Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who located the remains of the Titanic , hosts the two-hour special. Historians tell of a time of hope, change and adventure, of shipping rivalry and the battle for speed.
Survivors tell personal tales of shock and loss.
Re-enactments bring viewers ever closer to what may now seem an almost imaginary time. A time when the arts and sciences flourished and an elite few, men like J.P.Morgan, held immense wealth. A time when passengers traveled the globe on moving palaces of steel and marble in the biggest, fastest machines available liners they believed were indestructible. The program follows Ballard and his crew on an expedition to the St. Lawrence Seaway to tour the submerged Empress of Ireland , which disappeared beneath the waves in just 14 minutes. Fiber optics and remote vehicles allow viewers to tour the once elegant luxury liner, where she rests uneasily at the bottom of the sea.