1
00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:08,520
'Britain is an island, surrounded
by a cold and unforgiving sea.

2
00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:13,360
'For centuries, it protected us from
attack, but to prosper and thrive,

3
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,960
'we would need to do more then just
hide behind her saltwater shield.

4
00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,480
'Britain needed brave men, willing
to venture out into the unknown,

5
00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,920
'and she needed good boats
to take them there.

6
00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,800
'I've spent my life at sea.

7
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,840
'Now I'm going to take passage
on six boats, that together
tell the story of modern Britain.

8
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:41,800
'Built for exploration,
war, fishing, industry,
and our very survival,

9
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,400
'these are the boats
that built Britain,

10
00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,440
'and changed the way we live
forever.

11
00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,040
'This time, I'm sailing
on a replica of the boat

12
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:59,000
'that delivered the most important
message in British naval history,

13
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:04,960
'a message that confirmed Britain
as the world's first
maritime superpower.'

14
00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,760
I'm on the deck of one of the unsung
heroes of British history,

15
00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,480
HMS Pickle, the boat that delivered

16
00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,280
the most important piece
of naval news of all time.

17
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,920
Britain had just thrashed
the forces of France and Spain.

18
00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,240
Now, we really ruled the waves
after the Battle of Trafalgar,

19
00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:45,600
and this is the little ship
that brought the news home
to a waiting nation.

20
00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,280
'Today, the Royal Navy's ships
circle the globe unhindered,

21
00:01:54,280 --> 00:02:00,560
'but at the end of the 18th century,
the world's oceans were
a much more dangerous place.

22
00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:07,400
'In 1805, Britain had just fought
the most significant
naval battle in her history.'

23
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:09,120
After years of bloody struggle,

24
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,760
the French and the Spanish
were finally thoroughly defeated
on the high seas.

25
00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:21,280
The challenge now
was how to get the good news
home to the nation, and the King.

26
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,400
'Today, we take
instant communications
very much for granted.

27
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:32,720
'This modern Navy vessel
is equipped with every
communication device imaginable,

28
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,640
'but, back at the beginning
of the 19th century,

29
00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:41,200
'relaying important military news
back home could take weeks,
sometimes months.

30
00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,560
'In 1805, HMS Victory had just
survived the Battle of Trafalgar.

31
00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:08,240
'Thousands of men had perished,
and many more lay wounded.

32
00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:14,560
'And though Nelson, England's hero,
was dead, the battle had been won.

33
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,760
'But, back in Britain, where fear
of a French invasion was rampant,

34
00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,400
'nobody had any idea
of the momentous scenes

35
00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:32,760
'that had just unfolded 1,000 miles
away, off the coast of Spain.'

36
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,480
HMS Victory, an upper gun deck.

37
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:47,040
Absolute precision, naval fashion,
as it was before the battle, and as
it would have been weeks afterwards.

38
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:53,080
But on the day, in the hours
following the conflict, this place
would have been so different.

39
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,600
Guns upended off their carriages,
holes in the side, splinters,

40
00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,440
scores across the deck
where cannonballs had run.

41
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,440
Men, still lying where they fell,
others being carried below
to the doctor.

42
00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,520
Smoke, blood, unimaginable chaos.

43
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,840
The last thing on people's minds
would have been getting
the news home to England.

44
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:24,160
'But the fleet's new commander,
Admiral Collingwood, knew that
getting the news back was vital.

45
00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:29,280
'What he needed now
was a ship to carry the message.

46
00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:34,480
'His choice
for this critical mission
must have surprised everyone.

47
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,280
'To naval eyes,
HMS Pickle was hardly a ship at all.

48
00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:40,720
'She was only 73ft on deck.

49
00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:47,720
'She had no large guns,
and, worse, she had a strange,
suspiciously modern rig.

50
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,960
'During the battle, she'd run
errands and picked up survivors -

51
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,000
'valuable work,
but hardly the stuff of heroes.

52
00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:01,040
'For a little ship like the Pickle,
being chosen to deliver this news
was an unimaginable honour,

53
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:08,960
'and it was a pay day, too, with
£500 - a fortune in 1805 - the
reward for completing the mission.

54
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,760
'But what should have been
the Pickle's moment of glory
almost ended in failure,

55
00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:19,800
'as she became engaged in a race
with a bigger, faster ship,

56
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,000
'determined to take
the reward money for herself.

57
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,600
'The race is one of the greatest
sea stories of them all.

58
00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,600
'So, just what was it about
the Pickle that enabled her
to hold her own,

59
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,680
'against a ship, that,
in most conditions, should
have left her dead in the water?

60
00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,560
'Walking around the decks
of the Pickle,

61
00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:52,280
'I'm immediately struck
by just how different she is
to most of Nelson's Navy ships.

62
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:59,760
'By the time of Trafalgar,
the British Navy had developed
a massive shipbuilding industry -

63
00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:04,360
'capable of turning out huge ships
of the line at an amazing rate.

64
00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,000
'They were impressive
fighting machines,

65
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,440
'but, as sailing vessels,
they were extremely limited.

66
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:17,400
'In fact, their sail plan had
hardly changed in over 100 years.

67
00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:23,520
'The sails were square rigged,
and set from wooden
crosspieces, known as yards.

68
00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:28,160
'It meant they were good at sailing
with the wind pushing them
from behind.

69
00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:33,400
'But with the breeze coming
from any other direction,
they were far, far less effective.

70
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,920
'Unlike the little Pickle, a
schooner, with her more modern rig.'

71
00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,960
This is the main mast,
not a square yard on it,

72
00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,800
to the eye of an old-time captain
in the Royal Navy,

73
00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:49,720
that would have looked bare naked.

74
00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:55,560
He would have expected to see
three or four yards going across it,
to drive his ship downwind,

75
00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:57,200
and they'd have done that fine.

76
00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:03,480
But when he put a hard on the wind,
and tried to tack up towards
the wind's eye, no dice, mate.

77
00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,080
What you needed then was a big,
long boom like this,

78
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,720
with a great big sail on it,
that would lie close to the wind,

79
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,000
and make the boat fly
into the direction

80
00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:17,080
that sailors
from time immemorial
hadn't believed she could really go.

81
00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,680
That is the magic of the schooner.

82
00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,840
'It wasn't just the sails
that were revolutionary.

83
00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,320
'She had a hull to much.'

84
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,000
The Pickle was far from typical
of the naval vessels of her time.

85
00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,520
This is a heavy battleship,
but it gives you some idea
of what they tended to look like.

86
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:43,480
The Pickle was completely
different, much finer,
much more of a sailing vessel.

87
00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:50,880
'Most Navy ships of the time were
built around their need to carry
a huge and heavy arsenal of guns.

88
00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,320
'Glorious,
but ungainly vessels to sail,

89
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,400
'unlike the Pickle.'

90
00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:02,760
See that, that lovely,
wine glass sweep of the boat?

91
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:04,400
This great big dead drop,

92
00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,480
straight down into the water aft,
at the back end.

93
00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,800
Never mind the propeller,
that's just a temporary feature
for the 20th century.

94
00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,720
That wouldn't have been here.
What we're seeing
is the magic of the Pickle.

95
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,640
If you look at the bow,

96
00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:22,760
she's... Ooh, lovely, like a knife
going through the water.

97
00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:27,360
At five or six knots, you can
see her go through the water,
you won't know where she's been.

98
00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:28,880
She's what we call slippery.

99
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,640
'By today's standards, the Pickle's
hull looks conservative.

100
00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:39,440
'Back in 1805, many Navy men
would have considered her
dangerously unconventional.

101
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:46,200
'But her radical new shape
gave her one huge advantage
over older designs.'

102
00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,800
This section of the boat here,

103
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,040
all the way forward
to where she starts to V out,

104
00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:56,120
is actually like a wall,
straight down into the water.

105
00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:57,840
Now, look at it like this.

106
00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,400
If you had a barrel in the water,
and you pushed it,

107
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,520
you'd expect it to go sideways
quite nicely, wouldn't you?

108
00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:06,720
If you had a sheet of plywood,
and you pushed it into the water,

109
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,000
held it down,
and tried to push it sideways,

110
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,880
you'd meet tremendous resistance.
It's as easy as that.

111
00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,320
What you need is what sailors
call dead drop in the hull.

112
00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,560
Dead drop is that wall,
that stops the boat going sideways.

113
00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:21,000
Pickle's got lots of it.

114
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,800
This is what was developing,
fore-and-aft rig boats,

115
00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:28,160
that would resist the temptation
of the wind to shove them away
to kingdom come.

116
00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:32,160
They pointed at the wind,
they sailed upwind like bandits,

117
00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:36,240
and the square rig vessels,
with shapes like barrels,

118
00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:37,640
they couldn't match them.

119
00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:43,400
But just where had Pickle and her
uncompromising design come from?

120
00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:45,560
Accounts from the time
suggest the Pickle

121
00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:49,000
was an American or Bermudan boat
captured in the Caribbean

122
00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,840
and sailed back to Britain
by a forward-thinking officer

123
00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,760
who'd seen what a handy
little boat she was.

124
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,840
Unhindered by convention, the
Americans were completely rethinking

125
00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:05,520
boat design and the old powers
ignored their ideas at their peril.

126
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:12,440
It was the new world,
there were new men with new ideas
and they rattled the Royal Navy.

127
00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:24,560
The Pickle was certainly unorthodox,
and her skipper, Lieutenant
Lapenotiere, was unusual too.

128
00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:28,200
From a humble Cornish background,
he was a far cry

129
00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:30,120
from the well-connected
officer class

130
00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,560
more common
in the navy at the time.

131
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:38,320
Gordon Frickers has researched
the Pickle and her commanding
officer extensively.

132
00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:42,600
He was considered a solid,
reliable officer. He didn't
seem to make friends easily.

133
00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:49,520
He missed a number of chances to
enjoy the patronage of officers who
rose and became very distinguished.

134
00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:53,440
Many other officers rose
through the ranks faster than him.

135
00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,520
On the other hand, he had
a fairly successful career.

136
00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,440
He captured a number of prizes.
He never lost a ship.

137
00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,320
So he may have not been
very sociable,

138
00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:03,640
and some of the
officers were very sociable.

139
00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:09,880
A lot of them sang and danced
and put on theatre and all
sorts of things like that.

140
00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:15,680
But he was clearly a very good
seaman, a very good person
to be under the command of.

141
00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:19,720
And Pickle was a particularly
difficult ship to command.

142
00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:25,760
Small, wet and uncomfortable,
the Pickle might have been hard to
command, but with a modern design

143
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:31,440
and a down-to-earth skipper,
she was an early sign of
a new mood sweeping the Navy.

144
00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,760
For centuries, it had been
who you knew that had
opened the way ahead.

145
00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:41,400
Now, the Navy were trying to ensure
that it was what you knew
that counted.

146
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:48,120
And that knowledge was tested
here in Portsmouth, where the
dreaded naval exams were held.

147
00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:59,360
Introduced in 1792,
the exams were designed to
create a navy run on merit.

148
00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,800
The Pickle's skipper,
Lieutenant Lapenotiere,
was one of this new breed.

149
00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:12,000
And he'd have
faced a situation just like this
when he came to take his exams.

150
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,880
As I'm about to find out,
a daunting prospect.

151
00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,040
You're going large and you
see a ship in the wind's eye.

152
00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,480
How are you going to
proceed to chase her?

153
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,680
OK...sir.

154
00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:30,400
I'm large which means
I'm sailing away from the wind.

155
00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,120
And I see a chase

156
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:37,240
in the wind's eye,
directly to windward of me.

157
00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:42,160
'The exams could last
up to five hours
and covered every aspect of command.

158
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:48,400
'Any weakness or slight mistake
and the officer would be failed,

159
00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,080
'with years passing before he
could reapply for promotion.

160
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:59,720
'I suspect that if I'd been taking
this exam for real I wouldn't
have got that vital promotion.

161
00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:05,200
'But young Lieutenant Lapenotiere
had done his homework
and he managed rather better.

162
00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:11,240
'And passing the exam
meant he was now qualified to take
command of his own vessel.

163
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,240
'HMS Pickle.

164
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:24,560
'The original Pickle was
lost on a shoal in 1808,
but this boat is an exact replica.

165
00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:29,560
'And gives us a
perfect insight into how she would
have handled all those years ago.

166
00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:34,960
'She weighed a mere 127 tonnes.

167
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,880
'And with only ten guns, she
didn't pack much of a punch either.

168
00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,720
'But she was handy,
a small agile craft,

169
00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:47,200
'capable of pulling off manoeuvres
that larger ships wouldn't
have dared attempt.

170
00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:54,840
'I'm raring to get her out to sea
to find out just how she
handles for myself.

171
00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,080
'To discover what this little
ship is really capable of,

172
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,280
'I've brought along a shipmate
of mine Craig Nutter.

173
00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,160
'Craig's a circumnavigator
and racing professional

174
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:09,760
'who knows more about
sailing fast than anyone I know.

175
00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:16,200
'Today, there's a force eight
to storm ten predicted,

176
00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,320
'not the sort of weather you'd
normally consider setting out in.

177
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,960
'But we've got an experienced crew,
a proven ship,

178
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:29,720
'and these are exactly the sort of
conditions that will allow us to see
what the Pickle is really made of.'

179
00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:39,080
So I've got my little GPS
here and it shows us doing
between about 7.5 and 8.25 knots.

180
00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:44,160
You can really feel the power.
There's a bit of a heel on the
boat and we are moving nicely.

181
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,280
That's great.
We've just taken a gust of wind

182
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,160
over the quarter which is where
sailing vessels like it.

183
00:14:55,160 --> 00:15:00,960
And the boat staggered,
leaned a bit, came up and took off
and we're on our way.

184
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,760
What a great feeling, and you know,

185
00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,960
this schooner
really surprised a lot of the old
boys with the square riggers.

186
00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:17,160
As we head out of the straits,
the wind begins to pick up

187
00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,920
and I'm keen to find out what
is it that makes this little ship
sail so well.

188
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,560
So, Craig. Topsail schooner.

189
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,360
What makes her such? Well, we've got
to look round the boat itself.

190
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:34,880
There's the main mast with the
mainsail on it which has a
standard 4.5 type gaff mainsail.

191
00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:38,200
We have the foresail here,
which is on the foremast.

192
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:43,040
And the main mast itself is,
under schooner configurations,
normally taller than the foremast.

193
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:47,400
What's interesting, it's called a
topsail schooner because if we look
up, we can see a little topsail.

194
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,760
that's sat above the foresail
on the foremast.

195
00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,800
And then we come to
the jibs up forward.

196
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:59,480
The jibs themselves help balance the
power and force of the big sails at
the back to actually her track along.

197
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,960
As we break out into open water,
Craig picks up a sign
that shows us it won't be

198
00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:10,160
too long before we can really put
this sail-plan through its paces.

199
00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,760
I've just noticed on the water over
here a slightly darker patch,

200
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:19,440
a line of it, about two minutes away
and I imagine that's going to be
quite a big increase in wind.

201
00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:25,360
Craig's as good as his word
and soon we've a gale force 8
coming over the port quarter.

202
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:31,960
The perfect opportunity for me to
find out just how well the Pickle's
hull and sails really work together.

203
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,640
She's actually amazingly light.

204
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,040
Beautifully-balanced vessel.

205
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,880
I'm steering her here
comfortably with one hand.

206
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,160
And there's many a gaff cutter
half this size you couldn't do
that on with this wind.

207
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:54,360
She's balancing beautifully.
And she's driving along
like a sweetheart,

208
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,160
absolutely lovely. I'm just steering
her on the edge of the wind here.

209
00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:03,360
I've just gone a little bit
too high. The wind's just getting
round the back of my headsail.

210
00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,600
There she goes. You feel her take?
Isn't that lovely?

211
00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,160
That's when the sails fill.

212
00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,440
But soon the wind is
gusting up even higher.

213
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:17,000
Well, Tom, that's that gust
we talked about coming in. Yep.

214
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,800
These are challenging
conditions for any boat.

215
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,920
And now the Pickle's crew are
fighting to just keep her on track.

216
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:26,280
Here's the gust.

217
00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,000
Right behind us now cos we've
actually come onto the wind a bit.

218
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,520
You can see her crabbing slightly and
the force the helmsman's putting in

219
00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,000
to try and keep the boat
tracking straight.
Yeah, he's working now.

220
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:49,040
The Pickle is sailing on the edge
of her capability, as fast as her
length and design will allow.

221
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,760
You're much closer to the
elements on a small ship,

222
00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:00,720
and contemporary accounts
speak of the Pickle as a wet,
uncomfortable boat.

223
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:09,240
Her fine lines might make her fast
but they also allow a
lot of water over the rail.

224
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,040
Sweet!

225
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:22,880
And with over 40 men on board,
conditions must have been wet
and miserable, even down below.

226
00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:27,320
Back then
it was very, very different.

227
00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:31,840
The cabin sole that I'm standing on
which is as low as it can be today

228
00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:33,800
in order to get
the bilge underneath me

229
00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:38,640
where, if the boat were leaking,
there'd be water sloshing around,
I expect it's dry down there now.

230
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:40,480
A bit of ballast, that's it.

231
00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:44,040
But in those days,
that's where all the stores were.

232
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:48,560
So, that cabin sole was lifted up
right up here so there
were two decks.

233
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:54,560
In there, in that dark, damp glory
hole, there were barrels of water,
there was all the cheese,

234
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:59,840
all the food, the barrels
of salt beef, the stores,
the cannonballs, the powder.

235
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,040
The lot
was all down there and the guys

236
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,320
have to live up here, under about
four foot six inches of headroom.

237
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,240
But, somehow, in this cramped,
tight space, they managed to maintain

238
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:16,040
their morale and drive this ship
as fast as anybody could drive her
and deliver the goods.

239
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:27,560
And in 1805, as the Pickle headed
for home, the mood on board
ship must have been sky-high.

240
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:34,120
Lieutenant Lapenotiere, thinking
of his promotion to Commander,
and the huge £500 reward.

241
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,360
But only two days into
what should have been
a straightforward run north,

242
00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:45,080
they saw a sight that must have
changed the mood in a heartbeat.

243
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,880
They were being hailed by a larger,
more senior vessel,

244
00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:53,640
a square-rigged
sloop of war, HMS Nautilus,

245
00:19:53,640 --> 00:20:00,120
commanded by a higher-ranking
officer, Captain Sykes.

246
00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:03,640
Nautilus commanded
the Pickle to stop.

247
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:09,200
There, look, the Nautilus. This
is where he's come across Sykes,
right here, off Cape St Vincent.

248
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:14,360
The encounter is faithfully
recorded in the Pickle's logs

249
00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:20,400
and it gives an hour-by-hour account
of what was about to turn
into an epic race for home.

250
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,440
Normally, Lapenotiere
would've had to go on board

251
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:24,880
the senior man's boat.

252
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:26,160
He'd have been summoned.

253
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,080
But because
he had these dispatches

254
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:29,840
and Collingwood had said nothing

255
00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:34,400
was to divert him, he actually
wouldn't move from his own deck

256
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,320
and this superior officer had
to come on board and see him.

257
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:43,720
Sykes was trying to snatch
the Pickle's mission for himself.

258
00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:50,480
The meeting between the two captains
lasted over an hour as the Pickle's
crew waited on tenterhooks.

259
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,520
Would their captain stand tall or
would he give in to the demands

260
00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,960
of a determined officer on a bigger

261
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,800
and what should have been
a faster ship?

262
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,520
As Sykes left the Pickle,
Lapenotiere gave his order.

263
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,080
"Crack on sail, boys."

264
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,480
But Sykes hadn't given up.
He sent a dispatch to Lisbon,

265
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:22,040
relieving himself of his duties,
under the pretence of making sure
Pickle completed her journey safely.

266
00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:28,400
Thus, as you might say, covering
his large transom, his rear end,

267
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,720
just in case
anybody gave him a hard time.

268
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,640
Now he's covered,
he can give it his best shot

269
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,400
and he sets off in pursuit
of Lapenotiere.

270
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:43,440
A day later, the crew of the
Pickle were horrified to see HMS
Nautilus on the horizon once again.

271
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,320
This time though,
she wasn't stopping.

272
00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,200
She pulled level and then ahead.

273
00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,520
On paper, it was no contest.

274
00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:03,120
But this was one fight
Lapenotiere and the Pickle
were determined to win.

275
00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:06,120
They would have been
trimming everything.

276
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:08,960
They would have been moving
the sheet six inches at a time.

277
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,280
Likely, they held the sheets
for the mainsails in hand,

278
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,280
rather than making them fast,
just so they could get every
last tiny little bit

279
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:23,240
out of the vessel because they knew
that that quarter of a knot could
give them an hour at six knots.

280
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,280
This was a seven
or eight day run home.

281
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:29,960
That could give them seven or eight
hours which would be a whole tide

282
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,440
which would leave the other vessel
blown away.

283
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:37,440
Every little bit counted and they
were really going to work at it,
night and day.

284
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:45,400
Both ships were making good headway
but as they headed up to Finisterre,
the square-rigged Nautilus

285
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:50,560
pushed ahead,
driven by following winds that
suited their sail-plan perfectly.

286
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:58,280
In the Bay of Biscay,
weather conditions worsened.

287
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:05,120
The Pickle's crew were pushing the
boat to her limits and in the rough
seas, she started taking on water.

288
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,200
Now, Lapenotiere
wasn't just racing,

289
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:13,080
he was also fighting to stay alive.
What does he do?

290
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,400
We know, because his pumps
weren't working,

291
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,960
he was having a bucket chain
to bail the water out.

292
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:19,920
Frightened man with a bucket!
Exactly.

293
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,800
Also he takes
the extraordinary act

294
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,360
of actually throwing the guns
and gun carriages overboard.

295
00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:32,880
For a navy ship,
throwing your guns over the side
was a last, desperate measure.

296
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,680
Now, the Pickle was helpless
as a fighting ship

297
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:41,000
but as a sailing vessel,
she was lighter and faster.

298
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:46,120
But with the Nautilus out of sight,
what the Pickle needed now
was a lucky break

299
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:50,640
and as the wind changed direction,
she got one.

300
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:57,960
This schooner is now doing what she
does best actually, she was able
to sail on her course

301
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:02,080
with that wind direction,
a square rigger wouldn't have
been able to do that.

302
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,480
She'd have been driven into
the Atlantic, and it would have to
have had to sail further

303
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,680
if indeed
she could get there at all.

304
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:16,400
Finally, the Pickle's
great advantage, her more
modern rig, was coming into play.

305
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,920
Now, she picked up her
skirts and flew for home.

306
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,400
Yes, standing here, looking
at that bow, feeling her

307
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,680
fill with wind and lean to it
and put a shoulder to the job,

308
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:33,920
you understand how
a brave little boat like this
could have beaten Sykes

309
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,880
and got home to England with
the news. Lapenotiere - he knew
what he was about.

310
00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:46,280
But just as it seemed Pickle
was about to win the day,
disaster struck again.

311
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,920
Within sight of the south coast
of England, the wind suddenly died.

312
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,840
The Pickle had been
aiming for Plymouth

313
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,160
but now, only miles from Falmouth,
Lapenotiere had a choice,

314
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,720
get off here
and face a longer journey by land

315
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:13,000
or try and coax another 40 miles
from the Pickle in uncertain winds.

316
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:18,080
And without knowing where
the Nautilus was,
he had only his instincts to go on.

317
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,000
Lapenotiere made his call.

318
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:29,200
Leaving the Pickle behind,
he ordered his crew
to row him the final miles to shore.

319
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,600
By getting himself ashore,
Lapenotiere showed himself
to be a clever man.

320
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,240
He kissed goodbye to the tides

321
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:43,960
but you know,
getting himself up to London was not
going to be a walk in the park.

322
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,400
Lapenotiere had no way of
knowing where Sykes was.

323
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,400
All he could do now
was make sure he got to London first

324
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,560
and delivered the news that
King and country were waiting for.

325
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,840
Lapenotiere had taken his big gamble
going to Falmouth, not Plymouth.

326
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:11,880
Now he needed rapid transport to
London so he went to the local car
rental man who didn't have a Mondeo

327
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,320
but he did have a post-chaise,
the fastest on four wheels.

328
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,960
He hired it and set out for town,
post-haste.

329
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,520
HORSE WHINNIES

330
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,320
Now it was hell-for-leather
all the way to London,

331
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,880
a long, long journey, 270 miles.

332
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,640
He changed horses 21 times
and it cost him dear.

333
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,200
When he added up his expenses
at the end of the trip,

334
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,520
he was horrified to
learn he had spent £46 odd,

335
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,160
half a year's salary
for a lieutenant,

336
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:57,240
and there was no way he could be
sure of ever getting it back.

337
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:06,720
Falmouth to London
is a long haul today in a car.

338
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:08,560
In this,

339
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:10,600
we're moving at boat
speeds here,

340
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:12,760
right now we're going
down a steep hill

341
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,760
and I could get out
and walk faster.

342
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,320
It must have caused Lapenotiere
to eat his liver.

343
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:25,880
But after 37 hours on the road,
Lapenotiere had reached London.

344
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:32,840
After a race of over 1,000 miles,
he discovered later he had beaten
Sykes by just half-an-hour.

345
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,440
The Pickle had done it.

346
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,240
And now it fell to Lapenotiere
to claim his reward

347
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,760
and announce the tidings that
the nation had been waiting for.

348
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:48,560
With studied economy, he drew
breath and told the First Sea Lord,

349
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:54,600
"Sir, we've gained a great victory
but we've lost Lord Nelson."

350
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,960
Today, Trafalgar and Nelson
are names known to everyone

351
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:11,080
but for most,
Lapenotiere and has little ship,
the Pickle, are all but forgotten.

352
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:19,040
To me, the Pickle sums up everything
that's best about the sea,

353
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:25,320
a boat packed with new ideas,
sailed to perfection by men
with timeless qualities

354
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,520
and the news she carried
changed British history for ever.

355
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,040
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

356
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,080
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk