Marine Machines

When everyone else runs for the high ground, rescuers risk their lives to save those in need. They combine their courage with the capabilities of their amazing marine machines to get the job done.

Every day, around the world, thousands of men and woman dive to work. They repair and maintain offshore oilrigs, search for victims of tragedy and crime, even plunge into tanks of raw sewage, performing dangerous, but essential, jobs.

Our coastlines and harbors are littered with tens of millions of unexploded shells, mines, and even atomic bombs. Finding them is tough, risky work, but for a boatload of American fisherman, searching for a 40-year-old hydrogen bomb is an obsession.

As the age of giant battleships steams to a close, modern combat at sea has become a contest of on-shore stealth, wave-skimming hovercraft, scuba-wearing commandos, and an arsenal of deadly accurate missiles, torpedoes, and mines.

Naval tactics have changed since the days of great battleships. Broadside firefights have been replaced by concealed precision strikes.

Visit fascinating new installations in England, France, Iceland, Scotland, Denmark, and Canada for a close-up look at how scientists and engineers are converting the raw fury of the ocean into an infinite supply of non-polluting energy.

15 meters below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, teams of astronauts and aquanauts are living, working, sleeping and studying the marine environment in a self-contained habitat called Aquarius. Its a vision of a future of life undersea.

The largest Sternwheeler ever built plies the Mississippi River, complete with old fashioned tunes and riverboat gamblers. Its steam powered engine gets a close up look along with its many decks and shallow draught construction.

It is one of the most popular and revolutionary Marine Machines ever invented. For the past 60 years, Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, or scuba, has enabled millions of enthusiasts to enter an unseen world of wonders.

Icebergs are the biggest most menacing killers marauding the seas. This is the story of the International Ice Patrol, and others who protect the shipping, fishing and oil and gas platforms from these floating bullies.

When the script calls for underwater action, movie-makers dive in with custom-made cameras, sunken sets, and mechanized monsters. Meet the innovators of JAWS and Pearl Harbor, tour an animatronic aquarium, and learn about digital water.

The worlds maritime highways require constant maintenance by powerful diggers and dredgers. Meet the huge suction draggers spewing silt, self-guided robotic beavers and other powerful digging machines.

Deep below the surface of the ocean an amazing new generation of powerful machines is hard at work. They carry dream pioneers to the bottom of the sea to repair pipelines or confront bizarre deep-sea creatures.