New documentary goes deep to tell the untold stories of Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse
Nearly 80 years ago, on Nov. 7, 1940, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed during a wind storm.
A documentary crew has been working to put together a new film about the infamous collapse and see what lies beneath.
“700 Feet Down” is an in-progress documentary which shows never-before-seen footage of the wreckage under the bridge as well as a series of interviews with those who witnessed the collapse.
The film has been in production since October of last year and a short version has been completed with plans to show in educational settings such as the Gig Harbor History Museum. A longer version is still in progress with hopes to get broader distribution and potentially be made available through streaming platforms in 2021.
The documentary is the brainchild of Peter Bortel, who has been diving under the Narrows Bridge for years and wanted to make a film to capture the story which he felt hadn’t been done justice.
“The whole story hadn’t been told well or accurately over the years. There were all these rumors about giant creatures under there. There is so much misinformation I wanted to get the story straight,” Bortel said. “I thought that would be an interesting first movie.”
Producer Carly Vester felt the film presented a unique opportunity.
“When Peter approached me with this idea, I just thought it was brilliant because none of these components have been put together in a film,” Vester said. “You have the historical footage that everyone has seen of the bridge twisting and collapsing. You have those rumors of the giant octopus. You have the wreckage that is still down there.”
Getting access to firsthand accounts of the collapse proved to be an eye-opening experience for the team, which found more voices with stories to share. One such subject, Virginia, served as an entry point and was able to recommend other people for the team to talk to.
“Word kind of spread,” Vester said. “A lot of it has been word of mouth. It is quite surprising how many folks have a story from that day and have a story that they want to share with sharp memories of it. That’s been a joy to listen to and discover.”
When it came to getting a team of divers, Bortel tapped into a network of contacts he has built over the years.
“I’ve been a diver in the Puget Sound for 30 years with several thousand dives, so I’ve got a lot of contacts in underwater sports,” Bortel said.
That didn’t mean it was always smooth going. Calculations had to be made to make sure the diving was safe, with the team working this past weekend on getting more footage.
“The key is not the weather, it’s really the tide,” Bortel said. “The tides in October are spectacular.”
For Bortel, the experience has shown how important it is to reflect and see what went wrong in constructing the bridge.
“They were looking to build this amazing, spectacular one-of-a-kind bridge, but to do it for half the cost. They found this builder that sounds like one of the politicians from today. ‘I could do this, and I could do it for $5 million instead of 10. It’ll be the most marvelous, spectacular bridge that was ever built.’ He built something that was done on the cheap and didn’t include what needed to be included,” Bortel said. “That money was obviously lost on the day the bridge fell.”
The lessons learned draw parallels to the current pandemic, with Bortel identifying a common failure to learn from past mistakes.
“It just shows, even today we’re not learning from the past by putting our history and what we’ve learned to use today. It parallels the coronavirus and everything that’s going on with the world today,” Bortel said. “We still don’t learn from the past. That idea really resonated with me.”
Vester thinks the film will be enlightening to viewers who might drive across the current Narrows bridges today but don’t know the full story of the 1940 catastrophe.
“This has been a little bit like bringing a folklore to life,” Vester said. “Knowing that the wreckage was down there, knowing the story but not necessary knowing the details.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
