All language subtitles for Tales.From.The.Explorers.Club.S01E06.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

[Josh Gates] In the deadly
sands of Mongolia's
Gobi desert,

a whip-cracking archeologist

discovers ancient artifacts
that rewrite history,

and will one day inspire
a Hollywood juggernaut

to make another
type of history
at the box office.

And in the farthest reaches
of the Tibetan plateau,

a fugitive Nazi mountaineer
makes a startling journey.

A journey that will one day
make an unexpected "Pitt-stop"

with one of tinsel towns
biggest heartthrobs.

While on the Arabian
peninsula,

a rebellious pathfinder
forms unlikely alliances

that thrust her directly
into the region's A-list.

A century later, her story
catches the eye of a different
type of A-lister.

Grab your popcorn,
as art imitates life,

and the Explorers Club
goes to the movies.

Welcome to the world famous
Explorers Club.

For over a 100 years,

this has been a gathering
place for trailblazers.

The people who dared
to venture higher...

...further,

and faster.

As a member
of this exclusive club,

I'm bringing one of a kind
access to its archives...

This is incredible!

...artifacts...

Oh, my word!

...and my fellow explorers.

This is actual lunar dust?

Unbelievable.

The expeditions planned here,

have tested the boundaries
of human possibility.

Its flag has flown
on death-defying voyages
into the unknown,

that forever changed
our world.

These are the greatest
adventurers of all time.

These are...

...Tales from the Explorers
Club.

The halls of the Explorers
Club echo

with epic tales
of high adventure

that have given rise
to some of the most celebrated
cinema ever made.

Case and point, if I say
fedora-wearing,

whip cracking archeologist
fighting off Nazis,

well, you're probably
picturing big screen icon,

and also my personal idol,
Indiana Jones.

Some of my own expeditions

have followed in Dr. Jones
footsteps.

Where have I seen
this bridge before?

Oh, Temple of Doom,
that's right.

From searching for the lost
ark of the covenant,

to coming face to face
with a crystal skull...

Wow.

...it's safe to say my own
path might not have led
to The Explorers Club

without Indy.

But it turns out
The Explorers Club

has its own real life
Indiana Jones

in thrill seeker,
and former club president,

Roy Chapman Andrews.

Who shrugged off the safety
of his job at a museum,

to seek archeological
treasures

in the world's
most dangerous places.

And who many believe
is the inspiration
for Dr. Jones.

Don't wait for Indy's creator,
filmmaker George Lucas,

to settle the issue.

He's always been tight-lipped
about whether the hero

he originally called
Indiana Smith,

is based on a real-world
individual.

But it doesn't take a huge
stretch of the imagination...

...to see that Dr. Jones
just might be one
of The Explorers Club's own.

Like Indy,

Roy Chapman Andrews
is a child of the late
19th century.

He's a natural born explorer.

And spends every waking
hour in the great outdoors
of Beloit, Wisconsin.

But while sleeping
out under the stars
during a fateful excursion...

...and unwelcome brush
with nature

plants the seeds
of a lifelong fear.

One he just so happens
to share with Dr. Jones.

[screaming]

[sighs]

[Gates] Creative legend
Joe Rohde,

a former Disney imagineer,
and theme park mastermind,

knows a thing or two
about big screen heroes.

He thinks it's more
than mere coincidence

that it's the same phobia
we all associate with cinema's
swashbuckling archeologist.

He wakes up with a snake
around his wrist.

-And that's the "boing"!
-Right.

And he's got this
lifelong fear of snakes.

-Why did it have to be snakes?
-That's right.

-He is the prototype
Indiana Jones.
-Absolutely.

We always hear,
"Oh, this guy's
a born explorer."

This dude is a born explorer,
right?

-Like, from an early age
he is just outdoors.
-That's right.

He clearly has this
deep fascination
with the natural world.

Yes. Totally true, absolutely.

Andrews paid his way
through school
as a taxidermist.

He earned an English degree
from Beloit College.

He also studied Archeology
and Evolution.

Andrews was a lover
of language,
and a storyteller

with a passion for adventure
and science.

The makings of a great
protagonist.

Oh, and he wore this watch.

Not just this model,

he wore this actual
early 1920s
Hamilton wristwatch.

I am literally wearing
history on my wrist.

And, you know,
I think it looks pretty good.

I just have to be sure
to give it back when I leave.

Now in his 20s,

his dream is to land
a job at the American
Museum of Natural History

in New York.

And after a 900 mile
train ride,

he finagles a meeting
with Hermon C. Bumpus,

the museum's director.

Sorry, son.

No work to be had.

-But Mr. Bumpus--
-There's nothing!

We're fully staffed.

I have to work here.
I'll... I'll do anything.

[Gates]
He spent morning's cleaning.

And afternoon's assisting
the taxidermy department
however he could.

From this humble start,

Andrew's was destined
to become

the prestigious museum's
future president.

His ascent is rapid.

While continuing his work
for the natural history
museum...

...Andrew's joins
The Explorers Club

only four years
after it's founded.

He's travels the world,

and receives a Master's
in mammalogy
from Columbia University.

He's a well-known naturalist,

with a reputation
as a romantic traveler
and daring academic,

by the time he embarks
on the biggest adventure
of his career.

Between 1922 and 1928,

Andrews sets out
on a series of missions

called "The Central
Asiatic expeditions".

His goal? To find
scientific evidence
of the "Out of Asia" theory.

A controversial hypothesis,
asserting that human's
originated in Asia.

While proof supporting
the claim that humanity
began in Asia

will prove hard to come by,

other discoveries will alter
scientific knowledge

in profound ways
Andrews never anticipated...

...and just might plant
the creative seeds

for a legendary
movie franchise.

These expeditions will take
Andrews and his team,

including paleontologist
and fellow Explorers Club
member

Walter Granger...

...and filmmaker
James B. Shackelford,

to one of the most remote
locations on the planet.

In Andrews own words,

it's the biggest land
scientific expedition

ever to leave
the United States.

You're seeing the actual films
and images captured
by Shackelford.

They're fascinating records
of both the team's work,

and their surreal setting.

Like any great movie,

the trek into Asia
is full of plot twists
and obstacles

for our hero to overcome.

After Andrews party
passes through Peking

China erupts into full blown
civil war.

They navigate
through treacherous lands
of hostile warlords,

and journey deep
into Mongolia
and the Gobi desert...

...a desolate expanse
of roughly a half a million
square miles.

The land is vast
and foreboding.

They could be
on another planet...

...or from one.

Because their choice
of transportation in Mongolia
is utterly alien.

[car honking]

He's doing this, by the way...

...not with camels,
not with horses,

something that
everybody knows.

He's doing it with cars,
automobiles.

-They're taking automobiles
across the Gobi desert?
-Yes, yes.

It's impossible for me
to imagine

these cars
from 1920-something.

[Gates] What do you think...
What do you think the locals
made of it?

I mean they'd probably
never seen a car
in this part of the world.

-Where's the gas coming from?
I don't...
-Right!

-The whole thing.
-The logistical crazy
of this.

But I mean it's, like,
this incredible
expeditionary force

pushing in, uh, to look
at these sites.

Andrews was no stranger
to travel at this point,

but the Gobi desert
is extreme.

Having been there,
it does feel like
another planet.

It is a dry, endless landscape
of sand and rock,

with undulating canyons
filled with violent winds.

Temperature's there range
from freezing to 145 degrees
Fahrenheit.

And, unfortunately
for Andrews,

there was also the wildlife.

On one memorable night,

a nightmare haunts him
not while he's asleep...

...but when he awakens.

[man yells] Viper!

They're everywhere!

Snakes.

-Why'd it have to be snakes.
-[man] Watch out!

[man screams]

[screaming]

[Gates] What came to be known
as "Viper Camp",

is the result
of the cold blooded snakes
seeking warmth.

On this single night,
the slithering body count
is said to have totaled 47.

Okay, full transparency,
we took some artistic
license there.

Andrews actually wielded
a hatchet that creepy night,
not his bullwhip.

But, we couldn't resist.

While searching the Club
for more facts

about Roy Chapman
Andrew's weapon of choice,

Explorers club's archivist,
Lacey Flint,

tells me she has an artifact
so significant

it's going to blow my mind.

-Josh, I have something
so exciting to show you.
-Okay.

You're gonna love it.

-I'm ready! I'm ready,
yes, what do you got?
-You ready? Okay.

Oh, boy.

-It's a big box.
-Yeah.

[gasps]

-This is...
-No.

This is unbelievable.

-It's a big box.
-Yeah, what's in there?

-This is...
-Oh.

-Really?
-Really, really!

This is the bullwhip
that belonged to Roy
Chapman Andrews.

His actual bullwhip?

His actual bullwhip

from the series
of Gobi desert expeditions.

-May I?
-Of course!

My word, this is unbelievable.

And look at how
beautiful this is.

Mmm-hmm, yeah.

This is incredible!

You are holding history.

So if...

...Roy Chapman Andrews
is one of the real-life
inspirations

for Indiana Jones...

...that's Indy's bullwhip.

-The real Indy's bullwhip?
-Absolutely.

Now can I...

...you know, crack it?

No, you can put it
right... right back down.

There's not a lot of room
in here, it's probably not
a good idea.

Thank you so much,
yeah, mmm-hmm.

That is unbelievable!

Absolutely it is
a piece of history,

and, uh... and somewhere
around here, I have his watch.

Really? Wow.

Along the way,
Andrews documents
his adventures

with a flair that feels
straight out of a summer
action film.

A colleague of his
once observed,

"Water that was up
to our ankles,

was always up to Roy's neck."

Although his scientific
discoveries are impressive
on their own merits,

his lavish storytelling
makes him a legend
in his own time.

Amidst the high adventure
and close calls,

the team makes incredible
finds that shake up

the entire field
of natural history.

Outer Mongolia
and the Gobi desert

are essentially lands
of the lost.

The landscape is bejeweled
with fossils,

including the bones
of an extinct supersized
creature called

Paraceratherium.

He's out there in the middle
of the Gobi desert.

Anybody else who's ever been
out there, nomads,

they're not looking
for fossils,

-they're not looking
for this stuff.
-Right.

So he's, in many cases,
the first person to lay eyes
on any of this.

And among the things,

Paraceratherium
is this gigantic,

horse-shaped relative
of a rhino.

The shoulders are 16 feet.

And then it's got a neck
like a giraffe,

except as big around
as a tree,

with the head the size
of a refrigerator.

-This is, like,
science fiction?
-Yes!

-At the time it's literally
science fiction, right?
-Yes!

-Nobody had ever seen this?
-Nothing.

And so that's...
that is probably

the largest land mammal
to ever have existed.

"Oh! Found that."

-"Put it in the car."
-Yeah!

It's like a nightmare,
giant, rhino-sized
meat-eating warthog.

[laughs] Right, right.

But even at that size,

finding the right specimen
could be a challenge.

I've combed through vast
swaths of land
in Canada and Siberia,

in search
of the woolly mammoth,
a similarly large beast.

In Siberia, I unearthed
mammoth bones
from the permafrost.

[chuckles]

[man] You good?

[Gates] Look at that!

And I have to tell you,
it is humbling

and not a little bit
terrifying,

to appreciate the sheer size
of these animals.

[laughs] Look at this thing!

-[man] Yeah!
-[Gates] Intact!

Even the herbivores are scary.

And then,
there's the meat eaters.

[dinosaur snarling]

In 1923,

in a mineral-rich
region known
as the "Valley of the Jewels",

Andrews team discovers
a massive skull.

The huge teeth
immediately tell Granger,
it's a carnivore.

A big one.

It turns out the skull
belongs to a new species.

It's the first, and to date,
only discovery of its kind.

It is an ancestor
of the hippopotamus
and also the whale.

At about 12 feet in length,
and weighing in at a ton,

size definitely runs
in the family.

In honor of Andrews,
the president of the American
Museum of Natural History

designates the animal
Andrewsarchus.

Proof that humankind
began in Asia

eludes Andrews and his team.

But just like in the movies,

sometimes the most amazing
things happen when all
seems lost.

In a region
of the Mongolia desert

later known
as the "Flaming Cliffs",

they make their most
momentous discovery
of all,

but they're a little slow
to realize it.

-We have to get up early.
-Absolutely.

Guys! I found something.

Can you take a look?

[Gates] Team member,
George Olsen,

casually mentions
he's come across

what seem to be
intact fossilized eggs.

Incredible.

But where we're looking
is too early in the timeline
for large birds.

Most likely sandstone
concretions.

Trust me, come on.

-Well, let's take a look, man.
-All right.

Yeah, they better be good.

[Gates] Awaiting them
is an archeological prize

surpassing their
wildest dreams.

Gentlemen...

...no doubt about it...

...we're looking at the first
dinosaur egg ever found.

[Gates] A historic first.

Call it a case of serendipity,
or quirky fate...

...searching for the origins
of humans,

Andrews and his team
have instead stumbled upon

a dozen, 75 million
year old dinosaur eggs,

give or take a few
million years.

Others have come upon
eggs like this before

but mistakenly
chalked them up to birds.

Andrews is the first
to realize

the significance of what
they have found.

They discover even more
at the site,

realizing they're in
the middle of a dinosaur
birthing ground.

In Andrews words,

the most important fossil
deposit in Asia,

if not the entire world.

In a movie mashup
for the ages,

Indiana Jones has discovered
a Jurassic Park of sorts.

'Cause of the way animals
are fossilized
in this particular case,

it's like they're
shrink-wrapped in time.

Entire skeletons
of protoceratops,

which is an ancestor of all
the ceratopsian animals
with all the horn,

and then velociraptor,
which is now as famous
as anything.

-Right.
-You never see this, right?

The head, the ribs,
the arms, it's all, like,
sitting there.

And, in one case,
the protoceratops
and the velociraptor

are, like, locked in combat,
like frozen in time.

Right, you're... you're
seeing their lifecycles.

You're seeing where
they're born.

I mean, you are getting this
crazy snapshot of life.

[Joe Rohde] Of life, exactly.

It's an incredible find,
and it's not...

...replicated very much
anywhere, ever, at all.

In the history
of paleontology,

it's really rare.

[Gates] After his Gobi desert
adventures.

Andrews continues to trot
the globe.

In 1931, he becomes president
of The Explorers Club.

Three years later,
he's named President

of the American Museum
of Natural History,

where he began,
as a janitor,
a few decades earlier.

After hearing his story,

you might be thinking,
"Andrews has to be
the real Indy".

Still, we don't know for sure.

George Lucas has remained
neutral on the matter.

And there are other
plausible options.

Some say it was
Hiram Bingham,
who found Machu Picchu,

or Sir Leonard Woolley,
who excavated ancient Babylon,

or Colonel Percy Fawcett,

who mysteriously vanished
in search of the Lost
City of Z.

Regardless, anyone
who trades a mop for a whip,

and embarks on a lifetime
journey of exploration
and discovery,

is worthy
of the silver screen.

World War II has inspired
countless big screen
depictions

of bravery, adventure
and exploration.

From Private Ryan...

...to the Dirty Dozen
to Patton,

and everything in between,
heroes abound.

But not every leading man's
quest is a straight-line
path to glory.

It's the implausible journey
of Heinrich Harrer...

...the central character
of Seven Years in Tibet,

oh, and the only
Explorers Club member
to be played by Brad Pitt.

It's the story
of far-flung travel,

but also an allegory
of redemption,

and dare I say, transcendence.

Every movie needs a hero.

And this is what Hollywood
calls a "hero shot".

In 1938,

Austrian mountaineer
Heinrich Harrer
is a climbing superstar.

The first to scale
the Alps most dread peak,

the north face of the Eiger.

But there's a problem
with this particular hero.

Like many Austrians
of his day,

Harrer has joined a movement
seeking to conquer much more
than mountains.

Yes, that's Adolf Hitler
next to Harrer.

And yes, in the years
leading up to World War II,

Harrer climbed under
the Nazi banner.

So how do we get from this...

...to the Dalai Lama...

...then to the silver screen
and Brad Pitt?

It's one hell
of a hero's journey.

In 1939,

Harrer is chosen
for the opportunity
of his dreams:

a scouting expedition
in the Himalayas,

through what is today
Pakistan administered
Kashmir.

The mission, led by fellow
Austrian Peter Aufschnaiter,

is to find viable routes
to the top of Nanga Parbat,

the Himalayas western-most
peak.

It's good, this trip with you.

[Gates] They succeed.

But for Harrer,

the real adventure begins
during their journey home,
in British-occupied India.

You know,
it is so peaceful here.

Hmm.

Makes me never want to leave.

You have to go home sometime.

You won't find peace there.

War is coming.

Nothing can stop it.

[officer] Put up your hands,
you're under arrest.

[Gates] It is two days
before the outbreak
of World War II,

when Heinrich Harrer
is taken captive.

This leading man's fate
may end in a prison camp
with a life of confinement.

[Gates] As World War II rages,

Nazi mountain climber,
Heinrich Harrer,

and his friend,
Peter Aufschnaiter,

are being held captive

in a Northern India
prison camp called,
Dehra Dun.

Five years pass,

everyday is a battle
to avoid surrendering
to despair,

and no day goes by
without plotting a new method
of escape.

[guard] Lights out,
five minutes.

[Gates] On April 29th, 1944,
they put a daring plan
into motion.

Disguised at English officers,

Harrer and Aufschnaiter
make a break for it.

Harrer's dash to freedom
was Great Escape caliber.

Minus Steve McQueen's
motorcycle.

But his gamble
worked perfectly.

He and Aufschnaiter
walked right past the guards

by giving them
a confident salute.

The only problem
with their escape is that,

in short order,
their captors discover
they're missing.

The two men split up,
hoping to increase
their chances

of at least one of them
avoiding recapture.

[guard] They can't
have gone far,
this way, Sergeant.

[Gates] For Heinrich Harrer,
conquering the Alps
Murder Wall

seems like child's play
compared to staying alive
in a world at war.

His hope was to reach
German allies in Japan,
China, or Burma.

But no matter
which way he chose

it would have been
a serious trek.

And the locals
were not exactly friends
of the Reich.

Reunited with his
fellow climber,
Peter Aufschnaiter,

Harrer heads deeper
into the Indian hinterlands.

They pass through Tibet
hoping to reach the forces
of Germany's allies,

the Japanese,
in China or Burma.

After months trekking
Tibet's mountainous terrain

the war in Europe
comes to an end.

But wary
that British prison camps
are still operating,

they keep moving.

Starving and friendless,
the fugitives choose
a new destination,

Tibet's capital, Lhasa.

On January 15th, 1946,

more than 20 months
after their escape,

the men arrive
hoping to find food and work.

Harrer, though,
discovers something here
far more precious.

Lhasa is the center
of Tibetan Buddhism,

and home to the nations
young holy leader,
The Dalai Lama.

The compassionate
and curious Lama
embraces the lost climber.

Over the next five years,

Harrer is allowed
to work as an official
of the Tibetan government,

as a translator
and court photographer.

The grateful Harrer
reciprocates with an unusual
cultural contribution,

introducing Tibet to one
of Austria's favorite
pastimes, ice skating.

He also tutors the Dalai Lama
in geography and science,

and teaches him English.

In Tibet's spiritual head

Harrer finds a leader
opposite in every way
from Adolf Hitler.

One who seeks peace
and finds value
in every human life.

Every moment Harrer spends
with the Dalai Lama

erases more of the stain
of his former allegiance
to the German Fuhrer.

One man's evil
has lead him astray,

another's wisdom
has guided him
to his truth path.

He spends
seven years in Tibet,

inspiring the title
of his book,

which is later adapted
into the feature film.

Few explorers
have spent so long
in one place,

yet discovered so much.

In 1992,

five years before
Heinrich Harrer's story
hit the silver screen,

The Explorers Club
awarded him its highest honor,

The Explorer's Medal.

Putting him in the company
of legends such as,
Sir Edmund Hillary,

Neil Armstrong,
and Dame Jane Goodall.

A wise professor once said,

"We do not follow maps
to buried treasure

and X never,
ever marks the spot."

I've certainly found that
to be true, but I keep trying
to prove the adage wrong.

But I can also attest
that a map can get you
out of a tight spot.

And, as we'll see,
a map can also
change the world.

Cairo, Egypt. 1921.

High-born and well-bred,

English renaissance woman,
Gertrude Bell,

has spent much
of her adult life exploring
the Middle East,

navigating and mapping
the challenging political
and topographical terrain.

A woman breaking up
the boy's club on the merits
of her expertise.

Her stature
in British foreign affairs

is evident
in the company she keeps.

[clears throat] Miss Bell.

Gentlemen.

[Gates] That's 46 year old
Winston Churchill.

Britain's new
Colonial Secretary.

Destined, two decades later,
to become Prime Minister.

Winston? Cigar?

Never before business
is concluded satisfactorily,
my boy.

And that's T. E. Lawrence,
Lawrence of Arabia.

The military officer
and diplomate,

made famous
in the Oscar winning movie
starting Peter O'Toole.

But that's another film
for another day,

our screening room
is all cued up with
the Queen of the Desert.

Three years have passed
since the end of World War I,

the Ottoman Empire,
the Middle East's ruling power
and former German ally,

has collapsed.

The fate of the region
now rests in the hands

of the victorious
Allied Forces.

Bell's unparalleled
understanding of the regions
complex culture,

at this critical moment
in history,

makes her the most
influential woman
in the British empire.

And her hard-fought experience
on roads less travelled

is about to shape
world history

for the next century
and counting.

Very well, Miss Bell,
enlighten us
regarding your proposal.

-Thank you, Minister.
-Mmm.

Please, pay close attention
there is much to digest here.

You've probably heard
of Lawrence of Arabia.

T. E. Lawrence's
epic adventures
in the Middle East

inspired one of cinema's
greatest achievements.

But there was another
explorer, archaeologist,

cartographer,
and British agent

gathering the goods
at the same time,

a woman named, Gertrude Bell.

In 2015, Nicole Kidman
portrayed Bell

in Werner Herzog's
Queen of the Desert.

Her remarkable adventures
sound like the stuff
of Hollywood,

but Gertrude of Arabia
was a true legend.

History is made up of the rise
and fall of empires.

The conclusion
of World War I in 1918

leads to the demise
of four of them,

The Russian, Germany,

Austro-Hungarian,
and Ottoman Empires
all collapse.

Although these political
powerhouses are no more,

ancient lands, civilizations,
and cultures remain.

New nations emerge
from this vacuum,

that require revisions
to world maps.

Work that falls, mainly,
to Allied victors.

In 1921,

then Colonial Secretary,
Winston Churchill,

assembles a conference
in Cairo

to forge a path
out of war time
for the Arab lands.

With her critical
local perspective,

born from boots
on the ground relationships
and mutual respect,

Bell emerges as a key advocate
for the region.

But how does
the only woman present

end up at the very center
of this process
in the Middle East?

Archaeologist,
Sarah Parcak knows.

She's used groundbreaking
technology to map and explore
many of the same lands.

And is an admirer of Bell.

Gertrude Bell
is one of these people
that you read about

and you can't believe
their life is real.

Where does her life begin?

She was born in 1868
in northern England
to a steel magnet family.

So she grows up
in this extraordinary house

surrounded by wealth
and privilege.

Her father and her grandfather

-were, essentially,
scientists.
-[Gates] Mmm.

And she grows up
surrounded by savants,
scientists, explorers.

-Mmm.
-And so,
from a very young age,

she was curious,
she was outside,
she was exploring.

And she was the oldest child
in the family,

-her sin was that
she was born a girl.
-Right.

But she's
absolutely brilliant.

She has the intellect
of her father
and her grandfather.

So she goes off to Oxford,
does incredibly well,

in fact, she's the first woman
to get high honors
from Oxford.

-Wow!
-And she goes to visit
her uncle in Persia.

She completely falls in love
with the region.

And she has
this unbelievable ability
to connect with people.

And people looked at her
and thought,

"Well, who's this woman?
What is she doing here?"

And she was
disarmingly brilliant,
she could talk to anybody.

-Wow.
-And they trusted her.

She starts penning books
about the region
that get great acclaim.

So she's able to make her mark

in a way that she
wouldn't be allowed to
in British society.

[Gates] Explorer to the core,
Bell keeps moving.

She returns to Europe
and becomes the greatest
woman mountaineer of her age.

From 1899 to 1904

she makes a dozen climbs
in the Alps,

including numerous
first descents.

She survives a blizzard
on the Finsteraarhorn

dangling on the mountain side
for 53 hours.

There's even a peak
named in her honor,

Gertrudspitze.

After conquering the Alps,

Bell pivots
from the brutal cold
to the sweltering heat.

In 1907,

she's called backed
by the charms
of the Middle East.

The Ottoman Empire
is already shrinking,

tensions are high,

territorial disputes
are rampant,
and conflicts are bloody.

She presses on.

Her ability to connect
with local leaders

and immerse herself
in centuries old traditions,

surrounds her
with powerful allies.

But her friends
aren't just in high places.

Bell becomes a legend
among locals.

They call her al-Khatun,
simply put, The Nobel Lady.

She journeys
through the revered region
of Mesopotamia,

what all the textbooks
aptly refer to as
the cradle of civilization.

She not only careful maps
routes and landmarks,

-she also photographs
what she sees.
-[camera shutter clicks]

In the wake of civil war
and mindless acts of terrorism

that destroyed
ancient archaeological sites
in recent years,

her photographs
are priceless records.

-[camera shutter clicks]
-And in some cases,
all we have left.

[camera shutter clicks]

So she sounds like
this incredibly

-rugged individual.
-Right.

But she's also a little fancy.

-She grew up
in upper class society.
-Yeah.

-So she was used to balls,
she was used to high teas.
-Right.

So in addition
to all the regular supplies

she's got her fancy tea set,
she's got her furs,
she's got her nice dresses.

Because when she
returns from the desert,
gets cleaned up,

you know, she's gotta
go to dinner

in present day Jordan or Iraq
or whatever consulate.

You know,
the men are in tuxedos

and you have to
put on your ball gown,
so you have to be ready.

All right, fair enough.

She also carried a pistol
strapped to her calf
and kept ammo in her boots.

Anyone that knew her
would tell you, Gertrude Bell
did not mess around.

And although she lived
the high life,

I can't knock anyone
willing to ride a camel as far
and wide as Bell did.

I hate camels.

Stand.

-Come on, [clicks tongue]
here we go.
-[Camel grunting]

Can we do this?
Can we work together?
Is it possible?

Notwithstanding
her sometimes questionable
choice of transportation

Bell presses on
with her most ambitious
expedition yet.

It is 1913,

and war with German
is brewing.

Her married paramour,
British Major Charles
Doughty-Wylie ships out.

He will be killed
at Gallipoli,
another great film.

To gather information
for the British foreign office

and distracted
her worried mind
and broken heart

she heads
for the center of Arabia

to the deadly city of Ha'il.

The region
is increasingly unstable,

and the Arabia peninsula
is a quagmire of rival tribes.

Britain supports the Saudi's.

The desperate Ottoman Empire
supports the Rasheed's,

who's capital is Ha'il.

Bell is marching
toward a tinderbox.

Six months from the outbreak
of the first world war,

Bell's caravan
departs Damascus.

But Turkish authorities
halt her caravan.

She spends the time
taking notes and compiling
map data.

She receives word
that the British ambassador

is washing his hands
of protection for her
if she proceeds.

When a Turkish captain
visits her

she convinces him
to accept a document

absolving the Ottoman Empire
of any responsibility for her.

Are you sure
you want to do this?

Every job worth doing
involves risk.

As you wish.

[Gates] Without cover
from the British government,

or Ottoman Empire,
she's on her own.

Bell continues her journey
into hostile territory
as an outlaw.

Alliances were now a matter
of life and death.

She traversed
the Nafud Desert,

and ate sheep's eyes
with hardened local sheikhs.

She discerned their needs
and registered their grudges,

all while chronicling
her movements.

On February 25th, 1914,

Bell reaches Ha'il.

She is only the second
foreign woman
to visit the city.

Out of the frying pan,
into the fire.

Having survived the desert
she observes the town

is a hive
of lethal tribal competition.

In the last eight years
three Arab rulers,

known as Emirs,
have been assassinated here.

Without explanation
she is then taken captive.

No! No,
don't leave me in here!

-[banging on door]
-You cannot
leave me in here! No!

-[banging on door]
-Let me out!

[Gates] Bell has no idea
why she's been taken prisoner.

Let alone when she
might be released.

-[gun shots]
-[people screaming]

-[rapid gun fire]
-[people screaming]

[Gates] But what is happening
outside might be worse

than her captivity
on the inside.

James Cameron's
Oscar winning film Titanic

certainly added
to the mystique of the doomed
ocean liners legend.

If he decides to make a sequel
history is on his side.

Since the Titanic
has an oft overlooked sister,
the Britannic.

In a cruel twist of fate

she also sank in 1916
off the coast of Greece

while serving
as a hospital ship
during World War I.

With the help of a grant
from Discovery

world-class diver,
Evan Kovacs,

conducted an
Explorers Club expedition

penetrating far
into Britannic's interior.

Documenting parts of the ship
that haven't been seen
for over a century.

An analysis of his data hopes
to solve several mysteries
about the ships demise.

Was it a German torpedo
or mine that sank it?

Why did it sink so much faster
than the Titanic?

And how can
the wreck help answer
the lingering questions

about Britannic's more famous
ill-fated sister?

The movie based
on Gertrude Bell's
incredible accomplishments

is called,
Queen of the Desert.

But in 1914, on the precipice
of World War I,

this burgeoning spy
was more or less a prisoner
in a Middle Eastern hotspot.

Without the protection
of any government
on the planet,

Gertrude Bell
endures her captivity

in the Arabian stronghold
of Ha'il for 11 days.

Then, as suddenly
as she was imprisoned,
she is released.

The conquest of Ha'il
will not end until 1921.

Despite the ongoing violence,

rather than hightail it
out of town,

she spends 8 hours
photographing every corner
of Ha'il.

Before leaving
with her pictures,
journal, and maps.

Amazingly, some of these maps
end up in the archives
of The Explorers Club.

Displayed on this table
are Bell's actual maps.

In 2018, these were found
in The Explorers Club
research collection.

They're from her 1913
and 1914 expeditions
in the Middle East.

They indicate travel times
and distances.

Her notes also contain records
on tribal hierarchies
and regional power conflicts.

Things that would
come in pretty handy

at the outbreak
of a world war.

War is declared
in July of 1914.

Bell's intelligence
lifts the veil

on a cloistered culture
and difficult land.

She's recruited
to lead British troops
across the desert in secret.

And in 1915,

she becomes the first female
hired by British
Military Intelligence,

going to work
at the Arab bureau in Cairo.

Known as Major Miss Bell,

she works along side
T. E. Lawrence,

who relies heavily
on her knowledge

as he rally's the Arabs
against Germany's
wartime allies, the Turks.

This. This seems like
the ideal route.

No. No,
that's ambush territory.

The Turks have been
luring enemies there
for centuries.

Here.

-Longer. But safer.
-Mmm.

[Gates] The war ends
four year later with Allies
defeating the central powers.

But Bell is far from finished.

The lands of the vanquished
Ottoman Empire are carved up
between Britain and France.

Based on her proficiency
on tribal politics

Bell draws the border
of a new Arab nation
called, Iraq.

The Cairo Conference is called
to address the future
of the region.

Bell stands firmly
between British Imperialism

and the promise
of a self-determined,
self-ruled Arab state.

She becomes king maker
when she backs Faisal.

A direct descendant
of the prophet

and son to an Arab hero,
as King of Iraq.

That's my proposal, gentlemen.

What do you think?

[Gates] Historians
still debate

whether Bell's contributions
to the making of the modern
Middle East

were for better or worse.

But there's no argument
that she was an explorer
ahead of her time.

Who earned the respect
of her era's greatest
movers and shakers.

What happens to Bell
after the Cairo Conference?

You know, she continues
to work in the region,

and becomes
an extraordinary
archaeologist.

She makes amazing
contributions to the field

that still have
an impact today.

In fact,
she eventually becomes
the director of antiquities

at Iraq's National Museum.

-[Gates] Wow!
-And she fights very,
very hard

to keep objects in Iraq.

And what's amazing
about Bell is,

that for someone who grew up
supporting the Empire,

she came to realize,
over time,

that all of these people
that were her dearest friends
and confidants,

who lived in modern day Syria,
Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia,
and Jordan

they were the ones
who should rule their lands,
not the Brits.

And she was absolutely beloved
in the region
for all that she did.

Unfortunately, she dies
far too young,
at the age of 57.

But, you know,
as befitting someone

who worked in the region
for as long as she did

she's buried in Baghdad.

[Gates] While
The Explorers Club does not
induct members posthumously,

Bell is in the process
of being recognized

for breaking barriers
as an honored explorer.

The best stories,
in life or on the big screen,

not only entertain us
but also challenge
what we think we know.

The world is complex
and heroes, the interesting
ones anyway,

they aren't perfect,
but they all have an arc.

They start off
in a familiar place

and they end up somewhere
entirely unexpected.

That's what I call
exploration.