Voyages of Discovery

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Explorer Paul Rose celebrates the achievements of famous seamen and explorers

Series in which explorer Paul Rose celebrates the achievements of famous seamen and explorers

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Paul Rose

Sean Smith

Jeremy Philips

Voyages of Discovery: Hanging by a Thread

21/12/2006

Hanging by a Thread

BBC Four - Voyages of Discovery, Hanging by a Thread

How the USS Squalus submarine became stranded on the bottom of the Atlantic in 1939.

Paul Rose tells the story of the USS Squalus, stranded on the bottom of the Atlantic in 1939 and the first time anyone had been saved from a stricken submarine.

Explorer Paul Rose tells the story of the USS Squalus submarine which became stranded on the bottom of the Atlantic in 1939. No one had ever been saved from a stricken sub beneath the ocean before, but maverick designer Charles Momsen, who had been ignored by the navy top brass, was suddenly called into action to bring up the crew. 

Rose meets the last living survivor from the sub and one of the men, now 103, who helped save him. The rescue kick-started a whole new era of technology, laying the foundation for modern deep-sea diving.

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