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Britain hasn't just been made
by generals and politiCians and Courtiers,

2
00:00:05,967 --> 00:00:09,567
but by a whole host of ordinary people,
young and old,

3
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dediCated to doing
the real spadework.

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This time...

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<i>Rlsklng your</i> neck
to <i>malntaln the</i> heart <i>of rural llfe.</i>

6
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<i>Shlftlng</i> poo to produce
enduring lmages <i>of the countryslde.</i>

7
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<i>And savlng souls In the vlllage</i>
<i>by eatlng bread off</i> a corpse.

8
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WelCome to
The Worst Rural Jobs in History.

9
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<i>Britaln's an urban natlon.</i>
<i>90% of the populatlon llves In towns.</i>

10
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<i>We thlnk of the countryslde</i>
as a place <i>of tranqullllty,</i>

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a nostalglc <i>scene of vlllages and flelds,</i>
somewhere to <i>escape and</i> relax.

12
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<i>But for</i> most <i>of our hlstory, llvlng In the</i>
<i>country</i> has meant <i>the</i> toughest <i>of llves</i>

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<i>for</i> hosts <i>of anonymous</i> workers.

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<i>Take the</i> ultlmate pastoral scene.

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<i>In medleval</i> tlmes, <i>sheep</i> outnumbered
<i>the populatlon 10</i> to 1.

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<i>They</i> were a <i>vltal</i> source
<i>of</i> meat <i>and clothlng.</i>

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<i>The wool trade</i>
supported <i>the economy.</i>

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<i>And It all relled on</i> shepherds,

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<i>who</i> were as <i>common then</i>
as checkout glrls are <i>today.</i>

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<i>The</i> shepherd's <i>24/7</i> job
<i>was toughest In the Mlddle</i> Ages.

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<i>They had</i> to <i>follow thelr</i> flocks,
<i>lugglng heavy</i> hurdles <i>and tools, for mlles</i>

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to <i>pen sheep</i>
that <i>needed</i> treatment.

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<i>They</i> were <i>lonely,</i> out <i>In all</i> weathers,
<i>roughlng It In temporary</i> shelters.

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Ow!

25
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Shepherds had to do everything
for their valuable charges, even dagging -

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the equivalent
of wiping a sheep's bottom.

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I'm supposed to be doing
this piece to camera with David,

28
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but I've got this sheep here
that's trying to back off all the time,

29
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so I've got my knee
firmly up its bottom,

30
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and these little cows
have wandered into shot.

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What are we doing?

32
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We're going to dag them.
What does that mean?

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That means taking the wet,
dirty faeces off the back.

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Yeah. Where I've got my knee, in fact.
That's right.

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God, it doesn't half want to shift.
Stay there!

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And the reason we do it is that
if we leave it, flies lay their eggs,

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particularly the greenbottle,
which is smaller than the bluebottle.

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And the eggs will hatch out
into hundreds of maggots,

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which'll eat into the skin.

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And it can happen very, very quickly,
within a matter of a day.

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She doesn't realise I'm about to
do her a favour, though, does she?

42
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No.
Alright. Well...

43
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How do we do this?

44
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These look pretty fearsome -
very early scissors.

45
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So, what do I do with these?

46
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If you move, you're gonna get this
up your bottom, you know that.

47
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Right.

48
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Right.

49
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Oh, yeah, we just cut the wool.

50
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Now, I'm not gonna cut into anything that
belongs to the sheep by mistake, am I?

51
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As long as you're careful.

52
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So worried
about cutting the flesh.

53
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Oh, hang on, here's a bit here.
I know what that is. Yep.

54
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Right. Ready?
That's it. That's it.

55
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And then clip all this off.

56
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And if acting as human toilet paper
weren't bad enough,

57
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shepherds had an even more revolting job
to perform on young male lambs.

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Another job shepherds had to do
was to castrate male lambs.

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How did they do that?

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The shepherd used to cut the end
of the scrotum off with a sharp knife,

61
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squeeze the testicles out
and draw them out with his mouth.

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You're joking!
Holding them with his teeth.

63
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This was the best way to do it.
I'm not gonna have to do that, am I?

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Because to try and do it
with your fingers, they'd slip out.

65
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Yep.
And also, your fingers would be dirty.

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But the mouth
was the cleanest part

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and also had some
antiseptic effect from the saliva.

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You'd draw them out,

69
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and then they would often put
a mixture of tansy and butter

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smeared on the wound
to stop the flies getting to it.

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Oh! I've had a kebab like that
before now.

72
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One of the few times
shepherds got human company

73
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was when the sheep came to be washed
in the nearest stream.

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Why do we have to wash the wool?
Why don't we just sell it dirty?

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Clean wool is worth
about 30%- more than dirty wool.

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Although the downside is
dirty wool weighs more.

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(Both laugh)

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How many days a week
were the shepherds working?

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Oh, seven days a week.

80
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They had very few days off.

81
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So that meant they couldn't
even go to church?

82
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No, and that bothered them.

83
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So when they were buried,

84
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they always asked for a lock of wool
to be put in their coffin

85
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to prove to God
that they were a shepherd.

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Ooh-eh! Ha-hoo!

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I'll tell you what.

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It may be June,
but it isn't half nippy.

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OK?
Yeah, I'm fine, thanks.

90
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Whahh!

91
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By heck, it's cold.

92
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Now, what are we gonna do
with these here sheep, then?

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We're gonna wash the sheep.
They'll be let into the river.

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And we'll scrub them with our hands.
Yeah.

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And that'll help get them clean.
And then let them out the other end.

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(Sheep bleat)

97
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Oh, you've gone below
your waders, haven't you?

98
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Oh, I'm so pleased about that.

99
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A brief splash on a hot day
is quite refreshing,

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but after 20 minutes, the cold
begins to seep into the bones.

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Shepherds had to stick at this
for 12 hours,

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and there was no change of clothes
at the end of the day.

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Next one, please. Oh!

104
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Oh, it doesn't want
to come in, does it?

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Whay!

106
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Come on, darling. Here you come.
Nice... good wash.

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That's it.
Oh!

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I'm not sure
if it's any cleaner than it was.

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Ouch! It trod on my foot!

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So the...

111
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...the poor old shepherd...

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...never even got to heaven

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unless he got his bit of wool
to wave at the Pearly Gates,

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but at least he was
never mistaken for the devil.

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(SHEEP BLEATS)

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Being taken for Lucifer
was just one downside

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in another worst job
from the wool trade.

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Sheep were marked
with iron-ore dye

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sold by the reddleman -
the unluckiest sales rep ever.

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I am a reddleman.

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I sell red and I look red
and I am red.

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For centuries, the reddleman wandered
from village to village selling his wares,

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and his face and his body and his clothes
were permanently stained red.

124
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And every time he turned up
at a different village,

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the children would run away,
because they thought he was the devil.

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How do we know?

127
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Because Thomas Hardy
recorded his humiliating fate

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in his novel 'Return of the Native'.

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MAN: "Like his van,
he was completely red.

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"He was not temporarily overlaid
with the colour. It permeated him."

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Shepherds and reddlemen
had a really tough time,

132
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and all that
to keep the nation in socks.

133
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But that was nothing compared
to putting roofs over their heads.

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Today, thatched cottages
are part of heritage Britain,

135
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the very symbol of rural life.

136
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But when they were built,
these were poor workers' hovels,

137
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thatched with the cheapest materials -
reed or sedge.

138
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Harvesting all that thatch
was tough regardless,

139
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but in the Cambridgeshire Fens,
getting a roof was positively dangerous.

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The Fens are full of this stuff.

141
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It's a kind of a reed, and it's called sedge,
and it's very difficult to get through,

142
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and people have been
harvesting it for centuries

143
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in order to use it for thatch
and animal fodder

144
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and even for
stuffing their mattresses with.

145
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Although, quite honestly,
I wouldn't like to sleep in this stuff,

146
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because if you catch it the wrong way,
it's razor-sharp.

147
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It's only a reed, Kev.
Why is it so sharp?

148
00:09:10,007 --> 00:09:12,127
Well, it's actually a sedge, Tony.

149
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They've not just leaves,
they're actually a saw sedge,

150
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and if you take a look
along the edges of the blades there,

151
00:09:17,767 --> 00:09:19,487
you can see the serrated edge

152
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running all the way down
the length of the blade there.

153
00:09:21,847 --> 00:09:25,047
Oh, yeah, yeah. If you go like this,
there's no problem at all, is there?

154
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Yeah. Yeah.

155
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Come back the other way...
It's extraordinary.

156
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You get snagged
by these tiny, tiny little blades.

157
00:09:31,167 --> 00:09:33,047
So how did they
manage to harvest it?

158
00:09:33,047 --> 00:09:39,087
Well, up until the 1950s, we used to
use hand tools, like scythes and sickles,

159
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and we'd move along the row,
cutting the material

160
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and tying them up into bunches.

161
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But you'd still slash your arms,
wouldn't you?

162
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We used to have bindings

163
00:09:47,767 --> 00:09:50,767
running up our entire length
of our hands and around our arms,

164
00:09:50,767 --> 00:09:53,927
and then use leather or string
to bind them onto their arms,

165
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and that offered some protection

166
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against some of these barbed edges
that we've got on here.

167
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Right, let's get bound up.
OK.

168
00:10:00,207 --> 00:10:02,607
Do you want to give me a hand?
Here we are, here.

169
00:10:02,607 --> 00:10:05,367
If you just hold your arm
out there.

170
00:10:05,367 --> 00:10:08,767
It would have been
all the way down to the arm there.

171
00:10:08,767 --> 00:10:10,567
And over.

172
00:10:10,567 --> 00:10:14,487
The material they used, it would have
been the thicker the better, really.

173
00:10:14,487 --> 00:10:17,767
It may be quite uncomfortable,
but it offered that bit more protection.

174
00:10:17,767 --> 00:10:21,847
Do we know anything about the injuries
that people actually sustained?

175
00:10:21,847 --> 00:10:23,407
From harvesting the sedge,

176
00:10:23,407 --> 00:10:28,647
only really what we know of the injuries
that we sustain while we're doing it today.

177
00:10:28,647 --> 00:10:30,127
Which are what?

178
00:10:30,127 --> 00:10:34,207
Deep lacerations -
down to the bone in some cases -

179
00:10:34,207 --> 00:10:37,647
on the legs,
on the arms, on the face,

180
00:10:37,647 --> 00:10:41,447
and particularly around the tops
of the legs as you're tying the bundles.

181
00:10:41,447 --> 00:10:43,967
So it can be incredibly painful.

182
00:10:43,967 --> 00:10:46,927
And then, of course,
you've got the problem

183
00:10:46,927 --> 00:10:49,807
that you're using sharp tools -
scythes and stuff.

184
00:10:49,807 --> 00:10:51,487
Exactly.

185
00:10:51,487 --> 00:10:54,007
Sedge is cut in midsummer.

186
00:10:54,007 --> 00:10:57,966
Working wrapped up, in full sun,
caused heat stroke.

187
00:10:59,367 --> 00:11:01,367
And there was also
the dreaded fen ague -

188
00:11:01,367 --> 00:11:04,407
malaria from
mosquitoes in the marsh.

189
00:11:04,407 --> 00:11:09,567
Workers eased the shivers with 'comfort',
which was opium.

190
00:11:09,567 --> 00:11:13,287
Villages were allotted
an area of fen to cut,

191
00:11:13,287 --> 00:11:16,127
but it's a wonder
anyone took up the option.

192
00:11:16,127 --> 00:11:19,727
Were there professional sedge cutters,
or did everybody do it?

193
00:11:19,727 --> 00:11:21,927
No, it was a whole family affair.

194
00:11:21,927 --> 00:11:25,847
The adults would use the scythes,
the women would collect the sedge up

195
00:11:25,847 --> 00:11:27,967
and the children
would tie the bundles.

196
00:11:27,967 --> 00:11:30,167
So you're doing it on top
of everything else you do.

197
00:11:30,167 --> 00:11:32,287
On top of everything else
that you had to do.

198
00:11:32,287 --> 00:11:36,047
And they would use the material
for thatching

199
00:11:36,047 --> 00:11:40,167
or they would sell it on to earn some
money to buy some food for themselves.

200
00:11:40,167 --> 00:11:41,647
There we go.
Alright.

201
00:11:41,647 --> 00:11:45,367
Does it matter that this is a right-handed
scythe and I'm left-handed?

202
00:11:45,367 --> 00:11:48,127
Well, traditionally, it would
have been a right-handed tool.

203
00:11:48,127 --> 00:11:51,127
If you were left-handed, you would have
just had to have got on with it

204
00:11:51,127 --> 00:11:52,847
as a right-handed tool.

205
00:11:52,847 --> 00:11:55,087
So, sweeping...
sweeping in like this, yeah?

206
00:11:55,087 --> 00:11:56,566
That's it.

207
00:11:59,247 --> 00:12:01,647
Am I doing this right?
That's perfect. That's perfect.

208
00:12:01,647 --> 00:12:05,117
It was a very long, laborious job.

209
00:12:12,447 --> 00:12:14,847
Sedge was cut here
well into the 20th century,

210
00:12:14,847 --> 00:12:18,007
but it's a really ancient worst job.

211
00:12:18,007 --> 00:12:23,567
A Saxon poem says, "Sedge
Groweth in water, woundeth grimly

212
00:12:23,567 --> 00:12:28,163
"Drawing blood from any man
that maketh any grasp at it."

213
00:12:33,007 --> 00:12:34,607
(Kevin laughs)

214
00:12:34,607 --> 00:12:36,927
I thought I'd chopped it all away.

215
00:12:36,927 --> 00:12:39,287
Half of it's still hanging on.

216
00:12:39,287 --> 00:12:41,164
And it cuts.

217
00:12:45,807 --> 00:12:48,807
This is a sedge stake.
I thought it was just a stick in the ground.

218
00:12:48,807 --> 00:12:52,967
Oh, no, it's a special stick,
and you pull this string around.

219
00:12:52,967 --> 00:12:54,447
Yeah. Yeah.

220
00:12:54,447 --> 00:13:00,795
And we feed one end through the loop,
and now we start to tie.

221
00:13:02,127 --> 00:13:05,487
You've got to get them tight, because
as they dry out, the water evaporates.

222
00:13:05,487 --> 00:13:08,567
If they're not tight enough, it all falls out.
Yeah.

223
00:13:08,567 --> 00:13:10,767
Bearing in mind, you got the sun
beating down on you.

224
00:13:10,767 --> 00:13:12,439
Yeah.

225
00:13:14,087 --> 00:13:16,487
1 down. 1,000 to go.

226
00:13:16,487 --> 00:13:17,966
Cheers, mate.

227
00:13:19,647 --> 00:13:23,767
But if cutting every inch
of a thatched roof by hand was bad,

228
00:13:23,767 --> 00:13:25,598
there was worse to come.

229
00:13:28,407 --> 00:13:32,887
The industrial revolution
saw a huge population explosion.

230
00:13:32,887 --> 00:13:38,767
The country needed vast quantities
of Britain's staple food - bread.

231
00:13:38,767 --> 00:13:40,527
So landowners
looked to technology

232
00:13:40,527 --> 00:13:44,847
for new ways of harvesting
and processing the wheat that made it.

233
00:13:44,847 --> 00:13:46,887
(WHISTLE BLOWS)

234
00:13:46,887 --> 00:13:49,287
When you buy a new machine
to do a job for you,

235
00:13:49,287 --> 00:13:51,727
you think, "Oh, great, that's gonna
make my life easier," don't you?

236
00:13:51,727 --> 00:13:56,207
Well, that's not always the case
for everybody concerned.

237
00:13:56,207 --> 00:13:59,567
Take threshing, which is
separating the wheat from the chaff,

238
00:13:59,567 --> 00:14:03,887
which was traditionally done
by guys whacking at it with flails,

239
00:14:03,887 --> 00:14:07,287
and then the farmers
started buying threshing machines,

240
00:14:07,287 --> 00:14:09,967
and, sure, it made
their lives easier -

241
00:14:09,967 --> 00:14:13,327
the job got done quicker,
and they made more profits -

242
00:14:13,327 --> 00:14:16,007
but as far as the actual threshers
were concerned,

243
00:14:16,007 --> 00:14:18,687
half of them were
immediately made redundant

244
00:14:18,687 --> 00:14:23,966
and the other half were faced with
a whole new bunch of really bad jobs.

245
00:14:26,967 --> 00:14:28,567
The corn was harvested
in the autumn,

246
00:14:28,567 --> 00:14:31,400
then kept in barns until the winter
for threshing.

247
00:14:32,567 --> 00:14:34,407
So, although we've got
a perfect day today,

248
00:14:34,407 --> 00:14:38,967
men feeding the machines then
would have worked in freezing conditions

249
00:14:38,967 --> 00:14:42,927
with a machine that could
kill or maim in an instant.

250
00:14:42,927 --> 00:14:47,007
And there's another risk,
because while the corn is in the barn,

251
00:14:47,007 --> 00:14:49,807
it's home to all sorts of vermin.

252
00:14:49,807 --> 00:14:52,647
Am I dressed OK?
Yes, you're not too bad.

253
00:14:52,647 --> 00:14:55,447
But I think you ought to have your yoks,
as we say in Lincolnshire.

254
00:14:55,447 --> 00:14:56,927
What are yoks?

255
00:14:56,927 --> 00:15:00,127
These are bits of binded twine that you tie
around the bottom of your trouser leg.

256
00:15:00,127 --> 00:15:01,127
Why?

257
00:15:01,127 --> 00:15:02,847
To stop rats and mice
running up them.

258
00:15:02,847 --> 00:15:04,647
They really did?
That wasn't just a myth?

259
00:15:04,647 --> 00:15:07,487
No, no, no.
They really did have to do it.

260
00:15:07,487 --> 00:15:10,847
Who were the people who did this?
Well, they were mostly farm labourers.

261
00:15:10,847 --> 00:15:15,287
But it was a very busy time, so it would
be a question of all hands on deck.

262
00:15:15,287 --> 00:15:18,087
Most of the threshing
was done by contractors,

263
00:15:18,087 --> 00:15:21,087
so the farmer would ring up
the contractor and say,

264
00:15:21,087 --> 00:15:23,367
"Can you come and
thresh my stack next week?"

265
00:15:23,367 --> 00:15:25,887
He would bring the machinery.

266
00:15:25,887 --> 00:15:28,927
The engine driver was a specialist,
so he'd come with the machine,

267
00:15:28,927 --> 00:15:32,847
but the farmer himself
would provide the rest of the labour.

268
00:15:32,847 --> 00:15:36,687
So everybody would get involved -
the farmer himself, the farm workers,

269
00:15:36,687 --> 00:15:40,087
children off school,
and, indeed, the farmer's wife -

270
00:15:40,087 --> 00:15:43,327
they'd all be called in to help
with this very busy time of year.

271
00:15:43,327 --> 00:15:45,557
Alright, here I go, then.
OK.

272
00:15:50,127 --> 00:15:52,407
Right, Ron, how do I do it?
RON: Hello.

273
00:15:52,407 --> 00:15:55,727
You put in the fork near the string.
Yeah.

274
00:15:55,727 --> 00:15:59,447
Pick it up, move it over
and just flick it like that.

275
00:15:59,447 --> 00:16:03,047
OK, so, then...
There's one for you.

276
00:16:03,047 --> 00:16:05,007
So which end of that's
gotta be facing him?

277
00:16:05,007 --> 00:16:07,362
The ears facing the engine.

278
00:16:10,887 --> 00:16:12,847
Didn't really flick it, did I?
No.

279
00:16:12,847 --> 00:16:16,447
Show me how...
You'll stab his hand if you're not careful.

280
00:16:16,447 --> 00:16:18,287
Right.
Yeah.

281
00:16:18,287 --> 00:16:21,247
RON: So, like this.
TONY: Oh, that was a good one.

282
00:16:21,247 --> 00:16:23,167
So, if you'd like to have a go.
Alright.

283
00:16:23,167 --> 00:16:25,887
That's a bit heavier, that one, so...
Oh, thanks, mate.

284
00:16:25,887 --> 00:16:30,687
Right. Put it in near the string.
That's right. Lift it up.

285
00:16:30,687 --> 00:16:32,767
Ooh, it is heavy, isn't it?
Yeah, go on.

286
00:16:32,767 --> 00:16:35,407
(Laughs)

287
00:16:35,407 --> 00:16:38,167
That was useless!
That was so bad.

288
00:16:38,167 --> 00:16:40,287
It's a rotten sheaf!
No, no, no, no.

289
00:16:40,287 --> 00:16:43,199
Look at the state of that sheaf.
It's a good one. Look. Watch.

290
00:16:44,367 --> 00:16:45,847
Easy.
Alright.

291
00:16:45,847 --> 00:16:47,838
Stand by to be impressed.
Fork in the middle.

292
00:16:51,007 --> 00:16:52,887
Yes!
Oh, no!

293
00:16:52,887 --> 00:16:56,887
Come on! That was fine.
Gravity got in the way.

294
00:16:56,887 --> 00:16:59,807
No... He's making the pile shorter
so I'll get it on.

295
00:16:59,807 --> 00:17:02,037
Don't worry about that.
This is going on.

296
00:17:05,207 --> 00:17:06,847
Well done.
Just about.

297
00:17:06,847 --> 00:17:08,767
RON: Fork in the middle.

298
00:17:08,767 --> 00:17:12,807
You had to pitch quickly.
Everyone was paid by the sheaf.

299
00:17:12,807 --> 00:17:14,687
Oh! The master!
You've got the idea now.

300
00:17:14,687 --> 00:17:16,647
So it's thirsty work.

301
00:17:16,647 --> 00:17:21,607
Labourers were traditionally given
up to six pints of beer a day.

302
00:17:21,607 --> 00:17:23,687
When you look at
the business end of the thresher,

303
00:17:23,687 --> 00:17:26,887
it's a wonder they didn't
all end up as mince.

304
00:17:26,887 --> 00:17:29,162
Here we go. Oh, God!
Nearly fell off.

305
00:17:31,967 --> 00:17:33,447
Right.

306
00:17:33,447 --> 00:17:35,447
What you have to do
is get these sheaves in.

307
00:17:35,447 --> 00:17:37,327
Yeah.
Get your knife under there, pick 'em up.

308
00:17:37,327 --> 00:17:39,447
Yeah.
Keep hold of the knot.

309
00:17:39,447 --> 00:17:41,915
Press them. Press them in.

310
00:17:44,687 --> 00:17:46,887
Must always keep hold
of the strings and that.

311
00:17:46,887 --> 00:17:48,967
Why do I have to keep hold
of the strings?

312
00:17:48,967 --> 00:17:51,567
Because at the end of the day,
they used to count the strings.

313
00:17:51,567 --> 00:17:54,567
Yeah. So you know how much
you've got to...

314
00:17:54,567 --> 00:17:57,407
Plus they use the strings
to tie the sacks up.

315
00:17:57,407 --> 00:17:59,847
And my legs.

316
00:17:59,847 --> 00:18:01,485
And your legs, of course.

317
00:18:02,727 --> 00:18:05,527
Can I have a go at one of my own?
Yes, you can.

318
00:18:05,527 --> 00:18:09,807
The crushing jaws
shaped the whole machine.

319
00:18:09,807 --> 00:18:11,287
It feels very unstable.

320
00:18:11,287 --> 00:18:14,047
You can see how easily
accidents could happen.

321
00:18:14,047 --> 00:18:16,487
They must have had a lot of accidents
on this machine.

322
00:18:16,487 --> 00:18:20,647
Well, people have gone in, lost their limbs
and that, where they've fallen in.

323
00:18:20,647 --> 00:18:22,127
Yeah.

324
00:18:22,127 --> 00:18:25,127
And I believe one or two have been
killed in the machine as well, yes.

325
00:18:25,127 --> 00:18:26,607
I'm not surprised.

326
00:18:26,607 --> 00:18:31,447
MAN: "Inquest at Horringer
on Monday last, on Alfred Last,

327
00:18:31,447 --> 00:18:33,407
"an able-bodied man
in the employ of Mr...

328
00:18:33,407 --> 00:18:37,407
"...threshing machine, he became
later in the afternoon intoxicated.

329
00:18:37,407 --> 00:18:41,087
"His foot, he placed incautiously
among the wheels of the machine

330
00:18:41,087 --> 00:18:43,567
"and received
severe fractures of the leg.

331
00:18:43,567 --> 00:18:45,247
"Frightful accident.

332
00:18:45,247 --> 00:18:48,927
"As the wife of a labourer named Price
was feeding a steam threshing machine

333
00:18:48,927 --> 00:18:50,487
"upon the premises of Mr Joseph...

334
00:18:50,487 --> 00:18:51,967
"...right down the mouth
of the machine.

335
00:18:51,967 --> 00:18:55,887
"When she was extricated, she was
in a state of insensibility, if not quite dead,

336
00:18:55,887 --> 00:18:59,927
"and her arm was crushed to atoms
and torn out of the shoulder socket.

337
00:18:59,927 --> 00:19:02,127
"...at Hole Farm, Finchingfield.

338
00:19:02,127 --> 00:19:05,647
"Harry Coote, 26,
a Toppesfield man,

339
00:19:05,647 --> 00:19:08,487
"was feeding the threshing machine
with beans.

340
00:19:08,487 --> 00:19:12,407
"He left the feeder to get a fork
from E. Cook, who was on the fore part...

341
00:19:12,407 --> 00:19:15,127
"...slipped and stepped
onto the revolving drum.

342
00:19:15,127 --> 00:19:18,047
"He was immediately drawn in
by the left leg

343
00:19:18,047 --> 00:19:22,887
"and his lower body was torn away
and smashed to pulp.

344
00:19:22,887 --> 00:19:25,640
"He died without speaking."

345
00:19:27,167 --> 00:19:30,287
But incredibly, risking life and limb
on top of the thresher

346
00:19:30,287 --> 00:19:35,167
wasn't the least popular part
of the process.

347
00:19:35,167 --> 00:19:38,807
The worst job of all, probably,
was in the chaffhole,

348
00:19:38,807 --> 00:19:41,847
and this is the chaffhole.

349
00:19:41,847 --> 00:19:47,767
And usually, it was the job of
the young lad, the newest recruit,

350
00:19:47,767 --> 00:19:54,247
to go into the chaffhole and keep
the bottom of the drum clear of the chaff.

351
00:19:54,247 --> 00:19:59,167
And then it would be bagged up
and used for chicken feed, probably.

352
00:19:59,167 --> 00:20:03,487
Yeah. Have to watch this bit, don't you?
Yeah, you have to watch your head.

353
00:20:03,487 --> 00:20:05,327
That's it.

354
00:20:05,327 --> 00:20:08,047
If you were a little kid
and you lost your concentration...

355
00:20:08,047 --> 00:20:13,287
Well, it was usually the youngest lad
who was given this job,

356
00:20:13,287 --> 00:20:17,724
or the oldest chaps who couldn't
get up on the drum anymore.

357
00:20:21,167 --> 00:20:23,806
(Laughs)

358
00:20:32,887 --> 00:20:34,923
That's it.

359
00:20:36,287 --> 00:20:40,727
It gets in your ears, in your eyes,
down your throat, down your front,

360
00:20:40,727 --> 00:20:42,687
down your back - everywhere.

361
00:20:42,687 --> 00:20:44,727
Let's say we've
done this job, shall we?

362
00:20:44,727 --> 00:20:47,447
Lmagine doing that
from dawn till dusk.

363
00:20:47,447 --> 00:20:51,287
Yeah, I've imagined it. Off we go.
Day after day. (Laughs)

364
00:20:51,287 --> 00:20:55,041
But after the threshing,
there's one last horrible job.

365
00:20:56,607 --> 00:20:58,167
Before the forklift truck,

366
00:20:58,167 --> 00:21:02,847
the corn carrier had to lug
16-stone bags of grain up a ladder

367
00:21:02,847 --> 00:21:05,122
to keep it out of reach of rats.

368
00:21:08,007 --> 00:21:09,527
(Puffs)

369
00:21:09,527 --> 00:21:12,246
And that's the way it goes.

370
00:21:14,367 --> 00:21:15,847
Hey.

371
00:21:15,847 --> 00:21:18,839
As the country's changed,
so have the jobs.

372
00:21:22,327 --> 00:21:26,007
Today, you'll seldom see
a mole catcher with his willow trap

373
00:21:26,007 --> 00:21:30,205
or rows of moles hung up on fences
to show he's done his work.

374
00:21:31,967 --> 00:21:35,847
We've dumped the mad prehistoric job
of harvesting stinging nettles.

375
00:21:35,847 --> 00:21:37,407
Oh, blimey!

376
00:21:37,407 --> 00:21:40,047
(Laughs)

377
00:21:40,047 --> 00:21:42,117
Oh, what can I say on telly?

378
00:21:43,207 --> 00:21:46,802
It was just too painful a way
to get string and fibre for clothing.

379
00:21:48,407 --> 00:21:51,647
And the fen diggers,
with their beckets and slubbing spades,

380
00:21:51,647 --> 00:21:56,243
put themselves out of a job as soon as
they'd drained the Cambridge marshes.

381
00:22:04,567 --> 00:22:08,487
And gone too is perhaps
the strangest worst job ever.

382
00:22:08,487 --> 00:22:11,967
Sin eating started
in the superstitious Middle Ages,

383
00:22:11,967 --> 00:22:15,437
but was still recorded
in the Rhondda Valley in 1881.

384
00:22:17,647 --> 00:22:20,407
We sometimes tend
to think of the countryside

385
00:22:20,407 --> 00:22:24,047
as being full of tight-knit,
mutually supportive communities,

386
00:22:24,047 --> 00:22:26,967
but if you got on
the wrong side of them,

387
00:22:26,967 --> 00:22:30,887
then you could find yourself living
in the loneliest place on Earth,

388
00:22:30,887 --> 00:22:33,647
and there was no-one
who was ostracised more

389
00:22:33,647 --> 00:22:37,127
than the person
who did my next worst job,

390
00:22:37,127 --> 00:22:39,047
who was the sin eater,

391
00:22:39,047 --> 00:22:44,607
and his job involved
eating bread off a corpse.

392
00:22:44,607 --> 00:22:46,807
Because in the countryside,

393
00:22:46,807 --> 00:22:51,367
they believed in a mixture of religion
and old-style folk magic.

394
00:22:51,367 --> 00:22:53,247
And one of the things
that they thought was

395
00:22:53,247 --> 00:22:58,687
that if someone died without their sins
being forgiven, then they would go to hell.

396
00:22:58,687 --> 00:23:02,527
So if someone passed away
without absolution,

397
00:23:02,527 --> 00:23:08,127
they would place some salt
and some bread on the corpse,

398
00:23:08,127 --> 00:23:11,447
which were supposed
to absorb the sins,

399
00:23:11,447 --> 00:23:13,327
and then the sin eater
came along,

400
00:23:13,327 --> 00:23:18,685
and in order to get rid of the sins
completely, he ate the salt and...

401
00:23:21,367 --> 00:23:22,847
...the bread,

402
00:23:22,847 --> 00:23:27,887
so now all the sins
were inside him.

403
00:23:27,887 --> 00:23:33,247
And if you did it, he got paid sixpence
and a bowlful of beer,

404
00:23:33,247 --> 00:23:37,327
but the unfortunate thing was
that now the local people shunned him

405
00:23:37,327 --> 00:23:39,487
because he was
so riddled with sin,

406
00:23:39,487 --> 00:23:40,967
which seems pretty unfair,

407
00:23:40,967 --> 00:23:44,687
because without him, this poor bloke
would still be in purgatory.

408
00:23:44,687 --> 00:23:50,367
Of course, as the countryside moved into
the modern era, the sin eater died out.

409
00:23:50,367 --> 00:23:54,287
But the jobs
just got worse and worse.

410
00:23:54,287 --> 00:23:56,647
Until the 18th century,

411
00:23:56,647 --> 00:24:01,567
the only people who really knew their way
round the countryside were the locals.

412
00:24:01,567 --> 00:24:04,687
But with the threat of invasion
by the French,

413
00:24:04,687 --> 00:24:07,607
accurate maps became vital.

414
00:24:07,607 --> 00:24:10,367
The Defence Ministry,
the Board of Ordnance,

415
00:24:10,367 --> 00:24:13,927
started a survey
of the south of England.

416
00:24:13,927 --> 00:24:16,687
This Ordnance Survey

417
00:24:16,687 --> 00:24:20,167
employed highly trained surveyors
and their luckless assistants.

418
00:24:20,167 --> 00:24:23,927
The worst job of pole man
provided the legwork

419
00:24:23,927 --> 00:24:26,077
behind a national institution.

420
00:24:27,287 --> 00:24:31,367
Without the job of the pole man,
we wouldn't have these fantastic things.

421
00:24:31,367 --> 00:24:35,767
Today, Ordnance Survey maps are part
of the way we appreciate the countryside.

422
00:24:35,767 --> 00:24:40,047
Apart from anything else, they stop
us useless townies from getting lost.

423
00:24:40,047 --> 00:24:44,487
But imagine the longest, the worst day
you've ever had,

424
00:24:44,487 --> 00:24:48,167
traipsing through mud
and stinging nettles and bushes,

425
00:24:48,167 --> 00:24:53,605
and you'll just get an inkling
of the horrible job of being a pole man.

426
00:24:56,807 --> 00:25:02,677
The first job was to get a basic idea
of the layout of the land by triangulation.

427
00:25:04,647 --> 00:25:08,367
By taking two known points
and sighting a third in relation to them,

428
00:25:08,367 --> 00:25:11,887
the survey covered the land
with a honeycomb of readings.

429
00:25:11,887 --> 00:25:15,960
And the pole man had to trudge
every inch of the course.

430
00:25:28,127 --> 00:25:30,007
Frances?
Tony.

431
00:25:30,007 --> 00:25:34,367
The church is northeast, and that building
over there's north-northwest.

432
00:25:34,367 --> 00:25:36,835
Thanks very much.
I'll jot that down here.

433
00:25:38,367 --> 00:25:39,847
What's that table?

434
00:25:39,847 --> 00:25:43,007
This is one of
the several sorts of instruments

435
00:25:43,007 --> 00:25:46,887
that people could have used
to fill in the details

436
00:25:46,887 --> 00:25:49,647
after they'd fixed
the main triangulation points.

437
00:25:49,647 --> 00:25:51,487
Why was it such a bad job?

438
00:25:51,487 --> 00:25:53,607
I mean, alright,
it wasn't that much fun

439
00:25:53,607 --> 00:25:55,207
schlepping up a hill
and back again,

440
00:25:55,207 --> 00:25:57,767
but people would just do that
on a day out.

441
00:25:57,767 --> 00:26:02,087
Well, it might be lovely weather today,
but it wouldn't be always like that.

442
00:26:02,087 --> 00:26:05,247
You would be
out in the rain and the fog

443
00:26:05,247 --> 00:26:07,287
and even the snow
if you were really unlucky.

444
00:26:07,287 --> 00:26:09,927
And if you're
the surveyor's assistant,

445
00:26:09,927 --> 00:26:12,967
your surveyor is gonna be sending you
to all the nastiest bits

446
00:26:12,967 --> 00:26:14,847
where he doesn't want
to go himself.

447
00:26:14,847 --> 00:26:16,967
And I bet I'm carrying
all your stuff, aren't I?

448
00:26:16,967 --> 00:26:20,207
Absolutely.
Nice heavy equipment.

449
00:26:20,207 --> 00:26:23,287
And quite a lot of miles
to travel.

450
00:26:23,287 --> 00:26:25,327
So, what did the pole man
do with his pole?

451
00:26:25,327 --> 00:26:30,807
The pole is for carrying
to a far distant point

452
00:26:30,807 --> 00:26:33,847
where the surveyor
can actually sight it

453
00:26:33,847 --> 00:26:36,087
and mark the bearing
down on the map

454
00:26:36,087 --> 00:26:39,247
so that that point
can then be fixed.

455
00:26:39,247 --> 00:26:40,847
So, what do you
want me to do?

456
00:26:40,847 --> 00:26:43,007
I'd like you to take a pole

457
00:26:43,007 --> 00:26:47,000
and go off to roughly where
that telegraph pole is over there, please.

458
00:26:51,567 --> 00:26:55,727
Mapping one field could mean
miles of walking back and forth

459
00:26:55,727 --> 00:26:58,327
through thistles, mud and mire.

460
00:26:58,327 --> 00:27:02,843
And if you got the instructions wrong,
it meant double the distance.

461
00:27:07,567 --> 00:27:09,647
It's further than it looks, actually.

462
00:27:09,647 --> 00:27:13,487
I couldn't tell what you were
trying to show me with your signals.

463
00:27:13,487 --> 00:27:17,967
Ah, I was trying to say, "Go further
up the hill to the next corner."

464
00:27:17,967 --> 00:27:22,047
But now you've come back, um,

465
00:27:22,047 --> 00:27:27,167
it's, "Go further up the hill
to the next corner from here," I'm afraid.

466
00:27:27,167 --> 00:27:30,607
(Speaks indistinctly)
Yeah. Thanks a lot.

467
00:27:30,607 --> 00:27:32,086
That's alright.

468
00:27:37,727 --> 00:27:41,327
Eventually, surveyors came up
with a signal system that worked

469
00:27:41,327 --> 00:27:43,367
until walkie-talkies.

470
00:27:43,367 --> 00:27:46,207
The next thing
we need to have a go at

471
00:27:46,207 --> 00:27:49,447
is measuring on the ground
with a chain,

472
00:27:49,447 --> 00:27:53,527
because there are some places where
you couldn't actually use a sighting pole.

473
00:27:53,527 --> 00:27:57,967
Originally, people used rope,
ropes with knots in at suitable intervals,

474
00:27:57,967 --> 00:28:00,367
for measuring distances.

475
00:28:00,367 --> 00:28:04,807
But very often it rained and the ropes
got wet and the length changed.

476
00:28:04,807 --> 00:28:09,247
What did the local people feel
about all these surveyors

477
00:28:09,247 --> 00:28:11,167
traipsing up and down their land?

478
00:28:11,167 --> 00:28:13,647
Well, very often,
they didn't like it very much,

479
00:28:13,647 --> 00:28:15,807
as you could probably imagine.

480
00:28:15,807 --> 00:28:19,487
If it was the Ordnance Survey,
they thought,

481
00:28:19,487 --> 00:28:21,607
"What's the government up to,

482
00:28:21,607 --> 00:28:24,847
"sending these military types around
to tramp across our fields?

483
00:28:24,847 --> 00:28:27,167
"Are they gonna put the taxes up?"

484
00:28:27,167 --> 00:28:31,567
Or if it was an ordinary landowner
who was having his field surveyed,

485
00:28:31,567 --> 00:28:35,607
they'd all think, "Well, he's gonna
put the rents up for all the tenants

486
00:28:35,607 --> 00:28:38,246
"and make more money out of us."

487
00:28:39,767 --> 00:28:45,367
In Devon, the locals were so hostile,
they stoned the surveyors.

488
00:28:45,367 --> 00:28:50,567
But it was the work itself that was
the real downside, especially the chain.

489
00:28:50,567 --> 00:28:53,687
Even in 1771,
a surveyor moans

490
00:28:53,687 --> 00:28:56,967
that he "can't get an assistant
to lead the chain over rough mountains

491
00:28:56,967 --> 00:28:59,242
"for under a shilling a day".

492
00:29:03,967 --> 00:29:05,446
Right?

493
00:29:07,847 --> 00:29:09,967
Alright, there's one.
OK.

494
00:29:09,967 --> 00:29:13,755
And then drag it back
along the same line.

495
00:29:17,847 --> 00:29:22,967
One chain is a cricket pitch -
22 yards.

496
00:29:22,967 --> 00:29:24,559
80 make one mile.

497
00:29:30,407 --> 00:29:33,399
Even if this was the wrong sign,
I wasn't telling Frances.

498
00:29:35,687 --> 00:29:38,967
I think this place is
pretty well surveyed now.

499
00:29:38,967 --> 00:29:42,127
What do you think the very worst part
of being a surveyor was?

500
00:29:42,127 --> 00:29:46,647
Well, perhaps the worst thing would be
when you thought you'd got to the end

501
00:29:46,647 --> 00:29:49,847
and you thought
you'd got a final result

502
00:29:49,847 --> 00:29:53,327
and somebody came along
and raised some doubt or other

503
00:29:53,327 --> 00:29:57,247
and you had to go back
and check something all over again.

504
00:29:57,247 --> 00:30:01,807
So I think, really, we need you
to take that compass

505
00:30:01,807 --> 00:30:05,647
and go back up to the top of the hill
and check the original readings.

506
00:30:05,647 --> 00:30:07,127
Are you serious?

507
00:30:07,127 --> 00:30:09,880
Well, as your boss,
I think I should be serious.

508
00:30:29,047 --> 00:30:30,527
(Sighs)

509
00:30:30,527 --> 00:30:34,727
Uh... That's the pole man's job.

510
00:30:34,727 --> 00:30:37,047
I'm resigning.

511
00:30:37,047 --> 00:30:41,367
But although our Ordnance Survey maps
rely on his work,

512
00:30:41,367 --> 00:30:44,687
our mental picture
of the countryside of the past

513
00:30:44,687 --> 00:30:47,447
relies on a very different
worst job.

514
00:30:47,447 --> 00:30:52,207
John Constable is the quintessential
painter of the countryside.

515
00:30:52,207 --> 00:30:56,567
Today, pictures like this can seem
charged with chocolate-box nostalgia,

516
00:30:56,567 --> 00:31:00,355
but in his day, Constable was seen
as daringly new.

517
00:31:03,407 --> 00:31:06,487
What was so revolutionary
was the clouds,

518
00:31:06,487 --> 00:31:09,247
which he painted
with meteorological accuracy,

519
00:31:09,247 --> 00:31:11,567
and the white flecks he used

520
00:31:11,567 --> 00:31:15,276
to render the shifting flicker
of light and weather on leaves.

521
00:31:19,047 --> 00:31:23,207
Contemporaries found this unique way
of using white paint so startling

522
00:31:23,207 --> 00:31:27,644
that they contemptuously referred to it
as 'Constable's snow'.

523
00:31:28,967 --> 00:31:33,487
And this snow, as well as things
like glazed pots and even make-up,

524
00:31:33,487 --> 00:31:35,607
required a lead-white
paint-maker

525
00:31:35,607 --> 00:31:41,247
prepared to dedicate himself to hours
of painstaking and highly toxic work.

526
00:31:41,247 --> 00:31:42,927
What are we doing here?

527
00:31:42,927 --> 00:31:47,727
This is a very, very old process.
This is called the stack process.

528
00:31:47,727 --> 00:31:50,727
Ancient Romans,
ancient Egyptians were doing it.

529
00:31:50,727 --> 00:31:53,967
This is corroding blue lead
into white lead.

530
00:31:53,967 --> 00:31:56,327
So I just keep pulling it towards me?
Just keep going.

531
00:31:56,327 --> 00:31:58,087
You don't have to pull. Push away.

532
00:31:58,087 --> 00:31:59,967
From the 17th century onwards,

533
00:31:59,967 --> 00:32:02,847
penniless women
were bought at hiring fairs

534
00:32:02,847 --> 00:32:05,447
to make lead-white
on a large scale.

535
00:32:05,447 --> 00:32:08,247
Heavy sheet lead
is rolled into coils

536
00:32:08,247 --> 00:32:11,447
so they can be corroded
using a primitive chemistry.

537
00:32:11,447 --> 00:32:14,367
I was about to find out
how primitive.

538
00:32:14,367 --> 00:32:18,042
You'll find this is a bit hummy in here.
TONY: A bit hummy?

539
00:32:19,287 --> 00:32:22,047
(Laughs) Wow!

540
00:32:22,047 --> 00:32:25,847
You just get hit
by this wall of ammonia.

541
00:32:25,847 --> 00:32:27,447
What is it, horse dung?

542
00:32:27,447 --> 00:32:30,087
This is horse dung
corroding the lead.

543
00:32:30,087 --> 00:32:34,327
In the bottom of each of these pots
is vinegar. They used to use urine.

544
00:32:34,327 --> 00:32:36,327
So, what's the chemical reaction
that takes place there?

545
00:32:36,327 --> 00:32:37,807
What's taking place here

546
00:32:37,807 --> 00:32:41,327
is that the lead is first of all
being converted into lead acetate.

547
00:32:41,327 --> 00:32:44,167
The lead acetate,
in the atmosphere here from the dung,

548
00:32:44,167 --> 00:32:45,807
which is giving off
carbon dioxide,

549
00:32:45,807 --> 00:32:48,287
is then converted
to lead carbonate,

550
00:32:48,287 --> 00:32:51,647
lead carbonate and lead hydroxide,
and that is white lead.

551
00:32:51,647 --> 00:32:53,167
So, what do we do now?

552
00:32:53,167 --> 00:32:55,687
We've got to fill the whole
of this space here.

553
00:32:55,687 --> 00:32:57,687
The whole of it. Everywhere here.
With these little pots?

554
00:32:57,687 --> 00:33:00,287
And then we shut the doors
and lock it up for six months.

555
00:33:00,287 --> 00:33:01,767
Oh, right. Good idea.

556
00:33:01,767 --> 00:33:03,887
Now, while I set these out...

557
00:33:03,887 --> 00:33:05,687
There's a shovel.
Yeah.

558
00:33:05,687 --> 00:33:09,367
You'll find a heap of dung
round the corner, find a barrow.

559
00:33:09,367 --> 00:33:11,407
Lots of dung, please.

560
00:33:11,407 --> 00:33:13,967
It's a worst job.
It's shovelling horse dung.

561
00:33:13,967 --> 00:33:15,719
Off you go.

562
00:33:22,207 --> 00:33:26,527
The women who stacked the dung didn't
have the foggiest about the chemicals,

563
00:33:26,527 --> 00:33:28,847
but they did know
how tough the job was.

564
00:33:28,847 --> 00:33:32,167
They had to build stacks
up to 12 metres high.

565
00:33:32,167 --> 00:33:37,127
Then they'd carry trays of lead
weighing 25 kilos up ladders

566
00:33:37,127 --> 00:33:41,087
amid the stench of ammonia
from the tonnes of horse poo.

567
00:33:41,087 --> 00:33:43,527
It was disgusting, but it worked.

568
00:33:43,527 --> 00:33:46,647
If you've ever experienced the heat
in the middle of a compost heap,

569
00:33:46,647 --> 00:33:51,087
that's what acts as the catalyst
for the 6-month chemistry experiment.

570
00:33:51,087 --> 00:33:52,607
Come on!

571
00:33:52,607 --> 00:33:55,007
It's only grass.

572
00:33:55,007 --> 00:33:59,287
Yes, it's grass, but processed via a
horse's bottom and heaving with bacteria,

573
00:33:59,287 --> 00:34:04,486
causing all manner of stomach problems
for the unsuspecting workers.

574
00:34:06,007 --> 00:34:07,927
You wouldn't like to
borrow a pair of gloves?

575
00:34:07,927 --> 00:34:10,967
Now you say, would I like
to borrow a pair of gloves?

576
00:34:10,967 --> 00:34:13,447
(Laughs)
(Laughs sarcastically)

577
00:34:13,447 --> 00:34:15,287
What happens next?
Right.

578
00:34:15,287 --> 00:34:18,007
What we've got to do is pack that
a bit firmly around there.

579
00:34:18,007 --> 00:34:21,127
The important thing
is to keep these...

580
00:34:21,127 --> 00:34:23,207
These pots have got to be clean.
Yeah.

581
00:34:23,207 --> 00:34:24,686
So...

582
00:34:25,887 --> 00:34:27,447
Pull one of those out.
Yep.

583
00:34:27,447 --> 00:34:30,527
And then...
it goes in... like that.

584
00:34:30,527 --> 00:34:33,007
You'd be... Easier to try...
Try that one there.

585
00:34:33,007 --> 00:34:34,486
OK.

586
00:34:35,927 --> 00:34:39,327
And pop the pot in. And just check that
there's nothing inside it and it is clean.

587
00:34:39,327 --> 00:34:41,407
'Cause you've got to keep the lead clean.
Yep.

588
00:34:41,407 --> 00:34:42,927
OK.

589
00:34:42,927 --> 00:34:46,847
So into that will go the vinegar,
then will go this...

590
00:34:46,847 --> 00:34:49,327
The coil will sit
above the vinegar like that,

591
00:34:49,327 --> 00:34:51,407
and then we leave that
for six months.

592
00:34:51,407 --> 00:34:53,807
And what does it look like
at the end of six months?

593
00:34:53,807 --> 00:34:55,007
I'll show you.

594
00:34:55,007 --> 00:34:57,087
Well, that's a bit different, isn't it?
Yes, Tony.

595
00:34:57,087 --> 00:34:59,727
This is actually a simulation.

596
00:34:59,727 --> 00:35:02,887
Because if this were white lead,
this would be a toxic substance.

597
00:35:02,887 --> 00:35:04,647
Toxic for the workers?
Toxic for the workers.

598
00:35:04,647 --> 00:35:06,607
Toxic for you and me.
Oh.

599
00:35:06,607 --> 00:35:08,407
This is why you've
given me these gloves.

600
00:35:08,407 --> 00:35:10,127
I've given you the gloves.
Thank you.

601
00:35:10,127 --> 00:35:12,647
But if this were white lead,
we're not properly protected.

602
00:35:12,647 --> 00:35:14,167
I understand, yeah.
Right?

603
00:35:14,167 --> 00:35:17,607
So, what a worker would be involved in
is taking this out of here,

604
00:35:17,607 --> 00:35:19,887
and bear in mind this is a woman
and this weighs...

605
00:35:19,887 --> 00:35:22,207
...that's nine kilos,
one-and-a-half stone.

606
00:35:22,207 --> 00:35:24,767
Yeah.
You then have to lift this coil out.

607
00:35:28,807 --> 00:35:32,607
And... unroll it.

608
00:35:32,607 --> 00:35:34,447
Can I have a go?
Yes, do. Go on.

609
00:35:34,447 --> 00:35:40,207
Sort of get all the powder off. Normally,
you'd be collecting this in a tray.

610
00:35:40,207 --> 00:35:43,287
Yeah. So, I can see
that all this dust is coming off it.

611
00:35:43,287 --> 00:35:45,767
Yes, and you're breathing.
What would it do to us?

612
00:35:45,767 --> 00:35:48,167
Well, if you were
a pregnant woman,

613
00:35:48,167 --> 00:35:51,247
this would have an effect
on the developing nervous system,

614
00:35:51,247 --> 00:35:54,047
could possibly cause abortion,

615
00:35:54,047 --> 00:35:56,807
could lead to learning difficulties
in young children.

616
00:35:56,807 --> 00:35:59,207
How did you know whether
you'd ingested so much of this

617
00:35:59,207 --> 00:36:01,687
that you were putting
your unborn child at risk?

618
00:36:01,687 --> 00:36:06,807
Well, in the 19th century, when people
started to be concerned about health...

619
00:36:06,807 --> 00:36:08,927
In fact, they were concerned
in the 18th century.

620
00:36:08,927 --> 00:36:12,287
In the French Revolution, they tried
to do away with white lead altogether,

621
00:36:12,287 --> 00:36:14,047
but found that they couldn't.

622
00:36:14,047 --> 00:36:15,647
Inspectors used to
go round the factories

623
00:36:15,647 --> 00:36:17,727
and ask all the workers
to stand like divers,

624
00:36:17,727 --> 00:36:19,807
with their arms out
in front of them like that.

625
00:36:19,807 --> 00:36:23,687
And if a person couldn't raise his hands,
it was called wrist drop.

626
00:36:23,687 --> 00:36:25,287
And he couldn't raise his hands

627
00:36:25,287 --> 00:36:29,127
because the signal from his brain
to his fingertips was not constant,

628
00:36:29,127 --> 00:36:30,927
so he couldn't hold his hand up.

629
00:36:30,927 --> 00:36:33,087
It didn't always work.

630
00:36:33,087 --> 00:36:36,487
In 1872, a teenager
called Charlotte Rafferty

631
00:36:36,487 --> 00:36:38,047
had worked forjust five months

632
00:36:38,047 --> 00:36:41,207
at the lead-white firm
of Walkers, Parker & Co.

633
00:36:41,207 --> 00:36:43,607
Before she collapsed and died.

634
00:36:43,607 --> 00:36:45,407
Bit more oil.

635
00:36:45,407 --> 00:36:49,567
The powder was mixed with oil
to form a paste.

636
00:36:49,567 --> 00:36:52,087
Artists then further diluted this.

637
00:36:52,087 --> 00:36:55,487
But even with the minute quantities
they used on their canvas,

638
00:36:55,487 --> 00:36:59,275
they drank milk to try and prevent
absorbing the lead.

639
00:37:00,967 --> 00:37:02,887
So we've got
our lead-white paint,

640
00:37:02,887 --> 00:37:07,687
and I'm going to use this bit
to paint a tiny little object

641
00:37:07,687 --> 00:37:10,759
that has transformed
our countryside.

642
00:37:12,047 --> 00:37:14,277
The golf ball.

643
00:37:21,847 --> 00:37:25,767
The countryside has always been
what we've made it.

644
00:37:25,767 --> 00:37:30,283
Today, more and more of it's used
for leisure, rather than survival.

645
00:37:31,287 --> 00:37:36,887
Golf started with Scots hitting stones
down rabbit holes with sticks.

646
00:37:36,887 --> 00:37:41,327
Today, there are
2,485 golf courses in Britain,

647
00:37:41,327 --> 00:37:45,447
gobbling up a quarter of a million
acres of countryside.

648
00:37:45,447 --> 00:37:47,287
But the game
would never have spread

649
00:37:47,287 --> 00:37:52,327
without the invention of the first
proper golf ball - the feathery.

650
00:37:52,327 --> 00:37:59,167
It was made from bull's hide and boiled
feathers by a craftsman with a worst job.

651
00:37:59,167 --> 00:38:02,398
Why worst?
Just enter his workshop.

652
00:38:04,007 --> 00:38:05,607
Phil.
PHIL: Hello, Tony.

653
00:38:05,607 --> 00:38:07,287
We're gonna make golf balls.
We are.

654
00:38:07,287 --> 00:38:11,487
Hang on. I was about to say, "Why on
earth would that be a worst job?"

655
00:38:11,487 --> 00:38:14,767
But I think I already know.
The smell's probably set you up for it.

656
00:38:14,767 --> 00:38:17,447
This is horrible! Whatever is this?

657
00:38:17,447 --> 00:38:18,927
Feathers and water.

658
00:38:18,927 --> 00:38:21,127
Feathers?
That's correct.

659
00:38:21,127 --> 00:38:23,007
No idea that boil...
(Coughs)

660
00:38:23,007 --> 00:38:26,167
...boiling feathers
smelt quite so bad.

661
00:38:26,167 --> 00:38:28,287
So, what is it we're making,
precisely?

662
00:38:28,287 --> 00:38:32,327
Ah! We're making, precisely,
an early form of golf ball.

663
00:38:32,327 --> 00:38:34,567
Known as a feathery,
hence the feathers.

664
00:38:34,567 --> 00:38:36,247
It's not round, is it?
No.

665
00:38:36,247 --> 00:38:38,567
It's like a pixie's rugby ball.

666
00:38:38,567 --> 00:38:41,967
Can you see that little stitch
all the way along there?

667
00:38:41,967 --> 00:38:43,607
It's very light.

668
00:38:43,607 --> 00:38:45,687
That's the three pieces.
The body...

669
00:38:45,687 --> 00:38:47,487
Featheries stopped being made
in the 1850s.

670
00:38:47,487 --> 00:38:52,207
Phil's re-created the feathery pattern
from museum exhibits.

671
00:38:52,207 --> 00:38:56,247
The leather's sewn together
before being turned inside out

672
00:38:56,247 --> 00:38:59,327
and stuffed with
the stinking feathery gunk.

673
00:38:59,327 --> 00:39:01,847
Do that. Give it a chance
to cool down a bit.

674
00:39:01,847 --> 00:39:03,807
Yep.

675
00:39:03,807 --> 00:39:08,047
For two centuries,
featheries were the only golf ball.

676
00:39:08,047 --> 00:39:12,407
Hundreds of craftsmen and apprentices
did this mind-numbing job

677
00:39:12,407 --> 00:39:15,727
amidst the stench
of great vats of feathers.

678
00:39:15,727 --> 00:39:17,887
It is extraordinary, actually.

679
00:39:17,887 --> 00:39:22,807
You see... how much...
feather there is left.

680
00:39:22,807 --> 00:39:27,403
We've got virtually that much feather
into this.

681
00:39:28,487 --> 00:39:34,127
Until 1850, feathery makers made
a good, if tedious and smelly, living.

682
00:39:34,127 --> 00:39:38,927
Supply never met demand
for their throwaway product.

683
00:39:38,927 --> 00:39:40,407
Cor!

684
00:39:40,407 --> 00:39:44,647
Cut fingers, stinky feathers
and flies buzzing round.

685
00:39:44,647 --> 00:39:47,047
How many of these do you reckon
you'd make in a day?

686
00:39:47,047 --> 00:39:49,927
At the time, they reckoned
about three to five a day.

687
00:39:49,927 --> 00:39:52,207
And how many would you need
for one round of golf?

688
00:39:52,207 --> 00:39:53,887
Between seven and eight.

689
00:39:53,887 --> 00:39:57,327
So one bloke couldn't
make in a day enough balls

690
00:39:57,327 --> 00:40:00,727
for some other chap
to use for one round.

691
00:40:00,727 --> 00:40:02,527
That's correct.
Extraordinary.

692
00:40:02,527 --> 00:40:05,047
Grab just a little bit,
then put it in your hands,

693
00:40:05,047 --> 00:40:07,767
and then just roll it round your hands
to totally cover the ball.

694
00:40:07,767 --> 00:40:09,447
Nice and slowly.

695
00:40:09,447 --> 00:40:11,087
That's rather nice.

696
00:40:11,087 --> 00:40:15,967
But in the mid-19th century,
the invention of the latex gutta-percha ball

697
00:40:15,967 --> 00:40:18,007
destroyed the feathery market,

698
00:40:18,007 --> 00:40:20,767
leaving hundreds of workers
destitute.

699
00:40:20,767 --> 00:40:26,444
So, do these first featheries for 150 years
actually work?

700
00:40:31,167 --> 00:40:32,647
Oh, wow!

701
00:40:32,647 --> 00:40:35,764
That really shifted, didn't it?
That's excellent.

702
00:40:37,607 --> 00:40:39,887
If it wasn't for the advances
of the feathery man,

703
00:40:39,887 --> 00:40:44,087
then blokes like Tony would
still be driving stones down hills

704
00:40:44,087 --> 00:40:46,247
and putting them
into rabbit holes.

705
00:40:46,247 --> 00:40:48,847
But it has to be said
that sticking your face

706
00:40:48,847 --> 00:40:51,567
into a vat full of
rancid, boiling feathers

707
00:40:51,567 --> 00:40:53,607
does make it a worst job.

708
00:40:53,607 --> 00:40:57,287
Although, at least your feet are dry
and firmly on the ground,

709
00:40:57,287 --> 00:41:03,167
which is more than can be said
for the very worst rural job of all.

710
00:41:03,167 --> 00:41:05,607
I've been looking at
some of the worst jobs

711
00:41:05,607 --> 00:41:08,287
that have made our countryside
what it is today,

712
00:41:08,287 --> 00:41:10,847
but which is the very worst?

713
00:41:12,127 --> 00:41:13,647
Ouch! It trod on my foot!

714
00:41:13,647 --> 00:41:16,007
Keeping the nation in wool
was tough,

715
00:41:16,007 --> 00:41:18,967
but at least the shepherds didn't risk
ending up as steak tartare

716
00:41:18,967 --> 00:41:20,844
like the threshing machine
workers.

717
00:41:22,727 --> 00:41:26,887
And even the outcast reddleman
had a stable, if monochrome, living.

718
00:41:26,887 --> 00:41:31,927
No, for me, the very worst
is a mind-numbingly terrifying job

719
00:41:31,927 --> 00:41:36,287
without which we wouldn't have one of
the most important symbols of village life.

720
00:41:36,287 --> 00:41:38,755
It's the steeplejack.

721
00:41:45,207 --> 00:41:49,607
The countryside revolves round
the communities who've made it what it is.

722
00:41:49,607 --> 00:41:52,807
For centuries,
the spire of the village church

723
00:41:52,807 --> 00:41:55,967
has been the symbolic heart
of rural life.

724
00:41:55,967 --> 00:41:58,327
But these stone beacons
are fragile.

725
00:41:58,327 --> 00:42:01,087
They're literally tied together
with iron.

726
00:42:01,087 --> 00:42:02,847
Without the steeplejack,

727
00:42:02,847 --> 00:42:06,760
these key features of the landscape
would simply collapse.

728
00:42:08,367 --> 00:42:10,327
Here I am as a steeplejack.

729
00:42:10,327 --> 00:42:13,367
Actually, steeplejacks
were really respected,

730
00:42:13,367 --> 00:42:15,607
because they were
skilled craftsmen,

731
00:42:15,607 --> 00:42:17,687
and they earned
quite a good wage as well.

732
00:42:17,687 --> 00:42:19,167
But, frankly,

733
00:42:19,167 --> 00:42:23,247
any job which involves climbing
about 60 metres up into the air

734
00:42:23,247 --> 00:42:25,527
and just clinging on
to a bit of stone

735
00:42:25,527 --> 00:42:27,607
is my idea of hell.

736
00:42:27,607 --> 00:42:31,247
And when it got to the Victorian period,
it was even worse, because of the smog,

737
00:42:31,247 --> 00:42:33,927
which meant that all the ironwork
got corroded

738
00:42:33,927 --> 00:42:36,527
and everything was covered
in black gunk.

739
00:42:36,527 --> 00:42:40,887
Roger, I know today I'm gonna
have to put all this safety kit on,

740
00:42:40,887 --> 00:42:45,207
but what kind of gear did they have
to protect themselves in Victorian times?

741
00:42:45,207 --> 00:42:49,007
In the Victorian times, they would
have had absolutely nothing.

742
00:42:49,007 --> 00:42:52,407
They'd have just had a straight ladder
up the side of the church spire,

743
00:42:52,407 --> 00:42:56,007
and you would have had to climb that
and do your work when you got to the top.

744
00:42:56,007 --> 00:42:59,687
You would have had a bosun's seat,
which we're still using today,

745
00:42:59,687 --> 00:43:02,804
but there would have been
no safety devices on that at all.

746
00:43:04,327 --> 00:43:09,087
Photos from one steeplejack firm
show just how perilous it was.

747
00:43:09,087 --> 00:43:13,205
Three men from this company
had falls from more than 60 feet.

748
00:43:14,447 --> 00:43:17,807
TONY: Why did they go up there?
ROGER: To maintain the structure.

749
00:43:17,807 --> 00:43:20,807
Before we started installing
lightning conductors

750
00:43:20,807 --> 00:43:23,327
onto these sort of structures
to protect them,

751
00:43:23,327 --> 00:43:26,927
they were struck by lightning
quite frequently,

752
00:43:26,927 --> 00:43:31,527
with consequent damage to the masonry
and the weathervanes, etc.

753
00:43:31,527 --> 00:43:33,447
So, what do you want us
to do today?

754
00:43:33,447 --> 00:43:37,327
I want you to go right to the very tip of
the spire to fetch the weathercock down.

755
00:43:37,327 --> 00:43:40,927
That's not been repaired
for at least 50 years.

756
00:43:40,927 --> 00:43:43,287
So it's not just
that I've got to go up there.

757
00:43:43,287 --> 00:43:47,047
I've got to go right up to the very top...
That's it.

758
00:43:47,047 --> 00:43:50,967
...and pick out the largest, heaviest thing
that hasn't been touched for 50 years.

759
00:43:50,967 --> 00:43:53,527
That's the one, yep.
Oh, fantastic.

760
00:43:53,527 --> 00:43:57,647
And wouldn't you know it?
This isn't any old spire.

761
00:43:57,647 --> 00:44:01,527
St Mary's Bloxham has got
the highest spire in Oxfordshire.

762
00:44:01,527 --> 00:44:03,006
Thanks.

763
00:44:04,447 --> 00:44:06,047
Oh, wow!

764
00:44:06,047 --> 00:44:08,887
A magnificent view.

765
00:44:08,887 --> 00:44:10,527
That's...

766
00:44:10,527 --> 00:44:16,127
Mind you, looking down,
it is a little bit scary.

767
00:44:16,127 --> 00:44:19,447
And this is, what, halfway up?
This is halfway up, yes.

768
00:44:19,447 --> 00:44:21,887
So a little breather here,
and then...

769
00:44:21,887 --> 00:44:24,487
Then on up to the top of the spire.

770
00:44:24,487 --> 00:44:26,007
Christ, all up there.

771
00:44:26,007 --> 00:44:29,087
Lord, oh, Lord, oh, Lord, oh, Lord!

772
00:44:29,087 --> 00:44:31,567
I don't know if I can do this.

773
00:44:31,567 --> 00:44:33,127
I'll have a go.

774
00:44:33,127 --> 00:44:34,845
Yep. You'll be fine, Tony.

775
00:44:38,527 --> 00:44:41,647
How would they have
got the fixings for the ladders?

776
00:44:41,647 --> 00:44:44,447
They would have driven a wedge
into the wall, an iron wedge...

777
00:44:44,447 --> 00:44:45,927
Yeah.

778
00:44:45,927 --> 00:44:47,807
...and just tied the ladders to that.

779
00:44:47,807 --> 00:44:50,087
And then when they got
to the top of one ladder,

780
00:44:50,087 --> 00:44:52,487
climb up to that and then
rig another ladder on top?

781
00:44:52,487 --> 00:44:55,207
That's it, yeah. Tie the two
lengths of ladder together.

782
00:44:55,207 --> 00:44:59,287
I thought this ladder was gonna
be at an angle. It's vertical!

783
00:44:59,287 --> 00:45:01,887
It's not exactly vertical, Tony.

784
00:45:01,887 --> 00:45:04,647
It's got the same angle as the spire.

785
00:45:04,647 --> 00:45:06,167
You could have fooled me!

786
00:45:06,167 --> 00:45:09,967
My legs are shaking already,
and I haven't even got onto the first rung.

787
00:45:09,967 --> 00:45:11,447
Mm-hm.

788
00:45:11,447 --> 00:45:15,687
Imagine what it must have been like
before you had all this stuff.

789
00:45:15,687 --> 00:45:17,518
Right, here we go.

790
00:45:23,327 --> 00:45:26,967
Now, what I know I mustn't do
is look down,

791
00:45:26,967 --> 00:45:31,327
so... just keep up
a regular rhythm, I think,

792
00:45:31,327 --> 00:45:35,320
and just not worry
about anything at all.

793
00:45:40,007 --> 00:45:42,087
Here, Rog?
Yes, Tony?

794
00:45:42,087 --> 00:45:45,007
What did they do
if they wanted a wee?

795
00:45:45,007 --> 00:45:47,527
Well, if you've ever been
walking around in town

796
00:45:47,527 --> 00:45:49,807
on a nice, clear, sunny day...

797
00:45:49,807 --> 00:45:51,287
Yeah.

798
00:45:51,287 --> 00:45:55,280
...and you've felt a spot of moisture
on your forehead, that's a steeplejack.

799
00:45:56,287 --> 00:45:58,960
I'm glad you told me that.

800
00:46:00,047 --> 00:46:03,847
Parish records are littered
with steeplejack fatalities

801
00:46:03,847 --> 00:46:08,447
from lightning strikes,
collapsed scaffolding and deadly falls.

802
00:46:08,447 --> 00:46:11,927
The luckiest, or unluckiest,
Victorian steeplejack

803
00:46:11,927 --> 00:46:13,567
was a chap called Larkin.

804
00:46:13,567 --> 00:46:16,727
He survived
three falls from height,

805
00:46:16,727 --> 00:46:21,482
only to be killed, ironically,
by toppling just 15 feet.

806
00:46:25,727 --> 00:46:27,247
Hey, it's here!

807
00:46:27,247 --> 00:46:29,047
Here, Roger, we're there!

808
00:46:29,047 --> 00:46:31,567
Yep. Finally got to the top, Tony.

809
00:46:31,567 --> 00:46:34,167
TONY: I didn't think
it would actually be golden.

810
00:46:34,167 --> 00:46:36,567
ROGER: There's still a few
little bits of gold left on it.

811
00:46:36,567 --> 00:46:40,207
But it's pretty rough, that is,
by our standards.

812
00:46:40,207 --> 00:46:41,967
I don't fancy standing up
very much.

813
00:46:41,967 --> 00:46:43,727
Ugh...

814
00:46:43,727 --> 00:46:45,887
It's wobbly with you on it,
I tell you.

815
00:46:45,887 --> 00:46:47,687
(Moans)

816
00:46:47,687 --> 00:46:50,967
Get a good, firm grip of that.
You'll be fine.

817
00:46:50,967 --> 00:46:54,927
This come off here?
Yep. Just...

818
00:46:54,927 --> 00:46:56,967
Is it gonna be very heavy?

819
00:46:56,967 --> 00:47:00,847
It's got a bit of suction in it
because it's quite tight on the rod.

820
00:47:00,847 --> 00:47:03,127
God, how much higher does it go?
There it goes.

821
00:47:03,127 --> 00:47:05,243
That's it.

822
00:47:06,487 --> 00:47:08,287
Do you want to
pass it down to me?

823
00:47:08,287 --> 00:47:09,767
Hang on!
Yep?

824
00:47:09,767 --> 00:47:13,687
What's that there?
That's a bullet hole, Tony.

825
00:47:13,687 --> 00:47:17,207
That'll date from the Second World War.
Right.

826
00:47:17,207 --> 00:47:18,847
Chuck it down to me, mate.

827
00:47:18,847 --> 00:47:20,927
OK, Tony. You ready for it?
Yeah. Here we go.

828
00:47:20,927 --> 00:47:22,927
That's what you came
all the way up here for.

829
00:47:22,927 --> 00:47:26,047
There we are. Job done.
No, no, not quite. No.

830
00:47:26,047 --> 00:47:27,958
Oh, I forgot the ball!

831
00:47:29,807 --> 00:47:31,287
Cheers, mate.

832
00:47:31,287 --> 00:47:35,007
Incredible feeling of satisfaction,

833
00:47:35,007 --> 00:47:39,207
although we've got to take this little lot
back down the bottom again now.

834
00:47:39,207 --> 00:47:42,567
But if it hadn't been for
the steeplejacks and the threshers

835
00:47:42,567 --> 00:47:44,687
and the nettle harvesters,

836
00:47:44,687 --> 00:47:48,287
then we wouldn't have the fantastic
countryside that we've got today.

837
00:47:48,287 --> 00:47:53,087
And the same's true of our towns
and our industry and our monarchy.

838
00:47:53,087 --> 00:47:58,036
It was the work force
who made the history of Britain happen.

839
00:48:32,367 --> 00:48:34,607
Britain's history
hasn't just been made

840
00:48:34,607 --> 00:48:37,527
by kings and queens
and generals and admirals,

841
00:48:37,527 --> 00:48:42,047
but by a whole host of ordinary people
doing a lot of really terrible jobs.

842
00:48:42,047 --> 00:48:47,047
And if you don't believe me, take a look
at how we came to rule the waves.

843
00:48:47,047 --> 00:48:51,847
This time, luxury liners that needed
people working with sacks on their heads.

844
00:48:51,847 --> 00:48:53,447
I am the gunier-man!

845
00:48:53,447 --> 00:48:57,847
How Britain's very first navy
survived on minimal rations.

846
00:48:57,847 --> 00:49:03,647
And why the heroes who kept our coasts
safe didn't like getting their toes wet.

847
00:49:03,647 --> 00:49:07,686
Welcome to
The Worst Maritime Jobs in History.

848
00:49:30,807 --> 00:49:33,527
The sea put the 'great'
in Great Britain.

849
00:49:33,527 --> 00:49:37,727
International trade, politics
and our military success

850
00:49:37,727 --> 00:49:40,247
have all depended
on controlling the oceans.

851
00:49:40,247 --> 00:49:42,447
Many of our greatest heroes
were sailors -

852
00:49:42,447 --> 00:49:46,207
legends like Nelson, Drake
or Captain Cook.

853
00:49:46,207 --> 00:49:50,047
But despite having trading connections
long before the Romans,

854
00:49:50,047 --> 00:49:52,687
we hadn't explored
the ocean's potential.

855
00:49:52,687 --> 00:49:54,647
We had no navy.

856
00:49:54,647 --> 00:49:58,567
The sea kept us captive,
prey to invaders.

857
00:49:58,567 --> 00:50:03,767
But in the 9th century,
the threat of the skilled seagoing Vikings

858
00:50:03,767 --> 00:50:06,367
forced a national crisis.

859
00:50:06,367 --> 00:50:08,967
It was Alfred the Great
who got into the record books

860
00:50:08,967 --> 00:50:12,327
as the first king to fight back successfully
against the Vikings.

861
00:50:12,327 --> 00:50:16,487
He built our first navy,
which was a fleet of ships

862
00:50:16,487 --> 00:50:20,407
based on the drakkar, or dragon ships,
of the Vikings.

863
00:50:20,407 --> 00:50:26,087
But if you were a land-loving Saxon
desperately trying to emulate a Viking,

864
00:50:26,087 --> 00:50:28,007
which means 'sea warrior',

865
00:50:28,007 --> 00:50:29,687
you must have had
a really miserable time.

866
00:50:29,687 --> 00:50:33,885
So my first worst job
is the Saxon oarsman.

867
00:50:37,447 --> 00:50:40,647
Saxon oarsmen
had a double challenge.

868
00:50:40,647 --> 00:50:42,327
They had to fight the Vikings,

869
00:50:42,327 --> 00:50:47,087
but first they had to overcome their
own fear and prejudice about going to sea.

870
00:50:47,087 --> 00:50:51,287
They were forced to copy
the enemy from the north.

871
00:50:51,287 --> 00:50:57,367
So my landlubber's learning curve
also begins on a freezing Norwegian fjord,

872
00:50:57,367 --> 00:50:59,756
with a bunch
of experimental archaeologists.

873
00:51:00,847 --> 00:51:04,607
Most Viking craft
were comparatively small

874
00:51:04,607 --> 00:51:07,767
and well built
for stability and speed.

875
00:51:07,767 --> 00:51:11,807
But as soon as you're on the water,
you get a worrying insight

876
00:51:11,807 --> 00:51:17,207
into how scary Viking technology
must have been for the novice Saxons.

877
00:51:17,207 --> 00:51:19,847
How come we've just got onto the boat
and it's full of water?

878
00:51:19,847 --> 00:51:21,967
It leaks.

879
00:51:21,967 --> 00:51:23,727
Why?

880
00:51:23,727 --> 00:51:29,447
The planks, basically, are not tight,
and it needs time for the wood to swell,

881
00:51:29,447 --> 00:51:31,487
and as you can see, it leaks.

882
00:51:31,487 --> 00:51:34,007
Have a look here,
just where my feet are.

883
00:51:34,007 --> 00:51:37,367
It's a constant problem,
because if it rains, it fills with water.

884
00:51:37,367 --> 00:51:40,087
Yeah.
If there's waves, it fills with water.

885
00:51:40,087 --> 00:51:41,645
It's a lousy job.

886
00:51:43,567 --> 00:51:45,047
Look at this.

887
00:51:45,047 --> 00:51:47,887
This is what me as an oarsman
would have had to use

888
00:51:47,887 --> 00:51:49,967
for the bits that I couldn't reach
with the bucket.

889
00:51:49,967 --> 00:51:52,207
What do you call that?
It's just... It's just...

890
00:51:52,207 --> 00:51:53,767
Basically,
it's called a spoon.

891
00:51:53,767 --> 00:51:56,167
It's called a spoon.
Wouldn't you know it?

892
00:51:56,167 --> 00:51:58,167
There's an awful lot of water
actually under this decking.

893
00:51:58,167 --> 00:52:00,167
I'm not taking that up.
If you take that up...

894
00:52:00,167 --> 00:52:01,887
Look down here. Look. Terrific.

895
00:52:01,887 --> 00:52:05,647
So I've got to be chucking this stuff
out the way all the time?

896
00:52:05,647 --> 00:52:07,160
Yeah.

897
00:52:09,647 --> 00:52:13,687
The water's only just above freezing,
the wind chill about -10.

898
00:52:13,687 --> 00:52:15,727
If your hands are sore
from rowing,

899
00:52:15,727 --> 00:52:19,767
bailing, an absolutely essential part
of the oarsman's job,

900
00:52:19,767 --> 00:52:22,565
turns them red raw.

901
00:52:27,367 --> 00:52:32,687
And the only alternative to bailing
is the back-breaking business of rowing.

902
00:52:32,687 --> 00:52:36,647
There's a lead man who rows.
And that's me.

903
00:52:36,647 --> 00:52:40,047
And basically,
everybody keeps pace with me.

904
00:52:40,047 --> 00:52:44,207
So it's got to be the guy who basically
is at the front, or, rather, at the back,

905
00:52:44,207 --> 00:52:46,277
so everybody can see him.

906
00:52:47,527 --> 00:52:51,247
But a little craft like this
could cross the North Sea.

907
00:52:51,247 --> 00:52:54,047
They were the long-haul aircraft
of their day,

908
00:52:54,047 --> 00:52:57,047
forging the Vikings'
international reputation,

909
00:52:57,047 --> 00:52:59,847
at the cost of personal comfort.

910
00:52:59,847 --> 00:53:01,527
Even Vikings hated it.

911
00:53:01,527 --> 00:53:06,447
In one saga, the hero moans
about spending his Ionely winter

912
00:53:06,447 --> 00:53:10,447
on the ice-cold sea,
hung round by icicles.

913
00:53:10,447 --> 00:53:15,127
If they didn't make landfall,
nights were spent in the open boat,

914
00:53:15,127 --> 00:53:18,563
with only animal skins
and their hairy mates for warmth.

915
00:53:19,687 --> 00:53:21,757
Food was pretty basic too.

916
00:53:23,327 --> 00:53:27,727
That's what's called fairnalaw,
and that's salted and dried meat.

917
00:53:27,727 --> 00:53:30,367
Ham?
Yeah.

918
00:53:30,367 --> 00:53:34,645
And basically...
Yeah?

919
00:53:38,447 --> 00:53:40,005
Try a bit.

920
00:53:46,087 --> 00:53:48,767
What do you think?
That's alright.

921
00:53:48,767 --> 00:53:51,247
Yeah, and the other
alternative is...

922
00:53:51,247 --> 00:53:53,967
Fish.
I'm not quite so sure about this!

923
00:53:53,967 --> 00:53:55,687
Pretty bony.

924
00:53:55,687 --> 00:53:57,678
God, it stinks!
Yeah, it does.

925
00:53:59,687 --> 00:54:02,727
But did you bite into the fleshy bit or?
I bit into that bit there.

926
00:54:02,727 --> 00:54:06,686
And you just rip it off, bones and all,
and just chew it.

927
00:54:09,607 --> 00:54:11,167
That's disgusting!

928
00:54:11,167 --> 00:54:12,646
I can see you're impressed.

929
00:54:15,247 --> 00:54:18,127
But it doesn't taste like smoked fish,
does it? It just tastes manky.

930
00:54:18,127 --> 00:54:19,607
(Laughs)

931
00:54:19,607 --> 00:54:21,607
Got a mouthful of bones.
Yeah.

932
00:54:21,607 --> 00:54:23,757
But it's very good for you.

933
00:54:26,007 --> 00:54:29,327
The Saxon oarsman
set the nation on a new course.

934
00:54:29,327 --> 00:54:33,967
In the centuries that followed,
Britons really took to the sea.

935
00:54:33,967 --> 00:54:38,404
Improved design made for
much larger ships for trade and warfare.

936
00:54:40,567 --> 00:54:45,247
But our history at sea has always meant
worst jobs on land as well.

937
00:54:45,247 --> 00:54:48,567
And the massive expansion
in medieval shipbuilding

938
00:54:48,567 --> 00:54:50,887
needed raw ingredients.

939
00:54:50,887 --> 00:54:54,647
Britain's maritime tradition
starts here, with wood.

940
00:54:54,647 --> 00:54:57,367
But in order to work the wood
to make the ships,

941
00:54:57,367 --> 00:55:02,047
you needed the skills of the shipwright,
who was such a highly prized craftsman

942
00:55:02,047 --> 00:55:04,047
that he'd certainly never
sully his hands

943
00:55:04,047 --> 00:55:08,687
by making the basic component
of the ship - the plank.

944
00:55:08,687 --> 00:55:13,007
Making ships with sawn planks
was a new technology.

945
00:55:13,007 --> 00:55:17,367
Literally at the cutting edge
was one bad job and one worst job.

946
00:55:17,367 --> 00:55:18,887
Damian?
Yeah?

947
00:55:18,887 --> 00:55:21,527
Who was the chap who made
the planks for the shipwright?

948
00:55:21,527 --> 00:55:23,367
Well, it was a pair of them.

949
00:55:23,367 --> 00:55:27,007
One down the hole there
and one up here, the sawyers,

950
00:55:27,007 --> 00:55:29,887
'cause you always have
at least two.

951
00:55:29,887 --> 00:55:33,367
They would saw out the planks
for the shipwright by the 16th century,

952
00:55:33,367 --> 00:55:35,807
and also a lot of the other
timbers of the ship.

953
00:55:35,807 --> 00:55:38,647
They prepared most of the timber
for the shipbuilding.

954
00:55:38,647 --> 00:55:40,767
TONY: So, what was
so bad about the job?

955
00:55:40,767 --> 00:55:44,167
Just unending labour. I mean,
you know, six days a week doing this.

956
00:55:44,167 --> 00:55:45,647
I mean, we play at it.

957
00:55:45,647 --> 00:55:49,047
We do it for an afternoon at a weekend
a few times in the summer. That's OK.

958
00:55:49,047 --> 00:55:51,287
But six days a week,
hour after hour.

959
00:55:51,287 --> 00:55:53,927
They had a real reputation for drinking,
and you can see why.

960
00:55:53,927 --> 00:55:56,447
It's thirsty work, but it's also
numbing work, and, you know,

961
00:55:56,447 --> 00:55:58,887
you'd rather be doing almost
anything else, I think, after a while.

962
00:55:58,887 --> 00:56:03,127
The heyday of the under-sawyer
came in Tudor times.

963
00:56:03,127 --> 00:56:06,527
Thousands of them were employed
after the Spanish Armada,

964
00:56:06,527 --> 00:56:10,447
building 174 ships
in London alone.

965
00:56:10,447 --> 00:56:13,367
They got through
40,000 tonnes of wood.

966
00:56:13,367 --> 00:56:18,927
Whole forests were turned into millions
of planks and mountains of sawdust.

967
00:56:18,927 --> 00:56:23,007
And a word for a whole new underclass
was born.

968
00:56:23,007 --> 00:56:25,327
What are these things, these great grips?
These iron staple things?

969
00:56:25,327 --> 00:56:27,127
They're called dogs.

970
00:56:27,127 --> 00:56:29,167
The top-sawyer,
usually the most senior person,

971
00:56:29,167 --> 00:56:31,127
standing over the dogs,
the top dog,

972
00:56:31,127 --> 00:56:33,727
and then the underdog,
the more junior person, underneath them.

973
00:56:33,727 --> 00:56:35,607
You're the top dog
and Joe's the underdog.

974
00:56:35,607 --> 00:56:38,487
Joe, you're the underdog.
Do you mind if I take over?

975
00:56:38,487 --> 00:56:40,887
Certainly not. Away you go.

976
00:56:40,887 --> 00:56:42,887
Well, those are small planks
you could use for small-boat-building.

977
00:56:42,887 --> 00:56:45,687
You know, for a big ship,
they'd be an awful lot bigger than that.

978
00:56:45,687 --> 00:56:49,127
It's a bit manky down here, isn't it?
Any hole in the ground gets wet, yeah.

979
00:56:49,127 --> 00:56:51,847
A lot of them would be wet
and rather stinky.

980
00:56:51,847 --> 00:56:53,767
So... Alright, what do I have to do?

981
00:56:53,767 --> 00:56:56,287
Well, the idea is
you concentrate on the line,

982
00:56:56,287 --> 00:57:00,407
you steer the saw, just like a children's
scooter, but only on the downstroke.

983
00:57:00,407 --> 00:57:04,407
And on the upstroke, you push up
slightly to help me lift the saw.

984
00:57:04,407 --> 00:57:06,407
OK, I'm gonna lift it now.
Yeah.

985
00:57:06,407 --> 00:57:08,125
OK? And then we'll go down.

986
00:57:10,367 --> 00:57:12,567
You've got to tell me
if you're going off the line.

987
00:57:12,567 --> 00:57:14,567
You have to help me a bit
on the upstroke.

988
00:57:14,567 --> 00:57:15,636
Yep.

989
00:57:20,287 --> 00:57:22,482
(Tony coughs)

990
00:57:27,007 --> 00:57:30,407
(Coughs)

991
00:57:30,407 --> 00:57:34,047
I tell you what is so difficult about this -
it's all this flippin' dust.

992
00:57:34,047 --> 00:57:37,247
Uh, it is when we get a gust of wind
and it blows it,

993
00:57:37,247 --> 00:57:39,727
but most of it's going down
in front of where you're cutting.

994
00:57:39,727 --> 00:57:41,647
I'm down here. It isn't.

995
00:57:41,647 --> 00:57:43,727
Isn't it?
(Coughs)

996
00:57:43,727 --> 00:57:46,847
This has got to be the worst job
in the shipyard, hasn't it?

997
00:57:46,847 --> 00:57:48,647
It probably was
one of the very worst jobs.

998
00:57:48,647 --> 00:57:52,247
Very hard on the hands,
and get in your lungs.

999
00:57:52,247 --> 00:57:54,207
Yeah.

1000
00:57:54,207 --> 00:57:56,487
Don't tip more on!

1001
00:57:56,487 --> 00:57:58,487
That's not on you.
That's right in front of you.

1002
00:57:58,487 --> 00:58:00,847
You have to do that,
otherwise you can't see the line

1003
00:58:00,847 --> 00:58:02,519
and you can't see
what you're cutting.

1004
00:58:03,767 --> 00:58:07,127
There may not have been
a worse job in the shipyard,

1005
00:58:07,127 --> 00:58:09,967
but once the under-sawyers' ships
were launched,

1006
00:58:09,967 --> 00:58:15,564
a brand-new world of employment misery
bobbed onto the horizon.

1007
00:58:20,487 --> 00:58:24,967
The 16th century was a turning point
for the British at sea.

1008
00:58:24,967 --> 00:58:29,447
Queen Elizabeth's navy managed to
fend off the awesome Spanish Armada.

1009
00:58:29,447 --> 00:58:33,327
Walter Raleigh went exploring
and discovered potatoes.

1010
00:58:33,327 --> 00:58:37,167
And Francis Drake went round the world
on the 'Golden Hind'.

1011
00:58:37,167 --> 00:58:42,567
They got the glory, but all the work
was done by anonymous sailors.

1012
00:58:42,567 --> 00:58:46,487
There were 80 on the 'Golden Hind',
risking death in battle,

1013
00:58:46,487 --> 00:58:49,927
falling from the rigging
or being swept overboard.

1014
00:58:49,927 --> 00:58:53,167
But there was one arduous task
beneath deck

1015
00:58:53,167 --> 00:58:56,767
that strained every fibre
even before leaving port.

1016
00:58:56,767 --> 00:58:59,407
Sailors had to haul the anchor,

1017
00:58:59,407 --> 00:59:02,367
up to a tonne of metal
stuck in the sea bed,

1018
00:59:02,367 --> 00:59:05,367
in the most cramped conditions
imaginable.

1019
00:59:05,367 --> 00:59:09,327
If you're a physiotherapist,
look away now.

1020
00:59:09,327 --> 00:59:10,807
TONY: What do I do?

1021
00:59:10,807 --> 00:59:14,287
Tony, your job
is to push the capstan.

1022
00:59:14,287 --> 00:59:17,127
You're gonna have to get
one of the bars out here with the guys.

1023
00:59:17,127 --> 00:59:19,083
Come on, guys.
Let's get those capstan bars out.

1024
00:59:20,847 --> 00:59:22,487
Put the bar in the slot.
Yeah.

1025
00:59:22,487 --> 00:59:26,607
And then, with all the other guys...
you're gonna drive the capstan round

1026
00:59:26,607 --> 00:59:28,527
to pull the anchor cable up.

1027
00:59:28,527 --> 00:59:30,006
OK.

1028
00:59:31,007 --> 00:59:32,527
ANDREW: Everybody ready?
Yep.

1029
00:59:32,527 --> 00:59:34,167
OK, let's go.

1030
00:59:34,167 --> 00:59:37,284
Sometimes this job took days.

1031
00:59:38,807 --> 00:59:42,083
The commonest injury for sailors
was a rupture.

1032
00:59:49,527 --> 00:59:54,047
This feels a physically hard job,
but was it at all dangerous?

1033
00:59:54,047 --> 00:59:56,607
ANDREW: Yes, this could be
a very dangerous job.

1034
00:59:56,607 --> 01:00:01,327
If the cable snapped, the capstan
would spin back and knock the men over.

1035
01:00:01,327 --> 01:00:05,366
If the anchor snags, it could be
really hard work to try and pull it out.

1036
01:00:07,167 --> 01:00:11,767
Presumably you were quite vulnerable
when the anchor was rising.

1037
01:00:11,767 --> 01:00:15,247
As most of the crew had to be used
to get the anchor up,

1038
01:00:15,247 --> 01:00:17,607
this was a perfect time
for somebody to attack you,

1039
01:00:17,607 --> 01:00:21,567
to catch you, quite literally, with your crew
below deck, running round the capstan.

1040
01:00:21,567 --> 01:00:24,647
There'd be nobody upstairs
to defend the ship.

1041
01:00:24,647 --> 01:00:26,567
It's a very vulnerable time.

1042
01:00:26,567 --> 01:00:28,285
(Sighs)

1043
01:00:30,087 --> 01:00:31,887
Yep, that's it.
Hooray!

1044
01:00:31,887 --> 01:00:35,727
Great job!
(Sighs)

1045
01:00:35,727 --> 01:00:38,487
Can we get up top
and have a look?

1046
01:00:38,487 --> 01:00:40,847
Yeah, we better go and see
if you've done the job.

1047
01:00:40,847 --> 01:00:42,519
Thanks, guys.

1048
01:00:45,807 --> 01:00:47,767
Oh, wow. That is big, isn't it?

1049
01:00:47,767 --> 01:00:49,247
Yep, that is a really big one.

1050
01:00:49,247 --> 01:00:53,567
No wonder it took
quite so much effort, but job done.

1051
01:00:53,567 --> 01:00:57,967
Although, having said that,
there is one even worse job, isn't there,

1052
01:00:57,967 --> 01:00:59,447
which you're gonna
make me do.

1053
01:00:59,447 --> 01:01:02,447
What is it?
The worst job on the ship.

1054
01:01:02,447 --> 01:01:06,687
It's not just pulling. It's not sweating.
It's a punishment.

1055
01:01:06,687 --> 01:01:09,527
The job is called 'being the liar'.

1056
01:01:09,527 --> 01:01:11,727
Liar, as in pants on fire?
Yeah.

1057
01:01:11,727 --> 01:01:15,167
Every Monday morning,
the first person to tell a lie

1058
01:01:15,167 --> 01:01:17,287
would be named and shamed,

1059
01:01:17,287 --> 01:01:21,167
and they would then have the job
of being the swabber's mate.

1060
01:01:21,167 --> 01:01:22,847
And what were they swabbing?

1061
01:01:22,847 --> 01:01:25,487
They were swabbing
the outside of the ship.

1062
01:01:25,487 --> 01:01:28,127
They were swabbing
the dirtiest parts of the ship.

1063
01:01:28,127 --> 01:01:33,647
In particular, they were swabbing
the toilet area out here on the beak head.

1064
01:01:33,647 --> 01:01:36,167
This is down here...
Come and have a look at this.

1065
01:01:36,167 --> 01:01:37,807
Right down there.

1066
01:01:37,807 --> 01:01:41,687
And you want me
to go and clear that up?

1067
01:01:41,687 --> 01:01:43,166
Oh, yes.

1068
01:01:44,327 --> 01:01:47,327
Now, how the heck do I get down there?
There's no ladder or anything.

1069
01:01:47,327 --> 01:01:49,007
We're gonna put you
in the bosun's chair,

1070
01:01:49,007 --> 01:01:52,927
and we're gonna lower you over the side,
we're gonna take you right down there,

1071
01:01:52,927 --> 01:01:55,967
and I'm gonna pass you
the bucket and the swabs.

1072
01:01:55,967 --> 01:01:57,767
You're to do the job.

1073
01:01:57,767 --> 01:01:59,967
You're so looking forward
to this, aren't you?!

1074
01:01:59,967 --> 01:02:01,967
I'm glad you're doing it.

1075
01:02:01,967 --> 01:02:04,435
Right, lads, come on. Rig us up.

1076
01:02:06,527 --> 01:02:08,727
The captain had his own privy.

1077
01:02:08,727 --> 01:02:13,005
Everyone else had to negotiate
this obstacle course to go to the heads.

1078
01:02:14,807 --> 01:02:18,247
Clinging onto a rope
and aiming between the slats

1079
01:02:18,247 --> 01:02:20,527
can't have been easy
in a force eight gale.

1080
01:02:20,527 --> 01:02:22,047
Right.

1081
01:02:22,047 --> 01:02:25,487
And we know that many of the British
sailors during the assault on the Armada

1082
01:02:25,487 --> 01:02:27,727
also had to cope
with food poisoning.

1083
01:02:27,727 --> 01:02:29,247
Oh, I haven't got my bucket and...

1084
01:02:29,247 --> 01:02:31,007
...swab, have I?

1085
01:02:31,007 --> 01:02:34,841
This 'Golden Hind' is a replica
of the Tudor version.

1086
01:02:36,487 --> 01:02:39,047
And this is replica too.

1087
01:02:39,047 --> 01:02:42,756
Although, to be frank,
it still makes you feel sick.

1088
01:02:45,007 --> 01:02:48,207
The great advantage of being at sea is
you wouldn't have needed to do this job,

1089
01:02:48,207 --> 01:02:52,567
because this toilet facility's
entirely self-cleaning in heavy weather.

1090
01:02:52,567 --> 01:02:54,046
Yeah.

1091
01:02:58,247 --> 01:02:59,807
Right.

1092
01:02:59,807 --> 01:03:01,927
Now do I have to
get out on here?

1093
01:03:01,927 --> 01:03:03,407
Yep, right out there.

1094
01:03:03,407 --> 01:03:04,887
Charming.

1095
01:03:04,887 --> 01:03:09,727
Did they understand about hygiene?
Yes, they did.

1096
01:03:09,727 --> 01:03:14,687
The Tudors already understood
that disease was caused by dirt.

1097
01:03:14,687 --> 01:03:17,047
Yeah?
And they didn't like bad smells.

1098
01:03:17,047 --> 01:03:20,407
So they cleaned the ship
every day with salt water.

1099
01:03:20,407 --> 01:03:23,327
If there was any suspicion
of illness on board,

1100
01:03:23,327 --> 01:03:25,967
they would scrub the decks
down with vinegar

1101
01:03:25,967 --> 01:03:27,727
and then they would
fumigate the place

1102
01:03:27,727 --> 01:03:30,407
with charcoal braziers
and frankincense.

1103
01:03:30,407 --> 01:03:32,887
Why were these blokes
called swabbers?

1104
01:03:32,887 --> 01:03:34,367
They were called swabbers

1105
01:03:34,367 --> 01:03:38,327
because what you've got in your hand
is a bundle of cloths, or swabs.

1106
01:03:38,327 --> 01:03:41,407
Can't see any toilet paper.
No such thing.

1107
01:03:41,407 --> 01:03:45,447
They used bits of rope's end
and any other old rags they could find.

1108
01:03:45,447 --> 01:03:46,927
Must have been painful.

1109
01:03:46,927 --> 01:03:51,603
I tell you what, I'm surprised
anyone... of them ever told a lie.

1110
01:03:53,167 --> 01:03:54,647
Probably not twice.

1111
01:03:54,647 --> 01:03:56,160
Yeah.

1112
01:03:57,367 --> 01:03:58,887
This is just foul.

1113
01:03:58,887 --> 01:04:01,162
(Sighs)

1114
01:04:03,647 --> 01:04:05,797
That's a lousy job.

1115
01:04:07,087 --> 01:04:12,047
And at the end of a voyage, if a sailor
survived the dirt, disease and back strain,

1116
01:04:12,047 --> 01:04:15,207
he could be dumped onshore
with no pay.

1117
01:04:15,207 --> 01:04:19,647
The tough job of the work force at sea
didn't come with a pension scheme.

1118
01:04:19,647 --> 01:04:24,087
But in the 17th and 18th century,
people paid good money

1119
01:04:24,087 --> 01:04:26,767
to see death-defying
aerial stunts,

1120
01:04:26,767 --> 01:04:30,447
and sailors were
uniquely qualified to apply,

1121
01:04:30,447 --> 01:04:34,047
with their head for heights
and physical strength.

1122
01:04:34,047 --> 01:04:36,327
It's my next worst job,

1123
01:04:36,327 --> 01:04:41,367
and it's the forerunner
of the high-wire act - the flying man.

1124
01:04:41,367 --> 01:04:44,007
But did they actually fly?

1125
01:04:44,007 --> 01:04:46,727
Well, I'm just about to find out.

1126
01:04:46,727 --> 01:04:49,047
What did the flying men
actually do?

1127
01:04:49,047 --> 01:04:52,727
Well, Tony, they slid down ropes,
rather like this one,

1128
01:04:52,727 --> 01:04:54,367
but attached
to very high buildings,

1129
01:04:54,367 --> 01:04:56,727
sometimes three or four times
the height of this.

1130
01:04:56,727 --> 01:05:02,647
For instance, in 1546, at the coronation
procession of King Edward VI,

1131
01:05:02,647 --> 01:05:06,007
a native of Aragon -
his name isn't known -

1132
01:05:06,007 --> 01:05:09,607
slid down from the steeple
of old St Paul's Cathedral.

1133
01:05:09,607 --> 01:05:11,287
Who were the people
who did this?

1134
01:05:11,287 --> 01:05:13,127
Not an awful lot
is known about them.

1135
01:05:13,127 --> 01:05:20,327
There was one case of a Mr Cadman,
who fell off, unfortunately, in 1740,

1136
01:05:20,327 --> 01:05:24,487
in his descent
from Shrewsbury Parish Church,

1137
01:05:24,487 --> 01:05:27,207
and was killed
because the rope broke.

1138
01:05:27,207 --> 01:05:29,247
And this is the rope
I've got to slide down?

1139
01:05:29,247 --> 01:05:30,999
I'm afraid so.

1140
01:05:32,407 --> 01:05:34,398
Oh, great.

1141
01:05:37,087 --> 01:05:41,327
All you had to do was glide headfirst
down a single rope.

1142
01:05:41,327 --> 01:05:46,407
A sailor-turned-flying man
could earn a year's wages, about £40,

1143
01:05:46,407 --> 01:05:49,247
from one successful stunt.

1144
01:05:49,247 --> 01:05:54,007
But it was crucial
that others shared his expertise.

1145
01:05:54,007 --> 01:05:58,239
Slack ropes could,
and did, spell death.

1146
01:05:59,847 --> 01:06:02,887
I don't have much
of a head for heights,

1147
01:06:02,887 --> 01:06:06,087
so whizzing down a rope
from a 30-metre tower

1148
01:06:06,087 --> 01:06:08,282
definitely makes this
a worst job for me.

1149
01:06:11,247 --> 01:06:15,967
A real flying man would step out
onto the rope from the tower.

1150
01:06:15,967 --> 01:06:19,407
What I have to do, though,
because of compulsory safety measures,

1151
01:06:19,407 --> 01:06:23,887
is to be winched into place,
hop on the rope and then slide down.

1152
01:06:23,887 --> 01:06:25,366
Is that about it?

1153
01:06:26,367 --> 01:06:29,757
That's it. Try and swing your leg over.
Try and get it up and over the rope.

1154
01:06:34,687 --> 01:06:39,715
What sounds like a doddle is actually
complicated by the safety line.

1155
01:06:42,527 --> 01:06:45,927
Oh, God! It's funny, you get...
You get so...

1156
01:06:45,927 --> 01:06:48,967
All the tops of your shoulders
are really, really, really weak.

1157
01:06:48,967 --> 01:06:51,167
(Groans)

1158
01:06:51,167 --> 01:06:52,646
MAN: Almost there.

1159
01:06:54,447 --> 01:06:57,087
You know, I'm not gonna
be able to do it. I'm so...

1160
01:06:57,087 --> 01:07:02,367
I'm so mad. It's partly
because this rope is so wet.

1161
01:07:02,367 --> 01:07:07,680
Partly 'cause, I think, I'm very cold,
and partly 'cause I'm fairly scared!

1162
01:07:08,967 --> 01:07:11,435
Can you let me down, lads?

1163
01:07:12,567 --> 01:07:19,087
On 5 October 1732,
a flying man fell off a slack rope

1164
01:07:19,087 --> 01:07:21,807
tied to the tower
of Greenwich Church.

1165
01:07:21,807 --> 01:07:23,687
He was dead the next day.

1166
01:07:23,687 --> 01:07:25,200
Give us a hand.

1167
01:07:27,967 --> 01:07:29,847
Ah, I'm so angry.

1168
01:07:29,847 --> 01:07:32,087
I am so bloody angry!
Why?

1169
01:07:32,087 --> 01:07:35,047
'Cause I couldn't get
that flipping knee over!

1170
01:07:35,047 --> 01:07:38,244
I bet you I could do it...
do it here.

1171
01:07:40,807 --> 01:07:42,638
Give us a shove up, will you?

1172
01:07:45,087 --> 01:07:46,566
I bet you I could...

1173
01:07:48,327 --> 01:07:49,807
Look.

1174
01:07:49,807 --> 01:07:52,967
Everybody, this is the action... Oh!

1175
01:07:52,967 --> 01:07:55,127
...that I'm supposed to be doing.

1176
01:07:55,127 --> 01:07:57,407
You keep this leg down.
I know how to do it.

1177
01:07:57,407 --> 01:08:04,167
You keep this leg down, that leg's tucked
along, and you slide along like... this.

1178
01:08:04,167 --> 01:08:07,247
One of the things that made this
so hard this time -

1179
01:08:07,247 --> 01:08:12,607
it's been pouring with rain all day,
and it's just so... wet.

1180
01:08:12,607 --> 01:08:15,167
But still, I should have
been able to get my knee...

1181
01:08:15,167 --> 01:08:18,007
Just think what it might have
been like in the 16th century,

1182
01:08:18,007 --> 01:08:21,287
or even in the 19th, when they
didn't have nylon ropes like this,

1183
01:08:21,287 --> 01:08:24,087
but they would have just had
hemp hawser-laid ropes.

1184
01:08:24,087 --> 01:08:26,521
It's pretty lousy in the 21 st century.

1185
01:08:29,007 --> 01:08:31,726
It's a pride thing, isn't it?
I so wanted to do that.

1186
01:08:38,167 --> 01:08:40,287
MAN: Fire!

1187
01:08:40,287 --> 01:08:43,807
The Georgian navy was a golden age
for Britain at sea.

1188
01:08:43,807 --> 01:08:47,647
It was a time when legends were born,
from Nelson at Trafalgar

1189
01:08:47,647 --> 01:08:51,367
to Captain Bligh
and the mutiny on the 'Bounty'.

1190
01:08:51,367 --> 01:08:54,207
But there was no romance
to life on board.

1191
01:08:54,207 --> 01:08:59,287
Gun crews could be blown apart,
powder monkeys fetched and scurried,

1192
01:08:59,287 --> 01:09:01,807
top men went higher
than they'd ever gone before,

1193
01:09:01,807 --> 01:09:03,487
and swabbers still swabbed.

1194
01:09:03,487 --> 01:09:06,527
No-one was immune.

1195
01:09:06,527 --> 01:09:08,006
(CANNON FIRES)

1196
01:09:09,847 --> 01:09:13,447
Even officers had a tough time,
particularly the very junior ones,

1197
01:09:13,447 --> 01:09:15,887
who could be as young
as 11 or 12.

1198
01:09:15,887 --> 01:09:19,207
These were little boys
from well-to-do homes.

1199
01:09:19,207 --> 01:09:23,207
It was their first time at sea.
They were queasy. They were nervous.

1200
01:09:23,207 --> 01:09:25,887
And they had to cope
with a motley crew of men

1201
01:09:25,887 --> 01:09:29,487
who were bigger and tougher
and older than they were.

1202
01:09:29,487 --> 01:09:34,003
Welcome to the horrible world
of the snotties - the midshipmen.

1203
01:09:44,767 --> 01:09:48,447
In their smart uniform, they must have
made their mums proud,

1204
01:09:48,447 --> 01:09:54,007
but for me, it's the horrifying plunging
of a child into a brutal man's world

1205
01:09:54,007 --> 01:09:56,367
that makes midshipman a worst job.

1206
01:09:56,367 --> 01:09:59,927
These boys, who may never
have seen the sea,

1207
01:09:59,927 --> 01:10:03,167
had no idea
what they were signing on for.

1208
01:10:03,167 --> 01:10:07,767
"I had anticipated an elegant house
with guns at the windows,"

1209
01:10:07,767 --> 01:10:11,727
wrote a midshipman
called Frederick Chaumier in 1806.

1210
01:10:11,727 --> 01:10:14,487
"But the shrill whistle
squeaked,

1211
01:10:14,487 --> 01:10:18,927
"the voice of the bosun and his mates
rattled like thunder in my ears,

1212
01:10:18,927 --> 01:10:22,767
"the decks were dirty and slippery,
the smells, abominable."

1213
01:10:22,767 --> 01:10:24,927
Tedious job.
It is, isn't it?

1214
01:10:24,927 --> 01:10:27,207
Working in shifts day and night,

1215
01:10:27,207 --> 01:10:30,127
the tiny midshipman
had the hourly job

1216
01:10:30,127 --> 01:10:32,487
of measuring the speed
of the ship.

1217
01:10:32,487 --> 01:10:35,160
There we go. Let's see how
you get on with that this time.

1218
01:10:38,527 --> 01:10:40,807
So I let it out to the first knot.

1219
01:10:40,807 --> 01:10:42,647
Yes.

1220
01:10:42,647 --> 01:10:45,487
So if you hold the spindle...
with one hand.

1221
01:10:45,487 --> 01:10:48,527
That's it. So, it's gonna run
absolutely freely.

1222
01:10:48,527 --> 01:10:50,007
OK.

1223
01:10:50,007 --> 01:10:52,167
But, obviously, you don't
try and pull it off.

1224
01:10:52,167 --> 01:10:57,847
The ship has got to let it take it itself
to get an accurate gauge of the speed.

1225
01:10:57,847 --> 01:11:02,487
One hundred, two hundred, three...

1226
01:11:02,487 --> 01:11:04,207
And 28.
There we go.

1227
01:11:04,207 --> 01:11:09,567
They counted actual knots on a rope
as it floated away over a set period,

1228
01:11:09,567 --> 01:11:12,807
hence the nautical speed of knots.

1229
01:11:12,807 --> 01:11:15,047
We can say that's about 0.8.

1230
01:11:15,047 --> 01:11:17,083
One...

1231
01:11:18,807 --> 01:11:20,287
...two...

1232
01:11:20,287 --> 01:11:22,327
God, if you were 11,
trying to pull this in,

1233
01:11:22,327 --> 01:11:23,927
you'd have a job,
wouldn't you?

1234
01:11:23,927 --> 01:11:25,967
Yeah. Quite heavy, isn't it?

1235
01:11:25,967 --> 01:11:27,525
Three.

1236
01:11:29,487 --> 01:11:31,607
Four.
Four.

1237
01:11:31,607 --> 01:11:33,916
There's five.

1238
01:11:35,367 --> 01:11:36,880
Six.

1239
01:11:38,167 --> 01:11:40,607
Seven.
(Laughs)

1240
01:11:40,607 --> 01:11:42,882
Here it comes.

1241
01:11:45,727 --> 01:11:49,327
That was seven, and the 0.8 we had,
and you're knackered, aren't you?

1242
01:11:49,327 --> 01:11:50,847
7.8, yeah.

1243
01:11:50,847 --> 01:11:53,367
No. Fit as a fiddle, mate.

1244
01:11:53,367 --> 01:11:54,847
Yeah.

1245
01:11:54,847 --> 01:11:56,327
Oh, dear, oh, dear.

1246
01:11:56,327 --> 01:11:59,447
Perhaps a young
11 - or 12-year-old boy hauling on that,

1247
01:11:59,447 --> 01:12:03,447
and it could be the middle of the night
in the dead of winter.

1248
01:12:03,447 --> 01:12:05,567
He's freezing cold.

1249
01:12:05,567 --> 01:12:07,927
You've got a nice pair of gloves on,
I noticed.

1250
01:12:07,927 --> 01:12:11,317
He probably skinned his fingers raw
just pulling that one in.

1251
01:12:14,647 --> 01:12:17,687
But even if he'd been up all night,
the exhausted midshipman

1252
01:12:17,687 --> 01:12:21,447
had to join the captain and officers
at midday

1253
01:12:21,447 --> 01:12:24,087
for my least favourite
part of the job.

1254
01:12:24,087 --> 01:12:29,567
From sextant readings at noon,
you had to calculate your latitude.

1255
01:12:29,567 --> 01:12:31,127
What do we do?

1256
01:12:31,127 --> 01:12:35,607
I'd rather be swabbing
than spending my life doing hard sums,

1257
01:12:35,607 --> 01:12:37,767
but this was a key part
of officer training.

1258
01:12:37,767 --> 01:12:40,007
DAVID: You with me?
TONY: Yep.

1259
01:12:40,007 --> 01:12:41,967
I thought you were.

1260
01:12:41,967 --> 01:12:45,927
The only way to be promoted to lieutenant
was to pass an exam

1261
01:12:45,927 --> 01:12:48,927
to show you could do
all the maths.

1262
01:12:48,927 --> 01:12:51,727
Failure could ruin your life.

1263
01:12:51,727 --> 01:12:57,287
12-year-old Billy Culmer
failed his exam in 1757.

1264
01:12:57,287 --> 01:13:00,407
33 years later,
he was still a midshipman,

1265
01:13:00,407 --> 01:13:03,080
a laughing-stock
on minimal pay.

1266
01:13:06,327 --> 01:13:09,087
Right, I know how many knots
we're doing,

1267
01:13:09,087 --> 01:13:11,167
and after about half an hour
of intellectual struggle,

1268
01:13:11,167 --> 01:13:13,567
I've worked out
what our latitude is.

1269
01:13:13,567 --> 01:13:16,927
But all that tells me is that
we're somewhere in the world

1270
01:13:16,927 --> 01:13:19,367
along this line here.

1271
01:13:19,367 --> 01:13:23,407
In order to work out our position,
I need our longitude.

1272
01:13:23,407 --> 01:13:26,047
And if you think it was a song and dance
getting the latitude,

1273
01:13:26,047 --> 01:13:29,278
wait until you see what we've got
to cope with to get the longitude.

1274
01:13:32,927 --> 01:13:34,407
The safety of Britain's shipping

1275
01:13:34,407 --> 01:13:37,447
depended on captains
knowing where they were.

1276
01:13:37,447 --> 01:13:41,687
One in five of all deaths at sea
were from shipwreck.

1277
01:13:41,687 --> 01:13:45,407
Accurate longitude,
or east-west position,

1278
01:13:45,407 --> 01:13:49,567
wasn't reliable until
the beginning of the 19th century.

1279
01:13:49,567 --> 01:13:52,727
To measure how far you are
from Greenwich Mean Time,

1280
01:13:52,727 --> 01:13:54,847
you need a really accurate clock.

1281
01:13:54,847 --> 01:13:58,167
And this was only possible
when the genius John Harrison

1282
01:13:58,167 --> 01:14:00,847
created his famous
ship's chronometer.

1283
01:14:00,847 --> 01:14:03,887
We may know about
the first clock designers,

1284
01:14:03,887 --> 01:14:07,847
but I bet you're not aware of the
contribution made by my next worst job -

1285
01:14:07,847 --> 01:14:12,887
the extraordinarily tedious task
of fusee chain making.

1286
01:14:12,887 --> 01:14:17,887
The fusee chain was vital
to the accuracy of the new clock.

1287
01:14:17,887 --> 01:14:22,407
It released the energy of the mechanism
to the hands at an even pace.

1288
01:14:22,407 --> 01:14:26,807
An essential component,
but one so small and fiddly

1289
01:14:26,807 --> 01:14:30,407
that making them
was a full-time worst job.

1290
01:14:30,407 --> 01:14:33,007
And who was the person
who made the fusee chain?

1291
01:14:33,007 --> 01:14:35,087
The fusee chain,
in this instance,

1292
01:14:35,087 --> 01:14:39,327
was probably made by workhouse people
or children in workhouses.

1293
01:14:39,327 --> 01:14:40,847
Which is rather sad.
How old?

1294
01:14:40,847 --> 01:14:44,127
Oh, they started about 9 to about 11,
and they were mostly girls.

1295
01:14:44,127 --> 01:14:47,727
They had good dexterity skills.
They could handle small components.

1296
01:14:47,727 --> 01:14:50,127
Here's a little chain here.

1297
01:14:50,127 --> 01:14:53,607
And this is the size that they would make
for small deck watches. Navigation again.

1298
01:14:53,607 --> 01:14:55,247
What was their day like?

1299
01:14:55,247 --> 01:14:59,287
They would start
and probably do, ooh,

1300
01:14:59,287 --> 01:15:02,287
from first sunlight, really,
to right down to sunset.

1301
01:15:02,287 --> 01:15:04,887
And they would do a complete day
and 70-hour week,

1302
01:15:04,887 --> 01:15:08,327
and they would have two hours a day
for a bit of going out for fresh air

1303
01:15:08,327 --> 01:15:10,327
and 20 minutes for education.

1304
01:15:10,327 --> 01:15:12,247
That's got to be the worst job
in watch-making.

1305
01:15:12,247 --> 01:15:14,447
It was pretty bad, yes.
So how do you do it?

1306
01:15:14,447 --> 01:15:15,926
Well, I've got one here.

1307
01:15:17,407 --> 01:15:19,287
And this particular one
is a chronometer chain.

1308
01:15:19,287 --> 01:15:21,562
Yeah.
And this is making the old-fashioned way.

1309
01:15:23,927 --> 01:15:27,447
These are the raw materials - sheet
steel, softened, ready for hardening,

1310
01:15:27,447 --> 01:15:29,647
and wire, ready to go in.

1311
01:15:29,647 --> 01:15:32,287
We're going to stamp out the link.

1312
01:15:32,287 --> 01:15:34,247
There you go.
OK.

1313
01:15:34,247 --> 01:15:36,886
Tap that out.
Just gently does it.

1314
01:15:39,327 --> 01:15:42,807
Bit more. That's it. Lovely.

1315
01:15:42,807 --> 01:15:45,447
Clear off the thing,
and then we just push the link out,

1316
01:15:45,447 --> 01:15:47,167
which is in there, look,
in the press.

1317
01:15:47,167 --> 01:15:48,647
There we go.
Hey! I made this.

1318
01:15:48,647 --> 01:15:50,567
How many of these
do you reckon

1319
01:15:50,567 --> 01:15:52,567
one of these workhouse girls
would have made a day?

1320
01:15:52,567 --> 01:15:55,847
Well, we know one lady
did 150,000 in a year.

1321
01:15:55,847 --> 01:15:58,327
So we're talking of chains, millions.

1322
01:15:58,327 --> 01:16:00,007
Right. There you go.

1323
01:16:00,007 --> 01:16:02,807
OK. Now, steady as she goes.

1324
01:16:02,807 --> 01:16:06,327
If you rest the pin on the table,
it acts as a sort of lock. That's it.

1325
01:16:06,327 --> 01:16:09,558
Cut. I'm gonna
go and get my glasses.

1326
01:16:11,127 --> 01:16:13,004
Oh! I can see it.
It's got holes in.

1327
01:16:14,247 --> 01:16:15,727
Right.

1328
01:16:15,727 --> 01:16:17,687
That is... slightly easier.

1329
01:16:17,687 --> 01:16:19,279
OK.

1330
01:16:22,887 --> 01:16:25,567
Oh! It's gone. It's gone.

1331
01:16:25,567 --> 01:16:28,767
If I was one of those little girls, I'd
probably get whipped for that, wouldn't I?

1332
01:16:28,767 --> 01:16:31,007
I'm afraid you would have done,
in those days, yes.

1333
01:16:31,007 --> 01:16:37,087
When you touch the head of the wire,
it doesn't flip it up on one side.

1334
01:16:37,087 --> 01:16:39,157
(Leslie laughs)

1335
01:16:42,287 --> 01:16:45,327
Oh, triumph.
Oh, great triumph.

1336
01:16:45,327 --> 01:16:47,047
Da-da!
OK.

1337
01:16:47,047 --> 01:16:50,487
If you use the tweezer and put either side
to the actual point and push down,

1338
01:16:50,487 --> 01:16:52,287
and then you lock on.

1339
01:16:52,287 --> 01:16:55,047
Push down with the tweezers onto the...
You close the tweezers.

1340
01:16:55,047 --> 01:16:57,127
Oh...
Does that matter?

1341
01:16:57,127 --> 01:16:59,327
No, it doesn't really matter.
We can soon straighten it up.

1342
01:16:59,327 --> 01:17:01,447
OK, now, it won't
actually stay on very well.

1343
01:17:01,447 --> 01:17:04,687
You've got a little bit too much metal
showing. So we need to file it down.

1344
01:17:04,687 --> 01:17:06,367
There we... Whoop, whoop.
Steady as she goes.

1345
01:17:06,367 --> 01:17:09,207
Right. Have we got a file?
We have that, there.

1346
01:17:09,207 --> 01:17:12,207
After stamping out
the minuscule links,

1347
01:17:12,207 --> 01:17:15,167
you have to begin the eye-bending task
of putting them together.

1348
01:17:15,167 --> 01:17:17,527
Can see why you'd have
needed natural light.

1349
01:17:17,527 --> 01:17:20,287
Trying to do this in artificial light
would be virtually impossible.

1350
01:17:20,287 --> 01:17:22,167
I think I'm just about done here,
don't you?

1351
01:17:22,167 --> 01:17:23,967
So if you snip off on the other side.

1352
01:17:23,967 --> 01:17:26,287
Go. Good click. It'll go.

1353
01:17:26,287 --> 01:17:28,807
Oh, gosh! It's just gone flying off
all over the place.

1354
01:17:28,807 --> 01:17:31,287
Oh, that is rubbish.
That is complete rubbish.

1355
01:17:31,287 --> 01:17:35,847
There's about quarter-of-an-inch
of metal sticking up out of this.

1356
01:17:35,847 --> 01:17:41,327
That will keep the nation's
ships on course, that will.

1357
01:17:41,327 --> 01:17:45,207
It would take me about a month
to make that.

1358
01:17:45,207 --> 01:17:47,207
So would you like
to do some more to this?

1359
01:17:47,207 --> 01:17:49,047
Only another...
Another few hours.

1360
01:17:49,047 --> 01:17:53,647
149,999 and I've done my year's worth.
Yes.

1361
01:17:53,647 --> 01:17:59,687
For me, fusee chain makers really were
the unsung heroes of longitude.

1362
01:17:59,687 --> 01:18:01,407
Look at that.

1363
01:18:01,407 --> 01:18:03,887
Of course, what we'll do now...

1364
01:18:03,887 --> 01:18:08,244
(People laugh)
The entire crew are laughing at me.

1365
01:18:10,367 --> 01:18:14,567
The 19th century brought
the industrial revolution to the sea.

1366
01:18:14,567 --> 01:18:18,887
With steam and steel, a new form
of luxury transport was born -

1367
01:18:18,887 --> 01:18:20,967
the massive liner.

1368
01:18:20,967 --> 01:18:26,527
In these floating hotels, the idle rich
could swan across the globe in style.

1369
01:18:26,527 --> 01:18:28,767
But none of this
would have been possible

1370
01:18:28,767 --> 01:18:32,647
without the workers who suffered
in the deafening roar and wilting heat

1371
01:18:32,647 --> 01:18:34,887
of the boiler room below deck.

1372
01:18:34,887 --> 01:18:36,807
They were the stokers.

1373
01:18:36,807 --> 01:18:39,127
And it was a job so unpopular

1374
01:18:39,127 --> 01:18:42,807
that it was forced on penniless workers
from the colonies,

1375
01:18:42,807 --> 01:18:46,687
whose contribution is only now
being reviewed by historians.

1376
01:18:46,687 --> 01:18:49,127
It's a heck of a big boiler,
isn't it?

1377
01:18:49,127 --> 01:18:50,607
Yes.

1378
01:18:50,607 --> 01:18:52,927
Would they really have been
that size on board a ship?

1379
01:18:52,927 --> 01:18:54,727
They would have been that size,

1380
01:18:54,727 --> 01:18:58,447
but you would have had four instead of
just the two that there are here now.

1381
01:18:58,447 --> 01:19:01,327
Roger, what do you have to do
to keep one of these boilers going?

1382
01:19:01,327 --> 01:19:03,927
Well, it's quite an art, Tony.

1383
01:19:03,927 --> 01:19:08,607
It's maintaining an even fire bed
and shovelling in the coal.

1384
01:19:08,607 --> 01:19:11,207
So am I gonna get all my stuff dirty?
Oh, you will indeed.

1385
01:19:11,207 --> 01:19:13,167
You better change into
some suitable working gear.

1386
01:19:13,167 --> 01:19:15,007
Boiler suit?
Yeah, OK.

1387
01:19:15,007 --> 01:19:16,804
You can have the little one, Cliff.

1388
01:19:17,967 --> 01:19:20,607
Right, so what do you do?
Got it.

1389
01:19:20,607 --> 01:19:22,087
ROGER: Well, we'll open the furnace.

1390
01:19:22,087 --> 01:19:23,607
Yeah.

1391
01:19:23,607 --> 01:19:27,207
Phew! Blimey! It's hot, isn't it?
It is.

1392
01:19:27,207 --> 01:19:29,767
And you bring this bar back.
Yep.

1393
01:19:29,767 --> 01:19:31,407
Now, what am I doing?

1394
01:19:31,407 --> 01:19:37,004
You're raking the fire bars, and you're
removing any obnoxious clinker.

1395
01:19:38,607 --> 01:19:40,677
Yeah, bring it out onto the floor, Tony.
OK.

1396
01:19:42,207 --> 01:19:44,367
TONY: Blimey.

1397
01:19:44,367 --> 01:19:47,447
Were they able to protect themselves
from being burnt at all?

1398
01:19:47,447 --> 01:19:52,167
Well, the good old guys used to
make themselves hessian hoods,

1399
01:19:52,167 --> 01:19:56,127
which they'd put over their head
and protect their faces.

1400
01:19:56,127 --> 01:19:57,685
Can you hold this for me?

1401
01:20:02,367 --> 01:20:04,527
Where's the eyes?
Oh, here they are.

1402
01:20:04,527 --> 01:20:06,367
It would just burn, wouldn't it?

1403
01:20:06,367 --> 01:20:09,325
Well, they used to soak them in water.
They'd dunk them in the bucket.

1404
01:20:10,567 --> 01:20:12,047
Like this?

1405
01:20:12,047 --> 01:20:13,327
TONY: There we are.

1406
01:20:13,327 --> 01:20:17,967
That is better. It is better. It may look
ridiculous, but, actually, it does work.

1407
01:20:17,967 --> 01:20:21,687
If you'd like to go and prepare
the other furnace for coal?

1408
01:20:21,687 --> 01:20:24,327
You'll probably need to level it off
with the fire-irons.

1409
01:20:24,327 --> 01:20:26,045
So I've got to rake that, then.

1410
01:20:28,727 --> 01:20:31,447
Just rake the bars
to remove the ash.

1411
01:20:31,447 --> 01:20:32,927
OK.

1412
01:20:32,927 --> 01:20:35,127
Who were the people
who did this work, Cliff?

1413
01:20:35,127 --> 01:20:40,487
Well, a lot of them were Somalis
and people from sort of the ex-colonies,

1414
01:20:40,487 --> 01:20:42,087
places like Calcutta,

1415
01:20:42,087 --> 01:20:45,047
where a lot of the shipping companies
had their headquarters.

1416
01:20:45,047 --> 01:20:46,807
So why were they doing it?

1417
01:20:46,807 --> 01:20:52,047
Because, basically, very few British
people wanted to work below decks.

1418
01:20:52,047 --> 01:20:54,007
How hot do you reckon
it would have got?

1419
01:20:54,007 --> 01:20:57,647
Well, in the Red Sea,
it got up to 160 at times.

1420
01:20:57,647 --> 01:21:00,527
TONY: But it would have been
just as bad for Africans and Asians

1421
01:21:00,527 --> 01:21:03,127
as it would have been
for people from Britain, presumably.

1422
01:21:03,127 --> 01:21:07,367
It was, but it was taken that they were
better adapted at that time

1423
01:21:07,367 --> 01:21:09,447
to work in those sort of conditions.

1424
01:21:09,447 --> 01:21:12,127
And sometimes they wore
a leather apron as well,

1425
01:21:12,127 --> 01:21:16,447
because that could splatter,
and sometimes it would even explode

1426
01:21:16,447 --> 01:21:18,647
because of
the temperature difference.

1427
01:21:18,647 --> 01:21:21,727
I'm not surprised they had to wear
these things. It really is boiling in here.

1428
01:21:21,727 --> 01:21:24,527
Yes.
And we know that they did wear these?

1429
01:21:24,527 --> 01:21:27,367
Oh, yes, there are diagrams
of them wearing them,

1430
01:21:27,367 --> 01:21:32,207
and kids were sort of told
that if they misbehaved,

1431
01:21:32,207 --> 01:21:34,167
the gunier-man, which is you,

1432
01:21:34,167 --> 01:21:37,567
would come up and grab hold of them
and take 'em away.

1433
01:21:37,567 --> 01:21:39,367
Like the boogieman?
Yes, yes.

1434
01:21:39,367 --> 01:21:42,447
I am the gunier-man!

1435
01:21:42,447 --> 01:21:44,807
The stokers didn't just need
brute force.

1436
01:21:44,807 --> 01:21:48,567
The furnaces had to be carefully
balanced, or they could explode.

1437
01:21:48,567 --> 01:21:50,567
Accidents were common.

1438
01:21:50,567 --> 01:21:54,127
In 1859,
five stokers lost their lives

1439
01:21:54,127 --> 01:21:56,687
when Brunel's 'Great Eastern'
blew an engine jacket

1440
01:21:56,687 --> 01:21:58,487
on her maiden voyage.

1441
01:21:58,487 --> 01:22:01,087
Watch the safety valve, guys.
I think that it's just about to blow.

1442
01:22:01,087 --> 01:22:04,567
(BELL CLANGS)

1443
01:22:04,567 --> 01:22:08,167
(HISSING)

1444
01:22:08,167 --> 01:22:10,681
I think we put enough coal in!

1445
01:22:23,327 --> 01:22:24,967
In spite of advancing technology,

1446
01:22:24,967 --> 01:22:28,727
working at sea remained
extremely dangerous.

1447
01:22:28,727 --> 01:22:35,487
20,000 sailors died in shipwrecks
between 1793 and 1815.

1448
01:22:35,487 --> 01:22:40,247
Loss of life could always be ignored,
but lost cargo, never.

1449
01:22:40,247 --> 01:22:43,527
As the British Empire grew
and trade burgeoned,

1450
01:22:43,527 --> 01:22:46,487
the huge loss of revenue
became unacceptable

1451
01:22:46,487 --> 01:22:48,727
to merchants and industrialists.

1452
01:22:48,727 --> 01:22:52,887
The daring solution
was a new system of lighthouses,

1453
01:22:52,887 --> 01:22:56,087
perched on top of the very rocks
that caused the wrecks -

1454
01:22:56,087 --> 01:22:58,047
a major engineering challenge.

1455
01:22:58,047 --> 01:23:03,883
And construction required a suicidal
worst job - the lighthouse builder.

1456
01:23:06,927 --> 01:23:10,807
Nowhere was theirjob harder
than this place - Wolf Rock -

1457
01:23:10,807 --> 01:23:14,647
a handkerchief of land
at the entrance to the English Channel.

1458
01:23:14,647 --> 01:23:19,367
You might think that the ambition
of building a 30-metre tower

1459
01:23:19,367 --> 01:23:21,207
out of 2-tonne blocks of granite

1460
01:23:21,207 --> 01:23:23,447
when the waves reach 35 metres

1461
01:23:23,447 --> 01:23:25,287
is quite bonkers.

1462
01:23:25,287 --> 01:23:26,800
And you'd be right.

1463
01:23:28,167 --> 01:23:32,367
The granite for Wolf Rock
was loaded here at Penzance.

1464
01:23:32,367 --> 01:23:35,407
We decided to follow
the lighthouse builders' course

1465
01:23:35,407 --> 01:23:37,079
to see what they had to face.

1466
01:23:38,167 --> 01:23:40,087
Anyway, that was the plan.

1467
01:23:40,087 --> 01:23:41,807
MAN: OK, action.

1468
01:23:41,807 --> 01:23:44,447
How did you start
to build a lighthouse?

1469
01:23:44,447 --> 01:23:46,047
Mad, like, you know...

1470
01:23:46,047 --> 01:23:50,167
Can we stop for a minute? We're
drowning here! Just cut for one sec.

1471
01:23:50,167 --> 01:23:52,767
OK, cut. There you have...

1472
01:23:52,767 --> 01:23:56,316
The wave will go right over them...
Sorry. Whoa! Hang on.

1473
01:23:58,047 --> 01:24:01,567
And after all that,
we never even got close.

1474
01:24:01,567 --> 01:24:05,527
Our skipper made us turn back
two miles from the Wolf.

1475
01:24:05,527 --> 01:24:08,007
But that's just like
the lighthouse builders.

1476
01:24:08,007 --> 01:24:11,847
They were paid by the day,
but they only managed to get to work

1477
01:24:11,847 --> 01:24:13,487
about 80 days a year.

1478
01:24:13,487 --> 01:24:18,047
The sea really fools you, doesn't it?
Looks as flat as a mill pond.

1479
01:24:18,047 --> 01:24:19,567
But if you...

1480
01:24:19,567 --> 01:24:23,047
...look at those rocks down there,
you can see it's really swirling around.

1481
01:24:23,047 --> 01:24:25,767
Yeah, well, that was the whole problem
with anything like that.

1482
01:24:25,767 --> 01:24:29,287
If you wanted to put a structure on it,
you had to watch out for the sea,

1483
01:24:29,287 --> 01:24:31,447
'cause it holds no mercy.

1484
01:24:31,447 --> 01:24:33,167
Where's our lighthouse?

1485
01:24:33,167 --> 01:24:36,367
Just out on the horizon,
behind the rock.

1486
01:24:36,367 --> 01:24:39,967
I'd been thinking that our skipper
had been a bit chicken.

1487
01:24:39,967 --> 01:24:43,447
But this is the Wolf
from nine miles away.

1488
01:24:43,447 --> 01:24:48,127
Those waves are at least 10 metres high
and would have swamped us.

1489
01:24:48,127 --> 01:24:50,247
How did they start to
build one of these things?

1490
01:24:50,247 --> 01:24:52,807
Well, it was quite a...
quite a problem.

1491
01:24:52,807 --> 01:24:54,327
They had to land, first of all.

1492
01:24:54,327 --> 01:24:57,287
They'd have used that flat section
on the right-hand side of the rock,

1493
01:24:57,287 --> 01:24:58,767
landed on there.

1494
01:24:58,767 --> 01:25:01,407
TONY: Is this about the same size, then?
PHIL: Roughly, yes.

1495
01:25:01,407 --> 01:25:04,287
It was a bit lower than that,
but near enough the same, yes.

1496
01:25:04,287 --> 01:25:07,927
They blow the top off, and then they
have to put stakes in all the way round,

1497
01:25:07,927 --> 01:25:10,767
for safety reasons,
tie ropes on them,

1498
01:25:10,767 --> 01:25:13,567
and then employ a man
who was called a crow

1499
01:25:13,567 --> 01:25:16,687
to shout out when there was
a dangerous wave coming in.

1500
01:25:16,687 --> 01:25:18,167
What did he shout out?

1501
01:25:18,167 --> 01:25:21,607
He'd have shouted out something like,
"Watch out, men, there's a wave coming!

1502
01:25:21,607 --> 01:25:23,087
"Down tools!"

1503
01:25:23,087 --> 01:25:24,567
He'd have said
something like that.

1504
01:25:24,567 --> 01:25:27,559
That would seem to be an appropriate
shout, wouldn't it, if a wave was coming.

1505
01:25:29,607 --> 01:25:32,367
We haven't got casualty figures
for the Wolf,

1506
01:25:32,367 --> 01:25:37,447
but at Bell Rock, men were crushed
by cranes and rocks, boats capsized,

1507
01:25:37,447 --> 01:25:41,847
and one builder, Charles Henderson,
was simply washed into the sea.

1508
01:25:41,847 --> 01:25:45,127
The only thing that stopped
the building going the same way

1509
01:25:45,127 --> 01:25:46,887
was a unique design.

1510
01:25:46,887 --> 01:25:52,127
Each block had a double mortice on it -
a vertically and horizontal mortice on it -

1511
01:25:52,127 --> 01:25:55,047
and each one interlocked,
rather like a LEGO in a way.

1512
01:25:55,047 --> 01:25:57,007
And once the lighthouse
was completed,

1513
01:25:57,007 --> 01:26:00,636
it was said that it was
just like a solid block of granite.

1514
01:26:03,007 --> 01:26:05,967
The success of
the Victorian lighthouse builders

1515
01:26:05,967 --> 01:26:08,407
was bad news
for another worst job -

1516
01:26:08,407 --> 01:26:10,647
the island lighthouse keeper.

1517
01:26:10,647 --> 01:26:13,287
He was a volunteer
desert island castaway

1518
01:26:13,287 --> 01:26:16,327
who needed
huge mental reserves.

1519
01:26:16,327 --> 01:26:20,767
When you lived on a lighthouse,
how did you cope?

1520
01:26:20,767 --> 01:26:23,287
The worst part of the job
was the psychological side.

1521
01:26:23,287 --> 01:26:25,847
I was one of the lucky ones,
and I saw it through,

1522
01:26:25,847 --> 01:26:29,047
because I always said,
"There's always another day,"

1523
01:26:29,047 --> 01:26:32,207
and I always knew that my maker
was up there to guide me through.

1524
01:26:32,207 --> 01:26:36,247
There was something...
a certain religious aspect, I found,

1525
01:26:36,247 --> 01:26:38,447
with being off on a lighthouse
like the Wolf.

1526
01:26:38,447 --> 01:26:39,927
Weren't there times
when you thought

1527
01:26:39,927 --> 01:26:41,887
all that solitude would
drive you nutty, though?

1528
01:26:41,887 --> 01:26:44,007
No, because I have
so many interests.

1529
01:26:44,007 --> 01:26:47,927
Reading books, modelling.
I used to... Like, say...

1530
01:26:47,927 --> 01:26:51,207
Well, Surprise peas was one of the items
I used to eat a lot,

1531
01:26:51,207 --> 01:26:54,887
and I used to use the packets from them
and make model buildings from them.

1532
01:26:54,887 --> 01:26:58,084
And that kept you sane?
Yeah, that kept me sane, yes. Mmm.

1533
01:27:02,927 --> 01:27:06,047
Victorian lighthouse keepers
worked in pairs.

1534
01:27:06,047 --> 01:27:10,167
When their supplies ran out,
they had to live on fish from the sea.

1535
01:27:10,167 --> 01:27:15,807
If one died or was injured, his mate
had to work 24-hour days for weeks,

1536
01:27:15,807 --> 01:27:17,638
until he was relieved.

1537
01:27:19,087 --> 01:27:22,127
The work was sheer heavy slog.

1538
01:27:22,127 --> 01:27:24,243
Whoo.

1539
01:27:25,647 --> 01:27:28,047
Daily window cleaning
may sound easy,

1540
01:27:28,047 --> 01:27:33,447
but perched on a ladder in a force nine
gale trying to cling onto the handholds

1541
01:27:33,447 --> 01:27:34,960
is a perilous business.

1542
01:27:37,847 --> 01:27:39,727
And then there were the stairs.

1543
01:27:39,727 --> 01:27:41,207
(BELL RINGS)

1544
01:27:41,207 --> 01:27:43,807
If you've ever lived in a block of flats
when the lift's broken,

1545
01:27:43,807 --> 01:27:45,487
you'll know the drill.

1546
01:27:45,487 --> 01:27:49,047
The light was turned
by clockwork.

1547
01:27:49,047 --> 01:27:51,807
Every hour, day and night,
a bell would ring...

1548
01:27:51,807 --> 01:27:53,687
(BELL RINGS)

1549
01:27:53,687 --> 01:27:56,679
...and the keeper would have to trudge up
to wind it again.

1550
01:27:58,127 --> 01:28:02,727
It was a devastating mixture
of boredom and aerobics workout.

1551
01:28:02,727 --> 01:28:05,719
(BELL RINGS)

1552
01:28:09,087 --> 01:28:11,043
(BELL RINGS)

1553
01:28:12,087 --> 01:28:16,167
But apart from giant calves
and going stir-crazy,

1554
01:28:16,167 --> 01:28:19,239
the lighthouse keeper
was safe and clean.

1555
01:28:21,647 --> 01:28:24,684
Others weren't so fortunate.

1556
01:28:26,407 --> 01:28:29,687
Our maritime history was about
empire-building and trade,

1557
01:28:29,687 --> 01:28:32,287
but it was also about
feeding the nation.

1558
01:28:32,287 --> 01:28:35,927
The women may have managed to avoid
the rigours of fishing at sea,

1559
01:28:35,927 --> 01:28:39,647
but when their menfolk came back home
after days and nights

1560
01:28:39,647 --> 01:28:41,807
of exhausting, back-breaking work,

1561
01:28:41,807 --> 01:28:46,517
an especially smelly worst job
became the women's responsibility.

1562
01:28:48,287 --> 01:28:50,887
But despite the dangers
of being a fisherman,

1563
01:28:50,887 --> 01:28:56,678
for me it was the gut girls who had the
worst bit of keeping the nation in kippers.

1564
01:28:59,087 --> 01:29:01,287
What could be worse
than being a gut girl,

1565
01:29:01,287 --> 01:29:06,407
faced with the unending task of removing
the innards of up to 20,000 fish a day?

1566
01:29:06,407 --> 01:29:09,527
WOMAN: The oil that comes out of these
is a very, very smelly oil,

1567
01:29:09,527 --> 01:29:13,167
and if you go anywhere where there's
people that hasn't come in contact with it,

1568
01:29:13,167 --> 01:29:14,646
they smell it right away.

1569
01:29:16,007 --> 01:29:19,007
The stench must have
been unbelievable.

1570
01:29:19,007 --> 01:29:23,927
The gut girls were paid per fish,
so they worked incredibly quickly -

1571
01:29:23,927 --> 01:29:26,087
up to one a second.

1572
01:29:26,087 --> 01:29:29,447
The fish were packed in ice,
so hands were numb and frozen.

1573
01:29:29,447 --> 01:29:33,447
When they cut themselves,
they hardly noticed.

1574
01:29:33,447 --> 01:29:35,327
TONY: Can I have another fish?

1575
01:29:35,327 --> 01:29:37,567
You can.
This must...

1576
01:29:37,567 --> 01:29:39,727
This must have been
really boring

1577
01:29:39,727 --> 01:29:42,567
for the women who had to do it
all day, every day.

1578
01:29:42,567 --> 01:29:45,127
Well, it's like everything.
You get used to it.

1579
01:29:45,127 --> 01:29:48,207
How did they get through the day?
Oh, they used to gossip.

1580
01:29:48,207 --> 01:29:49,767
What'd they talk about?

1581
01:29:49,767 --> 01:29:51,917
Women having affairs
with other men.

1582
01:29:53,167 --> 01:29:54,919
You're joking.
No, I'm not.

1583
01:29:56,487 --> 01:29:58,762
Each others' houses
like rabbits.

1584
01:30:00,687 --> 01:30:02,647
Did they use to use the guts
for anything?

1585
01:30:02,647 --> 01:30:05,167
Sometimes they used to
make fish manure with it.

1586
01:30:05,167 --> 01:30:07,087
Used to be
put away into a factory,

1587
01:30:07,087 --> 01:30:09,447
and fish manure
used to be made with it.

1588
01:30:09,447 --> 01:30:12,047
My dad used to put that on the garden.
Yeah, that's right, yeah.

1589
01:30:12,047 --> 01:30:15,727
The gut girls were eventually
replaced by machines.

1590
01:30:15,727 --> 01:30:19,287
Amazingly, they couldn't gut fish
any faster than the girls,

1591
01:30:19,287 --> 01:30:21,367
but they didn't need
a lunch break.

1592
01:30:21,367 --> 01:30:27,167
This is the guts of about 60 fish,
which in the old days

1593
01:30:27,167 --> 01:30:31,807
would have taken one fish gutter
about a minute to do.

1594
01:30:31,807 --> 01:30:37,279
Imagine how many guts you'd have had
by the end of an entire day.

1595
01:30:39,287 --> 01:30:41,167
Of course this is a lousy job.

1596
01:30:41,167 --> 01:30:46,127
It stinks of fish guts here
and it's cold and it's all slimy,

1597
01:30:46,127 --> 01:30:49,167
but I can imagine that if
you're doing this day after day

1598
01:30:49,167 --> 01:30:51,487
with a group of women
like Margaret,

1599
01:30:51,487 --> 01:30:53,682
it could be quite a laugh.

1600
01:30:54,847 --> 01:31:00,687
So if working elbow-deep in fish guts
isn't the very worst job in maritime history,

1601
01:31:00,687 --> 01:31:02,207
what is?

1602
01:31:02,207 --> 01:31:04,647
Stoking was hard work,

1603
01:31:04,647 --> 01:31:07,287
but didn't have the eye-straining tedium
of the fusee maker.

1604
01:31:07,287 --> 01:31:08,767
It's gone! It's gone!

1605
01:31:08,767 --> 01:31:14,046
Sailors risked their necks,
but could make a fortune as flying men.

1606
01:31:15,327 --> 01:31:18,247
And even the frightening childhood
of the midshipman

1607
01:31:18,247 --> 01:31:19,839
offered the chance
of promotion.

1608
01:31:20,927 --> 01:31:25,167
No, for me, the very worst job of all
is completely counterintuitive.

1609
01:31:25,167 --> 01:31:28,927
Imagine if there was a raging storm
out there, a wrecking storm.

1610
01:31:28,927 --> 01:31:31,287
What's the worst thing
you could possibly do?

1611
01:31:31,287 --> 01:31:32,887
Row straight out into it.

1612
01:31:32,887 --> 01:31:36,927
And yet that's exactly what
my very worst job is all about.

1613
01:31:36,927 --> 01:31:40,447
It's the job of lifeboat man,
or, indeed, lifeboat woman,

1614
01:31:40,447 --> 01:31:42,847
'cause we all remember
Grace Darling, don't we,

1615
01:31:42,847 --> 01:31:45,167
who rowed out into the storm
with her dad

1616
01:31:45,167 --> 01:31:47,327
in order to rescue
the drowning sailors.

1617
01:31:47,327 --> 01:31:49,567
And there are still Grace Darlings
even today

1618
01:31:49,567 --> 01:31:52,007
doing exactly the same voluntary job,
aren't there, Tamsin?

1619
01:31:52,007 --> 01:31:53,607
Indeed there are.

1620
01:31:53,607 --> 01:31:56,247
How did they use to rescue people
in years gone by?

1621
01:31:56,247 --> 01:32:00,407
They literally got in the boat and
rowed out, often into the teeth of a storm,

1622
01:32:00,407 --> 01:32:02,767
because that's what would have
caused the original problem,

1623
01:32:02,767 --> 01:32:06,927
and went out there and hauled them
into the boat and rowed them back again.

1624
01:32:06,927 --> 01:32:09,727
So, what do you want me to do?
We're going to go to sea.

1625
01:32:09,727 --> 01:32:13,007
So we're gonna get you dressed up in
Victorian kit, gonna put you in the boat,

1626
01:32:13,007 --> 01:32:16,007
give you an oar, we're gonna row out and
hopefully we're gonna rescue someone.

1627
01:32:16,007 --> 01:32:17,487
Right, where do I start?

1628
01:32:17,487 --> 01:32:20,087
I'm not being rude when I say
I'd like you to go home.

1629
01:32:20,087 --> 01:32:22,487
What do you mean?
Well, I want you to start at home.

1630
01:32:22,487 --> 01:32:23,967
Because that's where you'd be.

1631
01:32:23,967 --> 01:32:26,167
Any volunteer lifeboat man
would be going about his business

1632
01:32:26,167 --> 01:32:27,647
when the alarm was raised,

1633
01:32:27,647 --> 01:32:29,407
and he'd have to
get running from there.

1634
01:32:29,407 --> 01:32:32,160
OK, let me know when you need me.
No problem.

1635
01:32:35,807 --> 01:32:37,287
The bizarre thing is,

1636
01:32:37,287 --> 01:32:40,597
even though I know this is just
an exercise, a demonstration...

1637
01:32:42,567 --> 01:32:46,087
...after a while, just the wait
starts to wind you up.

1638
01:32:46,087 --> 01:32:50,407
They've given me this to...
to wear.

1639
01:32:50,407 --> 01:32:54,605
This... bizarre
floatation jacket thing.

1640
01:32:56,367 --> 01:32:58,835
Authentic, apparently,
from Victorian times.

1641
01:33:01,247 --> 01:33:03,761
This waterproof jacket.

1642
01:33:05,567 --> 01:33:08,240
The old sou'wester.
Gonna look good in that.

1643
01:33:11,327 --> 01:33:13,522
Must be about an hour
and a quarter now, I think.

1644
01:33:15,447 --> 01:33:16,967
(KNOCK ON DOOR)

1645
01:33:16,967 --> 01:33:18,719
Here we go.

1646
01:33:45,927 --> 01:33:47,645
I wasn't expecting this bit.

1647
01:33:50,087 --> 01:33:51,567
Where do I go?

1648
01:33:51,567 --> 01:33:53,327
If you sit on
that cushion there, Tony,

1649
01:33:53,327 --> 01:33:55,887
and, then, this is your oar, Tony,
where my hand is.

1650
01:33:55,887 --> 01:33:59,087
This oar here.
I can't see!

1651
01:33:59,087 --> 01:34:00,927
Tony, this is your oar.

1652
01:34:00,927 --> 01:34:03,521
OK, let's go. OK, pull away!
This one here, Tony.

1653
01:34:12,647 --> 01:34:15,002
Whoa-ho!

1654
01:34:16,847 --> 01:34:18,807
This job was risky.

1655
01:34:18,807 --> 01:34:24,047
435 crew members have died
in rescues over the years.

1656
01:34:24,047 --> 01:34:28,607
It's funny - even though it's just a demo,
there is that hit of adrenalin, isn't there?

1657
01:34:28,607 --> 01:34:30,087
Course there is.

1658
01:34:30,087 --> 01:34:32,999
Because we know we've got
to get him out of the water.

1659
01:34:34,687 --> 01:34:37,767
The job was never worse
than in 1861,

1660
01:34:37,767 --> 01:34:41,447
when the Whitby lifeboat crew
paid the ultimate price.

1661
01:34:41,447 --> 01:34:45,487
On 9 February, they made
four separate launches in a gale.

1662
01:34:45,487 --> 01:34:48,247
After rowing for hours
in mountainous seas

1663
01:34:48,247 --> 01:34:49,807
and saving the crews
of four ships,

1664
01:34:49,807 --> 01:34:52,247
the lifeboat men were exhausted.

1665
01:34:52,247 --> 01:34:54,807
Then another schooner
ran aground.

1666
01:34:54,807 --> 01:34:57,047
The crew set out again.

1667
01:34:57,047 --> 01:34:59,247
As they approached
the stricken vessel,

1668
01:34:59,247 --> 01:35:03,081
the lifeboat was capsized
by two freak waves.

1669
01:35:05,407 --> 01:35:08,727
Only lifeboat man Henry Freeman
survived.

1670
01:35:08,727 --> 01:35:11,807
It was his first day
on the lifeboat.

1671
01:35:11,807 --> 01:35:17,367
And now imagine what it was like
with cold hands, cold face, wet clothes.

1672
01:35:17,367 --> 01:35:19,687
But there was one coxswain
in the Victorian times

1673
01:35:19,687 --> 01:35:25,080
who described the cold on his face
like a dog gnawing at his features.

1674
01:35:28,887 --> 01:35:31,082
TONY: Where is he?

1675
01:35:32,687 --> 01:35:35,918
There he is! I can see him.
Whoa! My oar's gone.

1676
01:35:39,407 --> 01:35:42,607
We've got to bounce him down
three times.

1677
01:35:42,607 --> 01:35:44,727
Hold on, Dave.
We've got you.

1678
01:35:44,727 --> 01:35:49,007
To avoid breaking ribs, you have
to drag the victim in backwards.

1679
01:35:49,007 --> 01:35:51,316
It's a dead weight
and needs great strength.

1680
01:35:57,647 --> 01:35:59,287
I think you're alright now,
ain't you?

1681
01:35:59,287 --> 01:36:02,327
Go! One...

1682
01:36:02,327 --> 01:36:03,807
Two...

1683
01:36:03,807 --> 01:36:07,327
I found this job difficult
on a sea as flat as a millpond.

1684
01:36:07,327 --> 01:36:10,047
In pitch black in a real storm,

1685
01:36:10,047 --> 01:36:14,407
it must have been impossible once,
let alone coming out again and again.

1686
01:36:14,407 --> 01:36:18,446
Henry Freeman went on to serve
for 40 years.

1687
01:36:22,007 --> 01:36:25,127
Britain hasn't been invaded
for the best part of 900 years.

1688
01:36:25,127 --> 01:36:28,887
And surely that must be in part due
to the really awful jobs

1689
01:36:28,887 --> 01:36:33,207
that our sailors and volunteer rescuers
have done over the centuries.

1690
01:36:33,207 --> 01:36:36,327
Next time,
I'll be back on terra firma,

1691
01:36:36,327 --> 01:36:40,727
where the ground may be firmer,
but the jobs are just as terrible.

1692
01:36:40,727 --> 01:36:44,037
Awful joke, isn't it?
I hope that doesn't stay in.

1693
01:36:45,407 --> 01:36:49,247
There's no rest for the wicked out in
the country when you sell red for a living,

1694
01:36:49,247 --> 01:36:53,087
turn white keeping church spires
in good nick.

1695
01:36:53,087 --> 01:36:54,687
Am I nearly there?

1696
01:36:54,687 --> 01:36:57,887
Or get black and blue
washing sheep the old way.

1697
01:36:57,887 --> 01:37:00,276
Ouch! It trod on my foot!