Exploring the Wreckage of the Britannic (the Titanic’s Sister Ship) and Discovering Why It Sunk in 50 Minutes

Exploring the Wreckage of the Britannic (the Titanic’s Sister Ship) and Discovering Why It Sunk in 50 Minutes

The RMS Titanic is history’s most famous shipwreck, but it wasn’t the only ship of its kind. The White Star Line built two other nearly identical vessels: The RMS Olympic and Britannic. The Olympic carried passengers until 1935 and can be visited today. The Brittanic sank only four years after her sister ship the Titanic off the Greek island of Kea in the Aegean Sea like due to striking a German mine while serving as a hospital ship during World War One. It sank in only 55 minutes (compared to 160 minutes for the Titanic) but only 30 of the 1066 passengers due to better lifeboat procedures, warmer waters, and being closer to land.

What

While the wreck of the Titanic is 2 miles below the surface and rapidly deteriorating, the Britannic is much more accessible (only 400ft down) and remains largely intact. It’s in “shallow” enough waters that divers can reach it, although submersibles do most of the investigation work. What can the ship tell us about the sinking of the Titanic, the lives of its passengers in the early 20th century, and whether something nefarious happened that caused it to sink, as some claim (like German sabotage).

These are the questions that today’s guest, Simon Mills, tried to answer when bought the wreck of the Britannic in 1996. He is a maritime historian who has coordinated multiple expeditions into the underwater wreckage and most recently finished extensive internal surveys in 2021 and 2023. He’s also the author of the new book Inside the Britannic which is the sum of decades of work covering every inch of the ship. We discuss exactly how this ship sunk, what happened during the frantic 50 minutes of its sinking, what happened to the survivors, and other unanswered mysteries.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(1074)

When Teddy Roosevelt Arrested Three Boat Thieves

When Teddy Roosevelt Arrested Three Boat Thieves

Perhaps no president has as many unbelievable stories about his life than Teddy Roosevelt. He was an amateur boxer. He was the first American politician to learn judo. He summited the Matterhorn durin...

18 Loka 201711min

Carrie Nation—The Hatch-Wielding Prohibitionist

Carrie Nation—The Hatch-Wielding Prohibitionist

Nothing supports the Prohibition movement like a hatchet-wielding radical ready to smash in a Midwestern saloon. Carrie Amelia Nation would know. She made a career out of physical assaulting the alcoh...

17 Loka 20178min

Discovering Embarrassing Family Secrets and Famous Third Cousins with Genealogist Crista Cowan From Ancestry.com

Discovering Embarrassing Family Secrets and Famous Third Cousins with Genealogist Crista Cowan From Ancestry.com

Shake a family tree long enough and something embarrassing secret is sure to drop out: a felon uncle here, an illegitimate nephew there, a grandfather arrested for indecent exposure there. Genealogy c...

16 Loka 201744min

Why Does American Give Automatic Birthright Citizenship?

Why Does American Give Automatic Birthright Citizenship?

Anyone born on American soil gets automatic citizenship. This isn't true in the rest of the world. Few other nations in the world practice jus soli (right of the soil). Rather, your parents have to be...

13 Loka 20178min

What Was It Like To Be Enrolled at the University of Constantinople?

What Was It Like To Be Enrolled at the University of Constantinople?

The Pandidakterion (University of Constantinople) was the empire's imperial school. It can trace its origins to 425 AD to Emperor Theodosius II. Learn what it was like to be enrolled in the ancient wo...

12 Loka 20178min

John Birch-The First Death in the Cold War

John Birch-The First Death in the Cold War

The first death of the Cold War quickly became an anti-communist icon and symbol of the American far right from the 1950s onward.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings ...

11 Loka 20177min

George Washington Wasn’t the First President. He Was the Ninth

George Washington Wasn’t the First President. He Was the Ninth

George Washington was the First President of the United States. This is the most basic fact that an American school child can learn. Only it isn't true. He wasn’t the first. Nor the second. He was act...

10 Loka 20176min

Anthony Esolen on Translating Dante’s Divine Comedy and Dan Brown’s Supercilious Stupidity

Anthony Esolen on Translating Dante’s Divine Comedy and Dan Brown’s Supercilious Stupidity

‘Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them: there is no third’ —T.S Elliot The most towering epic poem in Western literature, save perhaps the works of Homer, is Dante's Divine Comedy...

9 Loka 201757min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
i-dont-like-mondays
kaksi-aitia
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
rss-nikotellen
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
rss-murhan-anatomia
aikalisa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-haudattu
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
isani-on-terapeuttiville
mystista