How did Carl Spencer die while filming a movie about the Titanic sister ships?
A highly respected British diver has died during the exploration of a shipwreck off the coast of Greece. Carl Spencer, 37, had been leading a 17-man National Geographic Society expedition to film Britannic, sister ship of Titanic, off the island of Kea when he suffered severe decompression sickness (DCS), also known as the bends, during an emergency ascent to the surface. The 53,000-ton Britannic, even larger than her famous sibling and deemed equally “unsinkable”, was lost in 57 minutes after hitting a mine in 1916, while serving as a hospital ship during the First World War. The wreck was discovered in 1975 by the French undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, but, lying at about 300ft (90m), it pushes divers to the limits of endurance. Mr Spencer, a father of two from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, led an expedition to Britannic in 2003. He had also taken part in explorations of Titanic, led by James Cameron, director of the eponymous film, and Carpathia, which rescued 705 passengers