- 6 days ago
Join us as we unravel the mysteries of Bermuda's haunting shipwrecks and navigate the perilous waters that have captivated seafarers for centuries.
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:01As an experienced sailor and the first man to ever sail non-stop on his own around North and South
00:07America,
00:08Matt Rutherford has seen a lot during his voyages.
00:13But what he saw in 2013 while sailing through the waters of the Atlantic with his colleague surely stands out.
00:21Some 800 miles off the coast of Bermuda, not far away from the famous Bermuda Triangle,
00:28they noticed a boat that seemed to be moving by itself.
00:32The sails weren't up and the motor wasn't running.
00:36The sailors decided to check if there was someone who needed their help aboard, so they moved closer to the
00:42mysterious ship.
00:44Once they got there, things only got weirder as they realized there wasn't a living soul aboard.
00:52Rutherford started filming to document their discovery.
00:55The boat looked so awfully abandoned that they expected to find some pretty scary things in there.
01:01But it didn't stop Rutherford from searching the vessel.
01:06The boat, which turned out to be named Wolfhound, looked like an upscale one, probably costing hundreds of thousands of
01:14dollars.
01:15It was pretty weird to find it floating by itself in the middle of the ocean.
01:20It seemed like whoever abandoned it was leaving in a rush.
01:24There were clothes and other personal belongings all over the main cabin.
01:29Some parts of the ceiling had fallen and some drawers had popped open.
01:34The brave sailors decided to tow the ghost ship back to Bermuda.
01:39It wasn't easy because Wolfhound was bigger and heavier than their boat.
01:44After days at sea, the crew was running low on fuel and asked a passing freighter to stop and give
01:50them some gas.
01:52They kept pulling Wolfhound until the tow line got wrapped around the rudder and they realized they could get stranded
01:58in the Bermuda Triangle.
02:00So, they had to abandon the ship.
02:04What really happened and how Wolfhound ended up in the middle of the ocean will probably remain a mystery.
02:12Rumor has it that it belonged to a member of the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
02:17The ship was going on its first voyage from Connecticut to Bermuda and then Antigua.
02:22It got in a terrible storm around 400 miles away from Delaware.
02:27The winds were so strong that the yacht suffered two knockdowns.
02:32A Greek cargo ship rescued the crew.
02:35They left the ship with an emergency beacon on.
02:38The rescued crew members shared that they saw the ship sink, which only adds more questions to the story.
02:45How did it get back to the surface?
02:49Does the Bermuda Triangle have anything to do with that?
02:54Christopher Columbus himself reported some unusual compass activity going on in this mysterious area while he was on his way
03:02to the New World.
03:05Despite the stories of more than 50 ships and 20 planes disappearing in the area,
03:10it remains one of the most heavily traveled shipping routes in the world.
03:15Some skeptics believe that this fact solves the Bermuda Triangle mystery.
03:20It could make sense because the busier the area, the more accidents happen there.
03:25But then again, it's not the number of disappearances that makes the place so mysterious.
03:30It's the lack of explanation and wreckage lost for good.
03:35The first ever confirmed ship to vanish in the Bermuda Triangle was the USS Pickering.
03:42In 1800, it departed from the U.S. on its way to the West Indies.
03:48The ship sailed into the Bermuda Triangle along with its 90-man crew.
03:53No one ever heard anything from them ever since.
03:57The popular explanation is that the ship was taken out by a storm.
04:01But because no one found any wreckage, we'll never know for sure.
04:07The largest ship that has ever disappeared in this mysterious area was the USS Cyclops.
04:14In March 1918, carrying a crew of 306 people, the USS Cyclops left Barbados and headed home to Baltimore.
04:25The ship passed through the Bermuda Triangle on its journey and vanished into thin air.
04:31Or rather, water.
04:33The Cyclops never sent any distress signal and disappeared without any explanation or trace.
04:42The Bermuda Triangle isn't the only place in the world where ships go missing or mysteriously resurface.
04:50One of the most famous ghost ship stories would be of SS Baychimo.
04:55The large cargo steamer was built in Sweden.
04:58On October 1st, 1931, it got caught in pack ice.
05:03The crew decided to wait it out and managed to break free after a couple of days.
05:09Only to get trapped again in less than a week.
05:12This time, they didn't manage to make it out.
05:16A rescue team went by air to save 22 of the crew members.
05:2115 other members stayed in a wooden shelter they built not far away from the ship.
05:27Their plan was to wait out the winter and get back aboard.
05:31At the end of November, a strong blizzard was rushing through the area.
05:36When it was over, Baychimo seemed to have gone away with the storm.
05:40The captain decided it must have broken and sunk.
05:44But a few days later, a local hunter informed them that he had seen the ship around 45 miles away
05:51from their camp.
05:52The crew managed to find the ship and took the most valuable cargo from its hold.
05:57They had fears that Baychimo wouldn't live through that rough water.
06:01But it did manage to survive after all.
06:04Once the ice was gone, it floated away and ended up drifting along the shores of Canada and Alaska.
06:12Many people reported seeing the ghost ship in an open sea.
06:17Some even tried to board it to save the ship.
06:19But the weather didn't allow it to happen.
06:22The last time someone saw SS Baychimo was in 1969.
06:2738 years after its crew had left it.
06:30It could still be drifting somewhere in the ocean.
06:35The story of MV Hojita happened in the South Pacific.
06:40The ship was originally a wooden luxury yacht.
06:44After serving for 20 years to various owners, it became a merchant ship.
06:48In 1959, it set on a trading voyage that was supposed to last around two days.
06:55When it didn't reach its destination on time, no one was worried at first as things happened in the open
07:01waters.
07:03After another day and no distress signals from the Hojita, it was obvious that something serious was going on with
07:10it.
07:10There were 25 people aboard and their families wanted to find them.
07:14A search and rescue crew worked for six days looking for the ship, or at least its wreckage, in an
07:20area of nearly 100,000 square miles.
07:24That's one and a half times as big as Florida.
07:29Sadly, the mission had come back with no results.
07:32It seemed like Hojita had disappeared without a trace.
07:38A month later, another merchant ship noticed Hojita driving in the ocean, miles and miles away from its original route,
07:46and none of the crew members or passengers were on board.
07:50The cargo had also disappeared.
07:53The lifeboats were also gone, so the people must have escaped the ship hoping to save themselves.
07:59It turned out that the crew had been trying to get help as they tuned the radio to the International
08:05Distress Channel.
08:07But the damaged cable didn't let them send the signal any further than two miles.
08:12It also looked like when they were leaving the ship, the crew took the logbook with them,
08:18and we still don't know what exactly happened to Hojita.
08:22Family members of those who were on board are still looking for answers.
08:26One professor claims it must have been a corroded pipe that leaked and flooded the vessel.
08:32But we'll most likely never know for sure.
08:36In the Pacific Ocean, near Japan, there is an area nicknamed the Devil's Sea.
08:42It's believed to be one of the 12 vile vortices around the Earth.
08:47Some people claim that vile vortices have weird things going on in them
08:51because the pull of the planet's electromagnetic waves is stronger there than anywhere else.
08:57The most famous ship that disappeared in the area was a fishery patrol vessel in 1952.
09:03The ship went there to investigate the vessels that went missing previously
09:08and disappeared along with 31 crew members.
09:12Scientists who don't believe it was a mysterious disappearance
09:16blame the underwater volcano eruption for what happened.
09:20Not a lot of people have heard of this mysterious body of water
09:24named after famous English explorer Sir Francis Drake.
09:29Even though Drake himself never sailed through these waters,
09:33one of his ships did pass near this location
09:35and discovered a connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
09:40That's how the area got named the Drake Passage in 1578.
09:45Soon enough, the Passage became known for some mysterious disappearances.
09:50It got the reputation of being the roughest and most unpredictable stretch of water in the world.
09:56It's now known for its strong winds and rough seas
09:59with waves that can reach up to 60 feet in height.
10:02The Passage also has powerful currents with speeds never seen before.
10:07Does it sound like a good start to an adventure book?
10:10Sure, it doesn't make the place any less real.
10:13If you ever decide to travel between the southern tip of South America
10:16and the southern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula,
10:19you will come across the infamous Drake Passage.
10:22We call this place the Drake Passage today,
10:25but locals still believe it should be named after Spanish explorer Francisco de Oces.
10:30He was a Spanish navigator who, in 1525,
10:34led the first known European expedition to navigate the Drake Passage.
10:39The trip was part of an attempt of Spain to find a new route to the Spice Islands in the
10:44East Indies.
10:45Oces and his two ships, the San Lesmes and the Santiago,
10:49sailed through the Strait of Magellan and into the Drake Passage,
10:53where they encountered treacherous weather and rough seas.
10:56Despite the difficulties, they successfully navigated the passage
11:00and became the first Europeans known to have done so.
11:04However, the expedition failed to find a new trade route,
11:07and the crew returned to Spain with no significant discoveries.
11:12Some years later, in 1616,
11:15another ship captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Schouten,
11:18made one of the most successful voyages through the Drake Passage.
11:22Despite the difficulties of navigating the often turbulent seas,
11:26eventually, the Drake Passage became an important part of international trade routes
11:31in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
11:34But this dangerous area holds many secrets.
11:37The record of one of the most famous events that happened here takes us back to the year 1914.
11:43During that time, a British explorer named Shackleton wanted to travel to Antarctica,
11:48with 27 men split between two ships.
11:51Those were named the Endurance and the Aurora.
11:55The explorers wanted to check out two routes that reached the continent.
11:59But in 1915, the Endurance got stuck in ice while crossing the Drake Passage and was slowly crushed.
12:07Shackleton and his crew had to leave the ship and could only gather some personal belongings.
12:12The Endurance eventually sank and the crew had to survive on ice for a while.
12:17The mission changed from exploring to surviving, and only in 1916 all the men were rescued.
12:24The Aurora suffered a similar fate.
12:27It also got stuck in ice and three men were lost at sea before the rest of the crew was
12:31rescued in 1917.
12:34For many years, the ship Endurance was thought to have been lost forever.
12:39But in 2022, a group of specialists went on a trip to find it.
12:43They left from Cape Town, South Africa on February 5th.
12:47The leader of the group said it was most likely the most difficult shipwreck search in history.
12:52They used special equipment to find the ship under the water and then used a special underwater camera to take
12:58a closer look.
12:59The members of the team were sure they had found the Endurance because it was in a place where very
13:05few ships had ever been.
13:07Despite being 10,000 feet underwater, the Endurance didn't look so shabby.
13:12It was actually pretty well preserved for a ship that had been underwater for more than 100 years.
13:17The explorers were still even able to see the word Endurance written on it.
13:23But it's not just ships that have a hard time with the Drake Passage.
13:26A plane with 38 people on board seemed to have disappeared over the Drake Passage in 2019, according to the
13:34Chilean authorities.
13:35It's believed it hit the icy and rough waters of the passage.
13:39Rescuers used ships, planes, and satellites to search for the missing plane and its passengers in the area where it
13:46had last sent messages.
13:47But the harsh conditions of the Drake Passage made the search very difficult.
13:52The exact location where the accident had happened was eventually found, but there were no survivors.
13:58The Viking Polaris is another of those ships that got damaged in the passage, even though it was designed for
14:05tough conditions.
14:06It was faster than most ships and more stable because of special equipment that kept it balanced.
14:12One night, back in 2022, the waves were indeed big, but the ship seemed to be doing well in the
14:17rough weather.
14:18But then, on its way back to port in Ushuaia, Argentina, a rogue wave suddenly hit the ship without warning.
14:25People on board felt like they had been hit by an iceberg.
14:29Rogue waves are much taller than other waves around them, and they're very unpredictable.
14:34Scientists still don't know exactly why they occur.
14:37However, when this rogue wave hit the Viking Polaris ship, it immediately broke windows on the second deck.
14:43Some people on board were hurt, but thankfully, most of them had been properly trained before boarding the ship and
14:49knew what they had to do in case of an emergency.
14:51The crew was also very good at helping the passengers.
14:55Most of them even claimed later that they would board the ship for the second time, despite such an unexpected
15:00experience.
15:01The boat eventually made it to the port without suffering further damage.
15:05What makes this region so hard to cross, though?
15:09For starters, the Drake Passage is a wide and deep area of water.
15:13It's about 500 miles wide and has a depth of 15,000 feet.
15:18Even the most experienced sailors who cross the passage every year say it can be dangerous, unpredictable, and even scary
15:26at times.
15:27And that's even considering the modern technologies we have today.
15:30The area is a mix of warm and cold temperatures, which can result in ravishing storms.
15:36Strong winds from the west push the water from the Pacific Ocean into the passage, creating waves and swells that
15:43can reach up to 30 feet or more.
15:46If accidents happen here, things can get ugly faster than anywhere else.
15:51The Drake Passage is a part of the ocean where the water is very cold and has strong currents.
15:57The bottom of the ocean there is also not stable, making it harder to find things like a plane or
16:03a ship.
16:05These days, we have modern technology that helps us feel safe, even when we're passing through rough seas.
16:11However, if you are planning to travel by boat to Antarctica, make sure you're ready for the rough sea in
16:17the Drake Passage, and for feeling a little uneasy.
16:20This can happen even to the most experienced of people when the waters are rough, but it's especially tough if
16:27it's your first time.
16:28Some people bring remedies to avoid feeling sick, like ginger gum or scented wristbands.
16:33Others find it helpful to look at the horizon.
16:36Test things out to see what works for you.
16:39Once you arrive at the Drake Passage, you'll be surprised to see that lots of different animals live there.
16:45You can see many types of dolphins, birds, whales, and penguins.
16:50The water in the Drake Passage is also good for small animals like plankton, krill, which bigger animals such as
16:57whales, penguins, and seals generally have on their daily menus.
17:01As you get closer to Antarctica, watch out for the South Shetland Islands.
17:06These might be the first pieces of land you'll see.
17:09They're also located in the Antarctic Peninsula, and were first discovered in 1819 by British explorer William Smith.
17:17The South Shetland Islands are home to severe active volcanoes, including Deception Island and Mount Benton.
17:24The islands are also where you can find a number of endemic species, including the South Shetland Islands gentoo penguin,
17:31which is only found on this piece of land.
Comments