0:00:06 > 0:00:12The sinking of the Titanic in April 1912 was a tragedy unlike any other.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Surely it could never happen again?
0:00:18 > 0:00:21But it did.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26Because, incredibly, Titanic had a near identical sister,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29who suffered an almost identical fate.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42And here, deep in the warm waters of the Mediterranean,
0:00:42 > 0:00:47within only a few years of her older sibling,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49she met her end.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Her name was Britannic.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59She was Britain's biggest ship.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05After the Titanic disaster, Britannic was re-engineered to be
0:01:05 > 0:01:07even more unsinkable. And yet,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10on the 21st November, 1916,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12she sank in just 55 minutes -
0:01:12 > 0:01:15three times faster than Titanic.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19I'll be speaking to the descendants of survivors who we've tracked down
0:01:19 > 0:01:22for the very first time.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Using rarely seen and unpublished diaries and letters of captain
0:01:26 > 0:01:30and crew, we'll recreate what it was like for Britannic's survivors
0:01:30 > 0:01:33to have one hour to fight for their lives.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41And we'll discover how Britannic's victims died horribly,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and avoidably.
0:01:43 > 0:01:49Tonight we'll be piecing together what happened in that 55 minutes.
0:01:49 > 0:01:50On the anniversary of her sinking,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52we're recreating the first
0:01:52 > 0:01:55minute-by-minute account of the events
0:01:55 > 0:02:00that led to the tragic end of Titanic's lost sister, Britannic -
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Britain's mightiest ship of World War I.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35This is the dry dock in Belfast where both Titanic and Britannic
0:02:35 > 0:02:39were built. And it is truly vast.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44In 1910, it was the biggest dry dock in the world,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48established to allow the building of two of the biggest ships that anyone
0:02:48 > 0:02:52had ever seen. Just to give you a scale of them,
0:02:52 > 0:02:58Titanic or Britannic alone would have filled this entire space.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Our guide to Britannic's story is Simon Mills,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04owner of the Britannic wreck.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09Simon is going to help me find eyewitness accounts to the disaster.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Now the Britannic story isn't nearly as well-known
0:03:12 > 0:03:14as the Titanic's story,
0:03:14 > 0:03:19and I'm trying to, kind of, unpick it and discover what happened.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Titanic sank, very high publicity, I mean,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24they interviewed as many survivors as possible,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26newspaper coverage all over the place.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Britannic sank in the First World War.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32OK. Are there any key characters, any relatives,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35anyone I can talk to who can give me a, kind of,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37picture of the people that were on this ship?
0:03:37 > 0:03:39I can give you some starting points.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42For instance, we have here Captain Charles Alfred Bartlett.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45He was in command of the Britannic on the day she sank.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53- Archie Jewell, who was also on the Titanic...- Oh, really?
0:03:53 > 0:03:56..actually one of Titanic's lookouts, believe it or not.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Violet Jessop, very experienced White Star Line stewardess.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05- Oh, she's beautiful, isn't she? - She is indeed, yeah.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Anyone else that would be able to shed any more light on what it might
0:04:13 > 0:04:15have been like that day?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18- Sheila Macbeth, nurse...- Right. - ..kept a very detailed diary.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26One of the big challenges, and you know this as a historian,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29is to hear the voices of people who weren't educated.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32The people who were, I don't know, right in the bowels,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34at the coal face doing the work,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36but not necessarily ever recorded.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38There's a story of an Antrim seaman
0:04:38 > 0:04:40we believe, who was actually on the Britannic.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44He told a very, very dramatic story down in the engine room.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46- He was from Ulster? - He was an Ulsterman.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Can you also give me a sense of...
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Of what the ship was doing?
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Was this a, sort of, to all intents and purposes, an ordinary day?
0:05:00 > 0:05:01Pretty routine, yeah. I mean,
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Britannic was a very, very safe posting.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06She was a hospital ship. She was, in theory, inviolable,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10could not be attacked. It was beautiful, calm, clear weather.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12There was nothing unusual about what was going on.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15They'd all been sitting down to breakfast,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17and suddenly the world collapsed.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23So all is smooth sailing aboard His Majesty's Hospital Ship, Britannic.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Everyone, and everything, is in order.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30The day before, we'd worked like factory hands,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33tying up all the kits ready for the next day,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37so that we might rest the day before the patients came on board.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41What a day of rest that was.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The first person I need to meet is Margaret Meehan,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52niece of Violet Jessop, the adventurous stewardess who,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56amazingly, survives both Titanic AND Britannic.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59What's important for me,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01is that Violet writes the most complete account
0:06:01 > 0:06:03of the Britannic's sinking.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Do you remember your, sort of,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07first time meeting her and what she was like?
0:06:07 > 0:06:09She was great fun.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12I think she was just highly practical
0:06:12 > 0:06:14as well as everything else.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19And she never complained about the things she brings up in her memoirs.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22And certainly of the terrible experiences she'd had,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24she didn't talk about.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27It wasn't till later that I realised what she'd been through.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31I've got this thing here.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37- Is this the original?- Oh, well, this is 1930 typing, you know.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40I can read a little bit out if you like.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42I'd love you to.
0:06:42 > 0:06:48"It was the feast of Our , November 21st, 1916.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51"The early sun was shining through the windows of the lounge,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53"they were there for Mass..."
0:06:53 > 0:06:58Everybody scrambled down to breakfast talking and joking.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02For breakfast was quite the nicest, friendliest time on board.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09The ship was steaming 20 knots, weather fine, and the sea is smooth.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Bound to Moudros to embark sick and wounded.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19But this is just the calm before the storm. At 8:12am, disaster strikes.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31The Britannic and her crew now have just 55 minutes left.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39There was a dull, deafening roar.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Britannic gave a shiver.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45A long drawn-out shudder from stem to stern,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49shaking the crockery on the tables, breaking things.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Until it slowly subsided...
0:07:55 > 0:07:57We all knew that she had been struck.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04I'd only managed two spoonfuls of porridge before...
0:08:04 > 0:08:06Bang! And a shiver...
0:08:07 > 0:08:10..right down the length of the ship.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15There was a horrible jar, and a...
0:08:16 > 0:08:19..grinding noise. But...
0:08:19 > 0:08:22down below we hardly realised what had happened.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28At 8:12am, a tremendous but muffled explosion occurred.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34The ship trembling and vibrating most violently fore and aft.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41Britannic has taken a hit on her lowest deck,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43ahead of her boiler rooms.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46But surprisingly, no-one on board is particularly worried.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52That's because when Britannic's more famous sister Titanic sank,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Britannic was still being built in Belfast.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02Ship builders Harland and Wolff need to avoid another disaster.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06They give Britannic a second hull, watertight engine rooms,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08and plenty of lifeboats.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Britannic really is the world's most unsinkable ship.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16As World War I broke out,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19the British government decided that sturdy, safe Britannic
0:09:19 > 0:09:22would make a terrific hospital ship.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Sailing peacefully from Southampton via Naples to Greece, Britannic is
0:09:28 > 0:09:30in fact on her fifth mission.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33She'd already brought over 12,000
0:09:33 > 0:09:36wounded British soldiers safely home.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Now, in the wake of the Gallipoli disaster,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41she's off to collect another boatload.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51This is Kea island,
0:09:51 > 0:09:57it lies 60 miles south-east of Athens on the beautiful Aegean Sea.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03And 100 years ago, His Majesty's Hospital Ship, the Britannic,
0:10:03 > 0:10:08sailed past here on its way to the port of Moudros to pick up
0:10:08 > 0:10:12thousands of injured Allied troops who'd been fighting the Turks.
0:10:12 > 0:10:19But little did the 1,065 sailors, doctors and nurses on board realise
0:10:19 > 0:10:24that this would be the Britannic's last journey.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29During my 25 years of diving,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32I've always dreamed of reaching Britannic.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Now, on the centenary of her sinking,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39I've been lucky enough to join highly experienced British and American divers
0:10:39 > 0:10:42on a rare expedition to the wreck of Britannic.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It's 100%. 100%. Here it is, it's in order.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Team leader Richie Kohler has dived
0:10:49 > 0:10:52both Britannic and her sister, Titanic.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55What do you think the risks are on a dive like this?
0:10:55 > 0:10:58It's an incredibly hostile environment at 400 feet.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01We're using multiple different gas mixtures,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04some would not support life here on the surface,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07and yet they are life-supporting at 400 feet.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11If you make a mistake, it can cost you your life.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14As a diver who's dived shipwrecks all round the world,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16why is Britannic so special?
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Like many other people, the story of Titanic is what drew me to Britannic.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25And not to be glib, I fell in love with the younger sister.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27She's even more beautiful.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29When you look at Titanic, it's dark,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32it's gloomy, it's broken apart, it's in pieces.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36When you look at Britannic, she's in beautiful clear water,
0:11:36 > 0:11:37surrounded by life.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44As Britannic is hit by the explosion,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Able Seaman Archie Jewell is working on deck
0:11:47 > 0:11:49right over the point of impact.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Archie also survived Titanic.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55I'm meeting his great, great-niece, Tamsin Jewell.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00So he was on the Titanic first?
0:12:00 > 0:12:04He was, yes. He was on the Titanic as a lookout.
0:12:04 > 0:12:11So was HE responsible for the Titanic hitting the iceberg?
0:12:11 > 0:12:14He was a lookout, yes, but not THE lookout.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17He was actually in bed
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and it was the sound of the impact that woke him.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25Right. When you look at the photo of him here, he looks very formal,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29he looks very... I don't know, composed.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32But presumably he must have been hugely upset,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36hugely traumatised by the experiences that he went through?
0:12:36 > 0:12:41There was plenty of times he describes openly weeping when he's
0:12:41 > 0:12:44reminiscing about the things that he saw.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48And I would imagine, even though he had a relatively short-lived life,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50it was something that stayed with him the whole time.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54So do we know his role in the story of Britannic?
0:12:54 > 0:12:58We do. Archie wrote a very detailed letter about what happened
0:12:58 > 0:13:01on the morning, where it happened on the ship,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04and in the days and weeks that followed on his journey.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06He's quite descriptive in this letter.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08There's one part that always, sort of, stands out.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11That's a part where he says, "But thank God I am not dead...
0:13:11 > 0:13:15'For that is the nearest to death that I have ever been.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:19'I was working right close to where she was struck.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23I saw the water coming in. The smell of powder.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Before I knew where I was, this man came rushing out of a cabin door,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30right where she was struck, and ran into me -
0:13:30 > 0:13:33struck me with his head just above my eyes, so...
0:13:33 > 0:13:36I was blood, all over.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39I ran up to the boat deck.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44And then someone tied up my eye...
0:13:48 > 0:13:50..so I was like old Nelson.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Only one eye.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Archie was incredibly lucky.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02The first piece of evidence I want to see is the site of the explosion
0:14:02 > 0:14:05that set Britannic on the path to disaster.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09But I'm going to need some hi-tech help to reach the wreck.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Our base at sea will be the extraordinary Russian ship,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16the U-boat Navigator.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22It's been designed specifically to support underwater exploration.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Nearly three miles offshore, we spot the wreck on sonar.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43The two multi-million pound mini subs will guide us
0:14:43 > 0:14:45and light our way to the wreck,
0:14:45 > 0:14:50while remote-controlled underwater cameras will track our every move
0:14:50 > 0:14:53with all the safety backup of a space mission.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59There is no clear single reason why Britannic was lost,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03just a series of clues which I want to see for myself.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08So I've plotted an exploration path that will take me from the bow where
0:15:08 > 0:15:11the explosion hit, up to the captain's bridge,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13deep down to the boiler room corridor,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16and finally to the mighty propellers at the back.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Each of these points on the ship
0:15:21 > 0:15:24will help me understand what led to Britannic's end.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Ready? Let's go.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39OK, lads.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Everything changes as we leave the world of air
0:15:48 > 0:15:50and enter the ocean.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57Deep-sea diving is the closest thing on earth to exploring outer space.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01This line will guide us to Britannic.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05The subs, and the robot cameras,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10will light our way in the darkness when we're 400 feet down.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18And then, out of the blue, she appears.
0:16:21 > 0:16:22Britannic.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33I'm overwhelmed. Seeing Britannic is like seeing her sister, Titanic,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36as we imagine her to be -
0:16:36 > 0:16:39majestic, intact,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and so peaceful on the seabed.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54I'm meeting Jonathan Mitchell, grandson of nurse Sheila Macbeth.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Sheila's testimony will tell me how the crew reacted to the explosion.
0:16:58 > 0:17:04Did you ever get a sense of the sort of woman that Sheila was
0:17:04 > 0:17:09- before you were born?- She was a strong-minded, strong-willed woman,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11like many of her family.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13And she'd also, of course,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16been driven in a way that everybody was in those days by patriotism
0:17:16 > 0:17:19- and a feeling that you ought to do your bit.- Right.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22What sort of age is she at this point?
0:17:22 > 0:17:2426.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26Did you ever get a sense of how
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Sheila felt or reacted when the explosion happened?
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Yes, my father decided to record her memoirs.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Many, many hours' worth.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39She talks about exactly this.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43- ARCHIVE:- 'We were at breakfast.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46'And we were sitting in the huge dining room,
0:17:46 > 0:17:51'there was this sudden bang as the ship shook.'
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Major Priestley told us to sit down again, as the siren had not sounded.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58It was quite the best thing to do
0:17:58 > 0:18:00as the doors were few and narrow,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03and there might have easily been a panic.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10As it was, there was only a most unnatural silence.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20The engines were going full speed at the time, but they were stopped,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and everyone was ordered to stand by.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33We're about to see what Sheila and the unnamed sailor could not -
0:18:33 > 0:18:37we've come to the exact point of the explosion that crippled Britannic.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46100 feet back from the bow of the ship, is the immense crevasse
0:18:46 > 0:18:49in the hull where Britannic was torn apart.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56This massive canyon was caused first by the explosion holing her,
0:18:56 > 0:18:58and later, when she sank,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02she was split apart by the ship hitting the seabed.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08But what caused the explosion?
0:19:14 > 0:19:19The British press claimed the Germans have torpedoed a defenceless British hospital ship
0:19:19 > 0:19:22against all rules of war.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26But is this view credible?
0:19:26 > 0:19:30At that particular stage of the war, the Germans were not targeting
0:19:30 > 0:19:32hospital ships, and so it was unlikely.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35But, you know, presumably, mistakes are made, or presumably,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38not everybody follows the rules. I mean, this is a war, after all.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Yeah. The German commanders at this stage were under increasing pressure
0:19:42 > 0:19:44not to antagonise America.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46So the potential consequences
0:19:46 > 0:19:49for a commander who made a mistake could be quite heavy.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Given that was the case, given that was the rule,
0:19:52 > 0:19:57why were torpedoes ever really in the mix as a possibility?
0:19:57 > 0:19:58Whenever ships were sunk in the war
0:19:58 > 0:20:01there was always someone who saw a periscope or a torpedo.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05On Britannic, for instance, we had two definite sightings of torpedoes.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10The problem is that one person saw the torpedo at the front of the ship on the starboard side,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and the other saw it on the back of the ship on the port side.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16So it was one of these situations whereby people see things,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19- but they're not really quite sure what they've seen.- Right.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22So, if indeed it was a mine,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26do we know that that area of the sea had been mined?
0:20:26 > 0:20:30We do, as it happens. There's this gentleman here.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32Kapitan Gustav Siess.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34He was the commander of the German submarine U73.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36She was a mine-laying submarine.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Three weeks before Britannic hit the mine, he laid mines
0:20:39 > 0:20:42in the exact same waters where she went down.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45So you're saying it was a mine, not a torpedo?
0:20:45 > 0:20:47- Absolutely.- Categorically? - Categorically.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Bottom line, wrong place, wrong time.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56'My first impression was that we'd struck a mine'
0:20:56 > 0:20:58and would probably be safe.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Captain Charles Bartlett is responsible for the safety
0:21:02 > 0:21:05of the 1,065 souls on board.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08He has 33 years' experience at sea,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11so Britannic's crew should be safe.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13His grandnephew, Richard Ellis,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17might be able to help me judge the captain's character and competence
0:21:17 > 0:21:21thanks to stories passed down from his father.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Did your father give you any idea of what sort of man he was?
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Well, he was quite a large man.
0:21:28 > 0:21:2917 stone. Wow!
0:21:29 > 0:21:33So he's a big man. He was renowned for his caution.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34He was a cautious captain.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37But also, you know, a man in command.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40If you were in his presence, you knew that he was in command.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43- He was in control.- So what was his route up to becoming captain of the
0:21:43 > 0:21:47- Britannic?- He joined the White Star Line and worked his way up the ranks
0:21:47 > 0:21:51very quickly. He captained some of their largest ships.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54He then came onshore, he was marine superintendent, and in fact,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58he oversaw the final fitting out and the crewing of the Titanic.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02- Oh, really?- So he knew these big ships enormously well.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06So given his experience, you know, the fact that he actually oversaw
0:22:06 > 0:22:10the, kind of, final fitting and crewing of the Titanic,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13surely it would have made sense if he'd been the captain?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16I think if the timing was just very slightly different,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18then a few months later,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21he almost certainly would have been captain of the Titanic.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23And, you know, with his cautious approach, you know,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25the Titanic disaster would never have happened.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27That's what the wags would tell you.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29And when the Britannic was struck,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31do you know, does history recall,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33how Captain Bartlett reacted?
0:22:33 > 0:22:37- What he did?- He was off duty, but he raced up to the bridge,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39he did what was needed to be done.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45SOS. Have struck mine off Port Nicholas, Kea island.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55This is the bridge where Captain Bartlett stood that day.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Incredibly, the tiles are still on the floor
0:22:58 > 0:23:00from where the ship was steered.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Though it's becoming a man-made reef, if you look carefully,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08you can see the steering gear underneath.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13And if you rub a little,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18you can still find the glass of the telegraph that Captain Bartlett used
0:23:18 > 0:23:20to send orders to the engine room.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27But time has taken its toll.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34It's only thanks to the wood and walls rotting away that the most
0:23:34 > 0:23:37astonishingly intimate relic has been revealed.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Captain Bartlett's bath tub.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47He was the last man to sit in it, and the plug is still in.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53One story goes that he'd been in his tub
0:23:53 > 0:23:56when the explosion sent him running,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58in his pyjamas, to the bridge.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13Emergency quarters were sounded on all alarms throughout the ship.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18The engine stopped, and orders rung below to close watertight doors.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24I gave orders to clear away all boats and have all possible ready to be sent away.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34As one man, the whole of the saloon rose from their seats.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Doctors and nurses vanished to their posts,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40men jumped over presses with the agility of deer.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44In seconds, not a soul was to be seen.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48And not a sound had been uttered.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Britannic's crew mirrors society -
0:24:52 > 0:24:56most men below deck are considered the lower orders.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00As medical staff like Violet head to the lifeboats,
0:25:00 > 0:25:01in the decks below,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04men in the boiler rooms are fighting incoming water.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Many of these men will die,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13so the testimony of those who survive is vital evidence.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17When this explosion hit,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20there must have been people in those boiler rooms.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22The boiler rooms would have been full, absolutely.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25There would have been a couple of hundred people down there working.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27One gentleman in particular,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30is a guy here by the name of Bert Smith.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Now, he was working in the forward boiler room, number six,
0:25:33 > 0:25:34when the explosion occurred.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37The medical staff, captain are away from it,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40- Bert was experiencing it first hand. - Look at this. This is amazing.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42So he was right there.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46- He was right there.- "Bert Smith groped his way into the exit tunnel,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48"his one route to possible safety.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53"There he was met by the full weight of in rushing water which pinned him
0:25:53 > 0:25:54"against the boiler."
0:25:54 > 0:25:57So the explosion had happened
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and that water was then being,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03effectively, funnelled down that exit.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05- Absolutely.- That corridor.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07Like a tidal wave. All coming in one direction.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Right up against Bert.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15"Grabbing a handrail, he was swept almost upside down
0:26:15 > 0:26:17"in the salty torrent, then somehow
0:26:17 > 0:26:21"he managed to scramble up a 90-foot staircase to the boat deck."
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- That's an amazing story. - He was a very lucky man.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Well, sort of.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30So Bert and these people down below
0:26:30 > 0:26:33knew exactly what was happening
0:26:33 > 0:26:38and would have had a very, very good sense of the very real danger this ship was in,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43whereas the nurses and Captain Bartlett, way up in the posh bits,
0:26:43 > 0:26:45wouldn't have known at all.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50But it's only the upstairs staff like Violet who can tell me how well
0:26:50 > 0:26:51the captain is managing.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And let's not forget,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Violet's already been through this on Titanic.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00This time though, she wants to be a bit better prepared.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02I sorted out things to take.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05The things I treasured the most.
0:27:05 > 0:27:06There was my prayer book...
0:27:08 > 0:27:10..and my toothbrush.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Ned's ring, and my clock, of course.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Incredibly, that clock has outlasted both Violet AND Britannic.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22- Is this the clock?- Yeah.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24What an extraordinary keepsake.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28I can't believe she had the presence of mind,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30when the ship is going down,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33to go down to her cabin and fill her pockets.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36- But it sounds like that's quite typical of her character, would you say so?- Yes.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40I think it is. Also, her brothers had told her,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42"don't forget your toothbrush!"
0:27:42 > 0:27:45I stuffed all sorts of things into my pockets.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Even a roll from the breakfast table.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Up on the bridge, Captain Bartlett
0:27:54 > 0:27:56has no idea how much water has come in.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Britannic's watertight boiler rooms SHOULD prevent her taking on water.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05But she's sinking - and fast.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Three miles from Kea island,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10he decides he must beach the ship.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Steering gear appeared to have failed.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18So I turned the ship to port to head for land by the engines.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26But as Britannic pushes towards shore, she continues to sink.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29The forward holds filled up rapidly
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and water was reported in numbers five and six boiler rooms.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36But why? Bartlett has ordered
0:28:36 > 0:28:40the watertight doors to the boiler room shut,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43no more sea water should get in.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45But stoker Bert Mills has told us
0:28:45 > 0:28:49that water IS flooding through the boiler room corridors -
0:28:49 > 0:28:51could the explanation lie right here
0:28:51 > 0:28:54inside the corridor to the boiler rooms?
0:28:56 > 0:28:58But I can't go in.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02It's so frustrating.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Britannic's interior is so dangerous,
0:29:05 > 0:29:09the Greek government has now banned anyone from going inside.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16But two of our dive team DID get inside her before the ban.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Evan Kovacs took the dangerous path through the boiler room corridor
0:29:22 > 0:29:26also known as the fireman's tunnel to try and confirm if the watertight
0:29:26 > 0:29:28safety doors were fully closed.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33Evan, what did you see that very first time you went into the wreck?
0:29:33 > 0:29:36We travelled down the fireman's tunnel and eventually we got to the
0:29:36 > 0:29:39watertight door. That was open.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43Through the next set of boilers and then that opens up,
0:29:43 > 0:29:47and that's where we saw the other watertight door, open.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Fully open, not even partially closed.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54What this means is that as Captain Bartlett is steaming full speed,
0:29:54 > 0:29:55trying to get to Kea
0:29:55 > 0:29:56to save his ship,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58in effect he is actually ramming
0:29:58 > 0:30:00more of the water,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02forcing more water into these boiler
0:30:02 > 0:30:05rooms and flooding the ship even quicker.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10So why do you think the watertight doors didn't close?
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Now, it's been a mystery for nearly 100 years.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17We know that Captain Bartlett threw the switches to electrically
0:30:17 > 0:30:20close the door, maybe the wires were broken.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Engineers believe that the explosion
0:30:22 > 0:30:25twisted the ship, and that prevented,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28or wedged the doors, and wouldn't allow them to close.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32So maybe it was a technical error.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35But Ritchie suspects the all too human behaviour
0:30:35 > 0:30:37of the boiler room workers.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40These men were not trained sailors.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43They were referred to as the black gang,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46and you would have stokers and firemen,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48trimmers and people that just had to work
0:30:48 > 0:30:51in an incredibly unforgiving environment.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55I mean, can you imagine it, being at the very bottom of the ship
0:30:55 > 0:30:56with the lights flickering
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and a gush of water coming in through that fireman's tunnel?
0:31:00 > 0:31:04And you have seconds to make decisions.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Am I going to sit here and try to monkey around with this door?
0:31:07 > 0:31:09Or am I going to run for my life?
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Some people wouldn't blame them for running.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19But even if they did,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22it doesn't make the sinking of Britannic their fault.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24She was so well engineered,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27she should stay afloat a lot longer than 55 minutes,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31even with this many compartments flooded.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Nurse Sheila Macbeth's family point the finger far higher up the social
0:31:36 > 0:31:40ladder towards one of the ship's doctors.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Somebody had opened all the portholes.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46On both sides of the ship, so as to ventilate the wards,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49in which there were, in fact, no patients requiring ventilation.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Now, who this doctor was who had given these orders,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54nobody by now will ever know.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58Nobody has ever come forward and said, "It was me."
0:31:58 > 0:32:00But we have it.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02It happened. And it shouldn't.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05The ship should have been unsinkable.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07It should have beached on the island of Kea
0:32:07 > 0:32:09with no casualties whatsoever.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19We didn't get any inrush of water where we were.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21That seemed to be in the forward part of the ship.
0:32:23 > 0:32:24As the list grew worse...
0:32:27 > 0:32:29..we knew what was happening.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35The unknown sailor knew one thing for sure.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Despite the claims that this ship, like her sister could never sink,
0:32:40 > 0:32:45a terrible domino effect was now in play that would pull Britannic down.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50No-one on board imagined she'd go down as quickly as she did.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55With the doors open, water rushed down the fireman's passage
0:32:55 > 0:32:57and flooded boiler room six.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59From there, it spread through another set of open doors
0:32:59 > 0:33:02into boiler room five and now
0:33:02 > 0:33:05the whole fore part of the ship is flooded.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09And as the ship sank, it was listing to starboard,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12and with water rushing through the portholes on E deck,
0:33:12 > 0:33:13the ship's fate was sealed.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20But why will Britannic suffer such terrible loss of life?
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Unlike her sister, Titanic, there are plenty of lifeboats.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26And by 8:36am,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29most of the crew were up on deck ready to board them.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37We were kept hanging over the side of the boat for a long while,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41as the vice captain, who was looking after the lowering of the boats,
0:33:41 > 0:33:46had to dash off in the middle to call back some 14 or 15 firemen
0:33:46 > 0:33:49who'd gone off from the poop deck
0:33:49 > 0:33:52in a boat that should have held about 84 persons.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56No lifeboat should be released without the captain's orders.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00But Sheila sees some of the boiler room gang jump into a boat
0:34:00 > 0:34:02and set off early.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05They were desperate to get away, but, of course,
0:34:05 > 0:34:09they were the masters of their own fate because the "abandon ship" command had not been given.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11Frankly, you would have expected officers to have stopped it,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14but clearly they were unable to prevent these men, sort of,
0:34:14 > 0:34:16grabbing the boats, if you like, and going.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Meanwhile, Captain Bartlett is trying to save Britannic
0:34:19 > 0:34:22by driving her hard towards Kea island.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26He has no idea several dozen of the crew
0:34:26 > 0:34:29have already launched their lifeboats.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32He would never have expected anyone to be in the water,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35because HE had not given the "abandon ship" command.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38And he is the only person, as captain, who could do that.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41So he had the right to expect that nobody would be in the water.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43They should not have been there.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46There's a couple of things that I want clarified.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50The first is that I thought lifeboats
0:34:50 > 0:34:52could only be released from a ship
0:34:52 > 0:34:54on the orders of a captain.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58- Yes, that's right.- So how on earth could Captain Bartlett be unaware
0:34:58 > 0:35:00that there were lifeboats in the water?
0:35:00 > 0:35:03The initial order, after the explosion was to uncover the boats,
0:35:03 > 0:35:05to fill them, and to lower them over the side.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07No order was given to release the boats.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12So how did they end up being released without his authority?
0:35:12 > 0:35:15It could have been part of the chaos, confusion that was going on.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18We do know that a couple of boats went away off the stern without
0:35:18 > 0:35:21permission and had to be called back. It depended where
0:35:21 > 0:35:24your officers were. A degree of control was lost in places.
0:35:24 > 0:35:25People were in a panic.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29- Maybe in a panic, yeah.- And what state was the ship in at this time?
0:35:29 > 0:35:31At this stage, very serious.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34She's increasingly listing to starboard on the right-hand side.
0:35:34 > 0:35:35As she moves forward, she's flooding
0:35:35 > 0:35:38so fast in the bow that the stern is now beginning to rise up.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42As a result, the poor propeller is now working above the surface.
0:35:47 > 0:35:53As the propeller rises, it pulls towards it the lifeboats already in the water.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03I'm now approaching that very propeller.
0:36:07 > 0:36:1123 feet of enormous spinning power.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Meanwhile, Violet is hanging above,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22in a lifeboat suspended off the side of the ship.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25She can see the propellers turning.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Just at that moment, a lifeboat caught my eye.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32It had been lowered safely to the water but then drifted with sudden
0:36:32 > 0:36:36impetus, resisting the efforts of skilled oarsmen -
0:36:36 > 0:36:41right into those cruel, swirling...blades.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46It was cutting the poor fellows to pieces.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49There was legs, arms and bodies flying everywhere.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53What made it so bad,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55the blades, they were half out of the water.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58So they were coming down right on the boat.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Eyes were looking with horror at the debris.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11And the red streaks all over the water.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Up on the bridge, Captain Bartlett is unaware of the tragedy unfolding
0:37:18 > 0:37:22at the back of the ship. He has not yet given the official order
0:37:22 > 0:37:25to release the lifeboats. Violet, Archie,
0:37:25 > 0:37:30and many of the crew are about to find themselves fighting for their lives.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34The ship started listing to starboard
0:37:34 > 0:37:37as our lifeboat began to lower.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44A young sea scout near me took a deep breath as he got in,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46he was only a kid.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50So tell me a little bit about this sea scout.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52Well, that little sea scout was George Perman.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54He was 15 at the time.
0:37:54 > 0:37:55He was one of the lift operators on board,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58and he was very fortunate to be on duty,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01because his quarters were actually destroyed in the explosion.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03So he ran to the lifeboats and got in,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06and I managed to speak with him in the late '90s.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08This is what he said.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11ARCHIVE: I made my way to the top deck,
0:38:11 > 0:38:14and on my way to my lifeboat,
0:38:14 > 0:38:15I was given this lifebelt.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19And lowered into the water.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22His first shock came as our lifeboat,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26hooking itself onto an open porthole, tilted us,
0:38:26 > 0:38:29then righting itself again,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31started gliding rapidly down...
0:38:32 > 0:38:35..making a terrible impact upon the water.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39After we touched the water,
0:38:39 > 0:38:44I turned around to see how my small friend had taken the impact...
0:38:45 > 0:38:49..only to find him halfway up the ship's sides...
0:38:50 > 0:38:53..still attached to the rope.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Violet was beckoning him to come into the sea before it was too late,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59so he lowered himself down into the water,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02nothing worse really than bad burns on his hands,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05but George was very psychologically scarred for the rest of his life.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09He saw the red blood being flecked against the side of the white ship,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11and they always thought, George's family, although they were
0:39:11 > 0:39:14quite tall people, George never really grew very much and they
0:39:14 > 0:39:18believed that his growth had been stunted by the shock of what he saw.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20So George is in this red,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22blood-filled water, I mean,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25it's unimaginable what that must have been like.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28Violet, she's still in the lifeboat, is she?
0:39:28 > 0:39:31She's still in the lifeboat. She's surrounded by this scene of complete
0:39:31 > 0:39:34carnage. Blood everywhere, hacked bodies in the water.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37It must have been very traumatic for her.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44In Violet's lifeboat, it's every man for himself.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Deciding they have more chance trying to swim for it, one by one,
0:39:48 > 0:39:51her companions dive into the water.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Fumbling hands, struggling, unsuccessfully to get control.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Every man jack in the group of surrounding boats
0:39:57 > 0:40:00took a flying leap into the sea -
0:40:00 > 0:40:03taking to the water like a vast army of rats.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11It was extraordinary to find myself, within a few minutes,
0:40:11 > 0:40:13almost the only occupant of the boat.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17One man, a doctor,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20was standing in the silence beside me.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25I turned around
0:40:25 > 0:40:28and saw Britannic's huge blades churning
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and mincing everything near them -
0:40:31 > 0:40:35men, boats - everything was just one ghastly whirl.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39In another moment, I would be under those blades.
0:40:42 > 0:40:43Unless...
0:40:46 > 0:40:48I have always been afraid of the water.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53I'd not learned to swim.
0:40:55 > 0:41:01Then I just jumped overboard down and down into bottomless depths,
0:41:01 > 0:41:02clutching at my lifebelt.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04"Why had I put it on over my coat?"
0:41:04 > 0:41:08was one thought, as I felt its weight dragging me down deeper.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13I kept my eyes tightly closed.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18And held my breath.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24The only hope for Archie's boat is to stay tethered to Britannic.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26I shouted out not to let go of the boat.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30But someone let her go. And away we went, right towards the blades.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33So I shouted, "jump overboard," and most of us jumped in the water,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36but...it was no good.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40It was pulled right in under the blades.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Violet is now trapped beneath the shattered lifeboat,
0:41:48 > 0:41:52surrounded by dismembered body parts.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54I myself felt rising,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58and my head came into violent contact with something solid.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Something that prevented me from reaching the surface.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05CRASHING BOOM
0:42:05 > 0:42:08There was another terrific crash above me.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11And something struck the back of my head.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15My brain shook.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Panic seized me,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23and I groped blindly in that water.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26There was a thundering centre of noise.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Suddenly, I touched something...
0:42:34 > 0:42:36..an arm,
0:42:36 > 0:42:38that moved as mine moved.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42My fingers gripped it like a vice.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48Until my almost senseless head remembered that it is said
0:42:48 > 0:42:51that people drowning retain their hold after death...
0:42:53 > 0:42:55..bringing death to another.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01I let go.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08As Violet disappears under water,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Archie is pulled under the propeller.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Archie could hear the blades swirling above him,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17and he goes on to write,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20"The last thing I heard was the blades hit the boat,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23"and I closed my eyes and said goodbye to this world."
0:43:28 > 0:43:32But I was struck by a big piece of the boat, and I went under the blades,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34and I was going around like a top.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38And...when I came up again,
0:43:38 > 0:43:39I came up under some wreckage.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42And I couldn't get clear.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47And everything was going black to me when someone on top who was
0:43:47 > 0:43:50struggling pushed the wreckage away,
0:43:50 > 0:43:52and I came up just in time.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57I was almost done for.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00There was water coming out of my nose.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02And my mouth.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11There was this poor fellow drowning.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14He caught hold of me...
0:44:19 > 0:44:21But I had to shrug him off.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26So the poor fellow went under.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31I was sinking.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35My lifebelt was not sufficient to support me.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40I saw another floating by.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42So I grabbed at it.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47At last I had something to hold on to.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49And just in time,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51Violet bursts upwards.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01The first thing my eyes beheld was a head near me.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05A head split open like a sheep's head served by the butcher.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10All around were limbs,
0:45:10 > 0:45:14wrenched out as if some giant had torn them in his rage.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22The dead floated by so peacefully.
0:45:25 > 0:45:32There were men coming up only to go down again for the last time.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39A look of frightful horror on their faces.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Captain Bartlett stopped the propellers.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54But only because Britannic had started sinking faster.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57He knew nothing of the bloodbath in the water.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02Do we know now how many people died?
0:46:02 > 0:46:04We do. There were 30.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Nine of them were from the medical corps,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08so they weren't actually ship's crew.
0:46:08 > 0:46:09The rest were ship's crew,
0:46:09 > 0:46:13but the majority of them were from what was known as the black gang.
0:46:13 > 0:46:14They were stokers, firemen,
0:46:14 > 0:46:18who had come up from below decks when the water entered.
0:46:18 > 0:46:24So these men whose jobs were to be right in the bowels of the ship,
0:46:24 > 0:46:29who were right there when the mine struck, reacted in, probably,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31the only way they possibly could.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35Sheer blind panic and survival kicking in
0:46:35 > 0:46:37to get them out of that place
0:46:37 > 0:46:40where the water was flooding in,
0:46:40 > 0:46:45only to end up going to their deaths by a very human mistake.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49It was. It was just a totally unnecessary loss of life,
0:46:49 > 0:46:50because if procedures had been followed,
0:46:50 > 0:46:52it should not have happened.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54But you can understand, in the chaos and panic,
0:46:54 > 0:46:56particularly coming up from below decks,
0:46:56 > 0:47:00it's understandable that people want to get off the ship.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03But, of course, that was actually what led to their deaths.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10As a nurse, Sheila must stay on duty amidst the carnage.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14In our boat, we'd got well away from the sinking ship,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17and busied ourselves with the wounded
0:47:17 > 0:47:19whom we'd pulled out of the water.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24Our brandy flasks were invaluable.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27Also, aprons and pillowcases
0:47:27 > 0:47:29which were torn up as bandages.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Finally, Captain Bartlett gives the order to abandon ship.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41Our chief engineer, Mr Fleming,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44who was cool through everything
0:47:44 > 0:47:47was the last of our department to join us on deck.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49He had to swim for it,
0:47:49 > 0:47:51narrowly escaping being drowned.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55The ship was sinking very quickly then,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59going by the head and listing to starboard.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01Soon the water came to the bridge.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07At 9am, 48 minutes after the explosion,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Bartlett reports that he and his two senior officers
0:48:10 > 0:48:13are still standing on the bridge.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16There is nothing more the captain can do.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19As with Titanic, would he go down with his ship?
0:48:22 > 0:48:25I've heard that it is a captain's duty
0:48:25 > 0:48:28to be the last one to abandon ship,
0:48:28 > 0:48:30- is that true?- Absolutely.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34That's the traditional way. And that's what happened.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38He ordered his officers to leave the bridge, they left,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41he blew the whistle for one last time,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45and then he literally walked off the ship into the sea.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50Assistant Commander Dyke, having reported to me that all had left,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53I told him to go
0:48:53 > 0:48:56and shortly after, followed myself,
0:48:56 > 0:48:57walking into the water
0:48:57 > 0:49:01by the forward boat gantry, on the starboard side.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Moments later, the bridge was underwater.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25With sounds wailing and gurgling, Britannic sank bow first.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33But she was so massive,
0:49:33 > 0:49:35that when she hit bottom, her stern was sticking
0:49:35 > 0:49:38over 30 metres out of the water.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55With a final roar...
0:49:57 > 0:50:01..she disappeared into the depths.
0:50:02 > 0:50:07The noise of her going resounding through the water
0:50:07 > 0:50:10with undreamt-of violence.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19At 9:07am,
0:50:19 > 0:50:24Great Britain's largest and finest ship of World War I is gone.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27It's taken just 55 minutes to sink
0:50:27 > 0:50:30the most unsinkable ship in the world.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37Britannic joined her sister, Titanic, on the seabed -
0:50:37 > 0:50:40where she has lain for 100 years.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Well, that is certainly something.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24The most impressive shipwreck I have ever seen.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26You can peer in through windows,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29and you see the medical room with the equipment where the doctors
0:51:29 > 0:51:31and the nurses would have worked
0:51:31 > 0:51:35and those injured soldiers would have been treated.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38And it's these glimpses of humanity
0:51:38 > 0:51:43that act as a reminder that it's the people and their stories that are so
0:51:43 > 0:51:49closely interwoven with the story of Britannic itself.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55Those who died on Britannic met terrible, violent ends.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01But while Titanic's passengers and crew froze to death in the icy north
0:52:01 > 0:52:05Atlantic, waiting for rescue that came far too late,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08Britannic sank much closer to the shore,
0:52:08 > 0:52:10allowing a fleet of Greek fishing
0:52:10 > 0:52:13boats and three British destroyers
0:52:13 > 0:52:16to come to her crew's rescue.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20The largest number of losses came from the black gang at the bottom
0:52:20 > 0:52:23of the ship and the bottom of the social ladder.
0:52:25 > 0:52:311,035 of Britannic's nurses, sailors and doctors survived.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36A sailor pulled a chair from the water
0:52:36 > 0:52:39and gave me a piece of the back,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42which I guarded safely, under my coat.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46- And here it is.- No way!
0:52:46 > 0:52:48- Absolutely.- She didn't keep that for the whole of her life?
0:52:48 > 0:52:51- Can I see it? - She kept it the whole of her life.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54She gave it to my father. My father gave it to me.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56I keep it in my living room.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59What an amazing story!
0:52:59 > 0:53:02Sheila lived to be 103,
0:53:02 > 0:53:04and towards the end of her life,
0:53:04 > 0:53:05she featured in a documentary
0:53:05 > 0:53:08about the discovery of the Britannic wreck.
0:53:09 > 0:53:15So at the age of 86, she helicoptered off from Athens to Kea.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18She takes this back with her,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22so back goes the chair top to the island.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25And off she goes, submarining.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28- No way! - To see the wreck of the Britannic.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30She has a look inside it,
0:53:30 > 0:53:36and then she put flowers into the water above the wreck.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38- Oh!- And then, of course,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42a few years later, James Cameron directed Titanic.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45- That's right.- And you remember the incident there of Rose
0:53:45 > 0:53:49- throwing flowers... - Yes, the older lady
0:53:49 > 0:53:51whose story is being told.
0:53:51 > 0:53:57So we always say, in our family, that Rose was built, as a character,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59upon my grandmother.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11And what of Captain Bartlett,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15who may have just missed being captain of Titanic?
0:54:19 > 0:54:23Our commander was retrieved from the waters in his pyjamas.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25SHE CHUCKLES
0:54:26 > 0:54:29His face as unperturbed as ever.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34He was swimming in the water for about 30 minutes or so,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37before he was picked up by one of the lifeboats.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40It was only then that he was told
0:54:40 > 0:54:43about the tragic and unnecessary loss of life.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48Do we know how he felt when he made this terrible discovery?
0:54:48 > 0:54:50I think he was immensely sad about it,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52because it should not have happened.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55If those men had not panicked and been in the boats,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57there would have been no life lost whatsoever.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01And if, in fact, if the nurses hadn't opened the portholes
0:55:01 > 0:55:02to air the cabins, you know,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05he would have managed to save that ship as well.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07But he did not sail a ship again.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11No-one left Britannic unaffected.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15When I tried to stand,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19I discovered that my leg had been deeply torn and badly gashed.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23I had not felt it happen.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26All I had been conscious of underwater
0:55:26 > 0:55:29was my head being battered,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31almost to a pulp.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35She didn't realise at the time she had this terrible blow on her head,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39but she fractured it in two places.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43But I know she had very
0:55:43 > 0:55:45troubling time with her head later
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and the strange result was that she lost her hair later.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52- Really?- Hm.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54I think it's a stress thing.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58Despite experiencing the horror of both the Titanic AND Britannic
0:55:58 > 0:56:03disasters, Violet never did lose her taste for adventure.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05She did marry, once, rather briefly.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09But she was a ship stewardess for her whole working life,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12visiting every corner of the globe.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14I do remember, when I was four,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18and going to her house always scared me a bit because she had an
0:56:18 > 0:56:24alligator, a stuffed alligator hanging by the staircase.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27- I used to look at that going upstairs.- I can imagine!
0:56:27 > 0:56:30She brought it from South America.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35What happened next to Archie?
0:56:35 > 0:56:39When Archie was picked up with the wounded, he then goes on to write,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42"I could not feel my legs and arms when they got me into the boat".
0:56:43 > 0:56:47There was this one sailor, he was with me in the boat,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50his legs were nearly cut off.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52They picked him up, but he didn't live long.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57So Archie survived the Britannic,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00he'd survived the Titanic,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02he was 27 years old.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05What did he go on to do next?
0:57:05 > 0:57:08He went on to work on another hospital ship,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11a smaller vessel called the SS Donegal.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14And he was on it for just five months
0:57:14 > 0:57:16before it was struck by a torpedo
0:57:16 > 0:57:21and he died on the 17th April, 1917, and he was just 28.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29As for the unnamed seaman from Ulster,
0:57:29 > 0:57:34we have no trace of what happened to him after the sinking.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36He's disappeared from history,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39a bit like Titanic's tragic twin,
0:57:39 > 0:57:40Britannic.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50Well, we've listened to the testimonies of our witnesses,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52we've amassed the evidence,
0:57:52 > 0:57:57and it seems that Britannic sank because of bad luck and human error.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01And the people who lost their lives alongside her did so
0:58:01 > 0:58:04because in their desperation to survive,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07they made a decision with fatal consequences.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12But there's one other puzzling factor.
0:58:12 > 0:58:18Why has a story as dramatic as this remained unknown for so long?
0:58:18 > 0:58:19Well, think about the timing.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22It was 100 years ago,
0:58:22 > 0:58:29the tragedy of the Britannic was just one more in the monumental tragedy that was World War I.