All language subtitles for Secrets.in.the.Ice.S01E04.Island.of.Arctic.Cannibals.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE_track3_[eng]

♪♪

narrator:
Could a frozen body found

on the himalayas'
killer mountain

be the long lost brother

of mountaineering legend
reinhold messner?

They only found
partial remains.

Most significantly,

they found a foot
inside a boot.

When something goes
wrong on a mountain

and life is lost,

questions pour
into everyone's mind.

You know,
"what happened?"

new evidence cracks open

an old
franklin expedition mystery.

Did fights break out,
did the crew mutiny,

or did their madness

lead to something
far worse?

♪♪

and photographic evidence
reveals a doomed arctic mission.

♪♪

to be completely
stranded

on a frozen,
deserted arctic island,

never knowing
if you'll be rescued,

would've been
a terrifying thought.

♪♪

these are
the strangest mysteries,

trapped in the coldest places.

Lost relics,

forgotten treasures,

dark secrets,

locked in their icy tombs
for ages.

But now as ice melts
around the world,

their stories
will finally be exposed.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

[ wind whistling ]

♪♪

the western edge
of the himalayas.

On a frigid peak known
as killer mountain,

a ghastly sight lies
waiting to be found.

♪♪

this high up in the mountains,
the air is so thin and so cold,

it hurts just to breathe.

[ wind whipping ]

what you have
in a mountain like that

is the combination
of extreme elevation

and technical challenge

and those two things combined
make it a killer mountain.

♪♪

narrator:
In 2005,

three pakistani
mountain guides stumbled

on a pile of body parts,
covered by scraps of clothing.

♪♪

o'keefe:
They only found
partial remains.

Most significantly, they found
a foot inside a boot.

♪♪

with so little
of the body left,

it's gonna be a challenge
to figure out

who this poor climber was
and how they died.

Narrator:
But, there's a chance
this climber isn't just anyone.

He could be linked

to one of this century's
greatest mountaineers.

♪♪

rising dramatically
out of the himalayas,

nanga parbat is one of 14 peaks
in the world listed

among the eight-thousanders,
mountains that measure more

than 8,000 meters
above sea level.

♪♪

clarke:
Climbing a mountain
like nanga parbat is --

this is not a trophy.

This is not a weekend effort.

This is a lifetime
of training and preparation.

Narrator:
These ultra challenging
mountains

have attracted climbers
for more than a century.

Countless climbers
have lost their lives

trying to summit
killer mountain,

making an identification

of the body found here
a challenge.

Billson:
These remains look old,

like they've been
on the mountain for decades.

Maybe this is a climber

from one of the first
expeditions to the mountain.

♪♪

narrator:
In the 1930s,

there was a rush of europeans
to be the first to climb

the highest mountains
in the world.

♪♪

countries were
looking for ways

to enhance their image
around the world

and bolster national pride.

Narrator:
Determined to show
their dominance,

the nazi regime declared
nanga parbat

the german mountain of destiny.

Throughout the 1930s,

it sent five expeditions
to killer mountain,

most of which were disastrous.

Scores of mountaineers
and their sherpas

lost their lives.

Could this body belong
to a german climber

who died in one of the failed
attempts to climb the mountain?

♪♪

much of the body is missing,

but there are remnants
of the climber's jacket,

and an intact boot.

♪♪

narrator:
Inspection of the
clothing scraps

shows that the fibers
aren't natural.

They're synthetic.

♪♪

synthetic fibers weren't used
until the 1960s,

so we know, then,
that these remains

couldn't have been
from the german expeditions.

Narrator:
Next, they turn
to the leather boot.

Rose:
The leather boot went
out of date around 1980.

So, whoever this was,
they must've disappeared

sometime between the 1960s
and the beginning of the 80s.

♪♪

so we have a window
that narrows our search

and, when we focus
on just those years,

the famous story of one
particular climber stands out.

Narrator:
Reinhold messner is one

of history's
greatest mountaineers,

as he was the first person
to climb

all 14 of the
eight-thousanders.

And he managed to do it without
the use of supplemental oxygen.

Clarke:
Reinhold messner is
to mountaineering

what michael jordan is
to basketball.

He changed the game.

The way we climb today,
the vision of what is possible,

messner made that happen.

Narrator:
But reinhold's legacy has been
marred by a great tragedy,

which turned into one
of the biggest controversies

in mountaineering.

♪♪

in 1970, reinhold
and his brother gunther,

along with 16 other
expedition members,

set out to be the first
to summit nanga parbat

via the rupal face,

one of the tallest
alpine walls on earth.

♪♪

on the morning of June 27th,

the messner brothers left

the rest of the expedition
members behind

and began their ascent
on their own.

♪♪

after a grueling
12-hour climb,

they successfully
reached the summit,

but, by then,
it was too dark

to safely make their way back
down to their camp.

♪♪

reinhold said that he and his
brother spent the first night

on the mountain
in an unplanned bivouac,

[ inhales sharply ]
which is basically
a hole in the ground

where you huddle up
and try to survive.

♪♪

but when you climb
into a hole like that,

even though you might be
out of the wind,

your respiratory rate slows,
your circulation is impeded.

♪♪

you're really just digging
a grave for yourself,

not a shelter.

♪♪

reinhold explains,
the next morning,

that, when they woke up,
gunther was delirious.

Likely altitude sickness.

♪♪

he said they were
no longer capable

of returning to base camp

down the same route
they came up,

so the two decided to descend
the unknown diamir face.

♪♪

narrator:
The diamir face is on the
opposite side of the mountain

and, although it was uncharted,

everyone knew it wasn't
as steep as the rupal face.

♪♪

clarke:
According to reinhold, as he
neared the end of the descent,

he went ahead to scout
for a safe route,

which is a common practice.

However, he lost touch
with his brother

and, when he turned back then,
to reconnect with him,

[ exhales ]
he was gone, vanished.

♪♪

reinhold believes
that he might've been

swept away in an avalanche.

♪♪

it took reinhold
another two days

before finally
making it to safety.

He lost seven toes and several
fingertips to frostbite.

Narrator:
But reinhold's account

of what happened
on the mountain that day

raised questions in the
mountaineering community.

When something goes wrong
on a mountain and life is lost,

immediately, questions pour
into everyone's mind.

You know, "what happened?"

was this a freak accident

or was it something
more complicated,

in terms of a collection
of decision-making

that led to climber error,
that led to this fatality?

Narrator:
Two of reinhold's fellow
expedition members

questioned his decision
to leave

his delusional brother behind,
in the first place,

suggesting that it might've been
motivated by a personal goal.

Clarke:
Reinhold was known to be
a competitive person.

Understandably,
I don't think it's possible

to have that kind of drive
and accomplishment in life

if there wasn't a real
thirst for performance,

no one had ever ascended
the rupal face

and made a traverse
and gone down the diamir.

It was an ambitious,
reinhold-like goal.

♪♪

narrator:
Reinhold's two fellow
mountaineers

have suggested this goal

was driving his decision
to descend the diamir face.

♪♪

others have taken
the speculation further,

wondering if he didn't
abandon his brother altogether

at the summit.

♪♪

if these are the remains
of gunther messner,

it would be monumental
because it could prove

that reinhold was telling
the truth all these years.

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
A body found on killer mountain
in the himalayas

could be the remains

of reinhold messner's
brother gunther,

who disappeared
on the mountain

while the two were descending
the diamir face

more than 50 years ago.

If it is,
it could solve one

of the greatest mysteries
of mountaineering.

♪♪

the remains from 2005
were found

around 14,100 feet
in elevation,

which was more or less
1,000 feet below

where reinhold had said
he last saw his brother.

It's entirely possible
that gunther's body

could've been carried,
or slid or moved

the 1,000 feet
down the mountain,

when you take
into consideration the wind,

an avalanche,
and snow collection.

It's a very
volatile environment.

Things change constantly on the
side of a mountain like that.

♪♪

narrator:
Could these remains belong
to gunther messner?

Reinhold is determined
to find out.

♪♪

when he heard
of the 2005 discovery,

he returned immediately,

to see if the remains
were his brother's.

Clarke:
Reinhold says that,
as soon as he saw the boot,

he knew that it was
his brother's.

You know, when you're
with a climbing partner,

you're very familiar
with their gear.

When you're climbing
a steep face,

it's not unusual for you to be
staring right at their boots

when they're in front of you.

It's like a signature
on the mountain.

♪♪

reinhold was certain that these
were the remains of his brother,

so he held a small ceremony

and cremated him,
right there on the mountain,

taking only the boot and a few
toe bones back for verification.

Narrator:
When he returned home,

reinhold sent the bones
to the dna lab.

When the results came back,

they proved what he had
suspected all along.

This is his brother gunther.

♪♪

so, now, we know that gunther
was found in the region

where reinhold said
he had last seen him.

♪♪

although this discovery
is not conclusive

and won't end all speculation,

it certainly supports
reinhold's claim

that they both descended
the diamir face together.

♪♪

any climber's mind and,
obviously, in messner's mind,

this thing that you love to do
is so dangerous

and it's a real struggle,
I think,

for climbers,
for mountaineers,

because you love the thing,

but sometimes it kills
the people you love

and it's very, very difficult
to reconcile that.

♪♪

we won't ever really know
exactly what happened that day,

but we do know two things.

One, that those remains
belonged to gunther

and two, that it was
a real tragedy.

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
On the windswept tundra
of the remote canadian arctic,

a stunning new discovery
might open up a mystery

that has eluded searchers
for over 170 years.

♪♪

bellinger:
The arctic is vast,
cold, and inhospitable.

It's a beautiful place
to look at,

but a pretty deadly
place to be.

♪♪

narrator:
On beechey island,
north of baffin island,

searchers made
a grisly discovery.

♪♪

this is an uninhabited island
in the middle of nowhere,

but on this one stretch
of beach,

there's three graves sitting
conspicuously on the shore.

♪♪

you don't find graves this far
from any settlement

unless something strange
has happened.

♪♪

this is a story
of desperation,

cannibalism,

and two ships vanishing
into the ice.

♪♪

narrator:
Inside the graves lie
the frozen corpses

of three men,

mummified by the cold.

♪♪

clarke:
These bodies are not inuit.

From the clothes
they're wearing,

we can tell
that they're british,

which means they're a long,
long way from home.

♪♪

narrator:
The mummies may hold the answer
to a centuries-old mystery.

♪♪

in 1845,
a british expedition

to find a sea passage from the
atlantic ocean to the pacific,

through the arctic,
set sail from England,

led by captain john franklin.

The mission consisted
of two ships,

hms erebus and hms terror.

They were manned
by 134 crew members.

Macferrin:
The ships set sail
in may of 1845.

Their last known location
was passing

by a whaling vessel at July

and then, they disappeared
into the ice

and were never seen again
for 170 years.

♪♪

narrator:
The ships were eventually
found, in 2014 and 2016,

but no one knows what happened
to the crew members themselves.

♪♪

what happened
to the franklin expedition

is arguably one of the great
mysteries of arctic exploration.

♪♪

irving:
The erebus and the terror were

among the most modern ships
of their era.

They were equipped
for a journey

that would last
at least three years

and their crew
was highly experienced.

♪♪

macferrin:
The big question is
what happened to these ships?

They set sail full
of supplies.

What went so horribly wrong?

♪♪

narrator:
The excavation of the graves
on beechey island in 1984

provided possible clues
to the fate of the expedition.

♪♪

the graves are marked
with the men's names --

john torrington,

william braine,

and john hartnell.

All three were crew members
of the franklin expedition.

Macferrin:
These men died in the first
winter of the expedition,

just a few months in.

Due to the extreme cold
in this area,

these bodies were
very well-preserved.

♪♪

anthropologist owen beattie

exhumed the body
of john torrington

and ordered
a multitude of tests.

♪♪

rose:
Autopsies of the bodies
can tell us an enormous amount

about conditions on the ship
before the men died.

The bodies of these men
might unlock clues

to what happened
to the entire expedition.

♪♪

narrator:
It's the toxicology results

that pique
beattie's interest.

The report showed
abnormally high levels

of lead in his system.

♪♪

with those high levels
of lead in their system,

lead poisoning is
a potential cause of death.

One of the symptoms
of lead poisoning is

severely impaired
cognitive functions.

To the rest of the crew,
it would've looked like madness.

♪♪

did fights break out,
did the crew mutiny,

or did their madness lead
to something far worse?

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
The discovery of high
quantities of lead found

in three mummified bodies
from the franklin expedition

is causing some to question

whether or not the crew
fell victim to lead poisoning.

It was known that the ships
at the time

used food tins soldered
with lead.

♪♪

clarke:
Lead poisoning can cause
multiple symptoms.

As the brain deteriorates,
it leads to increases

in nervous
or aggressive behavior,

confusion,
and, eventually, death.

♪♪

narrator:
To investigate
the theory further,

researchers turn
to king william island,

more than 400 miles
to the southwest.

It's here that they found
scattered body parts

of even more crew members.

Why had they left
their ships?

On the northern tip
of the island,

underneath a large
stone cairn,

a letter was discovered

by search parties
of the 19th century.

It was written by officers

on April 25, 1848,

explaining that both ships

had become trapped in the ice
about 15 miles off the coast

and the remaining
crew members had no choice

but to abandon the ships

and try their luck on foot.

♪♪

macferrin:
This expedition
wasn't well-equipped

for overland travel
in the arctic.

They were hauling
enormous loads

and they had to travel
hundreds of miles

to reach the nearest
camp or settlement.

That's even if they knew which
direction they needed to go.

♪♪

rose:
These men
on king william island

took a huge risk, trying
to walk out of the arctic.

Were they critically
short of supplies

or did lead-induced madness
affect their decision-making?

♪♪

narrator:
As archeologists studied

the remains found
on king william island,

they made some
shocking discoveries --

strange markings on the tips
of some arm and leg bones.

Rose:
The marks on the bones
aren't from a fire.

They aren't from a medical
procedure, either,

and they didn't happen
during burial.

They're from something
much more disturbing.

♪♪

narrator:
The marks were made by knives.

♪♪

one of the bones
was deliberately broken,

bone marrow was removed.

♪♪

narrator:
It appears as if at least some

of the franklin crew members
found on king william island

resorted to cannibalism
to survive.

Were they simply starving,

or had lead-induced madness
taken hold of the crew?

It's not until 2013 that
the theory is put to the test.

♪♪

ron martin,
an analytical chemist

with western university
in canada,

analyzed bone fragments
from several crew members

and found that they
had experienced

consistent lead exposure
throughout their entire lives,

with no spike
during the expedition.

♪♪

rose:
This makes it
highly unlikely

they went mad or died
from lead poisoning.

So, now, what exactly
happened here?

How did this expedition come
to such a terrible end?

♪♪

narrator:
The answer may lie in where
the ships were eventually found,

which was a far cry
from where they were abandoned.

♪♪

from a note left by the crew
on king william island,

we know that those ships
were stuck in the ice

for a full two years,
just northwest of the island.

♪♪

narrator:
But, strangely,
the ships weren't found

anywhere near there.

In 2014, hms erebus was found
about 100 miles south,

off the coast
of the adelaide peninsula;

and, two years later,

hms terror was found
in terror bay.

♪♪

the ships were found
by a multi-partner expedition

led by parks canada underwater
archeologist ryan harris,

who scanned the sea floor
for six years,

searching for traces
of the wrecks.

♪♪

archeologists were surprised
to find them so far

from where they were
abandoned in the ice

up by the northern tip
of king william island.

♪♪

some have posed the theory

that the boats floated
down there on their own

when the ice
eventually broke up.

♪♪

clarke:
I think there are
some holes in the theory.

The interior of the ships were
found in pretty good condition.

Dinner plates were still
neatly stacked on the shelves,

bottles lined the racks.

There's no significant
damage to the ships.

♪♪

narrator:
When the arctic ice
breaks up in the spring,

it's a violent,
aggressive event.

If the ships were unmanned,
they would show signs of damage.

You'd think the ships
would be in worse shape,

but they weren't.

Both of them were found
in perfect condition.

♪♪

narrator:
It begs the question --

did the remaining crew
reboard the ships

after the ice broke up
and sail themselves?

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
Determined to crack
the mystery

of what happened
to the franklin expedition,

archeologists
dig into records

from an american
search expedition

that took place in 1879.

The u.S. Expedition members

spoke with an inuk man
named puhtoorak,

who said he had visited
the erebus

while it was locked in the ice
west of adelaide peninsula.

♪♪

he said he saw open tins
of food in the cabin,

the sails had been set,
and the deck swept of snow.

He witnessed a gangplank

leading from the deck
of the ship to land,

and footsteps in the snow,

and found a large, deceased crew
member in one of the bunks.

The next year,
he came back.

He said the ship had sunk.

♪♪

puhtoorak's eyewitness report
corroborates the theory

that the boats were remanned
and sailed south.

♪♪

so far, archeologists from the
parks canada expedition

have excavated 400 artifacts
from the ships,

but there are still thousands
to sift through.

At some point, they hope
to be able to piece together

the whole story
of what happened

to the infamous
franklin expedition.

♪♪

♪♪

buried deep in the permafrost

of russia's northern
taymyr peninsula,

an ancient secret lies in wait

that could change
everything we know

about the history
of this continent.

♪♪

when you stand here
in this pristine wilderness,

you get the sense that this
landscape hasn't changed

for tens of thousands of years.

It's like looking straight
back to another time.

♪♪

narrator:
In 2012,

an 11-year-old-boy was walking
his dogs on the beach

when he saw something sticking
out of the cliffside.

When he moved closer,

he saw giant bones locked
in the permafrost.

♪♪

these weren't just
any bones.

They were mammoth bones.

It turned out to be one
of the best preserved

mammoths on the planet.

♪♪

bellinger:
It would be exciting
at any age, but, at 11?

You could really believe
you had found the remains

of some kind of ancient
monster or something.

[ wind whipping ]

narrator:
He ran back to tell
his parents,

who immediately notified
a group of scientists working

at the local weather station.

♪♪

it took the team of scientists
an entire week

to extract the frozen bones
from the cliff.

They had to use steam
to melt the permafrost.

♪♪

and hack them out of the soil
with axes and picks.

♪♪

irving:
They didn't just
find bones.

They were fragments
of fur, flesh.

Even some of the
animal's organs

were still attached
to the carcass,

all of it
perfectly preserved.

♪♪

narrator:
The remains are
identified as male

and they include the entire
right half of the body,

weighing half a tonne.

♪♪

it turns out this was
the best-preserved

woolly mammoth found in the
area for over 100 years.

♪♪

but that wasn't even
the most incredible part

of the discovery.

♪♪

narrator:
There are dozens of unusual
markings, dents, and punctures

on the animal's rib bones,

its shoulder,

and tusk.

♪♪

when you see markings
like this,

you know
there's a good chance

that something out of the
ordinary happened here.

♪♪

these kinds of injuries
seem to indicate

that it might have met
a particularly violent end.

♪♪

narrator:
But what could've caused
these distinctive markings

and led to the death
of this giant ice age mammal?

The most obvious answer --

cave lions.

Cave lions roamed throughout
eurasia and north america

between 10,000
and 700,000 years ago.

♪♪

rose:
These prehistoric cats were
far larger than modern lions.

They were one of the most
ferocious predatory mammals

the earth has ever seen.

♪♪

irving:
Cave lions were
top predators.

They would've eaten anything
they could get their paws on --

giant deer, woolly rhinos,
and, of course, mammoths.

♪♪

narrator:
Did a group of cave lions

attack this woolly mammoth
and tear it apart?

♪♪

with a large-cat attack,
you'd expect to see claw marks

all over the body
and the torso,

while the bites would've
been mainly directed

at the nose and the throat.

♪♪

big cats have been known
to have eaten ribs

or other, smaller bones
of their prey,

but it isn't typically
what they did.

Their teeth just simply
weren't made for it.

♪♪

the markings on the bones

are actually quite precise
in appearance

and at seemingly
regular intervals,

so it doesn't look like the
evidence you'd expect to see,

if the bones had been
chewed or gnawed at.

♪♪

narrator:
If this wasn't the work
of cave lions,

what else could've killed
this enormous beast?

♪♪

researchers continue
to examine the remains

and discover an intriguing
wound to the skull.

♪♪

researchers find an anomaly
in part of the cheek.

There's an unusual hole

that they want
to get a better look at.

♪♪

narrator:
They wonder if this wound
could've been caused

by a direct collision
with something.

♪♪

this mammoth
was a young male.

We know that modern
elephants compete

for supremacy of a herd
over other males,

with battles, that include
forehead-to-forehead jousting.

♪♪

narrator:
Could the mammoth have lost
a battle fighting for dominance?

♪♪

irving:
This hole seems too small

to have been caused
by another mammoth tusk.

You would expect it to leave
a larger, more ragged injury.

♪♪

narrator:
If it wasn't another mammoth,
what caused this wound?

♪♪

the object would've had
to have enough force

to penetrate the bone
without shattering.

♪♪

scientists examining
the skeleton estimated

that the point of entry
for this injury

would've been
about five feet off the ground,

which matches up pretty well
with the shoulder height

of an adult human.

♪♪

humans and mammoths did coexist
for a long period of time.

♪♪

there's evidence
that humans used

all parts of the mammoth --
furs, bones, and tusks --

for clothing and shelter
and other purposes.

♪♪

narrator:
Could it be that some
ancient human hunters

killed this giant mammoth?

♪♪

there's a problem
with this, though.

When scientists radiocarbon
date the mammoths remains,

they make
a surprising discovery.

This mammoth is
45,000 years old.

But humans aren't believed
to have arrived in the arctic

until as early
as 35,000 years ago.

This mammoth is
10,000 years older than that.

Narrator:
If this mammoth was the victim
of early human hunters,

it will change everything
we thought we knew

about human migration
to the arctic.

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
On an icy peninsula
in northern russia,

researchers have unearthed
a woolly mammoth skeleton

that they think might have been
killed by human hunters.

♪♪

they look to the wounds
on its shoulder blades

to test their theory.

♪♪

one of the markings looked like
it could be the result

of a powerful blow that has gone
right through the shoulder

and almost completely perforated
the base of the shoulder blade.

♪♪

an adult male woolly mammoth

would've stood
over 10 feet tall

and weighed
around six tonnes.

Were early hunters
even capable

of bringing down
such a large beast?

♪♪

if hunters today wanted
to take down an elephant,

they would target
the major arteries,

to try and create
devastating bleeding.

The injuries on the mammoth

seem like they could be
consistent with that.

♪♪

bellinger:
This kind of hunting would've
been extremely dangerous.

There would've been
serious risk

of getting trampled,
or gored by its giant tusks.

♪♪

rose:
When the mammoth
finally went down,

a heavy blow to the head
could've finished it off.

That would account
for the wound in the skull.

♪♪

narrator:
Scientists return
to the skull

and discover a second wound,

a small hole,
hidden in the jugal bone.

They perform a ct scan of the
bone, to produce a 3-d model,

and the answer reveals itself.

The indentation
matches the shape

of the tip of a stone spear.

♪♪

it's not a smoking gun,

but it certainly
strengthens the theory

that humans must have
arrived in the arctic

10,000 years earlier
than previously thought.

♪♪

♪♪

between the arctic ocean
and the greenland sea,

on a small, treeless,
uninhabited island,

a strange discovery
may unlock a mystery

that's gripped the world
of exploration

for more than a century.

♪♪

this really is a remote
and an untouched area,

miles and miles of barely
explored shoreline,

until you spot
this one beach, in particular.

♪♪

there are objects scattered
all over the beach,

centered around what appears
to be one large ruin.

♪♪

narrator:
On the far north shore
of virgo bay,

in the svalbard archipelago,
north of the arctic circle,

the remnants of strange wooden
structures cover the beach.

♪♪

macferrin:
The ruins in the center of this
beach have these curves in them.

It reminds you of something
like a giant old boat

or the arches of a church

that have been flattened
on the beach.

Narrator:
Could it be the rotting hull
of a ship that ran aground?

♪♪

but there are no signs of a deck
or any of the metal pieces

that you would expect
on a ship of that size.

♪♪

o'keefe:
If this was a vessel,
it would've have had

a large central spine,
a keel,

and we don't see that here.

This isn't the remains
of a boat.

It's more likely
some kind of structure.

♪♪

when you look at these ruins,
you have to wonder

if this was the center
of a village,

or a town hall
or a gathering place.

♪♪

when you take into account

the items that you find
around on the beach,

it could indicate
that this was a settlement,

but it's really hard to tell.

♪♪

o'keefe:
Such a remote location

is a strange place
for a settlement.

What would people
have been doing here?

♪♪

clarke:
Why go to all the effort
of hauling lumber and gear

onto an uninhabited island?

This structure must've had
a special purpose.

What was it for?

♪♪

narrator:
The answer may lie
over 200 miles away,

on remote white island,

where, in 1930,

a group of seal hunters
made a perplexing discovery.

♪♪

macferrin:
White island is
usually inaccessible.

It's locked in by sea ice
year-round.

But in 1930,
the ice broke up enough

where seal hunting ships

could come in and resupply
for fresh water.

♪♪

as the seal hunters were
gathering water from the stream,

one of them spotted something
popping out of the ground.

It was an aluminum lid.

♪♪

obviously, the hunters had
to find out more,

so they worked
their way up the stream

and they found something even
stranger buried in the snow.

♪♪

macferrin:
Sticking out of the snow
was the tip of a boat.

The seal hunters found books,
a barometer,

other supplies there.

Just a few dozen feet away

were boots, trousers,
and a jacket.

♪♪

narrator:
Buried beneath the ice
and snow,

they find human remains.

♪♪

it was just a pair of legs
and half a torso

and the body showed signs
that it had been eaten.

It would've been
quite the shock to find.

♪♪

narrator:
The hunters examine
the bite marks on the remains.

They appear to be
from a large animal.

♪♪

considering that they
were this far north

and, given the size
of the bite marks,

the only animal
that could've done this

would've been a polar bear.

♪♪

the big question for the seal
hunters would've been,

"who was this man and how
did he come to be deserted

and eaten by a polar bear
on white island?"

♪♪

narrator:
As the hunters dig the rest
of the boat out of the ice,

they make another
stunning discovery.

♪♪

near the frozen wreckage
of the boat,

leaning up against a rock,

the hunters found
another skeleton.

♪♪

inside the jacket,
they found initials...

Narrator:
S.A.

Could these remains solve
a long-forgotten mystery?

♪♪

at the turn
of the 20th century,

countries across the globe

were racing to be the first
to the north pole.

One expedition was led

by swedish engineer
and polar aeronaut

solomon August andrée.

♪♪

these expeditions were seen
as heroically brave

and highly patriotic.

In 1896,
the swedish powers that be

funded andrée's expedition to be
the first to the north pole,

using an airship.

♪♪

these explorers
were inventive.

The problem with trying
to get to the north pole

by boat or by sled

is that the sea ice
is constantly shifting,

making the terrain
extraordinarily treacherous.

Andrée thought that,
if you can't get there

by land or sea,
then you should go by air,

in a hot air balloon
or an airship,

which really was
an outlandish idea.

♪♪

macferrin:
To go by air carries
extreme risks.

You have to be extremely light,
very few supplies.

You can make good time,
but you're also at the mercy

of every arctic wind and storm
that comes in your path.

♪♪

clarke:
In 1897,

andrée and his two companions
launched their balloon.

They were carrying with them
a collection of carrier pigeons

that they used
to send messages

of their progress
and well-being.

And, after three days,

one of these pigeons
was received by a ship

and the message?

"all is well."

that was the last
anyone ever heard

of andrée and his balloon.

♪♪

for years, people wondered

what had become
of solomon August andrée

and his balloon mission
to the north pole.

♪♪

narrator:
If this is
solomon August andrée,

what went so wrong
as to leave him here,

dead,
on a deserted island?

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
After human remains are found
on remote white island,

some wonder if this is the body

of long lost adventurer
solomon August andrée.

♪♪

as the seal hunters
explored the island,

they made a critical
discovery.

♪♪

the camera.

The film inside?

Still intact.

Narrator:
When researchers
develop the film,

[ flashbulb explodes ]
they find a series

of amazing photographs

and there's
no question anymore.

These are definitely the bodies
of the missing men.

[ flashbulb explodes ]

the first photograph shows
andrée and his team moments

after their balloon
crashed on the ice.

♪♪

macferrin:
The photos they found
are really something

in one of them, the men
are standing over the wreck

of the eagle,
calm and collected,

as if it was just
a balmy summer day.

You'd never know
they were stranded.

♪♪

o'keefe:
There are photos of the men
leaving their balloon behind,

pushing their boat,

and even setting up camp
out on the ice.

This is a spectacular
visual record

of what they did
after the balloon crashed.

♪♪

considering the danger
of the environment, alone,

and the inhospitable weather,

you'd think that would be
enough to break one's spirit

or make this
a treacherous journey.

They had to worry
about polar bears.

There's a photo of them
having shot one out on the ice.

♪♪

the photos confirm that
this was andrée and his team,

but it doesn't tell us anything

about what happened
to the expedition.

♪♪

many had assumed
that andrée's

inadequate testing
of the balloon,

and his insistence on using
a drag-rope method of steering,

may have been what caused
his balloon to go down.

Narrator:
Andrée had a theory

that he could steer
a balloon using sails,

but only if he dragged ropes
behind the balloon,

to slow it enough to allow
the sails to function.

Even during test flights
in sweden,

andrée's drag ropes
would snap, fall off,

getting entangled,
caught in the ground,

and a situation like that
could have

flipped the balloon
and caused immense damage.

♪♪

the swedish society
of physics

described andrée's drag-rope
theory as wishful thinking,

but there was so much patriotic
enthusiasm behind the mission,

andrée went ahead with his
doomed attempt, anyway.

♪♪

narrator:
It's likely that
the drag ropes

contributed
to the balloon's crash.

Also, we know
that the team ran into fog.

Fog blocks out the sun

and causes the gas
in the balloon to cool,

resulting in rapid
altitude loss.

♪♪

we know the team
survived the crash

and then walked across the ice
to white island.

Narrator:
It's clear that they must've
waited for many weeks

on white island,
hoping to be rescued.

To be completely stranded

on a frozen,
deserted arctic island,

never knowing
if you'll be rescued,

would've been
a terrifying thought.

♪♪

narrator:
Ultimately, no one came.

♪♪

but how does the discovery
of the remains

of andrée and his team

help us with the remnants
of the structure

over 200 miles away
on danes island?

♪♪

if you tried to launch
this balloon

from mainland sweden,
the trip to the north pole

would've been
over twice as far.

Danes island
was an ideal location

to launch such an expedition.

♪♪

narrator:
Could the lumbar structure

in virgo bay,
on danes island,

be andrée's launch site?

♪♪

at first glance,
there's nothing

at the virgo bay site
that points to it being

a hot air balloon
launch site.

But photos of andrée's
expedition before he launched

confirm that he built a large
shed to house his balloons.

♪♪

o'keefe:
In andrée's photos,
we can see the base camp

and it is clearly
on danes island.

This confirms that this exact
beach was his launch site.

♪♪

over the years,
the beach on danes island

would become the launch site

of many attempts
to reach the north pole,

not just by solomon August.

Narrator:
None of the attempts
were successful.

♪♪

years later, an american,
walter wellman,

launched his own balloon
expedition from danes island

and repurposed some
of the lumber

from the exact same site.

Narrator:
The remains you see today

are from
walter wellman's reuse

of solomon August andrée's
original launch site.

The shores of virgo bay
are now a historical site,

paying tribute
to the men who tried

to reach the north pole
in hot air balloons

and lost their lives
in the attempt.

Narrator:
They may have died,

but these daring and ambitious
airship adventurers

certainly showed
immense bravery

in their quest
to reach the north pole

in a way no one
had ever done before.