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Britain is an island surrounded
by a cold and unforgiving sea.

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00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,240
For centuries it protected us from
attack. But to prosper and thrive

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00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,960
we would need to do more than just
hide behind her saltwater shield.

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

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00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,920
And it needed good boats
to take them there.

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

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00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:36,360
Now I'm going to take passage
on six boats that together
tell the story of modern Britain.

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00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:42,800
Built for exploration, war,
industry and our very survival,

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00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:47,400
these are the boats that built
Britain and changed the way
we live forever.

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00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,280
This time I'm setting sail on a boat
that fed millions,

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00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,600
a fishing boat,
a Scottish Fifie, the Reaper.

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00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,720
In the 19th century, Britain's
population was growing fast.

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00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,080
The country needed a source
of cheap, abundant food.

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00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,640
The seas around Scotland
were full of it.

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All the fishermen needed now
was a boat fast, powerful and safe
enough to bring that food to shore.

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00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,920
Fortunes have been won and lost
at sea

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00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:37,080
and none more so than in
vessels like this. The Reaper.

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00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,160
The archetypal
big Scottish herring lugger.

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The vessel that, in a very
real sense, fed Britain.

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00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:46,400
So how did she come to be?

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00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,000
The Reaper
is a Fifie-class herring boat.

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00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,760
She's the biggest
sail-powered fishing vessels
ever built in Britain.

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70 feet on the water,
with a total sail area
of almost 3,500 square feet.

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00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,360
She's like nothing before or since.

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You can see and feel the power of
this sail as it's working.

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This giant of a boat
can reach speeds of over ten knots
and weighs in at 60 tonnes.

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00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:24,560
In fact she's so big that her
development was only possible

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with the introduction of new steam
technology, to hoist the huge sails

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and pull in the drift nets,
full to bursting
with up to ten tonnes of herring.

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00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,760
It'd be a noble sight if it
was coming over shining...

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00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,120
With silver. ..with silver herring.

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00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,960
At the end of the 19th century
there were almost 1,000

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00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,520
big luggers fishing off
the east coast of Scotland.

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Now only the Reaper remains.

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00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:03,320
But despite her size and complexity,
the Reaper was not a vessel

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00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,200
designed by a team
of specialist boat designers.

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00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,400
She's a craft that evolved
from hard experience,

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designed and conceived by
the very fishermen who sailed her.

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00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:28,800
But to understand how the
Reaper came to be, you have to
start not at sea, but inland.

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00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:37,120
1792 is known as the year of the
sheep in the Scottish Highlands.

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Wealthy landlords decided they
could make more money from wool
than from their tenant farmers.

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So they forced them off the land,
and down to the coast.

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Unable to make ends meet
on their new, smaller farms,

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00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:58,960
many were searching for a different
way to feed their families.

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00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,240
I'm walking down to these
shore-side crofts for the first time

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00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:07,680
this morning and I'm thinking, "what
on earth must it have been like
for the first guys to do this?"

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As I look around I see land that
holds little promise, and away
in front of me is the North Sea.

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00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,200
Not a good prospect.

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00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,440
But what those farmers soon
realized was that out there,

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00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,560
off the Dogger Bank, the waters were
teeming with millions of herring.

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00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:35,040
With little land to farm on, they
would have no option but to learn
to sail, to get out on the deep.

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00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,840
But they were going to have to
take their lives in their hands.

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00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:41,600
Because these are some of the most
dangerous waters in Britain.

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I've had nights out there, with the
sea out of sight of land, shallower

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than the height of my mast,
and breakers all around me, and
known I've been in the wrong place,

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and been fortunate to survive, I
shouldn't have been there. I should

57
00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:59,760
have been off the Dogger and so
should many a fisherman before me
who didn't make it off the bank.

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00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,200
It can be a desperate place.

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00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:06,360
But it can feed you too,
and it can feed your family,

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00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,560
and given the chance
it can feed the whole of Britain.

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00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:25,320
Here in Helmsdale,
on the north east coast of Scotland,
fishing is now a way of life.

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But 200 years ago, when the first
farmers came down from the hills,

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they didn't have the faintest
clue about fishing or the sea.

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00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:39,480
To succeed, what they needed was
a small boat that was easy to sail

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00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,400
and cheap to build.

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00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,520
Alex Jappy
is Helmsdale's harbour master.

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00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,920
He is directly descended
from those first fishermen.

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00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:54,320
His boat Blossom
is the sort of craft they would
have sailed in those early days.

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00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,920
Wow...

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00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:58,520
wonderful vessel.

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00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,160
It must be one of the most
basic rigs you can get.

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00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,280
Yeah, and because its not all
tied to the mast the air can flow

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00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:10,240
freely over the sail and it sails
a lot better than people imagine.

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00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,920
I'm dying to have a go.
She's all yours. Thank you very much.

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00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:21,440
Blossom is a Stroma yawl, the boat
that launched Scottish fishing on
a remarkable evolutionary journey

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00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:26,800
that started with simple boats
like this and ended with giants
like the Reaper.

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00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,840
Back then she would have been
an open boat,

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00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:34,200
vulnerable to every breaking wave.

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00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:36,520
She wouldn't have had
an engine either.

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00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,400
Though in a narrow harbour like
Helmsdale's, I'm sure they

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00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,880
would have killed for a few
horsepower to help them through.

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00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:44,640
Well, we're under power,

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00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,840
that apart, this is what it must
have been like on the day.

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00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:50,920
I'm looking astern and there's
two orange marks behind me.

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00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,920
If I keep them in line
we stay off the bricks,
which is where we want to be.

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00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,320
The skipper will give me hell if
we get off the line. Looking good.

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00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,560
I can see a red and a green buoy
out here, and we'll leave

88
00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:05,320
the red to starboard, and the
green buoy will pass to port of us.

89
00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:08,360
Bit more power...

90
00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,560
Oh, that sounds good.

91
00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:17,560
With the harbour cleared, I'm really
curious to find out just how this
early design will handle

92
00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,040
as she would have done,
all those years ago,

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00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,080
under sail alone.

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00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:28,760
And on a small boat like this,
she should go up without a hitch.

95
00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,280
That's the great thing about
this boat, she's just so simple.

96
00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:46,200
So what we've got here
is the simplest of all rigs.

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00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,640
We've got a simple
four-cornered sail

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00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,120
that sail makers would be able
to build without any difficulty.

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00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,200
It's controlled by a rope,
called a sheet, on this corner.

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00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:04,360
The front bottom corner is simply
hooked to the bow of the boat.

101
00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:10,440
The top of the sail is spread
by a spar, called a yard.
And to hoist the sail

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00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:14,760
there's a rope goes through
a sheath, at the top of the mast,
which comes down,

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00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,840
is hooked onto the ring, and as you
saw we pulled it up from here.

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00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:24,160
And there's a clever bit.
This mast is effectively unstayed,
there's nothing really holding it up

105
00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:30,760
at all. But once the sail is up,
it's held up by the very rope
which pulls the sail aloft.

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00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:37,280
This rig has got to be the cheapest
rig you can have, and yet actually
it's one of the most efficient.

107
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Because that sail,
it just sits there and the breeze

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00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:46,480
blows round it and as it blows round
it blows faster round the back of
the sail than the front, and because

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00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:51,200
of the mysteries of science, the
boat is lifted in that direction.

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00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,200
Couldn't be simpler.

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00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:59,920
Cheap, simple but effective, it's
the perfect boat for a farmer who's

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00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:03,960
had to turn his hand to fishing and
is finding his way out on the water.

113
00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,280
What a fantastic little boat.

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Really...simple.

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00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:19,440
Very beautiful, actually.

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00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,000
This is the sort of boat
that a man could build on the beach.

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00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,720
They could even make their
own sails, and they did.

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00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:30,160
And with boats like this
subsistence fishing was a genuine
possibility here.

119
00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:36,280
But despite all her advantages,
this boat has one serious drawback.

120
00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:38,560
You see,
she wasn't decked at that time.

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00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,160
She was very vulnerable
to heavy weather.

122
00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,040
Really, they were limited
completely by their size.

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00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:50,000
If you want to fish more
adventurously, make more money,
you needed a bigger boat.

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You've got to go further off shore.

125
00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:58,280
And, of course,
as soon as you do that danger is
lurking under every storm cloud.

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00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,440
Taking Alex's little Stroma yawl
out on a sunny day is one thing.

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00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,680
To do it willingly in a gale
could be seriously dangerous.

128
00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:14,000
The North Sea is infamous
for its steep, breaking waves.

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00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,120
It only takes one big one
to swamp an undecked boat
and send her to the bottom.

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00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:26,720
But there were fishermen
willing to risk everything
to pull fish from these waters.

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00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,880
It shows how desperate
these people were.

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00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:34,160
And the death toll was
becoming horrendous.

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In one single night of tempest
in 1848, 100 fishermen
lost their lives,

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00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:44,360
leaving 47 widows
and 161 children behind.

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00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,480
There's an account here from
the Aberdeen Journal from 1848.

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00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,280
"From the proceeding accounts it
will be seen that it is impossible

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00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,480
"to give at present a correct
estimate of the total loss of life

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00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:01,080
"within the districts
visited by the gale.

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00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:06,800
"Upwards of 40 individuals have
perished on the Aberdeen
and Kincardineshire coast,

140
00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:10,160
"while we already have
certain intelligence of more than

141
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,720
"50 having been lost on those
of Sutherland and Caithness."

142
00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,480
It is shocking, isn't it?

143
00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,640
The numbers of people...

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00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:27,400
fathers, sons, who just died
out there in one night.

145
00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:39,600
With each storm, more men drowned,
and it was only so long

146
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,920
that politicians could
ignore the grim statistics.

147
00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,080
In 1849, they decided to act.

148
00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:52,560
A comprehensive study of the state
of Scottish fishing was made,

149
00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:56,040
with the findings written up
and presented to Parliament.

150
00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:02,640
The Washington report concluded that
two things were urgently needed.

151
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,520
Better harbours and,
most important of all,

152
00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:08,600
safer boats.

153
00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:15,760
Again and again, the report stressed
one area of boat design.

154
00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:20,840
Decking. Decking is a boat's
most vital safety feature

155
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:25,120
because it prevents waves
from filling and sinking her.

156
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,040
The report also included the lines
of other boats

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00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,280
to help illustrate how this idea
might be incorporated.

158
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:34,800
The Scots fishermen set to work.

159
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:40,360
They accepted the safety features,
but they also wanted a bigger,
faster boat.

160
00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:47,160
Now boat yards sprang up all
over Scotland's east coast,
eager to exploit an increase

161
00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:51,680
in demand for boats that would meet
the need for both safety and speed.

162
00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:03,160
So, just how did you go about
designing a brand new type of
fishing boat back in 1850?

163
00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,600
You think, new design of fishing
boat. They'll go to some designer,
won't they?

164
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:13,560
Some genius with a pen is going to
draw a wonderful plan like you see
in the books of a fishing boat.

165
00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,520
Different from anything else.
Well, that's not how it was.

166
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:18,920
Actually these are vernacular craft.

167
00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,360
They were designed by working people
for working people, and like

168
00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,000
the whole of the British Isles over,
they never got drawn on paper.

169
00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,560
They were built from models.

170
00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:29,080
Here's how it worked.

171
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,040
This is a half model,

172
00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,360
and the way it worked was this.

173
00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,400
The boat builder
and the fisherman got together.

174
00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,160
They might have done it
in the church hall in Scotland,

175
00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:45,640
in the south of England
they probably went to the pub.

176
00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,800
But they talked about the shape
they wanted the boat to be.

177
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:54,600
And then the builder actually built
a model of half of the hull,
just like that, and he showed it

178
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,480
to the fisherman and he said,
"What do you think of this?"

179
00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:03,880
And the fisherman eyeballed it
and he could see everything
he wanted to see and he said,

180
00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,680
"I think she's a bit fat aft.
I think you need to do
something about that."

181
00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:12,800
So the builder went away,
got his sandpaper and he
filed the boat away or maybe glued

182
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:18,720
a bit more on, smoothed it up again,
took it to the fisherman,
"What do you think of her now?"

183
00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,360
"Yeah, she'll do!"

184
00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:25,960
For generations,
that's how Scottish fishermen
had built their small boats.

185
00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:31,000
And now, the Washington Report
had made clear that these boats
were no longer up to the job.

186
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,360
Yet these same methods
of design and construction

187
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:41,000
produced a thrilling new design,
huge, fast and safe - the Fifie.

188
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:46,160
This is the basic model for the hull
of a Fifie like the Reaper.

189
00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:49,240
She looks very bluff
and ordinary, doesn't she?

190
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,520
It's only when you look at her
end on that you see

191
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,720
the beauty of her lines, look
at these lovely curves here.

192
00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,400
The sweetness of the way the water
is going to flow off that.

193
00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:03,320
And the staunch,
aggressive chin sticking out there.

194
00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:05,040
That's going to meet the sea.

195
00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:08,480
There's a lot of boat in the water
and that's going to make her safe.

196
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:13,600
But she's long and lean underneath,
and that's going to make her fast.

197
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:19,720
But the real test of any boat
is when she's launched
and takes to the sea.

198
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:26,680
And finally I'm lucky enough
to sail on the Reaper,
the biggest Fifie ever built.

199
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:31,320
I've been invited on board by Robert
Prescott, a maritime historian,

200
00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,720
who's spearheaded the restoration
of Reaper to her former glory.

201
00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,160
She's absolutely huge, isn't she?

202
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,560
She is, yes.
I can't wait to get out there.

203
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:41,960
I've come a long way this.

204
00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,720
Heading out to sea, the first thing
that strikes me about this boat

205
00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,320
is her sheer size.

206
00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,080
As the 19th century progressed,

207
00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,880
herring became such an important
food for the whole of Britain

208
00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,480
that the government offered
a financial incentive

209
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,160
to any Scottish fishermen
building a boat over 60ft.

210
00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:10,080
The bigger your boat,
the more money you got.

211
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,280
And few were larger than the Reaper.

212
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,440
Her statistics are impressive
enough on paper, but out here

213
00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,240
with the best part
of 3,000 square feet of sail

214
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,680
about to go aloft,
she's a boat that demands respect.

215
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,880
Right down on the deck is one
of the biggest piles of canvas

216
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:36,760
you'll ever see
on a fore and aft rigged vessel.

217
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:40,600
This is the biggest lugger,
probably, in the world.

218
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,360
I'm hanging onto the main halyard
that's going to pull up
this great big sail in a minute.

219
00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,360
There's another block aloft.

220
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:51,880
And this piece here
is the hauling end of the rope.

221
00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:58,000
This is what, in a smaller boat,
a couple of guys would get hold of,
heave away, and lift that sail.

222
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,600
But you can't do it on here.
It is too much.

223
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:04,480
And that was always the limiting
size on sailing luggers.

224
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:09,000
So how did they hoist the sails
on a boat the size of the Reaper?

225
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:13,640
The answer was a new technology
that revolutionized Scottish fishing

226
00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,400
and allowed the boats
to get even bigger.

227
00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,000
Steam.

228
00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:25,040
Hoisting the Reaper's mainsail
would have been a backbreaking job
for the whole crew.

229
00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,200
An unthinkable task in a heavy sea.

230
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,360
But by harnessing the power
of the steam capstan,

231
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:34,640
it became a simple operation
carried out at the pull of a lever.

232
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,040
Our man here is hoisting the sail
using the capstan, lot of load

233
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,760
on the halyard, the yard
is slowly going up the mast.

234
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:50,320
There's a guy at the foot of the
mast there who is controlling
the front edge of the sail.

235
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,360
He controls it, otherwise
it will go absolutely berserk.

236
00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:56,440
As it is, it's gone up
remarkably under control.

237
00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,000
I'm most impressed by that.

238
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,280
I thought it would be much more
chaotic, and it's not, and the
tension is starting to come on now.

239
00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,600
If we watch the front edge
of the sail we'll see it sharpen up,

240
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,560
as the load comes on the capstan.

241
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:13,560
Here it comes.

242
00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:23,400
The sail is filling, the boat is
bearing away slowly from the wind,

243
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,040
and, well, we're off.

244
00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:39,400
She's doing what she was born
to do now, and this is what
I've come all this way to do.

245
00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,760
And in fact what I've been waiting
20 years to do.

246
00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:44,640
This is a serious thrill.

247
00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,400
Capable of over ten knots, boats
like the Reaper could now travel

248
00:18:54,400 --> 00:19:00,560
over 200 miles in a single day,
opening up new fishing grounds all
along the east coast of Britain.

249
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,600
Standing here,
on the lee bow of the boat,

250
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:15,920
right in the sail, I can feel
the wind being accelerated
around the sail as it goes round.

251
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,720
And actually, I'm on the slow side
of the sail. What's going on round

252
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,160
the back is probably five knots
more than what I'm getting here.

253
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:27,440
You can see and feel the power
of the sail as it's working.
And as you look up,

254
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,120
it's gigantic.

255
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:41,640
Now men who had once fished alone
worked as crews, all pulling
together to tame these huge boats.

256
00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:49,640
It's a brute to handle.
I think you really need half a dozen

257
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:55,200
young fit Scottish fisherman
who are motivated to get rich quick,
to make this happen.

258
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:59,480
But these lads are amazing,
I'm really impressed that
these fellas can do this.

259
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:04,680
Not a man of them without a bus
pass, and they're sailing a boat
that was designed for 25-year-olds.

260
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:08,440
OK, guys.

261
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,600
All right, John?

262
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:15,400
Now, with the sails set,
it's off to the fishing grounds.

263
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:27,200
The Fifie transformed fishing
in Scotland and changed the lives
of the fishermen forever.

264
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:33,200
Bigger, faster boats
allowed them to fish further afield

265
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:38,720
and crews were now working from the
Norway Deeps to the Dover Strait.

266
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,760
The local lasses followed the boats,
travelling as far south as Suffolk,

267
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,200
gutting and salting the fish
the men brought ashore.

268
00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,280
All right then.

269
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,400
50 cran tonight, lads!

270
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:06,080
Herring are fished with drift nets
that hang down from floats
on the surface.

271
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,840
By the late 19th century, Scots
fishermen were using new cotton nets

272
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,760
that were much lighter
than their hemp predecessors.

273
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,280
In her heyday, the Reaper would
have set over a mile of nets.

274
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:25,320
Today we're going to try our
luck with just 100 yards
to see what we can catch.

275
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,480
We've got the nets out, Robert.
Absolutely, and it's looking good.

276
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:35,200
You can see the line of the head
rope, the cork floats on it, there.

277
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,440
And at the end of each of the panels
of net, the big white bow,

278
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:43,240
it'll form a nice straight line
in a wee while. Yeah.

279
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:47,920
This boat represents the absolute
peak of herring drifter development,

280
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:53,120
and you couldn't run a boat this
size, and fleets of nets this size,

281
00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:56,920
without the assistance
of this beast here. No.

282
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:08,600
There it is, our little fleet,
stretched out to windward of us.

283
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,240
And then all you could do was wait
and hope the silver darlings,

284
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,600
as fishermen call the herring,
were busy swimming into the nets.

285
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:29,600
It was much-needed respite,
and unlike the earlier, open boats,
Reaper offered a place

286
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:35,640
out of the wind and spray where the
fishermen could put their feet up
and fill their bellies.

287
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:39,200
Not only did the Reaper have a cabin
to shelter from the elements,

288
00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:44,400
she also offered a coal-fired stove
to dry clothes and cook a hot meal.

289
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,520
An unimaginable comfort
on an open boat.

290
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,160
Cullen Skink today. Cullen Skink.

291
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:55,520
A very traditional dish,
made with haddock.

292
00:22:55,520 --> 00:23:00,840
On longer trips, the fishermen
would cook for themselves
as they do on modern trawlers.

293
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:06,600
But if the men were out on a shorter
trip, food was left to the wives,
who would prepare what I can only

294
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,000
describe as a 19th-century packed
lunch. Is this an original one?

295
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,960
This is an original one.
See inside here we have

296
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,680
all the provisions you'd need
for a night at sea.

297
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,720
Butter and goats cheese, cheddar,

298
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:28,800
boiled eggs, oat cakes, fruit loaf.

299
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,480
Might have a go on that one myself.
Yeah, I think you should.

300
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,280
That was top notch. Bit of fruit
loaf. That'll stick to your ribs.

301
00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:45,520
And, of course, something to drink.
A nice bottle of beer.

302
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:46,720
But look at the label,

303
00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:50,680
it's got a picture of a minister
holding a prayer book open.

304
00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:54,280
What's that all about?
Well, the guys were going to sea,

305
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:58,360
and it was quite comforting to have
something to drink with them. Yes.

306
00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:02,200
But the social impact of that on
those small communities was often

307
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,600
not good,
and as a consequence you got a strong
temperance movement developing.

308
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:12,840
And I think this is a wonderful
example of a brewer having a
marketing solution to the problem.

309
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,600
"It may be beer,
but it's the ministers beer!"

310
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,400
That's right, isn't it great.
Send for the minister!

311
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,720
Well, it's a shame it's all been
drunk, Robert. Well, yes, it is.

312
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:27,360
Warmed and fed, the men were
now much better prepared for
the long haul that lay ahead.

313
00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:32,640
A six-hour shift
that on a good day could bring in
over ten tonnes of herring.

314
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,920
Hauling this lot in by hand
would be impossible.

315
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:43,320
But with the steam capstan pressed
into service once again, a job that
would have taken an army, could now

316
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,720
be tackled by one man maintaining
a gentle pull on the end of a rope.

317
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,040
The capstan became known
as the iron man of the seas.

318
00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:03,680
Fifies like Reaper transformed what
had once been subsistence fishing
into an international trade.

319
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:14,000
By 1913, Scotland was exporting
2.5 million barrels of herring
all over Europe each year.

320
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,880
Ultimately,
the sea just couldn't keep up.

321
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:25,720
Under the onslaught of these
bigger boats, and the steam drifters
that followed them,

322
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:33,120
fish stocks started to dwindle.
Today, numbers are a fraction
of those once fished by the Reaper.

323
00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:35,320
Nothing in the nets yet, Robert?

324
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,240
Nothing's parted either,
which is good.

325
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,680
It'd be a noble sight
if it was coming over...

326
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,280
Shining with silver.
..with silver herring.

327
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,840
I think the best we can hope
for today is some mackerel.

328
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,200
A couple of mackerel
for our breakfast tomorrow!

329
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,000
When the Reaper fished,
the seas were full of herring.

330
00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:00,240
And full to the gunnels,
it was time to set both sails
and crack on for home.

331
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:13,120
From humble beginnings,
the Scots fishermen had built
a boat that mastered the sea.

332
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:21,720
The sheer ease with which this
great big boat is just flying

333
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,720
across the Firth of Forth,
we're just scuttling along.

334
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:29,520
There wasn't a steam drifter, there
wasn't a steam-powered coaster,

335
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,200
there was nothing under power
that could get anywhere near this.

336
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:37,080
And this is what let her get out to
the fishing grounds, do her job

337
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,120
and then get back again,
before the herring spoiled.

338
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:53,880
And it's all so lo-tech,
these sails are so simple,

339
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:55,800
and they're lifting the boat.

340
00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,040
It's this feeling she's being
lifted, there's a feeling
of weightlessness about her.

341
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,680
It's rather ethereal, actually.
Sailing on a big lugger.

342
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:07,280
You should try it.

343
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,480
Today, the herring might have
all but gone,

344
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,920
but the memory of those hard,
brave men who fished them, lives on.

345
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:50,320
If you're lucky you
might still find a few old
salts that remember the songs

346
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,480
the fishermen sang
as the nets came in.

347
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,520
# Up jumped the herring
The king of the shoal

348
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,600
# And he said
You'd be far better off on the dole

349
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,600
# In this windy old weather
Stormy old weather

350
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,120
# When the wind blows
We'll all be...#

351
00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:11,560
A remarkable bunch,
your Scottish fishermen.

352
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,600
Forced from the land
onto the cruellest of seas,

353
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:19,840
it took a lot of valiant men's lives
to bring about the development
of a boat this good.

354
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,640
And I can't think of a more
fitting testimony to their memory

355
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,440
than the sight of the Reaper
driving hard for home.

356
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,040
A genuinely amazing boat.

357
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,960
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00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,000
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