The ocean is like a giant time capsule, hiding incredible lost ships that were forgotten for centuries! 🌊⚓ Some wrecks, like the Endurance, were buried under Antarctic ice for over 100 years before being found almost perfectly preserved. Others, like the SS Central America, went down with tons of gold, making them legendary treasure hunts. Then there’s the USS Cyclops, a massive ship that vanished in the Bermuda Triangle without a trace—no wreckage, no distress signal, just gone! Scientists and explorers keep discovering these ghostly vessels, each with its own mind-blowing story. Who knows what other lost ships are still out there, waiting to be found? 🚢🔍 Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:00A Portuguese archaeologist just discovered a bunch of sunken ships filled with gold,
00:06including a Spanish galleon with 22 tons of gold and silver.
00:11This much gold today is worth about $2 billion, and this is the money from one ship alone.
00:20Archaeologist Alexandre Monteiro made this discovery almost by accident.
00:25He was studying some documents when he found some information about a ship that went missing
00:29in 1615, and he decided he wanted to find it.
00:34After many years, Alexandre found not just this specific ship, he actually discovered
00:398,620 shipwrecks in the waters of Portugal alone.
00:46Out of this number, 250 are gold-filled shipwrecks, a discovery that would make any Jack Sparrow
00:52shake in his boots.
00:54Most of these ships went down for boring reasons like the weather, but sometimes they were
00:59destroyed in battles, which may or may not have been super epic.
01:04They were carrying gold and other treasures from the New World to Europe, and of course,
01:09everyone wanted a share.
01:12Alexandre had been studying historical shipwrecks for 30 years now, so he has discovered many
01:17ships that went down in somewhat glorious ways.
01:21In 1816, for example, a ship of one of the richest men in Portugal sank in Australia,
01:27with an insane amount of 66,000 silver coins.
01:32This was the first ship from Portugal to ever plunge in the waters of Australia.
01:37The bad news is that these ancient sunken vessels, filled with riches and epic stories,
01:42are not so easy to reach.
01:45They're deep down in the ocean and covered by sand.
01:48You could still try, but that would be stealing part of a country's history, and you wouldn't
01:52want to be that person, would you?
01:55Naturally, Portugal was not the only country that explored the seas back then.
02:00The coast of Europe is packed with sunken ships filled with gold.
02:05In fact, there are about a million historical shipwrecks underwater right now, and the treasures
02:10abandoned under the sea might be worth around $60 billion.
02:16It's an insane amount of money, but let me tell you that these gold-filled sunken ships
02:20aren't really worth the hassle.
02:23There are many stories of maritime treasure discoveries that turned into insane lawsuits
02:28and even long jail time.
02:32Our first story starts in 1746, when a violent storm crashed a ship called Prince de Conti
02:39near an island in Britain.
02:42The ship was filled with tea, ceramics, and 100 gold ingots.
02:47Of course, the owners of the ship tried to save the loot, but if it's not easy now,
02:51imagine how it was back in the 18th century.
02:55It took more than 200 years for the vessel to be found.
02:59It finally happened in 1975, when a group of French men discovered it and decided to
03:04take pretty much every valuable thing they could find.
03:07Now, I said these things were not worth the trouble for a reason.
03:12In France, if you find anything that can be historical, you must declare it to the local
03:16authorities within 48 hours.
03:19Fail to comply, and you will be committing something known as a crime.
03:25To be fair, our French friends here did declare their findings, but only the corroded cannons
03:29from the ship.
03:31And the gold?
03:32Well, they sold it, obviously because each gold bar is worth between $125,000 to $231,000.
03:43It took French authorities almost 50 years to retrieve the stolen gold, and they didn't
03:47retrieve all of it.
03:49Part of it was bought by an elderly couple living in Florida, and the crime is so serious,
03:54they were charged for connection with money laundering, organized crime, and the trafficking
03:58of cultural goods.
04:00The poachers also sold some gold ingots to the British Museum collection.
04:07Now let's go back to the 1850s, when a steamer called SS Central America traveled from Panama
04:13to California and back again.
04:16This was during the California Gold Rush, a time when 300,000 people moved to California
04:22to dig for gold.
04:24Because the travel route was not easy breezy, people needed to carry their gold around on
04:28big ships.
04:29This is where our friend SS Central America comes in.
04:34In 1857, the ship had 578 people on board and about 10 tons of gold.
04:40Very few survived and around 100 to 150 million dollars in gold went down with the ship.
04:48All of this explains why in 1988, a group of investors from Columbus decided to finance
04:54a research project to find this ship.
04:57The research was led by a guy named Tommy Thompson.
05:01Tommy was really crazy about the idea of finding this sunken ship filled with gold.
05:06It took him years to find the exact location of the SS Central America, especially because
05:12the ship was 7,500 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and retrieving it required
05:18a lot of fancy tech.
05:21A group of 161 investors paid for his adventure, but it goes without saying that they were
05:27not doing this out of love from their hearts.
05:30They invested 12.5 million dollars in this project because they were expecting to earn
05:35at least 10 times more.
05:38But since life is not all sunshine and rainbows, 39 insurance companies sued the research team
05:44as soon as they retrieved the gold.
05:47Back when the ship was up and running, these companies insured the cargo of the SS Central
05:51America and when the cargo was finally retrieved, more than 100 years later, they wanted to
05:57be compensated.
05:59They said it was not their job to retrieve it, but that doesn't mean they abandoned it.
06:04This crazy talk didn't stick, and 92% of the gold was given to the research team.
06:10The plot thickened when the investors were scammed by none other than Tommy Thompson,
06:15who fled with 4.16 million dollars.
06:18He also had 500 gold coins, but he's not telling a soul where they are.
06:25Nonsense like this is the reason why most countries have rules to protect cultural properties.
06:30And yes, sometimes shipwrecks can be a cultural property.
06:35Obviously there are many maritime treasure discoveries that happen without breaking any
06:40laws.
06:41The SS City of Cairo, for example, was a steamship that submerged in 1929 with 2,000 boxes of
06:49silver coins weighing 122 tons.
06:52A company called Deep Ocean Search retrieved the coins from a depth of 17,000 feet, which
06:59is 4,500 feet lower than the Titanic.
07:0334 million pounds went to the UK Treasury, and the Deep Ocean Search also got a share.
07:11The good news here is that some of the coins can be bought by collectors, legally.
07:16Paying for a treasure is probably the closest you can get to an underwater archaeology find.
07:23I know all I did was destroy your piracy dreams, but while raiding gold-filled shipwrecks may
07:28be a crime in most countries, or just financially impossible for us mere mortals, not all hope
07:34is lost.
07:36There is about $771 trillion worth of gold lying on the ocean floor, and it doesn't
07:42have an owner.
07:43It's like an underwater gold mine, except the gold is IN the water!
07:49You know how the water of the ocean is salty?
07:52Well, the gold gets mixed with the minerals in the water, so it's not like you stumble
07:56upon a gold nugget on the beach.
07:59Each liter of ocean water has 13 billionths of a gram of gold, and it's very difficult
08:05to extract such tiny particles of gold from the water.
08:09But that doesn't mean people haven't tried, and of course, there's been a scam here,
08:15too.
08:16In the 1890s, a guy claimed he had invented a thing that would suck gold from the seawater.
08:23When he got enough money, he fled the country with the cash.
08:27If you really want to get some gold, you can try to extract it from the Earth's core,
08:32which has 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold.
08:36There's 16 times more gold in the Earth's core than what humans have mined in the whole
08:41of history.
08:42No hoax involved here, because nobody has dared to go down there yet.
08:48With archaeologists discovering gold-filled sunken ships out and about, maybe we can make
08:53our own maritime treasure discoveries, or at least save enough money to buy some silver
08:58coins.
09:01There's a stretch of water that even the most experienced explorers fear.
09:05No matter what season you choose to cross it in, you risk meeting face-to-face with
09:10waves that can reach as tall as the Hollywood sign.
09:14I'm talking about the Drake Passage, the waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the
09:19Atlantic Ocean, stretching from Cape Horn at South America's southernmost tip to Antarctica's
09:25South Shetland Islands.
09:27It's about as wide as the distance from London to Berlin, and takes up to 48 hours to cross.
09:34Some sailors compare getting on the other side to going to the moon.
09:38That's how challenging it is.
09:40Even the man who discovered it, Sir Francis Drake, never sailed these waters because they
09:44seemed too dangerous to him, and opted for a calmer, although longer, Strait of Magellan.
09:51The passage took the lives of around 20,000 sailors and over 800 ships.
09:56Tourists who want to see Antarctica cross the Drake Passage on a regular basis, although
10:01it's still often called the world's most terrifying ocean crossing.
10:07The Antarctic Peninsula, where travelers go, isn't really part of Antarctica itself.
10:13It sticks out and points towards South America like two fingers almost touching it.
10:18The water gets squeezed between these two landmasses, making strong ocean currents.
10:23The passage is part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the largest ocean current on Earth.
10:30The water rushes through the passage at a speed between 95 and 150 million cubic meters
10:36per second, which makes it rougher.
10:39And then there are winds that usually blow from west to east and are very strong between
10:4440 and 60 degrees latitude.
10:47That's why those areas are called the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties.
10:54Land slows down winds, which is why storms hitting Ireland and the UK get weaker as they
10:59move east.
11:00But Drake's latitude is the only place where winds can blow all around the Earth without
11:05being stopped by land, so they keep getting faster.
11:10These strong winds turn into huge waves that can hit ships really hard, normally around
11:1613 to 16 feet tall.
11:18They're much higher than waves in the Atlantic.
11:22Drake Passage also has underwater mountains that you can't see.
11:26The huge current squeezes through this narrow passage and causes waves to crash against
11:31these mountains underwater.
11:34These internal waves create whirls that bring cold water up from the deep ocean.
11:39So it's not just rough on the surface, the water is wild all the way down.
11:45The first sailor managed to sail around Cape Horn and through the Drake Passage in 1616.
11:51It was a Dutch navigator, Willem Schouten, in 1616.
11:55But the most famous attempt to cross it was undertaken by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
11:59on his ship named Endurance.
12:02He and 27 of his men set off from South Georgia, aiming to reach Vassal Bay in Antarctica.
12:09But things didn't go as planned.
12:11On January 19, 1915, their ship got stuck in the ice.
12:17And by October, it began to sink.
12:19They camped on floating ice for two months before sailing lifeboats to a remote, icy
12:25place called Elephant Island.
12:27Shackleton and five men made a risky journey to South Georgia to get help.
12:33It took them 15 days to cross Drake Passage with hurricane winds.
12:37Finally, they arrived safely and organized a rescue for the rest of their crew.
12:43Scientists found the shipwreck of Endurance only in 2022, 10,000 feet below the water.
12:50In December of 2019, six fearless athletes decided to cross the Drake Passage by rowing
12:57a boat for the first time in history.
13:00It took them 12 days of non-stop rowing with a 90-minute rotation of rowers.
13:06They managed to do it, and it was probably the hardest possible way to cross the passage.
13:11The athletes mentioned it was cold, wet, and dirty, and the waves hit them like walls.
13:17The weather in the Drake Passage changes a lot, but ship captains can always see it coming
13:22and change their path.
13:24They will move the departure time to have a safety margin and not to get stuck in the
13:28middle of the passage in the worst possible conditions.
13:31Sometimes, the journey will be smooth and calm, and they call it Drake Lake.
13:36Other times, people on the ship will feel rough waves, which is called Drake Shake.
13:42Some experienced captains who often cross the passage say that the Drake Lake effect
13:47happens once in every ten crossings, and they see the Drake Shake once or twice in every
13:53ten journeys.
13:55A scooter or a kayak will probably not survive the journey among giant waves, but modest
14:00vessels and cruise ships have sturdy hulls and advanced stabilizing mechanisms.
14:05So the journey isn't that dangerous anymore, but still, it's quite an adventure, especially
14:11if you're seasick.
14:13If you don't feel like risking it but want to travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic
14:17Ocean by water the fast way, the Panama Canal is waiting for you!
14:22People first started thinking about making a water path across Panama in the 16th century.
14:27Back then, a Spanish explorer found out that only a thin piece of land separated the two
14:33oceans.
14:34But it seemed impossible to build it because of the mountains and thick jungle, so the
14:38idea had to wait a couple of centuries.
14:41Finally, in 1880, France, led by the man who built the Suez Canal in Egypt, tried to make
14:48the canal.
14:49But the people who started the construction soon found out it was much harder than it
14:53looked on a map.
14:55The land in Panama was one of the toughest and most dangerous places to dig a big waterway.
15:01Workers had to literally move huge mountains in a jungle full of snakes, where it was really
15:07hot and rainy.
15:09During the wet season, heavy rains turned rivers into wild rapids and soaked the workers.
15:15They didn't see the sun for two weeks, and their clothes stayed wet all the time.
15:20Big rocks were falling and tiny mosquitoes that carried malaria made people very sick.
15:26And then an earthquake happened on top of everything.
15:29They were losing thousands of people.
15:32That's why France decided to abandon the project after seven years.
15:36Then the United States bought the French assets in the canal zone and finished it by 1914.
15:42It cost the U.S. around $375 million.
15:47The 50-mile-long passage of water saves ships traveling between New York and San Francisco
15:527,872 miles.
15:56Around 14,000 ships use it every year and pay around $1.8 million in tolls.
16:03So it looks like it all paid off.
16:06Another challenging waterway in this part of the world is the Amazon River.
16:10It's around 4,300 miles long and flows through three countries with over 30 million people
16:16living in its basin.
16:18But there isn't a single bridge across it.
16:21The river has many marshes and soft soils, so engineers would need to build very long
16:26bridges and very deep foundations, which costs a lot of money.
16:31Building bridges over deep water is tough, but in other places in the world, engineers
16:36can use things like floating platforms to help.
16:39The river's path and water levels change a lot during the year.
16:43During the dry season from June to November, the river is usually two to six miles wide.
16:49But in the wet season from December to April, the river can become as wide as 30 miles,
16:55and the water level can rise by 50 feet.
16:58That's why they can't build floating bridges or pontoons.
17:02The riverbanks are made of soft dirt that moves and erodes with the seasons, and it
17:06makes things even harder.
17:09It would have to be an absolutely unique project to overcome all these challenges.
17:14Luckily, there's no pressing need for a bridge across the Amazon right now.
17:19The river mostly goes through areas that are sparsely populated, so there aren't so many
17:24major roads to be connected by bridges.
17:27There's a ship drifting somewhere in the ocean without a crew.
17:35The last time someone saw it was over 50 years ago.
17:40Its story reminds of that of the Flying Dutchman, a ship that's bound to sail forever and
17:45bring disaster to whoever sees it at sea.
17:48At least, the legend says so.
17:50Unlike the Flying Dutchman, the SS Bay Chimo was definitely real and built for a German
17:55company in Hamburg, and began as an ordinary cargo ship.
18:00It was trading supplies between Hamburg and Sweden in the Baltic Sea starting from 1914.
18:06It had a strong steam engine and a hull made of steel.
18:09A few years later, it became British property.
18:12Then, in the 1920s, a Canadian company purchased it for around $18,000 – a huge amount of
18:19money back then.
18:20The new owner, the Hudson's Bay Company, was actively using the ship for several years.
18:25They would often send it on voyages from its home port in Scotland to Siberia, Alaska,
18:31the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
18:34It also passed through the Panama Canal and even the Suez Canal, with fur pelts for sale
18:39on board.
18:40Sometimes, it would also transport passengers.
18:43It had completed 9 successful voyages before this strip of good luck came to an end.
18:50Starting from the 1930s, SS Bay Chimo would have trouble with ice and storms.
18:56When it first got trapped in ice in October of 1931, some of the crew managed to escape
19:01to Alaska.
19:0215 of 22 sailors decided to stay with their vessel and try to save it.
19:07They had furs and other valuable cargo worth around $58,000 aboard.
19:13The company sent them supplies to survive the winter.
19:16They set camp near the ship out of the hatches, tarpaulins, and other materials, and offloaded
19:22the cargo.
19:23At the end of November, a blizzard rushed through the area, and it seemed like it had
19:27taken the ship with it.
19:29The ice platform had survived, but the ship broke free.
19:33Some of the crew members were sure it had sunk.
19:36But soon after, they heard from one of the locals who had spotted their ship around 45
19:41miles away from their camp.
19:44The crew moved on with their lives, and the ship started its journey as a runaway vessel.
19:50People would spot SS Bay Chimo once a year or so, all the way until 1965.
19:56It was mostly spotted off the coast of Alaska.
19:59A man going to Nome with his sled dog, along with prospectors, explorers, and treasure
20:04hunters all claimed to have seen SS Bay Chimo.
20:08Someone tried to board it and take it to port, but ended up stranded on it for days because
20:13of horrible weather.
20:15Others got luckier and managed to take a whale boat, some furniture, and other valuables
20:20from the vessel.
20:21Those who got close to the ship saw that it was damaged and missing the propeller.
20:26Still, it stayed afloat without a crew for at least 38 years and became the longest-sailing
20:32ghost ship in history.
20:33In 2006, the Alaskan authorities started a project to solve the mystery of this ghost
20:39ship of the Arctic, and finally find SS Bay Chimo, either still above or below the water.
20:46So far, the project has not been a success.
20:49SS Bay Chimo remains one of the estimated 4,000 ships that have disappeared off Alaskan
20:55shores.
20:58If the legend of the 17th century isn't lying, this ghost ship could be sailing somewhere
21:03along the Flying Dutchman.
21:05It belonged to the Dutch East India Company.
21:08Its captain managed to do the impossible for that time and sailed from Holland to Indonesia
21:13in only three months.
21:15They said he was flying over the sea, and some evil tongues explained that he had made
21:20a deal with evil forces to achieve that.
21:23Once the ship was sailing back home, its captain and crew disappeared without a trace.
21:28There are many versions of what happened to it.
21:31One of the first ones said it had tried to enter port at the Cape of Good Hope, got in
21:35a terrible storm, and sank as there was no captain to save it.
21:40Another legend says the captain had refused to obey the skies to let the ship sink during
21:45the storm.
21:46A scary light form then struck the boat and the crew, and it was condemned to forever
21:51wander without rest.
21:53Many sailors claim to have spotted the Wandering Dutchman.
21:57The Duke of York, who was to become King of England, mentioned having seen it in Australian
22:02waters.
22:03But after spotting the ship, the man who saw it first fell from the top of the mast and
22:08didn't survive.
22:09There were more encounters with this legendary ship up to the middle of the 20th century.
22:15Ships would nearly collide with it as the Flying Dutchman jumped out of the blue.
22:20Scientists have a more logical explanation for this mystery – Fara Morgana, not to
22:25be confused with Akuna Matata.
22:29When you're out at sea on a hot day and the air is all wavy, it feels like when you
22:33look at the road on a scorching summer day.
22:36That's because of something called atmospheric refraction.
22:40When light passes through different layers of air with different temperatures and densities,
22:44it bends and twists.
22:46Sometimes, under certain conditions, this bending of light can create really bizarre
22:51optical illusions over the ocean, like sightings of the Flying Dutchman.
22:55The Fara Morgana phenomenon can make distant objects appear distorted, stretched, or even
23:00lifted above the horizon.
23:03So you can see a ship far away, but because of the way the light is bending, it will look
23:07like it's floating above the water, or even disappearing and reappearing.
23:12A Fara Morgana is most commonly seen in polar regions, especially over large sheets of ice
23:18that have a uniform low temperature.
23:20You can see it anywhere, even in deserts and over lakes on hot days.
23:27The first stories about ghost ships go all the way back to ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
23:32One of the most famous ghost ships in history is the Mary Celeste.
23:36This brigantine was traveling from New York City to Genoa and was fully stocked with provisions,
23:42but missing a crew when it was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872.
23:47The crew's personal belongings were also there, completely undisturbed.
23:52The final entry in your log was made 10 days earlier.
23:55We still don't know what happened to its crew, and the ship has inspired many spooky
24:00stories and legends.
24:03The Lady Loveabond was another legendary schooner that is believed to have been wrecked off
24:09the coast of Kent in the middle of the 18th century.
24:12The story tells that the ship's captain, Simon Reid, had just got married and took
24:17his bride on board for a celebratory cruise despite the superstition that it could bring
24:23bad luck.
24:24They were on their way to Portugal when the first mate, who is also in love with the captain's
24:29new wife, went mad because of jealousy, attacked another crew member, and then took over the
24:34wheel and steered the ship straight into the dreaded Goodwin Sands.
24:39No one aboard survived, and the schooner is said to reappear as a ghost vessel every
24:4450 years.
24:47In present times, many vessels become abandoned and turned into ghost ships intentionally.
24:53There are thousands of them floating in U.S. rivers, lakes, channels, and coastal waters.
24:58Some people lose their boats in storms and other extreme weather.
25:02Others have to abandon their boats because maintaining them can cost 10% of the boat's
25:08price.
25:09And docking a vessel can add up to several thousand dollars every year.
25:13Most boats have been made of fiberglass, so an owner can't just recycle them as scrap
25:17metal.
25:18So once they want to get rid of it, they often tie it to a dock and sneak away, or leave
25:23it floating far away from the shore, or just try to sink it.
25:27When ghost ships sink in shallow waters, they can cause damage to coral reefs, mangroves,
25:32marshlands, oyster habitats, and wetlands.
25:36Plus, they can collide with unsuspecting regular ships and cause real trouble.
25:41So don't do that, Nuff said.
25:46Strange things occur in the cold waters of Antarctica.
25:50One of these things happened to a ship called Jenny.
25:53It was a small schooner whose history began in 1822.
25:58The boat and its crew set sail and disappeared a year later.
26:02For 18 years, the ship was considered sunk.
26:06People forgot about it, but in 1840, the vessel reminded the world of itself.
26:13That year, the whaling ship Hope sailed through the Drake Channel in Antarctica.
26:18The crew members noticed a ship among icebergs.
26:22It was the schooner Jenny.
26:24It was floating slowly in the dark, with no signs of life.
26:28The captain of the Hope, Mr. Brighton, gave the order to approach the mysterious vessel.
26:33They thought it was some creepy ghost ship, but as they came closer, they noticed crew
26:39members on the deck.
26:42The sailors of the Hope called out to them, but received no answer.
26:46This time, it became clear that something terrible had happened to the Jenny.
26:51When Brighton boarded, he realized that the Jenny crew members weren't missing.
26:57They were here!
26:59Frozen people stood like statues.
27:01Brighton went down to the lower deck and found the captain.
27:05He was sitting frozen at the table, holding a pen.
27:10Brighton looked at the logbook.
27:12The last record was made on May 4, 1823.
27:17The captain wrote that he was the only living member of the crew.
27:21They spent 71 days without food.
27:24It seemed that the ship got lost in the sea, because its captain went off course, or sailed
27:30into an iceberg, but no one knew for sure.
27:34After that, nobody ever saw the Jenny again.
27:38According to rumors, the crew of the Hope abandoned the frozen ship and left it to drift
27:43in the cold waters.
27:46According to other rumors, this whole story is fiction.
27:50The story of the Jenny was described in a German magazine in the middle of the 19th
27:55century.
27:56Still, there was no further evidence of the ship's existence.
27:59Already in our time, Cambridge University decided to explore the case of the Jenny.
28:05The researchers discovered that one of the crew members of the Hope, who didn't disclose
28:10his name, told someone the legend of the frozen ship.
28:14Someone shared the story with another guy, and it was published in a German magazine
28:19called Globus.
28:21And that's all.
28:23There was no other evidence.
28:25One of the most famous ghost ships was the Mary Celeste, and there's no doubt about its
28:31existence.
28:32The history of this vessel was documented in court.
28:36People wrote about it in newspapers.
28:38But the most exciting thing is that the ship continued to be used even after 10 people
28:43disappeared from its deck.
28:46The history of the Mary Celeste began in Canada in 1861.
28:52When it was first built, the ship was called the Amazon.
28:56It changed captains several times, and it also hit some rocks.
29:01The boat was sold, bought, then sold again, repaired, and sailed under the name Mary Celeste.
29:09In 1872, it had a new captain, Benjamin Briggs.
29:14He was a decent, brave man with a lot of experience in navigation.
29:18He had a beloved wife, a daughter, and a son.
29:22When he went on his last voyage, he took his wife and daughter with him, and his son stayed
29:27in America.
29:29In November of 1872, the Mary Celeste sailed from the port to New York with 10 people on
29:36board and disappeared.
29:39Days later, another ship, the Dei Gratia, also left New York and followed the same route.
29:45Dei Gratia's captain, David Morehouse, noticed the Mary Celeste and immediately realized
29:51something was wrong.
29:52The ship was moving too freely, as if no one was controlling it.
29:57The captain tried to contact the crew members, but no one answered him.
30:01Then, together with other sailors, he climbed aboard the Mary Celeste.
30:07The ship was in good condition.
30:10There was no damage.
30:11The hold was slightly filled with water, but it could be easily pumped out.
30:16Everything seemed fine, but one lifeboat was missing.
30:21The crew members' valuables were in their cabins.
30:24The cargo was in the hold.
30:26The supplies of water and food were untouched.
30:29Judging by the records in the logbook, the ship was caught in a storm, but it was not
30:34too strong.
30:36Other ships also sailed through this storm, but nothing bad happened to them.
30:40The last record was dated November 25th, and it claimed that everything was fine.
30:47The sails of the Mary Celeste were slightly damaged, but perhaps it happened after the
30:53crew had disappeared.
30:54The whole ship was in excellent condition, but what made the people leave it?
31:00Part of the crew of the Dei Gratia stayed on board the Mary Celeste to bring it to
31:04dry land.
31:06Everything went well.
31:07They delivered the ship to the closest port.
31:10Next, the captain of the Dei Gratia appeared before the court and told about what had happened.
31:17However, the prosecutor and the judge didn't want to believe in the story of the Mary Celeste.
31:22They were sure the captain got rid of the ship's crew to get money for its cargo.
31:28According to the maritime laws of that time, if you found a ghost ship with valuable cargo,
31:34then a substantial part of this cargo belonged to you.
31:38So many people thought that David Morehouse decided to earn some money.
31:44This version seemed to be more valid than the one about the mysterious disappearance
31:48of ten people.
31:49Fortunately, no one accused the captain of committing a crime.
31:53They thanked him for his service and gave him a monetary reward.
31:57However, his reputation was damaged, which greatly affected his career as many believed
32:03he attacked the crew of the Mary Celeste.
32:07But even after this terrible case, trial, and investigation, the story was not over.
32:14The Mary Celeste was still an expensive and efficient vessel.
32:18It sailed several times, but then one captain crashed it into the reefs to get insurance.
32:25The court revealed this deception and accused the captain of intentional property damage.
32:32The story of the Mary Celeste became famous all over the world.
32:37People began to build their theories, realistic and not.
32:41Someone believed the ship had sailed through the Bermuda Triangle.
32:45But this version was quickly refuted, as the route of the Mary Celeste passed thousands
32:50of miles away from the Bermuda region.
32:54Did the Kraken or another giant monster attack the ship?
32:59Nope.
33:00Since the boat was found in almost perfect condition, there were no signs of a struggle.
33:05One of the most popular versions was that the crew of the Mary Celeste stole some valuable
33:09cargo and sailed to Spain on the rescue boat.
33:14However, those who knew Captain Benjamin Briggs said he was a good, honest man.
33:20Besides, he had a son in New York, and Briggs would never leave him.
33:25A more thorough investigation revealed that a series of accidental circumstances could
33:30have caused the disappearance of the ship's crew.
33:34Before its last voyage, the vessel delivered coal.
33:37Perhaps the pump intended for pumping water got clogged with coal after that.
33:43And when the ship got into a storm, the hold filled with water and the pump broke.
33:49The captain couldn't understand the amount of water because numerous barrels in the
33:53cargo hold blocked the view.
33:56Benjamin Briggs assumed it was dangerous to stay on the ship during a storm, so he evacuated
34:01with the passengers on a lifeboat.
34:04Perhaps they were close to land and decided to sail there, but the storm intensified and
34:09overturned the boat.
34:12Also, one record in the log journal said that the chronometer was faulty.
34:18It was a device that helped to determine your location at sea using longitude.
34:23Briggs got lost and didn't know which way to sail.
34:26The storm was strong and he couldn't determine whether the ship would sink.
34:31Perhaps Briggs decided to leave the ship in a rescue boat when he saw the coast of the
34:35Azores.
34:37The uniqueness of this ghost ship case is that, unlike many others, you can investigate
34:43it yourself.
34:44There's a lot of information about the Mary Celeste on the internet.
34:48There are documentaries and research articles.
34:51Perhaps you'll be able to notice something that others haven't seen and solve the mystery
34:56of the disappearance of ten people.