0:00:02 > 0:00:06Somewhere in these waters lies the answer
0:00:06 > 0:00:10to one of the world's most beguiling mysteries
0:00:10 > 0:00:15in an area of sea that has claimed hundreds of lives.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Over the last century a thousand ships have been reported lost
0:00:22 > 0:00:25without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Using state-of-the-art technology, we're going to unlock
0:00:33 > 0:00:36one of the ocean's deepest secrets.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49Can science prove if a recently discovered natural phenomenon
0:00:49 > 0:00:54could be dragging ships down to a watery grave?
0:00:54 > 0:00:57We will reopen the investigation
0:00:57 > 0:01:00into the Triangle's oldest myth -
0:01:00 > 0:01:01the doomed Flight 19,
0:01:01 > 0:01:06a routine mission interrupted, but by what?
0:01:08 > 0:01:12We'll reveal a new mystery that was unexplained...
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Holy cow!
0:01:15 > 0:01:20Here the truth can be far stranger than fiction.
0:01:20 > 0:01:26There are powerful - some would say evil - forces at work here.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Since 1492, when Columbus first sailed into the area
0:01:45 > 0:01:47and saw strange lights in the sky,
0:01:47 > 0:01:52the list of bizarre disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle has grown.
0:01:52 > 0:01:58Thousands of ships and planes have simply vanished without a trace -
0:01:58 > 0:02:03no warning, no distress calls, no wreckage.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07The Triangle covers the seas between Bermuda
0:02:07 > 0:02:11to Miami, down to Puerto Rico.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16One and a half million square miles of treacherous water.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21Hurricanes, intense storms and rough seas are the main killers
0:02:21 > 0:02:26out here. The weather can change from benign to deadly in minutes.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37According to the coastguard, around 120 boats vanish each year
0:02:37 > 0:02:41without a trace.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45It is these unexplained disappearances
0:02:45 > 0:02:50that keep the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle alive.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Richard Weiner has written
0:03:07 > 0:03:12many best-sellers about bizarre forces at work in the Triangle.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14We don't know our own planet.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16We know more about the moon,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20we're probably learning more about Mars than our own planet.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22We don't know about the sea.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28The boat yards of Key West echo with stories
0:03:28 > 0:03:31of those who never came back.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39In 1898, Joshua Slocombe was the world's most famous sailor.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43He was the first man to sail solo across the world in his boat.
0:03:43 > 0:03:49Yet in 1909, this man who had defied pirates and hurricanes
0:03:49 > 0:03:55sailed into the Bermuda Triangle and was never seen again.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02For years, stories of giant sea monsters, cosmic time warps,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07spinning compasses and holes in the ocean that swallowed ships
0:04:07 > 0:04:09have echoed throughout the world.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12The disappearances continue.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18There's some kind of anomaly going on down there
0:04:18 > 0:04:22that we can't explain. Something that goes on
0:04:22 > 0:04:27down far, far below the last rays of sunlight.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31There's something going on down there.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40If Richard Weiner is right, you'd have to be brave
0:04:40 > 0:04:45or foolish to dive into the Bermuda Triangle.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50Graham Hawkes, explorer and submersible designer,
0:04:50 > 0:04:51intends to do just that.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00We have all these mysteries in the Bermuda Triangle
0:05:00 > 0:05:05and they exist because here's the surface of the ocean,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10the light bounces off, a ship sinks through that and it's gone.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12We don't know where it's gone.
0:05:12 > 0:05:18What we can do is peel the lid off that and go down and look.
0:05:18 > 0:05:19They're all there.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35Graham has come to Miami to put his new machine to the test.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39One of the things we can do with this sub
0:05:39 > 0:05:43is to move relatively fast.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Launched from an inflatable cradle,
0:05:46 > 0:05:51the sub is a revolutionary design that works like a jet fighter.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55OK, clear to go. Let's go.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59It is one of the fastest submersibles in the world,
0:05:59 > 0:06:05and at full speed it can reach a depth of 150 feet in four seconds.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Graham believes that answers to the Triangle's myths
0:06:21 > 0:06:24are down here somewhere.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47These wrecks look so ominous in this low visibility.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53Down here is perhaps the answer to the greatest of all mysteries -
0:06:53 > 0:06:58the strange disappearance of Flight 19.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Six months after the end of World War II,
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale on the east coast of Florida
0:07:19 > 0:07:21was still busy.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26The 14 members of routine training Flight 19
0:07:26 > 0:07:31had just departed on their final qualifying flight over water.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35In charge was an experienced pilot, Lieutenant Charles Taylor.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41The flight would take them east, to the Bahamas, and then back again
0:07:41 > 0:07:44in just over two and a half hours.
0:08:02 > 0:08:08What follows is based entirely on the original radio transcripts.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11FT-28 to Bossy.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15You're taking us off the assigned navigational course.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Negative. According to my compass I'm on the correct course.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23You're not on the planned route.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28I'll assume leading correct air position. Over.
0:08:28 > 0:08:29Roger, Lieutenant.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50Powers, this is not making much sense.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53How long have we been in the air?
0:08:53 > 0:08:57We've been airborne 1 hour and 45 minutes.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01We should be seeing land by now. There's nothing out there.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Maybe we're flying too far east.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25Fort Lauderdale, this is Fox Tear 28. We seem to be off course.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30We cannot see land. Can you give us a fix? Over.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Command control to control tower.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'I got a call on the intercom
0:09:48 > 0:09:52'or the squat box, as we used to call them.'
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Control tower called me and said,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59"We've got a flight in trouble".
0:09:59 > 0:10:01RADIO PLAYS
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Roger that. Over.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07So what exactly is going on out there?
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Sir.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15Fox Tear 28, Fort Lauderdale. What is your current position? Over.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18'Fort Lauderdale tower.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21'We are unable to confirm our current position.'
0:10:21 > 0:10:27FT-28, FT-28, you need to head due west. Due west. Do you read?
0:10:27 > 0:10:30'Roger that.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33'We don't know which way is west.'
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Everything is wrong.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40DON POOLE: 'I don't know what they all thought.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45'I know I was very concerned'
0:10:45 > 0:10:50and getting more concerned as time passed.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56I soon realised that flight was in real trouble.
0:11:11 > 0:11:1760 years later the file on Flight 19 is about to be reopened.
0:11:23 > 0:11:29Phil Giles is one of the UK's leading air accident investigators.
0:11:34 > 0:11:41Advancements in aviation theory will help him determine what happened, where and why.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45It's fascinating that you can still look at something
0:11:45 > 0:11:49which happened that long ago and put a new light on it.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52You can probably read things in the evidence
0:11:52 > 0:11:55which an inquiry would not read.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58To cut into that is quite rewarding.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07A few miles south of Fort Lauderdale
0:12:07 > 0:12:10at Port Everglades Communication Centre,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13radioman second class Melvin Baker
0:12:13 > 0:12:17began to pick up signals that a flight was in trouble.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22'This is Fort Lauderdale. Can you now confirm your position?'
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Fort Lauderdale, this is FT-28.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28We now have land in sight.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33The winds have blown us over the Florida Keys. I'm not sure how far.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38'I'm not sure how to get to Fort Lauderdale from my current position.'
0:12:38 > 0:12:43'If you're in the Keys put the sun on your port wing
0:12:43 > 0:12:46'and fly north up the coast until you get to Miami.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49'Fort Lauderdale is 20 miles on.'
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Roger that.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09They can't be over the Keys.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14The winds are coming from the southwest. Hand me the mic.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Thank you.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21This is Port Everglades, Fox Tear 28. How do you read me? Over.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25This is Fox Tear 28. Reading you loud and clear.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28This is Baker here, sir.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34By my reckoning I don't think you could be over the Keys.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36STATIC ON RADIO
0:13:36 > 0:13:39FT-28, do you read me?
0:13:39 > 0:13:44STATIC AND FEEDBACK ON RADIO
0:13:44 > 0:13:47'FT-28,'
0:13:47 > 0:13:51this is Commander Poole. Do you read me?
0:13:51 > 0:13:54STATIC ON RADIO
0:13:54 > 0:14:00'The personnel in the tower and myself just got pretty quiet'
0:14:00 > 0:14:05because of the hopeless feeling that there was nothing you could do.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Tried everything.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09Hang on.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12How much flying time do they have left?
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Enough fuel to fly until 20.00 hours.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19This gives us three hours to get them back.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Flight 19 had been airborne for over two hours.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30According to the original plan,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34they would have been on the second section, having turned north
0:14:34 > 0:14:36over a small island Cistern Cay.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Instead, they were over empty ocean.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50At this point, three hours into the flight,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54the weather was deteriorating. Taylor had been given
0:14:54 > 0:14:59all the right directions to get home, but remained unconvinced.
0:14:59 > 0:15:05The rest of the flight were becoming increasingly concerned.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Taylor, if your compass doesn't work, maybe one of us should lead?
0:15:09 > 0:15:12- 'Negative.- Lieutenant Taylor, Sir?'
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Should we go west? My instruments are working.
0:15:16 > 0:15:22- 'Do you want me to take the lead, Sir?'- Maintain your position. Over.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31At 5.20pm, radio man Baker began to realise that Flight 19
0:15:31 > 0:15:34were closer to home than they thought.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39MUDDLED RADIO SIGNAL If I just turn down the power.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44- 'We don't seem to be getting very far.'- FT28, this is Port Everglades.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49- How do you read me? Over. - 'This is FT28 reading you clearly.'
0:15:49 > 0:15:54I estimate that if you fly south west it should bring you toward me.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00As I turn down the power, if I can still hear you, it means you're flying toward me.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02'Roger.'
0:16:02 > 0:16:05He's definitely not over the Gulf.
0:16:05 > 0:16:11If he was, we wouldn't hear him so clearly. He's got to be closer.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23FT28 to Port Everglades. If I am so close, I should be able to see land.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28You might not sight land if you're parallel to us or...
0:16:28 > 0:16:33Sir, please. You have enough fuel to reach us. Just keep flying toward me.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38Baker. I don't think this is the right direction.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42- Fort Lauderdale. Do you have a fix yet?- 'Your transmission is fading.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45'What is your bearing? Over.'
0:16:45 > 0:16:50FT28. This is Port Everglades. You have enough fuel to reach us.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55- Do you read me?- 'Fort Lauderdale. Do you have a fix yet?'
0:16:55 > 0:17:01I'm turning down the volume and I can still hear them. They must be flying toward me!
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Why are they ignoring me?
0:17:10 > 0:17:15Should we fly 270 degrees until we hit the beach and run out of gas?
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Taylor? 'Taylor, do you read?'
0:17:19 > 0:17:26We didn't fly far enough east before we turned. How long have we been going in this direction?
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Where in the hell are we?
0:17:40 > 0:17:42OK, guys.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48'When the first man gets down to ten gallons of gas, we'll all ditch in the water.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51'Does everyone understand that?'
0:17:51 > 0:17:56Radio man Baker was the last one to hear anything.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00MIXED RADIO SIGNALS
0:18:00 > 0:18:05FT28. This is Port Everglades. Do you read me? Over.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10Their weakening radio signals meant they were heading out to sea.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15This is Port Everglades. FT28. Do you read me? Over.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19FT28, do you read me? Over.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22(Oh, come on!)
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Nothing was ever heard from them again.
0:18:28 > 0:18:36The final twist to the mystery that night came when a Martin Mariner rescue plane went to look for them.
0:18:38 > 0:18:4327 minutes later, it too vanished into thin air.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Solving the Bermuda Triangle's
0:19:01 > 0:19:05iconic myth will take all Phil's experience.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09But there's one mystery he can clear up immediately.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14We don't know which way is west. Everything is wrong.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18One thing Taylor said early on was that his compasses failed.
0:19:18 > 0:19:24On most aircraft like this you have three different compasses.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27One of them may have failed.
0:19:27 > 0:19:33But he'd have had two others and there were 15 compasses in the whole formation.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36So compass failure is very unlikely.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42So compass failure was not the cause.
0:19:42 > 0:19:50Phil also believes there is a straightforward reason why no trace of the flight was ever found.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55It may also explain why so many others disappear without a trace.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04The answer lies in Miami.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11This is the 7th District Miami coastguard HQ.
0:20:11 > 0:20:17The largest and busiest in the world.
0:20:17 > 0:20:24Phil wants to know how it's possible Flight 19 could have disappeared without a trace.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Why no bodies and no wreckage were ever found.
0:20:30 > 0:20:36Were they looking in the wrong place? Or was there something else?
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Commander Bozano may have the answers.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45- If you take it back to 1945.- Yes. - We had no technology.- Right.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Probably 200 miles offshore. You had a rough sea.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54- Rain showers. Completely overcast. - Difficult.- Any chance of finding...
0:20:54 > 0:20:59Yes. To give you some perspective - today, even if we search perfectly
0:20:59 > 0:21:03in the most benign weather conditions -
0:21:03 > 0:21:07flat seas, no wind, perfect search conditions,
0:21:07 > 0:21:15our best percentage of finding someone - what we call probability of detection - is 78%.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29The coastguard have devised a potentially dangerous exercise
0:21:29 > 0:21:34to demonstrate how difficult it is to find anyone or anything at sea.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Conditions today are pretty much ideal.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Light winds. Seas are two feet or less.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Excellent visibility.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06A second helicopter will drop an experienced swimmer in the water.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11In a few minutes they'll see if they can find him again.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14We'll go about 200 yards to his left.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19And then we'll go and see how close we have to be to actually find him.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24We're going down. Going down!
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Ah!
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Help!
0:22:41 > 0:22:45'Those aircraft were sunk very quickly.'
0:22:45 > 0:22:50If you don't look in the first hour of them being reported lost,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and having an asset on-scene, you're looking for persons in the water.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01It's very difficult to see something as small as a person.
0:23:01 > 0:23:08Think about a basketball. You're looking for something that size - their head sticking out of the water.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13If you don't know exactly where the person is - it's not impossible,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18but it's extremely difficult to find someone. Especially at night.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22The Gulf Stream runs between Grand Bahama Island and the Florida coast.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Sometimes that's a six-knot current. That's six nautical miles per hour.
0:23:27 > 0:23:34So every hour, that piece of water that someone's stuck in moves six miles. Every hour.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39You can imagine after 12 hours how quickly it moves up - 80 miles or so.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02With only 30 minutes of fuel left
0:24:02 > 0:24:07and the swimmer pulled more north every minute, the pressure's on.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10But at least they know roughly where he is.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20We've got something at 11 o'clock, keep it turning.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Keep it turning. Turn in.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Coming up at 12 o'clock. Roll out.
0:24:27 > 0:24:34You can see all the white caps breaking around him. Makes him really hard to see.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39HEARTBEAT You can barely see the man like this.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45And he's wearing an orange suit with a big old snorkel on top.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50You need to fly right over the top to be able to see him.
0:24:50 > 0:24:57At night it'd be almost impossible to see him unless you had an extremely bright moon on flat seas.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Hold. Right.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Turn to the front of the basket.
0:25:16 > 0:25:22The swimmer is approaching the cabin door. Prepare the cabin door.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Swimmer coming inside the cabin.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35A successful recovery.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40But back in 1945, the weather was bad.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45For six days the largest air-sea rescue since the war searched.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Nothing was ever found.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55I'm not surprised they disappeared without a trace.
0:25:55 > 0:26:03'That does happen occasionally - the people we look for, sometimes we don't find anybody, even to this day.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06'But if the weather conditions were so bad,'
0:26:06 > 0:26:13there'd be very little evidence of any debris or oil slick on the water's surface - even after an hour.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20So even today, the chances of finding anyone alive
0:26:20 > 0:26:25or any evidence of Flight 19 would be slim.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34But it's not enough to explain why the flight went so badly wrong.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39Phil is convinced there is something else.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Under the stern you can see the props in the gloom.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01Four miles out to see, Graham has found a strange wreck.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06- It's not clear how she got here. - Then coming up,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09take a look at the top of the bow.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14Many who know these waters believe they are the world's most dangerous.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19But how did they get such a fearsome reputation?
0:27:20 > 0:27:26Things still happen in the Triangle today. We don't hear about 'em.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29At least once a week, maybe twice,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34some Bahamian fisherman never comes back from fishing. Just disappears.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39It's so commonplace out there that they don't make a big issue of it.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44Sailors talk of massive freak waves
0:27:44 > 0:27:51appearing as if from nowhere and hammering ships into oblivion.
0:27:54 > 0:28:01Could this bizarre but real phenomenon account for one of the most baffling ship disappearances?
0:28:02 > 0:28:07The Marine Sulphur Queen, a 500ft cargo ship was in good order
0:28:07 > 0:28:10when she left Texas for Virginia.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13SHIP'S HORN BLASTS
0:28:13 > 0:28:21Early on February 4th, 1963, she sent a routine radio message from 270 miles west of the Keys.
0:28:27 > 0:28:34A few hours later, the Sulphur Queen and her 39 crew were never seen again.
0:28:40 > 0:28:47There is another old mariners' tale that describes the sea literally opening up and swallowing ships.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Could there be any truth in this?
0:28:52 > 0:28:58The first clue emerged in 1985 when cameras captured these extraordinary pictures.
0:28:58 > 0:29:06An oil platform in the North Sea punctured a vast gas pocket beneath the sea floor and very nearly sunk.
0:29:06 > 0:29:12Gas deposits like this exist all around the coastlines of the world
0:29:12 > 0:29:17and the Bermuda Triangle is no exception.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22Trapped in the sediment, the methane gas is highly volatile.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25An undersea earthquake or landslide
0:29:25 > 0:29:30could release the gas into the waters above.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36Could gas bubbles really create a hole in the ocean?
0:29:36 > 0:29:43Naval physicist, Professor Bruce Denardo has come to Florida to find out.
0:29:43 > 0:29:50We have a rough idea - I need to refine the third - what it's going to take to sink that boat.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54I'm real excited. I think we'll be able to do it.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12Bruce is going to try and sink this boat in the ocean off this beach
0:30:12 > 0:30:17in order to see if ships like these can sink in a mass of gas bubbles.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Up until now, it's all been theory.
0:30:27 > 0:30:33The experiment is large-scale and will be the first of its kind.
0:30:33 > 0:30:40Bruce is going to be helped on the practical side by Hollywood special effects designer Phil Beck.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48I'm 50-50 on it. The theory seems right to me, but, I don't know.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51It's a lot of bubbles.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56No-one has ever attempted an experiment like this before.
0:30:56 > 0:31:04The aim's to recreate a small-scale methane gas eruption similar to the one in the North Sea.
0:31:04 > 0:31:11So they are building a large lattice of pipes which will then be sunk onto the sea floor.
0:31:12 > 0:31:19They'll then pump in a vast amount of air, which behaves like methane, into the lattice.
0:31:21 > 0:31:27The air will be forced out through small holes into the water above.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33My experience in the laboratory
0:31:33 > 0:31:37is it takes a lot more bubbles than you'd think to sink something.
0:31:37 > 0:31:43I don't know what's going to happen. We'll just have to wait and see.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49By mid-afternoon, the divers have lowered the lattice to the sea bed.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The plan is to blow a mass of air
0:31:54 > 0:31:59into the sea above and try and create a hole in the water.
0:31:59 > 0:32:05With the pipes connected they're now ready to start the experiment.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Turn 'em on. Yeah!
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Come on.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29The boat's bobbing up and down, but there's a definite loss of buoyancy.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37With 25% air in the water, the boat should've sunk.
0:32:37 > 0:32:43- But there is something they haven't anticipated.- It's not dropping much.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48The bubbles lower the density and makes it sink.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54But the upward force due to the flow of the water's keeping the boat up. The two roughly cancel each other.
0:32:54 > 0:33:00There is a neutralising effect in the centre of the bubble field.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04So the sinking zone must be just outside the centre.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09Time's running out and there's only one more thing Bruce can try.
0:33:09 > 0:33:16If it's a little bit off-centre, it's much better. There the flow doesn't push the boat up, but out.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21You saw the boat, it dropped. The buoyancy clearly reduced there.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29See that? Instant drop.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37- Here we go. Is it going?- Yeah. The front's more buoyant than the back.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40Lookin' good.
0:33:40 > 0:33:47If you're in a 500-foot boat and 200 feet hit one of these and the back 300 feet didn't,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50your boat would snap in half and sink instantly.
0:33:50 > 0:33:58The front is lifting and the stern is dropping because the front is in more dense water than the stern.
0:33:59 > 0:34:0230 seconds, she's gone.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08- It's lookin' real good.- Nope, she's gone, she's gone.- That's it. Bye-bye!
0:34:10 > 0:34:12Bye-bye.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17They've done it. A gas eruption in the ocean
0:34:17 > 0:34:20really could sink a boat.
0:34:24 > 0:34:31What hits me is how utterly minor what we did compared to what nature can do.
0:34:31 > 0:34:37We went through all this trouble to make bubbles to sink a little boat.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43It makes you appreciate a lot more what nature can do.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49In the Triangle, gas hydrate deposits amount to
0:34:49 > 0:34:54over 70 times the gas used by the entire USA in a single year.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59That's enough to sink a whole fleet of freighters.
0:34:59 > 0:35:05The chances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time are slim, but possible.
0:35:08 > 0:35:14So it seems there is truth in the old mariners' tales.
0:35:14 > 0:35:20Some of the more bizarre disappearances are turning out to have very real explanations.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25In 1991, Graham Hawks stumbled onto a mystery himself.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30At first he thought he'd found the remains of Flight 19.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36We were searching for Spanish galleons.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41We came across one Avenger and thought nothing of it, just logged it.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45We came across another Avenger, logged it.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50A group of explorers believed they've found five American war planes...
0:35:50 > 0:35:57- The story hit the headlines. Had they found Flight 19? - Shocked and surprised.
0:35:57 > 0:36:03We just didn't expect to find a fifth. It fit too closely with Flight 19.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08He promised the media an answer within two weeks.
0:36:08 > 0:36:14After studying the grainy images taken by an old camera lowered over the side,
0:36:14 > 0:36:21the team concluded that these aircraft were probably not from Flight 19. But who were they?
0:36:21 > 0:36:26The answer would turn out to be just as strange.
0:36:26 > 0:36:32If that wasn't Flight 19, you mean to tell me there's another five Avengers linked up here?
0:36:32 > 0:36:39I'd like nice easy answers. To me it's much easier that this is the five, of course it's the five.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Here they are, there's no mystery here. Here they are.
0:36:43 > 0:36:49It's much more untidy if it isn't Flight 19 and we have to find out what they are.
0:36:52 > 0:36:58Graham Hawks is going to return to the phantom five and using a new submersible,
0:36:58 > 0:37:04he's going to go down there himself and find out once and for all who they are.
0:37:10 > 0:37:1712 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, a state-of-the-art scientific research vessel,
0:37:17 > 0:37:21is also going to join the hunt for the lost Avengers.
0:37:21 > 0:37:27It's a very big ocean out here and to find a group of five together like that,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31that's the question - what are they doing there?
0:37:31 > 0:37:36There's something about coming back in person.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41You find things with remote technology and it leaves this itch.
0:37:41 > 0:37:48This time we have this sealink submersible, so this time we get to almost touch and smell them.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53I think we'll have a much better chance of finding out who they are.
0:37:58 > 0:38:03Graham has waited 12 years for this moment.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05- Good morning.- Good morning.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Let's go see some airplanes.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15It will take 15 minutes to reach the sea bed,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18734 feet below the ship.
0:38:20 > 0:38:26In the back of the submersible, is Harold Larkin, an expert on Avenger design.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31The trip is deeply personal to Harold because not only did he fly Avengers,
0:38:31 > 0:38:36but one of his relatives was on Flight 19 when it disappeared.
0:38:49 > 0:38:55- OK, Craig, your lines are free, you have permission to dive. - Roger, I got 200 yards, 310.
0:39:05 > 0:39:11This submersible can take Graham deeper and is perfect for detailed forensic work.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18The object of the mission is to find each wreck's unique code
0:39:18 > 0:39:20called the bureau number.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25This is the only way to make a definite identification.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34SONAR SIGNAL BEEPS
0:39:34 > 0:39:38- I love that sound.- Yeah.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42- Yes.- The sonar signal is getting stronger.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Target's holding up, still there.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48'We have contact on sonar.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52'A large contact and we're moving in on it.'
0:39:52 > 0:40:01The chances of five planes being as close together, are the same as
0:40:01 > 0:40:06getting a hole in one and being struck by lightning while having a winning lottery ticket.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11They'd have to go in at the same speed and time
0:40:11 > 0:40:17or the currents would have spread them further than this, even if they were all from the same flight.
0:40:17 > 0:40:23- So whatever happened, happened all at once for these five planes. - Wow!
0:40:23 > 0:40:24Huh!
0:40:24 > 0:40:29But there is no record in the naval archives
0:40:29 > 0:40:36of another flight of five Avengers going down at the same time in the same place.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39The mystery deepens.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Could you give us a status update?
0:40:42 > 0:40:44We have a plane in sight.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49- FT twenty... - Could be an eight or a three.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53- It looks... Yeah. - It's more like a three.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Yeah.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59OK. Busted off tail's gone.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06The fuselage is sheared off just after the trailing edge of the wing.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09We may never find it.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11The fuselage number FT23,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15means it came out of Fort Lauderdale.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20But it's not enough to identify the aircraft.
0:41:20 > 0:41:26When an Avenger was lost, the same number was often re-used on its replacement.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29With no tail, there's no bureau number.
0:41:29 > 0:41:36The wing flaps are down, which means the plane ditched but why may never be known.
0:41:37 > 0:41:38OK.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42OK. We need to move on.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45I hate to give up on this.
0:41:47 > 0:41:54It seems the Bermuda Triangle doesn't want to give up its secrets so easily.
0:41:58 > 0:42:03Phil is now ready to investigate why Flight 19 went wrong.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11The problem with looking back at something in the past like this,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15is you can never ask that extra question.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19So you have to deal with the evidence available.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22The one thing that isn't covered in detail,
0:42:22 > 0:42:26is one of the most significant causal factors in the flight being lost.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30That is the human factors.
0:42:30 > 0:42:36It wasn't normal at that time to look in any detail into human factors.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03Each year around 30 light aircraft go missing within the triangle.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Carol Collins, an experienced instructor,
0:43:08 > 0:43:14is helping Phil get into the mindset of a pilot in difficulty in this area.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20OK, we're level at 1,500 feet.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26When you're flying over an area that has no visual landmarks,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30it's very easy to lose your sense of motion.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34For instance, if we started out on a heading of east,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37made a turn to the west as we did
0:43:37 > 0:43:45and then turn south... If you're making turns and not being very cognizant of what you're doing,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49you'll find yourself in another direction than you thought you were.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54One of the unique navigational hazards in the Bermuda Triangle,
0:43:54 > 0:43:58is becoming more obvious to Phil from the air.
0:43:58 > 0:44:04When you're looking at strings of islands, if there's no houses or anything to identify them,
0:44:04 > 0:44:10one island can look like another as you'll see as we come around and go up here.
0:44:10 > 0:44:16Right now we're in good shape because we can look back and see there's the highway.
0:44:16 > 0:44:22But if we couldn't see that, one of these islands would look so much like another.
0:44:22 > 0:44:27In times of poor visibility, that's a serious issue.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30So getting lost does happen.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37We must be over the southern gulf. That's the gulf, don't you think?
0:44:37 > 0:44:41The gulf negative. We've gone too far east.
0:44:42 > 0:44:47I suggest we fly west until we run out of gas. We have a better chance of being picked up close to shore.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51I don't know, we didn't even see the shore.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Just watch the gas, man.
0:44:59 > 0:45:06Back on the ground Phil can now piece together what happened to Flight 19, where and why.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Flight 19 was going on navigation -
0:45:09 > 0:45:12plan one, they called it.
0:45:12 > 0:45:18It was a triangle. It started at Fort Lauderdale naval air station.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23They fly an easterly track from there to Hen And Chickens islands,
0:45:23 > 0:45:27where they'd do 20 minutes' low level bombing practice.
0:45:27 > 0:45:34The next leg was on to a track passing over Grand Bahama, to Great Sale Cay,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36up in the north of the island.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Then return to Fort Lauderdale.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44At what point in the training leg do you think they went wrong?
0:45:44 > 0:45:48After the bombing run at Hen And Chickens.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55The winds were stronger than anticipated that day,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59pushing them north-east from their intended trek.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03They overshot the turn north at Cistern Cay,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07and made the turn at Great Abaco Island.
0:46:07 > 0:46:13If they had been on course, they'd have seen Grand Bahama in front of them.
0:46:13 > 0:46:20If he'd been on track, he'd have expected to see Great Bahama lying across his track.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22But what he's actually seeing
0:46:22 > 0:46:25is land parallel to his track.
0:46:25 > 0:46:33So he may think, "Hang on, my compass says north, but the land is to my right.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37"Therefore, my compass reads wrong."
0:46:37 > 0:46:42They've carried on till they've got to the northern part of the island.
0:46:42 > 0:46:50Then they've seen this small run of islands going in a north-westerly direction.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55They've followed that when they're saying, "We're over the Keys."
0:46:55 > 0:47:00The winds blew us over the Florida Keys. I'm not sure how far down.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale from my current position.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09It was at this point Commander Poole became concerned.
0:47:09 > 0:47:15Taylor was flying over a string of islands north of Great Abaco.
0:47:15 > 0:47:22He mistook them for the similar looking islands at the Florida Keys, over 200 miles away.
0:47:22 > 0:47:29This error means Taylor thought he was over the Gulf of Mexico, on the opposite side of Florida.
0:47:29 > 0:47:37All the headings he flies thereafter are taken on the premise that he is over here, in the Gulf of Mexico.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40Not here, in the north Atlantic.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45They are virtually opposite to the headings you'd need to fly.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50He's actually trying to get back to mainland Florida,
0:47:50 > 0:47:53and flying further out to sea.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Yes. He's heading for the wrong part of the coast.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01I can't see nothing in this.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04'Taylor, are you OK?'
0:48:04 > 0:48:10'The first magazine, ten gallons of gas will land in the water together.'
0:48:11 > 0:48:14'Everyone check their Mae Wests.'
0:48:14 > 0:48:16We're out of gas.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21We're going down. We're coming down!
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Aargh!
0:48:33 > 0:48:39At 734 feet down, Graham Hawkes has found the fifth and final wreck.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42- There we go.- We got it.
0:48:42 > 0:48:48Will this ghostly Avenger be able to tell them its story?
0:48:57 > 0:48:59FT-87.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06Well, the good news is that the canopy is back.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09It means the crew probably got out.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16- Can we go and take a good look at the tail section?- Yeah.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19See if we can find anything there.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27The wreck is in good condition, but like the others, it has no tail fin.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32They're beginning to think the phantom five
0:49:32 > 0:49:34don't want to be identified.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38We want to show you something.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41This may be the vertical rudder.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46- In front of us now.- Where?
0:49:46 > 0:49:51Underneath, there's a wing coming into view now. The left wing.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56- In the middle of what? - In the middle of the screen.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00I can see something out the porthole.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Holy cow.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08- That's the bureau number. - This is the difference between human eyes and a camera.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19At last, NAV 23990.
0:50:19 > 0:50:27It's the bureau number - unique to each aircraft, it will tell Graham how it came to be.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30HE LAUGHS
0:50:30 > 0:50:35With their mission accomplished, they head back to the surface.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06While Florida celebrates July 4th,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Graham's stuck in naval accident reports.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14It's the moment he's waited for for 12 years.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21NAV 23990 - lost at sea.
0:51:21 > 0:51:26On 9th October 1943, FT-87, piloted by Ensign George Swint,
0:51:26 > 0:51:31was returning to Fort Lauderdale from a bombing run.
0:51:31 > 0:51:37On board were Airmen Second Class Sam Treese and J Lewulis.
0:51:37 > 0:51:44At precisely 12.20pm, the engine suffered a catastrophic loss of fuel and ditched.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Swint and his crew survived.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52FT-87, lost for 60 years.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Graham now knows how she got here.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15Of the remaining four wrecks, one is missing its whole tail section.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20There is only one accident report from August 1944
0:52:20 > 0:52:24showing a fatal mid-air collision where the tail was destroyed.
0:52:24 > 0:52:31Could this be the final resting place of Pilot John Barry
0:52:31 > 0:52:36and Airmen Third Class Joe Market and Fred Burns?
0:52:38 > 0:52:43For Graham, it's the scenario he least expected.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48Despite the odds, they are just a random collection of accidents
0:52:48 > 0:52:53that came to rest in the same place, 12 miles from home.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04Based on the information, Phil can make an accurate guess
0:53:04 > 0:53:07at where Flight 19 ditched.
0:53:07 > 0:53:14The various ATDF stations produced a very good fix at 5.50.
0:53:14 > 0:53:21It's in the north Atlantic, 100 miles off Daytona Beach. Nowhere near the Gulf of Mexico.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31By the time the tower got the fix, Flight 19 was already out of range.
0:53:31 > 0:53:39Ironically, that fix put them only 25 minutes from Daytona Beach.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43At that stage, they were still going west towards home.
0:53:43 > 0:53:49At 7.15, they were overheard discussing turning east.
0:53:49 > 0:53:56At 7.45, they would have had enough fuel to continue for another 15 minutes,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00which means they probably ditched here...
0:54:00 > 0:54:04about 220 miles east of Daytona Beach.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11We now know what happened to the flight.
0:54:11 > 0:54:17The question is, why did an experienced pilot like Taylor not realise this gross error?
0:54:17 > 0:54:21What was going on in his mind?
0:54:21 > 0:54:28He established the mindset fairly early on, after he had realised he wasn't on the correct track,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31that he was in the Keys at Florida.
0:54:31 > 0:54:39Phil thinks that as conditions deteriorated, Taylor had a mental breakdown, a tunnel vision,
0:54:39 > 0:54:43that made him blind to the options.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48I don't think you're over the Keys. You can't have been blown there.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53Today, this condition is known as spatial disorientation.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58It's considered to be one of the most dangerous threats to a pilot.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01There was no shaking it.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05This is not an unusual phenomenon.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09People decide on something and then, with the stress of the occasion,
0:55:09 > 0:55:16they will stick with that initial concept, because in their mind, it's very real.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20Once he had this mindset, it would stay forever.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23No-one would jolt him out of it.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30This is why Taylor insisted his compass didn't work.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33We don't know which way is west.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35Everything is wrong.
0:55:38 > 0:55:43But what about the rescue plane that also disappeared?
0:55:43 > 0:55:50Martin Mariners were called "flying gas tanks". Several had exploded in midair due to a spark.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55A few days into the search, a report from a ship
0:55:55 > 0:56:01claimed an explosion had been seen in the sky at the time the Mariner vanished.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Right, men. It's 20.00.
0:56:23 > 0:56:28'I felt hopeless, because there was nothing else you could do.'
0:56:28 > 0:56:33The worst night I ever had in my life.
0:57:14 > 0:57:20After 60 years, what happened to Flight 19 is now clear.
0:57:20 > 0:57:28Like so many mysteries, there is always a rational explanation available...
0:57:28 > 0:57:31if you choose to believe it.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35People love a mystery.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39They want one. No matter what it is, they want the mystery.
0:57:39 > 0:57:46Which is why the Bermuda Triangle will remain the most romantic
0:57:46 > 0:57:50of the ocean's great myths.