Voyages of Discovery

Season 1 - Voyages of Discovery

• Season 1 Episode 5: Hanging By a Thread (2008) Paul Rose recounts the story of how American submarine USS Squalus became stranded in the Atlantic in 1939 after a fault caused a partial flooding of the vessel and the deaths of 26 men. The surviving 33 crew members were rescued by divers under the direction of maverick inventor Charles Momsen, employing his pioneering underwater escape apparatus. Last in the series
• Season 1 Episode 4: The Figure of The Earth (2008) Paul Rose visits Ecuador to examine the tale of an 18th-century expedition in which a group of French intellectuals set out to determine the shape of the Earth. The mission was beset by problems from the start as disease, disputes and affairs set the explorers on separate paths and, while great discoveries were made, the team were still to face theft, murder and despair. Part of the Journeys of Discovery strand
• Season 1 Episode 3: The Ice King (2008) Paul Rose investigates Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's Arctic expedition to reach the North Pole in 1892. Despite not being able to persuade any scientists to join him, Nansen became a pioneer of polar exploration techniques when he allowed his ship to get stuck in pack ice, hoping it would drift toward his destination
• Season 1 Episode 2: The Making of Captain Cook (2008) Paul Rose tells the story of Captain James Cook's historic 1768 voyage to find a vast southern continent. No such land mass was discovered, but the crew of the Endeavour went on to Tahiti and Australia, which Cook claimed for Britain. The ship was almost ripped apart on the Great Barrier Reef, but the captain's navigational skills led them through the reef and back home to safety
• Season 1 Episode 1: Ferdinand Magellan -- Circumnavigation (2008) In a new series examining historic expeditions, Paul Rose begins with the truth behind the first circumnavigation of the world. Five hundred years ago, Ferdinand Magellan set out to find the riches of the Spice Islands, but contrary to popular perception, he failed to reach them. A dramatic sequence of events followed, involving mutiny and murder, as his scurvy-ridden crew continued the journey without him