All language subtitles for S02 E06 - Killer Queen _ ENG

narrator: Tonight
on "The Bermuda Triangle:

Into Cursed Waters"...

- We're on the ragged edge of
what is considered a sane dive.

narrator: The team tackles

one of its most dangerous
dives ever.

- Nobody's going
this far offshore

to do a dive
on a wreck like this.

This is unknown territory.

narrator: Do these remote
and dangerous waters

hold a legendary
Bermuda Triangle mystery?

- This is something
significant.

narrator:
How did the Triangle

swallow this massive ship?

- He would point to the ocean,
and he said,

she's so beautiful,
but she's a killer.

narrator:
The team pushes themselves

to the limit to find out.

- If something goes wrong,
it's not worth your life.

- It was a death trap,

period.

- We gotta go.

[dramatic music]

narrator:
There is a place

that evokes fear
and fascination.

♪ ♪

Bounded by Florida,
Bermuda, and Puerto Rico,

the Bermuda Triangle
has swallowed countless ships,

planes, and people.

♪ ♪

Now an elite team
is on the hunt...

- Dive, dive, dive.

narrator:
And making big finds.

- We've discovered
"Challenger."

♪ ♪

narrator:
Their secret weapon:

a wreck map
decades in the making.

♪ ♪

- These are dangerous dives.

- Oh!

- Any sane person
would not be doing this.

narrator:
Their mission:

solve the mystery
of the Bermuda Triangle

one wreck at a time.

- Dude, are you seeing this?

- Mother Nature is gonna
take these wrecks away.

The clock is ticking.

♪ ♪

- We've done
a lot of deep dives.

We've done a lot of dives
that are far offshore.

This is the combination
of both of them.

It is basically
a pretty crazy dive

to be trying to accomplish.

narrator: Wreck hunters
Mike Barnette

and Jimmy Gadomski

are preparing for one
of the most difficult

and remote dives
they've ever attempted.

- This is a no-joke dive.

If something goes wrong,
we're nowhere near shore.

narrator: Today's target:
a wreck on the outskirts

of a busy shipping route
that feeds

into the Bermuda Triangle.

It's nicknamed
the Phosphate Carrier,

suggesting it holds
some kind of chemical cargo.

- We got intel from fishermen
that we have massive structure

on the bottom,
lots of fish, lots of life.

And it's not a small boat.

This is something significant.

narrator: At over 400 feet,
it's dangerously deep.

But even worse
is its location--

at the edge
of the Florida straits,

150 miles from civilization.

♪ ♪

It's an area known
for nasty storms

that appear out of nowhere.

A typical dive boat would need
24 hours to get to the site.

Mike and Jimmy
will use speedboats

to do it in seven,
to hit it and get out

before bad weather starts.

- That's a lot of horses
hanging off there.

- I know.

♪ ♪

- All right, guys,
you got a few seconds.

narrator: For such
a complicated dive,

they'll need extra personnel,
including safety divers

and additional equipment.

- We have a lot
of moving parts on this one.

This is a deep dive.

We're taking all the safety
precautions that we could do.

We need to bring
two boats with us.

If something happens
to one vessel,

now the other vessel
can come and get us.

narrator:
But to Mike and Jimmy,

the extra risk is worth
the potential reward,

because they have
a strong hunch that this wreck

may actually be
one of the most enduring

unsolved Bermuda Triangle area
mysteries ever:

the disappearance
of the "Marine Sulphur Queen."

- The "Marine Sulphur Queen"
was a 500-foot T2 oil tanker

that was converted
after naval service

to carry molten sulphur.

It was on a routine trip
between Texas and Virginia

when it suddenly disappeared,
never to be seen again.

- And it had
a highly experienced crew

and an experienced captain.

So why it went missing
without a trace

is still one
of the biggest mysteries

in the entire Bermuda Triangle.

narrator:
February 2, 1963,

the "Marine Sulphur Queen,"
nicknamed the "MSQ,"

sets out with more than
15,000 tons of molten sulphur,

a critical raw material
for everything

from farming
to pharmaceuticals.

- It essentially
had a football field

of molten sulphur put into it.

That was potentially volatile.

narrator: 24 hours
into her trip,

she hits a winter storm
with 16-foot swells.

But that's nothing new
for the "MSQ."

She's successfully sailed this
route dozens of times before.

As she approaches the waters
around the Bermuda Triangle,

she transmits one final call
reporting nothing is amiss

and is never seen again.

♪ ♪

The only traces ever found

are small pieces
of wreckage.

- Pieces of equipment,
such as life jackets,

and other things
that had the ship's name

actually washed up
near the Florida Keys.

♪ ♪

- The coast guard
launched a massive

air and sea rescue operation.

But unfortunately,
it turned up nothing.

narrator:
Authorities determine

the "Marine Sulphur Queen"

and all 39 souls on board
were lost.

But the wreck
is never located.

- The question is,
how does a 500-foot vessel

just go missing,

vanishes
with no distress call?

For us, the disappearance
of the "Marine Sulphur Queen"

is a Bermuda Triangle mystery
that our team

truly wants to solve.

♪ ♪

narrator: Having prepped
their boats in daylight,

the dive team
regroups at midnight.

♪ ♪

By 2:00 a.m.,
they are underway,

and the clock is ticking.

No one has ever looked for
the "MSQ" where they're going.

60 years ago, the coast guard
focused where the debris

washed up in the Florida Keys.

- Debris started washing up,
so they started looking

for the "Marine Sulphur Queen"
directly off of Key West.

narrator:
But Barnette believes

they didn't extend
the search for the wreck

far enough back towards
the last known position

of the "MSQ."

- Knowing how fast
the current is moving there

and how fast you can drift
in, say, a day,

which we've gotten
much better at now

with computer modeling
and satellite technology,

they're definitely looking
100 miles too far east.

♪ ♪

narrator: After seven hours
of high-speed travel,

the team reaches their target
just as dawn breaks.

[indistinct chatter]

- I don't know much
about much,

but I think
that's probably our girl.

I don't know what else
could be that big, that tall.

♪ ♪

narrator: The sonar
is showing something

the size of a skyscraper lying
horizontally on the sand.

- You don't get to see a
structure like that very often.

- No.
[laughter]

- You know what I mean?

God only knows what else
is down there, you know.

♪ ♪

- Water's clear.

♪ ♪

narrator: The team drops
their shot line.

- All right, good boy.
Good boy.

- Throwing.

narrator: It will guide
the divers down to the vessel

more than 400 feet below.

♪ ♪

- That is 345 right there.

♪ ♪

Done.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The hook is set.

It's go time.

- Captain Steve, it looks
like that the spot is holding.

We are going to initiate
procedures for dive.

- Copy that.

♪ ♪

narrator: This wreck
is almost twice as tall

as the Statue of Liberty.

- Dive, dive, dive.

[water splashing]

♪ ♪

- OK, Mike's in the water.

narrator:
Yet the extreme depth

means they have
only 15 minutes

to map it out
before they have to begin

making their long, slow ascent
back to the surface.

♪ ♪

Meanwhile the surface team
keeps an eye out

for nasty weather.

- We're monitoring
precipitation,

which happens here in Florida
every day,

you know, 2:30, 3:00
in the afternoon.

♪ ♪

narrator:
As the divers reach 400 feet,

the darkness enfolds them.

They strain
to see their target.

[laughs]

narrator:
And then...

[laughter]

- Whoo-hoo!

narrator: The team has come
face-to-face

with a leviathan.

[dramatic music]

narrator:
Wreck hunters Mike Barnette

and Jimmy Gadomski

are more than 400 feet
below the surface

in search of a massive
Bermuda Triangle mystery...

♪ ♪

The "Marine Sulphur Queen,"
lost in 1963.

With a wreck this large,
their first goal

is to roughly map it out.

- On this dive,
we want to see

what kind of wreck
we're dealing with.

We try to find clues--

the size, the layout,
the type of machinery,

anything we can find
to help narrow down

the list of suspects
that the vessel could be.

narrator:
Jimmy stays below

to survey the debris
on the seafloor

while Mike heads
toward the bow.

♪ ♪

narrator: Jimmy spies rusted
metal and wooden pieces,

likely from the ship's deck...

♪ ♪

But nothing
with the ship's name on it.

And to the fish
that make their home here,

Jimmy is an unwelcome
intruder.

♪ ♪

- The fish that are this deep,

they've probably never
seen a person before.

They're not used to people.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Up on top of the wreck,

Barnett keeps an eye
as the clock winds down.

They have no time
to head into the holds.

They will definitely
need another dive.

The challenge now
is to get Jimmy's attention.

With so much more of the
mammoth wreck to discover,

he has headed
toward the stern.

- Whoo-hoo!

- I'm always thinking,

can I see a little bit more
of this wreck?

Because we could look
around the next corner

and make a huge discovery.

narrator: Mike knows
they need to go now.

Staying even an extra minute
can upend their deco time

necessary to avoid the bends,

a condition which could
turn their blood to foam.

- I've been doing this
a long time.

And I have been basically
lured into the trap

of just a little bit longer,
a little bit longer.

You can't get sucked into
those traps, those pitfalls,

'cause if something
goes wrong,

it's not worth your life
or your health.

♪ ♪

narrator: On the surface,
the crew is keenly aware

of the elapsed time
and their distance from help.

- Each of the boats
are equipped with devices

that allow us to communicate
with special rescue

and emergency services
personnel.

If something
did happen bad out here,

they're gonna probably
have to come get us.

♪ ♪

We certainly hope nothing
like that would occur, but--

♪ ♪

narrator:
Out here, a bag or buoy

is a smoke signal of sorts.

It can often serve
as a warning

to those on the surface
that someone below

needs their
immediate attention.

- John, you ready?

narrator:
Safety diver John Bumpus

quickly jumps in
to see what the dive team

is trying to communicate.

♪ ♪

- There's bubbles here.

- Yeah.
- There are bubbles. See them?

♪ ♪

narrator: Thankfully,
it's just the grappling hook

that the team sent up.

- That means everything
is good.

They were on the wreck.

They did their time
on the bottom.

They have sent
the grapple up,

so now they are
deco-ing on that bag.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Mike's rounded up Jimmy,

and they're slowly
making their ascent,

adjusting
to the changing pressure.

- Did we have that come up?
- Yeah, one.

♪ ♪

Here comes another one.

♪ ♪

- [groans]

Whew!

- We came down
on a massive wreck--

50 to 60 feet--
rising off the seabed,

resting on its side.

- We landed about midship
when we jumped in,

and then we made our way
toward the bow.

- Again, we only saw
about half the ship.

- Yeah.
- It's so large.

Bottom time is so limited,
so we don't know

if it's still in one piece.

♪ ♪

And then all too soon,
it was time

to turn and head
for the surface

and had to rodeo off Jimmy.

He was headed for the stern,
and I'm like,

dude, it's time to go.

You're going the wrong way.

- I was going
the right way in my mind.

- Yeah. Yeah.
[laughter]

♪ ♪

narrator: The dive team
heads for home

just as a nasty storm
moves in over the wreck site.

♪ ♪

Back onshore, the land team
is eager to hear

what Mike and Jimmy
have found.

- You can see just
this massive hull

stretching off into the gloom.

It was phenomenal.
- Wow.

This looks like
there might be valves.

- Exactly, it's a fingerprint
of what kind of vessel it is

and what its purpose is.

It's not a cargo freighter.

- Is there any
distinguishing features

that would tell us that this
is the "Marine Sulphur Queen"?

♪ ♪

- When you see
those valves,

that is a signature
for a tanker.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The wreck appears to be

a type T2 oil tanker,

just like the "MSQ."

♪ ♪

The T2s were part
of the crucial

Allied fuel pipeline
during World War II.

♪ ♪

The U.S. churned out
nearly 500 of the ships

to ferry oil and gas supplies
for the Allied war effort,

which meant every T2
had a target on its back.

- Wars are won and lost
on the backbone of logistics.

Without oil, the ships that
were actually fighting the war

would not be able
to carry on their missions.

narrator: After the war,
the "MSQ" was sold

and retrofitted
to carry molten sulphur.

One coast guard theory
was that the sulphur

caused a fire and explosion
that took down the ship.

- When I look at the report,
it begins

to raise a little bit
of concern

about what could have
happened.

narrator:
In addition to concerns

about the 15,000 tons
of molten sulphur

in its hold,
the report also questions

the "MSQ's"
hasty construction.

- It took only 70 days
to build one of these ships.

- So the question is,
were there problems

either with the cargo
or the construction?

- That's the big question, and
that's the mystery of this.

♪ ♪

narrator:
While the dive team preps

for another run
at the wreck,

the land team splits up
to explore

the coast guard's
leading theories.

♪ ♪

David meets up with historical
investigator Wayne Abbott.

♪ ♪

[knocking]

- Welcome.
- Hi. Hi, I'm David.

- Hi, David.

narrator: Wayne has found
one of the few people

familiar with the inner
workings of the "MSQ":

Beda Fanning, the daughter
of the "MSQ's" captain,

James Fanning.

- So just tell us a bit
about your father.

- He was a remarkable man,
and he was a true seafarer.

And he worked his way up
to a captain of a T2 tanker.

He just loved being at sea.

♪ ♪

- Take us back
to February of 1963,

when you first learned
about the loss

of the "Marine Sulphur Queen."

- The ship left
on February 3rd.

My mother and my father,

their anniversary
was February 7th.

He always sent her flowers.

Well, she didn't get
any flowers.

She got a phone call
from the coast guard

saying that
the "Marine Sulphur Queen"

was lost.

narrator:
Beda says her father

had a bad feeling
before he left.

- She was carrying
a tremendous amount

of molten sulphur.

The tanks were only
3 feet below the deck.

So there were
several fires aboard.

♪ ♪

He wanted her dry-docked
till January.

narrator:
The "MSQ" was scheduled

for long-overdue repairs

but had just one more run
to make first.

- And so he called
my mother back aboard

to give her this for me.

If that wasn't a premonition,
I don't know what is.

♪ ♪

- So really,
there's one last voyage

for the ship
and for your father.

- He accepted death.

I'm very proud of him.

He was a brave, brave soul.

♪ ♪

He would point to the ocean,
and he said,

she's so beautiful,
but she's a killer.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Beda has reinforced

the coast guard's worries
about fire.

But she also thinks
they were right to question

"MSQ's" construction.

- The T2 tankers
that were built in 1944

had a problem
in terms of buckling.

They were weak.

narrator: It turns out,
these World War II ships

had a history
of structural failure.

- If her back broke,
that was real fast.

It would let me know
that there was

not a thing my father could
have done to save his ship.

♪ ♪

- Talking to Beda Fanning
is amazing.

- Yeah, it's quite
obvious she's been

really researching into this
for many, many years.

really researching into this
for many, many years.

The only way
we're gonna solve this

is to actually see what
the wreck reveals to us.

narrator: It's a new day,
and the dive team

hurtles back toward
the massive wreck site

seven hours from civilization.

[dramatic music]

Called the Phosphate Carrier
by locals,

they hope a second dive
will allow them to find clues

that will help identify it
as the legendary

"Marine Sulphur Queen,"

if they can actually
get there.

A storm front is rolling in.

narrator: The team decides
to push through,

although it will take
additional gas stores

to keep the engines going
at top speed.

♪ ♪

Meanwhile Jason is probing
the coast guard theory

that the "MSQ" sank
after a fire or explosion

caused by its sulphur cargo.

- So I started off in
the offshore sulphur mines

when we were actually
mining sulphur

in the U.S. back in the '90s.
- Oh, wow.

narrator: Jack Cohn
is the senior vice president

of sulphur and marine
at Savage,

a global shipping
and materials company.

He has worked with sulphur
for nearly 30 years

and has studied
the mystery of the "MSQ."

- Well, one of the theories
in that coast guard report

was that there might
have been an explosion

on the "Marine Sulphur Queen."

I would love to just
get your perspective

on what you think could have
potentially happened.

- Sulphur has to be kept
at an elevated temperature

during transportation.

To keep the sulphur
in a molten form,

they had to put
a steam heating system

on that vessel,

very similar to that we have
at this terminal.

We like to keep it
in the range

of 200 to 275 degrees
Fahrenheit.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The team now knows the "MSQ"

was in shoddy condition,

and Cohn thinks
that could have set the stage

for a chain reaction.

♪ ♪

It starts with H2S,

hydrogen sulfide,
a flammable gas.

- Particularly
back at that time,

a lot of sulphur
was not degassed.

So H2S can evolve
from the sulphur

in the vapor space
of the tank.

♪ ♪

narrator: Bizarrely,
the gas can be ignited

not by molten sulphur

but by a different material
found on the "MSQ"

in large quantities:

rust.

- Sulphur particles over time
can get trapped under rust

in the top of a sulphur tank.

And over time, a chemical
reaction takes place.

It can ignite
and cause a fire.

- Oh, wow.

narrator: Beda Fanning,
the "MSQ" skipper's daughter,

said the ship was in bad shape
and that there had been fires.

♪ ♪

Could the rust, sulphur,
and unvented gas

have turned her
into a 500-foot time bomb?

♪ ♪

- If they had
such an explosion,

it likely would have breached
the deck on the ship.

narrator: If the mystery wreck
is the "MSQ,"

the divers should see
evidence of this explosion,

not to mention the ship's
uniquely colored cargo.

- So, Jack, when our divers
go back down on this ship,

if they indeed have found
the "Marine Sulphur Queen,"

they should see some evidence
of sulphur on the ocean floor?

- Definitely.

When sulphur hits water,
it's going to solidify.

The sulphur is gonna be
in its original state,

in solid form on the seafloor.

♪ ♪

narrator: It's a crucial clue
for the dive team to look for.

- One of the things
that we learned was that

the chemical reactions
that could have taken place

with the
"Marine Sulphur Queen"

could have created
a catastrophic explosion.

It could have happened
so instantaneously

that the crew would have not
had an opportunity

to send out a distress call.

narrator: That would track
with the known facts

of the "MSQ's" disappearance.

♪ ♪

Mike and Jimmy
will soon find out.

- Dive, dive, dive.

[water splashing]

- Gravity check.

♪ ♪

narrator: They'll search
for evidence

of a sulphur explosion

or chunks of the yellow
material itself.

♪ ♪

Jimmy probes for the best
place to enter the wreck.

♪ ♪

The hull up here
is mainly intact.

Then...

a gaping hole.

It looks to be fire
or explosion damage.

narrator:
Unlike the damaged deck,

the cargo holds
appear intact.

And there is what looks
like a golden hue

on much
of the metal and seafloor.

♪ ♪

Could it be remnants
of sulphur?

♪ ♪

The divers are tempted
to head further into the ship.

But Mike has noticed
something about the wreck

that might make that unwise.

- It's collapsed.

Gravity still works
underwater,

and the vessel
is starting to compress more.

And we're seeing the bow
had dropped down

almost to the sand bed.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Crucial evidence may rest

only feet away
inside the wreck.

only feet away
inside the wreck.

With the clock ticking down,

Mike and Jimmy
must make a decision--

push on or call the dive.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

narrator:
Wreck hunters Mike Barnette

and Jimmy Gadomski are
in the holds of a giant wreck.

But there's a problem.

The wreck is on the verge
of collapse.

Do they push deeper into
the wreck in search of clues

or call the dive?

- The bow had broken off
and collapsed

down to the seafloor.

You can see how it's just
succumbed to its weight.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The divers pull back.

It's too risky to swim deeper
into this wreck.

♪ ♪

They turn
their attention instead

to the yellow residue covering
the metal they can see.

♪ ♪

narrator:
But all too soon, time is up.

♪ ♪

Back on land,
the rest of the team

investigates the theory raised
by both the coast guard report

and Beda Fanning, the daughter
of the ship's captain,

that the ship itself
was fatally flawed.

- The T2s, they were
rushed into mass production

during the Second World War.

There is a possibility,
because they were

put together so fast, that
there were some corners cut.

- Well, if it was
a structural flaw,

we're going to the right place.

narrator: Colonna's Shipyard
has had long-standing

contracts with both
the navy and the coast guard.

They are familiar
with how past and present

military vessels
were put together.

♪ ♪

Wayne and Dave meet with
welding engineer Andy Greig

in search of clues
about the T2's

unique construction,
which relied

not on rivets but welding.

- The T2 tankers
were the first

all-welded classes of ships.

In the '40s, submerged arc
welding was just coming about.

It was 20 times faster than any
of the manual techniques.

narrator: And speed
was what was called for.

Earlier naval vessels
had riveted seams,

often taking years to build.

But the much faster
welding process meant

that T2s could be
turned around in only months.

[crowd cheering]

The record was 33 days.

Could mistakes have been made?

- The question is, is whether
everybody was trained properly

for that kind of work.

narrator: But Andy explains
it wasn't an issue

with the quickly trained
welders.

It was something else
that doomed the T2s:

their steel.

- The steels that they
were using to build

riveted ships were not
suitable to welding.

They had too much
impurities in them.

♪ ♪

narrator: The welded seams
of this dirty steel

were prone
to becoming brittle.

Over a period of time,
microcracks began to appear,

leading to structural failure.

- One of the main failures
was a crack

that ran right across
the deck.

- This is incredible
because, I mean,

the theory we've been
working under was maybe

that the guys who were
being rushed into this,

maybe they didn't understand
the new craft

that they were working on.

But what you're saying now
is, right from the start,

they really didn't have
much of a chance

when they were
getting into this.

- You're right,
they didn't know

that the steel was too dirty
to be welded.

- Wow.

♪ ♪

- They didn't learn how
the welding affected the steel

until you had some of those--

- Incidents
that happened at sea?

- Right.

narrator: In 1943,
the T2 tanker "Schenectady"

returns from sea trials
and splits in half.

February 1945, another T2,
the SS "Fort Mercer,"

splits in two off of Cape Cod.

Hours later,
the SS "Pendleton,"

yet another T2,

is found nearby,
cracked in half.

It was less than a year old.

♪ ♪

But Andy suspects the "MSQ"
was doubly weakened.

- In the '50s, these ships were
modified to extend their life.

What happened
to the "Marine Sulphur Queen,"

they removed all
the transverse bulkheads

to fit in a 300-foot-long
cigar-shaped tank.

- And so what was the effect
of taking out

those bulkheads on the ship?

- To remove
all the center stiffeners,

and now it's more bendable.

- That isn't good, is it?

- No.

- That's unbelievable.

In all the years I've been
basically hunting shipwrecks,

I've never heard of bulkheads
being removed from a ship.

- It was so bad, they never
did another conversion

like the
"Marine Sulphur Queen."

♪ ♪

- It's kind of shocking,
in a way,

when you take
a compromised ship

and then compromise it even
more by taking out bulkheads.

This has to be
the most compromised vessel

that we've ever come across.

- It was a death trap.

It shouldn't have been at sea,
period.

[dramatic music]

narrator: With the second dive
and decompression complete,

Mike and Jimmy make their
seven-hour transit to shore.

♪ ♪

The land team had hoped
the divers would find

evidence of the "MSQ":

the missing bulkheads,
the massive central tank,

or signs of sulphur.

- Is there any
distinguishing features

that would tell us that this
is the "Marine Sulphur Queen"?

Because it was
gutted completely.

- It would be open.

- Yeah, they put in a chamber

that was almost, like,
the size of a football field.

- Yeah.

- This is actually us going
into the holds of the ship.

- Wow.

- Remember,
everything's on its side.

So walls are now ceilings.

And everything's
90 degrees off.

narrator:
But there's no sign

of the massive tank
or anything else.

- What we could see
in this hold,

it's missing sulphur.

♪ ♪

narrator: Upon closer
inspection of the wreck,

the dive team concluded
that the yellow hue

on the ship's surfaces
was merely rust.

♪ ♪

Although much of the evidence
fits the "MSQ"--

her massive size,
the fact that she is a tanker,

and the location near
her last known coordinates--

it's not adding up.

♪ ♪

Unlike the "MSQ," this wreck's
bulkheads are still intact.

♪ ♪

Could there be
another massive ship here

that no one
has yet identified?

- We still have
a huge mystery at hand

because this is not
a little wreck.

This is a huge wreck
that went down.

narrator: David will need
to hit the archives

for additional candidates that
the wreck could possibly be.

- I think we dig into
the archival information...

- Yup.

- And we get back out
on the wreck,

see if we can find anything
more revealing on the site.

- I think we got a plan.

♪ ♪

narrator:
As the dive team preps

for one last midnight run...

- All these up there?
- Yes, sir.

- All right.

narrator: Dave searches
for records

of other tankers that went
down close to the wreck site.

♪ ♪

And there, in the logs,
a cluster of three large ships

sunk not in the 1960s

but in the 1940s.

♪ ♪

May 1942,
the U-boat "Menace"

creeps into
the Gulf of Mexico.

[cannon booms, explosion]

Nazi U-boats begin taking out
unescorted and unarmed

American vessels
in rapid succession,

especially tankers.

A German sub named U-507
sneaks into the gulf

and sets its sights
on its first victim:

the "Norlindo,"
a medium-sized freighter.

- The U-507 put a torpedo

right into the side
of the "Norlindo,"

right into the starboard side.

narrator:
With the Norlindo down,

U-507 turns toward two
massive tankers

on the horizon, both almost
identical to the "MSQ":

the "Munger T. Ball"
and the "Joseph M. Cudahy."

♪ ♪

U-507 fires its torpedoes.

♪ ♪

[explosion]

57 American sailors

are killed in the attack.

- It looks like we have
three possible candidates.

And, of course, one we can
rule out immediately,

the "Norlindo,"
that was a freighter,

Which leaves us with
two suspects, both tankers,

either the "Joseph M. Cudahy"
or the "Munger T. Ball."

One of these two is our wreck.

Both were operating
in this area,

and both were victims of U-507.

narrator: Dave forwards
the information

to the rest of the team.

♪ ♪

In the cool and dark
of the early-morning hours,

the dive team
sets out on the water,

hurtling toward the straits
for a final time.

♪ ♪

- Dive, dive, dive.

[water splashing]

♪ ♪

narrator: With only
15 minutes allotted

and the dive clock
counting down,

they zero in on the bow,

one place where the ship's
name is typically painted.

♪ ♪

Everywhere, corrosion
and incrustation

are claiming the ship.

Soon it won't be recognizable.

- Diving these wrecks
as soon as possible,

it's imperative because
it's a race against time.

All too soon, there will be
nothing more than just

a rough spot on the seafloor.

narrator: Floating one more
time over the bow area,

something catches
Barnette's attention.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Lettering is faintly visible,

possibly a name.

♪ ♪

narrator: Seven hours from
civilization, wreck hunters

Mike Barnette
and Jimmy Gadomski

are diving a wreck
that is stubbornly refusing

to divulge its secrets.

[dramatic music]

Now, finally, a breakthrough:

the faint outline of text
near the bow of the ship.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Unable to make out the text,

they document it
with their cameras.

And then...

the clock has run out.

♪ ♪

narrator: After a three-hour
decompression

and a seven-hour boat ride,

they rejoin
the rest of the team

to review the evidence.

♪ ♪

- You guys did another dive.
What'd you guys come up with?

- There was a question still of
what potential target this is.

- Right.

- We got some footage
to show you.

- We have some lettering
on the bow.

- Wow.

- Usually on the bow,
you have the name of the ship,

usually in brass letters
or painted.

In this case, I actually turn
the camera down and look at it

to see if I can make out
the raised lettering.

And you can see what looks
to be the name there.

But it's still
partially obscured

from all the growth
on the hull.

So it's really hard to make out
exactly what it looks like.

♪ ♪

I could see
what looked like an E.

- We ruled out that this was
the "Marine Sulphur Queen,"

but it opened up
the possibility

of two other vessels,
both tankers.

narrator: Dave tells the team
about the two oil tankers sunk

by Hitler's U-507
in the vicinity of our wreck,

hit by torpedoes
within hours of each other:

the "Munger T. Ball"
and the "Joseph M. Cudahy."

♪ ♪

Both have an E in their name.

- It's just not enough
to give it 100% ID.

narrator:
But Dave has something

that might help
narrow it down...

- Check this out.

narrator:
Footage that eliminates

one of the candidates,

recorded
just a few months ago.

The United States Coast Guard
was preparing

to remove oil still leaking
from a sunken

World War II-era tanker
80 miles northwest

of the Dry Tortugas.

Multibeam sonar scans
revealed the size and layout

of the wreck
were an exact match

for one of the missing ships,

the "Munger T. Ball."

The coast guard
held a ceremony honoring

the "Ball's" crew,
who gave their lives

in service on that vessel.

- So that clears up
the confusion.

It's definitely not
the "Munger T. Ball."

narrator: That leaves
only one option left,

the "Joseph M. Cudahy."

- So tell us about
the "Cudahy" ship.

narrator: Just after 4:00 a.m.
on the morning of May 5, 1942,

the "Joseph M. Cudahy,"
a 430-foot oil tanker,

heads toward
the Straits of Florida

to refuel Allied ships

when they spot danger
on the horizon:

the sinking "Munger T. Ball."

Unarmed and unescorted,
they turn and attempt to flee,

taking evasive measures
to avoid the same fate.

A torpedo blows a large hole
in the starboard side.

- We were unprepared
for the U-boat threat.

And they took
advantage of that.

narrator:
Riddled with bullets,

her oil tanks an inferno,

the wreck of the "Cudahy"
bizarrely stays afloat,

burning for three long days.

♪ ♪

It explains the odd clue
the divers saw on the wreck:

the utterly destroyed
top deck.

- So there's
our signature, right?

We're looking for one that has
extensive fire damage.

- Yeah.

This does seem like it has
the hallmarks of a tanker

that was attacked,
probably burned.

The whole main deck
is just eaten through.

She's lying on her
starboard side.

She's probably obscuring
any torpedo damage

from the original attack.

♪ ♪

I think we're highly certain
that this is the wreck

of the "Joseph M. Cudahy."

♪ ♪

- 80 years ago,
27 American sailors

lost their lives
when their ship--

this ship--was attacked.

Now their final resting place
can at long last be marked.

The team will notify
the U.S. Coast Guard

so the graves can be honored.

Meanwhile
the mission continues.

- The "Marine Sulphur Queen"
is still out there.

narrator: Mike remains
confident in his theory

that the "MSQ" is somewhere
in these unsearched waters.

♪ ♪

They are close.

But for now, they will search
for new intel and new wrecks

in search of truth
in the Bermuda Triangle.

♪ ♪