:00:01. > :00:11.Did the demands of a yacht delivery company lead to the loss of three
:00:11. > :00:12.
:00:12. > :00:20.boats and the deaths of five crew? How many more families have to go
:00:20. > :00:26.through the heartbreak? Can no more skippers have to die? -- how many
:00:26. > :00:35.more? And as Stargazing Live returns to our screens, we find out
:00:35. > :00:39.what we can see in the skies above Kent and Sussex. This guy is full
:00:39. > :00:44.of stars, and each one of those stars possibly has a planetary
:00:44. > :00:50.system around it. If you want to know how many galaxies there are in
:00:50. > :00:56.the entire universe, there are the same sorts of numbers, two to 400
:00:56. > :00:59.billion galaxies in the village -- visible universe. I'm Natalie
:00:59. > :01:09.Graham with untold stories, closer to home. From all round the South
:01:09. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:26.Hello, tonight we're in the castle in Herstmonceux in East Sussex, one
:01:26. > :01:29.of the first castles in England to be built out of brick. We'll be
:01:29. > :01:31.back in Herstmonceux later, but first, whether it's a short trip to
:01:31. > :01:37.France or somewhere further afield, sailing is a pastime enjoyed by
:01:37. > :01:40.many people living in Kent and Sussex. It's an industry that
:01:40. > :01:43.employs over 9,000 people in the South East and one way to get
:01:43. > :01:49.started in the yachting business is to deliver new boats to new
:01:49. > :01:59.customers. But we've investigated claims that the operations of one
:01:59. > :02:06.
:02:06. > :02:10.delivery company had fatal It is not always possible to avoid
:02:10. > :02:15.bad weather, particularly if the yacht delivery company were poor is
:02:15. > :02:18.not giving you enough support. We're getting ready to go out to
:02:19. > :02:22.sea. It is not a delivery and they're not crossing in the oceans,
:02:22. > :02:27.but still, this yacht is better equipped than some of those
:02:27. > :02:31.delivered by Reliance. The crew of well-qualified, the skipper's
:02:31. > :02:38.decision on board his final and we have got the latest act by the
:02:38. > :02:44.report. It was midwinter when Alastair Crawford set out into the
:02:44. > :02:52.Bay of Biscay, bound for the Caribbean. He was a recently
:02:52. > :02:59.qualified skipper but had already crossed -- who had already crossed
:02:59. > :03:09.the number of motions with Reliance. These pictures were shot just hours
:03:09. > :03:10.
:03:10. > :03:16.later. Richard heat was on board. The notorious Bay of Biscay was
:03:16. > :03:23.living up to its reputation. It is a dangerous place, as many of these
:03:23. > :03:30.wrecks testify. We were about a mile offshore when a big wave hit
:03:30. > :03:35.the vote. The third crew member was a 17-year-old man from Holland. He
:03:35. > :03:45.described the events in an e-mail. Suddenly come a massive wave hit
:03:45. > :03:46.
:03:46. > :03:53.the top of the mast, 50 ft high. Valda broke through 360 degrees. --
:03:53. > :04:03.roared at the vote. Early Mick -- only macro make made it back on
:04:03. > :04:06.
:04:07. > :04:13.board. Richard was exhausted from towing Alastair. I try to help him,
:04:13. > :04:19.but he could not be resuscitated. He stayed with the vote into the
:04:19. > :04:24.was rescued by emergency services. Alastair's body was washed up near
:04:24. > :04:29.by and the man from Hull and never recovered from the trauma. He died
:04:29. > :04:33.a few years later. The yacht does not appear to have been legally
:04:33. > :04:38.registered. We understand another delivery company with boats in that
:04:38. > :04:42.area warned its crew to stay in port. Alastair's mother claimed
:04:42. > :04:49.there was so much pressure that he changed his plans for Christmas to
:04:49. > :04:54.get out to France. He says it was a case of pressure, pressure,
:04:54. > :05:00.pressure. An inquiry found Alastair was trying to reduce delays to the
:05:00. > :05:03.delivery, but have the skipper was ultimately responsible. Richard
:05:03. > :05:13.says the tragedy could have been prevented if basic equipment had
:05:13. > :05:19.been on board. We could have been able to sail much better in the can
:05:19. > :05:23.-- in the conditions with better sales. Alastair Crawford was not
:05:23. > :05:28.qualified to sail a vote like this offshore. It is a commercial vessel
:05:28. > :05:38.round as a business, and as such, has to be properly equipped with a
:05:38. > :05:42.
:05:42. > :05:46.well qualified crew. It is an unregulated industry. Yachtswoman
:05:46. > :05:52.Faisal Shahzad knows only too well the dangers of their profession and
:05:52. > :05:56.that short cuts put lives at risk. By registering it as a pleasure
:05:56. > :06:00.vessel, he could do the trip across and then once it gets to the
:06:00. > :06:08.Caribbean it would become a charter yacht can to meet the requirements.
:06:08. > :06:16.That just stinks away of not putting the safety equipment in
:06:16. > :06:21.place required. The company says there was adequate weather
:06:21. > :06:31.information and ways of receiving and denies Alastair was under
:06:31. > :06:41.pressure. John was also there and had sold water running through his
:06:41. > :06:56.
:06:56. > :07:03.veins. -- salt water. It was a natural instinct for him. He could
:07:03. > :07:08.reap the sea. Later in that year, Reliance contra -- contacted the
:07:08. > :07:13.sailor to take a yacht to Seattle on the north coast of America.
:07:13. > :07:21.Delivering other people's yachts is a great way to see the world and
:07:21. > :07:28.experience high seas. Canadian Paul wanted to get some good of --
:07:28. > :07:34.offshore experience. It was well advertised on the internet. Paul
:07:34. > :07:39.fluted Trinidad where he met John and Casper on board Cat Shot. But
:07:39. > :07:43.all three were worried about the unpredictable weather and the final
:07:43. > :07:47.voyage to Seattle. John warned Reliance about the storms. He
:07:48. > :07:51.wanted to wait and to have it cleared and suggested an
:07:51. > :07:58.alternative route, but Reliance has said he had retired attitude and
:07:58. > :08:02.was making too much of the weather. They said not to worry. He did ask
:08:02. > :08:12.Reliance if he could change route and go up around Hue and avoid the
:08:12. > :08:14.
:08:14. > :08:21.hurricane and he was flatly told none. -- around Hawaii. Paul and
:08:21. > :08:24.Caspar decided to leave Cat Shot when they reached California.
:08:24. > :08:30.told John that were wasn't happy going further north at this time of
:08:30. > :08:38.the year. John told Reliance that Paul said the chances of survival
:08:38. > :08:47.were slim. John now needed two new crew to complete the delivery.
:08:47. > :08:54.was told he had a tired attitude because he was complaining. John
:08:55. > :09:03.was joined by Richard on the left hint recommended Dave. -- who
:09:03. > :09:13.recommended day. I took him to the airport and I remember having a
:09:13. > :09:14.
:09:14. > :09:23.really sick feeling... Excuse me. That was the last time I saw my
:09:23. > :09:33.husband. He was asking what the weather was like. The e-mail said
:09:33. > :09:34.
:09:34. > :09:40.that the weather was fine, C wins the lack -- see you in Seattle.
:09:40. > :09:45.world fell apart. Carol has not seen all the evidence contained in
:09:45. > :09:49.a report on the loss of Cat Shot and the three deaths. Before Cat
:09:49. > :09:54.Shot left San Francisco, Paul warned reliance that the voyage was
:09:54. > :09:58.dangerous. It was not just the weather. Paul was also concerned
:09:58. > :10:08.about the lack of basic equipment and the condition of the vote.
:10:08. > :10:09.
:10:09. > :10:19.There was some fairly major deficiency on the vote. There was
:10:19. > :10:28.
:10:28. > :10:38.no heat. There was no heat, no radar, no survival suits... You
:10:38. > :10:45.
:10:45. > :10:51.have got to stop. Stop. Sir, Could this tragedy have been avoided?
:10:51. > :10:57.has just spent half of the money that he had the beginning on fuel
:10:57. > :11:01.Provisions and crew and he was risking not getting paid. It was
:11:01. > :11:08.undue pressure from the company to force him to take that final leg up
:11:08. > :11:18.to Seattle. Wendy says the Reliance employee admitted they ignored the
:11:18. > :11:23.warnings. These warnings will stay with me forever. They said it was
:11:23. > :11:32.unsafe and they did not listen. They knew he was telling him that
:11:32. > :11:36.it wasn't safe. That was really the last we heard from Reliance.
:11:36. > :11:41.worked for or Reliance as a delivery skipper. He later had a
:11:41. > :11:51.major falling out with the company and severed all comers. At the time,
:11:51. > :11:53.
:11:53. > :12:03.it was terrible. It was a pretty sombre place. It wasn't long before
:12:03. > :12:03.
:12:03. > :12:13.it was all back and running as per normal. I heard a huge bang and
:12:13. > :12:16.
:12:16. > :12:23.they felt the vote lurched -- and they felt the ship lurched. Nobody
:12:23. > :12:28.would know how it happened. would think that after the loss of
:12:28. > :12:33.three men, and it would be more attentive to what the crew had to
:12:33. > :12:39.say. But just two months later, it would appear that he ignored
:12:39. > :12:49.another skipper. I was blunt be instructed to say, go north of
:12:49. > :12:54.
:12:54. > :12:59.Bermuda or do not work for us again. A board was Ollie, and skipper
:13:00. > :13:08.Steve. Steve vowed he would be at his daughter's wedding in the
:13:08. > :13:14.States. He promised me he would be there. The French built catamaran
:13:14. > :13:23.headed off for what should have been an easy path that at that time
:13:23. > :13:33.of year. Steve got a text message saying that they wanted to change
:13:33. > :13:34.
:13:34. > :13:39.I was confused. He did want to do it for the reason that this high
:13:39. > :13:44.pressure that sits with the trade winds forming unde-- underneath has
:13:44. > :13:47.big depressions going across the top of it. Which are the
:13:47. > :13:52.depressions that fuel our winter weather as they travel across the
:13:52. > :13:58.Atlantic and give us wind and rain and cold. We have from Florida the
:13:58. > :14:03.warm Gulf Stream comes up from the cold polar region. The current
:14:03. > :14:06.comes down and they tend to meet here. And that difference in
:14:06. > :14:12.temperature fuels, helps generate more energy for these depression,
:14:12. > :14:20.so they get more vicious. So he has gone from the perfect yacht
:14:20. > :14:25.delivery route to being told to weather. Steve didn't want to
:14:26. > :14:33.divert. It was a bad time of year to head north. Was history about to
:14:33. > :14:39.repeat itself? They held that over his head, whether, if you don't...
:14:40. > :14:44.Change course, go there, and if you decide to go on to Fort Lauderdale,
:14:44. > :14:48.we might not have another job for you. The instructions came from
:14:49. > :14:54.Reliance back in Farnborough, but Steve got his weather information
:14:54. > :14:59.from his children. Dad had to get his own satellite phone. Even down
:14:59. > :15:03.to training Jonathan and I how to plot the weather on the internet,
:15:03. > :15:09.you know, with his position, and then text him important things, you
:15:09. > :15:13.know, that were coming up in the weather, things that maybe a yacht
:15:13. > :15:17.company should be doing. I don't know, I wasn't a professional.
:15:17. > :15:23.the upturned Hull Kevin Olly and Steve were clipped on with harnesss
:15:23. > :15:29.but were washed off every 30 seconds by the 45 foot waves.
:15:29. > :15:35.land on me in a way his head was staring at my face and he was under
:15:36. > :15:41.the water, about eight inches with his mouth agape. 11 hours after the
:15:41. > :15:47.capsize Kevin and Olly were rescued. Matt claims Nick gave the fatal
:15:47. > :15:51.order. Have to live with that, with the knowledge that I could have
:15:52. > :16:01.helped him, I could have done something, I could have changed the
:16:02. > :16:05.
:16:05. > :16:11.course of events, but... Just have to live with that. I want to show
:16:11. > :16:17.you some of the extraordinary lengths we go to. We have evidence
:16:17. > :16:22.that Mr Irvine lied to owners and insurance ability a skip ever's
:16:22. > :16:28.experience. He is embellishing your CV to show lots of deliveries.
:16:28. > :16:35.There, it is in black-and-white. Nick added nearly 10,000 miles,
:16:35. > :16:36.tripling a skipper's actual experience. The Maritime and
:16:36. > :16:41.Coastguard Agency asked the Crown Prosecution Service whether
:16:42. > :16:46.criminal proceedings could follow from the death of John. But because
:16:46. > :16:51.Cat Shot was foreign registered both were powerless. John's sister
:16:51. > :16:56.sued for negligence and won. The judgment was damning, concluding
:16:56. > :17:01.pressure from Reliance caused the loss of skipper and crew. He has
:17:02. > :17:08.five deaths on his hands now. I don't know how Nick Irvine sleeps
:17:08. > :17:14.at night. Reliance boss Nick ervin refused to be interviewed. He said
:17:14. > :17:17.his business had completed throughs of delivery, his skippers are
:17:17. > :17:22.professional and given 24 support. I want to ask you about the deaths
:17:22. > :17:27.of favour sailors. Yes. I want to ask why you put so much pressure on
:17:27. > :17:32.them to sail on a route they didn't want to. I have answered those
:17:32. > :17:36.questions with your producer. owe it to the families of those
:17:36. > :17:39.people who lost their husband, brothers. The losses are great. I
:17:39. > :17:43.can't, you know, make up for that, but I do respond to those question,
:17:43. > :17:50.and I have answered them as best I can. If you want to take it further
:17:50. > :17:55.put it in writing. We did put it in writing and denied pressuring the
:17:55. > :17:59.skipper. He ignored our specific questions about his e-mails so we
:17:59. > :18:05.gave him one last chance. Sending e-mails saying they are making too
:18:05. > :18:11.much of it. This was to John who said the weather was unsafe. I have
:18:11. > :18:15.answered those questions. The e- mails you sent are here, putting
:18:15. > :18:20.unfair pressure on the skippers. That is an opinion that is yours.
:18:20. > :18:24.Obviously not mine. We offered to show MrEr vin how he was avoiding
:18:24. > :18:31.our questions.Some I have your answers here f you want to look at
:18:31. > :18:37.them. Then put it in writing. I am happy to respond. Can can can can I
:18:37. > :18:45.ask you about a CV as well? Why did you falsify a skipper's experience
:18:45. > :18:50.on a CV. That is dangerous isn't it? He has been found liable liable
:18:50. > :18:55.in four civil cases. Four times a court has told you to pay. Why
:18:55. > :19:00.haven't you done that? If a court has ruled that you should pay...
:19:00. > :19:07.The court has ruled it against the company. Which you run. Yes I was
:19:07. > :19:10.director at the time. Let us finish this here, I need to get back.
:19:10. > :19:15.you got anything to say to the relatives of the skippers that were
:19:15. > :19:19.lost at sea, because of your actions and your company's actions?
:19:19. > :19:24.I have got something to say to them and it is personal and it will be
:19:24. > :19:31.to them directly and not in a public arena here. In their grief,
:19:31. > :19:37.relatives have found that Nick Irvine's silence speaks volumes.
:19:37. > :19:43.had a memorial party, I sent an e- mail to see if anyone wanted to pay
:19:43. > :19:50.their respects. No nobody replied. I don't think they have treated any
:19:50. > :20:00.of us like human beings that have lost somebody. They clearly didn't
:20:00. > :20:04.
:20:04. > :20:07.have any value for dad as a human being, a person or an employee.
:20:07. > :20:11.the hugely popular Stargazing LIVE programme returns to our screens
:20:11. > :20:21.tonight, and there are various live events taking place across Kent and
:20:21. > :20:23.
:20:23. > :20:32.Sussex in the coming weeks. Alien life, global destruction by meteor.
:20:32. > :20:37.Ancient gods, it is all out there in the space beyond our world. But
:20:37. > :20:42.when was the last time you really bothered to just stare up at the
:20:42. > :20:45.stars? What is their at traubgion and how do they affect our lives?
:20:46. > :20:52.For thousands of years, civilisations have been obsessed
:20:52. > :20:58.with heavenly body, from nearest planets to the outer limits. And
:20:58. > :21:02.one place where we can learn more about them is Herstmonceux, once
:21:02. > :21:07.home to the Royal Observatory which houses some of the most famous
:21:07. > :21:13.telescopes in the world. We have two here, two different age, the
:21:13. > :21:19.top is 150 years old so it is a very old one, bottom telescope, 26
:21:19. > :21:22.inch refracting telescope, one of the biggest in the world, is 120
:21:22. > :21:27.years old. Important research continues to be carried out here,
:21:27. > :21:31.there are also open days for adults and children, and courses are held
:21:31. > :21:36.for wannabe astronomer, Graham Voss is one of the instructors. So what
:21:36. > :21:42.can we learn from locking at the stars? We can learn where we came
:21:42. > :21:47.from, back in time, we can find out, we all came from the stars in the
:21:47. > :21:52.beginning, back 13 billion years ago, so really we are looking at
:21:52. > :21:57.where we came from. One man who has had close ties with Herstmonceux
:21:57. > :22:00.and star gaist gazing in the south- east is the nation's favourite
:22:00. > :22:04.astronomer Patrick Moore. What did you think of that. Incredible. One
:22:04. > :22:10.thing you have to bear in mind they were magnificent pictures. I am not
:22:10. > :22:14.going to say they show more detail from the or bitters but they
:22:14. > :22:20.probably don't. How did he get started. A little book. The story
:22:20. > :22:27.of the solar system. A long time favourite. I pick it up. I read it
:22:27. > :22:32.and I was fascinated. I went on from there. There is so much to see.
:22:32. > :22:35.Even now, always something new to see in the sky that you haven't
:22:35. > :22:40.seen before. Exploration beyond our planet is in our blood, and has
:22:40. > :22:47.been a driving force in our culture from science fiction, to science
:22:47. > :22:51.fact. So how do we start star- gazing? Astronomy is open to
:22:51. > :22:56.everybody. And you don't need a tell scoerpbgs you can start out
:22:56. > :23:02.with the naked eye. That is the first thing you remember. Anyone
:23:02. > :23:11.can take part. And that is a vital point. Also, it is about the one
:23:11. > :23:16.science where the amateur can play a valuable role. Planet, stars,
:23:16. > :23:20.solar systems. Galaxies, what do they all mean? The sky is full of
:23:20. > :23:25.stars. And each one of those stars possibly has a peninsula trisystem
:23:25. > :23:31.round it. When we look into the night-time sky all the stars we are
:23:31. > :23:37.looking at belong to our Milky Way galaxy. That contains between two
:23:37. > :23:41.and 400 billion stars. Now if you want to know how many galaxies
:23:41. > :23:48.there are in the universe, because Tay are like islands of stars there
:23:48. > :23:53.are the same sort of numbers. 2-400 billion galaxys in the visible
:23:53. > :23:58.universe. A mere 2.4 million light years away, this is the Andromeda
:23:58. > :24:01.galaxy, and on a clear night you can even see it, with the naked eye.
:24:01. > :24:05.It's a collection of stars held together under the influence of
:24:05. > :24:09.gravity. It is about twice the size of our own galaxy which is the
:24:09. > :24:15.Milky Way galaxy. You can see it with the naked eye if you know
:24:15. > :24:20.where you are looking, it's a fuzzy patch but it is there. Many of the
:24:20. > :24:24.telescopes at Herstmonceux have played a part in historic
:24:24. > :24:29.discoveries. Especially this one. The lens in this particular
:24:29. > :24:33.telescope was taken to Brazil to photograph the eclipse of the sun.
:24:33. > :24:37.In doing so, it helped prove Einstein's theory of relativity,
:24:37. > :24:42.but what it is nice for is the planets, and I remember the first
:24:42. > :24:49.time I looked through this telescope at Saturn and it blew my
:24:49. > :24:52.socks off. It was fabulous. Really fabulous. As well as being an
:24:52. > :24:55.observatory Herstmonceux has open days, or nights when it opens to
:24:55. > :24:59.the general public who get a chance to look tru the telescopes but to
:24:59. > :25:04.interact with the various displays. It is also a chance for local
:25:04. > :25:09.astronomers to set up their own telescopes. Indeed, Britain has
:25:09. > :25:13.more amateur astronomers than any other country. So what is the
:25:14. > :25:18.attraction? After a hard day's work of driving buses I find it a
:25:18. > :25:24.relaxing evening. I like to come up as many times as I can. Anybody can
:25:24. > :25:31.get into it. You only need a pair of binoculars or a tiny telescope.
:25:31. > :25:35.Doesn't have to be big. Cheap. came into star-gazing by watching
:25:35. > :25:39.the TV programme last year, Stargazing LIVE, I take an early
:25:39. > :25:49.retirement so it gave me an opportunity to have some free
:25:49. > :25:51.
:25:51. > :25:56.evening, a house husband during the day and a star gazer at night.
:25:56. > :26:05.not everyone needs to go this far, but local astronomer Paul Andrew
:26:05. > :26:09.has built his own observatory in his back garden. With his home
:26:09. > :26:19.observatory Paul can look out to distant galaxies, but he doesn't
:26:19. > :26:24.just look at the star, he takes photographs of them. What you can
:26:24. > :26:28.do is take some simple star trail photograph, using a simple digital
:26:28. > :26:32.SLR camera. If you want to take it further, so from basic star trail
:26:33. > :26:37.photographs, what you may want to do is counter act the earth's
:26:37. > :26:45.rotation, so you will need a telescope, so with an adapt for you
:26:46. > :26:50.put your cram in and you can make exposures that way. -- camera. It
:26:50. > :26:56.is incredible how vast our galaxy is, and we will probably never know
:26:56. > :27:01.all there is to know about our universe. Even so, the search still
:27:01. > :27:05.goes on, and we all have a chance to be part of it. In my whole
:27:05. > :27:12.career, what I have tried to do is interest other people, particularly
:27:12. > :27:15.youngsters and bring them into it. If I have done that I will feel
:27:15. > :27:19.satisfied. Have I succeeded? Others must judge that. There is certainly
:27:19. > :27:25.a whole new world out there. Billions of them really, and you
:27:25. > :27:29.only have to raise your eyes to see for yourself. There are many free
:27:29. > :27:32.or low cost star-gazing events happening across Kent and East
:27:32. > :27:38.Sussex where you can look up and learn more about the solar system
:27:38. > :27:48.with an expert. To find your nearest star-gazing event go to
:27:48. > :27:50.
:27:50. > :27:55.Now if you want any more information about tonight's show,
:27:55. > :28:04.then you can visit our Kent or Sussex websites. You can watch the
:28:04. > :28:08.whole show again by clicking on the iPlayer. Coming up next week. Could
:28:08. > :28:15.Kent and Sussex strike it rich? amount of natural gas under the
:28:15. > :28:22.ground, here in the UK, is estimated to be at least twice the
:28:22. > :28:27.size of the North Sea. What are the risks involved? I was shocked to
:28:27. > :28:31.discover how very damaging and how very dangerous it is. And the
:28:31. > :28:35.extraordinary story of how Sandwich helped to save thousands of men
:28:35. > :28:39.from the Holocaust. My father shoebg a lot about how when you
:28:39. > :28:43.come from an experience where you have been ost tra siesed and made
:28:43. > :28:48.to feel you are dirt, to come to a country where people don't know you,