Hey there, adventure lovers! 🚢✨ You won’t believe the wild story of a shipwreck full of gold that turned up in the middle of a desert — seriously, how does that even happen?! We’re diving into the mystery of this 500-year-old treasure ship and uncovering some of the most mind-blowing ship discoveries from history. From ancient ghost ships to vessels frozen in time, every one of these stories will leave you saying, “No way!” If you’re into lost treasure, shipwrecks, or epic historical twists, you’ll love this. Hit play and get ready for a wild ride across time and oceans — and yes, even deserts! Animation is created by Bright Side.
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
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Our Social Media:
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https://www.eastnews.ru
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00A ship filled with gold and other treasures worth over $13 million was found in the middle
00:06of the Namibian desert after almost 500 years.
00:11The worker who found it was actually looking for diamonds, but ended up with something
00:15way more valuable for history.
00:18There were some blocks of copper, some wood, pipes, and elephant tusks.
00:22The miners called for an archaeologist, who soon realized it wasn't a disturbed beach
00:27like they thought, but a shipwreck.
00:30All evidence showed that it was a Portuguese trading vessel, Bom Jesus, that went missing
00:35in the 16th century.
00:37Experts believe it was a special kind of ship that was bigger, stronger, and better than
00:42older ships from Portugal and Spain.
00:45These ships were built to take Portuguese explorers on long trips to distant places
00:50like India, China, and Japan, and come back with tons of cargo.
00:55The Bom Jesus was likely carrying treasures from Lisbon, Portugal, to western India.
01:01But it looks like on its way around the southern tip of Africa, near Namibia, a big storm pushed
01:07the ship too close to the shore.
01:09The ship hit a rock, tipped over, and broke apart, sinking into the ocean.
01:15Archaeologists found treasure from the captain's chest under the water, which probably fell
01:19out when the ship's wooden hull broke.
01:21They also found pieces of the ship scattered along the shore, likely from the violent storm
01:26and later by construction in the area.
01:29The storm must have been very fierce, but they didn't find many bones, which means
01:34most of the crew may have survived or were lost at sea.
01:40The ship was split into three sections and incredibly well preserved, thanks to the thick
01:45layers of sand that covered it and prevented rot.
01:49Scientists who studied the wreck discovered over 40 tons of cargo.
01:53There were cannons, swords, blocks of metal like lead and tin, fabrics, and tools that
01:59sailors used to navigate the stars while traveling across the ocean.
02:03The most exciting discovery was 1,845 copper ingots weighing as much as 16 to 17 tons altogether.
02:13Those copper ingots, or pieces of pure metal, are still in great condition because the hull
02:18of the ship and layers of sand protected them from ocean water.
02:23The scientists even managed to read the trademarks on them on sight, and learned they were made
02:28by a super wealthy German trading company.
02:32There were also more than 2,000 shiny gold and silver coins from different countries,
02:38and 105 enormous elephant tusks weighing about 2 tons.
02:43The tusks were likely supposed to become luxury items, like jewelry or carvings at
02:48the destination.
02:51Archaeologists took some DNA samples from the tusks and found that they came from West
02:55African forests and savannah elephants.
02:59Researchers were lucky that the ship was found in a restricted diamond mining area.
03:04No scavengers were able to get their hands on the treasures.
03:07The Bom Jesus remains the oldest and most valuable shipwreck that was ever discovered
03:12off the western coast of Sub-Saharan Africa.
03:16Another shipwreck recently found by accident was buried under a 10-foot tall sand dune
03:21near the Caspian Sea.
03:24Some people call it the world's largest lake, and it has water levels that rise and
03:28fall over time because of the changes in weather patterns.
03:33These changes can move sand and uncover things like this shipwreck and other treasures along
03:38the coast.
03:39As the dune slowly disappeared, the ship started to show.
03:44Before digging it out, scientists worried that waves from the sea might damage the wreck.
03:49To protect it, they built a wall using thousands of sandbags to keep the waves away.
03:54When the ship was uncovered, they discovered it was a three-masted, 92-foot long merchant
04:00ship with a strong double hull.
04:03Wood samples showed the ship was built in the 18th to 19th century using trees like
04:08Scots pine, spruce, and larch from the Volga River area or the Caucasus.
04:13They even found buckwheat and plants from the same region, which were probably traded
04:18or used to feed the sailors.
04:20It proves that the ship was part of a group of merchant ships that once sailed the Caspian
04:25Sea.
04:27An amateur fisherman who was 20 feet under the sea off the coast of Turkey noticed some
04:32huge metal remains.
04:35He had an underwater camera, so he made footage of the discovery and took it to scientists.
04:40They immediately started an investigation and learned that it must be a shipwreck from
04:45the first decades of the 20th century.
04:48It could be one of the Ottoman Empire ships that had an important mission to deliver supplies
04:53but disappeared without a trace.
04:56Scientists got permission to study this Black Sea wreck in detail to learn more about its
05:01mysteries.
05:03They're hoping to find its shipyard documents to find some answers as the ship itself is
05:07in terrible condition and is tricky to work with.
05:11Robot submersibles that belonged to an oil and gas company noticed hundreds of intact
05:16ancient storage jars sitting on the seabed in the eastern Mediterranean.
05:21Experts think those jars are 3,300 years old.
05:26This makes the find the oldest shipwreck from the deep sea.
05:30The jugs were probably used to store oil or other agricultural products like fruit.
05:36This proves that the people who made them organized maritime trade and had incredible
05:40navigational skills.
05:42It looks like the ancient mariners managed to traverse the Mediterranean Sea without
05:47a line of sight to any coast.
05:50All they could see was the horizon, so they must have used the sun and other stars to
05:54find their way.
05:58Off the coast of Sicily, under 20 feet of sand and rock, archaeologists found a shipwreck
06:03so old that they aren't even sure what materials were used to build it.
06:08They think the ship is from the 5th or 6th century BCE, which means it's over 2,500 years
06:15old.
06:16This ancient ship wasn't alone.
06:19Researchers also found two iron anchors shaped like an upside-down T from around the 7th
06:26century of the Common Era and four stone anchors from prehistoric times nearby.
06:32One of the stone anchors was broken and may have had wooden pieces attached to help it
06:37hold on to the seafloor.
06:39They figured out that the ship itself was built using the on-shell technique.
06:44The wooden planks of the ship were connected so tightly that they could support the ship
06:49on their own, with extra beams added just to make it stronger.
06:53Sadly, the ship's wooden hull is very fragile now because tiny sea creatures that eat wood
06:58have damaged it over the years.
07:01Scientists are being extra careful as they study it to make sure it doesn't fall apart.
07:06This discovery is such a big deal because it was built during a time when Sicily was
07:11super important for trade.
07:13Back then, the Greeks and Punics were trying to take control of the seas long before Rome
07:19became the ruler of the Mediterranean.
07:21By studying this ship, scientists hope to learn more about how people travelled and
07:26traded in those ancient times.
07:31One more shipwreck, this time off the coast of Kenya, could be from Vasco da Gama's final
07:36voyage.
07:37This Portuguese explorer was the first European to reach India by sea around the Cape of Good
07:43Hope.
07:45Local fishermen discovered the shipwreck in question in 2013 when an underwater archaeologist
07:51came to check it out.
07:52He found some treasures at the spot, elephant tusks and valuable copper ingots.
07:58If this find really has to do with Vasco da Gama, then it must be from the 16th century.
08:04It was the year of his third and final voyage to India.
08:08Da Gama led a huge fleet of 20 ships, one of which was the Sao Jorge.
08:14Most of the ship is hidden under layers of coral and a whole team of scientists are carefully
08:18digging trenches to find parts of the ship's wooden frame and hull.
08:26A Portuguese archaeologist just discovered a bunch of sunken ships filled with gold,
08:32including a Spanish galleon with 22 tons of gold and silver.
08:37This much gold today is worth about $2 billion, and this is the money from one ship alone.
08:45Archaeologist Alexandre Monteiro made this discovery almost by accident.
08:50He was studying some documents when he found some information about a ship that went missing
08:55in 1615, and he decided he wanted to find it.
09:00After many years, Alexandre found not just this specific ship, he actually discovered
09:058,620 shipwrecks in the waters of Portugal alone.
09:12Out of this number, 250 are gold-filled shipwrecks, a discovery that would make any Jack Sparrow
09:18shake in his boots.
09:20Most of these ships went down for boring reasons like the weather, but sometimes they were
09:24destroyed in battles, which may or may not have been super epic.
09:30They were carrying gold and other treasures from the New World to Europe, and of course,
09:35everyone wanted a share.
09:38Alexandre had been studying historical shipwrecks for 30 years now, so he has discovered many
09:43ships that went down in somewhat glorious ways.
09:47In 1816, for example, a ship of one of the richest men in Portugal sank in Australia,
09:53with an insane amount of 66,000 silver coins.
09:58This was the first ship from Portugal to ever plunge in the waters of Australia.
10:03The bad news is that these ancient sunken vessels, filled with riches and epic stories,
10:08are not so easy to reach.
10:10They're deep down in the ocean and covered by sand.
10:14You could still try, but that would be stealing part of a country's history, and you wouldn't
10:18want to be that person, would you?
10:21Naturally, Portugal was not the only country that explored the seas back then.
10:26The coast of Europe is packed with sunken ships filled with gold.
10:30In fact, there are about a million historical shipwrecks underwater right now, and the treasures
10:36abandoned under the sea might be worth around $60 billion.
10:41It's an insane amount of money, but let me tell you that these gold-filled sunken ships
10:45aren't really worth the hassle.
10:49There are many stories of maritime treasure discoveries that turned into insane lawsuits
10:54and even long jail time.
10:58Our first story starts in 1746, when a violent storm crashed a ship called Prince de Conti
11:04near an island in Britain.
11:07The ship was filled with tea, ceramics, and 100 gold ingots.
11:12Of course, the owners of the ship tried to save the loot, but if it's not easy now,
11:17imagine how it was back in the 18th century.
11:21It took more than 200 years for the vessel to be found.
11:24It finally happened in 1975, when a group of French men discovered it and decided to
11:30take pretty much every valuable thing they could find.
11:33Now, I said these things were not worth the trouble for a reason.
11:37In France, if you find anything that can be historical, you must declare it to the local
11:42authorities within 48 hours.
11:45Fail to comply, and you will be committing something known as a crime.
11:50To be fair, our French friends here did declare their findings, but only the corroded cannons
11:55from the ship.
11:57And the gold?
11:58Well, they sold it.
11:59Obviously, because each gold bar is worth between $125,000 to $231,000.
12:08It took French authorities almost 50 years to retrieve the stolen gold, and they didn't
12:13retrieve all of it.
12:14Part of it was bought by an elderly couple living in Florida, and the crime is so serious,
12:19they were charged for connection with money laundering, organized crime, and the trafficking
12:24of cultural goods.
12:26The poachers also sold some gold ingots to the British Museum collection.
12:31Now, let's go back to the 1850s, when a steamer called SS Central America traveled from Panama
12:39to California and back again.
12:42This was during the California Gold Rush, a time when 300,000 people moved to California
12:47to dig for gold.
12:49Because the travel route was not easy-breezy, people needed to carry their gold around on
12:54big ships.
12:55This is where our friend SS Central America comes in.
12:59In 1857, the ship had 578 people on board and about 10 tons of gold.
13:06Very few survived, and around $100 to $150 million in gold went down with the ship.
13:14All of this explains why in 1988, a group of investors from Columbus decided to finance
13:20a research project to find this ship.
13:23The research was led by a guy named Tommy Thompson.
13:26Tommy was really crazy about the idea of finding this sunken ship filled with gold.
13:32It took him years to find the exact location of the SS Central America, especially because
13:37the ship was 7,500 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and retrieving it required
13:44a lot of fancy tech.
13:46A group of 161 investors paid for his adventure, but it goes without saying that they were
13:53not doing this out of love from their hearts.
13:56They invested $12.5 million in this project because they were expecting to earn at least
14:0210 times more.
14:04But since life is not all sunshine and rainbows, 39 insurance companies sued the research team
14:10as soon as they retrieved the gold.
14:12Back when the ship was up and running, these companies insured the cargo of the SS Central
14:17America, and when the cargo was finally retrieved, more than 100 years later, they wanted to
14:23be compensated.
14:25They said it was not their job to retrieve it, but that doesn't mean they abandoned
14:29it.
14:30This crazy talk didn't stick, and 92% of the gold was given to the research team.
14:36The plot thickened when the investors were scammed by none other than Tommy Thompson,
14:40who fled with $4.16 million.
14:44He also had 500 gold coins, but he's not telling a soul where they are.
14:51Nonsense like this is the reason why most countries have rules to protect cultural properties.
14:56And yes, sometimes shipwrecks can be a cultural property.
15:00Obviously, there are many maritime treasure discoveries that happen without breaking any
15:05laws.
15:06The SS City of Cairo, for example, was a steamship that submerged in 1929 with 2,000 boxes of
15:14silver coins weighing 122 tons.
15:18A company called Deep Ocean Search retrieved the coins from a depth of 17,000 feet, which
15:24is 4,500 feet lower than the Titanic.
15:2934 million pounds went to the UK Treasury, and the Deep Ocean Search also got a share.
15:37The good news here is that some of the coins can be bought by collectors, legally.
15:42Paying for a treasure is probably the closest you can get to an underwater archaeology find.
15:49I know, all I did was destroy your piracy dreams.
15:52But while raiding gold-filled shipwrecks may be a crime in most countries, or just financially
15:57impossible for us mere mortals, not all hope is lost.
16:01There is about $771 trillion worth of gold lying on the ocean floor, and it doesn't
16:08have an owner.
16:09It's like an underwater gold mine, except the gold is IN the water.
16:15You know how the water of the ocean is salty?
16:17Well, the gold gets mixed with the minerals in the water, so it's not like you stumble
16:22upon a gold nugget on the beach.
16:25Each liter of ocean water has 13 billionths of a gram of gold, and it's very difficult
16:31to extract such tiny particles of gold from the water.
16:34But that doesn't mean people haven't tried, and of course, there's been a scam here too.
16:42In the 1890s, a guy claimed he had invented a thing that would suck gold from the seawater.
16:48When he got enough money, he fled the country with the cash.
16:53If you really want to get some gold, you can try to extract it from the Earth's core,
16:57which has 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold.
17:01There's 16 times more gold in the Earth's core than what humans have mined in the whole
17:06of history.
17:08No hoax involved here, because nobody has dared to go down there yet.
17:14With archaeologists discovering gold-filled sunken ships out and about, maybe we can make
17:19our own maritime treasure discoveries.
17:22Or at least save enough money to buy some silver coins.
17:27The year was 1865.
17:29It was a boom of migration worldwide, with novel places discovered and new settlements
17:35created.
17:36Without planes like we have now, a ship was the only way to escape from the old life and
17:42journey towards a new, hopefully brighter future.
17:45So a voyage like that was quite a regular thing to do.
17:49More than 500 immigrants safely reached Queensland, and the ship was supposed to head back to
17:53London sometime later.
17:55It was indeed a long journey, but not many people were willing to return to England.
18:00After all, they had chosen to come to Australia to create a brand new life.
18:05So it was only natural that the ship would come back nearly empty.
18:09However, the return trip was still quite lucrative, thanks to the cargo the ship would carry.
18:15The amount of produce ready to be shipped was substantial, primarily consisting of wool
18:20soaked in arsenic, tallow, and hides.
18:24It was two birds with one stone.
18:26Not only could the crew wait out the winter, warm in Australia while England endured bitter
18:31cold, but they also wouldn't waste their time.
18:34With the sheer volume of produce to be loaded, it would take them around three months to
18:39accomplish this task.
18:42Reports were circulating that the fiery star was almost done loading up, but it turned
18:46out that the assessment was a bit too optimistic.
18:50To pass the time, Captain Ewell thought it would be a good idea to reach out to the Acclimatization
18:55Society and offer to help transport any animals they wanted to send to England on the fiery
19:01star.
19:02He already had some emus and kangaroos on board, but there was still room.
19:07The Society held a vote, and they were totally on board, pun intended, with Captain Ewell's
19:13idea.
19:14They figured sending some talagallas would be a great plan.
19:17Even though a few of these birds were already in England, the French Society needed a couple,
19:22and they could get them shipped there through England.
19:25Little did the crew know that all this cargo, all the produce they were willing to sell
19:29in England, would ultimately lead to the ship's destruction.
19:33Not only was the fiery star lost, but most of the people on board did not survive to
19:38complete the voyage.
19:42March 23rd.
19:43That was the day when the Ship Manifest was finally published.
19:47A manifest is a list that details the cargo, passengers, and crew of a ship, plane, or
19:52vehicle, primarily for customs officials.
19:55This document helps those involved in the transport verify that everyone and everything
20:00that was loaded is still on board when the vehicle reaches its destination.
20:05Once it's published, it means the ship is almost ready to depart.
20:10There were three possible ways of passenger accommodation.
20:13First, there was the saloon, the antiquated name for first class.
20:18Next, there was the second cabin, which is, logically, second class.
20:23Finally, there was the steerage, the cheapest form of passenger accommodation on a ship.
20:29Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people traveled from their homelands,
20:34often to North America and Australia, looking for a fresh start.
20:38Most of them were poor and had limited funds for travel.
20:42In total, there were 8 people in the saloon, another 8 in the second cabin, and only 21
20:48steerage passengers.
20:50Out of the 37 passengers, only one, John Omond, would make it out alive.
20:55He bought a ticket for the steerage, so unlike the Titanic situation, in this case, the class
21:01didn't really matter.
21:03The crew members list wasn't as detailed as the passengers.
21:07It was known that, in total, there were around 55 people in the crew, from able-bodied seamen
21:13to crew members simply called boys.
21:16But there's something telling me that the crew wasn't really that important for the
21:20captain.
21:21In reality, all that mattered to him was to make as much money as possible, shipping
21:25tons of dangerous, flammable cargo.
21:29Out of over 50 crew members, only 17 survived that voyage.
21:34But there was actually one more crew member who actually survived it all, just because
21:39they weren't let in.
21:41Sarah Johnson disguised herself as a man and planned to sneak onto the ship.
21:46However, something about her looks made the captain get suspicious, so he called the police
21:51and made Sarah leave the ship as he didn't want any immoral behavior to take place.
21:56Well, he saved her life.
21:59For him, it was the last voyage.
22:02The captain, W. Hunter Ewell, was quite a celebrity, apparently.
22:06He already had a record of the safe landing of immigrants in the previous year, so there
22:11seemingly was no reason to worry.
22:13The trip promised to be safe.
22:16Flipper, Fiery Star, left Morton Bay bound for London.
22:20The passengers took their places.
22:22The cargo had already been loaded.
22:24The full list is astonishing.
22:27In addition to all the wool, tallow, cotton, hides, and horns, there were also 6 cases
22:32of arrowroot and various other packages.
22:35And we can't forget the animals the captain took aboard, too.
22:40The Fiery Star was far away, yet still observable to the east as it headed toward the Pacific
22:46Ocean.
22:47This was the last information available until May 26, when news of its destruction emerged
22:52from Brisbane.
22:54Chief Officer William Sargent's log reveals that the Fiery Star took 12 days to reach
22:59the southern tip of New Zealand, passing on April 11, 1865.
23:05The trip was going well until heavy seas ruined two longboats on April 17.
23:12On this day, a strong odor of smoke alerted the captain.
23:16When he checked, he found the lower hull completely filled with smoke from a fire fueled by the
23:21ship's flammable cargo.
23:23The hatches were quickly closed to try to contain the flames, but by the next day, the
23:28heat and toxic smoke had forced passengers out of their cabins.
23:33George Maber was one of the lucky survivors.
23:36He was the ship's engineer, and he recalled the chaotic events on April 20, as Captain
23:41Ewell and most of the crew and passengers tried to evacuate in rough weather.
23:46At around 6 p.m., the ship took on water, and without much warning, Captain Ewell, four
23:51crew members, and a few female passengers hopped into a lifeboat and headed out.
23:57The next boat, managed by the second mate, Mr. Adio, was a gig, followed by a crowded
24:02jolly boat.
24:03Lastly, there was a waste boat, which was barely seaworthy, with two men constantly
24:08bailing water to keep it afloat.
24:11The plan was for the boats to stay close to the fiery star overnight and head for the
24:16Chatham Islands the next morning.
24:18But by dawn on April 21, all four boats had vanished without a trace.
24:24On the burning ship, there were 17 crew members and passenger John Oman, who banded together
24:29under Chief Officer William Sargent's leadership.
24:34For five days and nights, George Mabur pumped water on the fire without rest.
24:39He volunteered to go down the forehatch with a rope around him and a handkerchief over
24:44his mouth.
24:45He discovered that the foremast had been burned through for about seven inches, and the portside
24:50was severely damaged, resembling an empty shell.
24:54Exhausted, he returned for fresh air, but later descended again with Quartermaster Marshall
24:59to access a water tank.
25:01They couldn't open the lid, and as George crawled over the hides, he felt himself sinking.
25:07When they reached the deck, they collapsed from exhaustion.
25:11The cargo had been destroyed by smoke and fire, and the heat on the deck was intolerable.
25:17The crew survived on limited rations and caged chickens, using every spare piece of wood,
25:22including pig stives, for the pumps.
25:25Distressed pigs ran wild in the heat.
25:27A raft was constructed, but was too weak for the open sea.
25:31Sleep was elusive, and the crew had lost everything, with only hopes of reaching land or meeting
25:37another ship.
25:39Finally, the Dauntless appeared and sent a lifeboat to the Fiery Star.
25:44Captain Moore boarded the Fiery Star on May 12, and after assessing the situation, he
25:50agreed that the crew could do no more.
25:53They boarded the Dauntless at 4 p.m., witnessing the Fiery Star succumb to flames by 1130 p.m.
26:00It was a narrow escape.
26:03There's a ship drifting somewhere in the ocean without a crew.
26:10The last time someone saw it was over 50 years ago.
26:15The story reminds of that of the Flying Dutchman, a ship that's bound to sail forever and
26:20bring disaster to whoever sees it at sea.
26:23At least, the legend says so.
26:26Unlike the Flying Dutchman, the SS Bay Chimo was definitely real and built for a German
26:31company in Hamburg, and began as an ordinary cargo ship.
26:35It was trading supplies between Hamburg and Sweden in the Baltic Sea starting from 1914.
26:41It had a strong steam engine and a hull made of steel.
26:45A few years later, it became British property.
26:48Then in the 1920s, a Canadian company purchased it for around $18,000 – a huge amount of
26:54money back then.
26:56The new owner, the Hudson's Bay Company, was actively using the ship for several years.
27:01They would often send it on voyages from its home port in Scotland to Siberia, Alaska,
27:06the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
27:09It also passed through the Panama Canal and even the Suez Canal, with fur pelts for sale
27:14on board.
27:16Sometimes it would also transport passengers.
27:19It had completed 9 successful voyages before this strip of good luck came to an end.
27:26Starting from the 1930s, SS Bay Chimo would have trouble with ice and storms.
27:31When it first got trapped in ice in October of 1931, some of the crew managed to escape
27:37to Alaska.
27:3815 of 22 sailors decided to stay with their vessel and try to save it.
27:43They had furs and other valuable cargo worth around $58,000 aboard.
27:48The company sent them supplies to survive the winter.
27:52They set camp near the ship out of the hatches, tarpaulins, and other materials, and offloaded
27:57the cargo.
27:59At the end of November, a blizzard rushed through the area, and it seemed like it had
28:03taken the ship with it.
28:04The ice platform had survived, but the ship broke free.
28:08Some of the crew members were sure it had sunk.
28:11But soon after, they heard from one of the locals who had spotted their ship around 45
28:16miles away from their camp.
28:20The crew moved on with their lives, and the ship started its journey as a runaway vessel.
28:25People would spot SS Bay Chimo once a year or so, all the way until 1965.
28:31It was mostly spotted off the coast of Alaska.
28:34A man going to Nome with his sled dog, along with prospectors, explorers, and treasure
28:39hunters all claimed to have seen SS Bay Chimo.
28:44Someone tried to board it and take it to port, but ended up stranded on it for days because
28:49of horrible weather.
28:51Others got luckier and managed to take a whale boat, some furniture, and other valuables
28:55from the vessel.
28:57Those who got close to the ship saw that it was damaged and missing the propeller.
29:01Still, it stayed afloat without a crew for at least 38 years and became the longest sailing
29:07ghost ship in history.
29:09In 2006, the Alaskan authorities started a project to solve the mystery of this ghost
29:14ship of the Arctic, and finally find SS Bay Chimo, either still above or below the water.
29:22So far, the project has not been a success.
29:25SS Bay Chimo remains one of the estimated 4,000 ships that have disappeared off Alaskan
29:31shores.
29:33If the legend of the 17th century isn't lying, this ghost ship could be sailing somewhere
29:38along the Flying Dutchman.
29:40It belonged to the Dutch East India Company.
29:43Its captain managed to do the impossible for that time and sailed from Holland to Indonesia
29:48in only three months.
29:50They said he was flying over the sea, and some evil tongues explained that he had made
29:55a deal with evil forces to achieve that.
29:58Once the ship was sailing back home, its captain and crew disappeared without a trace.
30:04There are many versions of what happened to it.
30:06One of the first ones said it had tried to enter port at the Cape of Good Hope, got in
30:11a terrible storm, and sank as there was no captain to save it.
30:16Another legend says the captain had refused to obey the skies to let the ship sink during
30:20the storm.
30:21A scary light form then struck the boat and the crew, and it was condemned to forever
30:26wander without rest.
30:29Many sailors claim to have spotted the Wandering Dutchman.
30:32The Duke of York, who was to become King of England, mentioned having seen it in Australian
30:37waters.
30:38Right after spotting the ship, the man who saw it first fell from the top of the mast
30:43and didn't survive.
30:45There were more encounters with this legendary ship up to the middle of the 20th century.
30:50Ships would nearly collide with it as the Flying Dutchman jumped out of the blue.
30:55Scientists have a more logical explanation for this mystery – Farah Morgana.
31:00Not to be confused with Akuna Matata.
31:04When you're out at sea on a hot day and the air is all wavy, it feels like when you
31:09look at the road on a scorching summer day.
31:11That's because of something called atmospheric refraction.
31:15When light passes through different layers of air with different temperatures and densities,
31:20it bends and twists.
31:21Sometimes, under certain conditions, this bending of light can create really bizarre
31:26optical illusions over the ocean, like sightings of the Flying Dutchman.
31:31The Farah Morgana phenomenon can make distant objects appear distorted, stretched, or even
31:36lifted above the horizon.
31:38So you can see a ship far away, but because of the way the light is bending, it will look
31:43like it's floating above the water, or even disappearing and reappearing.
31:48A Farah Morgana is most commonly seen in polar regions, especially over large sheets of ice
31:53that have a uniform low temperature.
31:56You can see it anywhere, even in deserts and over lakes on hot days.
32:02The first stories about ghost ships go all the way back to ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
32:08One of the most famous ghost ships in history is the Mary Celeste.
32:12This brigantine was traveling from New York City to Genoa and was fully stocked with provisions,
32:17but missing a crew when it was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872.
32:23The crew's personal belongings were also there, completely undisturbed.
32:27The final entry in your log was made 10 days earlier.
32:31We still don't know what happened to its crew, and the ship has inspired many spooky
32:35stories and legends.
32:39The Lady Lovabon was another legendary schooner that is believed to have been wrecked off
32:44the coast of Kent in the middle of the 18th century.
32:48The story tells that the ship's captain, Simon Reid, had just got married and took
32:53his bride on board for a celebratory cruise despite the superstition that it could bring
32:58bad luck.
32:59They were on their way to Portugal when the first mate, who is also in love with the captain's
33:04new wife, went mad because of jealousy, attacked another crew member, and then took over the
33:10wheel and steered the ship straight into the dreaded Goodwin Sands.
33:14No one aboard survived, and the schooner is said to reappear as a ghost vessel every
33:2050 years.
33:22In present times, many vessels become abandoned and turned into ghost ships intentionally.
33:28There are thousands of them floating in U.S. rivers, lakes, channels, and coastal waters.
33:34Some people lose their boats in storms and other extreme weather.
33:38Others have to abandon their boats because maintaining them can cost 10% of the boat's
33:43price.
33:44And docking a vessel can add up to several thousand dollars every year.
33:48Most boats have been made of fiberglass, so an owner can't just recycle them as scrap
33:53metal.
33:54So once they want to get rid of it, they often tie it to a dock and sneak away, or leave
33:59it floating far away from the shore, or just try to sink it.
34:03When ghost ships sink in shallow waters, they can cause damage to coral reefs, mangroves,
34:08marshlands, oyster habitats, and wetlands.
34:11Plus, they can collide with unsuspecting regular ships and cause real trouble.
34:16So don't do that, Nuff said.
34:22What is a boat doing in the middle of a desert?
34:24You would expect to find a seagoing vessel closer to shore.
34:27This is the question archaeologists have been asking for decades.
34:31In 1988, there was a storm near one of the most important archaeological sites in ancient
34:36Egypt.
34:37A wooden structure emerged from the sand.
34:40It was hollowed out by termites.
34:42Scientists were determined to solve its mystery.
34:46In 2000, they began excavating the site near Abydos, Ubaidos.
34:50An American team of experts soon discovered a boat that was 70 feet long, and it wasn't
34:55alone.
34:56In total, there were 14 boats neatly resting next to each other.
35:00It was impossible to completely dig out the boats because of their poor condition.
35:04Luckily, the wood was preserved enough to get a sample.
35:07Analyses revealed that the boats were around 5,000 years old, the oldest fleet in human
35:12history to this date.
35:15The time of their construction predates the pyramids at Giza by half a millennium.
35:19Each ship of the fleet rested in a vault that matched its dimensions.
35:23The room was roughly a third of the size of a tennis court.
35:27It had mud brick walls that featured more than 120 drawings of boats.
35:31Ancient Egyptians incised them on whitewashed walls that were excellently preserved.
35:36Scientists have known about these mysterious chambers for well over a century, 1901-1902.
35:43A British archaeologist, Arthur Weigel, stumbled upon a strange structure west of the River
35:47Nile.
35:49His team caught a glimpse of the interior walls.
35:51Sadly, a section of the roof collapsed, so they had to call off further exploration.
35:57Researchers abandoned the site, but its location remained on the maps.
36:02The boats' position first led scientists to think that they rested on a bank of the
36:05mighty Nile.
36:07But there was a problem with this theory.
36:10Today, the river flows almost seven miles west of Abydos.
36:15Further studies of the surrounding terrain showed the Nile didn't change its course throughout
36:18history.
36:19Also, if the boats floated near a dock, they would be in unstable positions.
36:24The fourteen vessels at Abydos were perfectly parallel to each other.
36:28There was only one conclusion possible.
36:31Someone had deliberately placed them like that.
36:34They must have gone through a lot of effort.
36:36Each boat had enough room for up to thirty rowers.
36:39These vessels could really float.
36:41They weren't models, but scholars still don't know if they actually sailed any body of water
36:46in ancient Egypt.
36:48This doesn't diminish the importance of the find.
36:51Previously, archaeologists found only small-scale models.
36:54In King Tut's tomb alone, there were thirty-five boat models.
36:58For a long time, these figurines were the only clues as to how ancient Egyptian vessels
37:01looked like.
37:03The boats' design confirms that they were the real deal.
37:06They are the earliest surviving examples of something called built boats.
37:11Ancient people constructed primitive vessels by hollowing out large tree trunks.
37:15The alternative was reed that was tied together to form a raft.
37:19The boats at Abydos had planks tied together.
37:22This was a major breakthrough in shipbuilding.
37:24During their lifetime, the boats must have seemed impressive.
37:28Timber was a valuable commodity at the time.
37:30There was no wood in the desert.
37:32Cedar had to be imported from Lebanon.
37:34The only person who could afford such luxury was the pharaoh.
37:38Studying the area around the ancient fleet provided more answers.
37:42Scientists discovered a mud-brick structure where Egyptians worshipped the pharaoh.
37:47Its approximate date of construction matches that of the wooden boats.
37:50The same bricks out of which this building was made were used to encase the fleet.
37:55At the time of their construction, the rooms they were stored in had a ceiling.
37:59That's the section that archaeologists stumbled upon in the early 20th century.
38:04Just like mummies in coffins, these marvelous ships rested inside splendid vaults.
38:09The exterior of these rooms was also impressive.
38:12The outer walls originally had a plaster of white limestone.
38:15It reflected sunlight.
38:17In the desert sun, the structure housing the boats must have shone from miles away.
38:22Ancient Egyptian builders used the same technique to cover the pyramids 500 years later.
38:27Today their surface looks jagged, but it wasn't always like this.
38:32When they were constructed, the pyramids had a top layer of fine white limestone.
38:37Their surface was smooth and it gleamed in the sunlight.
38:40Instead of stairs, the outer layer of the pyramids was more of a sleek ramp.
38:46Archaeologists were left with one final question.
38:48Which pharaoh owned the fleet?
38:50The answer lay just a mile from the site.
38:52This is where the tomb of a pharaoh from the 5th dynasty rested, King Senwosret III.
38:57Its time and style of construction matched the ones of the chambers with boats.
39:01The very end of his rule might explain how the boats ended up in the middle of the desert.
39:06The pharaoh probably passed away in northern Egypt, then his body was transported down
39:11the Nile to Abydos in a marvelous procession of decorated boats.
39:18The vessels were later lowered to chambers near the final resting place of their owner.
39:23This had a symbolic meaning.
39:25In the ancient Egyptians' belief system, ships played a key role.
39:29Their supreme deity was Ra.
39:32He traveled through the sky during the day in the form of the sun.
39:35At night time he sailed through the netherworld in a solar boat.
39:39The pharaoh identified himself with Ra, that's why he needed boats in the afterlife.
39:44That was the only way to regenerate himself.
39:46Just as the sun rises every day above the horizon.
39:50This belief existed for thousands of years.
39:52The more famous pharaoh Khufu also had a ship.
39:56Scientists found it 1954 next to his pyramid at Giza.
39:59It is some 4 centuries younger than the fleet at Abydos.
40:03But Khufu's ship was almost 2 times longer.
40:06The Great Pyramid of Giza and King Tut's tomb are some of the most famous archaeological
40:10finds in Egypt.
40:12There are many more secrets hiding beneath the endless sands of the Sahara Desert.
40:17Recently 2020, archaeologists found a lost city there.
40:20They have labeled it as the most important discovery since King Tut's tomb 1922.
40:26The city of Aten is some 3000 years old.
40:30Historians hope it will give them a unique insight into the everyday life of ancient
40:33Egyptians.
40:34The famous archaeologist and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass proclaimed the site a lost golden
40:39city.
40:41Aten sits some 300 miles south of Egypt's capital Cairo.
40:45It is close to the famous Valley of the Kings.
40:49Archaeologists first found sections of mud brick walls that spread out in all directions.
40:53They discovered complete rooms with tools of everyday life inside.
40:57The research team unearthed a bakery, a residential neighborhood, and an administrative district.
41:03They all date back to the time when the Egyptian civilization was the wealthiest in its long
41:08history.
41:09They were also the first to make objects from iron.
41:12In 1911, scientists found a set of iron beads near a village in Lower Egypt, El Gertza.
41:17These are the earliest known iron artifacts.
41:20The discovery is literally out of this world.
41:23Ancient people made them by beading into shape a piece of a meteorite.
41:27The nine beads were once part of an ornate necklace.
41:29They are now blackened and corroded, which is perfectly normal for a piece of jewelry
41:33that is over 5000 years old.
41:35They consist of an iron nickel alloy.
41:39Researchers were impressed by the skill of ancient jewelers who processed the beads.
41:44Their craftsmanship is more impressive when you think that they didn't know the stellar
41:47origins of the material.
41:49The Great Pyramid of Giza also has a remarkable feature.
41:53An international research group investigated the electromagnetic response of the structure
41:58to radio waves.
42:00They found that the pyramid has the ability to concentrate electromagnetic energy inside
42:05it.
42:06This occurred inside its chambers as well as under the pyramid's base.
42:10It contains an underground, unfinished chamber.
42:14It seems that the electromagnetic response is connected with the properties of limestone,
42:18the Great Pyramid's main building material.
42:21The research results might have a practical application.
42:24The way solar cells and nanosensors function could be improved by this remarkable find.
42:29That's it for today.
42:33So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
42:37friends.
42:38Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!