I am here on this beautiful Island of Curacao in the Carribean.
There's an international Dive Festival Going on from May 20th, till May 26th 2006.
And John and Richie are here!!
Premiering the release of their DVD!! They showed it too us in 2 parts and all I can say is that it's the best thing on titanic I've ever seen !!
If you've never heard of Titanic, then where have you been living? One of history's most captivating tragedies, the sinking of the Titanic draws countless numbers to learn more about the catastrophe. That fateful trip is absolutely fascinating, and I've watched a great many documentaries about that famed ship. A glorious super liner, Titanic is perhaps more famous today than it was in 1912.
As a result, most of us know what led to its sinking, either from the movie or from documentaries. This latest entry into the fold from The History Channel, Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces has a new postulation on the now generally accepted theory of the ship's demise. That current theory states that Titanic saw an iceberg straight in its path. It tried to turn to miss it, but the big ship clipped the side of the iceberg, tearing a gash or a series of small gashes along its side. Water flooded in, filling enough watertight compartments to cause her to go down. As remarkably shown in Titanic, the nose of the ship went under first, causing the stern to rise above the water. At some point, something caused the ship to split in half, causing the stern to crash back to the water. The nose then quickly went under, pulling the stern deep down to the bottom of the Atlantic.
Five years ago, an expedition to explore the wreckage made an interesting discovery south of the stern's debris field. They said they found "long strips of metal." Unfortunately, the submersible's camera equipment malfunctioned and they had no proof of what they saw. But this set in motion a new theory. Maybe these long strips were from the bottom of the ship. If so, then Titanic just didn't graze the side of the iceberg, but it actually ran over part of the iceberg too. We learn that an iceberg does not go straight down below the water (like a cliff); instead, the water causes the iceberg to form a shelf below the water. Hence, it's now theorized that Titanic somewhat ran aground on the iceberg. If so, in addition to the gashes on the side, maybe there was also significant damage on the bottom, explaining how the ship sank in less than three hours. If that were true, it could also explain why the front of the ship is relatively intact while the stern is crushed upon itself.
Now that I've told you all that, is there any reason to watch the special? Hell yeah!! The two-hour special shows you the 2005 expedition to look for these strips of metal to add proof to the theory. It's an interesting journey, one that's fun to watch to see what is or isn't found/learned. The expedition, once we get to the bits where the "long strips of metal" are either found or not found, is the most exciting piece on the DVD.
I liked the special. It is well done, just sit tight and keep your eyes open for on of the most exciting journeys down to explore the titanic.
Included on the disc are two bonus items. Starting things off is the wholly unforgettable, PR fluff piece "History in the Making: Titanic" (5 minutes). This is one of those filler pieces probably shown on The History Channel to get people to watch the show when it premiered.
Faring infinitely better is the second item, "History's Mysteries: Doomed Sisters of the Titanic" (42 minutes). This is a complete episode of History's Mysteries that details the unfortunate careers of the White Star Line's trio of sister ships, Olympic, Titanic, and Brittanic. This episode, without as much historical repetition, is fascinating and I learned much about the apparently cursed ships.
All in all, you get your money's worth, and it's surely some thing you'd like to add to your DVD collection!!
