1 00:00:01,247 --> 00:00:03,487 Britain's history hasn't ust been made 2 00:00:03,487 --> 00:00:06,407 by kings and queens and generals and admirals, 3 00:00:06,407 --> 00:00:10,927 but by a whole host of ordinary people doing a lot of really terrible obs. 4 00:00:10,927 --> 00:00:15,927 And if you don't believe me, take a look at how we Came to rule the waves. 5 00:00:15,927 --> 00:00:20,727 Thls time, luxury liners that needed people working with sacks on their heads. 6 00:00:20,727 --> 00:00:22,327 I am the gunier-man! 7 00:00:22,327 --> 00:00:26,727 How Britain's very first navy survived on minimal rations. 8 00:00:26,727 --> 00:00:32,527 And why the heroes who kept our coasts safe didn't like getting their toes wet. 9 00:00:32,527 --> 00:00:36,566 Welcome to The Worst Maritime Jobs in History. 10 00:00:59,687 --> 00:01:02,407 The sea put the 'great' in Great Britain. 11 00:01:02,407 --> 00:01:06,607 International trade, politics and our military success 12 00:01:06,607 --> 00:01:09,127 have all depended on controlling the oceans. 13 00:01:09,127 --> 00:01:11,327 Many of our greatest heroes were sailors - 14 00:01:11,327 --> 00:01:15,087 legends like Nelson, Drake or Captain Cook. 15 00:01:15,087 --> 00:01:18,927 But despite having trading connections long before the Romans, 16 00:01:18,927 --> 00:01:21,567 we hadn't explored the ocean's potential. 17 00:01:21,567 --> 00:01:23,527 We had no navy. 18 00:01:23,527 --> 00:01:27,447 The sea kept us captive, prey to invaders. 19 00:01:27,447 --> 00:01:32,647 But in the 9th century, the threat of the skilled seagoing Vikings 20 00:01:32,647 --> 00:01:35,247 forced a national crisis. 21 00:01:35,247 --> 00:01:37,847 It was Alfred the Great who got into the record books 22 00:01:37,847 --> 00:01:41,207 as the first king to fight back successfully against the Vikings. 23 00:01:41,207 --> 00:01:45,367 He built our first navy, which was a fleet of ships 24 00:01:45,367 --> 00:01:49,287 based on the drakkar, or dragon ships, of the Vikings. 25 00:01:49,287 --> 00:01:54,967 But if you were a land-loving Saxon desperately trying to emulate a Viking, 26 00:01:54,967 --> 00:01:56,887 which means 'sea warrior', 27 00:01:56,887 --> 00:01:58,567 you must have had a really miserable time. 28 00:01:58,567 --> 00:02:02,765 So my first worst job is the Saxon oarsman. 29 00:02:06,327 --> 00:02:09,527 Saxon oarsmen had a double challenge. 30 00:02:09,527 --> 00:02:11,207 They had to fight the Vikings, 31 00:02:11,207 --> 00:02:15,967 but first they had to overcome their own fear and prejudice about going to sea. 32 00:02:15,967 --> 00:02:20,167 They were forced to copy the enemy from the north. 33 00:02:20,167 --> 00:02:26,247 So my landlubber's learning curve also begins on a freezing Norwegian fjord, 34 00:02:26,247 --> 00:02:28,636 with a bunch of experimental archaeologists. 35 00:02:29,727 --> 00:02:33,487 Most Viking craft were comparatively small 36 00:02:33,487 --> 00:02:36,647 and well built for stability and speed. 37 00:02:36,647 --> 00:02:40,687 But as soon as you're on the water, you get a worrying insight 38 00:02:40,687 --> 00:02:46,087 into how scary Viking technology must have been for the novice Saxons. 39 00:02:46,087 --> 00:02:48,727 How come we've just got onto the boat and it's full of water? 40 00:02:48,727 --> 00:02:50,847 It leaks. 41 00:02:50,847 --> 00:02:52,607 Why? 42 00:02:52,607 --> 00:02:58,327 The planks, basically, are not tight, and it needs time for the wood to swell, 43 00:02:58,327 --> 00:03:00,367 and as you can see, it leaks. 44 00:03:00,367 --> 00:03:02,887 Have a look here, just where my feet are. 45 00:03:02,887 --> 00:03:06,247 It's a constant problem, because if it rains, it fills with water. 46 00:03:06,247 --> 00:03:08,967 Yeah. If there's waves, it fills with water. 47 00:03:08,967 --> 00:03:10,525 It's a lousy job. 48 00:03:12,447 --> 00:03:13,927 Look at this. 49 00:03:13,927 --> 00:03:16,767 This is what me as an oarsman would have had to use 50 00:03:16,767 --> 00:03:18,847 for the bits that I couldn't reach with the bucket. 51 00:03:18,847 --> 00:03:21,087 What do you call that? It's just... It's just... 52 00:03:21,087 --> 00:03:22,647 Basically, it's called a spoon. 53 00:03:22,647 --> 00:03:25,047 It's called a spoon. Wouldn't you know it? 54 00:03:25,047 --> 00:03:27,047 There's an awful lot of water actually under this decking. 55 00:03:27,047 --> 00:03:29,047 I'm not taking that up. If you take that up... 56 00:03:29,047 --> 00:03:30,767 Look down here. Look. Terrific. 57 00:03:30,767 --> 00:03:34,527 So I've got to be chucking this stuff out the way all the time? 58 00:03:34,527 --> 00:03:36,040 Yeah. 59 00:03:38,527 --> 00:03:42,567 The water's only just above freezing, the wind chill about -10. 60 00:03:42,567 --> 00:03:44,607 If your hands are sore from rowing, 61 00:03:44,607 --> 00:03:48,647 bailing, an absolutely essential part of the oarsman's job, 62 00:03:48,647 --> 00:03:51,445 turns them red raw. 63 00:03:56,247 --> 00:04:01,567 And the only alternative to bailing is the back-breaking business of rowing. 64 00:04:01,567 --> 00:04:05,527 There's a lead man who rows. And that's me. 65 00:04:05,527 --> 00:04:08,927 And basically, everybody keeps pace with me. 66 00:04:08,927 --> 00:04:13,087 So it's got to be the guy who basically is at the front, or, rather, at the back, 67 00:04:13,087 --> 00:04:15,157 so everybody can see him. 68 00:04:16,407 --> 00:04:20,127 But a little craft like this could cross the North Sea. 69 00:04:20,127 --> 00:04:22,927 They were the long-haul aircraft of their day, 70 00:04:22,927 --> 00:04:25,927 forging the Vikings' international reputation, 71 00:04:25,927 --> 00:04:28,727 at the cost of personal comfort. 72 00:04:28,727 --> 00:04:30,407 Even Vikings hated it. 73 00:04:30,407 --> 00:04:35,327 In one saga, the hero moans about spending his Ionely winter 74 00:04:35,327 --> 00:04:39,327 on the ice-cold sea, hung round by icicles. 75 00:04:39,327 --> 00:04:44,007 If they didn't make landfall, nights were spent in the open boat, 76 00:04:44,007 --> 00:04:47,443 with only animal skins and their hairy mates for warmth. 77 00:04:48,567 --> 00:04:50,637 Food was pretty basic too. 78 00:04:52,207 --> 00:04:56,607 That's what's called fairnalaw, and that's salted and dried meat. 79 00:04:56,607 --> 00:04:59,247 Ham? Yeah. 80 00:04:59,247 --> 00:05:03,525 And basically... Yeah? 81 00:05:07,327 --> 00:05:08,885 Try a bit. 82 00:05:14,967 --> 00:05:17,647 What do you think? That's alright. 83 00:05:17,647 --> 00:05:20,127 Yeah, and the other alternative is... 84 00:05:20,127 --> 00:05:22,847 Fish. I'm not quite so sure about this! 85 00:05:22,847 --> 00:05:24,567 Pretty bony. 86 00:05:24,567 --> 00:05:26,558 God, it stinks! Yeah, it does. 87 00:05:28,567 --> 00:05:31,607 But did you bite into the fleshy bit or? I bit into that bit there. 88 00:05:31,607 --> 00:05:35,566 And you just rip it off, bones and all, and just chew it. 89 00:05:38,487 --> 00:05:40,047 That's disgusting! 90 00:05:40,047 --> 00:05:41,526 I can see you're impressed. 91 00:05:44,127 --> 00:05:47,007 But it doesn't taste like smoked fish, does it? It just tastes manky. 92 00:05:47,007 --> 00:05:48,487 (Laughs) 93 00:05:48,487 --> 00:05:50,487 Got a mouthful of bones. Yeah. 94 00:05:50,487 --> 00:05:52,637 But it's very good for you. 95 00:05:54,887 --> 00:05:58,207 The Saxon oarsman set the nation on a new course. 96 00:05:58,207 --> 00:06:02,847 In the centuries that followed, Britons really took to the sea. 97 00:06:02,847 --> 00:06:07,284 Improved design made for much larger ships for trade and warfare. 98 00:06:09,447 --> 00:06:14,127 But our history at sea has always meant worst jobs on land as well. 99 00:06:14,127 --> 00:06:17,447 And the massive expansion in medieval shipbuilding 100 00:06:17,447 --> 00:06:19,767 needed raw ingredients. 101 00:06:19,767 --> 00:06:23,527 Britain's maritime tradition starts here, with wood. 102 00:06:23,527 --> 00:06:26,247 But in order to work the wood to make the ships, 103 00:06:26,247 --> 00:06:30,927 you needed the skills of the shipwright, who was such a highly prized craftsman 104 00:06:30,927 --> 00:06:32,927 that he'd certainly never sully his hands 105 00:06:32,927 --> 00:06:37,567 by making the basic component of the ship - the plank. 106 00:06:37,567 --> 00:06:41,887 Making ships with sawn planks was a new technology. 107 00:06:41,887 --> 00:06:46,247 Literally at the cutting edge was one bad job and one worst job. 108 00:06:46,247 --> 00:06:47,767 Damian? Yeah? 109 00:06:47,767 --> 00:06:50,407 Who was the chap who made the planks for the shipwright? 110 00:06:50,407 --> 00:06:52,247 Well, it was a pair of them. 111 00:06:52,247 --> 00:06:55,887 One down the hole there and one up here, the sawyers, 112 00:06:55,887 --> 00:06:58,767 'cause you always have at least two. 113 00:06:58,767 --> 00:07:02,247 They would saw out the planks for the shipwright by the 16th century, 114 00:07:02,247 --> 00:07:04,687 and also a lot of the other timbers of the ship. 115 00:07:04,687 --> 00:07:07,527 They prepared most of the timber for the shipbuilding. 116 00:07:07,527 --> 00:07:09,647 TONY: So, what was so bad about the job? 117 00:07:09,647 --> 00:07:13,047 Just unending labour. I mean, you know, six days a week doing this. 118 00:07:13,047 --> 00:07:14,527 I mean, we play at it. 119 00:07:14,527 --> 00:07:17,927 We do it for an afternoon at a weekend a few times in the summer. That's OK. 120 00:07:17,927 --> 00:07:20,167 But six days a week, hour after hour. 121 00:07:20,167 --> 00:07:22,807 They had a real reputation for drinking, and you can see why. 122 00:07:22,807 --> 00:07:25,327 It's thirsty work, but it's also numbing work, and, you know, 123 00:07:25,327 --> 00:07:27,767 you'd rather be doing almost anything else, I think, after a while. 124 00:07:27,767 --> 00:07:32,007 The heyday of the under-sawyer came in Tudor times. 125 00:07:32,007 --> 00:07:35,407 Thousands of them were employed after the Spanish Armada, 126 00:07:35,407 --> 00:07:39,327 building 174 ships in London alone. 127 00:07:39,327 --> 00:07:42,247 They got through 40,000 tonnes of wood. 128 00:07:42,247 --> 00:07:47,807 Whole forests were turned into millions of planks and mountains of sawdust. 129 00:07:47,807 --> 00:07:51,887 And a word for a whole new underclass was born. 130 00:07:51,887 --> 00:07:54,207 What are these things, these great grips? These iron staple things? 131 00:07:54,207 --> 00:07:56,007 They're called dogs. 132 00:07:56,007 --> 00:07:58,047 The top-sawyer, usually the most senior person, 133 00:07:58,047 --> 00:08:00,007 standing over the dogs, the top dog, 134 00:08:00,007 --> 00:08:02,607 and then the underdog, the more junior person, underneath them. 135 00:08:02,607 --> 00:08:04,487 You're the top dog and Joe's the underdog. 136 00:08:04,487 --> 00:08:07,367 Joe, you're the underdog. Do you mind if I take over? 137 00:08:07,367 --> 00:08:09,767 Certainly not. Away you go. 138 00:08:09,767 --> 00:08:11,767 Well, those are small planks you could use for small-boat-building. 139 00:08:11,767 --> 00:08:14,567 You know, for a big ship, they'd be an awful lot bigger than that. 140 00:08:14,567 --> 00:08:18,007 It's a bit manky down here, isn't it? Any hole in the ground gets wet, yeah. 141 00:08:18,007 --> 00:08:20,727 A lot of them would be wet and rather stinky. 142 00:08:20,727 --> 00:08:22,647 So... Alright, what do I have to do? 143 00:08:22,647 --> 00:08:25,167 Well, the idea is you concentrate on the line, 144 00:08:25,167 --> 00:08:29,287 you steer the saw, just like a children's scooter, but only on the downstroke. 145 00:08:29,287 --> 00:08:33,287 And on the upstroke, you push up slightly to help me lift the saw. 146 00:08:33,287 --> 00:08:35,287 OK, I'm gonna lift it now. Yeah. 147 00:08:35,287 --> 00:08:37,005 OK? And then we'll go down. 148 00:08:39,247 --> 00:08:41,447 You've got to tell me if you're going off the line. 149 00:08:41,447 --> 00:08:43,447 You have to help me a bit on the upstroke. 150 00:08:43,447 --> 00:08:44,516 Yep. 151 00:08:49,167 --> 00:08:51,362 (Tony coughs) 152 00:08:55,887 --> 00:08:59,287 (Coughs) 153 00:08:59,287 --> 00:09:02,927 I tell you what is so difficult about this - it's all this flippin' dust. 154 00:09:02,927 --> 00:09:06,127 Uh, it is when we get a gust of wind and it blows it, 155 00:09:06,127 --> 00:09:08,607 but most of it's going down in front of where you're cutting. 156 00:09:08,607 --> 00:09:10,527 I'm down here. It isn't. 157 00:09:10,527 --> 00:09:12,607 Isn't it? (Coughs) 158 00:09:12,607 --> 00:09:15,727 This has got to be the worst job in the shipyard, hasn't it? 159 00:09:15,727 --> 00:09:17,527 It probably was one of the very worst jobs. 160 00:09:17,527 --> 00:09:21,127 Very hard on the hands, and get in your lungs. 161 00:09:21,127 --> 00:09:23,087 Yeah. 162 00:09:23,087 --> 00:09:25,367 Don't tip more on! 163 00:09:25,367 --> 00:09:27,367 That's not on you. That's right in front of you. 164 00:09:27,367 --> 00:09:29,727 You have to do that, otherwise you can't see the line 165 00:09:29,727 --> 00:09:31,399 and you can't see what you're cutting. 166 00:09:32,647 --> 00:09:36,007 There may not have been a worse job in the shipyard, 167 00:09:36,007 --> 00:09:38,847 but once the under-sawyers' ships were launched, 168 00:09:38,847 --> 00:09:44,444 a brand-new world of employment misery bobbed onto the horizon. 169 00:09:49,367 --> 00:09:53,847 The 16th century was a turning point for the British at sea. 170 00:09:53,847 --> 00:09:58,327 Queen Elizabeth's navy managed to fend off the awesome Spanish Armada. 171 00:09:58,327 --> 00:10:02,207 Walter Raleigh went exploring and discovered potatoes. 172 00:10:02,207 --> 00:10:06,047 And Francis Drake went round the world on the 'Golden Hind'. 173 00:10:06,047 --> 00:10:11,447 They got the glory, but all the work was done by anonymous sailors. 174 00:10:11,447 --> 00:10:15,367 There were 80 on the 'Golden Hind', risking death in battle, 175 00:10:15,367 --> 00:10:18,807 falling from the rigging or being swept overboard. 176 00:10:18,807 --> 00:10:22,047 But there was one arduous task beneath deck 177 00:10:22,047 --> 00:10:25,647 that strained every fibre even before leaving port. 178 00:10:25,647 --> 00:10:28,287 Sailors had to haul the anchor, 179 00:10:28,287 --> 00:10:31,247 up to a tonne of metal stuck in the sea bed, 180 00:10:31,247 --> 00:10:34,247 in the most cramped conditions imaginable. 181 00:10:34,247 --> 00:10:38,207 If you're a physiotherapist, look away now. 182 00:10:38,207 --> 00:10:39,687 TONY: What do I do? 183 00:10:39,687 --> 00:10:43,167 Tony, your job is to push the capstan. 184 00:10:43,167 --> 00:10:46,007 You're gonna have to get one of the bars out here with the guys. 185 00:10:46,007 --> 00:10:47,963 Come on, guys. Let's get those capstan bars out. 186 00:10:49,727 --> 00:10:51,367 Put the bar in the slot. Yeah. 187 00:10:51,367 --> 00:10:55,487 And then, with all the other guys... you're gonna drive the capstan round 188 00:10:55,487 --> 00:10:57,407 to pull the anchor cable up. 189 00:10:57,407 --> 00:10:58,886 OK. 190 00:10:59,887 --> 00:11:01,407 ANDREW: Everybody ready? Yep. 191 00:11:01,407 --> 00:11:03,047 OK, let's go. 192 00:11:03,047 --> 00:11:06,164 Sometimes this job took days. 193 00:11:07,687 --> 00:11:10,963 The commonest injury for sailors was a rupture. 194 00:11:18,407 --> 00:11:22,927 This feels a physically hard job, but was it at all dangerous? 195 00:11:22,927 --> 00:11:25,487 ANDREW: Yes, this could be a very dangerous job. 196 00:11:25,487 --> 00:11:30,207 If the cable snapped, the capstan would spin back and knock the men over. 197 00:11:30,207 --> 00:11:34,246 If the anchor snags, it could be really hard work to try and pull it out. 198 00:11:36,047 --> 00:11:40,647 Presumably you were quite vulnerable when the anchor was rising. 199 00:11:40,647 --> 00:11:44,127 As most of the crew had to be used to get the anchor up, 200 00:11:44,127 --> 00:11:46,487 this was a perfect time for somebody to attack you, 201 00:11:46,487 --> 00:11:50,447 to catch you, quite literally, with your crew below deck, running round the capstan. 202 00:11:50,447 --> 00:11:53,527 There'd be nobody upstairs to defend the ship. 203 00:11:53,527 --> 00:11:55,447 It's a very vulnerable time. 204 00:11:55,447 --> 00:11:57,165 (Sighs) 205 00:11:58,967 --> 00:12:00,767 Yep, that's it. Hooray! 206 00:12:00,767 --> 00:12:04,607 Great job! (Sighs) 207 00:12:04,607 --> 00:12:07,367 Can we get up top and have a look? 208 00:12:07,367 --> 00:12:09,727 Yeah, we better go and see if you've done the job. 209 00:12:09,727 --> 00:12:11,399 Thanks, guys. 210 00:12:14,687 --> 00:12:16,647 Oh, wow. That is big, isn't it? 211 00:12:16,647 --> 00:12:18,127 Yep, that is a really big one. 212 00:12:18,127 --> 00:12:22,447 No wonder it took quite so much effort, but job done. 213 00:12:22,447 --> 00:12:26,847 Although, having said that, there is one even worse job, isn't there, 214 00:12:26,847 --> 00:12:28,327 which you're gonna make me do. 215 00:12:28,327 --> 00:12:31,327 What is it? The worst job on the ship. 216 00:12:31,327 --> 00:12:35,567 It's not just pulling. It's not sweating. It's a punishment. 217 00:12:35,567 --> 00:12:38,407 The job is called 'being the liar'. 218 00:12:38,407 --> 00:12:40,607 Liar, as in pants on fire? Yeah. 219 00:12:40,607 --> 00:12:44,047 Every Monday morning, the first person to tell a lie 220 00:12:44,047 --> 00:12:46,167 would be named and shamed, 221 00:12:46,167 --> 00:12:50,047 and they would then have the job of being the swabber's mate. 222 00:12:50,047 --> 00:12:51,727 And what were they swabbing? 223 00:12:51,727 --> 00:12:54,367 They were swabbing the outside of the ship. 224 00:12:54,367 --> 00:12:57,007 They were swabbing the dirtiest parts of the ship. 225 00:12:57,007 --> 00:13:02,527 In particular, they were swabbing the toilet area out here on the beak head. 226 00:13:02,527 --> 00:13:05,047 This is down here... Come and have a look at this. 227 00:13:05,047 --> 00:13:06,687 Right down there. 228 00:13:06,687 --> 00:13:10,567 And you want me to go and clear that up? 229 00:13:10,567 --> 00:13:12,046 Oh, yes. 230 00:13:13,207 --> 00:13:16,207 Now, how the heck do I get down there? There's no ladder or anything. 231 00:13:16,207 --> 00:13:17,887 We're gonna put you in the bosun's chair, 232 00:13:17,887 --> 00:13:21,807 and we're gonna lower you over the side, we're gonna take you right down there, 233 00:13:21,807 --> 00:13:24,847 and I'm gonna pass you the bucket and the swabs. 234 00:13:24,847 --> 00:13:26,647 You're to do the job. 235 00:13:26,647 --> 00:13:28,847 You're so looking forward to this, aren't you?! 236 00:13:28,847 --> 00:13:30,847 I'm glad you're doing it. 237 00:13:30,847 --> 00:13:33,315 Right, lads, come on. Rig us up. 238 00:13:35,407 --> 00:13:37,607 The captain had his own privy. 239 00:13:37,607 --> 00:13:41,885 Everyone else had to negotiate this obstacle course to go to the heads. 240 00:13:43,687 --> 00:13:47,127 Clinging onto a rope and aiming between the slats 241 00:13:47,127 --> 00:13:49,407 can't have been easy in a force eight gale. 242 00:13:49,407 --> 00:13:50,927 Right. 243 00:13:50,927 --> 00:13:54,367 And we know that many of the British sailors during the assault on the Armada 244 00:13:54,367 --> 00:13:56,607 also had to cope with food poisoning. 245 00:13:56,607 --> 00:13:58,127 Oh, I haven't got my bucket and... 246 00:13:58,127 --> 00:13:59,887 ...swab, have I? 247 00:13:59,887 --> 00:14:03,721 This 'Golden Hind' is a replica of the Tudor version. 248 00:14:05,367 --> 00:14:07,927 And this is replica too. 249 00:14:07,927 --> 00:14:11,636 Although, to be frank, it still makes you feel sick. 250 00:14:13,887 --> 00:14:17,087 The great advantage of being at sea is you wouldn't have needed to do this job, 251 00:14:17,087 --> 00:14:21,447 because this toilet facility's entirely self-cleaning in heavy weather. 252 00:14:21,447 --> 00:14:22,926 Yeah. 253 00:14:27,127 --> 00:14:28,687 Right. 254 00:14:28,687 --> 00:14:30,807 Now do I have to get out on here? 255 00:14:30,807 --> 00:14:32,287 Yep, right out there. 256 00:14:32,287 --> 00:14:33,767 Charming. 257 00:14:33,767 --> 00:14:38,607 Did they understand about hygiene? Yes, they did. 258 00:14:38,607 --> 00:14:43,567 The Tudors already understood that disease was caused by dirt. 259 00:14:43,567 --> 00:14:45,927 Yeah? And they didn't like bad smells. 260 00:14:45,927 --> 00:14:49,287 So they cleaned the ship every day with salt water. 261 00:14:49,287 --> 00:14:52,207 If there was any suspicion of illness on board, 262 00:14:52,207 --> 00:14:54,847 they would scrub the decks down with vinegar 263 00:14:54,847 --> 00:14:56,607 and then they would fumigate the place 264 00:14:56,607 --> 00:14:59,287 with charcoal braziers and frankincense. 265 00:14:59,287 --> 00:15:01,767 Why were these blokes called swabbers? 266 00:15:01,767 --> 00:15:03,247 They were called swabbers 267 00:15:03,247 --> 00:15:07,207 because what you've got in your hand is a bundle of cloths, or swabs. 268 00:15:07,207 --> 00:15:10,287 Can't see any toilet paper. No such thing. 269 00:15:10,287 --> 00:15:14,327 They used bits of rope's end and any other old rags they could find. 270 00:15:14,327 --> 00:15:15,807 Must have been painful. 271 00:15:15,807 --> 00:15:20,483 I tell you what, I'm surprised anyone... of them ever told a lie. 272 00:15:22,047 --> 00:15:23,527 Probably not twice. 273 00:15:23,527 --> 00:15:25,040 Yeah. 274 00:15:26,247 --> 00:15:27,767 This is just foul. 275 00:15:27,767 --> 00:15:30,042 (Sighs) 276 00:15:32,527 --> 00:15:34,677 That's a lousy job. 277 00:15:35,967 --> 00:15:40,927 And at the end of a voyage, if a sailor survived the dirt, disease and back strain, 278 00:15:40,927 --> 00:15:44,087 he could be dumped onshore with no pay. 279 00:15:44,087 --> 00:15:48,527 The tough job of the work force at sea didn't come with a pension scheme. 280 00:15:48,527 --> 00:15:52,967 But in the 17th and 18th century, people paid good money 281 00:15:52,967 --> 00:15:55,647 to see death-defying aerial stunts, 282 00:15:55,647 --> 00:15:59,327 and sailors were uniquely qualified to apply, 283 00:15:59,327 --> 00:16:02,927 with their head for heights and physical strength. 284 00:16:02,927 --> 00:16:05,207 It's my next worst job, 285 00:16:05,207 --> 00:16:10,247 and it's the forerunner of the high-wire act - the flying man. 286 00:16:10,247 --> 00:16:12,887 But did they actually fly? 287 00:16:12,887 --> 00:16:15,607 Well, I'm just about to find out. 288 00:16:15,607 --> 00:16:17,927 What did the flying men actually do? 289 00:16:17,927 --> 00:16:21,607 Well, Tony, they slid down ropes, rather like this one, 290 00:16:21,607 --> 00:16:23,247 but attached to very high buildings, 291 00:16:23,247 --> 00:16:25,607 sometimes three or four times the height of this. 292 00:16:25,607 --> 00:16:31,527 For instance, in 1546, at the coronation procession of King Edward VI, 293 00:16:31,527 --> 00:16:34,887 a native of Aragon - his name isn't known - 294 00:16:34,887 --> 00:16:38,487 slid down from the steeple of old St Paul's Cathedral. 295 00:16:38,487 --> 00:16:40,167 Who were the people who did this? 296 00:16:40,167 --> 00:16:42,007 Not an awful lot is known about them. 297 00:16:42,007 --> 00:16:49,207 There was one case of a Mr Cadman, who fell off, unfortunately, in 1740, 298 00:16:49,207 --> 00:16:53,367 in his descent from Shrewsbury Parish Church, 299 00:16:53,367 --> 00:16:56,087 and was killed because the rope broke. 300 00:16:56,087 --> 00:16:58,127 And this is the rope I've got to slide down? 301 00:16:58,127 --> 00:16:59,879 I'm afraid so. 302 00:17:01,287 --> 00:17:03,278 Oh, great. 303 00:17:05,967 --> 00:17:10,207 All you had to do was glide headfirst down a single rope. 304 00:17:10,207 --> 00:17:15,287 A sailor-turned-flying man could earn a year's wages, about $40, 305 00:17:15,287 --> 00:17:18,127 from one successful stunt. 306 00:17:18,127 --> 00:17:22,887 But it was crucial that others shared his expertise. 307 00:17:22,887 --> 00:17:27,119 Slack ropes could, and did, spell death. 308 00:17:28,727 --> 00:17:31,767 I don't have much of a head for heights, 309 00:17:31,767 --> 00:17:34,967 so whizzing down a rope from a 30-metre tower 310 00:17:34,967 --> 00:17:37,162 definitely makes this a worst job for me. 311 00:17:40,127 --> 00:17:44,847 A real flying man would step out onto the rope from the tower. 312 00:17:44,847 --> 00:17:48,287 What I have to do, though, because of compulsory safety measures, 313 00:17:48,287 --> 00:17:52,767 is to be winched into place, hop on the rope and then slide down. 314 00:17:52,767 --> 00:17:54,246 Is that about it? 315 00:17:55,247 --> 00:17:58,637 That's it. Try and swing your leg over. Try and get it up and over the rope. 316 00:18:03,567 --> 00:18:08,595 What sounds like a doddle is actually complicated by the safety line. 317 00:18:11,407 --> 00:18:14,807 Oh, God! It's funny, you get... You get so... 318 00:18:14,807 --> 00:18:17,847 All the tops of your shoulders are really, really, really weak. 319 00:18:17,847 --> 00:18:20,047 (Groans) 320 00:18:20,047 --> 00:18:21,526 MAN: Almost there. 321 00:18:23,327 --> 00:18:25,967 You know, I'm not gonna be able to do it. I'm so... 322 00:18:25,967 --> 00:18:31,247 I'm so mad. It's partly because this rope is so wet. 323 00:18:31,247 --> 00:18:36,560 Partly 'cause, I think, I'm very cold, and partly 'cause I'm fairly scared! 324 00:18:37,847 --> 00:18:40,315 Can you let me down, lads? 325 00:18:41,447 --> 00:18:47,967 On 5 October 1732, a flying man fell off a slack rope 326 00:18:47,967 --> 00:18:50,687 tied to the tower of Greenwich Church. 327 00:18:50,687 --> 00:18:52,567 He was dead the next day. 328 00:18:52,567 --> 00:18:54,080 Give us a hand. 329 00:18:56,847 --> 00:18:58,727 Ah, I'm so angry. 330 00:18:58,727 --> 00:19:00,967 I am so bloody angry! Why? 331 00:19:00,967 --> 00:19:03,927 'Cause I couldn't get that flipping knee over! 332 00:19:03,927 --> 00:19:07,124 I bet you I could do it... do it here. 333 00:19:09,687 --> 00:19:11,518 Give us a shove up, will you? 334 00:19:13,967 --> 00:19:15,446 I bet you I could... 335 00:19:17,207 --> 00:19:18,687 Look. 336 00:19:18,687 --> 00:19:21,847 Everybody, this is the action... Oh! 337 00:19:21,847 --> 00:19:24,007 ...that I'm supposed to be doing. 338 00:19:24,007 --> 00:19:26,287 You keep this leg down. I know how to do it. 339 00:19:26,287 --> 00:19:33,047 You keep this leg down, that leg's tucked along, and you slide along like... this. 340 00:19:33,047 --> 00:19:36,127 One of the things that made this so hard this time - 341 00:19:36,127 --> 00:19:41,487 it's been pouring with rain all day, and it's just so... wet. 342 00:19:41,487 --> 00:19:44,047 But still, I should have been able to get my knee... 343 00:19:44,047 --> 00:19:46,887 Just think what it might have been like in the 16th century, 344 00:19:46,887 --> 00:19:50,167 or even in the 19th, when they didn't have nylon ropes like this, 345 00:19:50,167 --> 00:19:52,967 but they would have just had hemp hawser-laid ropes. 346 00:19:52,967 --> 00:19:55,401 It's pretty lousy in the 21 st century. 347 00:19:57,887 --> 00:20:00,606 It's a pride thing, isn't it? I so wanted to do that. 348 00:20:07,047 --> 00:20:09,167 MAN: Fire! 349 00:20:09,167 --> 00:20:12,687 The Georgian navy was a golden age for Britain at sea. 350 00:20:12,687 --> 00:20:16,527 It was a time when legends were born, from Nelson at Trafalgar 351 00:20:16,527 --> 00:20:20,247 to Captain Bligh and the mutiny on the 'Bounty'. 352 00:20:20,247 --> 00:20:23,087 But there was no romance to life on board. 353 00:20:23,087 --> 00:20:28,167 Gun crews could be blown apart, powder monkeys fetched and scurried, 354 00:20:28,167 --> 00:20:30,687 top men went higher than they'd ever gone before, 355 00:20:30,687 --> 00:20:32,367 and swabbers still swabbed. 356 00:20:32,367 --> 00:20:35,407 No-one was immune. 357 00:20:35,407 --> 00:20:36,886 (CANNON FIRES) 358 00:20:38,727 --> 00:20:42,327 Even officers had a tough time, particularly the very junior ones, 359 00:20:42,327 --> 00:20:44,767 who could be as young as 11 or 12. 360 00:20:44,767 --> 00:20:48,087 These were little boys from well-to-do homes. 361 00:20:48,087 --> 00:20:52,087 It was their first time at sea. They were queasy. They were nervous. 362 00:20:52,087 --> 00:20:54,767 And they had to cope with a motley crew of men 363 00:20:54,767 --> 00:20:58,367 who were bigger and tougher and older than they were. 364 00:20:58,367 --> 00:21:02,883 Welcome to the horrible world of the snotties - the midshipmen. 365 00:21:13,647 --> 00:21:17,327 In their smart uniform, they must have made their mums proud, 366 00:21:17,327 --> 00:21:22,887 but for me, it's the horrifying plunging of a child into a brutal man's world 367 00:21:22,887 --> 00:21:25,247 that makes midshipman a worst job. 368 00:21:25,247 --> 00:21:28,807 These boys, who may never have seen the sea, 369 00:21:28,807 --> 00:21:32,047 had no idea what they were signing on for. 370 00:21:32,047 --> 00:21:36,647 "I had anticipated an elegant house with guns at the windows," 371 00:21:36,647 --> 00:21:40,607 wrote a midshipman called Frederick Chaumier in 1806. 372 00:21:40,607 --> 00:21:43,367 "But the shrill whistle squeaked, 373 00:21:43,367 --> 00:21:47,807 "the voice of the bosun and his mates rattled like thunder in my ears, 374 00:21:47,807 --> 00:21:51,647 "the decks were dirty and slippery, the smells, abominable." 375 00:21:51,647 --> 00:21:53,807 Tedious job. It is, isn't it? 376 00:21:53,807 --> 00:21:56,087 Working in shifts day and night, 377 00:21:56,087 --> 00:21:59,007 the tiny midshipman had the hourly job 378 00:21:59,007 --> 00:22:01,367 of measuring the speed of the ship. 379 00:22:01,367 --> 00:22:04,040 There we go. Let's see how you get on with that this time. 380 00:22:07,407 --> 00:22:09,687 So I let it out to the first knot. 381 00:22:09,687 --> 00:22:11,527 Yes. 382 00:22:11,527 --> 00:22:14,367 So if you hold the spindle... with one hand. 383 00:22:14,367 --> 00:22:17,407 That's it. So, it's gonna run absolutely freely. 384 00:22:17,407 --> 00:22:18,887 OK. 385 00:22:18,887 --> 00:22:21,047 But, obviously, you don't try and pull it off. 386 00:22:21,047 --> 00:22:26,727 The ship has got to let it take it itself to get an accurate gauge of the speed. 387 00:22:26,727 --> 00:22:31,367 One hundred, two hundred, three... 388 00:22:31,367 --> 00:22:33,087 And 28. There we go. 389 00:22:33,087 --> 00:22:38,447 They counted actual knots on a rope as it floated away over a set period, 390 00:22:38,447 --> 00:22:41,687 hence the nautical speed of knots. 391 00:22:41,687 --> 00:22:43,927 We can say that's about 0.8. 392 00:22:43,927 --> 00:22:45,963 One... 393 00:22:47,687 --> 00:22:49,167 ...two... 394 00:22:49,167 --> 00:22:51,207 God, if you were 11, trying to pull this in, 395 00:22:51,207 --> 00:22:52,807 you'd have a job, wouldn't you? 396 00:22:52,807 --> 00:22:54,847 Yeah. Quite heavy, isn't it? 397 00:22:54,847 --> 00:22:56,405 Three. 398 00:22:58,367 --> 00:23:00,487 Four. Four. 399 00:23:00,487 --> 00:23:02,796 There's five. 400 00:23:04,247 --> 00:23:05,760 Six. 401 00:23:07,047 --> 00:23:09,487 Seven. (Laughs) 402 00:23:09,487 --> 00:23:11,762 Here it comes. 403 00:23:14,607 --> 00:23:18,207 That was seven, and the 0.8 we had, and you're knackered, aren't you? 404 00:23:18,207 --> 00:23:19,727 7.8, yeah. 405 00:23:19,727 --> 00:23:22,247 No. Fit as a fiddle, mate. 406 00:23:22,247 --> 00:23:23,727 Yeah. 407 00:23:23,727 --> 00:23:25,207 Oh, dear, oh, dear. 408 00:23:25,207 --> 00:23:28,327 Perhaps a young 11 - or 12-year-old boy hauling on that, 409 00:23:28,327 --> 00:23:32,327 and it could be the middle of the night in the dead of winter. 410 00:23:32,327 --> 00:23:34,447 He's freezing cold. 411 00:23:34,447 --> 00:23:36,807 You've got a nice pair of gloves on, I noticed. 412 00:23:36,807 --> 00:23:40,197 He probably skinned his fingers raw just pulling that one in. 413 00:23:43,527 --> 00:23:46,567 But even if he'd been up all night, the exhausted midshipman 414 00:23:46,567 --> 00:23:50,327 had to join the captain and officers at midday 415 00:23:50,327 --> 00:23:52,967 for my least favourite part of the job. 416 00:23:52,967 --> 00:23:58,447 From sextant readings at noon, you had to calculate your latitude. 417 00:23:58,447 --> 00:24:00,007 What do we do? 418 00:24:00,007 --> 00:24:04,487 I'd rather be swabbing than spending my life doing hard sums, 419 00:24:04,487 --> 00:24:06,647 but this was a key part of officer training. 420 00:24:06,647 --> 00:24:08,887 DAVID: You with me? TONY: Yep. 421 00:24:08,887 --> 00:24:10,847 I thought you were. 422 00:24:10,847 --> 00:24:14,807 The only way to be promoted to lieutenant was to pass an exam 423 00:24:14,807 --> 00:24:17,807 to show you could do all the maths. 424 00:24:17,807 --> 00:24:20,607 Failure could ruin your life. 425 00:24:20,607 --> 00:24:26,167 12-year-old Billy Culmer failed his exam in 1757. 426 00:24:26,167 --> 00:24:29,287 33 years later, he was still a midshipman, 427 00:24:29,287 --> 00:24:31,960 a laughing-stock on minimal pay. 428 00:24:35,207 --> 00:24:37,967 Right, I know how many knots we're doing, 429 00:24:37,967 --> 00:24:40,047 and after about half an hour of intellectual struggle, 430 00:24:40,047 --> 00:24:42,447 I've worked out what our latitude is. 431 00:24:42,447 --> 00:24:45,807 But all that tells me is that we're somewhere in the world 432 00:24:45,807 --> 00:24:48,247 along this line here. 433 00:24:48,247 --> 00:24:52,287 In order to work out our position, I need our longitude. 434 00:24:52,287 --> 00:24:54,927 And if you think it was a song and dance getting the latitude, 435 00:24:54,927 --> 00:24:58,158 wait until you see what we've got to cope with to get the longitude. 436 00:25:01,807 --> 00:25:03,287 The safety of Britain's shipping 437 00:25:03,287 --> 00:25:06,327 depended on captains knowing where they were. 438 00:25:06,327 --> 00:25:10,567 One in five of all deaths at sea were from shipwreck. 439 00:25:10,567 --> 00:25:14,287 Accurate longitude, or east-west position, 440 00:25:14,287 --> 00:25:18,447 wasn't reliable until the beginning of the 19th century. 441 00:25:18,447 --> 00:25:21,607 To measure how far you are from Greenwich Mean Time, 442 00:25:21,607 --> 00:25:23,727 you need a really accurate clock. 443 00:25:23,727 --> 00:25:27,047 And this was only possible when the genius John Harrison 444 00:25:27,047 --> 00:25:29,727 created his famous ship's chronometer. 445 00:25:29,727 --> 00:25:32,767 We may know about the first clock designers, 446 00:25:32,767 --> 00:25:36,727 but I bet you're not aware of the contribution made by my next worst job - 447 00:25:36,727 --> 00:25:41,767 the extraordinarily tedious task of fusee chain making. 448 00:25:41,767 --> 00:25:46,767 The fusee chain was vital to the accuracy of the new clock. 449 00:25:46,767 --> 00:25:51,287 It released the energy of the mechanism to the hands at an even pace. 450 00:25:51,287 --> 00:25:55,687 An essential component, but one so small and fiddly 451 00:25:55,687 --> 00:25:59,287 that making them was a full-time worst job. 452 00:25:59,287 --> 00:26:01,887 And who was the person who made the fusee chain? 453 00:26:01,887 --> 00:26:03,967 The fusee chain, in this instance, 454 00:26:03,967 --> 00:26:08,207 was probably made by workhouse people or children in workhouses. 455 00:26:08,207 --> 00:26:09,727 Which is rather sad. How old? 456 00:26:09,727 --> 00:26:13,007 Oh, they started about 9 to about 11, and they were mostly girls. 457 00:26:13,007 --> 00:26:16,607 They had good dexterity skills. They could handle small components. 458 00:26:16,607 --> 00:26:19,007 Here's a little chain here. 459 00:26:19,007 --> 00:26:22,487 And this is the size that they would make for small deck watches. Navigation again. 460 00:26:22,487 --> 00:26:24,127 What was their day like? 461 00:26:24,127 --> 00:26:28,167 They would start and probably do, ooh, 462 00:26:28,167 --> 00:26:31,167 from first sunlight, really, to right down to sunset. 463 00:26:31,167 --> 00:26:33,767 And they would do a complete day and 70-hour week, 464 00:26:33,767 --> 00:26:37,207 and they would have two hours a day for a bit of going out for fresh air 465 00:26:37,207 --> 00:26:39,207 and 20 minutes for education. 466 00:26:39,207 --> 00:26:41,127 That's got to be the worst job in watch-making. 467 00:26:41,127 --> 00:26:43,327 It was pretty bad, yes. So how do you do it? 468 00:26:43,327 --> 00:26:44,806 Well, I've got one here. 469 00:26:46,287 --> 00:26:48,167 And this particular one is a chronometer chain. 470 00:26:48,167 --> 00:26:50,442 Yeah. And this is making the old-fashioned way. 471 00:26:52,807 --> 00:26:56,327 These are the raw materials - sheet steel, softened, ready for hardening, 472 00:26:56,327 --> 00:26:58,527 and wire, ready to go in. 473 00:26:58,527 --> 00:27:01,167 We're going to stamp out the link. 474 00:27:01,167 --> 00:27:03,127 There you go. OK. 475 00:27:03,127 --> 00:27:05,766 Tap that out. Just gently does it. 476 00:27:08,207 --> 00:27:11,687 Bit more. That's it. Lovely. 477 00:27:11,687 --> 00:27:14,327 Clear off the thing, and then we just push the link out, 478 00:27:14,327 --> 00:27:16,047 which is in there, look, in the press. 479 00:27:16,047 --> 00:27:17,527 There we go. Hey! I made this. 480 00:27:17,527 --> 00:27:19,447 How many of these do you reckon 481 00:27:19,447 --> 00:27:21,447 one of these workhouse girls would have made a day? 482 00:27:21,447 --> 00:27:24,727 Well, we know one lady did 150,000 in a year. 483 00:27:24,727 --> 00:27:27,207 So we're talking of chains, millions. 484 00:27:27,207 --> 00:27:28,887 Right. There you go. 485 00:27:28,887 --> 00:27:31,687 OK. Now, steady as she goes. 486 00:27:31,687 --> 00:27:35,207 If you rest the pin on the table, it acts as a sort of lock. That's it. 487 00:27:35,207 --> 00:27:38,438 Cut. I'm gonna go and get my glasses. 488 00:27:40,007 --> 00:27:41,884 Oh! I can see it. It's got holes in. 489 00:27:43,127 --> 00:27:44,607 Right. 490 00:27:44,607 --> 00:27:46,567 That is... slightly easier. 491 00:27:46,567 --> 00:27:48,159 OK. 492 00:27:51,767 --> 00:27:54,447 Oh! It's gone. It's gone. 493 00:27:54,447 --> 00:27:57,647 If I was one of those little girls, I'd probably get whipped for that, wouldn't I? 494 00:27:57,647 --> 00:27:59,887 I'm afraid you would have done, in those days, yes. 495 00:27:59,887 --> 00:28:05,967 When you touch the head of the wire, it doesn't flip it up on one side. 496 00:28:05,967 --> 00:28:08,037 (Leslie laughs) 497 00:28:11,167 --> 00:28:14,207 Oh, triumph. Oh, great triumph. 498 00:28:14,207 --> 00:28:15,927 Da-da! OK. 499 00:28:15,927 --> 00:28:19,367 If you use the tweezer and put either side to the actual point and push down, 500 00:28:19,367 --> 00:28:21,167 and then you lock on. 501 00:28:21,167 --> 00:28:23,927 Push down with the tweezers onto the... You close the tweezers. 502 00:28:23,927 --> 00:28:26,007 Oh... Does that matter? 503 00:28:26,007 --> 00:28:28,207 No, it doesn't really matter. We can soon straighten it up. 504 00:28:28,207 --> 00:28:30,327 OK, now, it won't actually stay on very well. 505 00:28:30,327 --> 00:28:33,567 You've got a little bit too much metal showing. So we need to file it down. 506 00:28:33,567 --> 00:28:35,247 There we... Whoop, whoop. Steady as she goes. 507 00:28:35,247 --> 00:28:38,087 Right. Have we got a file? We have that, there. 508 00:28:38,087 --> 00:28:41,087 After stamping out the minuscule links, 509 00:28:41,087 --> 00:28:44,047 you have to begin the eye-bending task of putting them together. 510 00:28:44,047 --> 00:28:46,407 Can see why you'd have needed natural light. 511 00:28:46,407 --> 00:28:49,167 Trying to do this in artificial light would be virtually impossible. 512 00:28:49,167 --> 00:28:51,047 I think I'm just about done here, don't you? 513 00:28:51,047 --> 00:28:52,847 So if you snip off on the other side. 514 00:28:52,847 --> 00:28:55,167 Go. Good click. It'll go. 515 00:28:55,167 --> 00:28:57,687 Oh, gosh! It's just gone flying off all over the place. 516 00:28:57,687 --> 00:29:00,167 Oh, that is rubbish. That is complete rubbish. 517 00:29:00,167 --> 00:29:04,727 There's about quarter-of-an-inch of metal sticking up out of this. 518 00:29:04,727 --> 00:29:10,207 That will keep the nation's ships on course, that will. 519 00:29:10,207 --> 00:29:14,087 It would take me about a month to make that. 520 00:29:14,087 --> 00:29:16,087 So would you like to do some more to this? 521 00:29:16,087 --> 00:29:17,927 Only another... Another few hours. 522 00:29:17,927 --> 00:29:22,527 149,999 and I've done my year's worth. Yes. 523 00:29:22,527 --> 00:29:28,567 For me, fusee chain makers really were the unsung heroes of longitude. 524 00:29:28,567 --> 00:29:30,287 Look at that. 525 00:29:30,287 --> 00:29:32,767 Of course, what we'll do now... 526 00:29:32,767 --> 00:29:37,124 (People laugh) The entire crew are laughing at me. 527 00:29:39,247 --> 00:29:43,447 The 19th century brought the industrial revolution to the sea. 528 00:29:43,447 --> 00:29:47,767 With steam and steel, a new form of luxury transport was born - 529 00:29:47,767 --> 00:29:49,847 the massive liner. 530 00:29:49,847 --> 00:29:55,407 In these floating hotels, the idle rich could swan across the globe in style. 531 00:29:55,407 --> 00:29:57,647 But none of this would have been possible 532 00:29:57,647 --> 00:30:01,527 without the workers who suffered in the deafening roar and wilting heat 533 00:30:01,527 --> 00:30:03,767 of the boiler room below deck. 534 00:30:03,767 --> 00:30:05,687 They were the stokers. 535 00:30:05,687 --> 00:30:08,007 And it was a job so unpopular 536 00:30:08,007 --> 00:30:11,687 that it was forced on penniless workers from the colonies, 537 00:30:11,687 --> 00:30:15,567 whose contribution is only now being reviewed by historians. 538 00:30:15,567 --> 00:30:18,007 It's a heck of a big boiler, isn't it? 539 00:30:18,007 --> 00:30:19,487 Yes. 540 00:30:19,487 --> 00:30:21,807 Would they really have been that size on board a ship? 541 00:30:21,807 --> 00:30:23,607 They would have been that size, 542 00:30:23,607 --> 00:30:27,327 but you would have had four instead of just the two that there are here now. 543 00:30:27,327 --> 00:30:30,207 Roger, what do you have to do to keep one of these boilers going? 544 00:30:30,207 --> 00:30:32,807 Well, it's quite an art, Tony. 545 00:30:32,807 --> 00:30:37,487 It's maintaining an even fire bed and shovelling in the coal. 546 00:30:37,487 --> 00:30:40,087 So am I gonna get all my stuff dirty? Oh, you will indeed. 547 00:30:40,087 --> 00:30:42,047 You better change into some suitable working gear. 548 00:30:42,047 --> 00:30:43,887 Boiler suit? Yeah, OK. 549 00:30:43,887 --> 00:30:45,684 You can have the little one, Cliff. 550 00:30:46,847 --> 00:30:49,487 Right, so what do you do? Got it. 551 00:30:49,487 --> 00:30:50,967 ROGER: Well, we'll open the furnace. 552 00:30:50,967 --> 00:30:52,487 Yeah. 553 00:30:52,487 --> 00:30:56,087 Phew! Blimey! It's hot, isn't it? It is. 554 00:30:56,087 --> 00:30:58,647 And you bring this bar back. Yep. 555 00:30:58,647 --> 00:31:00,287 Now, what am I doing? 556 00:31:00,287 --> 00:31:05,884 You're raking the fire bars, and you're removing any obnoxious clinker. 557 00:31:07,487 --> 00:31:09,557 Yeah, bring it out onto the floor, Tony. OK. 558 00:31:11,087 --> 00:31:13,247 TONY: Blimey. 559 00:31:13,247 --> 00:31:16,327 Were they able to protect themselves from being burnt at all? 560 00:31:16,327 --> 00:31:21,047 Well, the good old guys used to make themselves hessian hoods, 561 00:31:21,047 --> 00:31:25,007 which they'd put over their head and protect their faces. 562 00:31:25,007 --> 00:31:26,565 Can you hold this for me? 563 00:31:31,247 --> 00:31:33,407 Where's the eyes? Oh, here they are. 564 00:31:33,407 --> 00:31:35,247 It would just burn, wouldn't it? 565 00:31:35,247 --> 00:31:38,205 Well, they used to soak them in water. They'd dunk them in the bucket. 566 00:31:39,447 --> 00:31:40,927 Like this? 567 00:31:40,927 --> 00:31:42,207 TONY: There we are. 568 00:31:42,207 --> 00:31:46,847 That is better. It is better. It may look ridiculous, but, actually, it does work. 569 00:31:46,847 --> 00:31:50,567 If you'd like to go and prepare the other furnace for coal? 570 00:31:50,567 --> 00:31:53,207 You'll probably need to level it off with the fire-irons. 571 00:31:53,207 --> 00:31:54,925 So I've got to rake that, then. 572 00:31:57,607 --> 00:32:00,327 Just rake the bars to remove the ash. 573 00:32:00,327 --> 00:32:01,807 OK. 574 00:32:01,807 --> 00:32:04,007 Who were the people who did this work, Cliff? 575 00:32:04,007 --> 00:32:09,367 Well, a lot of them were Somalis and people from sort of the ex-colonies, 576 00:32:09,367 --> 00:32:10,967 places like Calcutta, 577 00:32:10,967 --> 00:32:13,927 where a lot of the shipping companies had their headquarters. 578 00:32:13,927 --> 00:32:15,687 So why were they doing it? 579 00:32:15,687 --> 00:32:20,927 Because, basically, very few British people wanted to work below decks. 580 00:32:20,927 --> 00:32:22,887 How hot do you reckon it would have got? 581 00:32:22,887 --> 00:32:26,527 Well, in the Red Sea, it got up to 160 at times. 582 00:32:26,527 --> 00:32:29,407 TONY: But it would have been just as bad for Africans and Asians 583 00:32:29,407 --> 00:32:32,007 as it would have been for people from Britain, presumably. 584 00:32:32,007 --> 00:32:36,247 It was, but it was taken that they were better adapted at that time 585 00:32:36,247 --> 00:32:38,327 to work in those sort of conditions. 586 00:32:38,327 --> 00:32:41,007 And sometimes they wore a leather apron as well, 587 00:32:41,007 --> 00:32:45,327 because that could splatter, and sometimes it would even explode 588 00:32:45,327 --> 00:32:47,527 because of the temperature difference. 589 00:32:47,527 --> 00:32:50,607 I'm not surprised they had to wear these things. It really is boiling in here. 590 00:32:50,607 --> 00:32:53,407 Yes. And we know that they did wear these? 591 00:32:53,407 --> 00:32:56,247 Oh, yes, there are diagrams of them wearing them, 592 00:32:56,247 --> 00:33:01,087 and kids were sort of told that if they misbehaved, 593 00:33:01,087 --> 00:33:03,047 the gunier-man, which is you, 594 00:33:03,047 --> 00:33:06,447 would come up and grab hold of them and take 'em away. 595 00:33:06,447 --> 00:33:08,247 Like the boogieman? Yes, yes. 596 00:33:08,247 --> 00:33:11,327 I am the gunier-man! 597 00:33:11,327 --> 00:33:13,687 The stokers didn't just need brute force. 598 00:33:13,687 --> 00:33:17,447 The furnaces had to be carefully balanced, or they could explode. 599 00:33:17,447 --> 00:33:19,447 Accidents were common. 600 00:33:19,447 --> 00:33:23,007 In 1859, five stokers lost their lives 601 00:33:23,007 --> 00:33:25,567 when Brunel's 'Great Eastern' blew an engine jacket 602 00:33:25,567 --> 00:33:27,367 on her maiden voyage. 603 00:33:27,367 --> 00:33:29,967 Watch the safety valve, guys. I think that it's just about to blow. 604 00:33:29,967 --> 00:33:33,447 (BELL CLANGS) 605 00:33:33,447 --> 00:33:37,047 (HISSING) 606 00:33:37,047 --> 00:33:39,561 I think we put enough coal in! 607 00:33:52,207 --> 00:33:53,847 In spite of advancing technology, 608 00:33:53,847 --> 00:33:57,607 working at sea remained extremely dangerous. 609 00:33:57,607 --> 00:34:04,367 20,000 sailors died in shipwrecks between 1793 and 1815. 610 00:34:04,367 --> 00:34:09,127 Loss of life could always be ignored, but lost cargo, never. 611 00:34:09,127 --> 00:34:12,407 As the British Empire grew and trade burgeoned, 612 00:34:12,407 --> 00:34:15,367 the huge loss of revenue became unacceptable 613 00:34:15,367 --> 00:34:17,607 to merchants and industrialists. 614 00:34:17,607 --> 00:34:21,767 The daring solution was a new system of lighthouses, 615 00:34:21,767 --> 00:34:24,967 perched on top of the very rocks that caused the wrecks - 616 00:34:24,967 --> 00:34:26,927 a major engineering challenge. 617 00:34:26,927 --> 00:34:32,763 And construction required a suicidal worst job - the lighthouse builder. 618 00:34:35,807 --> 00:34:39,687 Nowhere was theirjob harder than this place - Wolf Rock - 619 00:34:39,687 --> 00:34:43,527 a handkerchief of land at the entrance to the English Channel. 620 00:34:43,527 --> 00:34:48,247 You might think that the ambition of building a 30-metre tower 621 00:34:48,247 --> 00:34:50,087 out of 2-tonne blocks of granite 622 00:34:50,087 --> 00:34:52,327 when the waves reach 35 metres 623 00:34:52,327 --> 00:34:54,167 is quite bonkers. 624 00:34:54,167 --> 00:34:55,680 And you'd be right. 625 00:34:57,047 --> 00:35:01,247 The granite for Wolf Rock was loaded here at Penzance. 626 00:35:01,247 --> 00:35:04,287 We decided to follow the lighthouse builders' course 627 00:35:04,287 --> 00:35:05,959 to see what they had to face. 628 00:35:07,047 --> 00:35:08,967 Anyway, that was the plan. 629 00:35:08,967 --> 00:35:10,687 MAN: OK, action. 630 00:35:10,687 --> 00:35:13,327 How did you start to build a lighthouse? 631 00:35:13,327 --> 00:35:14,927 Mad, like, you know... 632 00:35:14,927 --> 00:35:19,047 Can we stop for a minute? We're drowning here! Just cut for one sec. 633 00:35:19,047 --> 00:35:21,647 OK, cut. There you have... 634 00:35:21,647 --> 00:35:25,196 The wave will go right over them... Sorry. Whoa! Hang on. 635 00:35:26,927 --> 00:35:30,447 And after all that, we never even got close. 636 00:35:30,447 --> 00:35:34,407 Our skipper made us turn back two miles from the Wolf. 637 00:35:34,407 --> 00:35:36,887 But that's just like the lighthouse builders. 638 00:35:36,887 --> 00:35:40,727 They were paid by the day, but they only managed to get to work 639 00:35:40,727 --> 00:35:42,367 about 80 days a year. 640 00:35:42,367 --> 00:35:46,927 The sea really fools you, doesn't it? Looks as flat as a mill pond. 641 00:35:46,927 --> 00:35:48,447 But if you... 642 00:35:48,447 --> 00:35:51,927 ...look at those rocks down there, you can see it's really swirling around. 643 00:35:51,927 --> 00:35:54,647 Yeah, well, that was the whole problem with anything like that. 644 00:35:54,647 --> 00:35:58,167 If you wanted to put a structure on it, you had to watch out for the sea, 645 00:35:58,167 --> 00:36:00,327 'cause it holds no mercy. 646 00:36:00,327 --> 00:36:02,047 Where's our lighthouse? 647 00:36:02,047 --> 00:36:05,247 Just out on the horizon, behind the rock. 648 00:36:05,247 --> 00:36:08,847 I'd been thinking that our skipper had been a bit chicken. 649 00:36:08,847 --> 00:36:12,327 But this is the Wolf from nine miles away. 650 00:36:12,327 --> 00:36:17,007 Those waves are at least 10 metres high and would have swamped us. 651 00:36:17,007 --> 00:36:19,127 How did they start to build one of these things? 652 00:36:19,127 --> 00:36:21,687 Well, it was quite a... quite a problem. 653 00:36:21,687 --> 00:36:23,207 They had to land, first of all. 654 00:36:23,207 --> 00:36:26,167 They'd have used that flat section on the right-hand side of the rock, 655 00:36:26,167 --> 00:36:27,647 landed on there. 656 00:36:27,647 --> 00:36:30,287 TONY: Is this about the same size, then? PHIL: Roughly, yes. 657 00:36:30,287 --> 00:36:33,167 It was a bit lower than that, but near enough the same, yes. 658 00:36:33,167 --> 00:36:36,807 They blow the top off, and then they have to put stakes in all the way round, 659 00:36:36,807 --> 00:36:39,647 for safety reasons, tie ropes on them, 660 00:36:39,647 --> 00:36:42,447 and then employ a man who was called a crow 661 00:36:42,447 --> 00:36:45,567 to shout out when there was a dangerous wave coming in. 662 00:36:45,567 --> 00:36:47,047 What did he shout out? 663 00:36:47,047 --> 00:36:50,487 He'd have shouted out something like, "Watch out, men, there's a wave coming! 664 00:36:50,487 --> 00:36:51,967 "Down tools!" 665 00:36:51,967 --> 00:36:53,447 He'd have said something like that. 666 00:36:53,447 --> 00:36:56,439 That would seem to be an appropriate shout, wouldn't it, if a wave was coming. 667 00:36:58,487 --> 00:37:01,247 We haven't got casualty figures for the Wolf, 668 00:37:01,247 --> 00:37:06,327 but at Bell Rock, men were crushed by cranes and rocks, boats capsized, 669 00:37:06,327 --> 00:37:10,727 and one builder, Charles Henderson, was simply washed into the sea. 670 00:37:10,727 --> 00:37:14,007 The only thing that stopped the building going the same way 671 00:37:14,007 --> 00:37:15,767 was a unique design. 672 00:37:15,767 --> 00:37:21,007 Each block had a double mortice on it - a vertically and horizontal mortice on it - 673 00:37:21,007 --> 00:37:23,927 and each one interlocked, rather like a LEGO in a way. 674 00:37:23,927 --> 00:37:25,887 And once the lighthouse was completed, 675 00:37:25,887 --> 00:37:29,516 it was said that it was just like a solid block of granite. 676 00:37:31,887 --> 00:37:34,847 The success of the Victorian lighthouse builders 677 00:37:34,847 --> 00:37:37,287 was bad news for another worst job - 678 00:37:37,287 --> 00:37:39,527 the island lighthouse keeper. 679 00:37:39,527 --> 00:37:42,167 He was a volunteer desert island castaway 680 00:37:42,167 --> 00:37:45,207 who needed huge mental reserves. 681 00:37:45,207 --> 00:37:49,647 When you lived on a lighthouse, how did you cope? 682 00:37:49,647 --> 00:37:52,167 The worst part of the job was the psychological side. 683 00:37:52,167 --> 00:37:54,727 I was one of the lucky ones, and I saw it through, 684 00:37:54,727 --> 00:37:57,927 because I always said, "There's always another day," 685 00:37:57,927 --> 00:38:01,087 and I always knew that my maker was up there to guide me through. 686 00:38:01,087 --> 00:38:05,127 There was something... a certain religious aspect, I found, 687 00:38:05,127 --> 00:38:07,327 with being off on a lighthouse like the Wolf. 688 00:38:07,327 --> 00:38:08,807 Weren't there times when you thought 689 00:38:08,807 --> 00:38:10,767 all that solitude would drive you nutty, though? 690 00:38:10,767 --> 00:38:12,887 No, because I have so many interests. 691 00:38:12,887 --> 00:38:16,807 Reading books, modelling. I used to... Like, say... 692 00:38:16,807 --> 00:38:20,087 Well, Surprise peas was one of the items I used to eat a lot, 693 00:38:20,087 --> 00:38:23,767 and I used to use the packets from them and make model buildings from them. 694 00:38:23,767 --> 00:38:26,964 And that kept you sane? Yeah, that kept me sane, yes. Mmm. 695 00:38:31,807 --> 00:38:34,927 Victorian lighthouse keepers worked in pairs. 696 00:38:34,927 --> 00:38:39,047 When their supplies ran out, they had to live on fish from the sea. 697 00:38:39,047 --> 00:38:44,687 If one died or was injured, his mate had to work 24-hour days for weeks, 698 00:38:44,687 --> 00:38:46,518 until he was relieved. 699 00:38:47,967 --> 00:38:51,007 The work was sheer heavy slog. 700 00:38:51,007 --> 00:38:53,123 Whoo. 701 00:38:54,527 --> 00:38:56,927 Daily window cleaning may sound easy, 702 00:38:56,927 --> 00:39:02,327 but perched on a ladder in a force nine gale trying to cling onto the handholds 703 00:39:02,327 --> 00:39:03,840 is a perilous business. 704 00:39:06,727 --> 00:39:08,607 And then there were the stairs. 705 00:39:08,607 --> 00:39:10,087 (BELL RINGS) 706 00:39:10,087 --> 00:39:12,687 If you've ever lived in a block of flats when the lift's broken, 707 00:39:12,687 --> 00:39:14,367 you'll know the drill. 708 00:39:14,367 --> 00:39:17,927 The light was turned by clockwork. 709 00:39:17,927 --> 00:39:20,687 Every hour, day and night, a bell would ring... 710 00:39:20,687 --> 00:39:22,567 (BELL RINGS) 711 00:39:22,567 --> 00:39:25,559 ...and the keeper would have to trudge up to wind it again. 712 00:39:27,007 --> 00:39:31,607 It was a devastating mixture of boredom and aerobics workout. 713 00:39:31,607 --> 00:39:34,599 (BELL RINGS) 714 00:39:37,967 --> 00:39:39,923 (BELL RINGS) 715 00:39:40,967 --> 00:39:45,047 But apart from giant calves and going stir-crazy, 716 00:39:45,047 --> 00:39:48,119 the lighthouse keeper was safe and clean. 717 00:39:50,527 --> 00:39:53,564 Others weren't so fortunate. 718 00:39:55,287 --> 00:39:58,567 Our maritime history was about empire-building and trade, 719 00:39:58,567 --> 00:40:01,167 but it was also about feeding the nation. 720 00:40:01,167 --> 00:40:04,807 The women may have managed to avoid the rigours of fishing at sea, 721 00:40:04,807 --> 00:40:08,527 but when their menfolk came back home after days and nights 722 00:40:08,527 --> 00:40:10,687 of exhausting, back-breaking work, 723 00:40:10,687 --> 00:40:15,397 an especially smelly worst job became the women's responsibility. 724 00:40:17,167 --> 00:40:19,767 But despite the dangers of being a fisherman, 725 00:40:19,767 --> 00:40:25,558 for me it was the gut girls who had the worst bit of keeping the nation in kippers. 726 00:40:27,967 --> 00:40:30,167 What could be worse than being a gut girl, 727 00:40:30,167 --> 00:40:35,287 faced with the unending task of removing the innards of up to 20,000 fish a day? 728 00:40:35,287 --> 00:40:38,407 WOMAN: The oil that comes out of these is a very, very smelly oil, 729 00:40:38,407 --> 00:40:42,047 and if you go anywhere where there's people that hasn't come in contact with it, 730 00:40:42,047 --> 00:40:43,526 they smell it right away. 731 00:40:44,887 --> 00:40:47,887 The stench must have been unbelievable. 732 00:40:47,887 --> 00:40:52,807 The gut girls were paid per fish, so they worked incredibly quickly - 733 00:40:52,807 --> 00:40:54,967 up to one a second. 734 00:40:54,967 --> 00:40:58,327 The fish were packed in ice, so hands were numb and frozen. 735 00:40:58,327 --> 00:41:02,327 When they cut themselves, they hardly noticed. 736 00:41:02,327 --> 00:41:04,207 TONY: Can I have another fish? 737 00:41:04,207 --> 00:41:06,447 You can. This must... 738 00:41:06,447 --> 00:41:08,607 This must have been really boring 739 00:41:08,607 --> 00:41:11,447 for the women who had to do it all day, every day. 740 00:41:11,447 --> 00:41:14,007 Well, it's like everything. You get used to it. 741 00:41:14,007 --> 00:41:17,087 How did they get through the day? Oh, they used to gossip. 742 00:41:17,087 --> 00:41:18,647 What'd they talk about? 743 00:41:18,647 --> 00:41:20,797 Women having affairs with other men. 744 00:41:22,047 --> 00:41:23,799 You're joking. No, I'm not. 745 00:41:25,367 --> 00:41:27,642 Each others' houses like rabbits. 746 00:41:29,567 --> 00:41:31,527 Did they use to use the guts for anything? 747 00:41:31,527 --> 00:41:34,047 Sometimes they used to make fish manure with it. 748 00:41:34,047 --> 00:41:35,967 Used to be put away into a factory, 749 00:41:35,967 --> 00:41:38,327 and fish manure used to be made with it. 750 00:41:38,327 --> 00:41:40,927 My dad used to put that on the garden. Yeah, that's right, yeah. 751 00:41:40,927 --> 00:41:44,607 The gut girls were eventually replaced by machines. 752 00:41:44,607 --> 00:41:48,167 Amazingly, they couldn't gut fish any faster than the girls, 753 00:41:48,167 --> 00:41:50,247 but they didn't need a lunch break. 754 00:41:50,247 --> 00:41:56,047 This is the guts of about 60 fish, which in the old days 755 00:41:56,047 --> 00:42:00,687 would have taken one fish gutter about a minute to do. 756 00:42:00,687 --> 00:42:06,159 Imagine how many guts you'd have had by the end of an entire day. 757 00:42:08,167 --> 00:42:10,047 Of course this is a lousy job. 758 00:42:10,047 --> 00:42:15,007 It stinks of fish guts here and it's cold and it's all slimy, 759 00:42:15,007 --> 00:42:18,047 but I can imagine that if you're doing this day after day 760 00:42:18,047 --> 00:42:20,367 with a group of women like Margaret, 761 00:42:20,367 --> 00:42:22,562 it could be quite a laugh. 762 00:42:23,727 --> 00:42:29,567 So if working elbow-deep in fish guts isn't the very worst job in maritime history, 763 00:42:29,567 --> 00:42:31,087 what is? 764 00:42:31,087 --> 00:42:33,527 Stoking was hard work, 765 00:42:33,527 --> 00:42:36,167 but didn't have the eye-straining tedium of the fusee maker. 766 00:42:36,167 --> 00:42:37,647 It's gone! It's gone! 767 00:42:37,647 --> 00:42:42,926 Sailors risked their necks, but could make a fortune as flying men. 768 00:42:44,207 --> 00:42:47,127 And even the frightening childhood of the midshipman 769 00:42:47,127 --> 00:42:48,719 offered the chance of promotion. 770 00:42:49,807 --> 00:42:54,047 No, for me, the very worst job of all is completely counterintuitive. 771 00:42:54,047 --> 00:42:57,807 Imagine if there was a raging storm out there, a wrecking storm. 772 00:42:57,807 --> 00:43:00,167 What's the worst thing you could possibly do? 773 00:43:00,167 --> 00:43:01,767 Row straight out into it. 774 00:43:01,767 --> 00:43:05,807 And yet that's exactly what my very worst job is all about. 775 00:43:05,807 --> 00:43:09,327 It's the job of lifeboat man, or, indeed, lifeboat woman, 776 00:43:09,327 --> 00:43:11,727 'cause we all remember Grace Darling, don't we, 777 00:43:11,727 --> 00:43:14,047 who rowed out into the storm with her dad 778 00:43:14,047 --> 00:43:16,207 in order to rescue the drowning sailors. 779 00:43:16,207 --> 00:43:18,447 And there are still Grace Darlings even today 780 00:43:18,447 --> 00:43:20,887 doing exactly the same voluntary job, aren't there, Tamsin? 781 00:43:20,887 --> 00:43:22,487 Indeed there are. 782 00:43:22,487 --> 00:43:25,127 How did they use to rescue people in years gone by? 783 00:43:25,127 --> 00:43:29,287 They literally got in the boat and rowed out, often into the teeth of a storm, 784 00:43:29,287 --> 00:43:31,647 because that's what would have caused the original problem, 785 00:43:31,647 --> 00:43:35,807 and went out there and hauled them into the boat and rowed them back again. 786 00:43:35,807 --> 00:43:38,607 So, what do you want me to do? We're going to go to sea. 787 00:43:38,607 --> 00:43:41,887 So we're gonna get you dressed up in Victorian kit, gonna put you in the boat, 788 00:43:41,887 --> 00:43:44,887 give you an oar, we're gonna row out and hopefully we're gonna rescue someone. 789 00:43:44,887 --> 00:43:46,367 Right, where do I start? 790 00:43:46,367 --> 00:43:48,967 I'm not being rude when I say I'd like you to go home. 791 00:43:48,967 --> 00:43:51,367 What do you mean? Well, I want you to start at home. 792 00:43:51,367 --> 00:43:52,847 Because that's where you'd be. 793 00:43:52,847 --> 00:43:55,047 Any volunteer lifeboat man would be going about his business 794 00:43:55,047 --> 00:43:56,527 when the alarm was raised, 795 00:43:56,527 --> 00:43:58,287 and he'd have to get running from there. 796 00:43:58,287 --> 00:44:01,040 OK, let me know when you need me. No problem. 797 00:44:04,687 --> 00:44:06,167 The bizarre thing is, 798 00:44:06,167 --> 00:44:09,477 even though I know this is just an exercise, a demonstration... 799 00:44:11,447 --> 00:44:14,967 ...after a while, just the wait starts to wind you up. 800 00:44:14,967 --> 00:44:19,287 They've given me this to... to wear. 801 00:44:19,287 --> 00:44:23,485 This... bizarre floatation jacket thing. 802 00:44:25,247 --> 00:44:27,715 Authentic, apparently, from Victorian times. 803 00:44:30,127 --> 00:44:32,641 This waterproof jacket. 804 00:44:34,447 --> 00:44:37,120 The old sou'wester. Gonna look good in that. 805 00:44:40,207 --> 00:44:42,402 Must be about an hour and a quarter now, I think. 806 00:44:44,327 --> 00:44:45,847 (KNOCK ON DOOR) 807 00:44:45,847 --> 00:44:47,599 Here we go. 808 00:45:14,807 --> 00:45:16,525 I wasn't expecting this bit. 809 00:45:18,967 --> 00:45:20,447 Where do I go? 810 00:45:20,447 --> 00:45:22,207 If you sit on that cushion there, Tony, 811 00:45:22,207 --> 00:45:24,767 and, then, this is your oar, Tony, where my hand is. 812 00:45:24,767 --> 00:45:27,967 This oar here. I can't see! 813 00:45:27,967 --> 00:45:29,807 Tony, this is your oar. 814 00:45:29,807 --> 00:45:32,401 OK, let's go. OK, pull away! This one here, Tony. 815 00:45:41,527 --> 00:45:43,882 Whoa-ho! 816 00:45:45,727 --> 00:45:47,687 This job was risky. 817 00:45:47,687 --> 00:45:52,927 435 crew members have died in rescues over the years. 818 00:45:52,927 --> 00:45:57,487 It's funny - even though it's just a demo, there is that hit of adrenalin, isn't there? 819 00:45:57,487 --> 00:45:58,967 Course there is. 820 00:45:58,967 --> 00:46:01,879 Because we know we've got to get him out of the water. 821 00:46:03,567 --> 00:46:06,647 The job was never worse than in 1861, 822 00:46:06,647 --> 00:46:10,327 when the Whitby lifeboat crew paid the ultimate price. 823 00:46:10,327 --> 00:46:14,367 On 9 February, they made four separate launches in a gale. 824 00:46:14,367 --> 00:46:17,127 After rowing for hours in mountainous seas 825 00:46:17,127 --> 00:46:18,687 and saving the crews of four ships, 826 00:46:18,687 --> 00:46:21,127 the lifeboat men were exhausted. 827 00:46:21,127 --> 00:46:23,687 Then another schooner ran aground. 828 00:46:23,687 --> 00:46:25,927 The crew set out again. 829 00:46:25,927 --> 00:46:28,127 As they approached the stricken vessel, 830 00:46:28,127 --> 00:46:31,961 the lifeboat was capsized by two freak waves. 831 00:46:34,287 --> 00:46:37,607 Only lifeboat man Henry Freeman survived. 832 00:46:37,607 --> 00:46:40,687 It was his first day on the lifeboat. 833 00:46:40,687 --> 00:46:46,247 And now imagine what it was like with cold hands, cold face, wet clothes. 834 00:46:46,247 --> 00:46:48,567 But there was one coxswain in the Victorian times 835 00:46:48,567 --> 00:46:53,960 who described the cold on his face like a dog gnawing at his features. 836 00:46:57,767 --> 00:46:59,962 TONY: Where is he? 837 00:47:01,567 --> 00:47:04,798 There he is! I can see him. Whoa! My oar's gone. 838 00:47:08,287 --> 00:47:11,487 We've got to bounce him down three times. 839 00:47:11,487 --> 00:47:13,607 Hold on, Dave. We've got you. 840 00:47:13,607 --> 00:47:17,887 To avoid breaking ribs, you have to drag the victim in backwards. 841 00:47:17,887 --> 00:47:20,196 It's a dead weight and needs great strength. 842 00:47:26,527 --> 00:47:28,167 I think you're alright now, ain't you? 843 00:47:28,167 --> 00:47:31,207 Go! One... 844 00:47:31,207 --> 00:47:32,687 Two... 845 00:47:32,687 --> 00:47:36,207 I found this job difficult on a sea as flat as a millpond. 846 00:47:36,207 --> 00:47:38,927 In pitch black in a real storm, 847 00:47:38,927 --> 00:47:43,287 it must have been impossible once, let alone coming out again and again. 848 00:47:43,287 --> 00:47:47,326 Henry Freeman went on to serve for 40 years. 849 00:47:50,887 --> 00:47:54,007 Britain hasn't been invaded for the best part of 900 years. 850 00:47:54,007 --> 00:47:57,767 And surely that must be in part due to the really awful jobs 851 00:47:57,767 --> 00:48:02,087 that our sailors and volunteer rescuers have done over the centuries. 852 00:48:02,087 --> 00:48:05,207 Next time, I'll be back on terra firma, 853 00:48:05,207 --> 00:48:09,607 where the ground may be firmer, but the jobs are just as terrible. 854 00:48:09,607 --> 00:48:12,917 Awful joke, isn't it? I hope that doesn't stay in. 855 00:48:14,287 --> 00:48:18,127 There's no rest for the wicked out in the country when you sell red for a living, 856 00:48:18,127 --> 00:48:21,967 turn white keeping church spires in good nick. 857 00:48:21,967 --> 00:48:23,567 Am I nearly there? 858 00:48:23,567 --> 00:48:26,767 Or get black and blue washing sheep the old way. 859 00:48:26,767 --> 00:48:29,156 Ouch! It trod on my foot!