02x03 - Shipwreck Ghosts of Mexico

[bunniefuu]

[Jeremy]
In the Peruvian jungle,

could there really be
a boiling river

that kills on contact?

I'm sitting here thinking,
holy cow,

this thing is massive!

[Jeremy] Will the identification
of an unknown sailor

reveal what happened in
Australia's biggest naval disaster?

This is the only body to be
recovered from the tragedy.

[expl*si*n]

[Jeremy] And has a dark secret
being concealed from the world

on this Caribbean wreck.

It's highly probable that the owners of
this wreck did not want it to be found.

[Jeremy] The underwater
realm is another dimension.

It's a physically hostile place

where dreams of promise
can sink into darkness.

[Jeremy] I'm Jeremy Wade,

and I'm searching the world

to bring you the most iconic
and baffling underwater mysteries

known to science.

The vast majority of our ocean

is unobserved, unmapped,
and unexplored.

[Jeremy] It's a dangerous
frontier that swallows evidence.

You have nowhere to run.

[Jeremy]
Where unknown is normal.

And understanding is rare.

In the Gulf of Mexico, an estimated


And tuned inside
are countless secrets

from America's past.

The remains
of a 19th century ship

found near the Mexican coast,

are rumored to have
a sinister history.

And if true,
this will shock the world.

[Jeremy] 2017, in the small
coastal town of Sisal, Mexico,

a local fisherman leads
a team of archeologists

to a mysterious wreck
two miles offshore.

[Helen] As with much
of maritime archaeology,

we're often guided
by local knowledge.

And that's absolutely
the case here.

[Jeremy]
Some fisherman in Sisal,

have known about
this wreck for generations.

And rumor suggests
the ship has a shady past.

There were rumors that this ship was
conducting some sort of ill*gal activity.

Perhaps transporting
the most heinous of cargos.

[Jeremy]
To uncover the truth,

archeologists from Mexico's
Institute of Anthropology and History,

start looking for clues.

When they were
first examining it,

they didn't know
what they were looking at.

The remains were scattered
over an area of half a mile squared.

[Jeremy] The team use a
portable magnetometer

that can detect metal from
nearly 1,500 feet away.

This ship had a wooden hull.

It's got paddle wheel
and a boiler.

The archeologists find elements
of the propulsion system,

including the rocker arm that
helps power the paddle wheel.

[Jeremy]
These specific features reveal

that this is a vessel from a
narrow slice of maritime history.

A side paddle steamer.

Steamers transported
mail and cargo

across the Atlantic
to the Caribbean

from the 1840s until the 1870s.

[Dr. Ruben] All the original
components were found,

but that only tells us
the type of ship.

That doesn't tell us which ship.

[Jeremy] Then the divers
get a lucky break.

Hidden in the sand, they
uncover several pieces of cutlery.

And they're stamped with a name.

Zangroniz Brothers and Company.

Slowly, the pieces
of the story come together.

[Dr. Alexander] This is
a really critical find,

as it's a key emblem of
who it was owned by.

[Jeremy] The Zangroniz family
operated side paddle steamers

across the Atlantic from Europe

and around the Caribbean,

trading in commodities
like sugar and natural fibers.

They were give literally
carte blanche

to do a lot of trade.

Their reputation
was relatively stellar.

[Jeremy] Searching for
more clues about the wreck,

the team delved deeper
into the Zangroniz family.

Once you began looking into
the commerce and the company,

then the documents literally
begin to come out of the woodwork.

[Dr. Lisa]
Through detailed analysis,

investigators were
able to determine

that this was
the wreck of La Union.

[Jeremy] La Union was one of
two side paddle steamers

owned by the Zangroniz family.

It sunk in 1861.

But the team's
investigations reveals

much more
about this merchant ship

which has been hidden
for more than 150 years.

It's highly probable
that the owners of this wreck,

did not want it to be found.

[Jeremy] The Zangroniz family
had free reign on the high seas.

Their trade unchecked
and inhumane.

La Union stopped
on one of its voyages

just a year
before it sank in 1860

and it had
a sl*ve labor cargo onboard.

[Dr. Lisa] There were at least 30
sl*ves on this ship including children.

One was as young
as 12 months old.

[Dr. Ruben]
The documentation is clear.

The Zangroniz brothers were
engaged in human trafficking.

[Jeremy]
La Union was a sl*ve ship.

But sl*very had been ill*gal
in Mexico since the 1820's.

32 years before
the sinking of La Union.

So what was a sl*ve ship doing
sailing from Mexico?

And we have
evidence of ship wrecks

which were part of
the Atlantic sl*ve trade.

But this is
a different kind of network.

We're seeing something new.

[Jeremy] Further investigations
of historical records

reveals something startling.

The enslaved people
aboard were Maya,

indigenous Mexicans.

This is the first Mayan
sl*ve ship ever discovered.

So, where was this
human cargo being taken

when sl*very was
ill*gal in their homeland?

The answer may lay
in the Mexico's troubled past.

The w*r of the Castes

was one that basically persisted
from about 1847 till 1901.

[Jeremy] This caste w*r pitted
the wealthy European Mexicans,

the Yucatecos,

against the more modest
and traditional Maya.

[Dr. Ruben] Those are Maya
in the northern Yucatan,

found themselves being
dispossessed of their land,

they were engaged
in a rebellion,

they were seen
as enemy combatants.

[Jeremy] Did this w*r provide the
Yucatecos with a convenient excuse

to banish their Maya enemy?

sl*very might have been
ill*gal in Mexico in the 1860s,

but elsewhere in the Caribbean
it was still thriving.

sl*very isn't ill*gal in Cuba.

[Jeremy] With their ship,
La Union,

the Zangroniz family could take
advantage of the demand for sl*ves

on the Cuban sugar plantations.

It was a marriage made in hell.

[Jeremy] The suffering
would have began

onboard La Union.

[Dr. Ruben] The Maya were
literally being placed in a cargo hold

and these were right next
to the actual boiler.

So, they were
literally put in harm's way

every time they were loaded
into these very tight

and confined quarters.

[Jeremy] The discovery of
this wreck has for the first time,

revealed a missing chapter
for Mexico's past.

So, why is this immoral trade

omitted from the history books?

We really don't know very much
at all about the Mayan sl*ve trade.

[Dr. Ruben] The Yucatecos,
who were in charge,

would have
wanted this minimized.

So, it remained a dirty secret

in one that went
in the bottom of the sea.

[Jeremy]
Archeologists now know,

that people were trafficked
onboard La Union,

the year before it sank.

But they still don't know exactly
what happened to the ship

on that fated last journey,

until the team
exploring the wreck

uncover new
critical pieces of evidence.

[Alexander] Fireboxes
being found in fragments,

the chimneys being found
in fragments

and there is large
chunks of the wreck

which have been exposed
to intense heat.

[Jeremy] The charred
evidence on the sea floor,

matches records on land.

Minutes after leaving port,
the boiler dramatically explodes.

[expl*si*n]

It caused the total destruction
of the ship instantaneously.

[Jeremy] What's still
unanswered though

is whether human cargo
is onboard the ship

when it explodes.

A Mayan sl*ve ship has been
identified off the coast of Mexico.

The only one ever
discovered in the world.

Evidence on the wreck shows
that it exploded.

But one question remains,

were the Maya captives onboard
when it sank?

[expl*si*n]

[Jeremy] Records indicate
that roughly

half of the 80 crew
and the 60 passengers

lost their lives
in the expl*si*n.

We have no idea
what the real death toll was.

It was not customary
for customs agents

and Mexican officials

to document this infernal
trafficking in human lives.

[Jeremy] The divers find
no human remains.

So, does this mean this fated
journey was without a sl*ve cargo?

The ocean may have hidden
the true scale of this tragedy.

[Dr. Ruben]
Once you enter the dimension

of a very shallow settling
of human remains,

you're going to see
an accelerated decomposition

because you'll still have
sunlight entering the freight.

You'll have oxygen and
other factors to contend with.

[Jeremy] So, there's still the
possibility that the trafficked Maya

were on La Union when it sank.

And it has since been revealed

that up to 20,000 Maya
were transported to Cuba

on the ships of
the Zangroniz family.

[Dr. Ruben] The Maya
have always been a proud

and noble people.

To be enslaved would have been
the worst condition for them.

This was not the Maya way.

[Jeremy] The true scale
of this industry of terror,

is yet to be fully uncovered.

We're only beginning
to understand

the extent to which
indigenous people

from Central America
were enslaved.

[Jeremy] But the secrets
that La Union has revealed

from this watery grave,

brings us one step closer
to the truth.

As I know from
my own explorations,

the jungle rivers
of South America,

can embody a deadly mix
of mystery and danger.

And there's one stretch of water

that has captured
my imagination.

A mythical
boiling river in Peru.

Legend has it,
the water flows so hot

it can k*ll in seconds.

Now, could one man
using the latest science

finally separate
myth from reality?

[Jeremy] As an eight
year old boy in Peru,

Andres Ruzo is told
by his grandfather

about the legend of
a mysterious boiling river

in the heart of the Amazon.

[Andres] My grand father
told me this crazy story

about the Spanish
conquest of Peru.

We're talking
about giant anacondas,

fierce warriors
with poison arrows,

piranhas that will
strip your flesh to the bone,

and a lost city of gold.

The boiling river was
one of the details

in this legend.

[Jeremy] Years later, the
little boy is a geo scientist

investigating
the waters of Peru.

When a clue to
the existence of boiling river

comes from somewhere
close to home.

I tell my aunt this thing about the
boiling river and that starts to come out

and she goes, "Andres,
it's real, I've been there."

[Jeremy] A skeptical Andres
is persuaded to follow his aunt

into the depths
of the rain forest.

The boiling river is a place that
sounds like it's straight out of folklore.

It was a one hour flight
from Lima,

on a truck on a dirt road
for like about two hours.

Then we take a Peke Peke,
a motorized canoe.

And then boom.

You've entered
into another universe.

[Jeremy] Andres starts to hear
a low rumble.

It sounded like an ocean wave
that was crashing constantly.

And you'd see these
wisps of white cloud,

It's vapor, high up
in the canopy of these trees.

[Jeremy] What greets him is
astonishing.

A river running
boiling hot for four miles.

What was your reaction?

I'm sitting here thinking,
holy cow, this thing is massive!

The boiling river is real.

So as you know, Jeremy, the great
thing about myths and legends is,

sometimes they do come true.

[Jeremy] A river running at more
than 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Reaching 80 feet at its widest,

and 20 feet at its deepest.

[Alexander] It's hot enough
that you can boil food in it.

It gives humans
third degree burns in second.

Any animals which are unfortunate
to fall into the river are boiled alive.

[Dr. Dijanna] Where is this
heat coming from?

What's causing the water to
have an increased temperature?

[Jeremy] The Peruvian Amazon,

and a boiling river thought
to be no more than a legend,

is very real.

But how this watery
inferno came to be,

remains a mystery.

Can an answer to this
bizarre phenomenon,

be hidden in the science
of geothermal waters?

They exist across the world.

Water rising up through areas
of scorching geology.

Especially near volcanoes.

But they're
in particular locations.

I mean, we know where
to find these things.

What is strange in the case
of this river is it is, A, so hot,

and B, so far away
from volcanoes.

[Jeremy] Most of Peru, sits in
what's known as a geo gap.

But there has been no volcanic
activity near the boiling river,

for over 2 million years,

and the nearest volcanic area,
is more than 430 miles away.

So what could be powering
this scorching hot river?

[Dr. Dijanna] The volcanoes are not
the only type of geothermal activity.

There's hydrothermal flows,
underground geothermal rivers.

We have them, but it's
really cool and unusual,

when we see them in places
that are not necessarily coupled,

to geothermal activity.

[Dr. Helen] This river seems
to go for so long and so hot,

that it looks
to be something else.

[Jeremy] Could it be caused by something
outside our scientific understanding?

Indigenous communities have,

attached the river
tremendous spiritual power.

It's become incredibly sacred.

[Jeremy] The river is known by its
ancient name, Shanay-Timpishka.

Meaning
'Boiled with heat of the Sun.'

But nowhere on Earth,
can the Sun do this.

Digging deeper, local folklore
suggests an alternative explanation.

[Dr. Helen] At the head of the
river, the waters actually cold.

[Dr. Helen] And as it starts
flowing down,

it reaches the place where
there's the first warm water injection.

And that's where
there's this giant stone.

[Jeremy] The stone bears a striking
resemblance to the head of a constrictor.

Traditionally, this is believed
to be the home of Yacumama.

And in indigenous traditions,
Yacumama gives birth

to the waters of the Amazon.

[Jeremy] For a decade, Andres and his team
have been trying to find out the truth.

Boiling water is an
inhospitable environment,

for any kind of technology.

And of course,
also for scientists.

[Jeremy] Thermal drone cameras
help the teams study the boiling water.

You wanna get a good grasp on
the temperature at various locations.

Are there any chemical
signatures that might indicate

what has happened
to this body of water?

What clues do those components
give us about origins?

[Jeremy] There are only a few
scientific laboratories in the world,

that can help reveal
the rivers unseen power.

So have you discovered the secret
behind the immense heat of this river?

I'm in the middle of analyzing
more data right now.

But in basic terms,

what we are seeing thus far is
that this is a hot spring on steroids.

Waters could be falling
to Earth,

as far away as the Andes.

Seeping down into the Earth.

[Jeremy] Rainwater could have
traveled underground for 60 miles,

from the East Andes, and it may
not be the only source of the water,

which is somehow, heated underground
before being driven to the surface,

in this one particular place
in the Peruvian jungle.

In this hot water in the
subsurface is hidden an area,

a fault zone,
a unique geologic setting,

that allows a mass of hot water,

to get up to the
surface quickly.

[Jeremy] The boiling river, seems to be
part of an enormous hydrothermal system.

One of the worlds
largest and most extreme.

The exact nature of that system
however, is still being worked out.

As far as a large tropical
non-volcanic thermal river,

we have still not found
anything quite like this one.

[Jeremy] While we still can't fully
explain the extreme heat of the river,

the life that's found within it,

opens up
a whole new area of study.

On planet Earth, we have organisms
that thrive in extreme environments.

We call those organisms
extremophiles.

They're microbial organisms
that have the ability

to withstand extremes in temperature,
chemistry and sometimes pressure.

[Jeremy] Do these microscopic
survivors in the boiling river

have the potential to transform
the future of humanity?

Better understanding of these
adaptations might give us clues

to how life
might be adapted elsewhere.

[Jeremy] So this mysterious
stretch of river,

could be an ecosystem
with untold capability.

[Dr. Beverly] These are the
kind of places where

we're gonna make discoveries
about pharmaceuticals.

[Andres] Could the boiling
river's jungle, specifically,

hold the keys to solving
a humanitarian crisis?

Or to helping us
fix the next pandemic?

At this point we don't know,
but we're definitely looking into it,

because that is
a real possibility.

[Jeremy] So the discovery of the boiling river
was just the beginning of a bigger story.

One potentially full of promise.

Even after ten years,

I mean, we really have barely begun to
scratch the surface of what we can do.

Conflicts at sea are usually won
by the bigger more powerful vessel,

they have the size
and weaponry to prevail.

So, when the grand Australian
warship, HMAS Sydney

is destroyed by an inferior
n*zi vessel in World w*r II,

it shocks the world.

How did the Germans win such an improbable
victory against a far superior ship?

What compels the mystery, is that
there were no Australian survivors to ask.

Of the 645 crew on board the
Sydney, not one person survived.

What happened?

November 19th, 1941,

state of the art Australian
warship, HMAS Sydney,

is traveling south off the
coast of Western Australia,

when she spots what appears
to be a small merchant ship.

[Dr. Simon] The Sydney signals
it using one of its signal lamps,

to try and get it
to identify itself.

The ship responds by hoisting
the call sign of a Dutch freighter.

[Jeremy] The Sydney replies
with a secret signal,

that the apparent
merchant ship should know.

But when the unidentified ship
realized that it can't answer correctly,

it opens fire on the Sydney.

The merchant ship, is in fact, the
German surface raider, HSK Kormoran.

[Jeremy] After just half an hour of battle,
both ships are crippled and sinking.

While a fifth of Kormoran's
crew lose their lives,

there are no survivors
from the Sydney.

645 Australian souls are lost.

This is the greatest naval
tragedy in Australia's history.

[Jeremy] How could the
Kormoran possibly sink,

such a superior
Australian warship?

This is one of the leading
warship in Australian navy,

if not the leading warship.

HMAS Sydney has eight 6
inch g*ns, eight torpedoes,

and a plethora
of smaller weapons.

Weighs over 7000 tons.

So she's a very capable ship,
for taking the Kormoran.

[Jeremy] So what caused the
Sydney to lose every single on its crew?

This is incredibly rare and
almost impossible to replicate.

Australia is desperate to solve
the mystery of what happened

in the last moments
of its finest warship.

[Jeremy] However, the only
surviving witness... is the enemy.

318 of the nearly


are picked up by allied ships
and brought to Australia.

Will they yield under
the pressure and reveal,

how they pulled
off the impossible.

[Rob] The German captain
of the Kormoran,

indicated that, in ship, was approximately


when they engaged.

[Dr. Simon] Which is very
very unusual.

[Jeremy] Why does the Sydney
come so close,

when it has superior
long range g*ns?

One theory, suggest that
the Kormoran,

was very close,
and raised its white flag

indicating that it
was surrendering,

when in actual fact, it wasn't.

[Jeremy] By luring in the
bigger warship,

Hitler's Kormoran can unleash
it's weapons, at the last minute.

Hidden from view
behind steel plates.

[Rob] These can be retracted
to reveal behind it a deck g*n,

and in some cases, even a torpedo tube
that had been mounted on the main deck.

[Jeremy] Another theory is that the
captain of the nearly 8000 ton Sydney,

moves in close, deliberately.

[Alexander] The captain of HMAS Sydney, knew
exactly what he was likely to be facing.

Kormoran is a nice sized merchant
ship. She's a valuable prize.

[Jeremy] Finding the Sydney
will surely help solve the mystery.

But where is it?

Seventy of the German
prisoners of w*r,

give accounts of
where the ship went down.

They're are all different.

[Rob] This was quite
typical because,

they viewed the sinking
location of an enemy ship,

as sensitive strategic
military information.

[Jeremy] The ocean around
the battle site is scoured for clues.

But it's not until three
months later, in February 1942,

that a potential piece of
evidence turns up in the area.

Floating off Christmas Island,

is a decomposing corpse,

in an Australian navy life raft.

[Alexander] The corpse was
very difficult to try and examine,

much of it had been
torn off by sea birds.

It's found to have no dog tags
whatsoever, so there's no means at all,

of identifying who
this person is.

[Jeremy] The corpse is wearing
a boiler suit,

bleached by the sun.

And eyewitnesses report the raft
is damaged from b*llet or shrapnel.

[Dr. Michael] The evidence indicates
that this body belonged to a sailor.

The life raft itself
show signs of damage,

that could have
happened during a battle.

[Jeremy] This is the only body
to be recovered from the tragedy.

Could it's identification
hold a vital clue,

to what happened in the
final moments of the battle.

In 1942, because the body
has not been identified,

it's buried
in an unmarked grave.

[Jeremy] It's not until 2008,

66 years later,

that there's finally
a breakthrough.

A 100 miles off Australia's
most westerly point,

8000 feet below the surface,

is the Kormoran.

and nearby,

the Sydney.

But it's still
another seven years,

before advances in technology,

Finally give scientists another
shot at solving the mystery

of how
this bizarre defeat happened.

In 2016, an expedition is led
by Curtin University,

Western Australian Museum,
and DOF Subsea.

[Dr. Alexander]
This included the most complex

lighting and imaging systems

ever used underwater

in Australian history.

[Jeremy]
One and a half miles down,

the powerful lights
of the underwater vehicles

turn the bowels of the ocean
from night to day.

ROV's mounted
with special cameras

record images
every five seconds.

[Dr. Lisa] Photogrammetry is
an incredibly important technique

in underwater archaeology.

And, through computer programs

we're able to stitch together

these thousands of still images

to create a three dimensional
model of the sea floor,

and what we discover on it.

[Jeremy] What will they
uncover on this wreck

that's been hidden from view
for more than 80 years.

Will the truth of how this rare
defeat happened, finally, be revealed?

The wreck of HMAS Sydney has been
surveyed using ground breaking technology.


off Australia's most western point,

at long last, the ship is
about to surrender the secret

of how it succumbed
to such a crushing defeat.

The ROV's powerful lights
reveal the answer.

[Rob] The results
of the underwater footage

shows a hole
in the bridge of the ship.

[Jeremy] The Kormoran had
struck a decisive blow

at the heart of the Sydney's
control systems.

A lucky shot or first class
tactics from the Kormoran,

the result is the same.

Annihilation of, not only, crucial
technology but key personnel.

If you take out the senior
officers on the bridge

you, literally, take out the nervous
system, the brain of the ship.

[Jeremy] We now know what
caused the Sydney to sink,

but, the lack
of any survivors is unusual.

One suggestion involves a
gruesome end for the Australian sailors.

One of the theories is that the Germans,
actually, before the Kormoran sunk,

opened fire with machine g*ns on
the Australian sailors in the water.

[Jeremy] Did the n*zi's fire
on the surviving sailors?

Eye witness accounts of the
Christmas Island body in 1942

report the damage to the raft as
being wither from b*ll*ts or shrapnel.

It's inconclusive.

64 years later,

does the body
of the mysterious sailor

show signs of foul play?

[Dr. Simon] The body was
exhumed and was examined in detail.

And, in the autopsy they found
that the individual had died

from a shrapnel fragment
to the brain,

not a machine g*n b*llet.

[Jeremy] We now know this
man was not k*lled by n*zi g*nf*re.

What happened to the rest of
the crew we may never know.

Yet, could breakthroughs
in DNA analysis,

at last, reveal the identity
of this lone sailor?

[Dr. Lisa] DNA technology
is rapidly developing.

We can now take a sample
from a deceased individual

and determine their ancestry,

their eye color,
their hair color,

and a variety of other things.

[Jeremy] Experts determine
he has European ancestry.

Red hair, blue eyes,
and, pale skin.

Then, strontium isotope
testing on the sailor's teeth

pinpoint where he is from.

[Dr. Lisa]
Strontium is an element

that exists in mineral
deposits all over the world.

[Jeremy] As ground water
runs over sediment

it picks up tiny amounts
of strontium

which is, then,
present in drinking water.

[Dr. Lisa] When humans
or animals drink local water

they put into their bones
a local strontium signal.

so, when these scientists
examined the human remains

that were found
after this tragedy

they established that this individual
grew up on the east coast of Australia.

[Jeremy] And what the sailor
was wearing when found

holds another vital clue.

Samples of the fabric from
the uniform were tested.

[Jeremy] Blue boiler suits were worn
by those working in the engine room.

And, in 2019,
investigators finally believe

they have found
who this one belonged to.

A man named Norman Foster.

Could the search
for the identity

of the mysterious sailor,
at last, be over?

They tested a relative
and it wasn't Norman.

So, the question is,
who could it be?

[Jeremy] Deeply disappointed
but determined to uncover the truth,

investigators are
continuing their quest.

And they have narrowed the
search down to about 50 sailors.

There's hope that the newest
developments in DNA testing

will allow them to trace the unknown
sailor through the male side of the family

improving chances of a match.

All they need to find
is that vital relative

for this piece of the puzzle
to finally be solved.

Lightening is one of the
strongest forces of nature.

Little can be done to predict
where it will strike.

But, when it does,
it can be catastrophic.

In 2014 a day at the beach
turns to disaster

when an immensely bright bolt
of lightening strikes the water.

k*lling one and injuring 13.

Did it somehow have a deadly
attraction to the ocean?

And, if so, how?

And, could an accidental
scientific discovery

finally explain
what happened on that day?

July 27, 2014,

and Venice beach
is full of people,

when something
inexplicable happens.

There was a tremendous glare

as if someone
had suddenly turned on

all the lights
in a very dark room.

Followed by a tremendous boom.

[Jeremy] An unusually bright
lightning bolt has hit the water

k*lling a 20 year old man
and injuring many more.

This giant bolt up in the sky,

I've never seen anything like
that, and I'm from the mid-west,

so, we see lots of lightening.

[man] The loudest clap of
thunder I've ever heard in my life.

Thought it was like
a b*mb, almost.

[Jeremy] Then, in 2019, another
expl*sive strike in South Boston

is caught on camera.

The lightening incinerates the
boat in a fraction of a second.

Is there some deadly
connection in these tragedies

between the lightening and the
waters below to create such mayhem?

In 2014, a man dies
and 13 are injured

a giant lightning bolt hits
the water off Venice beach.

Five years later
on the opposite coast

a single expl*sive bolt destroys
a boat floating in Boston Harbor.

Lightning strike at sea is
every sailors worst nightmare,

and boats offer no protection.

[Dr. Michael] You can actually see
the clouds light up like Christmas trees.

You're stuck on your boat,
the waves are hitting you.

The rain's coming down.

It's the lightening
that's cracking

You have nowhere to run.

[Jeremy] I've witnessed, first
hand, lightening over water.

In Suriname, north of Brazil,

it releases its might
in the middle of filming.

A member of my crew
taking a strike.

Our sound recordist
has been hit.

Was actually struck on the
head by that bolt of lightning.

Luckily he survives.

Elsewhere, when
lightening and water mix

it can be a different story.

To try and understand what can make lightning
strikes on the US coast so devastating

we turn to clues from the past.

The 1970's,
an American Vela satellite

are patrolling the planet
from space

looking for signs
of rogue nuclear tests.

They had x-ray senses, the
later ones had optical senses.

Although they were designed
to detect nuclear tests,

they were able
to see things as well.

And, in 1977, they start picking
up unusual blazes of light.

These are so powerful, they're
releasing as much energy

as a small nuclear weapon.

What could these explosions be?

Could they be unregulated
nuclear tests?

[Jeremy] Further investigation
shows that these flashes

are releasing a completely
different signature

to that of a nuclear expl*si*n.

Something never seen before.

Lightening reaches
temperatures of 30,000 degrees.

Five times hotter
than the surface of the sun.

But, these
are even more powerful.

The flashes are named
Superbolts.

They were named the superbolts because
they were much, much more intense.

Something which is ten times
the power of an ordinary bolt.

Sometimes a hundred,
potentially even a thousand times.

[Jeremy] The satellite data
then gives another revelation.

You can draw a map just by
plotting the lightening on the planet.

It, basically, sticks
very nicely to the continent,

and, as soon as
you move over the oceans

you've a dramatic decrease
in the amount of lighting.

[Jeremy] But, when it comes
to superbolts

it's the ocean
they hit most often.

Is it because out at sea the thunder
storms can developed more energy?

It's a mystery to me.

[Jeremy] Finding out what's going
on when lightning strikes over water

is crucial for the safety of those
out at sea and in the shallows.

Since the 1970's thousands more
superbolts have been recorded

across the planets oceans.

[Colin] The better the data
gets, the more we see that this

really is a clear signal

that there's
more intense lightening

whether you're looking optically, or,
whether you're looking with radio waves.

[Jeremy] So what causes these
massively powerful oceanic superbolts

up to a thousand times brighter
than anything seen on land?

Can the answer
help our understanding

of those shocking incidents
on the US coast?

In 2020, at
Tel Aviv University in Israel,

a scientific breakthrough, finally, sheds
new light on this mysterious phenomenon.

Initially we were interested in how lightening
may impact the chemistry of sea water.

During the experiment, when they
changed from tap water to sea water

they notice the flash becomes
dramatically brighter.

Everything was the same, only
difference was the type of water.

Something about the water

was actually impacting the
lightening above the water.

Why should the water actually
impact how bright it was?

[Jeremy] They then take
samples from a fresh water lake,

Lake Tiberias.

And, from the Dead Sea,

whose water is ten times
saltier than normal sea water.

Amazingly they discover the
discharges over Dead Sea water

are nearly 40 times brighter
than over lake water.

When you have salt in water,
the salt breaks up into its ions.

And, this results in a change
in the conductivity of the water.

As the water becomes
more conductive,

the electricity
from the lightening

can drain off much quicker
into the water.

And this is what
heats up the air faster,

and will give us
the brighter lightening.

[Jeremy] Colin and his team
have proved for the first time

the importance of salinity in
the brightness of superbolts.

Science has been looking
in the wrong direction.

[Jeremy] So, it's not what's in the
clouds that may hold the answer.

it's what lies in the water.

But, there's a big difference
between a lab

and the vast watery expanses
of our planet.

There is a very interesting step

to add an extra layer of
complexity into the problem,

but, that, by itself, can't explain
everything in the patterns we see.

[Jeremy] The scientists at Tel Aviv
are continuing their investigations.

So, were the lightening strikes at
Venice Beach and Boston Harbor...

superbolts?

The more recent
distribution of superbolts

show that they're not uniformly
distributed over the oceans.

[Jeremy] The latest research
has discovered

that where superbolts
tend to hit the most

is not along the US coastline,

but in the north east Atlantic
and Mediterranean.

We may never know for certain
whether the lightning strikes

in Venice Beach
and Boston Harbor,

although deadly and
destructive, were superbolts.

And, why they hit
certain areas more than others

is another enigma to crack.

As soon as you discover
something, then, again

it gives you another ten,


[Jeremy] Science has revealed
an intense connection

between the salty oceans and
the immense power of the skies,

but, there is still
a lot left to understand

about this highly
complex relationship.