National Geographic Treasures of the Deep
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Thousands of feet beneath the seven seas |
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lies the history of the world buried |
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It is a realm of precious artifacts |
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A world of ancient mysteries long |
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Until today. |
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Now the sunken marvels |
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from ancient Roman ships to |
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to luxury liners like the Titanic. |
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I dream about gold and |
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And you gotta believe it's there |
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Some people are out to plunder the past. |
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While others archeologists |
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like the man who first found |
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They are all armed with million-dollar |
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and the will to spend years |
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Just running out on a boat |
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and hoping to jump over the side and |
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that's stuff of fantasy and Hollywood. |
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It is a world where controversy reigns |
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where there are confusing laws |
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Does anyone have a right |
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Should the past be protected? |
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Or should it be picked clean for profit? |
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So it's a very big difference |
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fill in a missing chapter |
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and doing it for personal greed. |
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Explorers and archeologists. |
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Entrepreneurs and salvagers. |
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Some will risk everything |
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reputation, fortune, even their lives |
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to possess the treasures of the deep. |
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The Mediterranean Sea. |
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On its shores grew the great |
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And from its banks, |
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ancient peoples sailed beyond the |
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For hundreds of years, |
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creating a vast empire. |
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But the moods of the sea are harsh |
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and a Roman vessel 100 feet long |
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had no defenses against storm |
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Over the centuries, |
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and countless sailors killed. |
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Now the man who discovered the Titanic |
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Dr. Robert Ballard, |
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ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. |
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For hundreds of years, |
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scientists have looked |
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And for most of that time |
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they've only been able to |
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of one or 200 feet, |
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which represents an insignificant |
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And what we're trying to accomplish is |
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and this is to try to excavate a ship |
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that is thousands of feet |
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To bring up ancient vessels |
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It's never been done before |
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and Ballard only has five short weeks |
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You know, it's ironic that we have |
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and we've mapped the far side of Venus |
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in fact, that we know more about |
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To make the impossible happen |
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Ballard will need a floating |
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The Carolyn Chouest, a U.S. Navy vessel, |
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will journey 80 miles west of Sicily |
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where no one has a claim on lost vessels. |
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Ballard believes the Mediterranean |
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and he has long dreamed of finding one |
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We're sitting right now in ruins |
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To get to Rome you have to cross |
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to get to Carthage you have to cross |
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To travel from civilization to |
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you must cross the Mediterranean, |
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and many of those ships didn't make it |
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Many of those ships went to the bottom |
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and many of them went into the deep sea. |
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Between ancient Carthage and Rome, |
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it's 12,000 feet deep. |
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And no one has ever gone to the bottom |
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to look for those ships that sank |
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It was a decade ago when Ballard |
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first surveyed an |
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called Skerki Bank. |
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In 1988, he made a startling discovery |
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the remains of an ancient Roman ship |
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The find confirmed, |
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that an ancient trade route |
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from Carthage in North Africa to Rome. |
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Now Ballard has returned to Skerki Bank, |
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where he'll attempt to excavate |
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Working in close collaboration |
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Ballard hopes to uncover something |
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My greatest dream is that these ships |
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and that their cargo in preserved and, |
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and who knows, maybe there's people |
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I'm not sure I want to find people, |
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but it would be fascinating. |
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We won't know until we dig them. |
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Could there really be the remains |
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at the bottom of the Mediterranean? |
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It is an extraordinary idea, |
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and to find out Ballard will use |
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The NR-1. |
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It is capable of going |
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and staying there for a month. |
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Built during the clashes of the Cold war, |
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the NR-1 was a crucial weapon in |
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designed to search the ocean depths |
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It's the best in the world, outfitted |
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and a mechanical arm for digging, |
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all of it powered by a nuclear reactor |
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which won't need to be |
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Even now, its sonar equipment |
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so sophisticated NR-1 can find a soda |
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The NR-1 is a marvel, |
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The 11-man crew shares one bolted-down |
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just big enough for two people at a time. |
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For this mission, |
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Ballard has added something brand new |
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a powerful suction pump |
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Ballard believes the seafloor |
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ready to reveal whatever |
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What is actually down there? |
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Will Ballard find the timbers |
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and the bones of the men |
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Sunken treasure. |
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It has drawn people into the seas |
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since the first cargo ship apart |
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Relics, gold, gems, pieces of eight |
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it is the stuff that countless dreams |
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Obsessed with the promise of riches, |
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undersea treasure hunters today |
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crowding serious archeologists. |
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The king of the undersea dreamers |
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is a stubborn rebel name Mel Fisher. |
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In his quest for treasure, |
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and came to be known as a swashbuckler |
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In 1997, family and friends joined |
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to mark the spot where |
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The reason we picked today |
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It's Mel Fisher's 75th birthday. |
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Here, here. |
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Long live the king. Long live the king |
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But the plaque and let me |
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You notice we have a picture |
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In sincere appreciation to Mel |
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and Deo Fisher |
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in accomplishing |
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They've followed their dream. |
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In the 1960s, |
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Often short of money and deep in dept, |
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he hunts the shallow waters off coast |
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He is determined to find |
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a Spanish galleon that had sunk |
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reportedly carrying king's ransom |
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Year after year, with the help |
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Fisher combs the Florida sea. |
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Until 1975, when his son, Dirk, |
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finds the first real evidence |
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Just a week later, |
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while returning to the site |
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Dirk Fisher's boat capsizes |
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Dirk, his wife, |
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Fisher is devastated. |
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But he vows to continue |
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The Atocha seems so close. |
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But she continues to elude Fisher, |
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Then in 1985, in 60 feet of water, |
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the mother lode of all treasure ships. |
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It's worth 400 million dollars so far. |
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And today, |
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Mel Fisher is counting the riches |
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So right over here about |
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is all the kings taxes for five years, |
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all the church collection money from |
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in this hemisphere for five years, |
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all the wealthy merchants, |
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all their lifesavings for 10 |
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They were gonna go home and retire. |
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They didn't make it. |
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So there's probably another four |
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Today, aging and ailing, |
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Mel Fisher is still bringing up treasure. |
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These days, it is emeralds. |
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His passion for treasure |
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to his youngest son, Kane Fisher. |
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Is there more come from their cursor |
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and they want our men for this |
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When we found that... ah... we found that |
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court martial referee |
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I got one... |
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Here me go. that ahold a half carat |
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that about 3000.a carat 6000 |
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You got to be real persistent |
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And you got to believe it's there. |
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And you got to want it bad. |
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If you want it bad enough, you'll get it. |
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You just got to keep looking |
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I dream about gold |
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And you'll never know what's |
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That's what keeps it exciting. |
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The Atocha puzzle still isn't solved. |
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I don't know |
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And you just keep going and going. |
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It seems like you |
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We've been working those wrecks |
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and still finding stuff. |
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It's exciting. |
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Today, Mel Fisher is big business, |
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But a swashbuckler makes enemies, |
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Charging that Fisher has |
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with his salvaging techniques, |
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the federal government has dragged him |
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And Fisher's had to pay hundreds |
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But Fisher knows how to change |
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Conservator Sid Jones, |
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who worked extensively |
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acknowledges the need to protect history. |
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In the past treasure hunting, |
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back in the '60s or the '50s |
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there wasn't much |
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or preserving the artifacts. |
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Of course, there was a large emphasis |
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but we've learned in time |
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that every artifact that comes |
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Once you understand the complete picture, |
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the items not only have a monetary value, |
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but they have a historical value as well, |
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which didn't always exist in |
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After finding and |
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Fisher sells most of it off |
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Fisher believes that two billion more |
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Deep in the Mediterranean, |
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the NR-1 is still hunting for |
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After three weeks of trying, |
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the sub and its robot arm |
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have been unable |
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which unexpectedly turns out to be |
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Ballard's master plan |
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Do the wooden hulls of the Roman |
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Or has time stolen them away. |
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Ballard wonders if he'll ever find them. |
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The deep sea is always surprising me. |
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I every time I think I understand it, |
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it throws me another curve ball. |
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But that's okay. That's part of it. |
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I think it wouldn't be fun |
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and it wasn't full of surprises. |
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Ballard decides to change |
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He sends the sub out to do |
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to act as a high-tech bloodhound, |
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to roam over Skerki Bank |
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with its exceptional sonar senses. |
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Sir, request permission to rig ship |
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Rig ship for deep submerges. |
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Rig ship for deep submerges, aye sir. |
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Rig ship for deep submerges. |
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Will the NR-1 discover the unknown, |
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Ballard will just have to wait and see |
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By working to develop |
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Ballard has revolutionized deep |
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At the same time, |
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he has inadvertently helped to blow |
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Now anyone with $150,000 |
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a remotely operated search vehicle, |
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right off the shelf and set off for gold. |
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Still there are only a handful |
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Seahawk Deep Ocean Technology, |
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Seahawk hit the jackpot in 1989 |
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discovering a 17th century Spanish |
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off the Florida coast |
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Seahawk is looking for treasure again, |
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this time in the seas off the coast |
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Michael Reardon, |
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sees himself as a treasure hunter |
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That's one of our goals, |
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that are archeologically important |
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So we're playing a fine line |
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and the out-and-out smash-and-grab |
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Reardon is after |
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which they've code named |
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to keep her identity hidden |
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Now they've narrowed the search |
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It's very difficult locating shipwrecks. |
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Un, with all the sophisticated |
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it's still quite a chore. |
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Keep in mind right now |
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trying to put a small vehicle |
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There is no road sign over there. |
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It has taken Rearden and his colleagues |
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to reach this point. |
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Now, using some of the same high tech |
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They are hoping to claim their fortune |
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Yeah. The vehicle is on the bottom. |
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Roger that, I copy. |
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According to Seahawk, |
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found herself caught in a hurricane |
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They fought the storm for two days |
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all hands and passengers bailing |
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And finally, |
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and it went under. |
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She went to the bottom, |
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carrying a bellyful of |
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now valued at 20 million. |
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Six years of work coming down to a dive |
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with a remote vehicle and, hopefully, |
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when we get in on the site, |
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We have a very good sonar images |
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and dimensions are almost exact |
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a code name Gold Eagle. |
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...get the target at the right. |
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As the ROV descends into |
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project manager Brett Hobson discerns |
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That's the beautiful part |
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They're little time capsules |
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And we're just sleuthing |
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And it you definitely feel like |
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So far, everything we have seen |
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is a, telling us it could be the one. |
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Looking straight down, now, right? |
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Yes. |
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We've got the way over there |
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It's very quiet here |
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The light, the first one illuminated |
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It's a very weird feeling. |
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As the ROV makes a closer pass, |
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Round. |
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Really round. |
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Well, we've got some very |
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See the big cutout going down to |
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I don't know what else it could be. |
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It looks just like what |
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No paddle wheels I know of |
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I think we're in trouble. |
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It's very disappointing at this moment |
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with a target that we have pinned high |
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it's not the right vessel. |
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But can't think of the right words |
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It's not good. |
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It takes time and luck to find |
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And Reardon has run out of both. |
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Reardon abandons the ship to the sea. |
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There's no profit to be made |
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and unlike Ballard, treasure, |
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In the Mediterranean, |
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the search for history does not let up |
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With only a few weeks left, |
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Ballard and the NR-1 continue |
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Ballard also deploys Jason, |
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a remotely-operated search vehicle, |
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designed and built by engineers from |
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Archeologists have already spent |
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and mapping artifacts on the seafloor. |
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Now it's time for Jason to retrieve them. |
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Guided by the team, |
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the robot vehicle plunges 3,000 feet |
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Most are roman amphoras. |
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They're 2,000-year-old |
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the cargo holders of the ancient world, |
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filled with olive oil, dried fish, |
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Safely cradling its fragile haul, |
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slowly traverses the half mile |
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For the first time in 2,000 years, |
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human hands will hold |
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Next stop for these delicate pieces |
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where they'll be examined |
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expedition archeological director |
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and conservator Dennis Piechota. |
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Oleson is delighted to |
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Well, to find |
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adjacent to one another, |
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just as they would have been left |
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is extraordinary |
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Treasure hunters would find little |
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Yet to archeologist Jon Adams, |
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a shipwreck is a slice of time |
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So when a ship sinks it is, |
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it's a cross section of society |
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structure, contents, |
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contextual relationships, etcetera |
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lost at a single moment in time. |
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what to leave behind when a ship sinks |
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It all ends up on the seabed |
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And ships have been described, |
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rightly so in a way, as time capsules. |
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As they continue to explore, |
00:31:19 |
Ballard and the archeologists |
00:31:20 |
are excited to see things |
00:31:25 |
Skerki is turning |
00:31:30 |
Could you zoom in on that? |
00:31:35 |
Keep zooming. |
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Isn't that beautiful. |
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They've identified the remains of a ship, |
00:31:45 |
but it's definitely not Roman origin. |
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Nobody knows, at first, where it's from |
00:31:55 |
It's particularly interesting, |
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because it seems to be |
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and we don't see cargo, |
00:32:02 |
which help steady a ship |
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or if it's a pleasure craft, |
00:32:09 |
or possibly a type of warship. |
00:32:12 |
Look at the reflection on those glasses. |
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Keep driving straight. Don't stop. |
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It's glasses. |
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I'm just amazed that there's glasses. |
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Glass. Lamps that brightened |
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And despite thousands of pounds |
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they have survived unbroken. |
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Obviously one of our big concerns is |
00:32:45 |
that these artifacts are very, |
00:32:48 |
Jason weighs 3,000 pounds in air |
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and he's got a tremendous amount |
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And we want to pick them up |
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We've never picked up glass before. |
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Once the objects reach the surface, |
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they help reveal the nature |
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It comes from the 16th century |
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1,500 years later than the Roman ships |
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when Arab traders sailed these waters. |
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Look at this. |
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Could someone hold that open? |
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Look at that. |
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Isn't that amazing? |
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They are not gold or studded |
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Yet for Ballard, a delicate |
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They are evidence that Skerki Bank |
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may have been a crossroads |
00:34:21 |
What has surprised me the most is |
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that this was a fleet of ships, |
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that sank together, and it's not at all. |
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We have ships spanning over |
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one thousand five hundred years |
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if not more. |
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I am just amazed. |
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I thought that there would be |
00:34:49 |
way far away, another ship. |
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And yet, in this particular area, |
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20 square miles four miles by five |
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This area is it's sort |
00:35:09 |
Ballard is no stranger |
00:35:14 |
He is the man |
00:35:15 |
who discovered one of the most famous |
00:35:28 |
The Titanic. |
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The largest, |
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Called a "Floating Palace," |
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on her maiden voyage. |
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She is believed to be unsinkable |
00:35:51 |
in the North Atlantic. |
00:35:59 |
Sideswiping an iceberg, |
00:36:00 |
the great ship sinks |
00:36:04 |
1,523 people, two-thirds |
00:36:09 |
die in the icy waters. |
00:36:21 |
For decades explorers are obsessed |
00:36:24 |
with finding the final resting place |
00:36:28 |
But no one is more intent on the hunt |
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who spends 13 years looking. |
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Finally, in 1985, |
00:36:38 |
Ballard and French explorer |
00:36:41 |
discover the remains of |
00:36:57 |
Ballard always treated the grand wreck |
00:37:02 |
But he did it with respect. |
00:37:04 |
To him it was a shrine for the dead |
00:37:31 |
Ballard and the crew even held |
00:37:34 |
for those who died in the tragedy. |
00:37:44 |
When I found the Titanic, |
00:37:46 |
certainly I became emotionally |
00:37:50 |
And Jean-Louis Michel, |
00:37:52 |
who was co-discover |
00:37:55 |
was equally moved. |
00:37:58 |
well, we'll never let this ship |
00:38:02 |
be spoiled or desecrated. |
00:38:06 |
Ballard discovered the Titanic, but |
00:38:11 |
Inadvertently, |
00:38:19 |
Once the location of the Titanic |
00:38:22 |
it was a target for salvagers. |
00:38:36 |
1994. Ballard's worst fears come true. |
00:38:42 |
A new expedition, |
00:38:44 |
led by Connecticut businessman |
00:38:47 |
probes the rotting remains |
00:38:53 |
Tulloch spends tens of millions |
00:38:58 |
and bring up jewelry, eyeglasses, |
00:39:00 |
furnishings anything within reach |
00:39:10 |
Once Tulloch retrieved the objects, |
00:39:12 |
he legally claimed the Titanic |
00:39:23 |
Ballard never thought |
00:39:27 |
I don't think in my wildest imagination |
00:39:32 |
and salvage it. |
00:39:33 |
I mean, I was convinced they wouldn't. |
00:39:38 |
And it just caught me by surprise. |
00:39:43 |
And there was nothing |
00:39:46 |
because, since I didn't claim it, |
00:39:49 |
I mean, it didn't even cross my mind |
00:39:55 |
Eighty-five years ago this month, |
00:39:59 |
on its maiden voyage across |
00:40:01 |
Tomorrow, mid-Southerners |
00:40:02 |
and people from across the world |
00:40:05 |
that that disaster left behind. |
00:40:07 |
Like Ballard, George Tulloch expresses |
00:40:12 |
But he argues that people will |
00:40:16 |
if they can see the artifacts firsthand. |
00:40:20 |
I think Titanic is by itself |
00:40:29 |
it is incomparable in terms of tragic |
00:40:35 |
And I think the objects from that moment |
00:40:39 |
deserve to stay with us. |
00:41:19 |
Tulloch says his company |
00:41:23 |
never sell off the possessions |
00:41:26 |
But his company will profit handsomely |
00:41:32 |
I think the blessing we have is that |
00:41:35 |
the court says that it's ours |
00:41:39 |
And we don't feel that it's ours. |
00:41:41 |
We feel that we're the guardian of it. |
00:41:45 |
Tulloch's historian, Charles Haas, |
00:41:47 |
does not want to deny ordinary people |
00:41:53 |
One only has to look at the museums |
00:41:56 |
that part of the archeology process |
00:42:00 |
from the ocean floor. |
00:42:02 |
There are ample demonstrations |
00:42:06 |
of all kinds of shapes having |
00:42:09 |
and placed in museums |
00:42:12 |
I think it's certainly preferable |
00:42:14 |
to have the Titanic's artifacts |
00:42:16 |
guaranteed to be placed |
00:42:19 |
than to allow them to sit on the |
00:42:22 |
by time and the elements down there, |
00:42:25 |
and accessible, really, |
00:42:30 |
But to archeologist Jon Adams, |
00:42:32 |
there is no scientific reason for |
00:42:37 |
We know a lot about the Titanic. |
00:42:39 |
We know the names of the people on board. |
00:42:41 |
We know its itinerary. |
00:42:44 |
So the question the potential |
00:42:47 |
if you actually go and investigate |
00:42:50 |
in other words, pull up pieces |
00:42:53 |
what is he going to tell you |
00:42:56 |
Now, this is further muddied by the |
00:43:01 |
whose relatives died on the ship. |
00:43:15 |
Is there any difference between |
00:43:19 |
and bringing up an ancient drinking |
00:43:25 |
Tulloch doesn't think so. |
00:43:27 |
One of the people that would criticize |
00:43:31 |
is sucking up the clay containers |
00:43:33 |
from Roman and Greek shipping vessels. |
00:43:40 |
There's something about Titanic |
00:43:48 |
if they feel that it's theirs. |
00:43:52 |
For Ballard, |
00:43:54 |
between an archeological expedition |
00:44:00 |
Every object that's recovered |
00:44:02 |
because an archeologist, an expert, |
00:44:06 |
Sometimes they would say see |
00:44:09 |
Pick it up. |
00:44:11 |
Well, how about the unbroken one? |
00:44:12 |
No, actually the broken jar |
00:44:16 |
Bring it up. |
00:44:17 |
So we'd bring it up. |
00:44:20 |
And so it's a very big difference |
00:44:26 |
a missing chapter in human history |
00:44:38 |
Nearly a decade after discovering |
00:44:41 |
Ballard dove on another grand wreck, |
00:44:44 |
the British luxury liner Lusitania. |
00:45:01 |
High-tech treasure hunters had stripped |
00:45:06 |
looking to sell off the remains. |
00:45:15 |
The salvagers even brought up |
00:45:20 |
One propeller made it to |
00:45:24 |
The second was believed to be |
00:45:27 |
and recast as a very expensive |
00:45:33 |
And the last one met |
00:45:39 |
I can remember going out and |
00:45:44 |
of the Lusitania and |
00:45:51 |
just sitting there amongst |
00:45:55 |
And I can remember when we were diving |
00:45:57 |
on the Lusitania to have |
00:46:00 |
something was missing |
00:46:05 |
And if the propeller was in a museum, |
00:46:08 |
if it was serving some purpose, |
00:46:11 |
I could understand that, |
00:46:15 |
waiting to be sold for scrap, |
00:46:19 |
you have to wonder, why did you do this? |
00:46:23 |
What was going through your brain? |
00:46:24 |
And it had to have been just a lark. |
00:46:28 |
And that's really sad. |
00:46:44 |
Ballard's Mediterranean expedition |
00:46:49 |
And now the NR-1 finally pays off. |
00:46:55 |
The sub uncovers two new sites, |
00:46:57 |
including the oldest they've found, |
00:47:00 |
containing a Roman wreck |
00:47:12 |
The evidence is now inescapable. |
00:47:14 |
Skerki Bank has been |
00:47:17 |
throughout Mediterranean history. |
00:47:22 |
Ballard is anxious to find more. |
00:47:24 |
But the seas suddenly turn dark |
00:47:29 |
Well, we just found the best ancient |
00:47:33 |
and we can't get to it. |
00:47:35 |
We got to get in the water. |
00:47:38 |
They're telling us that we've got a |
00:47:40 |
that's going to be sea state five. |
00:47:43 |
This is our second major storm |
00:47:46 |
We lost 32 hours to the last storm. |
00:47:49 |
How many hours are we going |
00:47:52 |
You know, I want to get down. |
00:47:58 |
But there is one way |
00:48:02 |
Ballard decides to send down |
00:48:08 |
Once under the surface, |
00:48:10 |
the sub will be free of the weather, |
00:48:17 |
On board is archeologist Jon Adams, |
00:48:19 |
eater to see the new find close-up. |
00:48:24 |
Unlike most deep-diving subs, |
00:48:26 |
the NR-1 actually has three windows |
00:48:34 |
For Adams, they are portals |
00:48:40 |
When you're diving, |
00:48:40 |
you can't get half-a-mile down, |
00:48:43 |
And it's easy to lose sight |
00:48:47 |
I suppose their the last moments |
00:48:51 |
before it sank, |
00:48:57 |
that might have actually been going on |
00:49:00 |
as the well organized machine |
00:49:04 |
and down it goes. |
00:49:09 |
So it's quite an awe-inspiring sight. |
00:49:20 |
In this graveyard of lost vessels, |
00:49:23 |
the NR-1 explores the very last site. |
00:49:31 |
The new ship is |
00:49:35 |
from the first century A.D. |
00:49:39 |
And a cargo rarely seen by scientists. |
00:49:43 |
An orderly pile of large cut stones |
00:49:48 |
carefully wrought pieces, |
00:49:52 |
still waiting after 2,000 years, |
00:50:00 |
Perhaps they were the pre-fabricated |
00:50:04 |
carved out of an Egyptian quarry, |
00:50:08 |
It will take months, even years, |
00:50:11 |
before the archeologists |
00:50:13 |
if they ever do. |
00:50:21 |
As always, |
00:50:22 |
Ballard is concerned about protecting |
00:50:29 |
When we discovered the Titanic, |
00:50:34 |
And I was later told |
00:50:38 |
had we recovered one little object, |
00:50:41 |
we could have claimed it, |
00:50:48 |
By bringing up the Skerki artifacts, |
00:50:50 |
Ballard establishes his right |
00:50:54 |
if ever it becomes necessary. |
00:50:58 |
Oh, this is very heavy very heavy. |
00:51:01 |
For now, Ballaard will place |
00:51:05 |
in the Sea Research Foundation, |
00:51:08 |
where they will be preserved |
00:51:09 |
according to the highest |
00:51:13 |
Last one. |
00:51:17 |
Together Ballard and the scientists |
00:51:22 |
of deep sea archeology can work wonders. |
00:51:26 |
I feel very good. |
00:51:27 |
I feel that this, you know, |
00:51:31 |
This is the first major deep sea |
00:51:36 |
an incredible team of people from |
00:51:42 |
working together for the first time |
00:51:45 |
that had never been done before. |
00:51:47 |
I think we have shown that the deep |
00:51:53 |
on a scale we've just never |
00:52:02 |
But are the archeological glories |
00:52:06 |
from salvagers and treasure hunters? |
00:52:09 |
Yes, Ballard believes, |
00:52:14 |
I have no fundamental problem |
00:52:19 |
if they don't destroy history |
00:52:23 |
I don't think it's our right |
00:52:26 |
It's our right to find it |
00:52:28 |
but not our right to destroy it. |
00:52:37 |
As long as there are marvels in the seas, |
00:52:39 |
people will pursue them. |
00:52:41 |
Some will be treasure hunters, |
00:52:47 |
And some will be scientists, |
00:52:49 |
dreaming of the astonishing discovery |