Stretching from Land's End to Dover,
this is the busiest seaway in the world.
And come hell or high water...
Three, two, one. Firing!
No amount of training can ever prepare you
for what we faced that night.
It's open for business 365 days a year...
Over 90% of the world's trade travels by sea.
It's not just TVs and refrigerators, it's everything around us.
..teeming with every type of vessel...
Everyone on board reckons their job is the hardest.
..and a rich diversity of wildlife.
It is kept safe by those who patrol its seaways...
Try and hang on to the boat.
..their actions standing between triumph...
THEY CHEER ..and disaster...
Ease off, ease off!
..on the unpredictable waters of the English Channel.
Today, the Royal Navy bomb squad unearth a deadly relic.
Can you tell me where it was in the house? Where you found it.
In the lounge, I found it yesterday in the lounge on the shelf.
It had been in that room for about 30 years. Yeah!
A cargo ship resupplies the tiny island of Alderney.
One of the strangest things we had to deliver to Alderney recently
is a big bronze Buddha for somebody's garden.
And a young entrepreneur battles to keep his business
afloat as he navigates through the commercial shipping lanes.
Put a lot of time and effort and money into getting this boat
and setting up the business, which is hopefully going to
happen in the next few months.
Obviously, there's absolutely nothing I want to do to risk that.
The English Channel not only joins us to the rest of Europe,
but at flashpoints in history, it has protected us from invasion.
After the Second World War,
the Channel bed was left littered with thousands of unexploded bombs,
and the agency tasked with retrieving and safely
disposing of them is the Royal Navy's Fleet Diving Squadron.
Based in Portsmouth, the Navy's southern diving group
has three elite units made up of 60 divers
and specialists in bomb disposal.
They are called out to over 200 incidents a year.
Their patch includes the Channel, where fishing, dredging
and bad weather can sometimes expose long-buried bombs and mines.
We can use the wagon for maritime jobs as well as land-based jobs,
so we have to have the ability to do a dive.
So we have a boat in there as well and an engine,
and obviously the dive sets as well.
On a Monday morning, or whatever day we've taken over the duty,
the whole of all the vehicles and all the equipment will be lined out
and checked ready, to make sure it's at a high state of readiness.
Six, seven, eight.
It takes one small slip-up and the whole job can go awry,
so you've got to keep on top of it.
What we've got here is personal protection equipment
for the operator.
This is basically to protect him
from things like phosphorus in certain flares that we get
and incendiaries,
Second World War incendiaries, which we do find quite a bit.
We've got these leather gloves, leather apron
and, over here, we have a face mask.
Sometimes you can turn up and the number one operator can just
look at it and know exactly what it is.
Other times you might need to get that on,
get close down and dirty with it. But he doesn't know what he's
touching, so it's better to be safe than sorry, really.
SDU2 duty operator, how may I help you?
OK, and what time did that come through?
Today, Chief Petty Officer Simon Crew
is taking a call from the police about
an unidentified shell that has been found at a house in Worthing.
SDU2 duty watch, office.
Yes, Chief? Hello, Doc. Just had a job in.
Looks like a possible German incendiary bomb down
in Worthing found during a house clearance. Right.
Awaiting your arrival, really.
If you could muster the duty watch, take these details with you
and I said that you'll probably be responding within ten minutes. Yeah.
Yeah. Bye.
The team is scrambled.
Right, it's task 88686.
That's us just leaving the section now.
We've had a call-out down to Worthing.
What's been reported is what we believe to be an incendiary bomb,
1kg incendiary bomb.
They are designed to burn intensely
and set fire to building structures, etc.
They dropped them in their thousands across mainland
UK during the Second World War.
So this is a German incendiary that has been sent through for us.
The cocked striker's in the nose here. And this is a thermite fill.
And the tail fin's there just so it maintained its sort of
nose orientation during flight,
to ensure that when it landed nose-on, it would initiate.
SIREN WAILS
A typical week of duty, you're sat with the phone right next to you,
not knowing where the next call is going to be.
But as soon as the phone does go and the task comes in,
it's very exciting.
It's still exciting whether it's a small job that's come in
or a very large job, it just takes a lot more thought
of what needs to go into the task that's in hand.
But you're not sure what it is until you get there.
You've seen the pictures and it looks like it's going to be a large bomb
that is live, but when you actually turn up,
it could just be a solid lump of metal,
which obviously is a shell caused to injure,
but there is no explosives held within. So until that time,
the adrenaline's pumping until you close the task down.
I wouldn't do a job that I was going to injure myself in,
but, of course, every job is potentially very dangerous.
With a possible unexploded bomb in the middle of a housing
estate, the local police have already set up a cordon.
Bomb's in the back garden at the moment,
the neighbours have been made aware of it.
There's a lot of hard cover around so the cordon's not too big,
it's about ten, 20 metres.
It's just next to a greenhouse. OK.
Hi, are you the bloke that found this? Yeah.
OK, could you tell me where it was in the house? Where you found it.
In the lounge, I found it yesterday in the lounge on the shelf.
The bomb was discovered when the house was being cleared for sale.
Incredibly, it had been sitting on the mantelpiece for 30 years.
I moved it from the shelf into the hallway and it was there all night.
A chap was helping us clear this morning,
I told him about it, he had a look at it and got a bit worried.
He thought it might be a real one. He said I better get in touch
with the police, which I did. I phoned the police.
Very well done on your actions there and obviously it's nice
and safe in the garden now. He took it out into the garden, I didn't!
THEY LAUGH
But, you know, you just can't be too careful with these things.
No, ideally try not to touch it
if you do find something like this again.
But like I say, calling the police is the best way to do these things.
Thanks ever so much. It's all right, no problem.
It may have remained safe sat on a shelf for years,
but Doc's taking no chances.
First he needs to take a look.
The shell is confirmed as an incendiary bomb
from World War II dropped from a German plane in the early 1940s.
The item has been on the mantelpiece for probably 30 years plus.
It is in very, very good condition,
so it might well be the fact that somebody has at some stage dug
the explosives out of it or moved the explosives out of it, which,
obviously, is not a good thing to be doing.
At the moment, there is no way of knowing it
until I've actually picked it up to feel the weight of the item
and to actually see that's what's in place.
A little bit clearer.
The personal protection equipment may be old school, but a butchers'
leather apron has stood the test of time as a thick second skin.
Lovely. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Yeah.
I'll pick it up, I'll feel the weight of it as I pick it up
to determine whether it is empty or not. And from there, I'll put
it into a box of sand, to then give it more protection,
and then minimum movement out of here,
and then we'll transport it down to the beach,
where we'll dispose of it.
It doesn't look like it has been touched since it was made
and it's heavy enough to still contain unstable explosive.
The bomb was designed to catch fire so the sandbox Doc is
using will make it safer to move.
Word has got out that there is an unexploded
bomb in the neighbourhood and Doc needs to get it out of harm's way.
So, we've moved the item from the garden into our control box.
We're now going to transport it down to the beach where we've got
local authority help to assist us in clearing a cordon.
We'll find a safe location on the beach
and then set up for a controlled explosion.
During the Second World War, there was
one part of the British Isles that was occupied by German forces.
Lying closer to France than England, today the Channel Islands
are a British dependency populated by British citizens.
The second biggest of the islands is Guernsey.
We are, at the moment, situated on White Rock,
the harbour at St Peter Port, in Guernsey.
This is where the ships come in to unload
and load their freight for the islands and the UK.
With a population of over 65,000,
Guernsey is an important staging post when it comes to getting
vital supplies to its smaller, more northerly cousin,
the island of Alderney.
The main commodities that they will require in Alderney that we rely on
in the islands and in the UK, we have to import into Alderney twice a week.
Every time the ship goes into Alderney, it's an event
because the people in Alderney, they rely on our service.
Home to less than 2,000 people,
the Alderney islanders depend on imports for everything and anything.
What you normally would expect to receive in the shop on a daily
basis in the UK, we have to ship into Alderney.
Your soft drinks, carpets, alcohol at the back there.
This is all the frozen food.
So you'll have butters and dairy products in here,
frozen meats, because this is
the only way that they can sustain their frozen products.
Fresh fruit and veg, herbs, milks, cheese, yoghurts.
Everything you would expect to find in a normal supermarket in the UK
is imported into Alderney.
The people of Alderney certainly rely on Guernsey for their everyday
items, but it's not always just the essentials.
One of the strangest things we had to deliver to Alderney recently
is a big bronze Buddha for somebody's garden.
It was a life-size figure,
weighed approximately 1.5 tonnes of bronze.
And that was it...that was an interesting commodity to deliver.
We recently shipped over two brand-new fire engines.
We've shipped in cranes from the UK to Alderney,
cos the harbour needs a crane to unload.
When it comes to what the islanders can import,
there is just one golden rule.
Here and in Poole, the cranes,
they lift 60, 70 tonnes. But a crane in Alderney
has only got a maximum lift of 19 tonnes,
so everything has to be under that weight.
Today, the cargo ship Valiant
is making its weekly three-hour voyage to Alderney,
and on the ship's manifest,
19 tonnes of highly-inflammable petroleum spirit.
If we get it in the wrong position on the ship, then it will not be able
to be lifted off in Alderney
so we have to load it in a special part of the ship.
As well as considering the crane's capacity at the other end,
the heavy fuel container must be positioned near the centre
of the ship for ballast on its journey north.
You going to have a nice trip to Alderney today? Should be all right.
Yeah. Picked a nice day for it. Yeah, yeah. Good, good.
Responsible for the Valiant
is Dutch-born Captain Adrian Snoodijk,
who has been taking supplies to Alderney for eight years.
One of the older ships I was on,
we brought even a replica
Second World armoured tank across
for the movie they were shooting.
It's a mix of everything.
Getting livestock across is quite easy.
We only take them when the weather is nice because otherwise they
would be ending up with broken legs, and the farmers won't like that.
Today, we picked up the tank with fuel for the islands.
It's quite important to the island cos if you don't bring it,
most likely the island will be on a standstill.
While the Valiant is well on her way to Alderney harbour,
400 miles away, in skipper Adrian's home country,
a young British entrepreneur is preparing to set sail.
OK, excellent. We'll head out in just a few moments.
This is Amsterdam, Holland.
Deep in the dockland is a boat called De Liefde
and its new owner, Harry Reynolds, who spent most of his inheritance
on a 25-foot tall ship that is nearly 100 years old.
If we get that bowline off first...
On board - pal Jez, Dave, a water sports instructor
and sister Becky, a student nurse.
Cool, happy?
Harry spent the last few years sailing boats around the world,
but for other people.
Now, he wants the De Liefde
to be at the heart of a new sailing school
he is setting up in Swanage, Dorset.
Sailing is quite a restricted sport
and so what I'm looking to offer
is an introduction sail training.
So you can come out on
a fairly low-cost day out
and just learn the very basics in a no-pressure environment.
Harry has invested everything.
As well as his new business, the boat will be his new home too.
Cool, Dave, so if we could start tidying up some lines...
If we take them all off, get them nice and coiled up,
that'd be great.
His first job is to get out on the North Sea
and down the English Channel's busy shipping lanes to Shoreham,
where it will be made ready for paying customers to come aboard.
It is a career move, really.
If I can make this work, I've got a job for as long as I want one.
And I am my own boss, which is a nice bit of freedom.
It's taken us 2.5 years to get to this point where
we are finally taking her home.
Before they reach the Channel, they have to navigate
the 12-mile-long canal that connects Amsterdam with the North Sea.
This is De Liefde. De Liefde, over.
'De Liefde, IJmuiden Locks. Good morning.'
Good morning, sir. We are about ten minutes away from the lock.
I want to know we can get passage through from Amsterdam to the
North Sea, please, over.
The first challenge for Harry and his crew is the lock.
On paper, not a problem.
Shouldn't be too complicated.
Really, we'll head through the first lock gates...
'De Liefde.'
This is De Liefde. Go ahead. Over.
'Yeah, we are having some problems with the Small lock
'and the South lock.
'We hope to fix it as soon as possible.'
OK, no problem.
I will approach the locks and hang around here until you tell me
which lock to go in.
'Yeah, thank you.'
Immediately, they have to change their plans.
If we head up... Do you see the watchtower up there, Becky?
If we head for that and just hang around that sort of area...
But it is a good opportunity for Harry to practise the teaching
skills he's going to need on his sister.
Yeah, so we're still turning to starboard a little bit there.
So a little bit back to the left there. A little bit nerve-racking.
Well, it depends whether she keeps trying to aim us
towards this building here or not.
All her childhood revenge...hopefully not coming to the surface.
Maybe, we'll see where we end up in a moment.
I've never driven anything quite so expensive.
So that's a bit nerve-racking.
Good to have her on board, really.
Someone that I know that she's there, really.
This boat is Harry's future,
so as they approach the lock, he takes back the wheel.
'This is IJmuiden Locks.'
Are you ready for us to proceed into the lock? Over.
'Yes, she will be prepared for you.' Excellent, thank you very much.
Harry and I grew up together,
like, we grew up sailing together on our dad's boat.
I think he's an all right brother.
I mean, don't tell him that.
If you put off from about mid-ship...
He is investing the money that we got as an inheritance together.
He is investing his part of the money into this whole business.
The small one here or this one? Go for the upper one.
It is a big risk, but I think it'll pay off for him.
If anyone can do it, I think he could.
Good. Cool, that'll do you.
He brought up the idea a long time ago
and sort of we all thought, "OK, yeah."
That's a good idea. But, I mean, people have
ideas like this all the time.
For him to actually be getting it done is really impressive.
I'm really proud of him.
As the lock gates close,
Harry is looking out for the next challenge in the open sea.
Getting for certain our first course,
out past our first sort of obstruction.
We've got a couple of marks en route, marking a few dangers.
The first real thing we need to watch out for is a wind park that is
under construction, so it should be pretty easy to miss that one.
Once we're out there, traffic, vessel traffic becomes very important.
Lots of traffic separation schemes nearby, so we will be...
We won't be in any, or too close, but there will certainly be
a lot of traffic around and we'll see when we get out there, really.
With the lock negotiated, they can head out to sea.
It feels good to finally get out in the open ocean again.
A few months since I've been at sea.
Most of the delivery work I've been doing over the past years,
none of it has been my own boat
so it's finally doing it for myself rather than someone else.
So, great feeling.
The De Liefde is modelled on a 17th-century tall ship
that used to trade with Japan.
She takes her name from one of the Dutch words for love.
Apparently love isn't quite an accurate translation, but there's
no real word for it in English.
Apparently, it is a very beautiful, poignant, a good historic Dutch name.
She was built in 1930, originally of steel plate with rivets.
Now she is all welded steel, built like a tank.
In some places, it is 20 millimetres thick.
And so, yeah, she is a very strong, very sturdy boat.
It is a 48-hour trip.
The motor is on, but they need to make a stable crossing.
We'll probably put the mizzen sail up and maybe the foresail as well,
just to get a bit of stability in the boat.
We're rocking around a little bit at the moment.
Unfortunately, not really enough wind to just sail,
but we'll get a little bit of speed out of them
and it just helps stabilise the whole boat.
Yeah, if we get a little more tension on that one, Dave.
That's enough. So we're nearly there.
Hoisting a traditional sail takes muscle.
But luckily, pal Jez has got what it takes.
Harry actually taught me to sail. And since he's been working abroad,
his skippering
skills have certainly come into their own.
And so I think it is just the ideal
career choice for him, really.
Watch that move, guys.
I enjoy being at sea.
I think there is something very liberating about it
and there's a sort of sense of exploration, I suppose.
There's something very primitive about it as well.
I think you're good there. Yeah? Yeah.
That's all good, thanks, guys.
With the sails successfully up to steady the ship,
they had out across the North Sea for an overnight crossing.
While the De Liefde sails to the British mainland,
further west, the cargo ship Valiant is nearing the end
of its three-hour voyage.
Under the command of Captain Snoodijk,
she is approaching Alderney, in the Channel Islands.
Yeah, coming up to the turning point.
Can we have clearance in, please? Over.
Aboard are the islanders' weekly supplies,
including 19 tonnes of petroleum spirit.
With most maritime accidents happening in harbour,
the tricky part of any voyage can be navigating your ship to its berth.
It's very hard for us to see with these containers,
but if there's anything in front of us, we just run straight over.
I think we're going to be aiming for the two...
flashing lights there in a minute.
Which are the leading lights that get us safely inside.
Now we're straight on the leading lights, which brings us
safely between all the rocks and stones into the harbour.
'Valiant, over top.'
Yeah, all secure on the berth, over. 'Roger, thanks.'
We're safely alongside now in Alderney harbour,
after a nice quick voyage with no problems and everything,
so the people in Alderney are going to be happy they can get fed again.
The skipper's job may be done, but down at Alderney Shipping,
the work has just begun.
Hi, Alison, it's Wendy down at Alderney Shipping.
Hi, I've got some freight that's come in for you.
Wendy Hamman is the office manager who organises
the distribution of all the supplies.
Sure, will do.
And with just 2,000 people on the island,
she can offer a personal touch.
Right, lovely. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye.
I ring everybody and let them know that it's available.
For example, this week, we've got over 80 different consignments
that have come in for various different people
as well as the shops, and the businesses as well,
but we've had an awful lot of freight for private people.
Back at the dock, the ship's crew begin the immense
task of unloading the heavy containers,
full to the brim of goods, using the crane on the port.
The goods coming in every Wednesday and will be unpacked,
delivered and on the shop shelves the following morning.
And it's not long until the Alderney residents start turning up to
pick up their goods.
I've just returned from England
and come to pick up my television, which arrived while I was away.
It's actually about 1,200 photographs that have been
printed in the UK for me. I'm in the publishing business
and I require these for my library of photographs.
With no domestic supply chain for raw materials on the island,
local businesses rely heavily on what the boat brings.
The work we do, welder and engineer, fitting work,
we have to work weeks in advance,
planning wise, to make sure we've got everything here
because we can't go down to steel stockholders like on the mainland
to collect what we need if we're short of something.
So logistics, you've got to plan well ahead.
Alderney may be just three miles long with only one town,
but the high street is bustling with shops and businesses
and that generates the one thing Alderney does export.
They do not have landfill, they do not have incinerators,
so all the waste is exported to Guernsey from Alderney
and we then have to landfill it all - segregate it and separate it
and then recycle it and send it back to the UK.
There is no recycling facilities in Alderney.
Back in Alderney harbour, it is time to unload the huge tank of petrol.
Weighing in at 19 tonnes, it is at the top limit
of the shore-side crane's capacity.
So the only way to safely get the tank onto the dock is to walk
it bit by bit to the edge of the ship directly under the crane.
The tank is finally in the position for the crane to lift.
Critical for fuelling all vehicles on the island,
the petrol tank is safely on land and the cargo ship team have
successfully completed their weekly supplies delivery to Alderney.
For shipping boss Bruno Kay-Mouat, it's just another day at the office.
We've had llamas,
we've had a Rolls-Royce, which is a bit unusual
for Alderney seeing as it is only 3.5 miles
by 1.5 miles. Today was a good day.
You know, the operation went smoothly.
Everybody seems to be smiling and it's not raining, which is good.
It's the absolute lifeline of the island.
From everything from food, building materials, steel,
gardening materials, pet food, everything.
It is the absolute backbone of the island.
Without it, it would be very, very hard to exist.
The people of Alderney may rely on outside help, but when you're
skippering a boat across the ocean, you need to be able to do
everything the boat requires of you.
If you could come to port about ten, 15 degrees. Right.
That's perfect. The sandbank at its lowest point
is...
Oh, actual datum, it's 0.4 metres out of the water
so at absolute maximum low tide,
potentially the land will be sticking above the water,
which basically means that at any state of tide,
it's going to be very shallow for us.
Round the Goodwin Sands, you get all sorts of tidal eddies
and currents making it quite unpredictable.
And really, it's nicely marked and there's no reason to go through it.
Skipper Harry is taking his newly acquired sailing ship De Liefde
from Amsterdam to Dorset to set up his sailing school.
On the way, he is planning to put in at Shoreham, on the Sussex coast,
and he is using all his navigational skills to get there unscathed.
So, at the moment, we are just off the East Goodwin Lightship.
That is a big lightship, land beam
marking the eastern edge of the Goodwin Sands.
It is sort of a bit more than just any other navigation buoy, it is
a constantly maintained position.
So whereas normal mooring buoys are simply anchored to the ground,
that sort of is kept up to check and it is a guaranteed position fix.
I see it. We're just passing it now, which means we are
nicely in between the Goodwin Sands
and the Dover Straits shipping lanes, which is exactly where we want to be,
keeping a nice bit of clearance from the shipping lanes to one side
and nice clearance from the sandbanks on the other.
As well as steering a careful course,
Harry has other concerns on his mind.
So, at about 7am this morning there was a forecast for potentially
force eight later,
which means that at some point in the next 12 hours,
it could be building up to force eight.
In about ten minutes' time,
we're going to get a weather forecast through.
For now the skies are clear, but in the English Channel,
the weather has a habit of changing quickly.
'This is the Dover Coastguard.
'Dover Coastguard. Dover Coastguard.
'Gale force eight expected in Strait of Dover.'
They've just issued a gale warning for the area.
I think we'll probably pop into Dover,
just wait it out for 12 hours and then carry on with the passage.
Put a lot of time and effort and money into getting this boat and
setting up the business, which is hopefully going to
happen in the next few months.
Obviously, there's absolutely nothing I want to do to risk that.
To protect both boat and crew,
they head for shelter and have to negotiate a way into Dover avoiding
the ferries and other vessels using one of the channel's busiest ports.
Requesting permission to come in,
drop our sails and then anchor in the outer harbour, please. Over.
They drop the sails as the weather closes in.
Safely within the harbour walls, they drop anchor for the night.
This is one weather front they'll just have to sit out.
The next morning, even with the protection of the harbour,
the seas are still choppy and Harry has another headache.
Just after we anchored here in Dover,
Harry came down to do something
and found the leak in the generator.
A clip came off and that has flooded the base of the generator
and some water has got into
one of the cables and wrecked the connector.
It doesn't bode well for Harry's investment.
A lack of power could mean they get stuck in Dover.
It could be a problem getting the anchor up,
but I'll have to think about that later.
MOTOR DROWNS OUT SPEECH
Right, found the location of the leak.
But after a couple of hours tinkering,
eventually they find the dodgy part.
Right.
That is the bit that is causing the problem. Right.
Let's have a looky-looky.
Water is coming on as it's leaking through there.
And then it's coming out through the edges there.
So there is a gasket or something that is gone in the middle of it.
Jez has got to track down a replacement or they're going
nowhere.
It's only a sort of five-pound part,
but we don't have any spares on board.
I've managed to track down the part number
through a little bit of internet research.
They're just checking the shelf and I'm just waiting for a call back.
They are still getting to know the boat.
And while they're holed up in Dover, the scale of the task is sinking in.
Boats generally take a lot... Three times the amount of time
you think it's going to take, it'll take that time.
We're looking to get the boat in active business
service in about three or four weeks' time,
so basically every second counts
because we've got at least a few weeks here
and there of having the boat in a boat yard to get a few things done.
Basically, every day we waste here and there is a day taken off
when we can open for business.
Luckily, it only takes Jez 24 hours to locate the part
they need to fix the generator.
As the wind drops, they finally weigh anchor,
and with Harry's business idea still afloat, set sail down the Channel.
On Worthing Seafront,
business of an altogether different nature is in progress.
The tide is out at the moment,
so that's a good 300 metres from the shoreline there.
So it'll be a well safe zone.
After discovering a World War II incendiary bomb had been
sitting on a local resident's mantelpiece for the last 30 years,
the bomb squad have come to the beach to dispose of it.
OK, Ryan, if we use the drawing just in front of us here... Yep.
..as the firing point, run the cable out to the full extent -
200 metres down the beach -
filled with ten sand bags and, obviously, dig the hole for the sand.
We'll use that as the firing hole. Yep.
And then I'll be down there in a minute to continue to set up.
OK.
With some of the general public still using the beach, the
local authority have to get everyone clear and set up a safe zone.
Have the rest of the team fill in the sand bags down there.
They're making a hole at the same time as filling the bags.
That's where the item will be placed in before we carry out
the controlled explosion.
The bags will be placed around in a horseshoe to direct any debris
out to sea.
I mean, there is a fair bit of public on the beach today,
but during the summertime, there'd be ten, 20 times as many public here,
so to push that cordon out would be a very time consuming job to do.
So the police or the coastguard very much help us out in these situations.
So, what we've got is a shrike, which will send an electric pulse
through this wire to the detonator that we'll connect to the end of it.
And that detonator will then go on to a detonating cord, which will
go into the explosives, which will be next to the item to get rid of,
therefore disposing of that item.
We can probably go in a bit tighter.
The damp sandpit will absorb much of the explosion,
but Doc wants to limit the flying shrapnel as much as possible.
The item itself isn't very much of an explosive hazard,
it's more of an incendiary hazard. So it's more of a fire-making material.
So the actual explosives inside, there's a very small amount,
just to ignite the item. But to make sure that we get rid of all
that content, we put explosives
on top to completely break down the item.
With the explosion site prepared, the wires run back to a safe
distance, where they'll have the detonator.
The rest of the team has now set up the site down there,
so the last thing to do is take down the item to be disposed of,
set it up in the demolition pit, retire back,
confirm that we've got a safe cordon and then carry out
the controlled explosion at a time that suits us best.
I'll give a thumbs up that I'm ready.
If you do a chat with him and the rest of them,
you give me the thumbs up back, I'll know that... Five, ten seconds.
And then from there on... So you're happy? Happy. Let's do it.
With the public and the crew a safe distance away, Doc makes the
final checks and gives the thumbs up that everything's OK in the pit.
Lead diver Ryan Hague is in charge of the detonator.
Would be the fire button
and whichever circuit that you've got the wires
plugged into from one to four.
That's the demolition all set up. Ready for a controlled explosion.
Just going to confirm that my cordon is clear,
Ryan's carrying out any actions.
Once that's done, my number two will shout, "Stand by, firing,"
and he'll press the buttons,
detonate the serial
and then we'll wait for the forward shot.
OK. Happy? Check. Test for green...
With everything in place,
the unexploded shell can finally be made safe.
Stand by, firing. Three, two, one... Firing!
Disconnected.
70 years after it was dropped on Britain,
a 1940s German bomb does what it was built to do on an English beach.
One man approached,
confirmed that everything had been cleared with that clearing shot.
And then once that's cleared, the rest of the team will come down to
help cover in any holes
that are down there so no public fall over later on.
And we'll clear up any rubbish that we've left
and close down the site.
With nothing but a few fragments of the shell left, the team make
sure it's safe and levelled out until the tide comes in.
Successful job. That's complete.
Timely done.
The tide will cover it fairly quickly anyway,
but it took a bit of site remediation,
just to make it less of an impact.
With the job complete,
the team from the Royal Navy's Fleet Diving Squadron head for home.
Well done, gents, good task. Done nice and timely.
What we'll do now is wrap up here, make sure we've cleaned up,
everything done. And we'll get on our way back to Section, re-roll,
ready to run again on our next task. Well done.
Home for skipper Harry
and his crew is the 100-year-old sailing ship De Liefde.
Heading for Dorset to set up a sailing school,
they've decided to stop in Shoreham,
a good place to get the boat modified and ready for business.
So now we've arrived in Shoreham, our final destination for the moment.
This mooring up was a bit of a challenge.
I think the space was 25 metres and ten centimetres, and we're 25 metres.
So that was a bit of a tricky one.
But we're here, we're safe and all the lines are on, so, yeah, all good.
For his business idea to succeed, Harry needs his boat to be
shipshape enough to accept paying customers.
It's making the boat home.
In the last couple of weeks, I've fitted a dishwasher.
Currently in the process of wiring up a new oven
and just making the electrics a bit more meaty
so that it can handle a slightly larger, slightly newer oven.
But really, it's a case of turning it from somebody else's boat,
as she was a month or so ago, into my boat, making it a home.
But Harry thinks there is one fundamental thing that might
be letting his business down.
So the main thing that
I'm sort of thinking about is getting the name changed.
At the moment, De Liefde is a bit... It's a bit clunky
for English-speaking customers. OK, what have you got in mind?
Thinking about getting that changed to Moonfleet.
It's quite a local name.
Moonfleet is based in Dorset, on the Jurassic Coast.
There's a book written about
this smugglers' town there. And there'd be the potential to
maybe do smuggler themed trips and that sort of thing.
Yeah, I think it's a pretty good name for a boat. Yeah, it's good.
I like it. OK, sounds like Moonfleet it is, then.
In times past,
changing the name of a boat was considered to be bad luck.
Legend had it that the gods of the sea would become enraged.
To keep Neptune's wrath at bay, some sailors
went as far as eradicating all traces of the boat's old name
and offering up ritualistic prayers to the deep.
Of course, these days the boating community are far less
superstitious.
MOTOR FAILS THEY LAUGH
How's that going? So, that's not how that should happen.
Although from the look of things,
Harry's not having much luck with his backup generator.
This is the main problem.
This spring is old and knackered.
Harry may be flying in the face of superstition, but luckily,
he has absolute faith in his business idea.
Changing the name is important for the marketing for the upcoming
business.
Once we've got the name changed,
I can start getting some publicity, photographs, that sort of thing done.
Then Moonfleet will be up and ready to go.
With every day spent in harbour costing him money,
let's hope the newly christened Moonfleet will finally get underway
soon, down the Channel towards Dorset and Harry's business dreams.