Customer Reviews

Nova: Titanic's Lost Sister (The Britannic) [VHS]

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Titanic had two, almost identical, sister ships. The Olympic sailed on into the mid 1930's and was scrapped, but the Britannic was sunk in the Aegean Sea during the first world war when she was acting as a hospital ship. Can Robert Ballard find the wreck, and solve the mysteries of how the ship met her doom and why she sank so quickly?

This video is fairly typical of its genre, covering as it does the history of the ship, the search and discovery and trying to draw conclusions. Overtaken by recent research, the findings are nonetheless interesting and the visuals are superb. A haunting story well told

Though this documentary may have outdated information about the HMHS Britannic, it's still a great video. I recommend this video to any person who's interested in shipwrecks.

THE MYSTERY OF THE HOSPITAL SHIP BRITANNIC IS THIS: WHAT SANK THE TITANIC'S SISTER SHIP? WAS IT A TORPEDO AS MOST OF HER SURVIVORS SAID, OR WAS IT A MINE AS EXPLOREOR ROBERT BALLARD, THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED THE TITANIC BELIVES? IN THIS ONE-HOUR BUT VERY INTERESTING DOCUMENTARY, RESEARCHES TRY TO UNRAVEL THE MYSTERY BY SEARCHING FOR THE REMAINS OF THE MINE AND ITS ANCHOR CHAIN. THE DOCUMENTARY ALSO INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH BRITANNIC SURVIVORS, THE VERY FEW PHOTOGRAPHS EVER TAKEN OF HER, AND IMAGES OF THE INTACT WRECK AS SHE LIES TODAY NEAR THE GREEK ISLAND OF KEA IN THE AEGEAN SEA. HER FAMOUS SISTER TITANIC IS ALSO BREIFLY MENTIONED; HER SINKING CAUSED BRITANNIC'S CONSTRUCTION TO BE REDESIGNED TO MAKE HER A FAR SAFER SHIP. AND YET, AFTER A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION ROCKED THE SHIP IN THE EARLY MEDITTERANEAN MORNING OF NOVEMBER 21, 1916, THE BRITANNIC SANK IN JUST 55 MINUTES, WHILE THE TITANIC TOOK NEARLY THREE HOURS! WHY DID A BIGGER SHIP LIKE THE BRITANNIC SINK SO MUCH FASTER? THE FEW CASULATIES SUFFERED TERRIBLE FATES WHILE THE SHIP WAS SINKING. ONE SURVIVOR VIVIDLY RECALLS THAT HORRIFIC MOMENT WHEN 30 MEN AND WOMEN LOST THIER LIVES. IT IS ROBERT BALLARD'S VISION TO TRANSFORM THE BRITANNIC INTO THE WORLD'S FIRST UNDERSEA MUSEUM. APART FROM THE DAMAGED BOW SECTION, THE WRECK IS SO REMARKABLY INTACT THAT EVEN THE FOUR HOLLOW SMOKESTACKS STILL REMAIN, LYING NEAR THE WRECK ON THE SEA FLOOR! DUE TO ITS INTACT STRUCTURE, THE WRECK OF THE BRITANNIC IS CURRENTLY THE LARGEST SHIP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA! A MUST SEE FOR THOSE WHO ARE FASCINATED BY SHIPWRECKS AND TITANIC!
AFTER WATCHING THE PROGRAM, YOU DECIDE FOR YOURSELF, IF IT WAS A MINE OR TORPEDO.