Original subtitles

Good evening.

This is Beach Live from Dorset's extraordinary Jurassic Coast.

Tonight, a very special show.

This is a Second World War British

tank lying 15 metres beneath the waves

waves just east off the coast from here.

here. Tonight we'll blew doing a live

live dive to try to ascertain whether

whether this tank belong to the loss abiding

abiding virtue of one of the most important

important exercises in the build-up to

to D-Day.

Welcome back to Charmouth beach, and

we are live for three nights this week

week on the drastic coast, because this

this stretch of coast is probably the

the best place in Britain for exploring

exploring fossil finds, beach history

history and extraordinary marine wildlife.

wildlife. And take a look at this. This

This sunken tanker was until recently

recently classified a military secret.

secret. There is our team, just earlier

earlier in the day gearing up, because

because that Temer specialist divers will

will go on to that tank to conduct a detailed

detailed survey. We will also be looking

looking at the hundreds of the hundreds

hundreds of shipwrecks out there, and

and what an extraordinary way they benefit

benefit the marine life. Yes, and hopefully

hopefully some of the cargoes of those

those shipwrecks have been swept ashore

ashore where they have ended up in the

the hands of our beachcombers, who have

have then taken them to our discovery

discovery centre and Neil. I am hoping

hoping Niall will have some discoveries

discoveries like these. I heard someone

someone call Tony English drop these.

these. These were washed off in the 1950s.

1950s. They are heavy, iron cannonballs,

cannonballs, you can see the rust on the

the edge, heady cannonballs, the kind

kind of things you might find on victory's

victory's gun deck. Before battle you

you would have further tapping as they

they took of these accretions to make

make the most spherical, to fit down the

the barrels. You really know your cannonballs.

cannonballs. Do you think they could have

have been used in smuggling? Could have

have been used in anti-smuggling, beach

beach protection, yes. We will also look

look at smuggling and the rather unusual

unusual characters involved. That is true

true but you don't have to have brought

brought these in person, like poor old

old Tony, you can send in stuff from home

home if you want to e-mail them, pictures

pictures of anything you choose you found

found beachcombing or a thing like that.

that. Now, these could have as you said

said been involved in coastal defence,

defence, which brings us to one of the

the great stories of British history.

history. Every generation has had to deal

deal with coastal defence. Today this

this beach is covered in tourist and locals

locals but it has posted invaders before

before throughout the ages, and the last

last great invasion scare in British history

history left lots of these all round the

the coast from right here on the south

south coast right up to the north of Scotland.

Scotland. They were called Dragon's Keith,

Keith, they were anti-tank defences, you'd

you'd great big concrete blocks, sometimes

sometimes with triangles on top to topple

topple tanks of the tried to drive over

over them coming between you might have

have had metal bars and minds, they would

would have been designed to stop the tanks

tanks of the Germans coming off beaches

beaches like this and going further inland.

inland. And they have remained, so any

any pictures you have of these beach defences

defences from anywhere in the country,

country, send them in. This is certainly

certainly not the only thing that links

links us to the Second World War because

because just off the coast out there is

is a remarkable collection to our wartime

wartime past.

-- remarkable connection. Pickford's

similarity

to the coastlines of northern France

will stop over several months in 1940

1940 4000 of troops stormed by land sea

sea and air. The most, offensive of visuals

visuals was a top secret rehearsal, codenamed

codenamed exercise smash. Comprised of

of four phases, each practising a different

different element of the assault, it would

would be the largest live fire exercises

exercises World War II. The first phase

phase would test a new way of getting

getting tanks from the landing craft out

out at sea to the shore. The landing craft

craft were born reporter German defensive

defensive fire, so they had to stay quite

quite a long way out to sea off the beach.

beach. That meant it was very difficult

difficult to get tanks are sure to support

support the infantry. The solution was

was to create floating tanks. The Valentine

Valentine tank was the most mass produced

produced tank in Britain during the Second

Second World War. The duplex tribe was

was a modified amphibious version. With

With a propeller to manoeuvre in water

water and standard tracks to travel on

on land. Its rubberised canvas screen

screen could be raised by compressed air

air to a height of around two metres,

metres, forming a seal around the tank

tank until the enemy from the distance,

distance, it looked like a boat. They

They could swim to shore under their own

own power, roll up the beach and then

then take on the German defences. The

The novel craft had been in development

development since 1942. The same year

year that 17-year-old Albert Price was

was assigned to the armoured Corps for

for training on this top-secret project.

project. Now 93, Albert is thought to

to be the last survivor of exercise smash.

smash. Hello, Albert. Hello. Very nice

nice to meet you. He vividly remembers

remembers the two years he spent training

training before the exercise, that nothing

nothing could have prepared Albert for

for what would unfold. We had taken to

to the beach where the tanks were kept.

kept. Lowered onto the landing craft,

craft, and loaded, go to shore, and that's

that's it. The information given to the

the participants is limited, and especially

especially if you are using hush-hush

hush-hush equipment like we were. On April

April four, 1944 the first phase of exercise

exercise smash got under way. Not long

long into the exercise, the weather conditions

conditions took a turn for the worse and

and swell and winds picked up. The tanks

tanks got separated all over the place,

place, some took so much water and they

they went straight to the bottom. But,

But, in my case, we suddenly crashed into

into a huge rock, and the tank started

started to climb up it, and the sea was

was quite rough, smashing about, and it

it started moving backwards and sideways,

sideways, we shouted, stop, stop, of course

course it was stuck. After swimming about

about a bit, and being bashed about by

by this water, the sailors picked us up,

up, took as ashore. And the tanks stayed

stayed there? The tank stayed there. Of

Of the 32 tanks launched, seven sank.

sank. Albert was one of the lucky ones.

ones. Six of his fellow soldiers died.

died. The costly amphibious exercise was

was seen as an embarrassment, and was

was quickly hushed up. No one told you

you anything? We weren't told anything

anything about the rest of the tanks or

or casualties, and we were just given

given a shower and dried and off to the

the bunkers. But we were told when we

we went in, do not tell him what you were

were doing, how it happened. All you are

are going to do is tell him you injured.

injured. Fortunately, that was a happy

happy ending for us. We were saved. When

When you think of others who had been

been down there and are still there, it

it is something you have to live with.

with. It was not until the early 1970s

1970s when the documents on Exercise Smash

Smash were declassified that the tanks

tanks were found to be still sitting on

on the sea bed at Studland Bay, and of

of the seven tanks, two remain intact

intact today.

So, tonight, we are really going to

be pushing the technological envelope.

envelope. We have a team of divers going

going down to the tank now, battling tide

tide and time. The tides have been very

very springy recently, Spring tides, huge

huge variation, a huge amount of water

water moving in and out of places like

like Poole Harbour. We had divers down

down earlier during a slack tide, and

and the tide is slackening off over the

the next half hour. I am hearing that

that we don't have live footage now. Scotty,

Scotty, our expert diver, apparently he

he is being swept off the tank as we speak,

speak, but he is battling to get back

back onto it. So this is from earlier

earlier today. Scotty is on his way down

down so we will get a chance to see him

him later on. This is earlier, and this

this is the side of the tank of the right-hand

right-hand side I think, without the tracks

tracks on. This is your Valentine tank,

tank, this is the very small compact infantry

infantry support tank from the Second

Second World War. The British Army had

had the idea when war broke out that they

they would use tanks like this to move

move forward with infantry, which meant

meant there were quite slow-moving but

but they were quite heavily armoured,

armoured, and they could perform that

that job fairly well as infantry support

support tanks will stop but as the war

war went on, the demand for bigger more

more powerful guns and speedier tanks

tanks made sure these were basically made,

made, well, almost obsolete by the D-Day

D-Day landings of 1944, but they were

were perfect for training on. These were

were shots that were shot earlier today

today in the slack tide. I hear that Scotty

Scotty is trying to get down to the turret

turret now and will bring us shots of

of it. 8000 of these were made during

during the war, a quarter of all British

British wartime tank production. They

They were perfect for the training and

and the build-up to D-Day, but Sherman

Sherman tanks were really used in big

big numbers on D-Day and they were twice

twice as fast, twice as heavy, they could

could pack a bigger punch and had twice

twice as thick armour as well but these

these were used in Exercise Smash, and

and as you can see, several of them sang.

sang. I am hearing now that the team of

of divers is hoping to get on that as

as the tide slackens off over the next

next few minutes, but in the meantime

meantime we will come back to our live

live tank. In the meantime, let's go to

to Lucy who has all sorts of other fascinating

fascinating artefacts that can link us

us to this region's wonderful maritime

maritime past. I do, Dan, absolutely,

absolutely, some fantastic artefacts,

artefacts, and angina, our resident archaeologist,

archaeologist, and Pete William, who has

has been diving this close to the last

last 20 years who found these extraordinary

extraordinary things. Thank you for bringing

bringing this beauty in.

bringing this beauty in. -- and Anjana.

Anjana. These all came off a ship that

that sank 100 years ago, a beautifully

beautifully built ship, all the fittings

fittings were high end, really nicely

nicely put together. Unfortunately sank,

sank, torpedoed just off Swanage about

about two miles off of Swanage, the good

good side of it was the fact they had

had loaded all of the cargo. It was general

general cargo, nice luxury cargo, but

but also personal effects for the soldiers

soldiers who were returning to the Australia.

Australia. The ship wished song before

before it could pick the passengers up,

up, so from a divers ponder view it is

is kind of a perfect shipwrecked. No tragedy

tragedy involved. Minimal tragedy maximum

maximum treasure. That is a good way of

of looking at it. First of all, these

these beautiful bottles, which I can admire

admire not only by the way they look,

look, but I can smell them. You wouldn't

wouldn't believe, these have got the sweet

sweet perfume smell coming of these. These

These must be of perfume bottles. Anjana,

Anjana, have a smell. These must be 100

100 years old. It smells a bit like my

my granny's talcum powder. She is not

not going to be offended, is she? They

They were silver, wax seal, when they

they come up from the sea bed you have

have to break the seal to let the air

air out, that is the smell people were

were wearing 100 years ago. They smell

smell very nice 100 years ago. Definitely

Definitely different but they still smelt

smelt good. Just the quality of these

these things, they look like they are

are brand-new. Tell me about these vases.

vases. These vases were down in the silt,

silt, in the ship is my cold, quite deep

deep down in the sort, so you find them

them by field you don't see the stuff.

stuff. Used are up the sort, so it is

is all literally by feel. We found this

this and thought it was a broken man,

man, wobbled it a bit and out it came,

came, but it back on board, washed it

it down, and that was the quality it was

was in. But inside one of these was the

the porcelain nurse. Double bonus. She

She was being transported on the safety

safety of the vase and then two weeks

weeks later this one was found, and in

in this one was the little porcelain soldier.

soldier. So they must have been bought

bought by the same person. Somebody taking

taking goes back to Australia. How fantastic.

fantastic. My eye is drawn to the slightly

slightly less, this peculiar, it looks

looks like it could have come from the

the Moon, if you didn't have what looks

looks like a small pocket watch in it.

it. This rock, what is it? I don't know

know the proper term, but I call it crud.

crud. It is as solid as a rock. That is

is what Anjana is here, what is crud?

crud? As a geologist and a scientist,

scientist, we use all of our senses to

to explore natural things like this, so

so obviously it is a rough textured rock,

rock, sometimes we can smell things will

will stop it smells very oxidised, the

the colour is very orange, so we know

know something about it metallic is oxidised.

oxidised. And we have hand lenses, they

they are our greatest tool. We can see

see the matrix, this is the majority of

of the content that makes up the rock,

rock, it is very fine grade. The other

other thing I can see is broken fragment

fragment and other small bits of gravel

gravel -- fine grained. This is forming

forming in an environment that has been

been around with currents. We do see that

that with Rex under the water. The other

other thing that is really quite interesting

interesting is that yes, the wreck was

was often Alstom head, so we know that

that the source rock is a limestone. As

As that weathers and breaks down the mud

mud will be formed from that source rock,

rock, so it is alkaline in nature, and

and essentially this cemented mud, which

which is what it is at the bottom of the

the sea bed, has formed around these objects,

objects, providing it with the protective

protective casing. That's fantastic, so

so the sediment that has formed a rabbit

rabbit has actually helped preserve it

it in some way? Yes, and it is just fantastic

fantastic to incidents. An hundred million

million years' time, it would have into

into its own rock in its own right, a

a piece of history. Peter, do you have

have a favourite? I have a lot but for

for me it has to be the pen.

It is the inscription, not so much

the pen, it says the pen is made in the

the USA during the war. "The" War. I guess

guess these guys thought it would be the

the last war. To me it has to be the pen.

pen. The optimism in that. I have never

never seen it before. We would hope it

it was just the one war. These are not

not the only treasures that can be found

found under receive. Niall is that the

the Discovery Centre. Selwyn Williams

Williams has brought in an amazing collection.

collection. You have been a shipwreck

shipwreck diver 40 years? I am

collection. You have been a shipwreck diver 40 years? I am

shipwreck diver 40 years? I am afraid

afraid so, yes. These pieces I really

really like. I believe this is a piece

piece of eight. Yes, a Spanish- American

American coin, eight reals. Where do you

you find these? I found these digging

digging off Chesil Beach. One came out

out and I watched again and another came

came out and we found several more. Tell

Tell me about... The weight determines

determines the value? Yes, the weight

weight of the coin. There are pieces of

of four which are half the weight. The

The Americans used them as currency when

when they split from the English. What

What a fascinating find. Thank you so

so much.

so much. Lyme

Lyme Bay is looking particularly inviting.

inviting. One or two brave souls out for

for a swim. I might join them later. Scotty,

Scotty, he is battling his way

for a swim. I might join them later. Scotty, he is battling his way

Scotty, he is battling his way down. He

He is confident he will be on the rack.

rack. Of course, it might look placid,

placid, but it can be a hostile environment

environment and for ships, the more hostile,

hostile, the closer they are to the shore.

shore. Over the years, Lyme Bay has become

become a

shore. Over the years, Lyme Bay has become a

become a graveyard. Nigel, you have plotted

plotted them on this magnificent map.

map. Will have to Kyarra over there Amber

Amber tanks over there. Why so many shipwrecks?

shipwrecks? In Lyme Bay you have 379 shipwrecks

shipwrecks you can visit. 40 date from

from the First World War. During the First

First World War, the Admiralty asked the

the shipping to go close to shore, not

not in the shipping lanes, and it amazed

amazed it an easy shooting ground for

for U-boats. Many were sunk by U-boats

U-boats in the First World War will stop

stop if you include the ships known to

to have gone down it will be almost 2000

2000 shipwrecks. From the days of sale

sale and you have shipwrecks going back

back to the 15th century. You

sale and you have shipwrecks going back to the 15th century. You

back to the 15th century. You have the

the tall ships, I suppose you get prevailing

prevailing winds. Huge following seas.

seas. And they wax straight into the coastline?

coastline? They are trying to get around

around Portland. Famously one of the worst

worst stretches of water on the planet.

planet. In a sailing boat you cannot tack

tack out and you are driven on to Chesil

Chesil Beach which accounts for shipwrecks.

shipwrecks. Talk about this one. That

That is the Formidable, sunk in 1915 on

on Christmas Eve. A crew of 740 and 530

530 drowned. When it sank, the pinnacles,

pinnacles, the rescue ships got blown

blown across the coast and some ended

ended up on the beach at Lyme Regis where

where one of the group who thought to

to have died, was put in the more cheery

cheery and the landlord's dog Lassie came

came along and revive to the manned by

by licking him on the face and proved

proved he was not dead and that is the

the basis allegedly for Bolasie stories.

stories. January the 1st, so many must

must have died from exposure -- of the

the Lassie stories. This is the oldest,

oldest, the nearest wreck. It is called

called the Baygitano, sunk in 1917. One

One crew was killed but when the submarine

submarine sank it and the lifeboat picked

picked up the crew, the submarine surfaced

surfaced and

surfaced and asked them... Although Portland

Portland was a naval base, the submarines

submarines knew they could get away with

with this because to fire up a steamship,

steamship, a submarine or destroyer, will

will take 12 hours, so they had ample

ample time to torpedo and leave the spot.

spot. There was no radar, sonar, almost

almost impossible to detect at this point

point a submarine under water so they

they would have had free reign. It was

was a virtual turkey shoot. The tonnage

tonnage of the ships is considerable and

and the amount of coal down there is enough

enough to supply Birmingham with six months

months of cold easily at this period.

period. A lot of them bringing fuel to

to supply the war effort. You might think

think the coal, the oil, the nasty

to supply the war effort. You might think the coal, the oil, the nasty

think the coal, the oil, the nasty iron

iron and steel ships would not be a good

good thing for marine wildlife, but you

you would have to think again. Tonight

Tonight we are looking at the extraordinary

extraordinary history of the coast and

and the hundreds of shipwrecks that litter

litter Lyme Bay. These may signify human

human disaster and tragedy, but they are

are a positive impact on the natural history,

history, because they have become a haven

haven for Sea life seeking shelter. This

This taken from the Adelaide. This showcases

showcases the kind of diversity these

these shipwrecks can draw from the marine

marine life. The thing about life in the

the sea, it is the reverse of life on

on land where plants are stationary and

and animals mobile. In the sea, phytoplankton

phytoplankton is mobile and animals such

such as coral and Barnacle are fixed.

fixed. On a sandy sea bed a wreck provides

provides these species with something

something they can anchor onto and do

do their fishing. And, of course, these

these will attract predators, these are

are great triggerfish which use fantastic

fantastic beaks, a wonderful mouth there,

there, they can give you a hard snip because

because they can break through the calcified

calcified shells of molluscs and eat the

the insides. These will show in their

their hundreds to protect themselves from

from the tides. And a lobster, they love

love shipwrecks because they can hide

hide in nooks and crannies and they do

do that during the day. This is huge,

huge, look at the size of the clause.

clause. And they will attract other predators,

predators, such as ambush

clause. And they will attract other predators, such as ambush

predators, such as ambush predators like

like this cuttlefish. That has caught

caught a lobster already. And cuttlefish

cuttlefish of course also like to lay

lay eggs on shipwrecks. They are the nurseries

nurseries for fish and they have these

these different ways to attract and maintain

maintain diversity of marine life and

and in these days where we are concerned

concerned about the health of oceans,

oceans, the shipwrecks are important.

important. I am thrilled to hear that

that and thrills that the tank might fulfil

fulfil that role because that is wreck.

wreck. We have an update on Scotty, I

I wish you could meet him, he is as wonderful

wonderful as I suggest. We must bring

bring him in tomorrow so you could meet

meet him. He is fighting his way to the

the shipwreck. They have broken the line

line that connects it to the surface,

surface, but they are trying to reattach

reattach the line. Massive drama. It is.

is. But we will play use shores begot

begot earlier during the perfectly smooth

smooth rehearsal we had during the slack

slack tide earlier. This is the wreck,

wreck, slightly earlier. We will use it

it as the wildlife really. That is a bib,

bib, I think. It looks like there is algae

algae and a lot of life growing on there.

there. It is doing its job for local fauna

fauna and flora. The conditions are very

very clear at the moment, despite turbulent

turbulent conditions recently. What is

is that? That is a common lobster, fantastic.

fantastic. Good. The divers who have been

been on there in the past have told me...

me... There is a conger eel that made

made it home. You have dived it and met

met this conger eel. They are amazing

amazing because they can grow up to almost

almost three metres long and live a long

long time. They can be incredibly aggressive.

aggressive. And they are territorial.

territorial. I think one of the divers

divers had an incident with his fingers

fingers when he put his hand in the hatch

hatch of the tank. That is fantastic.

fantastic. I'm glad to bring you those

those pictures from earlier and we are

are doing our best to reattach the line

line and get on the tank tonight. Scotty

Scotty is doing heroic work and speaking

speaking of heroic work, no discussion

discussion would be complete without talking

talking about smugglers. They were rife

rife in the 18th and 19th centuries and

and Daniel Defoe said the reigning occupation

occupation from the River Thames to end

end was roguing and smuggling. Smuggling

Smuggling was not particularly violent

violent or involving theft, it involved

involved bringing goods tax-free from

from the continent to Britain. This was

was because in those days it was before

before income tax was introduced and the

the government made most of its money

money on luxury goods like tobacco and

and brandy from France so they could bring

bring getting tax-free and stood to make

make a lot of money and you found out

out about it. What was the best thing

thing about the investigation, it started

started in a pub!

There has been an inn at Osmington

Mills is the 13th entry and it was often

often the first port of call for smugglers

smugglers bringing contraband from the

the beach.

smugglers bringing contraband from the beach.

the beach. Many people did not consider

consider smuggling a crime. It was free

free trade and whole communities were

were involved, men, women, even children,

children, either happy to turn a blind

blind eye, happy to help the network in

in exchange for extra cash, or just delighted

delighted to be enjoying cheap contraband.

contraband. Thank you. Like many who live

live here today, local historian Roger

Roger is a descendant of smugglers. What

What quantities were smuggled? Huge quantities.

quantities. There are reports from the

the Customs service on Bournemouth beach

beach alone of 80,000 gallons of brandy

brandy a year coming ashore and a report

report commissioned by the government

government in 1784 estimated of wine,

wine, spirits and tea and tobacco, between

between two thirds and four fifths consumed

consumed nationwide was contraband and

and so it became the norm to consume contraband

contraband and the exception to pay duty.

duty. Where were the goods coming from?

from? Brandy, wine, lace from France,

France, gin from Holland and the low countries,

countries, tea and silk from the East

East Indies. Tobacco and rum from the

the Caribbean. What kind of profits could

could be made? The profits were huge.

huge. Brandy you might be able to buy

buy a barrel for L1 and sell it for L4.

L4. What started with simple cash transactions

transactions soon evolved into something

something more sophisticated. The fledgling

fledgling high-street banks saw an opportunity

opportunity to make money by giving high

high interest loans to bones at the top

top of the smuggling chain. By 1671, the

the British Government had had enough

enough and the board of customs was created

created to try to stop the illicit trade.

trade. Officials were stationed in villages

villages to watch over the coastal paths

paths and patrol the seas. Those that

that specialised in smuggling liquor were

were known as flaskers. How did the smugglers

smugglers stay one step ahead? As they

they came across the channel they would

would rope together 40- 60 tubs and if

if there was a threat of danger and often

often they would be warned by an accomplice,

accomplice, they could throw them overboard

overboard and each raft of tops would

would have a weight to sink them below

below the surface, and a very discreet

discreet float or marker. Did throwing

throwing barrels overboard have a name?

name? It was known as sewing the crop

crop and a lot of the smugglers were fish

fish are men so they could legitimately

legitimately go out as fishermen in order

order to reclaim the crop. Very cunning.

cunning. Up until now, the smugglers had

had largely managed to stay one step ahead

ahead of the authorities, but in 1822,

1822, they lost their advantage. His Majesty's

Majesty's coastguard was created with

with the objective of preventing smuggling

smuggling and, as records show, it was

was almost immediately successful.

This is one of the calendars of

prisoners of Dorchester jail, the county

county jail, in nearly 19 century and

and all sorts of crimes are listed. This

This is from 1814, five smugglers in that

that year, and there are two of them,

them, Edward Marshalsea, he was aged 48,

48, his crime was conveying smuggled brandy.

brandy. But he didn't get prosecuted.

prosecuted. There must've been a lack

lack of evidence for reason. This was

was 1814 before the Coast Guard, what

what happens before they arrive on the

the scene? If we move forward to 1824,

1824, there were 45 smugglers that year,

year, there are five in a row all for

for smuggling, all arrested on the same

same day, so I imagine it was the same

same run of contraband and three of them

them were women. It wasn't just a male

male preserve. Susan Symes, age 46 from

from Bridport to be imprisoned. So these

these were prosecuted as well. Most of

of them were, most of them spent at least

least six months in jail. And Margaret

Margaret Randall, she was 65. Good for

for her! CHUCKLING Yeah!

Yeah! These records indicate a spectacular

spectacular rise in the number of smugglers

smugglers arriving in Dorchester jailed,

jailed, 24 times as many. So this is the

the start of them losing the war. It is,

is, really.

Beautiful view from up here.

Beautiful view from up here. You can

just about I think see a bit of Devon

Devon there, stretching all the way through

through to Portland Bill over there. And

And somewhere out there just beyond Portland

Portland Bill, Scotty is still battling

battling with the monsters of the deep.

deep. Unbelievable, give that man a medal.

medal. What is remarkable about this as

as it gives you the sense of the geography

geography of smuggling, because the government

government are quite easy at clamping

clamping down on smuggling town, so places

places like shamus became important, where

where locals could get smuggled staff

staff over the beach, the vagaries of

of wind and tide made sure local knowledge

knowledge was very important here. You

You could only enter the river at

certain times and they could sneak in,

in, only the local fishermen really knew

knew that. That is why the authorities

authorities started building in wonderful

wonderful cup points like this buildings

buildings like this. This dates from 1804,

1804, it is a lookout point, it was used

used by the revenue and excise keep an

an eye on the locals. This one proved

proved very adept at cutting off the flow

flow of brandy to this particular place.

place. Killjoys. Do you want to know something?

something? Why uncle was a Coast Guard

Guard for 50 years. Was he saving lives

lives and that side of it or was still

still involved in anti-smuggling? Up until

until about ten years ago, so I don't

don't know if he was involved in capturing

capturing smugglers, but I know he was

was a big fan of metal detecting and he

he wishes to take me out metal detecting,

detecting, which I absolutely loved. He

He found all sorts of fantastic coins

coins and treasures. Neil has been receiving

receiving your treasures all day. Let's

Let's go and check out what he has been

been finding. In the discovery centre

centre here we are surrounded by amazing

amazing items people have brought in.

in. I am with Henry, who has brought a

a particularly interesting item. So this

this is a fragment of a World War II dog

dog tag, which belonged to a US soldier,

soldier, which we think was stationed

stationed in the area I live just before

before D-Day. See you out beachcombing

beachcombing and you sort of, it caught

caught your eye? Yes, we were looking

looking for shells and the like. I must

must show the view is quite how fragile

fragile this is. If you look at this,

this, it is really, really paper-thin.

paper-thin. And actually quite a lot of

of it has degraded, so what information

information have we got from this? We

We were really lucky with the information

information that remains. We were able

able to get the soldier's name, Bernard

Bernard Sandler. The surname is missing,

missing, but the serial number is the

the list of numbers you see there. And

And we can just see the last letter is

is missing and that is the key. You put

put that number into Google, and that

that is how you got the identity of the

the guy? Yes, that the help of social

social media. We were fortunate enough

enough to have people on social media

media who were into this particular...

particular... And that sort of process

process has told us quite a lot about

about Bernard's life, what do we know?

know? We were able to festival get his

his name from the serial number, he was

was on the 29th division of US infantry,

infantry, Bernard Sandler. Did he survive

survive the war, because dog tags left

left over are not always a great sign?

sign? I am happy to say he did, he landed

landed in Normandy on D-Day, who was injured

injured as part of the D-Day landings

landings but he was able to fight on and

and survive the war and get back to the

the US. So he got back to the US, and

and using social media you have actually

actually been able to trace members of

of his family, is that correct? Absolutely,

Absolutely, lucky enough to have a friend

friend of a friend who is an amateur genealogist

genealogist who has traced lost dog tags

tags before the was able to find living

living relatives of Bernard Sandler, in

in fact his daughter, Lesley. And there

there is more good news? Yes, so after

after Phil's detective work, getting in

in touch with family, they were thrilled

thrilled to find out about the discovery

discovery and I am happy to say they got

got a trip down to the UK land in autumn,

autumn, and they are going to take you

you back to its rightful home. Such a

a lovely end to what could have been quite

quite a tragic story. That is what is

is really remarkable about beachcombing.

beachcombing. Thank you so much, Henry.

Henry. I love this piece. Albert Price,

Price, our detriment of Exercise Smash.

Smash. He was on one of the Valentine

Valentine tanks that sunk that night,

night, that day. What is interesting is

is the diet that is supposed to be going

going on tonight and was happening this

this morning is actually just the latest

latest of a series of dives stretching

stretching back way over a fortnight now,

now, where we are trying to identify each

each individual tank that sunk off Studland.

Studland. I was lucky enough to join the

the crew on one of the earlier dives.

I'm heading out with the aisle of

Purbeck sub Aqua club, who are hoping

hoping to find out more about the sunken

sunken tanks. Today's mission is to serve

serve the mare survey the characteristics

characteristics that should provide which

which mark of tank lies on the sea floor.

floor. Local diver Nick Reed has been

been researching the types of Valentine

Valentine tanks used in Exercise Smash.

Smash. He has an inkling the one we're

we're heading down to today could be Albert's.

Albert's. Nick, we couldn't ask for better

better conditions, what is the plan today?

today? What Chris and I are doing today

today is going down, we want a Texan basic

basic measurements to confirm this is

is the mark mine. We will go down, have

have a look of the tracks and particularly

particularly this area to see if we can

can see the machine gun. If it is a machine

machine gun, it is not Albert's. If it

it isn't a machine gun, it could be Albert's.

Albert's. Everybody happy? OK, we will

will start the dive. Away you go, Dan.

The tanks lie 15 metres down, and

just a few minutes into the dive, they

they emerge from the depths. Great visibility

visibility can from one end of the tank

tank to the next. The tank is in remarkable

remarkable condition. Its main armament,

armament, still clearly visible, and the

the tracks still attached to the wheels

wheels on one side.

But it is time for the survey work

to begin. The dimensions of the gun offers

offers clues to the mark of the tank.

tank. So Nick and his team measured its

its length and diameter. They are also

also looking for the presence, or absence,

absence, of an ancillary machine gun.

The team will need to continue their

survey work over the summer to be sure

sure this is a Mark nine.

Well, that was the most complete

wreck I've ever died on. You go down there

there and there is just a tank sitting

sitting on the bottom of Dorset beach,

beach, and you can see some of the tracks

tracks are still on it, the wheels, some

some of them are still intact, some of

of them have fallen to the sea bed, but

but it has become beautiful reef, and

and it is mixed emotions, because you

you can see the vehicle that Albert could

could have been on, and 75 years later

later he has told me the story of that

that day. But you also think about the

the young men who were trapped in those

those tanks as they sank on that exercise,

exercise, and who paid the ultimate price.

Well, this is where we were hoping

to bring you live footage of that dive,

dive, the team are out there, Scotty is

is still trying, but unfortunately they

they are not down on that tank yet. Nick,

Nick, good to see you again, I knew a

a bit worried about your guys out there?

there? It is a shame, isn't it? The guys

guys we have out there are probably two

two of the most experienced, but yes,

yes, we are just coming of spring tides,

tides, so it was always a hard ask, but

but definitely worth the risk. Just explain,

explain, when you saw the pictures of

of surveying, what is the critical thing

thing we are trying to measure? What we

we are looking for is, there are two types

types of tank on the sea bed at the moment,

moment, there is a Mark nine and a Mark

Mark 11. What we are trying to identify

identify is which one is which. Services

Services footage from earlier today, we

we have got the gun, the turret, we should

should say it is not facing forward, it

it is facing over the engine compartment,

compartment, because when they went on

on to the beach there are going backwards,

backwards, as it were, the guns. What

What is important about that gun, what

what do we need to clarify about it? The

The gun on the Mark mine was a L6, so

so slightly smaller than the Mark 11,

11, and the other key factor is the marked

marked nine -- a L6.

Six LB. The idea was to keep quite

compact and quite low, but the crew of

of three must have been very squashed

squashed in there. I have been lucky

enough to sit in one of these tanks, and

and I have severed respect for those guys.

guys. I struggled to get in, so actually

actually to get in and out in battle dress

dress in real life... And we have a Mark

Mark 11 coming up as well. You can see

see the gun is much bigger. And the machine

machine gun beside it. Yes, that is really

really identifiable, the tanks were survey

survey underwater, first thing we look

look for, machine gun. And the length

length is different as well. The Mark

Mark 11 has a 75 millimetre gun and it

it is a little bit longer, but definitely

definitely different. The survey in team

team have been doing that over the last

last couple of weeks, they were meant

meant to be down doing it now. We know

know that Albert was on a Mark nine. Yes.

Yes. That is one of the things he said

said when he interviewed him, I was on

on a Mark nine. Because we discussed what

what type of gun he had on his tank. One

One of the theories that they all sang,

sang, they were all Mark 11s, but not

not quite. So how far through the survey,

survey, have you managed to identify all

all the other vehicles down there? We

We have just about confirmed all of them,

them, and we have four Mark 11s and three

three Mark nines. It would be nice to

to that dive tonight. It is not over yet,

yet, we have a few minutes left. If any

any of them get down there, fingers crossed.

crossed. We are going to catch up on some

some of the things you have been sending

sending in with Lucy. Wagg yes, you have

have been sending us some fabulous footage

footage and photos of coastal wildlife.

wildlife. I will introduce now one of

of my favourites because it is such a

a fantastically weird beast. It is a sunfish

sunfish that was sent in by Andrea Moore,

Moore, and it was filmed just here in

in Dorset. Oft Preston beach just last

last week. These are some visitors to

to the south-west of the UK particularly

particularly in June and July, and they

they really are strange creatures, because

because they are sort of huge, flat fish.

fish. They grow to about three metres

metres tall. They are very strange, big

big freaks, a bit like you, Dan! LAUGHTER

Very good. I have a question to you,

what has a bank, the Cenotaph, what has

has the UN plaza in New York, and what

what has the fountain in Mumbai, the floral

floral mount Fountain in Mumbai all got

got in common? I don't know. They are

are all built from the remarkable wonder

wonder material that is Portland stone.

stone. Quarried from just over there,

there, it is one of the most sought after

after building stones in the world. I

I wanted to go and find out why so I paid

paid them a little visit.

The Isle of Portland lies at the

southernmost tip of Dorset. A tiny peninsula

peninsula measuring just 11.5 square kilometres.

kilometres. This great slab of limestone

limestone was laid down 145 million years

years ago in the late Jurassic, when Britain

Britain was further south, round about

about the same latitude as Morocco is

is now. Back then, the climate was warm,

warm, and this was the bottom of a shallow

shallow subtropical see.

How did this limestone rock form?

Win sea water warms it loses the ability

ability to hold carbon dioxide and as

as that carbon dioxide is released the

the calcium suspended in the water combines

combines to form calcium carbonate in

in much the same as a boiling kettle produces

produces limescale. This calcium carbonate

carbonate settled on the sea bed in layers.

layers. And over millions of years solidified

solidified into sedimentary limestone

limestone rock, now the basis of a thriving

thriving stone industry.

thriving stone industry. For sentries,

sentries, Quine relied on brute force

force and hard work and compound of lasts

lasts hammers and wedges used to spit

spit the stone. -- gunpowder blasts. It

It could take men a single day to extract

extract a ten tonne block. Several stone

stone producers on Portland, Albion stone

stone is the largest. Mark is in charge

charge of all the mining here. Welcome

Welcome to Portland. It seems familiar.

familiar. You must have built every building

building in Britain! Barely a street in

in the City of London without our stone.

stone. How long can people be quarrying

quarrying here? We know the Romans exploited

exploited the stone. Stone extraction

extraction of the quarry has been revolutionised

revolutionised as the industry has moved

moved to deep underground, from the surface.

surface. It is massive down here, bigger

bigger than expected. We have Portland

Portland stone, limestone up to the roof

roof and above the roof a different type

type of limestone. This was laid down

down in a different environment. You are

are carefully mining out the good stuff?

stuff? Absolutely and leaving the stuff

stuff that is no good behind in the roof.

roof. At this quarry site, Mark and his

his team extract more than 20,000 tonnes

tonnes a year. With almost five kilometres

kilometres of subterranean tunnels that

that are advancing by 20 metres every

every week, this is quarrying on a massive

massive scale. How long have you been

been working this? We have been here ten

ten years, starting in late 2008. There

There has been a lot of rock coming out

out of here. That crack looks brutal,

brutal, will it fall on us? The cracks

cracks existed before we mind, we have

have just mind through them and we support

support them, put straps and bolts around

around them and work with them. It has

has been their millions of years? It has,

has, caused by tectonic stretching of

of the ground. The stone that once filled

filled these tunnels has gone on to be

be used in prestigious construction projects

projects in the UK and around the world.

world. Why does Portland stone make fantastic

fantastic building material? One is the

the fact it is white in colour and available

available in big sizes. It can be easily

easily cut and work and is strong enough

enough to resist the weather and another

another popular feature is the fact it

it often has fossils Inc and you can see

see in this section a number of bivalves.

bivalves. These animals were alive back

back in the late Jurassic, they have since

since become buried and incorporated into

into the stone. What about the roof? Why

Why do you leave it? The rock in the roof

roof is limestone but formed in a lagoon

lagoon environment. We know it is a dirt

dirt bed because we find evidence of fossil

fossil trees in the rocks above. But rubbish

rubbish for building? No good for building

building but it is a great roof. At today's

today's working face this technology has

has revolutionised stone extraction on

on Portland with Italian stone cutting

cutting technology designed for Tuscany's

Tuscany's marble quarries. The diamond

diamond tipped chainsaws make light work

work of the rocks, cutting a 20 tonne

tonne block in just 12 hours. A far cry

cry from the labour-intensive methods

methods of old. After a series of cutss,

cutss, an inflatable bag is inserted and

and filled with water, pressurised, and

and the force displaces the rock, enabling

enabling it to be taken away for processing.

processing. One of the best things about

about coming here is learning how the

the stone was formed. It was Jurassic

Jurassic sea bed and now it is a wonder

wonder material, loved all over the world.

I am back with Anjana and we have

fantastic quarry finds. Not from Portland

Portland but from around the coast on

on the Isle of Purbeck. People are familiar

familiar with calcified fossils

on the Isle of Purbeck. People are familiar with calcified fossils

familiar with calcified fossils but this

this is special. It looks peculiar, but

but it is fossilised wood. How does soft

soft cellular tissue, how would these

these trees become fossilised what does

does it tell us about the environment?

environment? I will take you back in time

time 140 million years and imagine we

we are ankle-deep in a salt lake and surrounded

surrounded by trees. What happens is the

the briny water, the trees are soaking

soaking it up and eventually what will

will happen to the poor old tree, the

the briny water is not healthy for it

it and it will topple and fall into the

the lagoon. Eventually, the cellular structure

structure will be replaced by briny solution.

solution. It has a preservative nature

nature and over time, as the tree becomes

becomes fossilised, not only is it buried

buried in rock but the cellular structure

structure is preserved because of this

this solution. And how it is preserved,

preserved, this is almost like holding

holding a piece of wood but the detail

detail is just amazing. What kind of tree

tree would this have been? In the Purbeck

Purbeck beds we get ancient species of

of juniper or Cyprus, which were interesting

interesting trees and you still see them

them today, if you go to the Mediterranean

Mediterranean you see these types of trees

trees are still alive which is extraordinary,

extraordinary, how they have survived

survived the dinosaurs. There are not

not enough props given to the trees because

because they were there before the dinosaurs

dinosaurs and they are still here. We

We have a forest of juniper, a swamp and

and we also have a another fantastic five

five from Purbeck which is amazing, because

because it is a huge footprint. If we

we go back in time to 140 million years

years ago, it was not a tranquil place

place to be at the lagoon because of these

these beasts and this is a beautiful footprint

footprint from a medallist Saul, a dinosaur

dinosaur that dominated the environment,

environment, nine metres tall, a ferocious

ferocious meat eater and would have fed

fed on smaller dinosaurs in the forested

forested areas but he was a contender,

contender, the top of his tree. The megalasaur

megalasaur is a theropods, which are exciting

exciting because they are ancestors of

of birds. You could say that is a thorough

thorough pod. One over there, all around

around us still! And what other creatures

creatures might have been languishing?

languishing? It was a rich environment

environment for species of lagoons and

and you will be aware of alligators and

and crocodiles and in that period there

there was a strange creature and over

over in Purbeck, somebody I know found

found a beautiful skull and if you can

can see it and get to the County Museum

Museum in Dorchester, they have a beautiful

beautiful specimen of that creature's

creature's skull. Now I think... I think

think we have contacts with the boat.

boat. We can see how we

think we have contacts with the boat. We can see how we

boat. We can see how we are getting on

on with Dan. I'm

I'm afraid that is not true. We have contact

contact with the boat but the dive had

had to be cancelled. Scottie did all he

he could and as a result he is coming

coming on the show tomorrow to talk us

us through exactly what happens. Unfortunately

Unfortunately it did not work out. I had

had been looking forward to doing a live

live dive on this stretch of coast for

for months and we now cannot quite conclude

conclude Albert's story. But the work

work you're done, the measuring of the

the tank, there is other evidence you

you have acted take into account. It is

is the position of the tanks. We know

know where the seven are and plotted them.

them. Albert mentioned he seemed to hit

hit an obstacle, he thought it was a rock.

rock. You tipped and must have been near

near a navigational hazard. There are

are no rocks apart from the training bank

bank sticking out and when the tanks were

were launched, it would probably have

have put them straight onto the training

training bank during the exercise. I am

am certain he hit the training bank. It

It is then whether he drifted south or

or to the east and that is one of the

the things we have to check over the next

next couple of months. It would have been

been nice to get a conclusive answer on

on the dive tonight. From the work you

you have done, do you think it could have

have been Albert's Tang? It is definitely

definitely a mark nine. We identified

identified three tanks so it is this one

one or two macro others. That is something,

something, Albert, 75 years ago your tanker

tanker sank and there is a good probability

probability that one we almost dived on

on today is yours. Thank you, all the

the best and good luck with the rest of

of the summer and the build-up to the

the 75 year anniversary of D-Day and Smash.

Smash. We

We have time for your amazing wildlife

wildlife finds. This has been sent in

in other bottlenosed dolphin. That was

was taken from an Exmouth lifeboat, out

out training when the Dolphin came out

out bow riding with them. Roger Jackson

Jackson sent maps.

Jackson sent maps. Really fantastic --

-- centre that. And we have a tank. Dan

Dan is back just in time. I can't talk

talk about that but you can. This is in

in Norfolk. It used to be a firing range

range and this I think is a Crusader tank

tank and was used after the war. We have

have also got the cannon balls back and

and we have weighed and measured them

them and they

them and they are 24 pounds. These were

were substantial. HMS victory had a lot

lot of these at Trafalgar. It could have

have been shore batteries, as well. Before

Before the Battle of Trafalgar, a wonderful

wonderful piece of history, but we will

will not know how they ended up on this

this beach. You have told is a lot more

more than we knew at the start of the

the show. We have got coming up tomorrow

tomorrow night, what are you doing? Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have more history. So much

much history we will go back millions

millions of years because we will look

look at the wonderful prehistoric story

story of this stretch of coastline. We

We will be doing a beach wide fossils

fossils search, trying to uncover some

some of the extraordinary creatures that

that lived here 190 million years ago.

ago. And I will check back with Chris

Chris Moore, resident fossil expert, about

about the challenge we set on Tuesday.

Tuesday. I am looking forward to that.

that. See you tomorrow.