But still plenty more to explore.

0:33:390:33:42

I'm on an island-hopping adventure

0:33:460:33:49

aboard a tall ship in the waters of northern Scotland.

0:33:490:33:53

Now it's all hands on deck.

0:33:550:33:57

when the weather's against you,

0:33:570:33:59

it takes every able body to wrestle with the wild Atlantic.

0:33:590:34:05

I'm en route for Shetland, following in the wake of islanders

0:34:100:34:15

who left a familiar life on land for the mysteries of the sea.

0:34:150:34:20

To find out what lay in store, like them,

0:34:200:34:24

I'm travelling 19th-century style.

0:34:240:34:27

Back then, ships like this carried island men to adventure

0:34:270:34:31

across the sea, but it wasn't a free ride.

0:34:310:34:34

They often had to work their passage.

0:34:340:34:37

I think I better do the same.

0:34:370:34:39

At sea, a boat becomes an island in itself.

0:34:390:34:43

Everyone needs to pull together and tow the line.

0:34:440:34:47

While some jobs are mundane, others are exhilarating.

0:34:490:34:53

I'm about to have the biggest adventure you can have

0:34:540:34:57

on a tall ship, which is going up in the rigging.

0:34:570:34:59

I've got a camera mounted on my nut,

0:34:590:35:01

and the man whose taking me up is David,

0:35:010:35:04

who has a lifetime's experience on sailing ships.

0:35:040:35:07

-David, take me up.

-If you go first.

0:35:070:35:10

Here we go.

0:35:160:35:18

This is...

0:35:180:35:20

Already the deck is receding below me.

0:35:200:35:23

Whoa, gosh, the wind is strong.

0:35:260:35:28

The wind is one third stronger up here.

0:35:280:35:31

The ship's moving all over the place. This is really difficult.

0:35:330:35:37

-Is this where I clip on?

-Yes, please. On the wire itself.

0:35:380:35:42

-That's it.

-Clip done. This is the moment. Up and over the edge.

0:35:420:35:48

Looming out over the deck.

0:35:480:35:51

Arms out straight. Push with your feet.

0:35:510:35:55

One foot on the platform, two feet on the platform. I'm up.

0:35:570:36:02

Expletive deleted. Oh, man. What a sight. What a sight.

0:36:020:36:09

To be up in the top of the rigging of a tall ship looking out across

0:36:180:36:21

the ocean, the sails billowing with wind, totally timeless moment.

0:36:220:36:28

This is exactly what seafarers for hundreds of years have seen.

0:36:290:36:34

The crew of these mighty vessels witnessed extraordinary sights,

0:36:390:36:43

and no doubt spun some tall tales too.

0:36:430:36:47

Plying their trade around the Scottish islands,

0:36:490:36:53

the seafarers didn't just transport goods, they carried stories,

0:36:530:36:57

passed from isle to isle, generation to generation.

0:36:570:37:03

One of the most enduring tells of a mysterious creature, the selkie.

0:37:030:37:10

The Song Of The Selkie captivates one of our most legendary folk artists, June Tabor.

0:37:100:37:19

I'm a singer of songs that tell good stories.

0:37:190:37:25

And one of the great,

0:37:250:37:27

truly great narrative ballads of these islands,

0:37:270:37:31

concerns a seal.

0:37:310:37:33

The great selkie of Sule Skerry.

0:37:340:37:39

# It happened on a certain day

0:37:390:37:44

# As this fair maid lay fast asleep

0:37:440:37:48

# In and came a grey selkie

0:37:500:37:55

# Sat him down at her bare feet. #

0:37:550:38:01

A selkie... Well, it's a seal in many parts of the Western Isles.

0:38:040:38:08

But it's also... a magical, mystical being,

0:38:080:38:13

that uses the form of the seal to travel between

0:38:130:38:17

a land below the waves, to the land of men.

0:38:170:38:20

The seal is a person. Look at those eyes.

0:38:220:38:26

Listen to the cries of the seals. They almost sing.

0:38:260:38:31

You can understand why people thought that there was more to them

0:38:310:38:35

than just an animal presence.

0:38:350:38:38

# And woe alas, this weary fate

0:38:400:38:45

# This weary fate that's laid on me

0:38:470:38:52

# That a man should come from the West of Hoy

0:38:520:38:56

# To father here a child on me. #

0:38:570:39:03

She's been seduced by an otherworldly creature,

0:39:030:39:09

who in the sea is a seal and on the land is man.

0:39:090:39:13

"I'm your child's father." She's horrified.

0:39:130:39:17

What's she going to do? He offers to marry her.

0:39:190:39:22

But she doesn't take him seriously.

0:39:220:39:25

"You can marry who you like. I won't marry you."

0:39:250:39:29

# And she has raised his little wee son

0:39:290:39:35

# For seven years all at her knee

0:39:360:39:42

# And when seven years were past and gone

0:39:420:39:48

# He's come with gold and white money. #

0:39:480:39:52

And then he comes back.

0:39:530:39:56

"Please marry me. I've brought gold, I've brought money."

0:39:560:40:00

She still won't have him. And he prophesies.

0:40:000:40:04

"I'm going to put a gold chain around this child's neck."

0:40:060:40:09

So if he comes back, he'll know it's him.

0:40:090:40:12

"But I'm going to take him away. You, well, you'll marry somebody else."

0:40:120:40:17

"You'll forget me. But he's going to be a gunner."

0:40:170:40:21

And in time as the selkie prophesied, she did marry a gunner.

0:40:240:40:28

And he went out on a May morning,

0:40:290:40:33

and shot two seals.

0:40:330:40:37

A big bull male.

0:40:370:40:40

And a young male, with a gold chain around his neck.

0:40:400:40:44

# Oh, woe alas

0:40:480:40:52

# This weary fate

0:40:520:40:55

# This weary fate

0:40:550:40:59

# That's laid on me

0:40:590:41:02

# And so she sighs and so she cries

0:41:020:41:10

# And her tender heart, it broke in three. #

0:41:100:41:16

And so it was finished.

0:41:190:41:22

This is the most amazing place to be on a tour ship,

0:41:410:41:44

taking the helm with a good wind on the open ocean. An incredible feeling.

0:41:440:41:51

This is a voyage of real highs

0:41:510:41:53

and lows.

0:41:530:41:56

I'm trying to steer a steady course to Shetland.

0:41:560:41:58

It's a responsible job when you're at your wits' end,

0:41:580:42:02

after three days aboard, snatching sleep when you can.

0:42:020:42:07

There's one very odd thing that happens, which is your body clock goes completely peculiar.

0:42:100:42:16

Eh...right now, I have no idea what time of day it is.

0:42:160:42:23

It must be evening, cos I slept for two hours.

0:42:230:42:27

I got out of this bunk. I was sleeping fully clothed, like now.

0:42:270:42:30

Then I ate the meal, which turned out to be supper.

0:42:300:42:34

Getting a bit tired. In fact, I'm now permanently tired.

0:42:340:42:37

But the ship doesn't sleep.

0:42:390:42:43

There's an important tack at midnight.

0:42:430:42:46

Everyone's needed to move the massive sails.

0:42:460:42:51

-Are you ready to do this?

-Yeah!

-Yeah! Very good.

0:42:510:42:56

It's all gone badly wrong. We've got some of the sails on one side of the ship,

0:42:590:43:03

some on the other. We got caught by the wind.

0:43:030:43:05

Now there's a rush on to try to get the ship straightened out.

0:43:050:43:08

Suddenly, everyone stops. The crew must rethink.

0:43:160:43:21

A palpable air of tension on the deck now.

0:43:210:43:25

Pull it towards me. Pull it towards me.

0:43:250:43:28

Here we go.

0:43:280:43:30

Despite our efforts, the ship did more of a three-point turn than an elegant tack.

0:43:390:43:45

But at least we're back on course for Shetland.

0:43:470:43:49

Tall ships connected the Northern Isles of Scotland to the globe.

0:43:490:43:55

But as well as trade, big boats have also brought tragedy.

0:43:550:44:00

Around a hundred years ago, Scottish waters became a battleground.

0:44:020:44:07

During the First World War, enemy ships stalked these shores.

0:44:080:44:15

To meet the German threat, the Royal Navy headed north to base on Orkney,

0:44:170:44:22

at the sheltered bay of Scapa Flow.

0:44:230:44:28

The Navy's mighty warships went long ago.

0:44:280:44:31

But intrigue lingers in their wake.

0:44:310:44:34

Neil's exploring how the most famous face of the First World War

0:44:360:44:40

came to lose his life here in the most mysterious fashion.

0:44:400:44:46

This is the curious case of the death of Lord Kitchener.

0:44:460:44:51

Our tale begins in the summer of 1916.

0:44:510:44:54

Scapa Flow is awash with ships of the British Grand Fleet,

0:44:540:44:59

the most fearsome instrument of war the world has ever seen.

0:44:590:45:03

On the 5th June, HMS Hampshire is about to slip out for a covert mission to Russia.

0:45:030:45:10

On board is one of Britain's most celebrated men.

0:45:100:45:13

His face was instantly recognisable and nearly 100 years later,

0:45:130:45:17

it still is.

0:45:170:45:19

Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener -

0:45:190:45:23

the poster boy of army recruitment during the First World War.

0:45:230:45:27

When he arrived here in Scapa Flow on 5th June 1916,

0:45:270:45:30

he was suffering from no more than a mild bout of seasickness.

0:45:300:45:35

A few hours later, he was dead, and exactly how he died

0:45:350:45:39

and why puzzles some people even to this day.

0:45:390:45:42

Conspiracy theories surrounding Kitchener's fate swirl around these murky waters.

0:45:430:45:49

Ripples of intrigue remain after the shock of terrible events

0:45:490:45:53

that made grim headlines.

0:45:530:45:55

Look at this.

0:45:550:45:56

Not many people's death would warrant a full front page picture

0:45:560:46:01

of a newspaper in 1916.

0:46:010:46:03

But the nation was amazed and bemused by the loss of Kitchener.

0:46:030:46:07

Somehow, the warship he'd been travelling on

0:46:070:46:10

had sunk in home waters,

0:46:100:46:12

killing over 600 men, including Kitchener.

0:46:120:46:15

To the people, he was a hero, a patriot and a friend.

0:46:150:46:21

They'd heeded his call to war.

0:46:210:46:23

# We don't want to lose you

0:46:230:46:28

# But we think you ought to go...#

0:46:280:46:31

"Your country needs you" was his rallying cry,

0:46:310:46:34

and his country did not disappoint him.

0:46:340:46:37

From 1914 onwards, 2.5 million men answered the call.

0:46:370:46:42

Whole communities, mates from the same factories and towns

0:46:420:46:45

formed the famous Pals battalions.

0:46:450:46:49

By summer 1916, this band of brothers had become Kitchener's new army.

0:46:490:46:54

We were two years in the making and ten minutes in the destroying,

0:46:560:47:00

said one of Kitchener's new army.

0:47:000:47:02

Pals battalions were brutally butchered on the first day

0:47:020:47:06

of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916,

0:47:060:47:09

but Kitchener didn't live to see his men mown down.

0:47:090:47:12

He was dead before the battle could get under way.

0:47:120:47:15

While his soldiers and his country still loved him.

0:47:150:47:18

The nation demanded to know why HMS Hampshire sank,

0:47:180:47:22

as it set out from Orkney with their national hero on board.

0:47:220:47:27

An investigation was conducted to formulate the official answer.

0:47:270:47:31

-How are you doing?

-Good to see you.

0:47:310:47:34

I'm meeting historian Nick Hewitt, who's going to give me

0:47:340:47:36

the authorised version of HMS Hampshire's loss

0:47:360:47:40

and Kitchener's death.

0:47:400:47:42

So on 5th June, Kitchener is right here in Scapa Flow.

0:47:420:47:45

He is.

0:47:450:47:46

Is this photographic proof?

0:47:460:47:48

This is the last picture we know of Kitchener leaving the Iron Duke,

0:47:480:47:51

walking along the decks to board the Hampshire.

0:47:510:47:54

Why is Kitchener en route to Russia anyway?

0:47:540:47:57

Russia is on the verge of collapse

0:47:570:47:59

and Kitchener is the face of British military might.

0:47:590:48:02

He's a logical man to send around and put some pep in the Russians.

0:48:020:48:06

So what happens?

0:48:060:48:07

What they're looking to do is very simple,

0:48:070:48:09

to take Kitchener from Scapa Flow to Russia, which is in that direction.

0:48:090:48:14

The problem is, there is what's described as the worst gale of the century.

0:48:140:48:19

The Hampshire sets off from alongside the Iron Duke.

0:48:190:48:21

Into the teeth of the gale.

0:48:210:48:22

The captain sensibly starts to move her closer to the shore

0:48:220:48:26

to try and get some degree of shelter.

0:48:260:48:28

It doesn't help, but it's the right thing to do.

0:48:280:48:32

What they don't know is that off Marwick Head

0:48:320:48:35

there is a small German minefield

0:48:350:48:37

that's been laid secretly by a U-boat the week before,

0:48:370:48:41

and the Hampshire runs straight into one of these mines.

0:48:410:48:44

That's the official account the Government hoped would lay the story to rest

0:48:440:48:49

but some on the islands of Orkney remained uneasy.

0:48:490:48:53

They had witnessed mysterious events on the night of the tragedy.

0:48:530:48:57

We've reached the spot where Kitchener died,

0:48:590:49:02

about a mile and a half offshore.

0:49:020:49:05

The Hampshire lies upside-down on the seabed,

0:49:050:49:08

about 70 metres below my feet.

0:49:080:49:11

The ship sank in minutes.

0:49:110:49:13

Over 600 men perished.

0:49:130:49:16

Despite the terrible storm,

0:49:160:49:18

islanders tried to help survivors struggling to get up cliffs.

0:49:180:49:22

The rescuers felt more men should have been saved, so why weren't they?

0:49:220:49:28

-Well, James.

-Hello.

-How are you?

0:49:280:49:31

James Sabiston heard strange tales,

0:49:310:49:33

passed down from his grandparents.

0:49:330:49:36

My grandparents and my mother lived here.

0:49:360:49:39

Two survivors managed to get to his grandparents' house

0:49:390:49:42

the night the ship went down.

0:49:420:49:45

I presume everyone was in their beds.

0:49:450:49:47

Yes. They were all in bed.

0:49:470:49:49

I think they came and knocked at the door at two o'clock in the morning.

0:49:490:49:53

And my grandmother went to the door,

0:49:530:49:55

and I think she was a bit worried, wasn't sure if it was a spy

0:49:550:50:00

or something may be coming, but she took 'em in anyway.

0:50:000:50:04

These are the photographs here, and that's one of Dick Simpson.

0:50:040:50:07

He's just a boy.

0:50:080:50:10

Yes, 20.

0:50:100:50:11

And that's Jack Bowman.

0:50:110:50:13

What did he say?

0:50:130:50:14

He said our ship's going down and we want some help.

0:50:140:50:18

There were some more maybe to be saved.

0:50:180:50:21

And so what did your grandparents do once they realised that there was a tragedy?

0:50:210:50:27

My grandfather went to the neighbour and got the men from there.

0:50:270:50:31

They got ropes and they took up three survivors that way.

0:50:310:50:35

Before they were stopped by the authorities.

0:50:350:50:38

Your grandfather and the rest were stopped from doing any more of the rescue?

0:50:380:50:43

Oh, yes.

0:50:430:50:44

What is the word on why anyone would stop a rescue?

0:50:440:50:49

That's what makes it so suspicious, I would say.

0:50:490:50:52

You'd think it was something going on somewhere.

0:50:530:50:57

Who do you think the authorities actually were?

0:50:570:51:00

I don't know.

0:51:000:51:02

Whether they were neighbouring authorities or police or who,

0:51:020:51:07

I don't know really who it was.

0:51:070:51:09

James's grandfather never did find out for sure

0:51:090:51:12

who'd stopped the rescue efforts, or why.

0:51:120:51:15

This is the bay where the sailors were struggling to get ashore.

0:51:190:51:23

I'm hoping Tom Muir from the local museum can shed more light

0:51:230:51:27

on the mysterious authorities who prevented the locals from helping.

0:51:270:51:31

There were troops down here, there was an order from the Admiralty

0:51:330:51:37

not to allow civilians down to the shore

0:51:370:51:41

because there might be sensitive papers washed up,

0:51:410:51:44

which they didn't want falling into enemy hands.

0:51:440:51:48

Right. So it's that paranoia stage.

0:51:480:51:50

Very.

0:51:500:51:51

Do you think it's possible that the conditions that night

0:51:510:51:54

were just so appalling that the authorities were right

0:51:540:51:57

in thinking that no-one could help in the water anyway?

0:51:570:52:01

They certainly could have helped.

0:52:010:52:03

The people around here were farmers but they were also fishermen,

0:52:030:52:06

so they knew the tides, they knew where the rafts would come in,

0:52:060:52:09

they knew that life rafts would come in here,

0:52:090:52:14

so when the life rafts did come in, there was nobody there to help.

0:52:140:52:19

There were just smashed against the rocks

0:52:190:52:21

and there was that feeling that if the authorities had allowed them

0:52:210:52:27

to go out and help, the human emotion, the desire

0:52:270:52:31

to go and help them was denied, and that cost lives.

0:52:310:52:36

Sailors Dick Simpson and Jack Bowman were 2 of only 12 survivors.

0:52:390:52:47

Lord Kitchener and the rest of the crew perished.

0:52:470:52:50

The islanders raised money for a memorial to the tragedy,

0:52:540:52:58

but the story would not die.

0:52:580:53:01

The secrecy that scuppered local rescue efforts

0:53:010:53:03

suggested sinister motives to some.

0:53:030:53:06

Was the Government hiding something?

0:53:060:53:09

The people may have loved Lord Kitchener in 1916,

0:53:110:53:14

but many of those in power did not.

0:53:140:53:17

As Secretary of State for War, he was accused of having overseen

0:53:170:53:21

the bungled and disastrous operation at Gallipoli,

0:53:210:53:24

with a cost of 100,000 Allied casualties.

0:53:240:53:28

And the army on the Western front had almost run out of shells at one point

0:53:280:53:32

while Kitchener was in charge of munitions,

0:53:320:53:34

so he had lost some influential friends,

0:53:340:53:37

but had he made some murderous enemies?

0:53:370:53:41

The fame he'd won in South Africa during the Boer War,

0:53:410:53:44

the violence of his death and the fact his body wasn't recovered

0:53:440:53:48

gave rise to conspiracy theories.

0:53:480:53:50

I'm going to run three of them past Nick.

0:53:520:53:56

Firstly, had Kitchener's misconduct in the war,

0:53:560:53:59

so infuriated ministers like Lloyd George

0:53:590:54:02

that his ship was deliberately sent into waters they knew were mined?

0:54:020:54:06

The key thing is they've already fired him.

0:54:060:54:08

In December 1915, he loses the operational control of the army.

0:54:080:54:12

He's got no control over the battlefield.

0:54:120:54:14

There's absolutely no need for the government to have him murdered.

0:54:140:54:17

OK. We can put that one in the bin.

0:54:170:54:19

Absolutely. In it goes.

0:54:190:54:21

This is a particular favourite of mine, without a doubt.

0:54:210:54:25

That Lord Kitchener goes to Russia

0:54:250:54:28

and there, turns himself into a chap called Joseph Stalin.

0:54:280:54:31

There's a moustache thing going on.

0:54:310:54:33

I don't think we should even dignify it with a response.

0:54:330:54:36

It's clearly ridiculous.

0:54:360:54:38

What a shame. What a movie it would make!

0:54:380:54:41

I suppose in some ways this would possibly be the most credible,

0:54:410:54:44

the legendary "spy", Fritz,

0:54:440:54:48

a South African, embittered towards Kitchener particularly,

0:54:480:54:51

and the British in general because his mother and sister died during the Boer War.

0:54:510:54:57

That this man had sworn vengeance and managed to get aboard the Hampshire,

0:54:570:55:01

caused the explosion and lived to tell the tale.

0:55:010:55:03

It's the hardest one to disprove, I'll give you that.

0:55:030:55:06

He wrote a memoir, obviously saying that he did it.

0:55:060:55:09

His claim that he gets on the ship and sabotages the ship

0:55:090:55:13

and swims away and joins a submarine and gets away with it,

0:55:130:55:16

when so many men were drowning in such appalling weather

0:55:160:55:19

is really, really hard to believe.

0:55:190:55:20

I think we have to put Fritz in.

0:55:200:55:22

Done.

0:55:220:55:24

The people of Orkney still live with the loss of HMS Hampshire.

0:55:280:55:33

They tend the cemetery of sailors claimed by the sea.

0:55:330:55:36

Men the locals couldn't save.

0:55:380:55:40

100 years on, what are we to make of the curious case

0:55:440:55:49

of the death of Lord Kitchener?

0:55:490:55:52

I can't help feeling that this sad episode has been hijacked

0:55:520:55:56

by the conspiracy theorists.

0:55:560:55:59

This isn't about the death of a national hero, mysterious or otherwise.

0:55:590:56:03

It's about a tragedy.

0:56:030:56:05

It's the loss of over 600 lives,

0:56:050:56:07

and the scars that remain on an island community that was unable to help.

0:56:070:56:12

Orkney was where I started my island adventure.

0:56:230:56:27

Four long days and short nights later,

0:56:270:56:31

the edge of Shetland sits on the horizon.

0:56:310:56:35

Journey's end.

0:56:350:56:38

We've arrived off the Shetland Islands,

0:56:430:56:45

we're waiting for the pilot, the big seas have abated,

0:56:450:56:48

it's as calm and almost as flat as the Mediterranean,

0:56:480:56:51

and the Shetlands look as welcoming to me

0:56:510:56:54

as they always have done to voyagers coming in from across the ocean.

0:56:540:56:59

A wonderful sight.

0:56:590:57:01

I've made it.

0:57:030:57:05

And I'm absolutely exhausted.

0:57:050:57:09

But what a way to arrive in Shetland!

0:57:120:57:15

For a rare gathering of square riggers from around the globe.

0:57:150:57:19

Permission to come ashore.

0:57:190:57:21

Lerwick is absolutely packed, it's as if the whole island

0:57:250:57:30

has poured down to the quaysides to see the ships come in.

0:57:300:57:34

The tall ships are on their annual race.

0:57:340:57:37

This is just a brief stop-over for them but for me,

0:57:380:57:43

the experience of life under sail will linger long in the memory.

0:57:430:57:49

Friendships forged at sea,

0:57:490:57:51

formed from the shared experience of pulling together.

0:57:510:57:56

Making landfall on new shores,

0:57:560:57:59

with a warm welcome for a stranger from down south.

0:57:590:58:03

CHEERING

0:58:030:58:05

I've travelled far, but always felt at home.

0:58:050:58:08

Our islands hold a mysterious attraction.

0:58:080:58:11

Their magic spoke to our ancestors, and it still calls us.

0:58:110:58:17

One thing that unites us across these isles

0:58:170:58:19

is that we're all islanders,

0:58:190:58:21

whether we live on rocks in the sea that are very large or very small.

0:58:210:58:26

Maybe the joy of coming to the coast is that here,

0:58:260:58:29

we can still experience the very essence of our island story.

0:58:290:58:34

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0:58:520:58:55

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