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[narrator] It's painfully clear that our obsession with sharks has sometimes
come at a deadly cost.
But one man has devoted his life
to narrowing the barrier between man and shark.
Shark suits are not for the days that things go well,
it's for the days that things go wrong.
[narrator] By creating new technology
that allows shark researchers to leave the cage,
and live to tell about it.
[Jeremiah] Wow!
[narrator] Now, he'll attempt to take the next critical step,
advancing the armored shark suits he began building 40 years ago,
to withstand attacks from some of the biggest, baddest sharks on Earth.
[Jeremiah] Whoa!
[narrator] And to test his work, he'll put himself inside the jaws
of these lethal predators.
[Jeremiah] Look at the force on that!
[narrator] No cages.
[Jeremiah] It's got a hold of it.
[narrator] No second chances.
[Joe] These sharks are going nuts already!
[narrator] Just man.
[Jeremiah] Watch out!
[narrator] Versus shark.
And here to tell us more about the new protective shark suit is
inventor and marine biologist...
Jeremiah Sullivan.
[applause]
[Jeremiah, over TV] I have plans to produce
materials which would provide
a very lightweight form of protection to other divers.
[narrator] For more than 40 years, Jeremiah's led a groundbreaking mission
to eliminate the steel bars between man and shark.
[Jeremiah] I felt it was important to study these animals
in their own environment,
not from within the confines of the cage, which can alter the very behavior
that you're trying to study.
So in the end, yes, I did have to do things
that had never been done before.
[narrator] Jeremiah's cage-free obsession was cemented in reality years ago,
when he did the unthinkable.
He slipped out of the safety of his shark cage and hitched a ride
on the tail of a massive, 17-foot great white.
[Jeremiah] I felt compelled to make contact
to prove that divers could interact safely
with even these great predators.
[narrator] Jeremiah's dream of removing the walls between man and predator
propelled him to become a pioneer in shark protection technology.
I started the shark suit project in 1978,
and a lot of that was based around my studies of medieval chainmail.
[narrator] Jeremiah continued improving and strengthening his chainmail suit
until it became the standard for shark protection.
But it still couldn't save divers from larger, more powerful shark species.
The suit really isn't designed to work with something that large,
and I intend of course to work with much larger sharks.
There really is so much more that we have to learn from these large predators.
You just have to be able to get close enough to them to conduct
those kinds of studies.
[narrator] Now, after 40 years of development,
only one step remains before Jeremiah
can build his newest state-of-the-art shark proof suit,
he must test his innovative body armor
by diving in among these fierce and powerful predators.
To get bitten intentionally.
I can't possibly expect someone else to trust a safety product
designed to protect them in lethal circumstances,
if I don't have the backbone to do that myself.
[narrator] But before becoming voluntary shark bait,
Jeremiah first needs to understand
everything he can about how these creatures kill.
Their bite force, their body strength, and most of all,
if his new materials can take the punishment.
[Jeremiah] To better understand the limits and the capabilities of this new tech
that I'm working on, I need real world information.
That's not the kind of thing you can find
on the Internet or in a textbook somewhere.
[narrator] It all begins here.
At a shark-infested dive site 50 miles off the coast of Florida, in the Bahamas.
[Jeremiah] That's the shortest of all of them?
-[Joe] Yeah. -[Stuart] Yep.
[narrator] Joining Jeremiah on this potentially fatal expedition is underwater
cinematographer and director of the Atlantic Shark Institute, Joe Romeiro,
who has been assisting shark research projects for over a decade.
[Jeremiah] So, all these have to be set.
Before we start ramping up the hazard
of some of the tests that we'd like to conduct,
I'm keen to find out what the behavior is of the sharks in this region.
Are these sharks accustomed to being fed?
If that's the case, it could make things a bit riskier,
but that could assist us in trying
to get through these experiments as efficiently as possible.
The main thing I'd like to evaluate on this dive is,
uh, a baseline for how they interact with each other,
how they interact with divers and once we bring bait down,
if that changes the equation much.
Okay, we've got good clarity right now, but the tide's changing.
So let's get in before it gets dirty.
Great, let's go!
Want me to wait there?
[narrator] Poor visibility could make it impossible
for the divers to spot aggressive sharks, until it's too late.
So it's critical that the experiment conclude
before the visibility deteriorates.
Current shark suits decrease mobility,
and offer little protection against bites from these larger, powerful species.
So Jeremiah and his crew choose to dive unprotected.
[Jeremiah] Joe, let's get in position down in the sand.
[Joe] That sounds good.
[Jeremiah] Nice big hammer coming in.
[narrator] The great hammerhead.
Reaching lengths of up to 20 feet long, and weighing up to 1,000 pounds,
the great hammerhead is the largest of all hammerhead sharks.
It's thought that their flat, unusually shaped head, called a cephalofoil,
is lined with electroreceptors to help detect their favorite food: stingrays.
But they are also known to be cannibals, hunting smaller sharks.
Two hammerheads now.
Whoa, man... They've got to be at least 800 may be 1,000 pounds.
[narrator] Their wide, flat heads also act as rudders,
making these huge beasts incredibly nimble.
[Jeremiah] Amazing how such a large animal can turn on a dime.
[narrator] And that tight turning radius can make these sharks especially risky,
because a quick U-turn can put
an unsuspecting diver on the biting end of one of these giants in an instant.
Okay, we're in position. Let's get the bait.
[narrator] Jeremiah plans to bait
the gathering sharks into biting his test equipment,
a risky practice ideally used only for research purposes.
But since the behavior of any given shark species
can vary depending on how familiar they are with being fed by humans,
Jeremiah first needs to gauge how food-motivated these local sharks are.
[Jeremiah] Whoa, guys.
Excellent!
[Joe] These sharks are going nuts already.
[Jeremiah] They're coming straight in.
[narrator] As expected, the bait is stirring these sharks
into a manageable free for all.
At least for now.
[Jeremiah] They're more interested in the bait than they are us.
That's good news.
[Joe] Is it just me... or is the tide shifting?
It's getting murky.
The visibility is dropping significantly.
[narrator] Jeremiah and his team are unaware that a storm brewing 40 feet above
is impacting their visibility.
In mere seconds, their experiment turns from dangerous to deadly.
[Jeremiah] It's making it a lot harder to spot them.
Look... coming in fast!
Bull shark.
[narrator] The bull shark.
A dangerous and unpredictable species that reaches only seven feet in length,
but ranks number three for the human lives it's claimed.
Always staying out in the distance in that murky water.
Keep an eye out for them, guys.
[narrator] They are one of the sharks most feared by divers.
And they're a treacherous addition to an already dangerous dive.
[Joe] Jeremiah!
[Jeremiah] Wow!
That was a close one.
[Joe] This is starting not to be safe.
Guys, I don't really like the looks of this.
Wait!
Can't quite make out what that large shark is out there...
[Jeremiah] It's not a hammerhead.
And I'm sure it's not a bull.
Holy shit!
Tiger shark!
[Joe] Another one coming in.
[narrator] Jeremiah Sullivan is taking a dangerous step toward creating
the next evolution of his shark-proof armor.
Wow!
[narrator] But before this marine biologist
provokes a deadly tiger shark bite.
Let me get the bait.
[narrator] He first descends into shark-infested waters.
[Joe] These sharks are going nuts already.
[narrator] To gauge how the locals will behave.
They're coming straight in.
Wow!
[narrator] But an approaching storm has just dialed up the danger.
Visibility is dropping pretty significantly here.
[narrator] Making it impossible to spot incoming sharks
until they're nearly on top of the team.
[Joe] Jeremiah... look out!
[Jeremiah] Holy shit!
Tiger shark!
Big tiger... coming in slow but deliberate.
Yep, she's trying to push past me.
Wow!
Whoa... she's coming back already! Hang on now.
[Jeremiah] After 50 years or so, swimming around with these big creatures,
if you haven't figured out a way to safely redirect them
when they come in too close to you, then uh,
you're doing something wrong.
The key is to stay calm, so that you can adapt
to whatever species you're working with.
She's settling down a bit but that could change in a second.
[narrator] The tiger shark.
Reaching up to 18 feet in length and weighing more than a compact car,
these notorious, unpredictable apex predators are some of
the deadliest sharks on the planet.
Ranked number two for the most fatal attacks against humans,
the tiger has one of the most devastating bites of any shark species.
Its saw-shaped teeth are so sharp,
they can easily saw through turtle shells, and bone.
Keep an eye on this one, guys.
It's smelling the bait.
It's going to circle back on us.
He's going for the bait box.
[Jeremiah] Wow!
[Joe] It's getting risky.
Yeah, the conditions are getting a bit sketchy.
This isn't safe with that big tiger around.
[narrator] Bad weather above continues to churn the sea below.
Let's head on up before we lose sight of the boat.
[narrator] But even in this fading visibility,
it's crystal clear that there are more
than enough huge, aggressive sharks for Jeremiah's experiment,
and they seem eager to show off their bite force.
It was hard to see what was going on, but, behaviorally,
the hammers performed pretty much as expected.
They're big, they're powerful, they're gentle.
However that's the playful side, there is this other side,
where if you are prey or with these other species
the bull sharks, tiger sharks, it's a whole different animal.
Wow!
Never forget how capable they are,
how powerful they are, what they do in their daily lives
and that's to eat other things in order to survive.
So what do you think, like, our next steps are?
Well, now that we've got a pretty good handle
on how these sharks are behaving,
next thing we want to do is test the bite force.
Well, we're not going to be able to do it in this weather.
I say we go back in a little bit and wait for this wind to settle down.
-[Joe] Make some plans. -[laughs]
[narrator] Rough seas force Jeremiah's team to change boats
and head over 80 miles north of Bimini to calmer waters for the next test:
a tiger shark's bite force.
To design armor that can withstand
the crushing power of a tiger shark's bite,
Jeremiah first needs to measure the force generated by its jaws.
-We've got all of it broken out, huh? -Yeah, yep.
A lot of what we know about shark's bite force is based on computer models.
But computer models don't always replicate the real thing.
There's very little information about the reality
of how hard a tiger shark can bite.
Even if I designed impenetrable chainmail for larger sharks,
I wouldn't be damaged from the teeth,
but what happens inside with all the hard and soft tissue damage in my body,
that's an entirely different story.
If I'm putting people's lives on the line, I need real world results.
And for that, I've created a special device.
So basically how's this all work?
Well, it's a pressure plate. Ideally it--
-[Joe] It squeezes it. -On these two sides correct.
It's designed to have a semi-soft surface
so they don't damage their mouth with their teeth,
and the gauges then will register whatever that shark applies.
-What the pressure is. -Yeah.
And it will inform me whether or not the armor that I've built
will be able to withstand their bite.
[Joe] Yeah.
They're everywhere.
[man] Vis is good!
[Jeremiah] I got it.
[narrator] Beneath the surface, Jeremiah has descended into a group
of several tiger sharks, already circling.
[Jeremiah] It's looking perfect. The bait seems to be working well.
We've certainly got all the players down here.
Six tiger sharks...
and a hammerhead.
[Jeremiah] I'm going to set up next to the bait-crate.
[narrator] The plan is to lure a tiger shark close enough
to touch the sensory organs on its snout,
triggering the shark to open its mouth to feed.
Something the sharks in the area are accustomed to.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, this spot is perfect, man. Bring them straight in.
[narrator] One misguided tap or irritable shark, and the men could lose a hand.
Or worse.
But this is the only known technique that can focus their bites on Jeremiah's
specialized pressure plate.
[Joe] I don't think getting a shark is going to be a problem.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, no kidding.
[narrator] Once again, tidal conditions have turned a bold experiment
into a potentially lethal one.
[diver] Watch your back, guys. There's literally zero current down here.
[narrator] Two-thirds of a shark's brain is devoted to its sense of smell,
enabling them to detect even the faintest odors and direction of potential food.
But with no current to direct them,
the scent of bait spreads in all directions,
luring hungry sharks from everywhere.
Jeremiah's team is literally surrounded.
[Joe] Tiger coming in.
[Jeremiah] Got it... 180 pounds.
[narrator] The first measurement produces a force just stronger
than the bite of an average human, perhaps just an exploratory nibble.
And they just keep coming!
They're getting more revved up.
[narrator] The tigers grow bolder as Jeremiah rushes to re-bait the device.
It's a dangerous recipe: zero current, six hungry tiger sharks.
And Jeremiah is in the middle of it.
[diver] Watch out, Jeremiah.
[Jeremiah] Careful, guys, they're coming in from every direction now.
This is not good.
Watch out... hammer!
Watch out... Watch out!
[narrator] Biologist and inventor, Jeremiah Sullivan is conducting
a battery of tests to determine if the next-generation
shark armor he's designing will withstand
the bone-crushing bite force of a tiger shark.
Tiger coming in.
[narrator] In his fifth and final test, he'll sustain a bite from the biggest
tiger shark he can find.
[Jeremiah] They're getting more revved up.
[narrator] But already, his second test is taking a treacherous turn.
[diver] Watch out, Jeremiah.
[narrator] A lack of current attracts hungry sharks from all directions,
making it impossible for the team to know where they'll come from next.
[Jeremiah] Careful guys, they're coming in from every direction now.
This is not good.
[narrator] But Jeremiah refuses to ascend until he captures a bite
from the largest shark in the group.
Watch out... hammer!
Watch out... watch out!
Whoa! That was a close one.
[Joe] They're everywhere.
[Jeremiah] I'm all baited up. Let's get a bite.
Here comes one.
Ready?
Here we go.
Good one... 220 pounds.
[narrator] While only about the same bite force as a pit-bull,
220 pounds behind a mouth full
of razor-sharp teeth would easily slice through any flesh.
But Jeremiah knows these tigers can do a lot better.
He also knows he's pushing his luck.
[Jeremiah] Let's get a bite from this real big girl here.
[narrator] Jeremiah's holding out for one last powerful bite.
[Jeremiah] Here she comes. This is your shot.
300 pounds.
I could really feel her biting down on that one.
[narrator] 300 pounds is easily enough force to break a human arm.
[Jeremiah] That was a really good bite, man.
[narrator] But these lower than expected measurements have Jeremiah wondering
if the sharks are holding back, or if there's something else
that makes their attacks so dangerous.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, it's getting pretty crowded down here.
Let's head out before someone gets nipped.
[Joe] There was not really any current,
so they were coming from all different angles.
Was just too sketchy, man.
Wow. Whoo!
Computer models can often be very different
than real-world data from large,
free swimming sharks.
[Joe] Another one coming in.
[Jeremiah] The bite forces that we recorded here were a lot lower
than many people would have predicted.
300 Pounds!
This is why I believe that it's more than bite force
that makes working with very large sharks more dangerous.
[narrator] Like a boxer throwing a punch, or a baseball player stepping into a hit,
Jeremiah theorizes sharks use their entire muscle-bound bodies,
to inflict more damage during an attack than previously thought.
[Jeremiah] Okay, we've got 40 pounds there.
[narrator] To test these larger sharks' overall strength before
allowing himself to be attacked.
So how does this whole apparatus work?
[narrator] Jeremiah has built another, one-of-a-kind device.
We built this thing as a joystick so that it's able to measure in multi-directions.
-[Joe] Strength. -Torque,
the shaking of the head, and the pull.
Honestly, this is a real-world test.
[Jeremiah] Think about this thing like my body.
Things that have happened to this instrument
with these big sharks in the water
are the same traumas that a diver would be subjected to
if he finds himself in that situation.
And you want to measure that force and strength to be able to determine
what your body can withstand.
If my body can withstand the kind of trauma
that could occur during these kinds of bites.
[narrator] Jeremiah conducts his strength experiment in an area patrolled
by one of the most powerful species of shark: the great hammerhead.
Great hammerheads are not known for their bite force,
but they are known for their tremendous muscular strength.
Recent studies have shown great hammerheads
to be among the hardest fighting sharks out there,
which makes them a perfect candidate for this test.
Hey, guys...
keep baiting so the sharks stick around.
It's going to take me a couple of minutes to set this up.
[narrator] The six-foot strength meter needs to remain secure
to measure accurate readings.
So Jeremiah must attach it to the only structure available.
An old wreck.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, I think that's as tight as it's going to get.
[narrator] To get the hammers to "pull" on the strength meter,
Jeremiah straps bait to a bite bag made from his old-style chainmail,
tethered by a cable, which he'll hand feed to the sharks.
[Jeremiah] Once they get onto this, we need to watch out.
[narrator] And if hand feeding giant sharks wasn't enough to worry about.
[Jeremiah] This could get a little bit chaotic.
I have no idea if this wreck is sturdy enough to hold this rig.
[narrator] Once the sharks start pulling, any body part caught in the cable
could be severely injured.
All right, we're all set.
[Jeremiah] Look at all these beautiful hammers.
Let's try to get some bites.
[Jeremiah] Oh... [bleep]
Almost, but she didn't quite grab on.
[Jeremiah] Look at this one coming straight in.
There's the first bite.
[narrator] The first pull registers a force of around 280 pounds.
Not powerful enough to cause any serious damage.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, that clearly was not her full strength.
Let me strap some more bait on this thing.
[narrator] Perhaps a more enticing meal will provoke the shark
to fight longer and harder.
Here comes another one.
It's not that much bigger, but let's see if we can get a bigger bite.
Ah, that's my girl. There she goes.
[narrator] The pull equals 320 pounds of force.
Wow!
[narrator] Which Jeremiah estimates is more than enough
to pull human limbs from sockets.
That was awesome.
This is working out perfectly.
There is a beautiful large female circling around from the outside.
[narrator] But Jeremiah is determined.
I want to get a reading from her.
[narrator] To gather more data.
Nope. Not that time.
[narrator] From the most powerful sharks he can find.
[Joe] She's pretty skittish. Careful, Jeremiah.
[Jeremiah] Here she comes again.
Oh, excellent.
Look at the power on that thing.
[Jeremiah] Whoa!
Careful with the cable.
[Joe] Watch out, watch out!
[narrator] Shark-suit inventor Jeremiah Sullivan
is locked in an undersea battle.
[Jeremiah] Here comes that big girl.
[narrator] With some of the ocean's most powerful sharks.
[Jeremiah] Oh, she's got it... She's pulling it.
[narrator] The question is: are they too powerful for his test equipment?
[Jeremiah] Whoa!
It's maxing out.
[Joe] Watch out, watch out!
[diver] Watch out for that cable.
[diver] They ripped that chainmail.
[Joe] I mean, I know they're strong but that's crazy.
[Jeremiah] That chainmail is done.
[narrator] A reading of over 400 pounds of bone-snapping force
proves Jeremiah's theory,
that body strength is a key factor in a shark's devastating bite,
and the chainmail he's used for years against smaller species...
We're not going to get any better readings than that.
Let's head on up.
[narrator] ...could've cost him a limb against these hungry hammerheads.
[Joe] I really wasn't expecting that.
-This chainmail took quite a beating. -[Joe] Wow.
This didn't really do much.
[Jeremiah] Then it's the power.
It's when they torque, and they twist.
Clearly this old-style chainmail does not hold up for these large animals.
So next up, I want to start doing some of the tests on some of the new materials
that have been designed for these large sharks.
[narrator] For the past 40 years, Jeremiah's first-generation chainmail
has been fending off smaller species,
allowing him to study the animals up close.
But larger, more powerful sharks forced him and other marine biologists
into protective cages,
restricting their ability to study many larger shark species.
Jeremiah's dream is to build a shark proof suit
that can withstand an attack from almost any shark,
forever changing the way humans study these creatures.
But an armored suit is only as strong as its weakest part.
This will be the final phase of the experiment.
The Materials Test.
Alrighty.
First, I'll be testing a new, advanced, multilayered version of my chainmail.
It's very, very hard that basically replicates a human arm.
Here, we have the second advanced material I created.
A carbon fiber-based material that's been laminated into this core.
It's designed to replicate a narrower part of a body.
And this is the last one.
An advanced fiber and resin formulation.
This may look like a bit of drainpipe but you've actually got multiple layers,
six layers in this case, of a special advanced fiber,
laminated into a special resin.
That makes it extremely durable.
If any of these materials hold up as anticipated,
I can use them to build a working prototype,
which will be an unarticulated single piece of armor
that I can test on my own body.
If that goes well, I can then invest in a full body suit of lightweight,
articulated armor that divers and research people could use anywhere.
Alrighty.
[narrator] If Jeremiah's state-of-the-art materials fail to withstand an attack
from the tiger sharks circling below.
[Jeremiah] Perfect... lots of tigers and good current.
[narrator] The entire expedition,
and a lifetime of work, will end in failure.
[Jeremiah] Seriously, look at these big sharks.
Exactly what we need.
I'm going to go next to the bait.
Woah!
Well, these guys certainly appear hungry
which is perfect for this test.
All right. Test number one.
[narrator] First on the menu, Jeremiah's newly engineered chainmail.
Check this baby out.
She clearly is not exerting all of her power.
We'll see what happens on the next pass.
Straight ahead.
She's pulling it.
[Joe] What was that?
[Jeremiah] Feels like she's breaking the core.
[Joe] But the chainmail held up.
[narrator] The next-generation chainmail survived the tiger's teeth.
But its flexibility won't prevent broken bones
or crushed internal organs.
Something more rigid is critical to keep Jeremiah, and future divers,
alive and in one piece.
[Jeremiah] I'm going to move on to test number two.
Carbon fiber.
I'm attaching some bait to it to make sure we get a good bite.
[Joe] There's another one coming in.
[Joe] Holy shit!
Wow!
[narrator] Jeremiah Sullivan is testing
if any of the wearable materials he's invented
can endure the deadly jaws of a tiger shark.
[Jeremiah] I'm going to move on to test number two.
[narrator] He hopes an external layer of carbon fiber
could provide enough protection from the bone-snapping bites.
[Jeremiah] I'm attaching some bait to it to make sure we get a good bite.
[Joe] Look out, there's another one coming in.
[Joe] Holy shit!
[Jeremiah] Nice, here we go.
[Joe] Watch out, hammer!
Whoa! Whoa!
[Jeremiah] Yeah, well, she's not done yet.
Atta girl.
She really has a hold on it.
I didn't feel any breaks or punctures. That's a good sign.
[narrator] The carbon fiber holds.
But Jeremiah's not willing to take any unnecessary risks.
If he's going to take the full bite of a tiger shark,
he wants to be protected by the strongest, most lightweight material possible.
[Jeremiah] Okay, on to the last one.
[narrator] So next, Jeremiah tests his own secret recipe.
An ultra-hard, ultra-light fiber resin composite
he's been developing for years.
[Jeremiah] There's one down low.
[Joe] Ah, that's a really good bite, man!
[Jeremiah] Oh, no you don't... hey!
Well, that was a success.
[Joe] Jeremiah!
Are you all right?
Yeah.
That thing really throttled you.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, these tigers really like to sneak up behind you.
[narrator] The team has pushed its luck long enough.
It's time to examine the evidence topside.
[Jeremiah] We've got something broken in here.
[Joe] Oh man.
Did you hear that?
So, if your arm was in there, it would be broken.
Correct. You'll first want to keep the teeth from doing their damage.
People don't die from broken bones, they die from shock and blood loss.
But the chainmail here looks good. I don't see any missing rings on this.
[Joe] It goes to show you that you need a hard exterior
to resist that kind of bite.
Yep. Now these materials...
we'll look at this one first.
That's the carbon fiber, right?
[Jeremiah] Yeah.
That's my girl.
[Jeremiah] You guys see that?
Just a couple of teeth pricks here, here, couple here, here.
-[Joe] No breaks. -[Jeremiah] No breaks.
Let's see what that resin did.
Ah, that's a really good bite, man.
Very, very light scratches.
There's basically no damage to this at all.
-And this is super thin. -Yeah.
There's less damage on this because it's a harder composite of laminates.
So, I'll use a combination from each of these cores and I'll build an arm
that we can then test with these big biters
and see how much damage they do to that!
I can't wait to see what you're gonna come up with.
[narrator] Jeremiah has collected essential, real-world data.
[Jeremiah] They're coming straight in.
-[narrator] About the behavior... -[Joe] Wow, look at the force on that!
-[narrator] ...bite force... -[Joe] Look at the power on that thing!
[narrator] ...and body strength of the ocean's deadliest sharks.
Now, he can fabricate an armor prototype
he believes will finally withstand a tiger shark's devastating bite.
I haven't designed anything specifically like this before.
[narrator] Jeremiah is literally willing to bet his own arm that this
one-of-a-kind fiber-resin reinforced sleeve will protect him.
I'm intentionally building this prototype oversized,
so that, should things go wrong, I'll be able to pull my arm out.
On the other hand, if it works,
I'll then build a streamlined, articulated, slim,
lightweight version that researchers and divers will be able to utilize.
[narrator] Back at sea in the Bahamas,
Jeremiah prepares for the ultimate showdown.
[Jeremiah] I'm going to climb into my gear here, boys.
[narrator] Jeremiah covers his wetsuit with his next generation chainmail,
in case the tiger's shark's teeth break through the new armor.
Shark suits are not for the days that things go well,
it's for the days that things go wrong.
[man] All right, it's clean all the way around.
All right... coming down to you guys to get the armor.
[narrator] Conditions in the water are favorable, visibility is good
and there's a steady current.
[Jeremiah] Looks like we got a lively bunch down here.
I'm ready to get geared up.
[narrator] Jeremiah slips the prototyped armored sleeve over his chainmail.
[Joe] Are you ready, Jeremiah?
[Jeremiah] Yep, let me get in position.
[narrator] And braces for impact.
[man] Watch it... we've got a hammerhead coming in.
It's got a hold of it.
Perfect... not even a scratch.
[narrator] Jeremiah's arm remains intact after its unexpected hammerhead encounter.
But the real test will be against
the turtle crushing jaws of a tiger shark,
and here comes one now.
[Jeremiah] Everybody get ready... in case this doesn't go well.
[narrator] Beneath the serene surface of these turquoise waters,
a dangerous test of man versus shark has begun.
Jeremiah Sullivan's dream is to build a shark-proof suit that will put
marine scientists like himself
face-to-face with the massive sharks they study.
[Jeremiah] That was a close one.
[narrator] And he's doing something never attempted:
intentionally provoking a massive tiger shark to attack him...
Yup. Let me get into position.
[narrator] And hope it bites only where he wants it to.
[Jeremiah] It's got a hold of it.
[narrator] He's already survived
an unexpected attack by a powerful hammerhead.
[Jeremiah] Not even a scratch.
[narrator] Now, after 40 years of experience and experimentation,
Jeremiah braces for the ultimate showdown.
[Jeremiah] Tiger shark coming straight in.
Everybody get ready... in case this doesn't go well.
I'm going for it.
[Jeremiah] Wow!
[Joe] Jeremiah, wow!
You okay?
[Jeremiah] Wow!
[Joe] That was awesome!
[Jeremiah] The power behind that big girl was extraordinary...
but the armor worked exactly as expected,
[narrator] Jeremiah's armor has successfully protected him
from a devastating bite.
[Joe] You did it!
[narrator] But he can't celebrate just yet.
[Jeremiah] Look out... there's another one coming in.
She's a big one.
I got this. Let's go.
Woah!
[narrator] Without warning, a massive, 14-foot tiger takes hold,
and refuses to let go!
[Jeremiah] Wow! Look at the force on that.
Look at this...
Just some minor dings and scratches. Teeth mark... here
and here.
Yeah, but this material is holding up.
[Joe] Hey, Iron man...
you up for one more?
[Jeremiah] You bet!
[narrator] Jeremiah braces for another bite.
[Jeremiah] Here we go.
[narrator] To ensure his armor can withstand multiple attacks.
[Jeremiah] Wow!
[Joe] Well, I think we can call your mission a success.
[Jeremiah] Outstanding. Let's head up.
[narrator] Jeremiah is eager to inspect his prototype,
and assess the damage inflicted by the relentless punishment.
[Joe] Well, that definitely seemed to work.
Yeah, they were hitting it quite hard. You can see the marks here.
-You can see the scratches. -[Joe] I mean, this is like, nothing.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -There's barely a scratch there.
[Joe] When they bit onto the subject, what was it like?
I could feel the tension that the teeth placed when
they get a hold of something.
[Joe] They gave you a couple of shakes back and forth
and you didn't see any damage to this.
[Jeremiah] Yeah, yeah.
You know often people talk about things like this as science fiction.
But after these series of experiments, now this is science fact.
[narrator] Jeremiah has successfully taken the groundbreaking first step
toward creating a flexible, full-body suit of shark armor.
[Joe] So this is it? This is what you are going to do?
Well, this is the direction that we are headed,
sort of along these lines.
Similar to some of the lightweight modern armor
used by the military today,
my new suit will be a full body, articulated exoskeleton.
It'll be made of armor plating,
that is lightweight, articulated, bite proof,
and far more durable than anything else that I've built before.
Wow!
[narrator] Jeremiah Sullivan's lifelong dream
of eliminating the barriers between man and shark can become a reality.
[Jeremiah] The applications for this type of armor are virtually endless.
Researchers can now enter conditions
that would typically be considered very unsafe.
Murky water, predation grounds, you name it.
Because of that,
I'm sure there will be many new breakthroughs in shark science.
We'll have the tools that we need to explore the unknown,
and come out alive.