- 2 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00A ghost ship discovered off the coast of the Azores in 1872
00:05leads to wild speculation as to how the entire crew disappeared.
00:11It could have been a mutiny.
00:13Ships were isolated worlds and tensions could easily flare up in such confined quarters.
00:20A treasured Russian art installation seemingly vanished during World War II.
00:26The entire room, where in the world had the Nazis taken it?
00:32Great Victorian explorer Percy Fawcett embarked on an expedition into the Amazon
00:38in search of a lost city, never to be seen again.
00:43It's possible that he felt he was close to finding his lost city
00:46and wanted to make sure others couldn't follow him.
00:50The chain of history has many missing links.
00:57Prominent people, priceless treasures, extraordinary artifacts,
01:03their locations still unknown, lost to the fog of time.
01:07What happens when stories of the past become vanished history?
01:14On December 4th, 1872, Captain David Morehouse of the Canadian brigantine
01:36De Gratia was navigating the warm waters between the Azores Islands
01:40and Portugal when he came across a strange sight.
01:44On the horizon, the ghostly silhouette of a merchant ship,
01:49lifeless and adrift, swaying eerily in the calm.
01:54It was an extraordinary sight.
01:56A ship drifting aimlessly, its sails in tatters and slightly out of control.
02:00Morehouse immediately sensed something was amiss.
02:02The De Gratia was about six nautical miles away at this point.
02:08Morehouse hailed the ship multiple times without response
02:11and then realized there was no one at the wheel
02:14and not a sign of life on deck.
02:17As he got closer, his confusion turned to anxiety.
02:21He recognized it as the Mary Celeste.
02:27Morehouse seems to have known the captain of the Mary Celeste,
02:31Benjamin Spooner Briggs.
02:33Some accounts even suggest they had dinner together in New York
02:36the night before the ship set sail.
02:40Ten people were on board, a crew of seven men,
02:43Captain Briggs and his wife and daughter.
02:45The ship was supposed to be headed to Genoa, Italy
02:47to deliver a load of alcohol.
02:49So what was it doing drifting aimlessly 400 nautical miles
02:52off the coast of the Azores?
02:53Originally named Amazon,
03:04the Mary Celeste was constructed in Nova Scotia, Canada.
03:09When the ship launched on May 18, 1861,
03:12things didn't start off smoothly.
03:14In fact, its early years were pretty rough.
03:17Its captain passed away from pneumonia on the very first voyage,
03:20and over the next few years, it faced more bad luck,
03:23including running aground on Cape Breton Island
03:25in October of 1867.
03:30The ship was renamed the Mary Celeste in 1868
03:34and underwent some significant renovations
03:36and was sold to a group that included Captain Briggs.
03:40Soon after that, the ship was moved
03:42to its new home port in New York City.
03:44And then, on November 7, 1872,
03:49the Mary Celeste set sail for Genoa.
03:52It was less than a month later
03:54that it was discovered floating adrift
03:56by the crew of the Dei Gratiam.
04:05His fears growing, Captain Morehouse
04:07sent his chief mate, Oliver Deveau,
04:10and several crew members to investigate the Mary Celeste.
04:13And what they uncovered
04:15would become one of the greatest maritime mysteries
04:18of all time.
04:20It was a chilling scene.
04:22On the deck, there were signs of disarray,
04:24but no obvious chaos.
04:26A piece of the railing had been removed,
04:28one sail was intact,
04:30and others were blown away or missing altogether.
04:32And ropes were strewn haphazardly over the sides.
04:36The ship had three hatches.
04:39The main one was securely fastened,
04:41but the other two, the four and Lazaret,
04:44they were left wide open.
04:49The mystery of the Mary Celeste deepened
04:52as the boarding party investigated below deck.
04:56There was no sign of Captain Briggs,
04:58his wife, Sarah Elizabeth,
05:00his two-year-old daughter, Sophia,
05:01or any of the other seven crew members.
05:04All ten had seemingly vanished.
05:08There was about three feet of water in the bilges.
05:11Not ideal, but definitely not enough
05:14to sink a 282-ton ship.
05:16And the cargo of over 1,700 barrels
05:19of industrial alcohol
05:21remained almost entirely intact.
05:23The only lifeboat was missing,
05:27along with the bill of landing,
05:29the navigation book,
05:30and interestingly,
05:31the navigational instruments,
05:33including the ship's sextant and chronometer.
05:36What's puzzling is what the crew left behind.
05:39Petty cash, tobacco,
05:40even oil-skinned raincoats,
05:42all still there.
05:43So something must have happened on that ship
05:45that made everyone leave
05:46without so much as collecting their personal effects,
05:48even small items that could easily be carried.
05:50But what was it?
05:57Upon the discovery of the Mary Celeste,
06:00many observers' first instinct
06:01was that Captain Briggs
06:03was the victim of a sinister plot.
06:06It could have been a mutiny.
06:09Ships were isolated worlds,
06:11and tensions could easily flare up
06:13in such confined quarters.
06:15They had been at sea for nearly a month.
06:17It's not hard to imagine the crew
06:19turning against Captain Briggs,
06:21perhaps driven by fear or greed.
06:26But Captain Briggs was well-legged.
06:28He was known to be firm, but fair.
06:30He was a religious man
06:31and a staunch teetotaler,
06:33and hand-picked the crew personally.
06:36By all accounts,
06:37the men were described
06:38as peaceful, professional sailors.
06:40An inquiry into what transpired
06:43on the Mary Celeste was held,
06:46and despite the lack of physical evidence,
06:48the idea of mutiny
06:50lingered in the minds of investigators.
06:53The hearings were led
06:54by the Attorney General of Gibraltar,
06:57Frederick Sully Flood.
06:59He speculated wildly about a mutiny
07:01fueled by all that alcohol on board.
07:04His theory was that the crew
07:05had been driven into a drunken frenzy
07:08and killed the captain and his family.
07:11That might have been impossible.
07:13Many historians think
07:14the alcohol was toxic, denatured,
07:17so no one would have been able
07:18to drink it at all.
07:24Denatured alcohol is a type of ethanol
07:26with additives put into the barrels
07:28to make it not only unappetizing,
07:31but poisonous.
07:32This was to prevent anyone
07:34from becoming tempted
07:35to imbibe in the cargo on the voyage,
07:37and was a common practice
07:39among manufacturers at the time.
07:43This denatured alcohol
07:44was destined for industrial use,
07:47often in the production of perfumes,
07:49solvents, and cleaning fluids.
07:52They found some pretty unsettling stuff
07:54on board.
07:55A broken, stained sword,
07:57strange stains on the deck,
07:59and a deep mark in the timber
08:00that looked like it was made by an axe.
08:03Flood thought this pointed
08:03to a violent struggle,
08:04but when they tested the evidence,
08:06there was no blood at all.
08:08So if it wasn't a violent clash,
08:10then what else could have happened?
08:11With no evidence of mutiny,
08:23wild conspiracy theories emerged
08:25and spread far and wide
08:27as legends of the ghost ship
08:29proliferated.
08:31But the explanation
08:32could be a simple, natural one
08:34that has plagued seafarers
08:36since humans took to the seas.
08:38The year the Mary Celeste was found
08:41had the worst weather
08:43since records began.
08:45Hundreds of vessels were lost
08:46or abandoned in the Atlantic
08:48that year.
08:50We know from the logbook
08:52that after setting sail,
08:53the crew contended with heavy weather.
08:56But there's no indication of danger
08:58in the final entry.
08:59In his last log from November 25th,
09:02Captain Briggs describes
09:04having made it through a storm
09:05the night before
09:06and is settling in calm seas.
09:10Plus, the cabin's skylight
09:13was propped open,
09:14which obviously would have
09:15let water in.
09:16So if they were preparing
09:18for a terrible storm,
09:19why leave that open?
09:21A deeper look
09:29into the Mary Celeste's history
09:31led some to believe
09:32that the ship suffered
09:34some sort of mechanical failure.
09:37Before the Mary Celeste
09:38was loaded with alcohol,
09:40she had been used
09:40for transporting coal,
09:42which is known for its dust.
09:43The pumps on the vessel
09:44might have been clogged
09:45by coal dust
09:46from a previous voyage.
09:48We also know
09:49that one of its two pumps
09:50had been disassembled.
09:53A sounding rod,
09:54which is used to measure
09:55the amount of water
09:56in the hold,
09:57was discovered on deck,
09:59which suggests
10:00it might have been used
10:01just before the ship
10:02was abandoned.
10:03So one theory
10:04is that maybe
10:05a faulty reading
10:06of the sounding rod
10:07combined with
10:08an ineffective pump
10:10could have convinced
10:11Captain Briggs
10:12that the ship was sinking.
10:14So maybe that's why
10:15he ordered it abandoned.
10:17Near the last land
10:18he sighted,
10:19the island of Santa Maria
10:20in the Azores.
10:23But the Mary Celeste
10:24was still afloat
10:25and in seaworthy shape
10:26when it was found.
10:27So panicking over fear
10:28of her sinking
10:29doesn't seem likely.
10:32Of the 1,701 barrels
10:35of industrial alcohol
10:36on board,
10:37nine were found empty.
10:39This discovery
10:40points to a different
10:42and possibly far more
10:43dangerous explanation.
10:45These particular barrels,
10:47unlike the rest,
10:48were crafted from red oak,
10:50which is a more porous wood
10:52than the sturdy white oak
10:53used for the others.
10:55This distinction is crucial
10:57as red oak
10:58is far more prone
10:59to leakage.
11:00The slow,
11:01silent seepage
11:03of alcohol
11:03could have created
11:04a dangerous buildup
11:05of fumes.
11:08Nine barrels
11:09may not sound like a lot,
11:10but that's about 300 gallons.
11:12If the alcohol leaked
11:13and was absorbed
11:14into the walls of the ship,
11:15this would have created
11:16a highly flammable environment.
11:19Even the vapors
11:20are highly explosive.
11:22In a ship made
11:23entirely of timber
11:24and likely lit
11:25by oil lamps,
11:27fire would have been
11:27the biggest fear.
11:30According to Briggs' log,
11:32on the night of November 24th,
11:34a storm swept in,
11:36battering the ship
11:36and sending the barrels
11:38of alcohol in the hold,
11:40tumbling about.
11:41And as the Mary Celeste
11:43neared the Azores,
11:44the air would have
11:44grown warmer.
11:45And with all that movement
11:46below deck,
11:47alcohol vapors
11:48could have begun to rise.
11:49Combine that
11:50with the higher temperatures,
11:51and it's very possible
11:52that small,
11:53volatile explosions
11:54were occurring.
11:57It's also possible
11:59that Captain Briggs
12:00heard some of this
12:01in the hold
12:02and ordered the hatches
12:03thrown open
12:04to let the fumes escape.
12:05This would also explain
12:07why the skylight
12:08was left open.
12:09As fumes poured
12:11out of the hatchways,
12:12rumbling noises
12:13would have been heard
12:14from the stern,
12:15and the escaping vapour
12:16could have resembled smoke.
12:20Captain Briggs,
12:21likely worried
12:22for the safety
12:22of his wife and child,
12:24probably gave the order
12:25to board the ship's lifeboat.
12:27In the rush,
12:28they may have even removed
12:29part of the ship's railing
12:30to get everyone
12:31onto the small boat quickly.
12:33They could have secured
12:34a rope from the lifeboat
12:36to the stern of the ship,
12:38planning to return
12:39once the danger had passed.
12:41The record shows
12:42the wind picked up
12:43right around that time,
12:45stirring up rough seas.
12:47So maybe a rogue wave
12:48overturned the lifeboat
12:50where the tow line snapped,
12:52leaving the crew
12:53at the mercy
12:54of the elements.
12:55They would have been
12:56essentially doomed.
12:58But the truth is,
12:59we'll never know for sure.
13:00Ultimately,
13:08the Mary Celeste
13:09was discovered intact.
13:11But that doesn't mean
13:12the crew wasn't reacting
13:13to a very real threat
13:15in their eyes.
13:16Whether it was imminent danger
13:18or imagined,
13:19without more evidence,
13:21what happened
13:22may remain as lost
13:23as the ship was
13:24on that foggy December day
13:26in the vastness
13:28of the Atlantic Ocean.
13:441941.
13:46Three million Nazi soldiers
13:49flooded into the Soviet Union,
13:51looting tens of thousands
13:52of art treasures.
13:53In Pushkin,
13:57the staff of Catherine Palace
13:58had already removed
14:00and hidden
14:00all the valuables
14:01they could.
14:02But the one thing
14:03deemed too large
14:04and precious to move,
14:06the palace's greatest treasure,
14:08had been cleverly camouflaged.
14:12The Nazis stormed the palace
14:14and took the most valuable
14:16of the few artworks
14:17the Russians left behind
14:18and turned the building
14:19into a barracks.
14:21Then, a couple of soldiers
14:23noticed a room
14:24on the first floor
14:25that seemed out of place.
14:27Sand covered its floor
14:29and the walls
14:30seemed to be made
14:31of muslin and cotton.
14:34One soldier picked
14:35at the fabric
14:36and discovered
14:36it was a false wall.
14:38Behind it was
14:39a dazzling, intricate mosaic
14:41of thousands of pieces
14:42of carved amber,
14:44mother of pearl
14:44and gilt wood trim.
14:48The Nazis tore
14:49all four walls down
14:51revealing a 590-square-foot room
14:54with 13,000 pounds
14:56of sculpted amber
14:58along with other
14:59semi-precious stones
15:00covering its walls.
15:03There were also
15:04dozens of chandeliers,
15:06gilt-framed mirrors
15:07and a ceiling
15:08over 20 feet high.
15:11This is what the palace staff
15:13had tried desperately to hide,
15:16the eighth wonder of the world.
15:18Russia's two-and-a-half-century-old
15:21amber room.
15:25By early 1944,
15:28the momentum of the war
15:29had turned
15:30and the Nazis left
15:31the Catherine Palace.
15:33The Soviet staff returned
15:34to a big, empty room,
15:36just bare walls
15:37and floor
15:38where the amber room
15:39used to be.
15:41It must have been
15:42absolutely crushing.
15:44This unique piece
15:45of Russian history
15:47had been stolen.
15:48The entire room
15:50where in the world
15:52had the Nazis taken it.
15:56Catherine Palace
15:57had not been
15:58the Amber Room's
15:59original home.
16:01It had started
16:02in Berlin in 1701
16:04as a project
16:05to please Sophie Charlotte,
16:07the spouse
16:08of Friedrich I.
16:09over the next 13 years,
16:12a German sculptor
16:13conceived and oversaw
16:15the creation
16:15of a whole room
16:17sheathed and encrusted
16:18in amber.
16:19Close to a thousand pounds
16:21of it,
16:21intricately sculpted
16:23and backed in gold
16:24and silver leaf
16:25to make it shimmer
16:26in candlelight.
16:28By 1716,
16:30Friedrich I's son,
16:31King Friedrich William,
16:33found himself low on money
16:34and facing a visit
16:35from someone
16:36he wanted to make an ally,
16:38Tsar Peter I of Russia.
16:40It was customary
16:41for royals
16:42to exchange gifts,
16:43but Friedrich William
16:44didn't want to go
16:45to any great expense,
16:46so he decided
16:46to give Peter
16:47the Amber Room
16:48and the Tsar
16:49had it carted off
16:49to his winter palace
16:50in St. Petersburg.
16:5130 years after Peter's death,
17:00the room was moved again,
17:01this time to Catherine Palace
17:04in Pushkin.
17:05His daughter,
17:06Tsarina Elizabeth,
17:07hired an Italian architect
17:08to rework it
17:09and expand it
17:10to fit its new,
17:11much bigger home.
17:14That was when the Amber Room
17:15grew from 180 square feet
17:17to almost 600 square feet,
17:1912,000 pounds of amber
17:22were added.
17:23Now, a total of six tons
17:25of it encrusted the walls.
17:31Within 36 hours
17:33of finding it,
17:34the Nazis had dismantled
17:35the Amber Room
17:36into its various panels,
17:38packed it all into crates
17:39and transported it
17:40to Königsberg,
17:41modern-day Kaliningrad,
17:43where it was installed
17:44in Königsberg Castle
17:46for the German public
17:47to admire.
17:49Königsberg was
17:50a Nazi stronghold
17:52and in August of 1944,
17:54the Allies launched
17:55a devastating air raid
17:56on the castle.
17:58Even the sections
17:59still standing
18:00were in bad shape.
18:03The Soviets raced
18:05to the site
18:05and scoured the ruins,
18:07hoping the Amber Room
18:08might have escaped
18:09the barrage,
18:10but they found
18:10no evidence of it.
18:13Amber will burn
18:15in a fire,
18:16but it leaves
18:17a sticky residue.
18:18No such traces
18:19were found anywhere.
18:21It seems the Nazis
18:23must have moved
18:24the Amber Room
18:25out of Königsberg
18:26before the air raid.
18:28But if so,
18:29what could they have done
18:30with it?
18:35In April of 1945,
18:38Allied forces
18:39sweeping through
18:40Turingia, Germany,
18:41received a tip
18:42that led them
18:43to investigate
18:44a local salt mine.
18:46The unit
18:47boarded an elevator
18:49that plunged
18:502,100 feet
18:51below the surface.
18:53They came upon
18:54a huge steel vault door,
18:56blasted it open,
18:57and found
18:57100 tons of gold bars
18:59and personal effects
19:01stolen from
19:01concentration camp victims.
19:03There were crates
19:04full of various paper
19:05currencies
19:06and an enormous
19:07hoard of stolen art.
19:10They also found
19:12a large number
19:12of museum pieces
19:13and wall-mounted
19:15silver candelabras
19:16labeled in Russian.
19:18One of the investigators
19:20on the trail
19:21of the Amber Room
19:22had calculated,
19:23based on its design
19:24and descriptions
19:25of the finished room,
19:27that it must have been
19:28equipped with
19:28132 candelabras.
19:31And the number
19:32of candelabras
19:33found at the mine?
19:36132.
19:40The trove
19:41of stolen treasures
19:42was searched,
19:43but they didn't find
19:43any other potential
19:45parts of the Amber Room,
19:47and they didn't find
19:48any proof
19:48that those candelabras
19:50were from
19:51the Amber Room either.
19:52But,
19:53since the number
19:54matches,
19:55it would have to be
19:56a pretty big coincidence.
20:01Around the time
20:03of the Allied air raid
20:05in Königsberg,
20:06another major event
20:07occurred.
20:08This one
20:09with horribly
20:10tragic consequences
20:11and a possible connection
20:13to the Amber Room.
20:15It was pretty clear
20:17at that point
20:18that the Nazis
20:19were losing the war.
20:20Soviet troops
20:21were pressing in
20:22surrounding Königsberg.
20:25For hundreds of thousands
20:26of German civilians,
20:28the only possible route
20:29to escape the Red Army
20:31was via the Baltic Sea.
20:33But Hitler
20:34wouldn't allow it.
20:37Hitler's directive
20:38was no surrender,
20:40no retreat.
20:42But the German Navy
20:43disobeyed that order,
20:45launching a secret
20:46humanitarian mission
20:47called Operation Hannibal,
20:50one of the biggest
20:51seaborne evacuations
20:52in history.
20:54A steady stream
20:56of ships crammed
20:57with fleeing
20:58German civilians
20:58and all the precious
21:00belongings
21:00they could carry
21:01sailed off one
21:03after the other,
21:04taking their chances
21:05against the Soviet
21:06warships and planes.
21:09Up to two million
21:10German civilians
21:11were ultimately ferried
21:12out of ports
21:13on the Baltic
21:14to escape internment
21:15or death
21:16at the hands
21:17of the Red Army.
21:18Many of them
21:18left via Pallava,
21:20Konigsberg's port.
21:21So could the crates
21:23holding the Amber Room's
21:24panels have been
21:25among the cargo?
21:25The overwhelming
21:29majority of Operation
21:30Hannibal's ships
21:31made it out safely,
21:33but some did not.
21:37The SS Karlsruhe
21:38left Konigsberg
21:40on April 11, 1945,
21:43heavily loaded
21:44with 1,083 souls
21:46on board,
21:47almost all civilian refugees,
21:49and 360 tons
21:51of unspecified goods
21:53packed in crates.
21:56Hours into its voyage,
21:58Russian planes
21:58spotted the ship,
22:00attacked,
22:01and the Karlsruhe
22:02sank in less
22:03than three minutes,
22:05taking all but
22:05113 of those
22:07on board with it.
22:08Maybe the Amber Room
22:10was also lost
22:12to the sea that day.
22:13But in 2020,
22:18the SS Karlsruhe
22:20was located
22:20and positively identified
22:22lying virtually intact
22:24at a depth
22:25of about 290 feet.
22:28Divers found shoes,
22:30belts,
22:30and other personal effects
22:31of the hundreds
22:32that perished,
22:33but no sign
22:35of the Amber Room.
22:36Over half a century
22:45after it was last seen,
22:47the strongest evidence
22:48for the Amber Room's
22:49possible survival
22:50emerged out
22:52of Bremen, Germany.
22:54In 1997,
22:56a mystery person
22:57calling himself
22:57Mr. X
22:58advertised
22:59that he was selling
23:00an antique-jeweled
23:01quarantine mosaic
23:02called Feel and Touch.
23:04The Amber Room
23:06was said to have
23:07four mosaics
23:08based on
23:09all the sensors.
23:12Word of the attempted sale
23:13set off alarm bells
23:14and the German authorities
23:15moved in
23:16to apprehend the seller.
23:18It turned out
23:19he was the son
23:19of a now-deceased
23:20German soldier
23:21who told him
23:22he'd been one
23:23of the soldiers
23:24ordered to pack up
23:25the Amber Room
23:25and transport it
23:26out of Koningsburg.
23:29Experts examined
23:29the mosaic
23:30and conclusively determined
23:32that it was authentic.
23:34so it appears
23:35that the Amber Room
23:37or at least
23:37some of it
23:38did survive the war.
23:40Maybe
23:41the rest of it
23:42is still out there
23:43somewhere.
23:4962 years
23:50after it vanished,
23:52the Catherine Palace
23:53got its Amber Room
23:54back,
23:55a replica
23:55that took 25 years
23:57to make
23:58and incorporated
23:59the stolen
23:59and recovered
24:00Florentine mosaic.
24:02The original Amber Room
24:05may yet one day
24:06turn up,
24:07but until it does,
24:08the replica
24:09is there
24:09to remind us
24:10of timeless
24:11artistic beauty
24:12destroyed
24:13by the horrors
24:14of war.
24:15May 29th,
24:311925.
24:33Percy Fawcett,
24:34the last of the
24:35great Victorian explorers,
24:37assured his wife
24:38of success
24:39on this,
24:40his eighth attempt
24:41to find the ancient
24:42Amazonian city
24:43he referred to as
24:45the lost city
24:46of Zant.
24:48Fawcett was already
24:49world famous
24:50at this time.
24:51His previous adventures
24:51had inspired
24:52Arthur Conan Doyle's novel
24:54The Lost World.
24:55By most accounts,
24:56he had exceptional
24:57intelligence and stamina.
24:58He was charismatic
24:59and determined
25:00and apparently
25:01pretty fearless.
25:01in February of 1925,
25:08Fawcett,
25:09his 21-year-old son Jack
25:11and his friend
25:12Raleigh Rimmel
25:13arrived in
25:14Carumba, Bolivia
25:15by train.
25:17They and two
25:18local laborers
25:19then trekked
25:20250 miles
25:22north-northeast
25:23to Cuiaba,
25:25then almost dead straight
25:27for another 280 miles
25:29to a place
25:30Fawcett dubbed
25:31Dead Horse Camp.
25:35While at Dead Horse Camp,
25:37Fawcett penned updates
25:38for the various newspapers
25:39he had agreements with
25:40and wrote his wife Nina
25:42a letter saying,
25:44you need have no fear
25:45of any failure.
25:47He sent local runners
25:48off to post everything
25:50and then he and his party
25:51crossed the Upper Shingo River
25:53and disappeared,
25:54never to be heard from again.
25:56So what happened to them?
25:59And did the lost city
26:01of Zed even exist?
26:04Percy Fawcett
26:06was born in 1867
26:07in Torquay, Devon, England.
26:10At 19 years old,
26:12he joined the Royal Artillery
26:13and got his start
26:15as a world traveler
26:16sent to various outposts
26:18of the British Empire.
26:20In 1901,
26:22Fawcett became a member
26:23of the Royal Geographical
26:24Society of London
26:25and traveled to Africa
26:26as a surveyor.
26:27Five years later,
26:29he was sent to map
26:29the territory bordering
26:30Bolivia and Brazil
26:31and that was really
26:33when his life changed.
26:39Fawcett would have seen
26:40how badly the Amazon's
26:42indigenous people
26:43were being mistreated
26:44by the rubber barons
26:46who were there
26:46making vast fortunes.
26:48So he tried to build
26:50a different kind
26:50of relationship with them.
26:51Fawcett heard accounts
26:54of past civilizations
26:56that had built
26:57great cities
26:58in the jungle
26:59and saw what he perceived
27:01to be signs of these cities
27:03in the topography.
27:04He also found
27:05what he believed
27:06were shards
27:07of centuries-old pottery
27:09scattered in the forests.
27:11The 1925 expedition
27:15centered on Brazil's
27:16Mato Grosso
27:17or Great Woods,
27:19a challenging
27:19and perilous environment
27:21and one of the last
27:22frontier areas
27:23in the world.
27:24In his last letter
27:26to his wife,
27:27Fawcett wrote,
27:28we hope to get through
27:29this region
27:30in a few days,
27:31referring to the area
27:32beyond Dead Horse Camp.
27:34Two years went by
27:38with no word
27:39from Fawcett
27:39and even though
27:40Nina claimed
27:41she wasn't worried
27:42about him or her son,
27:44others were.
27:50By January of 1927,
27:53the Royal Geographical
27:54Society of London
27:55announced it would
27:56back any competent
27:57explorer willing
27:59to search for Fawcett.
28:00They made no indication
28:02as to what they thought
28:03might have happened
28:04to him.
28:06The most likely scenario,
28:08if you're playing
28:08the odds,
28:09would have been
28:10that Fawcett
28:10was on a fool's errand.
28:12He went into the jungle
28:13searching for a myth
28:13that had never existed,
28:15saying he wouldn't return
28:16until he'd found it.
28:18The only two logical
28:20outcomes of that
28:20are you search
28:21a really long time
28:23only to come back
28:24and eat your words
28:24or you don't come back
28:26at all.
28:32From the beginning,
28:33many people believed
28:34the lost city of Zed
28:35had never existed.
28:37For one thing,
28:37in Fawcett's time,
28:38it's estimated
28:39there may have only been
28:40about 200,000 people
28:42living in the entire
28:43Amazon rainforest.
28:45So people questioned
28:46why there would have been
28:47a big city
28:48with a large population
28:50centuries earlier,
28:52but not in 1925.
28:56It was also well known
28:57that the Amazon soil
28:59wasn't suitable
29:00for large-scale farming,
29:01something that would
29:02have been required
29:03to sustain
29:04a large population.
29:10In the years
29:11after Fawcett's disappearance,
29:13at least 13 expeditions
29:15set out looking for him,
29:16of which approximately
29:17100 people died
29:19or simply went missing.
29:22The high cost
29:23in human life
29:24makes another theory
29:26some have put forward
29:27that much more troubling.
29:31Fawcett and his party
29:32spent about five months
29:34at Dead Horse Camp,
29:36kind of a long time
29:37to be hanging around.
29:38And from there,
29:39he sent the updates
29:40to the international news
29:42syndicates
29:42and his wife,
29:44making sure to include
29:45the camp's coordinates.
29:46But he gave the press
29:48and his wife
29:49different coordinates.
29:51If people have
29:55the wrong coordinates
29:56for your last known position,
29:58you're going to be
29:59a lot harder to find
30:01if you go missing.
30:02So is that
30:03what Fawcett wanted?
30:06He had actually
30:07warned people
30:08that he was expecting
30:09to be away
30:10for a very long time
30:11and even told them,
30:13if I go missing,
30:14don't come looking for me.
30:16It's entirely conceivable
30:18that Percy Fawcett
30:19did not want to be found.
30:25Decades later,
30:26some of Fawcett's
30:27private journals
30:28and letters,
30:29including those
30:30in possession
30:30of his descendants,
30:32were accessed
30:32and shed new light
30:34on Fawcett's frame of mind
30:35and possible intentions.
30:39Regarding what was then
30:40pejoratively termed
30:41going native,
30:42adopting the customs
30:43of the colonized people
30:44you were living amongst,
30:45Fawcett wrote,
30:46there is no disgrace in it.
30:48It shows creditable regard
30:49for the real things in life.
30:52Also,
30:52some of Fawcett's associates
30:54said he hoped one day
30:55to follow what he'd called
30:56the grand scheme
30:57and set up a secret community
30:59in the jungle.
31:02Those who knew Fawcett well
31:04felt he believed deeply
31:05in the lost city of Zed
31:07and intentionally
31:08cutting all ties with home
31:10would have meant
31:11he could never prove
31:12to the world
31:13that the city existed.
31:14So, whether or not
31:16he wanted to go missing,
31:18people were still left
31:19with the question,
31:21did Percy Fawcett
31:22find the lost city
31:24of Zed
31:24before he died?
31:26And was there anything
31:27to find?
31:31It had been hard
31:32to reconcile
31:33why Fawcett gave
31:34those two conflicting
31:36coordinates
31:36for his last position
31:38when he was
31:39at dead horse camp.
31:41He may have been trying
31:42to throw others
31:43off the path
31:43to protect himself
31:45but it was also possible
31:47that he felt
31:48he was close
31:49to finding his lost city
31:50and wanted to make sure
31:52others couldn't follow him.
31:56In 2019,
31:58archaeologists mounted
31:59a lidar scanner
32:00on a helicopter
32:01and flew multiple passes
32:03over Mato Grosso's
32:04Llanos de Mojo savannah
32:06and made a discovery
32:07nobody had expected.
32:09Along the Shingu River
32:13in the same general area
32:15that Percy Fawcett
32:16was focusing his search,
32:18the lidar revealed
32:19clear signs
32:20of a large network
32:22of settlements
32:22with carefully designed walls
32:24and large earthen mounds
32:26arranged around
32:27circular plazas.
32:30These ancient plaza towns
32:32were interconnected
32:33by curbed roadways
32:3430 to 50 feet across
32:36and miles long.
32:38The settlements,
32:40all within an hour's walk
32:41of one another,
32:42dated back to between
32:43200 and 1200 CE
32:45and it's thought
32:46that they were capable
32:47of housing up to
32:4860,000 people.
32:50This flew in the face
32:51of all we used to believe
32:52about the Amazon.
32:52and they did farm.
33:02There are patches
33:02of extremely fertile soil
33:05now referred to as
33:06terra preta,
33:07black earth.
33:08The ancient Amazonians
33:10created this nutrient-rich
33:12soil over generations
33:13with manure and waste
33:15and by controlled burns
33:17of the forest.
33:19It's estimated
33:20that as many as
33:21a million people
33:22may have lived
33:23in this network
33:24of settlements
33:25in Llanos de Mojos
33:26making it even more
33:28populous than many
33:29European cities
33:30at that time.
33:32These were the lost cities
33:34of the Amazon.
33:36But where did all
33:37these people go?
33:43In the 16th century,
33:45European colonizers
33:46flooded into Central
33:47and South America
33:48and brought diseases
33:50that the indigenous people
33:51had no defenses against.
33:54By the 19th century,
33:56up to 95% of the
33:57indigenous population
33:59had died of smallpox
34:00and measles.
34:03The Amazonians
34:05didn't build with stone.
34:06So when the structures
34:07they built were abandoned,
34:09they simply melted back
34:11into the forest,
34:12making them extremely
34:13difficult to locate
34:14without the help
34:15of modern technology.
34:19So did Percy Fawcett
34:20find his lost city
34:22of Zed before he died?
34:24It looks like at least
34:25he was looking
34:26in the right area,
34:27but it's impossible
34:28to know how far he got.
34:30That doesn't mean
34:30we won't ever find out.
34:32It just means
34:32that we haven't yet.
34:34He did keep journals
34:35after all,
34:35and he was a photographer.
34:37Just think of what still
34:38might be out there,
34:39waiting to be discovered.
34:40In the meantime,
34:45indigenous and
34:46international researchers
34:47have plenty of exploration
34:49to do on more than
34:50100 newly discovered
34:52settlement sites.
34:54Lost cities found
34:56after lying silent
34:57in the jungle
34:58for hundreds of years.
35:10October 9th, 1216.
35:20King John,
35:21one of the most infamous
35:22monarchs in English history,
35:24was on the run
35:25from rebellious barons
35:26and an invading
35:27French prince.
35:30As he fled,
35:32he dragged with him
35:32a procession of carts,
35:34the royal baggage train,
35:35loaded with gold, jewels,
35:37and religious relics.
35:38Some accounts say
35:41the convoy of 3,000 soldiers,
35:43servants, and supporters
35:44carried the crown jewels
35:45along with other
35:46priceless treasures,
35:47including the legendary
35:49sword of Tristram,
35:50a broken-tipped knight's blade
35:52used as regalia
35:53at coronations.
35:58John's route
35:58took him across the Wash.
36:00This is a treacherous
36:01tidal estuary
36:02on the Lincolnshire coast.
36:03And the Wash was
36:04a death trap,
36:05a shifting,
36:06sinking,
36:07and suffocating quagmire
36:08of quicksand
36:08and rising water
36:10covering nearly
36:1021 square miles.
36:12If you're caught
36:13at the wrong time,
36:14the tide rushes in
36:15and swallows you.
36:20It was a risky path,
36:23but John was desperate.
36:25Rebels had invited
36:26Prince Louis of France
36:28to take the English crown,
36:30prompting John
36:31to flee East Anglia.
36:33And it was during
36:33that frantic escape
36:35that the king's treasure
36:36vanished in the wash
36:38without a trace.
36:39And eight centuries later,
36:41we're still left wondering
36:42what happened to it.
36:46King John's reputation
36:48was among the worst
36:49of any English monarch.
36:51He was known for his greed,
36:53cruelty,
36:54and incompetence.
36:55His reign was marked
36:58by catastrophic failures,
37:00losing vast territories
37:01that make up much
37:03of modern France
37:04and even parts of England.
37:07In 1204,
37:09King John suffered
37:09a humiliating blow.
37:11He lost Normandy
37:12to King Philip of France,
37:14ending England's
37:15centuries-old claim
37:16to the territory.
37:17But this was more
37:20than a minor setback.
37:21It signaled the collapse
37:22of the English empire
37:23in France.
37:27By the 1210s,
37:28John was facing enemies
37:29on all fronts,
37:30including within
37:31his own ranks.
37:32His relentless cruelty
37:34and heavy-handed rule
37:35pushed his nobles
37:36to the brink.
37:37John stirred up
37:39even more trouble
37:40when he refused
37:40to accept Stephen Langton
37:42as the Archbishop
37:43of Canterbury,
37:44the top position
37:45in the English Catholics.
37:47By doing so,
37:49he directly challenged
37:50the authority
37:51of Pope Innocent III
37:53in Rome,
37:54who retaliated
37:55by excommunicating him.
37:59By 1215,
38:01King John had made
38:02so many enemies
38:03that a group
38:04of medieval oligarchs
38:05took action,
38:07creating one of history's
38:08most important documents,
38:10the Magna Carta.
38:13This charter was designed
38:15to enforce political reforms
38:16and reign in John's
38:18abuse of power
38:19and ultimately became
38:20the bedrock
38:21of English democracy.
38:27But any hope for peace
38:28was short-lived.
38:30John violated the Magna Carta
38:31almost immediately
38:32and raised an army
38:34of mercenaries
38:34plunging the country
38:35into chaos.
38:36by October of 1216,
38:41the king was in dire straits.
38:43His reign was on the brink
38:45of collapse,
38:45his forces were spread thin,
38:47and he was on the run
38:49with his precious treasures
38:50in tow
38:50as he attempted
38:51to navigate the wash.
38:53The wash is notoriously
38:57unpredictable,
38:58but it's also
38:59surprisingly shallow,
39:01which just adds
39:02to the mystery.
39:03If King John
39:04really was carrying
39:05all that treasure,
39:06why hasn't it been found
39:08in more than 800 years?
39:12Maybe the treasure
39:13didn't even exist.
39:15It's important to remember
39:16that the medieval chroniclers
39:17who recorded King John's reign
39:18were often members
39:19of the clergy
39:20who had a deep resentment
39:21toward John
39:22because he conflicted
39:23with the church.
39:25These accounts
39:26would have been biased,
39:27and a story about him
39:28losing a treasure
39:29in such a foolish way
39:31would have fit perfectly
39:33with their narrative
39:34of him as a cursed
39:35and inept ruler.
39:39We still don't know
39:40with certainty
39:41that any treasure disappeared.
39:43The carriage that was lost
39:45could have been filled
39:46with nothing more
39:47than personal effects.
39:50John had almost no money
39:51left by the end
39:52of his reign,
39:53and it's plausible
39:53that some,
39:54or perhaps the majority
39:55of his treasure
39:56had already been melted down
39:57or sold off
39:58to pay his soldiers.
40:01While King John
40:02struggled to keep hold
40:03of his land,
40:04he may have taken
40:05a more calculated approach
40:07to his treasure.
40:09Maybe the treasure
40:10was stashed away somewhere.
40:12Some historians
40:13have speculated
40:14that his rent new
40:14might have decided
40:15to hide the goods
40:17for safekeeping,
40:18planning to retrieve them
40:19at a later,
40:21safer date.
40:24Perhaps they were set aside
40:25for his son,
40:26Henry III.
40:27There are several pieces
40:29listed in the regalia
40:30for Henry's second coronation
40:31at Westminster
40:32in 1220.
40:34A crown,
40:35sword,
40:36scepter,
40:36and tunic.
40:37They seem to match
40:39those from King John's regalia
40:40in 1216.
40:42So this could mean
40:43that the treasures
40:44were carefully preserved.
40:46We may never know
40:49exactly what the baggage
40:50train carried,
40:52but one undeniable fact
40:54remains.
40:54It crossed the wash.
40:57The question is,
40:58what happened next?
41:02Amid the uncertainty
41:04and haste
41:05of King John's final days,
41:06the route he chose
41:08and the treacherous terrain
41:09of the wash
41:10may hold the key
41:11to what happened
41:12to the missing treasure.
41:16We know that after
41:17rallying reinforcements
41:18on the Welsh border,
41:19King John dashed to Windsor
41:20and then to East Anglia,
41:22covering up to 50 miles a day.
41:24On October 9th,
41:25he reached the town
41:25of Kingslyn
41:26to a warm welcome.
41:27According to one chronicler
41:30of the time,
41:31Roger of Wendover,
41:33the king and his entourage
41:34left Kingslyn
41:35not long after they arrived
41:37and headed for a place
41:38called Swine's Head Abbey,
41:41about 30 miles away.
41:44Despite the baggage
41:45being of tremendous
41:45personal importance
41:46to King John,
41:47some believe that
41:48his baggage train
41:49probably travelled
41:49separately from him
41:50and was lost somewhere
41:51on the western side
41:52of the wash.
41:55With enemies
41:55on all sides,
41:56John would have been eager
41:57to protect both himself
41:59and his treasure.
42:01Splitting up seemed
42:02like the safest option
42:03and he may have chosen
42:04the longer path
42:05through Wisbeck
42:06while directing
42:06his baggage train
42:07to take a shortcut
42:08via the causeway
42:09across the well stream's mouth,
42:11a route only passable
42:13at low tide.
42:16The well stream,
42:17also known as
42:18the Wellester River
42:19and the River Neen,
42:21was once a far more
42:22formidable waterway.
42:24Just beyond Wisbeck,
42:26it emptied into
42:27a vast estuary
42:28spanning several miles.
42:31The baggage train
42:32likely travelled west
42:34along the road
42:34from Kings Lynn
42:35to the village
42:36of Walpole
42:36Cross Keys,
42:38which at the time
42:39sat on the banks
42:40of the well stream.
42:41With an experienced guide,
42:43the horses and wagons
42:44could have navigated
42:45the wash way,
42:47a narrow path
42:48across the sands,
42:49for the four and a half mile
42:50journey to Long Sutton.
42:52It's possible
42:55that along the way,
42:56King John's baggage train
42:57was engulfed
42:58by a massive tidal bore.
43:00This is a dangerous,
43:01unpredictable force
43:02that occurs
43:02when the rising tide
43:03is confined
43:04to a narrow,
43:05funneled estuary
43:06and creates
43:07a sudden wall of water.
43:10Astronomical records
43:11show us that at 4pm
43:13on October 12th,
43:151216,
43:16there was a fateful
43:17celestial event.
43:19The moon,
43:20the sun,
43:21and the earth
43:21were all perfectly aligned
43:24so that the combined
43:25gravitational pull
43:26might have created
43:27a dramatic 22-foot tide
43:30that surged
43:32through the estuary.
43:34So King John's convoy
43:36would have been
43:36caught off guard
43:37and overpowered
43:39by the waves.
43:39Many believe
43:55this puts
43:56the likely location
43:57of the lost treasure
43:58somewhere near Sutton Bridge,
44:00roughly two nautical miles
44:01from the outfall
44:02of the well stream.
44:03But obviously
44:04that's just a theory
44:05and impossible
44:06to verify.
44:09Within a week
44:10of the treasure vanishing,
44:12King John contracted dysentery
44:13and died on October 18th,
44:161216,
44:17at Newark Castle.
44:20Lost to time
44:21and buried under centuries
44:23of shifting tides
44:24and marshland,
44:26King John's treasure
44:27remains hidden,
44:28claimed by the ruthless,
44:30ever-changing landscape
44:32of the wash.
44:39In the meantime,
44:41the Prize is over
44:43to a national azy-yo-moon
44:44of the gods
44:44and the Japanese
44:45of the janty-yo-moon
44:45of the sea.
44:46We were still
44:46having a new
44:47day of the sea.
44:49We were still
44:50in the last few
44:50years.
44:51The very first
44:52of the sea
44:52and the bears
44:52that we call
44:53the naval
44:54of the sea
44:56of the sea
44:57is the sea
44:58of the sea.
44:58In the early
45:00the sea
45:00of the sea
45:01and the sea
45:02of the sea
45:03of the sea
45:04and the sea
45:05and the sea
45:06of the sea
45:07and the sea
Be the first to comment