0:00:06 > 0:00:12The Royal Commission is a government detective agency set up in the same year as the FBI.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Unlike the FBI, the Commission investigates the history of Wales,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20and its case files are open to everyone.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26This week, the challenges involved when a nuclear power station closes.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Did Stone Age people live on the island of Skomer?
0:00:32 > 0:00:35We look at new evidence.
0:00:35 > 0:00:41And the mystery of a shipwreck in the Bristol Channel - is it a pilot cutter that went down in 1916?
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Like it or loathe it, Trawsfynydd nuclear power station is one of Wales'
0:01:01 > 0:01:07most iconic buildings, a huge industrial structure in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Cutting edge when it opened back in the 60s, not a spark of electricity
0:01:11 > 0:01:16has been produced here in nearly 20 years, and decommissioning is well under way.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22It's a big story in more ways than one, and the Royal Commission is one of several organisations
0:01:22 > 0:01:29involved in ensuring that the history of what has gone on here is recorded for posterity.
0:01:29 > 0:01:36When it opened in 1965, Trawsfynydd was a flagship for the burgeoning nuclear power industry.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39One of Britain's top architects, Sir Basil Spence, was responsible
0:01:39 > 0:01:45for the plans, and some of his documents are held in the Royal Commission Archive in Aberystwyth.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49This being Snowdonia, Sir Basil wanted the buildings
0:01:49 > 0:01:53to have something of the mass of a medieval castle.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58The fact that the plant was in the middle of Snowdonia National Park was highly controversial.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03Peter Wakelin of the Royal Commission explains the thinking behind Spence's approach.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09The mass of a medieval castle, that was Basil Spence's aim.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12- Did he pull it off?- Well, I think...
0:02:12 > 0:02:13It's enormous, isn't it?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16It's bigger than any of our castles, by a long way.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20These are 180 feet high, these towers, and obviously when the ideas
0:02:20 > 0:02:22were being proposed for the site, there was a lot of concern
0:02:22 > 0:02:27that the pretty new Snowdonia National Park was going to have this plonked right in the middle of it.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31What was the point in having a national park if you'd allow something like this?
0:02:31 > 0:02:36So I think the response to that was Basil Spence coming in with ideas of making it look like
0:02:36 > 0:02:39it belonged in the landscape, and I think from a distance you do get
0:02:39 > 0:02:45this amazing sensation of it being monumental and sort of belonging, with the mountains as a backdrop.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56I've got some drawings here that I've managed to get hold of from
0:02:56 > 0:03:00our sister body in Scotland, the Scottish Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04and the Scottish Commission has been given Sir Basil Spence's complete archive.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07So amongst that archive are some drawings that show
0:03:07 > 0:03:10the concepts that he had of these towers sitting in the landscape.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15Being cruel, Peter, you could say they are just brutal boxes of concrete.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Is there more to it than that?
0:03:17 > 0:03:18Is there beauty in the detail?
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Because they wanted to fit this site into a landscape, I think
0:03:23 > 0:03:29Basil Spence and Sylvia Crowe both did things that made more of it, and there was a lot of intricate detail.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34Looking up at the reactor tower here, you can see that it's not just plain concrete panels.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38The concrete panels have got these fascinating little ribbed features on them
0:03:38 > 0:03:40which give texture, and it makes the concrete recede.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Instead of looking like a great white mass,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46he's got these different patterns that create light and shade on the structure.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49He also made sure that they were using local aggregates
0:03:49 > 0:03:53that fitted with the colour of the surrounding mountains, just to help make it blend in.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56But overall, of course, it is essentially a brutalist structure.
0:03:56 > 0:04:02He is doing what those architects of the 60s and 70s did in creating great masses of concrete and showing
0:04:02 > 0:04:05the modern systems and power for the future.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09Peter Wakelin is working with Royal Commission photographer Iain Wright
0:04:09 > 0:04:12to create a photographic record of the site.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Sylvia Crowe wanted to design the landscape so the site disappeared as much as possible.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19And she didn't want gardens coming up to the building.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23But there was one exception here, and this little area is what she called the rest area.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Just a small area for people to come and have a bit of peace and quiet from work.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29I think this is a really beautifully constructed feature,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33with these stones going down into the pond with the rock in the bottom.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35So do you think you could get a photograph of that, Iain?
0:04:35 > 0:04:37And the other interesting thing to photograph,
0:04:37 > 0:04:38which is just over here, is the steps.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44A beautifully designed feature. It looks like a piece of ancient archaeology in a jungle, doesn't it?
0:04:44 > 0:04:49So if we get this in and the section behind it, probably from...
0:04:49 > 0:04:51We'll come from further up on the slope.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00Incredible as it may seem, no-one thought of the problems of decommissioning
0:05:00 > 0:05:06when Trawsfynydd was being built just 50 years ago, and the process has thrown up major challenges.
0:05:06 > 0:05:13Over 500 people are employed at the site and decommissioning is costing £1 million per week.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Back then, they took no consideration at all into how they were going to
0:05:16 > 0:05:20take it apart, even though they knew it had a finite lifetime.
0:05:20 > 0:05:26There were plans put in place as to how to put the waste in safe places, but there were no plans or even
0:05:26 > 0:05:31any requirements that the waste would have to be retrieved and sorted and stored safely in the long term.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34That was perhaps left for future generations.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39We are the future generation, and even with my age now we have got the next generation coming along.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42But we do have plans to safely recover and retrieve those wastes.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46If the plant dominates its surroundings, the interior is even more amazing.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47Wow!
0:05:47 > 0:05:49This is colossal.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54I am inside one of the two reactor buildings, the twin towers at the heart of Trawsfynydd.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57They are both being substantially reduced in size -
0:05:57 > 0:06:02the result of a public inquiry to find out how local people wanted the site to appear in future.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07They voted overwhelmingly to do away with the impressive castle approach
0:06:07 > 0:06:12and opted instead for smaller buildings to house the nuclear reactors until they are safe.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15That is in about 75 to 80 years' time.
0:06:15 > 0:06:23The reactors took nearly six years to build and will need to remain in situ until 2085.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26The roof is now being lowered.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29I feel minute, and yet we are still only, what?
0:06:29 > 0:06:32The ground is 100 feet down there?
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Yes, about 100 feet.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38- And the very top of this, that's 175 feet above ground level.- Wow.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41So at the moment we are actually positioned on top of this red slab.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43This is the capping roof above the charge face.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48There's the large crane overhead, and if we look down underneath us where the charge face is,
0:06:48 > 0:06:55we have a number of stand pipes, and these connect the reactor pressure vessel, the blue item.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01- And this is sat within concrete bioshield. This is several metres thick.- I love that crane.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03It's a wonderful crane, yes.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05- That is a crane. - Yeah, that is a crane and a half.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09And the reason why it's such a substantial crane, it goes back to this point about
0:07:09 > 0:07:16the fuelling machinery was really very heavy, very substantial, over 100 tonnes,
0:07:16 > 0:07:17different items.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20But that's going?
0:07:20 > 0:07:24That's right. So in the final phase when we come to do the height reduction -
0:07:24 > 0:07:29as I said, that's taking this top third down, the crane, etc, the roof, everything -
0:07:29 > 0:07:32that's all part of that particular phase of works.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33- Bit of scrap.- Yeah.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37What generally happens these days with scrap copper, steelwork,
0:07:37 > 0:07:45generally there's a market for it and more often than not it will actually pay for the decommissioning work.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48- Hey.- So there should be an income from this as well.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51- You're making money here?- That's good. That's good for the customer.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56Size clearly matters at Trawsfynydd, and Iain Wright is only just
0:07:56 > 0:07:59beginning to take in the photographic challenges.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04It's big, I suppose, but like a lot of industrial buildings they're on a sort of scale.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06Here you're looking at one floor, it's not the whole building.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08You haven't got the whole height.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10And unfortunately when you come to record them,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13it always has to be from the corners to get as much as you can, really.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18But you are trying to record what was here because of the enormous history to this sort of place.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22And actually it's all within our lifetime, which is extraordinary.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25The whole thing's been built and it's all coming down again.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Removal of waste is one of the key problems.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37Although 99.9% of the most toxic material has now been removed,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41there are six ongoing recovery schemes.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44This is my video game for real.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49What we are looking at here is an old cooling pond for spent radioactive fuel rods.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53And what I'm looking for here is a machine called...
0:08:53 > 0:08:56There it is, the scabbling machine.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01And this goes along and removes 20 millimetres of contaminated concrete.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05In all, there's 300 tons of contaminated concrete, and this machine
0:09:05 > 0:09:10takes it off, reduces it to dust and then it's all safely removed.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15I suppose it's like a jackhammer and a vacuum cleaner all rolled into one.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18It's exactly that. There's no leading-edge technology here.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21You will see some of these tools on typical excavators
0:09:21 > 0:09:22out on a demolition site.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25The beauty we have is being able to switch between the tools remotely.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28We can break out the rubble, we can then crush it
0:09:28 > 0:09:32using these pulveriser pads that the team actually designed on site.
0:09:32 > 0:09:38We then extract it up using the vacuum head, and it is like putting a Dyson on the end of the machine,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42but distinctly more powerful because you are sucking up aggregate and concrete dust.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46We can fill one of our waste containers, which is
0:09:46 > 0:09:48over three-quarters of a tonne, in a couple of hours.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54For Iain, the control room offers a fascinating close-up of decommissioning in action.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00I see you're taking some pictures of pretty modern activity here, Iain.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02It's modern now.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06You've got to remember, in the future, people will say,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10"How did they decommission?" And you say, "Well, you sort of
0:10:10 > 0:10:14"scrape the concrete off and you drag it away and put it somewhere safe."
0:10:14 > 0:10:21It's one thing saying that, but people want to see images, it's not just reading about it.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23I mean, I remember, as a child, with comics and things,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26I just used to look at the pictures. I never read the words.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28That's why I'm doing this!
0:10:29 > 0:10:35Monitoring is the name of the game at every stage, especially when entering and leaving.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Everyone leaving has to go through one of these. It's a contamination monitor.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46It's all so safe here that, touch wood, coming out leaves you as clean as going in.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52'Turn and assume backward monitoring position.'
0:10:53 > 0:10:55'Monitoring complete.'
0:10:57 > 0:10:59There was one exception.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01When the Chernobyl reactor blew up in 1986,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06radioactivity was carried on the wind to the UK and fell in rainfall on Snowdonia.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11Workers coming here the next day showed noticeably higher levels of radiation.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Magnox North, the decommissioning company,
0:11:15 > 0:11:20is working closely with locals to create a legacy which will benefit the community.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23A priority is to develop tourism.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The lake is already used by anglers and has the potential to become
0:11:26 > 0:11:29a centre of excellence for water sports and leisure.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33The Royal Commission is interested in the total history of the site
0:11:33 > 0:11:37and keen to conserve memories, wherever they originate.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40We've learned a lot today, coming here with Iain.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44We've been looking at the activities that are going on here now
0:11:44 > 0:11:47as well as the history of the site, which was one of the things that we were aware of.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52I think we've realised that the decommissioning process itself is something we need to be recording.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57And our record of that as an organisation that does photography
0:11:57 > 0:12:02and survey will sit alongside, hopefully, oral history with the local community and material
0:12:02 > 0:12:07from the past going into archives and libraries and museums to make sure that this story
0:12:07 > 0:12:12of this incredibly important site is available to the people of Wales in the future.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31I feel like I'm travelling back in time, heading over to
0:12:31 > 0:12:36one of the most fascinating islands in the UK in terms of prehistory.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42Situated at the southern tip of St Bride's Bay in Pembrokeshire,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Skomer is an archaeologist's paradise.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50Its remoteness and lack of development mean that large tracks of the islands
0:12:50 > 0:12:52have been undisturbed since prehistoric times.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Until now, it's been thought that the remains date from the Iron Age,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00but new evidence suggests that we may be looking at Stone Age settlements.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05Louise Barker and Toby Driver from the Royal Commission are beginning a new survey
0:13:05 > 0:13:10which holds the tantalising prospect that the story of human settlement on the island
0:13:10 > 0:13:13dates back 5,000 years.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Well, the last surveys of Skomer were carried out in the 1950s and 1980s.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19They were both excellent for their time.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23But Skomer is of European archaeological significance.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Looking at it again, Louise and I have started seeing
0:13:26 > 0:13:29an immense amount of new information that's not noted down anywhere.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33It's quite staggering, actually. That's why we're taking an interest today.
0:13:33 > 0:13:34We've got lots of new technology.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Specifically, I should mention LIDAR,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39which is the aerial laser scanning.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41So that really is starting to yield more information.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45But it's also older technologies.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Every year, Toby's flying and gathering more aerial photographs,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51and each time under different conditions.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58Looking from the air at winter time when the vegetation's very low, the light scuds across the landscape.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02It picks out every lump and bump. Every THING people have done on Skomer,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05over the last few thousand years, ago stands out.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Comparing what we see on the photographs, the field systems,
0:14:09 > 0:14:14the field boundaries, the huts, with what had been mapped in the previous surveys,
0:14:14 > 0:14:20we can see new information and that's telling us a new story now about how the island developed in prehistory.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25In terms of human settlement, boundaries are being pushed back.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31The standard story for Skomer is that it was occupied in the Iron Age, before the Romans came to Wales.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Maybe more than a century of occupation. That's the story.
0:14:35 > 0:14:43They arrived and - the old Easter Island scenario - they ran out of wood, water and they left the island.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Looking at what we've got on the island, that's far too simplified.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49What would you suggest is more likely then?
0:14:49 > 0:14:53I think when you start looking at the island, we can take the history of the island much further back,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57much earlier in to the Stone Age possibly.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02One of the structures that particularly excites Louise is this roundhouse.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04There are several on the island.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07As a medievalist who studied in Ireland,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11where there are early medieval roundhouses by the score, I'm intrigued.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15We're just stood in the main home that's often termed as a roundhouse.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The structure that we're looking at now is slightly more oval.
0:15:19 > 0:15:20They're all very similar.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24You can see where the wall has been exposed along this side here.
0:15:24 > 0:15:31Vertical, upright stones, low wall timber, a timber upper half here.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36So it fits in with the whole island in the prehistory of the island.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39So what do these roundhouses tell us of our settlements on the island?
0:15:39 > 0:15:43When you look at a plan which maps the archaeology on the island,
0:15:43 > 0:15:49we've got at least 30, 30 plus roundhouses that we've got recorded here.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53They appear in small clusters, perhaps two, three, four houses at a time.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59You're looking at a hamlet settlement. You'd have the roundhouse
0:15:59 > 0:16:03and surrounding it you'd have the enclosures, fields and paddocks.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It would almost be like a village or a hamlet.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10I think this is a land of opportunity out here.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13This is why it doesn't quite fit with the abandonment of the island,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18and the desolation of the island, having to go back to the mainland.
0:16:18 > 0:16:24If you're cultivating crops, you're harvesting the natural resources, you've got the coppice woodland
0:16:24 > 0:16:28to provide you with building material and fuel. Why do you need to leave?
0:16:28 > 0:16:30It's a good place to live.
0:16:30 > 0:16:37It was a good place to die as well, with evidence of burial sites scattered throughout the landscape.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44What's most interesting, came back here today particularly, these odd boulders on the ridges behind us.
0:16:44 > 0:16:4920 years ago, people would've thought they were old stones lying around on the top of the hill,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53but now we're understanding a bit more about what neolithic people,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56new stone-age people were doing 5,000 years ago with burial and ritual.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Sometimes they used boulders to put the bones of their dead.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02They used to prop them up on stones as well.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07Maybe we're seeing evidence of earlier ritual structures here overlooking the later farms.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13The exciting thing about this valley particularly,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17is it's like we're standing in a street, a village or a hamlet.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23You can imagine the people, imagine the farmers, children here, a long time ago.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25This would have been a very busy place once upon a time.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30Skomer is famous as a bird sanctuary, offering a spectacular summer home
0:17:30 > 0:17:34to thousands of breeding seabirds, such as puffins.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42When night falls, another visitor arrives, Manx Shearwater,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45which live in burrows often colonised from rabbits.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50Some of the burrows run underneath the archaeological sites.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Is there a conflict between wildlife and archaeology?
0:17:54 > 0:17:57I wouldn't say no, there's burrows absolutely everywhere on the island.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59We've 120,000 breeding pairs of shearwaters
0:17:59 > 0:18:02and they all breed in burrows under the ground.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05The archaeology is very close to that and there's nothing we can do
0:18:05 > 0:18:10about the shearwaters affecting the archaeology. I don't think they do to a great extent.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14The primary aim of this reserve is the wildlife and the archaeology as well.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It's a very interesting balance.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21Back at headquarters, Toby showed me how technology is posing new questions.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26Here we've some LIDAR data, some airborne laser scanning data.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30This isn't an aerial photograph, this is captured from an aeroplane.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35The aeroplane is flying over Skomer and a laser is scanning the ground below it.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40It gives us an amazing popped-up 3D view of the landscape.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43We can begin to get a sense of where people were living.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48Here is that farm again on the coast overlooking the cliffs on the northern side of Skomer.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53We can have a bit of fun. We can turn the sun around in the computer and have the sun rising
0:18:53 > 0:18:58from the northeast or northwest, from places that would be impossible in real life.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04This allows us to cast shadows on that very faint archaeology, to reveal it more clearly.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08If you were standing on Skomer now, would you see these for yourself?
0:19:08 > 0:19:12There's no guarantee we'd see things as clearly on the ground as we do on the laser data.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16There's long grass, scrub, bushes and so on.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19With this view we can see things very clearly and it gives us an idea
0:19:19 > 0:19:23of where to go with our survey gear when we get out there next year.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28It's such a bonus to have this cutting edge data to show us where the archaeology is.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31It really saves us time in the field.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46With its sandbanks, rocks and massive tides, the Bristol Channel
0:19:46 > 0:19:50remains the most dangerous shipping channels in the world.
0:19:50 > 0:19:56Back in the days of sail, to be a pilot required great skill and long experience.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59They were great characters and so were the little boats
0:19:59 > 0:20:04that ferried them back and forth between the cargo ships and the docks.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08The waters around Sully Island have been the graveyard of many a ship,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12including this ribbed skeleton of a wreck on the foreshore.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16The Royal Commission's Maritime Office, Deanna Groom, has studied
0:20:16 > 0:20:21records of sinkings in these treacherous waters and believes it may be that of the Baratanach -
0:20:21 > 0:20:28a pilot cutter like this which went down in a storm in 1916.
0:20:28 > 0:20:34The location fits, but so far it's only guesswork and today, Deanna's in search of evidence.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Part of the research we're doing for the National Monuments Record is a programme of shipwreck research.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45This wreck is visible in our aerial photograph collections.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Some of the references I saw suggest it was the Baratanach.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54The information we have about the Baratanach, it was built in 1879,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58it was built for a pilot called Thomas Rosser, a Cardiff pilot.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02It was wrecked twice before it ended up here at Sully Island.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04He rehearsed all this then.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06What we know about the Baratanach,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11it was 41'5" long, the old imperial measure.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Looking at this, this looks a good bit longer.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Too long, we can go home now.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21We're looking at a really nice, kind of... Bit visual here.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26..a really lovely...wine-glass shape for the hull.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27This looks very flat.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32A flat barge, more cargo carrier.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The channel is littered with wrecks.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39We've 66 records for pilot cutters.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Primarily the cause of loss is collision.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47Over half of them were lost in a very difficult manoeuvre.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50That's reassuring because these guys were meant to be the ones that know
0:21:50 > 0:21:53everything there is to know about the Bristol Channel.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Yet 66 of them went down.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59If it's collisions, it shows how dangerous their job was.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01It was a dangerous manoeuvre.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06Statistics say that was the primary cause of loss and it's connected to what they were doing.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10It's a tiny little wooden sailing boat, coming in close proximity
0:22:10 > 0:22:14to a large steam ship or large sailing vessel. That's dangerous.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17This mystery boat, could this be it?
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It's in the right place. One of the reported places was the north side of Sully Island.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25That's where we are - in the rain today, unfortunately.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29- There's a doubt here isn't there? - There's a doubt because I think what we're looking at today
0:22:29 > 0:22:33is probably just that bit too long and too big.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36What we're going to do, if you'll be my assistant.
0:22:36 > 0:22:42We're going to get a tape measure out and run it along from the stern to the bow
0:22:42 > 0:22:43and get an idea of how long it is.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48That will tell us about the kind of vessel we're looking at.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Pilot cutters raced each other to meet big boats coming up the Bristol Channel,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57intent on getting their pilots on board to steer the ship safety into port.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03It was dangerous and taxing work, calling for detailed knowledge of tides and hidden reefs.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05If you want to know what the Baratanach looked like,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10you can get a pretty good idea from the Olga, a cutter built in 1909 -
0:23:10 > 0:23:13seven years before the Baratanach went down.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17The Olga is owned by Swansea Museum and I was intrigued to find out
0:23:17 > 0:23:21how the pilots transferred from the cutter to the incoming boat.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26They had a punt, which is basically a small little rowing dinghy
0:23:26 > 0:23:30between eight and ten feet long, which usually lived on the deck here.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34We have a life raft now instead and the punt was literally lowered
0:23:34 > 0:23:37over the side by using a boom, like a crane.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40The pilot would jump in, row across.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45You can imagine rowing across in some of the weather they were out in. It must have been dreadful.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Then he'd step aboard the bigger ship and pilot the big ship in.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52- How far out to sea would they go? - This particular pilot would have worked
0:23:52 > 0:23:56as far as the Scillies perhaps to try and pick up some of the traffic.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00Sometimes there were up to ten boats racing for the business. It depends how busy they were.
0:24:00 > 0:24:06You can imagine the ports into the South Wales area. There are hundreds of ships coming up on a high tide.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Every boat had to have a pilot so there would be up to 20 pilots
0:24:09 > 0:24:14working out of Swansea, 30 pilots out of Cardiff, and 20 out of Newport.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Immense spirit of competition. Did they cut any corners?
0:24:17 > 0:24:20I'm sure they did. I think a lot of money was made elsewhere as well.
0:24:20 > 0:24:27Contraband etc. I know smuggling was a pastime for some of the pilot boat captains for sure.
0:24:27 > 0:24:34Extra cash. You can imagine before the days of GPS etc, everything was done by paper charts.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39There was always ambiguities about the paper charts they were using.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44You can imagine it out there being a free-for-all, going as fast as you can, terrible weather in the winter.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49Probably one of the most dangerous places on earth to sail with the extreme tides that we have.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52These guys really knew their stuff, they were the best.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20I can see that, as Deanna gets the measure of the wreck, doubts are beginning to creep in.
0:25:25 > 0:25:3018.50m. If I turn it over, we've got the old imperial measures.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36We got 61 feet. It's definitely too long isn't it? It's too big.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39- Size does matter.- Yes, it does!
0:25:39 > 0:25:45- When you're a pilot cutter. - Or not!- This is just too big.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49With one theory sunk, what are we left with?
0:25:49 > 0:25:50We have a mystery here.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54One closes, another one opens up.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58We've still got two pilot cutters here somewhere that we're still to find.
0:25:58 > 0:26:04We have another mystery vessel but in the meantime, we'll have to close the door on this being the Baratanach.
0:26:05 > 0:26:12'At Commission headquarters, the scale of what's involved, trying to identify wrecks becomes apparent.'
0:26:12 > 0:26:17Around Sully Island itself, we've got about 16 references to shipwrecks.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20These are the two pilot cutters here, the Lotte and Baratanach.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23This is our wreck on the foreshore here. The Swanbridge wreck.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28The white is actually land so what you're looking at, this white patch here,
0:26:28 > 0:26:35this is Sully Island and these green areas are intertidal and are dry when the tide goes out.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39If you get caught out and the winds are wrong, they would get blown
0:26:39 > 0:26:43to shore here on this side of the island to be wrecked or stranded.
0:26:43 > 0:26:50If we zoom out a bit on the map and look at the bigger picture for the whole of Wales,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53you can get an idea of what the data set is at present time.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57There's about 5,500 ship wrecks around the coast of Wales.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Half of those we don't actually know what the vessels are.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Cardiff, as expected, with the coal port and trading in and out of there,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07the map actually starts to go bright red.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11There's almost no space between the dots at this scale and resolution.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16That's the scale of the problem, to try and put names to those wrecks.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20So now, where there was one mystery,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23there are two, the name of the wreck on Sully Foreshore
0:27:23 > 0:27:29and the location of a pilot cutter, from the glorious days of sail, called Baratanach.
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