1 00:00:01,847 --> 00:00:03,838 (Gulls cry) 2 00:00:10,327 --> 00:00:12,443 Coast is home. 3 00:00:14,247 --> 00:00:19,719 Home to explore the most endlessly fascinating shoreline in the world - 4 00:00:20,247 --> 00:00:21,475 our own. 5 00:00:25,327 --> 00:00:31,766 The quest to discover surprising, secret stories from around the British lsles continues. 6 00:00:36,487 --> 00:00:38,443 This is Coast. 7 00:01:12,767 --> 00:01:17,682 Standing on the brink, we dream of going beyond. 8 00:01:18,327 --> 00:01:23,799 Hoping to reach the magical meeting point of sea and sky. 9 00:01:24,967 --> 00:01:27,606 Heading out along natural causeways. 10 00:01:30,967 --> 00:01:33,356 And man-made walkways. 11 00:01:34,247 --> 00:01:37,956 Leaving the land behind lifts our spirits. 12 00:01:40,727 --> 00:01:43,685 Out here different rules apply. 13 00:01:44,687 --> 00:01:49,715 lf you ever wanted proof that people who live out on the edge do things a bit differently... 14 00:01:50,767 --> 00:01:52,325 ..this is it. 15 00:01:53,167 --> 00:01:57,285 For those who dare to take the plunge adventure awaits. 16 00:01:58,287 --> 00:01:59,800 We're here to explore... 17 00:02:04,687 --> 00:02:10,364 l'm on a mission to reach the most westerly inhabited spot in England. 18 00:02:12,887 --> 00:02:18,883 Beyond Land's End l'll discover a lost kingdom of myth and legend. 19 00:02:20,087 --> 00:02:22,885 The team are pushing their limits too. 20 00:02:24,207 --> 00:02:29,804 Down on our southern shore Coast newcomer and social historian, Ruth Goodman, 21 00:02:29,847 --> 00:02:33,044 is in search of a lost way of life. 22 00:02:34,687 --> 00:02:37,121 l've got a photograph here from the 1 960s, 23 00:02:37,167 --> 00:02:40,682 and this tough little chappie with his donkeys is Clifford Gosling. 24 00:02:40,727 --> 00:02:43,241 He was the last of the Branscombe cliff farmers. 25 00:02:44,287 --> 00:02:51,682 On our northwest frontier Mark discovers how Brunel's mightiest ship conquered the Atlantic, 26 00:02:51,727 --> 00:02:57,643 connecting continent to continent with two thousand miles of telegraph wire. 27 00:02:58,567 --> 00:03:03,516 This is the story of how the Great Eastern wired Britain to America. 28 00:03:04,767 --> 00:03:10,637 Beyond mainland Scotland, we venture out to abandoned isles, 29 00:03:10,687 --> 00:03:13,884 in search of sheep gone wild... 30 00:03:14,727 --> 00:03:17,116 and men who must tame them. 31 00:03:17,927 --> 00:03:21,237 Andy Torbet signs on as a sea shepherd. 32 00:03:22,367 --> 00:03:26,485 They're a lot stronger than your average sheep, and not always the most co-operative either. 33 00:03:29,727 --> 00:03:33,276 My own adventure begins where the mainland stops. 34 00:03:33,727 --> 00:03:36,036 l'm heading to the lsles of Scilly. 35 00:03:41,247 --> 00:03:44,557 Land's End isn't actually the end of England. 36 00:03:47,607 --> 00:03:53,398 28 miles beyond, this beautiful archipelago beckons. 37 00:03:55,007 --> 00:03:58,761 The ride out to the lsles of Scilly is a stunning voyage. 38 00:04:01,687 --> 00:04:04,804 There are five inhabited islands to choose from. 39 00:04:05,567 --> 00:04:08,877 The ferry comes into the largest, St Mary's. 40 00:04:11,327 --> 00:04:13,283 This is just the beginning of my journey. 41 00:04:13,327 --> 00:04:19,721 l'm heading out to the very edge of the lsles of Scilly, as far west as you can go in England. 42 00:04:20,807 --> 00:04:25,198 l want to discover the attraction of life beyond Land's End. 43 00:04:26,527 --> 00:04:31,282 One immediate appeal is that the daily routine just isn't so routine. 44 00:04:32,127 --> 00:04:34,960 - You ever dropped one in the water, Andy? - No, l haven't, no. 45 00:04:35,007 --> 00:04:39,125 Andy Smethurst is a postie with a rather unusual route. 46 00:04:39,847 --> 00:04:44,045 He's a vital link to the mainland, a role he's very happy to deliver. 47 00:04:45,687 --> 00:04:48,485 - lt's the best place. - This is your work run, isn't it? 48 00:04:48,527 --> 00:04:50,199 - lt is, yeah. - lsland-hopping. 49 00:04:50,247 --> 00:04:52,238 - Yeah, yeah. - ln a small boat. 50 00:04:52,287 --> 00:04:54,676 lt's a great job, l love it. (Chuckles) 51 00:04:55,127 --> 00:04:57,118 - What's it like in winter? - Bleak. 52 00:04:58,607 --> 00:05:04,159 Rough. Bit cold. Wet. But it's still usually a lot warmer than... 53 00:05:04,207 --> 00:05:09,361 l go and see my parents in Devon and there's sometimes about eight degrees difference. 54 00:05:09,847 --> 00:05:12,361 Right. You have to get on. Are you holding on? 55 00:05:12,407 --> 00:05:14,523 Yeah, l'm holding on tight. 56 00:05:20,127 --> 00:05:22,960 Andy can't afford to hang about. 57 00:05:23,007 --> 00:05:28,445 Twice a day he must complete a 1 5-mile route around five islands. 58 00:05:29,527 --> 00:05:34,647 But l'm getting dropped off with the first delivery to continue my quest on foot. 59 00:05:39,727 --> 00:05:43,037 l'm in search of people who live life on the edge. 60 00:05:43,407 --> 00:05:48,561 l'm on the island of St Martin's, this one here, but l want to get to this island, Bryher, 61 00:05:48,607 --> 00:05:52,043 the most westerly inhabited spot in the whole of England. 62 00:05:52,527 --> 00:05:55,041 So l've got a bit of island-hopping to do. 63 00:05:57,527 --> 00:06:00,644 But no more boats for me. 64 00:06:00,687 --> 00:06:05,442 l want to walk the walk of those that enjoy life beyond the edge. 65 00:06:05,487 --> 00:06:07,478 And today l'm in luck. 66 00:06:08,487 --> 00:06:11,285 There's an exceptionally low tide, 67 00:06:11,327 --> 00:06:17,675 so the locals take the rare opportunity to stride through the sea from island to island. 68 00:06:19,767 --> 00:06:24,522 l've done some pretty strange walks in my life, but this is the most bizarre. 69 00:06:26,287 --> 00:06:30,200 The islanders have been doing this for as long as anyone can remember. 70 00:06:31,447 --> 00:06:36,475 lt's scheduled for the lowest tide in September, when the water's at its warmest. 71 00:06:37,927 --> 00:06:39,724 But not that warm. 72 00:06:39,767 --> 00:06:43,646 And l soon find out why they need shallow water. 73 00:06:44,567 --> 00:06:49,516 This might look like a... a rather enjoyable Caribbean stroll, 74 00:06:49,567 --> 00:06:53,116 but there's a really strong tide pulling through here. 75 00:06:53,807 --> 00:06:55,445 lt's hard work. 76 00:07:02,687 --> 00:07:08,478 We can't hang around. lt's a race to make it between the islands. 77 00:07:10,447 --> 00:07:18,479 The land l'm on is living on borrowed time. Soon the sea will surge in to reclaim its domain. 78 00:07:19,447 --> 00:07:23,998 The tide is really starting to rip in here now so l've got to get my skates on. 79 00:07:31,327 --> 00:07:34,603 This is biblical. l'm just waiting for the waters to part. 80 00:07:50,967 --> 00:07:53,527 That was absolutely wonderful. 81 00:07:53,567 --> 00:07:58,687 The last bit of wading was neck-deep, so we just made it before it's too late. 82 00:07:58,727 --> 00:08:01,844 Before the tide came in and took out the entire channel. 83 00:08:03,967 --> 00:08:07,846 This is a wonderfully weird water world. 84 00:08:07,887 --> 00:08:15,282 Here in the eternal waltz between land and sea swirl ancient tales of a lost kingdom. 85 00:08:17,407 --> 00:08:20,717 Later, when the tide ebbs again, 86 00:08:20,767 --> 00:08:26,444 l'll be exploring that landscape of myth and legend revealed offshore. 87 00:08:28,687 --> 00:08:33,363 Life beyond the edge of the mainland offers unique opportunities 88 00:08:33,407 --> 00:08:36,763 that go-getters have embraced on the south coast. 89 00:08:39,167 --> 00:08:44,321 Near Folkestone engineers dug deep to profit from going beyond the Channel. 90 00:08:46,567 --> 00:08:50,924 At Sandbanks they sell spectacular sea views. 91 00:08:52,367 --> 00:08:58,840 But over generations some have seen an opportunity to harvest the sea and the soil. 92 00:09:00,607 --> 00:09:05,476 The people who worked here at Branscombe were both fishermen and farmers. 93 00:09:08,127 --> 00:09:13,599 Somehow they scratched a living on the steep slopes of these cliffs. 94 00:09:15,287 --> 00:09:19,599 Their lost way of life has got Ruth Goodman intrigued. 95 00:09:21,487 --> 00:09:25,400 Stood here you get a real feeling for Britain coming to an abrupt end, 96 00:09:25,447 --> 00:09:29,326 but for some people this was the start of the day's work. 97 00:09:30,087 --> 00:09:32,647 l've got a photograph here from the 1 960s, 98 00:09:32,687 --> 00:09:37,442 and this tough little chappie with his donkeys is Clifford Gosling, known locally as ''Cliffie'', 99 00:09:37,487 --> 00:09:41,958 which is really appropriate because he was the last of the Branscombe cliff farmers. 100 00:09:46,207 --> 00:09:48,596 RUTH: Cliffie was born in 1 889. 101 00:09:48,647 --> 00:09:51,480 For over 60 years he cut a solitary figure... 102 00:09:53,327 --> 00:09:55,318 ..fishing in the morning... 103 00:09:56,327 --> 00:09:58,522 ..cultivating crops in the afternoon. 104 00:10:00,447 --> 00:10:05,043 Cliffie was the last man standing from a proud community of subsistence farmers. 105 00:10:08,807 --> 00:10:12,482 Now l want to discover what it's like to toil beyond the edge. 106 00:10:15,727 --> 00:10:22,200 They made do with poor soil, sloping at a precipitous angle, the residue from landslips. 107 00:10:24,887 --> 00:10:27,720 The cliff farmers'plots were known locally as ''plats''. 108 00:10:29,727 --> 00:10:31,718 This was Cliffie's plat. 109 00:10:32,007 --> 00:10:33,998 Oh, wow, what a view! 110 00:10:36,967 --> 00:10:38,161 Ah! 111 00:10:39,447 --> 00:10:42,120 This is really farming on the edge, isn't it? 112 00:10:45,247 --> 00:10:48,398 The view may be good, the land isn't. 113 00:10:49,167 --> 00:10:52,603 But canny locals found a way to make this lofty perch pay off. 114 00:10:56,287 --> 00:11:00,405 Fishing had been the main industry in Branscombe but it was unreliable. 115 00:11:00,927 --> 00:11:04,203 They needed a back-up and so looked inland. 116 00:11:05,767 --> 00:11:10,887 On the cliff face they could farm a variety of crops, all within sight of the sea. 117 00:11:13,007 --> 00:11:16,317 That was the life Cliffie Gosling clung on to, until the end. 118 00:11:18,007 --> 00:11:23,877 Cliffie is long gone, but his son Alan knows how to eke a living from surf and turf. 119 00:11:25,487 --> 00:11:27,842 He's returning to the plat with his family. 120 00:11:30,727 --> 00:11:33,878 This is Granddad Cliffie. This is back in the 1 920s. 121 00:11:34,887 --> 00:11:37,162 - He's with two of his donkeys. - Oh! 122 00:11:37,207 --> 00:11:40,199 He does look a hard-working sort of a man, doesn't he? 123 00:11:40,607 --> 00:11:42,996 - Cliffie and granny. - Oh, she's got her best on. 124 00:11:43,047 --> 00:11:46,198 lt's right down the beach and they're sitting in the boat. 125 00:11:46,247 --> 00:11:47,441 And there he is again. 126 00:11:47,487 --> 00:11:52,481 He used to stand every night and look out to sea before he came home with the donkeys. 127 00:11:52,527 --> 00:11:56,042 - That's just down there. - lt was quite a hard life, l think. 128 00:11:56,087 --> 00:11:59,124 A couple of times they had landslips and he lost his garden, didn't he? 129 00:11:59,167 --> 00:12:02,284 - So that was a bit of a disaster for him. - (Laughter) 130 00:12:02,327 --> 00:12:05,160 You never knew when you came to work whether your plat, 131 00:12:05,207 --> 00:12:07,198 whether the ground would still be there. 132 00:12:07,247 --> 00:12:10,045 lt was all slipping all the time, the cliffs here. 133 00:12:10,887 --> 00:12:15,642 Alan's in his 90s now, but as a lad he did jobs for dad, like collecting seaweed. 134 00:12:17,207 --> 00:12:20,324 - What's that you got there? - Sea weeding hook. 135 00:12:20,887 --> 00:12:24,482 - Oh, for gathering? - Yes, yes, we used to cut it off the rocks. 136 00:12:25,207 --> 00:12:26,959 lt's like a little tiny billhook. 137 00:12:27,007 --> 00:12:29,475 Quick as we could before the tide come in. 138 00:12:29,527 --> 00:12:33,486 Once the tide come in you had to start loading then and whip it up onto the beach. 139 00:12:33,527 --> 00:12:35,916 We'd unload it and go back for the rest of it. 140 00:12:35,967 --> 00:12:39,403 Then bring it all in and gradually bring it up the cliff, you know. 141 00:12:39,447 --> 00:12:42,245 - l can see it still fits in your hand. - (Laughter) 142 00:12:43,487 --> 00:12:45,682 You don't forget. 143 00:12:47,487 --> 00:12:52,925 Part fishermen, part farmer Cliffie used seaweed as a way of fertilising his land. 144 00:12:55,647 --> 00:13:00,277 To find out more about how sea complemented soil, l'm meeting John Hughes, 145 00:13:00,327 --> 00:13:02,682 the last fisherman left in Branscombe. 146 00:13:03,167 --> 00:13:07,046 - Can you remember the plats? - l remember these ones further down this way. 147 00:13:07,087 --> 00:13:09,647 Cliffie Gosling was the last one down there. 148 00:13:09,687 --> 00:13:14,477 He taught me a lot about different things. About seaweed, what you can do with seaweed. 149 00:13:14,527 --> 00:13:17,325 Where is the best place for seaweed round here? 150 00:13:17,367 --> 00:13:21,201 Down there where it's flat, where they they used to send the donkey out. 151 00:13:21,247 --> 00:13:25,160 And one of 'em cut it, and then the donkey used to take it up 152 00:13:25,207 --> 00:13:27,243 and the other one take it out of the panniers. 153 00:13:29,007 --> 00:13:32,238 Time to see how Cliffie cut his seaweed fertiliser. 154 00:13:33,087 --> 00:13:35,920 l've been told fresh kelp was highly prized. 155 00:13:36,607 --> 00:13:41,203 To be honest, in the height of summer when it's a beautiful day this is a really fun job. 156 00:13:41,247 --> 00:13:45,240 l think it might be rather different in the middle of November in the freezing cold. 157 00:13:48,287 --> 00:13:53,600 Once Cliffie had his seaweed he needed to get it up a 500-foot cliff. 158 00:14:01,327 --> 00:14:03,522 He had beasts to bear the burden. 159 00:14:03,567 --> 00:14:07,116 Enter Ginny and Smart his beloved donkeys. 160 00:14:07,167 --> 00:14:09,158 And l've got my own work buddy too. 161 00:14:09,847 --> 00:14:12,441 Hello, George. You going to give me a hand? 162 00:14:20,087 --> 00:14:24,842 Having harvested the bounty of the sea, Cliffie put his kelp to work, improving the poor soil. 163 00:14:26,487 --> 00:14:31,800 This whole piece was dug by hand on a regular basis, 164 00:14:31,847 --> 00:14:33,917 fertilised with seaweed. 165 00:14:41,287 --> 00:14:43,755 These blokes were really scratching a living, 166 00:14:43,807 --> 00:14:46,241 on land that couldn't really be used for anything else, 167 00:14:46,287 --> 00:14:48,084 not suitable for big-scale farming. 168 00:14:48,127 --> 00:14:49,799 You couldn't get a plough down here. 169 00:14:52,327 --> 00:14:56,957 These plots may be precarious, but at least they're warmed by the sea in winter. 170 00:14:58,527 --> 00:15:04,716 The farmers selected crops to make the most of this frost-free zone, as Sue Dymond knows. 171 00:15:06,087 --> 00:15:11,161 Potatoes were the mainstay and the variety was ''epicure'' which they pronounced as ''apicure'', 172 00:15:11,207 --> 00:15:14,961 but all along this coast that was the variety that they grew. 173 00:15:15,007 --> 00:15:19,558 Branscombe teddies - they always called them ''teddies'', and they were marketed as such. 174 00:15:19,607 --> 00:15:22,758 The cry used to go up, ''Teddies, Branscombe teddies for sale.'' 175 00:15:22,807 --> 00:15:25,275 Really? And you'd have to know that that meant 'tatoes. 176 00:15:25,327 --> 00:15:28,763 Yes, but all the local people would know that. They called them teddies. 177 00:15:28,807 --> 00:15:30,798 - Branscombe teddies. - Branscombe teddies. 178 00:15:30,847 --> 00:15:34,317 They didn't eat them themselves, they only ate the kind of reject ones. 179 00:15:34,367 --> 00:15:36,801 They had to get them to market to sell them, 180 00:15:36,847 --> 00:15:40,999 and the money they made mainly saw them through the winter alongside of other jobs. 181 00:15:41,047 --> 00:15:43,402 - Bought the bread, paid the rent. - Mm, yeah. 182 00:15:43,447 --> 00:15:47,122 Plats were passed on from father to son and that was how it was. 183 00:15:47,167 --> 00:15:51,001 lt was very hard to work your way in if you didn't already have a plat. 184 00:15:51,807 --> 00:15:55,925 And the end of the plats was when the sons didn't want to do it. 185 00:15:55,967 --> 00:16:00,563 lt was the 1 960s and it was more or less all ended along this coast at that time. 186 00:16:02,727 --> 00:16:06,720 By the Swinging '60s Cliffie had his own Flower Power revolution. 187 00:16:07,447 --> 00:16:10,519 He ended his days selling blooms to the tourists. 188 00:16:12,527 --> 00:16:15,166 The cunning combination of fishing and farming 189 00:16:15,207 --> 00:16:19,564 that kept generations going through good and bad times 190 00:16:19,607 --> 00:16:21,723 was gone with the sea breeze. 191 00:16:23,167 --> 00:16:28,685 The cliff men and their donkeys managed to carve a life along here on this edge of land. 192 00:16:29,847 --> 00:16:34,523 l mean, it must have been pretty tough at times, but you can see there would be compensations. 193 00:16:34,567 --> 00:16:37,877 Caught between the fat of the land and the bounty of the sea... 194 00:16:38,927 --> 00:16:40,918 ..it does have its attractions. 195 00:16:49,407 --> 00:16:55,277 NlCK: There's evidence of how we like to live beyond the edge all around our coast. 196 00:16:58,087 --> 00:17:01,557 Seaside piers reaching from the shore. 197 00:17:14,407 --> 00:17:18,036 For years we've built these walkways into the sea. 198 00:17:19,527 --> 00:17:26,046 Peninsulas of pleasure that prompt us to push the boundaries and reach into the unknown. 199 00:17:26,527 --> 00:17:32,966 Out here we're free to re-invent ourselves, as they know in Southwold. 200 00:17:37,487 --> 00:17:41,844 Nowadays, piers might seem a little long in the tooth, 201 00:17:41,887 --> 00:17:47,837 but here a maverick machine-maker is re-inventing traditional attractions. 202 00:17:48,487 --> 00:17:52,241 l'm Tim Hunkin. l'm an engineer and l'm also a cartoonist. 203 00:17:52,287 --> 00:17:56,565 For the last ten years l've been making machines for my amusement arcade... 204 00:17:58,567 --> 00:18:00,558 ..and l love it. 205 00:18:03,567 --> 00:18:05,444 This is my arcade. 206 00:18:06,567 --> 00:18:08,797 lt's all homemade, mostly by me. 207 00:18:10,007 --> 00:18:12,726 You can take a dog for a walk, 208 00:18:12,767 --> 00:18:15,076 you can enter the mind of a fly. 209 00:18:15,127 --> 00:18:18,085 - (Buzzing) - Where is that damn fly? 210 00:18:18,687 --> 00:18:22,441 This is one of the most popular machines at the moment. You have to hit the bankers. 211 00:18:22,487 --> 00:18:27,163 lt's really difficult to make the hammers last more than a couple of weeks. 212 00:18:30,287 --> 00:18:35,122 l've made machines all my life, but about ten years ago l had a bit of a breakthrough. 213 00:18:35,407 --> 00:18:37,921 lt finally became possible to add video, 214 00:18:37,967 --> 00:18:43,041 so l could finally have little movies as part of my machines, and this was really exciting. 215 00:18:47,287 --> 00:18:51,758 Bringing video into my arcade had a sort of strange parallel with 1 00 years ago. 216 00:18:53,007 --> 00:18:57,797 ln 1 894, Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb and all sorts of things 217 00:18:57,847 --> 00:18:59,280 introduced the kinetoscope. 218 00:19:01,007 --> 00:19:05,159 This was a coin-operated movie player, 219 00:19:05,207 --> 00:19:09,803 and it was the first time that people could see proper movies in arcades. 220 00:19:17,687 --> 00:19:20,759 People had never seen a moving... a movie before. 221 00:19:20,807 --> 00:19:23,685 They were happy just to watch anything that moved. 222 00:19:24,367 --> 00:19:26,562 One of the reels was just a man sneezing. 223 00:19:27,087 --> 00:19:29,317 Some of them seem quite bizarre. 224 00:19:29,367 --> 00:19:34,441 l mean, the boxing cats, you might think it's cruel but nobody was shocked by it at the time. 225 00:19:35,287 --> 00:19:40,236 There's a continuous loop of film that looped backwards and forwards inside the machine, 226 00:19:40,287 --> 00:19:42,926 giving a movie that lasts about 20 seconds. 227 00:19:43,927 --> 00:19:46,236 lt was influential if nothing else, 228 00:19:46,287 --> 00:19:51,486 because the size of the film and the spacing of all the perforations stuck, 229 00:19:51,527 --> 00:19:54,246 and became the standard for 35mm film. 230 00:20:01,807 --> 00:20:04,321 l've come to the model village in Great Yarmouth 231 00:20:04,367 --> 00:20:09,157 to see one of the descendants of Edison's kinetoscope - the mutoscope. 232 00:20:11,087 --> 00:20:13,681 They're basically just like flip books. 233 00:20:14,407 --> 00:20:15,601 lnside... 234 00:20:18,287 --> 00:20:22,280 ..there are 840 cards on this reel. 235 00:20:24,687 --> 00:20:27,281 And when you put the money in the drum rotates. 236 00:20:32,047 --> 00:20:35,562 This is a good example because most of the machines, 237 00:20:35,607 --> 00:20:38,326 the subjects involve scantily-dressed girls. 238 00:20:38,367 --> 00:20:41,086 And obviously, some people were quite shocked by this. 239 00:20:41,127 --> 00:20:45,837 ln 1 907 there was a case involving the display of obscene materials 240 00:20:45,887 --> 00:20:48,162 involving four mutoscope titles. 241 00:20:48,687 --> 00:20:50,757 One was called ''What the butler saw''. 242 00:20:51,287 --> 00:20:52,686 This is the name that stuck, 243 00:20:52,727 --> 00:20:57,039 and since then mutoscopes have always been known as ''What the butler saw'' machines. 244 00:20:57,087 --> 00:20:59,078 (Mechanical laughter) 245 00:21:02,327 --> 00:21:04,397 People just come on a pier to have fun. 246 00:21:04,967 --> 00:21:08,926 l don't think there's anywhere else that people would be quite so eager to do silly things, 247 00:21:08,967 --> 00:21:14,837 like lie on an exercise bed while everybody's watching them, take a fibreglass dog for a walk, 248 00:21:14,887 --> 00:21:18,323 or to cross a motorway with a Zimmer frame, anywhere else. 249 00:21:24,887 --> 00:21:31,565 Preserving the traditions of life beyond the edge is a challenge all around our shores. 250 00:21:33,007 --> 00:21:37,717 On the west coast of Scotland old ways of working have been steadily eroded. 251 00:21:39,287 --> 00:21:43,166 Slate miners quarried away at these islands for generations, 252 00:21:43,887 --> 00:21:47,562 but eventually the industry ate itself up. 253 00:21:49,247 --> 00:21:55,595 Others are determined to keep ploughing a lonely furrow, working with their livestock, 254 00:21:55,647 --> 00:21:58,480 making the most of a marginal existence. 255 00:22:06,767 --> 00:22:11,124 An age-old lifestyle still survives on the lsle of Lewis. 256 00:22:16,047 --> 00:22:20,006 Andy Torbet is in search of the sea shepherds. 257 00:22:23,887 --> 00:22:27,846 AND Y: The folk of the Western lsles must turn their hands to many trades. 258 00:22:30,207 --> 00:22:35,156 lt's no surprise to find a fishing harbour, but the men l'm off to see aren't after catching fish, 259 00:22:35,207 --> 00:22:37,402 they want much bigger beasts - sheep. 260 00:22:41,047 --> 00:22:44,756 Here on Lewis rearing sheep is an offshore enterprise. 261 00:22:47,647 --> 00:22:51,765 Uninhabited isles with steep cliffs make perfect natural pens. 262 00:22:52,207 --> 00:22:55,324 You can put the flock out here and forget all about them. 263 00:22:56,567 --> 00:22:59,206 A style of farming that's as old as the hills. 264 00:23:02,087 --> 00:23:04,681 But l'm here to see one of the new boys. 265 00:23:05,007 --> 00:23:08,477 Sandy Granville spent 25 years as a barrister in London. 266 00:23:09,527 --> 00:23:12,246 Then he swapped sharp suits for woolly fleeces. 267 00:23:15,567 --> 00:23:18,445 Now l'm signing on for a tour of duty as a sea shepherd. 268 00:23:18,487 --> 00:23:20,000 - Hi. - Hello. Nice to see you. 269 00:23:20,047 --> 00:23:21,196 You too. 270 00:23:21,247 --> 00:23:24,444 Sandy, l didn't expect to be meeting some shepherds on a pier side. 271 00:23:25,527 --> 00:23:28,485 - Where are the sheep? - The sheep are all on the island over there. 272 00:23:28,527 --> 00:23:31,121 Only you can't see any of them just at the moment. 273 00:23:32,367 --> 00:23:37,646 But they're all there in ones and twos and threes, all over that hill. 274 00:23:37,687 --> 00:23:40,485 Probably a lot of them up in the... up in the mist at the top. 275 00:23:40,527 --> 00:23:46,284 And they're really wild. These are not sheep as most people know them. 276 00:23:46,327 --> 00:23:47,316 (Laughter) 277 00:23:48,887 --> 00:23:54,996 lf the sheep are intimidating then so are the shepherds, a close-knit clan of Gaelic speakers. 278 00:23:55,847 --> 00:23:57,838 (Conversation in Gaelic) 279 00:23:58,647 --> 00:24:04,244 Sandy's family were from Lewis, but it's taken him years to earn his spurs with the sheep men. 280 00:24:06,127 --> 00:24:09,802 What was it like coming into this community from the outside? 281 00:24:09,847 --> 00:24:13,726 The people on the hills aren't always so keen to have newcomers, 282 00:24:13,767 --> 00:24:16,645 cos nobody wants complete incompetence. 283 00:24:16,687 --> 00:24:19,326 And, of course, as a beginner that's just what you are. 284 00:24:20,407 --> 00:24:22,557 So they... To start with it's rather difficult. 285 00:24:22,607 --> 00:24:27,522 They don't tell you when the sheep are going to be gathered cos they don't want you there. 286 00:24:29,487 --> 00:24:34,083 The sheep we're after have spent a year living alone beyond the edge, 287 00:24:34,127 --> 00:24:36,595 running wild on the island of Seaforth. 288 00:24:37,687 --> 00:24:39,678 Our mission is to round them up for market. 289 00:24:46,607 --> 00:24:49,883 Everyone seems to know their place - except me. 290 00:24:51,887 --> 00:24:54,276 As soon as we arrive the shepherds take off. 291 00:24:54,327 --> 00:24:56,204 (Shepherd calls out) 292 00:24:56,247 --> 00:24:57,839 (Whistling) 293 00:24:59,087 --> 00:25:01,999 The plan was to split up and stay in sight. 294 00:25:05,367 --> 00:25:07,358 That's a bit tricky in the fog. 295 00:25:08,447 --> 00:25:14,317 Soon l'm alone, just like the sheep, no sign of them or my guides. 296 00:25:18,647 --> 00:25:22,196 Obviously the shepherds know this land like the back of their hands. 297 00:25:22,247 --> 00:25:25,239 So we've only just started, but because the mist closed right down 298 00:25:25,287 --> 00:25:28,484 l've erm... l might have mislaid myself already, so... 299 00:25:28,527 --> 00:25:32,805 But l think l heard whistling in that direction so l'm going to crack on. 300 00:25:41,847 --> 00:25:45,317 No sheep but a familiar figure emerges through the mist. 301 00:25:46,047 --> 00:25:47,844 - l lost you for a bit, Sandy. - Hi, Andy. 302 00:25:47,887 --> 00:25:50,082 How are you doing, mate? Mist's... 303 00:25:50,127 --> 00:25:53,039 Sometimes you can see, and sometimes you can't. 304 00:25:53,087 --> 00:25:57,046 lt's quite a wild, rugged place, this. How do the sheep cope out here? 305 00:25:57,087 --> 00:25:59,726 They've been bred to it. They're the Lewis Blackfaces. 306 00:25:59,767 --> 00:26:01,803 They love this and they thrive on it. 307 00:26:01,847 --> 00:26:06,363 - So why keep them on an island at all? - You know they're here, you can't lose them. 308 00:26:06,407 --> 00:26:08,637 You can find them if they're hiding behind a rock. 309 00:26:08,687 --> 00:26:10,245 Do you ever lose any? 310 00:26:10,807 --> 00:26:13,367 - You sometimes don't get them all in the gather. - OK. 311 00:26:13,407 --> 00:26:17,844 lf we get them all today it will be a miracle. lt's a bit tricky in the mist. 312 00:26:17,887 --> 00:26:19,798 l expect there's one or two sneaked past us. 313 00:26:20,767 --> 00:26:23,201 l think it's more than a few that have sneaked past me. 314 00:26:25,887 --> 00:26:28,924 Fluffy white fleeces in a world of fog. 315 00:26:28,967 --> 00:26:30,958 Mm, tricky. 316 00:26:35,127 --> 00:26:37,197 l've not seen a sheep yet at all. 317 00:26:37,407 --> 00:26:40,080 l have seen one sheep dog somewhere down there, though. 318 00:26:40,127 --> 00:26:43,517 And l can just make out one of the shepherds through the mist. 319 00:26:45,487 --> 00:26:47,682 And then...he's gone again. 320 00:26:48,447 --> 00:26:51,086 l could do with a sheep dog to round up the shepherds. 321 00:26:52,087 --> 00:26:57,445 When the mist does lift it's clear they've been busy while l've been looking for them. 322 00:27:00,487 --> 00:27:04,765 The sheep are being sorted.. some for market, some for shearing. 323 00:27:06,287 --> 00:27:09,723 With no electricity they have to be clipped by hand. 324 00:27:14,767 --> 00:27:16,758 Have l got the knack? 325 00:27:19,727 --> 00:27:22,321 Yeah, l think you must have a bit of crofting blood in you. 326 00:27:22,367 --> 00:27:24,722 - Yeah. - lt's coming naturally, isn't it? 327 00:27:24,767 --> 00:27:27,235 Are they much kind of wilder than your normal sheep? 328 00:27:27,287 --> 00:27:31,883 They're wild animals, really. They're not... They don't have a great deal to do with people. 329 00:27:32,407 --> 00:27:35,319 This is real freedom food, but it's always been a hard life. 330 00:27:35,367 --> 00:27:39,280 lt's never been easy. lt's no more easy or difficult now than it ever was. 331 00:27:41,647 --> 00:27:45,560 The ones staying get a once-over, ready for another year alone. 332 00:27:46,727 --> 00:27:51,847 The ones going for mutton get a boat ride... but they don't seem too keen. 333 00:27:53,487 --> 00:27:55,318 Hold on, hold on, hold on. 334 00:27:55,367 --> 00:27:57,358 Hold on. Hold on. 335 00:28:00,327 --> 00:28:03,160 Yeah, they're much more feisty than l think you'd normally get. 336 00:28:03,207 --> 00:28:04,560 They've got power as well. 337 00:28:04,607 --> 00:28:07,758 They just run up and down the mountain free the whole year round, 338 00:28:07,807 --> 00:28:11,197 so they're a lot stronger, l think, than your average sheep. 339 00:28:12,247 --> 00:28:14,761 And not always the most co-operative either. 340 00:28:17,127 --> 00:28:20,802 To persuade them you've got to get hands-on, and legs. 341 00:28:24,647 --> 00:28:28,242 Negotiating the slippery rocks on a sheep is as hard as it looks. 342 00:28:29,887 --> 00:28:32,355 l'd rather ride a quad bike than a quadruped! 343 00:28:35,087 --> 00:28:37,760 We're cutting it a bit close with the tide, 344 00:28:37,807 --> 00:28:42,517 but after a final tussle to get it off the rocks the last boatful of sheep leaves the island. 345 00:28:44,567 --> 00:28:46,876 For the ones staying it's back to freedom. 346 00:28:47,687 --> 00:28:50,326 SAND Y: Off they go, that's them back to their hill. 347 00:28:50,367 --> 00:28:52,358 (Shepherd calls out) 348 00:28:56,567 --> 00:28:59,365 But what does the future hold for the sea shepherds? 349 00:29:00,207 --> 00:29:03,677 This may be the last generation that you'll see working out here. 350 00:29:03,727 --> 00:29:06,287 That's why they're an endangered species. 351 00:29:06,807 --> 00:29:10,197 There's not many of them left because they're not young these chaps. 352 00:29:10,247 --> 00:29:11,521 And who's coming next? 353 00:29:11,567 --> 00:29:16,118 l suspect when we've finished there'll be no sheep on these hills. 354 00:29:19,287 --> 00:29:24,441 lt's a stark assessment of a harsh way of life beyond the edge that could soon disappear. 355 00:29:25,407 --> 00:29:28,524 When the boats of the sea shepherds will be seen no more. 356 00:29:41,487 --> 00:29:45,526 NlCK: l'm on a journey, far beyond Land's End 357 00:29:45,567 --> 00:29:48,240 to the very edge of the lsles of Scilly. 358 00:29:53,247 --> 00:29:58,241 Bathed in clear blue water, warmed by the Gulf Stream, 359 00:29:59,087 --> 00:30:04,241 these sandy shores look and feel more like the Caribbean. 360 00:30:05,767 --> 00:30:12,036 The Tropical Gardens on Tresco thrive in a frost-free environment. 361 00:30:13,087 --> 00:30:15,078 No need for a greenhouse. 362 00:30:16,527 --> 00:30:20,156 Exotic plants bloom in the open air, 363 00:30:20,207 --> 00:30:22,516 not hiding behind glass. 364 00:30:23,207 --> 00:30:26,756 The soil's wrapped in its blanket of balmy water. 365 00:30:27,247 --> 00:30:32,037 Out here, boundaries are blurred between land and sea. 366 00:30:32,927 --> 00:30:35,202 The edges become fuzzy. 367 00:30:37,447 --> 00:30:40,007 Hidden away in the lush greenery, 368 00:30:40,047 --> 00:30:44,120 there's more evidence of the importance of the sea to these islands. 369 00:30:46,407 --> 00:30:51,640 Extraordinary. lt's a sanctuary for the spirits of lost ships. 370 00:30:51,687 --> 00:30:53,484 Very beautiful. 371 00:30:59,127 --> 00:31:03,962 These figureheads look back to times long ago, and age-old trade routes. 372 00:31:10,047 --> 00:31:12,686 Thousands of years ago, back in the ancient times, 373 00:31:12,727 --> 00:31:17,642 traders didn't see the lsles of Scilly as the end of Britain, but as the beginning. 374 00:31:20,327 --> 00:31:23,046 Look at the map with Bronze Age eyes. 375 00:31:23,807 --> 00:31:27,925 For ancient Greece to make bronze they needed tin. 376 00:31:28,367 --> 00:31:30,961 Coming to collect tin from Cornwall, 377 00:31:31,007 --> 00:31:33,123 merchants may well have stopped off 378 00:31:33,167 --> 00:31:34,919 on the lsles of Scilly. 379 00:31:36,287 --> 00:31:40,678 Out there is the submerged home of some of our Bronze Age ancestors, 380 00:31:40,727 --> 00:31:43,764 a lost land that is rarely revealed. 381 00:31:44,567 --> 00:31:46,523 l just need to wait for the tide to ebb. 382 00:31:55,087 --> 00:32:01,606 At this exceptionally low tide, the seabed that was once land...is exposed. 383 00:32:02,287 --> 00:32:07,839 People used to live out here before the water level rose thousands of years ago. 384 00:32:10,087 --> 00:32:13,045 Now l can walk back to the Bronze Age. 385 00:32:14,047 --> 00:32:17,084 My guide is historian Amanda Martin. 386 00:32:18,247 --> 00:32:21,205 So what would this landscape have looked like in the Bronze Age? 387 00:32:21,247 --> 00:32:23,363 This area here which is the Tresco Channel, 388 00:32:23,407 --> 00:32:28,401 would have been an area of tidal swamp fringed with the salt marshes. 389 00:32:29,407 --> 00:32:31,762 A place of very primitive cultivation. 390 00:32:32,087 --> 00:32:34,920 And what evidence have you got that they were farming down here 391 00:32:34,967 --> 00:32:38,482 on what is now sand and a tidal channel at high tide? 392 00:32:38,887 --> 00:32:42,766 Well, we've got some evidence of boundary walls, field boundaries. 393 00:32:43,447 --> 00:32:47,520 There wouldn't have been the sophisticated fields that we can see from the modern era. 394 00:32:47,567 --> 00:32:49,558 They would have been far more rudimentary. 395 00:32:49,607 --> 00:32:52,758 So compared to these very neat dry stone walls behind us, 396 00:32:52,807 --> 00:32:56,561 the walls we're talking about back in the Bronze Age were much more crude. 397 00:32:56,607 --> 00:32:58,404 Absolutely. 398 00:32:58,927 --> 00:33:03,637 From the ground you can see tantalising lines of stones. 399 00:33:05,087 --> 00:33:09,877 But from the air you begin to notice man-made rock boundaries, 400 00:33:09,927 --> 00:33:16,241 unnaturally straight lines just visible in the chaos of debris. 401 00:33:17,047 --> 00:33:20,676 These walls are what remains of ancient farmland. 402 00:33:24,607 --> 00:33:29,681 Once the separate lsles of Scilly were joined together in one large land mass. 403 00:33:31,647 --> 00:33:36,118 What's now the edge of these islands was once their heart. 404 00:33:38,087 --> 00:33:44,037 The farms were lost as the water level went up when ice melted millennia ago. 405 00:33:46,887 --> 00:33:52,245 This journey out to the edge of our isles is a voyage back thousands of years in time. 406 00:33:52,287 --> 00:33:55,199 We've gone beyond written history. 407 00:33:55,247 --> 00:33:58,284 What happened to the people out here as sea levels rose 408 00:33:58,327 --> 00:34:02,445 was passed on by storytellers down through the generations, 409 00:34:02,487 --> 00:34:05,320 and remembered as myths and legends. 410 00:34:08,447 --> 00:34:14,238 The legend has it that once upon a time the lsles of Scilly were connected to Cornwall. 411 00:34:18,167 --> 00:34:23,480 What's now the Atlantic was supposedly the lost kingdom of Lyonesse. 412 00:34:28,287 --> 00:34:35,284 A mythical world which may have given rise to tales of the Round Table and its knights. 413 00:34:36,527 --> 00:34:41,476 Some say Lyonesse is the resting place of King Arthur himself. 414 00:34:44,687 --> 00:34:47,406 lf that great kingdom did exist, 415 00:34:47,447 --> 00:34:53,158 the most westerly tip of the lsles of Scilly would have actually been Land's End. 416 00:34:55,687 --> 00:34:57,598 And that's where l'm heading. 417 00:34:57,647 --> 00:35:00,639 Continuing west till l come to a full stop 418 00:35:00,687 --> 00:35:04,441 and find the last house on the very edge of England. 419 00:35:11,887 --> 00:35:15,516 l'm not the only time traveller around our shores. 420 00:35:17,687 --> 00:35:23,762 Fossil hunters pick away at crumbly cliffs hoping to prise out a prize specimen 421 00:35:23,807 --> 00:35:27,322 from the age of the dinosaurs - or beyond. 422 00:35:29,247 --> 00:35:34,560 Our coast remembers a time long before the big beasts of the Jurassic period. 423 00:35:38,047 --> 00:35:43,519 We can go much further back than the dinosaurs with a stop at St David's. 424 00:35:48,127 --> 00:35:53,679 Today, this tiny city draws the crowds because of its big cathedral. 425 00:35:54,727 --> 00:36:01,405 But in Victorian times the craggy cliffs nearby were crawling with scientists, 426 00:36:01,447 --> 00:36:05,042 challenging the Church's view of the world. 427 00:36:06,007 --> 00:36:09,920 Hermione is puzzled by the age of the earth. 428 00:36:16,287 --> 00:36:20,519 HERMlONE: 1 50 years ago our coast was causing a commotion. 429 00:36:21,687 --> 00:36:26,203 ldeas about the earth were evolving rapidly thanks to Victorian naturalists 430 00:36:26,247 --> 00:36:28,283 probing the edge for knowledge. 431 00:36:30,367 --> 00:36:33,803 One of the scientists who came to this shore was JW Salter, 432 00:36:33,847 --> 00:36:36,725 a palaeontologist working for the British Geological Survey. 433 00:36:37,367 --> 00:36:40,757 Now in 1 862 Salter's boat took a wrong turning, 434 00:36:40,807 --> 00:36:46,006 and he landed, purely by chance, at this rocky inlet near St David's called Porth-y-Rhaw. 435 00:36:48,527 --> 00:36:52,042 Maybe it was divine intervention that steered him off course. 436 00:36:52,287 --> 00:36:56,360 Whatever the reason he made a startling discovery. 437 00:36:58,687 --> 00:37:01,679 Salter uncovered evidence here that supported the idea 438 00:37:01,727 --> 00:37:04,321 that the earth hadn't just existed for thousands of years, 439 00:37:04,367 --> 00:37:07,279 it had to be hundreds of millions years old. 440 00:37:10,087 --> 00:37:15,719 A literal reading of the Bible suggested the world was around 6,000 years old. 441 00:37:16,487 --> 00:37:19,047 Salter found a fossil that said otherwise. 442 00:37:19,087 --> 00:37:21,078 - Hi, Bob. - Hi. 443 00:37:21,687 --> 00:37:25,282 Dr Robert Owens knows that priceless fossil better than most. 444 00:37:26,127 --> 00:37:29,836 - So, Bob, tell us about what Salter found here. - Well, he found these. 445 00:37:31,967 --> 00:37:33,958 - My goodness. - Giant trilobites. 446 00:37:34,247 --> 00:37:36,920 This one l'm holding in my hands comes from this very spot. 447 00:37:36,967 --> 00:37:38,923 - This is enormous. - Absolutely, yes. 448 00:37:38,967 --> 00:37:42,084 lmagine splitting a rock open and that's facing you. 449 00:37:42,127 --> 00:37:45,642 What would this creature have been like when it was living? 450 00:37:46,167 --> 00:37:50,319 Well, it's a distant relative of the crabs, lobsters, scorpions, spiders - 451 00:37:50,367 --> 00:37:52,756 the arthropods, in other words, that group of animals. 452 00:37:52,807 --> 00:37:55,162 This probably lived on the seabed crawling around, 453 00:37:55,207 --> 00:37:57,516 and it was probably a predator scavenger. 454 00:37:57,567 --> 00:38:00,161 lt was probably fairly high up in the food chain. 455 00:38:00,207 --> 00:38:02,357 How old are these trilobites? 456 00:38:02,407 --> 00:38:05,922 On our present estimates they're about 505 million years old. 457 00:38:06,327 --> 00:38:09,956 505. So a lot, lot older than any dinosaur, for example. 458 00:38:10,007 --> 00:38:12,999 Yes, over twice as old as the oldest dinosaur. 459 00:38:13,367 --> 00:38:16,484 - Right back to the beginnings of large life forms. - That's right. 460 00:38:16,527 --> 00:38:20,406 And this geological period that they come from, it's called the Cambrian after... 461 00:38:20,447 --> 00:38:23,439 After Wales. Where rocks of this age were first recognised. 462 00:38:23,687 --> 00:38:25,359 A truly Welsh fossil, then. 463 00:38:25,407 --> 00:38:28,843 lf there was to be a national fossil of Wales, l think this might well be it. 464 00:38:31,127 --> 00:38:36,247 The Welsh trilobite helped prove that the earth was old enough for life to evolve. 465 00:38:37,087 --> 00:38:44,004 But the fossil found here also tells a remarkable story about the evolution of the planet itself. 466 00:38:45,167 --> 00:38:48,603 Welsh trilobites aren't only found in Wales. 467 00:38:49,527 --> 00:38:50,880 Look at this. 468 00:38:50,927 --> 00:38:55,443 This is a postage stamp from Canada, and the fossil depicted on it is a trilobite. 469 00:38:55,527 --> 00:38:58,325 And not only a trilobite, it's Paradoxides davidis. 470 00:38:58,967 --> 00:39:01,800 And this is the very trilobite we get down here in Porth-y-Rhaw. 471 00:39:01,847 --> 00:39:05,237 lf you look at the rocks of eastern Newfoundland of the Cambrian age, 472 00:39:05,287 --> 00:39:08,359 you find exactly the same fossils in them the same trilobites, 473 00:39:08,407 --> 00:39:10,204 including Paradoxides davidis. 474 00:39:10,247 --> 00:39:11,965 How has that come about? 475 00:39:12,007 --> 00:39:15,204 Well, we now know that 500 and more million years ago 476 00:39:15,247 --> 00:39:18,080 what is now Wales, what is now Newfoundland, 477 00:39:18,127 --> 00:39:22,086 were all located on the margins of a vast continent called Gondwana. 478 00:39:22,887 --> 00:39:25,401 And this was about 60 degrees south of the equator. 479 00:39:25,567 --> 00:39:29,003 So when the trilobites were alive in the sea, 480 00:39:29,047 --> 00:39:32,005 Wales and that part of Canada were all part of the same continent. 481 00:39:32,047 --> 00:39:35,437 That's right, exactly, yes. They all lay quite close to one another. 482 00:39:37,687 --> 00:39:41,566 Hundreds of millions of years ago what's now Wales and Canada 483 00:39:41,607 --> 00:39:44,883 were jigsaw pieces in one massive continent. 484 00:39:46,407 --> 00:39:49,365 Over time they started to drift apart, 485 00:39:49,407 --> 00:39:54,561 and as the geological plates split open they formed the vast Atlantic. 486 00:39:55,367 --> 00:40:00,236 This stranded identical trilobites on the coast of Wales and Canada. 487 00:40:02,047 --> 00:40:05,084 And because of that, our quintessentially Welsh fossil 488 00:40:05,127 --> 00:40:07,357 ends up over in Canada on one of their stamps. 489 00:40:07,407 --> 00:40:09,204 Yes, that's right, we have to share it. 490 00:40:09,247 --> 00:40:11,556 But we got to name it first because we found it first. 491 00:40:12,407 --> 00:40:16,525 lt's remarkable to think that this imprint in Welsh stone 492 00:40:16,567 --> 00:40:21,197 tells an epic tale of the birth of the Atlantic Ocean. 493 00:40:31,047 --> 00:40:36,519 NlCK: When it's angry the mighty Atlantic pounds its fury most strongly 494 00:40:36,567 --> 00:40:38,956 against the shore of lreland. 495 00:40:39,887 --> 00:40:43,675 Spectacular cliffs rise up to resist the battering, 496 00:40:44,287 --> 00:40:48,041 eaten away over ages to create a fearsome edge. 497 00:40:50,807 --> 00:40:56,200 For millennia, people have stood on the brink and dreamt of what lies beyond. 498 00:40:57,767 --> 00:41:01,476 But the endless sea seemed impossible to cross. 499 00:41:02,887 --> 00:41:05,447 The Vikings may have managed it, 500 00:41:05,487 --> 00:41:11,437 and an lrish saint's said to have done it before Columbus conquered the Atlantic 501 00:41:11,487 --> 00:41:14,240 and claimed the New World for Spain. 502 00:41:15,287 --> 00:41:21,635 Now, in Wales, they're planning perhaps the most remarkable Atlantic mission ever... 503 00:41:22,287 --> 00:41:24,482 from a base in Aberystwyth. 504 00:41:29,247 --> 00:41:35,880 At the University, experts in robotics are trying to teach a boat to think for itself, 505 00:41:35,927 --> 00:41:39,237 and sail itself to America without any help. 506 00:41:41,007 --> 00:41:47,082 Their prototype Robo-boat even speaks for itself...rather alarmingly. 507 00:41:47,847 --> 00:41:51,203 BEAGLE-B: This is the autonomous sailing robot Beagle-B. 508 00:41:52,847 --> 00:41:58,080 Beagle-B is the brainchild of Mark Neal and Colin Sauze. 509 00:41:58,927 --> 00:42:03,876 ln a race beyond the edge they're competing against the Americans and French 510 00:42:03,927 --> 00:42:06,441 to cross the Atlantic remotely. 511 00:42:07,687 --> 00:42:09,564 The idea is she sails herself completely. 512 00:42:09,607 --> 00:42:13,805 She has a control system, a computer onboard that adjusts the position of the wing and rudder. 513 00:42:13,847 --> 00:42:17,317 She can work out for herself how to control where she's going. 514 00:42:20,407 --> 00:42:24,878 But before they risk Beagle-B on the ravages of the Atlantic, 515 00:42:24,927 --> 00:42:27,725 they want to try her on home waters. 516 00:42:29,607 --> 00:42:31,677 Do you want a hand or are you all right? 517 00:42:32,487 --> 00:42:35,479 1 01 things can go wrong when trying to build an autonomous robot. 518 00:42:35,527 --> 00:42:40,078 Components fail, water gets into things, cables break, errors in the code. 519 00:42:40,527 --> 00:42:42,085 - No wind. - No wind. 520 00:42:42,127 --> 00:42:45,244 Magnetic anomalies on the seabed can mess up the compass. 521 00:42:45,287 --> 00:42:48,245 This will be one of the longest courses we've tried to sail so far. 522 00:42:48,287 --> 00:42:50,596 lt will be the longest course we've tried to sail so far. 523 00:42:50,647 --> 00:42:52,842 - The very longest? - Yeah, by about a kilometre, 524 00:42:52,887 --> 00:42:55,606 - it's further than we did before. - OK, that's exciting. 525 00:43:01,087 --> 00:43:04,363 Beagle-B gets a helping hand into open water... 526 00:43:05,727 --> 00:43:08,002 ..but soon she'll be on her own. 527 00:43:09,207 --> 00:43:13,564 Once they press the button to launch Beagle-B's computer program, 528 00:43:13,607 --> 00:43:15,598 she'll be thinking for herself. 529 00:43:16,487 --> 00:43:18,478 - OK, Colin, are you ready? - Yeah. 530 00:43:18,767 --> 00:43:20,325 OK, start it, then. 531 00:43:22,607 --> 00:43:24,723 Right, just starting the program now. 532 00:43:28,487 --> 00:43:30,478 (Bleeping) 533 00:43:31,887 --> 00:43:34,481 Now it's doing strange things, just a minute. 534 00:43:35,167 --> 00:43:36,885 OK, no actuates moving. Over. 535 00:43:37,927 --> 00:43:39,963 Beagle-B's still asleep. 536 00:43:41,047 --> 00:43:43,038 l ran the wrong command. 537 00:43:43,767 --> 00:43:47,601 Just a bit of finger trouble. The robot's re-booted. 538 00:43:48,447 --> 00:43:51,757 BEAGLE-B: This is the autonomous sailing robot Beagle-B. 539 00:43:54,327 --> 00:43:56,238 Yeah, she's free. 540 00:44:01,167 --> 00:44:04,364 She looks good, dead on course, ten kilometres to go. 541 00:44:06,567 --> 00:44:08,398 BEAGLE-B: West - campus heading. 542 00:44:09,127 --> 00:44:12,039 NlCK: Now she's master of her own destiny. 543 00:44:12,887 --> 00:44:18,803 Beagle-B's computer brain adjusts the carbon fibre sail, and the rudder. 544 00:44:19,167 --> 00:44:21,556 BEAGLE-B: The relative wind direction... 545 00:44:22,047 --> 00:44:24,402 A human wouldn't be able to do any better than it is. 546 00:44:24,447 --> 00:44:26,085 So we're pretty happy at the moment. 547 00:44:26,127 --> 00:44:28,846 Nothing's broken yet either so all's good. 548 00:44:28,887 --> 00:44:33,085 NlCK: They're not controlling her, just monitoring her every move. 549 00:44:33,927 --> 00:44:38,762 BEAGLE-B: The sail position at two, the rudder position at zero. 550 00:44:43,967 --> 00:44:48,324 NlCK: Hopefully this success will launch a new era. 551 00:44:48,367 --> 00:44:55,000 One day a robot boat might sail herself over the horizon and never look back. 552 00:44:56,167 --> 00:44:58,158 BEAGLE-B: Message ends. 553 00:45:06,727 --> 00:45:10,686 NlCK: Adventures beyond the edge to cross wild oceans 554 00:45:10,727 --> 00:45:13,764 have inspired engineers to greatness. 555 00:45:16,247 --> 00:45:23,881 One such story of a mighty ship lies forgotten in the mud of the Mersey at Liverpool. 556 00:45:26,487 --> 00:45:31,720 Mark is here to give an old friend the send-off she deserves. 557 00:45:36,127 --> 00:45:40,040 MARK: A little while ago l was part of a remarkable discovery. 558 00:45:40,727 --> 00:45:43,400 - Hang on, there's a trowel for you. - Thank you. 559 00:45:45,647 --> 00:45:49,606 lsn't that wonderful? There it is, as fresh as it comes. 560 00:45:51,967 --> 00:45:58,281 Buried iron work from a mighty ship scrapped here over a hundred years ago. 561 00:46:00,287 --> 00:46:04,485 The Great Eastern was once the largest vessel on earth. 562 00:46:06,407 --> 00:46:09,285 She was built for non-stop passage to Australia, 563 00:46:10,287 --> 00:46:15,839 but ended up being sold off as a floating billboard 564 00:46:15,887 --> 00:46:18,560 before being broken up. 565 00:46:20,207 --> 00:46:23,677 But l won't let the old girl die in such disgrace. 566 00:46:24,287 --> 00:46:29,156 Before she ended her life here in the mud on the banks of the Mersey 567 00:46:29,207 --> 00:46:34,361 she was responsible for one of the great engineering triumphs of the 1 9th century. 568 00:46:35,047 --> 00:46:39,086 lt's a story that's seldom told, until now. 569 00:46:40,807 --> 00:46:44,641 This great ship launched the information age. 570 00:46:45,567 --> 00:46:49,116 lt's a dazzling tale of astonishing audacity. 571 00:46:50,207 --> 00:46:55,679 Her mission.. to lay a telegraph cable across the entire Atlantic, 572 00:46:55,727 --> 00:46:59,879 to send messages from continent to continent. 573 00:47:01,007 --> 00:47:06,127 This is the story of how the Great Eastern wired Britain to America. 574 00:47:06,167 --> 00:47:08,158 BRASS BAND: Star-Spangled Banner 575 00:47:09,847 --> 00:47:13,681 The celebrations for the transatlantic cable were sweet 576 00:47:13,727 --> 00:47:16,036 because of the failures that went before. 577 00:47:21,767 --> 00:47:25,555 Messages used to travel at the speed of sail. 578 00:47:26,407 --> 00:47:30,719 Then in 1 858, after an extraordinary effort, 579 00:47:30,767 --> 00:47:35,602 the first telegraph cable was stretched across the Atlantic seabed. 580 00:47:37,087 --> 00:47:39,237 ln an age before the telephone, 581 00:47:39,287 --> 00:47:45,157 the new wire promised to send Morse code messages between continents. 582 00:47:46,687 --> 00:47:50,316 But as soon as they began transmitting there was trouble. 583 00:47:51,207 --> 00:47:54,756 The electrical messages were getting weaker and weaker. 584 00:47:55,767 --> 00:47:58,964 The first telegraph cable was dying. 585 00:48:00,487 --> 00:48:04,844 Cassie Newland from Bristol University is here to show me what went wrong. 586 00:48:06,727 --> 00:48:09,366 What they've got is a very badly insulated cable. 587 00:48:09,407 --> 00:48:12,877 They've got little manufacturing defects cos they're inventing it as they go along, 588 00:48:12,927 --> 00:48:16,602 and tiny little faults are appearing and interfering with the signal. 589 00:48:16,647 --> 00:48:20,276 And as a layman what l would have thought of is just put more power down the wire. 590 00:48:20,327 --> 00:48:21,885 And that's exactly what they did. 591 00:48:21,927 --> 00:48:24,919 At one point they're putting 2,000 volts down the wire. 592 00:48:24,967 --> 00:48:26,958 So we can do something like 24 volts. 593 00:48:28,847 --> 00:48:30,997 So off we go. Look, it burns a lot more brightly. 594 00:48:32,167 --> 00:48:36,718 What you are now doing is making those faults worse and worse with this big hefty voltage 595 00:48:36,767 --> 00:48:40,203 that's going down the cable, until finally it just shorts. 596 00:48:40,247 --> 00:48:42,238 And look, our light's gone out. 597 00:48:42,927 --> 00:48:46,602 - So how long did it actually last for, this cable? - Two weeks. 598 00:48:46,647 --> 00:48:49,445 - How much did it cost? - £700,000. 599 00:48:52,687 --> 00:48:57,442 By 1 866 they were ready to try again with a new design. 600 00:48:59,847 --> 00:49:03,556 To lay the first cable they had to use two vessels. 601 00:49:03,607 --> 00:49:07,441 The weight of the wire was too massive for one alone. 602 00:49:08,727 --> 00:49:12,197 What they really needed was one big ship 603 00:49:12,247 --> 00:49:17,640 capable of carrying 2,000 miles of Atlantic cable in one go. 604 00:49:20,607 --> 00:49:26,284 Such a ship didn't exist before, but now it had been launched. 605 00:49:27,767 --> 00:49:32,841 Only the Great Eastern could carry the new cable in one trip. 606 00:49:33,887 --> 00:49:37,482 She was five times bigger than any other vessel. 607 00:49:38,487 --> 00:49:40,955 This one is a little smaller. 608 00:49:45,407 --> 00:49:50,640 This perfect scale replica is the work of Bob Abell who used the original blueprints. 609 00:49:52,087 --> 00:49:55,875 You've got every detail. However long did it take you to build it? 610 00:49:55,927 --> 00:49:57,076 About two years. 611 00:49:57,127 --> 00:50:00,802 You've got the rivets all beautifully shown on the side of the decks. 612 00:50:00,847 --> 00:50:05,762 - This is the Captain's deck. - There we are, there's the cable. 613 00:50:05,807 --> 00:50:07,286 (Mark chuckles) 614 00:50:07,327 --> 00:50:09,921 - And this is how it goes down the bottom. - Yes. 615 00:50:10,447 --> 00:50:15,919 l mean, this will be about the closest l'm ever going to get to see what she was like, you know. 616 00:50:15,967 --> 00:50:19,118 - l think it's the only one in the land. - Can l have a go? 617 00:50:26,607 --> 00:50:29,565 l never thought l would steer the Great Eastern. 618 00:50:30,807 --> 00:50:33,002 You're doing a good job. 619 00:50:35,767 --> 00:50:43,447 On the 1 3th of July, 1 866, she steamed away from the coast of lreland to cross the Atlantic. 620 00:50:45,487 --> 00:50:53,326 Her precious cargo spooled out behind. The transatlantic cable was no ordinary wire. 621 00:50:54,447 --> 00:50:57,837 This is the Great Eastern's successful cable. 622 00:50:58,607 --> 00:51:01,326 - So what's it made of? - You've got a conductor in the middle. 623 00:51:01,367 --> 00:51:04,518 lf you see there are seven little strands, they're all copper. 624 00:51:04,567 --> 00:51:07,764 Then wrapped around that you've got your gutta-percha insulation. 625 00:51:07,807 --> 00:51:09,320 Now, what is gutta-percha? 626 00:51:09,367 --> 00:51:13,724 Gutta-percha, it's like a tree sap from the gutta-percha tree, 627 00:51:13,767 --> 00:51:15,564 which is a massive tall rainforest tree. 628 00:51:15,607 --> 00:51:19,839 They grow in places like Borneo and Malaysia, that kind of tropical forest. 629 00:51:19,887 --> 00:51:24,005 lt's a brilliant insulator, it's a natural insulator and it only gets better underwater. 630 00:51:24,047 --> 00:51:26,402 lt was almost like it was designed for the job. 631 00:51:26,447 --> 00:51:28,039 Just wrapped around that is jute. 632 00:51:28,087 --> 00:51:30,920 Jute is the same stuff we make hessian sacks out of, 633 00:51:30,967 --> 00:51:33,845 and then around that you've got bright iron. 634 00:51:33,887 --> 00:51:37,482 - The armour is getting laid on just up there. - That's the Birkenhead docks. 635 00:51:37,527 --> 00:51:40,644 Yep. The copper's been smelted just down there at Widnes. 636 00:51:40,687 --> 00:51:44,760 So it's kind of ironical that the cables are being manufactured here, 637 00:51:44,807 --> 00:51:47,480 the very resting point of the Great Eastern itself. 638 00:51:47,527 --> 00:51:50,246 Yeah, it's a beautifully circular thing. 639 00:51:53,927 --> 00:51:56,521 By the end of July 1 866, 640 00:51:56,567 --> 00:51:59,684 the Great Eastern and her precious cable 641 00:51:59,727 --> 00:52:04,243 reached Newfoundland after a voyage of 2,000 miles. 642 00:52:07,247 --> 00:52:12,162 Over such a long distance telegraph messages were very very weak. 643 00:52:13,287 --> 00:52:18,805 Eight years before, the first cable had blown when the voltage was boosted... 644 00:52:20,167 --> 00:52:22,806 ..so they needed a brighter idea. 645 00:52:24,087 --> 00:52:27,966 And this is when the story takes a very clever turn. 646 00:52:29,447 --> 00:52:33,679 Morse code messages usually communicated by clicking, 647 00:52:33,727 --> 00:52:39,723 but the transatlantic signal was far too faint to make even a click. 648 00:52:41,247 --> 00:52:46,367 British scientist William Thomson had devised a solution of genius. 649 00:52:47,607 --> 00:52:54,365 His bright idea was to use a light beam, which even the weakest electrical current could move. 650 00:52:55,647 --> 00:52:59,959 At the heart of Thomson's machine was a mirror like this, 651 00:53:00,007 --> 00:53:05,877 which made a small rotation in response to a tiny telegraph signal. 652 00:53:07,647 --> 00:53:13,438 This model of a ''mirror galvanometer'' was built by scientist Jonathan Hare. 653 00:53:15,007 --> 00:53:17,316 So this is the magic device. 654 00:53:17,367 --> 00:53:19,722 This is the mirror galvanometer, 655 00:53:19,767 --> 00:53:23,680 which is an exquisitely sensitive way of picking up a signal on a cable basically. 656 00:53:23,727 --> 00:53:26,525 So it enabled signals to be sent in really low voltage. 657 00:53:26,567 --> 00:53:29,240 - How does it work? - OK, so we've wired up the cable. 658 00:53:29,287 --> 00:53:31,721 lt's going from the UK to here in America. 659 00:53:31,767 --> 00:53:36,238 And if we press a button on the other side a little current is going to flow along here. 660 00:53:36,287 --> 00:53:41,805 On the mirror are fixed two magnets, and around the mirror is a coil of wire. 661 00:53:42,527 --> 00:53:46,361 Now when that current flows in the coil of wire it produces a magnetic field, 662 00:53:46,407 --> 00:53:49,524 which causes one magnet to move out, sort of repels it, 663 00:53:49,567 --> 00:53:51,523 and causes the other magnet to move in. 664 00:53:51,567 --> 00:53:54,639 And because the magnets are fixed to the mirror it twists the mirror. 665 00:53:54,687 --> 00:53:58,600 But the clever thing was that he bounced a beam of light off that mirror, 666 00:53:58,647 --> 00:54:00,922 and just like if you play with your watch, you know, 667 00:54:00,967 --> 00:54:04,243 and you reflect the sun's rays from your watch, 668 00:54:04,287 --> 00:54:08,041 you can actually make the spot move around a lot with very little movement of your wrist. 669 00:54:08,087 --> 00:54:09,839 Here, very little movement of the mirror 670 00:54:09,887 --> 00:54:13,197 will actually cause a big movement in the spot some distance away. 671 00:54:13,247 --> 00:54:16,603 Now at the other end in the UK - we're in America here - 672 00:54:16,647 --> 00:54:19,639 if she keys... She's got two positions on her keyer. 673 00:54:19,687 --> 00:54:21,166 One will send a dot. 674 00:54:21,207 --> 00:54:24,199 lf she flicks the switch and presses the button again it sends a dash. 675 00:54:24,247 --> 00:54:27,000 They cause the spot to move in different directions. 676 00:54:27,047 --> 00:54:29,800 So she can send a dot and a dash and send Morse code 677 00:54:29,847 --> 00:54:31,838 and we can read the message. 678 00:54:33,647 --> 00:54:40,962 Press a key on one side of the Atlantic and 2,000 miles beyond a light spot bounced. 679 00:54:41,007 --> 00:54:43,840 A miraculous method of sending telegrams. 680 00:54:45,727 --> 00:54:50,403 William Thomson's invaluable contribution to the transatlantic telegraph 681 00:54:50,447 --> 00:54:53,439 earned him a well deserved knighthood. 682 00:54:53,487 --> 00:54:55,682 God Save The Queen 683 00:54:57,687 --> 00:55:01,077 The band struck up in celebration, 684 00:55:01,127 --> 00:55:07,043 and the message was finally received loud and clear in the USA. 685 00:55:07,087 --> 00:55:09,078 Star-Spangled Banner 686 00:55:12,607 --> 00:55:18,045 With the cable laid, the Great Eastern was gradually forgotten, 687 00:55:18,087 --> 00:55:20,760 broken up on the banks of the Mersey. 688 00:55:21,887 --> 00:55:23,878 But her legacy remains. 689 00:55:24,567 --> 00:55:29,721 Since 1 866 we've never been out of contact with America. 690 00:55:31,087 --> 00:55:33,043 The Times Newspaper said, 691 00:55:33,087 --> 00:55:38,320 ''We have become one country, the Atlantic is dried up. '' 692 00:55:42,647 --> 00:55:45,366 NlCK: My adventure beyond Land's End 693 00:55:45,407 --> 00:55:47,523 is taking me to the furthest edge 694 00:55:47,567 --> 00:55:49,603 of the lsles of Scilly. 695 00:55:53,327 --> 00:55:58,242 l've made it to Bryher, the smallest of the five inhabited islands, 696 00:55:58,287 --> 00:56:03,077 home to around 80 permanent residents and a couple of goats. 697 00:56:07,807 --> 00:56:12,403 The name Bryher is from the old Cornish, meaning ''Place of Hills''. 698 00:56:13,087 --> 00:56:18,002 Over the crest of the final peak lies the real Land's End of England. 699 00:56:25,887 --> 00:56:29,926 Who chooses to live out here in such isolation? 700 00:56:30,887 --> 00:56:34,277 l'm on my way to the most westerly house in England. 701 00:56:44,847 --> 00:56:46,678 - Hello there. - Oh, hello. 702 00:56:46,727 --> 00:56:49,241 - l'm sorry to bother you. - Hello. 703 00:56:49,287 --> 00:56:52,802 You probably get fed-up with questions like this, but do you live here? 704 00:56:52,847 --> 00:56:55,725 - Yes. - ls this the most westerly house in England? 705 00:56:55,767 --> 00:57:00,716 Well, l think so, apart from next door's. We're all in a line. 706 00:57:00,767 --> 00:57:04,123 Are you? And you've never figured out who's the most western. 707 00:57:04,167 --> 00:57:06,442 - Well, l think we are, yes. - You think you are. 708 00:57:06,487 --> 00:57:09,320 - Where did you move from? - We moved from Northamptonshire. 709 00:57:09,367 --> 00:57:11,676 - But that's right in the middle of England. - l know. 710 00:57:11,727 --> 00:57:15,515 And now you've come to the very edge of England. 711 00:57:15,567 --> 00:57:16,636 l know. 712 00:57:16,687 --> 00:57:19,360 And that's where my husband spends most of his time. 713 00:57:19,407 --> 00:57:22,922 Wow. Look at that. 714 00:57:22,967 --> 00:57:25,481 - This is a coastal view. - How do you do? 715 00:57:25,527 --> 00:57:27,836 - Good afternoon. - Sorry about the intrusion. 716 00:57:27,887 --> 00:57:31,562 That's quite all right, you're most welcome to come around. Hello. 717 00:57:31,607 --> 00:57:34,326 This must be one of the best views in England. 718 00:57:34,367 --> 00:57:38,201 - l can't think of anything better myself, yes. - Look at that. 719 00:57:38,247 --> 00:57:40,238 COLDPLAY: Paradise 720 00:57:55,727 --> 00:58:00,721 l'm standing on the most westerly point of any inhabited island in England. 721 00:58:01,287 --> 00:58:06,441 My journey's completed, and although it's quite wild and windy here, 722 00:58:06,487 --> 00:58:08,955 inside l feel quite still and calm. 723 00:58:09,007 --> 00:58:11,840 lt's rather like reaching a top of a mountain. 724 00:58:11,887 --> 00:58:14,447 The journey's over. There's no further l can go. 725 00:58:14,487 --> 00:58:19,242 And yet, when l lift my eyes to the horizon you can see there's more to come, 726 00:58:19,287 --> 00:58:24,407 the promise of something far bigger, and l think that's the appeal of life on the edge. 727 00:58:24,887 --> 00:58:27,720 lt's on the cusp of another world.