Missing Cruise Ship From 2000 Found Frozen Between 2 Icebergs

There's a ship drifting somewhere in the ocean without a crew. The last time someone saw it was over 50 years ago. It story reminds of that of the Flying Dutchman, a ship that's bound to sail forever and bring disaster to whoever sees it at sea. At least the legend says so. Unlike the Flying Dutchman, the SS Bay Chimo was definitely real and built for a German company in Hamburgg and began as an ordinary cargo ship. It was trading supplies between Hamburgg and Sweden in the Baltic Sea starting from 1914. It had a strong steam engine and a hull made of steel. A few years later, it became British property. Then in the 1920s, a Canadian company purchased it for around $18,000. A huge amount of money back then. The new owner, the Hudson's Bay Company, was actively using the ship for several years. They would often send it on voyages from its home port in Scotland to Siberia, Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. It also passed through the Panama Canal and even the Suez Canal with fur pelts for sale on board. Sometimes it would also transport passengers. It had completed nine successful voyages before this strip of good luck came to an end. Starting from the 1930s, SS Beimo would have trouble with ice and storms.

When it first got trapped in ice in October of 1931, some of the crew managed to escape to Alaska. 15 of 22 sailors decided to stay with their vessel and try to save it. They had furs and other valuable cargo worth around $58,000 aboard. The company sent them supplies to survive the winter. They set camp near the ship out of the hatches, tarplands, and other materials and offloaded the cargo. At the end of November, a blizzard rushed through the area and it seemed like it had taken the ship with it. The ice platform had survived, but the ship broke free. Some of the crew members were sure it had sunk, but soon after they heard from one of the locals who had spotted their ship around 45 mi away from their camp. The crew moved on with their lives and the ship started its journey as a runaway vessel. People would spot SS Bayimo once a year or so all the way until 1965. It was mostly spotted off the coast of Alaska. A man going to gnome with his sled dog along with prospectors, explorers, and treasure hunters all claimed to have seen SS Beimo. Someone tried to board it and take it to port, but ended up stranded on it for days because of horrible weather. Others got luckier and managed to take a whale boat, some furniture, and other valuables from the vessel.

Those who got close to the ship saw that it was damaged and missing the propeller. Still, it stayed afloat without a crew for at least 38 years and became the longest sailing ghost ship in history. In 2006, the Alaskan authorities started a project to solve the mystery of this ghost ship of the Arctic and finally find SS Bachimo, either still above or below the water. So far, the project has not been a success. SS BIMO remains one of the estimated 4,000 ships that have disappeared off Alaskan shores. If the legend of the 17th century isn't lying, this ghost ship could be sailing somewhere along the Flying Dutchman. It belonged to the Dutch East India Company. Its captain managed to do the impossible for that time and sailed from Holland to Indonesia in only 3 months. They said he was flying over the sea and some evil tongues explained that he had made a deal with evil forces to achieve that.

Once the ship was sailing back home, its captain and crew disappeared without a trace. There are many versions of what happened to it. One of the first ones said it had tried to enter port at the Cape of Good Hope, got in a terrible storm, and sank as there was no captain to save it. Another legend says the captain had refused to obey the skies to let the ship sink during the storm. A scary life form then struck the boat and the crew and it was condemned to forever wander without rest. Many sailors claimed to have spotted the wandering Dutchman. The Duke of York, who is to become king of England, mentioned having seen it in Australian waters. Right after spotting the ship, the man who saw it first fell from the top of the mast and didn't survive. There were more encounters with this legendary ship up to the middle of the 20th century. Ships would nearly collide with it as the Flying Dutchman jumped out of the blue. Scientists have a more logical explanation for this mystery. Fa Morgana, not to be confused with Akuna Matata. Now, when you're out at sea on a hot day and the air is all wavy, it feels like when you look at the road on a scorching summer day. That's because of something called atmospheric refraction. When light passes through different layers of air with different temperatures and densities, it bends and twists. Sometimes under certain conditions, this bending of light can create really bizarre optical illusions over the ocean, like sightings of the Flying Dutchman. The Fat Morgana phenomenon can make distant objects appear distorted, stretched, or even lifted above the horizon. So you can see a ship far away, but because of the way the light is bending, it will look like it's floating above the water or even disappearing and reappearing. A Fatamorgana is most commonly seen in polar regions, especially over large sheets of ice that have a uniform low temperature, but you can see it anywhere, even in deserts and over lakes on hot days. The first stories about ghost ships go all the way back to ancient Greek and Roman mythology. One of the most famous ghost ships in history is the Mary Celeste. This brigantine was traveling from New York City to Genua and was fully stocked with provisions, but missing a crew when it was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. The crew's personal belongings were also there completely undisturbed.

The final entry in your log was made 10 days earlier. We still don't know what happened to its crew, and the ship has inspired many spooky stories and legends.

The Lady Lavabond was another legendary schooner that is believed to have been wrecked off the coast of Kent in the middle of the 18th century. The story tells that the ship's captain, Simon Reed, had just got married and took his bride on board for a celebratory cruise despite the superstition that it could bring bad luck. They were on their way to Portugal when the first mate, who is also in love with the captain's new wife, went mad because of jealousy, attacked another crew member and then took over the wheel and steered the ship straight into the dreaded Goodwin Sands.

No one aboard survived, and the schooner is said to reappear as a ghost vessel every 50 years. In prison times, many vessels become abandoned and turned into ghost ships intentionally. There are thousands of them floating in US rivers, lakes, channels, and coastal waters. Some people lose their boats in storms and other extreme weather. Others have to abandon their boats because maintaining them can cost 10% of the boat's price.

Plus, docking a vessel can add up to several thousand every year. Most boats have been made of fiberglass, so an owner can't just recycle them as scrap metal. So once they want to get rid of it, they often tie it to a dock and sneak away or leave it floating far away from the shore or just try to sink it.

When ghost ships sink in shallow waters, they can cause damage to coral reefs, mangroves, marshlands, oyster habitats, and wetlands. Plus, they can collide with unsuspecting regular ships and cause real trouble. So don't do that.

Enough said.

[Music] They say nothing is ever lost, and it's true. Let's discover ships frozen in time. The first one is truly fascinating. Here, the Anticther shipwreck. It's a Greek trading ship from the 1st century B.CE. It's located on the east side of the Greek island of Anticther and at the merging point of the Aian and Mediterranean seas. Around 2,000 years later, in 1900, a group of Greek sponge divers discovered the wreck.

They were going to Tunisia, yet they were forced to find shelter from a storm on a nearby island. Since they couldn't go anywhere due to the storm, they decided to look for sponges until the weather got calmer. One of the divers discovered the shipwreck at depths of around 130 ft. Imagine someone going for a sponge hunt, but getting out to the surface with archaeological treasures. The captain of the spongeboat talked to the Greek officials about what they had found. The officials sent two ships to the wreckage. The salvage operation was successful and discoveries are now in Greece's National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The findings included three life-sized marble horses, jewelry, coins, and hundreds of works of art, including a 7-ft tall colossus statue of Hercules.

Among these treasures, Anticther Aphib, a bronze statue of a young man, caught more attention. Because the Aphib doesn't comply with any familiar iconographic model, and there are no known copies of his type, he held a spherical object in his hand. Scholars have different theories of who that person could be, but they are not in a consensus yet. More than 70 years later, Jean Eive Kustoau and his team went to the area and recovered hundreds more artifacts and the remains of four people. Interestingly, they discovered a complex set of interlocking gears capable of predicting the movement of the sun, moon, and several planets. The mechanism can also show the times of solar and lunar eclipses years into the future. Think of this anticothera mechanism as an early computer calendar.

you know to plan significant events like agricultural activities, religious rituals and Olympic games. These artifacts found in the antica wreckage are some of the most important findings in modern archaeology. Just the anticther mechanism itself has changed our perception of the limits of ancient technology. The mechanism has a sophisticated design and was made over a thousand years ago. After all these amazing discoveries, experts believe that the wreckage site has remained largely unexplored and is mostly because of its location and the landscape of the seafloor on which the ship rests. The wreck is too deep for scuba divers, but too shallow to use something like a submersible. A survey made on the seafloor in 2012 showed evidence of a second wreck about 800 ft to the south.

It's clear that this area has a lot to offer humanity. What would happen if those sponge hunters didn't go to the area? Scientists found a shipwreck in Antarctica at the bottom of the Wedell Sea 107 years after it sank. The name of the ship was Endurance and it was the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. Scientists who laid eyes on it decades later say it is among the greatest undiscovered shipwrecks ever.

That is why they filmed the whole discovery. The video shows the remains of the Endurance and proves it is still in remarkable condition. It has been sitting in 10,000 ft of water for over a century. Yet, it looks like it sank very recently. So, the story goes like this.

The ship was crushed by ice and sank in 1915. Shackleton and his crew mates had to escape by themselves in small lifeboats. From then on, it was all about survival. Shackleton imagined to get his crew to safety. Then, the ship sank. Yes, this is a pretty impressive story. But why did scientists prize this ship? Firstly, Shackleton's Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition sailed to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. Yes, the crew was trapped in ice, but the intention was important.

Secondly, it's about the challenge itself of finding the shipwreck. The Wedell Sea is almost always covered in thick sea ice. You know, the same ice that made the Endurance sink. Getting near the presumed sinking location is super hard, let alone being able to conduct research. Experts of the modern expedition team foresaw the time when the lowest extent of Antarctic sea ice would come. Using satellite images, they realized that the weather was in their favor to start an expedition. Dr. John Shears said that they have successfully completed the world's most difficult shipwreck search, fighting against constantly shifting sea ice, blizzards, and temperatures decreasing to0.4° 4° F.

Yesesh, I can't imagine the worst conditions in Antarctica if these conditions are in their favor. Lastly, look at this. It's timbers. They're very much intact. Plus, you can read the ship's name. It's still visible. Marine archaeologist Menson Bound says that this is the finest wooden shipwreck he has ever discovered. He has 50 years of career experience. So, I believe the guy. So, how come the wood is not rotten? Dr. from Michelle Taylor, a deep sea polar biologist, said that there has been little wood deterioration because the wood munching animals are not in this forest free region of Antarctica. Workers of a coal mine in East Serbia discovered three shipwrecks that had been there for at least 1,300 years. The largest shipwreck is an ancient Roman fleet. It's around 50 ft long with a flat bottom. It's estimated that the ship could carry a crew of 30 to 35 people. Looking at its hull, you can see the marks of repairs. Wow, this one had a lengthy career. You know, it gives us insight into more than a thousand years ago. The two smaller vessels, on the other hand, match descriptions of boats used by Slavic groups to attack the Roman frontier.

These two have been discovered under mud and clay in an ancient riverbed.

Apparently, in those times, there was a Roman base in a place called Vimeium City. Interestingly, Vimenasium was a provincial capital with an estimated 40,000 inhabitants in the 4th century CE. For comparison, it was even larger than Pompei. The Costal coal mine is a center of hidden gems. Archaeologists had found evidence of ancient human and animal activity here before. For instance, in 2012, experts found bones of at least five woolly mammoths which went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

Canadian archaeologists found a ship 150 years after it went missing in the Canadian Arctic waters. This merchant ship is called HMS Investigator. It was purchased in 1848 to search for the explorer Sir John Franklin's ship that got lost in the Northwest Passage expedition. So HMS investigator left Britain in 1850 for this rescue operation. The expedition crew captained by Robert Mccclure sailed the investigator into the water. He realized that he was in the final leg of the Northwest Passage. The sea route across North America. But before he could sail into the Bufort Sea, the 122 ton ship itself got stuck in the thick ice. The crew spent the winter over the Prince of Wales straight. The following summer, Mccclure tried again to sail to the end of the passage, but the ice blocked his way once more. Here too, the crew was forced to leave the ship. He steered the crew into the Bay of Mercy. There they were to remain until 1853 when the crew of the HMS Resolute rescued them.

Imagine a crew of 60 people who had to spend three winters in the Arctic without even knowing if they would survive. Later on, the ship was found sitting upright in about 36 ft of water.

It was in very good condition. Arctic water has prevented the outer deck of the vessel from deteriorating quickly.

The outline of the ship and its timber can be clearly seen. Plus, archaeologists have uncovered artifacts on land left by the sailors. They had unloaded everything before abandoning the investigator. Three sailor graves and one British naval shipwreck had also been discovered in the area. I wonder what else they could find there. Wow. It's the only place where one minute you're learning 17 natural ways how to get rid of house flies and the next you're taking an epic journey straight into a black hole. More than 10 billion with a B views in total. That's 47 billion minutes watched or more than 70,000 years. That's all the way back to the ice age. No, I wasn't around then.

40,000 videos, hundreds of topics, and most importantly, you. A whole 44 million of you, our viewers. We could populate an entire country if we wanted to. We'd like to continue helping you learn and giving you useful skill improvement tips. Got a thirst for knowledge? We've prepared four master classes on creating a 2D character animation from scratch, 10 hours of video lessons, practical tasks using professional software, and additional materials that you can use with your own projects. Get the full course now and create your own animated [Music] masterpiece. A Portuguese archaeologist just discovered a bunch of sunken ships filled with gold, including a Spanish gallion with 22 tons of gold and silver.

This much gold today is worth about $2 billion. And this is the money from one ship alone. Archaeologist Alexandre Montierro made this discovery almost by accident.

He was studying some documents when he found some information about a ship that went missing in 1615. And he decided he wanted to find it. After many years, Alexandre found not just this specific ship. He actually discovered 8,620 shipwrecks in the waters of Portugal alone. Out of this number, 250 are gold fil shipwrecks. A discovery that would make any Jack Sparrow shake in his boots. Most of these ships went down for boring reasons like the weather, but sometimes they were destroyed in battles, which may or may not have been super epic. They were carrying gold and other treasures from the new world to Europe, and of course, everyone wanted a share. Alexandre had been studying historical shipwrecks for 30 years now, so he has discovered many ships that went down in somewhat glorious ways. In 1816, for example, a ship of one of the richest men in Portugal sank in Australia with an insane amount of 66,000 silver coins. This was the first ship from Portugal to ever plunge in the waters of Australia. The bad news is that these ancient sunken vessels filled with riches and epic stories are not so easy to reach. They're deep down in the ocean and covered by sand. You could still try, but that would be stealing part of a country's history. And you wouldn't want to be that person, would you? Naturally, Portugal was not the only country that explored the seas back then. The coast of Europe is packed with sunken ships filled with gold. In fact, there are about a million historical shipwrecks underwater right now, and the treasures abandoned under the sea might be worth around $60 billion.

It's an insane amount of money, but let me tell you that these gold-filled, sunken ships aren't really worth the hassle. There are many stories of maritime treasure discoveries that turned into insane lawsuits and even long jail time. Our first story starts in 1746 when a violent storm crashed a ship called Prince Deonti near an island in Britany.

The ship was filled with tea, ceramics, and 100 gold ingots. Of course, the owners of the ship tried to save the loot, but if it's not easy now, imagine how it was back in the 18th century. It took more than 200 years for the vessel to be found. It finally happened in 1975 when a group of French men discovered it and decided to take pretty much every valuable thing they could find. Now, I said these things were not worth the trouble for a reason. In France, if you find anything that can be historical, you must declare it to the local authorities within 48 hours. Failed to comply and you will be committing something known as a crime. To be fair, our French friends here did declare their findings, but only the corroded cannons from the ship.

And the gold, well, they sold it obviously because each gold bar is worth between $125,000 to $231,000. It took French authorities almost 50 years to retrieve the stolen gold, and they didn't retrieve all of it. Part of it was bought by an elderly couple living in Florida. And the crime is so serious, they were charged for connection with moneyaundering, organized crime, and the trafficking of cultural goods. The poachers also sold some gold ingots to the British Museum collection. Now, let's go back to the 1850s when a steamer called SS Central America traveled from Panama to California and back again. This was during the California Gold Rush, a time when 300,000 people moved to California to dig for gold.

Because the travel route was not easy breezy, people needed to carry their gold around on big ships. This is where our friend SS Central America comes in.

In 1857, the ship had 578 people on board and about 10 tons of gold. Very few survived and around 100 to 150 million in gold went down with the ship. All of this explains why in 1988, a group of investors from Columbus decided to finance a research project to find this ship. The research was led by a guy named Tommy Thompson. Tommy was really crazy about the idea of finding this sunken ship filled with gold. It took him years to find the exact location of the SS Central America, especially because the ship was 7,500 ft beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and retrieving it required a lot of fancy tech. A group of 161 investors paid for his adventure.

But it goes without saying that they were not doing this out of love from their hearts. They invested $12.5 million in this project because they were expecting to earn at least 10 times more. But since life is not all sunshine and rainbows, 39 insurance companies sued the research team as soon as they retrieved the gold. Back when the ship was up and running, these companies insured the cargo of the SS Central America. And when the cargo was finally retrieved more than 100 years later, they wanted to be compensated. They said it was not their job to retrieve it, but that doesn't mean they abandoned it.

This crazy talk didn't stick, and 92% of the gold was given to the research team.

The plot thickened when the investors were scammed by none other than Tommy Thompson, who fled with $4.16 million. He also had 500 gold coins, but he's not telling us soul where they are. Nonsense like this is the reason why most countries have rules to protect cultural properties. And yes, sometimes shipwrecks can be a cultural property.

Obviously, there are many maritime treasure discoveries that happen without breaking any laws. The SS City of Cairo, for example, was a steam ship that submerged in 1929 with 2,000 boxes of silver coins weighing 122 tons. A company called Deep Ocean Search retrieved the coins from a depth of 17,000 ft, which is 4,500 ft lower than the Titanic.

34 million pounds went to the UK Treasury and the Deep Ocean Surge also got a share. The good news here is that some of the coins can be bought by collectors legally. Paying for a treasure is probably the closest you can get to an underwater archaeology find.

I know all I did was destroy your piracy dreams. But while raiding gold filled shipwrecks may be a crime in most countries or just financially impossible for us mere mortals, not all hope is lost. There is about $771 trillion worth of gold lying on the ocean floor. And it doesn't have an owner. It's like an underwater gold mine except the gold is in the water.

You know how the water of the ocean is salty? Well, the gold gets mixed with the minerals in the water, so it's not like you stumble upon a gold nugget on the beach. Each liter of ocean water has 13 billionth of a gram of gold. And it's very difficult to extract such tiny particles of gold from the water. But that doesn't mean people haven't tried.

And of course, there's been a scam here, too.

In the 1890s, a guy claimed he had invented a thing that would suck gold from the seawater. When he got enough money, he fled the country with the cash. If you really want to get some gold, you could try to extract it from the Earth's core, which has 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold. There is 16 times more gold in the Earth's core than what humans have mined in the whole of history. No hoax involved here because nobody has dared to go down there yet. With archaeologists discovering gold fil sunken ships out and about, maybe we can make our own maritime treasure discoveries or at least save enough money to buy some silver coins. No matter what happens, don't stop. We almost got it. Two treasure seekers are digging frozen ground in a cornfield at night. It's raining hard.

Lightning is flashing, but these two guys keep working. And now the shovel hits something solid. No way. A treasure chest. They start digging faster and find a piece of a ship's engine. What the? Far from the seas and lakes, somewhere under the fields of Kansas City, they found a giant sunken ship.

How is this possible? Now you'll see. Some people spend their lives searching for shipwrecks with treasures underground. One of them is explorer David Holly. He's been looking for such ships far from the seas, rivers, and oceans for many years. He does this because he likes the feeling of adventure. The holds of these ships may contain chests of gold, antiques, and artifacts, and you can get a lot of money for them. David says you don't have to go into the ocean to find a sunken ship. They may be lying in your backyard.

But why do ships end up buried underground among fields, farms, and plains? Let's find out using the example of steamboat Great White Arabia.

According to old records, the newspaper clippings, this ship had been carrying about 200 tons of treasure before it sank in 1856. Many rumors and local legends said the ship was lying underground a few miles northeast of Kansas City. It was there because people deliberately altered the riverbed and channels of the Missouri River in the second half of the 19th century. They artificially brought the shores closer to each other. They narrowed the river to increase the flow speed so boats could sail much faster.

In the 19th century, steamboats were the most popular means of transporting passengers and goods. Before railroads, they extended the western border across the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and brought supplies to people. That's why it was so important to increase the speed of their movement. So on September 5th, 1856, Arabia was sailing along such an estuary. It came across a snag sticking out of the water. A piece of log quickly flooded the ship. Fortunately, all passengers were evacuated, but the steamer and its precious cargo reached the silt bottom of the Missouri River in a few minutes. Several years had passed.

Everyone forgot about the vessel. During this time, the course of the Missouri River had changed, but Arabia remained under the wet, muddy bottom. The soil level above it was getting higher and the ground was losing moisture.

Eventually, many decades later, a cornfield formed above the sunken ship.

In the 1980s, one farmer owned this area, and he had no idea what was hidden in his territory. David Holly carefully studied the history of the sunken ships of the USA. He knew that hundreds of steamers had gone underwater all over Missouri. But most of all, he was interested in a raven as there were rumors that it was filled with gold and other valuable things. The territory of cornfields in Kansas was vast. But David Holly knew how to search properly. In 1987, he started working. First, together with his brother and father, they collected all the clippings from old newspapers they could find. They were looking not only for information about the steamer, but also for maps of the Missouri River. They tracked its historical changes, checked the dates, and identified a large area where the steamer sank. Next, they used electromagnetic testing and other geological stuff to study the soil and find the right place.

They searched for differences in ground moisture and density. Then, they went through the territory with powerful metal detectors. And so by the fall of 1988, they had determined the location of the steamer. Arabia was the size of a football field. This gigantic vessel lay 45 ft underground, four stories down.

But before they started excavating, they had to ask the owner of the cornfield for permission. For the farmer, this news was a big surprise. He agreed on the condition that the excavations would be completed by spring so that he could sew a new crop. Digging a giant ship in winter is much more difficult and expensive than at other times. It includes additional equipment, electricity, and heating costs. The team worked day and night. They financed the excavations out of their own pocket.

Each invested more than $10,000 and took out a bank loan. Finally, they noticed the first details of the ship. The shovels hit the huge engine boilers and the deck. The goal had been achieved.

Most of the cargo lying inside the sunken ships is covered with rust, shells, mud, and is badly damaged. The contents of Arabia were in excellent condition considering that the ship had sunk 130 years prior. Unfortunately, they didn't find the chests of gold. Still, they got several tons of other valuable cargo, household items of people who lived in the middle of the 19th century. It was a time capsule. The ship was carrying supplies for hundreds and thousands of people, and all these things were perfectly preserved. For example, they could clearly see the brand stamp Goodyear Rubber Company on one rubber shoe. The longer the excavations continued, the more things David and his team found. In the barrels, they found plates from the 19th century. They were intact and usable. Also, there were clean clothes, thousands of pairs of shoes, harpoons, frying pans, and umbrellas. The ship was carrying cargo to supply about 16 small towns. Yes, it's not gold, but such artifacts are also precious. The contents of the ship could be worth millions. However, the crew wasn't going to sell these things. They made a museum on the site of a former fruit market in Kansas City. If you go there, you will immediately feel like you're in a department store of the 19th century.

There are thousands of items in good condition. Even the matches here are dry enough to light up. It took David many years to present the entire collection from the steamship. He values each of the items and doesn't want to sell them. Anyone can come here, pay for a ticket, and find themselves in the past. Who knows, maybe there's an old ship hidden in your backyard, too.

Geologists found an older vessel in the hot desert of Namibia in 2008. This ship sailed back in the days when pirates scared sailors on the seas. And now it's inside a dried up lagoon. The ship sailed from Lisbon in 1533 and disappeared with the crew near a small diamond mining town. After almost 500 years, the hull had been badly damaged. Only the carcass of the ship remained, but the treasure hidden inside the vessel stayed intact.

They carefully studied the boat for a long time, trying not to ruin anything.

And then 5 days later, they found a big old chest in the hold. Carefully opening it, they found gold coins there. Thus, the cost of the ship was estimated at about $10 million.

The exact cause of the shipwreck is unknown, but experts believe the ship was destroyed by heavy cargo and bad weather. It went to the bottom of a lagoon that later became a desert. Some find an airplane in their backyard. Others discover a ship and one man found a passage to an ancient secret city in his house. This happened in Turkey in 1963. The owners of the building decided to make repairs. He went to his basement and knocked down the wall to turn this place into a living room. And so behind one wall, he found a tunnel leading underground. The man thought it was some kind of a secret chamber. He went down there and realized it was something much more than that. It was an ancient city 18 floors deep. People built it in the years 780 to 1180 as a refuge from weather disasters and the invasion of enemies. This place also includes many underground tunnels that stretch for several miles in different directions.

People could get to the town from different points using secret passages leading to these roads. The city can accommodate about 20,000 residents, livestock, and tons of food supplies.

Archaeologists have also found a chapel, schools, stables, and public kitchens there. What is a boat doing in the middle of a desert? You would expect to find a seagoing vessel closer to shore.

This is the question archaeologists had been asking for decades. In 1988, there was a storm near one of the most important archaeological sites in ancient Egypt. A wooden structure emerged from the sand. It was hollowed out by termites. Scientists were determined to solve its mystery. In 2000, they began excavating the site near Abbidos, Ubidos. An American team of experts soon discovered a boat that was 70 ft long. And it wasn't alone. In total, there were 14 boats neatly resting next to each other.

It was impossible to completely dig out the boats because of their poor condition. Luckily, the wood was preserved enough to get a sample.

Analyses revealed that the boats were around 5,000 years old, the oldest fleet in human history to this date. The time of their construction predates the pyramids at Giza by half a millennium.

Each ship of the fleet rested in a vault that matched its dimensions. The room was roughly a third of the size of a tennis court. It had mudbrick walls that featured more than 120 drawings of boats. Ancient Egyptians insized them on whitewashed walls that were excellently preserved. Scientists have known about these mysterious chambers for well over a century. 1901, 1902. A British archaeologist, Arthur Wigle, stumbled upon a strange structure west of the River Nile. His team caught a glimpse of the interior walls. Sadly, a section of the roof collapsed, so they had to call off further exploration. Researchers abandoned the site, but its location remained on the maps. The boat's position first led scientists to think that they rested on a bank of the mighty Nile. But there was a problem with this theory. Today, the river flows almost 7 mi west of Abidos.

Further studies of the surrounding terrain showed the Nile didn't change its course throughout history. Also, if the boats floated near a dock, they would be in unstable positions. The 14 vessels at Abidos were perfectly parallel to each other. There was only one conclusion possible. Someone had deliberately placed them like that. They must have gone through a lot of effort.

Each boat had enough room for up to 30 rowers. These vessels could really float. They weren't models, but scholars still don't know if they actually sailed any body of water in ancient Egypt. This doesn't diminish the importance of the find. Previously, archaeologists found only small scale models. In King Tut's tomb alone, there were 35 boat models.

For a long time, these figurines were the only clues as to how ancient Egyptian vessels looked like. The boat's design confirms that they were the real deal. They are the earliest surviving examples of something called built boats. Ancient people constructed primitive vessels by hollowing out large tree trunks. The alternative was reed that was tied together to form a raft.

The boats at Abbidos had planks tied together. This was a major breakthrough in ship building. During their lifetime, the boats must have seemed impressive.

Timber was a valuable commodity at the time. There was no wood in the desert.

Cedar had to be imported from Lebanon.

The only person who could afford such luxury was the pharaoh.

Studying the area around the ancient fleet provided more answers. Scientists discovered a mudbrick structure where Egyptians worshiped the pharaoh. Its approximate date of construction matches that of the wooden boats. The same bricks out of which this building was made were used to encase the fleet. At the time of their construction, the rooms they were stored in had a ceiling.

That's the section that archaeologists stumbled upon in the early 20th century.

Just like mummies and coffins, these marvelous ships rested inside splendid vaults. The exterior of these rooms was also impressive. The outer walls originally had a plaster of white limestone. It reflected sunlight. In the desert sun, the structure housing the boats must have shone from miles away.

Ancient Egyptian builders used the same technique to cover the pyramids 500 years later. Today, their surface looks jagged, but it wasn't always like this.

When they were constructed, the pyramids had a top layer of fine white limestone. Their surface was smooth and it gleamed in the sunlight. Instead of stairs, the outer layer of the pyramids was more of a sleek ramp. Archaeologists were left with one final question. Which pharaoh owned the fleet? The answer lay just a mile from the site. This is where the tomb of a pharaoh from the fifth dynasty rested, King Senasrit III. Its time and style of construction matched the ones of the chambers with boats. The very end of his rule might explain how the boats ended up in the middle of the desert. The pharaoh probably passed away in northern Egypt. Then his body was transported down the Nile to Abbidos in a marvelous procession of decorated [Music] boats. The vessels were later lowered to chambers near the final resting place of their owner. This had a symbolic meaning. In the ancient Egyptians belief system, ships played a key role. Their supreme deity was Rah. He traveled through the sky during the day in the form of the sun. At nighttime, he sailed through the netherworld in a solar boat. The pharaoh identified himself with Raw. That's why he needed boats in the afterlife. That was the only way to regenerate himself.

Just as the sun rises every day above the horizon. This belief existed for thousands of years. The more famous pharaoh Kufu also had a ship. Scientists found it 1954 next to his pyramid at Giza. It is some four centuries younger than the fleet at Aidos. But Kufu's ship was almost two times longer. The Great Pyramid of Giza and King Tut's tomb are some of the most famous archaeological finds in Egypt. But there are many more secrets hiding beneath the endless sands of the Sahara Desert. Recently 2020, archaeologists found a lost city there.

They have labeled it as the most important discovery since King Tut's tomb 1922. The city of Atin is some 3,000 years old. Historians hope it will give them a unique insight into the everyday life of ancient Egyptians. The famous archaeologist and Egyptologist Zahi Hawas proclaimed the site a lost golden city. Auten sits some 300 m south of Egypt's capital, Cairo. It is close to the famous valley of the kings.

Archaeologists first found sections of mud brick walls that spread out in all directions. They discovered complete rooms with tools of everyday life inside. The research team unearthed a bakery, a residential neighborhood, and an administrative district. They all date back to the time when the Egyptian civilization was the wealthiest in its long history. They were also the first to make objects from iron. In 1911, scientists found a set of iron beads near a village in Lower Egypt, Elgurtza.

These are the earliest known iron artifacts. The discovery is literally out of this world. Ancient people made them by beating into shape a piece of a meteorite. The nine beads were once part of an ornate necklace. They are now blackened and corroded, which is perfectly normal for a piece of jewelry that is over 5,000 years old. They consist of an iron nickel alloy. Researchers were impressed by the skill of ancient jewelers who processed the beads. Their craftsmanship is more impressive when you think that they didn't know the stellar origins of the material. The Great Pyramid of Giza also has a remarkable feature. An international research group investigated the electromagnetic response of the structure to radio waves. They found that the pyramid has the ability to concentrate electromagnetic energy inside it. This occurred inside its chambers as well as under the pyramid's base. It contains an underground unfinished chamber. It seems that the electromagnetic response is connected with the properties of limestone, the Great Pyramid's main building material. The research results might have a practical application. The way solar cells and nano sensors function could be improved by this remarkable find. If I asked you to name the most famous shipwreck of all time, you'd go with the Titanic, right? The Atlantic Ocean, the hope for new life, heartbreaking love stories. It had it all to become a blockbuster. But I guess you've never heard of SS Princess Alice that submerged in the sewage of the river Tempames, taking between 600 and 700 lives with it. Life in 19th century Victorian London wasn't easy, especially for workingclass folks. Affordable public transport and bank holidays made it a bit easier. The people could escape to the coast on a train or pleasure boat, even if it was just for a day. Sheess on the aisle of Shepy in Kent started as a fort under Henry VIII and then grew into a bustling town with a dockyard when they added a railway station in 1863. It became a prime destination for day trippers and holiday makers. Seaside prominads, charming peers, and a whole bunch of fun stuff to do by the sea. It had it all. A bit inland along the rivers, you had the Rocherville gardens. These gardens had archery lawns, bowls, mazes, lakes, cliffwalks, and even a floral bazaar.

Plus, there was an aviary, a bear pit, and a skeleton of a lost whale that had taken a wrong turn in the tempames.

Londoners of the late 19th century could hop on a train or cruise along the temps by boat, and both options were pretty popular. But on the 3rd of September, 1878, way more people than usual opted for the boat. They chose it over the railroad after a passenger train had collided with goods wagons in Kent, taking the lives of five people. The river felt like a safer way to go. One of the ships available for the trip was the SS Princess Alice. The paddle steamer was first launched in 1865 on the west coast of Scotland. Its original name was the but it was used as a ferry for the passengers of the Williams Bay Railway Company. A couple of years later it was sold and renamed after Queen Victoria's third child. Then it was sold again and got the nickname the Shaw's boat as it transported the Sha of Persia up the tempames to Greenwich in 1873. The ship had gone through several alterations in its lifetime. It got new boilers and watertight bulkheads. The Board of Trade had inspected it and marked it safe. In the year of its final voyage, it was officially allowed to carry up to 936 passengers between London and Graves End in calm water. On the day of the tragedy, Princess Alice was on what was called a moonlight trip downstream from Swan Pier near London Bridge to Sheeress Kent and back. The trip wasn't expensive, so most of the passengers were from the working class. There was also a musical band aboard to keep the spirits up. The 3rd of September was a bright day, and many families were happy they could catch some final summer sun rays and enjoy fresh sea air. The then owner of the ship, the London Steamboat Company, had several vessels working on the route.

The passengers were free to hop on and off different ships. At around 6:30 p.m., after a beautiful day in the open, the SS Princess Alice headed back to Swan Pier. No one kept official lists of passengers, so we'll never know exactly how many people were on board that evening, but they say the steamer was close to its full capacity. As it got darker and cooler, many families decided to stay inside the saloon or in their cabins below.

Some stories from the steamer sound like fate. The captain of Princess Alice let his steerers stay at Graves's End and replaced him with one of the passengers.

John Ays was a sailor but had little experience at the tempames or with a vessel like Princess Alice. Alfred Thomas Marryman, a chef from East London had been offered to work on the steamer at the last moment. He was 30 years old and a father of four, so he couldn't say no to extra money. At around 7:40 p.m., he was standing on the deck by the saloon door. By that time, Princess Alice had passed Tripcock Point and entered Gallion's Reach. The passengers could see the North Wool Witch Pier in the distance. Many of them planned to disembark at that stop. And that's when Maryman noticed a huge ship carrying coal. It was Bwell Castle. This vessel normally carried coal to Africa, but it had just been repainted at a dry dock.

Bwell Castle was going to Newcastle to pick up some coal and transport it to Alexandria, Egypt. The ship's captain, Harrison, wasn't too familiar with these waters, so he called in Christopher Dixs, a seasoned Tempame's river pilot, to lend a hand, even though he didn't have to. The ship had a fancy raised forward part below the deck, and Dixs couldn't quite see what was in front of him.

So they had a sailor on lookout duty as they set sail from Milw Wall at the speed of 5 knots, 5.7 m hour. They tried to stick to the middle of the river, but other boats had other plans. When they were approaching Gallion's reach, Dick spotted Princess Alice's red port light headed their way, but planning to pass on the right side.

At the same time, Ginstead, the captain of Princess Alice, was going against the river's flow, trying to find the smooth waters on the south side. He adjusted his course, steering into Bwell Castle's path. Both crews realized they were headed for a collision. Dixs tried to steer clear and even ordered reverse full speed on the engines, but it was too late.

[Music] The Bwell Castle collided head-on with the Princess Alice, which was much smaller, weighing less than a third of the 890 ton coal carrying collier. It sliced the passenger steamer in two. As Maryman remembered later, laughter on board immediately changed into screaming and panic. Some people rushed to the bridge for safety. Maryman hurried to the captain, asking what to do next. The captain's response was grim. We are sinking fast. Do your best. The ends of the steamer went high into the air and the middle just sank, taking passengers with it. Those unfortunate ones who were below deck were tragically trapped. The impact caused tons of untreated sewage to gush from outlets near the collision site.

The water became a frothy mess of unprocessed waste with a horrible odor.

It was potent enough to make even the most resilient sailors wretch. Amid the chaos, passengers struggled for life in the contaminated water. They inhaled lungfuls of hazardous waste without knowing. The crew aboard the Bwell Castle sprang into action. They dropped ropes from their deck, urging Princess Alice's passengers to climb aboard.

Anything that could float, from planks to barrels, was tossed into the water to serve as flotation devices for those in need. Other members of their team launched a lifeboat, saving 14 people.

Nearby boats mored along the river banks joined the mission, plucking survivors from the water. Many of Princess Alice's passengers didn't know how to swim, and it was even trickier for ladies wearing long, heavy dresses. Maryman was among the lucky ones who could swim. He first held on to a piece of wreckage, and then when others got to it, swam away, and caught onto a rope hanging over the side of the Bwell Castle. They managed to save around 130 people this way. Another survivor was Robert Haynes, who played in the Princess Alice band. He was fond of ships and had noticed the Bwell Castle a couple of minutes before the collision. He chose not to follow the rest of the band, who went downstairs for a break, and that saved his life.

Princess Alice's sister ship, Duke of Tech, arrived 10 minutes too late to assist with the rescue efforts. Only two people who had been below deck or in the saloon managed to survive the collision.

We still don't know the total count of lives taken on that day, but it's somewhere between 650 and 700. And what makes this story even more tragic is that it has been mostly forgotten.

[Music] At the beginning of the 20th century, somewhere off the coast of West Africa, a German steam ship was leaving the port. Suddenly, the weather got worse, and the vessel entered a thick fog. The sailors ran ground on a sandbank close to the shore. Luckily, no one was hurt, and they were even able to save their precious cargo. But the ship was stuck in the sand for good. And it was not alone there. Nearly the entire length of the western coast of Namibia is called Skeleton Coast. If the name sounds scary, that's because it is. This 976-m long beach line is among the most dangerous places on Earth. The local Bushmen tribes believe that their supreme deity made this land when it was angry. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot in Namibia in the 15th century. And yep, they didn't like Skeleton Coast either. Portuguese explorers thought this land presented the gates to the underworld. This is the place where the NameB Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. It might be dangerous, but it's actually beautiful. Plus, it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. If Skeleton Coast had a PR manager, they would quit on the first day on the job. The area is not exactly tourist friendly because of its geography and history. Beneath the sand and the waves, there is a secret ocean currently lurking for unsuspecting sailors. It's called Benuela current. It flows towards the north along the coast of southern Africa. This part of the Atlantic is rich in marine life, but the current's land neighbor isn't that happy with the deal. This arid climate created the Nameb Desert, one of the driest regions on Earth. And that marine life I just mentioned, it's sharks. 11 species of them to be exact. And yes, the great white decides to pop by once in a while.

So far, we've got a desert landscape, strong currents, and sharks. Not a place for a beachside resort, definitely. But if someone ends up on Skeleton Coast, will they know they're in danger? Don't worry, they will. The beach is littered with wrecks of all sizes and shapes. If you remember that German ship I mentioned in the very beginning, its massive and rusted stern is now sticking out from the desert sand. There are some 500 wrecks in total scattered along the coast. And it's a mixed crowd from Portuguese gallions centuries old to ships that ran ashore here in the 21st century. A modern fishing ship called Za India managed to slip from its tow rope in 2008 and ended up on Skeleton Coast. Okay, it didn't escape on its own. It had some help from the elements, but it's better to be a tourist attraction on a beach than to be broken up for scrap. That's where the trwler was originally going. Poor thing. Skeleton Coast's most famous inhabitant to call it such a place is the wreck of the Dunadin Star. The British cargo liner ran ground here in 1942.

The massive rescue operation that followed reveals why it's so dangerous for sailors to end up here. The rescuers managed to save all of the crew and passengers, but at a heavy price. An aircraft and a tugboat were lost in the process. It took the last of the rescuers a full 2 months to return home to Cape Town. Why, you might wonder? One look at the map of the region reveals the reason. It's an endless sea of yellow, which is the sand. There are so few roads here, so skeleton Coast is hard to reach by land. There are also legal obstacles. You need a special permit to drive into the area. But the skeletons in the name of the area don't only refer to ships. They also stand for animal bones. Most of these belong to whales and seals.

Many animals have adapted to the area, so lions and hyenas roam the coastline in search of a meal. Yeah, now there are hungry lions as well. As if those sharks weren't enough. Other animals with a temporary residence on Skeleton Coast include elephants, cheetahs, leopards, and giraffes. In 1971, the Namibian authorities established a national park here. But except for surfers, after an adrenaline rush, they don't get many visitors. You can understand why. The Nameb Desert is the oldest desert in the world, and it's not very tourist friendly either. Those who travel to the region should pack sunscreen and a warm winter jacket. A weird combo, right?

Well, not so much when you think that during the day, temperatures soar over 110° F. At night, the air temperature drops below freezing. What a climate roller coaster. And that's not the final danger. Yep, there's more. Remember how that German ship got lost in thick fog?

Yeah, it wasn't a one-off event. Because of the region's climate, fog shows up frequently. Sailors should cover their ears now, but this fog is actually good for wildlife. This is their only source of water in the NameB Desert. Reptiles and mammals have adapted to the harsh climate. They use as little water as possible.

Shifting sands, thick fog, strong currents, lions, and sharks. Not the stuff you would put in a tourist booklet, but Skeleton Coast isn't the only beach on Earth you wouldn't want to spend your vacation on. I will take you to Cape Tribulation in Australia. The area covers some 48 square miles in the northwestern part of the continent. And no, the area is not as dry as Skeleton Coast. It's part of the Daint Tree Rainforest. You could say that here it is the rainforest, not the desert that meets the ocean. The beach at Cape Tribulation is straight from a postcard. But looks can be deceiving. H Australia probably sharks. No, crocodiles are out here to get you if you decide to go for a dip in the sea.

There are saltwater crocodiles that the locals call salties. Well, that's a cute nickname for such a dangerous reptile.

And it's not just that. The wildlife seems to have a beef with visitors. From October to June, the waters around Cape Tribulation are full of box jellyfish.

Their venom affects the human cardiovascular system. When touched by a jellyfish out at sea, swimmers won't have enough time to reach land for help.

Vinegar helps neutralize a sting, so you might want to keep a spare bottle in your luggage. Crocodiles and jellyfish sound dangerous, but there's one more animal you should look after. It's the wild boar. It might sound funny, but you won't laugh when you're being chased by one of these across the beach. 21 million wild boars live in Australia.

They're mostly active at night, making it even more dangerous if they charge at you. The best defense is running in circles. Wild boars can't cut corners well. That's probably why we don't see many of them taking up careers as race drivers.

Cape Tribulation has one last danger installed for you. And it's not an animal out here. Even the trees are plotting against visitors. The stinging tree got its name for a reason. If you try to pick one of its beautiful red berries, it'll fight back. Its prickles are like tiny glass shards. The less than pleasant effect on your skin will last for a month. Then there is this wait a while bush. Who keeps naming them like this? This long vine has spikes that grab hold and just don't let go.

They are so strong they can pull a human off a horse. You'll have to wait for someone to come by and save you from this thorny grabber. If you are about to cross this Australian beach from the vacation list, hold on for a second. Tourism is booming here. The local authorities have restricted access to all of the danger zones. Visitors go swimming in dreamy water holes that are surrounded by lush vegetation. There are even ropes to swim from. Now that's a beach you can finally relax on. In 1945, five TBF Avenger aircraft took flight for a routine training exercise around the Bermuda Triangle. In the middle of the exercise, the planes were struck by intense rain and heavy winds despite the clear weather forecast. The pilots became extremely disoriented and radioed the base to report that their navigational equipment had stopped working. The last thing the base heard was, "When the first plane drops below 10 gall, we'll all go down together." And then static. The five planes and their 14 crew members were never seen or heard from again.

On his very first voyage to the new world in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed through the Bermuda Triangle, Columbus reported that one night when he was on the deck of the ship, he noticed a giant light appear in the distance unlike anything he had ever seen before.

Columbus looked at his compass for direction and it gave off erratic readings. You might have noticed that the Bermuda Triangle doesn't appear on any world map. This is because official institutions refuse to acknowledge that the area actually exists. A popular theory suggests that rogue waves are responsible for the many disappearances. Rogue waves are called extreme storm waves by scientists. They occur when different weather patterns take place at the same time and cause large unexpected waves. Witnesses say that the waves look like giant walls of water. These waves could explain why ships go down fast and without leaving any trace. The Bermuda Triangle is home to some pretty intense and unexpected weather. Storms build up quickly and unexpectedly, then disappear soon after.

If you blink, you might miss it. This could explain why few distress signals are issued. Pilots and sailors never saw the weather coming. No one knows exactly how many ships and planes have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. The rough estimate is 50 ships and 20 planes. Most of the time, the disappearances had no explanation and no wreckage has ever been left behind.

Another bizarre theory trying to solve the Bermuda Triangle mystery comes from Charlie Beritz. He insists that the area is home to the lost city of Atlantis.

The missing ships and planes and malfunctioning equipment, according to him, were all caused by rays of energy let out by the special energy crystals that power Atlantis. While this sounds silly, Berlitz's theory was convincing enough that over 20 million people bought his book worldwide. In the year 1800, a large sailing vessel called the USS Pickering departed from the US on its way to the West Indies. The ship sailed into the Bermuda Triangle along with its 90man crew and was never heard from again. The USS Pickering was the first ever confirmed ship to vanish in the Bermuda Triangle. It's believed that the ship was taken out by a storm, but because no wreckage was ever found, we'll never know for sure. When the TBF Avenger planes went missing, a massive search operation was conducted. Boats and planes searched the Bermuda Triangle for any signs of the aircraft. One of the boats searching was a PBM5 Mariner airboat. The airboat took flight at 7:27 p.m. and called in a routine radio message 3 minutes later. Then it was never heard from again. No trace was ever found of the rescue airboat or the five Avenger aircraft. An enormous investigation was launched into the disappearance of all these vehicles, but nothing was ever discovered. This particular area of the ocean is one of the most heavily traveled shipping routes in the world. Some skeptics believe that this fact solves the mystery. Statistically, the busier the area, the higher the frequency of accidents and disappearances. While this makes sense, it's not the frequency of disappearances that's responsible for the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.

It's the lack of explanation or wreckage found on the ocean floor. Decomposing organisms let off large concentrations of methane gas that gets trapped under the water. This gas can build up until boom, it ruptures. The gas surges up to the surface and erupts. If a ship was in the area of one of these ruptures, the water would become much less dense and cause the ship to sink rapidly and without warning. Scientists believe this could be the cause of the many disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle.

While this theory makes a lot of sense, it doesn't seem too likely. The US Geological Survey has stated that no large releases of gas are believed to have occurred in this area for the past 15,000 years. The ocean floor is made of rocks containing a lot of magnetite. It's more like iron. Magnetic fields react to high concentrations of magnetite on the ocean floor which may start a sort of conflict between the two. It can often lead to various weather anomalies and as a result navigation issues and naturally any changes in the ocean floor or the earth's magnetic fields influence the Bermuda Triangle a lot. Since the magnetic field is constantly moving, it might be also taking the Bermuda Triangle with it. Now that people know where the triangle is, it's easy to avoid it. It supposedly moves eastward together with the magnetic poles. But scientists still can't answer where exactly it will be in a couple of years.

Some people blame all the disasters on the extraterrestrial paranormal activity. Others suppose it's all about raging natural phenomena. There's another triangle in Lake Michigan. Just like the one near Bermuda, the Michigan Triangle got its shady reputation for some disappearances. The first recorded one dates back to 1679. A large vessel, one of the largest of that time, set out on an expedition.

Yet, once it got in the sinister triangle, it never came back. Much later, an aircraft disappeared in this triangle. The skies are usually very clear there, but back in 1883, some people witnessed abnormal things in the area. Some claim to have seen large blocks of ice falling from the skies, and the crew even managed to save one is hard proof. Meanwhile, the Pacific Ocean mystery area is another sinister triangle. Off the south coast of Japan, not far away from Tokyo, there's a sea where plenty of ships met their doom, disappearing without a trace in these waters. They call it the Devil's Triangle. Some scientists believe the cause of the anomalies is the environmental changes. Also, there's a really high concentration of methane hydrates on the bottom of the ocean in the Pacific Triangle area. You're deviating from your original course and sailing in the wrong direction. There's the Caribbean Sea near the triangle peppered with small islands. The seafloor here isn't deep.

The ship can get in shallow waters. And now the ship is stuck on a shaw, and you have no idea where you are. If this were the 21st century, the ship's captain would be able to reach the shore using GPS and other modern navigation. But the most interesting thing is that the compass would work correctly this time since the magnetic north pole hasn't already coincided with the true one for a long time in the territory of the Bermuda Triangle. The Agonic line is somewhere far away from here. There are no problems with navigation now. But for some reason, this is where ships disappear. In fact, not just here.

Throughout the Atlantic Ocean, there are places where many more ships were gone.

The Bermuda Triangle is not even in the top 10 of such places. One of the main reasons why many ships are lost here is that one of the most popular shipping routes in the Atlantic passes through the Bermuda Triangle. And the more ships in one place, the more shipwrecks.

Simple probability. Then it just starts getting weird. Other theories say that there's a space-time rift in this region. Ships and planes fall into this rift and end up in the past or the future. But for some reason, there's not a single proof of this myth. There's no reason to think that the rift is hidden somewhere here.

The base of an extraterrestrial civilization is located in the Bermuda Triangle. Visitors from other galaxies steal sea vessels along with the crew, so no one finds the wreckage of the ships. This is also a popular myth that has no scientific justification. The Kraken lives somewhere in the triangle. It's a huge squid that sinks ships and also is a legend that sailors tell each other.

However, gigantic squids live in the depths of the ocean. They can grow to the size of a half a train car, but no cases have ever been recorded where they sunk the large vessel. And in the area of the Bermuda Triangle, they have never ever been seen. People in the past didn't know about the existence of these creatures. So, when they saw them for the first time, they described them as huge, terrible monsters. Giant squids are some of the most elusive creatures on Earth, and scientists had to use sonar equipment to find them. They don't like to leave the dark depths and are likely to be afraid of the sound of any ship. So, that should squash the squid as a suspect. Thick fog is rising over the ocean as the sun is slowly sinking towards the horizon. It's hard to see further away than a few dozen feet, but that's enough to notice a hulking skeletal shape in the distance. As your ship approaches the figure, your heart beats faster and then you make out the details of another vessel abandoned by the looks of it. Ghost ships do exist and their mysteries aren't always solved. Take MV Hoyita for example. It was a wooden vessel built in 1931 as a luxury yacht.

It had served well to various people over 20 years before it was bought by a Samoan sailor and became a merchant ship. In 1955 though, Hoya's service came to an abrupt and mysterious end. On October 3rd, it set sail for another trading voyage that should have taken no more than 48 hours. Delays happened in the sea. So, when Hoita didn't arrive on October 5th as scheduled, there was little worry yet. But then it failed to come on the following day too. There was no distress signal or any other sign of Hoya's presence anywhere between its departure and arrival points. A search and rescue party was dispatched to find the ship and for 6 days they were scouting the area of nearly 100,000 square miles. On October 12th the mission returned to the base empty-handed. Hoya vanished without a trace.

It was only a month later that another merchant ship, Touvalu, noticed the missing vessel far away from its route, drifting in the open sea and lifting heavily. The sailors boarded the ship and found that all of its crew and passengers, 25 people total, were missing along with all the cargo the vessel had been carrying.

The radio was tuned to the International Distress Channel, meaning that the crew had been trying to ask for help, but they couldn't reach anyone because the radio cable had been damaged, limiting the range to 2 mi. The lifeboats were missing as well, indicating that people on board must have left the ship. Unfortunately, they seem to have taken the log book with them, leaving the rescue team clueless as to what had happened. Even today, the mystery of MV Hoya hasn't been solved yet. No one knows where the crew and passengers had gone and what had caused them to leave. SV Carol A. Dearing wasn't a ghost ship in the usual sense of the word. There were no sightings of it in the open sea. Instead, it was found on the shore, but the circumstances of it running around are a puzzle shrouded in mystery. Carol A. Dearing was built in 1919 in Maine and it was a large vessel made for commercial voyages.

Unfortunately, despite its large cost of construction, it had only served for a year before its last trip, July 19th, 1920. The ship was traveling from Puerto Rico to Rio di Janeiro via Newport News to deliver a cargo of coal. It was almost halfway to the final destination when the captain fell seriously ill, and the crew turned back to drop him and his son off and replace the captain. The voyage went without incident, but when it came to Barbados in December to resupply, there were strange moods among the crew. The first mate didn't seem to be happy with the new captain. No one paid much attention to it back then, when they probably should have. The last sighting of Carol A.

Dearing at sea was on January 28th, 1921 when a light ship noticed it off the coast of North Carolina. There was some commotion on the quarter deck of the ship where the crew were normally not allowed. Then another vessel cited it, but there was already no one on the decks. On January 31st, the merchant ship was found hard of ground in the Diamond Shores, a site notorious for numerous shipwrecks that had been occupying there for centuries.

When the search and rescue party boarded the ship, they found it abandoned. The log and personal belongings of the crew gone along with the two lifeboats. There is still no answer to what happened on board of Carol A during that January. Although the most popular version was mutiny. Maybe we'll never find out the truth though. SS Beimo is perhaps one of the most notable ghost ships in history.

This large cargo steamer was built in 1914 in Sweden and plotted its way dutifully over 16 years, trading provisions for pelts with native tribes of Alaska and Canada. But then on October 1st, 1931, Beimo got caught in pack ice. At first, it seemed the crew would be able to wait it out and continue on their route because the ship broke free in a couple of days. But in less than a week, it became caught again, this time for good.

In another week, a rescue party was sent to fetch 22 of the Beismo's crew, while another 15 remained behind to wait through the winter if necessary and get the ship back. But a month later, after a powerful blizzard struck their camp, the sailors went out of their shelters only to find the ship gone. Luckily, a few days later, a native hunter told them Beimo hadn't been lost yet. He'd seen it about 45 miles from where they had been stationed. They managed to track it down but decided the ship wouldn't survive the winter. So they took the most valuable cargo from its hold and abandoned it. They were wrong though. SS Beimo did survive that winter and many more that followed. When the ice broke, it sailed away on its own, drifting listlessly along the shores of Canada and Alaska. There were numerous sightings of the ghost ship, sometimes a drift in the open sea and at other times stuck in the pack ice. Again, people attempted to board and salvage it, but weather conditions or lack of equipment always prevented them. SS Beima was last cited by Native Alaskans in 1969, 38 years after its abandonment. What became of it later remains unknown. The story of SS Orang Maidan is one of the most puzzling and harrowing ghost ship stories of the 20th century.

No one even knows for sure if the ship even existed in the first place. It wasn't recorded in Lloyd's shipping, the International Register of Ships, which makes it either a tall tale or a vessel that avoided being officially recognized for some shady reasons. In any case, the accounts as to what happened to the Maidan vary. According to most reports, it was carrying some unknown cargo in the Indonesian waters when a distress call was received by another ship in the vicinity. The officers on duty heard an SOS message, but its contents are different depending on the accounts. The message did not repeat, and the crew of Maidan didn't answer to any attempts to contact it back. The ship that received the distress call hurried to the rescue, but they only reached the vessel the following day when it was already drifting and slightly lifting. When the rescuers boarded the ship, they found that none of the crew had survived. However, one lifeboat was missing, which implied that there was at least one crew member who managed to escape. What happened to the rest of the people on board remains a mystery to this day. Still, there are no hard facts about this story, so we might never find out whether SS Orangan was actually a ship and not a thing of fiction.

SV Zabrina was a threemast sailing barge built in 1873 for river trade ships in South America. She served for well over four decades, proving to be a sturdy and reliable ship. It was later transferred to Europe where it continued serving its purpose well. But then in October 1917, Zabrina set sail on a regular voyage only to be found ashore several days later. Mysteriously, although the ship was perfectly intact, the entire crew of five and the captain were gone. There is no direct evidence or hard facts as to what really happened that day. The most convincing theory is that the crew were washed away from the deck because of an underwater explosion.

And then the ship sailed ahead without them. But the truth, as always, remains unknown. The year was 1854. And the SS Arctic, the fastest passenger liner of its time, set out to cross the Atlantic.

As it sailed through the Misty Veil, it slowly disappeared into the unknown. The Collins Line, an American shipping company, was started in 1818 and only began seriously trading in the transatlantic by 1835. Its steam ships crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to New York within just 10 days. Doesn't sound like a great speed today, I know, but back then the same thing took other ships several weeks. Light on the water with their wooden hulls powering through with a strong steam engine. Those steam ships were the favorite choice for many high-profile people. What could go wrong with such an advanced ship? They thought this reminds me of some other ship everyone believed to be unsinkable. But anyway, back to the Collins line. It grew to be a serious contender on transatlantic routes with only one other competitor, the Cunard's line. It was a British company also aiming to be the main force through the Arctic Passage. In 1835, the company received a new ship that traveled to Liverpool and came back to New York with the largest cargo ever at that time. From then, the Collins line was steadily growing. It seemed like there would only be future successes for it. Unfortunately, their lavish ships became costly to run with the amount of coal used. Massive power along with weak wooden hulls meant they needed many repairs after each voyage. So, every trip ended up being expensive. But since the ships were safe and had a great reputation, people were willing to pay the price, and the company was definitely not in crisis.

They had achieved something no one had managed to do before them. Like I told you, their ships crossed the Atlantic in a whopping 10 days, and Edward Collins, the owner, was very determined to maintain the pace. Their five ships easily outran the Cunard's line of only three. With this great praise, it provided more attention.

Though the Cunard's ships were slower with their iron hulls, they believed there was still profit regardless of how slowly they sailed. Among Cullen ships, the Arctic, the third of them to be launched, was the largest, reaching 284 ft long with two side lever steam engines, each with 1,000 horsepower. The paddle wheels made 16 revolutions a minute when at full speed.

At the time of its launch, the press called it the most stupendous vessel ever constructed in the United States.

But glamour and fame couldn't avoid what would come next. On the 27th of September, the Arctic was on its journey from Liverpool to New York, continuing a speed pace through the thick fog. It's possible that by that moment, after 4 years of record-breaking trips, the crew became overconfident with their sailing and the ship.

Going only 50 mi from Newf Finland, they carelessly continued through the fog with no radio contact, sonar, or any other form of identifying objects, equipped only with Morse code. A smaller ship, the SS Vesta, which operated as a fishing vessel, often worked around Newfoundland. It was passing through the same path as the Arctic and crashed into its side.

Shocked by the collision, the captain of the Arctic offered help to the much smaller Vesta. But it was soon clear that the damage that seemed minor on the Arctic was far worse. Beneath the water line, a hole was letting water into the hull. The cost of the much faster wooden hull now seemed less valuable. They steered toward land, trying to plug the holes, but they weren't doing so well. And the seawater continued to pour in, filling up higher and pushing the ship down. And finally, once the engine room was full, it put out the boilers, taking away the massive power the Arctic was once legendary for. They moved slowly until coming to a complete stop. The ship continued to sink, and the order was to abandon it.

At the time, maritime law allowed for the Arctic to carry only six lifeboats, only capable of saving 180 people. The crew and some of the passengers managed to push their way aboard and took most of the seats on those boats. Things were pretty wild, and everyone forgot about their manners, not letting the ladies and the youngest ones board first. It took 4 hours for the Arctic to sink. 150 crew and 250 passengers were on board. Those that weren't able to find a lifeboat made a desperate attempt to build their own rafts from parts of the ship. Two days later, only three boats made it safely to the shore. The other three were never found. Believe it or not, the rescue party also saved some people that had been clinging to the wreckage for 2 days. Unlike the crew, the captain went down with the Arctic, but amazingly survived. He would be only one of 85 people that made it out of the 400 on board. When the news arrived 2 weeks later, the public responded with great sadness to the losses. Great anger soon followed towards the poor safety measures in the crew. The press published demands to change the laws for more lifeboats. It only made sense to have enough for every person on board a ship. But they ignored those requests.

This neglect would lead to more disasters in the future. Enough lifeboats would only come into maritime law some 60 years later after the disaster of the Titanic. Edward Collins wife and two children were also aboard the ship and didn't return. He was heartbroken but didn't stop running his business.

The Collins line still had a reputation to uphold. The biggest, fastest, and most luxurious on the Atlantic. Edward Collins would now build an even better ship than any other. It was named the Adriatic, and it was the largest ship in the world, 354 ft long. with two alternating steam engines that had never been built of this size.

These steam engines at the time were at the height of engineering, though today you can only see them in models and toys. With the new addition of two masts, the Adriatic would also be able to sail if needed. Luckily, they made some lessons from the disaster of the Arctic. But before their new ship, the Adriatic was built, another disaster had occurred. The sister ship of the Arctic had also sunk. They believe this second ship was desperate to stay in front of the Cunard's line and hit an iceberg somewhere during the race. This weird contest took the lives of 141 people. The desperation of Collins and his weekly built hulls pushed the company towards bankruptcy in 1858. The newly built Adriatic, costing over $1 million, had only made one voyage in the end. And even that voyage was considered a disaster. The ship collided with a tugboat. It still managed to finish its maiden voyage at a suitable time. After the company had gone bankrupt, they had to sell the ship for only $50,000.

[Music] They removed the great giant engines, replacing them with only sails. Although it was once the greatest ship on the high seas, it was only 30 years later until it was abandoned, labeled irreparable, and anchored in a river. The other remaining ships were also sold and only used for parts.

Edward Collins left the industry altogether, seeking work on dry land instead.

As the Collins line was no longer in the mix, the Cunards would grow in strength.

Without competition, they would win the Blue Ribbon for the next 30 years. And 180 years later, after producing hundreds of ships, they still have a constant presence on the seas as they provide transatlantic crossings, world voyages, and leisure cruises.

To this day, the Cunard line is the only one to run ships between Europe and America. And it's great proof that it's not always the fastest, that's the best. They said it was the most technologically advanced ship. They said it was unsinkable. And when it sank, they made a movie about it. These were the main reasons why the Titanic disaster became world famous. But unfortunately, this is not the only large-scale shipwreck. And sadly, there have been cases much worse than the tragedy of the Titanic. One of them occurred on April 27th, 1865. The Sultana steamboat carried passengers and cargo daily between St. Louis and New Orleans. It was a pretty large wooden boat with three decks and was 260 ft long and 70 ft wide, almost twice the size of a basketball court. The ship could carry about 350 passengers. But on that unfortunate day, more than 2,000 people were on it. On April 23rd, she was making a routine voyage from New Orleans when it broke down. Something was wrong with the boiler, so the vessel docked in Vixsburg for repairs.

At the port, the ship's captain, James Cass Mason, found out about an excellent opportunity to earn a lot of money. All he needed to do was to transfer a large group of former prisoners to the north.

The captain agreed to do it, but the problem was that the boiler required a lot of time to repair. Mason was afraid that his competitors would take the job, so he decided to sail. Despite the malfunction the ship had, he patched up the holes in the boiler instead of a big repair and invited all the ex- prisoners on board. So there was a broken boiler, an excess number of passengers, a lack of lifeboats, and not the best river conditions. Also, the captain refused to send the ex- prisoners to the hold. So they were all with ordinary passengers.

There were strong chances for a shipwreck, but the greedy desire to earn more money was stronger. The Sultana went on a voyage and sailed up the river for 2 days. At this time, one of the biggest Mississippi floods in history began. The river overflowed its shores because of the flood. With the water level rising several feet, all the trees on the shore disappeared, and only the tops were sticking out of the water.

The ship sailed opposite this powerful current, making the boiler work too hard. On the evening of April 26th, the Sultana arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, and they loaded even more. 120 tons of sugar and 200 passengers. She got incredibly heavy. Around midnight, the ship continued its dangerous journey.

The captain sailed to barges to load a shipment of coal.

At 1:00 a.m., the vessel left the barge.

At 2:00 a.m., the broken boiler, unable to withstand the load, suddenly exploded. The Sultana was just 7 mi north of Memphis. Few people survived that day. The problem was that passengers trying to escape from the fire jumped into a cold river with a strong current.

The Sultana disaster is considered the most tragic shipwreck in the history of the United States. The exact number of those who didn't survive is still unknown. According to various sources, this number was from 961 to 1,800 people. Don't be surprised that almost no one knows this story. There were many more survivors in the Titanic tragedy, and everybody heard about it. But the Sultana sank during one high-profile event. 12 days before the shipwreck, the country lost Abraham Lincoln. People hadn't yet recovered from this news, so no one paid much attention to the tragedy of the Sultana. Many catastrophes happened quite recently by historical standards.

One of them occurred in 2002. The ferry Lejula was a Sangal vessel.

The ferry sailed twice a week, mainly along the coast of Dar, carrying passengers who traded mango and palm oil. It made daily voyages and never faced severe problems thanks to modern rescue equipment and good repair service. But one day, the ship's crew discovered a malfunction and sent the boat to port. For almost a year, Legoula was in a non-working condition, awaiting repairs. But it didn't get highquality service. After poor maintenance, the ferry set off on its last voyage. On September 26th, 2002, Legula sailed between southern Sagal and Dar and at 11 p.m. headed toward Gambia where a strong storm began. The wind raised high waves, but this wasn't critical for the large passenger ship, unless the number of people on board didn't exceed the established norm. Lega was supposed to carry about 500 passengers, but had many more people that day. Too many passengers, poor repairs, and a strong storm caused severe problems for the ship. But the main factor in the shipwreck was that Legoula was only built for sailing in coastal waters. But that day, it sailed far from the shore. Big waves started rocking the boat, and at some point it just turned upside down. The ship's deck went underwater and its lower part stuck above the surface like an iceberg. All the passengers sitting in cabins fell on the ceiling and lost their orientation in space.

There were no holes or damage in the ship's hull, and water flooded the lower decks for a long time. The vessel stood in a twisted position for several hours.

Then the boat began to sink when the water seeped through the deck and hold. The ocean was warm, but no one came to save the passengers. People had to wait almost 4 days to be rescued.

Unfortunately, only a few managed to survive.

The Philippines is a very dangerous area for ships. This place consists of several thousand islands and a vast area with shallow water. Ships can run ground and damage the hull with reefs and pitfalls. On September 20th, 1987, one of the most terrible disasters in navigation history occurred there. A Philippine passenger ferry called Dona Paz left one of the islands and sailed toward Manila. The sun was shining, the ocean was calm, and the visibility was good. But for some reason, the crew members didn't notice how the tanker Vector was approaching them. The two ships collided at low speed. The collision wasn't strong, but the problem was that the Vector had tons of oil on board, and the Donapas crashed into the cargo hold where that oil was stored. So, it spilled all over the ocean and then a spark slipped through.

Not only did the two ships catch fire, but also filled with water. Both ships sank in a matter of seconds. Only a few dozen people survived that disaster. On September 27th, 1854, the passenger ship Arctic sailed from Liverpool to New York. The fog came rolling down and visibility got really bad. Another boat appeared out of the thick white haze. The French steamer Vesta. The ships were close enough to each other that a collision was inevitable. The French vessel was smaller, so it seemed to the Arctic's captain that Vesta had received a lot of damage. And while he was staring at the other ship, his boat got quickly filled with water. The captain gave the order to sail to the shore as fast as possible, but the ship's engines stopped working because of the flood. Then the ship's crew started to lower lifeboats with women and kids. Still, when rescuers found lifeboats with people, it turned out that only 87 out of 400 people survived. 65 crew members and 22 passengers. Surprisingly, there were only grown men among them. The ship's captain survived by clinging to the wreckage. All newspapers wrote about this story as one of the most terrible and shameful tragedies in navigation history. The survivors were criticized because they didn't save women and kids, and the crew members were accused of violating the law since the safety of passengers should be higher than the safety of sailors. But despite this, none of them were brought to responsibility. Unfortunately, shipwrecks still occur to this day, but fortunately, there are fewer of them than before thanks to modern navigation systems and radar. But no technology can guarantee there won't be a super strong storm or any other emergency that no one can foresee. The voyage started just like any other. The cargo ship SS Kotapaci is making another journey to Havana, Cuba to deliver coal. It's November 29th, 1925. For Captain Meyer and his crew, leaving Charleston Port, South Carolina, it will be the last trip the ship ever makes. Its route ran through the Bermuda Triangle. 2 days into the trip, the Kotapaci sent out a distress signal. It had got caught up in a strong tropical storm and turned over on its side. The wind was very strong and there was powerful lightning as well. Rain gradually filled the ship's hold. Then there was a bright white flash and the ship disappeared without a trace. Later its wreckage was found in the Gobi Desert, which is in a completely different part of the world. All 32 crew members, including the captain, were missing. Of course, the part about the Gobi Desert is fictional. For one of his movies, Steven Spielberg came up with the idea that the ship was moved there by aliens. Still, in real life, the ship was never found, and its crew really did disappear. It was officially declared missing a month afterward, and nobody could find the wreck. It seems like a classic case of mysterious things going on in the Bermuda Triangle, but most mysteries are solved sooner or later. In 2020, the Kotapaci was found. A man named Michael Barnett had moved to Florida to study shipwrecks off the coast. One wreck in particular really caught his attention.

It was much larger than the others, and the locals called it the bear wreck. It was about 40 mi from St. Augustine in northern Florida, but no one had ever managed to identify the rusty hulk. So, Michael started to do some detective work. He measured the size of the shipwreck and started working through all the information he could find. He researched hundreds of old newspapers, leaf through insurance records, and looked at artifacts found on the wreck.

After hundreds of hours of hard work, Michael was sure it was the Kotapaci.

But a few years before, there had been a rumor that the same ship had been found off the coast of Cuba. The Coast Guard found the wreck of a cargo ship about the same size that looked a lot like the one lost in 1925. Michael was sure they were wrong.

So, he teamed up with some science journalists and kept investigating. Soon, they discovered something that seemed to confirm Michael's belief. Divers found brass valves with the letters SV on them in the wreckage of the ship. Michael suggested these initials referred to Scott Valve Manufacturing Company. The headquarters of this company was in Michigan, not far from where the Cotto Paxi had been built. The company had probably supplied parts for the Cotto Paxi, so the puzzle seemed to be solved.

The bear wreck was really the missing cargo ship. But Michael still needed to work out why the ship had sunk. Did something mysterious really happen to the Kotapaci in the Bermuda Triangle?

Later, Michael found the testimony of the ship's carpenter among some old papers. The carpenter claimed that the hatches covering the coal on the ship had been in a terrible condition before it sank. Repair work on the covers wasn't finished before the crew got the order to sail to Cuba. So, if the hatch covers were still broken during the trip, water could have easily gotten on board. This water probably flooded the hole during the tropical storm. This was the real reason why the Kodapaxi went down. There was really nothing mysterious about it. It was just a mistake made by ordinary people. But this is just one example out of dozens or even hundreds where ships and planes have gone missing in the Bermuda Triangle. We still can't explain some of these incidents. It seems like there really is something weird going on there.

One of these strange events happened in 1948. A passenger jet was headed for Miami from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It disappeared in the same area as the Kodapaxi. The 32 people on board vanished without a trace. The weather was clear throughout the flight, but experts think that when the plane was about 50 mi from the coast, it could have been hit by a strong wind that knocked it off course. Years later, a similar plane was found in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. But because no one could work out the registration, it was impossible to say for sure if it was the same one. Something even stranger occurred not long before in 1945. Five planes went missing all at the same time. Some trainee pilots were practicing their navigation skills, but when they'd finished, it seems they couldn't find their way back home and disappeared. Many people assumed they just ran out of fuel. This seems likely, but still, the circumstances were really strange. The trainees were being supervised by an experienced pilot who had 2,500 hours of flight time. He would never have let a group of newbie pilots get that far away from their base. Even now, people still debate what could have happened. Some insist the pilots ran into something supernatural out there in the Bermuda Triangle, but who knows? And here's another freaky thing that happened there which no expert has been able to explain. Time travel. In 1970, Bruce Gernon was flying a plane from Andros Island to the Florida coast.

When he was at 11,500 ft, a giant cloud appeared in front of him. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and he had no choice but to fly through it. As soon as he did, the plane was surrounded by darkness. It was as if the day had turned to night in a split second.

Suddenly, Bruce began to see white flashes of light around him. They were so bright that they lit up the entire sky, but they weren't lightning bolts, although he couldn't really explain what they were.

The plane continued through the strange cloud for almost a half an hour. Bruce noticed that the cloud changed shape during this time. The space around the plane turned into a tunnel. Then the tunnel started narrowing. Bruce became really tense as he tried to cope with the plane's controls. All his instruments and navigation equipment were going crazy and the electronics stopped working. Then a white light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Just like in the movies, the plane escaped the closing cloud tunnel at the very last second. Everything was fine, but now Bruce found himself in some white fog. He had no idea where he was. Then he managed to contact ground control. He was shocked when he learned that his plane was already in the airspace above Miami. It seemed that something impossible had happened. Bruce was meant to cover a distance of about 250 mi during the flight. This usually took 1 and 1/2 hours, but he had managed it in just 47 minutes, almost two times faster than normal. When Bruce landed, he went to check the amount of fuel left in the tank. It turned out he'd used up a lot less than the normal amount of fuel as well. Could there be a logical explanation for the timetraveling plane?

Well, records show that a large number of sunspots were detected on the surface of the sun that day, and there was a strong solar wind. This could easily have made the electronics and devices on the plane go crazy. But what about the mysterious cloud? The Florida coast is a place where two large air currents meet.

One has a high pressure and the other is a low pressure one. This causes a lot of storm clouds in the area. But people still debate how Bruce was able to cover the distance so quickly. Some people say that some kind of mysterious dark energy was involved. Others say it was a gravitational anomaly that curves space and time. Others think that Bruce is just a fraud. We still don't know the truth.

So, is there really something supernatural about the Bermuda Triangle?

Or is it all just coincidences and madeup stories? The truth is that no more planes and ships disappear in the Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else in the world. The moon shines brightly and illuminates the black water of the ocean. Thick fog descends on it in ominous silence. Then it's suddenly broken by the creaking of wooden boards, followed by a rippling of the waves.

Through the fog, you see the outline of an old large ship. Its hull is rusty, and a strange cold is coming from it.

But the most unsettling thing is that there's no one on the deck. The ship sails without a crew. No, this isn't a mythical Flying Dutchman, but a very real ghost ship.

September 2nd, 2019. The British Royal Navy's ice patrol ship called the HMS Protector sails through the calm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The time is 11 p.m. Some of the ship's crew are on deck while others are sleeping in their cabins. The captain steers the ship and looks straight at the horizon. The sky is lit up by an orange twilight and clouds float in the distance. Suddenly, against this beautiful landscape, one of the sailors notices the black silhouette of an unknown ship. The captain slows down and steers the ship a little closer to the mysterious vessel. This is an old cargo ship 250 ft long. Attempts to contact the crew members lead to nothing. It seems the unknown boat is floating in the ocean by itself. There's no one on board. At least no one alive. The deck of the ship caks from rocking on the waves. The sun sinks below the horizon and it gets dark. The ship looks terrifying. British sailors don't dare to climb on that strange deck. They take a photo, post it on the internet, and sail away. Many people on the internet will assume the sailors met a real ghost ship.

5 months later, we're in the village of Bali Cotton in County Cork, Ireland. A local leaves the house early in the morning to go for a daily run. Music in his headphones, fresh, cool air, and a scenic route are ideal conditions for a good workout. The jogger runs along the road on the coast of the Celtic Sea.

There was a strong storm last night, and now the sea looks calm. The man runs along the top of a low cliff and notices a huge vessel. An old rusty cargo ship 250 ft long lies on the beach right among the rocks. No people on board. It seems the ship has been here for ages.

But the local is sure this vessel wasn't here yesterday. A little later, it turns out this is the same ship that the sailors from the HMS Protector saw 5 months ago, thousands of miles from this place. The cargo ship called the Alta was built in 1976. Nobody knows who used it all this time and for what purposes. It's only known that in 2017, the ship was purchased by a new owner and marked with the flag of Tanzania. It's important to say that almost all cargo ships are equipped with AIS, automatic identification system, which is needed to track ship movements in the ocean.

Since 2015, something strange started happening with the Alta's AIS. The ship disappeared from the satellites, then reappeared again. Over the past few years, this ship had changed several names and flags. It's not surprising that its AIS shut off and turned on numerous times. It's said that some of those who disable AIS on their ships do so to hide outlaw activities. The ship's captain, whoever it was, clearly didn't want to show the Alta's movements. As AIS showed in 2017, the ship had sailed near Greek port cities. The Alta made 12 stops in three such cities in different parts of Greece. Then the AIS signal disappeared. And 10 months later, the Alta reappeared near the northern coast of Africa, 1,200 m from Greece. In September of 2018, the ship was sailing about 1,400 m southeast of Bermuda. And at that time, the crew members started having problems. There were 10 people on board the Alta. On September 19th, the ship's engine failed right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The nearest shore was very far away. The ship began to drift. As days passed, the crew couldn't fix the vessel. Food supplies were running low. The crew started to panic and tried to contact someone. The situation got worse as a strong hurricane was approaching the place where the ship broke down. Crew members contacted the US Coast Guard. On October 2nd, a helicopter headed towards the ship. Food and water were unloaded on the Alta. This was enough for the crew to bide their time for several days.

About a week later, a rescue boat sailed about 1,500 m to reach the Alta and help the stranded sailors. Shortly before the start of the hurricane, American rescuers succeeded. The entire crew of the wrecked ship was taken to Puerto Rico. The Alta remained drifting in the ocean. After a while, another ship arrived to tow it to the coast of Gana.

Then something went wrong again. The ship was hijacked. Who did it and why remains a mystery to this day, but then for some unknown reason, the thieves decided to abandon the ship and left it to drift in the ocean. For almost a year, the ship's location couldn't be tracked. Then, in September 2019, the vessel was found by the British Royal Navy. How the Alta was able to cover the distance across the Atlantic and wash up on the coast of Ireland is unknown. An investigation has been launched in Ireland. It's necessary to identify the owner of the vessel and find a responsible person to take on the task of towing it, but no one has since been found. Once an unknown person called the Irish authorities and introduced themselves as the owner of the ship, but didn't provide any evidence. Several barrels of oil were found on board the Alta. To dismantle the ship, the Irish authorities will need to spend about€ 10 million. Local residents are annoyed by the wreck, too. Corroding metal is bad for the environment and kids have already snuck on board and posted a video on the internet from inside the abandoned ship. The further fate of the Alta remains unresolved. It's still lying there. That ship sailed in the ocean for just 2 years now. Imagine if some other managed to drift for 38. In all that time, no one could catch this ship and people still seek it. That vessel is called the SS Bachimo. It was a merchant ship owned by a Canadian trading company. In 1931, the ship got stuck in ice off the coast of Alaska. A strong snowstorm began. The team waited a week for it to end, but the storm only intensified. One day, the weather improved a bit, and part of the team was evacuated to the nearest city. Another part of the crew with the captain set up camp near the ship. The storm started again and didn't stop for a long time.

The blizzard was so heavy that the ship's captain couldn't see beyond his arms reach. Finally, when the storm was over, the captain saw that the ship simply vanished. He decided the Bimo sank during the storm. A week later, the ship was found, drifting near the place where it was lost. The hull of the ship was damaged so badly that it was unsafe to sail on it. The captain decided to abandon the ship. However, it didn't sink. For the next 38 years, it was drifting at various points along the Alaskan coast. Several times, people climbed on the ship, including Native Alaskan residents and a group of researchers. Attempts to save the vessel from the sea ended in failure. The salvage operations were hampered by drifting ice and bad weather. The last time it was seen was in 1969. The ship was frozen and blocked by the ice. In 2006, the government created a special project to find the Bimo.

However, in all these years, the ship still hasn't been found. Its fate is unknown. It's likely that the ship has finally found peace and is now lying on the seabed of the Chuckchi Sea. The sea. This unrelenting water beast has been defying all attempts to tame it for centuries. Many ships driven by the wind have gone through the harshest parts of the world. Some have survived the struggle with the sea, and many have come off second best. It's the year 1834.

A ship called the Pilgrim is setting a course to sail from California to Boston. The journey will venture around South America and then past Cape Horn of Chile. Richard signs up as a merchant seaman aboard the pilgrim. This is his first voyage at sea. The crew tells Richard stories of the Drake Passage off Cape Horn, a route that's legendary for its dangers. Countless ships and sailors have disappeared in those waters. Since Cape Horn's discovery in 1526, it's quickly become known to all those that have sailed around it as the ultimate test of any mariner's skill and of any ship's strength. Those that have survived the journey call Cape Horn a sailor's nightmare. Jack the Helmsman, a salty veteran, steers the ship towards this most dangerous of all routes. Jack has been aboard the pilgrim since it was first commissioned in 1825. He's passed by the horn many times, each time learning a different lesson from the tests provided by the sea. The pilgrim has been refitted since its past voyage a year ago. Richard values Jack's experience given that it's his first journey at sea. Jack assures Richard of his confidence in the pilgrim, even though it's just a small wooden brrig with two masts.

Jack's aware that wooden vessels are gradually becoming outdated, replaced by new steam powered ships, but Jack prefers the maneuverability of the pilgrim and will take it over the steel ships any day. Richard is excited to be aboard.

There's so much to explore in life as a merchant seaman, but the guy struggles to acquire his sea legs on the boat.

Forceful winds make the pilgrim move faster, providing Richard with a quick introduction to life at sea. At the same time, nothing can prepare him for what is to be experienced at Cape Horn. It's the southernmost point of land before Antarctica. The gap between the icy continent and Cape Horn holds the infamous Drake Passage. Approximately 700 miles between Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Strong winds provide an uninterrupted steadfast journey toward the horn, but as Jack tells Richard, the winds are more concentrated at the Drake Passage.

They create a funneling effect, becoming stronger and more unpredictable. Richard is unsure of what this might mean for the pilgrim, but understands that there's no easier route to travel around South America.

A few days pass. The pilgrim sails by the many islands that make up the western coast of Chile. Although the sea has been relatively calm, Richard continues to deal with his lack of sea legs. His movements are still not very graceful.

The constant ever swaying deck rises and falls, and Richard finds it hard to get used to the motion. Random large waves hit the pilgrim from every angle. The ship is quickly approaching Cape Horn. Richard looks towards great thunderous black clouds in the distance. "Welcome to the Horn," Jack says half laughing. A rice smile upon his face soon disappears. The man gets serious, knowing what awaits them all. Stronger winds start blowing the sails as the crew scrambles to hang onto the ropes.

Richard desperately sets to adjust the aft sails, adjusting for the constant change in strong southerntherly winds.

Jack holds firm at the helm, knowing the importance of his role. He's wary of the swell. It can build very quickly the further south they travel. It's crucial the pilgrim doesn't venture too close to the horn when they approach. The great darkness that was in the distance is now all around them, filling the sky in every direction. Blackened clouds throw rain and hail down at the crew as they try to resist the enraged weather. Jack is directed by the captain at the helm, changing the direction of the vessel.

The temperature has dropped significantly. Barely keeping the water from his eyes, he turns toward the portside bow to provide his face a brief break from the torment of the wind.

Looking out into the distance, the man sees the horn standing alone, surrounded by mist.

It's a haunting sight. He steers the pilgrim along the face of the horn, the distance getting shorter. The waves shrink in height since the depths become shallower. But these waves are much steeper and their angle can cause more damage to the wooden vessel. Jack's unsure how much of these waves the pilgrim can take before the hull is breached. Richard, still posted at the aft sails, watches the water and icebergs floating by. He's unsure how large they actually are since they're mostly hidden underwater, but he knows to alert Jack if any get too close. Just one iceberg hitting the pilgrim will be all that the Hull can withstand. Dutifully, he watches over the side and into the distance. Icebergs aren't the only thing to look out for.

Rogue waves are common in these seas as well. The connecting Antarctic and Pacific oceans mixed with stormy weather form waves together. This creates much larger row waves. Such waves have been known to reach up to 100 ft tall. They can destroy most vessels in their path. It'll surely be the end of the pilgrim if it comes across a rogue wave.

Strong currents adjust the route of the pilgrim as though the horn is trying to lure the ship toward its rocky shallows.

Slowly, they are getting pulled closer toward the horn. Jack is fighting the current at the helm. Spinning the wheel, he strains his body as much as he can.

Grunting, he plunges the wheel from the port side to starboard and back again.

The captain keeps yelling directions. To a novice, they're extremely confusing.

But Jack, a hardened veteran, continues to interpret the directions with ease, steering to readjust their course away from the horn. The captain orders Richard to assess the hull below the decks. With the level of pounding the Drake Passage has provided so far, it's surely harmed the ship in some way.

Richard runs to the deck as another sailor yells something at him, but the noise of the sea makes it difficult to hear. A wave hits the side, flowing onto the deck. Richard manages to hang on to the mast before he's almost swept overboard. The entire front deck seems to be underwater. Hanging on as the water rolls off the sides of the ship and waiting for it to clear, Richard watches the horn slowly go past. Still, it beckons toward the pilgrim as though asking for its dues from the crew. The currents are still pulling the ship while the storm is raging on with no end of the struggle in sight. The storm is growing ever larger and fiercer. Richard gathers himself to head below and assess the damage. After a slow descent to the lower decks, Richard can finally look over the hull from the ship's quarters.

There's no damage from what he can gather, but he's shocked by the depth of the water inside. It's now at waist depth. Cups, amongst other things, float in the water. Even inside the ship, the guy can't escape the waves. Unable to make sense of it all, he stands frozen, listening to the almighty power of mother nature outside. The sea roars even more wildly, waves constantly thuting against the hull. It sounds like a somber drum beat, a slow countdown to the demise of the pilgrim. Richard forces himself back to the terrors of the above decks, grasping onto the rails to carefully walk the slippery stairs. He leaves the disturbing creeks of the wooden decks.

They're soon replaced with the strange sounds of the ropes, the yells of other sailors, and the deafening roar of the sea crashing all around him. Jack is at the helm, focused on his role, still fighting the wind and the waves. Even with the addition of ice and frost, it seems that the world around him has set its heart to distract the man from his duty. But Jack pushes on determinately. For 9 days, the pilgrim fights the constant changes in stormy weather, facing all kinds of obstacles, but the ship manages to make it through.

As they leave the storm behind, the crew sets their course north for their final destination. The sight of the sun peeking through the dark clouds is the most relieving thing Richard has ever experienced. Unfortunately, Richard lost his rations at some stage during the storm. At sea, if your rations are lost, it's your own bad luck. Luckily, Jack is kind enough to share some of his. It's 2018. You get up early in the morning to go ashore and catch some fish. You come to the spot you were yesterday. Throw the hook into the sea and wait. The float is twitching. You've caught some fish. But hey, hello. Why aren't you doing anything? Right now, you don't care about the fish. You're looking at something in the distance.

You open your mouth in surprise since you see a huge ship stuck on a shaw. It wasn't here yesterday, so it got here at night. Okay, it'll probably sail away sooner or later. You fish for a few more hours. During this time, you observe the ship and notice no movement there. Is it empty? Boats and the coastal service are sailing from the shore to the vessel.

You decide to check it out, too. You get in your old boat and go there. The mist descends to the water, making the ship look creepy. The colossal vessel is rusty and empty. But where is the whole crew? And how did it get there? The Coast Guard comes on board. They search the hold, the cabins, and the upper deck. There's someone's stuff, some remnants of food supplies, notebooks, and clothes. Everything suggests the crew has disappeared for some reason. Fishers who noticed the vessel first didn't see anyone coming down from the board. No radio signals were sent to the port, and no one reported about the ship. It appeared here from nowhere. The only chance to get any information is to look at the number and name of the vessel. This is Sam Ratulongi PB160. The Coast Guard checks the information, studies the data of all the country ships, and no way, one company built the boat in 2001 in Indonesia.

People used it to transport heavy loads across the seas around Asia. The ship had been properly operating for 8 years.

People were delivering industrial goods to different points in the region, but something went wrong. In 2009, Sam Ratulangi was sailing near the coast of Taiwan, and that's it. There were no further records about it. There were no reports in any port. Everyone thought it must have drowned, so no one had been looking for it for years.

And then 9 years later, it appears here, big and rusty off the coast of Myanmar.

Without sailors, without fuel, an investigation starts. City services are trying to find out the names of all the sailors working on the ship and find clues that would lead to solving this mystery. They also hope the ship owner will appear soon. They find two tow ropes on board. This means that some other ship towed Samalongi to this place.

Then they identify and find 13 crew members. These people say they wanted to reach the factory in Bangladesh to repair Sam Ratalongi. Another vessel helped tow the ship, but then two cables tore off and a storm began. No one wanted to stay on board during such weather, so the crew members left it. No one knows what the ship has been doing for the last 9 years and how it was possible without people on board.

And here is another much more mysterious ship story. On February 16th, 2020, locals found a large cargo ship stuck on a rocky shore off the coast of an Irish village. The boat looked rusty with holes in the hull and rotten parts.

People hadn't seen this vessel the day before, so it appeared there at night.

The last time people saw the Alta cargo ship was a few months earlier, thousands of miles off the coast of Ireland. That day, the Alta was sailing in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Another ship, the MS Protector, noticed it. MS Protector crew members tried to contact the ship, but received no response. The people on board realized that they were facing an empty vessel, and then 5 months later, it appeared near the coast of Ireland.

There are more questions than answers in this story, but we managed to find something out. In 2015, the Alta appeared and disappeared from the radar several times. Any ship has an internal tracking system so people can track its route using satellites, but Alta crew members often disabled this system.

Perhaps they were engaged in some illegal activity. Anyway, in 2017, the ship often sailed between the ports of Greek islands. Then the tracking signal disappeared and appeared only 10 months later off the coast of North Africa.

During this time, the ship changed several flags. In September 2018, the Alta was southeast of Bermuda and headed for Haiti. Then the crew started facing problems. First, the main engine failed right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship began to drift. Several days passed, but the crew members weren't able to repair it. They began to run out of food and water supplies. The situation got even worse when they found out that a hurricane was approaching the place. Fortunately, they managed to contact the US Coast Guard. A helicopter flew to the Alta on October 2nd to bring them some supplies. There was enough food for several days. Then, a rescue boat sailed to the ship. It evacuated all the sailors and delivered them to Puerto Rico before the hurricane. The Alta had to drift alone in the ocean. After a while, another ship approached the Alta to tow it to the shores of Gana. But at this moment, everything went wrong. Someone stole the boat, disabled the tracking system, and sailed away in an unknown direction. After almost a year, the MS Protector found the empty Alta in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. And then 9 months later, the ship without a crew sailed to the shores of Ireland. How did it manage to travel across the Atlantic and get to the coast of Ireland? It's still a mystery. Maybe it was just luck. No one else saw the ship all this time. It was just covering huge distances, surviving storms. Who's the captain? What happened to the thieves?

Who owns the ship now? One day, someone called the village administration and introduced themselves as the vessel owner, but that unknown person didn't provide any evidence. They found several barrels of oil on the ship, which they took away by helicopter. The Alta was rusting.

Corrosion of metal could damage the environment. The vessel had no commercial value, yet it would have taken millions to get rid of it. There were three options for what to do. Leave the ship where it was, tow it into the sea, and let it sink, or disassemble it for scrap. But nature had its own plans. Storms and strong waves split the hull into two parts. The Alta was drifting without a crew in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean for about 2 years. But this is nothing compared to a ship that was traveling for 38 years. The record belongs to the SS Beimo. It was a merchant vessel owned by some trading company. In 1931, the ship found itself on the ice off the coast of Alaska. Its movement slowed down. A thick layer of ice blocked the ship, and a strong storm only made the situation worse. The blizzard was so intense that the crew members couldn't see anything but a white veil in front of their eyes. Sailing any further was impossible. The team had to wait for the storm to end. They waited for a day, 2, 3 days. A week had passed, but the snowstorm was only getting stronger. Then one day, it grew weaker.

The crew members split into two teams.

The first team went to the nearest city.

The second group, along with the captain, stayed on board. They set up camp next to the ship and waited for the blizzard, which had started again, to end. There was zero visibility. And finally, one day, the storm was over. Great. And now, uh, wait a minute. But where is the ship? The SS Bimo just disappeared during the blizzard. The captain was sure that the ship had sunk, so he left along with the crew. Then a week later, they saw the vessel drifting near the area where they had lost it. The hull was damaged so severely that it was unsafe to sail on it. repairing the ship would be pointless and expensive, so the captain decided to abandon it. He was sure that it would go underwater sooner or later, but it stayed afloat for the next few days, the next few months, and a few years. People had reported seeing it at various points along the coast of Alaska for 38 years. The last record of the SS Beimo is dated 1969. Those who saw it claimed the ship was completely frozen, almost merged with the ice. Some people planned to start an expedition to find the ship, but all attempts were unsuccessful. The vessel is probably lying somewhere on the deep sea floor.

As an experienced sailor and the first man to ever sail non-stop on his own around North and South America, Matt Rutherford has seen a lot during his voyages. But what he saw in 2013 while sailing through the waters of the Atlantic with his colleague surely stands out.

Some 800 miles off the coast of Bermuda, not far away from the famous Bermuda Triangle, they noticed a boat that seemed to be moving by itself. The sails weren't up, and the motor wasn't running. The sailors decided to check if there was someone who needed their help aboard, so they moved closer to the mysterious ship. Once they got there, things only got weirder as they realized there wasn't a living soul aboard.

Rutherford started filming to document their discovery. The boat looked so awfully abandoned that they expected to find some pretty scary things in there.

But it didn't stop Rutherford from searching the vessel. The boat, which turned out to be named Wolf Hound, looked like an upscale one, probably costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was pretty weird to find it floating by itself in the middle of the ocean.

It seemed like whoever abandoned it was leaving in a rush. There were clothes and other personal belongings all over the main cabin. Some parts of the ceiling had fallen and some drawers had popped open. The brave sailors decided to tow the ghost ship back to Bermuda. It wasn't easy because Wolfhound was bigger and heavier than their boat.

After days at sea, the crew was running low on fuel and asked a passing freighter to stop and give them some gas. They kept pulling Wolfhound until the tow line got wrapped around the rudder and they realized they could get stranded in the Bermuda Triangle. So, they had to abandon the ship. What really happened and how Wolfhound ended up in the middle of the ocean will probably remain a mystery.

Rumor has it that it belonged to a member of the Royal Irish Yach Club. The ship was going on its first voyage from Connecticut to Bermuda and then Antigua.

It got in a terrible storm around 400 m away from Delaware. The winds were so strong that the yacht suffered two knockdowns. A Greek cargo ship rescued the crew. They left the ship with an emergency beacon on. The rescued crew members shared that they saw the ship sink, which only adds more questions to the story. How did it get back to the surface? Does the Bermuda Triangle have anything to do with that? Christopher Columbus himself reported some unusual compass activity going on in this mysterious area while he was on his way to the New World.

Despite the stories of more than 50 ships and 20 planes disappearing in the area, it remains one of the most heavily traveled shipping routes in the world.

Some skeptics believe that this fact solves the Bermuda Triangle mystery. It could make sense because the busier the area, the more accidents happen there, but then again, it's not the number of disappearances that makes the place so mysterious. It's the lack of explanation and wreckage lost for good. The first ever confirmed ship to vanish in the Bermuda Triangle was the USS Pickering. In 1800, it departed from the US on its way to the West Indies.

The ship sailed into the Bermuda Triangle along with its 90man crew. No one ever heard anything from them ever since. The popular explanation is that the ship was taken out by a storm. But because no one found any wreckage, we'll never know for sure. The largest ship that has ever disappeared in this mysterious area was the USS Cyclops. In March 1918, carrying a crew of 306 people, the USS Cyclops left Barbados and headed home to Baltimore.

The ship passed through the Bermuda Triangle on its journey and vanished into thin air, or rather water. The Cyclops never sent any distress signal and disappeared without any explanation or trace. The Bermuda Triangle isn't the only place in the world where ships go missing or mysteriously resurface.

One of the most famous ghost ship stories would be of SS Beimo. The large cargo steamer was built in Sweden. On October 1st, 1931, it got caught in pack ice. The crew decided to wait it out and managed to break free after a couple of days, only to get trapped again in less than a week. This time, they didn't manage to make it out.

A rescue team went by air to save 22 of the crew members. 15 other members stayed in a wooden shelter they built not far away from the ship. Their plan was to wait out the winter and get back aboard. At the end of November, a strong blizzard was rushing through the area.

When it was over, Beimo seemed to have gone away with the storm. The captain decided it must have broken and sunk.

But a few days later, a local hunter informed them that he had seen the ship around 45 mi away from their camp. The crew managed to find the ship and took the most valuable cargo from its hold.

They had fears that Beimo wouldn't live through that rough water, but it did manage to survive after all. Once the ice was gone, it floated away and ended up drifting along the shores of Canada and Alaska.

Many people reported seeing the ghost ship in an open sea. Some even tried to board it to save the ship, but the weather didn't allow it to happen. The last time someone saw SS Beimo was in 1969, 38 years after its crew had left it. It could still be drifting somewhere in the ocean. The story of MV Hoya happened in the South Pacific. The ship was originally a wooden luxury yacht. After serving for 20 years to various owners, it became a merchant ship. In 1959, it set on a trading voyage that was supposed to last around 2 days. When it didn't reach its destination on time, no one was worried at first, as things happened in the open waters. After another day and no distress signals from the Hoita, it was obvious that something serious was going on with it. There were 25 people aboard and their families wanted to find them.

A search and rescue crew worked for 6 days looking for the ship, or at least its wreckage, in an area of nearly 100,000 square miles. That's one and a half times as big as Florida. Sadly, the mission had come back with no results. It seemed like Hoita had disappeared without a trace. A month later, another merchant ship noticed Hoita driven in the ocean, miles and miles away from its original route, and none of the crew members or passengers were on board. The cargo had also disappeared. The lifeboats were also gone, so the people must have escaped the ship, hoping to save themselves.

It turned out that the crew had been trying to get help as they tuned the radio to the International Distress Channel, but the damaged cable didn't let them send the signal any further than 2 miles. It also looked like when they were leaving the ship, the crew took the log book with them, and we still don't know what exactly happened to Hoita. Family members of those who were on board are still looking for answers.

One professor claims it must have been a corroded pipe that leaked and flooded the vessel, but we'll most likely never know for sure. In the Pacific Ocean near Japan, there is an area nicknamed the Devil Sea. It's believed to be one of the 12 vile vortices around the Earth. Some people claim that vile vortices have weird things going on in them because the pole of the planet's electromagnetic waves is stronger there than anywhere else. The most famous ship that disappeared in the area was a fishery patrol vessel in 1952. The ship went there to investigate the vessels that went missing previously and disappeared along with 31 crew members.

Scientists who don't believe it was a mysterious disappearance blame the underwater volcano eruption for what happened. It has recently become a popular location for many tourists looking for the perfect place to get away from it all. If you're lucky enough to catch a sunny day here, it's like no other. I can assure you. Chances are you'll end up having loads of foggy days. But let's be honest, they have a special allure of their own. This enchanting smile-shaped island is called Sable Island. It's located 190 mi from mainland Nova Scotia. It wasn't accessible to the general public until 2013. That's when it was added to the list of national parks of Canada. You can get here either by plane or by water. But what's so enchanting about this place anyway? There must be something since the yearly tourist count is growing every year. Firstly, there's a spectacular number of wild horses here. There are between 200 and 500 horses roaming free all over the island.

There's also a large population of gray seals. The place is also the only breeding location of a rare bird species called the Ipsswitch Sparrow. If you're already considering a trip here, there are some things you need to know first. Remember that fog I mentioned earlier? Well, it turns out that Sable Island is the foggiest place in the Canadian Maritimes. I'm talking about approximately 127 foggy days each year.

During such days, Sable Island literally disappears underneath a thick layer of fog. You won't be able to explore the place on your own either. The local regulations state that visitors need to travel within a group and they also need to keep a 197 ft distance from the wildlife they can encounter here. As charming as this place may be, it holds a dark secret hidden beneath the sandy dunes. And it has nothing to do with beautiful creatures living here or the island's unique vegetation.

Apart from being known from its horses and seals, Sable Island is infamous for an overwhelming number of shipwrecks over the years about 350 ships have ended their lives here on these sandbars. When survivors described their experiences, they usually mentioned harsh weather conditions near this mysterious island.

The island also made its way into literature when it was described in a book called The Perfect Storm, which was written by Sebastian Younger and published in 1997. The book was so successful that it was later adapted for the big screen in 2000 with George Clooney playing the leading role. The first recorded shipwreck near Sable Island dates back to 1583. The boat was named the HMS Delight and was under the command of British adventurer and explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Only 17 people managed to survive the catastrophe by escaping in a small boat. Records mentioned that they spent 7 days at sea before reaching the shores of Newfoundland. In 1884, another vessel named the Nicosia struggled in the thick fog as well. The ship was completely destroyed, but fortunately, all 18 crew members managed to survive. The captain's son was almost lost at sea when a lifeboat capsized when he was climbing into it. He somehow managed to stay underneath the lifeboat, which was completely submerged. When this lifeboat writed, he eventually emerged from the water and was rescued for the second time. The years between 1947 and 1999 were relatively quiet on the island. In 1999 though, a yacht called the Marramac ran a ground near the shore of the island at about 2:00 a.m. on July 27th.

The 40ft fiberglass boat had a crew of only three people. Natural gas exploration workers who were luckily not far away rescued them. The crew managed to fly safely to Halifax the next day.

The owner of the Marramac tried to recover his boat by hiring local fishermen. Unfortunately, this operation was unsuccessful since only the fittings of the yacht were eventually saved. It took no more than 6 weeks for the sand and waves to crush and completely break up the hull of the Marramac. So, what is it about this place that's so dangerous for boats?

Does it have anything to do with the weather? Or maybe there's other forces at play. The explanation turns out to be a bit more complex, and it wasn't easy to figure out, at least not way back in the 1500s. First of all, the island is located close to one of the world's richest fishing grounds. Since it's also near one of the major shipping routes between Europe and North America, hundreds of vessels sail past it each year. The likelihood of shipwreck increases when there are so many boats roaming around the area. Sable Island is also in the way of most of the storms that move up the Atlantic coast of North America. It's no surprise that boats often get hurdled straight onto the shores of this island.

The weather has a lot to do with it, too. During the summer season, the warm air from the Gulf Stream creates a dense fog as it merges with the cool air by the Labrador current that passes by the island. Other currents don't help the matter. Sable Island is next to the meeting point of three major ocean currents, the Gulf Stream, the Labrador Current, and the Bell Isle current.

Since the 1950s, radars and other modern navigation tools have been used on commercial vessels as well. Up until then, the seextant was the main instrument used to figure out a ship's location. It doesn't mean that seextants weren't accurate. But this instrument couldn't work properly without a clear view of the sun or stars, which means it didn't help much in dense fog, such as the ones surrounding Sable Island or when it was cloudy. Often during bad weather, the captain of a ship navigated, relying on their experiences and intuition based on the ship's speed and direction. That's why most of the survivors in shipwrecks near Sable Island said that the captain had simply miscalculated the ship's position, crashing into Sable Island by accident. This dusty, sandy land is as unfriendly to ships as it is to trees.

There's reportedly a single tree on the whole island, and it looks a lot more like a bush. It's actually a pine tree.

And since the famous island horses don't see it as much of a food source, it somehow managed to survive. Reports say that the tree was planted back in the 1950s. Local authorities were trying to grow a forest on the island to make it a bit more welcoming.

They've planted tens of thousands of trees over the years. More than 69,000 evergreens, 600 fruit trees, and about 55 lbs of pine seeds along with other plants which could survive the conditions on the island. But they were no match for the extreme weather and sandy soil. Out of all those plants, just one pine tree is still alive.

Thanks to its resistance, it has even become a symbol of Sable Island.

Interestingly, for around 40 years, the island also had just one inhabitant. Can you imagine that? One person living on a remote island for so many decades. It's the story of a woman called Zoe Lucas.

She chose to surround herself with the only residents on the island, the horses, the gray seals, and the many species of birds. An esteemed naturalist, she mentioned in an interview she gave back in 2017 that she was used to living on the island and that she never got lonely. To survive here, she had to put together an essentials kit. It included a notebook to take notes and a pair of binoculars to study the wildlife. You can safely assume she wasn't scared of the intimidating surroundings since she decided to eventually call this place home. At first, Zoe wanted to set up camp on one end of the island near some abandoned buildings. But eventually, she settled in a wooden house near a bunch of sand dunes. A Canadian institution called the Meteorological Service of Canada put together the simple construction back in the 1940s. Parks Canada operates the building these days. Zoe's work included gathering as much data on the local horse population as possible. It could help scientists better understand how they managed to adapt to the unfriendly environment. She also helped gather the debris that made it to the shore to help track pollution levels. Among all the rubbish that she collected, there was a refrigerator and a crate full of fresh peppers. Some other specialists eventually started working rotating shifts on Sable Island to offer the brave woman a little bit of company now and then. A ship filled with gold and other treasures worth over $13 million was found in the middle of the Namibian desert after almost 500 years. The worker who found it was actually looking for diamonds, but ended up with something way more valuable for history.

There were some blocks of copper, some wood, pipes, and elephant tusks. The miners called for an archaeologist who soon realized it wasn't a disturbed beach like they thought, but a shipwreck. All evidence showed that it was a Portuguese trading vessel Bomb Jesus that went missing in the 16th century. Experts believe it was a special kind of ship that was bigger, stronger, and better than older ships from Portugal and Spain. These ships were built to take Portuguese explorers on long trips to distant places like India, China, and Japan, and come back with tons of cargo. The Bum Jesus was likely carrying treasures from Lisbon, Portugal to Western India. But it looks like on its way around the southern tip of Africa near Namibia, a big storm pushed the ship too close to the shore.

The ship hit a rock, tipped over, and broke apart, sinking into the ocean.

Archaeologists found treasure from the captain's chest under the water, which probably fell out when the ship's wooden hull broke. They also found pieces of the ship scattered along the shore, likely from the violent storm and later by construction in the area. The storm must have been very fierce, but they didn't find many bones, which means most of the crew may have survived or were lost at sea. The ship was split into three sections and incredibly well preserved thanks to the thick layers of sand that covered it and prevented rot.

Archaeologists who studied the wreck discovered over 40 tons of cargo. There were cannons, swords, blocks of metal like lead and tin, fabrics, and tools that sailors used to navigate the stars while traveling across the ocean. The most exciting discovery was 1,845 copper ingots, weighing as much as 16 to 17 tons altogether. Those copper ingots, or pieces of pure metal, are still in great condition because the hull of the ship and layers of sand protected them from ocean water. The scientists even managed to read the trademarks on them on site and learned they were made by a super wealthy German trading company. There were also more than 2,000 shiny gold and silver coins from different countries and 105 enormous elephant tusks weighing about 2 tons. The tusks were likely supposed to become luxury items like jewelry or carvings at the destination.

Archaeologists took some DNA samples from the tusks and found that they came from West African forests and savannah elephants. Researchers were lucky that the ship was found in a restricted diamond mining area. No scavengers were able to get their hands on the treasures. The Bum Jesus remains the oldest and most valuable shipwreck that was ever discovered off the western coast of subsaharan Africa.

Another shipwreck recently found by accident was buried under a 10-ft tall sand dune near the Caspian Sea. Some people call it the world's largest lake, and it has water levels that rise and fall over time because of the changes in weather patterns. These changes can move sand and uncover things like this shipwreck and other treasures along the coast. As the dune slowly disappeared, the ship started to show. Before digging it out, scientists worried that waves from the sea might damage the wreck. To protect it, they built a wall using thousands of sandbags to keep the waves away. When the ship was uncovered, they discovered it was a threemasted 92 ft long merchant ship with a strong double haul. Wood samples showed the ship was built in the 18th to 19th century using trees like Scots pine, spruce, and larch from the Vulgar River area or the Caucasus. They even found buckwheat and plants from the same region which were probably traded or used to feed the sailors. It proves that the ship was part of a group of merchant ships that once sailed the Caspian Sea.

An amateur fisherman who was 20 ft under the sea off the coast of Turkey noticed some huge metal remains. He had an underwater camera. So he made footage of the discovery and took it to scientists.

They immediately started an investigation and learned that it must be a shipwreck from the first decades of the 20th century. It could be one of the Ottoman Empire ships that had an important mission to deliver supplies but disappeared without a trace.

Scientists got permission to study this Black Sea wreck in detail to learn more about its mysteries. They're hoping to find its shipyard documents to find some answers as the ship itself is in terrible condition and is tricky to work with. Robot submersibles that belong to an oil and gas company noticed hundreds of intact ancient storage jars sitting on the seabed in the eastern Mediterranean. Experts think those jars are 3,300 years old. This makes the find the oldest shipwreck from the deep sea. The jugs were probably used to store oil or other agricultural products like fruit.

This proves that the people who made them organized maritime trade and had incredible navigational skills. It looks like the ancient mariners managed to traverse the Mediterranean Sea without a line of sight to any coast. All they could see was the horizon, so they must have used the sun and other stars to find their way. Off the coast of Sicily, under 20 ft of sand and rock, archaeologists found a shipwreck so old that they aren't even sure what materials were used to build it. They think the ship is from the 5th or 6th century BCE, which means it's over 2,500 years old. This ancient ship wasn't alone. Researchers also found two iron anchors shaped like an upside down tea from around the seventh century of the common era and four stone anchors from prehistoric times nearby. One of the stone anchors was broken and may have had wooden pieces attached to help it hold onto the seafloor. They figured out that the ship itself was built using the onshell technique. The wooden planks of the ship were connected so tightly that they could support the ship on their own with extra beams added just to make it stronger. Sadly, the ship's wooden hull is very fragile now because tiny sea creatures that eat wood have damaged it over the years. Scientists are being extra careful as they study it to make sure it doesn't fall apart. This discovery is such a big deal because it was built during a time when Sicily was super important for trade. Back then, the Greeks and Punics were trying to take control of the seas long before Rome became the ruler of the Mediterranean. By studying this ship, scientists hope to learn more about how people traveled and traded in those ancient times.

One more shipwreck, this time off the coast of Kenya. Could be from Vasco Dama's final voyage. This Portuguese explorer was the first European to reach India by sea around the Cape of Good Hope. Local fisherman discovered the shipwreck in question in 2013. When an underwater archaeologist came to check it out, he found some treasures at the spot. Elephant tusks and valuable copper ingots. If this find really has to do with Vasco Dama, then it must be from the 16th century. It was the year of his third and final voyage to India. Dama led a huge fleet of 20 ships, one of which was the Sao Zor. Most of the ship is hidden under layers of coral, and a whole team of scientists are carefully digging trenches to find parts of the ship's wooden frame and hull.

Welcome to the Spirit of Discovery cruise ship, which will take you on an unforgettable sea voyage around the Canary Islands. The Azure endless ocean, delicious food, the highest service, premium cabins, and a terrible nightmare that you will probably remember for the rest of your life. This is exactly how one luxury trip of the Saga Cruises Company ended last year. Instead of relaxing during the cruise, passengers felt fear and horror and even had health problems. And that's why on October 24th, the Spirit of Discovery Liner started a two-week cruise around the Canary Islands. There were about 1,500 people on board. About 1,000 were passengers and the rest were crew members. The first week went great, but then the liner encountered a serious problem called nature. There was strong winds and big waves. The captain decided to return to the UK ahead of time, but the decision was made too late. The ship was caught in a severe storm in the Bay of Bisque. A powerful wind with a force of 11 points hit the vessel. To make it easier for you to understand, the 11point wind is able to tear out trees together with roots, destroy residential buildings, and pludge entire cities into chaos. Such a storm is rare, but Spirit of Discovery was unlucky enough to get into its epicenter. 11 points is the penultimate place on the Bowford scale, which determines the wind rating. The most powerful storm has 12 points, and this is a hurricane. The wind reached the speed of 65 mph, which is about the same as the average speed of a car on a highway. Not only did it push the spirit of discovery, but it also raised huge waves 25 ft high. Just imagine a wall of water the height of a three-story building collapsing on a lone ocean liner. At that moment, the captain sent a message to all the passengers through the cabin speakers so that no one left their place, and his voice sounded worried enough. All the passengers had to lie down and hold on tight. According to the witness's words, the ship remained caught in the storm for about 15 hours. They held on with all their might so as not to crash into the walls and floor. All this time, tables were flying around the ship.

Dishes were breaking. Furniture was moving all over the cabins. The waves smashed windows, partitions, and doors.

Some people were knocked down because they couldn't hold on for so long. The storm hurled the passengers from ceiling to floor, from wall to wall. The ship's crew turned the dining room into a medical area to provide assistance to those who had been hurt.

Despite the difficult and terrible conditions, the ship's team did a great job. They regularly informed passengers about the current situation and tried to calm everyone down. There was no panic and chaos on board. When the storm finally ended, the ship continued its journey and finally reached land where medics urgently evacuated eight passengers to the hospital. One of them was never able to survive this storm.

It's good the ship didn't meet a rogue wave during the storm. This is a natural phenomenon that can appear during a storm and even in still water. It's a giant wave with a height of 60 ft. Like a six-story house, it collapses onto a ship with incredible speed and capsizes it. And then the wave suddenly disappears. This is no joke. A similar wave has been recorded in the Gulf Stream off of Charleston, South Carolina. It's scary to get in its way. Now, let's go back to the past to remember one of the most terrible maritime tragedies. No, we're not talking about the Titanic. We'll talk about the Greek liner Laconia, which set sail from the English port of Southampton on December 19th, 1963 with more than 600 people on board. However, just 3 days later, a terrible tragedy happened to the ship in the boundless waters of the Atlantic. At 11 p.m. in the barberh shop hall, an electrical malfunction occurred. The problem led to a fire which quickly spread to other rooms. The crew couldn't cope with it since the fire was spreading too fast.

The ship's team turned on the fire alarm, but there was no command to leave the vessel. Only 2 hours later, the captain ordered the passengers to evacuate. All this time, people were either relaxing in their cabins or enjoying a party in the ballroom. The crew was probably trying to put out the fire without causing panic. However, when the situation became critical, the evacuation began. People panicked and ran to the lifeboats, but many didn't manage to get inside. One of them was John Morris. He survived this catastrophe and shared his memories of how he put his family in a lifeboat while he stayed on board the ship. He didn't even have a life jacket. Since there was nowhere to go, the ship's crew opened a bar so that people could relax a little. However, at that moment, boilers began to explode inside the ship, and it became clear the vessel wouldn't stay afloat for too long. John Morris decided to jump into the water right in his tuxedo. As soon as he was overboard, he grabbed onto a piece of wooden deck cargo and swam as far away from the ship as he could. The giant liner could sink at any moment.

And when such a huge object goes down to the seabed, it forms a water funnel that pulls along everything around. Rescuers arrived at the scene sometime later.

Fortunately, John Morris's pregnant wife and young son were alive, but his mother-in-law unfortunately didn't survive the disaster like many other people that day. Of course, after this incident, the Greek Ministry of Merchant Marine initiated a thorough investigation. For two years, they collected information from passengers and the captain, studied the technical characteristics of the ship, and eventually came to certain conclusions. According to them, the ship's crew gave the evacuation order too late. Not all passengers were able to get into lifeboats, but half of those boats remained on board because of the chaos that prevailed during the evacuation. Several officers of the liner were accused of negligence, but the captain and his first mate received the most criticism. As for John Morris, he stated that he felt himself under protection that day. Another unusual story happened on a cruise ship relatively recently. Spoiler alert, the ship didn't sink. There was no evacuation and the weather was good.

However, for many passengers, this journey became a real challenge. Imagine that you've been working for a long time and saving up money to go on your dream trip on the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship in the Caribbean. You arrive in South Carolina from where the ship begins its journey. You get on board looking forward to a week's rest. At first, everything is fine. People are having fun. Chefs are cooking delicious dishes. And beautiful daytime landscapes turn into night parties. But then suddenly, many passengers start throwing up. Someone is in a hurry to go to the toilet and someone stays and vomits right in the halls. The cruise turns into chaos. More and more people feel terrible because of unknown poisoning.

You also visited the restaurant and eaten seafood. But fortunately, the disease has avoided you, which can't be said for more than 400 other passengers.

Almost every one in four people on board face gastrointestinal problems. There were almost 2,000 people and a quarter of them are in bad condition. Crew members do endless cleaning. They wash the deck, give people nausea pills, and ask them not to leave the cabin till the illness passes. The captain sends several samples ashore to determine what caused the poisoning. Unfortunately, the cruise is already ruined and all the passengers have unpleasant memories. So, the company organizing the trip issues certificates that can be used on future cruises. It's not the most pleasant experience, but it's still better than nothing.

Now imagine if instead of just feeling sick, people got infected with some kind of bacterium that would turn them into zombies. It would be much more exciting and scary. Now, do you think you could survive on such a ship full of zombies?

And how would you do that? Tell me about it in the comments. The year was 1865. It was a boom of migration worldwide with novel places discovered and new settlements created. Without planes like we have now, a ship was the only way to escape from the old life and journey towards a new, hopefully brighter future. So, a voyage like that was quite a regular thing to do. More than 500 immigrants safely reached Queensland, and the ship was supposed to head back to London sometime later. It was indeed a long journey, but not many people were willing to return to England. After all, they had chosen to come to Australia to create a brand new life. So, it was only natural that the ship would come back nearly empty.

However, the return trip was still quite lucrative thanks to the cargo the ship would carry. The amount of produce ready to be shipped was substantial, primarily consisting of wool soaked in arsenic, tallow, and hides. It was two birds with one stone. Not only could the crew wait out the winter warm in Australia while England endured bitter cold, but they also wouldn't waste their time. With the sheer volume of produce to be loaded, it would take them around 3 months to accomplish this task. Reports were circulating that the Fiery Star was almost done loading up, but it turned out that the assessment was a bit too optimistic. To pass the time, Captain Ule thought it would be a good idea to reach out to the acclimatization society and offer to help transport any animals they wanted to send to England on the Fiery Star. He already had some emus and kangaroos on board, but there was still room. The society held a vote and they were totally on board, pun intended, with Captain Ule's idea. They figured sending some Taligallas would be a great plan.

Even though a few of these birds were already in England, the French Society needed a couple and they could get them shipped there through England. Little did the crew know that all this cargo, all the produce they were willing to sell in England would ultimately lead to the ship's destruction. Not only was the Fiery Star lost, but most of the people on board did not survive to complete the voyage.

March 23rd. That was the day when the ship manifest was finally published. A manifest is a list that details the cargo, passengers, and crew of a ship, plane, or vehicle, primarily for customs officials. This document helps those involved in the transport verify that everyone and everything that was loaded is still on board when the vehicle reaches its destination. Once it's published, it means the ship is almost ready to depart.

There were three possible ways of passenger accommodation. First, there was the saloon, the antiquated name for first class. Next, there was the second cabin, which is logically secondass.

Finally, there was the steerage, the cheapest form of passenger accommodation on a ship. Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people traveled from their homelands, often to North America and Australia, looking for a fresh start. Most of them were poor and had limited funds for travel. In total, there were eight people in the saloon, another eight in the second cabin, and only 21 steerage passengers. Out of the 37 passengers, only one, John Omand, would make it out alive. He bought a ticket for the steerage. So, unlike the Titanic situation, in this case, the class didn't really matter. The crew members list wasn't as detailed as the passengers. It was known that in total there were around 55 people in the crew, from able-bodied seaman to crew members simply called boys. But there's something telling me that the crew wasn't really that important for the captain. In reality, all that mattered to him was to make as much money as possible, shipping tons of dangerous, flammable cargo. Out of over 50 crew members, only 17 survived that voyage. But there was actually one more crew member who actually survived it all just because they weren't let in. Sarah Johnson disguised herself as a man and planned to sneak onto the ship. However, something about her looks made the captain get suspicious. So, he called the police and made Sarah leave the ship as he didn't want any immoral behavior to take place. Well, he saved her life.

For him, it was the last voyage. The captain W. Hunter Ule was quite a celebrity. Apparently, he already had a record of the safe landing of immigrants in the previous year, so there seemingly was no reason to worry. The trip promised to be safe. Clipper Fiery Star left Morton Bay bound for London. The passengers took their places. The cargo had already been loaded. The full list is astonishing.

In addition to all the wool, tallow, cotton, hides, and horns, there were also six cases of arrowroot and various other packages. And we can't forget the animals the captain took aboard, too. The fiery star was far away yet still observable to the east as it headed toward the Pacific Ocean. This was the last information available until May 26th when news of its destruction emerged from Brisbane. Chief Officer William Sergeant's log reveals that the fiery star took 12 days to reach the southern tip of New Zealand, passing on April 11th, 1865. The trip was going well until heavy seas ruined two long boats on April 17th. On this day, a strong odor of smoke alerted the captain. When he checked, he found the lower hole completely filled with smoke from a fire fueled by the ship's flammable cargo.

The hatches were quickly closed to try to contain the flames, but by the next day, the heat and toxic smoke had forced passengers out of their cabins. George Mabber was one of the lucky survivors. He was the ship's engineer, and he recalled the chaotic events on April 20th as Captain Ule and most of the crew and passengers tried to evacuate in rough weather. At around 6:00 p.m., the ship took on water and without much warning. Captain Ule, four crew members, and a few female passengers hopped into a lifeboat and headed out. The next boat, managed by the second mate, Mr. Addio, was a gig, followed by a crowded jollybo. Lastly, there was a waste boat, which was barely seaorthy, with two men constantly bailing water to keep it afloat. The plan was for the boats to stay close to the Fiery Star overnight and head for the Chattam Islands the next morning.

But by dawn on April 21st, all four boats had vanished without a trace. On the burning ship, there were 17 crew members and passenger John Oman, who banded together under Chief Officer William Sergeant's leadership. For 5 days and nights, George Mabber pumped water on the fire without rest. He volunteered to go down the forhatch with a rope around him and a handkerchief over his mouth. He discovered that the formast had been burned through for about 7 in and the port side was severely damaged, resembling an empty shell. Exhausted, he returned for fresh air, but later descended again with quartermaster Marshall to access a water tank. They couldn't open the lid, and as George crawled over the hides, he felt himself sinking. When they reached the deck, they collapsed from exhaustion. The cargo had been destroyed by smoke and fire, and the heat on the deck was intolerable. The crew survived on limited rations and caged chickens, using every spare piece of wood, including pigsty for the pumps.

Distressed pigs ran wild in the heat. A raft was constructed, but was too weak for the open sea. Sleep was elusive, and the crew had lost everything with only hopes of reaching land or meeting another ship.

Finally, the Dauntless appeared and sent a lifeboat to the Fiery Star. Captain Moore boarded the Fiery Star on May 12th, and after assessing the situation, he agreed that the crew could do no more. They boarded the Dauntless at 400 p.m., witnessing the Fiery Star succumb to flames by 11:30 p.m. It was a narrow escape. There's a stretch of water that even the most experienced explorers fear. No matter what season you choose to cross it in, you risk meeting face to face with waves that can reach as tall as the Hollywood sign. I'm talking about the Drake Passage, the waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, stretching from Cape Horn at South America's southernmost tip to Antarctica's South Shetland Islands.

It's about as wide as the distance from London to Berlin and takes up to 48 hours to cross. Some sailors compare getting on the other side to going to the moon. That's how challenging it is.

Even the man who discovered it, Sir Francis Drake, never sailed these waters because they seemed too dangerous to him and opted for a calmer, although longer, straight of Mellin. The passage took the lives of around 20,000 sailors and over 800 ships. Tourists who want to see Antarctica cross the Drake Passage on a regular basis. Although it's still often called the world's most terrifying ocean crossing, the Antarctic Peninsula, where travelers go, isn't really part of Antarctica itself. It sticks out and points towards South America like two fingers almost touching it. The water gets squeezed between these two land masses, making strong ocean currents.

The passage is part of the Antarctic circumpolar current, the largest ocean current on Earth. The water rushes through the passage at a speed between 95 and 150 million cubic meters per second, which makes it rougher. And then there are winds that usually blow from west to east and are very strong between 40 and 60° latitude. That's why those areas are called the roaring 40s, furious 50s, and screaming 60s. Land slows down winds, which is why storms hitting Ireland and the UK get weaker as they move east. But Drake's latitude is the only place where winds can blow all around the Earth without being stopped by land. So, they keep getting faster.

These strong winds turn into huge waves that can hit ships really hard, normally around 13 to 16 ft tall. They're much higher than waves in the Atlantic.

Drake Passage also has underwater mountains that you can't see. The huge current squeezes through this narrow passage and causes waves to crash against these mountains underwater.

These internal waves create whirls that bring cold water up from the deep ocean.

So, it's not just rough on the surface.

The water is wild all the way down. The first sailor managed to sail around Cape Horn and through the Drake Passage in 1616. It was a Dutch navigator, William Shoutton, in 1616. But the most famous attempt to cross it was undertaken by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton on his ship named Endurance. He and 27 of his men set off from South Georgia, aiming to reach Vassel Bay in Antarctica. But things didn't go as planned. On January 19th, 1915, their ship got stuck in the ice. And by October, it began to sink. They camped on floating ice for two months before sailing lifeboats to a remote icy place called Elephant Island. Shackleton and five men made a risky journey to South Georgia to get help. It took them 15 days to cross Drake Passage with hurricane winds. Finally, they arrived safely and organized a rescue for the rest of their crew. Scientists found the shipwreck of Endurance only in 2022, 10,000 ft below the water. In December of 2019, six fearless athletes decided to cross the Drake Passage by rowing a boat for the first time in history. It took them 12 days of non-stop rowing with a 90-minute rotation of rowers. They managed to do it, and it was probably the hardest possible way to cross the passage. The athletes mentioned it was cold, wet, and dirty, and the waves hit them like walls. The weather in the Drake Passage changes a lot, but ship captains can always see it coming and change their path. They will move the departure time to have a safety margin and not to get stuck in the middle of the passage in the worst possible conditions. Sometimes the journey will be smooth and calm and they call it Drake Lake. Other times, people on the ship will feel rough waves, which is called Drake shake. Some experienced captains who often cross the passage say that the Drake Lake effect happens once in every 10 crossings, and they see the Drake shake once or twice in every 10 journeys. A scooter or a kayak will probably not survive the journey among giant waves, but modest vessels and cruise ships have sturdy hulls and advanced stabilizing mechanisms. So, the journey isn't that dangerous anymore. But still, it's quite an adventure, especially if you're seasick. If you don't feel like risking it, but want to travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean by water the fast way, the Panama Canal is waiting for you. People first started thinking about making a water path across Panama in the 16th century. Back then, a Spanish explorer found out that only a thin piece of land separated the two oceans. But it seemed impossible to build it because of the mountains and thick jungle. So the idea had to wait a couple of centuries. Finally, in 1880, France, led by the man who built the Suez Canal in Egypt, tried to make the canal, but the people who started the construction soon found out it was much harder than it looked on a map. The land in Panama was one of the toughest and most dangerous places to dig a big waterway. Workers had to literally move huge mountains in a jungle full of snakes where it was really hot and rainy. During the wet season, heavy rain turned rivers into wild rapids and soaked the workers. Sometimes they didn't see the sun for 2 weeks and their clothes stayed wet all the time. Big rocks were falling and tiny mosquitoes that carried malaria made people very sick. And then an earthquake happened on top of everything. They were losing thousands of people. That's why France decided to abandon the project after 7 years. Then the United States bought the French assets in the canal zone and finished it by 1914. It cost the US around $375 million. The 50-m long passage of water saves ships traveling between New York and San Francisco 7,872 m. Around 14,000 ships use it every year and pay around $1.8 million in tolls. So, it looks like it all paid off. Another challenging waterway in this part of the world is the Amazon River. It's around 4,300 m long and flows through three countries with over 30 million people living in its basin.

But there isn't a single bridge across it. The river has many marshes and soft soils, so engineers would need to build very long bridges and very deep foundations, which costs a lot of money.

Building bridges over deep water is tough. But in other places in the world, engineers can use things like floating platforms to help. The river's path and water levels change a lot during the year. During the dry season, from June to November, the river is usually 2 to 6 m wide. But in the wet season from December to April, the river can become as wide as 30 m and the water level can rise by 50 ft. That's why they can't build floating bridges or pontoons. The river banks are made of soft dirt that moves and erodess with the seasons and it makes things even harder. It would have to be an absolutely unique project to overcome all these challenges.

Luckily, there's no pressing need for a bridge across the Amazon right now. The river mostly goes through areas that are sparssely populated, so there aren't so many major roads to be connected by bridges. That's it for today. So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright