Ghosts of the Abyss Page #5

at the very bow of the ship,

where you eat, you sleep,

then you do it all over again.

Even here, we could feel

the hand of Thomas Andrews.

At the top of one

of the spiral staircases,

we found a drinking fountain.

I'm sure that even

this small kindness

must have been

greatly appreciated.

Here we've got a plan

that illustrates pretty well

what happened that night.

The "Titanic" was divided into

separated by

That's these white lines here.

And the ship was designed to be

as unsinkable as they could.

The worst they could imagine

is a collision

at the juncture

of two compartments,

which would flood

two adjacent compartments.

The ship would only sink so far

and still be safe.

She was also designed to float

with any three of the first five

compartments flooded.

Or the first four in a row

could still flood

if they were in some

traumatic...

That was

the worst-case scenario.

Run into a rock or something

like that, just full-on.

She'd buckle back,

and the ship could still float.

With all of this combination

of safety factors,

she was considered

virtually unsinkable.

What they didn't envision

is what happened that night.

"Titanic" struck the iceberg,

a glancing blow

along the starboard side,

scraped along and ruptured

plates or split the seams,

moving along into

this cargo compartment,

into this cargo compartment,

and this baggage and cargo,

into Boiler Room Number 6

and two feet

into the coal bunker

of Boiler Room Number 5.

And as the ship sank,

just at the point where it was

about ready to stabilize,

it reached the top of this

watertight subdivision,

and started flowing up

the stairways, across the deck

and down into

the next compartment.

It was just

a mathematical certainty.

There was no way,

no matter how you slice it,

that the ship

is going to make it.

So where exactly did it split?

Well, it broke in two

right back here.

Just right about at

the third funnel and after that.

There's a natural weak spot

here in the hull

right above

the reciprocating engine room.

There is a large air shaft here

for light and air

to ventilate

the reciprocating engine room.

PAXTON:

My God.

What that must have

sounded like, looked like.

What that must have been like.

What a deathblow

to this great ship.

Imagine the vortex to create

that kind of twisting.

That's what gets me.

Seeing the end of the stern

piece, and seeing how...

Can't you just see one

of those fish swimming along?

And then...

[Imitates crashing]

And you know

what the fish would've done?

"Whoa," you know?

Exactly.

Our best shot is probably

of the reciprocating engines

on the starboard side, right?

That's the guts of it.

Starboard side.

CHERNAIEV:
Sometimes I see him

come here and come up.

Yes.

That's good.

- Good.

- Like that.

And I lose, sometimes, good

shots when Victor stays here.

Right.

But the thing is

that Victor can't face us.

He can't, otherwise his lights

will hit the camera.

He has to be above

with the lights down,

or like this.

Yes.

Maybe here.

So sort of this.

This sort of thing.

See, if the water is clear,

that'll make a good shot.

The engine room,

where those guys were fighting

to keep that thing alive.

They were "Titanic. "

They knew it was dying.

They didn't die

with a brandy glass in hand.

They died with a monkey wrench,

trying to stop the bleeding.

PAXTON:

That is the starboard engine.

Look at that.

Oh, man!

Look at the size of that thing.

Okay, keep panning, because I'm

gonna be coming around this way.

Oh, man.

It does give you the scale,

seeing that little bot

next to that giant sphinx

of an engine.

PAXTON:
When you see the stern

section where it tore in half,

and there are

the two reciprocating engines

standing four stories high,

they really do look like

these twin sphinxes

that are guarding

the forbidden tomb.

JOHNSTON:
When the historians

look at "Titanic,"

they think of the lives

that were lost.

When I look at the ship

as a scientist,

I look at the life

that still is on "Titanic. "

"Titanic" is very much alive.

Rusticles are bacteria...

microscopic organisms, bugs...

that are actually eating

the steel

and the insides of the ship.

I look at a rail and think,

"Oh, look at the bacteria.

They're breaking 'Titanic' down

and taking her back to nature. "

But then you immediately

go back and think,

"Who touched this railing last?"

PELLEGRINO:
Helen Candee is one

of my favorite passengers.

She had written one of the

century's first best sellers.

Basically, the theme being

how a woman can get along

in life successfully

without a man.

And that's how she was traveling

first-class on the "Titanic. "

And on the very last sunrise

that the "Titanic"

would ever see,

she snuck out

to the very point of the bow

just to greet the sunrise alone.

And she wrote about it

and how she felt the power

and the beauty of this ship

and that it was stronger

than nature itself,

maybe even stronger

than God itself.

And then, suddenly,

she felt very darkened,

as if she had thought

something sacrilegious.

Mmm. It's good.

What's in borscht?

That's good borscht.

- Borscht in Russian.

- What is in borscht?

Borscht.

[Speaking Russian]

Cabbage, potatoes, bouillon.

Everybody eat borscht.

[Singing in Russian]

ABERNATH Y:
Anatoly has a song

that he wrote

about the blue sky that you see

when you return to the surface

and the hatch opens.

And I think that's very apropos,

because it's something

that you didn't think

you would miss, but you do.

It's very difficult to wander

through the "Keldysh"

and not think of the "Titanic"

and draw some parallel.

You know, what would've happened

if the engineers

hadn't stayed at their station

when the "Titanic" had gone

dark, say, an hour earlier?

It would have been

absolute pandemonium.

I became very close with the men

in the engineering section.

It's quieter in here.

Hello, my friends!

There wasn't a lot said.

But there was still very much

a bonding that went on.

Tell me.

If we were going

full speed, okay,

and all of a sudden,

the bridge said, "Iceberg!"

Or "Drunken fishing-boat captain

in our way!"

And they ring alarm,

what do you do?

[Speaking Russian]

[Alarm rings]

Ah.

Full speed.

[Speaking Russian]

The engines all stop?

[Singing in Russian]

Whoo!

Yay!

[Song ends]

Ah.

Anatoly! Dal Dal

JOHNSTON:

On our last dive to "Titanic,"

we found

some interesting organisms.

- Inside, yeah?

- Yes, inside the ship.

It almost has wings.

See the wings that are flying?

MARSCHALL:
The oddest creature

that was seen down there

was something

we call the batwing.

And to my knowledge,

nobody has identified it yet.

Several creatures down there

that I don't think

are known to science.

JOHNSTON:

"Titanic,"

because there is

so much interest in it,

has really allowed us to do

a great deal of research.

You could actually see

gelatinous-type clouds

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