National Geographic: Secrets of the Titanic (1986) Movie Script
It began here in ireiand at the
Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Three thousand men would labor here
for more than 2 years.
They were building a monster
the largest ship the world
had ever seen.
In the spring of 1909
a mountain of steel began to
rise against the sky.
The ship would weigh 66,000 tons
her hull would span 4 city blocks,
each of her colossal steam engines
was the size of a 3-story house.
The huge scale of these things was
a source of delight.
It was a scene out of
Gulliver's Travels when
the ship's anchor
through the streets of Belfast.
Some few observers found
this giant threatening
and wrote of her nightmare scale.
But their forebodings fell short of
the event,
for the fate of this ship still
fascinates the world
and her name is a synonym for tragedy.
In 1910 the huge ship taking shape
in Belfast was a supreme wonder
in world accustomed to miracles.
Every day it seemed something bigger
or better was invented.
Never had so many people been so
prosperous,
never had they taken such delight
in showing off
so this was called, "The Gildde Age."
This was a time when horses
still got most people around.
But things were rapidly changing
thanks to the machines of a new age
everything from rubber bands
to radios
from lightbuibs
to automobiles.
Progress and prosperity
money and machines,
almost anything seemed possible
and often it was.
May 31st, 1911,
the Roual Mail Ship Titanic,
slipped gracefully into Belfast harbor.
It was the largest moving object
ever made by man.
The Titanic was designed for
the rich passenger trade
on the North Atlantic.
It was not only the biggest ocean liner
it was by far the most luxurious.
Aboard Titanic it was hard to
remember that this was indeed a ship.
Advertising the delights it offered
the White Star Line called Titanic,
"a floating palace."
So confident were Titanic's builders
that her trial vouage
lasted just 8 hours.
Almost as an afterthought
she was said to be, "unsinkable."
On April 10th, 1912,
Titanic's maiden vouage began.
With their maids
valets and chauffeurs
their mountains of baggage the rich
traveled in a style almost unknown today.
In an age that worshipped wealth
the 325 first class passengers
were an awesome assembly.
Titanic was like a time capsule laden
with the splendors of the gilded Age.
In 1912 these films were shown in
theaters to a public eager
for any glimpse of Titanic
in fact, this is actually Titanic's
smaller sister ship the Olympic.
But the excitement and spectacle
were true to the event
and many people couldn't
tell the difference.
Titanic sailed from
Southampton at noon,
she was expected to reach New York
just 7days,
with 2,228 people aboard her.
There are a few authentic pictures
taken aboard Titanic
on her first and last voyage.
A vacationing priest
Father Francis Brown,
caught these poignant snapshots
of his fellow passengers.
Most of them on a voyage to eternity.
The next day Titanic made her last stop
pausing off the coast at
Queenstown, Ireland.
Here tenders brought out the
last passengers,
mostly Irish immigrants headed for
new homes in America,
and here the lucky Father Brown
disembarked,
taking these pictures on his way.
Father Brown caught Captain Smith
peering down from Titanic's bridge
poised on the brink of destiny.
Then Titanic sailed into the
twilight zone of legend
she would not be photographed again
for 73 years,
vanished in all but human memory.
The event of Titanic's last hours
have not faded with the passage of time.
The tragedy
irony and sheer terror of this night
still seize the imagination.
A British film, made in 1929
was one of the first of
many Titanic movies:
Full ahead.
Full ahead, sir.
Despite radioed warnings, Titanic
struck an iceberg.
She carried only enough lifeboats
for about 1.200 people
and not even that many were saved.
In 1986 a new chapter in the
Titanic's story began.
The men and machines involved did
not even exist when Titanic went down.
From the Woods Hole
Oceanographic institution
came the research submarine Alvin
and Dr. Robert Ballard
a geologist and undersea explorer.
For decades Ballard
had dreamed of being the man
to explore the Titanic wreck.
Now, if all goes well
he may succeed within a few days.
On July 9th, Ballard's expedition
backed by the U.S. Navy
and drawing on proven
underwater technology
puts to sea from Woods Hole.
One seven five.
One seven five.
The research vessel, Atlantis II
heads for Titanic's resting place
about 1,000 miles due east.
A rare alchemy of talent
desire and circumstance,
has led Ballard to this adventure.
Many led Ballard to this adventure.
Many have called it foolish and
at any rate, impossible,
it's been a hard sell.
No one person, no one organization
on one shared my dream.
There was pieces of it
the technology part,
the ship part, the submarine part.
It's very much like Cinderella
going to the ball.
So I had to go around and get the
shoes from somebody
and the dress from somebody
and the coach and the coachman
and then I knew everything
by midnight,
I'd turn back into a big pumpkin
so I had a sense of urgency
to get it done before
I ran out of time.
The year before
a joint French American expedition
with Ballard as co-leader
sought to locate Titanic.
A 150 square mile area was searched
by sonar devices and remote TV cameras
towed along the bottom
over 2 miles down.
But Titanic and not lie where
she was thought to be.
TV pictures revealed only a
monotonous plain of sediment
sometimes enlivened by a
sluggish fish or empty beer bottle.
Days of futile search dragged on.
It is 1 a.m., September 1st, 1985.
The search has been going on
for 56 days.
#1:Wreckage. Bingo. Yeah!
#2:Somebody ought to go get Bob.
#3:Bob's gone love this.
#4:This is it! Look at that thing.
All: Oh, alright! Yahoo!
#1:What is it?
#2:I don't know but it's manmade.
#3:There's more stuff coming.
#4:lt's the boiler!
#1: Yes, yes, that's fantastic!
#1:I'll be goddam.
The sucker exists! Gooddam!
#2:Has Cathy got the champagne?
There was an immediate outpouring
of excitement
a bunch of kids yelling and
screaming and jumping up and down,
very unprofessional.
And then the whole force of
actually being at the very spot
where this tragedy had
taken place and seeing the ship,
it was very... everyone just cracked.
Emotionally everyone just went down
into a big trough.
And we had a simple
quiet service on the fantail.
We felt better and
it was that time realized that
I was deeply affected by it.
When we came back I wouldn't
talk about the Titanic for 4 months.
I just wouldn't talk about
it with anybody.
I just went and hid.
But Ballard's
Woods Hole laboratory soon
recaptured the thrill of discovery.
Reviewing pictures taken by
remote cameras,
Ballard was eager to get a
closer look.
Ballard was confident that the
submarine Alvin couldn reach the wreck
and the U.S. Navy agreed
to sponsor an expedition.
They say the name of the ship is on
one of the capstans.
Oh, it is?
On the top, yeah.
It should be visible.
We'll have to go and take a look.
A tiny TV camera serves as the
single eye of Jason Jr.,
a robot submarine developed for the
navy in Ballard's lab.
Jason is ideal for exploring wrecks;
getting TV pictures in places
too confined and dangerous
for manned submarines.
Preparing for the Titanic expedition
Jason and his operator, Martin Bowen,
go into intensive training.
Jason is powered by 4 electric motors.
He can venture as far as 200 feet
away from Alvin, the manned submarine.
Jason is much like a dog on a
long leash,
moving on commands from his master.
Here in the lab it's easy to navigate
but deep on the Titanic wreck,
in pitch darkness
it will be another matter.
Often Martin's only viewpoint
will be Jason's electronic eye.
Now some 11months after Ballard
discovered Titanic's resting place
he is returning aboard Atlantis II.
It's clear by now
that no one knew Titanic's precise
location when she sank.
This original confusion explains why
the wreck was so difficult to locate.
There are no landmarks
the coast of Nova Scotia
is some 350 miles away.
The sea tolerates
no gravestones or monuments
only the knowledge of what
lies 21/2 miles below
gives this place identity.
When you're out at sea
it's just a big, monstrousthing.
It has no dimensions.
You tend to wander around in the
ocean and not feel that you're
any where at any on time.
Then when you find the Titanic
it rivets you to that one spot.
You know exactly where you are and
you know exactly what took place
right where you are and that's eerie.
You want to see lifeboats or people
in the water that you can
take drowned right around you.
Yeah, you hear them, you feel it.
Very much so.
The grey down of April 15th,1912
revealed a scattered
fleet of life boats.
Hundreds of bodies floated
in the surrounding waters.
The boats contained just
Aboard the liner Carpathia
amazed passengers took these snapshots
as the survivors were rescued.
Her compliment of passengers
doubled Carpathia raced for New York.
Everything was quiet calm and orderly.
It was too soon to explain and
too late to cry.
Tragically rumors and confusion
kept hope alive that others might
have been saved by other ships.
Slowiy, as fragmented and
conflicting radio reports came in
the world began to realize
what had happened overnight.
In London, silent crowds gathered
at the offices of the White Star Line
Here many of Titanic's passengers
had bought their tickets
and here a precious few were
reported alive.
In Liverpool, homeport of Titanic
the streets were full of dazed
and grief-stricken families
begging for news
and reeling in shock when it came.
In New York wild rumors circulated
one paper reported Titanic
still afloat and everyone safe.
Anxious and incredulous crowds
gathered in front of newspapers
and offices of White Star.
Suspense and uncertainty grew
for 4 days.
Finally, on the evening of April 18th,
Carpathia arrived at last.
Then as night fell there followed
a chilling pantomime which
brought home the full impact
of what had happened.
In the glare of photographers
flashlights survivors
lined Carpathia's rails
but as thousands waited Carpathia
first unloaded Titanic's lifeboats.
Seeing finally was believing
all that remained of the greatest
ocean liner in the world.
By the next day survivors
had dispersed.
Frustrated newsreel cameramen were
left to film mere boys,
young stewards who clowned
and laughed even as the rest
of the world mourned.
There remained the task of bringing
in bodies
only some 300 were found out
of 1,523 people lost.
In fear and superstition
Many ships avoided these waters for
years afterward.
Brought ashore at Halifax some
victims were claimed and shipped home
For others the maiden voyage of
Titanic ended here in Canada
just a few miles from
the North Atlanic shore.
Today these graves still are tended
at the expense of the
shipping line which took over
from the owners of Titanic.
The disaster is memorialized
like a great battle which
changed the course of history.
But what was the meaning of it all?
It caused only an instant's
hesitation in the march of technology.
But, somehow, Titanic made people
think and they are thinking still.
Every 5 years the valiant dwindling
band of Titanic survivors
is invited to attend a convention
of the Titanic Historical Society.
Thank you very much.
You look pretty good.
Thank you.
There are only about 24 known
survivors alive today.
But the number of people
interested in Titanic is growing
and this fascination reached
a fever pitch when
the wreck of Titanic was found.
July 13th, 1986.
The first attempt
to reach Titanic by submarine is
planned for this morning.
Bob Ballard and 2 companions will
ride to the bottom
in the research submarine, Alvin.
In his enthusiasm Bob Ballard has
perhaps made things seem too easy.
This morning he has
many promises to keep.
The crew compartment of Alvin
is a sealed,
equipment and 3 uncomfortable humans.
Alvin is a tried and trusted design.
It has mapped underwea mountains
located a lost H-bomb,
and now is poised over the most
celebrated shipwreck of modern times.
Once launched Alvin is independent
of its mothership.
The crew can communicate
with the surface,
but in the deep they are
so far from help,
they might as well be on the moon.
To conserve electrical power Alvin
will fall to the ocean bottom
only as fast as gravity allows.
The slow plunge will take 21/2 hours
a time of tedium and growing suspense.
Alvin, this is A-two, over.
Go ahead.
Roger. Ralph
we have the tracking running well
and the bow section should be a
range of about 800 meters,
bearing two three zero degrees, over
Ballard reports that Alvin's
batteries are leaking and
its sonar system has failed.
He must rely on
imprecise directions from above
and he cannot stay down much longer.
Alvin, this is A-two.
According to tracking you just
drove over the forward section.
Suggest you come to course 280
and travel for 200-300 meters, over.
I can't believe they can't see it.
I can't believe they cannot see it.
They can only see 30 or 30 feet.
It's... of water.
Atlantis II, Atlantis II
this is Alvin.
We are at the Titanic, over.
Roger, Alvin, we understand
you found the Titanic, over.
Roger, we're sitting at the base
it appears be near the stern
or the midsection.
We are deciding what to do next
because we're running low on power.
No sooner is Titanic found than
the dive must be abandoned.
It takes another 21/2 hours for
Ballard to regain the surface.
We had problems with the submarine
so we had to abort the dive
and immediately head up.
So I saw it for 10 seconds
and that was it.
So, well have to go back and
do it tomorrow.
What happens next?
Well, they're gonna be up all night.
They've got a sick puppy and they
got to fix it,
and it's gonna take them all night.
Alvin is quickly repaired but
the mood next morning is uncertain.
Everyone has been reminded
that technical problems,
bad weather, or a combination of
both could terminate the expedition.
This time everything goes according to plean
Titanic, no longer lost,
no longer legend.
There are people aboard the great
ship once again after
Now, like astronauts newly arrived
on a distant planet
Alvin's crew is learning
something new every second.
A disappointment; Titanic's decks
thought to be intact
have been consumed by
wood-boring organisms.
What speared to be planks turns
out to be ridges of caulking.
A revelation; standing all alone
is the bronze peaestal
where Titanic's wheel was mounted.
It gleams as if brand new.
What we thought was organic growth
appears to be rust.
The ship looks like it's
bleeding steel
and it's rusting down its entire side.
All over it's draped in rust.
It's formed a river and little veins
that flow down the side
and out onto the sediment.
All right,
let's terminate conversation.
We are losing our light energy
and we'll see you on the surface, over
On the return to the surface a near disaster
the robot submarine Jason,
is dislodged from its garage
on the front of Alvin and almost lost.
Only quick word by divers saves
the million dollar robot.
Well, that's one way to come home
Jason-swimming.
That's right.
Repairs will go on all night as
Ballard reports what he's seen
and prepares for tomorrow's dive.
We come in on the debris field,
right through here.
Titanic is a frightening place
to explore.
Everywhere there are wires,
rails and tubing which could trap.
Coming in along the mud line toward
the ship should be fairly safe.
But the robot, Jason
can get close to such hazards
and venture inside the wreck
without risking human lives.
Alvin's crew is skeptical about robots
in general and Jason in particular.
But, Ballard ignores today's
problems and plans to send
Jason deep into Titanic's interior
on the next dive.
The funnels are all gone.
We've never even seen one
in the debris field.
The idea is to bring Alvin down
in a vertical sense
and land at certain places.
Naturally we'd like to enter the
bridge and we'd like to go
down the staircase and there's a
nice landing pad right here.
That staircase goes down many
many flights
so it would be a question of
how deep you wanted to go in.
But certainly at least 2 to 3 decks in
On succeeding dives special
cameras aboard Alvin pierce
the darkness and reveal
spectacular aerial views
of the wreck;
traveling aft, passing over the cargo
holds and cranes...
the bridge area
where the wheel pedestal stands alone
the hole where the first
funnel once stood
big enough to admit a locomotive.
Now on the third dive Alvin
makes a landing at the edge
of Titanic's grand staircase.
Make sure that that lip won't
jam J. J so he can't get out.
Don't get too close.
Right.
Jason is launched with
Martin Bowen at the controls.
Go forward. Tethering out.
I'll be taking shots periodically.
Further out.
That lip is right in front of me.
Yeah okay.
If you can just head out over the edge
Like a frightened puppy
Jason seems to want to dive back
into his garage and go home.
Gaining control and confidence
Bowen sends Jason down
into the grand staircase.
Seventy for years have taken
their toll
this is what Jason's camera sees
this is what once was.
Seem-ingly there's nothing
recognizable here
but, then, pillars define a room.
One of these light fixtures still
hangs from the ceiling
suspended both in space and time.
The elaborate ornamental clock is gone
leaving only its outline on the wall.
Jason bumps into something
causing an avalanche of rust.
Alarmed, Ballard and
Martin Bowen decide to withdraw.
Keep knocking that rust off.
Yeah
Now, 2 miles down
Jason salutes his creator.
For man and machine
it's a moment of eerie victory.
In further tests
Jason skims over the wreck like an
inquisitive humming-bird.
He can move more safely and
quickly than Alvin and
get in close to capture small details.
Something door for use...
This door for bridge...
This door for use of crew only.
Napier Brothers Company Engineers,
Glasgow. Napier Brothers Limimted.
Some parts of the ship seem almost new
paint still clings to
these window frames
handles and hinges still turn,
and the awesome steel anchors
still hang from Titanic's bow.
Soon Baliard's work for the Navy
may produce robots
so sophisticated everything can be
seen and controlled from the surface.
On some jobs manned submarines
like Alvin may not be needed.
The success of Jason on Titanic
is a major step toward that goal.
Bring it around A little more,
there we go.
Okay, if we want to drop
weights I'm happy.
Okay.
Success.
God, that was not easy.
In one spectacular dive
Robert Ballard and Martin Bowen
have accomplished all
their major objec-tives.
We had a chandalier right there!
We were taking pictures, of it.
We went dancing in the ballroom.
Now for 9 days
Atlantis gather information on Titanic
Deployed each night,
an unmanned instrument package
captures some 57,000
photos of the wreck site.
I want to go through regions,
not specific targets.
There's only a couple targets left.
Ballard and his colleague
Dr. Elizar Yuchupe,
begin to create a detailed map
of Titanic's remains.
That's it
There's nothing else but that.
It reveals new information
and sometimes contradicts
accepted accounts of the disaster.
That's right down here, you see
that's where it would be.
So south of the...
South of the wine bottles.
Most strikingly the wreck lies
in 2 major sections,
This supports some
eye witnesses who said the ship broke
in 2 as it went down.
Between the 2 sections of the
wreck lies a vast field of debris
and scattered throughout the wreckage
are many common place objects;
a bottle of champagne still corked
and a cup, sitting on a 57 ton boiler
where it gently came
to rest 74 years ago.
Ballard brought nothing up from
Titanic and had vowed not to
interfere with the wreck.
But that was before Alvin came upon
the assistant purser's safe
The handle turns
but the door won't open.
At any rate,
experts say it was emptied
by the crew before Titanic went down.
As the wreck is explored
the Titanic story is relived
and in some cases revised
to suit new evidence.
It is 11:40 p.m., April 14th, 1912.
From the crow's nest
an iceberg is spotted dead ahead
by lookout, Fredrick Fleet.
Fleet immediately rings on alarm bell
and calls the bridge
where the First Officer
William Murdoch, orders the wheel,
"Hard a starboard,"
and the engines, "Full astern."
Titanic grazes the ice,
possibly causing only
a few crumpled hull plates
but enough to tell Captain
Edward Smith that his ship is doomed.
Captain Smith personally walks back
from the bridge to the radio room
where, soon after midnight
the first distress call is sent.
Radio is its infancy and the newly
adopted signal, S.O.S.
Is a novelty to operator
jack Phillips.
Orders are given that women and
children must board lifeboats.
Near the boats
some first class passengers
gather here in the gymnasium.
One is multi-millionaire
John Jacob Astor,
on an extended honeymoon with
his young second wife, Madeline.
Astor's wife boards a lifeboat here,
on Titanic's port side.
But an officer
refuses Astor and so,
he meekly chooses to stand aside,
and die.
Few yet realize that
because of inadequate laws
there are only enough boats for
half the people aboard.
Distress rockets are fired from
the starboard wing of the bridge.
To the north there is a ship,
the British steamer, Califarnion
Titanic's rockets are
reported to her captain,
Stanley Lord, but he does nothing
goes back to sleep
and will spend the rest of his life
trying to explain.
Many lifeboats are still being
lowered half empty.
Few understand that Titanic
is actually sinking.
The lifeboat davits are still
extended here at boat station 2,
where Second Officer
C.H. Lietauer is in charge.
Lietauer sends half a dozen
crewmen to open doors
and help fill the boats
from decks lower down.
The men were never seen again
but one set of doors still hangs open.
Here a twisted davit once
held boat number B
and here stood an aging
distinguished couple,
Mr. And Mrs. Isadore Strauss.
Offered a place on the boats
Mr. Strauss refused it,
then Mrs. Strauss refuse to leave him,
and so, they perished together.
In a single first class cabin
there was a wealthy woman
traveling along.
She was a tough and earthy character,
requiring no assistance.
She boarded a lifeboat
boldly took over command
and was known from then on as
"the unsinkable Molly Brown."
And now, at last, 1,500 people
began to realize that
soon they were going go die.
But on the boat deck near the entrance
to the grand staircase
the band played on.
No one could agree later what
tunes were played
and all the musicians drowned.
But Titanic's band,
and its leader Wallace Harltey,
became immortal heroes of
this disaster on the sea.
Few honored Captain Smith
who had ignored many warnings
as he sailed boldly into history.
He went down with his ship
his last words disputed.
Some said he told the crew
"be British,"
others, "it's every man for himself."
When the Titanic expedition ended
Bob Ballard left behind
a plaque honoring those who died here.
Titanic is their monument
more than 2 miles beneath the sea.
It's memorial to this period of time
to that mistake of arrogance.
It's a whole bunch of things
all bundled up
and now,
down at the bottom of the ocean
it's a very peaceful place
a very quiet place.
It's sitting upright on the bottom
very nobly and at rest.
Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Three thousand men would labor here
for more than 2 years.
They were building a monster
the largest ship the world
had ever seen.
In the spring of 1909
a mountain of steel began to
rise against the sky.
The ship would weigh 66,000 tons
her hull would span 4 city blocks,
each of her colossal steam engines
was the size of a 3-story house.
The huge scale of these things was
a source of delight.
It was a scene out of
Gulliver's Travels when
the ship's anchor
through the streets of Belfast.
Some few observers found
this giant threatening
and wrote of her nightmare scale.
But their forebodings fell short of
the event,
for the fate of this ship still
fascinates the world
and her name is a synonym for tragedy.
In 1910 the huge ship taking shape
in Belfast was a supreme wonder
in world accustomed to miracles.
Every day it seemed something bigger
or better was invented.
Never had so many people been so
prosperous,
never had they taken such delight
in showing off
so this was called, "The Gildde Age."
This was a time when horses
still got most people around.
But things were rapidly changing
thanks to the machines of a new age
everything from rubber bands
to radios
from lightbuibs
to automobiles.
Progress and prosperity
money and machines,
almost anything seemed possible
and often it was.
May 31st, 1911,
the Roual Mail Ship Titanic,
slipped gracefully into Belfast harbor.
It was the largest moving object
ever made by man.
The Titanic was designed for
the rich passenger trade
on the North Atlantic.
It was not only the biggest ocean liner
it was by far the most luxurious.
Aboard Titanic it was hard to
remember that this was indeed a ship.
Advertising the delights it offered
the White Star Line called Titanic,
"a floating palace."
So confident were Titanic's builders
that her trial vouage
lasted just 8 hours.
Almost as an afterthought
she was said to be, "unsinkable."
On April 10th, 1912,
Titanic's maiden vouage began.
With their maids
valets and chauffeurs
their mountains of baggage the rich
traveled in a style almost unknown today.
In an age that worshipped wealth
the 325 first class passengers
were an awesome assembly.
Titanic was like a time capsule laden
with the splendors of the gilded Age.
In 1912 these films were shown in
theaters to a public eager
for any glimpse of Titanic
in fact, this is actually Titanic's
smaller sister ship the Olympic.
But the excitement and spectacle
were true to the event
and many people couldn't
tell the difference.
Titanic sailed from
Southampton at noon,
she was expected to reach New York
just 7days,
with 2,228 people aboard her.
There are a few authentic pictures
taken aboard Titanic
on her first and last voyage.
A vacationing priest
Father Francis Brown,
caught these poignant snapshots
of his fellow passengers.
Most of them on a voyage to eternity.
The next day Titanic made her last stop
pausing off the coast at
Queenstown, Ireland.
Here tenders brought out the
last passengers,
mostly Irish immigrants headed for
new homes in America,
and here the lucky Father Brown
disembarked,
taking these pictures on his way.
Father Brown caught Captain Smith
peering down from Titanic's bridge
poised on the brink of destiny.
Then Titanic sailed into the
twilight zone of legend
she would not be photographed again
for 73 years,
vanished in all but human memory.
The event of Titanic's last hours
have not faded with the passage of time.
The tragedy
irony and sheer terror of this night
still seize the imagination.
A British film, made in 1929
was one of the first of
many Titanic movies:
Full ahead.
Full ahead, sir.
Despite radioed warnings, Titanic
struck an iceberg.
She carried only enough lifeboats
for about 1.200 people
and not even that many were saved.
In 1986 a new chapter in the
Titanic's story began.
The men and machines involved did
not even exist when Titanic went down.
From the Woods Hole
Oceanographic institution
came the research submarine Alvin
and Dr. Robert Ballard
a geologist and undersea explorer.
For decades Ballard
had dreamed of being the man
to explore the Titanic wreck.
Now, if all goes well
he may succeed within a few days.
On July 9th, Ballard's expedition
backed by the U.S. Navy
and drawing on proven
underwater technology
puts to sea from Woods Hole.
One seven five.
One seven five.
The research vessel, Atlantis II
heads for Titanic's resting place
about 1,000 miles due east.
A rare alchemy of talent
desire and circumstance,
has led Ballard to this adventure.
Many led Ballard to this adventure.
Many have called it foolish and
at any rate, impossible,
it's been a hard sell.
No one person, no one organization
on one shared my dream.
There was pieces of it
the technology part,
the ship part, the submarine part.
It's very much like Cinderella
going to the ball.
So I had to go around and get the
shoes from somebody
and the dress from somebody
and the coach and the coachman
and then I knew everything
by midnight,
I'd turn back into a big pumpkin
so I had a sense of urgency
to get it done before
I ran out of time.
The year before
a joint French American expedition
with Ballard as co-leader
sought to locate Titanic.
A 150 square mile area was searched
by sonar devices and remote TV cameras
towed along the bottom
over 2 miles down.
But Titanic and not lie where
she was thought to be.
TV pictures revealed only a
monotonous plain of sediment
sometimes enlivened by a
sluggish fish or empty beer bottle.
Days of futile search dragged on.
It is 1 a.m., September 1st, 1985.
The search has been going on
for 56 days.
#1:Wreckage. Bingo. Yeah!
#2:Somebody ought to go get Bob.
#3:Bob's gone love this.
#4:This is it! Look at that thing.
All: Oh, alright! Yahoo!
#1:What is it?
#2:I don't know but it's manmade.
#3:There's more stuff coming.
#4:lt's the boiler!
#1: Yes, yes, that's fantastic!
#1:I'll be goddam.
The sucker exists! Gooddam!
#2:Has Cathy got the champagne?
There was an immediate outpouring
of excitement
a bunch of kids yelling and
screaming and jumping up and down,
very unprofessional.
And then the whole force of
actually being at the very spot
where this tragedy had
taken place and seeing the ship,
it was very... everyone just cracked.
Emotionally everyone just went down
into a big trough.
And we had a simple
quiet service on the fantail.
We felt better and
it was that time realized that
I was deeply affected by it.
When we came back I wouldn't
talk about the Titanic for 4 months.
I just wouldn't talk about
it with anybody.
I just went and hid.
But Ballard's
Woods Hole laboratory soon
recaptured the thrill of discovery.
Reviewing pictures taken by
remote cameras,
Ballard was eager to get a
closer look.
Ballard was confident that the
submarine Alvin couldn reach the wreck
and the U.S. Navy agreed
to sponsor an expedition.
They say the name of the ship is on
one of the capstans.
Oh, it is?
On the top, yeah.
It should be visible.
We'll have to go and take a look.
A tiny TV camera serves as the
single eye of Jason Jr.,
a robot submarine developed for the
navy in Ballard's lab.
Jason is ideal for exploring wrecks;
getting TV pictures in places
too confined and dangerous
for manned submarines.
Preparing for the Titanic expedition
Jason and his operator, Martin Bowen,
go into intensive training.
Jason is powered by 4 electric motors.
He can venture as far as 200 feet
away from Alvin, the manned submarine.
Jason is much like a dog on a
long leash,
moving on commands from his master.
Here in the lab it's easy to navigate
but deep on the Titanic wreck,
in pitch darkness
it will be another matter.
Often Martin's only viewpoint
will be Jason's electronic eye.
Now some 11months after Ballard
discovered Titanic's resting place
he is returning aboard Atlantis II.
It's clear by now
that no one knew Titanic's precise
location when she sank.
This original confusion explains why
the wreck was so difficult to locate.
There are no landmarks
the coast of Nova Scotia
is some 350 miles away.
The sea tolerates
no gravestones or monuments
only the knowledge of what
lies 21/2 miles below
gives this place identity.
When you're out at sea
it's just a big, monstrousthing.
It has no dimensions.
You tend to wander around in the
ocean and not feel that you're
any where at any on time.
Then when you find the Titanic
it rivets you to that one spot.
You know exactly where you are and
you know exactly what took place
right where you are and that's eerie.
You want to see lifeboats or people
in the water that you can
take drowned right around you.
Yeah, you hear them, you feel it.
Very much so.
The grey down of April 15th,1912
revealed a scattered
fleet of life boats.
Hundreds of bodies floated
in the surrounding waters.
The boats contained just
Aboard the liner Carpathia
amazed passengers took these snapshots
as the survivors were rescued.
Her compliment of passengers
doubled Carpathia raced for New York.
Everything was quiet calm and orderly.
It was too soon to explain and
too late to cry.
Tragically rumors and confusion
kept hope alive that others might
have been saved by other ships.
Slowiy, as fragmented and
conflicting radio reports came in
the world began to realize
what had happened overnight.
In London, silent crowds gathered
at the offices of the White Star Line
Here many of Titanic's passengers
had bought their tickets
and here a precious few were
reported alive.
In Liverpool, homeport of Titanic
the streets were full of dazed
and grief-stricken families
begging for news
and reeling in shock when it came.
In New York wild rumors circulated
one paper reported Titanic
still afloat and everyone safe.
Anxious and incredulous crowds
gathered in front of newspapers
and offices of White Star.
Suspense and uncertainty grew
for 4 days.
Finally, on the evening of April 18th,
Carpathia arrived at last.
Then as night fell there followed
a chilling pantomime which
brought home the full impact
of what had happened.
In the glare of photographers
flashlights survivors
lined Carpathia's rails
but as thousands waited Carpathia
first unloaded Titanic's lifeboats.
Seeing finally was believing
all that remained of the greatest
ocean liner in the world.
By the next day survivors
had dispersed.
Frustrated newsreel cameramen were
left to film mere boys,
young stewards who clowned
and laughed even as the rest
of the world mourned.
There remained the task of bringing
in bodies
only some 300 were found out
of 1,523 people lost.
In fear and superstition
Many ships avoided these waters for
years afterward.
Brought ashore at Halifax some
victims were claimed and shipped home
For others the maiden voyage of
Titanic ended here in Canada
just a few miles from
the North Atlanic shore.
Today these graves still are tended
at the expense of the
shipping line which took over
from the owners of Titanic.
The disaster is memorialized
like a great battle which
changed the course of history.
But what was the meaning of it all?
It caused only an instant's
hesitation in the march of technology.
But, somehow, Titanic made people
think and they are thinking still.
Every 5 years the valiant dwindling
band of Titanic survivors
is invited to attend a convention
of the Titanic Historical Society.
Thank you very much.
You look pretty good.
Thank you.
There are only about 24 known
survivors alive today.
But the number of people
interested in Titanic is growing
and this fascination reached
a fever pitch when
the wreck of Titanic was found.
July 13th, 1986.
The first attempt
to reach Titanic by submarine is
planned for this morning.
Bob Ballard and 2 companions will
ride to the bottom
in the research submarine, Alvin.
In his enthusiasm Bob Ballard has
perhaps made things seem too easy.
This morning he has
many promises to keep.
The crew compartment of Alvin
is a sealed,
equipment and 3 uncomfortable humans.
Alvin is a tried and trusted design.
It has mapped underwea mountains
located a lost H-bomb,
and now is poised over the most
celebrated shipwreck of modern times.
Once launched Alvin is independent
of its mothership.
The crew can communicate
with the surface,
but in the deep they are
so far from help,
they might as well be on the moon.
To conserve electrical power Alvin
will fall to the ocean bottom
only as fast as gravity allows.
The slow plunge will take 21/2 hours
a time of tedium and growing suspense.
Alvin, this is A-two, over.
Go ahead.
Roger. Ralph
we have the tracking running well
and the bow section should be a
range of about 800 meters,
bearing two three zero degrees, over
Ballard reports that Alvin's
batteries are leaking and
its sonar system has failed.
He must rely on
imprecise directions from above
and he cannot stay down much longer.
Alvin, this is A-two.
According to tracking you just
drove over the forward section.
Suggest you come to course 280
and travel for 200-300 meters, over.
I can't believe they can't see it.
I can't believe they cannot see it.
They can only see 30 or 30 feet.
It's... of water.
Atlantis II, Atlantis II
this is Alvin.
We are at the Titanic, over.
Roger, Alvin, we understand
you found the Titanic, over.
Roger, we're sitting at the base
it appears be near the stern
or the midsection.
We are deciding what to do next
because we're running low on power.
No sooner is Titanic found than
the dive must be abandoned.
It takes another 21/2 hours for
Ballard to regain the surface.
We had problems with the submarine
so we had to abort the dive
and immediately head up.
So I saw it for 10 seconds
and that was it.
So, well have to go back and
do it tomorrow.
What happens next?
Well, they're gonna be up all night.
They've got a sick puppy and they
got to fix it,
and it's gonna take them all night.
Alvin is quickly repaired but
the mood next morning is uncertain.
Everyone has been reminded
that technical problems,
bad weather, or a combination of
both could terminate the expedition.
This time everything goes according to plean
Titanic, no longer lost,
no longer legend.
There are people aboard the great
ship once again after
Now, like astronauts newly arrived
on a distant planet
Alvin's crew is learning
something new every second.
A disappointment; Titanic's decks
thought to be intact
have been consumed by
wood-boring organisms.
What speared to be planks turns
out to be ridges of caulking.
A revelation; standing all alone
is the bronze peaestal
where Titanic's wheel was mounted.
It gleams as if brand new.
What we thought was organic growth
appears to be rust.
The ship looks like it's
bleeding steel
and it's rusting down its entire side.
All over it's draped in rust.
It's formed a river and little veins
that flow down the side
and out onto the sediment.
All right,
let's terminate conversation.
We are losing our light energy
and we'll see you on the surface, over
On the return to the surface a near disaster
the robot submarine Jason,
is dislodged from its garage
on the front of Alvin and almost lost.
Only quick word by divers saves
the million dollar robot.
Well, that's one way to come home
Jason-swimming.
That's right.
Repairs will go on all night as
Ballard reports what he's seen
and prepares for tomorrow's dive.
We come in on the debris field,
right through here.
Titanic is a frightening place
to explore.
Everywhere there are wires,
rails and tubing which could trap.
Coming in along the mud line toward
the ship should be fairly safe.
But the robot, Jason
can get close to such hazards
and venture inside the wreck
without risking human lives.
Alvin's crew is skeptical about robots
in general and Jason in particular.
But, Ballard ignores today's
problems and plans to send
Jason deep into Titanic's interior
on the next dive.
The funnels are all gone.
We've never even seen one
in the debris field.
The idea is to bring Alvin down
in a vertical sense
and land at certain places.
Naturally we'd like to enter the
bridge and we'd like to go
down the staircase and there's a
nice landing pad right here.
That staircase goes down many
many flights
so it would be a question of
how deep you wanted to go in.
But certainly at least 2 to 3 decks in
On succeeding dives special
cameras aboard Alvin pierce
the darkness and reveal
spectacular aerial views
of the wreck;
traveling aft, passing over the cargo
holds and cranes...
the bridge area
where the wheel pedestal stands alone
the hole where the first
funnel once stood
big enough to admit a locomotive.
Now on the third dive Alvin
makes a landing at the edge
of Titanic's grand staircase.
Make sure that that lip won't
jam J. J so he can't get out.
Don't get too close.
Right.
Jason is launched with
Martin Bowen at the controls.
Go forward. Tethering out.
I'll be taking shots periodically.
Further out.
That lip is right in front of me.
Yeah okay.
If you can just head out over the edge
Like a frightened puppy
Jason seems to want to dive back
into his garage and go home.
Gaining control and confidence
Bowen sends Jason down
into the grand staircase.
Seventy for years have taken
their toll
this is what Jason's camera sees
this is what once was.
Seem-ingly there's nothing
recognizable here
but, then, pillars define a room.
One of these light fixtures still
hangs from the ceiling
suspended both in space and time.
The elaborate ornamental clock is gone
leaving only its outline on the wall.
Jason bumps into something
causing an avalanche of rust.
Alarmed, Ballard and
Martin Bowen decide to withdraw.
Keep knocking that rust off.
Yeah
Now, 2 miles down
Jason salutes his creator.
For man and machine
it's a moment of eerie victory.
In further tests
Jason skims over the wreck like an
inquisitive humming-bird.
He can move more safely and
quickly than Alvin and
get in close to capture small details.
Something door for use...
This door for bridge...
This door for use of crew only.
Napier Brothers Company Engineers,
Glasgow. Napier Brothers Limimted.
Some parts of the ship seem almost new
paint still clings to
these window frames
handles and hinges still turn,
and the awesome steel anchors
still hang from Titanic's bow.
Soon Baliard's work for the Navy
may produce robots
so sophisticated everything can be
seen and controlled from the surface.
On some jobs manned submarines
like Alvin may not be needed.
The success of Jason on Titanic
is a major step toward that goal.
Bring it around A little more,
there we go.
Okay, if we want to drop
weights I'm happy.
Okay.
Success.
God, that was not easy.
In one spectacular dive
Robert Ballard and Martin Bowen
have accomplished all
their major objec-tives.
We had a chandalier right there!
We were taking pictures, of it.
We went dancing in the ballroom.
Now for 9 days
Atlantis gather information on Titanic
Deployed each night,
an unmanned instrument package
captures some 57,000
photos of the wreck site.
I want to go through regions,
not specific targets.
There's only a couple targets left.
Ballard and his colleague
Dr. Elizar Yuchupe,
begin to create a detailed map
of Titanic's remains.
That's it
There's nothing else but that.
It reveals new information
and sometimes contradicts
accepted accounts of the disaster.
That's right down here, you see
that's where it would be.
So south of the...
South of the wine bottles.
Most strikingly the wreck lies
in 2 major sections,
This supports some
eye witnesses who said the ship broke
in 2 as it went down.
Between the 2 sections of the
wreck lies a vast field of debris
and scattered throughout the wreckage
are many common place objects;
a bottle of champagne still corked
and a cup, sitting on a 57 ton boiler
where it gently came
to rest 74 years ago.
Ballard brought nothing up from
Titanic and had vowed not to
interfere with the wreck.
But that was before Alvin came upon
the assistant purser's safe
The handle turns
but the door won't open.
At any rate,
experts say it was emptied
by the crew before Titanic went down.
As the wreck is explored
the Titanic story is relived
and in some cases revised
to suit new evidence.
It is 11:40 p.m., April 14th, 1912.
From the crow's nest
an iceberg is spotted dead ahead
by lookout, Fredrick Fleet.
Fleet immediately rings on alarm bell
and calls the bridge
where the First Officer
William Murdoch, orders the wheel,
"Hard a starboard,"
and the engines, "Full astern."
Titanic grazes the ice,
possibly causing only
a few crumpled hull plates
but enough to tell Captain
Edward Smith that his ship is doomed.
Captain Smith personally walks back
from the bridge to the radio room
where, soon after midnight
the first distress call is sent.
Radio is its infancy and the newly
adopted signal, S.O.S.
Is a novelty to operator
jack Phillips.
Orders are given that women and
children must board lifeboats.
Near the boats
some first class passengers
gather here in the gymnasium.
One is multi-millionaire
John Jacob Astor,
on an extended honeymoon with
his young second wife, Madeline.
Astor's wife boards a lifeboat here,
on Titanic's port side.
But an officer
refuses Astor and so,
he meekly chooses to stand aside,
and die.
Few yet realize that
because of inadequate laws
there are only enough boats for
half the people aboard.
Distress rockets are fired from
the starboard wing of the bridge.
To the north there is a ship,
the British steamer, Califarnion
Titanic's rockets are
reported to her captain,
Stanley Lord, but he does nothing
goes back to sleep
and will spend the rest of his life
trying to explain.
Many lifeboats are still being
lowered half empty.
Few understand that Titanic
is actually sinking.
The lifeboat davits are still
extended here at boat station 2,
where Second Officer
C.H. Lietauer is in charge.
Lietauer sends half a dozen
crewmen to open doors
and help fill the boats
from decks lower down.
The men were never seen again
but one set of doors still hangs open.
Here a twisted davit once
held boat number B
and here stood an aging
distinguished couple,
Mr. And Mrs. Isadore Strauss.
Offered a place on the boats
Mr. Strauss refused it,
then Mrs. Strauss refuse to leave him,
and so, they perished together.
In a single first class cabin
there was a wealthy woman
traveling along.
She was a tough and earthy character,
requiring no assistance.
She boarded a lifeboat
boldly took over command
and was known from then on as
"the unsinkable Molly Brown."
And now, at last, 1,500 people
began to realize that
soon they were going go die.
But on the boat deck near the entrance
to the grand staircase
the band played on.
No one could agree later what
tunes were played
and all the musicians drowned.
But Titanic's band,
and its leader Wallace Harltey,
became immortal heroes of
this disaster on the sea.
Few honored Captain Smith
who had ignored many warnings
as he sailed boldly into history.
He went down with his ship
his last words disputed.
Some said he told the crew
"be British,"
others, "it's every man for himself."
When the Titanic expedition ended
Bob Ballard left behind
a plaque honoring those who died here.
Titanic is their monument
more than 2 miles beneath the sea.
It's memorial to this period of time
to that mistake of arrogance.
It's a whole bunch of things
all bundled up
and now,
down at the bottom of the ocean
it's a very peaceful place
a very quiet place.
It's sitting upright on the bottom
very nobly and at rest.