Some say it was the work of German spies. Others maintain that it was a tragic accident of unimaginable proportions. Whatever the cause, on a bitter morning in 1917 in the booming port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1,600 people were killed and 9,000 injured when a French munitions ship exploded after striking another vessel. THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION is a comprehensive examination of the tragedy. Eyewitness accounts capture the force and horror of the explosion the largest non-nuclear detonation in history! Rare photos and archival footage reveal the incredible destruction that led thousands of mariners from around the world to converge on the devastated port in a massive relief effort. World War I historians examine the theories that surround the disaster, while a detailed reconstruction shows how accident and error compounded to create tragedy. It's an intriguing look at one of the most incredible chapters in maritime history.
When Teddy Roosevelt sent the USS Maine into Havana's harbor in 1898, he hoped that the show of force would help protect the lives and property of American citizens in the restless Spanish territory. But when the Maine mysteriously exploded and sank at anchor, the nation was shocked and demanded revenge. Ultimately, its destruction led to the Spanish-American War. But was the great ship really mined by Spanish forces, as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst trumpeted in his tabloids? Journey back to the night of February 15, 1898 to unravel the enduring mystery. Examine the official navy report of the disaster which reached no conclusion and the tabloid accusations which made a frenzied but groundless case. Maritime experts and leading historians point to possible causes of the explosion which claimed 254 lives and examine its repercussions.
She was the pride of her line, a ship unparalleled in grace, opulence and elegance, and to postwar Italy she represented the very spirit of the nation. But on her 51st Atlantic crossing, in a pea-soup fog shrouding Nantucket Sound, she was rammed by the Stockholm. Eleven hours later, she slipped beneath the black waters, and the Andrea Doria became the worst maritime disaster since the Titanic. THE SINKING OF THE ANDREA DORIA features exclusive, never-before-seen footage of the tragedy taken by a seaman onboard one of the ships called to the liner's aid. Passengers and crewmen recall the horror and confusion of the disaster, and maritime experts examine the details looking for clues to what went wrong. Was Captain Calami who was so dedicated that crewmen had to beg him not to go down with the ship to blame, as many have asserted? Or did the Stockholm crew misread their radar? This is the definitive look at the tragedy that has earned a place as one of the darkest moments in maritime history.
In the age of the great sea-faring adventurers, one man stood above all the others as he fearlessly made his way around the world. Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii and New Caledonia and sailed to the Antarctic alone. He was driven by the search for knowledge, not the desire for conquest. But after meeting every challenge and earning international celebrity, he met his end in the most inglorious of ways. THE FATAL VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN COOK follows the career of the great explorer through his own journals and the accounts of those who sailed with him, as well as expert commentary from the world's leading historians. Trace the incredible discoveries of his first two voyages, then batten down the hatches for his third, final trip. As recounted in the journals of his crew including the soon-to-be infamous William Bligh, Cook seemed dulled by time and carelessness, and quick to anger. It was this temper that caused him to explode over the theft of his launch and led to his violent death at the hands of Hawaiian natives while his stunned crew looked on!
In the spring of 1789, British sailor Fletcher Christian and his band of accomplices staged a hostile takeover of the ship Bounty and its captain William Bligh. The account of what followed has been shaped as much by Hollywood creative screenwriters as it was by fact. When Bligh and his men set sail for Tahiti the stage had already been set for a turbulent voyage, but it would have been hard to envisage just how badly it would conclude. Bligh started his career as a reluctant sailor and his leadership qualities were weak at best. Many months of life on the high seas saw an almost fatal breakdown of morale that left the crew ripe for a mutinous rebellion. With Bligh's appalling, almost in-human treatment of his crew, it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose. But what was the truth behind the fiction? Join us as we revisit the past and unravel the mysteries behind the most dramatic and famous uprising on the high seas.
Blackbeard terrorized ships along the Atlantic Coast of North America and the Caribbean from 1716 to 1718. He raped, pillaged and plundered. He was as savage with his crew as he was with his prisoners. One crew member once said, "If he did not now and then kill one of us, we would forget who he was. SEA TALES: BLACKBEARD'S REIGN OF TERROR tells how the barbaric pirate piled his murderous trade until a substantial price was put on his head. A British Naval force led by Lt. Robert Maynard went after him. Maynard and Blackbeard engaged in a hand-to-hand fight on the deck of the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's ship. The bloody outcome remains one of the most legendary sea battles ever recounted.
It was the most important submarine capture of WWII, yet it remained a secret known only to a handful of men and the black waters of the Atlantic until long after the war was over. In the early days of WWII, Admiral Doenitz's deadly U-Boat fleet and their stealthy "wolfpack" attacks devastated Allied shipping. The success of Doenitz's strategy relied on the complex codes generated by the legendary Enigma machine, which rendered German radio transmissions indecipherable. But when the crew of U-110 was unable to scuttle their vessel as ordered, the sub along with the vital Enigma machine and its codebooks was captured by the Allies, and the tide of the conflict turned. Here, the incredible tale of U-110 is told through rare archival footage and photos, captured documents, and interviews with German and British sailors. Admiral Doenitz's journals reveal how the Nazis never suspected that their codes had been broken, while cryptologists demonstrate why the only way to break Enigma was to capture one of the machines.
The commander was Vilhjalmur Stefansson, a celebrated polar explorer known for his ego as well as his exploits. The ship was the Karluk, a nineteenth-century whaler. The mission was arctic exploration. And the end was tragic. For sixty years, the true story of the Karluk expedition was unknown, but the complete tale is told here. With over thirty crewmen, the Karluk departed for the arctic in July of 1913. In less than two months, the aged, ill-equipped boat was trapped in the ice. In a stunning act of cowardice, Stefansson abandoned the ship and crew, saying he was hunting and would return shortly. Instead, he traveled the arctic for the next five years, a journey that would win him accolades. The Karluk was crushed in the ice, however, and in their desperate search for safety, 11 crewmen died. THE DEADLY ARCTIC EXPEDITION draws heavily on a book written by William McKinlay, a scholar who was aboard the Karluk and survived the odyssey. Through his words, Stefansson's journals, archival material and expert commentary, the sad saga of the Karluk and her crew comes to life.
In May of 1939, the ship St. Louis departed Hamburg, Germany for Cuba. Onboard were 930 Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi regime. In one of the darkest chapters in World War II, they would eventually be returned to the continent they tried to leave, and many ultimately perished in the Holocaust. THE DOOMED VOYAGE OF THE ST. LOUIS is a chronicle of shame and desperation, bravery and quiet heroism. Footage shows the ship arriving in Havana, where officials refused to allow the passengers to disembark. As the St. Louis steamed in circles of Florida and its passengers pondered their uncertain fate, immigration officials from various nations were contacted, but none, including the U.S., allowed them in. Here, the shameful decision of the U.S. is examined in detail. Eventually, the St. Louis returned to Europe, where, despite the heroic efforts of the ship's captain, most of the passengers became victims of the Holocaust. Featuring moving interviews with survivors, period news accounts and commentary from leading scholars, this is a compelling chronicle of a senseless tragedy."
It all started with bad meat. When it was over, more than 5,000 had died and the pride of the Russian Black Sea Fleet lay beneath the waters, scuttled by her crew. REVOLT ON THE POTEMKIN is a detailed account of one of the strangest incidents in maritime history. When his crew refused to eat soup made with tainted meat, Commander Giliarovsky treated their actions as mutiny, and ordered that a number of randomly selected crewmen be shot! When the shooters failed to carry out his order, Giliarovsky killed one himself, and a real mutiny ensued. Formerly classified documents, accounts from men who were there and interviews with maritime historians chronicle the chaos that followed. Giliarovsky and several other officers were killed, and when the ship docked in Odessa, rioting sparked by the display of the dead crewman's martyr-body claimed more than 5,000 lives. Eventually, the mutineers took the Potemkin back out to sea, where they scuttled the mighty ship. It's a riveting chronicle of one of the strangest chapters in the maritime history, the most famous mutiny since the Bounty.
In 1934, the luxury liner Morro Castle, en route to New York from Havana, burst into flames as it neared its destination. Was it an accident or did radio officer George Rogers secretly kill the captain and set the ship afire?
Pirate Sam Bellamy captured the British slave galley Whydah, turning it into a treasure ship laden with gold. As he sailed toward Cape Cod and the scandalized woman he left behind, the Whydah sank in a fierce gale off the beach at Wellfleet. For nearly three centuries, treasure hunters have searched the waters for the ship and its riches.
In 1917, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a French munitions ship and a Belgian relief vessel collided in what was the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. Over 1600 people were killed instantly and more than 9000 were wounded. Questions still remain about what really caused the disaster.
In 1898, the USS Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to show the combatants in the Cuban civil war that the U.S. would protect the lives and property of American citizens in the area. When the Maine exploded in the harbor, the public blamed the sinking on the Spanish, leading the U.S. to declare war with Spain.
Special investigates the 1956 sinking of the Andrea Doria, a luxurious passenger liner, which was hit by the Swedish liner, Stockholm. Feature archival footage, stills and eyewitness accounts.
Telling the story behind the fateful final voyage of Captain James Cook, the legendary navigator and explorer.
Documentary on the evacuation of over 300,000 British troops from the seaport of Dunkirk on the northern coast of France, in 1940 during World War II.
Special separates myth from fact by recounting the infamous mutiny on HMS Bounty in 1787.
Profile of Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard, who terrorized ships along the Atlantic Coast of North America and the Carribean from 1716 to 1718.
Special explores the 1941 boarding of a German U-Boat by British naval officers which lead to the discovery of the key to the Nazi's naval code. Feature archival footage, stills and eyewitness accounts.
Documentary tells the story of the disaster that struck on July 29, 1945, when the U.S.S. Indianapolis, on a top secret mission delivering uranium and components to complete atomic bombs, was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine 600 miles west of Guam.
The commander was Vilhjalmur Stefansson, a celebrated polar explorer known for his ego as well as his exploits. The ship was the Karluk, a nineteenth-century whaler. The mission was arctic exploration. And the end was tragic. For sixty years, the true story of the Karluk expedition was unknown, but the complete tale is told here. With over thirty crewmen, the Karluk departed for the arctic in July of 1913. In less than two months, the aged, ill-equipped boat was trapped in the ice. In a stunning act of cowardice, Stefansson abandoned the ship and crew, saying he was hunting and would return shortly. Instead, he traveled the arctic for the next five years, a journey that would win him accolades. The Karluk was crushed in the ice, however, and in their desperate search for safety, 11 crewmen died. THE DEADLY ARCTIC EXPEDITION draws heavily on a book written by William McKinlay, a scholar who was aboard the Karluk and survived the odyssey. Through his words, Stefansson's journals, archival material and expert commentary, the sad saga of the Karluk and her crew comes to life.
In May of 1939, the ship St. Louis departed Hamburg, Germany for Cuba. Onboard were 930 Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi regime. In one of the darkest chapters in World War II, they would eventually be returned to the continent they tried to leave, and many ultimately perished in the Holocaust. THE DOOMED VOYAGE OF THE ST. LOUIS is a chronicle of shame and desperation, bravery and quiet heroism. Footage shows the ship arriving in Havana, where officials refused to allow the passengers to disembark. As the St. Louis steamed in circles of Florida and its passengers pondered their uncertain fate, immigration officials from various nations were contacted, but none, including the U.S., allowed them in. Here, the shameful decision of the U.S. is examined in detail. Eventually, the St. Louis returned to Europe, where, despite the heroic efforts of the ship's captain, most of the passengers became victims of the Holocaust. Featuring moving interviews with survivors, period news accounts and commentary from leading scholars, this is a compelling chronicle of a senseless tragedy.
In early 1942, with the world at war, American Naval and Coast Guard resources were stretched so thin that the Eastern Seaboard was virtually unprotected. Brazenly operating close to shore, German U-boats were a genuine threat to American Merchant Marine vessels, causing the deaths of hundreds of sailors. To counteract this threat, The "Hooligan Navy" was formed by the members of the Cruising Club of America, an organization of New England Yachtsmen. This ragtag group of sailors, undraftable reservists and adventurers were adopted by the U.S. Coast Guard and officially christened the Coastal Picket Patrol. Their sleek wooden yachts were repainted gray and outfitted with guns and listening equipment. For the rest of the war, they served as the eyes and ears of the Navy, seeking out and occasionally destroying U-boats and once again making the Atlantic Coast safe for shipping. Eventually, many members of the ""Hooligan Navy"" received commendations and medals for their wartime bravery. THE HOOLIGAN NAVY is a revealing look at one of the most colorful and least heralded stories of World War II.
The son of a parson, he entered the British Navy at 12, serving under his uncle. He was a captain by 21 and an Admiral before he was 30. Brilliant and courageous, Horatio Nelson had already earned a place in naval lore for his role in the battle of the Nile, but at Trafalgar he became a legend. FATAL VICTORY is a detailed look at one of the most important battles in history, where the British Navy commanded by Nelson dealt a resounding defeat to the combined forces of France and Spain, ending Napoleon's dream of invading England. Through Nelson's journals and the diaries and letters of others, along with the commentary of esteemed scholars, the life of the fabled mariner is explored and details of the battle that secured his fame are revealed. Learn of his torrid romance with one of England's most beautiful women, and discover how he died in the final moments of his greatest victory, felled by a sharpshooter's bullet. From blockading the Spanish harbor of Cadiz to his final moments on the deck of the Victory this is the captivating story of NELSON AT TRAFALGAR.
For two years, she slipped, largely unseen, across the waters of the Atlantic, recording over 60 victories and intercepting nearly $6 million worth of goods from the Union. Under the command of Captain Raphael Semmes, the sloop Alabama was the most feared vessel of the Civil War. GHOST SHIP OF THE CONFEDERACY is a detailed look at the career of this fabled vessel, based largely on the extensive diaries of Captain Semmes and her officers, as well as countless other Civil War documents from both sides. Discover how she earned her legend as a "ghost ship" from her practice of re- supplying at sea using spoils captured from defeated ships. Relive her greatest victories with Civil War historians, and learn the remarkable tale of her defeat, when she was sunk off the coast of France by the USS Kersage after an epic battle in which 250 rounds were exchanged.
