Original subtitles

[ Dramatic music plays ]

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-In 1981, Darrell Miklos and his father,

legendary treasure hunter Roger Miklos,

obtained classified blueprints of modified Nazi U-boats,

submarines allegedly altered to move

some of the billions of gold and priceless artifacts

looted by Hitler out of Germany.

♪

-My father searched for these U-boats

until the day he died.

But I have something that he didn't.

♪

-A chart by a former U.S. Navy pilot,

and it shows the location of not one, not two,

but seven possible U-boats located near the Dominican.

-Armed with this naval chart...

-That's priority target number 1.

-...Darrell has assembled a team of divers and experts

to pursue his father's dream.

[ Music builds, continues ]

-I'm looking for answers.

Can this chart lead us to modified U-boats?

Were they carrying valuable treasure and secrets?

-Where were they headed and why?

♪

[ Canon fires ]

[ Music slows, ends ]

[ Sonar pinging ]

[ Dramatic music plays ]

♪

-At their base camp in Montecristi,

Darrell Miklos and his team

meet to determine their remaining dive options.

-I think that it's time for us to move on to a new target.

The question is, where?

We only have a short window of time left,

and it's really important that we decide this next move.

We're left with only a few options

'cause we have hardly any time left to complete this.

-Yeah. -We have target number 1.

We dove it once.

We were forced out by bad weather. Remember that?

The second option is target 4.

Very interesting because we found the gun,

we found the ammo canister lid, and we found the .50-cal bullet.

The only problem with target 4,

we were never able to find that gamma reading.

And then we've got target 7.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

-Now, target 7 --

you know, we haven't dived it yet.

Those are our options. What do you guys think?

-Well, let me suggest something.

I'm gonna suggest we go out here to target 6.

It's our farthest target,

and it's our most exposed target.

I really think target 7 presents the least amount of risk

to get in the water because it's just so close to shore.

Because of the weather and how bad it's getting,

this may be our only opportunity to dive target 6.

-And I think that's an absolutely excellent idea.

While you guys are doing that,

Doug and I can make another visit to 4.

But we know there's something out there.

-Yeah.

-I'm convinced there is something out there.

Give it another shot with the mag.

See if we can focus in on it. -I think this is a good plan.

You go finish up 4, we'll dive target 6,

and we'll meet back here later today.

-Alright.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

♪

♪

-With the weather clock ticking...

-This is probably just the beginning

of what's headed our way.

-...Darrell and Steve move with speed to investigate target 6.

♪

-So, we're headed to target 6.

Target 6 is the furthest target on the chart.

And given that we have a good weather window,

we're gonna try and take advantage of this

and get to target 6 now.

-Are you ready, bro? -Oh, yeah. Let's do it.

-Let's go wet. [ Claps hands ]

-It's a risk, but it's a risk worth taking.

If the weather turns, we're gonna lose a whole day.

And I don't have a lot of days left.

♪♪

-As Darrell and Steve head underwater,

Captain Paco Montaner oversees the operation topside.

♪♪

With storms on the horizon, they must keep a close eye out

for any sudden changes in weather.

[ Static hissing ]

[ Water bubbling ]

-To cover ground as quickly as possible,

Darrell and Steve divide their search area into a grid.

Each diver scans their respective side

for any signs of the source of the magnetometer hit.

[ Mid-tempo music plays ]

Because the wreck may no longer be intact,

they are also looking for signs of large debris,

as well as any smaller artifacts

that could lead them to their target.

[ Static hissing ]

♪

♪

♪

As Darrell and Steve continue their search,

Paco spots something troubling in the skies.

-If it actually comes our way,

the equipment that's there is gonna be completely unprotected.

It'll fly.

[ Dramatic music playing ]

♪

-The forming waterspout poses extreme danger

to the team's dive operation.

These funnels can create wind gusts

that exceed 95 miles per hour,

comparable to a Category I hurricane.

And their movements are just as unpredictable.

♪♪

-Hey, guys.

The wind's picking up over here,

and the waves are getting pretty choppy.

I think you might have to wrap this one up.

♪

-Back at the dock and away from the storm

bearing down on Darrell and Steve...

-Heavy at the handle. Right there.

You have it? -I have it.

-...Garth sets out to redo the magnetometer survey

at target 4 in hopes of a more precise reading.

Joining him is magnetometer specialist Doug Gossage.

♪

[ Engines humming ]

♪

-We think we're off on target 4.

Darrell and Steve dove this site a few times already,

and we can't find the mag hit.

[ Engines humming ]

Initially, the grid was run east to west.

Now we're gonna run it north to south,

perpendicular to the last time.

It's like a checkerboard.

We went this way once.

Now we're gonna go this way and see

if we can give these guys a better chance of finding it.

-You ready?

-The more data we collect,

the better able we're gonna be to be

to find out where that hit was coming from.

-Drop it? -Yeah.

♪

Okay, right there, that, what you got in your hand, yeah.

Let the rope out gently.

♪

-Off!

-Okay.

Alright, we're good.

-While Garth and Doug continue their search...

♪

...back at target 6,

the weather is worsening for Darrell and Steve.

♪

[ Thunder crashing ]

♪

They face threats from an approaching storm

and are forced to call off their dive.

♪

The deteriorating conditions have now made

getting back in the boat even more challenging.

[ Dramatic music playing ]

♪♪

♪♪

-You got it. [ Thunder rumbling ]

-Ooh! That's a heck of a ride coming out of there.

-No [bleep]

-We may have shot ourselves in the foot

waiting to dive target 6 so late in the game.

I mean, we should have done this earlier.

It's so far out there.

The weather is just killing us out here.

Here we are again, dealt with another whammy.

Weather pattern's coming in,

and it's starting to have a circular motion to it.

We're worried about the waterspouts.

We've just been cut...like that.

Our dive day is over.

Trying to get everybody out here as fast

as we can to get this stuff downstairs

so it doesn't start to blow away,

and we got to be real careful.

You got that, man?

We got to get this boat deck cleared.

♪

-We got to hurry.

This thing's coming in fast. [ Engines start, rev ]

♪

-Meanwhile, back at target 4...

Garth and magnetometer specialist Doug Gossage

are nearly finished

recapturing magnetometer readings at this site.

They're hoping to confirm the presence of a large anomaly

and pinpoint its location.

♪

-We're gonna go up to this line,

but we got to change its direction.

♪♪

-So we've been doing this for about, oh, five hours now...

♪♪

...and the sea has picked up massively.

It's difficult for Doug to keep it straight.

But at this point, I'm not sure how much longer

we're gonna be able to try and hold this.

-Oh, whoa. Wait. Wait. What do we have coming here?

-Oh! Here we go.

-That's got to be target 4 right there.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

I've been pushing for target 4 this whole time.

And, boom, we relocated the same hit

that Darrell and Doug got during their initial survey.

-Yeah.

Exactly.

Right. Why?

Yeah.

-Relocating the large anomaly at target 4 is welcome news.

[ Monitor beeping ] -We got it.

Let's get a GPS on it.

-By compiling the data with their earlier survey,

the team will now be able

to get a more accurate location to dive.

-Darrell and Steve are gonna be able

to get back in the water,

and they're gonna have a hell of a better chance

of finding target 4 this time.

We're a little further east,

but the mag-hit intensity was almost exactly the same.

♪

♪

-After escaping an oncoming waterspout at target 6,

Darrell and Steve head back toward Montecristi

to explore target 7.

♪♪

-Target 7 is a lot closer to land than target 6,

so we should encounter calmer weather conditions,

but it's not a guarantee that the winds won't pick up

and drive us off this target.

♪♪

♪

-As Darrell and Steve begin their search

for the source of the magnetometer hit,

the cloudy waters limit their line of sight.

♪♪

-To counteract this,

they decide to use a circle search method.

-A circle search is when you do concentric circles

around the marker,

and once you've completed a circle,

you move out 20 to 40 feet at a time.

This ensures that we don't miss anything.

We're down to the wire at this point.

Hopefully this will make our search as efficient as possible.

♪

[ Static hissing ]

♪

-One hour in to the search at target 7,

and the team has yet to find the source of the reading.

♪

They move their search slightly east,

towards a small reef.

[ Static hissing ]

♪

[ Metal detector chirps ]

♪

[ Metal detector squealing ]

♪

-[ Grunts ]

♪

[ Metal detector chirps ]

♪

♪

-Darrell and Steve return to the surface

to set aside their find for conservation.

♪

-This is a pretty interesting find,

but it's hard for me to say exactly what it is.

Whatever this is, though, it's not nearly large enough

to give off the signature

that we got here with the magnetometer.

♪

♪♪

-After separating, the team regroups back in Montecristi

to discuss what each found at the three targets.

-Alright, here's where we're at.

The weather was too rough at target 6,

but we did find something at target 7.

Do you know what that is?

-I'm not sure.

I know some people that are much more knowledgeable on this.

You know, it's one of those things that I think that

I need to check into and get us an answer to see if it's just --

if it's related or if it's something

that we can just forget about.

-Okay. Yep.

We got a pretty big mag signature here,

and that little munition we found

definitely isn't what caused it.

So I want to get back to target 7

and find out what's there.

♪

What'd you find?

-Doug and I went out to target 4.

We picked up the same mag hit, but it's, you know,

150, 200 yards east of where we thought it was.

-100 to 150 yards,

you can't see that even when you're going straight down,

let alone straight ahead. -Right.

-So now, if we can catch some weather,

we catch a break here, we can get out there.

I've got better GPS location of where that target is.

-That's real promising because part of me wanted

to not believe that it was bad data, right?

-The data wasn't bad.

It was just off. -Right.

-That's good. That's good news.

-Now, for me, that makes sense.

I mean, we've got a trove of things out there

that are related to the U-boat,

that are related to what's going on.

There might have been an incident.

But we're gonna need like two days

'cause it's still business as usual.

I mean, we've still got rough seas out there.

We could hit another weather issue.

But if we can get two days of diving out there,

we can find this target.

-With the team running short on time,

Darrell comes up with a plan to dive the remaining targets.

-We'll spend the next two days diving target 4,

but let's dive target 7 tonight

and try to locate the larger gamma reading.

-This may be our only opportunity to dive that site.

-The water's gonna be calm, and let's take advantage of it.

Let's try to figure new ways to get as much done as possible.

Let's go find a U-boat.

♪

♪

-Back in Montecristi, at the team's base camp,

Garth calls munitions expert Clayton Swansen.

A former explosives ordnance disposal technician in the Navy,

Clayton, is an expert in military munitions

dating back to the First World War.

-Hey, Clayton, man, I am really appreciating your time here.

I got something I need to show you to see

if you can tell me what the hell I'm looking at.

-Yeah. No problem. Glad to help.

-Garth hopes Clayton can identify the possible projectile

Darrell and Steve found at target 7.

-So, let me try and give you a shot here

of what we're looking at. -Okay.

-Base. Base.

Front side. -Okay.

-Obviously, I'm wondering if this is munitions

that could have come from a German U-boat.

-It's not anything that I recognize

as World War II ordnance, German or U.S. or other.

It's a pretty crude design, basically.

I'm thinking it probably predates World War II,

if not World War I.

-How does this get to the outside coast of the D.R.?

-If it was U.S. ordnance, it's possible

that they could have sold some of their overstock

to the Dominican or other countries in that area.

It could have been that a U.S. ship

kicked it overboard when they didn't need it anymore.

There could have been naval ships down in that area.

And naval ships, they dump ammunition all the time

for different reasons.

It could have been overstock that they just kicked overboard.

It's really hard to say.

-But it's certainly not from a U-boat?

-No, I don't believe it is. -Okay. Fair enough.

That's not the greatest news,

but knowing it's not associated with a U-boat, it does help.

Absolutely.

So, this round didn't come from a U-boat,

but it isn't what set off our magnetometer hit, either.

So there's still something big waiting for us tonight

at target 7.

[ Dramatic music playing ]

♪♪

-Nighttime is not optimal to dive,

especially where we're at,

but we have to take advantage of what little time we have left.

♪♪

[ Air hisses ]

♪

♪

♪

[ Static ]

♪

♪

♪

-[Bleep]

[Bleep]

-I really thought this was a U-boat.

But as we get closer, it's clear that it's not.

And that's a real disappointment.

I'm not sure if this is another case of a ship

being in the wrong place at the wrong time,

like the other wrecks that we found.

Regardless, this isn't a U-boat,

and that's what we're out here to find.

So it's time to move on from this target.

If we only had this kind of water during the day

because we could dive all day in this.

-Is it unbelievable how calm it is now

and then, 7 hours from now, 30-knot winds?

-I know.

♪

-As Darrell Miklos and his team

make preparations to dive at target 4...

-Let me show you guys something, alright?

-...Captain Paco Montaner shares troubling news

that threatens to end their nearly month-long search.

-This is us today. Right? -Yeah. Right.

-And basically our position right there on that dot.

-Right.

-See all the weather incoming? -Yeah.

-And look here, South of us.

You see the -- the circular motion?

-That's like a tropical depression, eh?

-Yes. So just wait until the next day.

-It's moving towards us.

-And it's gonna cross the island.

-And we're gonna be hit by the North side of that storm.

-And once it crosses to North,

then it develops into a completely circular motion.

That looks like a small hurricane or a tropical storm.

But definitely enough to stop diving operations around here.

-Yeah.

-According to new forecasts, a storm will make landfall

in the Dominican Republic in just 48 hours.

The team has now just two days left in their search.

-There's no diving in that. It's just too risky.

-That's a barrage of storms developing.

I can see at least -- There's one, two, three, four.

That's four storms coming our way, one right after the other.

This would be months for us to wait this out.

There's no way.

-It is a pattern that is going to continue

all through the fall, into the winter.

Storm every week.

-So that's it. -That's it, bro.

-Welcome to hurricane season. -Yeah.

Just -- Just open the door. Here we are.

♪♪

I think that we're all disappointed

at how early the hurricanes are coming this year.

But this forecast is bad news for the search.

It's absolutely devastating that we're almost out of time.

But I'm not ready to go home empty-handed.

♪

-Early the next morning,

with approximately 36 hours before the storm makes landfall,

the team embarks to target 4,

where Garth's new magnetometer data

indicates a new area to dive.

-Go. -Go ahead.

-Oh! -It's on the bottom.

Clear in the bow now. Clear in the bow. You're good.

-We're really excited to dive this and see what's down there.

Cross your fingers. This is the sub.

However, today is not the perfect day.

Let's throw a current line out by the side here

because that back end is gonna come up

four and five feet at a time, man. That's nasty.

-You're looking at like six-foot rollers at times.

-Yeah. On the set. -Spot on.

-Let's just knock it out of the park.

Let's go find it. -Let's go get this one. Come on.

-We got up at the crack of dawn this morning

to beat the choppy water.

But already the conditions look less than ideal.

We may have only an hour or so to dive today.

That last swell,

that whole platform was six foot off the water,

and then it went under the water one foot.

So there's a seven-foot swing, so be careful.

♪♪

♪♪

-The mag hit we got, it is massive.

That's sensing the magnetic resonance

of an object that is down there.

It's just down there.

It takes a long time to crisscross an area,

multiple dives sometimes to find out where that's coming from.

-Darrell and Steve focus their attention on the reef system

occupying much of the target 4 area.

Over decades, it's natural for shipwrecks

to transform into a habitat for coral and marine life.

While it presents a possible lead,

this blanket of life

can also camouflage wrecks or other debris.

So Darrell and Steve will use a metal detector

to pinpoint any hidden clues.

[ Metal detector squealing ]

Twenty minutes into their search,

Darrell and Steve get their first lucky break.

♪

[ Static ]

♪

-We pull out something that looks like a tool,

but it's not like any tool that I've ever seen.

It looks old.

So I want to get it topside so we can conserve it properly

and examine it even more closely.

♪

-As Darrell and Steve bring the object to the boat,

heavy winds make conditions on the surface

even more challenging.

-They'll be doing a slow ascent for safety reasons.

When they come up, hopefully we hit this in a lull,

which we are not in now.

-Hey, Steve,

it looks pretty rough right below the ass end of the boat.

-Yes. Be very careful.

-Just grab that, uh, line.

-Garth holds the line steady to give the divers

something to hold on to as they try to get back onboard.

♪

♪

-Yeah, yeah. Wait one, wait one.

♪♪

You got it.

-As bad as I want to get back down there

and keep searching for that mag hit,

this weather is an all-stop for us.

It's frustrating because that means we just have to

hope tomorrow's weather gives us one more chance at it.

Whatever's dumping this material on there,

it's got to be right next to it or within the vicinity of that.

So there's got to be something bigger down there.

♪

♪

-In Montecristi, Garth calls naval historian Bob Cembrola.

-Hey, Bob. How are you doing, man?

-Good. How about you? -Good.

-Bob is the curator for the Naval War College Museum

in Newport, Rhode Island, and he has been involved

in numerous underwater archeological projects.

As the team waits for the weather to clear,

Garth wants to learn more about the artifact

found earlier today at target 4.

-We're still down here in the Caribbean,

you know, doing our thing.

And I want to bring one thing in particular right now

to you to see if you could help me out with it.

You check this out. It's, uh --

It's metal, obviously. It's steel.

It's got little quirky things all over it, right?

-And there's no markings on it? -The one end has tabs on it,

but it has these, uh, ridges with grooves in it.

And then it looks like a key, honestly.

It looks like a big, giant key, right?

-Yeah, it's probably from a deck gun.

Anti-aircraft, probably. -Equipment for the gun itself?

-Yes. Yes. -One of the quick maintenance tools?

-Oh, yeah. It's -- I would --

It's pretty certain that came off of a U-boat.

-So, how does something like this, then, end up in the water,

I mean, you know, if it is an isolated find?

-Well, it could have fallen directly off the U-boat

by accident or if he had to do an emergency dive.

-Yeah.

-Early in World War II,

U-boats avoided Allied airplane attacks

by performing what became known as a crash dive.

The commander would ready the sub to dive in minutes

to avoid the barrage of .50-caliber bullets

from the aircraft.

Could this multi-tool be further proof of a battle

that could have taken place at target 4?

-In a situation where -- you know, emergency dive,

especially if somebody's coming in from an airplane

to shoot you, you want to get your ass below --

below deck, right? -Yeah.

And you're not gonna worry about losing a wrench,

that's for sure. -[ Laughs ]

No, no, that'd be about the last thing, right?

You're pretty sure this is, then, you know, a gun tool?

-I think so.

-In and of itself, that's encouraging.

The fact that this multi-tool was used on German deck guns

is a big deal.

These deck guns were standard air defense

for U-boats during the war,

especially towards the end of the war

when the Allied air power had grown so formidable.

We have the tool for the deck gun.

Now we have to find the deck gun on the U-boat.

Hey, Bob, I really appreciate your time.

-Oh, it's my pleasure.

And if you want to talk again, anytime.

-Alright. Thanks a lot, man.

♪♪

-Later that night, Garth meets with Darrell and Steve

to report his findings.

-So, the item recovered from this morning --

I checked with Bob Cembrola -- and what we have here,

it's a multi-tool for a German machine gun,

and it's quite likely from a U-boat.

-Wow. -It's another piece in that trail

that you guys have been tracking down.

So, adding this to the assemblage of artifacts

we've already recovered from target 4,

like the flak canister cover,

these are things that would have been on the deck of a boat

when it was getting attacked and fighting off an aircraft.

That's where the .50-cal round comes in.

There's men on the deck. They're working.

They go to an emergency dive to get out of there.

This stuff's gonna fall off the deck.

It's gonna be left behind as they get below.

Nobody wants to risk their life for a spanning tool

for the machine gun. -Right.

-I'm sure they have another one.

So, as that thing is going down, these are lost.

That mag hit could be the U-boat.

-We are getting too close. There's too many clues

that are pointing us towards that mag hit.

-Could Garth's theory be correct?

Could this multi-tool be further proof of a battle

that could have taken place at target 4

between Allied aircraft and a German U-boat?

And if so, were they simply fighting for their lives,

or could the U-boats have been carrying something

the Germans were willing to die to protect?

-I'm not letting this one escape us.

Let's go dive this thing tomorrow.

We're on the trail to a treasure-laden U-boat.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

♪

-The next morning, the team returns to target 4

for what is likely their last dive this season.

[ Metal detector squealing ] -Yeah.

-There you go. -Yeah. We're good.

-Okay? Beautiful. -Yeah. We're on.

-That tropical depression that Paco told us about

will be on top of us in less than 24 hours.

This is our last chance to find that large mag hit at target 4.

So we've got to stay focused.

Alright, bro, you ready? -I'm ready, man. Let's do this.

♪

-As Darrell and Steve begin their search...

-...Garth monitors the weather topside

for any changes that could cut their operation short.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[ Metal detector squealing ]

-Twenty minutes into their search,

the metal detector picks up a hit.

[ Metal detector squealing ]

[ Metal detector squealing ]

♪

♪

-In the final hours before a tropical storm

hits the Dominican Republic,

Darrell and Steve get a hit on their detector.

[ Metal detector squealing ]

♪

The team decides to search the perimeter of the mound

to see if the detector picks up anything else unusual.

[ Metal detector squealing ]

-This mound is consistent with the size and shape

you'd expect for a buried U-boat.

The good news is we may have found our mag hit.

The bad news is getting to it

will take an entirely different plan

and one we don't have time for.

♪

♪

-Finding a mound that appears large enough

to cover a buried U-boat raises an interesting possibility.

Due to the constantly shifting nature of sand

on the ocean floor,

it's not uncommon for large objects

or even shipwrecks to be buried over time.

In Wissant, France, a German sub known as UC-61

was scuttled in 1917 at the end of World War I.

By 1930, the wreck was largely buried by sand.

Today, the wreck appears every two to three years,

when weather and tides expose it for a brief time

before burying it once again.

♪♪

As Darrell and Steve continue to look

for an entrance into the mound,

the conditions above them are worsening.

-The weather is deteriorating. It was clear.

Now things are moving in, and it is getting bad out here.

This is not where you want to be in a hurricane.

Darrell and Steve had better find something fast.

We have got to get out of here.

♪

As soon as possible. As soon as possible, you need to get back up here.

-With a tropical storm front blowing in,

Garth calls Darrell and Steve back up to the surface.

-My hand's here if you need it.

-I should be okay.

[ Grunts ]

♪

-With weather conditions rapidly deteriorating,

Darrell checks in with Paco topside.

-So, bud -- Whoa!

How are we looking, man?

-Not -- Not good.

This is six to seven feet solid and rising.

We got 23-mile-an-hour winds and also on the rise.

So it's definitely gonna go 8 to 10 feet very soon.

We need to make our way to safe port.

This is going to get pretty ugly.

-Uh-huh. -Look out!

Watch it! -Whoa!

-Watch it. I mean, this is dangerous, man.

This is the beginning of a system that's incoming

the next three days.

Might develop to a hurricane right on top of us.

-[Bleep] [Bleep]

-I know you don't want to hear this,

but I think your diving season is over.

-It's disappointing to come this close

just to call it quits.

But we have a big storm moving in and several more behind it,

which means our expedition is over.

♪

♪♪

-As the crew pulls into the harbor,

the storm begins to descend on Montecristi.

-We've finally gotten into the dock.

We're being evicted from the Caribbean from that right there.

Hurricane will be here today, tomorrow.

But we have to clear the boat, get everything off of it,

get our gear in storage, and get the hell out of here.

-Let's go, guys. Let's pack it up. Let's go, let's go.

-They quickly begin the process

of packing up the boat for the season.

-It's bittersweet to come this far and to have to stop now.

-This is heavy. It's heavy.

-But I'm not giving up hope.

Ever since my father and I started looking

for these lost U-boats,

this is the closest I have ever come to finding out

where these U-boats went.

That's it, boys.

I'm satisfied that the clues we found

are pointing to a bigger mystery unfolding here in Montecristi.

-As the team leaves the Dominican Republic,

questions still remain.

What mysteries lie buried beneath the mound at target 4?

And could it harbor the very treasure

Darrell has pursued for decades?

-I think we may have found something here,

and in a few months, when hurricane season passes,

I'm coming back to find out

what's under that mound at target 4.

I'm not stopping until I find what I'm looking for.

♪