Titanic: Untold Stories

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In the dark waters of the North Atlantic,

the great passenger liner, R.M.S. Titanic,

came to a violent and mysterious end.

Each of her passengers unwitting players

in a harrowing drama.

The builder who would pronounce her dead.

The brave men who refused to let her die.

Thousands of people who struggled

for their lives.

Now for the first time, a prominent

Titanic historian will retell her tragic tale

from the ship's actual decks.

Haunting locations will take us back to

pivotal moments during the epic disaster.

Newly discovered artifacts are helping to

piece together Titanic's untold stories.

It's a moment in history we'll still

striving to understand, a part of our past

impossible to forget.

On the French research vessel Nadir,

a countdown begins.

The crew prepares for an unprecedented

dive to one of the greatest shipwrecks

in history, R.M.S. Titanic.

On Nadir's fantail, a prototype submersible,

Nautile, is run through a final series

of systems checks.

She is one of a few submersibles able to

dive more than twelve thousand feet

to reach Titantic.

Historian, Charles Haas,

is leading today's dive.

His mission, to document key sites on

the ship where critical events unfolded.

To Haas, Titanic is a dramatic stage.

But it is the characters

in the tragedy who draw him in.

I think in order to get a full picture

of what that night was like, you need to know

the people who were involved

in that situation.

By knowing the characters in the drama,

by knowing the people,

you get a much better insight into the

great drama of that night.

As part of Haas' mission, he will also

look for artifacts, personal objects

which may provide clues to Titantic's story.

When Nautile leaves these decks,

she will drop two and a half miles into

the Atlantic, into a hostile world.

A place of freezing temperatures,

bone crushing pressure and desolate darkness.

If something goes wrong at the site,

there is no chance of a rescue.

In the control room, Nautile's position

will be monitored by expedition leader,

George Tulloch.

I'm really proud of this expedition

and this team.

It's just a wonderful thing to be a part of.

The Titanic is the piece of our history

and it's just special in every direction.

Tulloch is joined by Titanic historian

and Haas' writing partner, Jack Eaton.

There are many things that still can be

learned from Titanic, from the disaster,

from the recollection of the people

and of the events.

There are some major mysteries

that are still unsolved.

From the bridge, the crew watches as

Nautile free falls to Titanic.

A ship still giving up her secrets.

For historians studying Titanic,

much of what they know is based on testimony

taken after the disaster.

Hearings were held in both the

United States and Britain which investigated

the reason for her sinking.

Additional evidence turned up

in rare diaries and letters.

Now artifacts retrieved

from the ocean floor

let us study tangible pieces of lost history.

In their research, historians have learned

most about passengers who traveled lavishly

in first and second class.

People such as Emily Ryerson

and Lawrence Beesley

have given us a glimpse of what

that horrific night was like.

Remarkably, personal accounts of Titanic

continue to surface.

New witnesses are emerging.

Their stories have rarely been heard.

As the submersible Nautile descends

to Titanic, the crew prepares for arrival

at the site.

Your approach to the Titanic is pretty much

like hovering over a beach in a helicopter.

You see the sand rolling under you and

your navigating forward at maybe two

or three miles an hour.

All of a sudden, you see this immense object.

And it is so, so immense that

it completely fills the view port.

Your first reaction is,

it's almost an automatic, "Oh my God."

Titanic is, it's still a very,

very beautiful ship to see.

The lines are so beautiful under water.

And there's an awe or a reverence or

a silence from realizing

what occurred on these decks,

human stories of personal tragedy

that literally happened within the space

that you can now see.

On April 4th, 1912 at midnight,

Titanic docks at Southampton, England

where her fist passengers will board.

Under the direction of Haas, the crew

of Nautile moves to the very spot

where travelers first embarked.

The trip aboard Titanic actually

began at this spot.

These are the B deck doorways,

the so called shell doors.

When you boarded the ship at Southampton

in England, you would essentially

have gone through these doors

and the purser would greet you there.

These doorways mark the site

where many first touched Titanic,

a simple portal that became an entrance

to history.

In Southampton, boarding begins

in the early morning.

In command of the ship is

Captain E. J. Smith.

Smith's passenger list includes a

who's who of the era.

But the majority of the ship's passengers

are third class.

Titanic's owners hope to profit from

immigrants such as Gerda and Edvard Lindell.

The Lindells recently married are

living in Skognas in southern Sweden.

According to plans, Edvard will go to

America first.

Gerda will follow thereafter.

Gerda, however, won't be separated from

her new husband. At the last minute,

she joins him.

In a farewell gesture, Gerda drops roses

along their route leaving a trail behind.

In Southampton she writes a final postcard

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