1. TV Schedules
  2. Episode of Nova

Nova

Why Ships Sink

Season 39, Episode 11 of 11

Are you safe aboard a modern cruise ship? Twenty million passengers embark on cruises each year, vacationing in deluxe "floating cities" that offer everything from swimming pools to shopping malls to ice skating rinks. And the ships just keep getting bigger: The average cruise ship has doubled in size in just the last ten years. Some engineers fear that these towering behemoths are dangerously unstable, and the recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia has raised new questions about their safety. Now, NOVA brings together marine engineering and safety experts to reconstruct the events that led up to famous cruise disasters, including the ill-fated Concordia, the Sea Diamond, and the Oceanos. Are we really safe at sea-or are we on the brink of a 21st century Titanic?

More From this Series

Previously Aired

Day
Time
Channel
4/18/2012
9 p.m.
PBS 6
4/19/2012
2 a.m.
PBS 6
4/22/2012
5 p.m.
PBS 6
9/18/2013
9 p.m.
PBS 6
9/19/2013
2 a.m.
PBS 6
9/20/2013
1 p.m.
PBS 6
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona