Titanic's Tragic Sister Ship Review

Spoilers

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OK, we're down.

This special aired on History Channel this past Sunday and I finally had a
chance to get to the DVR and watch it. First of all, I am glad that
Chatterton and Kohler are still doing things with the History Channel, as I
understand that Deep Sea Detectives was canceled. (?)

My main and only complaint about Deep Sea Detectives was that there was very
little of the dive shown and more about the top side historical
investigation. Going into this show, I had high hopes that there was be more
underwater footage. On a side note, if you get C&K's Dive Portal DVD, there
is much more underwater footage, as their DVDs are geared to the diving
audience, not the general public.

The show started out recapping the Titanic. I thought this seemed odd as the
show was supposed to be about the Britannic. After a few, they finally did
get to the backstory and history of the Britannic. It appears that after
Titanic sunk, the White Star Lines attempted to make Britannic even more
unsinkable with a double haul and special sealed compartments, which allowed
six compartments to be flooded and the boat still would not sink. The
mystery is though: when a torpedo or mine hit the ship and only two
compartments flooded, how did the ship sink in 55 minutes?

The plan for Chatterton and Kohler was to enter the wreck through a narrow
passage and see if one of the water tight doors was open or closed and this
would explain the mystery. And if you know about wreck diving, easier said
than done.

Though divers have penetrated the wreck, no one has gone that far into it.
There was very good footage and computer animation and I had almost a
feeling of being down there with them. Just before a commercial break,
Chatterton was hung up by a wheel barrow blocking his access point progress
and stirred up the silt. Very dramatic cut to commercial with Kohler, in a
Donald Duck helium voice, yelling, "Abort, Abort."

Back from the commercial and Chatterton got out. I am not sure how really
dramatic this really was for them, as these two have probably faced this
situation so many times, they know what to do by instinct.

Next day, top side and a new plan to try another passage route to the water
tight door. But a problem developed with the Greek authorities, the
government granted permit does not allow for video or photos inside or
outside the wreck? The expedition is already in violation of the permit and
the project is shut down. End of show. How unsatisfying.

First the cons. What in the wide wide world of sports are you doing trying
to shoot a TV show without permission to shoot the footage? That would be
like Survivorman's cameras all going down and what would be the point of the
expense and hardship? Here is my theory, they may have known darn well what
they were doing and that old saying, "Easier to get forgiveness than get
permission," came into play. Either that or that other old saying, "Let the
lawyers fight it out."

Rather than waiting for the real conclusion, History Channel must have
wanted some return on their investment and showed what they had. Talk about
making lemonade out of lemons. For me, the viewer, it was as satisfying as
not getting the turkey but the leftovers for Thanksgiving.

Now, on the the pros and this far outweighs the con. This was a realistic
portrayal of deep sea detective work. I think back to Shadow Divers and how
many dives, how many years, how many lives did it cost to identify the sub?
The reality is, this risky underwater work is slow slow slow. It is not as
easy as surveying a car or plane crash or a building collapse. That evidence
is above ground and can be accessed day and night. Just getting to a wreck
underwater is a project unto itself and any further information is a day by
day inch by inch accomplishment. From this point of view, I was not
disappointed with the show. I commend History Channel for showing what is a
real reality show.

The human mind yearns for closure and there was none in this episode. I hope
History Channel sees fit to fund another expedition to let Chatterton and
Kohler try again and again, and again, as the need be.