1 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:08,120 Over 100 years ago, Titanic, the revered and unsinkable ship, 2 00:00:08,120 --> 00:00:09,760 struck an iceberg 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,040 and sank 3,800 metres into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. 4 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,800 For decades, the world thought she was lost for ever. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,880 I think Titanic was one of those great mysteries. 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,840 How could it just fall off the face of the Earth? 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,080 More than 1,500 souls died that fateful night, 8 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,440 their lives inextricably linked 9 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,480 to one of the most tragic maritime disasters in history. 10 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:38,480 On every dive I make to Titanic, I take a moment to remember 11 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,800 where I am and what happened here, and to be... 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,240 connected to it. 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:48,160 Since her disappearance, 14 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:52,160 Titanic has become the Holy Grail for deep-sea explorers, 15 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,360 who set out on a race to find her. 16 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,080 To be honest with you, none of us really, on the ship, 17 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,720 had any idea of how interested the world would be 18 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,080 that we had found Titanic. 19 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,000 But now, the latest Titanic expeditions 20 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,360 have uncovered a grave new threat. 21 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,080 There's more life on Titanic now than there was 22 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:18,720 when she was at the surface. 23 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,000 It's just not human life. 24 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,080 And for the very first time, 25 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,200 3D animations of the evolution of the wreck 26 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,520 reveal how she will disintegrate. 27 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,480 The roof of the deckhouse was intact 28 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,880 but in 2004 and in 2010, 29 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,640 these areas are just dissolving away. 30 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,240 Will the legendary ship disappear forever? 31 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,040 Over time, decay will be inevitable. 32 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,400 We have to recover artefacts. 33 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,600 If we are not doing that, everything will be lost. 34 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,160 The legendary Titanic has fascinated historians, scientists 35 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:12,760 and the public for decades. 36 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:16,040 Since her discovery in 1985, 37 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,520 the Titanic wreck has been analysed by experts 38 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,160 to determine the cause of her sinking. 39 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,320 While every expedition gets closer to revealing more clues 40 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:31,280 about the infamous ship, one major discovery is concerning experts - 41 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,800 the wreck is being engulfed by bacteria 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,320 that consume hundreds of kilograms of iron a day, 43 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,520 posing a serious risk to the site. 44 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:42,240 During the sinking, 45 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,320 the initial impact will have twisted and turned metal. 46 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,720 Those twistings and turnings have actually opened cracks 47 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,080 in the steel that have now made it 48 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,920 much more available to bio-deterioration. 49 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:58,680 Naturally forming bacteria in the environment 50 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:00,520 attach and start degrading the wreck. 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,600 Over time, decay will be inevitable, 52 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:10,280 and that collapse will trap objects inside the ship 53 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,280 that could be of some kind of historical value. 54 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,640 World-renowned Titanic experts are returning to the wreck site 55 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:20,360 for the ultimate expedition. 56 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:21,800 Their mission is critical... 57 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,880 Dive down 3,800 metres to help scientists tell how much longer 58 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,000 it will be before the superstructure disappears forever. 59 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,680 Financed by American deep-sea explorer 60 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,120 and submarine pilot Victor Vescovo, 61 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,360 this expedition will determine the current state of the wreck. 62 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:48,240 And for the first time ever, 63 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,760 3D-animated footage reveals Titanic's evolution, 64 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,200 from when she first set sail, 65 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:59,960 to her time underwater after sinking on April 15th 1912, up until today. 66 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,640 Battered by fluctuating currents and seawater, 67 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,400 the wreck's different stages of rapid degradation 68 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:10,960 in the extreme environment on the ocean floor 69 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,400 are shown in these animations - 70 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,640 a major concern for the world's leading Titanic explorers. 71 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:23,080 We bring together 72 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,000 the most pioneering oceanographers of our time, 73 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,400 not only to relive their captivating journeys of discovery 74 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,640 but to shed new light on the danger that the wreck now faces. 75 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,840 One such expert is Jean-Louis Michel, 76 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:41,400 a pioneer in underwater research, 77 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,480 who co-directed the French-American scientific teams 78 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:49,560 of the discovery mission to localise and find Titanic in 1985. 79 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:51,200 TRANSLATION: 80 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,680 And Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 81 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:04,400 a former French Navy diver who has led seven expeditions to the wreck. 82 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,560 He is considered the saviour of Titanic's relics. 83 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,680 We found some little boxes with jewellery. 84 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:14,640 It was a big emotion because, you know, 85 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,840 it's like if you are opening a treasure box. 86 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,600 And Patrick Lahey, technological innovator, submarine builder 87 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,120 and the last man to see the wreck in person. 88 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:28,880 It was a dream to one day dive the Titanic. 89 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,600 Obviously, it's a very alluring wreck. 90 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:36,840 It's one we've heard about for decades, if not more. 91 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:39,240 You know, a tremendous human tragedy. 92 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,320 So I definitely wanted to see it and I figured one day, I would. 93 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:48,120 And James Cameron, an explorer as well as an innovator 94 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,360 in underwater marine and movie technology. 95 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,080 There was this powerful, almost magnetic, attraction 96 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:56,600 to find out what's down there, 97 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,720 that great mystery of what's down there in the darkness. 98 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:03,520 Back in 1997, 99 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,440 with the global success of his blockbuster feature film Titanic, 100 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,640 James Cameron delivered the history of the legendary tragedy 101 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:12,320 to the public as never before. 102 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,440 Although renowned as a film-maker, 103 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,920 Cameron is also a recognised deep-sea explorer, 104 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,680 with historic accomplishments to his credit. 105 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:29,280 For him, Titanic was the perfect entry into his passions. 106 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:32,880 Titanic is enormous - that's why they call it Titanic. 107 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,600 Well, I think what happens is that Titanic, sort of, 108 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,040 is like a black hole. It sucks you in. 109 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:50,920 I'd studied the history of it a great deal. 110 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,320 I'd become a member of the Titanic community, 111 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,320 many of whom are interested in the events of the sinking and so on, 112 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,680 and I think Titanic was one of those great mysteries. 113 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,560 How could it just fall off the face of the Earth? 114 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,880 To understand the impact of the ocean liner's disappearance, 115 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:14,520 we must return to her origins, when Titanic was already a world wonder. 116 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:22,120 The construction of the Titanic begins in 1909 in Belfast, Ireland, 117 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,560 and takes over three years to complete. 118 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,960 Measuring 269 metres long 119 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,440 and 53 metres high to the top of the smokestacks, 120 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,680 Titanic weighed in at 46,000 tonnes 121 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:43,120 and cost $7.5 million, or the equivalent of $201 million today. 122 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,720 She was widely thought to be unsinkable. 123 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,000 The Titanic represented in 1912 the top of the top, 124 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,240 and it was the best ship ever built and the biggest one ever built. 125 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,880 The top of technology, 126 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:01,840 the top of luxury - 127 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,120 everything. 128 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,560 With a capacity of 2,435 passengers 129 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,400 and 892 crew, 130 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,840 the ship attracted voyagers from all economic backgrounds. 131 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,000 The passengers on board the Titanic was the high society, 132 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,400 the rich people, that were very well known. 133 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,840 They were the stars of this time. 134 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,200 There was no movie stars, stuff like that. 135 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,560 It was the rich people that were the stars. 136 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,480 And also the immigrants that wanted to come to the US 137 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,680 to have a better life, a new life. 138 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:43,120 The lower classes were relegated to the lower decks, 139 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,920 away from the freewheeling first-class passengers. 140 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,000 But, for the aristocratic adventurer, the Titanic was designed 141 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,840 to entertain and delight at every moment... 142 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,280 ..with luxurious decks and quarters, 143 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:02,120 a heated swimming pool, 144 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,960 a gym, cigar lounges, 145 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,320 a photography room, 146 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,080 posh dining areas and even Turkish baths. 147 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:16,000 Everything had been thought of, and no comfort spared. 148 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,880 For the wealthy, the seven days spent sailing to reach the shores 149 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,320 of New York City would be a chance to live the dream. 150 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,400 But that dream would soon turn into a nightmare. 151 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,040 The Titanic tragedy takes place because in 1912, 152 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:43,560 the winter was very warm and a lot of icebergs were there, 153 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:46,640 and that's why it was possible for the Titanic, 154 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,120 who was running by far too fast, to hit one of the icebergs. 155 00:10:05,710 --> 00:10:07,910 Somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland... 156 00:10:09,590 --> 00:10:13,910 ..April 14th 1912, 11.40pm. 157 00:10:13,910 --> 00:10:16,270 Four days after setting sail, 158 00:10:16,270 --> 00:10:18,830 Titanic, the largest ship in the ocean, 159 00:10:18,830 --> 00:10:21,790 hits an iceberg on its starboard side. 160 00:10:21,790 --> 00:10:25,310 It takes less than 60 seconds to seal Titanic's fate 161 00:10:25,310 --> 00:10:28,950 and doom the thousands of lives on board. 162 00:10:28,950 --> 00:10:33,830 Alerted by the crew, Captain Edward Smith orders the engines stopped. 163 00:10:33,830 --> 00:10:35,750 An hour later, the ship's prow 164 00:10:35,750 --> 00:10:39,110 has already sunk ten metres under the surface. 165 00:10:39,110 --> 00:10:41,630 It's chaos on the ship's deck. 166 00:10:41,630 --> 00:10:43,430 Alone in the telegraph room, 167 00:10:43,430 --> 00:10:46,910 the Marconi operator sends one last SOS message. 168 00:10:46,910 --> 00:10:50,470 "Position, 41 degrees, 46 minutes north, 169 00:10:50,470 --> 00:10:52,510 "50 degrees, 14 minutes west. 170 00:10:52,510 --> 00:10:54,310 "SOS, sinking ship. 171 00:10:56,350 --> 00:10:58,870 On April 15th at 2.20am, 172 00:10:58,870 --> 00:11:03,270 the RMS Titanic's lights flicker for the last time, 173 00:11:03,270 --> 00:11:05,590 before she sinks into the freezing ocean. 174 00:11:16,790 --> 00:11:18,430 In under three hours, 175 00:11:18,430 --> 00:11:21,910 the Titanic vanishes from the surface of the sea. 176 00:11:21,910 --> 00:11:24,990 Of the 2,230 lives aboard, 177 00:11:24,990 --> 00:11:27,350 over 1,500 people, 178 00:11:27,350 --> 00:11:31,750 a majority third-class passengers and crew, perish, 179 00:11:31,750 --> 00:11:35,390 reaching their final destination, along with the ocean liner, 180 00:11:35,390 --> 00:11:36,750 at the bottom of the sea. 181 00:11:39,110 --> 00:11:43,070 On land, news of the disaster travels around the world. 182 00:11:43,070 --> 00:11:44,910 The ocean liner Carpathia 183 00:11:44,910 --> 00:11:49,590 rescues over 700 passengers and crew from where Titanic sank. 184 00:11:49,590 --> 00:11:52,670 But hope for more survivors quickly fades, 185 00:11:52,670 --> 00:11:55,030 and the ship disappears without trace. 186 00:11:56,710 --> 00:11:59,070 Four days after the disaster, 187 00:11:59,070 --> 00:12:03,390 a press release from Halifax dashes any last hope. 188 00:12:03,390 --> 00:12:04,630 According to experts, 189 00:12:04,630 --> 00:12:10,230 the wreck lies between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland - a massive area. 190 00:12:10,230 --> 00:12:12,910 The article adds that the wreck is estimated to rest 191 00:12:12,910 --> 00:12:16,870 at 3,600 metres under the sea. 192 00:12:16,870 --> 00:12:19,670 Initially, in the first few months after the sinking, 193 00:12:19,670 --> 00:12:21,030 people wanted to go out there. 194 00:12:21,030 --> 00:12:24,150 But when they found out that it hadn't fallen on the Grand Banks 195 00:12:24,150 --> 00:12:25,990 in a few hundred feet of water, 196 00:12:25,990 --> 00:12:28,350 that it had fallen in 12,000 feet of water, 197 00:12:28,350 --> 00:12:30,310 and no amount of money in the world at that time 198 00:12:30,310 --> 00:12:31,510 could get you that deep. 199 00:12:33,390 --> 00:12:37,270 So it became this very mysterious, enigmatic thing 200 00:12:37,270 --> 00:12:39,990 that had gone into another world, where it was unreachable. 201 00:12:41,750 --> 00:12:44,110 At the time of Titanic's disappearance, 202 00:12:44,110 --> 00:12:48,630 no-one on Earth knew how or where she could be found. 203 00:12:48,630 --> 00:12:53,230 But explorers continued to seek ways to probe the deep unknown, 204 00:12:53,230 --> 00:12:56,470 limited only by the technology of the day. 205 00:12:56,470 --> 00:12:59,390 And it was, in fact, early film-makers who drove 206 00:12:59,390 --> 00:13:01,310 the evolution of this science, 207 00:13:01,310 --> 00:13:04,870 as they began a quest to film under the sea. 208 00:13:04,870 --> 00:13:08,470 It was the beginning of the movie and, of course, 209 00:13:08,470 --> 00:13:11,510 you have people who were thinking, "Why don't we do that underwater?" 210 00:13:20,910 --> 00:13:24,910 They were trying to build some boxes to put their camera inside and, 211 00:13:24,910 --> 00:13:27,790 you know, even today you have to be very careful 212 00:13:27,790 --> 00:13:30,150 when you are doing that and they have a lot of trouble. 213 00:13:30,150 --> 00:13:33,190 In 1916, one particular experiment 214 00:13:33,190 --> 00:13:37,590 became the trailblazer of underwater photographic technology. 215 00:13:37,590 --> 00:13:41,310 The Williamson Brothers adapted a naval telescopic system, 216 00:13:41,310 --> 00:13:44,790 originally meant to recover sunken vessels, for photography. 217 00:13:46,070 --> 00:13:48,950 This technology is used with an underwater camera 218 00:13:48,950 --> 00:13:52,390 to make their feature film 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. 219 00:13:54,070 --> 00:13:58,750 Years later, on August 15th 1934, a new world record is set 220 00:13:58,750 --> 00:14:02,350 when the American engineers Beebe and Barton 221 00:14:02,350 --> 00:14:05,110 descend in their cast-iron bathysphere 222 00:14:05,110 --> 00:14:09,030 to 928 metres below the ocean's surface. 223 00:14:09,030 --> 00:14:11,910 When William Beebe built his sphere, 224 00:14:11,910 --> 00:14:14,510 of course he wanted to test it first with nobody inside. 225 00:14:14,510 --> 00:14:16,910 And when the sphere came back to the deck 226 00:14:16,910 --> 00:14:21,310 and they started to open it, it was full of water, with pressure, 227 00:14:21,310 --> 00:14:24,070 and they were like a big, you know... 228 00:14:24,070 --> 00:14:27,230 A big storm of water occurring on the deck. 229 00:14:27,230 --> 00:14:29,630 But they fixed the problem and after, 230 00:14:29,630 --> 00:14:32,470 they go inside and they went down deep. 231 00:14:32,470 --> 00:14:36,870 And it was really the beginning of deep diving. 232 00:14:36,870 --> 00:14:40,590 From here, the sphere set the standard for underwater vehicles, 233 00:14:40,590 --> 00:14:43,030 paving the way for many giant leaps 234 00:14:43,030 --> 00:14:45,390 in technology and manned submersibles. 235 00:14:47,790 --> 00:14:49,830 Here in Sebastian, Florida, 236 00:14:49,830 --> 00:14:51,790 one of the world's most innovative engineers 237 00:14:51,790 --> 00:14:54,470 is responsible for taking submersible technology 238 00:14:54,470 --> 00:14:56,430 to the next level. 239 00:14:56,430 --> 00:14:59,950 His submarine is the most recent to have dived to the Titanic wreck, 240 00:14:59,950 --> 00:15:01,830 in August 2019. 241 00:15:03,390 --> 00:15:05,750 We made five dives to Titanic 242 00:15:05,750 --> 00:15:09,590 and I had the privilege of making three of those dives. 243 00:15:09,590 --> 00:15:13,030 Being able to physically see something with your own eyes, 244 00:15:13,030 --> 00:15:15,910 experience it in real time - it's emotional. 245 00:15:15,910 --> 00:15:17,070 It's powerful. 246 00:15:17,070 --> 00:15:19,030 And it's memorable. 247 00:15:26,910 --> 00:15:30,190 The first sub that we built that was capable of reaching Titanic 248 00:15:30,190 --> 00:15:32,710 was the Limiting Factor. 249 00:15:32,710 --> 00:15:34,550 Because the sphere alone isn't enough 250 00:15:34,550 --> 00:15:37,990 to protect against the pressure exerted at 900 metres below, 251 00:15:37,990 --> 00:15:40,270 when designing the Limiting Factor, 252 00:15:40,270 --> 00:15:42,550 engineers turned to titanium, 253 00:15:42,550 --> 00:15:44,910 a strong and lightweight material 254 00:15:44,910 --> 00:15:48,150 that can withstand pressure at the ocean's deepest depths, 255 00:15:48,150 --> 00:15:50,790 and syntactic foam for buoyancy, 256 00:15:50,790 --> 00:15:53,830 to ensure a vehicle's ability to return to the surface. 257 00:15:57,430 --> 00:15:59,790 Fellow oceanographer Paul-Henry Nargeolet 258 00:15:59,790 --> 00:16:03,030 is a close friend and collaborator of Lahey's... 259 00:16:03,030 --> 00:16:05,110 Welcome. Good to see you back. 260 00:16:05,110 --> 00:16:07,990 ..and travels the world in search of the latest innovations 261 00:16:07,990 --> 00:16:10,350 for his future expeditions to Titanic. 262 00:16:12,190 --> 00:16:16,230 The Limiting Factor is 12 tonnes, 11, 12 tonnes, 263 00:16:16,230 --> 00:16:20,150 which is very light, you know, for going much deeper. 264 00:16:20,150 --> 00:16:23,910 The good thing with LF, you can launch the LF from your ship, 265 00:16:23,910 --> 00:16:26,430 recover a dive and back and forth, back and forth. 266 00:16:26,430 --> 00:16:29,870 You can dive almost every day in very deep water. 267 00:16:29,870 --> 00:16:33,790 That's a big progress in the technology. 268 00:16:34,990 --> 00:16:37,390 As technology continued to progress, 269 00:16:37,390 --> 00:16:40,310 numerous attempts to reach the wreck tried and failed. 270 00:16:43,470 --> 00:16:45,350 And it wasn't until the 1980s, 271 00:16:45,350 --> 00:16:48,990 and the development of highly advanced manned submersibles, 272 00:16:48,990 --> 00:16:51,350 that crucial progress will be made. 273 00:16:53,070 --> 00:16:55,630 The US and France possess the most innovative 274 00:16:55,630 --> 00:16:57,830 underwater technologies in the world. 275 00:16:59,150 --> 00:17:04,230 In 1985, they come together and the real race to find Titanic began. 276 00:17:06,510 --> 00:17:08,590 The first international campaign, 277 00:17:08,590 --> 00:17:12,510 a cooperation between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 278 00:17:12,510 --> 00:17:14,350 and the Ifremer Institute, 279 00:17:14,350 --> 00:17:17,150 is co-directed by the American Robert Ballard 280 00:17:17,150 --> 00:17:19,510 and the Frenchman Jean-Louis Michel. 281 00:17:23,550 --> 00:17:26,350 At the time, the French oceanographer is developing 282 00:17:26,350 --> 00:17:29,550 a state-of-the-art sonar called Sar. 283 00:17:30,910 --> 00:17:32,070 TRANSLATION: 284 00:17:53,590 --> 00:17:57,830 Jean-Louis Michel intends to use his sonar device to locate the wreck. 285 00:17:59,550 --> 00:18:01,590 Attached to a boat on the surface, 286 00:18:01,590 --> 00:18:06,750 the Sar robot can explore up to a depth of over 6,000 metres. 287 00:18:06,750 --> 00:18:09,710 Information collected by reflected sound waves 288 00:18:09,710 --> 00:18:12,270 can then identify materials on the sea floor. 289 00:18:34,310 --> 00:18:38,630 The American team uses a different technology, called the Argo, 290 00:18:38,630 --> 00:18:40,550 which works with an optical scan. 291 00:18:42,390 --> 00:18:46,870 With a frame made of steel tubes weighing about 1,800 kilograms, 292 00:18:46,870 --> 00:18:49,230 the undersea sled has an array 293 00:18:49,230 --> 00:18:51,750 of sophisticated video cameras and lighting. 294 00:18:54,230 --> 00:18:57,430 The Argo camera system was sort of revolutionary in terms of 295 00:18:57,430 --> 00:18:59,910 the oceanographic survey world. 296 00:18:59,910 --> 00:19:04,310 It's one of the first times that scientists would have a live image 297 00:19:04,310 --> 00:19:06,990 from a towed camera system on the seafloor. 298 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:18,720 The Americans and the French hope to uncover debris from the Titanic 299 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,560 by scanning as much of the seabed as possible. 300 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:25,800 But before sailing off, they must define a search area. 301 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:30,240 For three years, 302 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,200 Jean-Louis Michel and his team gather survivors' recounts, 303 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,920 pore over reports by investigative commissions 304 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,280 and check the logbooks of nearby ships, 305 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:41,720 looking for areas in the ships' position, 306 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,000 to carry out an efficient and scientific investigation. 307 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,600 TRANSLATION: 308 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,680 Jean-Louis Michel estimates that the speed of the Titanic 309 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:08,080 was between 21 and 22½ knots. 310 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,800 The location and speed of the rescue ship Carpathia is also recorded. 311 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,520 By using this information in coordination with Titanic's route, 312 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,760 the explorers hope to locate the whereabouts of the wreck site. 313 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:43,760 The search area is narrowed to a 20km by 20km zone, 314 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,160 measuring approximately 400 square metres. 315 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,760 Still, Jean-Louis Michel's calculations are an estimation. 316 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,120 Would it be enough? 317 00:20:58,520 --> 00:20:59,760 The hunt begins, 318 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:02,720 with the French first to set sail aboard the ship Le Suroit. 319 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,480 For 32 days straight, 320 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,880 the crew takes turn around the clock to scan the ocean floor. 321 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,600 On August 7th, Le Suroit and its towed robot 322 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:20,040 have scoured over 80% of the defined area, 320 square kilometres. 323 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,080 But Sar provides disappointing information. 324 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,120 There is no shipwreck. 325 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:28,960 Could they be looking in the wrong place? 326 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,880 On August 25th, the American team headed by Robert Ballard 327 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,240 arrives on site to take up the search 328 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:44,680 and comb through the remaining 20%, an 80-square-kilometre zone. 329 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,320 Aboard the Knorr, Jean-Louis Michel joins the American engineers 330 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,880 and technicians, including Bill Lange. 331 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,360 Bob Ballard had an idea that we didn't need 332 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:00,000 to look for the hull of the ship, 333 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,840 but a ship as big as Titanic should have a lot of debris 334 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,480 associated with it on the seafloor. 335 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:10,120 That debris, in conjunction with the hull of the ship, 336 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:11,760 is a much bigger target. 337 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,840 The hull of the ship is maybe 900 feet long. 338 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,240 The debris trail could be a mile long. 339 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,320 That's 5,280 feet. 340 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:24,200 So it's a lot bigger target to go and look for small debris. 341 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,880 That's why we used the Argo to go and look for that debris trail. 342 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:36,760 And for days upon days, we got nothing but mud. 343 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,240 People would get excited if we saw fish or a rock. 344 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,120 At midnight on September 1st, 345 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:52,880 I was on the watch from 12 midnight to 4am. 346 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:57,280 About 45 minutes to an hour into that watch, 347 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,280 started seeing some objects on the seafloor 348 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,640 and knew that they were man-made. 349 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,800 The team watches anxiously for potential evidence 350 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,400 of the elusive Titanic wreck site. 351 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,720 And, finally, the wait is over. 352 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,880 As we went on, all of a sudden, 353 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,520 a boiler came into the field of view 354 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,400 and Jean-Louis Michel screamed, "Boiler!" 355 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,360 CHEERING AND LAUGHTER 356 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,920 Titanic, the infamous ship that sank to the ocean's depths in 1912, 357 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,920 has been found. 358 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,400 And although the French came very close to discovering it first, 359 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,880 it is the American team that finally solves this mystery. 360 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,960 To be honest with you, none of us really, on the ship, had any idea 361 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,400 of how interested the world would be that we had found Titanic. 362 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:55,400 73 years after her sinking, the wreck's stunning discovery 363 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,920 confirms the account of some survivors - 364 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,360 the liner did indeed break in two. 365 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:08,200 The stern and the bow are a massive 600 metres apart - 366 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,280 an area much too large for the Americans to explore 367 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:12,560 in its entirety. 368 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,000 Now the wreck has finally been discovered, 369 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,720 plans are put in place to return to the site for a closer look. 370 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,400 1986. 371 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:32,880 Only 11 months after the wreck's discovery, 372 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:37,280 oceanographer Robert Ballard, aboard the submarine Alvin, 373 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:39,480 returns to the ruins of the giant ocean liner. 374 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:55,200 This second expedition to the Titanic site 375 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,960 offers the opportunity to test a new robot, Jason Junior. 376 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:04,280 This is the first time 377 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,600 a manned submersible has deployed a robot at this depth. 378 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,880 Jason Junior could roam around the wreck filming in colour. 379 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,320 The images collected are stunning. 380 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:29,640 I was actually in my first week or so of filming Aliens in England, 381 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,000 and I wasn't paying attention to the news at all. 382 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,480 I think I probably heard it in the background somewhere 383 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,360 that they had found the Titanic wreck. 384 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:39,600 And then I think when I got back and I was finished with Aliens, 385 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,280 I was just watching TV - I think even with the sound down - 386 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:47,640 and I saw a picture of the Jason Junior ROV. 387 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,600 I don't even think I bothered to turn the sound up, 388 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:54,240 because I knew what it was. 389 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,640 I could understand exactly what it was, just by looking at it. 390 00:26:57,640 --> 00:26:59,840 And so, you know, I was just fascinated by it. 391 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,920 During the first dive with Alvin, 392 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,000 Alvin came up upon the steel wall, 393 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,320 and Bob describes this as this, just, dark 394 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:22,240 steel barrier that saw no end. 395 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,280 So it really wasn't till later that we started seeing, 396 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:31,120 from the video from Alvin, those things hanging down everywhere. 397 00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:33,400 And we had no idea what they were. 398 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,600 Nobody had really seen those before. 399 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,680 These structures that cling to the hull, resembling rusty icicles, 400 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,800 are aptly named "rusticles" by Robert Ballard. 401 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,920 It just looks like the ship has been dripped in wax, 402 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,120 just brown wax has been poured over it. 403 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,360 These rusticles are seen on the hull's surface. 404 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,240 Is this unidentified growth mere rust, 405 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,800 or could it be a greater threat to the Titanic? 406 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,320 Experts are puzzled. 407 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,000 But until more information can be collected, 408 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,000 the rusticles remain a mystery for the time being. 409 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,400 The priority of the early Titanic expeditions was preservation. 410 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,120 During his return expedition, 411 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,840 explorer Robert Ballard found himself overcome with emotion. 412 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,640 As he glides over the field of debris around the wreck, 413 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,720 Ballard discovers a multitude of small objects 414 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,840 and personal belongings scattered over the ocean floor... 415 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:56,920 ..bringing home the magnitude of lives lost. 416 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:04,080 And all that's left of human signature are their shoes. 417 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:08,120 And all around the Titanic are pairs of shoes. 418 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,040 Mothers' shoes next to daughters' shoes, 419 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,000 men's shoes, crew members'. 420 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,640 These are the tombstones. 421 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:20,360 I wasn't expecting to be hit by it. 422 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,960 See, I went in there, you know, totally under control, so to speak. 423 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,840 And I was blown away. 424 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,760 It was a very moving experience that I did not expect to have. 425 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,880 A vast field of objects stretches out before Robert Ballard's eyes. 426 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:43,520 Hundreds of thousands of items are spread over less than 2km 427 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,720 between the ship's prow and stern. 428 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,000 The jumble of passengers' personal belongings, 429 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,360 mixed with giant pieces of machinery, 430 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,840 bear witness to the violence and tragedy of the wreck. 431 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,800 A portion of the debris field is nicknamed Hell's Kitchen, 432 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,560 due to the many cooking utensils strewn about. 433 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,480 Sections of the hull lie all around. 434 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,080 Deeply moved by this apocalyptic sight, 435 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,600 Robert Ballard vows to preserve the wreck as a shrine to the lives lost. 436 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,400 But, despite intense campaigns against bringing up artefacts 437 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:49,040 from the Titanic, two years after its discovery, 438 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:53,280 a French-American team sails off on a two month expedition. 439 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,160 Its goal - to salvage objects from the seafloor and enable 440 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,560 the world to learn even more about the Titanic and its passengers. 441 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:09,000 To carry out this deep-sea archaeological excavation, in 1987, 442 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,400 the French Nautile is chosen over the American Alvin. 443 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,760 As the Alvin belongs to the US Navy, 444 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,400 it is not authorised for private expeditions. 445 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,560 Today, the famous yellow submarine is still in operation 446 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,880 and remains at the cutting-edge of technology. 447 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:33,600 To date, Nautile has made a record 119 dives to the Titanic. 448 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,760 Nine of these were piloted by Jean-Paul Justiniano. 449 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:42,880 TRANSLATION: 450 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,320 In order to bring artefacts to the surface, the submarine 451 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:03,000 is equipped with various tools, including gripper arms. 452 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,600 A genuine Swiss-army knife of the deep, 453 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:11,160 the Nautile is capable of operating at over 6,000 metres under the sea. 454 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,520 The movement of the arms are basic. 455 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,960 They can be raised, lowered and angled 456 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,920 using various joysticks inside the sub. 457 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,880 Like a rocket ready to break away from Earth's gravity, 458 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,000 the submarine is hoisted out over the open sea. 459 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,080 The winch lets out several metres of cable 460 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:54,320 and the Nautile plunges into the big blue. 461 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,000 The exterior of the Nautile is inspected in the water. 462 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,640 At this point, any error could lead to a deadly chain of events. 463 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,440 Inside the sphere, the final checks - all ready. 464 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,000 Cramped in a mere half a cubic metre, 465 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,680 the three crew members make their descent in total darkness, 466 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,200 to save on battery power. 467 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,040 The Nautile takes 1 hour and 15 minutes 468 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:59,800 to reach the Titanic, at 3,800 metres below sea level, 469 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,920 at a speed close to one metre per second. 470 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,480 Before reaching the ocean floor, the submarine slows 471 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:08,960 and turns on its powerful search lights. 472 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,120 Over the course of 32 dives, 473 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:26,160 over 1,800 items were brought back up with Nautile's basket, 474 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:29,640 or with elevators capable of hauling heavy loads. 475 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:33,120 The first expedition ever to recover objects at this depth 476 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:34,640 is an achievement. 477 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,480 In the middle of the debris field, the expedition comes across 478 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,720 a curiously tidy arrangement of ceramic plates. 479 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,000 Items like these pose a dilemma for the team. 480 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,600 One by one, the fragile plates are gently captured by suction 481 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:11,640 and brought to the basket. 482 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,920 In total, Ifremer collected 5,800 items 483 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,640 as a contractor for the American company RMS Titanic, Inc, 484 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:26,000 the only entity authorised to bring up artefacts from the wreck. 485 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:32,240 And with the recovery of these precious relics, the Titanic 486 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:35,320 is intimately brought into the hearts and minds of the public. 487 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,200 Las Vegas. 488 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,680 The world's largest exhibition dedicated to the famous ship 489 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,000 brings together all of the iconic items. 490 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,480 In the early 1990s, the battle intensified 491 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,480 between those who wanted to rescue Titanic's artefacts 492 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,960 and those who saw the site as an inviolable sanctuary. 493 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,560 For Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 494 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,200 these recovery missions are essential 495 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,400 to preserving the history of the Titanic. 496 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,160 We have to recover artefacts, 497 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,840 we have to recover even pieces of the ship and preserve them 498 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:26,240 on the surface, and we can save them for the next future generation. 499 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:29,400 If we are not doing that, everything will be lost. 500 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,280 In the open air, artefacts deteriorate rapidly. 501 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,480 To ensure long-term conservation, delicate relics are treated 502 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,240 and cleaned by engineers and jewellers. 503 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:42,600 Items are immersed in chemical baths 504 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,520 and metallic pieces treated with electric current. 505 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,000 Certain items may need several years to be restored. 506 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,480 The recovery of Titanic's artefacts goes even further 507 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:03,240 when, in 1994, expedition leader Paul-Henry Nargeolet 508 00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:06,720 discovers an enormous piece of Titanic's hull lying on 509 00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:08,240 the ocean floor, 510 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:12,040 measuring 8 by 7 metres and weighing 18 tonnes. 511 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:17,480 Nicknamed the Big Piece, its recovery is a huge challenge, 512 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,120 costing millions of dollars. 513 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:25,000 We don't have a big crane or big ship for doing that, 514 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,360 and we were using what we call lift bags... 515 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:33,320 ..full with diesel fuel of the ship. 516 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:39,080 Each bag has a capacity of 20 tonnes of fuel, 517 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:43,400 and each bag will give us, at the depth of the Titanic, 518 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,880 three tonnes of buoyancy. 519 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,080 Nothing like this had ever been achieved 520 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,640 by any archaeologist before. 521 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,800 One by one, the fuel bags filled with diesel are attached. 522 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,560 Step-by-step, we were releasing these bags. 523 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:10,720 So good was the system, we had the choice to decide when 524 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:17,000 to release the last weight and let the Big Piece come up by buoyancy. 525 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,000 The Ifremer team would need six days 526 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,240 to attach fuel bags to the Big Piece. 527 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,840 After 20 minutes of ascent, the piece of hull 528 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,600 once destined to live forever under the sea reappears in the light. 529 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,080 This monumental eight-by-seven-metre remnant 530 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,080 originated from the starboard side of Titanic. 531 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,040 Today, it is no less than a miracle 532 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,080 to see a piece of the Titanic preserved so well. 533 00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:00,320 But other parts of the ship, still underwater, may not be as fortunate. 534 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,360 Since 1985, when the discovery of Titanic 535 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,160 revealed the rust-like formations covering her entire hull, 536 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,920 explorers wondered what these formations were 537 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:14,800 and what damage they were doing. 538 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,040 In a laboratory in Canada, 539 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:28,040 microbiologist Lori Johnston is amongst the world's leading experts 540 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:30,880 on Titanic's bacteria for the last 20 years. 541 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:36,280 Her analysis of the strange orange-coloured material 542 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,680 has revealed a surprising result. 543 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:40,920 The rusticles are alive. 544 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:44,880 There's more life on Titanic now 545 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,600 than there was when she was at the surface. 546 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:51,840 It's just not human life - it's biological and organic life. 547 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:02,800 So, you can see the stratification within the rusticle itself, 548 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,880 and it's almost like tree rings 549 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:08,280 as it builds up over time. 550 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:12,720 This here, you can see the glinting black 551 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:16,720 are tiny pieces of coal within there. 552 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:21,280 So, during the sinking, the coal that had come out from the boilers 553 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,640 had been in the water column, 554 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,960 so coaldust must have landed on here 555 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:30,280 and it's been incorporated into the rusticle itself. 556 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,960 In the early 20th century, no scientist imagined 557 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,880 that any form of life was possible down in the abyss. 558 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:42,600 But in her sinking, 559 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,920 the Titanic brought millions of bacteria down from above. 560 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:52,680 A find as surprising as if life had suddenly been discovered 561 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:54,240 on the surface of the moon. 562 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,680 These rusticles are colonies of bacteria. 563 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:09,600 They have their own... They create circulation inside. 564 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:14,000 They have gravity-fed flow, they feed nutrients from where 565 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,480 they're dissolving the ship down to the rest of the colony. 566 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:20,480 And they grow down until they... Sometimes, they get two metres long. 567 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,280 The rusticles have been known to cause deterioration 568 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:31,800 up to 100kg per day, of iron that it's removing from the ship itself. 569 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:37,160 And the wreck itself, Titanic, because it's made of steel, 570 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,960 is a very good food source at the bottom of the ocean. 571 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,440 For decades, rusticles have grafted onto the hull. 572 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:55,320 Between Titanic's sinking in 1912 and her discovery in 1985, 573 00:41:55,320 --> 00:42:00,080 a few hundred kilos would have formed on the bow of the wreck. 574 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,160 3D modelling is used to show a time-lapse animation 575 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:08,240 of the degradation by bacteria of all parts of the Titanic. 576 00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:11,880 This degradation is a threat to Titanic's existence... 577 00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:18,200 ..and another mystery for Titanic experts to unravel... 578 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,280 ..including James Cameron, whose deep fascination with the wreck 579 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:27,680 inspired one of his greatest movie accomplishments to date. 580 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:32,200 This is not an exaggeration, to say that I actually made the film 581 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:34,760 because I wanted to go and dive to the Titanic wreck. 582 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,400 And then I had to make this movie. 583 00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:38,080 "Ah, OK, all right, I'll make the movie." 584 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:39,920 And then that worked out well, 585 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,280 and so then I could afford to go some more. So, why not? 586 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:48,800 His interest in the world under the sea began at an early age. 587 00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:54,640 That particular picture was taken when I was 14 years old. 588 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:57,320 I was fascinated by underwater things 589 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:03,240 and I had seen an underwater habitat at the Royal Ontario Museum. 590 00:43:03,240 --> 00:43:06,240 And I did sketches of it and so on, and I got very excited. 591 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:07,520 I decided to build my own. 592 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,200 And I put my pet mouse in that and I lowered it on a rope 593 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,480 down to the bottom of a nearby river, 594 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:15,200 so it went down about 20 feet, 595 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:17,400 and the mouse was fine - he survived. 596 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:22,320 44 years later, 597 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,960 James Cameron is the first man in history to make a solo dive 598 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:29,240 into the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, 599 00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:33,640 at 10,908 metres below sea level. 600 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:37,040 His objective has always been to explore the abyss. 601 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:38,640 An undisputed expert, 602 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:42,560 his passion is inseparably linked to his quest for the technology 603 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:46,960 and engineering needed to bring him closer to the Titanic. 604 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:49,320 I was fascinated by the idea of the very deep ocean. 605 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,080 I loved everything about the ocean and I wanted to see ROVs, 606 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:54,960 I wanted to see robotics, I wanted to see submersibles. 607 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:59,360 In 1991, a new expedition to dive down to the wreck 608 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,160 on the Russian Mir submersible is organised, 609 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,280 to capture rare images for a unique purpose - 610 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:09,680 an IMAX movie aimed at the general audience. 611 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:14,080 I said, "If they can do it on an IMAX budget," 612 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:17,120 "which is a couple of million dollars, 613 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:20,080 "I can do it for a theatrical-feature budget 614 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:22,440 "that might be 10 or 20 times that." 615 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:26,880 I thought, "I'm going to Titanic." 616 00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:34,160 Seeing a unique opportunity, 617 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,960 James Cameron decides to contact the person in charge of this expedition. 618 00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:41,440 This person is no other than 619 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:46,040 the legendary Russian oceanographer Anatoly Sagalevich, 620 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,440 a man who shares the same passion for Titanic as the film-maker. 621 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:56,280 I remember the first dive on the Titanic. 622 00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,160 All the time, my heart was just, 623 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:03,040 you know, jumped, you know. 624 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:16,080 Despite ten years passing since they last met, 625 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,520 Anatoly Sagalevich and James Cameron remain close friends. 626 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:22,320 Their numerous missions together 627 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,120 have bonded them like no other oceanographers. 628 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,640 I wish there were more scientists like you, Toly. 629 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:32,160 I wish everybody in the world could understand that to be 630 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:36,880 a scientist and an engineer and an explorer 631 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:40,000 doesn't mean that you live only in your head. 632 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,160 Anatoly also lives strongly in his emotions 633 00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:46,480 and, to me, he's the ultimate human being. 634 00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:48,680 He balances the mind and the heart. 635 00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,120 Back in 1991, Russian crews used the Mir submersibles 636 00:45:57,120 --> 00:45:59,520 for the IMAX expedition to Titanic. 637 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:08,600 These technologically advanced subs, 638 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:10,640 designed by Sagalevich himself, 639 00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:12,480 gave James Cameron an idea. 640 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,120 Why I chose to work with the Mirs? 641 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:22,760 There are two. 642 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:24,400 There are two subs. 643 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:27,920 So the number of characters that you have in the story 644 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:31,080 is the number of vehicles that you have, minus one. 645 00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:33,640 You have one vehicle - you have no character. 646 00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:38,000 Right? You have two subs - sure, you can do images and you can have 647 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,360 the other sub stay out of frame and just light things up. 648 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:44,440 The second that sub enters frame, now you're telling a story. 649 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,000 And that's different. And we were there to tell a story. 650 00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:50,320 Mir-1 just shot it, you know, 651 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,040 and Mir-2 made some lighting 652 00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:57,760 or just made some kind of entertainment, like an actor. 653 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,360 We'd come up here and the lights would hit the ship. 654 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:10,760 You wouldn't see very much. 655 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:13,120 You'd just see this line, right there. 656 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,520 Then you come up and stop and then you wait for the other sub, 657 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:19,240 and the other side comes down behind you, maybe 20 minutes later. 658 00:47:19,240 --> 00:47:20,840 So we sit and have a little tea, 659 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:22,440 and then the other sub arrives 660 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:23,880 and we begin our operation, 661 00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:25,440 usually by flying up over the ship 662 00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:27,360 and following along the ship. 663 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:38,200 It's Titanic, dude. 664 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:40,560 Check it out, huh? 665 00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:44,360 For his film project, James Cameron aims to capture the Titanic 666 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:48,760 with state-of-the-art underwater cinematography and lighting. 667 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:53,080 Titanic is a very, very challenging photographic subject. 668 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:54,640 When you go into the deep ocean, 669 00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:57,080 there is absolutely no ambient light there. 670 00:47:57,080 --> 00:47:59,560 The visibility of the water might only be... 671 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:03,400 Let's call it 150 feet, maybe 200 feet at the most. 672 00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:06,640 And the whole bow section is about twice that long. 673 00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:09,520 You never even see the whole thing all at once. 674 00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:15,880 And you have to just bombard it with light, because it's reddish-orange. 675 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:18,720 It's the colour of rust. 676 00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:22,200 And the red colour doesn't travel through water very far. 677 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:25,000 So it's like the wreck just sucks your light, 678 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,360 so you have to dump enormous amounts of light on it. 679 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:30,480 So we put more lights on these poor Mir submersibles 680 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:32,480 than they'd ever had on them before. 681 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:35,000 We were bolting lights on and I kept saying, 682 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,280 "Let's add one more, let's add one more," 683 00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:38,720 and Anatoly's like, "Oh, my God!" 684 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,960 But we went down there and we lit the place up. 685 00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:49,160 It takes James Cameron and Anatoly Sagalevich 12 dives 686 00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:50,840 to scout and complete the shoot. 687 00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:56,560 But the footage they captured 688 00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:59,280 was unlike anything the world had ever seen. 689 00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:07,320 So, they'd count portholes and they'd say, 690 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,080 "OK, we think we're at D35 right now." 691 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:11,560 I'd say, "shine your light in." 692 00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:14,640 Meanwhile, I'm inside the ship with the ROV 693 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:16,240 and I'd see a light come in and I'd say, 694 00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:18,840 "Oh, you're at the wrong window. Go to the next window." 695 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:21,680 And then once they got the right window... Remember all this? Yes. 696 00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:26,560 But all the underwater technology 697 00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,080 and lighting at Cameron's disposal was still not enough 698 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:34,480 to capture the necessary details for his Hollywood blockbuster. 699 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:38,280 This model was used in the movie Titanic because the bigger shots 700 00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:43,640 that included two subs, um, had to be done with models. 701 00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:46,000 We could only do shots with one sub 702 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:48,440 but they were supposed to be two subs in the story. 703 00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:51,320 So, the bigger, wider shots were done using this model. 704 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:54,720 So this model had to match perfectly the real ship, 705 00:49:54,720 --> 00:49:57,800 cos we were mixing shots of the real ship with shots of the model. 706 00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:00,400 And I don't think the average person can tell the difference. 707 00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:04,000 The answer is very simple. 708 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:07,160 If you see two subs in the shot, it's a model shot. 709 00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:09,360 If you see one sub, it's the real thing. 710 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,320 Jim once asked me, 711 00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,840 "Toly, what do you think? How many Oscars?" 712 00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,400 I said to him, er... 713 00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:22,920 "Ten, minimum." 714 00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:25,680 He said, "No." 715 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:28,520 I said, "Yes, ten minimum." 716 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:34,160 The movie eventually took home 11 Oscars. 717 00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:39,320 Although it cost $200 million to make, it grossed over 2 billion. 718 00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:44,880 The film helped spread the legendary story of the Titanic worldwide, 719 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:47,080 across all generations. 720 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:54,000 However, the Canadian film-maker had no interest in stopping there, 721 00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:56,520 and he decides to attempt to capture images 722 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,760 from places where no-one had gone before - the inside. 723 00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:10,240 Ten years after their expedition to the wreck 724 00:51:10,240 --> 00:51:12,600 for the blockbuster movie Titanic, 725 00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:16,320 James Cameron and Anatoly Sagalevich team up again 726 00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:21,280 for another 3,800-metre dive in 2005. 727 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,080 This time, they will attempt to go even further. 728 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:26,960 Back aboard the Mir, 729 00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:30,240 James Cameron pilots an innovative robot vehicle, 730 00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:33,880 equipped with cameras, to conduct an archaeological study 731 00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:35,840 inside of the wreck. 732 00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:39,080 He reveals and documents spaces in the Titanic 733 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:40,960 that no-one has ever seen before. 734 00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:44,680 We used a very different methodology, 735 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:47,440 which was the fibre-optic that spools out. 736 00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:49,800 The vehicle doesn't have to worry about fouling 737 00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:52,200 and it doesn't have to worry about coming back out the same way. 738 00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:53,960 I'm not sure if this is clear to people, 739 00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,600 but we would fly wherever we wanted inside the ship - 740 00:51:56,600 --> 00:52:00,600 upstairs, downstairs, down elevator shafts, through rooms and so on - 741 00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,840 and leave behind thousands of feet of the fibre. 742 00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,560 And then the vehicle comes back to the sub, we cut the fibre... 743 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:09,920 Recover the vehicle, cut the fibre and then we wind the fibre back 744 00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:11,920 and it just, kind of, comes out through the ship 745 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:14,200 like a piece of string and comes back to us, 746 00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:15,600 and then we dispose of it. 747 00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:21,160 We're, um... We're just about to head down the stairwell now 748 00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:24,200 and we're going to go down, actually, six decks, 749 00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:26,560 and we're gonna to and get into the Turkish baths, 750 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:29,480 which we've never seen. Nobody's ever seen it. 751 00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:30,920 Oh, my God! Copy that. 752 00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:33,120 It's just... It's all here. 753 00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:36,000 It's like time has just stopped. 754 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:37,520 It has. 755 00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:39,480 It's hard to imagine where we are... 756 00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:43,240 ..how deep we are, 757 00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:46,680 how remote we are from the human world. 758 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:49,440 And yet, we find this... 759 00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:50,760 beautiful place. 760 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:04,480 When you're moving around inside the ship, you feel like you're either 761 00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:07,760 in a cave or you're in, maybe, an earthen tunnel 762 00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:11,360 where the roots of trees are coming down into the space you're in, 763 00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:12,920 but it feels very organic. 764 00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:14,920 And then, all of a sudden, 765 00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:18,440 you'll see a cabinet with a mirror 766 00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:24,120 or some artefact of civilisation surrealistically transported 767 00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:26,560 into this biological, kind of, 768 00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:28,120 grotto or cave-like environment. 769 00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:29,680 It's very, very surreal. 770 00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:35,080 Back at the James Cameron Studio, his model of the Titanic 771 00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:37,840 has become a three-dimensional representation 772 00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:41,360 of the bow of the wreck, as it was in 1997. 773 00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:46,840 It is now possible to observe the damage. 774 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:53,360 You can see this collapse back here was caused when it initially hit. 775 00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:56,560 Right in the first few seconds of the ship plunging, 776 00:53:56,560 --> 00:53:58,920 the water pressure blew the mast back 777 00:53:58,920 --> 00:54:01,360 and slammed it back into that position. 778 00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:03,400 You can see where it's actually bent, 779 00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,320 just like you'd bend a Coke can, you know? 780 00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:08,240 It's just bent right there. 781 00:54:08,240 --> 00:54:10,920 But then, the weight, the gravity, 782 00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:14,520 has slowly brought it down and it finally just collapsed, 783 00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:17,640 and it was already down when I was out there in 2005, 784 00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:20,480 so that's ten years after my first expedition. 785 00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:21,960 It was already down. 786 00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,760 I think it's quite the way down now, collapsing in pieces. 787 00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:32,960 At the bottom of the ocean, like a crumpled twig, 788 00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:35,400 the mast is unrecognisable. 789 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:42,920 Originally, in 1912, it stood on the bow and carried a crow's nest. 790 00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:45,880 It is from there that the lookout caught sight of the iceberg. 791 00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:52,440 But now, attacked by corrosion, the mast has collapsed 792 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:55,200 and the crow's nest which was previously visible 793 00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:58,440 has broken apart, crumbling under the rusticles. 794 00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:12,640 And in 2010, a new expedition 795 00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:15,680 names the bacteria Halomonas titanicae. 796 00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:22,520 A branch of the bacteria family resistant to extreme conditions. 797 00:55:26,120 --> 00:55:30,440 These iron-eating bacteria literally consume steel. 798 00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:36,720 In the media, Halomonas titanicae is held responsible 799 00:55:36,720 --> 00:55:39,560 as the main cause of the wreck's degradation. 800 00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:45,960 One puny bacteria does not deteriorate the whole wreck. 801 00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:48,880 You need that group, you need that community, 802 00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:54,760 you need that consortia of bacteria and fungi moulds working together 803 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:58,240 to be able to cause the deterioration 804 00:55:58,240 --> 00:56:01,320 and the rusticle structures on these wrecks. 805 00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:05,960 It is the fate of every shipwreck to eventually disappear, 806 00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:09,120 but Titanic's decomposition is unusually rapid. 807 00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:14,600 In total, the scientific community 808 00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:18,000 discovered 27 different strains of the bacteria, 809 00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:23,160 estimated to be consuming between 200kg and 300kg of iron per day. 810 00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:28,800 Based on this data, some experts predict 811 00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:31,560 that the wreck will disappear in less than 20 years. 812 00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:36,840 The race is on to get back to Titanic - 813 00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:40,600 this time for an urgent assessment of the ship's deterioration. 814 00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:45,760 If you're gonna manage something like this, a site this big, 815 00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:48,520 you need to know its confines, 816 00:56:48,520 --> 00:56:50,840 you need to know how big the site is. 817 00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:04,840 The 2010 expedition maps out the entire wreck site 818 00:57:04,840 --> 00:57:07,880 in an effort to gather data on her degradation. 819 00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:14,440 Like archaeologists, the explorers make an inventory - 820 00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:16,320 the most complete that they can. 821 00:57:17,920 --> 00:57:23,000 The idea is to spot, identify and measure all the elements on site. 822 00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:26,200 It is so far the largest ever scientific mission 823 00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:29,120 dedicated to documenting the wreck. 824 00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:33,120 We wanted to make certain that there wasn't any objects or artefacts 825 00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:34,760 or anything from the wreck 826 00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:38,480 that was quite a ways from the other concentration of items 827 00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:39,720 at the wreck site. 828 00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:42,360 And we're not looking at an optical image. 829 00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:43,560 This isn't a camera. 830 00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:46,560 We're looking at what's called acoustic reflectivity. 831 00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:50,280 In the camera world, it would be the shininess of an object. 832 00:57:56,720 --> 00:58:00,240 So, here you can see a sonar image of the bow of the Titanic. 833 00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:04,760 This object up here is actually one of the hatch covers 834 00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:07,800 that blew off the ship as it was landing. 835 00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:16,640 On one side, the stern, completely destroyed. 836 00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:19,000 On the other, the bow. 837 00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:21,200 And in between, the vast field of debris. 838 00:58:22,480 --> 00:58:26,720 For the first time, the site can be visualised in its entirety. 839 00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,720 But Lange's work was far from done. 840 00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:35,400 He prepares the biggest photo project ever undertaken. 841 00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:39,120 And this time, it's not about discovery but about preservation. 842 00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:43,800 We wanted a creative image of the wreck site 843 00:58:43,800 --> 00:58:46,400 as if you were walking on the seafloor 844 00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:49,360 and came up to this and there was no water there. 845 00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:50,880 That's a big undertaking. 846 00:58:54,960 --> 00:59:00,200 During the 2010 expedition, hundreds of thousands of images are taken. 847 00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:03,120 Centimetre by centimetre, the wreck is photographed. 848 00:59:05,200 --> 00:59:08,640 It takes Bill Lange and his team over two years to assemble 849 00:59:08,640 --> 00:59:11,680 the pictures to create impressive photo mosaics. 850 00:59:19,640 --> 00:59:23,160 The results display remarkable accuracy. 851 00:59:23,160 --> 00:59:26,760 This crab clinging to the hull measures only 5cm. 852 00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:33,520 Bill Lange has devoted his life to Titanic imaging. 853 00:59:35,280 --> 00:59:38,960 In earlier expeditions, he succeeded at capturing her bow. 854 00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:47,560 In 2010, by comparing his photos, 855 00:59:47,560 --> 00:59:50,000 it is possible to see the evolution of the wreck. 856 00:59:52,640 --> 00:59:57,360 What's also very evident is that the roof of the deckhouse 857 00:59:57,360 --> 01:00:03,120 was intact in 1986 but in 2004 and in 2010, 858 01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:05,480 we're seeing all these holes open up. 859 01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:08,600 And this is where the metal roofs of these areas 860 01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:10,440 are just dissolving away. 861 01:00:13,120 --> 01:00:17,000 At this stage, the entire wreck is in danger, 862 01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:19,280 at the mercy of an invisible enemy. 863 01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:23,880 Scientists are researching how many elements - 864 01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:27,120 including bacteria, oxygen corrosion and currents - 865 01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:30,480 are causing irreversible damage to the steel colossus. 866 01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:36,880 But nine long years will pass before anyone returns 867 01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:39,280 to check in on the wreck. 868 01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:40,640 OK, Tom, last check. 869 01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:42,040 We're gonna just have tandem, 870 01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:43,960 or maybe you can just secure your own hatch. 871 01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:46,240 Roger that. Securing... 872 01:00:46,240 --> 01:00:47,640 August 2019. 873 01:00:47,640 --> 01:00:51,520 Patrick Lahey, Lori Johnston and Paul-Henry Nargeolet 874 01:00:51,520 --> 01:00:55,520 set out on the first expedition to Titanic in nine years. 875 01:00:55,520 --> 01:00:58,200 Doors are closed. We've got two swimmers in the water. 876 01:00:58,200 --> 01:00:59,760 We can start pumping down. 877 01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:02,080 Roger that. Turning pumps on now. 878 01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:11,280 Their mission - determine the state of degradation of the wreck. 879 01:01:16,200 --> 01:01:17,640 We toured the wreck. 880 01:01:17,640 --> 01:01:22,400 You know, we got up very close to the shipwreck and we went 881 01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:25,920 around it in detail, front and back, debris field and everything else. 882 01:01:44,840 --> 01:01:49,120 These are the very last images taken of the legendary Titanic wreck. 883 01:01:58,600 --> 01:02:01,960 For Patrick Lahey, as for all explorers of the wreck, 884 01:02:01,960 --> 01:02:05,520 every visit to this site is an overwhelming combination 885 01:02:05,520 --> 01:02:07,720 of amazement and emotion. 886 01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:15,720 I was in awe of its physical size, because, 887 01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:17,320 yeah, you see pictures of it, 888 01:02:17,320 --> 01:02:18,680 you've seen films about it, 889 01:02:18,680 --> 01:02:20,960 but when you drive up to it 890 01:02:20,960 --> 01:02:22,880 and you're physically looking at it 891 01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:24,920 and you see how enormous the wreck is, 892 01:02:24,920 --> 01:02:27,120 that was the first thing that struck me. 893 01:02:32,520 --> 01:02:34,960 It was impressive, because it was 894 01:02:34,960 --> 01:02:39,440 the scene of such human suffering, a tremendous tragedy. 895 01:02:41,120 --> 01:02:44,320 There's nothing there, obviously, and I don't believe in ghosts 896 01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:49,840 but I do believe that human memory can overlay on reality. 897 01:02:49,840 --> 01:02:52,200 You know? And I started to cry. 898 01:02:55,040 --> 01:02:57,800 In that moment, I made myself a promise that 899 01:02:57,800 --> 01:03:00,240 on every dive I make to Titanic, 900 01:03:00,240 --> 01:03:03,480 I take a moment to remember where I am 901 01:03:03,480 --> 01:03:06,760 and what happened here, and to be... 902 01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:08,560 connected to it. 903 01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:15,800 The 2019 images enable us to observe 904 01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:19,320 that the front of the bow has evolved very little 905 01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:22,240 since the last expedition in 2010. 906 01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:23,760 Those present at the dive 907 01:03:23,760 --> 01:03:27,240 report that the amount of rusticles has not increased. 908 01:03:29,160 --> 01:03:33,480 Deterioration continues but it has not accelerated. 909 01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:35,560 The experts agree unanimously, 910 01:03:35,560 --> 01:03:38,400 the wreck will not disappear in the coming decades. 911 01:03:42,840 --> 01:03:46,360 Still, there are areas of the Titanic that remain at great risk, 912 01:03:46,360 --> 01:03:47,680 like the rear of the bow. 913 01:03:49,600 --> 01:03:51,440 The degradation here is a warning 914 01:03:51,440 --> 01:03:55,040 of how the future of the wreck could progress. 915 01:03:55,040 --> 01:03:57,400 What you can see here - this is the outer hull 916 01:03:57,400 --> 01:03:59,680 on the starboard side, 917 01:03:59,680 --> 01:04:01,280 and this is the outer hull 918 01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:02,760 on the port side. 919 01:04:02,760 --> 01:04:05,720 This is called shell plating, 920 01:04:05,720 --> 01:04:10,120 and this is pulled away from the internal structure of the ship. 921 01:04:10,120 --> 01:04:13,760 So, the internal framework - the decks and bulkheads - 922 01:04:13,760 --> 01:04:17,080 were attached to the shell plating. 923 01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:22,120 But because of the impact of the bow section hitting the sea floor, 924 01:04:22,120 --> 01:04:25,320 the shell plating has pulled away from the internal structure. 925 01:04:32,880 --> 01:04:37,480 For the first time, exceptional 3D-animated footage provides 926 01:04:37,480 --> 01:04:41,720 an insight into future phases of ongoing degradation of the Titanic. 927 01:04:45,400 --> 01:04:49,720 A future where the two parts of the hull break open like a book, 928 01:04:49,720 --> 01:04:52,080 where the stacked decks cave in 929 01:04:52,080 --> 01:04:55,200 and eventually collapse like a house of cards. 930 01:04:59,000 --> 01:05:00,720 But how long will it take 931 01:05:00,720 --> 01:05:04,160 for Titanic to transform from wreck into sediment? 932 01:05:07,320 --> 01:05:11,080 The degradation of Titanic, er, 933 01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:12,760 will probably never stop. 934 01:05:12,760 --> 01:05:15,040 You know, the Titanic, it's a... 935 01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:16,760 It's an unbelievable story. 936 01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:19,120 And I'd say for sure, 937 01:05:19,120 --> 01:05:21,600 in almost 500 years, 938 01:05:21,600 --> 01:05:24,560 we will still see something on the bottom. 939 01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:27,280 And, of course, it will be diminishing in size 940 01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:30,240 and volume throughout that time. 941 01:05:30,240 --> 01:05:31,920 But, based on, you know, 942 01:05:31,920 --> 01:05:35,320 knowing that what I saw was over 100 years old, 943 01:05:35,320 --> 01:05:38,640 there's no way at all that in another ten years 944 01:05:38,640 --> 01:05:41,680 that the wreck will be fully consumed. Not even close. 945 01:05:43,560 --> 01:05:47,320 But will what's left on the bottom of the Atlantic still resemble 946 01:05:47,320 --> 01:05:53,600 the massive luxury ocean liner that once held over 2,230 lives on board? 947 01:05:55,240 --> 01:05:58,800 If you come back in 300 years, this will all be gone, 948 01:05:58,800 --> 01:06:01,520 this will still be here, and this will still be here. 949 01:06:01,520 --> 01:06:05,320 This may be sagged in, partially collapsed, some holes in it. 950 01:06:05,320 --> 01:06:07,040 This will still be here. 951 01:06:11,840 --> 01:06:14,640 Over 100 years after her sinking, 952 01:06:14,640 --> 01:06:16,200 the Titanic's bow 953 01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:18,200 still looms majestically, 954 01:06:18,200 --> 01:06:20,840 as if time had stopped, as she waits 955 01:06:20,840 --> 01:06:23,040 for the next round of expeditions. 956 01:06:26,880 --> 01:06:29,200 Titanic remains a legend, 957 01:06:29,200 --> 01:06:31,080 and continues to rouse 958 01:06:31,080 --> 01:06:34,440 the passions of explorers and scientists around the world. 959 01:06:40,080 --> 01:06:44,080 Advances in technology and the evolution of the wreck 960 01:06:44,080 --> 01:06:46,200 will surely open up new avenues 961 01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:49,160 to explore the ghost of the abyss even further. 962 01:06:51,160 --> 01:06:54,080 As always, despite the challenges faced, 963 01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:58,960 the impassioned Titanic explorers will race to preserve what they can, 964 01:06:58,960 --> 01:07:03,400 before the ruins of the most famous of ships vanish for ever. 965 01:07:12,320 --> 01:07:14,680 There are definitely reasons to go back. 966 01:07:14,680 --> 01:07:17,200 I think we've seen some of the most beautiful things already, 967 01:07:17,200 --> 01:07:19,560 but the Titanic always keeps secrets. 968 01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:26,120 Subtitles by Red Bee Media