History Channel Documentaries
History Channel Documentaries
Titanic's Achilles Heel (2007x23)
: 01, 2007
For years, the focus of the Titanic disaster has been on the notorious iceberg that gouged the ship
as it cruised through the North Atlantic in April 1912. But was the iceberg the only thing that
contributed to the sinking of this legendary vessel? In this eye-opening program, follow the
History(R) crew as it explores the explosive theory that the doomed liner may have had a fatal
design flaw - one which could have caused it to sink even if it had not struck the iceberg. While
examining data from the crew's pioneering 2005 expedition to the Titanic wreck site, marine
architect Roger Long was shown a document from the Belfast shipbuilder Harland and Wolff, which
illustrated a curious feature of the Titanic - a poorly designed expansion joint. Could this have
been the weak point in the ship that caused it to break in two as it sank on the night of April 15,
1912? To find out, elite divers Richie Kohler and John Chatterton, along with their team, return to
the Titanic, and later explore the wreck of its equally ill-fated sister ship, the Britannic, in
search of evidence to substantiate Long's theory. Featuring advanced CGI technology, archive
documents and photographs, as well as footage from the modern-day History(R) expeditions, "Titanic's
Achilles Heel" is a remarkable journey into the ongoing legacy of a ship that continues to capture
the world's attention.