(dramatic music)
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(submersible whirring)
During World War II many submarines
disappeared without a trace,
their fate unknown.
One of those was the British submarine, Perseus,
who in 1941 disappeared somewhere in the Mediterranean,
taking to the bottom her entire crew.
(siren blaring) (sailors shouting)
Rudders midships, hull depth.
Only one man knew the true story
of what had happened to the submarine and her crew.
And that man was John Capes.
Welcome aboard, passenger Capes.
John was lucky not have been burned or suffocated,
and his escape from the submarine
is nothing short of a miracle.
Surviving the destruction of the submarine,
it would take all of his wits to evade capture
and survive on the enemy occupied island.
(dramatic music)
(waves crashing) (gentle music)
(man whistles)
(man speaking in foreign language)
During World War II, in the evening of December 6, 1941,
the British submarine Perseus struck a mine
while patrolling off the Greek island of Kefalonia.
The following morning, a sole survivor, John Capes,
washed ashore with an incredible claim
of escaping from a sunken submarine,
ascending to the surface,
an miraculously making it to shore.
(soldiers speaking in foreign language)
(cart rattling)
Water. (coughing)
I need water.
Exhausted and hurt, Capes is at the mercy
of the Kefalonian people
if he expects to evade captured by the Italian soldiers.
(John coughing)
Capes is suffering from decompression illness,
a sickness divers get
when they come to the surface too quickly.
(suspenseful music)
For some time it was touch and go.
It appeared that John was more dead than alive.
(ominous music)
(John sputtering)
To the end of his life, no one would believe John Capes
when he told the story of his amazing escape and survival.
It's been 77 years since the loss of the Perseus
and nowadays dozens of vessels pass by here every day
with no idea of the events
that took place here back in 1941.
(ship's horn blaring)
Before we really get in to diving operations,
I think it's gonna be in our best interest
to go all the way around,
'cause it's a highly fished area,
so I anticipate we're gonna see a lot
of fishing nets and lines.
We've only got about an hour of daylight,
so I suggest that we obviously
use the current to our advantage,
and work our way around the submarine,
looking for those entanglements.
So that you're not gonna have a problem with the ROV.
We wouldn't want Bob getting hung up on the wreck.
Okay, we'll do it.
No problem?
Dima, what's the best way to move?
We should start with the bow,
where the current is now that direction,
and proceed around this direction and come back.
It should take us less than one hour, for sure.
So we'll use the current to our advantage,
go around the wreck, and then by that time
it might be dark and we may as well
just focus on some of the close ups
that we'll need to tell the story of the Perseus.
I have been exploring submarine wrecks
around the world for over 25 years.
Nearly every one of these ship wrecks
has taken their crew and their stories to the bottom.
By exploring these grave sites
I have found answers to mysteries
and provided closure to families.
But this is a dangerous endeavor,
and over the years I've lost friends diving on shipwrecks.
It's a terrible and tragic price to pay for these answers.
Today's new technology, like these submersibles,
have expanded my abilities in exploration
and made it safer to go even deeper.
Triton to Navigator, starting to descend.
(water gurgling)
Copy that, good luck.
Triton to Navigator, all readings in green.
Copy that, Triton.
So the ROV's now on the conning tower.
I'm staring to see something.
Yeah, there is it.
Yeah, all right.
Triton, I see you.
Okay Bob, stop above the conning tower.
Copy, Triton.
Look at the size of it, this is a huge submarine.
It was intended to operate in the Pacific,
not the shallow waters of the Mediterranean.
Triton, QU, I'm listening.
I'm right above you, observing you.
Get some light on the conning tower, if you can.
This is the area of the control room,
brain, or nerve center of the submarine.
This is where, obviously, all the commands from the captain,
whether to dive the submarine, go on to the surface,
whether to use the diesel motors or the electric motors.
Charge.
Everything.
Get the fresh air.
Be careful, there's a large fishing net
on the port side.
Copy that.
See, that's not the position that the gun would be in.
Obviously that fishing net has pulled it over.
And it's moved once or twice a year,
so you can see, by the same, by the fishermen.
They're pulling it in different directions.
When the explosion sank Perseus,
onboard, right here on the conning tower,
was the bridge watch.
And none of them survived.
I can only think during the explosion
probably broke their arms, their legs, terrible.
I mean, they were on the surface.
They could have made the same swim that Capes did,
but the explosion debilitated them, they couldn't do it.
I want to check inside the conning tower.
Okay, Bob, I'm coming.
Okay, thank you.
Dima, I'm entering.
Bob, be careful, there is a fishing line below you.
Copy that, Triton.
As John Capes dropped down that hatch
and headed inside the Perseus,
he had no idea that the mission would end so tragically
and his journey would go on for so many years.
(sailors chattering)
Quickly now lads, grab your stuff,
we're taking off.
Permission to enter, sir.
Leading stoker John Hawtrey Capes, sir,
arrived and at your disposal.
Welcome aboard, passenger Capes.
Your suite is located at the stern of the vessel.
(door clanging)
John Capes was a stoker
with a long history on His Majesty's submarines,
serving on the L-34, the Thrasher,
and the sister ship to the Perseus, the Olympus.
He was only onboard the Perseus as a passenger,
hitching a ride to get back to his own boat, the Olympus.
Home sweet home.
I'm John, but my friends call me Choppa.
I'm Pete.
In 1940, while the submarine was stationed in Malta,
Capes rented a car to tour the island with some friends.
While he was driving, he hit a bus.
(upbeat jazz music)
Hey, let's go to dance.
Please.
I'll watch you, go.
A few months after the incident,
the Maltese courts began proceedings,
and Capes' presence was required at the hearing.
The worsening situation on Malta
was protracting John's case for too long.
Finally the admiralty, tired of waiting
for the court proceedings to end,
decided to send him to Alexandria
to continue his service.
He was to travel there aboard the submarine HMS Perseus,
with whose crew John had been spending time with
at that moment.
(people chattering)
There you are.
Steve, at last, I was beginning to think
you weren't gonna arrive.
Yeah, got put up at the base.
I'll have one of those.
By the way, Lieutenant Cartwright's been looking for you.
Cartwright, the shrimp?
I wonder what he wants all of a sudden.
Well, the order's just come in.
You, my friend, are going to Alexandria.
Alexandria?
When?
Tomorrow, I'm afraid.
But I still have tonight.
(laughs) ♪ My only sunshine ♪
♪ You make me happy ♪ Come on, let's sing a song.
♪ When skies are gray ♪
(footsteps thudding) (typewriter clacking)
Lieutenant Nicholas Merlin.
Sir, I would like to speak to Commander George Simpson.
What is the purpose of your visit?
It's personal.
Please, speak to his secretary.
Capes was heading to Alexandria to join his crew,
but he was not the only passenger aboard the Perseus.
Captain Nicholas Merlin was also aboard,
gaining additional experience
before getting a submarine of his own.
This patrol to intercept enemy convoys
was the exact type of training Nicholas would need.
Merchant shipping was the lifeblood
of Rommel's Afrika Korps.
Food and fuel was just as important as bombs and bullets.
Without the supply line,
Rommel's troops would be stopped in their tracks.
(ship creaking)
Naval convoys had been in use for centuries.
The idea is a simple one.
Group all of your merchant ships together
under military protections of both aircraft and destroyers.
(ship creaking)
Despite the bad weather,
the paths of Perseus and the Axis convoy had crossed.
Submerge to periscope depth, heading 80 degrees,
half speed ahead.
Both diesel engines to stop,
electric motors to half speed ahead.
Solomon Green, 100 degrees.
(siren blaring) (dramatic music)
Rudders midships, hull depth.
Close the main ballast valve.
Bloody hell First Mate, I said periscope depth.
Are you capable of following my orders, or not?
Periscope depth, 32 feet.
Once contact is made it would depend
on the captain's experience and a bit of luck
to get the submarine into good firing position.
If the merchant vessel didn't change its course,
their destiny is sealed.
(suspenseful music)
(thunder rumbling)
(ship's engines chugging)
Bearing 150, sound of the propellers.
High revs, maybe a destroyer.
There's a second hit, bearing 330.
That's better.
Mr. Robertson, battle stations.
Flood torpedo tubes one to six.
Bearing marked, open outer doors one to six.
Open the outer doors.
(doors clanging)
That's not even fair.
First Mate, track angle.
Five right, sir.
(dramatic music)
Fire tubes one and two.
Fire torpedoes one and two.
Reverse cells on 80 green.
High revs, directly on us.
Merchant vessels themselves may be a soft target,
but they can come at a price
when being escorted by a destroyer.
Electric motors one-third ahead,
abort torpedo attack.
Abort torpedo attack.
Set depth to 200 feet, emergency deep.
Shut off countermeasures attack.
Maximum immersion angles,
electric motors full speed ahead, depth 200 feet.
No movement in the compartments, silent running.
The sound of the propellor to the starboard,
passing over us.
I hear splashes.
The destroyer is the natural enemy
of a submarine.
All they have to do is get close with a depth charge,
and that would be enough to rip open the hull
and send the sub to the bottom.
(explosions booming in distance)
Not too close.
(explosions booming in distance)
Turn off the bloody valve.
Each explosion pushes the submarine
deeper and deeper into the water.
With the increasing water pressure,
it crushes the submarines and starts to break the pipes.
These bloody Italians, they can't hit right.
(explosion booming) (tense music)
Regardless of whether the destroyers
find and sink Perseus or not,
once she lets go of her torpedoes,
the intended target is doomed.
(explosion booming) (ship creaking)
(dramatic music)
(sailors shouting in foreign language)
(birds chirping) (waves crashing)
All right, we've got a fantastic sonar image
and we're moving back to get in position
to start dive operations.
This really looks to be like all of the targets
that the British submarines like Perseus were hunting.
An Italian merchant vessel carrying cargo
destined for Rommel in North Africa.
If we are lucky we can get inside these open hatches,
with Bob, with the ROV,
and see some of that cargo.
Bombs, aviation fuel, who knows maybe even armor;
tanks, Jeeps, that kind of stuff.
It's really gonna be on your shoulders to get in there.
We'll be outside with the Triton,
making sure you don't get caught on the masts
or any of that, but, you're gonna be the guy
to bring home the image.
(suspenseful music)
Along these ancient convoy routes
are the reminders of battles fought over the centuries.
Ships lost along the way.
Traces of war, fought long ago, that the sea hides.
As underwater explorers we reveal this lost history.
I'm at the bow.
Copy that Triton, reading your position.
Okay, well that confirms that this is
one of the many vessels that were being used,
possibly by the Italians,
that was carrying munitions.
That's a pretty dramatic bow shot.
No damage here up at the front of the ship.
Both anchors are right up in the hawsepipes.
Doesn't look like there was anything that happened up here.
It must have settled stern first.
At this point there's no damage.
Visibility looks pretty good.
You can see the sea floor.
Triton.
Navigator, go ahead.
ROV is deployed and ready to submerge.
Copy that.
(ethereal music)
Many of these shipwrecks are far beyond
the limit of where divers can go.
It is here in the great depths
that our advanced technology allows us to explore.
Look at that accommodation area.
That's four decks, four decks tall,
in amazing condition.
The top layer, that's where the bridge was,
where they obviously controlled the ship
and then the second, third, and fourth would be
where the crew would live, eat, and sleep.
Yeah, like that, now we can actually see
from one side all the way to the other.
(mysterious music)
Triton, QU.
Where are you?
Triton, we're by the propeller.
Okay, moving your direction.
Moving along port side and leaving Bob to you.
You know, between the British submarines and the aircraft,
that was the only way they could stop the flow of material
going to North Africa.
Every ship like this that they sank
was fuel, bombs, and bullets
that was deprived to Rommel and the Afrika Korps.
The top of the stern looks like its in pretty good shape.
Let's go see down below.
It's things like that that help us identify the ship.
Did it have one engine, two engines.
Did it have a deck gun, the cargo that it's carrying.
The starboard propellor is missing one blade.
Look how the rudder is pushed in.
Like upwards into the hull.
I guess that happened when it came down.
It must have come down stern first.
Triton, come by when you're done.
I want to enter the cargo hatch.
Don't go in without me.
It's in really good condition.
I guess the water depth here,
the fact that fishing nets can't get at it
has protected the wreck.
Wow, look at that.
That's pretty impressive.
You know, these ventilators,
you never see them on wrecks shallower than this.
I see you approaching the hatch.
Got it, I'm entering.
Try not to dazzle me.
Sure.
But don't get inside too deep.
Don't worry, I'm not going in without Bob.
It's very dangerous, too.
'Cause we can't help him if he has a problem.
He's got to figure it out by himself.
Still depth, depth allowance.
Follow me down here.
(majestic music)
There are several decks of cargo.
Oh wow, there's a whole parking lot here.
Bob, you're doing a good job
with the light there.
Turn a little to your left.
Every ship sunk would deprive the enemy
of desperately needed food,
fuel, ammunition, and vehicles.
But the most tragic cost was in the thousands
of soldiers and sailors who were sent to the bottom.
These successes against Axis shipping
took their toll on British submarines.
But fortunately, Perseus escaped undamaged.
Two days later, while patrolling in Greek waters,
Perseus was ordered near the island of Kefalonia
to intercept a convoy that would be coming
out of the Corinth Channel.
Sir?
The First Mate is waiting in the mess.
Mr. Merlin, please, join us.
Thanks, but I don't think I'm hungry now.
(chuckles) It's not much fun when it pitches.
Or is it different on Greek boats?
Well, not really no, it pitches exactly the same way.
Just we normally submerge in this kind of weather.
About an hour ago we made contact with a convoy,
so we're trying our best not to lose it.
So we can't dive right now.
Excuse me, it's my shift.
Some brew, of course not terribly fresh.
At least it was warm not long ago.
(horn blaring)
Oh well, so it begins.
Now we definitely won't be getting any sleep.
For Nicholas Merlin today was no ordinary day.
Today was the Feast of St. Nicholas,
for whom he had been named.
As fate would have it, he was passing right by
the island of Kefalonia,
where his mother and family had come from.
But what Nicholas Merlin didn't know
was today would be his last day.
(explosion booming)
(sailors shouting)
Put out the fire, put out the fire.
(explosion booming)
(sailors shouting)
(ship creaking)
Stand by to operate submarine.
On the prior dive we located
one of the mine anchors,
and now we're going to survey it.
Mines could be laid offensively or defensively,
to either protect the harbor
or limit an enemy's access to the area.
Once laid, the mines can be activated
either by hitting them,
by sound, or magnetism.
And a mine doesn't know the difference
between a friend or a foe.
Diver standing still.
Starting the diving operation.
(water sloshing)
(speaker drowned out by background noise)
Almost buoyant, feel free to.
(speaker drowned out by background noise)
The diver has almost reached the preset depth.
Copy that, on my way.
Hey Sergei, is he on the bottom?
Yeah, on the bottom.
Okay.
I'm here, all is quiet.
(speech drowned out by music)
Now he's looking at us.
How long has Andrew been down on the bottom?
About 15 minutes.
You need a lift down there?
No. (speech drowned out by bubbles gurgling)
I am by the object.
That looks like that might be
an anchor for a mine.
Can't be that far if he's,
as far as his umbilical.
So it's gotta be relatively close.
I am by the anchor.
Judging by its size, the mine was quite large.
It looks like one that belonged
to a World War II minefield.
That could actually be the mine anchor
for the mine that sank Perseus.
It is less than 20 meters
between the wreck and the anchor.
Must be from that exact mine.
QU, I'm approaching the propellers,
give me some light.
I see you, careful.
Don't get tangled, it's covered in fishing lines.
(bubbles gurgling) (mysterious music)
Both propellers are intact.
It seems that this compartment,
it belongs to deck one.
(dramatic music)
Are you there, coming to help.
What?
Are you all in one piece?
I can hardly hear you.
Shine that on my leg.
What have we hit?
You sure?
That wouldn't have been too bad.
It appears we've hit the bottom.
While submerging?
Well, you could call it that.
I can't hear you.
The pressure, it's pricked your ear drums.
(submarine chugging)
Now, I'm gonna go check the next compartment.
Maybe it's dry.
You wait here, try to keep quiet.
After the explosion and sinking,
Perseus was slowly killing the few men left alive.
Smoke and poison gas filled every compartment.
And with each breath the men were using up
what little oxygen remained.
The only thing that the Perseus survivors
had going for them was that the stern section
had stayed intact and not yet flooded.
These men had a way out.
(siren blaring)
What the bloody hell?
Just get going to the left.
We're going outside.
(speech drowned out by background noise)
Get this off.
(sailors grunting)
(explosion booming)
Get out of here, let's go, go, go.
Come on, go.
Get this door shut.
(door banging)
(mysterious music)
Look at the twist on the bow
from where Perseus slammed into the sea floor.
Kind of just took a nose
and twisted it over like that.
(radio chatter drowned out by background music)
Or maybe that does just go.
Gone, probably very thin steel.
And it just rotted away.
It you were semi-conscious after the explosion
and you're in this compartment,
when you hit the sea floor everything's gonna move forward.
Everything's gonna slide at the same time.
Water's coming from behind you.
Water came through everywhere.
I don't think the guys
in the forward compartments had a chance.
Not at all.
Navigator, go ahead.
The current got stronger.
We are leaving the bow.
Headed towards the conning tower.
Move a little more forward, towards the torpedo room,
because that's where the crew,
obviously the majority of the crew, were sleeping,
amongst the torpedoes.
I mean they lived, ate, and slept
right next to these huge weapons.
(ethereal music)
Yeah, so none of the hatches up here...
The conning tower hatch is open, but...
That would have been open on the surface
when the mine went off.
But nobody tried to get out of the bow.
Because I imagine the explosion,
sank very, very fast.
We are approaching the bridge.
We will attempt to send mini-ROV inside.
Understood, do you need any assistance?
We could use some additional light from above.
So right here, this is pretty substantial damage.
What I'm looking at here is obviously
right adjacent to what would have been
the battery compartment.
Can you go that, yeah, yeah, perfect, perfect, perfect.
Good, good, good, right there, awesome.
Inside the stern compartment,
time is stopped at that horrible moment.
And a large depth gauge with its glass face,
which at the time it sank would have shown
the incorrect depth of 270 feet,
which at that time was believed impossible
to escape from this depth, and yet Capes did it.
And there's the torpedo tubes, right there.
(suspenseful music)
Many warships have a crest or ship's emblem,
and on Perseus it was a dragon with a sword
driven into its mouth.
We can see one of them right here
on a torpedo tube door.
In some instances the torpedo tubes
could be used in an emergency as a point of escape.
They were of no help to the crew of the Perseus.
(ship's horn blaring)
(sailor grunting)
Listen lads, the hatch is open.
Then we surface in a couple of minutes.
Let's go, one at a time.
Capes was a stoker,
or an engineer on the Olympus,
the sister ship to the Perseus,
so he knew this type of submarine very well.
He gathered as many of the survivors as he could,
but the odds were against them.
Between the cold, the pressure, and the bad air.
Let's go, let's go.
They didn't stand a chance.
Good men.
Makes me wonder, when he took a few sips
of that rum, if it not only steeled his spirits,
but kept his core warm for that rapid ascent to the surface.
Whatever it was, escaping the submarine was a miracle.
(flourishing dramatic music)
(submarine groaning)
All World War II submarines were equipped
with emergency hatches and the crew given escape lungs
in the case that the submarine was to sink.
The problem is Perseus is three times deeper
than this equipment was ever designed.
Not only that, no one would be expected to survive
an ascent from a submarine this deep.
(ROV whirring)
You know, I have mixed emotions.
I mean I'm happy to be here,
but I realize that this is a war grave.
That the crew is still on board.
I can't wait to get to the back,
see if we can peek into the hatch
where John Capes made that
miraculous escape from this submarine.
Triton, (speech drowned out by background noise).
Just set.
Now where did it go?
Maybe it's been removed by the trawl nets.
Some of the outer structure's been ripped away
or rotted away over the years, though.
It's not 100% intact.
But the pressure hull is right there.
Top hatch is completely open.
Everything just like Capes said.
You know, when you think about Capes
organizing the escape,
giving aid to the injured sailors
and then getting the escape lungs,
flooding the compartment.
I mean he really orchestrated the entire escape.
And then three men ducked underneath
and then punched out, where we consider that.
Here we are, 190 feet from the surface.
And only one of the three guys made it to the surface.
Only Capes survived.
This submarine did everything it could
to kill every one of its crew.
(bells tolling)
The explosion of the mine
was soon discovered by the Axis.
They knew the submarine had sunk,
and over the next few days
had been looking for the survivors.
(man speaking in foreign language)
I'm sorry, I didn't meant to wake you.
Ugh, it's these drugs.
They make me do nothing but sleep.
Here, you also have to eat.
Thank you.
Nico said you're feeling better.
I'm capable of breathing normally now.
What did he say? The Germans are here,
we have to leave now.
(dogs barking) (bells tolling)
(motorcycle engine revving)
(soldiers speaking in foreign language)
On the island rumors began
that the local people had buried sailors
whose bodies they had found on the shoreline.
For harboring an enemy,
the Germans could shoot a person dead.
But despite that terrible threat,
the Greeks still helped John Capes.
In the event that Capes had gotten caught
he simply would have gone to jail
as a prisoner of war.
But the people that helped him?
They would have been criminals
and subject to the death penalty.
(man singing in foreign language)
After the occupation of Greece in 1941,
the island of Kefalonia came under Italian control.
Besides the 12,000 Italian soldiers there,
about 2,000 troops from Nazi Germany were also present.
They opened camps for disobedient Greeks
in Paxos, Athone, and Lazaretto.
Where approximately 3,500 Greeks were jailed,
tortured, and executed under horrible conditions.
(soldier speaking in foreign language)
(John coughing)
Don't worry.
When we were young, my brother and I, we used to hide here.
Nico would never find us.
John's luck holds.
By moving to the center of the island
he evades capture by the soldiers
that are looking for him.
(bright music)
Time has changed Capes.
He's lost weight, grew a beard,
and dressed like the local people.
It's nearly impossible to see that he's a foreigner.
(airplane engines revving)
(sheep bleating)
Feeling a little safer in his surroundings,
John sends a postcard to his mother,
who at this point believes that he is dead
along with the rest of the Perseus crew.
Mailed to his mother's home number,
the card eludes the Nazi censors.
Strangely, its delivered and the cryptic message,
"All is well, Hawtrey,"
lets his mother know that he has survived.
Time goes by, and more and more people are helping Capes.
He was given a donkey so that he could blend in,
he just had to promise that he wouldn't eat it.
With this donkey,
John starts scouting his surroundings,
studying check points, locations of the soldiers,
and their vehicles.
Capes' mother, after reading his postcard,
informs the Admiralty he's still alive.
The Admiralty, although skeptical,
wants to verify the information
and the suspicious way in which it arrived.
So they forward the information on to MI-9.
(crowd chattering)
(man singing in foreign language)
Located in Alexandria, Egypt,
the MI-9 branch handled resistance operations
in enemy occupied Greece.
There is a unit which is engaged
in pulling out sailors and pilots
from behind the enemy lines.
The man who formed MI-9, Michael Parish,
using his contacts in Greece,
confirmed that there really was
a British sailor in Kefalonia.
Michael Parish, through his agents in Kefalonia,
swore to John Capes that there's a plan to get him out.
With the assistance of the MI-9 agents
and his new papers,
John will have to pass through several check points
in order to get to the rendezvous point.
After receiving the fake documents,
Capes' status changes from prisoner of war to spy.
He is no longer protected under the Geneva Convention.
And if caught, is subject to the death penalty.
(suspenseful music)
Capes was very grateful
to the Greeks for his rescue,
and never hid his feelings towards them.
For 18 months they risked their own lives to hide him
and nurse him back to health.
(majestic music)
Having left Kefalonia,
in three days time he reaches neutral Turkey,
from where he'll go on directly to England.
In a way, John Capes came back from the dead.
And although Perseus was still lost,
she was no longer missing.
And having told his story he receives a medal for bravery,
as the only man to have survived the Perseus.
Throughout his life,
many doubted his story as unbelievable.
It was only after his death,
and thanks to the divers who discovered
the wreck of the Perseus,
could his incredible story of survival be proven true.
As an underwater explorer,
I find myself in awe of John Capes' luck,
stamina, and single-minded will to survive,
despite every obstacle thrown at him.
Both the forces of war
or the ocean that held him captive.
He rose to the occasion,
showing us that no matter the odds,
the human spirit can not be defeated.
(boat engine revving) (flourishing music)
(flourishing dramatic music)