All language subtitles for Expedition Unknown S07E00 Search for Pirate Gold, 1080p WEB x264 CAFFEiNE.Eng

Gates: Coming up...

Gates: And then...

This map literally has
on it smuggler's anchorage.

Jean lafitte was one of
the wealthiest men in america.

[ metal detector beeping ]

wait, that's not junk.
Ah! Look at that!

-You got something?
-Yeah.

Y'all come over here.

I want to know what that is.

It's around 100
feet in length.

Holy [muted],
this thing works.

Ho-ho. Oh, wait a minute.
That could be from a ship.

♪♪

my name is josh gates.

Whoa!

With a degree in archeology
and a passion for exploration,

I have a tendency to end up in
some very strange situations.

It's just straight down!

Unbelievable!

My travels have taken me
to the ends of the earth...

Oh, god!

...As I investigate
the greatest legends in history.

We're good to fly.
Let's go.

This is "expedition unknown."

♪♪

when most people
hear the name captain morgan,

it conjures up the image
of a drunken, amiable pirate

with a leg up on a cask
of his namesake rum.

But sir henry morgan
was all too real.

He was, in short, the most
successful pirate in history.

But in 1671, morgan steers
his flagship, the satisfaction,

onto a razor-sharp reef
off the coast of panama,

where it sinks
and is lost for centuries.

But now there are reports
that it may have been found.

Recently a team
from texas state university,

led by underwater archeologist
fritz hanselmann,

located and raised six cannons
that may be from morgan's ship.

Then they made
a truly shocking find --

the remains of an entire
17th-century vessel.

But is it morgan's?

Inside the hull
are nearly 100 unopened chests

just waiting to be
brought to the surface.

Well, I'd be lying if I said

I didn't have visions of pirate
treasure dancing in my head.

I'm also hopeful to understand
the man behind the rum label.

Who was morgan?

Does he deserve to be remembered
as a daring privateer

or reviled
as a bloodthirsty pirate?

The answers,
and perhaps his pirate ship,

are waiting in the caribbean.

[ woman singing
in native language ]

panama.

A sun-soaked sliver of land

dividing the atlantic
and pacific oceans.

I touch down
in the city of colon

and pick up a used,
but heavily modified jeep

to begin my journey in search
of captain morgan's flagship.

Gates: It's like 30 feet
off the ground.

I'm literally gonna need,

like, a running start
to get into this thing.

I have not one, but two cbs
for some reason.

Check, check, check.

Hello? Hello?

[ alarm chirps ]

[ alarm blares ]

this is the greatest car
I've ever been in.

[ engine turns over ]

gates: Even though this is
a 340-year-old cold case,

I'm still putting out an apb
for my lead suspect.

I'm looking
for captain morgan's flagship.

Has anybody seen
the satisfaction?

A minor programming note

for those of you watching
with young children.

Be advised that tonight's
program is rated "argh."

come on!

A little pirate humor.

Gates: Okay, now that
I've got that out of my system,

we can move on.

As I make my way
outside of town,

I soon pass by the haunting
remains of spanish forts.

To understand why they're here,
we need to step back in time.

Welcome to the 17th century.

Spain is the most powerful
country in the region,

controlling nearly all of
central and upper south america,

florida, cuba,

and the dominican republic
and haiti.

Spain's power is due
in large measure

to the seemingly limitless
supplies of gold and silver,

which conquistadors are hauling

out of peru and bolivia
in south america.

But in order to get these riches
back to Spain,

they need to get them
into the atlantic.

Using slaves
to March their riches to panama,

they establish a new world
capital on the pacific coast -

panama city.

Then mules bring the loot

52 miles from the pacific
to the atlantic side,

where it's loaded onto galleons
in the town of portobelo,

bound for Spain.

Gates:
This is portobelo.

It was actually named
by columbus,

who sailed in the bay here

hundreds and hundreds of years
ago.

It's a little tumbledown today,

but during the 17th century,

this was one of the most
critical cities for the spanish,

and it was the very first place

that captain morgan
decided to attack in panama.

[ whistle blowing ]

[ up-tempo music plays ]

gates: Panama is
a washing machine of cultures.

The congo dancers in the streets

are the descendants
of the cimarrónes,

runaway slaves
who won hard-fought freedom

from their spanish captors.

It's part afro-panamanian
religious revival

and part village people reunion.

A guy in a life preserver,
dancing in the streets.

Why not?

[ whistle blows ]

gates:
But it's at the edge of town

where portobelo reveals
its once powerful defenses.

So why did this sleepy port
need to be armed to the teeth?

One word -- pirates.

The 17th century
is the golden age of pirates,

and no man is more notorious
than captain henry morgan,

flying under the flag
of the english royal navy.

Spain has a stranglehold
on the caribbean,

but other european empires are
hiring privateers like morgan

to weaken the spanish
through plunder and havoc.

Captain morgan's first attack
on panama

took place here in portobelo.

Historian juan david morgan

has his own take
on the legendary pirate.

What's your impression of
morgan, the man -- the real man?

And the difference between
a privateer and a pirate

is simply that

someone is commissioning you
to do this, right?

Just to be clear,
privateers like captain morgan

were awarded hefty commissions
from the crown

for their life-risking work.

A single seized enemy ship

could earn each crew member a
year's wages or much, much more.

Right.

It's amazing.

We think of morgan as this
swashbuckling pirate out at sea,

but, really,
he wasn't much of a navigator.

Morgan's assault on portobelo
was successful

because the spanish
never saw him coming.

In July of 1666, he and his men
landed three miles away

and attacked portobelo on foot
from behind.

Morgan's next move

was unexpected, brazen,
and incredibly risky.

He held the entire city hostage
and threatened to burn it

if the spanish didn't pay him
to leave.

Infuriated but helpless,

the governor of panama city
agreed to pay up,

and in return,

morgan sailed out of the harbor
a free and rich man.

Morgan's attack on portobelo
was audacious,

but he was just
getting warmed up.

He didn't just want
to aggravate the spanish.

He wanted to destroy them.

To do that, he set his sights
just down the coast

on another spanish fortress,
known as san lorenzo,

and it's here

that morgan's ship might be
lying in its watery grave.

If I'm gonna learn the truth
about morgan's flagship,

I have to go find

the people that are actively
engaged in looking for it.

I'm meeting
with fritz hanselmann

and his team from texas state,

who are on the cutting edge of
trying to find the satisfaction.

So, 17th century.

What's going on here?
Why does this fort exist here?

Well, this fort here is what
protected the gold and silver

that were coming from
south america and the pacific...

Gates: Right.

...Over to this side
of the caribbean

and then later on to Spain.

So, for the spanish --
pretty critical fort.

Absolutely,
and this is what was constructed

to keep out guys
like henry morgan.

So, when morgan shows up here,
what's his move?

How does
he get into this place?

He sends three ships
with 470 men

to launch
a terrestrial assault,

so they cross this peninsula
to the fort,

and they attack
from the rear.

A flaming arrow

went into the munitions
stockpile inside the fort

and exploded it.

So he got lucky.
Yeah, I mean,
true to the story of morgan,

he gets lucky
in all sorts of circumstances.

Right, right.

But his luck didn't last
forever.

That's
when disaster strikes.

And so morgan ran his flagship,
the satisfaction, aground,

and then four other ships
followed suit.

So they just kind of
had a pile-up on these rocks.
Gates: Wow.

Five of morgan's vessels
strike the lajas reef,

and while he manages to escape,
the ships all sink.

You can see the reef
right here.

Right down here
where those white caps are.

Exactly. That's the reef where
morgan's ships ran aground.

So the big question is,
where did they end up?

They already recovered a wooden
chest and a sword blade.

Their recent discovery
of several cannons

was a turning point
in recent investigations.

And what's the general
hypothesis now of the cannon?

We believe
that they're henry morgan's.

We've got three
that look to be english.

There are markings on them

that indicate they are
mid to late 17th century.

Near the cannons,

the archeologists
also noticed wooden timbers.

And we realize

it looks like what we have
is a piece of ship hull,

and there's chests
in the ship hull,

and so, you know,
of course we're ecstatic.

Ecstatic is an understatement.

His team found dozens
of possible treasure chests,

but they're fragile,
badly overgrown,

and have yet to be analyzed.

And with so many wrecks
in the bay,

they can't be sure
they have the right boat.

I'm thrilled that fritz has
invited me to join his convoy

through the rainforest
and down to the beach

to continue their search.

But before we can get there,
we hit a roadblock, literally.

Gates:
That's a big tree.

Gates: I'm in panama,

where I've joined a team of
archeologists on the search

for the sunken flagship of
legendary pirate captain morgan.

We're about to dive in the
waters where the ship went down,

but before we can get there,
we run into a minor roadblock.

Gates:
That's a big tree.

Okay, major roadblock.

There's not exactly
an alternate route,

so the only thing we can do

is dismantle this enormous tree
one hack at a time.

Gates: This happens a lot here,
apparently.

The trees are already
really saturated.

It's really humid.
It rained.

Part of the jungle
just falls on the road.

It may take a little while
to clear.

Gates:
Unfortunately, we don't exactly
have the best tools for the job.

We'll have this thing done
in no time.

Gates:
Finally, some reinforcements
arrive on the scene.

Ah! [bleep]

ants. [bleep]

a lot of very bite-y ants
in here, as well.

What am I doing?

I have a huge jeep
with giant tires.

Gates:
Once we've cleared the road,

it's a short drive

to the chagres river
just below fort san lorenzo.

[ engine turns over ]

I'm hoping to explore
the intriguing wreck

where the cannons
were recovered,

but first I want to see

where captain morgan's ship
ran aground.

So he was coming in toward
the fort

and just smashed it right
up on the reef.
Hanselmann: Yeah.

Okay, what's our first move,
fritz?

First thing we ought to do
is survey the seafloor.

That's the reef
where morgan lost the ships.

There's got to be
something down there.

Unfortunately, scores of ships
have wrecked here,

and the swirling currents could
have carried the satisfaction

nearly anywhere along the coast.

But the team
has a high-tech tool

to narrow down their search.

Ho:
This is a magnetometer.

It detects the ambient
magnetic field of the earth,

and anything that would cause
any deviations to that,

anything ferrous, anything iron,
it will detect.

Unfortunately, I'm only
semi-fluent in nerd speak.

All right, I'm following about
10% of what you're saying,

but, basically, I think
what we're saying here is,

we throw this torpedo
in the water...

And it will detect iron.

So, in other words, a great way
to detect shipwrecks.
Yes.

That I can follow.
Now you're talking my language.

And then back
through this cable,

it feeds to a laptop here?

Yep. This thing is just
collecting the raw data,

and we'll just go
back and forth

and get the coverage
in the entire reef area,

and hopefully those iron objects
will pop up.

[ sighs ] am I, like, never
gonna have kids right now?

It's right on my crotch.

[ laughter ]
let's get this thing
in the water.

High levels of iron
on the seafloor

can indicate debris
from a wrecked ship.

While fritz's team has
already discovered one wreck,

it may not be the satisfaction,

and they're still looking
for other promising leads.

With the real-time gps,

it is tracking
where we're moving.
Right.

We're that little bird
right there.
Right.

We're just gonna mow the lawn
on these grid lines.

Back and forth,
back and forth.
Yep.

And where's the reef
on here?

The reef is right here,
right in front of us.

And we're gonna try
to not smash into that.
Exactly.

That's the most important part
of the survey.

Pretty much, yes.
Okay.

Are there other boats that
you know of that have sank here?

Yeah, absolutely.

We have between 20 and 30 wrecks
that we know of

that have been recorded
having wrecked in this area.

That makes it
a lot more complicated.

It does, especially with all
the modern debris and whatnot.

It's like looking for a needle
in a haystack sometimes.

After dozens of passes
with the magnetometer,

and only discreet readings
on the receiver,

we're on the verge
of calling it quits.

We've decided to make

one last pass along the edge
of the reef before moving on.

Whoa. What's that?

Fritz,
what is that right there?

Oh,
that's a big hit.

Ho:
That's a pretty good spike.

That's probably
well over 1,000 gammas.

Some serious iron objects
down there.

So we need to go
check that out.
All right, great.

Let's go dive.

Gates: A reading of this size
could signify a shipwreck.

Fritz and I quickly throw on
our diving gear to investigate.

Diving in murky conditions

in an area with a history
of shark attacks

is slightly unsettling.

But it turns out that visions
of lost pirate treasure

are a pretty decent motivator.

We've reached the bottom,

but haven't found the source
of the hit on the magnetometer.

Fritz and I fan out
and continue looking.

We canvass the area

and are about to abort the dive
operation when...

...Finally, the source
of the hit on the magnetometer,

and it's exactly
what we're looking for --

a massive shipwreck.

Seeing this wreck
is a huge rush.

But now we need to determine

if this is a boat
from captain morgan's fleet

or some other historic
shipwreck.

This type of modern boiler
wasn't in use

until hundreds of years after
morgan sailed the high seas.

With our tanks running low,

we ascend to the surface
to replenish our air.

[ breathes heavily ]

wow. That is amazing.

A ton of debris down there,
stuff all over the place,

and eventually led us
to a huge wreck,

but definitely not a pirate
ship, so the search continues.

Gates: Fritz's team recently
discovered another wreck

that could be
captain morgan's ship.

As the seas get rougher,
we hurry to the site,

and I'm beginning to understand

why so many
boats have sunk here.

We cautiously move forward
in the haze

when suddenly an amazing sight
comes into view.

Nestled on the bottom

is an honest-to-god
17th-century wooden chest,

and nearby, there are more --
lots more.

Over time, the wooden containers
have become encrusted

and are impossible to open
without destroying them.

Fritz's team has already moved
one chest to panama city,

where it awaits analysis.

Until this boat is identified,

the rest must remain on
the bottom to be preserved.

So we've got to comb the wreck
for other artifacts.

Gates:
I've traveled to panama

on a mission
to find the satisfaction,

the sunken flagship of legendary
pirate captain morgan.

Gates: Whoa.
Fritz, what is that right there?

Oh, that's a big hit.

I've joined a team
of archeologists

who found a wreck
that might just fit the bill.

And I think
we've made another discovery.

Alongside the muleshoe,

we've also found a heavily
encrusted metal fragment

that we can't yet identify.

Along with these finds,

I'm stunned to see actual planks
of wood

from the hull of the ship.

That this
is still so well-preserved

after more than 300 years

is nothing short of astonishing.

I'm also getting a crash course

in doing fieldwork
on the ocean floor.

We deploy underwater metal
detectors to scan the area,

and I even try my hand
at mapping the wreck.

Ceramic shards like this

are often key to decoding
archeological wrecks.

Despite
the challenging conditions,

it was a successful dive.

The muleshoe, ceramic shard,
and the metal fragment

could provide
valuable information

on dating the shipwreck
and determining its origin.

Gates: That was great.

Nice sight, huh?
Oh. Amazing.

Fritz and his team
will transport

the incredibly fragile relics
to their lab in panama city.

We'll analyze them, along with
their other recent finds.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing
my quest to understand morgan.

Having survived his shipwreck,

he carried on up the chagres
river toward panama city,

and I'm following his route.

I'm headed to meet
a group of emberá indians,

a tribe native to this region.

So this is the chagres river.

This is kind of
the original panama canal.

If you were trying to get goods

either from panama city
out to the coast

or trying to get inland,

this is the river that you used.

So morgan,
after he loses his ship,

puts together the largest
pirate army ever assembled --

1,500 men --

and he goes down this river
toward panama city.

Along the banks, just
these impenetrable rainforests,

howler monkeys,
and native tribes,

small groups of spanish
attacking them.

This would have been

a really intense
and difficult journey for him.

While Spain methodically
exploited

and enslaved the native people
in the americas,

there are very few reports

as to how captain morgan fared
against them.

According to accounts
of the journey,

morgan ordered his men
to make the trip

with very view supplies,

believing he could steal

whatever food or water
they needed along the way.

Over 300 years later,
I'm curious to learn

if captain morgan's legacy
lives on in native lore.

These are the emberá,
one of several indigenous tribes

that have roamed central america
since time immemorial.

Hola. Hola.

Nice to meet you.

Hola.

Claudio, josh.
Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.
Look at this. Wow.

[ up-tempo music plays ]

what a welcome.
Thank you very much.

As the welcome party turns
into a full-blown dance party,

perhaps I'm getting
more than I bargained for.

And what does the dance
signify?

Marriage.
Am I getting married right now?

Yes.

All right. Well...

It's a nice spot, I guess.
Settle down.

Got it.

Hola.

Hi.

I guess
this is my family now.

If this were
three centuries ago,

it's likely that

I wouldn't have survived
getting out of the boat.

Considering the atrocities

committed to panama's
indigenous peoples,

the emberá's hospitality
is overwhelming.

In a nearby hut, I sit down with
a village elder and his son.

Thank you very much
for having me here today.

I really appreciate
your hospitality.

After he wrecked his ship,

captain morgan
passed through here

on the chagres river
to panama city.

How do you look back
on morgan?

[ speaking
native language ]

they is like the enemy.

As an enemy.
Yes.

No different
than the spanish.

No different
to the spanish.

Gates:
Captain morgan's plan

of stealing supplies from
the native indians backfired.

Not only were they able
to flee their villages

before the pirates arrived,

they bettered them in combat.

Between the natives and small
garrisons of spanish soldiers,

more than 100 of morgan's men
died en route to panama city.

Today I'm thrilled to see

that long after
the spanish empire is gone,

tribes like the emberá endure.

They even have a tattoo parlor.

Before leaving,

they insist on giving me
something to remember my visit.

I'm hoping this guy does
lower-back tattoos, as well.

I'm thinking about getting
maybe a dolphin back there.

Back on the chagres river,

I continue retracing
morgan's path to panama city.

In 1671, it took his crew
more than 10 days

to cross from the atlantic
to the pacific side.

While I'd like to stay true
to the captain's journey,

I need to pick up the pace
a bit.

[ train whistle blows ]

after all,

I've got a pirate treasure chest
and other artifacts

waiting to be analyzed
in panama city.

The results could prove,
once and for all,

if captain morgan's lost ship
has finally been found.

Gates: I'm in panama, retracing
captain morgan's journey

across the country on his
mission to ransack panama city.

I was following his trail
by canoe up the chagres river,

but I think it's time to pick up
the pace

in a slightly faster vehicle
that covers the same route.

[ train whistle blows ]

welcome aboard
the famed panama canal railway.

While the chagres river

may have been the original
transportation system,

this historic rail line
was the backbone

that helped build modern panama.

The train basically slices
across the isthmus of panama.

It's pretty incredible.

You start in the caribbean
on the atlantic side.

This takes us all the way across

over to panama city
and the pacific.

Gates:
It's a breathtaking ride

and a great place to pick up
a little part-time work.

I'm now the bartender.

Get my tip jar out here.

Hot coffee, folks.
Hot coffee.

Is there any booze back here?

Gates:
Having retraced captain morgan's
route across the isthmus,

panama city comes into view.

And it's absolutely stunning.

Man:
♪ da-da-da, da-da, da-da ♪

♪ da-da-da-da-da ♪

♪ da-da-da-da-da ♪

♪ I say, welcome to panama ♪

♪ welcome to panama ♪

gates:
Forget whatever image you have

of the so-called
developing world.

Panama city is the shining star
of central america.

This steamy, tropical boomtown

is crawling
with foreign investors,

expat fortune seekers,
and cranes,

reshaping a futuristic skyline

that seems to grow
before your eyes.

♪ da-da-da-da ♪

welcome to panama.

Gracías.

Sir, are you available
to travel with me all the time?
Huh?

How is it that panama is richer

than every other central
american nation put together?

Simple.

They have a canal.

[ ship horn blows ]

okay, let's see if I can steer
this thing through.

Hello? Come in.

I think I may have just broken
the panama canal.

Gates: Thankfully, I'm only
maneuvering a cargo ship

through a simulator.

We're -- we're all fine here.
We're all fine.

How are you?

Gates: Welcome to the miraflores
locks of the panama canal.

This modern marvel

is a jaw-dropping testament
to human spirit and ingenuity.

This is the pacific ocean.

Over there
is the atlantic ocean.

As ships come into these locks,
they get closed in.

They flood the locks, raising
the ships up more than 50 feet.

This gate that we're standing on
then opens,

ship passes into the next lock
and into the next ocean.

[ ship horn blows ]
crazy.

Gates: In 1902,
the u.S. Began construction

on the most audacious
engineering project

in human history.

20,000 french and 6,000 american
workers died

trying to rejoin the two
great oceans of the world,

forever changing
international trade.

Boats that once had to sail

around the treacherous tip
of south america

in the era of captain morgan

could suddenly take
an 8,000 mile shortcut

through the heart
of two continents.

Trophy case, obviously.

This thing wins best canal
every year.

Gates:
From the miraflores locks, it's
a short trip to panama city.

The nation's capital
is booming thanks to the canal.

In the shadow of opulent, modern
skyscrapers sits casco viejo,

the historic district
of panama city.

It's a tumbledown maze

of colonial facades
and cobblestone streets

that's still brimming
with activity.

Kid's got stuff to do,
places to be.

Gates: Street vendors

peddle regional crafts and
surprising hidden treasures.

Found it. It was right here
the whole time.

A lot smaller than I thought.

Episode over.

Gates: When visiting panama,
it's an obligation to pick up

one of the country's signature
panama hats.

However, finding the right fit
can take a little time.

I'm realizing
I have a huge head.

Hola. ¿cómo estás?

Oh, there we go.

700?

This is a $700 hat.

Why is it --
is it made out of unicorn hair?

Since my salary won't cover

a hat that costs
as much as a flat-screen tv,

I opt
for a more affordable choice.

Oh, yeah.
That's it right there.

That's the one.
I can pull this off, I think.

I look like hannibal lecter,
but...

Gates: Walking through town,
it's hard to not be struck

by the intersection
of panama's past and future.

Though casco viejo
looks ancient,

it's actually new compared
to the original city

of which
there is almost nothing left.

This is the final chapter of
morgan's brazen raid on panama.

When he reached the metropolis
in 1670,

his dwindling, half-starved army

actually managed to overrun
the spanish on their home turf.

In the aftermath, the entire
city burned to the ground.

Some accounts blame morgan
for setting the city ablaze,

while others believe

the retreating spanish
were accountable.

Either way,
this is all that's left.

One lone church tower

is the last building standing
from the original panama city.

Here I'm meeting
with tomas mendizabal,

director of panama's
anthropology museum,

to hear the brutal truth about

captain morgan's final raid
on panama

and his lasting legacy
for panamanians.

So, this is
the original panama city.

Yeah. Exactly.

Not a lot left.

No, no.

What you see is what morgan
left after -- after the attack.

We have this image of him
as this kind of mythic figure,

this larger-than-life kind of
swashbuckling guy.

His image in the u.S.
Is so ridiculous.

Yeah! They're so cool!
They're awesome!

They're so cool,
and he's, like, such a player,

and he's like
this good-time frat boy.
[ laughing ] yeah.

What's the local viewpoint
on him here?

In panama,
everybody knows morgan.

[ speaking spanish ]
yeah.

He's everywhere.
But a villain.

For sure, yeah.
I mean...

His attack caused a lot of death
and destruction,

so, yeah,
for sure he's a villain.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 people
actually died.

They tortured a ton of people,
asking them for their gold,

squeezing somebody's head
till their eyes popped out

because he wouldn't say
where his treasure was.

If you were a woman,
that was even worse.

If that kind of detail
were widely known,

I think his image would be
less that of a rock star.

The spanish despised morgan
for the destruction of panama.

But even though his success

was born through extreme terror
and violence,

to the english, he was a hero.

They even knighted him

and made him lieutenant governor
of jamaica,

where he died fat, rich,
and in his own bed --

almost unheard of for a pirate.

With a better understanding of
morgan's controversial legacy,

I head to the national institute
of culture back in the city

to reunite with
archeologist fritz hanselmann.

His team has been working

to prepare the artifacts
from the shipwreck for analysis.

Hanselmann: Jacinto!

[ conversing in spanish ]

jacinto is essentially

the godfather of archeological
artifacts here in this country.

Mucho gusto.
[ speaking spanish ]

let's take a look at
all the other stuff we've got.

Gates: Along with the items
we pulled up from the wreck,

he's got some amazing evidence
to share with me.

This is really cool.

Look at that! Whoa.

That's amazing!

Gates:
I'm at the national institute
of culture in panama city

to examine the wealth of relics
found by fritz and his team.

Hanselmann:
This is really cool.

Look at that!
Whoa.

That's amazing!

That's a pirate cannon
right there.

This is one of the guns
that we recovered

from the reef where
morgan ran his ships aground.

We have six guns
all together.

Some look to be english
and some look to be french,

but if these were
in the same spot,

most likely they came from
the same vessel or vessels.

So these are
the first tangible evidence

of morgan's attack
on panama in 1671.
It's amazing.

Along with the cannons,
fritz's team has been preparing

the items recovered
during our dive.

Hanselmann:
These are the artifacts

that we recovered the other day
from the shipwreck.

So here we have our muleshoe,
and here we have

the ceramic shard
with the neck rim of the jar.

And this, we don't quite know
what it is yet.

This concretion
could be a spike,

it could be some sort of
weird conglomerate of metal.

Gates: Along
with these incredible pieces

is the locked chest salvaged
during an earlier dive.

This I recognize 'cause
we saw a whole bunch of them

down on the ocean floor
the other day.

I wanted to scoop them up.

There are how many of them
left on the boat, you think?

We have over 100 chests
still on that ship.

And this
has never been scanned.

We don't know
what's in this.

We don't know what's in this,

and we want to see

if we can tell what's in it
without causing any damage.

Gates:
With an x-ray machine lined up,

all we have to do is figure out

how to get our backbreakingly
heavy 300-year-old cargo

to the facility.

Easier said than done.

Whew, man. That is funky.

It smells like pirates
for sure.

Whew.

[ banging ]
whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa.

After years
at the bottom of the sea,

these relics have become
incredibly fragile.

Slow, slow, slow, slow.
Okay.

Exposure to air or drying out

can irreparably damage
these priceless artifacts.
Good.

Gates:
Nothing to see here.

Just a couple guys with
a 300-year-old treasure chest.

Wait till I try to check
this thing with united airlines.

Good. Stop, stop, stop.

[ grunts ]

gates: Oh, my god.
Somebody get me a beer.

With our booty in tow,

we're on our way
with our unusual payload.

Gates:
All right, so, the plan now?

Hanselmann: Well...
Straight to the airport...

[ laughs ]
...Crack the chest open,
to the bahamas.

I wish.

What will you say
to the police officer

if we get pulled over
and he looks in the back?

"would you like a cut?"

[ laughs ]
spoken like a true pirate.

Okay, here we go.

Gates: Having never attempted
this procedure before,

the archeological team
has no idea what to expect.

[ machine beeps ]

hanselmann:
What we're trying to do

is take the x-ray that works
for the human body and adapt it

and make it work
for archeological artifacts.
Right.

Gates: First, we'll analyze the
items we found on our dive --

the muleshoe
and the strange, encrusted item.

I feel like we're having a baby,
fritz.

[ laughter ]

please be a pirate.
Please be a pirate.

[ laughter ]

[ machine beeps ]

eureka.

The x-ray proves effective
in cutting through

hundreds of years
of built-up coral and corrosion.

You can see the holes
where they nailed into the hoof.

Gates: That's amazing.

Ho: It looks
like they're countersunk.

Gates: Countersinking
is a process where precut holes

allow nails and screws
to sit flush with the surface.

In this case,

the technique might help
identify who made the artifact.

How do you tell
if they're countersunk?
Well, you kind of see

a little bit of shadowing
around the edges of the square

for each
of the various holes,

which is typical of the spanish
muleshoes or horseshoes.

British tend not to be
countersunk.

The encrusted fragment
also reveals its identity.

Hanselmann: This could be
a piece of a sword in a scabbard

or wrapped up in something.

It's really cool, though.
I mean, you cut through
all those concretions,

and there's just, like,
a blade under there.

Chest time?

I want to get
at that chest.
Yeah. [ laughs ]

hanselmann: Gently.

This thing's too heavy

to not have
some part of something in it.

Gates:
Finally, it's time to scan

the chest the team salvaged
from the shipwreck.

The contents of this container
could reveal, once and for all,

if we found the satisfaction.

As we place the chest
on the x-ray, my mind is racing,

thinking about the mysteries
that could be revealed.

[ machine beeping ]

hanselmann: Gently.

This thing's too heavy

to not have some part
of something in it.

[ machine beeping ]

gates: Not much.

We see the outline of it,

but it doesn't really penetrate
the chest at all.

No,
that's disappointing.

What does he think
the problem is?

It's too thick.

It's the density
of the material.

Hmm. Well.

It's too dense.

Gates: Frustratingly,
the chest and its contents

are too dense
for the x-ray to penetrate.

These are the breaks

when it comes to the slow
and careful process

of archeological preservation.

But at least
the other artifacts,

we were able to get a really
good look at.

Absolutely. I mean,
we got a lot of data here.

Next step
is to take that info

and try and figure out
how to make sense of it.

Finding the well-preserved cargo
from a 17th-century vessel

is nothing short of amazing,

but have we gathered enough
information from these artifacts

to determine whether or not
they're from the satisfaction?

After careful examination,

I've asked fritz
to give me his expert analysis.

The satisfaction
was a french ship.

Mm-hmm.

So in looking at this wreck,

what do the photos,
the artifacts, the x-rays --

what do they tell us about
the origin of this vessel?

Looking at that neck shard,

basically we're looking
at a spanish olive jar.

Basically the tupperware
or the water bottle

of 16th-to-18th-century
spanish.

So we're in
the right time period,

but a spanish type of ceramic,
not french.
Exactly.

Artifact number 2
is the muleshoe

that we recovered
when we were on our dive.
Right.

These are countersunk,

and that's a technique
that only the spanish used.

The english didn't use it,
french didn't use it,

and so, again,
we have another artifact

that we've recovered from the
wreck that's spanish in origin.

Okay.

Also significant as what we are
seeing is what we aren't seeing.

We know the satisfaction
was 120 tons,

and it also carried 22 guns,

and, honestly,

we aren't seeing any guns
anywhere on this shipwreck.

The only weapon we have
are a few sword blades.

Because the cannons,
which were recovered,

were taken from the reef,
but not found near the wreck.

Exactly.

The million-dollar question,
then.

Is this the satisfaction?

I can answer that
in one word -- no.

But that's
not the end of the story.

In looking over
all the evidence,

we have made what is
an extremely exciting discovery.

That's actually
the manifest

of a ship called
nuestra señora encarnación.

A lot of the chests match up

to what we're seeing
in the document,

and it sank
just off of the chagres river

in the general area
of where the shipwreck is.

The encarnación was the same
kind of vessel

that christopher columbus
used

when he first sailed over
to the western hemisphere.

That's amazing.

Fritz's analysis

is that this shipwreck appears
to be the encarnación

and not part of morgan's fleet.

However, that does little

to diminish the significance
of this incredible find.

This pristine 17th-century
shipwreck

may be the single best-preserved
vessel of its kind ever found.

In addition,

it offers a glimpse into
the world of captain morgan.

But the question remains.

Where is the satisfaction?

We know the reef
that the boat wrecked on.

There's a record
of the boat wrecking.

It has to be there.
Yeah, absolutely.

It just feels like
it is so within reach.

The ships are out there.

I'm sure we're gonna find it
eventually.

Thanks, fritz.

Yeah, thank you, josh.
Appreciate it.

Morgan was a complex man
living in an unforgiving age.

To some, he's a hero,

a rum-guzzling renegade
who lived by his own terms.

To others,
he is an unrepentant killer

motivated by insatiable
bloodlust and greed.

Perhaps he was both.

The stage for his exploits

is a country
with its own mysterious duality

at the crossroads of oceans
and continents

and at the forefront
of a brilliant economic future.

Speaking of the future,

fritz hanselmann and his team

have over 100 other potential
wrecks

to investigate off the coast,

and it's only a matter of time
before morgan's ship is found,

and perhaps it's fitting that
the boat has remained elusive.

The satisfaction is, after all,
its own buried treasure.

It will take determination,
daring,

and more than a little luck

to find a boat belonging to
someone as shrouded in mystery

as the pirate
captain henry morgan.

Coming up...

I'd like to introduce
you to someone.

He's got a family
business in new orleans.

He trades in hard
to acquire goods.

Does a little sailing
on the weekends.

And, oh, I should mention,
he's also a ruthless pirate.

Ladies and gentlemen,
meet jean lafitte.

In the early 1800s, lafitte
makes a fortune in treasure

by raiding ships
in the gulf of mexico

and smuggling stolen
goods through the outlaw city

of new orleans.

He is, in short,
an untamable criminal.

But when war comes
to america's shores,

many contend that for
one brief moment in time

he'd become something else--

an american hero.

His final act is to vanish
from the history books,

leaving behind rumors of a horde
of treasure worth millions.

Now, 200 years later,
one researcher

believes that he's pinpointed
lafitte's secret safe house.

And a team of treasure
hunters has unearthed

documents suggesting
his gold-laden flagship

might be hiding in
a very unlikely place.

So get ready to set
sail on a journey

into a strange chapter
of american history

and to search for
the lost pirate treasure

of jean lafitte.

♪♪

♪♪

my investigation begins
in new orleans, louisiana.

To understand
the pirate jean lafitte,

you first have to understand
the city he called home.

If you've been here,
then you already know this.

There is no city in the world
like new orleans.

It's a one-off, an uncontrolled
experiment made from a recipe

you could never repeat.

Its ingredients are french,
spanish, african, creole,

caribbean, and native american,
all simmering together

since 1718 and seasoned
with equal parts

pain, joy, and determination,
until the whole thing

bubbled up into
something totally

and beautifully original.

And nothing tells
the story of this city

and the gumbo of
cultures that make up

its dna better than the food--

from po' boys, to king
cake, to alligator.

And of course, a required
stop at a cornerstone

of the french quarter.

Cafe du monde is, of course,
famous for the beignet,

which is fried dough
with just the faintest

dusting of powdered sugar.

[coughing]

it's delicious.
I got just a little on my shirt.

I brush my shoulders off
and belly up to the bar

at one of the city's
iconic oyster houses.

Bottoms up.

-Damn, that's good.
-That's good.

So keep shucking them,
I'm going to keep eating them,

all right?
-All right, sounds like a plan.

♪♪

my contact doesn't
arrive until later tonight,

so I've got some time
to kill in the big easy,

where the locals
live by one rule--

let the good times roll.

Shark attack!

Shark attack!

New orleans practically
invented cocktail culture,

from tujague's
signature grasshopper,

to bourbon street party
favorite the hand grenade,

to pat o'brien's
classic hurricane.

This just in.

I'm drunk--
pretty seriously.

I'll admit the rest of
the evening is a bit of a blur.

My camera crew
assures me I didn't

do anything embarrassing.

Ladies. Ladies.

No?

It's not me, it's other--

they're other guys in there.

No?

And if you can't make it as
an exotic dance promoter,

don't worry.

There's always a last resort--
court jester.

♪♪

what's happening?

[crowd cheering]

♪♪

♪♪

I grab a few strong
cups of coffee and March

on past the french quarter's
festive facade to explore

its much darker history.

Acquired by the united states as
part of the louisiana purchase

in 1803, new orleans was
a gateway to caribbean trade

and a notorious
pirate port of call.

And perhaps no street
in new orleans

better personifies its character
than this one, pirates alley.

A cathedral on one side
and a colonial jail

on the other, and in
between, a den of crime.

In its early years,
this city was

a bustling black market where
notorious criminals became

enterprising businessmen.

Buyers would pass money
through the fence,

giving rise to the expression
fencing stolen goods.

Today, locals are more apt
to trade mardi gras beads

than contraband,
but if you look closely,

new orleans is still
a city of pirates.

And no pirate made a bigger
mark here than jean lafitte.

I'm meeting treasure hunter
captain bradley williamson

at lafitte's original
blacksmith shop, what is now

considered to be the oldest
and perhaps darkest bar

in all of america.

-Brad.
-It's good to see you buddy!

-How you been?
-Been well, been well.

Last time I saw you,
we were hunting

for captain kidd's treasure.

Yes, out on mona island.

That's buried treasure!

Congratulations, buddy.
Join the club.

-Join the club, buddy.
-Oh, man!

But now we're looking
for a pirate here.

Yes.

Jean lafitte, a pirate right
here in the united states.

So where does he come from?

He seems to just kind of
appear on the pages of history.

No one's really sure.
There's lots of legends.

The first 20 years of
his life is kind of a mystery.

Yeah.

Jean lafitte seems to
have emerged fully formed.

No record of his birth exists.

He was likely either born in
France or the french colony

of saint-domingue.

What is known is that
he arrived in new orleans

in the early 1800s
and set up a warehouse

and blacksmith shop
with his brother, pierre,

in this very spot
on bourbon street.

So this blacksmith shop, I take
it, was not on the up and up.

No. This is more
kind of a front.

A little off the beaten
path for the real business,

which was the smuggling
and the privateering.

Why is smuggling
such a big business?

This place was pretty much
the gateway to the caribbean.

In 1807,
thomas jefferson enacted

the us embargo act,
which prohibited

trading with any foreign ports.

So no ships from new orleans
can go to any foreign port.

Correct.

So when this happens,
I assume a guy like lafitte,

who's already dabbling in
smuggling--this is like,

he sees dollar signs.
-Oh, he's making a fortune.

And what sort of stuff
are we talking about here?

-What are they smuggling?
-Anything from sugar, tobacco.

Anything where he can make some
money off it, he would do it.

And it seems like
this makes him,

actually, a pretty popular guy.

Yeah, almost like
a robin hood figure.

Gates: And just like robin hood,
lafitte runs afoul of the law.

The governor,
william claiborne,

is said to have put up signs
all over the city placing

a $500 bounty on lafitte head.

However, legend
says that lafitte

covers over the warrants
with his own offer--

$1,500 for capturing
the governor.

I love this.

This guy is now turning into
what sounds like a gangster.

This probably was
the first organized

crime syndicate here in the us.

Of course, he wanted more money.

And the way to get more money
was if he had his own ships

and became a privateer.

Now he's getting
the full pay from the cargo.

So he's expanding
the family business.

Yes.

[explosions]

gates: Privateering
is basically legal piracy.

Lafitte is given
official license

to attack spanish ships.

And his gang proceeds to
terrorize the gulf of mexico,

bringing in millions
in cash and treasure,

much of which lafitte keeps
and hides for himself.

So here's the problem.

Right now he's got the law
breathing down his neck.

His operation is getting
so large that he needs

to take his operation offshore.
Let me show you.

Look at this.

Ok, so this is a central map
of louisiana and west florida.

-We're right here, new orleans.
-Ok, so we're in new orleans.

And where does he
take this operation?

He takes it over
here to barataria.

So this is basically
a bay out in the gulf.

Why is he over here?

Because you can see he has
the whole coastline here,

which he can access.

But he can also take his goods
through the bayou

up these canals, approaching
new orleans from the back door.

And this map literally has
on it smuggler's anchorage.

Yeah.

It almost has an x marks
the spot, which is great.

Any question in your mind that
lafitte left treasure behind?

There is definitely treasure.

Because he was reputed to
be one of the wealthiest

men in america at that time.
-Wow.

If you really want
to find his treasure,

you gotta go to
where it started--

his base camp right here,
barataria.

Barataria.
Ok.

[music playing]

the next morning, captain brad
and I leave the city and head

to meet swamp guide j. Boutte.

-How y'all doing?
-Good.

-I'm josh.
-J. How you doing?

Nice to meet you.

He'll take us through the bayous
to jean lafitte's former pirate

colony in barataria.

Ok, let's rock and roll.
Let's do it.

Whoo!

We chart a course 90 miles
south of new orleans

into barataria bay
and lafitte's base camp

on grand terre island.

♪ born...
Reaching for the stars ♪

♪ made in louisiana ♪

♪ new orleans,
the city of my dreams ♪

♪ I can feel the death... ♪

woo-hoo! Yeah!

Hell yeah.

It's a good day at the office.

As we slip into the narrow
channels of the swamps,

it feels like entering
a land lost in time.

It's beautiful, but it has a
really kind of mysterious vibe

to it, this whole place.

I can see how these
winding waterways

provided the perfect hiding
place for lafitte's smugglers.

Gates: After an hour
on the water,

the bayou dumps out
into the gulf of mexico,

and we see a lonely
island on the horizon.

This is grand terre, the
heart of lafitte's operation.

We tie up to an old
dock and set foot

on the now abandoned island.

But in the past, this place
was a pirate kingdom that could

be hiding a vast treasure.

Oh, my god.
Look at this place!

♪♪

gates:
I'm 90 miles south

of new orleans with
captain bradley williamson,

searching for the lost
treasure of jean lafitte

on the abandoned shores of
his pirate colony,

grand terre island.

Oh my god, look at this place!

This is crazy!
What is this?

Williamson:
This is fort livingston.

Gates: This fort is outrageous.

Williamson:
This was built

on the grounds of
jean lafitte's fort

when he ran the island here.

Gates: Built in 1841,
more than two decades

after lafitte left the island,
fort livingston

was constructed
when the us government

figured out what the pirates
had known for years--

whoever controls grand terre
controls access from the gulf

to new orleans.

Looking out, you can really
see the strategic value

of this island.

Williamson:
That's why they made
the fort here,

because you could prey
on any ship

in the gulf of mexico.

Let me show you this map.

So this is
a map of grand terre.

Williamson: Yes.

Gates: So this is actually
a plan of the fort

before it was built.
-Williamson: Exactly.

We're, what,
at this end of the island?

Williamson:
We're right there.

Where it says "encampment,"

that's where many of the pirates
lived, right there.

Gates: Uh-huh.

This was, in some ways, like
a pirate kingdom out here.

Exactly.

Gates:
Lafitte's pirate kingdom
was the stuff of legend.

Hundreds of pirates
lived out here,

and lafitte built
a lavish home,

walls stuccoed
with oyster shells.

The island's warehouses
were filled with stolen

goods and even slaves.

Make no mistake, lafitte
was, above all else,

motivated entirely
by making money.

So does anything remain
here from lafitte's time?

No.
There's really nothing left.

Everything that
was here originally

has been taken away by the sea.

But it's a great
strategic location.

Gates: But in 1815,
authorities cracked down,

and lafitte and his pirates
fled, taking all of their gold

and treasure with them.

And so in terms of the treasure
hunt, where do we go from here?

At this point,
I think we need to follow

the trail of the smugglers.

Because they would
have been taking

the treasure up the canal
here, deeper into the bayou.

Ok, great. I'm all in.

Back on the airboat, we follow
lafitte's smuggling route.

Soon, the channel
narrows and branches

out in every direction.

It's near here that lafitte
allegedly established

a way station at a place called
fleming plantation, where he

would transfer stolen goods
to canoes for the final run

into new orleans.

Legend says he also
buried some of his loot here

for safe-keeping.

♪♪

do you think this
plantation's promising?

There have been several
reports of lafitte

being sighted on the property.

And when you hear
enough stories,

there has to be some
truth behind it.

And also, joshua,
there's many legends

of treasure being buried there.

It's definitely a place worth
spending some time looking.

All right, let's check it out.

♪♪

williamson: Ok, josh.

Welcome to
the fleming plantation.

I mean, I don't
think I've seen

a spookier building in my life.

Today, fleming plantation
is just

a shadow of the grand
estate it once was.

Draped in spanish moss
and fog, this place would

give anne rice the creeps.

Williamson: This place
has been here since the 1700s.

It looks like it's been
here since the 1700s.

-And are we ok to go in?
-Yes.

I have spoken to the owner.
He said we can.

Ok. Well, after you.

Oh, thanks.

So I get to go in first
in the scary house.

Yeah. Absolutely.

[spooky music]

this place is crazy.

[bang]

oh!

It's ok. Just debris.

Whoa.

Williamson: That
scared the hell out of me.

Gates: It's an old panel.

Good lord.

Gates: But beneath
the decay and neglect,

you can still imagine jean
lafitte walking these halls.

Williamson: This was
a place where they

had a lot of balls and parties.

It was definitely high society.

Right.

Williamson: There's even
a legend that jean lafitte was

having an affair with
governor claiborne's wife,

and they would meet right
here at this very plantation.

A true pirate, messing
with the governor's wife.

[laughs]

ok, so should we get
away from the lead paint

and get out there?
-Definitely. Let's do it.

Gates:
We fan out and begin

searching the old
plantation grounds

for lafitte's legendary loot.

I'd like to start with
some of these big trees

on the property.

Some of these look old enough
that they might have been

here during lafitte's time.

Williamson: I guarantee
you that tree was definitely

here during lafitte's time.
They would make great markers.

Gates: Ok, so why don't we
split up, look around the tree,

see if we get lucky here.

-Sounds like a plan.
-Ok. Let's do it.

Gates:
We sweep the area,

working our way from the water's
edge to the old oak tree.

[metal detector beeping]

brad, I've got something here.

On the eastern side of
the tree, I get the first hit.

Williamson:
What have you got?

Gates: I don't know,
what do you think?

It's metal for sure.

Piece of plating or something?

Williamson: No, it's lead.
See how it's bending so softly?

-Oh yeah, it is lead.
-That would be lead sheeting.

Wow.

They would use
that a lot of times

on vessels, because
the teredo worms

would eat at the wood.

This could have
a one time been--

-part of a ship.
-Williamson: Yeah.

We're finding shipwrecked
material on land.

-We're finding something.
-Look at that.

Lead sheeting.

Gates: We cover a lot of ground
and get a lot more hits.

Big hit here, brad.

Let's see what we got.

Every few minutes
our metal detectors sound off.

Josh, I got something
right over here.

Gates: We find lots
of rusty old metal objects.

It looks like
a buckle, actually.

This could be part of a saddle.

This could really be
hundreds of years old.

Definitely.

Gates: I'm beginning to wonder,
are we sitting on a goldmine?

[beeping]

or a garbage dump?

[beeping]

wait, that's not junk.

Hey, brad? Brad!

-Come here!
-Ok, hold on.

-Josh: Brad!
-I'm coming, I'm coming.

I got something, man!

I don't know what it is,
but I think it's silver.

Williamson:
It's definitely silver.

Wait, look at that plate.
Look at that.

Ah! Look at that!

Gates: I'm hunting
for the pirate

jean lafitte's buried treasure
at fleming plantation,

deep in the louisiana bayou.

According to local lore, he used
this property as a way station

to transfer smuggled goods...

[beeping]

hey, brad?

...And stash some
of his treasure.

Brad!
-I'm coming.

-I'm coming.
-I got something, man!

Brad: That's definitely silver.

Wait.
Look at that.

-Look at that.
-Ah!

Look at that!

It's a pendant.
It's like a medallion.

-It's, like, a saint.
-Wow.

-That's crazy!
-[laughs]

-look at that!
-I like that.

Definitely silver.
Definitely silver.

You can see the patina
on it from the silver

from the oxidation on it.

This is something somebody
would have treasured.

Somebody would have
worn this, right?

So you know, this has a story
that we're never going to know.

It's like this
link back in time.

That's the thing that's so
great about personal items.

Because it kind of
connects you to the past.

Could this have been
some piece of contraband

that lafitte and his men
were moving through here?

Who knows?

Incredible. So cool.

We found a silver
artifact that may be

from the era of
jean lafitte, but no chest

laden with treasure.

Brad will continue searching
for lafitte's riches

on the grounds of
this historic plantation

and will keep me posted.

Meanwhile,
I'm forging a new path.

To find lafitte's gold,
I'm following his story

to a sleepy town
south of new orleans

that has turned this pirate
smuggler into a folk hero.

And you might ask yourself,
why would

anyone name a town after
a smuggler and a criminal?

Well jean lafitte may
have been a pirate,

but as it turns out,
for that brief moment,

he might also have
been something else--

an american hero.

Lafitte may not have
a statue in his honor,

but he does have
the next best thing--

his own museum, complete with
an animatronic puppet show.

All right, so the war of 1812
is raging,

and the british are
looking for a backdoor

into the united states.

And they realize that lafitte
could be really handy.

If he can help them get
past grande terre island

and through
the bayou to new orleans,

they might be able
to take the city.

And they offer lafitte
a pretty sweet deal--

a bunch of money, a full pardon,
and even british citizenship.

But lafitte is no puppet.

I mean, here he is.

But you know, you get the idea.

And so instead,
he stalls for time.

And he sets up his own meeting
with us general andrew jackson.

Jackson rejects
lafitte's overtures.

And adding insult to injury,
the us navy

attacks his pirate
colony on grande terre.

[cannons booming]

but when the british arrive at
the doorstep of new orleans,

jackson has a change of
heart and strikes a deal

with lafitte, who provides
strategic advice, trained men,

and a crucial stockpile
of musket flints.

And so when the british finally
attack new orleans

on January 8, 1815,
it's lafitte and his band

of pirates that turn the tide.

[gunfire]

[screaming]

without lafitte's support,
we may have lost the battle

and, perhaps, even the war.

But the pirates come through.

New orleans is saved.

And the war ends.

However, the display ends here.

So what happens next?

Well, initially, things are
pretty good for lafitte.

Him and his men get
a pardon, and the slate

is pretty much wiped clean.

But the us government
isn't giving

back grande terre island.

And his smuggling
operations in new orleans,

well, those are
pretty much over.

So lafitte heads west
into the frontier,

and many believe his
treasure went with him.

And so I'm following
the pirate's trail west,

where lafitte found
a frontier big enough

for his grand ambitions, a place
where everything is bigger--

texas.

Specifically, galveston island.

Today, it's a spring break
mecca and a beachfront getaway.

But when jean lafitte
arrives in galveston in 1817,

it's still a spanish colony.

He goes right back to work
raiding ships in the gulf,

and builds a huge mansion
in the center of town.

Eventually, though, he bites
off more than he can chew

when he attacks
an american ship.

When the us government
sends a war boat after him,

lafitte torches the entire
town and, according to legend,

sails away in his flagship,
the pride, a vessel

bursting with treasure.

But lafitte didn't just sail
out of galveston in 1821.

He vanished.

Now, a team of local researchers
believes that they've

found documents that might
complete lafitte's last chapter

and lead to his
missing treasure.

[bell ringing]

that is, if I can find their
headquarters in the back

of this antique store.

Hello?

-Man: Come on in.
-Gates: Hey.

-How are you?
-Man: Hey, josh.

You guys are hard to find.
I'm josh.

-Cody.
-Cody.

-Chuck.
-Chuck.

-Jay.
-Jay.

-How are you?
-Hey.

-Good, man.
-Come on in.

-Let's sit down.
-Yeah, for sure.

Jay, cody, and chuck
are a bunch of hix.

No, really.
That's their name.

They're brothers.

Ok, so question number
one I have to ask--

what got the three of you
into investigating lafitte?

We were told as
kids that we were

directly related to lafitte.

Descendants of one of the
world's most famous pirates.

-Yes.
-Absolutely.

Gates: In the back of
an antique store in galveston,

texas, three brothers are
planning a treasure hunt

for what they claim is their
family legacy, the lost fortune

of the pirate jean lafitte.

We were told as
kids that we were

directly related to lafitte.

Descendants of one of
the world's most famous pirates?

Yes.

And is that true?

What we have is a distant
relative by the name of

jean baptiste ottoman born

in 1782.
-Gates: 1782.

Chuck: Martinique, France.

So we believe this
guy is jean lafitte.

So you think jean
ottoman is jean lafitte?

Yes.

Here's a list of
parallels that we've

been able to draw
between ottoman's life

and lafitte's life.

Both born in the late 1700s.

They both have brothers.

Both appear to be sea captains.

Both arrived
in new orleans around 1804.

No confirmed record of
either of their deaths.

They both own shops
in new orleans.

And then in terms
of their signatures,

which is really
the only piece of writing

we have from lafitte,
-jay: Correct.

There are similarities
in their signature styles.

Jay: Absolutely.

-It's a good case.
-Yeah.

There do seem to be these
kind of remarkable similarities

between these two guys.
-Yeah.

You guys might be pirates.

Well, we feel like pirates.

Yeah. You look like a pirate.

Well, thank you.
Thank you.

I was going for that.

Gates: The evidence
may be circumstantial,

but if lafitte is in fact
an alias for ottoman,

the hicks brothers aren't
just hunting treasure.

They're trying to fill
in their family tree.

Kind of seems like
poof, he vanishes.

-Right.
-Where does he go?

Well, there's several
theories out there.

A lot of theories.

Some say he was wounded
in battle, buried at sea.

Others say that he is
buried in an unmarked grave

in the yucatan.

Ok, so what's
the right theory?

-Our theory.
-[laughter]

I like your confidence.
So what's your theory?

Lafitte was on a ship
called the pride.

And it was rumored to be
a three-masted schooner,

approximately 75 feet
long and 35 feet wide.

And this ship of his is pretty
laden with treasure, right?

-Yes.
-He's on the run.

Our theory is that he went
right outside of galveston,

scuttled a ship,
and that's where his ship

and treasure is buried today.

Gates: The hicks
brothers believe

that when the us navy raided
galveston and cut off access

to the gulf, lafitte had no
choice but to abandon ship,

and his treasure, to slip away.

And what's the evidence
for that?

A lady named josephine joseph
was picnicking with her family

on the shore of the lake in
1856 when her father noticed

what appeared to
be the ship just

below the surface of the lake.

There's another eyewitness
account about in 1890s.

They actually walked
on top of the deck.

Gates: Working with
a combination of eyewitness

testimony and family
stories passed down

through generations,
the hicks brothers

believe they've located
the area where the pride sank.

That's where
the pirate ship is.

[dramatic music playing]

gates: So for
family and fortune,

we set out in search
of lafitte's flagship.

The brothers have arranged
for a support crew

to give us a high-tech leg up.

Josh, this is seth and jake.

Seth, how are you?
Jake.

-Nice to meet you.
-Pleasure.

They are a survey
team, and they're

going to be bringing some
new technology to the game.

All right, great.
Let's do it, guys.

Come on.

Gates: The team splits up
into two boats for the trip.

It will require us
to cross the bayou

and navigate into what's now
a lake, where the brothers

believe the pride was scuttled.

♪ everybody's looking
for somethin' ♪

♪ what are you looking for
(looking for) ♪

how fast does
this boat go, by the way?

We can pick it up.
You ready?

Let's open it up
a little bit, come on.

♪ you, you seek the truth ♪

♪ wear out your shoes
searching for new directions ♪

♪ you, your back to the wind ♪

♪ drawing us in, you'd never
settle for the real thing ♪

gates: The swampy river
opens up

into a huge body
of water,

and we navigate to the far
shore where the hicks

brothers want to search.

But we're not going
diving for the flagship.

Instead, we're
getting towed to land.

If you could just pull me
right up onto shore,
I'd appreciate it.

♪♪

all right,
so this is the spot.

This is it.

Why?

Let's take a look
at these maps.

Ok.

This is the current
map of the lake.

-Ok.
-And this border here is 1862.

-We're standing in the water
-correct.

If it's 1862.
-We are under water, yes.

Got it.

Here we are again,
just at a close up.

From our eyewitness reports
and our family stories,

the ship should be
within these borders

right here, somewhere in here.

Gates: Under our feet, on land.

Yeah, we brought
a terrestrial magnetometer

that we're going to
walk around with and see

if we can find something.

How far down can that look?

It will detect
something that ship

size at 30 or 40 meters easily.

Ok, great.
All right, let's break it out.

Come on.
-All right.

-Let's do it.
-Let's go.

Gates: Seth sets
up a magnetometer,

a device that can detect
iron objects like nails,

cannons, and anchors.

Find those, and we might be on
top of a legendary treasure.

All right, so walk
me through this.

This is a pool cleaner.

-Exactly.
-Right.

It's a pool cleaner,
but it also has a cesium

magnetometer on the end.

Ok.

The pole keeps it away
from magnetic things

we may have on our bodies.
-Right.

So my credit card
just got wiped.

-Exactly.
-Great. I'll stand down here.

We'll break out
our metal detectors,

just in the off chance
we got something

closer to the surface.
-Sounds good.

All right, just
scream when you

find a pirate ship, all right?
-Right.

All right.
Go for it.

Gates: We walk a grid
sweeping the area that

used to be part of the lake.

♪♪

♪♪

nothing.

Hey guys, I got a good hit
right here.

-You got something?
-Yeah. You all come over here.

[dramatic music playing]

coming up...

It's definitely lots
of organic material.

-What's that?
-Wait a minute.

Oh-ho-ho,
wait a minute!

What is that?
Is that wood?

-That's wood.
-That's wood!

-Absolutely.
-That's charred, too.

-That's burned wood.
-That's it.

-That could be from a ship.
-Yeah.

Ha!

Gates: I'm near
galveston, texas,

with the hix brothers
using a magnetometer

to search for the pirate
jean lafitte's

lost flagship and treasure.

And our readings just spiked.

Hey, guys, I got
a good hit right here!

-You got something?
-Yeah!

Y'all come over here.

Ok. Talk to me.

-What do you got?
-I've got strong mag hits.

There's something sizable
and magnetic there.

There's scattered debris here,
some of it large
and some of it small.

There's a lot of
stuff down there.

-Man: Yeah!
-Gates: Look at that.

Man: Oh, wow.
Oh, wow.

Gates: That's
pretty cool, right?

-Man: It's sizable.
-How big is this thing?

It's around 100 feet
in length.

-Gates: Ship length?
-Man: Wow.

Gates: And I don't
want to get too crazy here,

but it kind of
looks like a ship.

It's ship-shaped.

Lafitte's ship was
supposed to be 75 feet long.

-I want some.
-I like that.

-Wow.
-I like that.

Ok. Good.

Whatever it is is running this
way, perpendicular to the lake.

The same direction the ship
would have been scuttled.

So--

and we're in the area where
these stories have come from.

Can you tell how far down it is?
-No, I can't.

We can do
something about that.

We have a probe
that can actually

reach down about 15 feet.
-Gates: Yes!

All right, let's see
what's underneath our feet.

-Come on.
-Let's go.

Gates: The hix boys have
engineered a souped-up probe--

a pipe that sprays a high
pressure jet of water

to break through
the sand and mud.

This will hopefully allow us
to reach whatever lies below.

Ok, I think I understand
what you've done here.

You've got a generator hooked
up to a sump pump that's sitting

in a milk crate that's
pumping water to a pressure

washer that is then
pushing that water

through the end of a pipe.
-Correct.

This is crazy.
Who designed this?

-I designed this.
-Frankenstein.

-Yes.
-Dr. Frankenstein.

It is.

And so we can keep adding
extensions to that pipe

and keep probing down.
-Absolutely, yes.

Our goal is to get
down to the wreck.

Then we have another
pipe that may

be able to bring up samples.

Awesome. Let's fire it up.
Come on.

[motor running]

she's alive!

Ok. We got water coming out.

Cody: Come on, baby.
Blast her up.

Look at that!

Holy [muted], this thing works!

You see all these
little shells and pieces

of rock that are coming up.

The probe easily pierces
through the top layer

of muddy sediment.

Bam!

Ok, we're going to need another
pipe attachment to this.

Six feet of probe just
went straight down.

That's incredible.

-Next section.
-You want to try it?

Yeah, let's give it a whirl.

All right.
Six feet and beyond.

It's really amazing.

You know how long it take
to dig a hole this deep?

Oh, yeah.

-Ok, I'm down.
-All right.

All right.
Another section going on.

Whoa. We've got something.

It's solid, whatever it is,
but it doesn't feel like rock.

It doesn't feel crunchy.

So what are we at here?

-15 feet deep right now.
-All right.

Well, we're hitting something.
Why don't we put a flag in it

and see if we can make some
more of these probes and
yeah.

Figure out if it's
consistent at that depth.

If the hits are at
a consistent depth

down the full
length of the find,

it increases the odds of it
being a single large object--

for example, a boat.

There, I'm hitting something
again, right around 15 feet.

Feel that.
Same thing--spongy, yeah?

Man: Yep, absolutely.

Cody: I think that's wood.

When we hit something
the pipe can't bust through,

we plant a flag.

I mean, it's
definitely consistent.

So we'll mark the depth
and keep on at it.

And as the hits
and misses add up,

whatever lies below
begins to take shape.

-It's going down.
-That's it.

Going, going, going,
going, going, gone.

-Ah, that's it.
-Ok, so there's nothing there.

Because that might mean
we've found the very edge

or whatever this is.
-Right.

Something is down there--

a field of debris
spanning nearly 100 feet.

But is it lafitte's flagship?

The only way to find out
for sure is to take samples.

You can kind of punch
into it a little.

-Yeah.
-I want to know what that is.

It's not rock.
How do we pull something up?

Put a hose down in there and
vacuum it out with a sump pump.

Well, let's do it.

Cody assembles his
device, which looks

like a cross between
something from "ghostbusters"

and something that explodes.

We are going to
suck up our debris.

It's going to get
trapped in this chamber,

and we'll be able to
pull it out, in theory.

What do you mean "in theory?"

it hasn't been tested yet.

Oh, my god.
This is going to blow up.

I'm going to be right over here.
Here we go.

We insert a large diameter
pipe and root around

with a metal rod,
break up whatever

we were hitting with the probe.

Then, despite my
better judgment,

I stick around as cody
fires up his machine.

Whoa! Hold on!

Leak!

I'll just keep
my finger on this.

It's sucking for sure.

-Yeah.
-Ok, so--

ok, let's see what
it sucked up, yeah?

Yeah, let's see.

Gates: We open
the collection chamber...

All right.

...And it's
filled with debris.

There we go.
All right.

So what do we got?

It's definitely lots
of organic material.

Nothing in there
that looks like it's

been sitting there
for 200 years.

Definitely heavier
material, too.

Look at all this sand--
sand and shells.

This is from way down.

-What's that?
-Wait a minute.

Oh, wait a minute.
What is that?

Is that wood?
-That's wood.

Gates: That's charred, too.

That's burned wood.
-Yeah!

That could be from a ship!

-Yeah.
-Gates: Ha!

Gates: This could
be a fragment

from jean lafitte's flagship,
the pride.

That's awesome.

It's incredible to think that
a pirate ship may be resting

directly below our feet,
covered in nearly

two centuries
of mud and sediment.

I'm finding something here.
What is this?

What is it? Wood?

No, no, this
is something else.

That's metal.
That's a nail!

-That is a nail.
-Gates: That's a nail!

And not modern.
For sure not modern.

-Wow.
-Gates: It's a square nail.

It's handmade. The fact
that we're finding these

together might mean that
we're looking at a piece

of decking or planking here.

And look at that, right there.
You see that?

In the wood we actually have
what looks like it could be--

cody: Where the nail
might have been.

Gates: Part of where the nail--
look at that.

Look at that!

That might have been where that
nail popped right out of there!

Cody: Absolutely!

Now there's no question.
There's something down there.

-There's something there.
-Yep.

That doesn't necessarily
mean that it's lafitte's ship.

We can't say that.

But I think you guys are
really onto something here.

-Yeah.
-You guys keep at it, for sure.

-Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
-Keep at it.

You guys, I'm serious.
This is historic.

The mag is hitting
something that is manmade,

has nails in it,
and is the dimensions

of what you're looking
for in the place

that you're looking for.
-Absolutely.

This could be
the very first puzzle piece

in an enormous discovery.

-Awesome.
-Nice work, boys.

-Seriously.
-Thank you, bro.

Great job. Awesome.

Gates: But as much as I want

to run this gizmo
another 1,000 times

and suck up every piece
of evidence we can,

today was just the beginning.

Lab tests and dating,
gathering more samples,

and eventually a full-scale
excavation await.

But for now, we can cruise
off into the sunset knowing

we're one step closer
to solving the mystery

of jean lafitte's ship.

♪ meet me at the last flame ♪

♪ from the shipwreck ♪

since he might be
part of your family,

I want to hear your thoughts
on lafitte the man.

He just seems like
the ultimate survivor.

Yeah, totally.

Gates: Keeps reinventing
himself.

So how do you think he deserves
to be remembered, really?

-Villain or hero?
-Hero.

Little bit of both.

Gates: Little bit of both.

You want the good,
you've got to take the bad.

But you can't
defend his business.

I mean, he's a smuggler,
he's a criminal.

He's moving all
sorts of contraband,

but also helped turn the tide of
war to save the united states.

That's right.

♪ the last flame
from the shipwreck ♪

gates:
The passage of time

has turned the exploits
of jean lafitte,

smuggler, pirate,
and one-time patriot,

into the stuff of legend.

Equally famous are
reports of his treasure,

tales of pillaged booty
buried in the louisiana bayou,

and reports of a sunken ship
scuttled off of galveston bay.

We found compelling artifacts
from the early 1800s,

but no definitive proof
of lafitte's treasure,

or of his flagship--
at least not yet.

Treasure hunters operate
on the hazy border

where history and legend meet.

One day, one of the rumors of
the buccaneer's hidden riches

will pan out,
and the lost loot of lafitte

will finally be found.

♪♪