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- [00:00]
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- [00:39]
John Hopkins
Shopify.com promo It's August 1994, about 350 miles off the east coast of Canada. Down in the control room of a state of the art research vessel, an emergency light flashes code red. Worried looking crewmen huddle around sonar screens, their eyes scanning the glowing green monitors for a tiny blue dot. Up on deck, rescue divers in thick rubber scuba suits anxiously await further instruction. Beyond the ship's guardrails, the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean is a forbidding iron gray, a mirror of the overcast sky. But the crew aren't worried about conditions on the surface. Their thoughts are fixed firmly on what is happening deep beneath it. Early this morning, a small three man submersible was launched from this vessel before descending 12,500ft to conduct a research mission on the seabed. 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. Now panic is rising on the surface. The men down there can't have more than 10 hours of breathable oxygen left. Even if they're still alive, they will soon be on borrowed time. Meanwhile, more than two miles down in the pitch black of the deep sea, Dick 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 8 meter long submersible.
- [02:45]
Dick Barton
It was tense. It was more than tense, it was terrifying. We were thinking, what can we do now?
- [02:53]
John 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. 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. The fact that they're seeing it now, barely a few feet from the window of the subject, is further evidence that something has gone terribly, dreadfully wrong.
- [03:39]
Dick Barton
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.
- [03:59]
John Hopkins
Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes if your life depended on your next decision? Could you make the right choice? 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. In this episode we meet Dick Barton. The 34 year old Britt is the Director of Operations for RMS Titanic Incorporated, a private company licensed to recover artifacts from the wreck of the iconic ship. 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. The mission is going off without a hitch. And then they feel it.
- [04:52]
Dick Barton
There was an incredible unprecedented surge occurrent. A friend of God. I don't know what you want to call it, but something just pushed us and we then felt a shudder and clear crunch.
- [05:06]
John 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.
- [05:18]
Dick Barton
Gained two and a half thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. We're in the equivalent ambient pressure of two adult elephants. Balancing on your thumbnail.
- [05:29]
John 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. August 1994. 350 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, a French built research vessel, Nadir ploughs the bluish gray surf of the North Atlantic. 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 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. But it's late summer and the bergs have long melted. On board the research vessel, Dick 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. 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.
- [07:35]
Dick Barton
I've always had a passion for the sea and being at sea and particularly in the sea, underwater and fascination. As a schoolboy, I grew up with Jacques Couste on a Sunday afternoon, sit down with her, tea and sandwiches with her family and watching his incredible adventures. And so that fascination of diving was really born from there.
- [07:55]
John Hopkins
Though he's only 34, 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. 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. Then a couple of years ago, Dick decided it was time for another change.
- [08:28]
Dick Barton
Having just finished an illustrious and engaging and very challenging, exciting military career for some 14 odd years traveling the world and, and doing all those things, I think the next chapter was the most exciting for me. What, what now? Because you know, I'm, I'm 32 now. I mean what, what, 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, what happened. And lo and behold, chance for lifetime knocked.
- [09:02]
John 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. Since its discovery in 1985, the wreck of RMS Titanic has been the subject of a drawn out legal battle as various organizations vied for the rights to dive down and recover artifacts 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. Dick Barton, it seemed, was exactly the sort of person they were after. Dick's friend told him that the investors were in Hong Kong and keen to meet him, he agreed without hesitation.
- [10:05]
Dick Barton
So we had dinner that night and we had a chat and they popped the question Would you like to come on board as the director of Operations for RMS Titanic Incorporated? So I hid my fleeting look and said, let me check my diary. And said, of course. How? Why would I not? An opportunity of a lifetime.
- [10:27]
John Hopkins
Daredevil is born again on Disney plus.
- [10:31]
Dick Barton
Why did you stop being a vigilante? The line was crossed.
- [10:35]
John Hopkins
Sometimes peace needs to be broken. Chaos must reign. On March 4th, the nine episode event begins.
- [10:43]
Dick Barton
I was raised to believe in grace.
- [10:46]
John Hopkins
But I was also raised to believe in retribution. Marvel television's daredevil born again.
- [10:53]
Dick Barton
Don't miss the two episodes premiere March.
- [10:55]
John Hopkins
4Th only on Disney.
- [10:57]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [11:27]
John Hopkins
Now it's two years later. 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. 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.
- [12:06]
Dick Barton
Diving the Titanic was quite emotive, quite evocative, people delivering advantage to do it. There were views from every single corner of the world who said, you know, 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 not acceptable conduct.
- [12:34]
John 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. Dick emerges onto the deck of the Nadir, 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 8 meter long submersible capable of reaching depths of nearly 4 miles. When they arrive on the seabed, they will navigate to the stern section of Titanic and take a look around.
- [13:24]
Dick Barton
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 side of the stern.
- [13:50]
John Hopkins
When the Titanic sank, it broke into two sections, the bow and the stern. The bow plunged to the seabed first. 27 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. 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 60cm across and comes equipped with a color video camera.
- [14:50]
Dick Barton
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 the 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?
- [15:15]
John Hopkins
Dick walks to the back of the deck where Notiel 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 3 meters in diameter. Joining Dick on this descent is George Tulloch, Chairman of RMS Titanic Inc.
- [15:44]
Dick Barton
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.
- [16:00]
John Hopkins
Alongside George and Dick is the most experienced member of the three man crew. The French deep sea explorer Ph? Nargelet.
- [16:09]
Dick Barton
The real star of the show of course was Ph? Ph? Nagerly. He died in the war. Extraordinary experienced mariner, ex French Navy Air Combat Niger. He knew the wreck extremely well. He knew the hazards, but also as a very beyond competent submersible pilot and a pleasure to work with and a great mentor for me.
- [16:33]
John Hopkins
It's around 8am Nortele's entrance hatch is sealed shut. Dick glances at the glowing dashboard, the sonar screens, valves and pressure gauges. The Titanic wreck is located 12 and a half thousand feet beneath the ocean surface, 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.
- [17:08]
Dick Barton
We knew that whatever we got into 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 eaten. Every opportunity exists where we can abort if we want to.
- [17:42]
John Hopkins
The cradle mechanism begins lowering the submersible towards the rolling waves. Dick watches as the agitated surf foams around the porthole, gradually clearing to reveal a murky blue expanse. The masked faces of the rescue diversity loom up to the reinforced plexiglass. Flashing thumbs up as they perform the final checks.
- [18:09]
Dick Barton
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? Is everything good? Yes, we're okay. We spoke to an idea. She's okay with us, we're okay with her. Disconnect. Let's go free. And then we are free to descend.
- [18:35]
John Hopkins
With the tow lines disconnected, the submersible drops down into the gloom. To descend in a controlled fashion, the Nortil 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. 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 a leisurely two hours. 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.
- [19:32]
Dick Barton
As we descend, you go through that extraordinary light transformation, translucency down to absolute pitch black. And very quickly, 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.
- [20:01]
John Hopkins
As the nautil 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.
- [20:15]
Dick Barton
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 what came close. Proximity to exactly where we wanted to be.
- [20:31]
John Hopkins
They've reached the seabed. They take pressure readings, then double check oxygen supplies and battery power. All rosy. There's only one reading that's giving them any cause for concern.
- [20:48]
Dick Barton
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.
- [21:06]
John 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. Once they've assessed the distance to Titanic's stern section, PH engages the submersible's thrusters. The Norteal glides forward, headlamps slicing through the inky black darkness.
- [21:41]
Dick Barton
The dive was 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.
- [21:57]
John Hopkins
As the Nourtil beetles through the murky depths, Dick glances out of the porthole. Spectral objects flit 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. Much of the Titanic wreck site has already been thoroughly mapped and cataloged, allowing pH to navigate through the debris field without a collision.
- [22:26]
Dick Barton
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, the Veranda Cafe, Parisian Cafe. 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.
- [23:01]
John 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. A respectful silence descends over the men in the sub as they press on.
- [23:23]
Dick Barton
And then of course, we come around to the stern section, which is a twisted metal pile of tragedy. 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.
- [23:53]
John Hopkins
Huge stalactites of rust cling to the beams and stanchions. Bacterial formations known as rusticles. Jagged edges and sharp spears of torn metal protrude from the wreckage. 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.
- [24:21]
Dick Barton
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 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. So we're probably about three, maybe 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.
- [25:10]
John 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.
- [25:19]
Dick Barton
When suddenly there was an incredible unprecedented surge occurrent Hand 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 clear crunch where we had hit some part of the stern section overhanging decks.
- [25:49]
John Hopkins
Dick staggers forward with the force of the impact. The clash of metal on metal reverberating through the walls of the sub. He straightens up and looks around, heart pounding. What on earth was that? But in the sub's red light, PH and George look just as shocked and bewildered as he does through the forward facing porthole, all they can see is a cloud of swirling silt and rust. The the submersible has been shoved underneath the overhanging remains of the deck and has collided with the steel wreckage. 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 merely seconds to live.
- [26:44]
Unknown
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- [27:02]
John Hopkins
Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra fee full terms@mintmobile.com My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the Place to Be to Be it's early afternoon, 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, 2,000 fathoms beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Three men sit in fraught silence. Their submersible Notil has just been caught by a rogue current and swept beneath the Titanic's stern. Right away, Dick notices something troubling about the lack of movement on board the sub.
- [28:13]
Dick Barton
Normally you have a. 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.
- [28:40]
John Hopkins
The submersible appears to be stuck, wedged between the silty ocean floor and an overhanging section of the wreck. Dick looks at the control panel, his gaze darting between gauges and meters. 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.
- [29:05]
Dick Barton
Again, two and a half thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. We're in the equivalent ambient pressure of two adult elephants. Balancing on your thumbnail.
- [29:20]
John 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.
- [29:39]
Dick Barton
So the system is designed to give you approximately 18 to 20 hours of breathable air. There is emergency 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.
- [30:03]
John Hopkins
At most, they have just 16 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. 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.
- [30:32]
Dick Barton
You go into a different mode, 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.
- [30:47]
John Hopkins
PH goes straight to the radio to warn the Nadir. But it seems that in the process of getting swept underneath the wreck, they've gone dark.
- [30:57]
Dick Barton
The transponder on top of the submersible was enshrouded and blocked by overhanging debris. So we effectively fell off the radar, so Nadir couldn't see us, but became quite significant because we also couldn't speak to the Nadir either.
- [31:17]
John Hopkins
But they can't control any of that. 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. All the while, they have to be conservative with their power usage in the.
- [31:36]
Dick Barton
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 or all the time, but certainly never know what you have to keep in store.
- [31:52]
John Hopkins
The Nautil 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. 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.
- [32:32]
Dick Barton
What 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.
- [32:52]
John Hopkins
After several futile minutes, PH switches off the thrusters.
- [32:57]
Dick Barton
There's no point in having those on. Need to conserve power, didn't need to burn any more power. So stop again. Plan B. Now what? We have to use the arms. We don't want to, but we're going to have to use the arms somehow.
- [33:13]
John Hopkins
The Notil 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? PH engages the thrusters again. Dick flicks a couple of switches, then takes control of the robotic arms. He extends them outward, driving them down into the silty North Atlantic mud.
- [33:59]
Dick Barton
Bear in mind, all this is 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.
- [34:20]
John Hopkins
The Notel 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. 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 Notil starts inching backwards. It's working. The men let go of the controls to allow the system to cool down and to let the sand and debris around them dissipate. But before they can resume their efforts.
- [35:08]
Dick Barton
Whilst waiting to restart it, we felt a little bump and surge and we got pushed to the further into that jammed wreck scenario, which was, I think if you say I'm lucky, is it's probably being kind. It was silly, demoralizing, because whatever progress we had clearly made had just been undone.
- [35:34]
John Hopkins
All they've done is make matters worse, creating an even deeper hole for the current to force them back into.
- [35:43]
Dick Barton
To be then picked up and bumped and pushed back in by a rogue tide or flow was, to the least, disheartening. It was terrifyingly impactful on us. It was tense. It was more than tense, it was terrifying. We were thinking, what can we do now?
- [36:06]
John Hopkins
Despite the setback, they still believe in their original plan. After a brief muttered consultation, they decide to give it another go. But now they have at least diagnosed the problem.
- [36:20]
Dick Barton
We are obviously causing troughs. As we were 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 vastly reduced because the depth of that hole and that distance to seabed point attraction is also increasing.
- [36:43]
John 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. 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. How much longer do they have before they start to breathe toxic air?
- [37:16]
Dick Barton
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. CO2 percentage is rising. And what you don't want to do is get to a state of hypoxia and start to lose consciousness.
- [37:36]
John 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 systems go into overdrive. Slowly but surely, they can feel the sub start to lift away from the seabed and move backwards out from underneath the overhang.
- [38:01]
Dick Barton
We clearly had got some traction. We clearly had made some headway. It's working. We're okay. The plan is working. The technique is working.
- [38:10]
John Hopkins
Dick looks over at ph, his face etched with concentration as he blasts the thrust. Thrusters. Behind him, George mutters 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. Dick wipes the sweat from his brow. He adjusts the angle of the arms. That's it. Easy does it. And then.
- [38:43]
Dick Barton
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.
- [38:57]
John Hopkins
There's a sudden jolt of movement. Dick lets go of the lever. He can feel the nautil lifting from the seabed and drifting into clearer, open water.
- [39:09]
Dick Barton
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. And that's the moment when you want to go, yes, thank you, Lord. Hooray. We're. And that's exactly when you don't want to do that because you have to focus.
- [39:38]
John 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. Everything seems okay, 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. And even if they do manage to clear the wreckage, there's still the ascent to worry about. An arduous journey of 12 and a half thousand feet, fraught with plenty of dangers of its own. It's evening, about 14 hours since the Notil 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.
- [40:41]
Dick Barton
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?
- [40:55]
John 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. The Notil appears on the circular screen, the glowing white dot a miraculous sight for dick, George and pH.
- [41:24]
Dick Barton
The sonar picked up. We saw we were back online. We knew that the Pinga was working again, and as a consequence, Nadir could certainly see us. And we thought, right, this is now the point of having to gather ourselves, contain our existence, excitement, and obviously the aspiration of being free, but make sure we are free. 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.
- [42:19]
John Hopkins
Eventually, PH gives Dick a firm nod. He's satisfied they're far enough from the wreck to begin the ascent above them, pending some catastrophic error of judgment, there should be clear blue water. 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.
- [42:49]
Dick Barton
We're still not free. We're still not home. We still have to negotiate our water column, during which time anything can happen. We've been bumped by whales before. We're a large object and they're curious, so they come along and want to see us. So there's still a number of things that happen.
- [43:08]
John Hopkins
Slowly, carefully, the crew begins displacing the water inside the ballast tanks, bringing the sub up towards the surface. The radio crackles into life. With comms re established with the Nadir, 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.
- [43:38]
Dick Barton
The gets lighter because of course, the pressure is reducing, so we start to ascend quicker, so we have to control that slightly. And 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.
- [44:00]
John 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. And then.
- [44:11]
Dick Barton
And then we see the lights for the rescue divers through the portholes. They're coming up, hearing 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.
- [44:29]
John Hopkins
Dick listens to the clamps tightening around the notil that 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.
- [44:48]
Dick Barton
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 Medea. You can see 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 realize that we're home, we're safe. We are now okay.
- [45:20]
John Hopkins
The submersible and her three crewmen are winched back aboard the Nadir and locked in place on the ship's rear deck. 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 Dick's ears experience an agonizing adjustment to the drop in pressure. But it lasts only a second. 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.
- [45:57]
Dick Barton
You'd think the first thing you want to do is get out, but it's not. We look at each other, we Quite emotional. We think about, reflect momentarily. I think of what, what 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 that anyone experiences when they've been put in the face of absolute abject fear and trauma and danger. So we sit a little bit and reflect, look up and slowly climb out of the submersible.
- [46:53]
John Hopkins
In the years that follows, Dick Barton remains a vital member of RMS Titanic Inc. A vast trove of artifacts is now on display in museums across the world, safely preserved for posterity. 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. 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.
- [47:30]
Dick Barton
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 it yet, but I know it will.
- [47:49]
John Hopkins
Today, Dick's passion for exploration burns just as bright as it did 30 years ago. Well, why shouldn't it?
- [47:59]
Dick Barton
There was a never even a thought that, you know, this was a. Well, take that as a warning, son. You know, you've, you got off right here, you're okay, you know, perhaps you should readjust and refocus and change a day job. But no, it was something that never really occurred to me. Even to this day. We're all older and slower and less able than used to be, but I certainly wish I could still do certain things I could do 20 years ago. But within reason, there's no reason why I can't. I still will. I always hope to.
- [48:43]
John 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 Ship of Dreams. Join host Paul McGann as he explores life and death on the most famous ship in history. From the opulent dining rooms, Turkish baths and squash courts of first class, to the raucous parties and Irish hoolies down in steerage, you'll be right there on board, setting sail from Southampton, chugging across the Atlantic, striking the iceberg and descending into the icy depths. Find and follow Titanic Ship of Dreams. Wherever you get your shows. In the next episode, we meet search and rescue diver J. 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. 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 into hell, it becomes clear that this rescue mission is beyond anything he or his colleagues have ever encountered. Technical issues, appalling conditions, and even a man overboard all make the mission seem insurmountable. And if he is to save these 26 souls, Jay also has to find a way to survive himself. That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now, without waiting a week, by subscribing to Noiser Plus.