MSP - Deep Wreck Mysteries Series 2 (2008) Part 4 The Leopoldville Disaster

Britain and Ireland, island nations, have the richest of maritime histories, but much of their underwater heritage has been beyond the reach of investigation. Thousands of vessels lie wrecked off the shores, many sank in time of World Wars and are yet to be discovered. Deep below the surface of the sea they remain silent witnesses to conflict and carnage. Among those hidden victims are some of the largest and most impressive ships ever to plummet to the bottom – giant battleships, massive cargo carriers, and towering ocean liners. Our island nation has more maritime history buried beneath its waves than anywhere else on earth. Britain's deep-sea wrecks are the gold-dust of underwater exploration - and just as elusive too hard to find, too deep to reach, too dark to film. And because of this its most intriguing wrecks have remained in an eerie, twilit world, silent witnesses to the conflict and carnage of their sinking. The ghost ships of the deep, holding the secrets of the dead. Now, advances in dive technology bring these deep sea wrecks to the screen, revealing a world of secret weapons, negligence and atrocity. This series finally sheds light into these murky depths through some of the best deep-sea cameramen in the world. Delving into the waters off the southwest coast of England, they apply their unparalled technical experience to an exciting new challenge filming recently discovered wrecks, both fabled and forgotten. Come explore the hidden world of these deep wreck mysteries.

Part 4 The Leopoldville Disaster

As the troopship SS Leopoldville steams towards France from England on Christmas Eve, 1944 with Allied soldiers on board, a torpedo rips into her side. After a fatal delay, the ship sinks within sight of the port of Cherbourg, leaving men to jump into the bitter winter seas. Nearly 800 soldiers do not live to see Christmas Day. Two and a half hours after the torpedo hit, the Leopoldville slips beneath the waves. Now, an international team of divers brave some of the English Channel's most treacherous and dangerous waters, 56 metres down, in an attempt to reach the wreck. Can they find any evidence as to why the men were apparently abandoned and what, if anything, could have been done to save them? They aim to uncover clues to help answer the question: why did so many young men have to die?

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