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River.Monsters.S08E01.Deep.Sea.Demon
Transcript
00:01I'm Jeremy Wade, explorer, biologist, and underwater detective.
00:08Whatever's on the end is about to break the surface.
00:11For decades, my investigations have centred on freshwater mysteries.
00:16Searching for monsters whose existence in reality was doubted.
00:21They do exist, they're good. They do exist.
00:24And seeking out the real creatures behind the folklore.
00:28Including the most famous mythical beast of them all, the Loch Ness Monster.
00:35I've seen this thing myself, I know it exists.
00:39Now, I'm turning my attention to the oceans.
00:42To solve the mystery behind the most enduring legendary sea monster of them all.
00:48The Sea Serpent.
00:51This epic quest will take me from the UK, to the waters of the Far East.
00:58culminating in one of the most astounding encounters of my life.
01:02If it is true, this could open things up in quite an unbelievable fashion.
01:07I'll have to push myself to my absolute limit.
01:11I'll find you read me. Watch it coming in my mask.
01:15But will this be enough to tackle this monster of the deep?
01:18There it is! There it is!
01:19There it is!
01:20There it is, Sean.
01:21The Sea Serpent.
01:22There it is.
01:23Keep up in the fort.
01:24Since humans first ventured into the water, we have been fearful of what lurks beneath.
01:49The most pervasive of all mythical sea creatures is the sea serpent.
01:57Early explorers told tales of huge snake-like beasts rising from the sea to sink ships and
02:03swallow sailors whole.
02:06These horror stories were widespread throughout the ancient world and unexplained sightings
02:12are still being reported.
02:17Nearly every culture and every ocean across the globe has its own sea serpent legend.
02:22What's interesting is that the reported features are surprisingly similar.
02:27A very long body, big eyes, a huge head and the presence of fins or what is sometimes described
02:36as a mane.
02:38And some depictions show the mouth full of teeth.
02:45The thread of commonality in these descriptions leads me to believe that they must be based,
02:50at least partially, on fact.
02:53My mission is to find out if there is a real animal behind the giant sea serpent legend,
02:59and if they still exist in our oceans today.
03:05The obvious contender is some kind of snake.
03:08Now, I've seen how some aquatic snakes can grow to extraordinary sizes thanks to the water supporting the body.
03:16Look at the size of this!
03:20And the venom of some sea snakes is lethal to humans.
03:24But sea snakes are not giants and their small heads and lack of fins are not consistent with the historic eyewitness accounts.
03:35So I'm intrigued when I come across a recent case where a man says he came face to face with an underwater snake-like creature,
03:43which was apparently so large he couldn't even get his hands around it.
03:48And this wasn't somewhere remote and exotic. This was right in my backyard.
03:54I head to the south coast of England to investigate.
04:01I'm on my way to meet a man who was diving off the coast of Ireland when he says that something long and serpent-like attacked him.
04:13Morning.
04:17Yeah, sir.
04:20While diving at a depth of 100 feet in the murky water of Killary Harbour,
04:24Jimmy Griffin was struck by a large creature that shot out of the darkness.
04:31It latched onto his face with its teeth, knocking the air supply out of his mouth.
04:36The pain was unimaginable. It was like the whole side of my face had exploded.
04:41Unable to breathe, he was being thrown around underwater.
04:45The creature is serpent-like and it's thrashing from side to side.
04:49He eventually managed to wrestle free of its jaws.
04:52What is that you can see and feel?
04:54The length that I could see its grey outline extending out as far as I could see.
05:00I couldn't actually get my hand around it as I tried to wrestle it off.
05:04The attack left him permanently scarred. But this was not a snake bite.
05:12If you were somebody with no knowledge, you would see the creature from hell coming straight for you and you would panic.
05:18But Jimmy did manage to identify his attacker.
05:22It was a seven foot long conga eel, a carnivorous fish that can be found in these waters.
05:28Its movement, its features, everything, it conjures up the image of a sea serpent straight away.
05:36It certainly fits the legendary descriptions and after such a vicious and unprovoked attack, the conga eel has to be my first suspect in this search.
05:48I've never fished for congas before, but I've heard that they have a reputation for putting up a strong fight when hooked.
05:54So I'm eager to witness their aggression for myself.
05:58I'm in the town of Plymouth and I've arranged to meet a man who's been fishing for conga for 35 years.
06:04So if anybody knows where to find them, he does.
06:09According to fisherman Malcolm Jones, conga eels haunt the shipwrecks and rocky ground of the deep sea.
06:17So he takes me out into the English Channel.
06:21It's already getting noticeably more bumpy as we come out past the breakwater into the open sea.
06:27This is going to make fishing pretty challenging.
06:34On the way out, we stop to catch some mackerel for bait.
06:38Oh, here we go. Here we go.
06:40Malcolm prepares a special rig to entice the congas out from their lairs.
06:45So the idea is the current sort of just moves that around and that's going to give lots of nice scent trail, isn't it?
06:51A pound and a half of lead going on.
06:56This is my first time fishing for conga eels and I'm not sure what to expect.
07:01But detecting and reacting to a bite in these bumpy conditions is going to take concentration and precision timing.
07:09Yeah, I think I might be.
07:18Oh, no.
07:20That was definitely some attention from something because I don't have the bait and I don't have no bait.
07:28I have half a bait.
07:35Ah, again, the bait's been noodle-eated.
07:41Oh, shit!
07:43Ah!
07:44It came off.
07:45That was on about halfway up to the boat and then it was off.
07:50It came off the hook.
07:53Malcolm says it is congas that are biting, but so far they're outwitting me.
07:58They are going for the bait, but they continue to leave me empty-handed.
08:05Yeah.
08:06Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:08Yeah, yeah, we got one.
08:11This one stays on the line.
08:13My search for a real creature behind the legend of the sea serpent has brought me to the south coast of England,
08:35where I'm hoping to bring in my first contender, a conga eel.
08:39Here we go, that's conga.
08:45Oh, got one.
08:46Fantastic.
08:48I just want to calm it down a little bit and have a look at it.
08:51I'm just being careful, though, because I don't want my hands anywhere near the mouth.
08:56Having spoken to Jimmy, seeing what one of these did to his face,
09:00this is a fish to be treated with respect, even though this, as conga eels go, is not a big one.
09:05The thing is, they grow a lot heavier than this, much, much heavier than this,
09:10but in terms of length, it's something like twice the length of this.
09:16Right.
09:18Seeing this live conga eel in the flesh, I'm struck by how much it does resemble
09:22some of the drawings I've seen of alleged sea serpents.
09:25But even the biggest conga eels don't get close to sea serpent territory in terms of size.
09:32Well, having caught my first conga, I have to say that it is an incredibly serpent-like fish.
09:40But the thing is, they're actually quite localised.
09:42They only really live around the British Isles and Europe,
09:45so what is giving rise to these sea serpent stories in other parts of the world?
09:50And I'm wondering, maybe the conga has a bigger, uglier relative somewhere else out in the oceans.
09:58There are 800 species of eel found worldwide,
10:01from the giant mottled eel that I caught in the Indo-Pacific...
10:05But it's got lots of teeth, very, very sharp teeth.
10:07...and the longfin eel in New Zealand...
10:10Look at that! Look at that! Look at that! Look at that! Look at that!
10:14To the ghoulish-looking green moray.
10:18All of them are equipped to inflict a devastating bite.
10:22I've been told about a cluster of particularly vicious incidents that took place in Thailand.
10:28A country I've visited many times, but never to fish in its oceans.
10:33And there's something else.
10:35In Thailand's rich mythology, aquatic serpents are prominent.
10:40Coincidence? I need to find out more.
10:54In 2000, a tourist was snorkelling with his friends in a renowned dive site off the coast of Thailand...
11:00...when he was brutally attacked.
11:09The bite to his leg severed an artery, and blood flooded into the water.
11:15By the time he struggled back to shore, his life was ebbing away.
11:28Despite forensic examination of the teeth marks, the official identity of his attacker remains unknown.
11:35But the locals have their own theory.
11:39They know of an aggressive serpentine animal in these waters, whose teeth make light work of human flesh.
11:47The giant moray eel.
11:52Could this be my next suspect?
11:56I travelled to the island of Phuket, off Thailand's west coast, to meet diving instructor Matt Butcher.
12:02Who knows first-hand the damage a giant moray can inflict.
12:07And his story from the nearby Simulin Islands was caught on camera.
12:12I was working on a Simulin liveaboard, a dive liveaboard.
12:16And there was a famous moray eel that all the instructors that used to work on the boats there, used to feed her.
12:23She lived under a table coral, and every time divers approached her, she would swim out and investigate.
12:29How big was this eel?
12:31I would say at least six foot in length, and she had a very big head as well.
12:35She had several names, she was called Emma by some boats, Scarface by another boats.
12:40That morning, she swam out as normal, and she played with us for a bit.
12:43And then I decided to get the food out.
12:49As I was concentrating on getting the food out, Emma, she swam behind my back, and she could smell the food.
13:00Before I knew what had happened, she'd kind of latch onto my thumb.
13:06I tried to open her mouth with my other hand.
13:08But I just couldn't get her mouth open.
13:12She shook her head.
13:14Came off with a loud pop.
13:17I looked down and I could see the knuckle, where my thumb used to be.
13:21You appear to have a thumb now, so what's the story there?
13:24When I arrived at the hospital in Phuket, the doctor there, who was dressing my wound,
13:28he mentioned that he had a colleague in Bangkok, and he could possibly perform a procedure where he could take off one of my toes and graft it onto my hand to replace my missing thumb.
13:40Within about five months, I guess.
13:42It was great. I could move it a lot.
13:44And I think I have about 80% mobility now.
13:47It's great. It's just like I have my old thumb back.
13:49I don't even notice I've got a toe.
13:52Matt's encounter had a positive ending, but if it were a giant moray that killed the tourist,
13:59that would fit with tales of sea serpents devouring helpless sailors.
14:04As night falls, I explore the fish market, looking for a moray to examine.
14:09I'm told to head to the end of the market to talk to the sea gypsies.
14:25You can look over there.
14:27The sea gypsies, or Chau Li, meaning people from the sea, no longer live entirely on the water,
14:33but still practice a hunter-gatherer existence.
14:35The nomadic Rawai tribe are some of the original inhabitants of Phuket.
14:41People tell me that you sometimes catch a mole?
14:45Plana.
14:47Plana. You catch sometimes?
14:50Plana.
14:52He tells me that the Rawai only catch the morays to eat and not to sell.
14:56So he doesn't have any in the market.
14:58But if I want to see one, he has a team of half a dozen people who sometimes catch morays,
15:03and I'm welcome to join them tomorrow.
15:08I want to see if this fish's jaws have enough power to kill a human.
15:13So the following morning, I join the Rawai and head out on their boat.
15:17For generations, the Rawai lived, died, and gave birth on the water, living solely off the bounty that the ocean provided.
15:29These seas are their true ancestral home, and their knowledge of what lies below the surface is exceptional.
15:42As sustainable hunters, they only take enough to satisfy their own needs, and the moray eel is a staple food for them.
15:51Although I normally have the luxury of being able to catch and release, I'm happy to leave them to spear the fish using their traditional technique.
15:59Getting ready to go in the water now. The divers, no fins, just shoes, they're basically walking on the bottom.
16:07Weight belt, the air hose actually tied on around the waist, and then the air is just supplied to a mask.
16:14And all fed by the big old compressor in the back there, which we're just about to fire up.
16:26So this is the weaponry here. It's just a sharpened piece of rod, a piece of strong elastic attached to one end of it.
16:35And like this. So that's going to go very fast through the water, pretty accurate.
16:42So very low-tech, but potentially quite effective.
16:54Compressor diving, a low-cost alternative to self-contained scuba tanks, is fraught with danger.
17:01The compressors themselves often have a very basic filtration system, meaning diesel fumes and other deadly contaminants, such as carbon monoxide, can poison the air inside the hose.
17:14But this method allows them much more time underwater than traditional breath-hole diving.
17:20The thing about morays is they're not free living, they're living in cracks in coral, in cracks in rock.
17:27Now the men have to find a giant eel, before it finds them.
17:37I've taken my search for monsters into the oceans, where I'm on a quest to solve the mystery behind the myth of the sea serpent.
17:47I've come to Thailand, where I'm with the Rawaai sea gypsies fishing for giant moray eels.
17:55I want to find out if this could be the fish that spawned one of the world's monster legends.
18:01Coming up.
18:02Coming up.
18:03Coming up.
18:04Oh.
18:05Oh.
18:06Got four here.
18:07Oh.
18:08Got four here.
18:09I'm guessing they're sort of three.
18:10I'm guessing they're sort of three.
18:11I'm going to find out if this could be the fish that spawned one of the world's monster legends.
18:16Oh.
18:17Oh.
18:18Oh.
18:19Oh.
18:20Oh.
18:21Oh.
18:22Oh.
18:23Oh.
18:24Oh.
18:25Oh.
18:26Oh.
18:27Oh.
18:28Oh.
18:29Oh.
18:30Oh.
18:31Oh.
18:32Oh.
18:33Oh.
18:34Oh.
18:35Oh.
18:36Oh.
18:37Oh.
18:38Oh.
18:39Oh.
18:40Oh.
18:41Oh.
18:42Oh.
18:43Oh.
18:44Oh.
18:45Oh.
18:46Oh, oh.
18:48Oh, oh.
18:50Oh.
18:51Oh.
18:52Oh, yeah.
19:02They're slightly curved, and the thing about them is they're pointing back, so if you actually
19:07pull, all you're going to do is make those points penetrate even deeper.
19:12The thing is, what happens then?
19:15The moray eel is actually unique in this respect, in terms of how it transfers its prey from
19:22the point of the jaws back into the throat.
19:24It's actually got this secondary set of jaws in the back of the throat.
19:29It's almost like an alien, they will come forward, grab hold of the prey, pull it back
19:34into the throat.
19:37Morays have few natural predators, are known cannibals, and are not afraid to take on prey
19:42equal to their own size.
19:45Their science fiction-designed jaws give them the ability to swallow their quarry whole, much
19:50like the sea serpent reports I've read.
19:54But I can't see how even the biggest morays could swallow a person.
19:59And the fact that these ambush predators hide away in cracks and crevices on the ocean floor
20:04doesn't fit with ancient tales of sea serpents attacking boats at the surface.
20:11But I'm not prepared to discount them yet.
20:13I need to do some investigating back on land.
20:17Here in Thailand, nearly every temple features a carving or painting of a classic sea serpent-type
20:23creature.
20:25I head north to Nongkai, on the border with Laos, and right on the banks of the Mekong River.
20:39Far eastern mythology features a serpentine creature known as the Naga, which many believe
20:47lives in the water here.
20:49According to Buddhist scriptures, Lord Buddha made the Naga a fearsome guardian of the temples
20:55to provide protection for the rest of eternity.
20:58And certainly its likeness is intimidating.
21:03These things are all over the place, particularly on stairways like this.
21:07And they're not all identical, but they are variations on a common theme.
21:12And one of the consistent features is this long fish-like body.
21:17It's not really like a snake.
21:20And this particular one has a dorsal fin, or what looks like a dorsal fin here, and another
21:25fin on the lower surface.
21:27And then they've all got this very characteristic sort of crest on the head.
21:34It's that crest that I find most intriguing.
21:38Certainly no eel has anything like that, nor do eels have visible scales.
21:46What are you?
21:50I find it hard to believe that such distinctive and consistent traits arise purely from the imagination.
21:58I've also been assuming that the Naga is a sea monster, but I've been told it lives here
22:03in the Mekong River.
22:05It's getting confusing.
22:07Could it be something that moves between rivers and oceans?
22:11I know from experience that many myths start with one foot in reality.
22:16And in Thailand, I've landed some huge and almost supernatural looking river monsters that
22:21many people wouldn't otherwise believe existed.
22:24It's a squash in my fingers.
22:26But numbers of these giants have drastically declined in recent years due to development
22:31and overfishing.
22:34So maybe the same is true of the legendary Naga.
22:38Maybe it was once a real creature, but now exists only in paintings and temple carvings.
22:47Local knowledge is often a vital source of information.
22:51So I speak to Kunyai Thon, who at 80 years of age is one of the oldest residents in the village.
22:57I've seen lots of big carvings in the temples of this creature that's a bit like a giant snake.
23:04What is that creature exactly?
23:06Paya Na is the local name for the serpent.
23:16Is this something that people are afraid of?
23:20So you say people are scared of them, but they're not dangerous.
23:27Why are people scared of them?
23:31She tells me about a young man who angered the Naga by being wasteful.
23:36The next time he went to bathe in the river, he disappeared.
23:41It's believed it was a vengeful serpent that took him, never to be seen again.
23:49Have you ever seen one?
23:50I've never seen it.
23:52There are people who believe it's a wildfire.
23:55There are people who see it.
23:58When I asked her if she's seen it, she says, no, she hasn't, and people generally don't
24:01see it.
24:03Then she tells me a startling piece of information, a photograph.
24:13Despite never having seen the Naga herself, she tells me there's a photograph of one at
24:18a nearby monastery.
24:20I've seen many drawings and depictions of sea monsters, both old and new, but a photograph.
24:27If it's real, it changes everything.
24:31I head straight to the monastery and meet a monk simply named O, who agrees to show me
24:36the alleged photo of the Naga.
24:49The monster is unmasked.
24:51This is an extraordinary picture.
24:55I'm in Northern Thailand, home of the Naga, a Buddhist deity in the form of a fearsome serpent,
25:11who's said to snatch people from the surface of the Mekong River.
25:15Despite being told that no one has ever seen this mythical beast, I've just been handed a
25:20photograph of one.
25:21This is an extraordinary picture, thank you very much.
25:26It's very, very similar to the carvings on the temple as well.
25:33It is a real photo and a real fish.
25:36I'll caption in English here as well, Queen of Nagas, seized by American army at Mekong
25:41River, Laos military base, June 27, 1973, length of 7.8 metres, that's, gosh, that's about
25:5025 feet, very big, but incredible picture, thank you very much.
25:55A long lost memory surfaces of seeing this picture before, in a newspaper.
26:01It was taken in the US near San Diego, but I don't want to cause offence by saying this.
26:08It's a fish called the oarfish, and it is found throughout the world, but it's only found
26:13in very deep sea water.
26:14It doesn't come into rivers, which means that that caption is incorrect.
26:20But I can see why the monks believe it to be the naga.
26:26With its long, thin body, red dorsal fin, and that distinctive crest.
26:33So the oarfish may not be the naga, but it does absolutely fit the description of the sea
26:40serpent.
26:41It's so rarely seen, however, that it wasn't even on my radar, until now.
26:47In a time when people were terrified of the unknown, you can easily imagine how this freakish
26:52looking animal could have struck fear into those who encountered it.
26:56But in recent times, these fish have only ever been seen alive on just a handful of occasions.
27:01Although I might have identified the real creature behind the myth of the sea serpent, my investigations
27:08are all about seeing the real life flesh and blood creature at the end of the road.
27:16And this is one occasion, possibly uniquely in my career, when my chances of actually doing
27:23that are absolutely zero.
27:30It's a crushing realization.
27:33As far as I know, more people have been to the moon than have seen a live, healthy specimen
27:37of this fish.
27:40But traveling back to Bangkok on my way home, I decide I'm not ready to give up unraveling
27:45the mystery of the sea serpent.
27:47The oarfish is so tantalizingly close to the beast of legend, I just have to figure out
27:53how to find the real thing.
27:56The challenge with oarfish is that although they live in nearly all the world's oceans, they
27:59remain one of the most rarely seen of all fish, and that's because they live at depths ranging
28:05from 600 to 3,000 feet.
28:10They're usually only ever seen at the surface when they're dying or when they get washed
28:14up on the shore already dead.
28:16Like the one found in 2015 on Santa Catalina Island in California.
28:21It's estimated that they can grow to 50 feet in length.
28:26Back in 1860, when a dead specimen was discovered in Bermuda, it was officially described by biologists
28:32as being the great sea serpent.
28:37So little is known about oarfish that I'm struggling to find any useful information about them at
28:41all, anything about their behavior and whereabouts.
28:44How do I get myself in the right place at the right time to see a live one?
28:49I put the word out to my international network of contacts, desperate for intelligence, any
28:54tip-offs about this mysterious fish.
28:58What comes back is some startling news.
29:00I've just heard something which it sounds so unlikely I'm tempted to dismiss it out of
29:08hand, but if it is true, this could open things up in quite an unbelievable fashion.
29:16So I've got to get to somewhere where I can talk to somebody in France, there's a French
29:20guy called David, who I need to talk to.
29:25I hurry back to the hotel to make a Skype call.
29:28I've been told to contact a Frenchman named David Luquette, a professional deep sea diver
29:34who collects data for an oceanographic organization.
29:39He claims to have seen a live oarfish, or regalek as they are known in French.
29:48What is the beginning of the story for you?
29:51One day, I dive, and just in front of me at one meter, five meters, regalek, and the regalek
30:03didn't move, just in front of me.
30:07The diving, is it difficult in this place?
30:09Yes, it's very difficult, and it can be very dangerous and very hard, very hard.
30:18But if going underwater is the only way to see this creature alive, then that's what
30:22I'll do.
30:23OK.
30:24All right.
30:25Well, thank you.
30:26Thank you for that.
30:27I'll let you get back to work now.
30:28Thanks.
30:29Thanks very much indeed.
30:30OK.
30:31Right.
30:32Gosh, I'm just trying to process that.
30:36This was something that I thought was impossible, but I've just spoken to somebody who has seen
30:40oarfish close up, alive, but not an easy thing to do.
30:45Challenging conditions, and he's just seen them a handful of times.
30:49But I think this is something I can't pass up.
30:52I thought my investigation had actually come to an end, but maybe it hasn't.
30:58Maybe I've got to get myself to France.
31:05Why is the oarfish a bad omen in Japan?
31:08The answer after this.
31:12I asked you why the oarfish is a bad omen in Japan.
31:16According to folklore, an oarfish washed up on a beach is a warning of an imminent earthquake.
31:28My quest to finally resolve the sea serpent mystery started in bustling Plymouth Harbour
31:36close to home, then moved to Thailand, and now to the billionaire's playground of Antibes
31:42near Nice in the south of France.
31:45I've been told that three and a half hours from this unlikely location, I may be able
31:49to dive with a real life sea serpent.
31:53It's very common to think that when you are looking for exotic outlandish creatures, you're
31:59going to have to go to some remote, far-flung, sparsely populated part of the world.
32:05You certainly don't think about coming to a place like this, the French Riviera.
32:18We finally reach our destination, a buoy in the middle of the Mediterranean.
32:23David was collecting data from this buoy when he encountered the oarfish.
32:28The water here is about a mile and a half deep, and this marker is anchored to the seabed
32:33by a seemingly endless chain tether.
32:37For some reason, nobody knows exactly why the oarfish swim up the line to within 30 feet
32:44of the surface, sometimes even closer.
32:47Nobody can say exactly when they're going to do that, but I'm just hoping that there will
32:53be one occasion when the fish is there and I am also in the water.
32:58I only have a small window of opportunity when the weather and sea conditions are favourable,
33:04and when there is the right amount of plankton to attract the fish, but the water is still
33:08clear.
33:09I've been told I might only have 24 hours before the moment has passed.
33:17David has warned me that because of the depth and sometimes strong currents, diving here can
33:21be very dangerous.
33:22So I'll have an experienced dive team with me in the water, and communication with the
33:27boat in case of any problems.
33:31This is an extreme form of diving known as blue water diving, where the sea floor is out
33:36of sight.
33:37And with no frame of reference, even professional divers can get disoriented.
33:42I'm also using a rebreather device, which allows me to stay underwater for longer than simple
33:48air tanks.
33:49But this makes it a very technical dive.
33:52I only learned to use this equipment recently, and I'm hoping my skills are up to the job.
33:58This is not the kind of diving I've ever done before.
34:00Nothing to really orient yourself by, apart from this thin line going down into the depths.
34:06We are prepared and trained, but you just don't want anything to go wrong.
34:19This big blue is another world.
34:22It's like nothing I've ever seen before.
34:27The jellyfish and sea salves look like they come from another planet.
34:31At a depth of about 80 feet, I feel like I'm floating in outer space.
34:37I can't see the bottom, and the chain holding the buoy is the only stationary object for miles
34:43around.
34:44This is my lifeline.
34:45Affirmative.
34:46Yes, I'm on the anchor chain.
34:47But it's a very, uh, potentially hazardous place to get drawn away from your word of reference.
34:59I can't wait and wait for the myth to become reality.
35:02But there's no oarfish in sight.
35:06The water is very, very clear.
35:08Visibility, I'm guessing, is about 30 feet, something like that.
35:12And, uh, I'm not seeing anything anywhere near the chain.
35:17But I'm struggling to control my buoyancy in the strong swell.
35:21And the effort I'm having to expend is making me tired and increasingly uncomfortable.
35:26I'm beginning to feel disoriented.
35:29I want to return to the surface, but I have to keep calm and take my time.
35:33Because a rapid change in pressure can cause potentially fatal decompression illness.
35:38Upside, do you read me?
35:41Do you read me?
35:42Over.
35:43Probably hear I'm panting a bit.
35:45Water coming in my mask.
35:48No, it's not doing totally well for the moment.
35:54Jeremy, Jeremy, you okay, fella?
35:57I'm diving off the south of France looking for an oarfish.
36:13The fish that I now believe is the real creature behind the sea serpent myth.
36:18But my chances of actually seeing this incredibly rare fish are diminishing fast.
36:23And I'm finding the dive extremely difficult.
36:27I think I'm probably about ready to come out.
36:31Just take a few minutes and try and get your breathing in check.
36:34I need to find my instinct to surface immediately.
36:38I have to ascend slowly to avoid getting the bends.
36:41I'm relieved to be back on the boat, but physically exhausted.
36:52I'm actually quite tired.
37:04I really struggled on that last dive and the thing is, I don't know if it's going to get any better.
37:08I am operating, I feel, right at the edge of my capability here.
37:12of my capability here.
37:14This is a very challenging underwater environment.
37:17You've got no bottom to refer to.
37:19That's a mile and a half away.
37:21What I'm really trying to cultivate underwater
37:22is exactly what I do when I'm fishing.
37:24It's achieving a sense of calm and control,
37:28but with all the things that I have to keep
37:30in my mind underwater, I'm just not achieving that
37:33to the extent that I don't even know
37:35if I'm gonna get in the water again.
37:36I don't know if it is advisable to get in the water again.
37:39So here we are.
37:41The conditions are great,
37:45but I don't know if I'm actually capable of it.
37:53I face a huge dilemma.
37:55I'm so close to potentially solving this mystery,
37:58but I'm also concerned that getting back
38:00in the water could end badly.
38:04I've spent my life fishing in dangerous
38:06and treacherous situations,
38:08but this is a whole different kettle of fish.
38:11I'm one that I'm not sure I'm able to cope with.
38:16And my time is ticking away fast.
38:22Now, my only remaining chance of seeing this fish
38:25is to dive at night.
38:27The thing about going in at night is, for me,
38:33it's very much cranking things up another notch,
38:36or actually several notches.
38:37It's much easier to be disoriented,
38:41no real points of reference.
38:43I need to set my fears aside if I'm going to solve this mystery.
38:49The water is full of plankton,
38:51which I'm hoping will summon a sea serpent
38:53up from the murky depths.
38:55I wait again for it to appear,
39:02this time in the eerie, silent darkness.
39:11There it is! There it is!
39:15It's here!
39:16It's here!
39:29This is incredible.
39:31This is absolutely incredible.
39:33I think more people have seen the Earth from space than I've seen one of these this close.
39:42Such an outlandish looking thing.
39:45I might even touch it.
39:48I actually touched it.
39:52Even so close, it's hard to judge its length, but I estimate it's about two and a half times my height.
39:59Very, very fast and manoeuvrable. It doesn't flex the body, just the fin undulates like a wave.
40:08Hawarfish don't have swim bladders, so they can move very rapidly up and down the water column.
40:15Seem to be definitely using the chain as a point of reference.
40:19We need to follow this up. Look at this.
40:23One minute it wasn't there, and then suddenly it's right next to me.
40:27I can scarcely believe this. It almost came out of another dimension.
40:32I feel so privileged to be in the presence of one of the most elusive creatures on the planet.
40:38And just as I think it can't get any better.
40:41There's two. There's two.
40:46They're incredible.
40:48Why do they do this? Why are they here?
40:50Are they feeding? Are they breeding?
40:55Well, this is going to be on film. Hopefully, if it wasn't, I think I would doubt the accuracy of my senses.
41:03Did I really see what I just saw?
41:12Against all the odds, I believe I've finally solved the mystery of the sea serpent.
41:18It's this extraordinary and exceptionally rare fish, the oarfish, that is the true origin behind the enduring legend.
41:31Too fast for me to follow. It's gone. It's gone.
41:35Yes.
41:36And now I think she's weakness.
41:39I know there's two options and two recommendations and...
41:40Yeah.
41:41Maybe they have to taste good with him.
41:44Oh.
41:45Okay.
41:46ora Line.
41:47Y k