I believe things can
happen of such an intensity
that they do resonate
through time,
create, like, an echo.
The story of the "Titanic"
is very personal
to each person who hears it,
almost like a biblical story.
This giant ship,
all these people
in the middle of the ocean,
this iceberg, the warnings.
What would it have been like
to be there
on that fateful night?
I knew Jim was going to go back
to the "Titanic. "
He had talked about it.
He wanted to take
another expedition
since he had made the film.
He had invited me in passing.
But I guess I didn't
really seriously consider
I would actually go.
- Hello!
- Hello!
You speak English?
Great. I'm looking for my room.
My cabin.
Oh.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
But then,
when he actually said,
"No, I really want you
to come along and experience it
for yourself
and just take it all in"...
I had to go.
The "Keldysh" is the largest
scientific research vessel
in the world.
And all the activity onboard
is focused on the "Mirs"
and what they have to accomplish
at the bottom of the ocean.
They take their work
extremely seriously.
Everything is checked
and rechecked,
just like a space mission.
Oh!
My name is Lewis Abernathy.
I'm an underwater explorer.
I got them all.
I have been trying to thumb
a ride down to "Titanic"
for probably 10 years now.
What do you got?
We got bots, slimy bots, and
"A" deck, "B" deck, "C" deck.
Huge rusticles,
like this big around.
My name is Lori Johnston.
My position was
as a microbiologist,
looking at the rusticles.
The idea that she spiraled down,
spitting objects.
My name is Charles Pellegrino.
I was one of the historians and
biologists on the expedition.
We tend to think of it
in 21st-century eyes.
I'm Don Lynch,
and I studied the "Titanic"
based upon the testimony and
accounts of passengers and crew.
The people who were there
and witnessed it.
My name is Ken Marschall.
I've been studying the "Titanic"
for over three decades now.
I checked it out.
The Straus suite.
Through those years and study,
I've sort of become
a visual historian
about the ship and her structure
and appearance.
It was an amazing expedition
in terms of all of
the state-of-the-art technology
and engineering we were using,
in terms of the camera system.
The R.O.V.S were amazing.
On the cutting edge
of technology.
Just try to keep the light in
right where I've gone in.
I'm gonna explore these cabins.
There is no script. We don't
know what we're gonna see.
We don't know
what we're gonna encounter.
The crucial thing
about deep-sea photography
is lighting.
Just come up over and light
all this business down here.
- You see what I mean?
- Yeah.
So we had a sister ship on
the expedition called the "EAS."
The "EAS" had
this giant lighting chandelier
called Medusa.
The theory was to lower the
chandelier down over the wreck
and do this overlighting,
almost like moonlight.
There was no manual
for any of this.
Nobody had ever combined
this many elements
into a single-dive operation
before at these depths.
We were pushing the limits
of technology,
which was a little eerie
given the fate of the ship
we had come to explore.
This is where it all happened.
It could be any other part
of the ocean,
but there's something special
about knowing
this is the spot
and the wreck's down there.
Why this shipwreck?
Why not the "Lusitania"?
Why not the "Moro Castle"?
Why not the "Atlantic"?
They're all good.
They're all good,
but why is this one?
Look at the stuff
that comes with this.
You've got the biggest ship
on its maiden voyage,
the president of the company
onboard that owns it,
the builder onboard.
And it hits an iceberg,
and it sinks so slowly
that you've got all these hours
for drama to be acted out.
You don't get that
with other shipwrecks.
It's really a Greek tragedy
for real.
She was so cheated.
She was so beautiful.
So much energy went into
building this creation.
You know, the epitome
of human engineering
and architecture, maritime
architecture at that point.
And to have it taken away,
stolen,
just four days out of England.
And that's part, I guess,
of the odd attraction to it.
The fact that you could never
have such a thing happen
before or since.
The ship remains
at the bottom of the sea
as an eternal memorial.
And we can visit that memorial.
We can bear witness
to the event.
And if we're gonna do
interior exploration,
we have to do it now,
because five years from now,
there might not be anything.
Five years ago,
the technology didn't exist.
We had to will it
into existence.
"Monday, August 20, 2001.
Tomorrow morning
we will descend 21/2 miles
into the cold, dark netherworld
and see 'Titanic' for ourselves
as she lies broken
on the seafloor.
How do you prepare
for such an experience?"
Okay. Dive one.
It's gonna be
J. B. And Bill in "Mir-2,"
and me and Vince in "Mir-1."
Pilots are gonna be
Genya Chernaiev, "Mir-2,"
Anatoly Sagalevitch, "Mir-1."
Okay. Here's your checklist.
Have your last will
and testament in order,
make sure your insurance
is paid up,
write a final note
to your family.
These are the kind of things
you think about.
Next stop, "Titanic. "
Happy hunting.
Let's rock and roll.
The moment of truth.
See you in the sunshine.
To get in
a three-man submersible
and descend 12,500 feet
down into the bottom
of the North Atlantic,
it just was maybe a little more
adventure than I wanted.
Oxygen?
Yeah.
That's good.
Yeah.
Be sure to turn that on.
Yeah, I can see how you get
kind of queasy sitting up here.
Look at the colors change.
Boy, that's fast.
This tells you the oxygen
up here, right?
Yes.
So it's at 21.
That's good.
Now, if that gets below 19,
then it's...
What's the number
you watch for?
It's 19.
It's good also.
It's good.
Yes.
But if it gets below what?
Does the battery sound okay?
It sounds sluggish like that?
- That's normal?
- Yes, it's normal.
Now, if you have
a real emergency
and everything fails,
I heard something about,
you can disengage,
drop the main battery?
Just...
Yes, we have many possibilities.
I hope we never drop battery,
because it's very expensive.
How much?
It's $250, 000, I think.
I mean, would you take a check?
2, 000 meters?
Yes. 2, 000.
That's pretty deep.
Something wrong?
It's okay?
Yes.
That's handy.
And it's fixed.
I adjust for them for later.
Oh, okay. Okay.
Good. Yeah.
"Mir-1," "Mir-1,"
this is "Mir-2."
What is your depth?
Over.
"Mir-2," "Mir-2,"
this is "Mir-1."
Depth is 3,353 meters.
See you on the bottom.
Jim out.
I see bottom.
It's bottom.
Oh, yeah.
You see it?
Yeah.
Just barely.
Bottom of the ocean.
Look at that.
Look at that.
It looks like
the dark side of the moon.
It wasn't just the idea
of putting your faith
in these little submarines
and going to the bottom
of the sea.
There's thousands of tons
of pressure against you.
But where we were going,
where we were going.
We'll see more debris as we go.
There's a piece right there.
Yeah, look. There's some china.
See the china?
Yeah, we got her.
You want to see "Titanic"
on the sonar?
You're gonna love this.
- It's, like, there she is, baby.
- Oh, man.
Okay.
50 meters straight ahead.
Bill, it's the bow.
Oh, look at that.
Oh, God.
There it is.
What a sight.
What a sight!
So Medusa is lighting it up.
Look at that.
Oh, man.
Oh, now you get a sense
of the size of this thing.
My God!
This was the "Titanic. "
This is the fabled liner
that lies in its grave
at the bottom
of the North Atlantic.
You approach it
with incredible reverence.
Bill, it is bow anchor.
Oh, God.
Its port side
in good conditions.
That is incredible.
Look at that.
Look at that!
It's dug in all the way
up to the anchor.
Oh, it's amazing just to be
floating above it.
Gosh, you could just reach out
and touch it.
We're near the anchor crane.
It's right there.
See it?
Look.
Right here.
Okay.
Oh, yes.
Okay. Okay.
You're clear.
I knew we were gonna get close,
but not this close.
The experience of being
in one of the submersibles
is almost like
an astral projection.
The way you float around it,
it really is an ethereal,
kind of ghostly experience.
We're here.
It's Hatch Number One.
Oh, yeah.
Look.
You can see right down
the cargo hatch.
Boy, it just falls into
just a black well.
Oh, there's the crow's-nest door
right there.
They climbed up
inside the mast
to get out to the crow's nest.
That's where Fleet stood.
Right there
when he saw the iceberg.
Iceberg right ahead!
You see the... it looks
like the port electric crane.
What is that?
Yeah, it's a gate.
- Yes, it's gate. Yes.
- Closed gate.
Officers locked that
to keep the steerage passengers
down below decks.
Of course, I'd have been
just climbing over that thing.
Oh, God. So that's
right where the bridge was.
And there's the telemotor.
The helm.
The helm of the ship.
Try to imagine
what it must have been like
to be on the bridge that night.
First Officer William Murdoch
is on duty.
Quartermaster Hichens
at the wheel.
That split-second decision
Murdoch had to make.
Iceberg right ahead!
He can go left
or he can go right.
Quickly!
Murdoch is suddenly staring
an iceberg
right down the barrel.
Murdoch knows how many
passengers are onboard,
how few lifeboats there are,
what grave danger
the ship is in.
Golly.
That is history right there.
We are touching the legend.
Wow. Just like a cliff
just falling in the abyss.
"Mir-2," "Mir-2,"
be advised that we are...
We're gonna be going up.
Did they start up?
Well, let's clear "Titanic"
before we turn the lights off.
"Titanic" was good to us today.
Goodbye, "Titanic. "
Oh! Oh!
Hello, again.
Hello, Sergei.
Whoo.
Welcome to "Keldysh. "
Quite a ride.
If the bow is so dug in,
you just don't get that depth.
And seeing that wall going
all the way down
and falling into nothing,
even just with
the "Mir-2's" lights,
really was like, "Holy cow.
This thing is so big. "
What exciting work.
We were exploring the "Titanic"
with new technologies
and these incredible
new cameras.
Have you ever been in any sub?
Only at Disneyland.
This is different.
Good luck.
See you later.
These dives,
every one is so precious.
I want to make sure
we pack as much information,
visually and historically,
as I can possibly get
into these eyeballs.
Ha! Ha! Ha!
You know, you have
historians, scientists.
It was a great camaraderie.
I screamed like a girl
the whole time.
Crying like a kid?
Cried like a baby.
The R.O.V.S were fascinating.
Initially they were called
Bot 1 and Bot 2.
But ultimately they were named
Jake and Elwood.
My name is Mike Cameron.
I'm the R.O.V. Creator.
The vehicle is not unlike
a little creature.
It's got a brain.
It's got a computer onboard.
It's got eyes
in a couple cameras up front.
Give it a little forward.
You are in, Daddy-O.
You're in.
It's got this character
about it that's alive.
The real revolutionary
part is the fiber-optic spool.
It's like a spider
spinning out its own silk.
Come in here,
explore these rooms,
come back out.
If these bots worked
like we were hoping they would,
we could go through
the entire ship.
The bots are finally going
to "Titanic. "
Three years in the making.
"Mir-1," Jake's just
coming out of his hooch. Over.
Here he comes. He's out.
I think we were so
intent on watching the screens.
Very quickly,
I forgot where I was.
The R. O.V. Had just
unconsciously become our eyes.
This is what it's all about.
Cruising around at 12, 000 feet.
Jeff, stand by.
We're about to launch Bot 1,
a. K. A. Elwood.
Sight enabler.
Com link.
Camera power.
All right.
I think we're ready to fly.
Elwood's coming out.
Pretty cool.
Looking good, Elwood.
Tell them we'll meet in the
center of the grand staircase.
We're gonna meet in the
center of the grand staircase.
Copy that.
The grand staircase
on "Titanic"
was, in my opinion, the most
beautiful feature of the ship.
And the dome,
the wrought-iron dome overhead,
was just beautiful.
It's really a blessing
that this staircase
did break apart and float out,
because it allows easy access
to the interior of the ship.
What's Elwood's 20?
Right above you.
Getting ready to start
our descent. Over.
Okay.
We see him.
That's them.
Okay.
We see you.
Okay.
Proceed slowly.
Proceeding slowly.
This is so much
like flying a helicopter.
We knew the beauty
of the grand staircase was gone.
But no one knew what we'd find
deep inside the ship.
Continue down one.
You're crossing the floor
of "B" deck right now.
You're looking
into "C" deck right now.
- Do not go into "C" deck.
- Awaiting instructions.
"C" deck. "D" deck.
There's "D" deck.
All right. He's in position
to enter "D" deck.
Stand by there, Jeff.
Your first move
would be to enter "D" deck.
Roger that.
You getting ready
to go down there?
Do I want to be pointed aft
or what?
Yeah. Okay.
Okay.
Tell him to move ahead slow.
Move ahead slow.
Moving ahead slow.
Tell him to move
real, real, real, real easy.
Move real, real,
real, real easy.
Real easy.
Moving real easy.
Believe we are heading
toward starboard.
We're looking
at a light fixture.
Looks like it had
four or five bulbs on it.
We should come to the right.
Come to the right, Jeff.
And we'll head
for the boiler uptake.
Copy that.
So far, the vehicle
is handling like a champ.
It's performing beautifully.
How much tether do we have out?
Just shy of 200 feet out.
Okay.
Move forward to that doorframe.
We are inside the "Titanic. "
- Tell him to slow down.
- I still can't get over it.
Slow down.
Copy that.
I still can't believe
that we're actually here.
I keep waiting for somebody
to yell, "Cut,"
and I'm gonna go back
to my trailer.
I don't think I can get out of
this and get back to my trailer.
My trailer!
I need to call my agent.
It's getting
a little skinny right in here.
Looks like Carlsbad Caverns
in there.
Is he pinned?
Is there no way forward
from there?
Go left.
Go left.
Making the turn.
That's too close to the bottom.
Tell them to come up.
You're too close to the bottom.
Copy that.
Oh!
Boy, this is nerve-racking.
There's something there.
See what that is?
Windows, windows.
Dining-room windows.
- We're going for the window.
- We're going for the windows.
Look at that.
- Unbelievable.
- That's amazing.
Take it real slow here.
Those are
the lead-glass windows.
Try to get your light up
on those.
- Amazing, huh?
- Yes.
Turn off his spotlight.
Turn off your spotlight.
Make a nice image
of the windows.
Make a nice picture
of the windows in front of you.
Look at that.
Look at that.
Oh, boy!
Beautiful.
Still intact.
Very much intact.
Looks like the glass,
all the leaded glass,
it's all there.
It's not broken.
The first-class
dining room was beautiful.
Among the passengers who
ate here were John Jacob Astor
and his wife, Madeline,
who were on their honeymoon.
She would be widowed
before the end of the voyage.
We are not in Kansas anymore.
I think you got a friend.
Oh.
There's Sam.
Sam stopped by to say hello.
He's giving us the tour.
"Follow me," he says.
It's like a fantasy
in here, isn't it?
The craftsmanship.
The delicate beauty.
That human hands created
these windows,
that human eyes looked
at these windows.
And then you realize
that you're 12, 500 feet
beneath the sea.
Oh, look at that woodwork.
That's all wood, Genya.
That's all carved wood.
But these things created by man,
in this dark abyss,
where they just shouldn't be.
They're not supposed to be here.
Unbelievable.
Who would've thought
that would still be there?
It's the dream come true for me.
What's significant
about the reception room
is that this is where
Elizabeth Lines
overheard a conversation
between Captain Smith
and Bruce Ismay,
the owner of the "Titanic. "
And she heard Ismay
telling Smith
to have the "Titanic" arrive
in New York a day early.
I think we're going to beat
"Olympic's" time
and arrive in New York
Tuesday night.
We're holding
at the first-class entrance,
starboard side.
Isn't that beautiful?
Gosh.
It looks like it's just been
made more beautiful by time.
"Titanic's" main
first-class entrance
was on "D" deck.
And she had
two large gangway doors
on both the port
and the starboard side.
Through the eyes of the R. O.V.,
we could see the wrought-iron
gates just inside the doors,
which were unknown to historians
until this expedition.
We had no idea what was inside,
and now we know.
This is the way
they boarded the ship.
They came in through that door,
and then this inner door.
And in this entrance vestibule,
there was a large sideboard
against the aft wall
where lots of first-class china
was stored.
The dish cabinet
had more or less rotted away.
But you could see the teacups
and the little dishes
stacked perfectly there.
I wish I had those dishes,
you know?
Give it up on eBay.
There's the elevators.
There's...
There's the shaft.
Look at that.
I thought they called them
"lifts," but you know what?
The ship was owned
by an American company.
Hmm.
Like you could
just call them now.
Whenever you're
looking at the elevator grilles,
try to remember to turn
and look forward and see.
There may still be paneling
right amidships,
and there will be
brass letters that say
"A" deck, "B" deck,
"C" deck, or "D" deck.
When you come out
of the elevators.
Most likely that paneling
is down. But you never know.
That would be a classic shot
to have that lettering
still clinging.
Ken loves this stuff.
I feel like I'm making a film
for one person. Ken Marschall.
And there it is.
Bingo, baby.
- Tell him "bingo. "
Bingo.
The "A" had recently
fallen from its own weight.
That brass letter was heavier
than the "D," "E," "C," "K."
Okay. I see where we are.
We just peeked into "D" 35.
We were methodical
exploring the interior.
We had to be because the wreck
can be very disorienting.
It was spooky.
"D" 33 was the cabin
of Henry Sleeper Harper
and his wife.
Sitting on the remains
of the wardrobe cabinet
is Henry Harper's bowler hat.
Just the idea
that we know whose it was.
Hey, look.
There's some kind of glass.
Maybe a mirror.
Let's see if that's a mirror.
It is.
We're gonna go see ourselves.
"A" 11 was occupied
by Edith Russell.
Before getting into a lifeboat,
she went back to her cabin
to lock her 19 trunks
because she didn't trust
the stewards onboard.
Jim was looking
for Molly Brown's stateroom.
We had a good idea
where that stateroom would be.
And he was searching
for a forward-facing window.
The R. O.V. Is narrow enough
to scoot through that.
And I saw there was jagged glass
at the bottom of the windowsill.
That could sever the tether,
commit su1c1de.
Ken says we can do this.
It's a gamble.
Don't do it.
Don't do it.
You're gonna be laying your
tether right across the glass.
There he goes.
He's in there.
That's what I'm talking about.
Okay, now that you're in,
it's not that bad of an idea.
That's not a brass bed.
That's a wooden bed.
It's kind of creepy.
I don't know.
Molly Brown said
she was in a brass bed.
I don't see a brass bed.
Molly Brown was a character.
She and her husband had made
their fortune mining out west.
And she was desperate
to be accepted by high society.
The "Titanic" tragedy
made her a legend.
Uh, Genya?
Yes?
Um, I need to pee.
I don't think I can hold it
much longer.
- No problem.
- Okay.
For me, personally,
I've always been kind of
a nervous, you know, pisser.
I need a little privacy.
But when you got to go
and you're 21/2 miles down,
you got to go.
It's okay?
Um, I'll turn around.
- Can you turn around?
- Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Let's see here.
Point your lights
straight into "A" deck.
My God.
Look at that.
Look at that, Tolya.
A brass bed sitting
right in there.
Maybe Molly Brown did stay
in a brass bed.
But which one?
They've built
bigger ships since "Titanic,"
but I don't know that they'll
ever build one as luxurious.
And even now,
after 90 years of laying
on the bottom of the ocean,
its beauty came to light.
Okay.
We're in.
Okay. Tell them
we're in the promenade.
Jake's in the promenade.
We did get into one
of the millionaire suites
on "B" deck.
Private promenade.
They call them
"private promenade. "
These were the fanciest, most
expensive lodgings on the ship.
And in April 1912,
you would have paid over $3, 000
to book your passage.
This must be some of the facing.
Yeah, it's some
of the Tudor facing.
We are in the room.
Jake's in the room.
This is Bruce Ismay's suite.
This is the guy
that left the ship
with 1, 500 people still onboard.
Ooh, that's a beauty.
We are in the sitting room,
looking at the fireplace.
Isn't that amazing? That
ribbon design is still there.
These little touches
of elegance.
You can almost feel the hands
of the guy that made that.
J. Bruce Ismay
was managing director
of the White Star Line,
and he vetoed the idea
of having 48 lifeboats.
He felt fewer would be fine,
that as long as they met
the law, they were okay.
It is Smith's bathtub.
Oh, Captain Smith.
Wow.
The captain of the "Titanic"
used to take his baths
right there.
His little pink butt
sitting right there in the tub.
Captain Smith was called
"the millionaire's captain"
because he was so popular
with the first-class passengers.
30 years at sea.
Perfect record.
This voyage was to be
his crowning achievement.
He was going to take
the biggest, most beautiful ship
across the ocean on her
maiden voyage and then retire.
I n archeology,
we carry these ghosts
of the imagination with us.
And I was kind of imagining
Thomas Andrews
out there on the deck.
Thomas Andrews
was managing director
and president of
Harland and Wolff Shipbuilders.
He designed and built the
"Titanic" from the ground up.
He knew the ship better
than anyone.
He put davits on the ship
that were designed
to take a lifeboat from here
and lift it outward
and then go inward
and pick up a second lifeboat
in a second position and go out.
I n his own hand,
in his notebook,
he has the number of lifeboats
that are supposed to go on the
ship that he designed it for.
He was overruled
and forced to comply
only to the minimum
of the Board of Trade
requirement.
Andrews cared
about the ship and crew
and was onboard to make
last-minute improvements
and make sure
everything ran smoothly.
If only there were
a way to let him see
these submersibles sending
these incredible robots
into his creation.
Move a little right
to avoid the arm.
There you go.
Okay.
We're good.
We're coming out.
It's coming out, folks.
- Okay. Ease it forward.
- Okay.
We explored
all three forward cargo hatches
and made it into several crew
and third-class spaces
that had never even been
photographed before.
Is that the "D" deck?
I think so.
Yeah.
I think you're right.
All right. That's it.
There's the other hatch.
So just ease on in there.
Ease it on in there.
Okay.
Here's our stairwell.
It should go right up to it.
So we got into third class.
We were in the general room
in the bow under the well deck.
There wasn't a lot of detail
in this room,
because it was never
a well-decorated room.
The bar at one end that
still had the little tap there.
There were table bases
still there in place.
The tables and bench bases
rising up from the floor.
It was neat to see those.
That's a very big table.
The place where they all ate.
They would've sat here
and played cards.
This was where
there was a party held
by many of the third-class
passengers on Sunday night.
And it really was moving
to be able see this room
where so many of them spent
their last few happy hours.
There was a brand-new
Renault, beautiful car,
that was strapped down
in the cargo hold.
And we have some fairly good
historical projections
of what it would look like now.
Going from "F" deck
to "G" deck.
A solid hatch cover,
as advertised.
But it's open.
And it would be
barely recognizable as a car.
Only a few items would show up
recognizable as a vehicle.
We were on "G" deck.
We went through the hatch cover.
We are now on the orlop deck.
Correct.
You are.
Tilt up,
and you'll see the car.
Tilt up, and we see some gak.
I see some light back there.
Yeah.
Maybe that is the car.
It is.
- I think that's the car.
- It is.
It's the car.
No.
No!
It can't be that easy.
It is.
I don't think that's the car.
I think we're seeing cars.
- Shiny piece of...
- Oh, my God.
I'm thinking...
That looks like wheel.
Jim, that's a fender.
I don't care what planet you're
on, that's a tire and fender.
This is headlight.
We're seeing cars, boy.
All right,
the best thing to do
now that we're here
is to just look everywhere.
There's a car.
That's a car.
No, those are...
That's a trunk right there.
Wicker trunk.
That's a tire.
There were some pretty
interesting-looking structures,
obviously man-made stuff,
but nothing clearly
identifiable as a car.
Yeah, we should be able to get
all the way forward.
- Are you in?
- Yes.
Oh, baby.
That's awesome.
Oh, dude, this is so cool!
Count doors on the right. That's
how we'll orient ourselves.
There should be
two doors side by side.
The first door should take you
into the firemen's mess.
You want to go in there?
Yeah.
That's definitely
the firemen's mess.
Oh, look at that.
Table after table.
You can see the bow tapering in.
Exactly.
Shape of the ship.
You can imagine exactly
what this place looked like.
The firemen were segregated
from the rest of the crew,
probably because they had
the dirtiest job.
So their quarters
are in the tip of the bow.
They had two staircases,
which took them
to the very bottom of the ship
and to the boiler rooms.
Imagine spiraling your way down
to the furnaces
of this hungry leviathan
to join hundreds of men
shoveling coal
into the gaping maws
of the boilers.
That's kind of spooky.
And when you finish your shift
hours later,
you climb back up into
your little world below decks
at the very bow of the ship,
where you eat, you sleep,
then you do it all over again.
Even here, we could feel
the hand of Thomas Andrews.
At the top of one
of the spiral staircases,
we found a drinking fountain.
I'm sure that even
this small kindness
must have been
greatly appreciated.
Here we've got a plan
that illustrates pretty well
what happened that night.
The "Titanic" was divided into
16 watertight compartments
separated by
15 watertight bulkheads.
That's these white lines here.
And the ship was designed to be
as unsinkable as they could.
The worst they could imagine
is a collision
at the juncture
of two compartments,
which would flood
two adjacent compartments.
The ship would only sink so far
and still be safe.
She was also designed to float
with any three of the first five
compartments flooded.
Or the first four in a row
could still flood
if they were in some
traumatic...
That was
the worst-case scenario.
Run into a rock or something
like that, just full-on.
She'd buckle back,
and the ship could still float.
With all of this combination
of safety factors,
she was considered
virtually unsinkable.
What they didn't envision
is what happened that night.
"Titanic" struck the iceberg,
a glancing blow
along the starboard side,
scraped along and ruptured
plates or split the seams,
moving along into
this cargo compartment,
into this cargo compartment,
and this baggage and cargo,
into Boiler Room Number 6
and two feet
into the coal bunker
of Boiler Room Number 5.
And as the ship sank,
just at the point where it was
about ready to stabilize,
it reached the top of this
watertight subdivision,
and started flowing up
the stairways, across the deck
and down into
the next compartment.
It was just
a mathematical certainty.
There was no way,
no matter how you slice it,
that the ship
is going to make it.
So where exactly did it split?
Well, it broke in two
right back here.
Just right about at
the third funnel and after that.
There's a natural weak spot
here in the hull
right above
the reciprocating engine room.
There is a large air shaft here
for light and air
to ventilate
the reciprocating engine room.
My God.
What that must have
sounded like, looked like.
What that must have been like.
What a deathblow
to this great ship.
Imagine the vortex to create
that kind of twisting.
That's what gets me.
Seeing the end of the stern
piece, and seeing how...
Can't you just see one
of those fish swimming along?
And then...
And you know
what the fish would've done?
"Whoa," you know?
Exactly.
Our best shot is probably
of the reciprocating engines
on the starboard side, right?
That's the guts of it.
Starboard side.
Sometimes I see him
come here and come up.
Yes.
That's good.
- Good.
- Like that.
And I lose, sometimes, good
sh*ts when Victor stays here.
Right.
But the thing is
that Victor can't face us.
He can't, otherwise his lights
will hit the camera.
He has to be above
with the lights down,
or like this.
Yes.
Maybe here.
So sort of this.
This sort of thing.
See, if the water is clear,
that'll make a good shot.
The engine room,
where those guys were fighting
to keep that thing alive.
They were "Titanic. "
They knew it was dying.
They didn't die
with a brandy glass in hand.
They died with a monkey wrench,
trying to stop the bleeding.
That is the starboard engine.
Look at that.
Oh, man!
Look at the size of that thing.
Okay, keep panning, because I'm
gonna be coming around this way.
Oh, man.
It does give you the scale,
seeing that little bot
next to that giant sphinx
of an engine.
When you see the stern
section where it tore in half,
and there are
the two reciprocating engines
standing four stories high,
they really do look like
these twin sphinxes
that are guarding
the forbidden tomb.
When the historians
look at "Titanic,"
they think of the lives
that were lost.
When I look at the ship
as a scientist,
I look at the life
that still is on "Titanic. "
"Titanic" is very much alive.
Rusticles are bacteria...
microscopic organisms, bugs...
that are actually eating
the steel
and the insides of the ship.
I look at a rail and think,
"Oh, look at the bacteria.
They're breaking 'Titanic' down
and taking her back to nature. "
But then you immediately
go back and think,
"Who touched this railing last?"
Helen Candee is one
of my favorite passengers.
She had written one of the
century's first best sellers.
Basically, the theme being
how a woman can get along
in life successfully
without a man.
And that's how she was traveling
first-class on the "Titanic. "
And on the very last sunrise
that the "Titanic"
would ever see,
she snuck out
to the very point of the bow
just to greet the sunrise alone.
And she wrote about it
and how she felt the power
and the beauty of this ship
and that it was stronger
than nature itself,
maybe even stronger
than God itself.
And then, suddenly,
she felt very darkened,
as if she had thought
something sacrilegious.
Mmm. It's good.
What's in borscht?
That's good borscht.
- Borscht in Russian.
- What is in borscht?
Borscht.
Cabbage, potatoes, bouillon.
Everybody eat borscht.
Anatoly has a song
that he wrote
about the blue sky that you see
when you return to the surface
and the hatch opens.
And I think that's very apropos,
because it's something
that you didn't think
you would miss, but you do.
It's very difficult to wander
through the "Keldysh"
and not think of the "Titanic"
and draw some parallel.
You know, what would've happened
if the engineers
hadn't stayed at their station
when the "Titanic" had gone
dark, say, an hour earlier?
It would have been
absolute pandemonium.
I became very close with the men
in the engineering section.
It's quieter in here.
Hello, my friends!
There wasn't a lot said.
But there was still very much
a bonding that went on.
Tell me.
If we were going
full speed, okay,
and all of a sudden,
the bridge said, "Iceberg!"
Or "Drunken fishing-boat captain
in our way!"
And they ring alarm,
what do you do?
Ah.
Full speed.
The engines all stop?
Whoo!
Yay!
Ah.
Anatoly! Dal Dal
On our last dive to "Titanic,"
we found
some interesting organisms.
- Inside, yeah?
- Yes, inside the ship.
It almost has wings.
See the wings that are flying?
The oddest creature
that was seen down there
was something
we call the batwing.
And to my knowledge,
nobody has identified it yet.
Several creatures down there
that I don't think
are known to science.
"Titanic,"
because there is
so much interest in it,
has really allowed us to do
a great deal of research.
You could actually see
gelatinous-type clouds
of bacteria as they floated by
and fingerlike structures
that were hanging
from the ceilings.
Intertwined
with this woodwork,
we'll see these lavender worms.
Shimmery, strange things,
almost transparent sometimes.
And they particularly like
the mahogany paneling.
Let's go up to him.
Even the fish don't
look like the same rattails
that are found outside.
To me, they appear to live
exclusively inside the ship.
He's heading for
the elevator shaft.
Hey, he knows
where he's going.
Wow. I can't believe it.
I didn't think I'd see
the boilers on this dive.
I had no idea
we were approaching the bow
from this angle.
We're awful close to this stuff.
"Mir-2," you got
a steam pipe above you.
Be careful.
- It's safe to be this close?
- What are you worried about?
If something happens to us, your
artwork will be worth millions.
Oh, great.
That'll do me a lot of good.
I see a real shiny thing
straight ahead.
Oh, these are whistles, Genya.
Whistles from the funnel.
Oh, my goodness.
Right under me.
Ooh, look at this.
What is that, Genya?
Yes.
Like a hatch cover.
It's a hatch cover, I think.
Yes.
I don't think we've ever seen
a hatch cover.
I saw it earlier.
Yeah.
So that's Hatch One.
It got blown off
when the ship hit the bottom.
It's just blown right out here
in front of the ship.
Oh, my God.
- What? What?
- Here's a glass carafe.
- Oh, look at that.
- Unbelievable.
Can you believe it survived?
That's a first-class
stateroom...
- Water decanter.
- Yeah.
I was pretty calm going down.
As a matter of fact, we saw,
in my porthole,
there was this woman's shoe.
It was perfectly preserved.
And it was laced up.
You know, I was just like,
"Oh, my God. "
That's somebody's grave marker.
That's the only grave marker
they have.
You see now that we are coming
to the davit.
Yeah.
Davit Number One.
This was Lifeboat One,
where Sir Cosmo and
Lady Duff Gordon had escaped
with only 10 other people
in a lifeboat that could have
held two dozen more.
The law of the sea
is women and children first
when you go to evacuate a ship.
For the time being,
I shall require
only women and children.
On the port side of the
ship, Second Officer Lightoller
took it to mean
women and children only,
and he only let women
and children into the boats,
and then as few crewmen
as possible to navigate it.
Please! Daddy!
Don't you worry.
Working on the other
side, here's Murdoch,
getting the boats in the water
as quick as he can,
shoving men, women, children,
first-class, third-class.
He didn't care.
- May I get in the boat?
- I wish you would.
Yes, ma'am.
I n you go.
Lower away!
Almost 2/3 of everyone
who survived
have Murdoch to thank for it.
Moving into the "A" deck
promenade with the R. O.V.,
it really looked familiar.
A long, sweeping, open deck.
Half of it was open.
The forward end was enclosed
by large glass windows.
This is right where
they walked, you know?
John Jacob Astor put
Madeline Astor into the lifeboat
right through one
of those windows right there.
Because she was pregnant,
he asked
Second Officer Lightoller...
May I accompany my wife?
No, sir.
Women and children only.
Come on.
Here, darling.
Take these.
And so he told her
he'd be seeing her in New York.
No, sir.
Step aside.
I've been thinking about
my family a lot being out here,
and we're going on these dives.
There's an element
of risk involved.
It's a calculated risk.
But I think the idea
of suddenly being on the deck
and saying, "I love you,"
you know,
and trying to bear up.
"Now, just go in the lifeboats.
Daddy will be along
in a little while. "
That's just torturous.
Trying to make your family
think that it's okay.
You're just keeping up
a brave face.
Exactly.
Also, it's the question
of personal character
that you keep going back to.
For me, ever since
I was a teenager,
the whole idea
is the question of,
how would I have beared up?
Would I have had the character
to stand back
and shown that kind of nobility,
shown that kind of courage?
And as we romanticize
the image of "Titanic,"
and it's such a romantic time
and everything,
you want to put yourself
with the men
standing there with dignity.
But you really can't assume
what your character would be
in that moment
unless you've been through
that kind of thing.
Absolutely.
You see the doors,
the entrance to first class?
Yeah.
That's the entrance.
This is where the band played.
This open area right here.
The orchestra
would have gathered,
and they started playing
ragtime.
You think of the band in
terms of how heroic they were.
They played,
knowing that everyone else
was getting into a lifeboat
except them.
But how calming
that band music was
to the people who were onboard.
Okay.
This right over here
should be the Marconi Room.
Everyone knows
the important role
that the Marconi Wireless played
that night.
Senior Marconi Wireless Operator
Jack Phillips
and Junior Operator
Harold Bride worked in tandem
until the very end.
You should try S. O. S.
It's the new signal.
Yes, it might be
our last chance to use it.
During the final moments
of the sinking,
the ship's power
was becoming unstable.
Harold Bride
was in the Silent Room,
trying to compensate
for this loss of power.
To our great astonishment
are the handles,
the settings still visible
on these two field regulators.
They are in the final settings
that this man manipulated.
Hey, that's better!
They have the human touch
to them.
Pull!
Pull together!
Many of the boats
had been launched half-full.
Return to the ship!
- Boat 6! Return.
- We need to go back!
No!
It's our lives now.
Now, row!
The suction will pull us down
if we don't keep going.
"Titanic" was
a stage where God says,
"You have 21/2 hours to
act out the rest of your life.
What are you gonna be?
Will you be a hero?
Will you be a coward?"
Time for one more hand.
Poker. Five card draw.
Would you fight to survive?
Would you take your place
meekly with the people
that were relegated
to the third-class spaces
and wait patiently
until someone unlocks a gate
and lets you free?
- Help us!
- What would you do?
- Please!
- How would you act?
I think it's fortunate
that most of us
will never be put to that test.
Any more women or children?
Anyone else, men?
Anyone else?
Quickly!
Quickly, men, quickly!
Prepare to lower!
Ready on the left?
Bruce Ismay.
He's the guy
who was responsible.
And yet he did survive,
when others died.
Right and left together!
I don't know which man
would've felt worse that night.
Bruce Ismay,
for vetoing more lifeboats,
or Thomas Andrews,
for not having fought
that decision harder.
There was
absolute pandemonium,
just chaos as those
last boats went down.
Get back, I say!
Get back!
Link arms! Form a chain!
Women and children only,
please!
It was precarious.
There was one lifeboat where
they weren't letting adults in.
This forced women to decide
whether they were gonna be
separated from their children.
They were trying to take
children only.
There were so many people
and a few lifeboats.
Several women said, " I am not
going without my children.
They're not leaving without me. "
They overcrowded that lifeboat,
but the water was so calm,
it made it.
It had over 70 people,
but the water was calm enough.
It must have been up
to the gunwales.
It was that far above the water.
You could've put your hand over
and trailed it in the water.
At the very end,
Murdoch was trying to get
collapsible "A" off the roof
while the ship
was sinking out from under it.
Get back!
Get back!
Step away!
Get back!
Crank this down there, men!
They cranked the davits in
to drag the collapsible
over the side.
But by then, it was too late.
The number-one davit remains
in that cranked-in position,
an unspoken monument
to Murdoch's dedication
and heroism.
After the lifeboats had gone,
we have evidence of some
third-class passengers
just going back to their cabins.
They had no hope of surviving,
and they took it gracefully.
To me, it must have been tough
for the people who survived,
knowing they could have possibly
gone back
and rescued some of the people
in the water
once the ship had gone under.
To go in there
would have been su1c1de
and nothing less.
We've got 1, 500 people
in the water
all screaming for help,
fighting for their lives.
You could easily have
50, 100 people
trying to climb onboard at once.
They're sitting
in a lifeboat, safe.
To not row back or to have that
not in your mind,
I can't believe that
of somebody.
How safe are you in a lifeboat
in the middle
of the North Atlantic?
"Titanic" is that thing
you always try to
measure yourself against.
"What would I have done if I
would have been on the deck?"
Heroism and character
will always be the domain of
the individual, not the group.
That's what will never change.
On one of the later dives,
Jim decided to go back into the
first-class spaces on "D" deck
and have "Mir-2" shine lights
through those leaded-glass
windows from the outside.
- Getting ready?
- Yes.
Here comes the light.
Nice.
Perfect.
Not since April 14, 1912,
had human eyes seen light
pouring through
these beautiful windows.
A lot of the washstands
have fallen over,
yet here was one
that was still upright.
And so someone took
a drink of water,
set that glass down,
and walked out of that room,
and 90 years later, that glass
and that carafe are still there.
I n the middle of this,
you see this perfect object.
It really ties you
to the people.
It does.
You still see things
where people had last left them.
Lamps still plugged in.
The medicine bottles
still in place.
It's the things people touched
that bring the pictures alive
in your mind.
So we're looking at it
right here, like this.
I need more power.
Come on, baby.
React, react, react.
- We have a problem.
- What?
We got
a low-battery warning here.
Whoa, there's something
really terribly wrong here.
Uh-oh.
Are we gonna lose this thing?
Oh, Jesus.
- Did we crash?
- We're dead. We're dead.
We're dead and buoyant.
Drop it. Drop it.
Buoyancy right now.
- Easy, easy, easy.
- Battery is starting to die.
Oh, we're not gonna live.
Guys, get a visual on us,
because we just lost power.
You're headed
for the ceiling.
You're sitting
on the ceiling, Jim.
We're dead in the water.
We have a dead battery.
We're watching you.
We're gonna sit and watch you.
The whole thing
was melting down.
The batteries, they
were melting down and venting.
It was very bizarre.
It was like,
"Houston, we have a problem. "
They flew beautifully
right up until the point
that we had an absolute, total
major-malfunction system crash.
I've had a debate with myself
as to whether I would
even ever try a rescue,
because better to lose one
than two.
It's almost a straight shot,
except there's a couple
of columns in the way.
I think there's a way
to bring it back.
Yeah, it's not too far
from the stairwell.
No.
But the first thing we got to do
is get some weight on it.
The weight with a piece
of Velcro on top.
I want to fly up underneath it
and stick the weight
to the bottom,
sink it to the floor,
then come up, dock with it
and carry it out.
That's the only way to do it.
Let me know
if I'm going too fast.
We had to rescue Elwood,
not just because these bots
are expensive,
but because,
in some strange way,
he'd become part of the crew.
Oh, where, oh, where
is my little bot now?
Look up.
Look up.
Hello, Elwood.
We tried to
attach weights to the R. O.V.
To make it come down
off the ceiling.
If I can just go forward.
What the hell was that?
Something fell.
I don't know.
See, we're thrusting
up against it,
so it may not come down
right away.
All right, so let me get set
for the separation maneuver.
It's on there.
It's on there.
We have it.
I'm gonna have to get out
of this no matter what.
Otherwise,
we're not coming home.
I'm going out.
Oh!
Link error.
We lost...
It's gonna come past us
in a second.
We might as well get it on tape.
Here she comes.
Say goodbye.
Probably two hours
without radio contact from Jim.
All we hear over the radio is...
Say goodbye to Jake.
"Say goodbye to Jake"?
What's happened?
Hit our own tether.
Cable broke.
I can't imagine
what it was like in Jim's sub.
He goes through
a range of emotions.
He loses one robot.
Then he loses a second robot.
Well, we got
our ceiling scenario,
and we got our kite scenario.
The two ways we thought we could
actually lose these things.
And after a quick exchange,
we noticed the tether
coming up past our sub.
Genya grabs the joysticks that
control the sub manipulators.
And he grabs the tether
and starts winding the tether up
around the arms
of the manipulators.
This is scary.
See what he's doing?
If he breaks it
before he gets a wrap on it...
Oh, my God.
I can't watch this.
You're scaring me now, Genya.
To wind up this tether,
it took 30, 35 minutes
of the same motion
over and over and over,
winding this up.
35 minutes
that we've been at this.
- Hey!
- Let's see it.
I thought it was on the ground.
You got him.
All stop. All stop.
Our next task
is to take a Velcro patch
and slap it on top of the robot
with the manipulator arms
and pull the robot in that way.
- You got him.
- Still got it.
As Genya is pulling up on it,
the Velcro rips off the robot,
and for this brief second,
the entire robot was free
and starts floating back up.
There's no tether holding it.
It's free. Grab it.
Grab it any way you can.
Genya, the most amazing operator
of any machinery
I've ever seen in my life,
grabbed these manipulators.
He pulls it back in
and hugs it tight to the "Mir. "
I'm going gray over here.
I think he's got it
in that garage.
He's got the tool out.
I saw the tool. Yes!
Whoo!
Garage closed.
He lives another day!
Oh, my God!
I do believe
Genya deserves a raise.
I do believe you owe
everybody here a beer.
Dude, I'll buy you a brewery.
That was incredible.
That was absolutely incredible.
The R. O.V. Department
was almost out of a job.
Was that amazing?
That was the most amazing
thing I've ever seen.
I think I aged a year.
And we sat there,
and we just watched him
just fly up
out of the grand staircase
and keep on going.
Genya wound it all in like
a kid winding up a kite string.
Great job, man.
Good job.
So we got the rescue half done.
We installed the weight,
and then we had a problem.
We saw it with the weight
hanging on it.
I don't know
if it came down or not.
I think metal hooks would work
if you get a fishing lure
that you can s*ab
into the screen
and pull it out by the screen.
I told you we'd nab him.
Just remember,
when you hook up,
peel away to your right.
Come on, baby.
- We're in.
- We're in.
- I n?
- We're in.
Now I'm gonna sit for a minute.
Take a little break.
Very good.
Excellent. Excellent.
We're halfway.
There's nothing in front of him.
Push him a little bit,
and I think we busted loose.
- Hooks pulled out.
- Put him in the cage.
Hooks pulled out.
And I think
we knocked him off his weight.
Yeah, the weight would've
come off anyway, though.
All right.
The question is,
do we have another try?
Something's right over me.
Oh, there we go.
Got rid of that.
Now we're rising.
All right.
Time to go for the k*ll.
Okay.
Not the center.
We could bend our hooks
on the...
Oh, that looked good.
Push him a little bit,
then all back full, yaw right.
The hooks still there?
Negative.
It looks good.
Let's go for a drive
and see if he comes with us.
Oh, I'm yawing in a weird way,
so that must mean I have him,
so I'm just gonna
keep playing him.
I'm gonna play the hand.
I think the door is down there.
Tell him we're here.
"Mir-1," we see the door.
We're on station.
There's the light.
Tell them we see them.
"Mir-2," "Mir-2,"
we see your lights.
Maintain position.
- All right.
- There's the way out.
Hanging up.
I'm hung up.
We're stopped.
And we're stuck.
See it?
It's like hitting a wall.
We are hung up solid.
Absolutely solid.
Nothing.
I think we lost it.
I don't know what to do.
I'm sure nothing's changed,
but we'll try it again.
Okay. I'm gonna back up,
take a little leash.
And then charge it.
Now we get to
the same spot, and...
Hey.
- We're going.
You're going.
Go toward the light, Jake.
Go toward the light.
Oh, come on, baby.
Come on.
"Mir-2," "Mir-2,"
tilt your light down.
Tilt your light down.
Copy that.
Tilting it down.
I keep feeling shocks.
I think I still have him.
Oh, that's why.
They're coming this way.
Tell them to take a visual on us
and see if we have Elwood.
- Look at that.
- Do you see Elwood?
Oh, my God.
He got it!
It looks great.
It's beautiful.
Do you see Elwood?
Do you see Elwood?
Yes, we do.
We got him.
We pulled it off, Daddy-O.
Yeah.
Whoo.
Great job.
Everybody did a great job.
Elwood is safe and sound.
And the time is 6:16,
September 11, 2001.
See you later.
What's this thing
that's going on?
The worst t*rror1st attack
in history, Jim.
We all were wrapped up
in what we were doing
and thought it was important.
Hit by two separate
h*jacked commercial jets...
And then this horrible event
happened
and slammed us
into this perspective.
God.
The morning after
the attack on September 11th,
I kept thinking how trivial
this expedition suddenly became.
It just wasn't a big deal
anymore.
The emotional
parallels came first.
We now understood
what it felt like
to be a witness to tragedy.
The sense of shock and numbness
and the disbelief that
the unthinkable has happened.
It does happen.
Occasionally,
life sits on your head.
But, hey,
I've been knocked down before.
We all have.
We get up.
We go on.
I think
that's what makes us great.
Everyone decided
to continue the expedition.
I think that after we'd
gotten over the initial shock,
"Titanic" did seem to become
important again.
Not so much for itself,
but as a symbol
of what can happen
when warnings go unheeded
and how I think
we all hope to face death
when it comes.
Archie Frost was
in the engine room that night.
Just barely into his twenties
and had worked
with Thomas Andrews
when the ship was being built.
After a certain point, Andrews
had come down and told them,
"The ship does not have
much time to live,
and if you stay here,
you will die. "
Archie Frost said,
"We'll stay here as long
as we need to be here. "
Those are the everyday heroes.
The people
who ran those machines,
kept the generators running,
and kept power
for the telegraph going,
who kept the crowds calm.
You find the ordinary hero
that was standing next to you.
When you see the stern
where 1, 500 people had died,
I don't really know
how to describe it.
You can't help
but be emotional.
There's no doubt
people were taken to the bottom
in the stern.
But they're no longer there.
Every trace
of their human existence
has been dissolved
into the ocean.
Okay, "Mir-2."
Get in position
to lay the plaque.
Jim, getting into
position to lay plaque.
"The 1,500 souls
lost here still speak,
reminding us always
that the unthinkable can happen
but for our vigilance, humility,
and compassion. "
Goodbye.
We had been at sea a long time.
I was thinking about
being home again.
On the final day, as we left,
at the stern of the ship
was a white rainbow.
It was almost like a halo effect
over the wreck of the "Titanic. "
And it had an ethereal feel
to it.
I think you leave "Titanic,"
but it never leaves you.
It's always there.
And many times,
when I close my eyes,
I'm suddenly back there,
floating over the wreck,
and I feel like I am
a ghost of the abyss.
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)
Moderator: Maskath3