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Expedition Files Season 4 Episode 2
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00:00On this episode of Expedition Files.
00:04In 1846, a courageous group of settlers known as the Donner Party
00:09travel halfway across the country in search of a new life, but find only death.
00:17Starving, they cross the ultimate line, cannibalism.
00:22Now, we reveal shocking new details about their horrifying final days.
00:29Then, at the height of the Cold War, the U.S. builds a top-secret nuclear missile base
00:34deep under the Arctic, before abandoning it years later.
00:40Today, as the ice melts, a ticking time bomb is revealed.
00:46And in 1872, the Mary Celeste is discovered drifting in the Atlantic.
00:52The ship is intact, but the entire crew has vanished into thin air.
00:58Now, a shocking new theory may uncover the truth behind history's most haunting ghost ship.
01:09In the corridors of time
01:13are mysteries that defy explanation.
01:18Now, I'm traveling through history itself
01:24on a search for the truth.
01:28New evidence
01:31Shocking answers
01:34I'm Josh Gates
01:36And these
01:39are my Expedition Files
01:46My mom's British, and like all Brits, she loves to talk about the weather.
01:51It was sunny for a couple of hours, then it was rainy for a minute, then it was sunny again.
01:55It's a real roller coaster.
01:57But, you know, she might actually be on to something,
01:59because powerful weather often leads to powerful stories.
02:03And tonight, we brave the toughest conditions imaginable
02:06to discover the secrets of three historic mysteries
02:09that unfold where man and Mother Nature meet.
02:13We begin on the 19th of July, 1846.
02:17I'm at Little Sandy River in Wyoming.
02:21A caravan of roughly 20 wagons
02:23and 87 hopeful men, women, and children
02:26are crossing the country to realize their dreams in California.
02:30But here, at a fork in the trail,
02:32that dream will turn into a nightmare.
02:34All because of a single choice, left or right.
02:38Weeks from now, this group will become trapped
02:40in the snows of the Sierra Nevada mountains,
02:43culminating in starvation, madness, and cannibalism.
02:47The traumatized survivors will speak of a place called
02:50the Camp of Death,
02:51where the unthinkable choice to eat their own was first made.
02:54But for nearly two centuries,
02:56the location will be lost to time,
02:59until a new four-legged search team
03:01reveals what may be the true location
03:03of the demise of the Donner Party.
03:15Leading the Donner Party is 60-year-old George Donner.
03:20He, his wife Tamsen, and their children
03:23have left their farm in Illinois
03:25in search of a better life on the California coast.
03:28Sharing leadership duties with Donner
03:30is James Reed and his family.
03:32He's hoping California's climate
03:34will improve his wife Margaret's poor health.
03:41Joined by more than 80 other pioneers,
03:44the group at first sets out along the tried-and-true path west,
03:48the Oregon and California trails.
03:51But George and James have a detour in mind.
03:55Something called the Hastings Cut-Off
03:57that's said to take a more direct route
04:00and trim 300 miles
04:01and a whole month off the journey.
04:05This supposedly faster route
04:07is publicized by real estate mogul
04:10Langford Hastings,
04:11mostly to lure people to California,
04:13where Hastings conveniently
04:15has land to sell.
04:21Hastings has promotional letters
04:23distributed along the trail.
04:25George Donner received one
04:26just a week before his expedition
04:28was set to begin.
04:30Hastings' letter claims the cut-off
04:32is not only passable, but preferable.
04:34His encouragement fills the Donner Party
04:36with confidence
04:37as they set out on their journey.
04:41There's just one problem.
04:43Hastings had never fully traveled
04:45the specific route he recommended.
04:51Unaware that the route is largely untested,
04:54George, James, and the rest of the party
04:56forge ahead from Little Sandy
04:58toward Fort Bridger.
05:07Just days into their journey
05:09along the cut-off,
05:10the supposedly easier terrain
05:12turns out to be a brutal slog
05:14through Utah's mountainous terrain
05:16with boulders and fallen trees
05:19blocking their path.
05:22And after a month of this,
05:24they're faced with an even worse challenge,
05:27an 80-mile crossing
05:28over the Great Salt Lake Desert,
05:30a barren, waterless expanse.
05:40They run out of water,
05:42their wagons break,
05:44and many of their livestock
05:45escape or perish.
05:47The pioneers are close
05:49to their breaking point,
05:50but remarkably,
05:52no one in the party dies.
05:54At least, not yet.
05:57Finally, on September 26th,
05:59the party is able to rejoin
06:01the traditional trail.
06:03This shortcut has left them
06:05more than a month behind schedule.
06:07They are now on winter's doorstep.
06:09In fact,
06:10they're the last group of settlers
06:12to attempt the trip
06:13to California this year,
06:14and their toughest challenge
06:16lies ahead.
06:17They must climb 7,000 feet
06:20and cross the Sierra Nevadas
06:22ahead of the coming snow.
06:25Over the next four weeks,
06:27the Donner party continues to unravel,
06:29with food dwindling
06:30and the conditions
06:31only getting colder,
06:33several members succumb
06:34to sickness and exhaustion.
06:38As desperation sets in,
06:41tensions explode.
06:43Co-leader James Reed
06:44stabs another man
06:45during a dispute
06:46and is banished from the group,
06:49leaving his wife, Margaret,
06:51alone to care for their children.
06:53It's the beginning of a rift
06:55between the expedition's
06:56two leading families,
06:57the Donners and the Reeds,
06:59one that will have
07:01catastrophic results.
07:04Eventually,
07:06the pioneers reach
07:07the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
07:08the gateway to California.
07:10But it is now early November,
07:12and five members
07:13of the once 87-strong party
07:16are already dead.
07:18As the expedition climbs
07:20the eastern slopes
07:21of the Sierras,
07:22they reach Alder Creek,
07:24where disaster strikes again.
07:26George Donner's wagon axle snaps,
07:29forcing his family to stop.
07:32It is here that the group
07:33fully splinters.
07:35The party is officially over.
07:37George and Tamsin Donner
07:38decide to remain
07:39at Alder Creek,
07:40along with their three children
07:42and 16 others.
07:46Meanwhile,
07:47Margaret Reed,
07:48the wife of the banished
07:49expedition leader,
07:50James Reed,
07:51continues toward a place
07:53called Truckee Lake,
07:54with the surviving 60 members
07:56of other families.
07:58Margaret's group
07:59wants to push through
08:00the mountain pass
08:00before winter takes hold,
08:02but Mother Nature
08:03has other plans.
08:07Attempts to cross
08:08the mountain pass
08:09are futile.
08:10The snow is already falling,
08:12and the trail is socked in.
08:13The exhausted families
08:15have no choice
08:16but to wait out
08:16the winter here
08:17near Truckee Lake,
08:18but sadly,
08:19many of them
08:20will never see spring.
08:24Margaret,
08:25her family,
08:25and the rest of her group
08:27desperately seek safety
08:28in a series of rickety shelters
08:30they build at Truckee Lake.
08:32And their former companions
08:34aren't faring any better.
08:36Six miles back down the trail
08:37at Alder Creek,
08:39George Donner's group
08:40are also weathering
08:41the snowstorm,
08:42trying to forge
08:43a permanent camp
08:44in the icy wilderness.
08:45The Donner party
08:47is forever fractured,
08:48but united in suffering.
08:52And conditions only go
08:53from bad to worse.
08:56A series of hundred-year storms
08:58roll in one after another,
09:00and 25-foot-high snow banks
09:04wall them in like prisoners.
09:06Their makeshift cabins
09:08and lean-tos
09:09are no match
09:09for the punishing snowfall.
09:11The pioneers barely cling to life,
09:14and with their animals
09:15either dead or eaten,
09:17they desperately turn
09:18to gnawing the ox-hide rugs
09:20they usually sleep on.
09:24Back at Truckee Lake,
09:26in a last-ditch bid for survival,
09:28five women,
09:29nine men,
09:30and a 12-year-old boy
09:31make the harrowing choice
09:33to leave their comrades behind
09:35and strike out across the Sierras
09:37on crude, homemade snowshoes.
09:40Their only hope
09:41is reaching Sutter's Fort
09:43near Sacramento,
09:44a well-known supply station
09:46about a hundred miles away.
09:50This courageous band of pioneers
09:52will later be known
09:53as the Forlorn Hope.
09:57A week into their grueling journey,
10:00the Forlorn Hope's progress
10:01grinds to a halt.
10:03Snowed in
10:04and completely out of food,
10:06they contemplate
10:07the horrifying reality
10:08that their only chance of survival
10:10means resorting
10:11to cannibalism.
10:14They draw straws
10:15to decide the first person
10:17who should die
10:18and be eaten.
10:20A man named Patrick Dolan
10:22draws the short straw,
10:23but nobody can bear
10:24to kill him.
10:26That night,
10:28temperatures continue
10:29to plummet,
10:29and the next day,
10:31Dolan dies,
10:32not at the hands
10:33of the others,
10:34but because of hypothermia.
10:37The members of Forlorn Hope
10:39make the nearly impossible decision
10:41to eat Patrick's remains.
10:45This place,
10:46deep in the mountain wilderness,
10:48will come to be known
10:49as the Camp of Death.
10:53The place where the Donner Party
10:55are first forced
10:56to eat their own.
10:57No record tells us
10:59exactly how many are eaten.
11:01What is certain
11:02is Patrick Dolan
11:03was not the only one.
11:07Eventually,
11:07the weather clears,
11:09and those remaining
11:10are finally able
11:11to leave the Camp of Death
11:13and its horrors behind.
11:22Finally,
11:23on January 17th,
11:2533 days after leaving
11:26the others behind
11:28at Truckee Lake
11:28in a desperate search for help,
11:30the remaining members
11:32of the Forlorn Hope
11:33are saved
11:34by Native American guides
11:35who lead them to shelter.
11:37The cost of their bravery
11:39is staggering.
11:40Of the 15 who set out,
11:42only 7 survive.
11:45Eventually reaching
11:46the remote frontier settlement
11:48of Johnson's Ranch,
11:49the survivors alert
11:50the outside world
11:51and trigger rescue efforts
11:53for the two groups
11:54still stranded
11:55at Truckee Lake
11:56and Alder Creek.
11:59Rescue teams are dispatched
12:01to reach the settlers
12:02before it's too late,
12:03but what they discover
12:05will expose
12:05the true cost of survival
12:07and a mystery
12:08that endures
12:09for 180 years.
12:17It's 1847.
12:19The rescue of the Forlorn Hope
12:21marks a turning point,
12:23triggering coordinated efforts
12:24to reach the remaining members
12:26of the Donner Party
12:27snowed in at remote camps.
12:30The first rescue team
12:32sets out to find
12:33the stranded pioneers
12:34at Truckee Lake
12:35and amazingly,
12:37they manage to evacuate
12:3823 survivors,
12:40including Margaret Reed.
12:41But heartbreak
12:43shadows the mission.
12:45James and Margaret's
12:46two youngest children
12:47are too weak to travel
12:49and must be left behind.
12:51At nearby Alder Creek,
12:53the outlook is just as grim.
12:56George Donner
12:56is deathly ill
12:58and his wife Tamsen
12:59refuses to leave
13:00with the rescuers.
13:03Those rescuers
13:04can only promise
13:05to send more help
13:06when they can
13:07and hope it will arrive
13:08in time.
13:12Two weeks later,
13:14a second rescue team arrives,
13:16but this time,
13:17they're met
13:17with a nightmarish reality.
13:20At Truckee Lake,
13:21the remaining pioneers
13:23had turned to cannibalism.
13:24Just like the Forlorn Hope Party
13:27had done first
13:28at the camp of death
13:29weeks earlier.
13:31Still,
13:32the team rescues
13:3317 more people,
13:35including the two Reed children
13:37their mother was forced
13:38to leave behind.
13:40But George Donner
13:41can't be saved.
13:42He dies of infection.
13:44And Tamsen Donner's body
13:46is later found
13:47near the camp,
13:48alongside chilling evidence
13:50that George's brother Jacob
13:51may have been
13:52their final meal.
13:55Of the 87
13:56who set out
13:57in the Donner Party,
13:5848 survived,
14:0039 were lost.
14:01Also lost
14:02was the exact location
14:03where much of the tragedy
14:05played out,
14:05the place where the group
14:07known as Forlorn Hope
14:08first turned
14:09to cannibalism.
14:10So in 2022,
14:12I joined historical researchers
14:14Bob Crowley
14:14and Tim Tweetmeyer
14:15on a trek
14:16into the Sierras
14:17for the seemingly
14:18impossible task
14:19of finding
14:20the camp of death.
14:21By following the route
14:23of the Forlorn Hope
14:25through the Sierra Nevadas
14:26and using clues
14:27to the terrain
14:28they left behind
14:29in diary entries,
14:30we identify
14:31an area of interest
14:32in what is today
14:33California's
14:34Tahoe National Forest
14:36and fan out
14:37with metal detectors.
14:39One survivor
14:40wrote in his diary
14:41that they had left
14:42many items behind,
14:43including his hand axe.
14:46We knew we were hunting
14:47for a needle
14:48or a hand axe
14:49in a haystack.
14:51But then,
14:52it happened.
14:54Oh!
14:55Hold on!
14:57You got something?
14:58Yeah, I got a hit.
14:59Something here for sure.
15:01That sounds like metal.
15:04What did you find?
15:07Oh!
15:09My word!
15:10Oh, my word!
15:11Look at that!
15:12That's what we were
15:12looking for.
15:14Unbelievable.
15:15Greg, what do you think?
15:16Wow, fantastic.
15:17Amazing.
15:18Yeah, that is...
15:19That is...
15:21a hand-forged axe.
15:23This is wild.
15:24I mean,
15:26could this really be?
15:27And if this is that axe,
15:29then we're standing
15:30in the camp of death.
15:31No doubt about that.
15:33Amazing.
15:36Unearthing the axe head
15:37was astonishing.
15:39Finally,
15:39a tangible link
15:40to the lost camp
15:42of the Donner Party.
15:43But we found no trace
15:44of the bodies
15:45of those that died
15:46at the camp of death.
15:48Recently,
15:48Bob and Tim
15:49returned to the site
15:50we found.
15:51And this time,
15:52they brought cadaver dogs.
15:57Canine forensics
15:58is a way of training
15:59the dog
16:00to search out
16:01and find human remains
16:02that have been buried
16:03for decades,
16:03if not centuries.
16:05When we decided
16:06we wanted to try
16:06to do a search
16:07at the camp of death,
16:08we contacted
16:09the Institute
16:10for Canine Forensics.
16:11And they connected us
16:12with John Griebenkemper
16:13and his dog,
16:14Kaylee,
16:15and the forensics
16:15search began.
16:17As the dog searches
16:18in a pattern
16:19where it's directed,
16:20it's kind of said,
16:21here's an area
16:21I need you to search.
16:23Kaylee's wandering around
16:24sniffing
16:25and sitting and wandering,
16:26and John's marking
16:27these spots
16:27with his GPS.
16:29In the end,
16:30when they searched
16:30for an hour or two,
16:32she had like 25 alerts.
16:33And then when you map
16:34that at a high level,
16:35you can see the concentration
16:36of where each
16:38of the finds was made
16:39scattered around
16:40in some of the edges
16:40of the search pattern.
16:41There's definitely
16:42something out there
16:43that we wouldn't see
16:45somewhere else.
16:46And we just kind of
16:46looked at each other
16:47and went,
16:47oh, wow.
16:48It became very clear to us
16:49that this was the location
16:51that we were looking for.
16:52A subsequent search
16:53with a different cadaver dog
16:55confirmed the findings.
16:57There were human remains
16:58at the site.
16:59And it turns out
17:00it's less than 30 feet
17:01from where we discovered
17:03the axe head.
17:04The place known
17:05as the Camp of Death
17:06had at last been found
17:08deep in a remote area
17:10in the North Fork
17:11American River Canyon
17:12of Tahoe National Forest.
17:14The courage and sacrifice
17:16that took place
17:17at this long lost location
17:19is what saved
17:20the rest of the Donner Party.
17:22We did the calculation
17:23and that saved
17:2425 additional lives,
17:27which when we did
17:27the actuarial table
17:29of descendants
17:30is 25,000 people
17:32that were born
17:33because of the bravery
17:35of what they've done.
17:36A lot of people
17:37have asked us
17:38what are we going to do
17:38next at the Camp of Death?
17:40And we have been in touch
17:42with many of the descendants
17:43of those in the Forlorn Hope.
17:45And I think they were joyful
17:47to learn that we believe
17:49we found the Camp of Death.
17:51And for those that
17:52were descendants
17:53of those that perished there,
17:54it gave them closure,
17:56peace of mind.
17:57We're going to leave it at that.
18:00The real story of the Donner Party
18:02is not just a tale
18:04of macabre horror,
18:05but a raw human saga.
18:07Parents making
18:08unthinkable sacrifices,
18:10strangers risking
18:11everything for each other,
18:12and pioneers braving it all
18:14for a better life.
18:15Their legacy is one
18:17of exceptional resilience.
18:19And now,
18:20for the first time,
18:21we have another place
18:22we can honor that legacy
18:23with a hope
18:24that's not so forlorn
18:26after all.
18:31Welcome to Greenland,
18:33a frozen island
18:34in the North Atlantic,
18:35roughly three times
18:36the size of Texas.
18:38It's 1966,
18:39and nearly 100 feet below me
18:42lies Camp Century,
18:43a Cold War base
18:45with a top-secret purpose.
18:47Unfortunately,
18:48the ice beneath me
18:49is shifting dramatically.
18:51And so the U.S. soldiers
18:53stationed here
18:53are abandoning the base
18:55and sealing it up,
18:56never to return.
18:58But over 50 years later,
19:00the relentless Arctic elements
19:02will expose the dirty secrets
19:04of a forgotten outpost of America
19:06frozen in time.
19:15Today on the island of Greenland,
19:18as part of man's continuing efforts
19:20to master the secrets
19:21of survival in the Arctic,
19:22the United States Army
19:24has established
19:25an unprecedented
19:26nuclear-powered
19:27Arctic research center.
19:29This sounds like something
19:31out of a Cold War comic book,
19:32but it's entirely real.
19:34That smooth-voiced narrator
19:36you just heard
19:37is from an old
19:37United States Army film strip,
19:40introducing what was then hailed
19:41as a marvel
19:42of military engineering,
19:44Camp Century.
19:46Nicknamed the city under ice,
19:49Camp Century is a stunning example
19:51of American ingenuity,
19:53or so the Army says.
19:55Officially, the mission
19:57is to improve glaciological research
19:59and Arctic survival strategies.
20:02Construction kicks off
20:03in June 1959,
20:05but building a subterranean base
20:08a hundred feet beneath
20:09shifting glacial ice
20:10requires solving
20:11an avalanche of problems.
20:14They have to dig
20:15massive trenches in the ice
20:17and use huge steel arches
20:19to keep the structure
20:20from being crushed,
20:21and temperature
20:22is a constant enemy.
20:24Too much heat
20:25and the base will melt
20:26from the inside out.
20:27Too little
20:28and the soldiers
20:29will become human popsicles.
20:32The final hurdle?
20:33Getting power
20:34to this underground city.
20:36Meet the PM2A,
20:38no relation to R2-D2.
20:39This is the world's first
20:41portable nuclear power plant.
20:42If you define portable
20:44as a 330-ton behemoth
20:46that has to be shipped
20:47in pieces
20:48and assembled
20:49like radioactive IKEA furniture.
20:51But once operational,
20:52it delivers a whopping
20:53two megawatts of electricity,
20:55enough to power
20:56over 1,500 homes.
20:59In October 1960,
21:01Camp Century opens
21:02for business.
21:0321 underground tunnels
21:05stretching approximately
21:06two miles under the ice,
21:08complete with dormitories,
21:10a mess hall,
21:11chapel,
21:12hospital,
21:13even a theater.
21:14The base can house
21:15over 200 people,
21:17which is exactly
21:18what causes outsiders
21:19to start asking questions.
21:21Like,
21:21why is such a large facility
21:23needed for glacial research?
21:26Why do they require
21:27a nuclear reactor?
21:29Why is the U.S. Army
21:30calling the shots?
21:32The answer?
21:33This is no ordinary science base.
21:36This is Project Iceworm,
21:38a Cold War weapon
21:40hidden behind
21:41a scientific snowstorm.
21:43The plan?
21:44To secretly install
21:45hundreds of nuclear missiles
21:47under the ice,
21:48poised to strike
21:49the Soviet Union
21:50at a moment's notice.
21:52Because at the dawn
21:54of the 60s,
21:55many believe the world
21:56is inching toward
21:57nuclear annihilation.
21:59Why is Greenland
22:00so perfect
22:00to house U.S. nukes?
22:02Simple.
22:03It's close to Russia.
22:07In 1957,
22:09the Soviet Union
22:10launches Sputnik,
22:11the first artificial satellite,
22:13which sends shockwaves
22:15through the West.
22:16More than a breakthrough,
22:17it's a warning.
22:19If the Soviets
22:20can reach orbit,
22:21they can strike
22:22across the globe.
22:24Panic spreads,
22:26shelters are built
22:27in backyards,
22:28and kids practice
22:29duck and cover.
22:30The Cold War
22:31has arrived
22:31in everyday life.
22:33So the U.S.
22:34responds with
22:35stealth and scale.
22:37The plan is
22:38for Project Iceworm
22:39to sprawl
22:39beneath 52,000
22:41square miles of ice,
22:43hiding up to
22:43600 nuclear missiles,
22:45which will be able
22:46to pierce
22:46through the ice
22:47upon launch.
22:48But serious firepower
22:50needs serious secrecy.
22:52So the cover story
22:53of Camp Century
22:54and its so-called
22:55glacial research
22:56is born.
22:57And the ruse works,
22:59until nature
23:00has its say.
23:02It turns out
23:02the Greenland ice sheet
23:03is anything
23:04but stable.
23:06Tunnels warp,
23:07walls crack,
23:08water seeps
23:09and pools.
23:10The base
23:11is constantly soaked,
23:12not to mention
23:13foul smelling.
23:15By 1964,
23:16the operation
23:17is collapsing,
23:18literally.
23:19Project Iceworm
23:20is scrapped,
23:21thankfully,
23:22before any missiles
23:22arrive on the island.
23:24And in 1966,
23:25the army begins
23:26dismantling
23:27Camp Century.
23:28The nuclear reactor
23:29is removed.
23:30But in what will prove
23:31to be a fateful decision,
23:33everything else
23:34is left behind.
23:36For decades,
23:37the details of the base
23:39stayed buried
23:40in heavily classified files,
23:41until January of 1995,
23:44when the Danish
23:45Foreign Policy Institute
23:47launched an inquiry
23:48into the history
23:49of nuclear weapons
23:50in Greenland.
23:52That's when
23:53Project Iceworm
23:54was exposed
23:54to the public
23:55for the very first time.
23:57But the real shock
23:59came after further research.
24:01Hidden beneath the ice
24:02wasn't just a ghost base,
24:04it was a toxic hell.
24:0653,000 gallons
24:08of leaking diesel fuel,
24:0963,000 gallons
24:11of sewage-laced wastewater,
24:13and unknown amounts
24:14of radioactive coolant.
24:16The army assumed
24:17it would all remain
24:18frozen forever.
24:19What they didn't count on
24:20was rising temperatures.
24:22And now,
24:23a shocking catastrophe
24:24is coming.
24:25A ticking time bomb
24:26under the ice.
24:32When the Danish government
24:33discovers the U.S. Army
24:35secretly hid
24:36highly toxic waste
24:37in Greenland
24:38as part of an abandoned
24:39nuclear weapons base,
24:40there is widespread outrage.
24:43Professor of Ecology
24:44Steven Allison
24:45has studied the site,
24:46and what he's discovered
24:47is deeply disturbing.
24:49One of the materials
24:50present at Camp Century
24:52is called PCB,
24:54or polychlorinated biphenyls.
24:56They're carcinogens,
24:57which could then
24:58have human health impacts
24:59like causing cancers
25:01or causing other
25:02neurological problems,
25:03reproductive issues, etc.
25:06They bioaccumulate
25:07in the food chain.
25:08What that means
25:09is that when a predator
25:11eats a prey fish,
25:12for example,
25:13then the predator
25:14gets all the toxin
25:15that was in that prey
25:16and so on and so forth
25:17up the food chain.
25:19That becomes a problem
25:20if people are eating
25:21marine life
25:22anywhere in the food chain.
25:24So those are some
25:25pretty substantial
25:26negative impacts
25:27that could arise
25:28from the legacy
25:29of toxins
25:30at Camp Century.
25:31In 2016,
25:32a team of international scientists
25:34applied the latest climate models
25:36to the region.
25:37The results show
25:38that steadily warming conditions
25:40make Camp Century
25:41a ticking time bomb.
25:43What they found
25:44was that by 2090,
25:47the ice would stop building up.
25:49And after 2090,
25:51within 50 or 60 years,
25:53the ice surface
25:55would actually begin
25:55melting down,
25:57exposing all of that
26:00nuclear waste
26:00and other toxic material
26:03to the environment.
26:05Okay, so the U.S. Army
26:07made a mess
26:08and now they just have
26:09to go clean it up, right?
26:10Well, first they have
26:11to go find it.
26:12After all,
26:13nobody has stepped foot
26:14inside Camp Century
26:15for over 50 years.
26:17In April 2024,
26:19a team of NASA scientists
26:21took off on a mission
26:22from the Air Force Base
26:24in northern Greenland.
26:25On their jet plane,
26:27they had a sophisticated
26:28new radar system
26:29that would allow them
26:31to map in detail
26:32the structure of the ice sheet
26:34and its depth.
26:35And on this radar system,
26:38they were able
26:39to find Camp Century
26:41buried below the ice surface
26:44by about 200 feet.
26:45As for the looming
26:47ecological disaster,
26:48it's locked deep in ice,
26:50but it isn't exactly easy
26:51to extract.
26:52Right now,
26:54that toxic material
26:55is buried underneath,
26:56you know,
26:57many hundreds of feet of ice.
26:59So it's not like we can
27:00just go in there
27:01with a drill or a shovel
27:03and take it out
27:04and remove it.
27:05We're going to have
27:06to wait for it
27:07to start moving
27:08and melting out of the ice.
27:10While we might not be able
27:12to dig up the waste
27:13before it's exposed,
27:14scientists believe
27:15there may be another way
27:17to clean up these pollutants
27:18using nature itself.
27:20One option might be
27:22to rely on our natural ecosystems.
27:25And the good news is
27:27that we may be able
27:28to use microorganisms
27:30like bacteria
27:31to help clean up
27:32these pollutants.
27:33I study microbes
27:34in the environment
27:35and there's potential
27:37that they could break down
27:38compounds like PCBs
27:41and then sewage material
27:42that's coming out
27:43of Camp Century
27:44potentially in the future.
27:45We have some examples
27:46of this from oil spills
27:47that have happened.
27:48and there were actually
27:50communities of microbes
27:51that blossomed in that water
27:54and chewed up
27:55and ate much of the pollution.
27:57We're still a long way
27:59from being able
27:59to deploy microbes
28:01on an industrial scale
28:02to tackle the severe pollution
28:04that remains at Camp Century.
28:06But hopefully,
28:07through science, ingenuity,
28:08and most importantly,
28:10our own sense of responsibility,
28:12we will one day
28:12be able to ensure
28:13that the poisons of the past
28:15don't define our future.
28:22It's December 5th, 1872.
28:25I'm standing on the deck
28:27of a Canadian merchant ship
28:28called the Dei Gratia.
28:30We're 400 miles
28:31off the coast of Portugal
28:32and Captain David Reed Morehouse
28:35has just spotted
28:36something alarming,
28:37a large ship
28:38that's seemingly adrift
28:40in the open sea.
28:42Moments from now,
28:43Morehouse's men
28:44will board the vessel
28:45and what they discover
28:46will chill them
28:48to their bones
28:49because this
28:50is the most infamous
28:51ghost ship in history
28:52whose entire crew
28:54has vanished
28:55without a trace.
28:56It's a maritime mystery
28:58that will endure
28:58for 150 years.
29:01What happened
29:02to the sailors
29:02of the Mary Celeste?
29:16November 7th, 1872,
29:19a month before
29:20being found adrift,
29:21the Mary Celeste
29:22sets sail
29:23from New York Harbor.
29:26She's bound for Genoa
29:28to deliver 1,700 barrels
29:30of denatured alcohol
29:31used as a cheap solvent
29:33and fuel.
29:35The 37-year-old captain,
29:38Benjamin Spooner Briggs,
29:39is an experienced sailor
29:41commanding a crew of seven.
29:44A devoted family man,
29:46Briggs brings along
29:47his beloved wife, Sarah,
29:48and their young daughter,
29:50Sophia.
29:50He doesn't want
29:51to be separated from them
29:53during the two-month round trip.
29:54But little does Captain Briggs
29:57or anyone on board know
29:59the Mary Celeste
30:00will never reach
30:01its destination.
30:08Three weeks later,
30:09another ship sailing
30:10the Atlantic,
30:11known as the Dei Gratia,
30:13will stumble upon
30:14the unhelmed Mary Celeste
30:16in the Thousand-Mile Gulf
30:17between the Azores Islands
30:19and Portugal.
30:23Pulling the Dei Gratia
30:25alongside her,
30:26Captain Morehouse,
30:27first mate Oliver DeVoe,
30:29and several crew members
30:30board the Celeste
30:31to investigate.
30:33They find it
30:34deathly silent.
30:36Ahoy!
30:39Is anybody there?
30:45No reply.
30:47Eerily,
30:48there's also no sign
30:49of struggle or violence.
30:51But the sailors
30:52do notice
30:53that the Celeste's sails
30:54are only partially set,
30:56with ropes and rigging
30:57hanging loose
30:58and disorganized,
30:59as if abruptly abandoned.
31:05Captain Morehouse
31:06then heads below deck.
31:08What he finds there
31:09will only deepen
31:10the mystery
31:11of what happened
31:12on board
31:13the Mary Celeste.
31:20Captain Morehouse
31:21and his men
31:22have stumbled
31:23upon the Mary Celeste,
31:24drifting at sea,
31:26abandoned.
31:26As they search
31:27the vessel,
31:28there are no signs
31:29of the crew
31:29or the Captain
31:30Benjamin Briggs.
31:33On the lower deck,
31:35they find the galley
31:36tidy,
31:36with the food stores
31:37intact.
31:40Down in the cargo hold,
31:42first mate DeVoe
31:43finds that several
31:44of the barrels
31:45of the denatured alcohol
31:46the Celeste is transporting
31:48are busted open.
31:50But they are all
31:51accounted for.
31:52None are lost
31:53or stolen.
31:54The crew's quarters
31:56are all in order,
31:57but there is one
31:58curious thing.
31:59The sailors have all
32:00left their pipes behind.
32:02Unusual.
32:03That's something
32:0419th century sailors
32:05would seldom be without.
32:07As they explore
32:08the ship further,
32:09DeVoe notices
32:10something even stranger.
32:15Many of the hatches,
32:16doorways,
32:17and windows
32:17aboard the Mary Celeste
32:19are open,
32:20even here
32:20in the Captain's quarters,
32:21where the floor
32:22and the furniture
32:23are soaking wet.
32:25Whatever happened here,
32:26everyone seems
32:26to have left
32:27in a hurry.
32:28And then,
32:29DeVoe zeroes in
32:30on something
32:31that could reveal
32:32everything,
32:33the Captain's log.
32:36Its pages run steadily
32:38until November 25th,
32:39ten days prior.
32:41The last note
32:42is routine,
32:43just a navigational position.
32:45After that,
32:46nothing.
32:49Finally,
32:50Morehouse's men
32:51discover perhaps
32:52the most compelling clue.
32:53The Mary Celeste
32:54lifeboat is missing,
32:56and oddly,
32:56the ship's sail line
32:58is being dragged
32:58behind the vessel
32:59and appears
33:00to have snapped.
33:01The ship's main
33:02navigational instruments
33:03are also not on board.
33:05Based on these details,
33:07plus the state
33:08of the Captain's quarters
33:09and the disarray
33:10on deck,
33:11it appears Briggs
33:12ordered everyone
33:13to quickly abandon ship.
33:15But why?
33:18Unable to solve
33:19the mystery himself,
33:20Captain Morehouse
33:21has the Mary Celeste
33:23sail to port
33:24in Gibraltar.
33:25There,
33:26a formal inquest
33:27commences
33:27on December 17th,
33:291872.
33:32The investigation
33:33focuses on
33:34something curious.
33:35It turns out
33:36that Captain Morehouse
33:37of the Dei Gratia
33:38and Captain Briggs
33:40of the Mary Celeste
33:41knew each other well.
33:42It's even reported
33:43the two captains
33:44were dining together
33:45a few nights
33:46before the Mary Celeste
33:47departure.
33:48People begin to wonder
33:49if the Celeste's crew
33:51didn't go missing at all,
33:52but that the two old buddies
33:53simply cooked up
33:54a mystery
33:55to commit insurance fraud.
33:57In spite of this
33:58intriguing theory,
33:59the formal inquest
34:00reveals no evidence
34:01of criminal activity.
34:03After all,
34:03there wasn't enough
34:04damage to the Mary Celeste
34:05to warrant any claim
34:07to the insurance company.
34:10The three-month
34:11official investigation
34:12concludes
34:13without determining
34:14any credible cause
34:16for the crew's
34:16disappearance.
34:19Over the years,
34:20countless theories
34:21surface.
34:22One of the most
34:23enduring
34:24is the waterspout theory,
34:26a sudden violent
34:27tornado at sea
34:28that whipped up
34:29towering waves
34:30and drove the crew
34:31and drove the crew
34:32to abandon ship
34:32in the lifeboat.
34:34It sounds plausible
34:35until you remember
34:36two things.
34:38First,
34:38the Mary Celeste
34:39showed no serious damage.
34:41And second,
34:42fleeing into a small lifeboat
34:44during a waterspout
34:45would have been suicide,
34:46not salvation.
34:48In the decades
34:49that follow,
34:50the mystery of the Mary Celeste
34:52will seize the world's imagination.
34:54From sea monsters
34:55rising out of the deep
34:56to alien abductions
34:58to the more earthly idea
35:00of a pirate attack.
35:01Yet piracy
35:02was virtually unheard of
35:04in those waters.
35:05And with no signs
35:06of violence
35:07or missing cargo,
35:08that explanation
35:09never held.
35:11But now,
35:12a credible scientific explanation
35:14has surfaced,
35:15one that may finally
35:16unravel the enigma
35:17of history's
35:18most infamous ghost ship.
35:24In 1846,
35:26the Donner Party
35:27became trapped
35:28in the deep snows
35:29of the Sierra Nevada mountains,
35:31resorting to cannibalism
35:32to survive.
35:33More than a century later,
35:34in 1972,
35:36Uruguayan charter
35:37Flight 571
35:39crashed in the frigid Andes
35:41with 45 aboard.
35:42Rugby players,
35:43friends and family.
35:4512 died instantly
35:46and more followed
35:47over 10 hellish weeks
35:49in the frozen wilderness.
35:51Two young men
35:52finally hiked
35:5310 brutal days
35:54for help,
35:55saving the other survivors.
35:57Like the Donner Party,
35:58they face the unthinkable,
36:00consuming the dead
36:01to live.
36:03Today,
36:04survivor Eduardo Strauch
36:05leads private tours
36:06to the crash site,
36:07sharing lessons
36:09of perseverance
36:09and bravery.
36:11The incident is a reminder,
36:12just like the Donner Party,
36:14of the unbreakable will
36:15to survive
36:16when all hope
36:17seems lost.
36:24For a century and a half,
36:25the question of what happened
36:27aboard the ghost ship
36:28known as the Mary Celeste
36:30has remained a mystery.
36:31Now, historian Brian Hicks
36:33proposes a bold new theory.
36:35The crew wasn't undone
36:37by pirates or sea monsters,
36:38but by something
36:39within the vessel itself.
36:41The investigation
36:43of the Mary Celeste
36:44when it was brought
36:45into port in Gibraltar
36:46found that nine barrels
36:49of alcohol
36:50had busted open.
36:51That was 450 gallons.
36:55Denatured alcohol
36:56is kind of industrial alcohol,
36:58the sort of thing
36:59used in solvents
37:00as a fuel additive.
37:02The fumes from it
37:03can cause serious
37:04medical damage
37:06to a person
37:07and not only
37:08knocking you out,
37:09but making you
37:10hallucinate
37:11and making you
37:13physically ill
37:14and vomiting.
37:15What have you.
37:17When the Mary Celeste
37:18left New York City
37:20in the middle of storms,
37:21for three weeks
37:23the storms were so bad
37:24they couldn't
37:25open the cargo hold
37:27because the rainwater
37:29and the storms
37:30would have flooded
37:32the ship
37:32and sank it.
37:33On the morning
37:34of November 25th,
37:36they had the first chance
37:37since they'd left New York
37:39to open the hold.
37:40And I think that
37:42after three weeks
37:43of sailing,
37:44the fumes overtook
37:45them immediately.
37:48According to Hicks' research,
37:50the massive amount
37:51of fumes
37:51from that 450 gallons
37:53of industrial strength
37:55denatured alcohol
37:56would have quickly
37:57filled the entire ship
37:58with noxious gas,
38:00causing panic
38:01and impairment
38:02for everyone on board.
38:05The biggest thing
38:06that this explains
38:07is why was every hatch
38:10why was every window,
38:11why was every door,
38:13why was the skylight
38:14over the captain's bed
38:17and his baby's bed
38:18left open on a ship?
38:20They were letting
38:21an air out.
38:22They also realized
38:24that the least little spark
38:25could blow up
38:26the entire ship.
38:28One of the things
38:29that scared Oliver DeVoe
38:31more than anything
38:32is when he was going
38:34through the crew cabin,
38:35he noticed the pipes.
38:37There was a pipe
38:39for every man
38:40left lying there.
38:42Sailors never went
38:43anywhere without
38:44their pipes.
38:45And there's only
38:46one reason
38:47those guys would not
38:48have had their pipes,
38:49and that was
38:51that they couldn't
38:52light a match.
38:53When you're in the middle
38:54of the ocean
38:55and your ship
38:57is spewing fumes
38:59out of the hold,
39:00what would you want to do?
39:01You would want to get away.
39:03They didn't take the time
39:04to tie up the sails,
39:05furl the sails.
39:06They didn't have time
39:07to rope off the wheel
39:10where the ship would
39:12sail in a circle.
39:13They just got off,
39:15but they expected
39:16to come back.
39:17They simply got
39:18in a lifeboat,
39:19grabbed the longest rope
39:21that they could find,
39:22which was the main cell line,
39:24tied it to the lifeboat
39:25and backed away,
39:26and that way
39:28they could get
39:28as far from the ship
39:29as they could
39:30and still remain
39:32tethered to it.
39:34Hicks believes
39:35the crew retreated
39:36in panic,
39:37wanting to stay close,
39:38but not too close
39:39to their vessel,
39:40which they feared
39:41might explode
39:42at any moment.
39:43But what happened next?
39:44Why didn't they return
39:46to the Mary Celeste
39:47once the fumes died down?
39:51I checked
39:52the weather reports
39:53for the Azores that day,
39:55and that afternoon,
39:57the weather went
39:58from calm, sunny,
40:00no wind,
40:01to this huge storm,
40:02and it was just enough
40:04of a storm
40:05to make the Mary Celeste
40:06take off,
40:07towing that lifeboat,
40:09and at some point,
40:10the Mary Celeste
40:10would have gone
40:11a lot faster
40:11than that lifeboat
40:12could travel.
40:13And whether the lifeboat
40:16capsized first
40:17or the tow line
40:18snapped first,
40:20the end result was
40:22Benjamin Briggs,
40:23his wife,
40:25his baby daughter,
40:26and those crewmen
40:27in the water
40:28watching their ship
40:30sail away
40:31without a soul
40:32on board.
40:33If you've got
40:34ten people
40:35in a small lifeboat
40:36in the middle
40:37of the Atlantic Ocean,
40:38no sails,
40:39no provisions,
40:41there is no good outcome.
40:43they are either
40:44going to die of exposure,
40:47starvation,
40:47or the boat's
40:49going to capsize
40:49and they're all
40:50going to drown.
40:51There is no way out.
40:54Hicks' theory
40:55is compelling.
40:56The crew
40:56of the Mary Celeste
40:57in a confused
40:58and terrified state
41:00take to their lifeboat
41:01only to have the weather
41:02suddenly change,
41:03tragically sealing
41:04their fate.
41:05Still,
41:06there are lingering
41:07questions.
41:07Why take
41:08navigational tools
41:09into the lifeboat
41:10if they intended
41:11to return
41:12once the fumes cleared?
41:13And why wasn't
41:14the lifeboat
41:15or remains
41:16of the crew
41:16ever found?
41:17Without definitive evidence,
41:19the mystery
41:20of the Mary Celeste
41:21will sail on,
41:22eternally drifting
41:23through the mists
41:24of time.
41:25I'm Josh Gates.
41:26I'll see you
41:27on the next expedition.
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