0:00:09 > 0:00:11Coast is home.
0:00:12 > 0:00:18Home to explore the most endlessly fascinating shoreline in the world -
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Our own.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27The quest to discover surprising, secret stories
0:00:27 > 0:00:30from around the British Isles continues.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37This is Coast.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15Standing on the brink, we dream of going beyond.
0:01:15 > 0:01:22Hoping to reach the magical meeting point of sea and sky.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Heading out along natural causeways.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And man-made walkways.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Leaving the land behind lifts our spirits.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Out here, different rules apply.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44If you ever wanted proof
0:01:44 > 0:01:48that people who live out on the edge do things a bit differently,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51this is it.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56For those who dare to take the plunge, adventure awaits.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00We're here to explore Life Beyond the Edge.
0:02:02 > 0:02:09I'm on a mission to reach the most westerly inhabited spot in England.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Beyond Land's End,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18I'll discover a lost kingdom of myth and legend.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The team are pushing their limits, too.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Down on our southern shore,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29Coast newcomer and social historian Ruth Goodman
0:02:29 > 0:02:31is in search of a lost way of life.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35I've got a photograph here from the 1960s.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And this tough little chappie with his donkeys is Clifford Gosling,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42he was the last of the Branscombe cliff farmers.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44On our north-west frontier,
0:02:44 > 0:02:50Mark discovers how Brunel's mightiest ship conquered the Atlantic,
0:02:50 > 0:02:57connecting continent to continent with 2,000 miles of telegraph wire.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02This is the story of how the Great Eastern wired Britain to America.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Beyond mainland Scotland,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09we venture out to abandoned isles,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13in search of sheep gone wild.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And men who must tame them.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Andy Torbet signs on as a sea shepherd.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23They're a lot stronger, I think, than your average sheep,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and not always the most co-operative either.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32My own adventure begins where the mainland stops -
0:03:32 > 0:03:34I'm heading to the Isles of Scilly.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Land's End isn't actually the end of England.
0:03:45 > 0:03:4828 miles beyond,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52this beautiful archipelago beckons.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57The ride out to the Isles of Scilly is a stunning voyage.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04There are five inhabited islands to choose from.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07The ferry comes into the largest, St Mary's.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12This is just the beginning of my journey.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15I'm heading out to the very edge of the Isles of Scilly,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19as far west as you can go in England.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24I want to discover the attraction of life beyond Land's End.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30One immediate appeal is that the daily routine just isn't so routine.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- Have you ever dropped one in the water, Andy? - No, I haven't, no.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37Andy Smethurst is a postie with a rather unusual route.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40He's a vital link to the mainland,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44a role he's very happy to deliver.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45It's the best place.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47- This is your work run, isn't it? - It is, yeah.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49- Island hopping.- Yeah, yeah.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50In a small boat.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53It's a great job, I love it.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55What's it like in winter?
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Bleak. It... Rough, cold, wet.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02But it's still usually a lot warmer than...
0:05:02 > 0:05:05I go and see my parents in Devon,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and there's sometimes about eight degrees difference.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Right, I'm going to have to get on. All right. Are you holding on?
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Yes, I'm holding on tight.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Andy can't afford to hang about.
0:05:20 > 0:05:26Twice a day he must complete a 15-mile route around five islands.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30But I'm getting dropped off with the first delivery,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33to continue my quest on foot.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42I'm in search of people who live life on the edge.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45I'm on the island of St Martin's, this one here,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47but I want to get to this island, Bryher,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51the most westerly inhabited spot in the whole of England,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53so I've got a bit of island-hopping to do.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58But no more boats for me.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04I want to walk the walk of those that enjoy life beyond the edge,
0:06:04 > 0:06:05and today I'm in luck.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10There's an exceptionally low tide,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12so the locals take the rare opportunity
0:06:12 > 0:06:16to stride through the sea from island to island.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20I've done some pretty strange walks in my life,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23but this is the most bizarre.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29The islanders have been doing this for as long as anyone can remember.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33It's scheduled for the lowest tide in September,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36when the water's at its warmest.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38But not that warm,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and I soon find out why they need shallow water.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48This might look like a rather enjoyable Caribbean stroll,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51but there's a really strong tide pulling through here,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54it's hard work.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04We can't hang around.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07It's a race to make it between the islands.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12The land I'm on is living on borrowed time.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17Soon the sea will surge in to reclaim its domain.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20The tide's really starting to rip in here now,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22so I've got to get my skates on.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33This is biblical - I'm just waiting for the waters to part!
0:07:49 > 0:07:52That was absolutely wonderful.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54The last bit of wading was neck deep
0:07:54 > 0:07:56so we just made it, before it was too late,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59before the tide came in and took out the entire channel.
0:08:02 > 0:08:08This is a wonderfully weird water world. Here, in the eternal waltz
0:08:08 > 0:08:14between land and sea, swirl ancient tales of a lost kingdom.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Later, when the tide ebbs again, I'll be exploring that landscape
0:08:21 > 0:08:25of myth and legend revealed offshore.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Life beyond the edge of the mainland offers unique opportunities
0:08:31 > 0:08:35that go-getters have embraced on the south coast.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40Near Folkestone, engineers dug deep
0:08:40 > 0:08:44to profit from going beyond the Channel.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50At Sandbanks, they sell spectacular sea views.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55But over generations, some have seen an opportunity
0:08:55 > 0:08:57to harvest the sea and the soil.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02The people who worked here at Branscombe
0:09:02 > 0:09:05were both fishermen and farmers.
0:09:06 > 0:09:12Somehow they scratched a living on the steep slopes of these cliffs.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18Their lost way of life has got Ruth Goodman intrigued.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Stood here you get a real feeling for Britain coming to an abrupt end,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28but for some people this was the start of the day's work.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32I've got a photograph here from the 1960s, and this tough little chappie
0:09:32 > 0:09:36with his donkeys is Clifford Gosling, known locally as Cliffie,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38which is really appropriate,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41because he was the last of the Branscombe cliff farmers.
0:09:43 > 0:09:51Cliffie was born in 1889. For over 60 years he cut a solitary figure,
0:09:51 > 0:09:57fishing in the morning, cultivating crops in the afternoon.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Cliffie was the last man standing
0:10:01 > 0:10:05from a proud community of subsistence farmers.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Now I want to discover what it's like to toil beyond the edge.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18They made do with poor soil, sloping at a precipitous angle,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21the residue from landslips.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The cliff farmers' plots were known locally as "plats".
0:10:28 > 0:10:31This was Cliffie's plat.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Oh, wow, what a view!
0:10:34 > 0:10:36SHE SIGHS
0:10:38 > 0:10:41This is really farming on the edge, isn't it?
0:10:44 > 0:10:46The view may be good. The land isn't.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51But canny locals found a way to make this lofty perch pay off.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Fishing had been the main industry in Branscombe,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59but it was unreliable.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03They needed a back-up and so looked inland.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08On the cliff face they could farm a variety of crops
0:11:08 > 0:11:10all within sight of the sea.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14That was the life Cliffie Gosling clung on to until the end.
0:11:16 > 0:11:17Cliffie is long gone,
0:11:17 > 0:11:23but his son Alan knows how to eke a living from surf and turf.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26He's returning to the plat with his family.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33This is Grandad Cliffie, this is back in the 1920s.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35And he's with two of his donkeys.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Oh, he does look a hard-working sort of a man, doesn't he?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- Cliffie and Granny. - Oh, she's got her best on.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45It's right down on the beach and they're sitting in the boat.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48He used to stand every night and look out to sea
0:11:48 > 0:11:51before he came home with the donkeys.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54- That's just down there. - It was quite a hard life, I think.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57A couple of times they had landslips here and he lost his garden,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00so that was a bit of a disaster for him!
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Well, you never knew when you came to work whether your plat... the ground would still be there.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08This is all slipping all the time, the cliffs here.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11'Alan's in his 90s now,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14'but as a lad he did jobs for Dad, like collecting seaweed.'
0:12:14 > 0:12:19- What's that you got there? - Seaweeding hook.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23- Oh, for gathering?- Yes, yes, we used to cut it off the rocks.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25It's like a little tiny billhook.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Quick as we could before the tide come in.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Once the tide come in you still had to start loading then
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and whip it up into the beach, we'd unload it and go back for the rest
0:12:34 > 0:12:37and gradually bring it up the cliff, you know.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I can see it still fits in your hand.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42LAUGHTER
0:12:42 > 0:12:44You don't forget.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Part fisherman, part farmer, Cliffie used seaweed
0:12:49 > 0:12:51as a way of fertilising his land.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57To find out more about how sea complemented soil,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01I'm meeting John Hughes, the last fisherman left in Branscombe.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05- Can you remember the plats?- Oh, yeah. Further down this way more.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Cliffie Gosling was the last one down there.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13He taught me a lot about different things, about seaweed, what you can do with seaweed.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Where is the best place for seaweed round here?
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Down there where it's flat, where they used to send the donkey out,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23and one of 'em cut it, and then the donkey used to take it up
0:13:23 > 0:13:26and the other one'd take it out of the panniers.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Time to see how Cliffie cut his seaweed fertiliser.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35I've been told fresh kelp was highly prized.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39To be honest, in the height of summer when it's a beautiful day, this is a really fun job.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44I think it might be rather different in the middle of November in the freezing cold.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52Once Cliffie had his seaweed, he needed to get it up a 500ft cliff.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01He had beasts to bear the burden.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06Enter Ginny and Smart, his beloved donkeys.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08And I've got my own work buddy, too.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Hello, George. You going to give me a hand?
0:14:18 > 0:14:23'Having harvested the bounty of the sea, Cliffie put his kelp to work improving the poor soil.'
0:14:25 > 0:14:30This whole piece was dug by hand on a regular basis,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32fertilised with seaweed.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43These blokes were really scratching a living,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45on land that couldn't really be used for anything else,
0:14:45 > 0:14:51not suitable for big-scale farming, you couldn't get a plough down here.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53These plots may be precarious,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56but at least they're warmed by the sea in winter.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01The farmers selected crops to make the most of this frost-free zone,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03as Sue Dymond knows.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Potatoes were the mainstay and the variety was Epicure,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09which they pronounced "apicure",
0:15:09 > 0:15:13but all along this coast that was the variety that they grew.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Branscombe Teddies. They always called them teddies,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21and they were marketed as such, and the cry used to go up, "Teddies, Branscombe Teddies for sale."
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Really? And you'd have to know that that meant taters.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Yes, but all the local people would know that they called them teddies.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29- Branscombe Teddies. - Branscombe Teddies, yes.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33They didn't eat them themselves, only the kind of reject ones.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35They had to get them to market to sell them,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39and the money they made saw them through the winter, alongside other jobs.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42- Bought the bread, paid the rent.- Yeah.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Plats were passed on from father to son and that was how it was,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50it was very hard to work your way in if... if you didn't already have a plat,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54and the end of the plats was when the sons didn't want to do it.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59It was the 1960s and it was more or less all ended along this coast at that time.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06By the Swinging Sixties, Cliffie had his own Flower Power revolution.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09He ended his days selling blooms to the tourists.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14The cunning combination of fishing and farming
0:16:14 > 0:16:17that kept generations going through good and bad times
0:16:17 > 0:16:20was gone with the sea breeze.
0:16:21 > 0:16:28The cliff men and their donkeys managed to carve a life along here, on this edge of land.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33I mean, it must have been pretty tough at times, but you can see that there would be compensations.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Caught between the fat of the land and the bounty of the sea,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40it does have its attractions.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52There's evidence of how we like to live beyond the edge
0:16:52 > 0:16:55all around our coast.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Seaside piers reaching from the shore.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18For years we've built these walkways into the sea,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22peninsulas of pleasure that prompt us to push the boundaries
0:17:22 > 0:17:24and reach into the unknown.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29Out here we're free to reinvent ourselves,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32as they know in Southwold.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Nowadays, piers might seem a little long in the tooth,
0:17:39 > 0:17:46but here a maverick machine maker is re-inventing traditional attractions.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51I'm Tim Hunkin, I'm an engineer and I'm also a cartoonist.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55The last ten years, I've been making machines for my amusement arcade,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59The Under The Pier Show, and I love it.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07This is my arcade. It's all homemade, mostly by me.
0:18:07 > 0:18:13You can take a dog for a walk, you can enter the mind of a fly.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16- BUZZING - Where is that damn fly?!
0:18:16 > 0:18:21This is one of the most popular machines at the moment, you have to hit the bankers.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24It's really difficult to make the hammers last
0:18:24 > 0:18:25more than a couple of weeks.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I've made machines all my life,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34but about ten years ago I had a bit of a breakthrough.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37It finally became possible to add video, so I could finally have
0:18:37 > 0:18:42little movies as part of my machines, and this was really exciting.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Bringing video into my arcade had a sort of strange parallel
0:18:49 > 0:18:51with 100 years ago.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55In 1894, Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and all sorts of things, introduced the Kinetoscope.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04This was a coin-operated movie player, and it was the first time
0:19:04 > 0:19:09that people could see proper movies in arcades.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19As people had never seen a moving...a movie before,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22they were happy to just watch anything that moved.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24One of the reels was just a man sneezing.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29Some of them seem quite bizarre. I mean, the boxing cats...
0:19:29 > 0:19:34You might think it's cruel but nobody was shocked by it at the time.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39There was a continuous loop of film that looped backwards and forwards inside the machine,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42giving a movie that lasts about 20 seconds.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46It was influential, if nothing else, because the size of the film,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and the spacing of all the perforations,
0:19:49 > 0:19:54stuck, and became the standard for 35mm film.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03I've come to the model village in Great Yarmouth
0:20:03 > 0:20:06to see one of the descendants of Edison's Kinetoscope -
0:20:06 > 0:20:09the Mutoscope.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12They're basically just like flip books.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Inside...
0:20:17 > 0:20:21..there are 840 cards on this reel,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26..and when you put the money in, the drum rotates.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32This is a good example,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36because most of the subjects involved scantily dressed girls,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40and obviously some people were quite shocked by this.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Erm, in 1907 there was a case
0:20:42 > 0:20:45involving the display of obscene materials
0:20:45 > 0:20:48involving four Mutoscope titles.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51One was called What The Butler Saw. This is the name that stuck,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55and since then Mutoscopes have been known as What The Butler Saw Machines.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58RECORDED LAUGHTER
0:21:00 > 0:21:04People come on a pier to have fun. I don't think there's anywhere else
0:21:04 > 0:21:08that people would be quite so eager to do silly things
0:21:08 > 0:21:12like lie on an exercise bed while everybody's watching them,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14take a fibreglass dog for a walk
0:21:14 > 0:21:17or cross a motorway with a Zimmer frame anywhere else.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Preserving the traditions of life beyond the edge
0:21:27 > 0:21:30is a challenge all around our shores.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36On the west coast of Scotland, old ways of working have been steadily eroded.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Slate miners quarried away at these islands for generations,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45but eventually the industry ate itself up.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Others are determined to keep ploughing a lonely furrow,
0:21:52 > 0:21:58working with their livestock, making the most of a marginal existence.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09An age-old lifestyle still survives on the Isle of Lewis.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20Andy Torbet is in search of the sea shepherds.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27The folk of the Western Isles must turn their hands to many trades.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32It's no surprise to find a fishing harbour, but the men I'm off to see
0:22:32 > 0:22:36aren't after catching fish. They want much bigger beasts - sheep.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44Here on Lewis, rearing sheep is an offshore enterprise.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Uninhabited isles with steep cliffs make perfect natural pens.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55You can put the flock out here and forget all about them.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58A style of farming that's as old as the hills.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03But I'm here to see one of the new boys.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Sandy Granville spent 25 years as a barrister in London,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11then he swapped sharp suits for woolly fleeces.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Now I'm signing on for a tour of duty as a sea shepherd.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20- Nice to see you.- You too.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Sandy, I didn't expect to be meeting some shepherds on a pier side.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28- Where are the sheep?- The sheep are all on the island over there,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31only you can't see any of them just at the moment,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35but they're all there in ones and twos and threes, all over that hill,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39probably a lot of them up in the... up in the mist at the top,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43and they're really wild. These are not sheep as...
0:23:43 > 0:23:46- you know them.- As we know it!
0:23:47 > 0:23:50'If the sheep are intimidating, then so are the shepherds,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54'a close-knit clan of Gaelic speakers.'
0:23:54 > 0:23:57MEN SPEAK GAELIC
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'Sandy's family were from Lewis,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'but it's taken him years to earn his spurs with the sheep men.'
0:24:04 > 0:24:08What was it like coming into this community from the outside?
0:24:08 > 0:24:12The people on the hills aren't always so keen to have newcomers,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15cos nobody wants complete incompetents,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19and of course as a beginner that's just what you are, so they..
0:24:19 > 0:24:21To start with it's rather difficult,
0:24:21 > 0:24:26they don't tell you when the sheep are going to be gathered cos they don't want you there.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31'The sheep we're after have spent a year living alone
0:24:31 > 0:24:35'beyond the edge, running wild on the island of Seaforth.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38'Our mission is to round them up for market.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48'Everyone seems to know their place - except me.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54'As soon as we arrive, the shepherds take off.'
0:24:54 > 0:24:57SHEPHERDS WHISTLE
0:24:57 > 0:25:00'The plan was to split up and stay in sight.'
0:25:04 > 0:25:06'That's a bit tricky in the fog.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10'Soon I'm alone, just like the sheep.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12'No sign of them or my guides.'
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Obviously the shepherds know this land like the back of their hands,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24so we've only just started, but because the mist closed right down...
0:25:24 > 0:25:27I might have mislaid myself already.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31But I think I heard whistling over in that direction
0:25:31 > 0:25:33so I'm going to crack on.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44'No sheep, but a familiar figure emerges through the mist.'
0:25:44 > 0:25:48- I lost you for a bit, Sandy. - Hi, Andy.- How are you doing, mate? Mist is...
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Sometimes you can see, and sometimes you can't.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55It's quite a wild, rugged placed. How do the sheep cope out here?
0:25:55 > 0:26:00They've been bred to it. They're Lewis Blackfaces - love this, and they thrive on it.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02So why keep them on an island at all?
0:26:02 > 0:26:07You know they're here. You're going to find them if they're hiding behind a rock.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Do you ever lose any?
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Well, you sometimes don't get them all in the gather.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14If we get them all today it will be a miracle.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18It's a bit tricky in the mist, I expect one or two sneaked past us.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21'I think it's more than a few that have sneaked past me.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27'Fluffy white fleeces in a world of fog?
0:26:27 > 0:26:29'Hmm, tricky.'
0:26:33 > 0:26:35I've not seen a sheep yet at all.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38I have seen one sheepdog somewhere down there
0:26:38 > 0:26:41and I can just make out one of the shepherds through the mist.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45'And then, he's gone again.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49'I could do with a sheepdog to round up the shepherds.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53'When the mist does lift, it's clear they've been busy
0:26:53 > 0:26:56'while I've been looking for them.'
0:26:59 > 0:27:04'The sheep are being sorted, some for market, some for shearing.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08'With no electricity, they have to be clipped by hand.'
0:27:13 > 0:27:15'Have I got the knack?'
0:27:17 > 0:27:20I think you must have a bit of crafting blood in you.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23It's just coming naturally to you.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26They're much kind of wilder than your normal sheep.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31- They're wild animals really. - Hardy breed.- They don't have a great deal to do with people.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34This is real freedom food, but it's always been a hard life,
0:27:34 > 0:27:38it's never been easy, no more easy or difficult now than it ever was.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44'The ones staying get a once-over, ready for another year alone.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50'The ones going for mutton get a boat ride, but they don't seem too keen.'
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Hold on, hold on, hold on.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57HE SPEAKS GAELIC
0:27:59 > 0:28:01They're much more feisty than I think you'd normally get.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07They've got a fair amount of power as well, they just run up and down the mountain free the whole year around,
0:28:07 > 0:28:13so they're a lot stronger, I think, than your average sheep, and not always the most co-operative either.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19'To persuade them, you've got to get hands-on...and legs.'
0:28:23 > 0:28:27'Negotiating the slippery rocks on a sheep is as hard as it looks.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32'I'd rather ride a quad bike than a quadruped!
0:28:33 > 0:28:38'We're cutting it a bit close with the tide, but after a final tussle
0:28:38 > 0:28:43'to get it off the rocks, the last boatful of sheep leaves the island.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46'For the ones staying, it's back to freedom.'
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Off they go, that's them back to their hill.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53MAN SPEAKS GAELIC
0:28:55 > 0:28:58'But what does the future hold for the sea shepherds?'
0:28:58 > 0:29:01This may be the last generation that you'll see working out here.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04That's why they're an endangered species,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06there's not many of them left.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Because they're not young, these chaps, and who's coming next?
0:29:10 > 0:29:15I suspect when...when we've finished there'll be no sheep on these hills.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21'It's a stark assessment of a hard way of life beyond the edge
0:29:21 > 0:29:23'that could soon disappear.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27'When the boats of the sea shepherds will be seen no more.'
0:29:40 > 0:29:42I'm on a journey,
0:29:42 > 0:29:47far beyond Land's End to the very edge of the Isles of Scilly.
0:29:51 > 0:29:57Bathed in clear blue water, warmed by the Gulf Stream,
0:29:57 > 0:30:03these sandy shores look and feel more like the Caribbean.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08The Tropical Gardens on Tresco
0:30:08 > 0:30:12thrive in a frost-free environment.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14No need for a greenhouse.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Exotic plants bloom in the open air,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21not hiding behind glass.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26The soil's wrapped in its blanket of balmy water.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29Out here, boundaries are blurred
0:30:29 > 0:30:31between land and sea.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33The edges become fuzzy.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Hidden away in the lush greenery,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40there's more evidence
0:30:40 > 0:30:43of the importance of the sea to these islands.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50Extraordinary. It's a sanctuary for the spirits of lost ships.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52Very beautiful.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00These figureheads look back to times long ago
0:31:00 > 0:31:02and age-old trade routes.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Thousands of years ago, back in the ancient times,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14traders didn't see the Isles of Scilly as the end of Britain,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17but as the beginning.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21Look at the map with Bronze Age eyes.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25For ancient Greece to make bronze,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27they needed tin.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Coming to collect tin from Cornwall,
0:31:29 > 0:31:33merchants may well have stopped off on the Isles of Scilly.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37Out there is the submerged home
0:31:37 > 0:31:39of some of our Bronze Age ancestors,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42a lost land that is rarely revealed.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45I just need to wait for the tide to ebb.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56At this exceptionally low tide,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00the seabed that was once land is exposed.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03People used to live out here
0:32:03 > 0:32:05before the water level rose
0:32:05 > 0:32:07thousands of years ago.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Now I can walk back to the Bronze Age.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16My guide is historian Amanda Martin.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20What would this landscape have looked like in the Bronze Age?
0:32:20 > 0:32:22This area here, which is the Tresco Channel,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25would have been an area of tidal swamp
0:32:25 > 0:32:28fringed with the salt marshes,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31a place of very primitive cultivation.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34What evidence have you got that they were farming down here
0:32:34 > 0:32:37on what is now sand and a tidal channel at high tide?
0:32:37 > 0:32:41We've got some evidence of boundary walls, field boundaries.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44They wouldn't have been the sophisticated fields
0:32:44 > 0:32:48we can see from the modern era. They would have been far more rudimentary.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51So compared to these very neat dry stone walls behind us,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54the walls we're talking about back in the Bronze Age
0:32:54 > 0:32:56- were much more crude.- Absolutely.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02From the ground, you can see tantalising lines of stones.
0:33:03 > 0:33:09But from the air, you begin to notice man-made rock boundaries,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11unnaturally straight lines
0:33:11 > 0:33:15just visible in the chaos of debris.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19These walls are what remains of ancient farmland.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26Once, the separate Isles of Scilly were joined together
0:33:26 > 0:33:28in one large land mass.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32What's now the edge of these islands
0:33:32 > 0:33:34was once their heart.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40The farms were lost as the water level went up
0:33:40 > 0:33:42when ice melted millennia ago.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48This journey out to the edge of our isles
0:33:48 > 0:33:51is a voyage back thousands of years in time.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54We've gone beyond written history.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57What happened to the people out here as sea levels rose
0:33:57 > 0:34:01was passed on by storytellers down through the generations
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and remembered as myths and legends.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10The legend has it that once upon a time,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13the Isles of Scilly were connected to Cornwall.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18What's now the Atlantic
0:34:18 > 0:34:22was supposedly the lost kingdom of Lyonesse.
0:34:27 > 0:34:28A mythical world
0:34:28 > 0:34:33which may have given rise to tales of the Round Table and its knights.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Some say Lyonesse is the resting place of King Arthur himself.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46If that great kingdom did exist,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49the most westerly tip of the Isles of Scilly
0:34:49 > 0:34:51would have actually been Land's End.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56And that's where I'm heading,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59continuing west till I come to a full stop
0:34:59 > 0:35:03and find the last house on the very edge of England.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14I'm not the only time-traveller around our shores.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Fossil hunters pick away at crumbly cliffs,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22hoping to prise out a prize specimen
0:35:22 > 0:35:24from the age of the dinosaurs
0:35:24 > 0:35:27or beyond.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Our coast remembers a time
0:35:29 > 0:35:33long before the big beasts of the Jurassic period.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40We can go much further back than the dinosaurs
0:35:40 > 0:35:42with a stop at St David's.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50Today, this tiny city draws the crowds
0:35:50 > 0:35:53because of its big cathedral.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56But in Victorian times, the craggy cliffs nearby
0:35:56 > 0:36:00were crawling with scientists,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03challenging the church's view of the world.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Hermione is puzzled by the age of the Earth.
0:36:15 > 0:36:16150 years ago,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19our coast was causing a commotion.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22Ideas about the Earth were evolving rapidly
0:36:22 > 0:36:27thanks to Victorian naturalists probing the edge for knowledge.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32One of the scientists who came to this shore was J W Salter,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34a palaeontologist working
0:36:34 > 0:36:36for the British Geological Survey.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39In 1862, Salter's boat took a wrong turning
0:36:39 > 0:36:43and he landed purely by chance at this rocky inlet near St David's
0:36:43 > 0:36:45called Porth y Rhaw.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Maybe it was divine intervention that steered him off course.
0:36:51 > 0:36:52Whatever the reason,
0:36:52 > 0:36:54he made a startling discovery.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Salter uncovered evidence here that supported the idea
0:37:00 > 0:37:03that the Earth hadn't just existed for thousands of years,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06it had to be hundreds of millions of years old.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10A literal reading of the Bible
0:37:10 > 0:37:13suggested the world was around 6,000 years old.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Salter found a fossil that said otherwise.
0:37:18 > 0:37:19- Hi, Bob.- Hi.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24'Dr Robert Owens knows that priceless fossil better than most.'
0:37:24 > 0:37:28- So, Bob, tell us about what Salter found here.- Well, he found these.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32- My goodness.- Giant trilobites.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35This one I'm holding in my hand comes from this very spot.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38- This is enormous.- Absolutely, yes.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Imagine splitting a rock open and that's facing you.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44What would this creature have been like when it was living?
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Well, it's a distant relative of the crabs, lobsters, scorpions,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51spiders - the arthropods, that group of animals.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53This probably lived on the seabed crawling around
0:37:53 > 0:37:56and it was probably a predator scavenger,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58was probably fairly high up in the food chain.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01How old are these trilobites?
0:38:01 > 0:38:04On our present estimates, they're about 505 million years old.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08505, so that's a lot, lot older than any dinosaur, for example.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Yes, over twice as old as the oldest dinosaur.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15- Right back to the beginnings of large life forms.- That's right.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17This geological period they come from,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19it's called the Cambrian, after...
0:38:19 > 0:38:22After Wales, where rocks of this age were first recognised.
0:38:22 > 0:38:23A truly Welsh fossil, then.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26If there were to be a national fossil of Wales,
0:38:26 > 0:38:27I think this might well be it.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31The Welsh trilobite helped prove
0:38:31 > 0:38:35that the Earth was old enough for life to evolve.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39But the fossil found here also tells a remarkable story
0:38:39 > 0:38:44about the evolution of the planet itself.
0:38:44 > 0:38:45Welsh trilobites
0:38:45 > 0:38:48aren't only found in Wales.
0:38:48 > 0:38:49Look at this.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52This is a postage stamp from Canada
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and the fossil depicted on it is a trilobite
0:38:54 > 0:38:55and not only a trilobite,
0:38:55 > 0:38:57it's Paradoxides davidis
0:38:57 > 0:39:00and that is the very trilobite we get in Porth y Rhaw.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04If you look at the rocks of Eastern Newfoundland of the Cambrian age,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07you find exactly the same fossils in them, the same trilobites
0:39:07 > 0:39:09including Paradoxides davidis.
0:39:09 > 0:39:10How has that come about?
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Well, we now know that
0:39:12 > 0:39:14500 and more million years ago,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18what is now Wales, what is now Newfoundland, were all located
0:39:18 > 0:39:20on the margins of a vast continent called Gondwana
0:39:20 > 0:39:24and this was about 60 degrees south of the equator.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27So when the trilobites were alive in the sea,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Wales and that part of Canada were part of the same continent.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Exactly, yes. They all lay quite close to one another.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38Hundreds of millions of years ago,
0:39:38 > 0:39:40what's now Wales and Canada
0:39:40 > 0:39:43were jigsaw pieces in one massive continent.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Over time they started to drift apart
0:39:47 > 0:39:50and as the geological plates split open,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53they formed the vast Atlantic.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58This stranded identical trilobites on the coast of Wales and Canada.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03And because of that, our quintessentially Welsh fossil
0:40:03 > 0:40:06ends up over in Canada on one of their stamps.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07Yes, we have to share it
0:40:07 > 0:40:10but we got to name it first as we found it first.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12It's remarkable to think
0:40:12 > 0:40:15that this imprint in Welsh stone
0:40:15 > 0:40:17tells an epic tale
0:40:17 > 0:40:20of the birth of the Atlantic Ocean.
0:40:29 > 0:40:35When it's angry, the mighty Atlantic pounds its fury most strongly
0:40:35 > 0:40:38against the shore of Ireland.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43Spectacular cliffs rise up to resist the battering,
0:40:43 > 0:40:46eaten away over ages to create a fearsome edge.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52For millennia, people have stood on the brink
0:40:52 > 0:40:54and dreamt of what lies beyond...
0:40:56 > 0:41:00..but the endless sea seemed impossible to cross.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04The Vikings may have managed it
0:41:04 > 0:41:06and an Irish saint's said to have done it
0:41:06 > 0:41:10before Columbus conquered the Atlantic
0:41:10 > 0:41:13and claimed the New World for Spain.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15Now, in Wales,
0:41:15 > 0:41:20they're planning perhaps the most remarkable Atlantic mission ever
0:41:20 > 0:41:24from a base in Aberystwyth.
0:41:28 > 0:41:29At the university,
0:41:29 > 0:41:34experts in robotics are trying to teach a boat to think for itself
0:41:34 > 0:41:38and sail itself to America without any help.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44Their prototype robo-boat even speaks for itself,
0:41:44 > 0:41:46rather alarmingly.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51- (COMPUTERISED VOICE)- This is the autonomous sailing robot Beagle-B.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Beagle-B is the brainchild of Mark Neal and Colin Sauze.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59In a race beyond the edge,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02they're competing against the Americans and French
0:42:02 > 0:42:05to cross the Atlantic remotely.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08The idea is that she sails herself completely.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11She has a control system, a small computer on board,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13that adjusts the position of the wing and rudder.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17She can work out for herself how to control where she's going.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23But before they risk Beagle-B on the ravages of the Atlantic,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26they want to try her on home waters.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Do you want a hand or are you all right?
0:42:30 > 0:42:34101 things can go wrong when you try to build an autonomous robot.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Components fail, water gets into things,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39cables break, errors in the code.
0:42:39 > 0:42:40- No wind.- No wind.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43Magnetic anomalies on the seabed can mess up the compass.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45This is one of the longest courses
0:42:45 > 0:42:46we've tried to sail so far.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49It's THE longest course we've tried to sail.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51- The very longest?- Yeah, by about a kilometre
0:42:51 > 0:42:54- further than we did before. - OK. That's exciting.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05Beagle-B gets a helping hand into open water,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07but soon she'll be on her own.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12Once they press the button to launch Beagle-B's computer programme,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14she'll be thinking for herself.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16OK, Colin, are you ready?
0:43:16 > 0:43:18- Yeah.- OK, start her, then.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23Right, just starting the programme now.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34Now it's doing strange things. Just a minute.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36There's no action that it's moving.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39Beagle-B's still asleep.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42I ran the wrong command.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Just a bit of finger trouble.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46The robot's re-booted.
0:43:46 > 0:43:52- (COMPUTERISED VOICE)- This is the autonomous sailing robot Beagle-B.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Yeah, she's free.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01She looks good.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03Dead on course, 10km to go.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07West - campus heading.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11- Now she's master of her own destiny. - Four degrees...
0:44:11 > 0:44:16Beagle-B's computer brain adjusts the carbon fibre sail
0:44:16 > 0:44:20- and the rudder. - The relative wind direction is...
0:44:20 > 0:44:24- A human wouldn't be able to do any better.- So we're pretty happy.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Nothing's broken yet, either, which is always good.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29They're not controlling her,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31just monitoring her every move.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35The sail position at...two.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38The rudder position at...zero.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Hopefully, this success will launch a new era.
0:44:46 > 0:44:52One day, a robot boat might sail herself over the horizon
0:44:52 > 0:44:54and never look back.
0:44:54 > 0:44:55Message ends.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Adventures beyond the edge
0:45:07 > 0:45:09to cross wild oceans
0:45:09 > 0:45:12have inspired engineers to greatness.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18One such story of a mighty ship
0:45:18 > 0:45:22lies forgotten in the mud of the Mersey at Liverpool.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28Mark is here to give an old friend
0:45:28 > 0:45:30the send-off she deserves.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37A little while ago,
0:45:37 > 0:45:39I was part of a remarkable discovery.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Hang on, there's a trowel for you.
0:45:44 > 0:45:45Isn't that wonderful?
0:45:45 > 0:45:46There it is...
0:45:46 > 0:45:49as fresh as it comes!
0:45:49 > 0:45:51Buried ironwork
0:45:51 > 0:45:56from a mighty ship scrapped here over 100 years ago.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02The Great Eastern was once the largest vessel on earth.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07She was built for non-stop passage to Australia,
0:46:07 > 0:46:11but ended up being sold off
0:46:11 > 0:46:14as a floating billboard,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17before being broken up.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22But I won't let the old girl die in such disgrace.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26Before she ended her life here in the mud
0:46:26 > 0:46:27on the banks of the Mersey,
0:46:27 > 0:46:31she was responsible for one of the great engineering triumphs
0:46:31 > 0:46:33of the 19th century.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38It's a story that's seldom told, until now!
0:46:39 > 0:46:42This great ship launched the information age.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48It's a dazzling tale of astonishing audacity.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50Her mission -
0:46:50 > 0:46:54to lay a telegraph cable across the entire Atlantic,
0:46:54 > 0:46:59to send messages from continent to continent.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02This is the story of how the Great Eastern
0:47:02 > 0:47:04wired Britain to America.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08MUSIC: "Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key
0:47:08 > 0:47:12The celebrations for the Transatlantic cable were sweet,
0:47:12 > 0:47:16because of the failures that went before.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21Messages used to travel
0:47:21 > 0:47:25at the speed of sail.
0:47:25 > 0:47:26Then, in 1858,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29after an extraordinary effort,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31the first telegraph cable
0:47:31 > 0:47:34was stretched across the Atlantic seabed.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37In an age before the telephone,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41the new wire promised to send Morse Code messages
0:47:41 > 0:47:43between continents.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48But as soon as they began transmitting,
0:47:48 > 0:47:49there was trouble.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54The electrical messages were getting weaker and weaker.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57The first telegraph cable was dying.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01Cassie Newland, from Bristol University,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04is here to show me what went wrong.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07What they've got is a very badly insulated cable.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09They've got little manufacturing defects
0:48:09 > 0:48:12because they're inventing it as they go along,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15and tiny little faults are appearing and interfering with the signal.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17And as a layman, what I would have thought is,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19just put more power down the wire.
0:48:19 > 0:48:20And that's exactly what they did.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24At one point, they're putting 2,000 volts down the wire.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26So we can do something like 24 volts,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29so off we go, look, it burns a lot more brightly.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31What you are now doing,
0:48:31 > 0:48:34is making those faults worse and worse,
0:48:34 > 0:48:36with this big hefty voltage that's going down the cable,
0:48:36 > 0:48:38until finally, it just shorts.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41And look, our light's gone out.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44So how long did it actually last for, this cable?
0:48:44 > 0:48:46- Two weeks.- How much did it cost?
0:48:46 > 0:48:49£700,000.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54By 1866, they were ready to try again,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56with a new design.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01To lay the first cable,
0:49:01 > 0:49:02they had to use two vessels -
0:49:02 > 0:49:06the weight of the wire was too massive for one alone.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10What they really needed was one big ship
0:49:10 > 0:49:14capable of carrying 2,000 miles of Atlantic cable
0:49:14 > 0:49:16in one go.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Such a ship didn't exist before,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24but now it had been launched.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Only the Great Eastern could carry the new cable
0:49:29 > 0:49:31in one trip.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37She was five times bigger than any other vessel,
0:49:37 > 0:49:39but this one is a little smaller.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47This perfect scale replica is a work of Bob Abell,
0:49:47 > 0:49:49who used the original blueprints.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52You've got every detail,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55- however long did it take you to build it?- About two years.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59You've got the rivets all beautifully shown on the side of the decks.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01- This is the Captain's deck. - There we are.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06There's the cable.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08And this is how it goes down the bottom.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13I mean, this will be about the closest I'm ever going to get to see
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- what she was like, you know.- I think she's the only one in the land.
0:50:16 > 0:50:17Can I have a go?
0:50:24 > 0:50:28I never thought I would steer the Great Eastern!
0:50:29 > 0:50:31You're doing a good job.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36On the 13th July, 1866,
0:50:36 > 0:50:40she steamed away from the coast of Ireland,
0:50:40 > 0:50:41to cross the Atlantic.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48Her precious cargo spooled out behind.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52The Transatlantic cable was no ordinary wire.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57This is the Great Eastern's successful cable.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00- What's it actually made of?- You've got a conductor in the middle,
0:51:00 > 0:51:02if you see, there are seven little strands - all copper.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Then wrapped around that, you've got your Gutta-Percha insulation.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09- Now what is Gutta-Percha? - Oh, Gutta-Percha,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12it's like a tree sap from the Gutta-Percha tree,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15which is a massive tall rainforest tree, growing in places
0:51:15 > 0:51:18like Borneo and Malaysia, that kind of tropical forest.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20It's a brilliant natural insulator,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22it only gets better under water,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25it was almost like it was designed for the job.
0:51:25 > 0:51:26Just wrapped around that is jute -
0:51:26 > 0:51:29the same stuff we make hessian sacks out of,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32and then around that you've got bright iron.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35The armour's getting laid on just up there...
0:51:35 > 0:51:36That's the Birkenhead docks.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38The copper's been smelted down there at Widnes.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43So it's kind of ironical that the cable's are being manufactured here,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46the very resting point of the Great Eastern itself.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Yeah, it's a beautifully circular thing.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54By the end of July 1866,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58the Great Eastern and her precious cable
0:51:58 > 0:52:00reached Newfoundland,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03after a voyage of 2,000 miles.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08Over such a long distance,
0:52:08 > 0:52:10telegraph messages were very, very weak.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12Eight years before,
0:52:12 > 0:52:18the first cable had blown when the voltage was boosted.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21So they needed a brighter idea,
0:52:21 > 0:52:26and this is where the story takes a very clever turn.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32Morse Code messages usually communicated by clicking,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34but the transatlantic signal
0:52:34 > 0:52:39was far too faint to make even a click.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42British scientist, William Thomson,
0:52:42 > 0:52:45had devised a solution of genius.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48His bright idea was to use a light beam,
0:52:48 > 0:52:53which even the weakest electrical current could move.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58At the heart of Thomson's machine was a mirror like this,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01which made a small rotation
0:53:01 > 0:53:04in response to the tiny telegraph signal.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10This model of a mirror galvanometer
0:53:10 > 0:53:12was built by scientist, Jonathan Hare.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16So this is the magic device?
0:53:16 > 0:53:18This is the mirror galvanometer,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22which is an exquisitely sensitive way of picking up a signal on a cable, basically.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24So it enabled signals to be sent in really low voltage.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26How does it work?
0:53:26 > 0:53:30So we've wired up the cable. It's going from the UK to here in America,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32and if we press a button on the other side,
0:53:32 > 0:53:34a little current will flow along here.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37On the mirror are fixed two magnets,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40and around the mirror is a coil of wire.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43Now when that current flows in the coil of wire
0:53:43 > 0:53:45it produces a magnetic field,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48which causes one magnet to move out, sort of repels it,
0:53:48 > 0:53:50causes the other magnet to move in,
0:53:50 > 0:53:53and as the magnets are fixed to the mirror, it twists the mirror,
0:53:53 > 0:53:57but the clever thing was he bounced a beam of light off that mirror,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59and just like if you play with your watch, you know,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02and you reflect the sun's rays from your watch,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05you can actually make the spot move around a lot,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07with very little movement of your wrist.
0:54:07 > 0:54:08Here very little mirror movement,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11will actually cause a big movement in the spot some distance away.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Now at the other end, in the UK, we're in America here,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18if she keys... she's got two positions on her keyer,
0:54:18 > 0:54:20one will send a dot, and if she flicks the switch
0:54:20 > 0:54:22and presses the button again, it will send a dash,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25and they cause the spot to move in different directions,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28so she can send a dot and a dash and send Morse Code
0:54:28 > 0:54:29and we can read the message.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35Press a key on one side of the Atlantic
0:54:35 > 0:54:37and 2,000 miles beyond,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39a light spot bounced,
0:54:39 > 0:54:44a miraculous method of sending telegrams.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46William Thomson's invaluable contribution
0:54:46 > 0:54:49to the transatlantic telegraph,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52earned him a well-deserved knighthood.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56MUSIC: "God Save The Queen"
0:54:56 > 0:54:59The band struck up in celebration,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02and the message was finally received
0:55:02 > 0:55:05loud and clear in the USA.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08MUSIC: "Star Spangled Banner"
0:55:10 > 0:55:12With the cable laid,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15the Great Eastern was gradually forgotten,
0:55:15 > 0:55:20broken up on the banks of the Mersey.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22But her legacy remains.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25Since 1866,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29we've never been out of contact with America.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31The Times newspaper said,
0:55:31 > 0:55:37"We have become one country - the Atlantic is dried up."
0:55:40 > 0:55:44My adventure beyond Land's End
0:55:44 > 0:55:47is taking me to the furthest edge of the Isles of Scilly.
0:55:52 > 0:55:53I've made it to Bryher,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56the smallest of the five inhabited islands,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00home to around 80 permanent residents,
0:56:00 > 0:56:02and a couple of goats!
0:56:05 > 0:56:08The name Bryher is from the old Cornish,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11meaning "place of hills."
0:56:11 > 0:56:14Over the crest of the final peak
0:56:14 > 0:56:17lies the real Land's End of England.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19WAVES CRASH
0:56:24 > 0:56:29Who chooses to live out here in such isolation?
0:56:29 > 0:56:33I'm on my way to the most westerly house in England.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45- Hello, there!- Oh, hello.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47I'm sorry to bother you.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50You probably get fed-up with questions like this,
0:56:50 > 0:56:52- but do you live here?- Yes.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Is this the most westerly house in England?
0:56:54 > 0:56:56Well, I think so,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59apart from next door's, we're all in a line.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Are you? And you've never figured out who's the most western?
0:57:02 > 0:57:05- Well, I think we are, yes. - You think you are.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08- Where did you move from? - We moved from Northamptonshire.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10But that's right in the middle of England.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12I know, I know, sort of countryside.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15- Now you've come to the very edge of England.- I know.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18And that's where my husband spends most of his time.
0:57:18 > 0:57:19Wow!
0:57:19 > 0:57:21Look at that!
0:57:21 > 0:57:23This is a coastal view.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25- How do you do?- Good afternoon.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29- Sorry about the intrusion. - That's quite all right. You're most welcome to come around.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33My goodness. This must be one of the best views in England.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Well, I can't think of anything better myself, yes.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37Look at that.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40# Oh-oh-oh-oh
0:57:40 > 0:57:43# This could be para-para paradise
0:57:43 > 0:57:46# Para-para paradise
0:57:46 > 0:57:49# Para-para paradise
0:57:49 > 0:57:54# Oh-oh-oh-oh ohoooo. #
0:57:54 > 0:57:57I'm standing on the most westerly point
0:57:57 > 0:57:59of any inhabited island in England.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01My journey's completed,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05and although it's quite wild and windy here,
0:58:05 > 0:58:07inside I feel quite still and calm,
0:58:07 > 0:58:10it's rather like reaching a top of a mountain.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13The journey's over, there's no further I can go, and yet,
0:58:13 > 0:58:16when I lift my eyes to the horizon,
0:58:16 > 0:58:18you can see there's more to come,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20the promise of something far bigger,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23and I think that's the appeal of life on the edge,
0:58:23 > 0:58:26it's on the cusp of another world.
0:58:34 > 0:58:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd