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

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For centuries it
protected us from attack.

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But to prosper and thrive
we would need to do more than just
hide behind her saltwater shield.

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Britain needed brave men, willing
to venture out into the unknown

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and she needed good boats
to take them there.

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I've spent my life at sea.

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Now I'm going to take passage
on six boats that, together,
tell the story of modern Britain.

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Built for exploration, war, fishing,
industry and our very survival,

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these are the boats that
built Britain and changed
the way we live forever.

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This time I'm going to be sailing aboard
a Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter.

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By the mid 19th Century, the country
was at the centre of a shipping
network that spanned the globe.

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But to arrive safely in harbour,
these ships needed pilots

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to guide them on the last, most
dangerous leg of their journey.

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The Bristol Channel ports
were of central importance
and the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter

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was uniquely adapted to operate
off a coastline that was powering
not just Britain, but the world.

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This is the boat that
powered it all.

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The Bristol Channel
Pilot Cutter is among

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the most charismatic of all
Britain's sailing vessels.

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Fast, powerful,
able to withstand any weather,

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she took the pilots out to the ships
coming up the Bristol Channel,

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which is a notoriously difficult
stretch of water, at a time when the
British Empire really needed them.

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Without pilots
there was going to be no shipping.

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No shipping, no British Empire.

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The Bristol Channel has always
been one of Britain's most
important ocean highways.

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A vital trading centre for
ships arriving from the West.

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Hello, good morning, gentlemen.
This is 7VTS,
and the orders at 0900...

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Today, any vessel
entering the channel

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is meticulously checked
and identified before
a pilot is put on board.

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He guides the ship on what is
potentially the most
dangerous leg of her journey -

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the final trip from
the open sea into harbour.

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But in the 19th Century the Bristol
Channel had all the makings of a
graveyard for incoming vessels.

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Ships were bigger than ever before
and one wrong step could mean

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the loss of expensive cargo
or, worse, loss of life.

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To navigate these challenging waters
required local knowledge, provided
by a local expert - the pilot.

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Self-employed and aggressively
independent, the pilots were paid
only when by the ships they boarded.

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Their life was a constant battle
to be the first pilot out there.

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To make sure you won that race, you
needed a boat that was seaworthy,
safe and, above all, fast.

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It was a cut-throat business
on what could often be a
desperate stretch of water.

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Only one boat was up to the job...

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The Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter.

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This boat is a true thoroughbred.

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Her design evolved from
thousands of hours at sea.

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The perfect combination of
form and function

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that many say hasn't been bettered
by any sailing boat since.

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But this is definitely
not a gentleman's yacht.

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She's a working boat,
designed for working seamen.

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Men like Lewis Alexander, who
stopped at nothing to make sure

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his pilot cutter was the fastest,
most radical boat
that could be built.

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But you can't fully understand
the world of the Pilot Cutter

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until you've grasped the essence
of the waters they had to work.

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Even on a calm day, the tidal forces
of the Bristol Channel are
deceptively powerful.

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To find out more I've come to
meet local sailor Rob Salvidge,

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a man who knows the sea
here as well as anyone.

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Two days after a full moon
you've got big spring tides.

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A massive swirling of
unimaginable amounts of water coming

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in and out of the Bristol Channel
and it's all got to go somewhere.

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And it's what it does and where
it goes and how it corresponds
with the underlying contours

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that is the key and the secret to
understanding what the tides are here

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and how they can be either
your friend or your enemy.

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Its not difficult to understand
why this tide is one of
the largest in the world

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when you look at the geography
of where we are.

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The two shorelines funnel
the Atlantic into
a bottleneck up by Bristol.

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It comes in from over here.

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Here it is.
Here's the tide coming in.

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And it reaches a point here
between the West Coast of Wales
and Cornwall down there.

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Once it gets here it
can't stop because there's
loads more water behind it.

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So it keeps going, keeps going
and funnels right the way up.

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And it's going sweeping right
up the River Severn, up past
Gloucester, up towards Worcester,

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until it's got nowhere else to go
and then the height just keeps
rising and rising and rising.

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The tide rises and falls
so fast that what looks
like open water one minute

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can turn into a sandbank or
rocky shoal the next. Lurking.

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Ready to wreck your ship.

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So the rock is virtually dry
when the tide's out and then
there's 42 feet of water.

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And that's all got to appear here.

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And imagine that expanded across
the whole width of the Channel.

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It's all got to appear from nothing
to that in the space of
about five and a half hours.

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What this means is that with every
tide more than 13 billion tonnes of
water pour into the Bristol Channel,

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only to be flushed out
again six hours later.

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But those 13 billion tonnes
aren't just moving up and down,
they're roaring along, too.

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Veritable torrents, often moving
faster than a boat can sail.

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And those tides could spell
catastrophe for any vessel
inbound to Bristol, Cardiff

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or any other port around here.

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No mater if you'd sailed your ship
safely from America or Australia,

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it was when the waters narrowed
into the Bristol Channel
and the tides really began to rumble

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that danger lurked... and that
was when you needed a pilot,
a local man to show the way.

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So what sort of person
makes a good pilot?

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For John Rich,
piloting runs deep in his veins.

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Tom! Nice to see you.

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'It goes back more than
3 generations to the days
when his great grandfather

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'sailed the magnificent
pilot cutters. '

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Oh, my goodness!

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Well, well, that was your
granddad's boat?

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She was... yes.

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Today John's retired,
but he served for 30 years
as a Bristol Channel pilot

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on modern diesel-powered
pilot boats.

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To pass for his license, he had
to know that he could successfully

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navigate any ship, from a super
tanker to a nuclear submarine
without a second thought...

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and whatever ship he was boarding,
egos had to be set aside.

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The pilot has complete charge of the
navigation and is totally responsible

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for anything that happens to that
vessel between the time he boards
and the captain discharges him.

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I piloted around about 2,000 ships.

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I think on only three occasions,
I can recall having any problem
at all with the captain.

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But at any time in the channel
he could say, "No, pilot, I don't
like the way you're doing this. "

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"Give me your note,

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"I'm discharging you".

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Then his ship was deemed unseaworthy.

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But so severe is the Bristol
Channel tide that pilots were very
often greeted with huge relief.

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I had one Greek and he was
nearly in tears.

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And I said, "What's the problem"?
This was in the early 1960s.

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He had a wartime chart, 1945.

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Oh, my goodness. That's all he had.

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All the buoys had changed.
The lights had changed.

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He said, "It's a
terrible Channel port... "

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And he hugged me!

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"God I'm glad to see you, pilot.

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"This is a terrible channel. "

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Meeting John has given me a real
insight into the job of piloting.

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But if it was tough when John
was doing it on a modern boat,

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it was even tougher
back in the age of sail.

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And for hundreds of years
pilots were striving to develop
the perfect boat for the job.

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There have been pilots on the
Bristol Channel since records began.

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And like most places,
in the early days, the guys
didn't have specially-built boats.

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They used whatever they had.

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And in this book there's a picture
of the sort of boats pilots were
using all the way around the UK.

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This is a general purpose sort of
boat, probably did a bit of fishing,

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four honest longshoremen there, all
of them capable of doing the job.

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But when you look at what happened
to her in heavy seas, you can see

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that there was a limit to what
you could do with a boat like that.

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She didn't have a deck
you see, she was open,

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which made her great for a bit
of inshore fishing, but not much
good for standing out at sea

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in the Bristol Channel
on a nasty night in a gale
of wind with breaking water.

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It was clear, as trade increased,
they were going to need
a better boat.

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By the beginning of the 19th
century, the volume of shipping
into the Bristol Channel

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was increasing rapidly as
the industrial revolution
gained momentum.

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Now pilot boats needed to
be able to put further
out to sea in any weather.

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Slowly, the form of the boats
began to improve.

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We've got a lines plan here
of one of the boats that was
operating round about 1800.

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The run, the way the water pours off
the stern of the boat is... Well,
it's a bit messy, quite honestly.

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It's not going to be fast,
this boat.

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But she does look as if she's
going to be comfortable.
She's got a deck on her.

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She's not really built for speed
but she looks seaworthy and solid.

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As commerce in the Channel
increased, so did the competition
between pilots.

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To beat their fellows out to the
ships, pilots were constantly
developing faster, more able boats.

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The competition was hotting up
and to keep your nose ahead in the
endless race to the shipping lanes,

145
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performance was the key.

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By the end of the 19th century,
through a process of continual
evolution and improvement,

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the pilots had come up with
the perfect boat for the job,

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the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter.

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Absolute perfection on the water.

150
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And there was nothing like her
out there at all.

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If we look at her here
we can she she has a fine high bow,

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which is going to
push the seas aside.

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The entry is now lean.

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She can work to windward.
Look at this sail.

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There's many a yacht today
can't stow a sail like that.

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Those guys have got real pride
in this vessel.

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She's so well-designed
and so perfectly balanced

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that there's nobody
at the helm, look.

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She's sailing herself, the guys are
up at the mast attending to the rig.

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Getting the sails on.

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There were no prizes for
second place in pilotage
and the owner of this boat knew

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that he could go out to sea,
spread his canvas and thrash any of
the boats that had come before him.

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He was going to be out there
to windward, picking off
the prime ships

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and coming home with his
pockets full of money.

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But even with the essential
parameters in place, the process
of development never stopped

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as pilots fought to gain the tiniest
advantage over their rivals.

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And in this shed, undergoing
restoration is the best of the lot,

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the fastest pilot cutter
ever built - Kindly Light.

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Here she is - Kindly Light.

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Beyond argument, the fastest
Pilot Cutter that ever sailed
the waters of the Bristol Channel.

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And when you look at her,
you can see why.

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Built in 1911, Kindly Light is the
most perfect example of everything
that makes pilot cutters so special.

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53 feet of grace and power,
that all begins under the water
in her revolutionary hull.

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A typical, middle-of-the-road pilot
cutter actually had quite a, what
we call a slack mid ships section.

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If you looked at her from the bow
towards where I am,

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you would see a boat that was
that sort of shape with a little
bit of tip right at the bottom.

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Look at this!
It's like a wineglass all the way.

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Dropping dead to the keel.

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And swelling out here.

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Absolutely sexy shape.

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And that carries on
right to the stern.

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And if you look at her, looking
towards the bow, this hollow shape
goes all the way to the stem.

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This is so radical
she could have shown the yachts
of her day a thing or two.

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With her athletic lines
and deep keel, her pilot had cracked

185
00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,149
the perfect combination of
speed and seaworthiness.

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00:14:04,149 --> 00:14:08,319
A boat that could sail fast
in even the roughest conditions.

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00:14:08,319 --> 00:14:16,289
On deck, the same attention to
detail and adaptation to a working
life at sea are just as evident.

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00:14:16,289 --> 00:14:22,899
Staunchly constructed and ruthlessly
efficient, there isn't a single weak
link or unnecessary component

189
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anywhere on board.

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00:14:25,529 --> 00:14:29,889
I really can't think of
any boat that is better set up
for short-handed sailing

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00:14:29,889 --> 00:14:31,999
than one of these pilot cutters.

192
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All you need is to hand.

193
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Your tiller for steering the boat.

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00:14:37,199 --> 00:14:39,639
If she makes water,

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your pump is right here.

196
00:14:41,979 --> 00:14:46,199
And if you want to drop
the mainsail in a hurry to slow the
boat down or stop her,

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00:14:46,199 --> 00:14:48,919
it's made fast right here
on these posts.

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00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:52,059
All done by one man from here.

199
00:14:52,059 --> 00:14:57,589
The product of generations
of working seamen just
developing and developing

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00:14:57,589 --> 00:15:00,649
until they come up with something
that is near perfection.

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00:15:02,189 --> 00:15:08,839
All pilot cutters were good,
but the reason why Kindly Light is
so special comes down to her owner.

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00:15:08,839 --> 00:15:13,059
He was a great seamen
but also a canny businessman

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and he knew that if he built the
quickest boat he'd beat his fellow
pilots out to the biggest ships.

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00:15:19,109 --> 00:15:24,888
His name was Lewis Alexander, the
most successful pilot of them all.

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00:15:26,609 --> 00:15:29,379
Lewis Alexander paid
£500 for this boat.

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00:15:29,379 --> 00:15:33,219
That's 40% more than the average
pilot cutter of this era.

207
00:15:33,219 --> 00:15:38,049
I suppose if you commissioned
one today you wouldn't see
much change out of £750,000.

208
00:15:38,049 --> 00:15:43,859
It's a huge investment for a working
man, but the rewards were big.

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In one year
this boat turned over £1,500 -

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00:15:49,439 --> 00:15:55,583
a huge return on the investment and
more money than the average working
man was going to see in a lifetime.

211
00:15:57,359 --> 00:16:02,189
For Lewis Alexander
and Kindly Light, it was boom time.

212
00:16:02,189 --> 00:16:06,269
For centuries, Bristol had been
the dominant port in the area.

213
00:16:06,269 --> 00:16:09,929
But as the industrial
revolution got into full swing,

214
00:16:09,929 --> 00:16:13,592
other ports in the Channel grew
to cope with the relentless demand.

215
00:16:15,135 --> 00:16:20,566
By the mid 19th century, a new
trade was becoming established
and it wasn't centred in Bristol.

216
00:16:20,566 --> 00:16:23,057
It was here in South Wales.

217
00:16:24,835 --> 00:16:29,807
And this new trade was about to
change the life of the Bristol
Channel pilots for ever.

218
00:16:34,305 --> 00:16:38,806
This is a lump of Welsh steam coal
from the Rhondda.

219
00:16:38,806 --> 00:16:44,006
The Rhondda isn't very far
from the coast and, when the world
became hungry for this product,

220
00:16:44,006 --> 00:16:48,835
it was here in Barry that
the export trade really took off.

221
00:16:48,835 --> 00:16:54,330
In 1881 Barry had been a
sleepy village of 85 souls.

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00:16:55,355 --> 00:16:59,055
30 years later it became the
centre of a shipping network

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00:16:59,055 --> 00:17:04,448
spanning the world, exporting over
11 million tonnes of coal a year.

224
00:17:05,806 --> 00:17:08,015
Pilots had never been
in greater demand.

225
00:17:08,015 --> 00:17:13,025
And Lewis Alexander was determined
to exploit this opportunity,

226
00:17:13,025 --> 00:17:16,415
backing his faith in his boat
no matter what the weather.

227
00:17:19,915 --> 00:17:23,806
'It oft times happened that
the pilot when he got alongside

228
00:17:23,806 --> 00:17:27,415
'the ship he couldn't get back
to the pilot cutter.

229
00:17:27,415 --> 00:17:33,375
'On one occasion I, myself,
was boarding a Spanish steamer
off to Poland,

230
00:17:33,375 --> 00:17:35,766
'rowing very hard.

231
00:17:35,766 --> 00:17:39,655
'Now the sea was sweeping the plough

232
00:17:39,655 --> 00:17:43,075
'and as I went up the ship bows,

233
00:17:43,075 --> 00:17:48,286
'it leaned over and threw
me into the side.

234
00:17:48,286 --> 00:17:52,315
'I thought, that's enough of that!'

235
00:17:52,315 --> 00:17:57,895
Listening to Lewis Alexander's
voice from all those years ago
gives a sense of life as a pilot.

236
00:17:57,895 --> 00:18:01,595
But there's a man in Barry
who actually met him.

237
00:18:01,595 --> 00:18:05,206
John Hart, for years
coxswain of the Barry Lifeboat.

238
00:18:05,206 --> 00:18:07,075
Did you actually meet Lewis?

239
00:18:07,075 --> 00:18:12,615
Well, I was in his presence.
But I wouldn't have dared speak
to him or anything like that.

240
00:18:12,615 --> 00:18:14,765
So what sort of man was Lewis?

241
00:18:14,766 --> 00:18:16,646
He was very hard-working.

242
00:18:16,646 --> 00:18:18,335
Deeply religious.

243
00:18:18,335 --> 00:18:22,926
Would never work on a Sunday...
and he would never sail on a Sunday.

244
00:18:22,926 --> 00:18:25,735
He might be at sea on a Sunday,
but he would never sail on a Sunday.

245
00:18:25,735 --> 00:18:30,335
The blokes who worked for him
worked hard but got well paid.

246
00:18:30,335 --> 00:18:35,166
When he was a young pilot he invested
in the best boat he could buy.

247
00:18:35,166 --> 00:18:40,047
He paid almost twice as much for his
boat as anyone else at the time.
Yeah, he was a self-made guy.

248
00:18:42,235 --> 00:18:46,315
But, for Lewis, being first out
to any old ship wasn't enough.

249
00:18:46,315 --> 00:18:50,955
He was only after the big ones,
that paid the highest pilot's fees.

250
00:18:50,955 --> 00:18:53,535
They had very good intelligence
and they knew

251
00:18:53,535 --> 00:18:56,675
something had left Liverpool
or something had left London...

252
00:18:56,675 --> 00:18:58,595
or something had left New York.

253
00:18:58,595 --> 00:19:01,415
They had a pretty good
idea of when it was due

254
00:19:01,415 --> 00:19:05,446
and they were going seeking for
the very one they were looking
for. The big ones.

255
00:19:05,446 --> 00:19:09,715
The big ones were the ships
that paid pilots the most.

256
00:19:09,715 --> 00:19:15,286
And to make sure he was there
to meet them, Lewis needed more
than a fast boat.

257
00:19:15,286 --> 00:19:17,115
He needed information.

258
00:19:17,115 --> 00:19:20,675
He was one of the first man
in Barry to own a telephone,

259
00:19:20,675 --> 00:19:24,385
so he could receive calls
from his scouts way down in Devon,

260
00:19:24,385 --> 00:19:27,575
on the lookout for ships
far down to the westward.

261
00:19:27,575 --> 00:19:30,755
He also paid the local butchers
a shilling

262
00:19:30,755 --> 00:19:37,331
for a list of ships that were
coming into harbour that had
placed an advanced order for meat.

263
00:19:39,945 --> 00:19:44,446
Even Alexander's house
was built to better his chances.

264
00:19:44,446 --> 00:19:49,886
Constructed high on the hill,
overlooking the Bristol Channel,
so he could check on his competitors

265
00:19:49,886 --> 00:19:52,844
and scan the horizon
for incoming ships.

266
00:19:54,766 --> 00:19:58,054
Wow, what a view.

267
00:20:00,855 --> 00:20:04,655
The pilot would see it all
from here. Remarkable.

268
00:20:04,655 --> 00:20:08,305
And it just shows what a successful
pilot could actually do for himself.

269
00:20:08,305 --> 00:20:11,638
The rewards were huge.

270
00:20:13,515 --> 00:20:16,185
But all the intelligence
in the world wouldn't help

271
00:20:16,185 --> 00:20:19,606
if you weren't master of
your business out on the water.

272
00:20:19,606 --> 00:20:22,655
Ultimately the best pilots
were consummate seamen

273
00:20:22,655 --> 00:20:26,079
who could handle their cutters
without a second thought.

274
00:20:28,326 --> 00:20:32,875
It'll be a while before Lewis
Alexander's Kindly Light
is ready to sail again.

275
00:20:32,875 --> 00:20:40,475
But today we're in for a real treat,
putting to sea on two of the last
pilot cutters still sailing.

276
00:20:42,015 --> 00:20:47,315
Olga, built in 1904, is one of the
biggest pilot cutters ever.

277
00:20:47,315 --> 00:20:51,065
Today, her racing crew of 8
is testimony to how competent

278
00:20:51,065 --> 00:20:55,707
the two men and an apprentice
must have been
who sailed her for a living.

279
00:20:58,425 --> 00:21:03,395
I'm going to be sailing on Cariad
with her two dedicated owners,
an earlier, smaller cutter.

280
00:21:03,395 --> 00:21:07,755
And, on paper, a slower boat.

281
00:21:07,755 --> 00:21:11,126
Putting to sea with the two together
will give us a unique insight

282
00:21:11,126 --> 00:21:17,508
into how these boats evolved
and what makes them such
special craft out on the water.

283
00:21:20,225 --> 00:21:21,817
Up we go!

284
00:21:24,625 --> 00:21:27,594
Faster on the slope, please!

285
00:21:40,055 --> 00:21:46,806
A pilot cutter in full sail is a
glorious sight and, as Olga comes
level, we have a fine opportunity

286
00:21:46,806 --> 00:21:51,118
to size up her sale plan,
the engine room of a Pilot Cutter.

287
00:21:52,806 --> 00:21:55,385
One, two, three, four sails there.

288
00:21:55,385 --> 00:21:59,086
We've got the jib at the front
which is not setting to well at the
moment,

289
00:21:59,086 --> 00:22:00,535
needs a bit of sheet on that.

290
00:22:00,535 --> 00:22:04,995
We've got the staysail behind it,
the mainsail, the great big one

291
00:22:04,995 --> 00:22:07,995
and up at the top, that's the
topsail, that's the technical one.

292
00:22:07,995 --> 00:22:12,675
Needs a bit of tweaking
to get it right, but the boys have
got it set a treat. It looks nice.

293
00:22:12,675 --> 00:22:17,275
Modern performance sailing boats
can be twitchy to sail,

294
00:22:17,275 --> 00:22:21,686
requiring constant attention
and tweaking from
a large, attentive crew.

295
00:22:21,686 --> 00:22:26,275
But the great thing about a pilot
cutter is that once you've got her
set up right

296
00:22:26,275 --> 00:22:33,686
she'll almost sail herself,
making her one of safest and most
undemanding boats there is.

297
00:22:33,686 --> 00:22:36,355
So that is
a classic gaff cutter now.

298
00:22:36,355 --> 00:22:37,905
She's got the lot.

299
00:22:37,905 --> 00:22:40,435
Every sail that a racing
yacht would have carried

300
00:22:40,435 --> 00:22:44,519
and set on a working boat, on the
waters she was built to work in.

301
00:22:48,825 --> 00:22:50,415
But that's enough about Olga.

302
00:22:50,415 --> 00:22:54,915
She may be a bigger and faster boat,
but there's a vessel
out there coming up Channel,

303
00:22:54,915 --> 00:22:56,185
Iooking for a pilot.

304
00:22:56,185 --> 00:22:58,995
I'm going to give it my best shot!

305
00:22:58,995 --> 00:23:00,635
Who's got the end of the sheet?

306
00:23:00,635 --> 00:23:03,305
Hang on. Wait! Wait!

307
00:23:03,305 --> 00:23:06,265
How's the trim up there, Ken?
Looking good?

308
00:23:06,265 --> 00:23:09,875
Left of the main, please.
Left of the main!

309
00:23:09,875 --> 00:23:11,705
Ease the sheet.

310
00:23:11,705 --> 00:23:15,595
Up, up, up... That's nearly it, now.

311
00:23:15,595 --> 00:23:17,465
Topsail end. Topsail end.

312
00:23:17,465 --> 00:23:19,625
Paul, towards you.

313
00:23:19,625 --> 00:23:22,995
Paul, you've got a bit of a tangle.
That's not going to work, hang on.

314
00:23:22,995 --> 00:23:26,135
You'll have to go underneath that
one. I was afraid that would happen.

315
00:23:26,135 --> 00:23:29,046
Never mind. We've put on a good
showing. Let's bear away a touch.

316
00:23:29,046 --> 00:23:31,246
Let the jib go.

317
00:23:31,246 --> 00:23:35,566
Look at her. What a sight!
Here we go. We'll see what
happens on the next tack.

318
00:23:35,566 --> 00:23:38,854
We'll have you next time, boys!

319
00:23:42,035 --> 00:23:45,735
If you were on the slower boat
your only hope as a pilot

320
00:23:45,735 --> 00:23:49,255
was that the bigger, faster
cutter would carry on to the West

321
00:23:49,255 --> 00:23:52,345
towards the open Atlantic,
looking for richer pickings.

322
00:23:52,345 --> 00:23:55,955
In the end there was no way
we could beat the Olga...

323
00:23:55,955 --> 00:23:59,846
Fortunately she has, in fact,
sailed on and we've found...

324
00:23:59,846 --> 00:24:06,735
well not exactly a ship,
but a motorboat wanting
to be brought into harbour.

325
00:24:06,735 --> 00:24:08,286
Well there she is.

326
00:24:08,286 --> 00:24:12,735
She's not quite a 1905 steamer
but she's the best we could get.

327
00:24:12,735 --> 00:24:16,305
But before I can leave the cutter to
board the other vessel, we have to

328
00:24:16,305 --> 00:24:21,265
stop her in her tracks, something
modern yachts find difficult.

329
00:24:21,265 --> 00:24:23,335
For the right boat,
it's just a matter

330
00:24:23,335 --> 00:24:27,595
of setting one sail to drive ahead
and the rest to drive her backwards.

331
00:24:27,595 --> 00:24:30,135
It's called heaving to.

332
00:24:30,135 --> 00:24:34,777
It's highly desirable and
these boats did it to perfection.

333
00:24:36,926 --> 00:24:42,415
Ken's putting the helm down and
absolutely nothing is going to be
done to these sails, nothing at all.

334
00:24:42,415 --> 00:24:45,039
I'm going to duck - the boom's
going to come across in a minute

335
00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:50,379
and when they come across,
the ones up front, the headsails
are going to come aback.

336
00:24:50,379 --> 00:24:52,819
They're going to try and
push the boat backwards.

337
00:24:52,819 --> 00:24:56,059
The mainsail is going to
try and push her forwards

338
00:24:56,059 --> 00:25:01,029
and the whole shooting match is
going to be balanced by the helm
and the boat is going to go nowhere.

339
00:25:01,029 --> 00:25:03,319
Now's my chance!

340
00:25:03,319 --> 00:25:06,139
The cutter is holding steady.

341
00:25:06,139 --> 00:25:11,899
And remember,
I'm actually climbing off the cutter
here into this tiny little boat.

342
00:25:11,899 --> 00:25:15,889
Imagine now, I'm doing it
on a reasonable day but
there's a fair swell running.

343
00:25:15,889 --> 00:25:20,059
I've got some nerves about it.
Imagine I was doing it in force 10
on a filthy black night.

344
00:25:20,059 --> 00:25:23,289
It doesn't bear thinking about.

345
00:25:23,289 --> 00:25:27,469
All I have to do is
row across as quickly as I can.

346
00:25:27,469 --> 00:25:33,419
The cutter's crew had to tread a
fine line between leaving the pilot
with an impossible distance to scull

347
00:25:33,419 --> 00:25:38,479
or endangering everyone
by coming in too close.

348
00:25:38,479 --> 00:25:42,649
Getting this balancing act right
required great skill.

349
00:25:42,649 --> 00:25:46,779
Here we go. Welcome aboard.
Thank you very much, Dave.

350
00:25:47,809 --> 00:25:51,089
Boarded a ship on the Bristol
Channel.
Wonderful.

351
00:25:51,089 --> 00:25:52,454
Well this is alright, isn't it?

352
00:25:53,669 --> 00:25:56,999
There we are!

353
00:25:56,999 --> 00:26:00,526
Here's to pilotage
and good companions.

354
00:26:03,369 --> 00:26:08,580
Now the pilot's local knowledge
would come into play as he guided
the ship to a safe harbour.

355
00:26:10,689 --> 00:26:13,739
So there you are,
that's the lot of a pilot.

356
00:26:13,739 --> 00:26:15,419
There's my old cutter there.

357
00:26:15,419 --> 00:26:19,969
Still two, I guess the guys are
probably making themselves a cup of
tea and then they'll take her in -

358
00:26:19,969 --> 00:26:22,829
they know I'm coming in
pretty quick on this little vessel.

359
00:26:22,829 --> 00:26:28,779
We've done well. We'll be in,
quick turn around and then
back out to sea on the ebb tide,

360
00:26:28,779 --> 00:26:31,088
down to the westwards
to see what we can get.

361
00:26:32,579 --> 00:26:35,629
And then the process will start
all over again,

362
00:26:35,629 --> 00:26:42,379
every day, every week,
fleets of ships arrived and left
who could not manage without pilots.

363
00:26:42,379 --> 00:26:45,239
No matter what the weather,
these courageous men

364
00:26:45,239 --> 00:26:51,189
repeatedly put their lives at risk
at a time when Britain's trading
vessels really needed them.

365
00:26:54,049 --> 00:26:57,189
So what happened to the
pilots and their cutters?

366
00:26:57,189 --> 00:27:02,299
Well, their fate is tied up
with the story of our old
friend Lewis Alexander.

367
00:27:02,299 --> 00:27:05,399
In 1914 many sailors went to war.

368
00:27:05,399 --> 00:27:11,819
They returned to a world
governed by steam and,
increasingly, motor ships.

369
00:27:11,819 --> 00:27:15,989
Changing times had finally
put paid to the free market.

370
00:27:15,989 --> 00:27:20,069
Perhaps the most appropriate
epitaph for the pilot was found

371
00:27:20,069 --> 00:27:27,379
on an otherwise empty sheet of paper
on which a pilot had written
his objections to this amalgamation.

372
00:27:27,379 --> 00:27:31,599
He had written only five words -

373
00:27:31,599 --> 00:27:34,045
'I shall lose my freedom. '

374
00:27:36,379 --> 00:27:39,849
But while boats come and go,
the sea never changes

375
00:27:39,849 --> 00:27:42,899
and the Bristol channel
remains as dangerous as ever.

376
00:27:42,899 --> 00:27:48,059
Massive diesel engines, radar and
GPS have changed a lot of things

377
00:27:48,059 --> 00:27:51,529
but they have not
removed the need for a pilot.

378
00:27:53,209 --> 00:27:57,239
Today just one pilot boat serves
the whole of the Barry area.

379
00:27:57,239 --> 00:28:01,608
Ferrying a team of pilots
in and out on a daily basis.

380
00:28:03,199 --> 00:28:09,709
No-one can question their expertise
and the importance of their job,
but I can't help thinking that some

381
00:28:09,709 --> 00:28:15,818
of the romance and free spirit
that made the original pilots
unique has gone.

382
00:28:18,389 --> 00:28:21,619
But even if the sailing pilots
have disappeared, their legacy

383
00:28:21,619 --> 00:28:25,139
lives on in the beautiful
cutters they left behind.

384
00:28:25,139 --> 00:28:32,033
Harmonious and supremely
capable, they're among the greatest
sailing boats ever to work the sea.

385
00:28:37,139 --> 00:28:40,229
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386
00:28:40,229 --> 00:28:43,232
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