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NARRATOR: For a century,
the Titanic has been hidden in darkness...
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two-and-a-half miles down,
at the bottom of the Atlantic.
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But now a new investigation
is about to drain the ocean...
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pull the plug of the Atlantic
and reveal the wreck.
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The Titanic
as she's never been seen before.
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And in the bright light of day,
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we uncover critical new pieces
of evidence not previously visible...
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from giant gouges on the ocean floor
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to damage from the iceberg
that sliced her open.
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A team of scientists equipped
with cutting-edge tools
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now tackle the long-standing mysteries
of the disaster
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that could rewrite the Titanic's story.
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Drained dry...
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this is the wreck of the Titanic
as you've never seen it before.
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[metal creaking]
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It's the most infamous ship
in all history,
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the Titanic.
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From a time when ocean liners
are racing to be
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the biggest, the fastest, and the best...
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the RMS Titanic is a technological marvel.
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When she sets sail in 1912,
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she's the largest moving
man-made object on the planet.
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An unsinkable ship.
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But around 2,500 miles
into her maiden voyage,
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disaster.
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[loud scraping]
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1,500 passengers and crew
dragged down to the icy depths.
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And over a century later,
we still don't know
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exactly what happened that night.
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How she sank and broke apart.
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Hundreds of passengers and crew
witnessed the tragedy
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and lived to tell the tale.
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Yet, despite this, there remain
countless unanswered questions.
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KENNETH VRANA:
We have lots of historical information,
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but often there are biases
in those historical accounts.
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Even the eyewitnesses
of the sinking of Titanic
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had many different perceptions
of how that sinking took place.
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So the best way to unravel
some of those questions
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is to use science.
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NARRATOR: Explorers first discovered
the Titanic's wreckage in September 1985.
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BOB BALLARD: The boiler! Yeah!
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[laughing and cheering]
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NARRATOR: Since then, more than 20
expeditions have gone back to the ship.
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Two-and-a-half miles down,
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this is a place as alien
as the surface of the moon.
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Only a few yards
of the Titanic's hull are visible
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in the explorer's headlights
at any one time.
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Nobody's ever been able
to see the whole wreck
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or even find the edges of the site.
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In the past, trying to understand Titanic
with the existing technology
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was like trying to draw a map
of downtown Manhattan
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from the height of a ten-story building
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in a vehicle
that has the windows fogged up.
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It's pitch black and you're trying
to look at it through a flashlight.
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Challenging, to say the least.
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NARRATOR: Critical clues to
understanding the disaster
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still lurk in this darkness.
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Now, a team of scientists
funded by the legal steward of the wreck,
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RMS Titanic, Inc.,
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are set to change all that
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and bring the Titanic into
the clear light of day for the first time.
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An epic high-tech investigation
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to discover exactly how
and why she sank...
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the Titanic Mapping Project.
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The mission, use cutting-edge
sonar mapping technology
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to scan every part of the wreck.
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And build a precise digital model
of the Titanic...
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as she sits on the ocean floor.
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Their data will allow us
to virtually peel back the sea.
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[whooshing]
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Strip away trillions of gallons
of the Atlantic Ocean
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and two-and-a-half miles down
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reveal the unsinkable Titanic...
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drained dry on the ocean floor.
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But scanning the deep ocean isn't easy.
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Autonomous underwater vehicles, AUVs,
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have to dive down
through 12,000 feet of water.
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It's incredibly challenging
to work at Titanic.
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It's dangerous.
It's a very dangerous place.
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NARRATOR: Investigators program the AUVs
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to fly as close as 30 feet
above the wreck.
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The underwater drones then fire signals,
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measuring variations in height
down to the tiniest detail.
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They crisscross the wreck and seabed
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like mowing a gigantic lawn.
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Each pass scans a 150-foot wide strip,
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gathering millions of data points.
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Next, the team deploys an ROV,
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a remote-controlled sub attached by cable,
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to capture thousands of digital images
of every point on the wreck.
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GALLO: Every single day
these vehicles would come back
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with some new bit of information
about what was on the bottom.
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NARRATOR: A tidal wave of new data
comes to the surface.
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Over 160 hours of video.
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In total, 37 terabytes of data.
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But to see what they've got takes time.
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Over the next weeks,
banks of computers crunch the raw data,
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turning millions of sonar points
into a complex model of the wreck.
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ROBERT GOODWIN: I remember all of us
sort of sitting around the computer
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when we first were building the 3-D layer
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and seeing the bow and seeing the stern
in so much detail.
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We were all sort of grinning
at the screen.
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Looking at all that data
and seeing that for the first time
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was pretty amazing.
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NARRATOR: At the same time,
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visualization expert Bill Lange
begins stitching together
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thousands of individual images
of the wreck...
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a task that takes him and his team
at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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six months to complete.
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LANGE:
It was a very long and tedious process.
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There were over 200 other mosaics
that were done
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for site interpretation
and feature archaeological work.
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NARRATOR: This ultra high-def imagery,
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together with the 3-D scan...
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can now unlock a new vision
of the Titanic,
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a wreck that's been shrouded in darkness
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for over a century.
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It's been four years in the making.
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But now...
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we can strip bare
an extraordinary landscape...
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pull the plug from the Atlantic.
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Two-and-a-half miles down...
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giant walls of steel tower into the sky.
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Sunlight hits her decks once more
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and countless clues to the disaster
start to emerge.
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This is...
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the drained wreck...
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of the Titanic.
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NARRATOR: We've drained the Titanic...
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and for the first time
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we can see the ship in its entirety...
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in unprecedented detail.
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Now investigators can map out
the site's boundaries.
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And archaeologists
can get an overview of a wreck
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that's been hidden for over 100 years.
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GALLO: It's almost like
the fog has been cleared away.
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We can now start to see through
the perpetual darkness.
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VRANA: The idea of draining the Titanic
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presents the site
in a whole different light.
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It's not impenetrable.
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It's right there in front of us
to explore.
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NARRATOR:
The Titanic's wreckage is spread out
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over half a square mile
of the exposed ocean floor.
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An area of some 200 football fields.
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The site of RMS Titanic,
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it can be described pretty basically
as two large features.
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The bow section and the stern section...
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which are about a half a mile apart,
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and then numerous debris fields.
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NARRATOR:
In all, there are five debris fields,
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each scattered with fragments of the ship
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and objects that tumbled out as she sank.
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The stunning vistas unleashed
by the new model
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bring the Titanic back to life.
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With the water stripped away,
her story is laid out in plain sight.
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GALLO:
People think science is above emotion.
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You know, when you're looking
at the boat deck
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where you know so many people
said goodbye to one another,
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these are important points on that ship.
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NARRATOR: The guard rails,
where on that freezing night
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fathers hugged their children,
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set them in the lowering lifeboats...
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and leaned out to catch a final glimpse
of their loved ones.
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Portholes where passengers
trapped below deck
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saw the starry sky for the last time
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as the ship slipped beneath the waves.
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And even the mast of the crow's nest,
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where lookout Frederick Fleet's voice
shattered the silence of the night
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as he first spotted the looming iceberg.
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The Titanic's iconic eight-ton anchors,
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still in place,
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gleam in the bright daylight
for the first time
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in over a century.
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And with the ocean now sucked dry,
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her enormous bow section
towers above the seabed.
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Despite the violence of the sinking
and all that time on the bottom,
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what's inside that bow, in particular,
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is still a ghostly sense
of the ship that was.
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NARRATOR: Inside the bow
were many of the most luxurious
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of the ship's features.
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The grand staircase
running the height of five decks.
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The heated swimming pool
reserved for first-class passengers only.
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And a state-of-the-art gym
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positioned right up on the boat deck.
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The model reveals just how intact
this section of the ship really is.
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Embedded in the exposed ocean floor,
almost perfectly upright,
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the ghostly shell of the Titanic
seems to be sailing across the seabed,
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her prow parting the mud
almost like water.
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With 40 feet of the bow
above the ocean floor,
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a full 60 feet must be buried.
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Equivalent to a six-story building.
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Using the depth
to which it carved into the seabed,
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investigators are refining
their calculations
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of the impact speed.
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Its descent was very smooth.
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It had its aerodynamic nose
facing into the direction of travel...
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so there was no tumbling.
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It was not particularly violent
until the very last moment.
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NARRATOR:
Once separated from the rest of the ship,
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the bow sank first
at about 35 miles per hour
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at an angle of 15 to 30 degrees.
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Its impact with the sea floor
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was like a gigantic 28,000-ton truck
slamming into a snowdrift.
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SAUDER: When the bow
finally reached the bottom,
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it plowed into the dirt
almost all the way up to the anchors.
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NARRATOR: With the darkness
of the deep drained away,
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it's crystal clear.
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Here the impact is frozen in time.
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The investigation
is still probing the data,
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hoping to learn more about how the bow
reached the bottom.
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00:14:30,603 --> 00:14:33,272
And the fact that the bow's intact
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00:14:33,339 --> 00:14:37,710
means that they can also examine
the most iconic mystery of the Titanic,
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the iceberg impact.
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00:14:44,216 --> 00:14:47,820
The official 1912 accident report
seems to suggest
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00:14:47,887 --> 00:14:53,559
the iceberg tore a gigantic 300-foot gash
in the ship's right-hand side,
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00:14:53,626 --> 00:14:56,929
ripping open over a third
of her entire hull.
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00:14:58,097 --> 00:15:01,133
However,
eyewitness records prove the Titanic
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00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:04,203
took around two and a half hours to sink.
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00:15:07,139 --> 00:15:09,041
Investigators are puzzled.
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00:15:09,108 --> 00:15:13,012
A 300-foot hole
would surely have sunk the Titanic
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00:15:13,078 --> 00:15:14,513
in a matter of minutes.
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00:15:16,015 --> 00:15:19,652
Oceanic explorer P.H. Nargeolet
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00:15:19,718 --> 00:15:23,956
has made 30 trips
12,000 feet down to the Titanic.
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00:15:24,823 --> 00:15:28,294
But he's never seen a 300-foot gash.
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00:15:30,329 --> 00:15:34,833
We were trying to find
where the Titanic hit the iceberg,
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00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:37,870
why it was like that,
why we saw some crack,
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00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:39,972
why there is a crack here and not here?
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00:15:41,707 --> 00:15:43,943
NARRATOR: Nargeolet and the team now turn
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00:15:44,009 --> 00:15:47,980
to the ultra high-resolution photo mosaics
of the wreckage
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00:15:48,047 --> 00:15:50,349
to see what evidence there might be.
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00:15:54,019 --> 00:15:57,389
This profile view of the bow
is stitched together
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from over 3,000 individual images.
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00:16:01,694 --> 00:16:04,296
LANGE: The profile mosaics show Titanic
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00:16:04,363 --> 00:16:06,799
in a way that people
hadn't seen it before.
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00:16:06,865 --> 00:16:11,337
No one had done
a profile view of Titanic's bow
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00:16:11,904 --> 00:16:14,907
in the 25 years that people
had been going to Titanic.
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00:16:16,475 --> 00:16:20,079
NARRATOR: Here again,
even with these pin-sharp images,
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00:16:20,145 --> 00:16:24,249
they find no sign of anything approaching
a 300-foot tear in the hull.
239
00:16:25,184 --> 00:16:28,854
However, when they turn
to the video footage,
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00:16:28,921 --> 00:16:33,926
investigators can see
much smaller areas of impact damage.
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00:16:35,594 --> 00:16:37,963
GALLO:
The actual iceberg damage appears to be
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00:16:38,030 --> 00:16:41,967
confined to maybe
a 30-foot length of the bow.
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It wasn't like a gash
and it wasn't tens of small gashes.
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00:16:48,741 --> 00:16:51,210
NARRATOR:
The size of these gaps in the hull
245
00:16:51,276 --> 00:16:53,946
add up to just 11 square feet.
246
00:16:55,647 --> 00:17:00,686
A breach this size would allow
370 gallons of seawater
247
00:17:00,753 --> 00:17:02,788
to gush in every second.
248
00:17:05,357 --> 00:17:08,961
And when they analyze how quickly
this would have sunk the Titanic,
249
00:17:09,728 --> 00:17:12,531
it turns out to be two and a half hours.
250
00:17:13,699 --> 00:17:16,702
Exactly the time
the ship actually took to sink.
251
00:17:20,606 --> 00:17:23,609
An enduring mystery is solved.
252
00:17:30,783 --> 00:17:33,118
The investigations further confirmed
253
00:17:33,952 --> 00:17:35,854
that the giant gash is fiction.
254
00:17:36,989 --> 00:17:41,260
And that the iceberg made
only small punctures below the waterline
255
00:17:41,994 --> 00:17:45,264
that together were enough
to trigger disaster.
256
00:17:47,032 --> 00:17:50,669
But for the team,
there's an even bigger question looming
257
00:17:50,736 --> 00:17:52,571
that our new model could shed light on.
258
00:17:53,872 --> 00:17:58,410
When and where
did the ship get torn in half?
259
00:18:00,079 --> 00:18:03,382
How did her bow
become separated from her stern
260
00:18:03,449 --> 00:18:05,984
by a staggering 2,000 feet?
261
00:18:06,952 --> 00:18:12,558
The answer is here, in broad daylight,
on the drained sea floor
262
00:18:13,225 --> 00:18:17,062
in the exposed wreck of the Titanic.
263
00:18:24,069 --> 00:18:27,106
NARRATOR:
We're peeling back the Atlantic Ocean,
264
00:18:27,172 --> 00:18:31,076
draining its waters to reveal
the wreckage of the Titanic.
265
00:18:33,645 --> 00:18:36,415
This is what the ship looks like today
266
00:18:36,482 --> 00:18:39,651
without two-and-a-half miles
of pitch-black ocean
267
00:18:39,718 --> 00:18:41,120
blocking out the sun.
268
00:18:42,855 --> 00:18:46,024
2,000 feet beyond the massive bow section,
269
00:18:46,091 --> 00:18:48,460
in the heart of the debris fields,
270
00:18:48,527 --> 00:18:50,796
lies the dismembered stern,
271
00:18:50,863 --> 00:18:52,498
the back end of the ship.
272
00:18:52,564 --> 00:18:54,600
It's the second largest fragment,
273
00:18:54,666 --> 00:18:57,002
392 feet long.
274
00:19:00,305 --> 00:19:04,643
But it's immediately obvious it's
in very different condition to the bow.
275
00:19:09,248 --> 00:19:12,050
The stern is a mess. It looks like
it's been ripped up like confetti.
276
00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:19,558
The stern today is pure chaos.
277
00:19:22,427 --> 00:19:26,398
NARRATOR: Some of the stern's
huge metal components are still intact,
278
00:19:26,465 --> 00:19:30,302
like the 40-foot-high engines,
each the size of a large house.
279
00:19:34,740 --> 00:19:39,344
But our highly detailed model
also shows decks collapsing,
280
00:19:39,411 --> 00:19:41,079
as if crushed together.
281
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:45,651
Heavy steel beams
twisted and torn like straws.
282
00:19:47,452 --> 00:19:49,955
GALLO: It's hard to figure out
what you're looking at.
283
00:19:50,022 --> 00:19:54,660
To me it almost looks like giant pieces
of metal sitting on the sea floor,
284
00:19:54,726 --> 00:19:57,129
but tough to make it out
as a piece of a ship.
285
00:19:58,163 --> 00:20:01,033
NARRATOR:
Why is it in such bad condition?
286
00:20:01,099 --> 00:20:04,203
Investigators have struggled
to fully explain this.
287
00:20:05,971 --> 00:20:09,575
The stern section
has its problems in interpretation
288
00:20:09,641 --> 00:20:12,277
because it's so completely broken up.
289
00:20:13,045 --> 00:20:15,380
NARRATOR:
But within the model there's a vital clue.
290
00:20:16,114 --> 00:20:19,318
Something that could unlock
the stern's violent story.
291
00:20:26,491 --> 00:20:29,027
On the acoustic map
you can see that the stern
292
00:20:29,094 --> 00:20:31,196
was turning counter clock.
293
00:20:33,065 --> 00:20:36,468
NARRATOR:
It's a massive mark carved into the seabed
294
00:20:36,535 --> 00:20:38,403
when the stern made impact.
295
00:20:41,306 --> 00:20:43,942
Scientists can now read the tracks
296
00:20:44,009 --> 00:20:47,679
and interpret how the stern
impacted the sea floor.
297
00:20:49,948 --> 00:20:53,218
NARGEOLET:You can see very well
when the stern hit the bottom,
298
00:20:53,285 --> 00:20:54,886
the stern was still turning.
299
00:20:55,420 --> 00:20:58,457
And you can see the bottom of the ship
on port side
300
00:20:58,523 --> 00:21:01,493
showing that the stern
was turning in same time.
301
00:21:03,061 --> 00:21:05,430
NARRATOR:
The marks allow investigators to work out
302
00:21:05,497 --> 00:21:07,099
the speed of impact.
303
00:21:11,470 --> 00:21:14,506
It turns out that the stern
was moving through the water
304
00:21:14,573 --> 00:21:16,742
at 50 miles per hour.
305
00:21:18,443 --> 00:21:23,282
Massive forces from chaotically whipping
through the ocean at such speed
306
00:21:23,348 --> 00:21:27,152
help explain why the stern
is so badly damaged...
307
00:21:32,090 --> 00:21:36,061
while the hydrodynamic bow
sliced cleanly through the water
308
00:21:36,528 --> 00:21:38,664
and remained largely intact.
309
00:21:39,431 --> 00:21:42,034
If you have a plane
that's damaged in flight,
310
00:21:42,768 --> 00:21:45,537
the air will get under the skin
of the plane
311
00:21:45,604 --> 00:21:46,738
and rip pieces off.
312
00:21:47,706 --> 00:21:49,775
NARRATOR:
The same thing would likely have happened
313
00:21:49,841 --> 00:21:52,611
with the Titanic's
rapidly disintegrating stern.
314
00:21:54,479 --> 00:21:57,282
SAUDER: At first, large chunks came off
315
00:21:57,349 --> 00:22:00,319
and then, once the structure resisted,
316
00:22:00,385 --> 00:22:03,755
small pieces, like confetti,
started to fly away.
317
00:22:05,090 --> 00:22:07,926
NARRATOR:
Investigators think high-pressure water
318
00:22:07,993 --> 00:22:11,396
may then have found a route
into the ship's internal structure,
319
00:22:11,463 --> 00:22:14,066
slamming into its interior walls.
320
00:22:15,267 --> 00:22:18,770
Once the hull is separated
from the frames...
321
00:22:19,938 --> 00:22:21,673
water will blast through.
322
00:22:21,740 --> 00:22:23,275
It'll form a ram.
323
00:22:23,342 --> 00:22:28,080
All those interior walls were wooden
and they didn't stand a chance.
324
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,750
The water started coming through
at full force.
325
00:22:31,817 --> 00:22:33,151
They were pulverized.
326
00:22:35,454 --> 00:22:38,056
NARRATOR:
To the team, this is more evidence
327
00:22:38,123 --> 00:22:41,793
for why the stern now looks
like a massive car wreck...
328
00:22:43,628 --> 00:22:46,264
while the bow section remains intact.
329
00:22:47,432 --> 00:22:49,968
It's another answer to the mystery.
330
00:22:51,002 --> 00:22:55,974
The investigation has now clarified
how the two main sections of the ship
331
00:22:56,041 --> 00:22:57,709
reach the bottom.
332
00:22:57,776 --> 00:23:00,278
It's also shown how they impacted
333
00:23:00,345 --> 00:23:03,115
and why they look so completely different.
334
00:23:04,449 --> 00:23:06,585
But there's still one major question
to tackle.
335
00:23:07,452 --> 00:23:11,923
How and when did the Titanic break apart?
336
00:23:22,667 --> 00:23:24,703
NARRATOR: With cutting-edge technology,
337
00:23:24,770 --> 00:23:27,572
we've drained the depths
of the Atlantic Ocean...
338
00:23:29,841 --> 00:23:33,512
and exposed the final resting place
of the Titanic.
339
00:23:36,681 --> 00:23:39,518
After 100 years of darkness,
340
00:23:39,584 --> 00:23:43,088
her decks once more bask
in the warmth of the sun.
341
00:23:44,656 --> 00:23:47,025
Between the bow and stern,
342
00:23:47,092 --> 00:23:51,096
a massive debris field stretches out
for hundreds of feet.
343
00:23:52,364 --> 00:23:56,501
For the investigators,
it's a view they've never seen before.
344
00:23:57,969 --> 00:24:01,473
Every piece is a potential clue
in solving the mystery
345
00:24:01,540 --> 00:24:04,843
of how and why the Titanic broke apart.
346
00:24:06,344 --> 00:24:10,982
For years, the dominant theory has been
that she split in two on the surface.
347
00:24:13,785 --> 00:24:16,054
As the sinking bow angled down,
348
00:24:16,521 --> 00:24:18,957
lifting the stern high into the air,
349
00:24:19,024 --> 00:24:21,860
its own unsupported weight
became too much.
350
00:24:22,527 --> 00:24:24,629
The ship snapped in half.
351
00:24:36,341 --> 00:24:38,977
But with the ocean now drained away,
352
00:24:39,044 --> 00:24:42,247
new clues are emerging
that could challenge that theory.
353
00:24:45,450 --> 00:24:49,821
By looking at the pattern in which
the debris fell to the ocean floor,
354
00:24:49,888 --> 00:24:53,325
investigators can retrace
the way it fell from the ship.
355
00:24:54,693 --> 00:24:58,263
They'll use this forensic record
to get an accurate picture
356
00:24:58,330 --> 00:25:01,833
of how and when
the boat tore itself to pieces.
357
00:25:03,101 --> 00:25:06,338
But getting the answer
will require a massive effort.
358
00:25:07,639 --> 00:25:10,308
The team must scan
all the new underwater data
359
00:25:11,109 --> 00:25:14,312
to ID and tag the position
of as many objects as possible...
360
00:25:18,350 --> 00:25:21,953
and build a massive digital map
of the artifacts
361
00:25:22,020 --> 00:25:23,421
from the ocean floor.
362
00:25:27,025 --> 00:25:30,896
It includes the positions
of the 5,000 or so objects
363
00:25:30,962 --> 00:25:34,065
previous expeditions
have recovered from the wreck.
364
00:25:43,041 --> 00:25:44,876
It's a catalog of treasures.
365
00:25:45,644 --> 00:25:48,813
Ornate statues
from the ship's grand stairway...
366
00:25:50,115 --> 00:25:53,418
chandeliers that once hung
in the first-class smoking room...
367
00:25:55,287 --> 00:25:58,823
the finest crockery
from the ship's best restaurant.
368
00:26:01,326 --> 00:26:03,862
There's even one of
the Titanic's bronze bells...
369
00:26:07,065 --> 00:26:10,368
and pieces of nautical equipment
from the docking bridge.
370
00:26:13,538 --> 00:26:17,075
Every precious object
is a critical data point
371
00:26:17,609 --> 00:26:21,913
and could help rewrite the story
of how the ship came apart.
372
00:26:24,316 --> 00:26:28,720
The patterns that are emerging
from this remapping of the site
373
00:26:28,787 --> 00:26:32,457
don't fit any of the traditional models
that were there before.
374
00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:36,561
NARRATOR:
The work will take years to complete.
375
00:26:38,063 --> 00:26:42,334
GALLO: There's coffee cups,
dinner plates, bits of chandeliers,
376
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:43,768
deck benches.
377
00:26:43,835 --> 00:26:48,173
It's full of objects from the ship,
but also of personal objects as well.
378
00:26:50,942 --> 00:26:55,313
NARRATOR: Each data point on the map
is also a story in itself.
379
00:26:56,748 --> 00:27:00,085
A touchstone that reveals
a detail of a human life.
380
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,456
[Delgado]
These were all real people, who had lives,
381
00:27:04,522 --> 00:27:06,791
who had people who loved them,
382
00:27:07,726 --> 00:27:11,963
families who were impacted
by what happened on that night.
383
00:27:13,832 --> 00:27:16,401
NARRATOR:
Some artifacts are highly personal.
384
00:27:17,002 --> 00:27:22,173
Delicate jewelry that may once have graced
the neck of a society lady.
385
00:27:23,541 --> 00:27:27,245
And perfume bottles
with their precious liquid still inside.
386
00:27:32,150 --> 00:27:36,921
It's just a very beautiful,
very emotional moment
387
00:27:37,222 --> 00:27:41,226
just to see everything
lying there on the ground.
388
00:27:42,994 --> 00:27:45,597
It's a visual story of that tragedy.
389
00:27:47,565 --> 00:27:49,000
NARRATOR: After years of research,
390
00:27:49,067 --> 00:27:53,071
Alex Klingelhofer is now able
to tie some of these belongings
391
00:27:53,138 --> 00:27:55,407
to specific named individuals.
392
00:27:58,610 --> 00:28:02,380
This is a pocket watch,
an open-face style watch.
393
00:28:02,447 --> 00:28:04,582
This one still has its hands.
394
00:28:04,649 --> 00:28:07,919
It probably stopped
when it was immersed in the water.
395
00:28:08,553 --> 00:28:11,022
NARRATOR: The watch came
from this spot in a debris field...
396
00:28:12,057 --> 00:28:14,759
1,100 feet southeast of the stern.
397
00:28:17,429 --> 00:28:21,099
KLINGELHOFER:It belonged to
Thomas William Solomon Brown.
398
00:28:21,966 --> 00:28:25,070
He was a hotelier from South Africa
399
00:28:25,136 --> 00:28:28,907
and he was headed with his family
to make a new start
400
00:28:28,973 --> 00:28:31,342
in the western part of the United States.
401
00:28:32,410 --> 00:28:33,812
He did not survive.
402
00:28:34,779 --> 00:28:37,482
However, his wife
and his daughter, Edith, did.
403
00:28:42,554 --> 00:28:46,991
NARRATOR: Other passengers even
left behind written traces of their lives
404
00:28:47,058 --> 00:28:50,128
still legible
after a century in the water.
405
00:28:52,030 --> 00:28:56,835
A notebook found 780 feet from the stern
in the west debris field
406
00:28:57,669 --> 00:28:59,938
belonged to a young third-class passenger,
407
00:29:00,605 --> 00:29:02,407
Edgardo Samuel Andrew.
408
00:29:04,642 --> 00:29:06,377
KLINGELHOFER:He was 17 years old.
409
00:29:06,444 --> 00:29:10,281
When you look at his belongings,
you find schoolbooks.
410
00:29:10,348 --> 00:29:13,418
You can still see the writing in here,
even though it's quite stained.
411
00:29:13,485 --> 00:29:16,621
He used a pencil
and the pencil has remained legible.
412
00:29:18,456 --> 00:29:20,492
Here, on this page,
413
00:29:21,092 --> 00:29:22,827
he's writing his name.
414
00:29:22,894 --> 00:29:26,865
I guess practicing writing his name
in the correct way.
415
00:29:27,899 --> 00:29:30,368
You begin to see just this young boy
416
00:29:30,435 --> 00:29:33,772
going third-class by himself to America.
417
00:29:36,241 --> 00:29:39,210
NARRATOR: Edgardo was hoping
to make a better life for himself,
418
00:29:39,778 --> 00:29:42,480
like so many immigrants traveling
to the new world.
419
00:29:44,716 --> 00:29:48,253
KLINGELHOFER:Unfortunately,
Edgardo did not survive the voyage.
420
00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:51,589
That's why this is perhaps
such a heartrending object
421
00:29:51,656 --> 00:29:53,992
because it's his last notations.
422
00:29:54,259 --> 00:29:55,894
He's finished with school.
423
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,463
He throws his schoolbooks
into this suitcase
424
00:29:58,530 --> 00:30:00,265
and he heads off to America,
425
00:30:00,331 --> 00:30:03,601
and that's the last that we hear of him.
426
00:30:07,739 --> 00:30:10,975
NARRATOR: There are many more objects
the team hope to examine further,
427
00:30:11,042 --> 00:30:15,413
some with the potential to flesh out
the human face of the tragedy.
428
00:30:17,348 --> 00:30:22,453
Oftentimes history swallows up
the ordinary folks.
429
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,757
All of us, we just tend to go away.
430
00:30:27,125 --> 00:30:29,661
Archaeological sites
give us an opportunity
431
00:30:29,727 --> 00:30:31,095
to correct that.
432
00:30:32,397 --> 00:30:35,500
NARRATOR: Now the investigation
has defined this ghostly place
433
00:30:35,567 --> 00:30:37,368
as an archaeological site,
434
00:30:37,936 --> 00:30:40,238
it will help them protect
the Titanic's story
435
00:30:40,305 --> 00:30:41,940
for generations to come.
436
00:30:43,441 --> 00:30:48,646
Each of the priceless artifacts
is part of a mosaic of tragic stories,
437
00:30:48,713 --> 00:30:51,816
and together they now form a picture.
438
00:30:52,750 --> 00:30:57,255
The fully mapped debris field
is at last ready to give the investigators
439
00:30:57,322 --> 00:31:00,692
the crucial answer
they've long been waiting for--
440
00:31:00,758 --> 00:31:04,729
when and where the Titanic broke apart.
441
00:31:11,269 --> 00:31:15,139
NARRATOR: In the two-and-a-half hours
it took the Titanic to sink,
442
00:31:15,206 --> 00:31:19,477
over 700 people made it off the ship
and into lifeboats.
443
00:31:22,780 --> 00:31:25,884
Hundreds of these survivors
witnessed the sinking.
444
00:31:27,352 --> 00:31:32,357
Yet there's always been disagreement
about how and when the ship broke apart.
445
00:31:33,391 --> 00:31:36,361
There are still different theories
and arguments
446
00:31:36,427 --> 00:31:40,531
as to how things exactly happened
when the ship tore in two.
447
00:31:50,408 --> 00:31:53,912
NARRATOR:
Now some investigators think the new data
448
00:31:53,978 --> 00:31:57,582
could prove once and for all
what really happened.
449
00:31:57,649 --> 00:32:02,487
In recent years, the dominant theory
has been that the breakup occurred
450
00:32:02,553 --> 00:32:05,290
while the Titanic was still
on the surface.
451
00:32:05,957 --> 00:32:08,059
We know from eyewitnesses
452
00:32:08,126 --> 00:32:11,529
that the stern tilted up out of the water
as she sank.
453
00:32:12,130 --> 00:32:16,100
Some experts have argued
this created immense stresses,
454
00:32:16,167 --> 00:32:17,835
tearing the ship in two.
455
00:32:18,937 --> 00:32:22,006
But Bill Lange now thinks otherwise.
456
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,411
According to him,
the new data paints a different picture.
457
00:32:28,746 --> 00:32:32,684
On the drained ocean floor
are all the clues he needs.
458
00:32:33,985 --> 00:32:35,687
To Bill's trained eye,
459
00:32:35,753 --> 00:32:38,790
there's nothing random
about the patterns of the debris field.
460
00:32:38,856 --> 00:32:42,694
Like blood spatters at a crime scene,
they tell a story.
461
00:32:44,896 --> 00:32:48,132
Now, flooded in daylight
for the first time,
462
00:32:48,199 --> 00:32:50,501
with every last corner of the debris field
463
00:32:50,568 --> 00:32:52,270
scanned and analyzed,
464
00:32:52,337 --> 00:32:55,373
he can work out
how the Titanic really sank.
465
00:32:57,608 --> 00:33:00,745
It's going to tell us a lot more
about what happened to the ship
466
00:33:00,812 --> 00:33:02,146
after it left the surface...
467
00:33:04,849 --> 00:33:08,186
made this two-and-a-half-mile descent
to the sea floor
468
00:33:08,252 --> 00:33:12,457
and hopefully tell us more
about what happened to Titanic
469
00:33:12,523 --> 00:33:13,658
during its breakup.
470
00:33:16,127 --> 00:33:18,663
NARRATOR:
For Bill, there's a key piece of evidence
471
00:33:18,730 --> 00:33:21,299
visible for the first time
in the new images
472
00:33:21,366 --> 00:33:23,368
of the exposed ocean floor.
473
00:33:24,869 --> 00:33:28,306
It's the overall scale
of the debris field.
474
00:33:30,575 --> 00:33:33,211
The new survey definitively maps the site.
475
00:33:33,911 --> 00:33:38,549
And for the first time, investigators
can now see its precise dimensions.
476
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,689
They're not quite the size they expected.
477
00:33:48,926 --> 00:33:53,498
I think the site really isn't that big
when you consider the size of the ship.
478
00:33:53,564 --> 00:33:56,801
I mean, you've got
an almost 1,000-foot-long ship
479
00:33:57,402 --> 00:33:59,003
that's in two square miles.
480
00:34:01,005 --> 00:34:03,708
NARRATOR: If the ship
had fully separated on the surface,
481
00:34:04,242 --> 00:34:06,911
Bill thinks there'd be
a much larger scatter area.
482
00:34:08,746 --> 00:34:11,783
LANGE: Considering that it fell
a few miles through a water column,
483
00:34:11,849 --> 00:34:15,453
I think that the scattering of artifacts
is rather small.
484
00:34:16,587 --> 00:34:18,823
NARRATOR:
The lower in the water the separation,
485
00:34:19,390 --> 00:34:22,860
the less distance for debris
to spread out as it falls
486
00:34:22,927 --> 00:34:26,731
and the more compact the pattern
on the ocean floor.
487
00:34:28,299 --> 00:34:30,134
It's a straightforward argument.
488
00:34:30,201 --> 00:34:32,937
And for Bill,
it's evidence the ship separated
489
00:34:33,004 --> 00:34:36,307
much deeper in the water
than previously thought.
490
00:34:38,309 --> 00:34:42,080
That's the only way he can explain
the small scatter pattern.
491
00:34:45,550 --> 00:34:48,453
One of the most important things,
I think, that's come out of this
492
00:34:48,519 --> 00:34:51,322
is that the ship may not have broken up
493
00:34:51,389 --> 00:34:55,293
as fast and as shallow
as what was originally thought.
494
00:34:56,928 --> 00:34:59,564
NARRATOR: And when the theory
is checked against eyewitness accounts,
495
00:35:00,231 --> 00:35:01,532
there's more evidence.
496
00:35:03,601 --> 00:35:06,404
The survivors' best position
to see any breakup
497
00:35:07,138 --> 00:35:09,740
were three men on the aft boat deck.
498
00:35:09,807 --> 00:35:13,411
Their statements recall
the funnels falling away from the ship...
499
00:35:14,779 --> 00:35:17,381
but no large-scale disintegration...
500
00:35:18,416 --> 00:35:21,085
and certainly no snapping in two.
501
00:35:23,688 --> 00:35:25,890
Bill and his colleagues around the country
502
00:35:25,957 --> 00:35:29,494
have much more work to do
before they arrive at final proof.
503
00:35:31,996 --> 00:35:33,464
But in their view,
504
00:35:33,531 --> 00:35:36,567
there's simply no other way
to explain the evidence.
505
00:35:38,336 --> 00:35:41,372
To them, one thing is beyond doubt.
506
00:35:41,439 --> 00:35:45,143
The Titanic did not separate
anywhere near the surface.
507
00:35:49,147 --> 00:35:54,018
With powerful new theories,
the investigation is beginning to pay off.
508
00:35:55,253 --> 00:36:00,258
The mountain of data from the expedition
has allowed us to drain the ocean
509
00:36:00,324 --> 00:36:03,995
and create a new view
where we can spot clues
510
00:36:04,061 --> 00:36:05,630
others may have missed.
511
00:36:08,332 --> 00:36:10,501
All the key events of the disaster
512
00:36:10,568 --> 00:36:13,371
left traces on the wreckage
or on the seabed.
513
00:36:14,005 --> 00:36:16,107
And they're here for us to see.
514
00:36:17,141 --> 00:36:20,978
Clues that are bringing
the final mysteries of the Titanic
515
00:36:21,045 --> 00:36:22,680
into crisp focus.
516
00:36:25,316 --> 00:36:28,452
But while investigators
now have a sharper understanding
517
00:36:28,519 --> 00:36:29,987
of the history of the wreck,
518
00:36:30,655 --> 00:36:33,724
there's one key mystery
they still hope to unravel.
519
00:36:34,859 --> 00:36:38,462
What will happen to the Titanic
in the future?
520
00:36:48,406 --> 00:36:52,743
NARRATOR: This is the exposed Titanic
as she looks today,
521
00:36:52,810 --> 00:36:55,947
after a century of decay
in the dark depths.
522
00:36:58,516 --> 00:37:01,118
In the 30 years since she was found,
523
00:37:01,185 --> 00:37:03,821
no one's been able
to see her quite like this.
524
00:37:06,023 --> 00:37:08,693
As Titanic investigators study the model,
525
00:37:08,759 --> 00:37:11,462
expedition data, and video,
526
00:37:12,096 --> 00:37:16,601
it's becoming ever clearer
that month-by-month,
527
00:37:16,667 --> 00:37:17,768
year-by-year...
528
00:37:19,403 --> 00:37:21,305
the ship is disappearing.
529
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,876
And it's happening faster
than some experts expected.
530
00:37:28,613 --> 00:37:32,116
P.H. Nargeolet has been going to the wreck
for three decades...
531
00:37:33,684 --> 00:37:36,087
and he's seen a big change over time.
532
00:37:37,488 --> 00:37:44,428
The distance between the A deck
and the B deck was easily ten feet.
533
00:37:44,495 --> 00:37:46,564
Now it's five, six feet,
534
00:37:46,631 --> 00:37:50,735
and, step-by-step, the deterioration
is going close to the bridge.
535
00:37:53,771 --> 00:37:57,208
Soon all the decks
will collapse on each other
536
00:37:57,275 --> 00:37:59,910
and everything inside
will be lost forever.
537
00:38:00,611 --> 00:38:04,348
NARRATOR: Investigators want to know
why it's happening so fast.
538
00:38:05,016 --> 00:38:08,452
At these depths,
there's very little oxygen in the water
539
00:38:08,519 --> 00:38:11,455
so metal should rust extremely slowly.
540
00:38:12,256 --> 00:38:14,091
Yet on the expedition footage,
541
00:38:14,158 --> 00:38:18,396
they can clearly see the ship caked
in weird formations
542
00:38:18,462 --> 00:38:21,098
that certainly look like
some kind of rust.
543
00:38:22,033 --> 00:38:24,835
They call them "rusticles."
544
00:38:24,902 --> 00:38:28,739
LORI JOHNSTON: I was absolutely stunned
by the size, the colors.
545
00:38:28,806 --> 00:38:32,476
They're very orange and brown
and, yet, when you're close to them,
546
00:38:32,543 --> 00:38:35,446
there are greens and purples
and reds and yellows
547
00:38:35,513 --> 00:38:37,415
and every color of the rainbow.
548
00:38:37,481 --> 00:38:41,018
NARRATOR:
In the lab, they X-ray pieces of rusticle
549
00:38:41,085 --> 00:38:42,186
recovered from the ship.
550
00:38:43,020 --> 00:38:46,991
What they find inside
isn't what might be expected.
551
00:38:47,525 --> 00:38:49,593
This is no ordinary rust.
552
00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:53,097
The structure
inside this hard-looking shell
553
00:38:53,164 --> 00:38:54,932
is extremely fragile.
554
00:38:57,902 --> 00:39:00,938
They're filled with millions
of ducts and tunnels
555
00:39:01,005 --> 00:39:05,309
and passageways
and all of these little cavities,
556
00:39:05,376 --> 00:39:08,479
and all sorts of nutrients
are stored in there.
557
00:39:10,881 --> 00:39:12,917
NARRATOR:
For the microbiologists on the team,
558
00:39:12,983 --> 00:39:13,984
it's crystal clear.
559
00:39:14,919 --> 00:39:18,589
The rusticles are formed
by living organisms.
560
00:39:20,624 --> 00:39:22,326
And when they run further tests,
561
00:39:22,927 --> 00:39:25,563
there's no doubting
what these organisms are--
562
00:39:26,430 --> 00:39:27,498
bacteria.
563
00:39:28,632 --> 00:39:31,736
We found five different communities
of bacteria
564
00:39:31,802 --> 00:39:33,537
living inside a rusticle,
565
00:39:33,604 --> 00:39:37,208
and then you've got another community
living on the outside.
566
00:39:37,608 --> 00:39:41,712
Makes them a very complex little beast.
567
00:39:43,214 --> 00:39:45,883
NARRATOR: They figure out
that some of these little beasts
568
00:39:45,950 --> 00:39:48,552
are anaerobic bacteria.
569
00:39:48,619 --> 00:39:50,755
Life-forms that don't need
oxygen to survive.
570
00:39:51,322 --> 00:39:53,224
Instead, for their energy supply,
571
00:39:53,290 --> 00:39:56,694
they extract iron and minerals
from the ship's metalwork.
572
00:39:59,096 --> 00:40:02,299
Like a swarm of microscopic piranhas,
573
00:40:02,366 --> 00:40:05,770
billions upon billions of them
are feeding on the wreck.
574
00:40:11,142 --> 00:40:16,914
The impact of the rusticles on this
extremely large ship is overwhelming.
575
00:40:18,616 --> 00:40:21,085
NARRATOR:
By studying these tiny creatures,
576
00:40:21,152 --> 00:40:24,221
the microbiologists
can now confidently lay down
577
00:40:24,288 --> 00:40:28,025
a time frame for the Titanic's
final destruction.
578
00:40:28,092 --> 00:40:30,060
JOHNSTON: If we went back 500 years,
579
00:40:30,127 --> 00:40:34,732
Titanic would look fairly similar
to what the bow section looks right now
580
00:40:34,799 --> 00:40:36,834
as far as the hull would be.
581
00:40:36,901 --> 00:40:41,839
It would still be a very U-shape,
very formal-looking docked ship.
582
00:40:41,906 --> 00:40:46,210
However, I would expect the deterioration
to move from the back to the front
583
00:40:46,277 --> 00:40:50,848
so that a lot of the promenade and deck
would have fallen onto itself.
584
00:40:51,949 --> 00:40:55,753
If we were to revisit Titanic
in a thousand years,
585
00:40:55,820 --> 00:41:00,090
I would not be able to tell,
sort of, the size
586
00:41:00,157 --> 00:41:03,060
of the magnificent ship that she is today.
587
00:41:05,629 --> 00:41:08,265
I would expect that all of the decking
would be gone
588
00:41:08,332 --> 00:41:12,636
and the bow would be filled
with what would look like
589
00:41:12,703 --> 00:41:14,238
sort of piles of rust.
590
00:41:16,874 --> 00:41:18,909
If you revisited the stern section,
591
00:41:18,976 --> 00:41:21,378
you would see that the deterioration
592
00:41:21,445 --> 00:41:23,113
had greatly increased,
593
00:41:23,180 --> 00:41:27,551
simply because the damage that section
had sustained during the sinking.
594
00:41:28,986 --> 00:41:31,722
The bacteria would have taken girders
595
00:41:31,789 --> 00:41:35,292
and basically had encrusted them
in rusticles
596
00:41:35,359 --> 00:41:37,061
and deteriorated them to the point
597
00:41:37,127 --> 00:41:39,964
of being a pile of iron ore
at the bottom of the sea floor.
598
00:41:42,099 --> 00:41:44,902
NARRATOR:
Long before that, the Titanic's custodians
599
00:41:44,969 --> 00:41:47,037
will have to make some tough decisions.
600
00:41:50,541 --> 00:41:51,809
What do we do?
601
00:41:51,876 --> 00:41:57,481
Do we stand by and allow the bow section
to collapse upon itself?
602
00:41:58,282 --> 00:42:04,021
Or, in the future,
do we actually design some projects
603
00:42:04,088 --> 00:42:09,226
for recovery of certain types of artifacts
604
00:42:09,293 --> 00:42:11,061
from the bow section?
605
00:42:11,862 --> 00:42:14,698
NARRATOR: But any suggestion
of bringing up more artifacts
606
00:42:14,765 --> 00:42:16,066
is controversial.
607
00:42:17,701 --> 00:42:20,170
For some descendants
of those who lost their lives,
608
00:42:20,237 --> 00:42:23,674
this is a grave site
and should be left alone.
609
00:42:25,509 --> 00:42:28,479
Initially, Dave Gallo agreed.
610
00:42:28,546 --> 00:42:30,915
But since the objects
have been put on display,
611
00:42:30,981 --> 00:42:32,049
he's less sure.
612
00:42:33,250 --> 00:42:35,719
GALLO: We went to see the Titanic exhibit
613
00:42:36,453 --> 00:42:41,659
and I realized then
what a powerful storytelling method it was
614
00:42:41,725 --> 00:42:46,330
to have some of those artifacts with you
so you could show someone.
615
00:42:47,631 --> 00:42:52,636
NARGEOLET:For me, the artifacts are
the historical memory of the ship.
616
00:42:53,704 --> 00:42:56,440
We can leave everything
on the bottom of the ocean forever
617
00:42:56,507 --> 00:42:57,808
and it will be lost.
618
00:43:00,210 --> 00:43:02,947
NARRATOR:
However badly the Titanic deteriorates,
619
00:43:03,013 --> 00:43:04,682
one thing's for certain.
620
00:43:04,748 --> 00:43:10,154
Thanks to the new science,
much of the ship can never now be lost.
621
00:43:12,790 --> 00:43:16,293
The edge of the site's
been defined for the first time,
622
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:19,163
so its archaeology can be protected.
623
00:43:20,331 --> 00:43:23,167
Every inch of the wreck
inside the perimeter
624
00:43:23,233 --> 00:43:25,869
has been scanned and analyzed.
625
00:43:27,404 --> 00:43:31,375
Every known artifact logged,
mapped, and captured
626
00:43:31,442 --> 00:43:35,813
in this digital duplicate world
that will never erode.
627
00:43:38,816 --> 00:43:40,551
Frozen in time,
628
00:43:40,618 --> 00:43:43,954
we can see and study the wreck
like never before.
629
00:43:47,358 --> 00:43:49,059
In broad daylight,
630
00:43:49,126 --> 00:43:52,863
explorers, now and in the future,
631
00:43:52,930 --> 00:43:58,869
can continue their investigation
here on the drained ocean floor
632
00:43:59,837 --> 00:44:02,840
where the Titanic rests.
633
00:44:05,676 --> 00:44:06,644
[metal creaking]
634
00:44:06,710 --> 00:44:08,712
Captioned by
Pixel Logic Media
53766
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