0:00:07 > 0:00:09Coast is home.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12And we're exploring
0:00:12 > 0:00:17the most endlessly fascinating shoreline in the world...
0:00:17 > 0:00:18our own!
0:00:21 > 0:00:24The journey to discover surprising,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28secret stories from around the British Isles continues.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35This is Coast.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09The sea is a great global highway.
0:01:09 > 0:01:15As an island people, it's in our nature to reach out and explore,
0:01:15 > 0:01:20the thrill of embarking on voyages big and small
0:01:20 > 0:01:24makes our harbours hum with excitement.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29In an age before air travel, these were our departure lounges,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33harbours have always been gateways to adventure.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41With an insatiable appetite for those adventures,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45we've constructed around 1,000 of these global gateways.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48For centuries, people, goods and ideas
0:01:48 > 0:01:52have flowed in between harbour walls.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55If only these walls could talk.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Well, now they can.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06We're here to reveal The Hidden History of Harbours.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Down on the south coast,
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Tessa is exploring how in the harbours of the Royal Navy
0:02:18 > 0:02:24a fashion began that made a permanent mark on Britain.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26There's one naval tradition that remains largely hidden
0:02:26 > 0:02:30from public view, beneath sailor's uniforms.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31The tattoo.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38On the coast of Northern Ireland we're heading to Portrush,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42where Mark Horton's disembarking to take a trip
0:02:42 > 0:02:44four centuries back in time.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52How did the lack of a harbour lead to the ruin of a remarkable town?
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Lost under the soil, like an Irish Pompeii.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02The decision to settle here at the castle,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05rather than the port over there,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07was a matter of life and death for the new town.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11And we venture northwards in England,
0:03:11 > 0:03:17in the docks at Barrow-In-Furness, Dick discovers a top secret weapon
0:03:17 > 0:03:23of the First World War, airships pumped up with cow guts.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26It seems incredible, but cow guts were the secret ingredients
0:03:26 > 0:03:29that meant that airships could float in the sky.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31I think this is practically ready to fly.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39The harbour I'm heading for is Newlyn in Cornwall.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Soaring high above the Cornish coast
0:03:44 > 0:03:47it's striking how perfectly
0:03:47 > 0:03:51people have moulded themselves into the landscape.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Manmade walls extend natural headlands
0:03:54 > 0:03:58to create safe havens,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03harbours, our own perfectly formed contributions to the coast.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08# In Newlyn Town
0:04:08 > 0:04:11# I was bread and born... #
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Last few BBQ pilchards.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18At Newlyn, the locals come to plug into the wider world,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23but the harbour also hides a hidden history.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27150 years ago, as tin mines were closing,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30fishing struggled to keep the community going.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35Down in the harbour, a new call was luring the men seawards.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39On the other side of the world a gold rush has begun.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43# To South Australia we are born
0:04:43 > 0:04:45# Heave away, haul away
0:04:45 > 0:04:47# To South Australia round Cape Horn
0:04:47 > 0:04:51# We're bound for South Australia... #
0:04:51 > 0:04:56The fishermen of Newlyn knew that 12,000 miles of wild sea
0:04:56 > 0:04:58stood between them and the promised land.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Who would risk all for riches?
0:05:02 > 0:05:06150 years ago, one little fishing boat made a remarkable voyage
0:05:06 > 0:05:09from here to the other side of the world.
0:05:09 > 0:05:10Have a look at this picture,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12it shows Melbourne harbour in Australia,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15absolutely crammed with shipping in the mid-1800's,
0:05:15 > 0:05:20but look at this little boat here, it's got a sail on it
0:05:20 > 0:05:25and on the sale is says Penzance, it's a boat called Mystery.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30The Mystery, with seven men onboard, left this quayside in 1854,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34over 100 days later they reached Oz.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39No fishing boat had ever made such a trip.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44Their incredible achievement was a triumph of hope over experience,
0:05:44 > 0:05:50they rode their luck in the roughest seas, gambling on a golden future.
0:05:50 > 0:05:56# We're bound for South Australia. #
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The men left behind wives, children, friends,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06unsure whether they'd ever see their loved ones again.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Two of the men who made that momentous decision
0:06:14 > 0:06:17were Philip Curnow Matthews and William Badcock,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21no photos of their five crew-mates survive.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26For years, their story has lain hidden,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29now I want to discover why the men risked everything
0:06:29 > 0:06:32on that incredible voyage to Australia
0:06:32 > 0:06:36in the small fishing boat, Mystery.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39I'm meeting the Captain's great-great-great nephew
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Douglas Williams.
0:06:42 > 0:06:43Hi, Douglas.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49As I understand it, back in the 1850s, you could buy for £20
0:06:49 > 0:06:52a steerage class ticket all the way to Australia, one-way,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55why didn't they do that and travel out there on an immigrant ship?
0:06:55 > 0:06:58The whole thing was based on an adventure which took off
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and came out of their control.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03They certainly saved a fair bit of money by going that way,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06the fact that they had a means of earning their livelihood
0:07:06 > 0:07:09with The Mystery when they arrived there,
0:07:09 > 0:07:10those were the two big factors.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12This was a new life and a new deal
0:07:12 > 0:07:14and they thought they'd have part of it.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Do you think they understood the risk?
0:07:16 > 0:07:19I don't think they understood the risk,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22I don't suppose any of them had been further than the North Sea
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and around the Cornish south-west coast,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28but they had a first class navigator in Captain Richard Nicholls,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31who was experienced around the world in cargo ships,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35and they recognised that and they had an absolute trust in him.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42Captain Nicholls' log details a great unsung feat
0:07:42 > 0:07:43of British seamanship,
0:07:43 > 0:07:49beginning on November 18th 1854 leaving Newlyn.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Phillips Matthews, William Badcock and their crewmates
0:07:54 > 0:07:57had barely sailed beyond the sight of land before,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59now off the tip of Africa,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04they braved gales as they pressed on to Melbourne.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12Of all the British vessels to make it to Australia, The Mystery,
0:08:12 > 0:08:18the smallest and pluckiest of all, would never see home shores again.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The Mystery didn't come back to Newlyn,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27but I've come along the coast to Plymouth.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Here, the spirit of Mystery lives on.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43This is an exact replica of the boat in which Captain Nicholls
0:08:43 > 0:08:47and his six crew set sail, bringing her back to life
0:08:47 > 0:08:51was the dream of Cornishman and legendary sailor Pete Goss.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57I can't believe that I'm going out to sea in this boat.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59It's an amazing story.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02We started with a chainsaw looking for fallen oak trees to...
0:09:02 > 0:09:04to make the frames to build the boat.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Fashioning the Cornish oak into a seagoing craft
0:09:10 > 0:09:12was a 10-month labour of love,
0:09:12 > 0:09:17to honour the achievement of the original crew.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Really what this is about is celebrating, you know,
0:09:20 > 0:09:241854, those seven amazing men who really through hardship
0:09:24 > 0:09:28and I think a bit of romance they wanted an adventure themselves,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32sailed her to Australia, which is staggering, really.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36For Pete there was only one way to appreciate fully
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Mystery's epic voyage down under, to try it himself.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47Later, I'll be discovering how they battled raging seas,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50just like the original crew.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55And what became of those Cornishmen who reached Australia 150 years ago.
0:10:05 > 0:10:12Newlyn is just one of many harbours that have waved off bold explorers.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16But these safe havens are home to two-way traffic,
0:10:16 > 0:10:22for every boat that leaves, one is returning, richer for the journey.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Like down on the South Coast, at Portsmouth.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36The harbour here is familiar
0:10:36 > 0:10:39with the comings and goings of large ships,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42but they aren't only built for pleasure.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49This is the historic home of the Royal Navy,
0:10:49 > 0:10:54where warships set off to make their mark on the world.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58What's less well known is how the Navy's harbours
0:10:58 > 0:11:00were gateways for the wider world
0:11:00 > 0:11:04to make an indelible mark on the British people.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08As Tessa Dunlop's here to explore.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16The Royal Navy's known as the Senior Service,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20proud to display its centuries old seafaring history.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22But these days, there's one naval tradition
0:11:22 > 0:11:25that remains largely hidden from public view,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27beneath sailor's uniforms.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30The tattoo.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Today, some five million Britons
0:11:35 > 0:11:39see ink on their skin as a fashion statement,
0:11:39 > 0:11:44but how did the Navy sailors start this trend for tattooing?
0:11:44 > 0:11:47It all began in far-flung harbours.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50# As you sail across the sea
0:11:50 > 0:11:55# All my love is there beside you... #
0:11:56 > 0:12:01I've made a shorter journey myself to the naval dockyard at Chatham.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Serving sailors can be a secretive bunch.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14So I'm here to meet veterans on a Second World War vintage destroyer,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17old salts who can talk tattoos.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Radar operator Nobby Clarke was just 15
0:12:31 > 0:12:35when he signed up on the notoriously tough training ship HMS Ganges.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I was a boy seaman, the lowest form of animal life
0:12:40 > 0:12:44in the Royal Navy, at Ganges if you had a tattoo there,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47you could get six cuts across your rear end,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49which hurt, for having a tattoo.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51- What the cane?- Yes.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56After Ganges, young Nobby Clarke was ready to cut loose.
0:12:57 > 0:12:58What is that?
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Well, pass.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06It's a horseshoe with a robin inside it, which he had red on him once,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08and I had Mum and Dad underneath.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12This was done with a bamboo cane and ink in Bombay.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14So the old-fashioned slow way?
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- Yes, and it hurts.- I bet it hurt.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19# As you sail across the sea... #
0:13:19 > 0:13:22The men squeezed into ships like HMS Cavalier,
0:13:22 > 0:13:27saw tattooing as a rite of passage and a celebration of tradition.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Engineer David Shardlow chose body art
0:13:32 > 0:13:35that a sailor from Nelson's Navy would recognise,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38two little birds, swallows.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41These actually are a nautical theme, aren't they?
0:13:41 > 0:13:43- Yes.- What do they symbolise?
0:13:43 > 0:13:45They symbolise you're fast with your hands.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Oh, so when you're doing your thing with all the gauges and the wheels,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51you're meant to be working quickly?
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Tattoos also tapped into a sailor's softer side,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01as deckhand Terry Willis can testify.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11Can I have a little look?
0:14:11 > 0:14:13The galleon, and with...
0:14:13 > 0:14:15So that's a ship there, right?
0:14:15 > 0:14:17And "We're homeward bound to Pauline."
0:14:17 > 0:14:19To Pauline?
0:14:19 > 0:14:20- Yes.- Is that the wife?
0:14:20 > 0:14:21No, it's the ex-wife.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30The hidden history of naval tattoos might have stayed overseas,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34but sailors coming home to the harbours of 18th century Britain
0:14:34 > 0:14:37brought their body art with them.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41When Captain Cook returned to England from southern seas,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44his sailors showed off the skin designs
0:14:44 > 0:14:46they'd first seen on Polynesians.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52Tattoo historian Paul Sayce is showing me how it was done.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Now this looks pretty scary, where's this one from?
0:14:57 > 0:15:00That's a Samoan handsaw, it's tacked into the skin,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03and that's why the name of tattooing in Polynesia is called tattao...
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Oh, really?
0:15:05 > 0:15:07..cos the Polynesian word for tapping is tattao.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11So they're actually cutting and hitting the skin at the same time?
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Dip it in the ink, put it on the skin
0:15:14 > 0:15:18and they'd tap it with a little piece of wood like a mallet,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21and it goes along like that as they're tapping.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23That must really hurt, I mean it must bruise as well as cut.
0:15:23 > 0:15:24The bruising's terrible,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27you get about six to eight inches either side.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30This is a Japanese hand tool, but it's very similar to what
0:15:30 > 0:15:34we would have used, and it would have been four or five inches long,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38with the needles tied on, and you really just poked it in.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40What and the ink then pours down into the holes, does it?
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Yeah, well, you dip it in the ink and then you poke it in.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Painful certainly, but while tattoos were rare outside the Navy,
0:15:48 > 0:15:53in the mid 19th century they also became a sought-after status symbol.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Surprisingly, tattooing even got the royal seal of approval.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03During his madcap youth Edward Prince of Wales,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05later King Edward VII, visited the Holy Land,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09where he had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on his arm.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16Tattoo parlours started to spring up outside our harbours,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20as high society followed the future monarch's lead.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27In 1879 the New York Times observed,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31"In England it is regarded as customary and proper
0:16:31 > 0:16:32"to tattoo the youthful feminine leg."
0:16:37 > 0:16:39By the early 20th century,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43mechanisation was making inky skin a mass-market commodity.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48And this is one of the first mechanised tattooing machines, is it?
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Yeah, it is, it's one of the first machines
0:16:50 > 0:16:53and it's still the same as we know it today.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Inside there, there's two coils and a hammer and it goes up and down,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58when the power goes on and off, the needles go through here,
0:16:58 > 0:17:03you dip it in the ink and you go around the skin like that.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07And of course when the more commoner sort of people in inverted commas
0:17:07 > 0:17:10started to get it done, your higher society stopped getting it done,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12cos as is anything else, if anything gets popular the...
0:17:12 > 0:17:14the rich don't want it.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Body art swings in and out of fashion,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25but is always at home in the Navy's harbours.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28# Sailor
0:17:28 > 0:17:32# Stop your roving... #
0:17:32 > 0:17:35There used to be an old song which said you're not a sailor
0:17:35 > 0:17:37till the sailor's tattooed,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and of course silly boys like me had a tattoo.
0:17:40 > 0:17:41Wouldn't do it again but err...
0:17:41 > 0:17:45It's interesting, none of you would do it again.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48We've grown wiser as we get older.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52I like your tattoos, in fact who does have the biggest tattoo?
0:17:52 > 0:17:54Don't know, Nobby I think on his chest.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Oh, it's enormous!
0:17:56 > 0:17:59THEY LAUGH
0:17:59 > 0:18:00It's a sailing ship.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05- With a cloud, I see it now and birds, yes?- Yes.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07And where was that from, India?
0:18:07 > 0:18:09No, Singapore.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Yeah, I think a postcard home would have probably been a better investment.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16THEY LAUGH
0:18:21 > 0:18:25It isn't just tattoos that the Navy keeps covered up.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Once it strikes out from harbour,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32the Senior Service fights its battles in secret.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44They show-off their ships in exercises,
0:18:44 > 0:18:49but the grim business of war takes place in far-flung foreign waters,
0:18:49 > 0:18:54that is of course, unless you go to Scarborough.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Those in the know go beyond the sea walls of the quayside
0:19:02 > 0:19:06to a hidden little harbour that sees explosive action
0:19:06 > 0:19:08in the holiday months.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Every summer, we wage war here in Scarborough.
0:19:17 > 0:19:23In the crazy days of summer, the crowds wait for war to break out.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Meanwhile, the corner of the council boating pond is transformed
0:19:28 > 0:19:31into an impromptu naval base.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36In top secret, warships are made ready for battle.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40It looks like miniature boats.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47The lid comes off and a council employee...
0:19:47 > 0:19:49SHE LAUGHS
0:19:49 > 0:19:53..climbs inside and the lid is put back on,
0:19:53 > 0:19:55and there you have your dreadnaught.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58- There you go, good luck. - Thank you.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03For 80 years, Scarborough has staged the summer war
0:20:03 > 0:20:06from a little harbour in Peasholm Park,
0:20:06 > 0:20:12a grand tradition familiar to Friend of the Park, Christine Mark.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16The naval battle started in the 1920s
0:20:16 > 0:20:20and they started to celebrate World War I sea battles and that was fine
0:20:20 > 0:20:22but then World War II came along
0:20:22 > 0:20:27and after that they decided that it would be a really good idea
0:20:27 > 0:20:30to celebrate the first battle, the first major sea battle
0:20:30 > 0:20:33of World War II which was The Battle of the River Plate.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39At the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of South America,
0:20:39 > 0:20:44the German heavy cruiser Graf Spee suffered a humiliating defeat
0:20:44 > 0:20:46to the Royal Navy.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52A propaganda victory that Scarborough has re-fought for years.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00It was pretty jingoistic and that was fine for the time.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05Nowadays, the conflict is more politically correct.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Don't mention the war, or the Germans.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12So now we have the Allies and the Enemy.
0:21:12 > 0:21:13I'm the enemy.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16I've been doing this now about 14 years, on and off,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19never won a battle yet, do 30-a-year and lose every one.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Scarborough Council's naval commanders
0:21:27 > 0:21:29baton down the hatches.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Welcome to Scarborough's unique holiday attraction,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37the naval warfare, our sea battle in miniature.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40I'm just waiting to see if the submarines appear.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Lurking in the lake, an enemy sub launches a sneak attack,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49aimed at HMS British Pride.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53The magazine could go any...
0:21:53 > 0:21:54EXPLOSION
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Oh, it has. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,
0:21:57 > 0:22:03but she's spotted an attack by bombers from the Arc Royal.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07The dive bombers are a hit with the crowd,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09when they work.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Oh, we've got one!
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Inside the Jervis Bay, her skipper presses home the attack.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Don't forget, she's not really a fighting ship,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38but isn't she doing wonderfully well there?
0:22:39 > 0:22:42That's a direct hit on the coning tower.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45With the submarine neutralised,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49the Allies can finally attack the enemy harbour.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21So that was it then, half an hour and the Allies won again...
0:23:21 > 0:23:23- Yes, as usual.- Quelle surprise!
0:23:31 > 0:23:36Here on the Yorkshire coast, they re-live battles from distant seas
0:23:36 > 0:23:39that forged the fighting spirit of naval seamen.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44But our shores also shape the character of sailors closer to home,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47like here in Cornwall.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56This craggy coastline is sculpted by a sea
0:23:56 > 0:23:59that crashes against granite,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and builds boatmen of steely resolve.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Historically, each little harbour was connected to its neighbour
0:24:06 > 0:24:09by the sea, not the land.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12The boats that used to chase the mackerel,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14rarely strayed far from the coast.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19Except for one remarkable mackerel boat, The Mystery.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Her seven crew sailed in 1854 from Newlyn.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31It was a voyage that took them out through the Bay of Biscay,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36down the coast of West Africa, past Cape Town and on to Melbourne.
0:24:40 > 0:24:46A 12,000 mile gamble on riches in gold rush Australia.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52When those Cornishmen set sail in 1854,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56some of them had never been out of sight of land before.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01I'm on an exact replica of their ship, Spirit of Mystery,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05to relive a great unsung feat of British seamanship.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08To appreciate their astonishing achievement,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Cornish sailor Pete Goss
0:25:11 > 0:25:16faced again every crashing wave from the original crew's trip.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22Pete built his boat from the plans of an 1850s lugger,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24correct in every detail.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28I can't help noticing, Pete, that you haven't got any winches
0:25:28 > 0:25:32or mechanical aids to help you get these huge sparks up the mast.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36No, no, this was as they would have sailed, so it's a handful of blocks,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39a bucket and rope, needle and thread, go anywhere in the world.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44Battling the wind, I get a feeling of just how tough it was
0:25:44 > 0:25:48for the crew aboard The Mystery in 1854.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53- There must be a knack to this. - You're right, it'll come.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56You'll be running around by the end of the day.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00That's it. Ready. That'll do. Yep.
0:26:04 > 0:26:10Sails hoisted, the Cornishmen faced over 100 days in open seas,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13with the same fearsome horizons.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Up here on the bow, Pete, looking back,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19I'm actually a little bit shocked at how small this boat is.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23- It is a tiny, tiny boat to sail to Australia in.- It is, yeah.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27The further away you get from land, the smaller it becomes,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29and you do, you know down in the southern ocean,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32there is a sense of vulnerability, you're just out there
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and you hope for the best and deal with what comes along.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Pete's crew did have a few home comforts
0:26:39 > 0:26:43their intrepid counterparts couldn't have dreamt of.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Pete, this is incredibly cosy down here,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49but in the original Mystery this was a fish hold, right?
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Yes, it was. This area here, our sort of cabin top,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56would have been a fish hold, but we know that they decked that over
0:26:56 > 0:26:59and we know that they put bunks and accommodation down below.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Are these working oil lamps, is this how you lit the cabin down here?
0:27:02 > 0:27:07Yeah, we had oil lamps, we used a sextant to navigate,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10the objective was to shine a spotlight on their voyage,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13and get to Melbourne with a real sense of their achievement.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19Phillip Curnow Matthews was one of those who made it to Australia,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21and now, one of his precious possessions
0:27:21 > 0:27:23has come home to Cornwall
0:27:25 > 0:27:29This is his little personal compass.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31How extraordinary.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Do you think that was sort of like a lucky charm
0:27:35 > 0:27:39that he had with him on the voyage? It's very beautiful, isn't it?
0:27:39 > 0:27:43I like to think it was, I kind of see that tucked in his waistcoat.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47Matthews and his five crewmates put their life
0:27:47 > 0:27:51in the hands of the skipper, Richard Nicholls,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55who survives in the writings of his log.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58And I love this bit, "our gallant little vessel riding beautifully
0:27:58 > 0:28:01"and not shipping any water whatever",
0:28:01 > 0:28:06and your life is contained on this little Cornish walnut.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Captain Richard Nicholls was a man of few words,
0:28:10 > 0:28:15but they sum up the extraordinary nature of the voyage.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18"December 6th, 1854.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22"Several flying fish came onboard during the night,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26"crew overhauling, rigging and cleaning mast,
0:28:26 > 0:28:28"airing nets and restoring hold."
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Captain Nicholls refers to his crew simply as "the people",
0:28:34 > 0:28:38when the boat was becalmed, he'd exercise them
0:28:38 > 0:28:42with the fisherman's walk, six paces up and down the deck, endlessly.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48After 50 days at sea, The Mystery stopped-over
0:28:48 > 0:28:51at the tip of South Africa.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Nicholls noted the excitement,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56"There were a great many visitors onboard.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00"The Mystery being the smallest vessel ever from England."
0:29:02 > 0:29:05But departing Africa, excitement soon turned to terror
0:29:05 > 0:29:08in turbulent southern seas.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11The southern ocean is the big focus, that's the big one, you...
0:29:11 > 0:29:14you step into that and we had probably
0:29:14 > 0:29:18every five days, on average, we'd have a big gale come through.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24Walls of water pounded their tiny boat.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Pete's crew were fighting for their lives just like the original men
0:29:28 > 0:29:32of the Mystery, 150 years before, as the Captain's log records,
0:29:35 > 0:29:42"5th March 1855, a complete hurricane, mountains of sea."
0:29:42 > 0:29:47Pete only captured the start of this storm on his little camera.
0:29:47 > 0:29:54Hailstones rattled down, then their world turned upside-down.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59Just saw this great big sheer wall of water and shouted,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02and then it's like a car crash, you only remember bits,
0:30:02 > 0:30:03and I remember it went all dark,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05getting knocked around in the hatchway
0:30:05 > 0:30:08and then it felt like standing in a storm drain
0:30:08 > 0:30:11with water pouring in and pushing up against it.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Andy was in the starboard bunk, he woke up and grabbed the boat
0:30:14 > 0:30:17and swung over and realised he was sat on the ceiling,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20so we got knocked upside-down.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Miraculously, the boat righted itself,
0:30:23 > 0:30:28but deckhand Mark suffered a badly broken leg.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33I'm sure I heard it, it was like a rifle crack.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36I mean, my foot was tucked underneath the bench
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and my foot caught on the post and that's what caused it to break.
0:30:41 > 0:30:42In Melbourne harbour,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46a hero's welcome greeted The Spirit of Mystery.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48THE CROWD CHEER
0:30:50 > 0:30:54When the original Mystery reached Melbourne in 1855,
0:30:54 > 0:30:59she was the smallest craft ever to complete the journey,
0:30:59 > 0:31:04but her seven-man crew sold Mystery to start new lives.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Phillip Curnow Matthew married and became a land surveyor,
0:31:11 > 0:31:13he is buried in Melbourne.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19Captain Nicholls eventually returned to Cornwall,
0:31:19 > 0:31:25only to be killed by a horse-drawn carriage in 1868.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28Who says worse things happen at sea?
0:31:31 > 0:31:36After a spell in Australia, William Badcock and three shipmates
0:31:36 > 0:31:38also came home to Newlyn harbour.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Perhaps the lure of Cornwall was just too strong,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48but maybe what had really driven them on
0:31:48 > 0:31:51wasn't the desire for a new life in Australia
0:31:51 > 0:31:55but the spirit of adventure.
0:32:00 > 0:32:06Sailors love striking out towards new harbours.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10Many head for the stunning inland sea at Strangford Lough
0:32:10 > 0:32:13on the shore of Northern Ireland.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18The Irish coast is studded with safe havens for shipping,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21around which great cities have sprung up.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28Creating a new settlement by a harbour seems an obvious choice,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32but then you had towards Portrush.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43In the Middle Ages, this was a violent coastline.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48Castle strongholds brooded on inaccessible cliffs
0:32:48 > 0:32:53because harbours were open to attack from the sea.
0:32:54 > 0:33:00So 400 years ago, when a Scottish lord came to settle the land here,
0:33:00 > 0:33:04he turned his back on the natural harbour at Portrush.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08A decision that would prove disastrous,
0:33:08 > 0:33:10as Mark is about to discover.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18In 1608, this harbour was completely undeveloped.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23But the Scottish clan, who claimed this land
0:33:23 > 0:33:28chose to build their settlement not here at Portrush,
0:33:28 > 0:33:31but here at Dunluce Castle.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44The castle is just three miles up the coast from Portrush.
0:33:44 > 0:33:51Back in 1608, with its walls intact, it seemed to offer security.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56But times were changing.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00The decision to settle here at the castle
0:34:00 > 0:34:02rather than at the port, over there,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06was a matter of life and death for the new town.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Those green fields are a clue as to what eventually happened.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22Just beneath the grass, archaeologists have unearthed
0:34:22 > 0:34:27the foundations of homes lost for over 350 years,
0:34:27 > 0:34:29an Irish Pompeii.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35I'm meeting Colin Breen from the University of Ulster.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39His team are excavating a village built for Scots,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43brought here from over the sea.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45This is a plantation,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48this is an attempt to bring foreigners to settle Ulster.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Yeah, it's a very complex period in Ulster's history.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54What we're essentially doing is coming out of a period
0:34:54 > 0:34:56of nine years of war and conflict,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00where the rebellious Irish rose up against the English administration,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and at the end of that period the English crown decides that
0:35:03 > 0:35:08the only way to pacify the Ulster landscape, is to bring settlers in
0:35:08 > 0:35:10from England and from Scotland to civilise Ireland,
0:35:10 > 0:35:12to civilise Ulster.
0:35:12 > 0:35:13The wild Irish.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15The wild Irish as they're often referred to.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19And this particular town is established by Randal McDonnell
0:35:19 > 0:35:22from 1608 through to about 1611.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Founded by Randal MacDonnell,
0:35:26 > 0:35:31the new town was taken over by his son in 1636,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35but by then things were going disastrously wrong
0:35:35 > 0:35:40for their new settlement, sited next to Dunluce Castle.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45Now, only mysterious mounds remain.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Why was the town lost to history
0:35:52 > 0:35:57when the Scottish clan MacDonnell built it to last?
0:35:59 > 0:36:02It's an amazing thing, the town itself is really quite elaborate.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06What we're looking at is a central space within that town,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10this paving surface here extends up as far as that farm building,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14which was a 1623 courthouse,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17it would have run right down to the castle itself,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19and then there would have been rows of houses
0:36:19 > 0:36:22lining either side of this central place, within the town.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26So this isn't just a small town, this is a MAJOR investment?
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Very much so.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34With no proper harbour, the new town relied on trading vessels,
0:36:34 > 0:36:38barely changed since Viking times.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42The ship's shallow bottoms meant they could be pulled up
0:36:42 > 0:36:45easily onto the beach.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47You could drag them up here on west strand
0:36:47 > 0:36:49and east strand, just outside Portrush,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52but by the time they hit the 17th century
0:36:52 > 0:36:55they literally weren't equipped to deal with the new globalised economy,
0:36:55 > 0:36:57which was developing at this time.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01What you see is a fundamental shift from local trading,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05local production into the trading in bulk commodities,
0:37:05 > 0:37:06with much larger vessels.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13These new larger cargo ships needed something
0:37:13 > 0:37:17that Randal MacDonnell's Ulster new town didn't have,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19a harbour.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23By the time he realised he needed one, Randal MacDonnell
0:37:23 > 0:37:28had given away the only natural harbour on this coast.
0:37:30 > 0:37:36Those living by the castle watched the big ships sail past.
0:37:36 > 0:37:43By-passed by traders, the new town, just 30-years-old, was already dying.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48The dig reveals how the money ran out.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Few coins are found from the 1630s onwards.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Around that time, this merchant's house was sub-divided,
0:37:57 > 0:38:02a small room created on the left to house pigs,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05alongside a once prosperous family.
0:38:05 > 0:38:12In the new era of commercial sea trade, they just couldn't compete.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16When Randal MacDonnell builds this town in the early 17th century,
0:38:16 > 0:38:17he makes a fundamental mistake,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20he builds it on the edge of a very steep cliff,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24in excess of 80 metres high, looking out over the north Atlantic,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27and there's simply no room to be able to build a harbour
0:38:27 > 0:38:29in this particular location.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Randal himself was not prepared to let go of his ancestral castle,
0:38:33 > 0:38:35his ancestral home,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39and he wasn't in that mind to move away from the medieval period
0:38:39 > 0:38:42into the new globalised world.
0:38:42 > 0:38:43They just got left behind?
0:38:43 > 0:38:44Very much so.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52The town's Scottish settlers turned their back on the sea
0:38:52 > 0:38:56because the castle seemed more secure,
0:38:56 > 0:38:58but they were wrong.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02Longstanding resentment towards settlers from Scotland and England
0:39:02 > 0:39:09reached a head when the native Irish rose up against the incomers.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13The attack wasn't from the sea, but from within.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20In 1641 during the Irish rebellion the town was attacked
0:39:20 > 0:39:23and it was essentially burned to the ground overnight, and abandoned.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27So we've just got these cobbles, we're standing where they stood.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32Yeah, if we removed all of the grass from beneath this whole landscape,
0:39:32 > 0:39:37the perfectly intact foundations of a 17th century town survive.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40What a tantalising though of what might lie
0:39:40 > 0:39:41under all these fields.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48After the uprising, this site was left to go to seed.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Castles were the past,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56the future depended on gateways to the sea.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Harbours were the beating heart of a modern Britain,
0:40:07 > 0:40:09built on global trade.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14The sea is still our lifeblood.
0:40:15 > 0:40:22It carries 95% by volume of everything we import,
0:40:22 > 0:40:26and around one third of our food arrives by ship.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32But while sea trade sustains our bodies,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34it can also change our minds.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39The fortunes of a coastal town ebb and flow
0:40:39 > 0:40:41with the traffic through its harbour,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45but it's not just goods that come and go,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49sometimes the export isn't a commodity, it's an idea.
0:40:49 > 0:40:55An idea that changed the world took life here in Birkenhead harbour.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06Birkenhead sits in the shade of its bigger neighbour Liverpool,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08across the Mersey.
0:41:10 > 0:41:16Around 200 years ago, Liverpool docks were booming,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20so hard-headed businessmen with plans for a new harbour,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24looked to Birkenhead, little did they know
0:41:24 > 0:41:28they were laying the foundations for a revolution
0:41:28 > 0:41:30in the world of leisure.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Ruth Goodman is digging deeper.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39In the 1800s, Birkenhead was taking shape,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43as merchants in these parts showed off their wealth in stone.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The grand homes of 19th century Birkenhead
0:41:48 > 0:41:51rivalled their counterparts in London,
0:41:51 > 0:41:56thanks to the wealth that was pouring to this Merseyside port.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Birkenhead was booming because it was on the coast.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04It's fair to say that the harbour's seen better days,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07but Glynn Parry knows its hidden history.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09There's not much here now,
0:42:09 > 0:42:11but it would have been extremely busy, wouldn't it?
0:42:11 > 0:42:14It would have been with ships coming in, going out all the time.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16And it was a huge number of people.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Oh, tremendous number of people.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21In the period of about 20 years, the population had gone
0:42:21 > 0:42:24from somewhere in the region of 120 to about 12,000,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26they were coming in from all over the north west.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28People were still looking for work
0:42:28 > 0:42:29but they were coming in off the farms
0:42:29 > 0:42:33because the rates of pay were greater.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36The new harbour pulled in an army of new workers,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39fresh from green fields.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43Now though, they were cramped together in regimented rows.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45You're talking about back-to-back houses,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47where there was no sanitation, no ventilation.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49If you're living in that condition,
0:42:49 > 0:42:51home is hardly sweet home that you want to come home to.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53It's not somewhere to go to for peace and quiet.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58The bosses were living in style,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01but the merchants had good reasons to worry
0:43:01 > 0:43:05about the living conditions of their employees and their children.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11Within living memory, the workers of Manchester
0:43:11 > 0:43:15had demonstrated for social reform.
0:43:15 > 0:43:1818 died in the Peterloo massacre,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22when cavalry charged them with drawn sabres.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Could similar social unrest be brewing
0:43:27 > 0:43:29in the drinking dens of Birkenhead?
0:43:32 > 0:43:38Was there a genuine possibility of everything exploding in revolution?
0:43:38 > 0:43:41People would resent those who seemed to be better off,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44those who were in control, there could have been a major revolution.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47They'd had one in France, why not one in Britain?
0:43:47 > 0:43:50To prise workers out of the alehouses,
0:43:50 > 0:43:55the great and good of Birkenhead Council came up with a novel idea.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00Use public money to create a grand green space.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Parklife was born.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15In 1847, the first public-funded municipal park
0:44:15 > 0:44:17opened its imposing gates.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Just imagine 160 years ago
0:44:29 > 0:44:33if you were some young kid in from the fields or the cowsheds,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36trying to make a living in the new industrial north,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39this must have been quite intimidating, I think,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43also just that little bit exciting.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50There was nowhere like this on earth,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53it was laid out by designer Joseph Paxton,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56who'd go on to create the Crystal Palace in London.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02This space was social networking 19th century style.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07That's what's so special about this park, it's a time machine that
0:45:07 > 0:45:10takes us back to the birth of modern urban Britain,
0:45:10 > 0:45:14if only we can learn to see it with old eyes.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Back then everything ran to a plan.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21The park taught people to play nicely together,
0:45:21 > 0:45:25and conform to polite society.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32I've got a copy of the bylaws here,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35for the park, it's a rather formidable document,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37they're quite interesting.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41No carpet beating, no fires, no pitching tents,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45no leaving piles of building materials all over the place,
0:45:45 > 0:45:46no preaching.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48SHE LAUGHS
0:45:48 > 0:45:51But visitors did spread the word,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56public parks popped up all over Britain and beyond.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Where Birkenhead led, the world followed.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06The designer of New York's Central Park, Frederick Olmstead,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10was inspired by his own visit to Merseyside in 1850.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17And Birkenhead's haven of tranquillity
0:46:17 > 0:46:21remains Britain's only Grade-I listed municipal park.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30It's funny to think that when these docks were built,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33it was all about importing wealth into the local area,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37but the public parks movement, born here in Birkenhead,
0:46:37 > 0:46:42because of the new docks, was exported to the rest of the world.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58As you leave the twin harbours of Merseyside, heading north,
0:46:58 > 0:47:03green and yellow open spaces provide natural delights.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05During the day and the night.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23Blackpool lights up the coast every September.
0:47:23 > 0:47:29It's a bright idea that keeps the summer season burning longer,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33but then this is an ingenious stretch of shore.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37As they know at Barrow in Furness.
0:47:43 > 0:47:49This harbour is the site where our nuclear subs take shape.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56But there's another secret here, almost everyone's forgotten.
0:47:56 > 0:48:02When boffins of Barrow were building a remarkable ship,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04an airship.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10An uplifting tale Dick can't resist.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14In 1911 His Majesty's Airship No.1
0:48:14 > 0:48:17was beginning to take shape in Cavendish Docks.
0:48:17 > 0:48:18Here have a look at this,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21this is the story of the airship sticking out of a massive shed
0:48:21 > 0:48:24that was constructed to protect this weapon of war.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28I want to know what became of Britain's airships,
0:48:28 > 0:48:32and why this top secret project was started on this part of the coast.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37This was the man that Barrow was taking on,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42the undisputed king of the air, Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48His first Zeppelin rose to the skies in 1900,
0:48:48 > 0:48:52three years before the Wright Brothers managed powered flight.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58And the new threat posed by Zeppelins was alarming,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01Britain's skies were wide open,
0:49:01 > 0:49:06suddenly we were in an aerial arms race with Germany.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11In 1909, the Admiralty set shipbuilders at Barrow
0:49:11 > 0:49:16the challenge of designing Britain's own Zeppelin style airship.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21To see how our airship took shape in this harbour,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24I've come to Cavendish Dock with local historian Graham Cubbin
0:49:24 > 0:49:27to hunt for evidence for the top-secret project.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Graham, have a look at this, it looks huge, where was it?
0:49:30 > 0:49:33This is the airship shed built on Cavendish Dock
0:49:33 > 0:49:35and behind us here you can see the remnants of the airship shed
0:49:35 > 0:49:38you can see the remains of the foundations.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40Those posts go for a very long way,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43what length are we talking about, the shed and the airship?
0:49:43 > 0:49:47The shed itself was over 600ft long and over 50ft wide.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56The airship was 512ft long and when it was launched in 1911,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58it was the biggest airship in the world,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01far bigger than any of the Zeppelins that had been built.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Britain's first rigid airship floated on water
0:50:06 > 0:50:10to make it easier to manoeuvre, an idea copied from the Germans.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17But our engineers made a critical mistake constructing the shed
0:50:17 > 0:50:19to house their creation
0:50:20 > 0:50:23Zeppelin's airship shed was a floating shed,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26and that enabled them to rotate the whole shed into the wind,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30but Vickers built theirs over rigid foundations,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34it couldn't turn so any airship coming out of this shed
0:50:34 > 0:50:37would be subject to strong winds.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42Unfortunately, it was a blustery day on the 24th of September 1911
0:50:42 > 0:50:47as His Majesty's Airship No.1 was made ready for manoeuvres.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52We're here at one side of the docks, the shed would have been over there,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56and the airship would have just been pulled out, towed out.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58Yeah, it was very carefully planned.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02It was towed out using small boats and horses,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05so it was actually floating very lightly on the water
0:51:05 > 0:51:09and could be manoeuvred to a mooring post in the centre of the dock.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15No sooner than she was free of the shed than disaster struck.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24Seldom does a picture sum-up a nation's humiliation so completely.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27OK, Graham, what went wrong?
0:51:27 > 0:51:31There was a gust of wind, the airship rolled slightly,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34and as it was described at the time, there was a sound like
0:51:34 > 0:51:38thousands of stones being tossed through acres of glass houses.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45The stern-most part of the airship started to rise to the air,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48luckily the crew managed to jump into the dock,
0:51:48 > 0:51:50no injuries were sustained
0:51:50 > 0:51:52but the airship was irreparably damaged.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55It was a catastrophic failure.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00This crunching set-back convinced the traditionally-minded top brass
0:52:00 > 0:52:03of the Navy that Barrow's secret project
0:52:03 > 0:52:06was just an ill-conceived aerial adventure.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Admiral Sturdee, the head of the inquiry
0:52:11 > 0:52:14into Britain's airship disaster is reported to have said,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17"The project was the work of an idiot."
0:52:17 > 0:52:18Such was the humiliation
0:52:18 > 0:52:22that the airship project in this harbour was halted.
0:52:22 > 0:52:23What a mess!
0:52:26 > 0:52:29But the Zeppelin soared on.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31With the First World War looming,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33like it or not, we were in a critical air race.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36So the Admiralty had to swallow their pride
0:52:36 > 0:52:39and set their sights on the skies again.
0:52:40 > 0:52:46To succeed we had to understand every detail of the Zeppelin's design.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48To get an airship off the ground
0:52:48 > 0:52:51you have to fill it with a gas that is lighter than the air.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53They used hydrogen and they used lots of it.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59But surprisingly, an airship's outer skin isn't gas tight at all.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05The rigid frame and its canvas coating were there to protect
0:53:05 > 0:53:07the fragile gas-type bags held inside.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13Here the massive gas bags of the Zeppelin hang limp inside the frame,
0:53:13 > 0:53:18waiting to be inflated, but what where they made of?
0:53:27 > 0:53:29Now of course, its child's play to produce a bag
0:53:29 > 0:53:32that can hold a gas for ages, but a hundred years ago
0:53:32 > 0:53:35they didn't have materials like this, so what did they do?
0:53:35 > 0:53:37Well, to get a futuristic airship to float,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40they had to revert to techniques that were ancient.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46Amazingly, the gas bags inside the most advanced Zeppelins
0:53:46 > 0:53:49started their life inside a cow.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54Open up the beast and there's a part of its intestines
0:53:54 > 0:54:00known as the caecum, that's what held the hydrogen inside the Zeppelins.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03It seems incredible, but cow guts were the secret ingredients
0:54:03 > 0:54:06that meant that airships could float in the sky.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Giles, good to see you. How you doing? We're ready for this, are we?
0:54:09 > 0:54:11I think so, yes, we'll have a go.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18Airships expert Giles Camplin knows the history
0:54:18 > 0:54:22but he's never handled the real guts of a Zeppelin before.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26We've got some straight from the abattoir.
0:54:26 > 0:54:27Good Lord!
0:54:27 > 0:54:29Is that what you expected?
0:54:29 > 0:54:32This is the raw material.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34That's not very pleasant.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36It's horrible, it's disgusting.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38But that you can see there is the membrane, sort of membranes
0:54:38 > 0:54:44we're looking for, and that is gas holding, that holds hydrogen.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48When they dry it and process it, it ends up like this.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50You see, this is dry,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53in the airships they kept it moist and flexible.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56It's a natural membrane that's gas tight.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59So can we make our own mini airship
0:54:59 > 0:55:01by filling this membrane with helium?
0:55:01 > 0:55:04I've done some very odd things in my time.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10Right.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12THEY LAUGH
0:55:12 > 0:55:16This is disgusting, but the membrane is very impressive.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18It is showing that it's gas tight.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20All this fat's got to be scraped off.
0:55:20 > 0:55:21Yeah, all that's got to be scraped off,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25and then the actual membrane bit, the very thin bit here,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27would have been cut to make a flat square sheet
0:55:27 > 0:55:30and then you could laminate the different sheets together.
0:55:30 > 0:55:31And stick them together?
0:55:31 > 0:55:35And stick them together, and then you put multiple layers in,
0:55:35 > 0:55:38up to seven layers thick, you needed up to 350,000,
0:55:38 > 0:55:42some of the big ships had a million of these to make one airship.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45What an investment in effort and time and cows.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48I think this is practically ready to fly.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53To get the Zeppelins out of their sheds,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56millions of German cows gave up their guts.
0:55:57 > 0:56:03Across Germany, farmers were mobilised,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07they had to surrender the inside of their animals for the war effort.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13But in Britain, airship production was still playing catch-up,
0:56:13 > 0:56:18we struggled to get the vast amount of cow guts required.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24Well, we had a problem, especially in the First World War
0:56:24 > 0:56:26and we were getting them from America,
0:56:26 > 0:56:28they'd be coming into ports like Liverpool,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32but they came in barrels, salted, they salted them to preserve them
0:56:32 > 0:56:34because that was the best way of doing it,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38and then they were soaked in solutions of glycerine and water
0:56:38 > 0:56:41and then teams of women were processing them,
0:56:41 > 0:56:42scraping the fat off,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45getting them ready and layering them up to make these gas cells.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47I mean, the smell must have been appalling,
0:56:47 > 0:56:49must have been absolutely horrendous conditions,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51but we had to catch-up with the Germans
0:56:51 > 0:56:54cos the Zeppelins were coming over and bombing,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57so that's what they had to do to make these amazing flying machines.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02By the First World War,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05we were still struggling to produce effective airships.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10Meanwhile, the east coast, the midlands and London
0:57:10 > 0:57:14suffered the terror of Zeppelin attacks.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19Bombing raids killed more than 500 people across Britain.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Only after the war, when the R80 came into service,
0:57:22 > 0:57:27did we finally have a craft to match Germany's finest.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33So much effort, and all in vain.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37Planes would eventually blow military airships from the skies.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42The airborne adventure we started in this harbour
0:57:42 > 0:57:45never really did take off, but there's something about airships
0:57:45 > 0:57:49that still seems futuristic, an alternative future,
0:57:49 > 0:57:53the stuff of science fiction, kept in the air by cow guts.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07A wealth of hidden history lies in store for those
0:58:07 > 0:58:11who explore our harbours.
0:58:11 > 0:58:17Tales of enterprise, triumph and trade tell how Britain was born.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24For me, the coast is most alive when you can see it at work,
0:58:24 > 0:58:27and harbours are where you can see that happening,
0:58:27 > 0:58:31where land and sea and people all come together
0:58:31 > 0:58:33and where adventures are born.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd