Original subtitles

Gates: October 12, 1492.

The New World.

It Looks Like Paradise, And Perhaps It Is...

A Virgin Land Protected On All Sides

By Vast Oceans,

Its People Blissfully Unaware Of Life Beyond Their Shores.

♪♪

But In Just A Moment, All Of That Will Change.

♪♪

In 1492, Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue.

We All Know The Rhyme.

But What Else Do You Know About Christopher Columbus?

What Do You Really Know?

When It Comes To Explorers,

None Are More Famous And Yet Less Understood.

Some People Are Taught That He Discovered America.

Yet He Never Set Foot Here.

His Nationality Is In Dispute.

His Early Years Are A Total Mystery.

Even His Own Journals Are Filled With Misdirection.

♪♪

To Some, He Is An Epic Hero,

To Others, A Bloodthirsty Conqueror.

But Who Was He Really?

There Are Two Huge Mysteries Surrounding Columbus

That May Shed Light On The True Nature Of His Character.

And Both Might Be On The Verge Of Being Solved.

♪♪

The First Involves The Fate Of His Flagship, The Santa Maria,

Which Hasn't Been Seen Since She Ran Aground

On Christmas Day Of 1492 Off The Coast Of Haiti.

One Explorer Claims He's Found

What Is One Of The Most Important Ships In History.

But Local Authorities Aren't So Sure.

And Would You Believe We Can't Even Agree

On Where Columbus Is Buried?

Two Nations Have Been Locked In A Dispute

Over Which Has The Explorer's Bones.

But Now Dna Evidence May Finally Unlock The Answer.

♪♪

This Is An Expedition

That Will Take Me To The Old World And The New,

Through 4 Countries And 500 Years Of History,

All To Discover What Is The True Story Of Christopher Columbus.

♪♪

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration,

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord!

Ah!

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Good To Fly. Let's Go.

This Is "Expedition Unknown."

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

To Begin My Expedition Into The Mysteries Of Columbus,

I'm Bound For Madeira, A Small Island

Off The Coast Of Portugal In The North Atlantic Ocean.

It's Also Where A Young Christopher Columbus

Honed His Navigational Skills.

We Have Cliffs On One Side And Just Water On The Other

And A Very Narrow Runway.

Not A Lot Of Room To Negotiate.

The Runway At Madeira Airport

Is One Of The Shortest And Most Dangerous In The World.

A Series Of Deadly Crashes

Prompted The Government To Lengthen It,

But With No Additional Land, They Built 180 Concrete Columns

And Hung The Runway Over The Sea.

♪♪

Brakes, Brakes, Brakes, Brakes,

Brakes, Brakes, Brakes, Brakes, Brakes.

[ Brakes Screeching ]

Whoo-Hoo!

[ Passengers Cheering ]

That Is The Joyous Sound Of Not Falling Into The Ocean.

♪♪

Welcome To Funchal.

This Is The Largest City Here In Madeira, A Place

That Has Long Been Associated With Exploration.

It Was Founded By The Portuguese In 1420,

Part Of Their Golden Age Of Discovery.

About 40 Years Later,

It Became Home To Christopher Columbus.

♪♪

Little Is Known For Certain

About The Early Life Of Columbus.

He Seems To Appear In History Fully Formed,

A Self-Made Gatsby For The Age Of Explorers.

Most Scholars Think He Was Born In Genoa, Italy,

The Son Of A Weaver.

However, Some Historians Have Identified Columbus

As Portuguese, Spanish, And Even Jewish To Boot.

His Arrival In Portugal Is Mysterious.

He Supposedly Washes Ashore In A Shipwreck In 1476.

And Four Years Later,

He Arrives In Madeira To Make His Living As A Chartmaker.

But He Also Develops An Obsession With The Sea.

♪♪

Madeira Is Steep.

And To Discover Its History, You Need To Head Uphill.

♪♪

Welcome To The Top Of Madeira.

There's Little Physical Evidence Of Columbus Here Today.

At His House, This Window Is All That Remains.

And Through It,

Columbus Looked Out On A Very Different World Than Ours.

♪♪

At The End Of The 15Th Century, The European Powers

Depend On Trade Along The Famed Silk Road To India,

But The Route Becomes Blocked By The Powerful Ottoman Empire.

Spain And Portugal Dispatch Their Best Navigators

To Find An Ocean Route To The Southeast,

Around The Tip Of Africa.

But The Young Chartmaker In Madeira Has A Different Plan --

To Look West.

[ Accordion Music Plays ]

It's Easy To See Why Columbus

And His Fellow Colonists Loved Madeira.

The View Up Here Can't Be Beat.

In Columbus' Time, Though, Getting Back Down To Sea Level

Quickly Required A Novel Solution --

Wicker Sleds That Would Fly Down The Steep Streets.

They Once Carried Bottles Of Madeira's Famous Wine,

But Today, They Carry Less-Precious Cargo --

Television Personalities.

I Can Literally Feel And Hear The Wicker Breaking

Under Me As I Sit.

That's Not A Good Sign.

This Crazy Contraption Is Called A Carreiros Do Monte.

And It Is Not For The Faint Of Heart Or The Weak Of Bladder.

♪♪

There We Go.

This Is Insane.

Good Lord!

Ah!

Crazy!

Yeah!

Wall. Wall!

Imagine Flying 30 Miles An Hour Downhill

In A Bread Basket From Pottery Barn With No Brakes,

And You'll Get An Idea Of How Safe This Is.

[ Horn Honks ]There's An Intersection!

Are You Kidding Me?

♪♪

Excellent Work, Boys.

I'm Just Gonna Sit Here For A Minute

And Think About The Choices In My Life

That Brought Me To This Moment.

♪♪

Shaking Off My Near-Death Experience, I Get It Together

And Head To The Docks To Meet Historian Ricardo Jardim.

I'm Hopeful That He Can Shed Some Light

On What Kind Of Man Columbus Really Was

And Reveal More About His Fateful Voyage.

He Told Me He Has A Boat By The Docks,

And, Well, It's Not Hard To Spot.

How Are You? I'm Fine.

Welcome Aboard.

This Is The Santa Maria.Yes, Yes.

When You Said You Had A Boat,

I Didn't Realize You Had Theboat.

Why Don't You Come Onboard?

And I'll Show You How We Sail It.

Now, Unlike The Real Santa Maria,We're Gonna Come Back, Though, Right?

Yes, Yes.

Built By Local Craftsmen,

This Is One Of The Only Working Replicas

Of The Santa Mariain The World.

Put About 500 Years On Her Odometer,

And This Could Be The Boat I'm Looking For.

This Is The Same Size As The Santa Maria.

Exactly The Same Size.

Which, You Know, It Seems --

Frankly, Being Out Here, It Seems Kind Of Small.

Because People Have The Idea That Those Ships Were Big.

But This Was The Biggest They Had.

♪♪

While Everyone Else Is Trying To Get Around Africa,

Columbus Is Obsessing Over The Journals

Of The Great Explorer Marco Polo.

Polo Went Over Land, Way Past India,

To The Grand Courts Of Kublai Khan In China.

Columbus Is Convinced

He Can Sail West And Reach This Mysterious Country.

And For Almost 10 Years,

He Seeks Funding For What Most Believe Is A Fantasy.

But In 1492, He's Finally Granted Sponsorship

From Spain's Queen Isabella And King Ferdinand.

On August 3Rd Of That Year,

Columbus, A Crew Of About 100 Men

And Three Small But Seaworthy Ships, The Nina,

The Pinta,And The Santa Maria, Depart For Asia.

Little Does Anyone Know That Only Two Ships

Will Be Coming Back.

Even Just Outside Of Port Here...

Yes.

...It's Pretty Roll-Y On This Boat.

Yes. With A Storm,

This Would Be Very Difficult To -- To -- To Sail.

If I'm Gonna Get Inside Columbus' Head, Though,

I'm Gonna Have To Sail A Mile In His Shoes.

Okay. So, All Right, Step One.

Step One, You Have To Untie The Sails.

Okay. What Do I Pull?

Uh, Not Here. You Have To Go Up There.

♪♪

No. This -- Look.

But There's So Many Things Here To Pull.

Doesn't One Of These Just Make The Sail Drop?

Come On. You Just Have To Go Up There.

And You Will See It's Very Easy.

It's Very Easy.

Okay.

Up Like This? Yeah.

This Is Very Stable.Yes.

Now I Can See You Have Portuguese Blood.

Yeah, You're About To Have Some Portuguese Blood

On The Deck Of The Ship In A Minute.

[ Laughs ]

While I Hang On For Dear Life,

The Portuguese Hugh Jackman Here Just Keeps Smiling

And Another Deckhand Flies Up Like Mowgli

From "The Jungle Book."

Wait. Why Are You So Much Faster Than Me?

[ Laughter ]

That's Good. We Are Just Going Slow Ahead.

Slow Ahead.

Be Careful. It's Moving A Little Bit.

This Is Horrible. This Is Officially Horrible.

♪♪

Gates: I'm Off The Coast Of Portugal

Aboard A Life-Size Replica Of Columbus' Flagship,

The Santa Maria.

This Is Crazy. So It's Up Higher.

This Is Horrible. This Is Officially Horrible.

I'm Up In The Very Creaky Crow's Nest To Untie The Sail.

♪♪

It Is Puke-Y Mcgillicuddy Up Here.

♪♪

I Can't Even Imagine Being Up Here In A Storm.

You Are Supposed To Untie That Rope There.

Okay. Untied.

Can I Get Out Of Here Now?Yes, You Can Come Out.

Okay, I'm Coming Down.

I Carefully Descend Down The Ropes

And Get Back To The Deck,

And With Knots Untied, We're Ready To Sail.

♪♪

How 'Bout That?That Is Good.

She Sails.

♪♪

According To Columbus' Calculations,

He Can Sail West And Reach The Coast Of China,

And Technically, He's Right.

But What He And Nobody Else In Europe Knows

Is That The World Is Bigger Than They Thought

And That Two Entire Continents And A Lot Of Islands

Are Standing In His Way.

And On October 11, 1492,

After Many Waterlogged Weeks At Sea,

Columbus Finally Spots Land.

Actually, One Of His Crew Members Does,

But Columbus Takes The Credit.

Ego.

Ricardo And Other Experts Believe The First Sighting

Was Probably Of San Salvador In The Caribbean.

And Then, Over The Next 2 1/2 Months,

A Perplexed Columbus Explores Small Islands

And Then The Coast Of Cuba, Haiti,

And The Dominican Republic,

All The While Desperately Looking For Some Indication

That This Is Asia.

In The Process, He Discovers Coffee, Sugar, And Spices,

But No Sign Of Gold, Pearls, Or China.

I Have To Say, Being Out Here,

It Really Gives Me An Idea Of How Hard This Must Have Been

And How Brave You'd Have To Be

To Set Sail On A Voyage Like That.

Even Nowadays, It's Not Any Sailor That Can Take A Boat

Like -- A Ship Like This And Sail To America.

If Anything Happened To These Guys,

Nobody Was Coming For Them.No.

On The Voyage Over, He Didn't Lose A Single Man.

Which, You Know, In Those Days,

Is -- Is... Is Quite Rare.

Yeah, It's An Accomplishment.

They Had A Lot Of Confidence In Columbus' Ability To Sail,

To Navigate.

[ Thunder Rumbles ]

All Right. Well, It Looks Like, Uh,

We're Getting A Little Weather Coming In Here.

Yes, Yes.

So We Can Either Go Back To Port,

Or We Can Go To The New World.

What Do You Want To Do?Uh, I Think, For Today,

It's Better To Go Back To Port.

Smart Man. Let's Go. Let's Sail This Thing.

This Replica Has One Advantage Over Its Namesake --

It Still Floats.

The Original Santa Maria Sank Accidentally.

Or Did It?

There Are New Theories About What Really Happened To The Ship

And Shocking Revelations About Her Captain.

To Learn The Truth, I Need To Follow Columbus' Path

To The New World.

♪♪

Pretty Wild To Be Flying Over The Same Ocean

That Columbus Traversed Hundreds Of Years Ago.

You Know, It Took Him And His Crew More Than A Month

To Sail Down There In Really Tough Conditions.

Today, In A Modern Jetliner,

We Make The Trip In About 10 Hours.

And You Get To Watch Old "Two And A Half Men" Episodes.

So Maybe It Was Better On Columbus' Ship.

It's 3,500 Miles From This Island

To My Destination On Another -- Haiti.

♪♪

Haiti Is A Nation Born Of Hope,

Founded In 1804 By Former Slaves Who Threw Off Their Shackles

And Seized Their Freedom From The French.

This Was The First Black Republic In The World,

With An Astounding Cultural Legacy And Historic Treasures

Which Reveal A Past Filled With Wealth And Pride.

Unfortunately, None Of This Is What Haiti Is Known For.

♪♪

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

This Is, Generally Speaking, Not A Place That Many Tourists

Visit These Days.

I've Never Been Here.

In Fact, I Don't Think I Know Anyone Who's Been Here.

Haiti Is Not Just Synonymous With Poverty.

It Redefinesit.

Though It Is Closer To Miami Than Washington, D.C.,

It Exists In An Entirely Different World.

For The Past 100 Years, The Haitian People Have Been

Victims Of Endemic Corruption And Foreign Meddling.

Port-Au-Prince Is A Capital City Of Over A Million People

That Lacks Reliable Infrastructure, Sanitation,

And, In Some Cases, Buildings.

It Has Been Five Years

Since A Massive Earthquake Leveled Much Of The Capital,

Taking With It At Least 100,000 People

And More Than A Quarter Of A Million Homes.

Since Then, A Lot Has Been Done.

A Lot Hasn't Been Done.

And There's A Real Sense Here In The City

That People Are Unsure What's Gonna Happen Next.

Perhaps The Only Thing

That Pulled Through The Earthquake Stronger Than Before

Was Capitalism.

Haiti Is A Country Constantly On The Make.

And Every Man, Woman, And Child Has To Sell To Survive.

♪♪

Hey, Guys. How Are You?

How Ya Doing? So, What Is This?

Man: This Is Bootlegging.

Bootlegging.We Get All The Electricity.

This Is A Power Line.

And This Is Now A Cellphone Charging Station.

Cellphone Station.Can I Top Up?

Do We Have A Charger For Him?

We Got It. Got It.

And It's Charging.It's Charging.

So, Basically, This Is A Power Line.

And They've -- They've Cut Into It

And Directly Attached, Uh, Cellphone Chargers.

It's Like Cutting Out The Wall Socket.

How Long Do These Things Take To Charge?

Gates: 500 Years Ago, Haiti Didn't Yet Exist.

On Christmas Eve Of 1492,

The Santa Maria Sailed Along Her Northern Coast.

Columbus, According To His Log, Hands The Tiller

To A Crewman And Goes To Sleep.

♪♪

That Crewman Leaves The Santa Maria

In The Hands Of A Young Boy.

It's Like Letting Your 12-Year-Old

Pilot The Space Shuttle,

Which Is Why, On Early Christmas Morning,

One Of The World's Greatest Navigators

Crashes Into A Reef Off Northern Haiti.

♪♪

[ Yelling In Native Language ]

A Tragic Mistake.

Or Was It?

Columbus' Journals Were Often Filled With Misdirection.

The Wreck And What Happens After

Could Reveal The Darkest Secrets About Columbus.

But In Order To Learn Them,

We Need To Find The Greatest Lost Ship In History.

♪♪

At Haiti's National Museum,

I Meet With Director Of Conservation Camille Louis,

Who Shows Me A Breathtaking Connection To The Mystery.

So Tell Me About This Incredible Artifact.

This Is The Anchor From Columbus' Flagship?

Absolutely.

Was The Anchor Found In The Water?

The Anchor, One Of Six Aboard The Santa Maria,

Was Discovered In The Year 1700, Rusting In A Plantation Field

Near The Northern Village Of Limonade.

The Question Is, How Did It End Up So Far Inland?

After The Santa Maria Runs Aground

On Christmas Morning Of 1492,

Columbus Makes A Shocking Decision.

Before The Boat Sinks, He Orders The Deck Timber

Stripped And Hauled On Shore To Build A Fort

That He Names La Navidad.

He Commands That 39 Men, Whose Ride Home Has Crashed,

Will Stay Behind Until Columbus Can Return.

And Has The Fort Itself Ever Been Found?

The Government's Current Missions To Find La Navidad

May Be My Best Opportunity

To Unravel The Mystery Of The Santa Maria.

Find The Fort, And The Rest Of The Boat,

Along With The Truth About Columbus, Will Be Revealed.

♪♪

Gates: Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

I'm On My Way North To Where Christopher Columbus

Wrecked His Flagship And Where Its Anchor Was Found.

But If I'm Going To Join Archaeologists In Their Search,

I've Got A Long Drive Ahead Of Me.

The Anchor Was Found Far North Of Port-Au-Prince,

Near Haiti's Second-Largest City, Cap-Haitien.

♪♪

When You Think Of The Caribbean,

You Don't Really Think Of Mountains,

But In Fact, Haiti Is Very Mountainous.

Tallest Peak On The Island Is Almost 9,000 Feet.

And To Get From Port-Au-Prince Up To Cap-Haitien,

We Have To Go Over The Top.

In Haiti, No Matter The Time Of Day,

There Are People Walking Along The Road,

So Driving Is Dangerous For Both Me And Them.

Fortunately, I Only Have To Hit The Brakes Once.

And It's For This.

♪♪

Who's The Best?

[ Man Speaks French ]

All Right. Let Me See Your Moves, Man.

Let Me See Your Moves. What Do You Got?

I Mean, I Can't Just Let This Be A Spectator Sport.

I'm Coming In.

Slow It Down, Dude!

Get In Here!

Come On. We Got This.

We Got This.

Ma'am, You Got To Slow That Down.

You Got To Slow That Down, Ma'am.

♪♪

Slow That Down, Ma'am.

[ Laughter ]

Okay, I Need A Rest Now.

Even With The Double-Dutch Break,

It Takes Six Hours Over Twisting Roads

To Go Only 150 Miles To The North Shore.

Columbus' Journals Place The Wreck Of The Santa Maria

Near A Reef Off The Coast.

And Recently, One American Explorer Claimed To Find It.

To Find Out If He Did, I'll Need A Guide.

And In Northern Haiti, Looking For Shipwrecks

Brings You To One Man -- Jean-Claude Dicquemare.

Bonjour. Bonjour.

How Are You? I'm Good.

You Ready To Go Out? Okay, Let's Do It.

Don't Let His Age Fool You.

Jean-Claude Is A Machine.

He's Been Documenting Wrecks In Haiti For 40 Years

And Even Worked Alongside Cousteau Aboard The Calypso.

This Guy Is Full Steve Zissou.

This Is For Me? Captain?

Souvenir, Captain.

Captain, Admiral.Admiral, Yeah.

♪♪

Most Of The Known Shipwrecks In This Area

Were Discovered By Jean-Claude.

But There's One That Has Eluded His Grasp.

How Many Wrecks Out Here?

257.

257?

Right.Wow.

♪♪

In 2013, Famed American Explorer Barry Clifford Found A Wreck

Nearby That He Claimed Was The Santa Maria.

Case Closed? Hardly.

Since The Wreck Is So Old,

Most Of What's Left Are Ballast Stones,

Large Rocks Used To Stabilize The Boat.

Many Disagreed With Clifford's Claim, Including Jean-Claude.

So, How Many Years Have You Been Looking

For The Santa Maria?

About, Uh, 15 Years.15 Years.

The Boat That Everybody Talked About In The News,

With Barry Clifford, That Boat...

Mm....Is That The Santa Maria?

Mm, I Don't Think So. No?

So You Think It's Still Out There?

Yeah.Yeah.

Where Do You Think The Reef Is That The Santa Mariahit?

North Of Cap-Haitien.

Cap-Haitien Is Here. And North Is Here.

So, Somewhere Off Here?Somewhere Out There.

And You Can See Reef, Like Right Here, Right?

Yeah. That's Reef.

Plenty Of Reef.Lots Of Reef.

So Many Places For Him To Wreck.

Over There. Over There.Over There. Over There.

It's Not Easy, Right?Not At All.

And Now The Verdict Seems To Be In.

Recently, U.N. Experts Studied The Find

And Declared That The Wreck Isn't Old Enough

To Be The Lost Ship.

♪♪

Jean-Claude Has Two New Leads On Possible Wrecks,

Both From The Local Fishermen Who've Had Their Lines

Snagged On Something Just Off The Coast.

♪♪

The Old Size Medium Bc

Because When You Look At Me, You Think Medium.

♪♪

Under The Surface Is The World's Greatest Undiscovered Museum,

The Remains Of Untold Ships Swept Into These Reefs

By Erratic Currents.

It Doesn't Take Long

Before We See What Shredded The Local Fishermen's Nets --

Jagged Metal Rising Up From The Ocean Floor.

♪♪

Gates: Under The Waves Off The Northern Coast Of Haiti,

Expert Diver Jean-Claude Dicquemare And I

Have Been Scouring The Sea Floor For Evidence

Of Christopher Columbus' Lost Ship, The Santa Maria.

What We Find Is Almost Beyond Description.

♪♪

The Wreck Is Both Far Too Large

And Far Too Modern To Be The Santa Maria.

It's More Likely A 20Th-Century Cargo Freighter

That Hit The Same Reef Columbus Smashed Into 500 Years Earlier.

And As I Soon Discover,

There May Be More Here Than Meets The Eye.

♪♪

These Are Ancient Amphoras,

Ceramic Vessels That Date Back Centuries.

♪♪

Crusted Over By Time And The Elements

Is The Barrel Of A Historic Cannon.

♪♪

This Is A Cannon From The 1500S.

It And The Rest Of This Wreck Has Never Been Documented.

♪♪

However, The Cannon

Doesn't Match The Type Aboard Columbus' Ship.

This Is Likely A Weapon From About 50 To 100 Years Later,

When Other Explorers Followed In Columbus' Wake.

♪♪

I Head To The Surface,

Speechless At Having Been Able To Find Something So Historic.

♪♪

Man: How Was It?

For Me, This Was The Dive Of A Lifetime.

For Jean-Claude, It's Tuesday.

The Hunt Continues.

♪♪

It Turns Out That Not Everyone Is Looking In The Same Place.

One Historian Has Proposed A New Theory

That Could Turn Everything We Know About Columbus Upside Down.

I'm Meeting With Him In Haiti's Second-Largest City.

♪♪

This Is Cap-Haitien.

At One Point, This Was The Richest City In The Caribbean.

Today, It Is A Brightly Colored Maze

Of Streets, Equal Parts Charm And Chaos.

♪♪

Cap-Haitien Is A City Waiting For A Comeback.

Look Past The Chipped Paint And The Faded Signs.

Underneath, This Place Is Absolutely Alive.

Oh, Yeah. I Got It.

♪♪

[ Laughter ]

Okay. Nice Work. High Five.

♪♪

Columbus Was So Obsessed With Shimmering Gold

That He Hardly Noticed Some Of The Island's Natural Riches.

In His Logs, He Described Walking Right Past Natives

Who Were Drying Out Leaves.

If He'd Bothered To Investigate,

He Could've Been The Richest Man In The World

By Introducing Tobacco To Europe.

So, As The First European To Set Foot In The New World,

Columbus Tried To Chronicle All Of The Things

That He Found Here.

He Tried To Describe A Fruit

That Had Never Been Seen By Anybody In Europe At This Point.

He Didn't Have A Name For It.

Today, We Know It As A Pineapple.

♪♪

I'm Pulled Away From The Fun

When I Get A Call On My Emergency Satellite Phone.

This Thing Doesn't Ring Often,

And When It Does, It's For A Reason.

I'm Gonna Need A Minute. [ Chuckles ]

[ Clears Throat ]

I Just Found Out That I'm Gonna Be A Dad.

-Oh, My God. -Yeah!

-Congratulations. -Welcome To The Club, Buddy.

Welcome To The Club. -Yeah.

Whoo.

Congratulations. Thanks.

Awesome.

Gates: It's Gonna Take A Few Minutes For My Brain To Reboot.

In Fact, I'll Let You Know When It Finishes.

Well, New Life In The New World.

Look At That.

Okay, Josh. Get It Together.

There's No Crying In Exploration.

Whoo!

♪♪

So Far, All Of The People Searching For The Ship

Have Based Their Work On Columbus' Own Logs And Maps,

Sources That Are Suspect.

But What If Columbus Changed More Than Just A Few Numbers

In His Log?

What If He Lied About The Event Altogether?

♪♪

I Meet Historian Manuel Rosa,

Who Has A Groundbreaking New Theory

That Could Literally Change Every History Textbook

In The World.

Manuel. Hey, Josh.

Good To Meet You.Nice To Meet You, Too.

How Are You?Good.

I'm Told That When It Comes To Columbus,

You're A Man With A Lot Of Info.

Yeah, 24 Years Of Researching Columbus.

And I Uncovered A Lot Of Dirt.Okay.

So, How Do We Understand Him?

If You Really Want To Understand Columbus,

You Have To Retrace His Route.

Retrace His Route? Let's Do It. Come On.

♪♪

We Head Back Toward The Reef

Where Columbus Supposedly Wrecked.

But Manuel Paints A Very Different Picture Of The Event.

Orient Me A Little Bit. Where Are We?

Okay. So We're In The Bay Of Cap-Haitien.

Columbus Called It Mount Caribata,

Which Is That High Peak There.

And On December 24, 1492,

He Says That The Santa Maria Was Roughly In This Area

Before He Went To Sleep.

And If It's True,

Then We Would Be Sitting Right Near The Spot

Where His Flagship Was Lost.

Columbus Had Already Seen And Charted The Massive Reef

That Buffets This Side Of The Island

And Spent Time Anchoring Inside Of It,

Where It Was Calm.

Yet According To His Logs, He Smashed Into It

From The Oceanside In The Dead Of Night.

You Have A Different Version Of His Story.

Oh, Yes, Because None Of It Made Any Sense.

The Whole Scenario About The Santa Maria

Wrecking On This Reef Is False.

He Was An Expert Mariner.

He Knew Where He Was Every Hour Of The Day.

He Knew Exactly Where He Was Going.

Manuel Finds It Inconceivable That Columbus Would Have

Fallen Asleep With The Ship Outside The Deadly Reef.

Even I Have To Admit It Does Seem Weird.

Instead, He Thinks He Wrecked The Boat On Purpose.

But Why?

Columbus Wanted To Leave The Santa Mariabehind

So, When He Got To Spain, He Had A Reason To Return

Because If Everybody Made It Back To Spain Safe And Sound,

There Was No Reason To Return.

So He Had To Leave A Reason To Force A Second Voyage.

And He Invented The Whole Story About The Ship Wrecking.

According To Columbus,

The Timbers From The Ship Were Pulled Ashore To Make A Fort,

La Navidad, Where He Left 39 Of His Men Behind.

♪♪

And You Don't Think There's Any Possibility

That Columbus Just Screwed Up,

Was In The Wrong Place

When He Went To Sleep And Wrecked The Ship.

No. You See, Columbus Was --

Like I Told You, He Was A Genius At Sailing.

Everything He Did Was Very Well-Planned.

Right. And This Is Why

You Should Question Everything You've Been Told.

Where Do We Look For The Santa Maria?

You're Gonna Look For It Near A River,

Which He Said There Was,

Uh, Where They Could Get Fresh Water,

Somewhere Where It's Easy To Drag Up On Shore.

So It Would Have To Be, You Know, Flat Beach.

And Then On A Place That's Gonna Be Easily Defended

Against, You Know, Possibly With Water On Two Sides.

So, You Think That's Where The Santa Mariaended Up?

Yes, It Is.

I Think We Should Go Look For It.

Okay. Let's Go Find It.

According To Manuel's Research,

We're Quickly Approaching The Area He Believes

The Remains Of The Santa Maria Were Pulled Ashore.

Okay. Hi, Guys.

To Get Into The Shallows,

We Hitch A Ride With Some Local Fishermen.

♪♪

This Is It.

This Is Where Columbus Arrived Over 500 Years Ago.

♪♪

We Make Landfall And Immediately Set Up Our Equipment

To Find Any Metallic Remnants That Hail From The Santa Maria.

Okay. So Chances Are,

The Coast Would've Been Further In...

Right....During Columbus' Time.

It Really Is Needle-In-A-Haystack Territory.

Sure. But That's Okay.

[ Metal Detector Beeping ]

♪♪

Gates: We Got Something Here.

No. Here?

Something There For Sure.

♪♪

[ Beeping ]

That's A Big Hit.

Something Right Here.

What Is This?

♪♪

Gates: Researcher Manuel Rosa And I Are Searching For Evidence

To Support His Radical New Theory

That The Santa Maria'sdemise Was No Accident.

There's Something Right Here.

[ Beeping ]

♪♪

Here We Go.

There It Is.

Yeah, A Piece Of Pipe.

It Looks Very Old, Very Worn,

But This Could Literally Be From Anything.

Sure. It Could Also Be From The Santa Maria.

You Never Know, Right?

We'd Need A Little Bit More Than That.

So Let's Keep Exploring.

Like Everywhere Else In Haiti,

You're Never Alone For Very Long.

A Local Farmer Takes Notice Of Our Work

And Comes Over To Chat.

Bonjour. Bonjour.

How Are You?

Salut. Salut.

We're -- We're Looking For,

Um, The Remains Of Something Wooden

Or, Uh, Like, Pieces Of Metal.

[ Dicquemare Speaks French ]

You Have? Oui.

[ Speaks French ]This Way?

Mm-Hmm. Please.

♪♪

Oh, Look At That.Oh, My God.

Look At That.

That Is A Cannon!

[ Metal Detector Beeping ]

It's Metal.That's Metal, All Right.

Just Out Here In The Open.

There's Probably Either The Remains Of A Fort Here

Or The Remains Of A Ship. You Know?

Yes. It Didn't Float Here On The Waves.

Right. We Know That Columbus

Did Have Cannons On The Santa Maria,Right?

Yes. He Left Some Cannons Behind.

At Least, He Would've Had To Leave At Least One Because

When They Returned On The Second Voyage,

He's Out Here In The Bay

Trying To Meet Up With The People Left Back At Navidad,

They Fire The Cannon From The, Uh, Nina.

[ Explosion ]

And They Were Expecting A Reply From Navidad.

And That Reply Never Came.

And They Began To Suspect That Something Had Happened

To The People He Left Behind.

So, What Do You Think?

Could We Be Looking At The Cannon From The Santa Maria?

No, I -- I Would Say That They Probably Left

Behind A Small -- A Small Cannon.

They Wouldn't Have Left Something This Big.

I Would Say This Looks Later, Wouldn't You?

Yeah, And I Don't Think The Santa Mariahad Cannons This Big Anyway.

Yeah, This Looks Huge.

The Cannon Is Too Large For The Santa Maria,

But It Is Likely From A Spanish Fort

Established Here After Columbus' Second Voyage.

And Yet It Remains Totally Unexcavated, Sinking In The Mud.

It's A Piece Of History, You Know?

Though It May Not Be From That Fort,

It Is Part Of The History That Followed.

Exactly. You Know?

This Is Probably Just The Tip Of The Iceberg Here.

Sure. With A Good Archaeologist,

They Might Find Quite A Few Things Around Here,

Valuable Things For The History Of Haiti.

It's Just Incredible To Think That You Can Come

To A Place Like This,

And You Can Actually Come Upon Something

That Is Still Sitting Where It Was Left.

Thank You Very Much. Merci.

Merci. Merci.

♪♪

Gates: Nearby, There's A Haitian Archaeologist

Who's Taking A Different Approach To The Mystery.

He, Too, Thinks The Key To Locating The Santa Maria

Is To Find Her Remains On Land,

And He's Searching Just Down The Coast.

I Walk Into Town To Link Up With Him,

That Is, If I Don't Get Hit By A Bus.

Hi. How Are You Doing?

How You Doing, Man? Good.

This Is A Busy Intersection To Meet At.

Yes, It Is, But, You Know,

It's The Right Spot Because We Need To Catch A Ride.

Catch A Ride?Oh, We Have To Catch This One.

That's It? Yes.

To Get There, We're Taking Public Transportation,

And In Haiti, There's No Bus Stops.

Whoo!

Wow. We Made It.

♪♪

Like Most Things In Haiti,

The Tap-Tap System Is Totally Unregulated.

This Is The Action Up Here.

Norestin: Can You Feel The Breeze There?

Yeah! This Is Great.

This Is -- This Is What It's All About.

Each Truck Fits About A Dozen People,

And When You're Ready To Bail, You Just Tap The Roof.

♪♪

Tap, Tap. Yes, Here We Go.

We're Here.Okay.

We Arrive At Our Stop

And Make Our Way On Foot Toward A Field Where Alain

Is Certain That The Remains Of La Navidad Will Be Found.

The Only Question For Him Is Will It Be Found Today?

♪♪

Gates: I Didn't Expect

That The Search For Columbus' Ship

Would Lead To A Field.

But We Call This Place En Bas Saline.

En Bas Saline? Yes.

Gates: En Bas Saline Is The Name Of An Ancient Settlement

Of Indigenous People Known As The Taino.

Contrary To The Myth

That Columbus Discovered The New World,

When His Three Ships Arrived In The Caribbean,

The Islands Were Positively Swarming With Life.

By Some Estimates, There Were More Than 1 Million Taino

Living In The Islands Off North America.

Uh-Huh?

How Was He Received By The Taino People?

To The Taino, Columbus And His Crew

May As Well Be Gods -- Fair Skin, Huge Ships,

And The Taino Have Never Even Seen Metal Before.

At First Contact,

One Of Them Innocently Grabs The Blade Of A Sword

And Draws Blood --

A Prophetic Moment For What Is To Come.

Columbus Is Welcomed Warmly And Leaves 39 Men In La Navidad,

Surrounded By The Taino.

When He Returns 11 Months Later, The Fort Will Be Destroyed,

And All The Men Will Be Dead.

What Happens In Those 11 Months To Sour The Relationship?

Finding La Navidad May Be The Key To Learning The Truth

And What Role Columbus Played In The Death Of His Men.

And You Think That That Fort Could Be Here?

Yeah?

It's Incredible To Think That This Pivotal Moment

In History May Have Happened Right Near Here.

Yeah.

Alain Is Systematically Excavating The Fields

Near The Location Where Columbus' Anchor Was Found.

♪♪

All Right, Columbus. Come On.

Where's Your Boat?

♪♪

We Spent Hours In The 95-Degree Heat,

Digging Up Portions Of The Field.

Archaeologically Speaking, It's A Treasure Trove.

Everywhere We Put A Shovel, We Get Something.

[ Speaks French ]

Gates: Stop, Stop, Stop.

Look At That.

Seashell.

So You Find A Lot Of Those Here, Yeah?

Gates: The Seashells Here Are Telling.

Their Presence Means That They Were Brought Inland

And That This Was A Settlement, Perhaps Even La Navidad Itself.

♪♪

[ Speaks French ]Whoa, Whoa, Whoa.

Right There.

♪♪

Down Here Is Where The Bones Of Christopher Columbus

Were Kept For Centuries.

You Feel 100% Confident That He's Here.

I Don't Believeit. I Knowit.

This Could Be Christopher Columbus.

Woman: Yeah.

♪♪

Ugh! Come On! Let's Get Out Of Here!

People Just Getting Knocked Down.

♪♪

Hey, Guys! Come Here!

♪♪