NOVA Escape Because Accidents Happen Abandon Ship 1999

When a ship founders in mid-ocean, time is the enemy. How can the crew and passengers get off the ship before it sinks? How can they survive perhaps for hours in cold and storm-tossed waters? How can they be rescued? Abandon Ship follows hundreds of years of maritime safety engineering including the remarkable stories behind the invention of lifejackets, life boats, breathing apparatus, and many other life-saving technologies.
Original broadcast date: 02/17/99