Trapped Under the Sunken Titanic

Dik Barton has an amazing job. His 9 to 5 is spent recovering artefacts from the world’s most iconic shipwreck. In August 1994, Dik leads a dive to the bottom of the Atlantic - to explore an uncharted section of RMS Titanic. The mission is going off without a hitch, until their sub is knocked off course by a freak ocean current. Trapped within the wreckage, with dwindling oxygen supplies, Dik must think fast. Otherwise he too will suffer a tragic fate, 82 years after Titanic met hers… A Noiser production, written by Joe Viner. If you enjoy this episode and want to learn more about the Titanic, then we have just the podcast for you. Titanic: Ship of Dreams. Coming soon from the Noiser Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 0:51Speaker 01

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• 1:34John Hopkins?

  It's August 1994, about 350 miles off the east coast of Canada.

• 1:40John Hopkins?

  Down in the control room of a state-of-the-art research vessel, an emergency light flashes code red.

• 1:48John Hopkins?

  Worried-looking crewmen huddle around sonar screens, their eyes scanning the glowing green monitors for a tiny blue dot.

• 1:59John Hopkins?

  Up on deck, rescue divers in thick rubber scuba suits anxiously await further instruction.

• 2:06John Hopkins?

  Beyond the ship's guardrails, the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean is a forbidding iron gray, a mirror of the overcast sky.

• 2:18John Hopkins?

  But the crew aren't worried about conditions on the surface. Their thoughts are fixed firmly on what is happening deep beneath it.

• 2:28John Hopkins?

  Early this morning, a small, three-man submersible was launched from this vessel before descending twelve and a half thousand feet to conduct a research mission on the seabed.

• 2:39John Hopkins?

  Everything was going to plan, until about five hours into the dive, when the sub suddenly disappeared from the sonar screens and radio communication with the men on board was lost.

• 2:52John Hopkins?

  Now, panic is rising on the surface. The men down there can't have more than ten hours of breathable oxygen left. Even if they're still alive, they will soon be on borrowed time.

• 3:11John Hopkins?

  Meanwhile, more than two miles down, in the pitch black of the deep sea, Dik Barton wipes a bead of sweat from his brow. He and his two colleagues are in a serious bind, the weight of a billion tons of water bearing down on the titanium walls of their eight-meter-long submersible.

• 3:33Speaker 04

  It was tense. It was more than tense. It was terrifying. We were thinking, what can we do now?

• 3:41John Hopkins?

  Dick sinks to his knees and peers out through the submersible's single porthole. Sand and silt swirl in the eerie, greenish glow of the headlight. But through the blizzard, he can make out a vast, rusting heap of girders, rivets, and steel plates looming above them.

• 4:03John Hopkins?

  Dick's eyes widen. He has visited this shipwreck before, many times, but he can't recall ever seeing the remains of RMS Titanic this close up.

• 4:17John Hopkins?

  The fact that they're seeing it now, barely a few feet from the window of the sub, is further evidence that something has gone terribly, dreadfully wrong.

• 4:27Speaker 04

  You have a different mindset, a psyche, where you're going to think, right, this isn't our survival. We now have to make sure that we are in charge of our destiny here. There's nobody out there going to help us. Whatever we did, we were on our own.

• 4:46John Hopkins?

  Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice?

• 4:55John Hopkins?

  Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

• 5:09John Hopkins?

  In this episode, we meet Dik Barton. A 34-year-old Brit is the director of operations for RMS Titanic Incorporated. A private company licensed to recover artifacts from the wreck of the iconic ship.

• 5:24John Hopkins?

  One August day in 1994, Dick is leading a research and recovery dive down to a relatively unexplored section of the sunken Titanic, the stern.

• 5:35John Hopkins?

  The mission is going off without a hitch. And then they feel it.

• 5:39Speaker 04

  There was an incredible, unprecedented surge occurring. A sign of God, I don't know what you want to call it. But something just pushed us and we then felt a shudder and clearly a crunch.

• 5:54John Hopkins?

  Ensnared within the wreckage, the submersible and her three crew members find themselves trapped on the ocean floor with the immense pressure of the Atlantic Ocean bearing down upon them.

• 6:06Speaker 04

  You're in 2,500 pounds per square inch of pressure. We're in the equivalent ambient pressure of two adult elephants balancing on your thumbnail.

• 6:16John Hopkins?

  With dwindling oxygen supplies and zero contact with the surface, Dick and his colleagues must find a solution to their problem fast or they too will suffer a tragic fate 82 years after the Titanic met hers. I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

• 7:05John Hopkins?

  August 1994. Three hundred and fifty miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

• 7:12John Hopkins?

  A French-built research vessel, Nadir, plows the bluish-gray surf of the North Atlantic.

• 7:20John Hopkins?

  Above her rust-stained hull, the ship's twin navigation beacons emit an ethereal white light, two hazy orbs glowing dimly in the sea fog.

• 7:33John Hopkins?

  Conditions are calm this early morning, the rising sun gradually burning away the mist. Depending on the time of year, it's not uncommon to see icebergs adrift in this remote stretch of ocean, carved from Arctic glaciers and transported south by the currents.

• 7:52John Hopkins?

  But it's late summer, and the bergs have long melted.

• 7:57John Hopkins?

  Onboard the research vessel, Dik Barton walks purposefully along the metal gangway that runs from the middle of the ship to the rear. He glances at the ocean, gently undulating beyond the porthole.

• 8:11John Hopkins?

  A shiver of excitement passes through him. In less than an hour's time, he'll be out there, below the surface, heading more than two miles down.

• 8:22Speaker 04

  I've always had a passion for the sea and being at sea and particularly in the sea and the water. And it's a fascination as a schoolboy, I grew up with Jacques Cousteau on a Sunday afternoon, sit down with a sea and sandwiches with the family and watching his incredible adventures. And so that fascination of diving was really born from there.

• 8:42John Hopkins?

  Though he's only thirty-four, Dick has already lived several lives. After leaving school, he got his qualifications to become a commercial saturation diver. But when automation makes it harder to find work in the oil and gas industry, Dick shifted gears.

• 9:00John Hopkins?

  He enlisted as a soldier in the parachute regiment, specializing in maritime security, and eventually rose to the rank of captain, stationed in the Far East.

• 9:10John Hopkins?

  Then, a couple of years ago, Dick decided it was time for another change.

• 9:15Speaker 04

  Having just finished an illustrious and engaging and very challenging and exciting military career for some fourteen-odd years, travelling the world and doing all these things, I think the next chapter was the most exciting for me. What now? Because, you know, I mean, I'm thirty-two now. I mean, what do I need to do? What do I want to do? I don't want to get a real job. So, I was still floundering a bit as to what happened, and lo and behold, a chance for a lifetime knocked on my door.

• 9:49John Hopkins?

  One day, a friend came to Dick with a proposition. He knew a pair of American investors who were trying to acquire salvage rights to the wreck of a sunken ship. And not just any ship.

• 10:04John Hopkins?

  Since its discovery in 1985, the wreck of RMS Titanic has been the subject of a drawn-out legal battle, as various organisations vied for the rights to dive down and recover artefacts from the storied shipwreck. A few years ago, an American consortium established RMS Titanic, Inc. Since then, the company has been fending off competitors to claim exclusive salvage rights. They were in pole position, but they needed a director of operations, somebody qualified to coordinate exploratory dives down to the wreck.

• 10:40John Hopkins?

  Dik Barton, it seemed, was exactly the sort of person they were after.

• 10:45John Hopkins?

  Dick's friend told him that the investors were in Hong Kong and keen to meet him. He agreed without hesitation.

• 10:52Speaker 04

  So we had dinner that night, and we had a chat, and they popped a question, would you like to come on board as the director of operations for RMS Titanic, Inc. So I gave my fleeting look and said, let me check my diary. And he said, of course. How would I not? An opportunity for a lifetime.

• 11:15Speaker 00

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• 11:44Speaker 01

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• 12:03Speaker 02

  Huh, I'm having fewer headache days this month.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxin, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.

• 12:45John Hopkins?

  Now it's two years later.

• 12:48John Hopkins?

  RMS Titanic Inc. has won its legal battles and is now the sole entity permitted to dive the shipwreck. In his new role, Dick has already dived the Titanic several times, the first British person ever to do so. He coordinates a team of oceanographers, historians and deep sea explorers, all dedicated to the research of the wreck and the recovery of precious artifacts.

• 13:14John Hopkins?

  There are some who frown upon the activities of Titanic Inc. Their disapproval stemming from a belief that the wreck is sacred and that they should let sleeping ships lie.

• 13:25Speaker 04

  Diving the Titanic was quite emotive, quite evocative. People didn't really want us to do it, there were views. From every single corner of the world, who said, "No, leave it alone, don't do it." For the most part, the opposition was not to dive the wreck, certainly not to recover artifacts from the wreck, because it was a violation of perception of either a graveyard or just general sort of not acceptable conduct.

• 13:52John Hopkins?

  Needless to say, Dick and his colleagues don't see it that way. To them, recovering artifacts and displaying them to the public is a way of preserving the memory of what happened on that fateful night in April 1912. They just need to be careful that history doesn't repeat itself.

• 14:13John Hopkins?

  Dick emerges onto the deck of the Nader, where dozens of crew members are busily preparing for this morning's dive. It should be a relatively routine reconnaissance exercise. Dick and his two colleagues will descend in Nortil, an eight-meter-long submersible capable of reaching depths of nearly four miles. When they arrive on the seabed, they will navigate to the stern section of Titanic and take a look around.

• 14:42Speaker 04

  Up until this stage, the stern section hadn't been particularly well researched or recorded, because it's such a tangled mess, but also extremely dangerous. The decks were very, very badly compressed, compacted, and there's a number of quite treacherous eddy and currents which live around that area, which circulate around the wreck's height of the stern.

• 15:09John Hopkins?

  When the Titanic sank, it broke into two sections: the bow and the stern. The bow plunged to the seabed first. Twenty-seven minutes later, the rear section of the ship dropped vertically through the frigid depths and came to rest about 600 meters away from the bow. Due to the speed at which the stern sank, the air pockets trapped inside had no time to escape. As the pressure built, these air pockets began to implode, tearing apart the hull and littering the ocean floor with debris.

• 15:49John Hopkins?

  To explore the jagged heap of steel, Dick and his colleagues will deploy a remotely operated vehicle, an ROV nicknamed Robin. Small and nimble, Robin is just 60 centimeters across and comes equipped with a color video camera.

• 16:08Speaker 04

  So, the idea of that particular dive was to take Robin down and fly her inside, between the decks as best we could, to try and see what was evident, what was she like? Was it worth pursuing? Was there anything worth looking at or recording or even possibly planning to recover around that area?

• 16:34John Hopkins?

  Dick walks to the back of the deck, when Oteel is being prepared for her descent. The submersible is strapped into a cradle suspended between two metal arms. Having completed their checks and briefings, Dick climbs inside the tight, pressurized submarine, just three meters in diameter. Joining Dick on this descent is George Tullock, chairman of RMS Titanic, Inc.

• 17:03Speaker 04

  George was a BMW car salesman based in Connecticut. Absolute passion for Titanic and was a very instrumental part of actually making the company work commercially. But beyond that, he had no maritime real experience or background or expertise.

• 17:19John Hopkins?

  Alongside George and Dick is the most experienced member of the three man crew, the French deep sea explorer P H Nagele.

• 17:28Speaker 04

  The real star of the show, of course, was P H, P H Nagele. He died in the war. Extraordinary experienced mariner, ex-French Navy, their comte Nageur. He knew the wreck extremely well. He knew the hazards, but also is a very beyond competent submersible pilot and a pleasure to work with and a great mentor for me.

• 17:52John Hopkins?

  It's around 8 a.m. Nortil's entrance hatch is sealed shut.

• 17:59John Hopkins?

  Dick glances at the glowing dashboard, the sonar screens, valves and pressure gauges.

• 18:07John Hopkins?

  The Titanic wreck is located 12 and a half thousand feet beneath the ocean's surface.

• 18:13John Hopkins?

  The submersible's titanium walls have been built to withstand the crushing forces of the deep sea and to allow the sub's interior to be maintained at close to normal atmospheric pressure.

• 18:26Speaker 04

  We knew that whatever we got into, that that particular submersible had been extremely well documented, maintained and was fit for purpose. And then every day, the engineers on board would check her, check the levels, the hydraulics, the battery power systems. We strongly planned for any kind of mitigation from the crew getting hit. Every opportunity exists where we can abort if we want to.

• 19:00John Hopkins?

  The cradle mechanism begins lowering the submersible towards the rolling waves.

• 19:07John Hopkins?

  Dick watches as the agitated surf foams around the porthole, gradually clearing to reveal a murky blue expanse. The masked faces of the rescue divers loom up to the reinforced Plexiglas, flashing thumbs up as they perform the final checks.

• 19:27Speaker 04

  They swim around, all around her underside, looking at the vessel, the integrity, looking for anything that looks wrong, any anomaly that looks not correct. And again, another tick in the box, are we okay, everything good, yes, we're okay, we're spoken to in the idea, she's okay with us, we're okay with her. Disconnect, let's go free, and then we are free to descend.

• 19:53John Hopkins?

  With the tow lines disconnected, the submersible drops down into the gloom.

• 20:04John Hopkins?

  To descend in a controlled fashion, the nortile is fitted with ballast tanks. By letting water into these tanks, the crew offsets the positive buoyancy of the sub and slowly guides her down.

• 20:19John Hopkins?

  In 1912, when the stern and bow sections of Titanic slid beneath the icy surface, it took them less than 10 minutes to hit the bottom. If all goes to plan, Dick's descent should take leisurely two hours.

• 20:37John Hopkins?

  He busies himself with maintenance around the sub. This is his seventh time visiting the wreck site. But even so, the thrill of descending into this strange aquatic world never gets old.

• 20:51Speaker 04

  As we descend, you go through that extraordinary light transformation, translucency, down to absolute pitch black and very quickly.

• 21:01Speaker 04

  Sometimes we turn the lights on, we look outside, and you're surrounded by the most extraordinary array of small life forms and iridescent fish and plankton. It's just beyond comprehension.

• 21:19John Hopkins?

  As the nortile descends, the temperature plummets. Droplets of condensation form on the ceiling and walls. But everything is going to plan. They're in constant radio comms with the mothership overhead.

• 21:34Speaker 04

  We were descending very nicely for the two and a bit hours down to the seabed. Everything was good, communication was good, the visibility was excellent. And we actually landed, or came to those proximity to exactly where it wants to be.

• 21:49John Hopkins?

  They've reached the seabed. They take pressure readings, then double-check oxygen supplies and battery power. All rosy.

• 22:00John Hopkins?

  There's only one reading that's giving them any cause for concern.

• 22:06Speaker 04

  We noticed that there was a particularly strong eddy and some strong currents at that time, which are particular to that area and around that stern section. And we have to make sure that we were obviously not going to damage either ourselves and also the wreck.

• 22:24John Hopkins?

  Known as western boundary currents, these are strong, deep, and narrow flows that run along the western edges of the world's major ocean basins. At this stage, there's something to keep an eye on, that's all. Certainly no cause for alarm.

• 22:43John Hopkins?

  Once they've assessed the distance to Titanic's stern section, PH engages the submersible thrusters. The nortile glides forward, headlamps slicing through the inky-black darkness.

• 23:00Speaker 04

  The dive is going well, and we're in good form. Checks were going in, we're talking to the nadir on a regular basis. O2 levels were good, battery levels were good, and there's nothing to give us any concern.

• 23:15John Hopkins?

  As the nortile beetles through the murky depths, Dick glances out of the porthole. Spectral objects flip by, briefly illuminated in the greenish glow of the headlamps: A snapped piece of propeller, a length of twisted pipe, a toppled funnel, half-embedded in the sand.

• 23:34John Hopkins?

  Much of the Titanic wreck site has already been thoroughly mapped and catalogued, allowing pH to navigate through the debris field without a collision.

• 23:44Speaker 04

  There are other, very precise, parts of the wreck site which have, for example, coal deposits. Or over here is first-class tableware from the particularly beautiful restaurants of around the cafe, Parisian Cafe. Though over here, there's also a concentration of first-class luggage, second-class luggage, because of course that's how they were stored in the vessel and that's how they were ejected as she then broke up staff amidships.

• 24:19John Hopkins?

  Looking through the porthole, it's easy to see why some regard this wreck site as a graveyard. Objects loom from the darkness, like tombstones overgrown with algae. Ghostly monuments to the ill-fated voyage.

• 24:35John Hopkins?

  A respectful silence descends over the men in the sub as they press on.

• 24:41Speaker 04

  And then of course we come around to the stern section, which is their twisted metal pile of tragedy. And the decks have compacted and compressed significantly. The huge triple reciprocating engines, which initially would have been sat on the tank deck of the actual vessel, have now penetrated and pushed up, so they protrude almost sphinx-like, up out through the stern section of the wreck.

• 25:11John Hopkins?

  Huge stalactites of rust cling to the beam's instantsions, bacterial formations known as rusticles.

• 25:20John Hopkins?

  Jagged edges and sharp spears of torn metal protrude from the wreckage.

• 25:26John Hopkins?

  As they get closer to the stern, PH has to proceed with heightened caution. Even the smallest brush with one of those steel walls could damage the submersible and spell disaster for those on board.

• 25:40Speaker 04

  The principal focus at all times is the integrity of the submersible. And it's not just the, God forbid, if the integrity of the actual sphere was compromised and punctured because of those depths. The rate of implosion would be milliseconds and you'd know nothing about it. I think the worst fear would be that the submersible, for whatever reason, was incapacitated. We couldn't propel, we couldn't navigate, we couldn't use the thrusters.

• 26:12Speaker 04

  So we're probably about three, nearly four hours into the dive. We've got a good idea of what we want to do and the decision was made. Let's try and get the Robin launched and put into the lower decks and see what we can see.

• 26:28John Hopkins?

  When they get within several meters of the wreck, PH brings the vessel to a standstill. They're just about to start preparing Robin, when suddenly...

• 26:40Speaker 04

  There was an incredible, unprecedented surge, a current, a sound of God, I don't know what you want to call it. But something just pushed us from the back left and we then felt a shudder and clearly a crunch where we had hit some part of the stern section overhanging decks.

• 27:07John Hopkins?

  Dick staggers forward with the force of the impact. The clash of metal on metal reverberating through the walls of the sub.

• 27:15John Hopkins?

  He straightens up and looks around, heart pounding. What on earth was that?

• 27:23John Hopkins?

  But in the sub's red light, PH and George look just as shocked and bewildered as he does.

• 27:30John Hopkins?

  Through the forward-facing porthole, all they can see is a cloud of swirling silt and rust. The submersible has been shoved underneath the overhanging remains of the deck and has collided with the steel wreckage.

• 27:46John Hopkins?

  There's a collective intake of breath as the three men wait to see if the integrity of the sub has been compromised. If it has, they could have just milliseconds to live.

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• 29:57John Hopkins?

  It's early afternoon, 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Two thousand fathoms beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Three men sit in fraught silence.

• 30:11John Hopkins?

  Their submersible, nautile, has just been caught by a rogue current and swept beneath the Titanic's stern.

• 30:20John Hopkins?

  Right away, Dick notices something troubling about the lack of movement onboard the sub.

• 30:26Speaker 04

  Normally, you have a sensation where you're slightly rocking, you're slightly floating, but we were very much held in place. And that moment could have been half a second, it could have been an hour, where we just sat and looked at each other and went, "Right, what has happened? What do we need to do to get out of this? And let's make a plan."

• 30:53John Hopkins?

  The submersible appears to be stuck, wedged between the silty ocean floor and an overhanging section of the wreck.

• 31:02John Hopkins?

  Dick looks at the control panel, his gaze darting between gauges and meters.

• 31:09John Hopkins?

  The fact that they're still breathing tells him the impact hasn't damaged the exterior walls of the sub. If it had, it would have been crushed like a Coke can.

• 31:18Speaker 04

  You're in two and a half thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. We're in the equivalent of ambient pressure of two adult elephants balancing a thumbnail.

• 31:32John Hopkins?

  Thankfully, the dials on the control panel show that the internal pressure is stable. The worst-case scenario of sudden implosion hasn't come to pass. But the threat of a slow death remains. Dick takes another reading. Their oxygen supplies.

• 31:52Speaker 04

  So the system is designed to give you approximately eighteen to twenty hours of breathable air. Everything related to the O2 on board. But that's a personal mask which you would have to take. And you don't really want to get there because of the danger of using O2 in its purest forms. It's extremely volatile or subject to ignition.

• 32:16John Hopkins?

  At most, they have just sixteen hours of safe breathable air left. In that time, they need to extract themselves from the wreck, then go into a controlled ascent back to the surface. They can't waste a single second.

• 32:33John Hopkins?

  With his military background, Dick is used to finding solutions under pressure. Fortunately, his two colleagues are equally calm and collected. Everyone snaps into gear.

• 32:45Speaker 04

  He's going to a different mode. You have a different mindset, a psyche where you're going to think, right, this is no survival. We now have to make sure that we are in charge of our destiny here. There's nobody out there going to help us.

• 33:00John Hopkins?

  PH goes straight to the radio to warn the nadir.

• 33:04John Hopkins?

  But it seems that in the process of getting swept underneath the wreck, they've gone dark.

• 33:10Speaker 04

  The transponder on top of the submersible nautile was enshrouded and blocked by overhanging debris, so we effectively fell off the radar. So the nadir couldn't see us. But it became quite significant because we also couldn't speak to the nadir either.

• 33:30John Hopkins?

  But they can't control any of that.

• 33:33John Hopkins?

  Their first step must be to use the technology at their disposal to assess their surroundings, to work out exactly how the sub has become stuck, and what they can do to free it.

• 33:44John Hopkins?

  All the while, they have to be conservative with their power usage.

• 33:48Speaker 04

  The cameras, the lights, and of course, every single action that we undertook burned power. Not only going to drain the battery system using lights and cameras all the time, but certainly never know what you have to keep in store.

• 34:05John Hopkins?

  The Nautile is fitted with two lateral and vertical thrusters, as well as a main propeller at the rear. It's decided that the best way to dislodge the sub is by putting the main propeller in reverse and trying to power themselves backwards, like a car reversing out of a muddy ditch. Dick, George, and PH take their positions.

• 34:32John Hopkins?

  PH fires up the motors and the thrusters roar into life. The titanium walls tremble as the propellers strain against the weight of the 10-ton sub. To no avail.

• 34:44Speaker 04

  All we were doing was generating a huge amount of turbulence as the seabed and the rusticles around the whole area were whipping up into this hugely red cloud of opaque dust and mud and bits and pieces which could see through the porthole.

• 35:05John Hopkins?

  After several futile minutes, PH switches off the thrusters.

• 35:10Speaker 04

  There's no point in having those on. Need to conserve power, didn't need to burn any more power. So stopping in, Plan B, now what? We have to use the arms. We don't want to, but we're gonna have to use the arms somehow.

• 35:26John Hopkins?

  The Nautile is equipped with two dexterous robotic arms, used to pick up artifacts from the ocean floor. By extending the arms outward and pushing them down against the seabed, they might provide the thrusters with the extra propelling force they need. It's a risky strategy. The mechanical arms could easily break, or they could dislodge something above them and bring several tons of steel crashing down on the submersible. What choice do they have?

• 35:57John Hopkins?

  PH engages the thrusters again. Dick flicks a couple of switches, then takes control of the robotic arms. Extends them outward, driving them down into the silty North Atlantic mud.

• 36:12Speaker 04

  Bear in mind, all it has done in your mind's eye, you're envisaging what you're doing because you can't physically see it properly. And the right arm will go forward and then push and try and claw us back. At the same time, pivoting on the left arm and then using the thrusters to go in reverse. So it's a combined effort.

• 36:33John Hopkins?

  The nortile shudders and groans, each rivet rattling in its casing. Still, PH pushes the thrusters. Dick throws his weight behind the arm levers, pushing them to the max, gritting his teeth as the entire sub vibrates with the strain.

• 36:52John Hopkins?

  Eventually, he feels a slight easing of the resistance against the mechanical arms. He's able to extend them a little further, a centimeter at a time, as the nortile starts inching backwards.

• 37:07John Hopkins?

  It's working.

• 37:10John Hopkins?

  The men let go of the controls to allow the system to cool down and to let the sand and debris around them dissipate.

• 37:17John Hopkins?

  But before they can resume their efforts.

• 37:21Speaker 04

  Whilst waiting to restart it, we felt a little bump and surge and we got pushed a bit further into that jammed wreck scenario. Which was, I think if you say unlucky, is probably being kind. It was silly demoralizing because whatever progress we had clearly made had just been undone.

• 37:47John Hopkins?

  All they've done is make matters worse, creating an even deeper hole for the current to force them back into.

• 37:56Speaker 04

  To be then picked up and bumped and pushed back in by a rogue tide or flow was to the least disheartening. It was terrifying, the impact for us.

• 38:09Speaker 04

  It was tense. It was more than tense, it was terrifying. We were thinking, what can we do now?

• 38:18John Hopkins?

  Despite the setback, they still believe in their original plan.

• 38:23John Hopkins?

  After a brief muttered consultation, they decide to give it another go.

• 38:29John Hopkins?

  But now they have at least diagnosed the problem.

• 38:33Speaker 04

  We are obviously causing troughs as we are blowing the seabed with the thrusters. The problem with that, of course, is that your traction and the force of water coming out of a thruster is getting vice versa reduced because the depth of that that hole and that distance to seabed point of traction is also increasing.

• 38:56John Hopkins?

  All they can do is keep trying and hope that eventually they'll generate enough traction with the combined use of the arms and the thrusters to lift themselves out of their predicament. The clock is ticking.

• 39:11John Hopkins?

  The oxygen on board the sub is recirculated through a system of scrubbers which remove CO2. The scrubbers must be changed regularly to ensure they're still absorbing the gas effectively.

• 39:24John Hopkins?

  How much longer do they have before they start to breathe toxic air?

• 39:29Speaker 04

  We're approaching a time where we have to change the scrubbers, not notably you couldn't detect it, but clearly the air is getting more stale, the CO2 percentage is rising, and what you don't want to do is get to a state of hypoxia and start to lose any consciousness.

• 39:49John Hopkins?

  They power up the thrusters, ready to try again. Dick pushes the lever that extends the robotic arms. Again, the cramped capsule echoes with noise as the system's going to overdrive.

• 40:03John Hopkins?

  Slowly, but surely, they can feel the sub start to lift away from the seabed and move backwards, out from underneath the overhang.

• 40:14Speaker 04

  We clearly had got some traction, we clearly had made some headway. It's working, we're okay, our plan is working, the technique is working.

• 40:22John Hopkins?

  Dick looks over at PH, his face etched with concentration as he blasts the thrusters. Behind him, George matters words of encouragement. He's watching the levels, ensuring they don't push it too far, while also keeping an eye on the rear camera, making sure their path is clear of obstacles.

• 40:43John Hopkins?

  Dick wipes the sweat from his brow. He adjusts the angle of the arms. That's it.

• 40:50John Hopkins?

  Easy does it.

• 40:52John Hopkins?

  And then...

• 40:56Speaker 04

  The combination of the thrusters and utilizing the two arms and the attitudes that we had them, and with a little bit of luck and support from Mother Nature, we managed to get a bit of a lift from a local tide.

• 41:10John Hopkins?

  There's a sudden jolt of movement. Dick lets go of the lever. He can feel the nortile lifting from the seabed and drifting into clearer, open water.

• 41:22Speaker 04

  We felt that, all of a sudden, that familiar sort of floating sensation, that bobbing sensation, that we are now actually free of any hazard or restraint or being held.

• 41:39Speaker 04

  And that's the moment when you want to go, yes, thank you Lord, hooray, we're free. And that's exactly the moment you don't want to do that because you have to focus.

• 41:50John Hopkins?

  A few agonizing seconds go by as the crew wait to see if the act of freeing themselves has caused any further damage to the sub.

• 42:00John Hopkins?

  Everything seems okay.

• 42:03John Hopkins?

  But they're still in serious peril. The thrusters have churned the seabed into a blizzard of sand and silt, and they are still adrift in a minefield of jagged debris.

• 42:15John Hopkins?

  And even if they do manage to clear the wreckage, there's still the ascent to worry about. An arduous journey of twelve and a half thousand feet, fraught with plenty of dangers of its own.

• 42:34Speaker 06

  Progressive's Accident Response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's Accident Response. Learn more at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Limited availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions.

• 43:04Speaker 01

  Chronic migraine means 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botox, onabotulinumtoxin A, is a chronic migraine treatment that prevents headaches in adults. It's not approved for adults with migraine who have 14 or fewer headache days a month. Botox prevents, on average, eight to nine headache days and migraine probable migraine days a month versus six to seven for placebo.

• 43:23Speaker 02

  Huh, I'm having fewer headache days this month.

• 43:25Speaker 01

  Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS-Lu Gehrig's Disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton Syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.

• 44:04John Hopkins?

  It's evening, about 14 hours since the nortile first descended. At the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the sub gingerly backs away from the wreck of the Titanic. In the swirling silt and sand, they're essentially flying blind.

• 44:24Speaker 04

  We didn't want to do that too much because we knew that the overhang of the stern section was significant too, so we weren't quite sure how clear of that we were. And if we were coming off the seabed, would we collide then into the top of an overhang?

• 44:39John Hopkins?

  Dick braces himself for an impact, but nothing comes. Have they successfully moved clear of the overhanging decks? As if, to answer that question, the sonar pings into life.

• 44:56John Hopkins?

  The Nautilus appears on the circular screen. The glowing white dot, a miraculous sight for Dick, George and PH.

• 45:07Speaker 04

  The sonar picked up, we saw we were back online. We knew that the Pinger was working again. And as a consequence, the Nadair could certainly see us. And we thought, right, this is now a point of having to gather ourselves, contain our excitement and obviously the aspiration of being free, but make sure we are free.

• 45:32Speaker 04

  We didn't really know what exactly was around us, behind us and on top of us. But we knew the way we had to come out was to ascend. We had to get some clear distance between the seabed and the wreck site or the actual stern section itself. And we had to be able to make sure that path was clear. So we just slowly inched backwards, slowly inched upwards.

• 46:02John Hopkins?

  Eventually, PH gives Dick a firm nod.

• 46:07John Hopkins?

  He's satisfied they're far enough from the wreck to begin the ascent.

• 46:12John Hopkins?

  Above them, pending some catastrophic error of judgment, there should be clear blue water.

• 46:20John Hopkins?

  Still, even an unobstructed ascent presents certain difficulties. From the possibility of curious sea creatures to the danger of surface conditions blowing them off course.

• 46:32Speaker 04

  We're still not free, we're still not home. We still had to negotiate that water column during which time anything has happened. We've been bumped by whales before. We're a large object and they're curious, so they come along, they want to see us. So there's still a number of things that happen.

• 46:51John Hopkins?

  Slowly, carefully, the crew begins displacing the water inside the ballast tanks, bringing the sub up towards the surface.

• 47:01John Hopkins?

  The radio crackles into life.

• 47:05John Hopkins?

  With comms re-established with the Nadair, Dick and his colleagues can keep tabs on the support ship's location to avoid a collision. They guide the ship up and up. They're almost there.

• 47:21Speaker 04

  The nautile gets lighter because of course the pressure is reducing so we start to descend quicker so we have to control that slightly. Then we start to get to a point where it becomes really quite exciting. We are now going home, we're now getting back up. But there's always that chance and so far this trip hasn't really gone to plan.

• 47:43John Hopkins?

  The way the light is cutting through the clear water shows that they're nearing the surface, maybe just a few hundred feet from safety.

• 47:52John Hopkins?

  And then...

• 47:54Speaker 04

  And then we see the lights for the rescue divers through the portholes. They're coming up, cheering at us, lots of thumbs up, lots of okays, lots of lights and torches flying around and we're doing the same thing, acknowledging their signs.

• 48:12John Hopkins?

  Dick listens to the clamps tightening around the nautile as she's locked into the cradle. He feels a sudden rush of weightlessness as the submersible is hoisted out of the water and hangs momentarily suspended from the nadir's retractable lowering system.

• 48:31Speaker 04

  And then we start to feel us lift again out of the water which is really quite uncanny because you're now really out of control. You're literally rolling and rocking. You can see through the portholes, through the lights of the nadir, you can see, she's little like a Christmas tree, you can see people on the deck and elation and I think at that point, that's when we start to realise that we're home, we're safe. We are now okay.

• 49:03John Hopkins?

  The submersible and her three crewmen are winched back aboard the nadir and locked in place on the ship's rear deck.

• 49:12John Hopkins?

  There's a clang of heavy footsteps above their heads, followed by a single loud crack as somebody opens the hatch, letting fresh air surge inside.

• 49:22John Hopkins?

  Dick's ears experience an agonizing adjustment to the drop in pressure, but it lasts only a second.

• 49:29John Hopkins?

  He looks around at George and PH, and for the first time since their emergency began, the three men allow themselves a moment to pause and reflect.

• 49:40Speaker 04

  You'd think the first thing to do is get out, but it's not. We look at each other, we... it's quite emotional.

• 49:48Speaker 04

  We think about, reflect momentarily, I think, of what has just happened, where we've been, but more importantly, where we are now. And just very genuine, reserved congratulations to each and one of us mutually of job well done, guys. And, yeah, camaraderie and all of those emotions. I know experiences when they've been put in the face of absolute abject fear and trauma and danger. So we sit looking at it and reflect, look up, and slowly climb out of the somersault.

• 50:36John Hopkins?

  In the years that follow, Dik Barton remains a vital member of RMS Titanic, Inc. A vast trove of artefacts is now on display in museums across the world, safely preserved for posterity.

• 50:51John Hopkins?

  Dick goes on to make a total of 22 dives down to the wreck site, but none of them bring him so close to death as that dive of August 1994.

• 51:02John Hopkins?

  When he looks back on that day, he marvels at the composure and sheer dogged optimism that he, PH and George were able to maintain.

• 51:13Speaker 04

  We all have our different foibles, we all have our different attitudes, we all have our different thought processes, and we all have our different survival techniques. And without question, my inner strength is self-belief, just not quite sure how I'm going to get out yet, but I know it will.

• 51:32John Hopkins?

  Today, Dick's passion for exploration burns just as bright as it did 30 years ago. Well, why shouldn't it?

• 51:42Speaker 04

  I never even thought that this was a, well, take that as a warning, son, you know, you got off right, you're okay. Perhaps you should readjust and refocus and change your day job. But no, it was, it's something that's never really occurred, I mean, even to this day. We're all older and slower and less able than we used to be, but I certainly wish I could still do the certain things I could do 20 years ago, but then reason, there's no reason why I can't. I still will. I always hope to.

• 52:26John Hopkins?

  If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more about the Titanic, then the Noiser Network has just the podcast for you. It's called Titanic: Ship of Dreams. Join host Paul McGann as he explores life and death on the most famous ship in history.

• 52:45John Hopkins?

  From the opulent dining rooms, Turkish baths and squash courts of first class, to the raucous parties and Irish hoolies down in Stirridge.

• 52:55John Hopkins?

  You'll be right there on board, setting sail from Southampton, chugging across the Atlantic, striking the iceberg and descending into the icy depths.

• 53:05John Hopkins?

  Find and follow Titanic: Ship of Dreams wherever you get your shows.

• 53:13John Hopkins?

  In the next episode, we meet search and rescue diver Jay O'Donnell. In January 2007, as a major, once-in-a-lifetime cyclone approaches the UK, Jay finds himself responsible for the lives of 26 people.

• 53:29John Hopkins?

  After a catastrophe in the English Channel, a tiny lifeboat stuffed with crewmen is left at the mercy of the furious sea. As Jay flies in to help, it becomes clear that this rescue mission is beyond anything he or his colleagues have ever encountered.

• 53:44John Hopkins?

  Technical issues, appalling conditions, and even a man overboard all make the mission seem insurmountable.

• 53:51John Hopkins?

  And if he is to save these 26 souls, Jay also has to find a way to survive himself.

• 54:02John Hopkins?

  That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now without waiting a week by subscribing to Noiser Plus.

• 54:10Speaker 06

  Progressive's Accident Response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's Accident Response. Learn more at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates Limited Availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions.

• 54:40Speaker 01

  Chronic migraine means 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botox, onabacholinumtoxin A, is a chronic migraine treatment that prevents headaches in adults. It's not approved for adults with migraine who have 14 or fewer headache days a month. Botox prevents, on average, eight to nine headache days and migraine-provable migraine days a month versus six to seven for placebo.

• 54:59Speaker 02

  Huh, I'm having fewer headache days this month.

• 55:01Speaker 01

  Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications including botulin and toxin, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.