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Titanic Secrets of the Shipwreck S01E02
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00:00The Titanic is the world's most famous shipwreck.
00:04The iceberg was enormous.
00:06As it swept past Titanic, the lights of the bridge lit it up.
00:09Absolutely brilliant white.
00:10This is the story of those who've tried to find it.
00:14First, you've got to recognise we're taking a voyage into history.
00:18He had a call name called Cadillac Jack.
00:21He loved to gamble.
00:22The Titanic was a big one.
00:24He occasionally joked that he was the biggest shipowner in the world,
00:28but most of the ships were on the seabed.
00:30It's a story of incredible scientific innovation.
00:34I said, well, I don't have the equipment to do this.
00:37And he said, build it.
00:39Nothing like that had ever been done, to my knowledge, in oceanography.
00:44A story of Cold War intrigue.
00:46The primary purpose of the expedition to find the Titanic
00:50was not to find the Titanic.
00:52It was 100% completely classified.
00:54And it led to one of the greatest discoveries in history.
00:59You had to stay focused.
01:00We were looking for something that might be kind of small.
01:03And you want to see it when it shows up.
01:05For every generation, Titanic is reborn.
01:08When Bob Ballard found the wreck in 1985,
01:11this was another whole new chapter.
01:12By the 1980s, the Titanic had been lost in the ocean for over 70 years.
01:26Several attempts to find it, by Texas oilman Jack Grimm, had failed.
01:32Meanwhile, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts,
01:37one of America's leading oceanographers
01:39was putting together a plan of his own.
01:42His name?
01:44Dr. Robert Ballard.
01:47Bob Ballard is a very energetic, enthusiastic person.
01:51He basically commands a room when he walks in.
01:54And he entices you to get involved with his projects.
01:58The actual beginning of the quest to try to find Titanic
02:03goes much further back.
02:06But, you know, Bob had been looking to find the Titanic for a number of years.
02:10And, of course, there were the previous expeditions to go out and find it
02:15that had been unsuccessful.
02:17Since the 1970s, Ballard had been trying to design a device
02:21capable of exploring the deepest regions of the North Atlantic,
02:25where the Titanic was thought to be located.
02:28Bob was beginning to set up a laboratory at Woods Hole called the Deep Submergence Lab.
02:37And he offered me a job.
02:39What he had in mind for me was to build Argo and to go look for the Titanic.
02:43He told me that the very first time I met him, that that's what he wanted to do.
02:47Stuart Harris's job was to build a submersible device, which Ballard called the Argo.
02:56Previous attempts to find the Titanic had failed largely due to bad weather
03:01and technical malfunctions at extreme depths.
03:05But the hope was that Argo would withstand all these pressures.
03:09They had come up with a concept which they called Argo and Jason.
03:13Argo was a kind of unique combination of sonar and video imaging.
03:17The idea was that Argo would be a deep submersible platform that is towed from a ship
03:24and that Jason would be a small, remotely operated vehicle
03:29that would be launched from Argo, actually,
03:32and be able to go down and do the up-close and personal kind of filming.
03:36Argo had three TV cameras.
03:38These were designed to incorporate a live video signal
03:44so that you could see in real time at the surface on the research vessel
03:50what the vehicle was directly passing over.
03:54Building Argo would require millions of dollars.
03:58Without a wealthy benefactor behind him,
04:01Bob Ballard decided to seek funding from a different source,
04:04the U.S. Navy.
04:07Robert Ballard is most widely known as an oceanographer,
04:12an undersea explorer.
04:15But it's also an important detail of his character
04:18that Robert Ballard is a commander in the U.S. Navy.
04:22He strategizes and liaises with the U.S. government.
04:26So he absolutely has a foot in a military camp
04:29and a foot in an academic camp.
04:32He is both an oceanographer and a naval officer.
04:36Bob was able to get his projects funded by the Office of Naval Research.
04:42They were very keen on helping Bob work on Argo Jason
04:47because they saw it as a deep ocean asset
04:52that would be useful to the Navy as well.
04:55The Argo was of great interest to the U.S. Navy.
04:58They saw the military applications and the potential
05:00for searching for things such as lost submarines.
05:04Ballard is operating in a time when the military-industrial-academic complex
05:09is a core component of U.S. foreign policy,
05:12that the Pentagon will pour money into technological developments
05:16in areas where it can see a dual-use technology,
05:20where developments of technologies that might be for civilian purposes
05:24will also have enormous military benefits.
05:27So he approaches the Pentagon with a pitch
05:30to use this technology to find the Titanic.
05:34Ultimately, the Navy is not interested in the search for the Titanic,
05:37but for the strategic reasons of needing to locate two lost submarines,
05:43the Navy decides that they will meet Ballard's proposal,
05:48but that the search for the Titanic is a byproduct.
05:51The primary purpose of the expedition to find the Titanic
05:55was not to find the Titanic.
05:57It was to go survey the wrecks of the two U.S. Navy nuclear submarines.
06:02Both the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion were attack submarines.
06:07They were basically hunter-killers.
06:08Their job was to hunt Russian submarines,
06:12detect them, track them,
06:13make sure they didn't pose a threat to U.S. ships.
06:16Ballard had approached the Navy to fulfil his dream of finding the Titanic.
06:24Now, he found himself in a Cold War game of cat and mouse
06:28in which the stakes couldn't be higher.
06:31For 20 years, the Soviet Union has been accumulating enormous military night.
06:36They didn't stop when their forces exceeded all requirements
06:38of a legitimate defensive capability.
06:411982 is a period of heightened tension
06:44between the United States and the Soviet Union,
06:47broadly referred to as the New Cold War.
06:50Bomber fleets and intercontinental ballistic missiles
06:53grew in number on both sides.
06:56Submarine forces were built up with the primary goal
06:58of hunting and destroying, if necessary, Soviet vessels.
07:04Submarines at the time helped maintain the doctrine
07:06of mutually assured destruction.
07:08They had their ballistic submarines within the range of our cities.
07:11We had our submarines in the range of their cities.
07:14The U.S.S. Thresher disappeared in 1963.
07:19They surmise quite quickly what happened to the Thresher.
07:23Apparently, it was a faulty pipe that started leaking.
07:27The Scorpion is still hotly debated about what really happened there.
07:31The Scorpion was deployed on a mission
07:33to observe Soviet naval forces.
07:36During this time, it was lost.
07:39And a mystery surrounds exactly what caused that.
07:44Then you have more extreme conspiracy theories
07:47that it was sunk by the Soviet Union,
07:50either because the Scorpion was getting near the fleet,
07:52imposing a threat, or it was done in retaliation.
07:55Alongside the tragedy of losing two cutting-edge military vessels
08:00and all hands on board,
08:03if the Soviets had developed technology
08:05that allowed them to trace these submarines,
08:07if they had been destroyed through military action,
08:10then it could mean that the covert nature,
08:13the secretive nature of U.S. undersea activities
08:16was actually exposed.
08:18So the entire balance of terror
08:20upon which the Cold War rested
08:22was at risk unless they could confirm
08:26that the Soviets were not able
08:28to locate and find these submarines.
08:32They basically bookend the Titanic.
08:35They were close enough to be part of this operation
08:39where they could be surveyed
08:42while the claim was that there was a search for the Titanic.
08:45It depends on what version of the story you want to believe.
08:48Either Robert Ballard came up with this idea
08:51of the search for the Titanic as the cover story,
08:55or it was the Navy that realized,
08:58hey, this is an opportunity.
09:00We'll fund this expedition,
09:01and it will provide the cover we need
09:04to go look at these submarines.
09:05His primary responsibility is to find the submarines,
09:08and with any time remaining,
09:10having achieved that objective
09:12and any resources remaining,
09:14he can then use that to find the Titanic.
09:17So it is predominantly a military salvage mission
09:20that then, as a byproduct,
09:24can become the search for the Titanic.
09:26Oh, it was 100% completely classified,
09:30and it remains so for about 20 years.
09:33That's when the world learned
09:35that the discovery of the Titanic
09:36had actually been a ruse
09:38to go look at these submarines.
09:39By 1984, with funding from the U.S. Navy,
09:52Robert Ballard had built
09:53his deep-water submersible, the Argo.
09:56He must use it to examine the wrecks
09:58of two nuclear submarines
10:00located in the area where the Titanic sank.
10:03To fulfill his ambition
10:06of finding the Titanic as well,
10:09he realized the Argo alone
10:11may not be enough.
10:13So he enlisted the help
10:15of the French Marine Institute,
10:17IFROMER.
10:19Bernard Pillot
10:20has never spoken about these events before.
10:22Yes, it was interested in such a chase
10:26as an epave.
10:28Because it was still an epave
10:30who had a renome,
10:31who had been a great catastrophe
10:35for the commerce navigation.
10:39It was also a great catastrophe
10:40for the nautical engineering of the time.
10:45It was a mission
10:46during which we had
10:47good relations with the Americans
10:51with which we worked on
10:52on the discovery of the Titanic,
10:54Ballard and Woods Hole.
10:56So the collaboration with IFROMER
10:58came about pretty naturally.
11:01They had just developed their
11:02very sophisticated side-looking
11:05sonar system, which they called SAR.
11:07IFROMER also had
11:08the wide area search technology
11:11which Woods Hole didn't have at the time.
11:13On tournait
11:15with a sonar latéral
11:16qui éclairait at least 400 mètres
11:19de chaque côté de son...
11:21du corps remorqué,
11:23mais qui ne pouvaient
11:24détecter que des gros trucs.
11:26If the French had found
11:28positive indication
11:29of where the wreck was,
11:31then we would come in
11:32with Argo
11:33and just do a video
11:34and film survey
11:35of the wreckage.
11:37While the search
11:38for the Titanic
11:38would be a joint
11:39U.S.-French operation,
11:41IFROMER were told
11:42nothing about Ballard's
11:44secret mission
11:45for the U.S. Navy.
11:46If French team
11:47were kept in the dark
11:48about this whole project,
11:49I think to any observers
11:50like the Soviets
11:51that the U.S. and French
11:52are working together,
11:54that means they must really
11:56be looking for the Titanic
11:57and not doing something
11:58covert.
12:00In order to narrow down
12:25the search area,
12:26the French team
12:27carefully examined
12:28every aspect
12:29of the tragic events
12:31that took place
12:32over 70 years earlier
12:33and led
12:34to the sinking
12:35of the Titanic.
12:39When the Titanic
12:40left Southampton Dock
12:42on its fateful voyage,
12:44no-one believed
12:45it could sink.
12:47Least of all
12:48the man at the helm,
12:49Captain Edward Smith,
12:51probably the most famous
12:53sailor in the world.
12:54Captain Smith
12:56is a selling point
12:57for the Titanic.
12:58There are some
12:58first-class passengers
12:59who like him so much
13:00that they'll only travel
13:02on ships
13:02that he is in command of.
13:05Captain Smith,
13:06highest-paid sailor
13:08in the world,
13:09known as the
13:10millionaire's captain,
13:11nicknamed EJ,
13:13known to have a
13:14quick smile,
13:15ready with a story.
13:17The other thing
13:18about Captain Smith
13:18is he liked speed,
13:21he liked going fast.
13:22The officers said
13:23it would make them
13:24fairly flush with pride
13:26as he conned his ships
13:27up New York
13:28with a foot to spare
13:29at the bow
13:29and a foot to spare
13:30at the stern.
13:31If you look at interviews
13:32he makes,
13:33even nine, ten years
13:35before the Titanic,
13:36he says that technology
13:37has taken us
13:38beyond the point
13:39of dramatic shipwrecks
13:40and it does seem
13:41as if Smith
13:42has been rendered
13:44a little bit
13:45too complacent.
13:46He is too confident
13:47both in his own capabilities,
13:49his own track record,
13:50and of course
13:51in the technology
13:51that he believes
13:52has rendered ships
13:53like the Titanic
13:54close to unsinkable.
13:59About 6.30,
14:01after sunset,
14:02Titanic entered
14:03a very cold part
14:04of the North Atlantic
14:05and from this moment on
14:07they knew
14:09they might encounter ice.
14:11It was a Sunday night,
14:13it was incredibly dark,
14:15there was no moon
14:15in the sky.
14:16It is an exceptionally
14:19calm night
14:20so there's no wind
14:21or breeze
14:22that is breaking waves
14:23around the base
14:24of the iceberg
14:24that helps them
14:25come easier to spot.
14:28Everything has conspired
14:30to make this iceberg
14:31difficult to spot.
14:33There was so much ice
14:35in the area
14:35where Titanic sank
14:36that it created
14:37a very thin band of haze
14:39all around the horizon
14:40and this reduced
14:42the contrast
14:42with the berg
14:43and so therefore
14:44instead of the berg
14:45being seen
14:46a few seconds earlier
14:48it was only seen
14:49about 50 seconds
14:50before the collision.
14:53The fact that
14:54Captain Smith
14:55hasn't slowed
14:56the ship down
14:57means that
14:57they are dealing
14:58with something
14:58that is going to
14:59take them longer
15:00to spot
15:01on a ship
15:02that is moving
15:03too fast
15:04to spot it in time.
15:05When Frederick Fleet
15:06looks out
15:07and sees an iceberg
15:08dead ahead
15:09he rings the bell
15:10he also calls
15:11down to the bridge
15:12to say the famous words
15:13iceberg dead ahead sir.
15:15He communicates
15:16with them
15:17using a telephone
15:18the quartermaster
15:20of the man
15:21steering the ship
15:21Robert Hitchens
15:23he attempts
15:24to avert disaster.
15:27The iceberg
15:27was enormous
15:28they go hard
15:30to starboard
15:30to try to avoid it
15:31and it looks
15:32for a second
15:33as if the Titanic
15:34is turning enough
15:35in order to avoid
15:36this iceberg
15:37but at the last second
15:39they graze the ship.
15:40the iceberg
15:42opens up
15:43a significant
15:44section of the Titanic
15:45to the North Atlantic water.
15:47Titanic was built
15:48to crash
15:49at the front
15:49and have four
15:50compartments gone
15:51but this iceberg
15:52took five compartments.
15:55At least five
15:56watertight compartments
15:58are flooded
15:59and as soon
16:01as this happens
16:02it is mathematically
16:04certain
16:05that Titanic
16:07will founder
16:07that the Titanic
16:08will sink.
16:10The night
16:11the Titanic sank
16:12an event took place
16:14that would leave
16:15explorers searching
16:16for the wreck
16:16at a disadvantage
16:17for more than 70 years.
16:20An error was made
16:21when the wireless operators
16:23sent out the wrong
16:24coordinates
16:25for Titanic's position
16:26which were picked up
16:27by two nearby ships
16:29the Californian
16:30and the Carpathia.
16:33Carpathia
16:33in responding
16:34to Titanic's distress signal
16:35was going
16:36ten miles
16:38to the wrong position
16:39but completely randomly
16:41Titanic's actual
16:42crash site
16:43happened to be
16:45between
16:45where the rescue ship
16:47was
16:47and on the way
16:48to the wrong
16:49distress position.
16:51The last messages
16:52coming from
16:53the wireless room
16:54play a vital role
16:55yes in getting
16:56the Carpathia
16:57to near
16:59the site
16:59of where the Titanic
17:00sinks
17:01but
17:02when it comes
17:02to people
17:03hoping to find
17:04the Titanic
17:04there is a much
17:05larger area
17:06for them to search
17:07until they actually
17:08encounter the wreck
17:09itself.
17:13If Robert Ballard
17:15and the French team
17:16were to be successful
17:17in finding the Titanic
17:18they would need
17:20more than just
17:21technology.
17:22Their search strategy
17:23would need to account
17:25for the many
17:25historical uncertainties
17:27surrounding
17:28Titanic's position.
17:31The search strategy
17:31was based upon
17:33the last reported
17:34sightings
17:35the last
17:36telegraph message
17:38that had been sent
17:39it was also based
17:40on the sightings
17:41of the Carpathia
17:42and the Californian
17:43where they picked up
17:44the survivors
17:44and the timing of things
17:47and what they knew
17:48of the surface currents
17:49as well as
17:50the subsea currents
17:51in that area.
17:53For the purposes
18:14of mapping out
18:15a search area
18:16there was another
18:17publicly available source
18:19containing important clues
18:21as to the Titanic's
18:22possible location.
18:24Well men first
18:25you've got to recognize
18:26the fact that we're
18:27taking a voyage
18:28into history
18:28and that's just what it is
18:30and hopefully we can
18:31find the wreck
18:32and gain access
18:33and gain access
18:34to the person's office
18:35it's my film
18:36if I want to talk
18:37on and on and on
18:37I think I will.
18:40Between 1980
18:41and 1983
18:42Texan oil tycoon
18:44Jack Grimm's
18:45three missions
18:46to find the Titanic
18:47had used advanced
18:49deep water sonar
18:50and photographic technology.
18:53We had everything
18:54we needed
18:55all we needed
18:56was good weather
18:56and being able
18:58to cover all the bases.
19:00Jack Grimm's expeditions
19:02produced a tantalizing
19:03possible location
19:05for the Titanic.
19:06The search goes on
19:08while the exhausted crew
19:10maintains a desperate
19:11night vigil.
19:13And suddenly
19:13was a very loud
19:15crisp reflector.
19:17Bang, bang, bang, bang.
19:19It was a linear object
19:21but only 600 feet long.
19:24The Titanic
19:24was over 800 feet long.
19:26And so it was written off
19:28as perhaps a pile of rocks.
19:30Scattered debris and rocks.
19:32And that was the description
19:33of target number nine.
19:35This crisp 600 foot long
19:38object
19:39is the bow section
19:41of the Titanic.
19:42William Ryan
19:44and Jack Grimm
19:44had a hunch
19:45that the Titanic
19:46might be located
19:47at target number nine.
19:50So they went in search
19:51of photographic evidence.
19:54About three hours
19:55into the tow
19:57this object
19:58suddenly appears.
20:00The camera
20:00hits something
20:02and it tilts something
20:03and the reaction
20:05was what is this?
20:06What's happened?
20:07Oh, there's something
20:07here.
20:08Oh, oh, oh!
20:09And there it was.
20:11A few frames
20:12of videotape
20:12we would look at
20:13again and again.
20:14Its immediate impression
20:15caught the eye
20:16and froze the mind.
20:17When Jack Grimm
20:18returned
20:19he
20:20exclaimed
20:21he believed
20:22that that was
20:23the Titanic's propeller.
20:24He was convinced
20:25it was a propeller.
20:26I think the reaction
20:27of the public
20:28was interesting
20:29but it was
20:30oh hum.
20:31And your camera
20:32that you were pulling
20:33just went right over this?
20:35Yes, and we didn't
20:36know any of this
20:37until hours later
20:38so I went back
20:39in the summer of 83
20:40to try to confirm
20:42that discovery
20:43and we lost
20:44all the camera systems
20:46in the storm there
20:46and was unable
20:47to confirm it.
20:48I stayed neutral
20:50because I didn't know
20:51where it was from.
20:52I knew it was
20:53on the transect
20:53towards target number nine.
20:57Jack Grimm
20:58did not fund
20:59any more searches
21:00for the Titanic.
21:01So the only people
21:03in a position
21:03to solve the riddles
21:04he left behind
21:05were Robert Ballard's
21:07US-French team.
21:10Had Jack Grimm
21:11found Titanic's propeller?
21:13What was at target number nine?
21:16Could it really be
21:17the Titanic?
21:18A year before Robert Ballard
21:31recruited the French
21:32in his quest
21:33to find the Titanic
21:34he carried out
21:35a top-secret mission
21:37for the US Navy.
21:39Using his submersible
21:40the Argo
21:41he covertly surveyed
21:43the wreck
21:43of a downed nuclear submarine
21:45the USS Thresher.
21:47Little did he know
21:49but this mission
21:50and his later survey
21:51of the USS Scorpion
21:53would provide
21:54a vital clue
21:55in the search
21:56for the Titanic.
21:58The first thing
21:59Ballard did
22:00was to survey
22:01the Thresher
22:02to make sure
22:03that there was no
22:04official material
22:05leaking from the reactors
22:07or the weapons.
22:08We arrived on scene
22:13and launched Argo.
22:15My role
22:16in the whole expedition
22:18was to keep Argo running
22:20and running well.
22:22And so my focus
22:23totally was on
22:24keeping the cameras running
22:26keeping the sonar running
22:27keeping the lights running.
22:30It's just really eerie
22:32to see this thing
22:33sitting on the bottom
22:35of the ocean
22:36knowing that
22:37it brought all these men
22:38to their death.
22:42During the investigation
22:43they found
22:43that the problem
22:44was likely
22:45filthy piping
22:46which short-circuited
22:48some of the electronics
22:49and shut down the reactor.
22:50Without the reactor
22:51there was no propulsion
22:52and without the propulsion
22:53the sub began to sink
22:55it fell below
22:56crushed depth
22:57and imploded.
23:00While surveying the debris
23:02from the implosion
23:03Ballard noticed something
23:04that called into question
23:06the received wisdom
23:07about searching
23:08for a shipwreck
23:09at these kinds of depths.
23:12Because nobody
23:13had ever been able
23:14to see the effects
23:16of a violent decompression
23:17at such great depth
23:19of something
23:19the size
23:20of a US Navy
23:22attack submarine
23:23the sight of what it does
23:24to a vessel
23:25was new
23:26was brand new
23:27to Ballard.
23:28The shape of the wreckage
23:30what was left
23:30where the damage occurred
23:32how the hull
23:33had decompressed
23:34and split up
23:34the sections
23:35it had broken up into
23:37all of this was new.
23:39Both the threshold
23:40of the scorpion
23:41imploded
23:41and that's kind of like
23:42if you have
23:43a bag of potato chips
23:45or a bag of crisps
23:46and you start squeezing it
23:48and you start applying
23:49the pressure
23:49eventually it's going to burst
23:51and you're going to crush
23:52everything on the inside
23:53and bits and pieces
23:54are going to be ejected
23:55through the openings.
23:56And what Ballard's team
23:57is able to develop here
23:59is the technique
23:59in which they use
24:01the debris field
24:02that is created.
24:04Rather than having
24:05to find
24:06the single wreck
24:07which occupies
24:08a very small space
24:10on an enormous seabed
24:11you can use
24:12that debris field
24:13and trace it
24:14and follow it
24:16in real time
24:17through these lenses
24:18and use that
24:20to locate
24:20where the primary wreck
24:22is.
24:24And when he noticed
24:25these debris fields
24:25for the submarines
24:26he applied that
24:28to the search
24:28for the Titanic.
24:31Ballard's theory
24:32was that if something
24:33as robust
24:34as a nuclear submarine
24:35had imploded
24:36at these depths
24:37could the same
24:38have happened
24:39to the Titanic?
24:41If so
24:42it too
24:43may have produced
24:44a debris field
24:45which Argo could follow
24:46and that might lead
24:48him to the wreck.
24:50This would be
24:51even more likely
24:52if
24:52prior to sinking
24:53the Titanic
24:55had split in two
24:56and not sunk intact
24:58as many eyewitnesses
25:00claimed
25:00back in 1912.
25:07Titanic was such
25:08a big ship
25:09that really
25:11how people
25:11perceived
25:12the accident
25:13and the disaster
25:14was different
25:15depending on
25:16where you were
25:16in the ship.
25:17The lines
25:18of the reception room
25:19closed at 11 o'clock
25:20every evening.
25:21The smoking room
25:22is allowed to stay open
25:23until midnight
25:24which means
25:25it's the only
25:26public room
25:27still open on board
25:28when the men
25:28in the smoking room
25:29feel a slight shudder
25:31at about 20 minutes
25:33to midnight.
25:34That is the Titanic
25:35hitting the iceberg.
25:39Other passengers
25:40heard a sound
25:41like running over
25:42shingle
25:43on a beach.
25:44Some described it
25:45as tearing a piece
25:46of calico
25:47or perhaps we might
25:48think of it
25:48as a piece of canvas.
25:49The calmness
25:50of the reaction
25:51belies the seriousness
25:52of the situation.
25:56At this point
25:57Captain Smith
25:58obviously came running
25:59out onto the bridge
26:00immediately
26:00and said
26:01what's happened?
26:03And Murdoch said
26:04we've struck ice
26:05and I've shut
26:05the watertight doors.
26:07Captain Smith
26:08immediately called
26:09for the carpenter
26:10and Thomas Andrews
26:11the designer
26:12and they went forward
26:13to what's called
26:14sound the ship.
26:15Andrews' first moment
26:17of feeling genuine
26:18panic that something
26:19might be seriously wrong
26:21is when he gets
26:22to G-Deck
26:23and to the mail room
26:24and he sees the clerks
26:26dragging sacks of letters
26:28away from incoming
26:29trickling in
26:30seawater.
26:32He sees the water
26:33coming in
26:34and he's able
26:34to do quick calculations.
26:36Thomas Andrews
26:37then returns
26:38to the bridge
26:38having inspected
26:40the damage
26:41to Titanic
26:42and Captain Smith
26:43can't really believe
26:45what Thomas Andrews
26:46tells him
26:47the devastating news
26:48that neither of them
26:49would ever have expected
26:50in their world's dreams.
26:52He says
26:53the ship has about
26:54an hour and a half
26:55to live.
26:56Once Smith
26:57has received
26:58what is essentially
26:59the Titanic's death sentence
27:00a surreal period
27:02of faux calm
27:03seems to settle
27:04over his actions
27:05and the ship.
27:06Passengers were
27:07asked to
27:09get out of bed
27:10get dressed
27:10dress warmly
27:11put life belts on
27:12and go up
27:13onto the freezing decks
27:15and they thought
27:16this was a real pain.
27:17They wanted to be
27:18in their warm bedrooms
27:19they'd never believe
27:20that Titanic would sink.
27:22The first class lounge
27:23is opened up
27:24by a well-meaning
27:25ship official
27:26so that the first class
27:27passengers can be warm
27:28while the lifeboats
27:30are prepared
27:30so they decamp in there
27:32the band arrives
27:33to entertain them
27:34then other stewards
27:35open up
27:36the bar in the lounge
27:37they're serving brandy
27:38and hot cocoa.
27:39Initially
27:40people
27:41probably think
27:42that it's
27:43something of a drill
27:45perhaps
27:45of course
27:46as the ship
27:47sinks lower and lower down
27:48it is crystal clear
27:51what is going to happen
27:53and it's at that point
27:55that the panic
27:55begins to set in.
27:57As Titanic decks
27:58sink lower and lower
28:00because the water's
28:01flooding in
28:01in the bow
28:02people start quickly
28:03to realise
28:04it's a very urgent situation
28:06so having found
28:07the lifeboats
28:08very difficult
28:08to feel at the beginning
28:09they're then having
28:10to overfill them
28:11and rush them
28:12at the end.
28:14One point
28:14one of the officers
28:15manning the lifeboats
28:16had threatened
28:16to shoot any man
28:17that tried to rush
28:18on board again
28:18ahead of women
28:19and children.
28:20There are reports
28:21for example
28:21of First Officer Murdoch
28:22shooting some people
28:24who were trying
28:25to storm the lifeboats
28:26and then
28:27he turns the gun
28:28on himself
28:28and he gives a salute
28:29so it all becomes
28:31really like a living hell.
28:34Many men
28:34are becoming concerned
28:35about getting their wives
28:36and children
28:37into the boats
28:37and you do see
28:38some genuinely remarkable
28:40moments of courage.
28:42Isidore and Ida Strauss
28:43they were the co-owners
28:44of Macy's Department Store
28:46in New York
28:46declined to get
28:47in the lifeboat
28:48Mrs. Strauss
28:49would not leave her husband
28:50she said they had lived together
28:51and if needs be
28:52they would die together.
28:53Benjamin Guggenheim
28:54famously said
28:55he was going to dress
28:56in his vest
28:56and go down
28:57as a gentleman.
28:58That's one of the most
28:59enduring legends
28:59of the Titanic.
29:01Thomas Andrews
29:02is trying to be
29:03as helpful as he can
29:04because he knows
29:05there are not enough
29:06lifeboats
29:06and he knows
29:07they're not going to have
29:08time to launch them all
29:09before the Titanic sinks.
29:10The last sight
29:12that we have of him
29:12we think
29:13is from a steward
29:15on board
29:16a waiter on board
29:16called Cecil Fitzpatrick
29:18and Cecil sees
29:19Smith and Andrews
29:20talking together
29:21near the bridge
29:23just before
29:24the Titanic starts
29:25to go into
29:26its real final plunge
29:27when the two of them
29:28are swept overboard
29:28and never seen again
29:30their bodies aren't recovered.
29:32The Titanic split
29:33as it sank
29:34we now know
29:34between the second
29:35and third funnel
29:36but it happened
29:39after the electricity
29:40had filled
29:41the lights had gone out
29:42there is no moon
29:43so essentially
29:44these people
29:44in the lifeboats
29:45are looking at
29:46a darkened skyscraper
29:48disappearing
29:49in the gloom
29:50in front of them.
29:50She splits in half
29:51and then the lights
29:53go out
29:54and then
29:54the cries happen
29:56and tragically
29:57everyone in the lifeboats
29:58thinks that there's
29:59no one left on the ship
30:00that there was always
30:00enough lifeboats
30:01for everyone
30:01so they can't understand
30:03where these cries
30:03from 1,500
30:05poor souls
30:07are coming from
30:08and the whole thing
30:09suddenly dawns on them
30:10that they've actually
30:11been immensely lucky
30:12to be able to get
30:13into a lifeboat
30:13and that they're
30:13actually witnessing
30:14one of the most
30:15terrible tragedies
30:16of modern time.
30:24Armed with the theory
30:25that the Titanic
30:26may have created
30:27a debris field
30:28on its way
30:29to the ocean floor
30:29Ballard and the French
30:31adapted their search strategy
30:33into what they called
30:35the two-stage approach.
30:38The French
30:39would first use
30:40their sonar
30:41to try and find
30:42the wreck
30:42from their research ship
30:43Le Souroy.
30:44Ballard would then
30:47join them
30:47and use Argo
30:48to search for a debris field
30:50on board the U.S. ship
30:52the Knorr.
30:54L'opération devait comporter
30:56deux mois de recherche
30:58tous les deux mis en oeuvre
31:00par le Souroy
31:01suivi de un mois de recherche
31:04avec le CNOR
31:06et sa caméra pendulaire.
31:08Avant d'être mobilisé
31:10sur Titanic
31:11le CNOR
31:12était mobilisé ailleurs
31:14sur d'autres missions
31:15donc ils ne pouvaient pas
31:16le faire avant.
31:17The other mission
31:18was top secret.
31:20It was to survey
31:21the wreck
31:22of a second
31:23nuclear submarine
31:24for the U.S. Navy
31:25who had paid
31:26for the technology
31:27Ballard wanted to use
31:28to find the Titanic.
31:30The U.S. Navy
31:31in a degree
31:33of tit-for-tat
31:34with Ballard
31:34makes the deal
31:35that ultimately
31:36once he is able
31:37to locate
31:38the Scorpion
31:39any remaining time
31:41and resources
31:41that were allocated
31:42to that mission
31:43can be diverted
31:44to his search
31:45for the Titanic.
31:46The mission
31:48of the Souroy
31:49was to
31:50mark the Tsar
31:53and to
31:54square the zone
31:55in small pieces
31:59with its 400 mètres
32:00de distance
32:01of detection
32:02to square the zone
32:03until they find
32:04something big.
32:06And we started
32:06to lay it
32:07and then
32:09we had a lot
32:11of material
32:12because the conditions
32:16were particularly
32:17hard
32:18the conditions
32:19météo
32:19have been
32:20particularly hard
32:21during this period.
32:22We did have
32:23a lot of
32:24rough weather
32:26and then
32:26I remember
32:27a few days
32:27where we weren't
32:28able to do anything
32:29but basically
32:30just try to stay
32:31in your bunk
32:32and not get
32:33rolled around
32:35the ship.
32:38C'était
32:39la première
32:41plongée
32:43du Tsar
32:44sur
32:45l'opération
32:45Titanic.
32:47On a
32:47mis
32:47le Tsar
32:48Ã l'eau
32:48on s'est
32:49aligné
32:50pour faire
32:51la première
32:52passe
32:52et on s'est
32:53fait un peu
32:54embarquer
32:54par le courant
32:55et qui nous
32:56a un petit
32:57peu dévié
32:57ce qui fait
32:58qu'on a
32:59raté
33:00le petit
33:01coin
33:02en haut
33:02de la zone.
33:05Au lieu
33:06de revenir
33:07pour le
33:07rebrosser
33:08une deuxième
33:09fois
33:10on a
33:11plutôt fait
33:12continuer
33:13Ã chasser
33:13du côté
33:14de la
33:14grande
33:14surface
33:15qui
33:15restait
33:16en disant
33:17bon
33:17quand même
33:17eh ben
33:19on a eu
33:19tort.
33:20On a eu
33:21tort
33:21parce que
33:22l'épave
33:23s'est révélée
33:24ultérieurement
33:25être à peu près
33:27dans ce petit
33:27coin
33:28qu'on avait
33:28un peu
33:29raté.
33:29et
33:31unfortunately
33:31the
33:32SAR
33:33vehicle
33:33went
33:34over
33:34the
33:34debris
33:35field
33:35and
33:35worked
33:36its
33:36way
33:36further
33:37and
33:37further
33:37away
33:38with
33:38every
33:38turn
33:39and
33:40mowing
33:40the
33:40lawn.
33:40On a fait
33:41deux missions
33:42d'un mois
33:42une en
33:43juillet
33:43une en
33:44août
33:45on n'a
33:46pas
33:46trouvé.
33:47It was left up to the Argo system to go and try to try to fill in the rest of the box and find the REC site.
33:55We all knew that we were trying to get the work done at the scorpion site done as fast as possible so we could go to look for Titanic.
34:06Argo would not have been able to cover that much territory in the time available.
34:12So having Euphraimir eliminate maybe 70% or so of the search area was huge.
34:19Building upon the experience he had in the search for the thresher, Ballard is able to find the scorpion
34:24with 12 days remaining, which he can then allocate to the search of the Titanic.
34:31With the clock ticking, the French and US teams join forces on board the Knorr.
34:37If they're going to find the Titanic, it's now or never.
34:43Lorsque le Knorr a commencé sa mission,
34:48y'avait toute la zone qu'on avait pas couverte, c'est-Ã -dire le petit coin est un tiers
34:54à peu près en dents.
34:56What we ended up doing with the Argo system is not necessarily following the track of just mowing
35:03the lawn, but the line spaces were increased in order for us to be just to be able to look
35:09for debris and not for the shipwreck itself.
35:12The line spacings were spaced further apart.
35:16Myself and the small team of people that we had that were in charge of Argo or supporting Argo
35:24working 18 hours a day.
35:28All the watch teams were suffering after a day or so of boredom of watching mud go by
35:35for eight hours a day on TV, probably some of the worst produced television ever.
35:44The people would get excited if you saw a rock or a fish or something.
35:51It'd be cheers, you know, just seeing something different.
35:54So it was, uh, it was very, very boring work.
36:01We started giving ourselves nicknames.
36:03The Midnight Watch crew was the, uh, the team of quiet excellence.
36:07So, you know, drinking lots of coffee and telling jokes.
36:11But, you know, you, you had to stay focused.
36:13We were looking for something that, that might be kind of small.
36:16And you want to see it when it shows up.
36:18That happened on, uh, the night of August 31st.
36:38Yeah, I came on shift, uh, at midnight on August 31st.
36:42So it was going into the September 1st.
36:46It was just another shift.
36:48Not long after midnight was when we first saw the first hints of debris.
37:00And literally it was, that's not natural.
37:04That's, that's something that's man-made.
37:06And then it's gone.
37:07When we started seeing debris or wreckage on the seafloor,
37:11we knew that there was something nearby that was big that, uh,
37:16that these objects had come from.
37:18Basically, everybody really got perked up at that point
37:21because we knew, okay, we're in a debris field.
37:25We're seeing debris.
37:26I think it was probably around that time we said somebody should go wake up Bob.
37:34During this debate, the chef came in to see if we wanted anything,
37:38and he saw what was going on and how he went and got a pop.
37:43When Bob showed up, we were just coming around for another, another track line.
37:48And it was not long after he got there that we went over top of one of the boilers.
37:53When we first passed over the boiler, everyone was screaming boiler, boiler, boiler, it's a boiler.
38:17Everyone knew about the photograph in Walter Lorde's book about Titanic had a picture of the boilers before they were installed.
38:25So everyone knew that that boiler was from Titanic.
38:31At that point, we knew. We did it. We found it. And, uh, my comment was, bingo!
38:38When Bob came in the control van, he was excited.
38:44I think he shouted, the sucker exists, or something like that.
38:49He was very, very excited.
38:50We had found Titanic, and everyone was very excited, and there was champagne being served.
38:57C'était hurrah, bravo, on l'a eu, etc.
39:00The first image that we saw that, um, really brought home, what we were looking at was that the bow, the bow was, was the most recognizable part of the ship.
39:28The atmosphere went from everyone being excited for the discovery to everyone being somber.
39:43We had found the Titanic. It was an achievement. It represents a tragedy.
39:51Uh, 1,500 people or more lost their lives when that ship sank.
39:55When you do see it, you have to realize that, what a cost.
40:05Bob Ballard and the French team had achieved what eluded so many.
40:10They had found the Titanic.
40:13And while Ballard's name is the one most associated with the discovery, it was very much a team effort.
40:19Bob Ballard's name is the one most available to the Titanic.
40:21If it's a huge contribution to finding Titanic, being able to go and eliminate that much of the search area,
40:26being able to go and eliminate that much of the search area,
40:30Argo would never have been able to cover that much ground in the amount of time there was.
40:35Who found the Titanic?
40:39Who was the car at that time?
40:42It was me.
40:43So I found the Titanic.
40:46Now, who found the Titanic?
40:49Ballard, Woodsole or Ephraimert?
40:53I say it's Woodsole and Ephraimert.
40:57They didn't find it if we didn't define the zone correctly.
41:03They couldn't take the camera
41:08on 100,000 hectares of Atlantic fonds.
41:15It's not possible.
41:19For the general public, the discovery was immense.
41:23The French-US team had solved a mystery
41:26which had captivated the world
41:28for nearly three quarters of a century.
41:32One of the most remarkable things
41:34that happened in the whole cruise
41:36was how the public reacted to this discovery,
41:41which totally blew my mind.
41:43When we got back to Woodsole,
41:45the main dock, it was jammed with people.
41:48There were thousands of people on the dock
41:51when we arrived back home.
41:53There was a big banner strung on the main building
41:56facing the dock.
41:58Congratulations, you know.
42:01Among those who watched the explorers' triumphant return
42:05was the U.S. Navy.
42:08After all, it was the Navy's funding of Argo
42:11that had made the discovery possible.
42:14The Navy was less than happy that they found the Titanic
42:19because it brought unwanted attention to the mission
42:24and a lot of scrutiny.
42:25And some media at the time began to question, like,
42:27why was the Navy involved at all in something
42:30that involved a commercial passenger liner?
42:34The Navy gets quite nervous about the sorts of questions
42:38that might be asked about this technology,
42:41about their connection,
42:42about exactly why it was that Ballard had developed
42:45and was using this technology in the first place.
42:48And, of course,
42:49the Navy went into a little bit of a panic there
42:51and just said this was an opportunity
42:53to test these new submersibles
42:55and kind of left it at that.
42:56But there was a bit of a worry
42:58that the success was going to expose
43:00the whole secret operation.
43:02But ultimately, the fame and the excitement
43:05around the Titanic is enough
43:08that people just look past these questions
43:11and it's not until decades later
43:13that people really start to explore this connection
43:17between Ballard, a naval commander,
43:19and the discovery of the Titanic.
43:24As more details emerged
43:26about the final resting place of the Titanic,
43:29there was one more mystery that remained unsolved.
43:34Was Titanic located near the spot Jack Grimm's team
43:38had identified and labelled target number nine?
43:43How important do you think your findings were
43:46to the discovery now by this U.S. French team?
43:49I feel they confirmed what I had said all along
43:52that we had discovered it in the summer of 81.
43:54Is the site where they found the ship
43:57very close to where you expected it to be?
44:00Yes, we don't have the exact fix
44:02on where they found the main body of the ship,
44:06but it almost has to be within a mile radius
44:09of where we found the propellum.
44:11Therefore, our cameras just missed the wreck
44:14in the summer of 81
44:15and was only able to get about 90% of the propellum.
44:19When they found the boilers and got all excited,
44:24and up in the corner of the video frame
44:27was the date, the time, the little tiny numbers,
44:30and the pressure depths.
44:32And it was exactly the pressure depths of target nine.
44:36So he gave me the Titanic on my birthday.
44:39Fabulous. Thank you, Bob.
44:42And he is to be congratulated
44:44because he was the first to actually show
44:47that this was, in fact, the Titanic.
44:51Early expedition, they had actually passed
44:53right over the wreck of the Titanic
44:55and didn't realize it.
44:56You know, they found out later when, of course,
44:58Ballard revealed the location.
45:00And that's just because they were using equipment
45:03that was just not as advanced as Ballard was.
45:06And Ballard's equipment, like the Argo,
45:08which was the key to finding the Titanic.
45:10The discovery of the wreck was one
45:12of incalculable significance
45:14to studying the history of the Titanic.
45:16It answered many questions about the sinking itself,
45:19and it provided a massive platform
45:22for the development of underwater
45:24and submarine technologies.
45:26It brought the subject to the global population
45:31for a second time.
45:33I mean, you could even argue that even today,
45:35over 110 years later,
45:37we're still talking about the Titanic
45:40almost as much as they did at the time.
45:43Titanic's wreck site is a very somber place.
45:47It's cold and dark,
45:49but it's a memorial to the 1,500 people who died.
45:53To me, the sort of hallowed ground
45:55is actually there at the surface
45:57because no one died on the seafloor.
45:59Everyone died at the surface.
46:01And with every expedition I've been out there,
46:05it always feels like a different part of the ocean there.
46:09We'll see you later.
46:11We'll see you later.
46:13We'll see you later.
46:14We'll see you later.
46:15Bye.