Diving the Titanic with Deep Sea Explorer Rory Golden

Follow deep sea explorer Rory Golden to the world’s most famous shipwreck: Titanic. Located 12,600-feet below sea level, in the middle of the North Atlantic, only a handful of people have ever seen her with their own eyes. Descending in a tiny Mir submersible, in a cockpit the size of a small port-a-loo, with enough pressure outside the port windows to crush him in an instant should anything go wrong, this is a once-in-a-lifetime journey into history and the dark depths of the sea.  The Titanic is the world’s most famous shipwreck. It was the largest and safest vessel ever built, or so they thought. Four days into its maiden voyage, on a calm night, it struck an iceberg ripping a 300-foot whole in its hull. Panic ensued. There weren’t enough lifeboats. There was no one to save them. Of the 2,200 people on board, 1500 perished.  It took only three hours for the greatest ship ever built to sink and for more than 50 years it lay undiscovered there, at the bottom of the ocean. Rory’s mission was to recover historical artefacts from the wreck – they found leather bags with clothes still neatly folded within, a bottle of perfume still unopened, the ship’s wheel last touched by the Captain before he walked calmly to his death in the dark sea. Through Rory’s journey we learn not just the history of the Titanic, but the individual personal stories of heroism and tragedy that he rescued from the bottom of the sea. It’s an incredible adventure. But it’s also a ground-breaking piece of exploration. We know more about the surface of Mars than we do the bottom of the sea. 70% of our planet is ocean, yet only 5% of the ocean depths have been explored. There are creatures down there that no one knows even exist – strange bioluminescent beings living in a world of darkness and extreme pressure, creatures that are as alien to us as any little green man that may or may not one day appear from the sky. The oceans are our planet’s last frontier of exploration. Join him now as we descend into the deep to dive the world’s most famous, and dangerous, wreck. Join him to dive the Titanic.  Highlights include: ·   Find out what it’s like to descend to 12,600-ft beneath the ocean in a tiny Mir Submersible  ·   See the Titanic through Rory’s eyes as he travels across the wreckage in search of historical artefacts to preserve ·   Hear the story of the Titanic, the greatest shipwreck of all time ·   Be inspired by the mysteries of the deep ocean, the final frontier of exploration on the planet Who’s the Guest? Rory Golden's dived all over the world, from the coasts of his home in Ireland to deep-sea off-shore rigs and some of the most iconic wrecks on the planet, including The Titanic. He is one of the most respected underwater explorers in the world and the on-board Titanic expert for Ocean Gate Expeditions, a deep sea underwater adventure company which takes ordinary people to extraordinary depths, including the chance this year to dive the Titanic alongside Rory himself. For more information: https://oceangateexpeditions.com. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @oceangateexped. Thank you to The Great Courses Plus for sponsoring this episode. Head over to www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/armchair to get a free month trail with unlimited streaming of 1000s of videos and audio … it’s a great way to support the show! The Armchair Explorer podcast is produced and hosted by award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar. Follow the show on Instagram & Facebook @armchairexplorerpodcast. www.armchair-explorer.com "Best travel podcasts 2020: Every episode is an immersive experience" - The Guardian   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices