up next on a second look, it was supposed to be unsinkable. but the titanic became synonymous with maritime disaster. this month marks the 100th anniversary of one of the worse

maritimedisaster's in history. the sinking of the titanic. 1,011 people died. in the century sense, adventures have taken on finding the wreckage and cataloging the remains. the man who headed the company that owns salvaged rights to the liner was a guest on mornings on 2. here's ross mcgowen's interview with tucolack. >> so far the release will be quite good. joining me is tucolack. it is the garden -- guardian of the titanic wreckage site. in fact, george has visited the site nine times. >> the artistic creativity that

went into it and the great design that it possessed really was a magnificent ship. >> it was like 850 feet long. >> almost 900. >> it went off on its voyage and then hit an iceburg what? about four days later. >> 4-1/2 days later, yeah. >> this is the animation, explain what we're look at here. >> here we're seeing as the ship is going down. what we have at the bow filling with water and you're going to have a break between the second and -- the first and second funnel. and then you're going to have another break between the third and fourth funnel. and you end up with three large pieces. this is the stern which imploded because it went down with air in it.

the bow looks like a victorian home with cobwebs. and the middle section. this is the bow today as it sits there and this is using the edison light towers that we create. >> how deep is this? >> you have 7 miles of water over your head. >> that's why it took 73 years to find it in the first place. >> it took it because we needed the technology. it was 20 years before the space program. before we had the ability to go down there. >> so you've been down there? >> i have been, 14 times. we've been down there 93 times. >> is it true that one of the crews was given a message, beware of iceburgs. >> yes, smith was lighting the boilers and making the ship go faster and the captain was

trying to say to him, will you stoplighting more boilers please bruce. that would become an argument over testimony in court trials later. >> they knew there was going to be a problem and they did not seem to pay attention. because this was a very advanced ship for the tile. let's show some of the things you've found. we both have white gloves on because this is what you have found on the titanic. first of all this is the one of the -- >> this is a generic cup. it could have been first class, it could have been third class, it could have been crew. any class had this cup. >> and it says olympic. the older sister that was known as the dependable one and titanic. >> what's this right here? >> that is the home of a deep sea ocean animal. once you go below 1,000 feet you lose light. from there downward it's all animal life. >> was it laying on its side.

>> yes, this stain here. you see the gloss ross is very good there. but if you look at 180 degrees out where the ocean would carry a current across it, you will notice that it's very dull there. because the sand that was in the sea -- yeah it's very dull. because the sand just really removed the glaze. >> i feel nervous picking this stuff up here. this is -- >> a brand new gold sovern 1920. and that's frozen in time because there's not a bit of wear on it. >> and? >> and this has a lot of ware but it refuses to be lost. this was minted when his wife died. it has been turned into a piece of jewelry. it went down on the titanic and refuses to get lost. >> there weren't all the

jewelry or jewels that they thought would be. they expected incredible amounts. >> they might be there and inside the bow. but the true treasure is the paper. no ship wreck has given us paper and it's because the temperature down there is 28 to 38 degrees. there's no light, there's very little oxygen and it's a very gooden environment inside suitcases to be able to preserve paper. then we removed the stains with electricity. that's a stock certificate from a company called the bow bowery wichert's. which was an entertainment. >> and if you can explain, the band kept playing as it went down. >> yes. >> everybody love it is pictures but the best part is susan well's writing. four months after that interview, bryan copeland sat down with the man who discovered the titanic wreckage in 1985 after 12 years of

searching. since then divers in many submarines have recovered a number of artifacts for the salvage company. they display the findings at a permanent exhibit. here's that interview. >> when we found it 13 years ago, thousands and thousands of kids reacted the same way they reacted to this one. in fact, that's why we started this program for children. because all those kids said, you know next time you go out there -- >> can i go with you. >> can i go along. we're going to talk about the project in just a minute. i remember when you found it you placed a plaque and you wanted it to be a memorial. now i see they have artifacts that they brought up and they're touring. how are they able to do that? >> it's admiral law, finders keepers. when we find ships we don't

tell people where they are. so that they will be left in the bottom. >> you consider it grave robbing. >> i consider it -- having an object in a museum doesn't tell me about the titanic. >> it's builders has declared the titanic to be virtually unsinkable. the original design had enough lifeboats in all the passengers. as an effort to make it easier for passengers to stroll the deck, some lifeboats were removed. two years later the newly formed international commission for the safety at life at sea passed legislation that require boats to carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. still to come on a second look, dramatic pictures as rogue waves sweep over a cruise ship. what happens when the captain abandoned ship before the passengers are safe. the shocking story of the costa

concord kwra. -- costaconcorida.

tonight on a second look we're looking at maritime disasters. >> we got off the aculilaua without a scratch. we're not planing about anything. >> people had to go up a ladder, a rope ladder, even old people had to go up again and then the lifeboats were put down toward her. and then they had to go down on

ropes. >> the u.s. navy ship gettysburg retrieved the passengers. nine months after, crew members ferried customers to other cruise ship. no one was seriously injured. after those incidents, laws were put the in place to require lifeboats. in 2004, a cigarette butt started a fire. that fire killed several people. >> we could hear all the lifeboats, i think there were 22 lifeboats on board, they had those out and ready to put in the open ocean. >> reporter: after the fire the ship's owner princess cruise line replaced the plastic

furniture with nonflammable materials. since 2010, regulations prohibit combustible material on cruise ships. >> reporter: terror from the sea an enormous wave at least 26 feet high washes across the deck of the louis cruise line ship with almost 2,000 aboard. the moment of impact triggered chaos and fear as passengers ran for their lives. in all three towerrering waves hit the ship. killing two people and injured 14 others. >> we felt it when the wind drawing through the belt. by crying everybody, we didn't know exactly what happened. then after a few minutes there was a cry of calling for a doctor. >> reporter: it happened wednesday off the coast of spain. the loui was on the last day of

a trip. the 45,000-ton had just left barcelona and in the middle of violent weather. you can see the rough waters, the swells surrounding the ship, then on deck five the direct hit. we slowed the amateur video down as the waves crashed through the window. >> everybody was really nervous. and we were nervous too because the crew were running. >> reporter: water pours down stairwells and floods several of the 732 state rooms. by nightfall, the crippled ship reaches port where officials are investigating the incident. we wanted to ask officials from the cruise line about the weather conditions at the time of the incident. but a spokesman for the cruise line refused to give us comment. >> reporter: as a result the cruise line decided to bolt furniture and gambling machines to the ground and floors to secure them. when we come back on a

second look, an it it -- an italian ship captain is blamed for leaving a sinking ship.

perhaps you heard it say that the captain always goes down with his ship. in january that was not the case. in fact, it appeared that when the costa concordia ran aground, the captain ignored orders. >> reporter: polite has spent five years as a cruise ship captain. and teaches often using this simulator. he calls the decision to leave

the contra concordia incredulous. >> i guess i'm ashamed. as a captain i can't imagine that, makes me angry as well. >> reporter: a commander is ordering captain scatino back to the cruise ship while passengers were still on board, scatino but do you realize it's dark. and captain says, so what. it's dark, and you want to go home. get back on the boat. >> it's inmoral and unethical to do that. >> reporter: this central valley couple arrived at san francisco airport last night from rome. they had gotten off the ship early before the incident happened, but had already formed a bad first impression about the captain. >> i said that captain there

doesn't care about anybody but himself. >> this is a black eye to the industry. we want to be sure that the people that make the mistakes are held accountable for them. >> congress in february held hearings questioning cruise ship safety. ktvu's scott mac farland brought us this report. >> reporter: linda sanford survived a cruise ship wreck in mexico. >> i went clawing on my hands and knees out of the ocean so that i would not drown. the captains need to be accountable. especially for death.

>> reporter: congressional leaders say they will have to make it law that crews train longer. a passenger testifying today that the crew was in chaos as the ship flooded. >> still there's no communication on their side as to when they would allow us to get on the lifeboat or what we are supposed to do. >> reporter: the coast guard says it does have stiff regulations but there's concern safety rules and other countries are too weak. >> we can't do this just by ourselves or put in place laws that just protect americans from our ports. >> reporter: the cruise industry is stepping up it safety efforts as of this month, ships departing must conduct their safety checks before leaving port. this is a $37 billion a year industry. in 1991 a greek ship sank off the coast of south africa.

and passengers complained the captain and crew departed before anyone did. crew members took the only two motorized lifeboats for themselves. an entertainer said he saw the crew and captain leave early. >> facing an enormous problem and the only officer left on the ship was the captain who got off on the first helicopter that came. >> the captain's explanation, he needed to get off the ship so he could direct the rescue from offshore. no one died or was seriously hurt. the hospital ship that wept down at the mouth of san francisco bay. and the disturbing memories for the people who tried to help. l(@@ (

on a second look tonight we've been showing you ship wrecks from around the world. a little over 60 years ago there was one right here at

home. a u.s. military hospitalship hospital ship went down at the mouth of the san francisco bay. >> reporter: in 1950 the u.s. military faced a new war in a place most americans knew nothing about, korea. what was called a police action quickly mutated into a real war. fighting was fierce and casualties were high. there was a sudden desperate need for hospital ships, medical vessels that had been retired in world war ii such as the uss hope were hauled back into service. a hospital ship could carry supplies and bring back the wounded and give them immediate life saving care along the way. the hope sister ship, the benevolence was also called back into service and renovated for sea duty. on the 25th of august 1950, the benevolence was returning to san francisco bay from a sea

trial before shipping out to korea. there were 526 people aboard. as it entered the golden gate in patchy fog, the benevolence collided with a freighter. the collision tore a hole in the ship. a later investigation found that both ships were going at high speeds. we can't show you the benevolence today because the ship lies on the bottom of san francisco bay but she was about the size and configuration of this one, the golden bear which also served as a hospital ship and is now docked in oakland. in the confusion after the collision, people struggled to release the lifeboats. but the lifeboat's releasing mechanism relied on power. most people tried to release them by hand but no passengers had drills. only one made it into the water.

the captain of the benevolence had ordered the ship's water tight hatches closed but in the chaos that was never done. 40 minutes after the collision, the benevolence, filled with water, rolled over and went under. at fisherman's wharf the world went out of the accident. hundreds of sailors and medical workers floating in the bay obscured by fog and oncoming darkness. >> we were amazed and we had to get our boats rigged out and start picking up people and it was getting dark. and we the went all night long. >> standing near the cliff house a few hundred yards from

where the benevolence went down, he remembers looking for people in the dark. >> they would yell, i asked them where they were and they would raise their hands up over the water if they could. we would maneuver over there, and all of us, every time that we possibly could we would go up to the ship and get a towel and dry off as well as we could. quite often, the navy -- coast guard core men would reach over and drop a little bottle of brandy to us. some of the people, all they had was a white shirt on or a chef's uniform or something like that. they didn't have any coats or any good shoes or anything else. so a lot of them were barefooted because they just had gotten up and ran. >> reporter: the rescue effort by coast guards men and fishermen went on through the night. remarkably of the 526 people

aboard, 498 were saved. 28 lost their lives. some in ways that the rescuers could not forget. >>a woman on the ship that did all of the cooking and housekeeping for the officers, when they were told that they had to abandon ship, they just grabbed her life preserver and jumped over the side and a lot of them didn't know how to swim, and some of them hit the propellers and were cut in half by the propellers. >> cut in half, good grief. richard, why? >> the propellers were just sharp as razors coming out of the shipyard. it was really a gorry mess, i had nightmares for a long time afterward. >> reporter: the 28 who died

were not the only cashties. wounded men were waiting in korea. even without that grim extrapolation, the wreck of the benevolence left it mark as the worse tragedy in the bay in the last 100 years. >> that's it for this week's second look. i'm julie haener, thank you for watching.