All at Sea Coast


All at Sea

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GULLS CRY

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WAVES CRASH

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This is Coast.

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You never master the sea, but you can work with her.

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Rope and canvas can...can take you anywhere.

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Every voyage...is an adventure.

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Now the Coast crew are casting off.

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While I soak up the drama of competition on the waves,

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historians Ruth Goodman and Nick Hewitt

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relive the sea's darker days,

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when our briny depths concealed weapons of war.

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There was a time when British waters were infested with German mines.

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This is a Soviet Foxtrot submarine.

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So if the Cold War had gone hot,

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they planned to swamp the North Atlantic

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with hundreds of these boats.

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Mark voyages back to the days of sail

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for a scandalous tale of savagery at sea.

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This was a case of cannibalism.

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But even though the men had killed one of their crew,

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they fully expected to walk free.

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And I'm eating up the opposition in the toughest race of my life.

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Unbelievable. Unbelievable!

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On this journey, we're all at sea.

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I'm embarking on a circumnavigation.

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Not of the globe but the Isle of Wight.

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This stepping stone in the Channel

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is the perfect base for adventures all at sea.

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The island's world-class sailing has a right royal reputation.

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King Edward VII became Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron

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while he was the Prince of Wales.

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Edward's mother, the Queen,

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had fallen in love with the Isle of Wight.

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"It's impossible to imagine a prettier spot."

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That's a quote from Queen Victoria.

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She and her husband Albert were so taken with this pretty spot,

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they bought the land

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and built themselves a summerhouse.

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Built in 1851 in the Italian style,

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Osborne House was the royals' holiday home,

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where Prince Edward got his taste for competitive sailing.

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And that's why I've come.

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I'm told his mother's regal residence

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affords majestic views over the Solent,

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where my own sailing challenge awaits.

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That's the Solent.

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The stretch of water between the island and the mainland.

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Very shortly, I'm going to be down there in a 40ft yacht,

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taking part in the Round the Island Race.

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It's enormous. There are 1,600 yachts taking part.

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And unusually, amateurs can race against professionals.

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I'm very much in the amateur camp.

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I'm nervous and I'm excited.

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# Sailing

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# Sailing. #

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For over 80 years, on the last Saturday in June,

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crews have braced themselves for a test of skill and strategy.

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Racing around the Isle of Wight, boats must battle each other

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and notoriously tricky waters.

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The course is strewn with navigational hazards.

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One of the first are The Needles on the western point of the island.

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A jagged reef of rock protruding into the course.

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Right at the end, there's a submerged wreck you've got to avoid.

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Then it's down to the southern tip of the island,

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Saint Catherine's Point,

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where the waters get very churned up.

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So much so that they've ruined many a racer's chance of finishing.

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Then it's around the eastern end of the island,

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and then just as you're entering

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what you might think is the final straight,

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you've got to avoid a sandbank,

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Ryde Sands here, before coming up here to finish at Cowes.

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And then there's the sea itself.

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It's a complex puzzle of tides and currents

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buffeted by unpredictable winds.

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The water sloshing around the island creates fearsome rip currents.

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These rips can carry a yacht off course like a matchstick.

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The sea winning out over wind.

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Racers must be wary of riptides,

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as veteran competitor Graham Sunderland knows.

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We're right where the tide is flowing at its fastest

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out towards the open sea by this... this is Sconce buoy, isn't it?

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It's one of the fastest rips we find here on the island.

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So, what's the effect of this tide on a boat, say, like this rib?

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We should be able to show you that

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-if we ask our rib driver Jason to cut the engine.

-OK.

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You should see the effect on the boat.

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So Jason's cut the engine.

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We've now been gripped by the tide.

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In that short period of time,

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we're already doing a knot and a half into the breeze.

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The wind's trying to push us back.

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The tide's forcing us into the wind. It's that powerful.

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The tide's pull defeating the wind's push.

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These conflicting forces will be my challenge tomorrow.

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To add to the fun, further along

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the first leg of the course are The Needles.

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Graham, we're approaching one of the most famous

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but also lethal landmarks in British waters.

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Tell me about the race tomorrow.

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Typical hazards you've got here are The Needles itself,

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and then you've got a further hazard in the Varvassi wreck.

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The Varvassi, a 4,000-tonne Greek steamer,

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was dashed onto The Needles in 1947.

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The broken-up ship lies just a metre below the surface.

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But navigating around her means losing precious time.

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Do people try to cut inside the wreck, between the wreck and the lighthouse?

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It's a good question.

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The decision is down to each individual skipper to get that right.

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And the conditions that prevail will help them make a decision.

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It's high risk. There is room but not much.

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Rocks, wrecks and ripping currents

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make the Isle of Wight a stupendous sailing challenge.

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With the race less than 24 hours away,

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I'm starting to realise what it means to feel all at sea.

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For me, taking the helm's a daunting prospect.

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But all around our shores, dazzling displays of seamanship

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are part of the day's work for hard-grafting skippers.

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From little coastal craft to ocean-going giants.

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Boats buoy us up with the trade we desperately need.

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One third of all our food floats into Britain.

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Strangle our shipping and we'd soon be on our knees,

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as our enemies have always recognised.

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FOGHORN

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Remarkable evidence of attempts to sink our sea trade

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survive in the Medway Estuary.

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Naval historian Nick Hewitt is stalking fearsome prey.

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I'm here to track down weapons of war.

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This is a tale of two submarines.

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This is a Russian Cold War submarine from the Soviet era.

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And this is a First World War German U-boat.

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Amazingly, submarines like these are out there in the estuary.

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After the Great War ended in 1918,

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German subs were beached and sold for scrap.

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A few escaped that ignominious fate.

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Now, after years studying them,

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I've got a chance to explore one of those U-boats.

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Not in a museum, but buried in The Medway mud.

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CHORAL SINGING

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That is absolutely amazing.

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Sitting here for 100 years.

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So I never thought I'd get the chance to touch one of these.

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And that's still pretty impressively intact, the steel plate.

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It's hard to imagine now,

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because it's just sitting here, and it looks so decayed

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and quiet and peaceful, in a funny sort of way.

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But these things were such a menace.

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The Germans started their unrestricted

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submarine warfare campaign in February 1917.

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And within the first three months, they'd sunk 500 ships.

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Suddenly, in 1917,

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Britain seemed on the brink of losing the First World War.

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Not on land but at sea.

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Only putting cargo ships into heavily protected convoys saved us.

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Still, by the war's end,

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over 3,000 Allied ships had been sunk by U-boats.

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This great big hole here,

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I'm pretty sure this is where they would have cut out the conning tower.

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Everybody knows that wonderful image of a submarine

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with a sort of tower sticking up.

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When the submarines were handed over

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to civilian scrap merchants, they had to be demilitarised,

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which involved removing the conning towers,

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removing the torpedo tubes, obviously,

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so that it was completely harmless.

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I'm standing on a U-boat! Ha-ha!

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We saw off these subs, but their strategy to strangle Britain

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lived on into the Cold War.

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MUSIC: The Russian National Anthem

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This Foxtrot-class submarine was built in the 1960s.

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Now she's being restored

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to preserve a forgotten threat from the Soviet Union.

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They planned to swamp the North Atlantic

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with hundreds of these boats.

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What was life like for submariners preparing to wage war on our isles?

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This is something else.

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Officer's accommodation.

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It may not look like much, but actually, in terms of habitability,

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these things were streets ahead of the German U-boat we saw earlier.

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At least there's some degree of privacy.

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And what you've got in here is the sonar fit,

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the famous ping of the submarine movies.

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REPEATED PINGING

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So that's the galley, the kitchen.

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I can't believe that all the food for 74 men

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was prepared in that tiny space.

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I've always wanted to do that. Ha-ha!

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And this is the nerve centre of the boat.

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All these bewildering instruments.

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This is where the boat was fought from, steered from.

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Everything ran from here.

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And what we've got here is a very sobering reminder

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that these submarines are extremely dangerous places to live and work.

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Each of these spaces was designed to be sealed off quickly

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in case of an emergency.

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If something happened here and they had to shut the hatch quickly,

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these Morse code instructions

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were painted on the hatch so they could explain,

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perhaps when they're frightened and panicking,

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what was going on to the people on the other side.

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They might be going...it's a fire.

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And then the guys here would know what to do

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and hopefully be able to help them deal with it.

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Can you imagine how terrifying that must have been?

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Wow!

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This is what Hollywood has trained us to expect from submarines, isn't it?

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You can just imagine if the Cold War had gone hot,

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the Soviet submarine commander sitting here,

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his boat deathly quiet around him,

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all his men waiting for his orders,

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as he peers through his periscope,

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looking at a big fat merchant ship, about to give the order to fire.

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FAINT RADIO

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These subs have taken me back to a time

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when Britain faced down formidable foes,

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hidden beneath the waves.

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It may seem like the dim and distant past now,

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but when you consider some 90% of British trade

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still takes place by sea,

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it's suddenly a very clear and present threat.

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Today's global economy demands super-size cargo ships.

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They crisscross vast waterways with ease.

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Big, powerful engines eat up distance.

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But once we travelled the oceans by sail.

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All at sea, sailors harnessed the power of wind and tides.

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But how exactly do you get where you're going

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when the wind's blowing against you?

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Fighting the breeze is a tricky task

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I've got to tackle off the Isle of Wight.

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Soon, I'll be embarking as a crew member on the Round the Island Race.

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How do these sailing boats go right around the island

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when the wind's only blowing in one direction?

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To practise manoeuvring a yacht in the breeze,

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I'm starting with something simpler. A blokart.

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No sea but still a challenge.

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With the wind behind the kart,

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as soon as Pete releases the brake,

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he's going to take off down the beach. Chocks away, Pete!

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The big question is, how does he sail back into the wind?

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The solution to the sailors' dilemma

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can be illustrated with a different kind of craft.

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Have a look at the shape of the wing on this model aeroplane.

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The upper surface of the wing is curved.

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And that creates an aerofoil shape.

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As the plane flies forward, the airflow from the front

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has further to travel over the upper surface

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than it does over the lower surface.

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And that creates high pressure beneath the wing

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and low pressure above the wing.

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And that gives the plane lift, so it rises up and keeps in the air.

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Now, if you turn this plane on its side,

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you've got a wing that looks a bit like a sail on a sailing boat.

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Now, if this sail is pointing straight into the wind,

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it's just going to flap.

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But if you turn the sail slightly to one direction or the other,

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the sail will fill with wind and form an aerofoil shape.

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And that converts what would have been lift in an aeroplane

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into forward drive in a sailing boat.

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If you want to sail from A to B straight into the wind,

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all you have to do is maintain the aerofoil shape of the sail.

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So you make a series of turns called tacks, like this.

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That direction, turn through the wind,

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fill the sail from the other side,

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sail forward, turn through the wind,

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fill up the sail from the other side, sail forward.

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This zigzagging motion, or tacking,

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is a skill you must master to sail into oncoming winds.

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Fine in theory, what about in practice?

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He makes it look very easy.

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One-time Olympic sailor Peter Newlands is a blokart demon,

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but it's my first time.

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So, Pete, I feel as if I'm in a part-yacht, part-flying machine.

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How does it work?

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Pull the main sheet in to pull the sail in.

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-That's this one here.

-Yeah.

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And steer with the steering handles, which control the front wheel.

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So just two controls, a rope and a pair of bicycle handlebars?

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Yeah. No, there's no break.

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LAUGHTER

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Here we go. Oh! And we're off!

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Wow! Hurtling down the beach.

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These little karts really do fly.

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Oh, bloody hell!

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I'm battling to keep control.

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I've got about three seconds to make a turn or I'm in the water!

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Oh, round I go, pull the sheet in, pick up the speed.

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Oh! Lift the wheel.

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As if this isn't hard enough,

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I've got to follow a course Pete's setting for me.

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Here he is at four times normal speed.

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X marks the start.

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And he expertly completes a couple of tacks into the wind.

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Rather different once I'm at the helm.

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MUSIC: Theme to "Captain Pugwash"

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With the wind, I career towards the start at X.

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Oh! Whoa!

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Ooh, I got bogged down. Ah!

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I'm back! And with a few more mishaps,

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crudely tack back to the finish.

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Wow!

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That is really, really exciting!

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It's very easy going down the beach with the wind.

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Turning around and trying to tack up into the wind

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is a lot more difficult.

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It's been far from plain sailing on dry land.

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But tomorrow, I'll be a crewmember

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in one of the world's toughest yacht races.

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With over 1,600 boats fighting tide and wind,

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it's going to be quite a day.

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From ports around Britain great and small,

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sailors head out to sea.

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And it can be a rocky ride.

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There's one thing all would-be seafarers need.

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Good sea legs.

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Stomaching the sea is tough enough for professionals.

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But that doesn't stop amateur fishermen in Whitby.

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Here in the harbour,

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boats for hire allow day trippers to try their hand at fishing.

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But heading into the rough North Sea,

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it's their stomachs that catch them out.

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# You will have a fishy on a little dishy

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# You will have a fishy when the boat comes in...#

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That's our boat there, I think!

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My name is Divine Charura.

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And today, we're going out sea fishing.

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We're going to go down on a boat,

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which we do every year to go out to the sea.

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# Dance to your daddy Sing to your mammy

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# Dance to your daddy My bonny lad. #

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I absolutely love fishing. Um...I was born in Zimbabwe.

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And that's where I started fishing from about the age of five.

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-Hello, Paul!

-Morning!

-How's it going?

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-How are things?

-Not bad. It's nice to see you. It's been a year.

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I came to the UK when I was about 16, I think, 16 or 17.

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So I've continued and kept the faith fishing.

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That's it. Big smile. Big smiles!

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LAUGHTER

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Right, we're on it.

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I've brought some friends and family.

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I've brought my dad, Alois, who's a veteran fisherman,

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and I've brought my brother, Talent.

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-Right, this is it!

-This is it!

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I've got another friend of mine, he's never been fishing before.

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In fact, it's his first time fishing. He might be sick...or not.

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HE LAUGHS

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-You feeling all right?

-I am!

-Yeah?

-Yes.

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-On a scale of one to ten?

-Nine and a half.

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-Nine and a half?

-LAUGHTER

0:24:540:24:57

I'll ask you in a few hours' time.

0:24:570:24:59

LAUGHTER

0:24:590:25:00

What we're doing is wreck fishing.

0:25:040:25:06

The boat...if you imagine this is the wreck,

0:25:070:25:10

the boat comes on top

0:25:100:25:12

and then we have to put our lines down

0:25:120:25:14

before the tide takes us past it.

0:25:140:25:16

So as soon as we get there, we have to put our rods in.

0:25:160:25:20

Lines down, boys, lines down!

0:25:270:25:31

I'm looking forward to catching seriously big fish.

0:25:310:25:33

Cod, ling and pollock.

0:25:330:25:36

There's some big fish about. The question is, can you catch them?

0:25:360:25:40

Yes! Yes, Divine.

0:25:410:25:43

Fish coming up. It's a ling. There it is.

0:25:430:25:46

I've got a ling!

0:25:460:25:47

Well...this is what we're talking about.

0:25:480:25:52

-I told you.

-This is nice.

-Wow! Very nice.

0:25:530:25:56

That's my bro!

0:25:560:25:57

Samuel, how are we doing?

0:26:000:26:02

He's probably going to get away, because I'm feeling so weak.

0:26:020:26:04

LAUGHTER

0:26:040:26:06

-Again.

-Oh! A beautiful cod!

0:26:060:26:10

-How are you feeling now, out of ten?

-I'm a five.

0:26:100:26:12

LAUGHTER

0:26:120:26:14

Smells nice, yeah.

0:26:240:26:25

This is the life.

0:26:290:26:32

-It's what we're talking about.

-Talking about.

0:26:320:26:34

Can somebody take a picture of me and this man?

0:26:360:26:38

-Smile, boys.

-He's the man!

0:26:400:26:42

It could have been calmer and hotter,

0:26:440:26:45

but it's been a good day. Good day.

0:26:450:26:48

-You don't feel sick, do you, boys?

-No.

0:26:500:26:51

LAUGHTER

0:26:510:26:53

It's no pleasure cruise being all at sea

0:27:020:27:05

when you're trawling for your life.

0:27:050:27:07

An undercurrent of peril is ever present.

0:27:150:27:18

Never more so than for trawler men landing their deadliest catch

0:27:240:27:29

during the Second World War at Milford Haven.

0:27:290:27:32

Ruth's discovering how unsung heroes

0:27:360:27:38

foiled an enemy threat hidden in our seas.

0:27:380:27:42

There was a time when British waters were infested with German mines.

0:27:430:27:48

In 1940, Luftwaffe bombers and the German Navy

0:27:510:27:54

were dropping mines into our harbours under the cover of darkness.

0:27:540:27:59

Ships were being lost at an alarming rate.

0:28:050:28:08

The deadly mines threatened to sink Britain.

0:28:080:28:13

Then, unlikely saviours sailed in from the Netherlands.

0:28:130:28:18

Dutch trawler men were bringing their fishing boats to Britain

0:28:190:28:22

to take on the Germans.

0:28:220:28:24

Some 600 fishermen made for our coast in May 1940

0:28:280:28:33

after Hitler attacked the low countries.

0:28:330:28:37

-RADIO:

-'This is the BBC Home Service.

0:28:380:28:40

'The German army invaded Holland and Belgium

0:28:400:28:43

'early this morning by land

0:28:430:28:45

'and by landings from parachutes.'

0:28:450:28:47

Before the Nazis reached the ports,

0:28:490:28:52

the Dutch fishing fleet fled to Britain.

0:28:520:28:55

One of those fishermen was Antoon van Gils.

0:28:560:28:59

Now his son Johan has returned to Milford Haven.

0:29:010:29:05

It's more than 70 years ago

0:29:070:29:08

since your father came along here into the harbour.

0:29:080:29:11

It was safer than home here, but it wasn't exactly that safe.

0:29:110:29:14

-He came here to fight.

-Yes.

0:29:140:29:16

Using their trawlers, the Dutch exiles

0:29:270:29:30

were assigned by the Navy to minesweeping duty.

0:29:300:29:34

A deadly job that they had to learn quickly or die trying.

0:29:340:29:39

How did the Dutch fishermen use their knowledge of the sea

0:29:410:29:44

to fight for their land?

0:29:440:29:46

Nick Hewitt is back to give me some naval know-how.

0:29:490:29:53

What was it about the Dutch fishermen

0:29:540:29:56

that offered so much for minesweeping?

0:29:560:29:58

The techniques used in sweeping mines

0:29:580:30:00

are actually very, very similar to fishing.

0:30:000:30:03

The skills that they need,

0:30:030:30:05

the way of driving a boat is exactly the same.

0:30:050:30:08

And also, their boats are uniquely suited to it.

0:30:080:30:10

You could just literally take the trawling gear off the back

0:30:100:30:13

and put the minesweeping gear on instead.

0:30:130:30:16

Is this what we're talking about?

0:30:160:30:18

This is it, this is a contact mine.

0:30:180:30:20

They're deployed off the back of a ship with a weight at the bottom called the sinker.

0:30:200:30:24

Takes it down to the bottom of the sea.

0:30:240:30:25

Cable plays out and then the mine is set to hold

0:30:250:30:29

just below the surface of the water.

0:30:290:30:31

A ship comes along, the bow wave pushes the mine out of the way,

0:30:310:30:35

and then it pendulums back against the side of the ship and explodes.

0:30:350:30:39

So, how exactly does the minesweeping work?

0:30:400:30:43

What they did was, if you have a look at this drawing here,

0:30:430:30:46

you have your minesweeper,

0:30:460:30:47

you have a long cable called the sweep wire

0:30:470:30:50

that comes out from the back of it and is attached to a float.

0:30:500:30:52

That's so that the wire goes out

0:30:520:30:54

to the side of the boat and not behind it.

0:30:540:30:56

The wire's serrated. It cuts through the cable

0:30:560:30:59

that's holding the mine to the bottom of the water.

0:30:590:31:01

The mine then bobs up to the surface. It's very simple then.

0:31:010:31:05

They shoot the prongs with rifles and blow it up.

0:31:050:31:08

Minesweeping was fraught with danger.

0:31:120:31:15

But Dutch sailors also landed a much happier catch.

0:31:170:31:21

Romantic entanglements weren't uncommon.

0:31:270:31:30

As Welshman Graham van Wert can testify.

0:31:330:31:36

His father was stationed up the coast at Holyhead.

0:31:360:31:39

Graham's meeting Johan to share stories

0:31:400:31:43

of what their Dutch dads did in Wales during the war.

0:31:430:31:47

THEY SPEAK DUTCH

0:31:470:31:48

That's a photo of my...my father.

0:31:510:31:54

-Young man in a Dutch uniform.

-A Dutch uniform, yes.

0:31:540:31:56

Oh, and there's yours, as well!

0:31:560:31:58

This is my father.

0:31:580:32:00

-Also in his Dutch naval uniform.

-Yeah.

0:32:000:32:03

It's been reported that there was over 105 marriages in Holyhead

0:32:030:32:08

between local girls and Dutchmen.

0:32:080:32:10

Which...surprised me, because I didn't realise there were so many.

0:32:100:32:14

It was quite a culture shock for the local people,

0:32:140:32:17

because they hadn't seen foreigners like this before.

0:32:170:32:19

And you have this influx of, as I was told,

0:32:190:32:22

handsome but rather on the wild side Dutchmen.

0:32:220:32:25

And...the population thought a lot of them

0:32:250:32:28

and brought them into their own homes.

0:32:280:32:30

Graham's father was one of many to tie the knot with a local girl.

0:32:300:32:35

But Johan's father was already married.

0:32:360:32:38

His wife stowed away with the fishing fleet.

0:32:380:32:42

You were born here?

0:32:420:32:44

I'm born here, yes.

0:32:440:32:45

LAUGHTER

0:32:450:32:47

So you were here as a Welshman for the first few years of your life.

0:32:470:32:51

Yeah, yeah.

0:32:510:32:52

The bonds of love forged between foreign lands

0:32:590:33:02

were often torn apart in the cruel seas.

0:33:020:33:06

The mines were indiscriminate killers.

0:33:090:33:12

Scientist Ewen McLaughlin

0:33:140:33:15

knows the secret of how contact mines are triggered.

0:33:150:33:19

If this was a real mine,

0:33:190:33:21

this would be the mine casing, the outer steel shell of it.

0:33:210:33:24

Tucked in here, an enormous amount of explosives would reside.

0:33:240:33:27

"And inside is a load of mischief.

0:33:270:33:29

"Maybe you'd like to examine this interesting toy in detail."

0:33:290:33:32

This is the Hertz horn itself, which is made of lead.

0:33:320:33:35

You need to give it quite a clout, but that will bend.

0:33:350:33:37

"When the horn is bent, the trouble starts.

0:33:370:33:39

"The whole of the intricate mechanism of the mine is set in motion."

0:33:390:33:42

And inside, this is a glass vial which would have acid in it.

0:33:420:33:45

So if anything hits that, that will crack

0:33:450:33:47

and that will deposit all this acid into the electrodes underneath.

0:33:470:33:52

"The breaking of the glass container causes a solution to flow

0:33:520:33:54

"over the battery plates towards the electric detonator."

0:33:540:33:57

It generates almost two volts and quite a hefty current.

0:33:570:34:00

That's quite good for setting off a detonator circuit.

0:34:000:34:03

I thought you'd prefer a small light to having the explosives.

0:34:030:34:06

Can we smash it?

0:34:060:34:08

-LAUGHTER

-I'll give it a go.

0:34:080:34:11

# But now I've joined the navy aboard a man of war...#

0:34:170:34:21

A trawler had a fighting chance of avoiding contact with a mine.

0:34:210:34:25

The boats' shallow draft

0:34:250:34:27

meant they could glide over the submerged threat,

0:34:270:34:30

if they were lucky.

0:34:300:34:32

# Don't haul on the rope Don't climb up the mast

0:34:320:34:35

# If you see a sailing ship It might be your last

0:34:350:34:39

# Just get your civvies ready for another run ashore

0:34:390:34:43

# A sailor ain't a sailor ain't a sailor any more. #

0:34:430:34:46

So it must have been dangerous here.

0:34:460:34:49

One trawler that never made it home was the Caroline.

0:35:030:35:08

On 28th April, 1941, she struck a mine in the Haven.

0:35:080:35:13

All of the 15 Dutch crew were killed.

0:35:130:35:17

Come on, guys, we're just coming up to the wreck now.

0:35:180:35:21

The wrecked trawler is a poignant sight for Johan.

0:35:250:35:27

Today, Johan and Graham pay their respects

0:35:550:35:58

to those who risked their lives to keep our shipping safe.

0:35:580:36:02

Their fathers survived,

0:36:020:36:03

but thousands of their Dutch and Allied comrades did not.

0:36:030:36:08

These were young men, stripped from their homeland by war.

0:36:220:36:26

Using those skills in seamanship they had at their fingertips

0:36:260:36:30

to save ultimately their own land and ours.

0:36:300:36:34

We're all at sea.

0:36:440:36:46

And for one weekend in June,

0:36:550:36:58

there's nowhere more exciting to sail than the Isle of Wight.

0:36:580:37:02

6:00am on the morning of the Round the Island Race,

0:37:090:37:13

and it's wet and gusty.

0:37:130:37:16

After all my preparation, it's time to put the theory into practice.

0:37:160:37:21

I'm pretty nervous. This is my first ever sailing race.

0:37:220:37:25

And for reasons I'm beginning to wonder about,

0:37:250:37:28

I seem to have chosen one of the most challenging in the world.

0:37:280:37:31

It's going to be a really big test.

0:37:310:37:33

I'll be crewing on the yacht Ortac.

0:37:360:37:39

Our skipper is Richard Webley.

0:37:390:37:41

Competition will be fierce.

0:37:450:37:47

One of Richard's biggest rivals is Tom Farnworth on Nereus.

0:37:470:37:52

We've got two competing skippers here.

0:37:540:37:56

Richard and Tom, adjacent boats.

0:37:560:37:58

You're pretty equally balanced in terms of your boats.

0:37:580:38:01

Yeah, very equally balanced.

0:38:010:38:02

-It's all down to crew, skipper and tactics.

-Yeah.

0:38:020:38:05

-Who's got the upper hand?

-Tom's got more experience of the race,

0:38:050:38:09

but I've got the best crew.

0:38:090:38:11

LAUGHTER

0:38:110:38:13

-There's only one way to find out.

-There's only one way to find out.

0:38:130:38:16

Richard thinks we have the best crew.

0:38:210:38:24

A crew which includes me.

0:38:240:38:26

I've got a lot to live up to today.

0:38:260:38:29

We're now out on the water, moving off towards the start line.

0:38:350:38:38

There are boats absolutely everywhere.

0:38:380:38:42

Must be just a few seconds, five or six seconds.

0:38:480:38:51

No! Wait for it!

0:38:510:38:53

CANNON FIRE

0:38:560:38:57

That's the start! We're off!

0:38:570:38:59

Really good blow, helicopter hovering overhead.

0:38:590:39:02

Unbelievable. Unbelievable!

0:39:020:39:04

The first leg of the race

0:39:110:39:13

runs southwest from Cowes to The Needles.

0:39:130:39:16

The start is chaos.

0:39:170:39:19

Every yacht competing for water, wind and tide.

0:39:190:39:23

It's a case of getting out quick and avoiding collisions.

0:39:240:39:28

That was my first hands-on, proper tack, and I didn't muck it up!

0:39:310:39:35

Breaking free of the pack, we've stolen a march on our rivals.

0:39:380:39:42

Yes! LAUGHTER

0:39:420:39:45

That yacht over there with a blue hull is Tom.

0:39:450:39:47

We're about that far ahead of him.

0:39:490:39:51

That's how close it is!

0:39:530:39:54

We're doing well, but obstacles await -

0:40:050:40:08

The Needles and the wreck submerged just beyond.

0:40:080:40:12

Sail close and you shave off valuable seconds, but it's a gamble.

0:40:120:40:17

We've cut it a little bit fine.

0:40:180:40:20

But we didn't run aground.

0:40:230:40:25

-And now we can get ready to bear away to St Catherine's Point.

-Big wave!

-Wave!

0:40:250:40:29

Richard's nifty turn around The Needles

0:40:320:40:35

keeps us in front of our rivals on Nereus.

0:40:350:40:38

We had a reasonably good start.

0:40:400:40:41

We were ahead of Ortac for the first half of the windward leg,

0:40:410:40:45

and then Ortac seemed to overtake us,

0:40:450:40:47

and we've lost them somewhere over there.

0:40:470:40:51

Our next gamble is to come wide.

0:40:520:40:55

Further offshore, the winds should be stronger.

0:40:550:40:59

But it means battling against stronger currents.

0:40:590:41:03

I'm at the helm, trying to follow Richard's plan.

0:41:030:41:07

At the moment, we're right on the outside of the fleet.

0:41:070:41:09

We are. Most of the people have gone shallow.

0:41:090:41:12

We're on the outside, doing a straight line.

0:41:120:41:15

As with all these things, it's a compromise,

0:41:150:41:17

and we'll see how it pays off when we finish.

0:41:170:41:19

We're making for the exposed headland of St Catherine's Point.

0:41:260:41:30

Then we'll have the strong southwesterly blowing behind us.

0:41:300:41:34

It's a key turning point.

0:41:360:41:38

An opportunity to race harder.

0:41:380:41:40

What we've decided to do is to put a bigger sail up, the spinnaker,

0:41:410:41:45

as we go around the point

0:41:450:41:47

to give us extra speed down to the eastern end of the island.

0:41:470:41:51

Spinnakers catch huge amounts of wind, boosting speed.

0:41:510:41:56

But they're risky.

0:41:560:41:58

The sails are unwieldy and can destabilise the boat.

0:41:580:42:02

I'm manning the spinnaker rope.

0:42:020:42:04

Another of my big moments. I've not done this before in my life.

0:42:040:42:08

-Ease that sheet.

-It's eased, it's eased.

0:42:100:42:13

Get that sheet over there, through there and up to that winch!

0:42:160:42:20

It's caught around that block!

0:42:200:42:22

One of the ropes is stuck. We can't rein in the sail.

0:42:220:42:25

I'm ready! You're ticking in?

0:42:270:42:29

The handle has come off!

0:42:320:42:34

The boat keeps going over, or broaching.

0:42:340:42:37

On the right-hand side of you!

0:42:370:42:39

We had trouble getting the spinnaker up, we just broached three times.

0:42:390:42:44

It's gone right under.

0:42:440:42:46

One on the left. The green one!

0:42:460:42:49

-We're trying to regain control of the yacht.

-I need you now!

0:42:510:42:54

-Nick!

-Sorry, you're going to have to stop.

0:42:540:42:56

-I need you now! Can you get that...

-'No time for talking.'

0:42:560:42:59

That's on the...on the winch.

0:42:590:43:02

We have to free the rope, get the spinnaker down,

0:43:050:43:08

or our race is over.

0:43:080:43:10

OK. Ease! More, more quicker.

0:43:100:43:13

Yeah. More turns off. Two turns on. Yeah, ease quicker.

0:43:130:43:17

Let it go! Can you help get it down the hatch?

0:43:180:43:22

Get it in! Quick!

0:43:220:43:24

Is it up? Is it running?

0:43:240:43:25

Yeah, it's running, it's running, it's running.

0:43:250:43:27

-Well done, guys!

-OK.

0:43:270:43:29

Right, spinnaker's down.

0:43:300:43:32

HE SIGHS

0:43:320:43:34

Big, big drama.

0:43:340:43:36

Well done, guys! Good job!

0:43:360:43:38

Our troubles with the spinnaker have cost us dear

0:43:410:43:44

and allowed our rivals, skippered by Tom, to overtake.

0:43:440:43:49

But we're still in with a shout.

0:43:500:43:52

I've got a feeling the adventure isn't over yet.

0:43:520:43:56

Striking out across the sea,

0:44:060:44:08

boats and their crews must fend for themselves when waters run wild.

0:44:080:44:14

Sailors in life and death situations

0:44:270:44:30

fall back on something known as the Custom of the Sea.

0:44:300:44:34

This code of conduct guides their moral compass.

0:44:350:44:39

But back on shore, a different set of rules holds sway.

0:44:400:44:44

The Law of the Land.

0:44:440:44:47

When these two worlds collide, sailors beware.

0:44:470:44:51

It's a hard lesson they've learnt in Falmouth.

0:44:540:44:57

Back in Victorian times, following a notorious shipwreck,

0:45:010:45:05

a band of survivors arrived here.

0:45:050:45:09

Mark knows their astonishing story.

0:45:100:45:13

This is a murderous tale that affects the law even today.

0:45:190:45:25

In 1884, when this yacht sank,

0:45:270:45:30

one of the sailors was killed by his crewmates.

0:45:300:45:34

Back in Falmouth, they were arrested.

0:45:380:45:41

The trial consumed the whole nation.

0:45:420:45:46

The Illustrated Press provided graphic details of the case.

0:45:460:45:50

When they say, "Worse things happen at sea," this is what they mean.

0:45:520:45:58

This was a case of cannibalism.

0:46:000:46:04

But even though the men had killed one of their crew

0:46:040:46:07

and fed from his body,

0:46:070:46:09

they fully expected to walk free.

0:46:090:46:12

Maritime tradition condoned cannibalism to survive.

0:46:190:46:24

But should the law ever excuse murder?

0:46:240:46:28

The case caused a legal dilemma for those back at home.

0:46:290:46:33

How did a brutal Custom of the Sea

0:46:330:46:36

come to shape the Law of the Land?

0:46:360:46:40

This true crime story begins in the South Atlantic.

0:46:440:46:49

A yacht, the Mignonette,

0:46:490:46:51

is struck by a terrible storm and sinks.

0:46:510:46:55

Abandon ship!

0:46:550:46:57

Over 600 miles from land, four sailors must save themselves.

0:46:590:47:06

The crew's lifeboat soon became their prison.

0:47:100:47:14

Adrift on the open ocean

0:47:150:47:19

for 24 dreadful days, they languished, starved and exhausted.

0:47:190:47:26

Royal Navy surgeon Dennis Freshwater

0:47:360:47:39

knows the medical plight of the wrecked sailors.

0:47:390:47:43

If you've been adrift on a boat for 15-17 days without any food or water,

0:47:430:47:49

I mean, what happens to your body?

0:47:490:47:51

Well, the major thing is the dehydration.

0:47:510:47:53

No water. Water all around them and not a drop to drink.

0:47:530:47:57

And of course, that's very true.

0:47:570:47:58

Because when you take in saltwater, you become more dehydrated.

0:47:580:48:02

It worsens things. And then, eventually death.

0:48:020:48:05

On the brink of death from dehydration,

0:48:070:48:11

Captain Tom Dudley knew there was only one thing left to drink.

0:48:110:48:15

Blood.

0:48:150:48:17

The men's desperate gaze fell on the sickly cabin boy Richard Parker.

0:48:170:48:23

By the morning of the 18th day,

0:48:250:48:27

Richard Parker was lying in the bottom of the boat near to death.

0:48:270:48:30

Now, Tom Dudley said to the others something must be done.

0:48:300:48:33

And by which, he meant, we have to kill Richard Parker.

0:48:330:48:36

And Tom Dudley then took a knife and cut Richard Parker's throat.

0:48:360:48:40

Aaarrrggghhh!

0:48:400:48:42

It sounds horrific now,

0:48:420:48:45

but in the days of sailing ships, it wasn't so shocking.

0:48:450:48:49

Author Neil Hanson has researched Captain Dudley's dilemma.

0:48:490:48:55

This wasn't something that suddenly occurred to Tom Dudley out of the blue.

0:48:550:48:59

For decades before this, ships had been wrecking,

0:48:590:49:03

seamen had been cast adrift.

0:49:030:49:04

And over years and years, as many people resorted to cannibalism,

0:49:040:49:08

what was called the Custom of the Sea evolved.

0:49:080:49:10

But they were still undertaking murder.

0:49:100:49:13

It was what seamen did. And it had been practised for so long,

0:49:130:49:16

it seemed to them to have a judicial force.

0:49:160:49:18

The men thought they'd never face trial,

0:49:190:49:22

even if they did get home.

0:49:220:49:25

-Shark!

-But with sharks circling the blood-soaked boat,

0:49:250:49:30

the law was the least of their concerns.

0:49:300:49:33

-Over here!

-Then, miraculously, a sail!

0:49:330:49:38

The ill-fated crew were saved.

0:49:380:49:41

The survivors sailed back to Falmouth.

0:49:410:49:44

CHEERING

0:49:440:49:46

The seafaring community

0:49:530:49:55

were sympathetic to the plight of the shipwrecked men.

0:49:550:49:59

However, miles away,

0:50:040:50:06

the long arm of the law was beginning to flex its muscles.

0:50:060:50:12

The Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt

0:50:150:50:18

seized on the case to assert his authority

0:50:180:50:21

over the unofficial and antiquated Custom of the Sea.

0:50:210:50:25

He wanted to make an example of the men.

0:50:270:50:30

But the people of Falmouth had other ideas.

0:50:300:50:34

Their public donations paid for a top defence QC.

0:50:340:50:38

He would try to challenge the Law of the Land.

0:50:380:50:43

Order! Order in court!

0:50:430:50:45

The defence barrister pleaded that the accused were not guilty

0:50:470:50:52

by reason of necessity.

0:50:520:50:54

It was a landmark legal moment.

0:50:570:51:00

The defence of necessity for murder didn't exist in English law.

0:51:000:51:06

The trial took the court back to the men's ordeal at sea.

0:51:060:51:11

Why didn't they let the sickly cabin boy die naturally

0:51:110:51:15

and then drink his blood?

0:51:150:51:18

Why did the crew think they had a necessity to murder their crewmate?

0:51:180:51:23

The argument was advanced that they had to kill him

0:51:230:51:26

to drink the blood before the blood congealed.

0:51:260:51:28

By cutting the throat while the heart is still pumping,

0:51:280:51:32

the blood is pumped out of the body, so they can access it.

0:51:320:51:35

Whereas if they'd waited until after death,

0:51:350:51:37

they may have been able to get into the vessels,

0:51:370:51:39

but there's nothing to pump the blood out.

0:51:390:51:41

Captain Dudley, who stabbed the cabin boy, had been a ship's cook,

0:51:420:51:46

so he understood butchering and bloodletting.

0:51:460:51:51

But common law is based on precedent.

0:51:510:51:55

If the men were freed,

0:51:550:51:57

would it allow other justifications for murder?

0:51:570:51:59

The case went to the High Court to pronounce judgement.

0:51:590:52:04

Lord Coleridge read out the final sentence.

0:52:090:52:12

"You'll be taken from this place to a place of execution,

0:52:120:52:17

"where you'll be hanged by the neck until you are dead."

0:52:170:52:22

Take them down!

0:52:220:52:23

The Law of the Land prevailed over the Custom of the Sea.

0:52:250:52:29

But public sympathy for the seafarers

0:52:310:52:33

meant their executions were never carried out.

0:52:330:52:37

Shortly after the verdict, Queen Victoria commuted the death sentence

0:52:380:52:43

to that of six months' imprisonment.

0:52:430:52:46

Crucially, she stopped short of a full pardon

0:52:460:52:51

for the convicted cannibals.

0:52:510:52:52

Over a century later,

0:52:570:52:59

we still live with the deadly events

0:52:590:53:01

of that shipwreck from 1884.

0:53:010:53:04

It's studied by law students and cited in modern murder trials.

0:53:040:53:09

The case of the Queen versus Dudley and Stephens

0:53:090:53:13

established that in English law,

0:53:130:53:15

there is no defence of necessity for murder.

0:53:150:53:18

But the big question remains.

0:53:200:53:23

Would you kill to survive?

0:53:230:53:26

Aaaarrrggghhh!

0:53:260:53:29

On this journey, we're all at sea.

0:53:390:53:43

And I'm sailing for my life around the Isle of Wight.

0:53:430:53:48

# Sailing

0:53:480:53:52

# Sailing

0:53:520:53:55

# Sailing

0:53:560:54:00

# Sailing

0:54:000:54:02

# Would you believe it?

0:54:020:54:04

# I'm sailing... #

0:54:040:54:06

We've been at sea six-and-a-half hours.

0:54:060:54:09

One of 1,600 yachts competing in the Round the Island Race.

0:54:090:54:14

Among the competitors, there's one rival yacht, Nereus,

0:54:160:54:19

that we're determined to beat.

0:54:190:54:21

After the turn at St Catherine's point,

0:54:260:54:28

we've rounded the eastern tip,

0:54:280:54:31

approaching the home stretch to Cowes.

0:54:310:54:34

Nereus is just ten minutes' ahead.

0:54:340:54:37

Now the whole fleet is funnelling down for a sprint finish.

0:54:380:54:43

Our skipper's Richard Webley.

0:54:430:54:44

So it's just a drag race. Who can sail the fastest

0:54:460:54:49

in the cleanest air to get to the forks,

0:54:490:54:52

and then it becomes a fight up to the finish.

0:54:520:54:56

We aren't just battling other boats.

0:54:580:55:00

We're also fighting the full force of wind and tide.

0:55:000:55:05

Straining hard on the rudder to steer true.

0:55:050:55:08

There's one last hazard to surmount.

0:55:100:55:13

Ryde Sands lie just beneath the waves,

0:55:130:55:16

waiting to scupper any yacht tempted to take a shortcut home.

0:55:160:55:21

To avoid the sandbank, we keep one eye on the depth gauge

0:55:220:55:26

and the other on our rivals.

0:55:260:55:28

But there's one threat we're not looking out for.

0:55:310:55:34

We've lost rudder!

0:55:360:55:38

The rudder linkage has snapped.

0:55:430:55:45

The sails take over steering.

0:55:450:55:48

We're not just helpless, we're dangerous.

0:55:480:55:52

We've lost rudder!

0:55:520:55:54

We've lost rudder! Clear off!

0:55:550:55:57

A missile guided by the wind.

0:55:580:56:00

We need to get that under control! Let's just try and bundle that up.

0:56:010:56:05

Can we get the main in, please?

0:56:120:56:15

If you've got any control,

0:56:150:56:17

if you just steer us out of this line of boats.

0:56:170:56:20

Big drama! Lost a rudder,

0:56:200:56:23

which is about as serious as things can get

0:56:230:56:26

when you're sailing pretty quickly in a big boat.

0:56:260:56:29

And so, er...

0:56:290:56:31

really effective teamwork getting the sails down rapidly.

0:56:310:56:36

All our efforts blown out of the water

0:56:440:56:47

by a single mechanical failure.

0:56:470:56:50

Our race is run.

0:56:500:56:52

So near...so far.

0:56:530:56:56

We're travelling back to Cowes under motor without a sail.

0:56:570:57:01

Ahead of us, yachts cross the finishing line,

0:57:030:57:06

including our rivals on Nereus, skippered by Tom,

0:57:060:57:11

who came home in a time of 7 hours 56 minutes.

0:57:110:57:14

Champagne for some.

0:57:140:57:16

But for our brave team, the ending is a little less glamorous.

0:57:160:57:21

We were sailing so well.

0:57:220:57:24

We were ahead of many boats that should have been faster than us.

0:57:240:57:29

The tactics that Richard adopted were brilliant.

0:57:290:57:32

Then, in the home strait, the rudder broke.

0:57:320:57:37

Richard's steering us back with a pair of rusty bicycle handlebars.

0:57:390:57:43

Contests come and go, but the restless sea's eternal.

0:57:560:58:02

We competed against the best,

0:58:020:58:04

but ultimately, our destiny was decided by a greater power.

0:58:040:58:10

It's wonderful, it's unpredictable

0:58:100:58:14

and sometimes it's cruel.

0:58:140:58:17

But the sea's siren call tempts each generation anew.

0:58:170:58:23

The one thing that all of us as islanders can share

0:58:240:58:27

is the temperamental, seductive sea.

0:58:270:58:31

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