0:00:19 > 0:00:22By the middle of the 19th Century,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27railway travel made the world a much smaller place.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31People and goods could be transported the length and breadth of Britain,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36at speeds that nobody could have imagined 50 years before.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Then steam power was introduced to the oceans to make sea travel
0:00:41 > 0:00:44between the continents faster.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Sadly, none of the big steam-powered liners have survived.
0:00:48 > 0:00:54Unlike railway and traction engines, they were too costly to renovate
0:00:54 > 0:00:56once their time was up.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05But you can still get a feel of what a steam ship was like.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10There are still some of the smaller ones around.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14This lovely old steamboat is the SS Sir Walter Scott
0:01:14 > 0:01:18built in 1899 by William Denny of Dumbarton.
0:01:18 > 0:01:26In them days nearly every Scottish loch had a steam ship company plying on its waters
0:01:26 > 0:01:30to supply the houses and farms round the edges.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34When it were built, it were no great shakes -
0:01:34 > 0:01:37just another steam launch on one of the Scottish lochs.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Now it's survived, it's unique. It's the only one left.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46One of the reasons it's survived is that it doesn't pollute,
0:01:46 > 0:01:51unlike a diesel engine that spits all sorts of stuff out.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57The water of Loch Katrine is the actual drinking water of Glasgow,
0:01:57 > 0:02:03so they can't afford to muck it up by having diesel like on Lake Windermere and places.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Nothing leaves the boat and goes into the lake.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10So, let's have a look at the engine.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15This is what's known as a triple expansion marine engine.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21It was perfected by an American called John Elder in the late 1880s.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Eventually it came to be the main unit of propulsion
0:02:26 > 0:02:29in almost every ship they built.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33In my opinion, it's not gone for any better.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37If you go in a modern ship, and there's a diesel engine,
0:02:37 > 0:02:43if it's driving an oil tanker, the noise it makes is incredible.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49The man who looks after it isn't in lovely tranquil surroundings like what we are down here.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54He's in a soundproof box with ear muffs because of the bloody noise!
0:02:54 > 0:02:57In my opinion, we've gone backwards.
0:02:57 > 0:03:05Looking at something like this, the SS Walter Scott, 100 years old and as sweet as a nut.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09The triple expansion engine turns screw for power,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11and this powers the ship.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15And very nice it is too!
0:03:19 > 0:03:25But the first steam-powered ships were propelled by paddle wheels.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30The first paddle steamers were built in the early 1800s.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35But like early locomotives, they had a lot of limitations.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37They weren't very seaworthy
0:03:37 > 0:03:43and the great problem were keeping them supplied with coal.
0:03:43 > 0:03:49The boilers were uneconomical and when they rocked it were terrible.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53They were mainly used on rivers and very near the coastline.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Something else had to happen.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01It was one of my heroes, Isambard Kingdom Brunel
0:04:01 > 0:04:03who made the breakthrough.
0:04:03 > 0:04:09The SS Great Britain was built by Brunel and was an outstanding achievement of the Victoria age.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13It was the first big ocean-going ship
0:04:13 > 0:04:17to be constructed from iron and powered by steam.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Brunel's plan had been to build the Great Britain with paddle wheels.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26But he knew that paddles weren't the best form of propulsion
0:04:26 > 0:04:31for crossing the ocean. About this time, a new method
0:04:31 > 0:04:36was being developed, using a screw propeller attached to the stern,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38below the water line.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43Brunel decided that this was a big advance on the paddle wheel
0:04:43 > 0:04:46and made changes to his design.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52The screw propeller was an important development in seafaring.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58Brunel went on to build an even bigger ship, the Great Eastern.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01It had paddles and a propeller.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04But the propeller went on to rule the waves.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Within 25 years of the launch of the SS Great Britain,
0:05:08 > 0:05:14massive advances had been made in the building of iron steamships.
0:05:14 > 0:05:22From the mid 19th Century, all of the great transatlantic liners had propellers.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26All the big steamships have gone.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31But there's one or two small ones, like this one, the SS Shieldhall,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34was built in Glasgow in 1955.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39It had a rather different occupation when it were built -
0:05:39 > 0:05:46it was owned by Glasgow Corporation and they used it for delivering treated sewage out into the sea.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50In the summer months, they tell me, it doubles as a passenger boat.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55As well as sailing with treated sewage, it had passengers too!
0:05:55 > 0:06:00It must have been whiffy. Anyway, it survived and it's in Southampton.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05They do cruises and it's one of the few sailing round the Solent today.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10I'm going to go and have a look at the engines and inside.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14- Hello, John!- Hello, Fred. Good to see you.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Have a look at our boiler room.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Aye.
0:06:19 > 0:06:25Aye. Have they always been oil-fired, these boilers?
0:06:25 > 0:06:27She was built as a coal-fired ship.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31She was converted in the shipyard before she left.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35- She's never used coal. - What pressure does she run off?
0:06:35 > 0:06:39- She runs at 180psi. - That's a fair pressure, innit?
0:06:39 > 0:06:46Mind you, for a compound in three times, you need start off with high pressure.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Do you sweep the tubes?
0:06:48 > 0:06:51We've got a steam suck-blower.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Going?
0:06:53 > 0:06:57I tried that. Unsuccessfully!
0:06:57 > 0:07:03We've got the advantage that the ship can go out of sight of land!
0:07:03 > 0:07:06A big, black cloud!
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Anyway, we'll now retire to the engine room.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Let's look at the triple expansion engines.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Aye. We could perhaps explain what the triple expansion engine is.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22The steam from the boiler comes into the high pressure cylinder.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26The exhaust from that goes into the medium pressure cylinder.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29That exhaust goes into the low pressure cylinder.
0:07:29 > 0:07:36That exhaust goes into a condenser, then the feed tank and then it's pumped into the boiler again.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40- They've got to preserve as much clean water as they can.- Yes.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46The thing is, everything on a ship like this is run on steam.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48That includes the steering.
0:07:48 > 0:07:55The steering gear has got a two cylinder reciprocating steam engine.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57This alters the rudder angle through a rack-and-pinion arrangement
0:07:58 > 0:08:01working on the rudder quadrant.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06Rudder movement is transmitted from the ship's wheel on the bridge
0:08:06 > 0:08:11by hydraulic pumps, which form part of the wheel assembly.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13- Right.- Oh, it's nice in here.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Lovely brass switches.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23You could have this on your sideboard. How does it work?
0:08:23 > 0:08:25It's a hydraulic steering system.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28The wheel connects to a gear wheel inside here.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33It pushes two rams up and down. As one goes up, one goes down.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39- You displace fluid along a pipeline to the receiver.- Yeah, yeah.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41There's even a check, I noticed,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45look, 200psi already.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47That's good that, innit.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50There it is.
0:08:50 > 0:08:56Now it's time to get the engines turning, so we can put to sea.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01Shieldhall is fully operational and they do over 20 cruises per year
0:09:01 > 0:09:04around the waters of the Solent.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10I've got an interesting old book
0:09:10 > 0:09:15to explain how these triple expansion engines work.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18It's a lovely engraving of a triple expansion engine.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It's more or less self-explanatory.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Steam comes in at the high pressure cylinder end.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29It pushes the piston up and down after the valves let it in.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Then it's exhausted into a receiver where it hangs about a bit
0:09:34 > 0:09:38till the valve on the intermediate cylinder opens.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42It's let through into the intermediate cylinder.
0:09:42 > 0:09:48It does its work there and then it's exhausted again into another expansion chamber
0:09:48 > 0:09:52where it waits to enter the low pressure cylinder.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58Finally, down here, into that big square trunking,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00into the condenser.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Using every ounce of the power of the steam,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09it's actually used three times.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14In, like, a single cylinder, it's used once and then up the chimney.
0:10:14 > 0:10:21But at sea they've got to get every bit of economy that they can.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25Of course, they made quadruple expansion engines
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and all sorts of variations.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Three cylinders, on top of t'other. But there's no room on a boat.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35You've got to go long.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Although the really big ships have all gone,
0:10:40 > 0:10:46you can still see what the huge triple expansion engines were like.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49They weren't just used in ships.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52This is the Bratch pumping station near Wolverhampton,
0:10:52 > 0:10:57which has been restored by a friend of mine, Len Crane.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The engines in here are the size
0:11:00 > 0:11:04that the ones on the Titanic would have been.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Come up here and have a look.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13- Go through there.- Yeah.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15This is where it happens.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Like a ship, isn't it?
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Basically, it's like the engines that were in the Titanic.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Beautiful. Crossing the north Atlantic.
0:11:25 > 0:11:32When we first regulated, for the first time, and it moved and turned, it was a beautiful feeling.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Beautiful.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49You wonder what they're all for, but they're all doing something.
0:11:49 > 0:11:55The world's got to keep advancing, but in lots of ways, not for the better.
0:11:55 > 0:12:03Instead of sitting in their bloody office with a mouse and - what are they called? - a computer!
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Glen's a good steam man.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10He's known this engine and been involved with it for 60 years.
0:12:12 > 0:12:18That's not all he's got - parked outside is a lovely steam crane.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24There's not many of these around, and there was no way I was leaving without having a go.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It's got three speeds.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Come on, old girl.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34- There you are. A little toot.- Yep.
0:12:34 > 0:12:40These cranes were built to haul big industrial Lancashire boilers
0:12:40 > 0:12:44the length and breadth of the country.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49The boilers would weigh up to 40 or 50 tonnes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:55And it would take a week to get from Wolverhampton to Birkenhead.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It's a very versatile engine.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03A crane and a big engine all in one.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08When they had a boiler to deliver to the docks or the shipyards,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12the crane lifted it onto the trailer.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Once you were loaded up,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18the traction engine took over
0:13:18 > 0:13:22and towed the trailer from the works to the docks.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27Once it got there, a crane would be used to unload it.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30I really enjoyed that.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36But getting back to the water - the canals were still very important.
0:13:36 > 0:13:43Although railway mania had gripped the country by the middle of the 19th century,
0:13:43 > 0:13:48the canals were still thriving for the transportation of goods.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51And steam power came to the canals.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56This is the steam canal boat The President.
0:13:56 > 0:14:0070-foot long, and made of riveted wrought iron,
0:14:00 > 0:14:05with an elm bottom, powered by a compound-steam engine.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11In steam-driven canal boats, the machinery took up too much room.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16You could get 25 tonnes on a normal horse-drawn canal boat,
0:14:16 > 0:14:21but driven by steam, you lost about 12 tonnes of valuable cargo space.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24It had one good thing though -
0:14:24 > 0:14:29it could pull two fully loaded boats called "butties" behind it.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34So I suppose that in some ways, it was an improvement on a horse.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37The boiler is coke-fired,
0:14:37 > 0:14:42and it's fed with filtered canal water by this steam pump.
0:14:42 > 0:14:49The original engine has been replaced, and the power now comes from a simple twin-cylinder engine
0:14:49 > 0:14:54that came originally from a Thames launch.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07On the canals, steam engines were put to a variety of other uses
0:15:07 > 0:15:09especially pumping.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14This is the Crofton Pumping Station on the Kennet and Avon canal
0:15:14 > 0:15:17near Marlborough.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21The canal, which connects London to Bristol,
0:15:21 > 0:15:28at this point is higher than any natural source of water, and every time a boat crosses the summit,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32the water has to be pumped out of the river
0:15:32 > 0:15:36to enable the locks to work properly.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42The beam engines were installed to ensure the locks always had a supply of water.
0:15:42 > 0:15:49The locks are 14-feet wide and 75-feet long and contain 70,000 gallons.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Every time a boat comes along,
0:15:52 > 0:15:5870,000 gallons have to be pumped out of the river at the other side.
0:15:58 > 0:16:04The building that houses the engines is over a total of three floors.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08This is the top floor where the great beams are.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13They're pivoted on the beam wall - the main wall of the engine house.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18It goes from one beam to t'other straight down to the foundations,
0:16:18 > 0:16:23and it's very strong to support all the pull and thrust of the engines.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27There are two working engines in here.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32One of them is an 1812 Boatman Watt
0:16:32 > 0:16:36which is the world's oldest working beam engine
0:16:36 > 0:16:40still doing its original job.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53On the middle floor you get an idea of the feeling of power.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58It's got an eight-foot stroke and 42-inch diameter pistons.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02You get a good view of the central wall
0:17:02 > 0:17:08which supports all the beams, which in turn support the great cast-iron beam itself.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13The engine house is really part of the engine.
0:17:14 > 0:17:20This is the ground floor where the engine's controlled from.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25And at this end is the actual pumping end.
0:17:25 > 0:17:31Also on this floor is the boiler room which has two Lancashire boilers,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35that run on 20 pounds per square inch.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Doesn't seem a lot for moving all this iron,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44but the secret is the actual vacuum and atmospheric pressure.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48By the end of the 19th century,
0:17:48 > 0:17:53the steam engine was being put to a wide range of uses.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59And when engineers had to construct a bridge over the river Thames,
0:17:59 > 0:18:04that would allow ocean-going ships to come up river into London,
0:18:04 > 0:18:09it was steam power that came to their aid.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12The idea they came up with
0:18:12 > 0:18:17was a bridge based on the bascule principle of a lifting section.
0:18:17 > 0:18:24It was two huge pumping engines that provided the power to lift the bridge.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27This is one of a pair
0:18:27 > 0:18:31of compound-steam engines that work two water pumps
0:18:31 > 0:18:34that pump up the accumulator
0:18:34 > 0:18:41that generate the energy to work the hydraulic engines that lift the bridge up.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44These two large green iron tanks
0:18:44 > 0:18:48contain approximately 100 tonnes of iron blocks.
0:18:48 > 0:18:55The steam engine works the pump that pumps water up underneath the 100 tonne of iron.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00When this valve here is opened - like I'm going to do now...
0:19:00 > 0:19:04WATER SPURTS
0:19:04 > 0:19:08..all 100 tonnes come down on the piston,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10compressing the water
0:19:10 > 0:19:15so the hydraulic engine works the quadrant that raises up the bridge.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20"Bascule" is actually French for seesaw,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23and this is the base of one of the piers.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27In spite of the complexity of the system,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31they only took a minute to raise to 86 degrees.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35This is the actual valve
0:19:35 > 0:19:39that controls the pressure from the engines.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42I've shut it - down comes the bridge.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47Today, the bascules are still operated by hydraulic power
0:19:47 > 0:19:52but now they're driven by oil and electricity rather than steam.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57Back in the 1890s, when Tower Bridge was first opened,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02a revolutionary steam engine was set to make a dramatic appearance
0:20:02 > 0:20:07at an event designed to gain the maximum publicity for it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11In 1897, in celebration of her diamond jubilee,
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Queen Victoria had the whole British fleet lined up at Spithead -
0:20:16 > 0:20:23six miles of battleships and cruisers witnessed by the crowned heads of the world.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28Into the middle of it, an uninvited guest came speeding through.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32The fastest thing anyone had seen on water.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36It was a little 44-tonne experimental steam turbine vessel
0:20:36 > 0:20:40that had been built by Charles Parsons.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Here it is - the first steam turbine-driven ship - the Turbinia.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51And it's got pride of place in Newcastle's Discovery Museum.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56In use, they reckon flames used to come out of the funnel
0:20:56 > 0:21:03and Charles Parsons would be in the control room shouting instructions to the lads in the engine room.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08And the thing did an unbelievable 34 knots, I think,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10which is nearly 40 miles an hour.
0:21:10 > 0:21:16And nobody had ever seen anything go so fast on the water before.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19The success of the Turbinia
0:21:19 > 0:21:21stemmed from two innovations.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Number one was the steam turbine
0:21:24 > 0:21:27and number two, the slender hull.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33Mr Parsons rowed, so he made it like a rowing boat on the river Cam in Cambridge.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39With these speeds, the steam turbine could no longer be ignored.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45The Admiralty took up building destroyers with steam turbines inside.
0:21:45 > 0:21:51The steam turbine is like a series of windmills inside a case.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54The wind can't escape...
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Instead of being wind, of course, it's steam.
0:21:58 > 0:22:06It impinges onto the blades of the windmill. They're all attached to a shaft. It makes it go faster.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09I've got a wonderful book...
0:22:09 > 0:22:13When you look at a steam turbine, it don't look much at all.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16It's shrouded in cheap tin
0:22:16 > 0:22:20that contains the casing that covers up all the works.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25When we've taken off the wagon, you've got to lift up the next bit
0:22:25 > 0:22:28revealing the main spindle.
0:22:28 > 0:22:34That's what holds it all together, that's what it all spins round on.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38At the left-hand end here is the main steam valve
0:22:38 > 0:22:43the main delivery of the steam feeding the turbine.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45The main pipe is mostly lagging
0:22:45 > 0:22:48to stop condensation.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Then we'll sort of take the inside of the outer casing away...
0:22:53 > 0:22:57which reveals the actual blades,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01or the windmill part of it, inside.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05There's like a slight taper in these vanes.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10At the narrow end, the high pressure comes in
0:23:10 > 0:23:12and as its energy is expanded,
0:23:12 > 0:23:17it...it has less power, and the vanes are a bit bigger, you see.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22So that way it utilises the full power of the steam.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27When you see one in reality, it looks ever so fragile, you know.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32You think if a bit of muck got in, it would smash it to pieces.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37And these are the actual turbines in Turbinia.
0:23:37 > 0:23:44There's three turbines in here - a big 'un in the middle and two smaller ones on the outsides.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Each has a prop shaft
0:23:46 > 0:23:51that sticks out the back end, with three propellers on each prop shaft.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55That's some power sticking out of the stern end.
0:23:55 > 0:24:01It's crammed a lot of machinery in a hole hardly eight feet wide.
0:24:01 > 0:24:08It's bad enough when the ship's stationary. What it must have been like doing, 40 miles an hour...!
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Must have been incredibly hot!
0:24:12 > 0:24:15By the 1920s,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20turbine-driven engines had taken over the world's shipping routes.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26Steam turbine virtually replaced the old reciprocating steam engine on major vessels.
0:24:26 > 0:24:32On the seas, the turbine-driven liner represented the high point
0:24:32 > 0:24:34of overseas passenger travel.
0:24:34 > 0:24:40Turbine meant that ships were not only bigger, they were also faster.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44The White Star and the French Line, among others, were competing
0:24:44 > 0:24:47to make the biggest and best liners.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50But the Cunard Line was the leader.
0:24:54 > 0:25:00Alas, you can't see many now, but there's still a special one to look around.
0:25:00 > 0:25:07This ship is the world's most famous turbine-powered ship - the royal yacht, Britannia.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10It was built by John Brown of Clydebank.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15I must say he made a wonderful job of the hull.
0:25:15 > 0:25:21It's perfectly smooth. The reason is they butt-jointed the plates of the hull.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25They're held by straps on the inside
0:25:25 > 0:25:29and a double row of rivets, which is a wonderful way to build a boat.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34The cheaper way is to lap them over. You'd see rivets and a lap joint.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40With this method you don't see a thing, like it were made of plastic.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42I name this ship Britannia.
0:25:42 > 0:25:49The royal yacht was launched in 1953 and commissioned in 1954, and between then and 1997,
0:25:49 > 0:25:54it ferried the Queen and the Royal Family around the world
0:25:54 > 0:25:56almost 1,000 times.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01Here I am in the heart of the ship, the engine room.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04And, of course, these are the turbines.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07The steam come out the boiler house
0:26:07 > 0:26:13through this pipe into the high-pressure cylinder, the smaller of the two black things.
0:26:13 > 0:26:19The steam did its work in the turbines and turned the spindles round
0:26:19 > 0:26:26into the gearboxes - these two white bits with lots of lubrication and pipes on.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33Then, it turned the two prop shafts at the stern end which turned the propellers and away we went.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38It took Britannia more than a million miles across the world
0:26:38 > 0:26:41without a major refit.
0:26:41 > 0:26:48This is one of the two great gearboxes that transmit the power from the turbines to the prop shaft.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52The prop shafts are 30 metres long and about 12 inches diameter.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58They turn the propellers at the stern end which are ten foot across.
0:26:58 > 0:27:04It developed 12,000 horsepower and propelled the ship at 21 knots.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07This area here were quite important.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13It's where the ship were controlled on orders from upstairs, from the captain.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17And all these beautiful chromium-plated wheels
0:27:17 > 0:27:25represented full forward gear and full backward gear and the gauges sent it in the right direction.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28There's lots of wonderful bits
0:27:28 > 0:27:32that there wouldn't be on an ordinary ship.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Steam valves have a habit of dripping and, of course,
0:27:36 > 0:27:42they've got beautiful drip trays with little drains on them.
0:27:42 > 0:27:48No doubt it was some guy's job to come round with a draining can and drain 'em all off.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54When you've done with the main steam turbines that propel the ship, you've not done with steam.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59There's another three steam generating sets stood here
0:27:59 > 0:28:02in a miniature power station
0:28:02 > 0:28:07with three steam turbines to generate electricity for the ship.
0:28:09 > 0:28:16Charles Parsons had revolutionised marine propulsion with his invention of the steam turbine.
0:28:16 > 0:28:23But the turbine had an even greater impact on the provision of power for the 20th century.