The Cousteau Odyssey; Calypso's Search for the Britannic

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was probably friendly against shit, but that's not true serve without porridge and suddenly there was a big bump. You felt it well? Yes, felt it and the ship was sort of rose up and came down again and they um nothing happened for a minute or two and then the captain got up and he said it made it, you know what that is. When you go to your cabin straight away,

get your life felt and get up onto the top deck as quickly as ever you can. It will get all the ladies up. It was every man for himself and there we just drifted past the propellers. We were just lucky we got here but we saw I saw one life all getting cut up so I saw an arm for the legs go up there. It never had any chance. If they'd stop the engines those people would not have been cut up as a propeller was the botanic torpedoed or did it hit him? Which is your opinion? My friend is she talker torpedoed. I'm saying torpedoed because as I told you before on the fifth journey I saw the submarine. And it was a torpedo it's not two torpedoes it was not a mine. Mrs. Mitchell what is your opinion? Was the ship torpedoed or did it hit him? No torpedoed

without a doubt. Without a doubt torpedoed. Thank you. Now you and Mrs. Mitchell. Without a doubt, torpedoed. They far took out torpedoed. At least one torpedoed. At least. It was a mine without a shadowed doubt. You know what? Look Kippling said about war and I read a lot of Kippling he said and I think it's the best thing to say about politicians in war. When a war starts the first casualty is true. Launched a sister ship to the Titanic six months before World War One. The Britannic is also doomed. Then the largest ship ever built. She will go down off Greece amid charges of wartime outrage a year after being commissioned. Following the path of the Britannic on her sixth and fatal

voyage the Calypso heads eastward into the Aegean stormy cradle of Western man. Here passed the shattered splendor of Poseidon's temple. The Britannic steam to take on wounded from the Allies failing Dardenelles campaign. Nearby off Kia Island on November 21st 1916 she was racked by explosions and quickly sank with a loss of 30 lives. For six decades the questions have remained. Was the Britannic carrying war supplies? Whether struck by a mine or a torpedo how could a single weapon of finish such a supposedly unsinkable ship? The answers lie in Kia Channel. At last on station at the point indicated on the British Admiralty charts the Calypso sends a signal aloft warning other ships in the heavily

traveled channel that she will be unable to maneuver. A sonar side scanner fish covering a quarter mile path is lowered to augment the Calypso's vertical echo sounder and the search begins. Hour after hour under the watchful eye of Dr. Harold Edgerton famed electronics inventor the sonar signals reveal a lengthening profile of the sea botany as the days pass and the Calypso sweeps slowly to and fro under search pattern the graphs and dials give no evidence of the

Britannic. Still no sign something is wrong

puzzled Cousteau widens the area of search. At last the telltale trace on the graph three miles from the position shown on the at multi -chart the Britannic has been found. There is a lot of love in this area there is a lot of love there

is a lot of love there is a lot of love in this area there is a lot of love in this area there is a lot of love there is a lot of love in this area there is a lot of love in this area there is a lot of love in this area there is a lot of love in this area on bottom the lights of the diving saucer at first reveal only random bits of wreckage a steel hatch cover the crushed flotation tank of one of

the shattered life boats a broken mast then out of the dark looms a darker silhouette on her port side as if in dreamless sleep lies the immense body of the Britannic later aboard the calypso chief diver Albert Falco describes videotape made during the descent we had to find a chimney a few tubes and then finally a huge silhouette in

front of us and there we were on the cook though parts of the exterior are surprisingly preserved even some unbroken pains of glass a section of wood paneling near the bridge the halls iron plates from stem to stern are encrusted with oysters, coral, sponges and other secrets though some of the huge liners 2000 port holes were open at the time of the explosion it had little effect on the swiftness with which she sank despite a commonly held belief yet in the brief 55 minutes before she went down calm and orderly procedures affected the rescue of almost all the 1136 medical personnel and crew aboard the size

of the wreck makes any general view impossible like a monstrous man made reef it rises from sea bottom 94 feet high and nearly 900 feet long search of its vast bulk for possible war contraband Kusto now realizes will demand the most detailed organization to be accomplished safely the depth of the Britannic creates serious problems returning to Marina Zia near Athens the calypso takes on helium to mix with oxygen and nitrogen for the dives thus preventing narcosis and the often fatally impaired judgment that results an sdc or submersible decompression chain also is taken aboard to relieve divers from long periods of waiting and bridging water

for dex and holds crammed with special equipment the calypso hurries back to Kia Channel also on board is a highly interested observer the vice president of the Titanic Historical Society long student of ship disasters William Tantum speculates on causes of the Britannic sinking what I think happened I put myself in that man's mind consciously this area had been swept the minds two or three days previously all right and the submarine should cry of soap comes up and they take a look the first thing you're going to see is a great deal of people moving around on the deck and these people are members of the our royal army medical problem the R .A .M .R .A .M .C. and they wore cacti uniforms the officers

very similar to the regular army the nurses and the orderlies wore a different type of cacti a lighter type but the officers who were on the first class deck area were regular military type of collars and hats and at eight ten or eight eight o 'clock in the morning or seven thirty they could have been moving from their quarters to the grand salon for a mess and a submarine with chyroscope sees a great deal of three or four hundred officers and doctors moving in that area could have mistakenly taken them for military personnel and being a hospital ship on those grounds attacked by tarpita because this ship is clearly marked you should see between the number one and number two funnels he had a rigged cross a green cross that was illuminated at night by five hundred balls again the Sukup is ready for descent this time as guardian of the divers

exploring the wreck now from Scotland a formidable visitor joins the calypso explorers 86 year old Sheila Macbeth Mitchell a volunteer nurse aboard the Britannic on her last voyage Mrs. Macbeth Mitchell still holds sharp clear memories of that fateful November morning in nineteen sixteen one of the handful of surviving eyewitnesses she today lives in quiet retirement with her ninety two year old husband in Edinburgh yet invited by Cousteau to revisit the scene of the tragedy after a lapse of sixty years she was quick to come adventuring when the machine is in the water we untie her and she goes free and she's propelled by jets water jets and

here on the rear you have a big block of land that is a safety weight in case of emergency only and drop that and come back to the surface and there we go there we go the dive on top is here to find who the machine my friends and my three brothers were engineers tonight I like machine ring and I would like to know a little more about about what happened that day when the ship was tired you said you heard a big boom oh no I went to my breakfast in the dining room and I had two symbols porridge and there was a big bang oh you held a big bang did you take all your things from your cabin? oh no now

in the little green knitted bag by my birth I was on get some of the portal it's a very nice little travelling cocktail my brother gave me holds up like a cigarette case little alarm and luminous top if you find it and it will be there and it will work but it will have to be there the first team of divers Raymond Cole, Iván Jacaletto and Fan Dan prepares for descent a veteran specialist in deep diving Dr. Pierre Cabaret stands by a constant vigilant presence in his heavy oversized tanks each diver carries a carefully prescribed breathing mixture of helium, nitrogen and oxygen

adjusted to the extreme depths of the dive a formula determines through years of trial and analysis in coming days with Falco Patrick Delamott and Captain Cousteau himself the Calypso team will make no fewer than 68 man dives to search the Britannica in the depth at which the divers must work each man is permitted no more than 15 minutes before he must begin the long decompression procedures because the minutes are counted from the moment of submersion the divers drops swiftly downward at 150 feet they plummet past the

submersible decompression chamber to which they must very soon return and quickly sunlight is left behind they enter the endless night of the depths like a familiar friend in this alien world the lights of the Sukup glow in the darkness of the bottom through the open hatch of the aft hold the divers penetrate deep into the ships in a recesses a ghostly presence from the world of air and sunlight the corpse of the great liner now belongs to another element whatever secrets of past wars or holds contain they have little meaning here now in the dark still depths she has been taken over by other struggles other occupants the crab and the sea worm the algae and the sponge

but the holes reveal no weapons the Britannica has become a world on its side her decks have become walls doorways and portals keep where floors ought to be one of the three bladed 38 tonside propellers stands forever fixed now covered with sea creatures propellers caused almost all of Britannica's casualties lifted upward as the ship sank at the bow the turning propellers drew the lifeboats into the blades smashing them to matchwood as they struggled to escape the dying ship

less visible than the barnacles and sea growth that cover everything a thousand vignettes of human survival still cling to the wreck the men of one stone cold never told of the emergency who came to deck to find a lifeboats gone the rattled nurse who left all her money under a pillow but saved her fountain pen sixteen -year -old boy scout Edward Ireland who worked with a captain on the bridge until forcibly carried to a lifeboat here in a forward salon a cluttered mass of hospital bed frames bears witness to the 15 ,000 sick and wounded carried back to England by the Britannica during her brief months

of life by a merciful irony she was outbound when death came the beds for the wounded were empty here at the bridge

captain Bartlett once fought vainly to beach his sinking ship then at last assured that no one was left aboard he stepped calmly into the sea was later picked up by a circling launch the Shadburn the internal communication system by which instructions were transmitted from bridge to engine room is now an encrusted mass over it came the command for the last feudal attempt to beach the Britannica all that remains of the pilot wheel is the brass strap that bound the

wood the handholds and the wheel itself have long since routed away with a gesture of triumph one of the divers holds up a prize bit of salvage the corroded remains of the ship's sextant near the bridge in the comparative luxury of his rank lived captain Bartlett during the brief tenure of his command present at the vessel's birth and death he sometimes may have reflected on her in a spacious launching

born into war the queen of Britain's luxury liners was committed to the sea without ceremony or christening in the words of one disgruntled workman they just build her and shoves her in now time is the master

on each descent after 15 minutes exactly the divers exchange signals and begin their slow laborious return waiting just above midpoint in their assent the decompression chamber offers a welcome sanctuary from the cold helped by the service divers sent down from the colipso the deep divers remove their cumbersome hilly ox tanks and place them in racks on the side of the metal bell at last releasing the mouthpieces of their breathing hoses they glide through the lock at the bottom and

enter the relative comfort of the decompression chamber as the colipso is assured that all three divers are secure one of the service divers makes a final check of equipment and closes the hatch quickly now the divers begin their final assent hoisted to the crowded deck

the sdc is immediately lowered into the hold so that the sukup can be returned to its platform above it here periodically breathing pure oxygen while dr. keberu gradually alters the pressure in their capsule the divers will remain in limbo for the next two hours and 45 minutes eagerly the crew examines the artifacts brought up in the basket from below on a brass ring of the pilot's wheel the manufacturer's name is still legible the ship's sextant is as believed might still be

restored to workable condition if submerged for a time in fresh water and carefully cleaned at last their long wait in the sdc at the end the three divers are released from confinement routinely dr. keberu asks each man how he feels routinely each man gives an affirmative reply but falco has been below in the sukup he knows that at moments they felt a little lost here are not very good here are all the here are all the patience and here are the nurses and the make you'll see here the boats hanging the lifeboat in front of me and the one behind were drawn in by the preparers and cut into ribbons if

anybody escaped from those boats it was because they jumped out and perhaps could swim away you see the boat was worse two and where we were hit there were high cliffs and they wanted to beat the boat where there was sand the other side of the island and so the minute we touched the water she went on and the propellers were coming up and at the turning and at the back it was a whirlpool and they were pulling all the lifeboats into the whirlpool and when she went in all together she just went straight in just like a dive a good dive and everybody's heart was in their mouths when she was turning of course I was thinking oh my trunks will be sliding under the other day of the bed and

all the oranges and lemons I bought in Naples will be on the floor and where is my clock you know things like that we had lots of concerts I've lost all my songs all my best music now I hear somebody sing and I say oh I had that stumbling I don't know what we were thinking about all kinds of things and the wreckage was floating around us and we suddenly saw notices saying doctors only nurses only patient only floating in the water because the matron was very old fashioned when we wanted to walk and have a real walk in the evening and she put this rope across you see to stop it walking and one wag

near me saw these notices and he said huh surprise their own game didn't put a notice to say doctors and sisters shouldn't drown on the same side of the ship and when I got back into Athens at night to go to bed I had my French knickers on with blue ribbons shredded through and one was lost and the other nurses were very teasing me they said have you given the sailor the blue ribbon in just for that in exchange for that did you know I must to be taught when you received the cable from from New York asking you to to come here in Athens and wrote the lips so you were astonishingly a

rabbit to decide to come I have had a very lucky life I've been to many countries and I never thought I would come back to the Britannic again no and it's marvelous marvelous now I am 10 years younger than I watched last Wednesday see as the days pass and the search progresses Cousteau himself prepares to examine the wreck as usual during the search Cousteau takes his bearings and plans his dive in relation to the Britannic model of board clips though intending to explore the forward section of the liner he is again reminded it is a world a skew to descend the grand staircase for example his progress will not be vertical but horizontal

with the unhurried precision learned in long practice final preparations for the descent are completed on deck with his diving companions Patrick Delamont and senior team member Albert Falco Cousteau reviews the catechisms of underwater safety Yes we are IDUS well done Please give it a try Though their banter is deceptively casual each knows that they will be working at depth or survival demands utter fidelity to the rules

On the exact basis of dive duration and the greatest depth achieved, Dr. Kabirou will calculate the decompression pattern and its intervals of oxygen intake. In a final check each sets his watch for the exact time on the dive. Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr.

Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, Dr. Kabirou, thrilling gym. 15, 12, 11, 11, 15. As Gusto submerges, Falco and Delamata immediately follow, for already the clock has begun to count. As always, the dive is a race with time, a dreamlike fall to the bottom. I passed a decompression chamber without which there could be no safely turned for any of us. Swiftly, I followed a braided nylon cable downward, and soon dropped past the SDC's stabilizing big eye on weight, suspended

like a stone in the sky. Almost at once, I caused a barrier of darkness. Then at 180 feet, as Falco and Delamata overtake me, we encountered the cold, the chill that invades our wet suits and our spirits. At last, I began to discern the colossal health. My depth gauge indicates 320 feet. It has taken us 6 minutes to get here. In 9 minutes, it is imperative that we begin our return. I swim now through a world in which all reference points have been altered.

The walls of the monumental first -class hall are above and under me, the floor directly ahead. I weave through a labyrinth of metal bars across my horizontal course. I feel I could get caught like a tuna in a giant net. Abruptly, I realize that these grids are all the remain of the grand staircase. But the less definable sense of disorientation also hones me. The Britannics' entire career was unintended. Planed for fashionable transatlantic crossings, she spent her brief life in the drab pursuits of war. Here in this room, where orchestras were meant to play, dust has settled everywhere in the stigian gloom. History has made a mistake.

I approach the huge opening, ripped in the forward hull by the explosion. While falco films and dolomot amps the beams of our powerful lights, I search for clues that will tell us more about the Britannics tragedy. Soon, I am surrounded by twisted steel plates and bulkheads. I torn clusters of electric cables and rotted planks. I realize I have penetrated deep into the ships and trails. Then darkness, I cling to a buckled pipe. My companions reappear

and find me. What has seemed to me an eternity was only seconds. I remember the sudden fear, the line by Paul Valierin, a man alone is in bad company. When we reach the very bottom, the depth is 370 feet. Here and there, one of us picks up a bit of debris, stalls it in the Sukup's basket for later examination at the surface. Not far from the immense rupture, perhaps a hundred feet back from the bar, we find a piece of coal apparently

blown from the bankers. A trifle, perhaps. My watch tells me we have reached the end of our short lease of time. I signal my companions. We withdraw and begin our scent. Behind us in the dark, we leave the broken shell of a technological triumph, a somber reminder that we too are vulnerable. The Britannic was once called as perfect a specimen of man's creative power, as it is possible to conceive. She lasted less than a year. A little more than halfway up, the service divers wait

at the SDC. They help remove our air tanks and store them in the rocks, while we enter the warm haven of the decompression chamber. Back in the only world we can safely inhabit for the next two hours and 45 minutes, we are given a final check by the service divers, then begin the last leg to the top. Like workmen at the end of a job, we find ways to spend our leisure. We make over the intercom a few requests for

some appetizers and wine. Boringly, Dr Cabaro insists that it is a practical impossibility. Instead, he prescribes oxygen according to the prepared tables for the depths we have reached. It is all very good for us, we agree. Because Falco points out, caviar would have tested better. What do we have to do? We

are at last released by Dr Cabaro from Artini World. Suddenly, the crowded deck of the Calypso seems enormous. With the finding of the coal, most pieces of the Britannic mystery seem reasonably clear. Nowhere have the searchers discovered evidence that the Britannic was anything other than she claimed to be, a mercy

-bound hospital ship. It is convinced that the rupture in the hull is far larger than could be caused by a mine or a torpedo alone. It is Cousteau's belief that the first explosion ignited the highly volatile coal dust in the bunkers and thus caused the almost simultaneous and even more violent second explosion that scattered coal outside the hull. From Naples, I think. Probably.

Do you think that is enough? I will give you a bit more. That is cruel from the Britannic. Oh, it is wonderful. Almost certainly, the Britannic struck a mine. Found later, the log of German U -boat 73 reports leaving a hospital ship unharmed, though the U -boat already had laid mines in Kia Channel. Its work is finished, yet for the Calypso, one mission remains to be done. To Mrs. Mitchell, his granted an opportunity seldom given mortals, the chance to go back in time for a second look. A lifetime

later, the young nurse from Cabin 15 returns to the ship where she lost a clock, some old songs and a sack of oranges. You will come. Carro. Carro. It is more beautiful.

Thank you very much. Have a nice day. Thank you very much. Thank you very

much. Have a nice day. Have a nice day. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

I am very sorry. I am sorry. Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The Cousteau Society and KCET are jointly responsible for the content of this program. The Cousteau Odyssey is made possible by a grant from the Atlantic Richfield Company.