All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S08E05.Florida.Death.Fortress.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

[Narrator] Adrift
from the US Mainland,

a desert Island
with an infested past.

[woman 1] In every direction,
you see nothing but ocean.

This place is truly far out,

but the importance
of this site
cannot be underestimated.

[Narrator]
The brutalist palace
a dictator once called home.

[man 1] When it was completed,
the ruler of the country

decided he liked it so much,
he was going to keep it
all for himself.

[Narrator] And
the colossal wartime project

[Narrator] And
the colossal wartime project

the Nazis thought
no one knew about.

[man 2] The British did
something very smart.

They let the Germans
keep working on it.

[Narrator] Decaying relics.

Ruins of lost worlds.

Sites haunted by the past,

their secrets
waiting to be revealed.

[Narrator] Far off
the southern tip of Florida
is a ruin lost at sea.

[man 3] So most people
think that Key West
itself is remote,

but this place,
this is even further remote
than that.

[woman 2] Though this is,
technically, part of the US,

it feels like
you've dropped off the map.

[Narrator]
Marooned on a small island,

its appearance on the horizon
comes as a surprise to most.

This place is
really a mystery,

because it's this huge pile
of brick and mortar masonry

in the middle of
the Gulf of Mexico.

[man 3] When you
first see this place,

as it rises up
out of the ocean,

you can't help but
feel amazed and in awe,

but a little spooked.

[man 4] It's weathered
the storms of decades,

or perhaps centuries,
but still standing strong.

or perhaps centuries,
but still standing strong.

[Narrator]
Distinctive features betray
some of the sites' secrets,

but others remain hidden.

This place looks like a fort,
but that's not all it was.

This was not somewhere
you wanted to end up.

[woman 1]
For some of the people
who were sent to this island,

it would become
a deadly, deadly place.

[Narrator] A vast
abandoned structure
emerges from the ocean,

[Narrator] A vast
abandoned structure
emerges from the ocean,

70 miles beyond Key West.

Adam Hollywood has been
making regular trips out here
for almost 20 years,

and knows the lay of the land
better than most.

This is end of
the barrier recess,

and it runs
all the way from Miami

out here to
the middle of the gulf.

It creates the choke point
for the entire Gulf of Mexico.

So, any large ships,
they would have to
sail to the south of us,

and then up into
the Gulf of Mexico.

When this place was built,

the primary concern
was piracy.

the primary concern
was piracy.

The United States
was interested
in protecting shipping

along the American coast
and in the Caribbean.

And so, this provided
a strategic location
to police these waters.

[Narrator] Piracy
may have been the impetus
for building here,

but pirates
weren't the only threat.

[man 4] Ever since
the war of 1812,

when the British
threatened to cut off trade,

the Gulf of Mexico became
a strategically vital place

for the New
United States of America.

for the New
United States of America.

[Narrator] This dominant
military position

is Fort Jefferson.

Construction began in 1846.

Initially, slaves
were forced to carry out
much of the heavy lifting,

but details
across the site show

that change
was on the horizon.

This place is
absolutely enormous.

But if you look closer,

you can also see
some irregularities.

Some of the bricks
are different colors.

Some of the bricks
are different colors.

[Narrator] In 1861,
the American Civil War
broke out.

Remaining in union hands,

this island, now,
became a potentially
decisive position

from which to
blockade the South,

if they could get
the fort completed.

[Hollywood] First two tiers
are made up of a light tan
or sandy colored brick.

And all those bricks
were coming from
Pensacola, Florida.

But when Florida
joined the Confederacy,

they stopped
sending bricks from Florida.

they stopped
sending bricks from Florida.

So then they had to
start getting bricks
from Brewer, Maine.

So when you look at
the third tier of this fort,

you'll see that the bricks
are much darker,
redder looking bricks.

[Narrator]
Following the
Emancipation Proclamation,

the Union needed to find
a new workforce.

The site's location
made the choice
of whom to employ easy.

[Gutierrez-Romine]
Another thing with this island
that was really important,

was its isolation.

And that made it
ideal for a prison.

And that made it
ideal for a prison.

[woman 1] In this case,
Union deserters
would be sent down there.

Lincoln would have them
form a really crucial
body of workers,

who would do all sorts
of tasks on the island.

[Narrator] While technically,

the fort was
still not complete,

soon, enough was built
to make it ready for war.

[Hollywood]
From this fort here,
Fort Jefferson,

as well as Fort Zachary Taylor
in Key West,

the ships that worked
out of these harbors

were able to capture
over 300 shiploads

were able to capture
over 300 shiploads

of supplies,
that were going to the South.

[Narrator]
While Fort Jefferson left
its mark on the civil war,

one prisoner would come
to leave their own imprint
on the tail of this fort.

[Hollywood] Samuel Mudd
was the most famous prisoner
we had here,

in the Dry Tortugas
at Fort Jefferson.

He was convicted as
being a co-conspirator

in the assassination
of President Lincoln.

[Narrator] April 14th, 1865.

In the final days
of the civil war,

In the final days
of the civil war,

President Abraham Lincoln
attends a performance

at a theater
near the White House.

While he's watching
the show,

an assassin enters his box,

shoots him in the head
from behind,

and then to escape,
leaps out of Lincoln's box,

catches his boot
in some bunting coming down,
breaks his leg.

[Narrator] On the run,
the assassin,
John Wilkes Booth,

calls in at the house
of Dr. Samuel Mudd,

who sets his leg.

who sets his leg.

Mudd, however, fails
to alert the authorities.

Two days later, suspicion of
Mudd's complicity are raised.

It proved enough
for a conviction.

Samuel Mudd himself,
he was sent here

to the Dry Tortugas
at Fort Jefferson to do
a lifetime of hard labor.

[Narrator]
Mudd quickly learned
this would be no easy ride.

[Wawro] Tourists pay
good money to come to
places like this nowadays,

because of the beaches,
because of the sea, the sun,

because of the beaches,
because of the sea, the sun,

but nobody wanted
to go to Fort Jefferson
during the American Civil War.

It was, basically,
a one-way ticket to death.

[Narrator] Danger lay
in the most basic struggles
to survive.

[Mitchell] One of
the absolute challenges,

in a site such as this one,

would be
the matter of fresh water.

[Narrator] Clues in the cells
show the lengths
the inmates would go to,

in order to combat
this situation.

in order to combat
this situation.

[Hollywood]
They actually dug trenches
out in this cement floor,

and then bowls that would
help store the water.

And so,
you can see even today,

we had a little bit
of rain last night,

and these trenches help
fill up these bowls of water.

So these were just to
help give the prisoners
enough fresh water to survive.

[Narrator]
A large desalination system
was installed,

to provide a steady supply
of drinking water.

But the storage of
this water in barrels

would, inadvertently,
have deadly consequences.

would, inadvertently,
have deadly consequences.

[Mitchell]
Something happens that

is going to drastically change
things for Mudd in prison.

It's going to completely
change the trajectory
of his experience there.

[Narrator] In the 1860s,

Dr. Samuel Mudd was sentenced
to a life of hard labor,
here, at Fort Jefferson,

where an attempt to
provide drinking water

was about to turn sour.

On August 18, 1867,
a prisoner became ill.

And within a short time,
over 30 people would fall ill

And within a short time,
over 30 people would fall ill

on one single night.

[Narrator] Fort Jefferson
had been hit by an outbreak
of yellow fever.

[Mitchell]
This incredibly violent,
horrible disease,

that could make people
so deathly ill,

it causes the yellowing
of the skin, jaundicing.
That's why it's yellow fever.

[Narrator] Before long,
the fort's doctor
succumbed to the disease.

Suddenly,
responsibility for the sick
fell to Dr. Mudd.

It's been reported that
he utilized the fort's design
to aid his efforts.

It's been reported that
he utilized the fort's design
to aid his efforts.

[Gutierrez-Romine]
Yellow fever
is a viral disease,

that is spread by mosquitoes.

Their collection of water
that they had desalinated,

had actually been
a breeding ground
for mosquitoes.

And so, that was really
the heart of the problem.

This hallway
that was actually designed
to help create a breeze

to vent out
the smoke and the heat
from the cannons,

that would have been
in these rooms.

that would have been
in these rooms.

One of the things
that Samuel Mudd did realize

is that bringing people up
onto the second level
of the fort

seemed to reduce the number
of people that were getting
sick, here, at the fort.

The fact is,
mosquitoes, they tend to
stay low to the ground.

They don't fly into
a lot of strong wind.

[Narrator] Alongside this,

Mudd introduced far stricter
hygiene procedures,

when dealing
with the patients.

And it worked.

Mudd's efforts
saved many lives.

[Mitchell]
From his heroic efforts,
Mudd was granted clemency,

[Mitchell]
From his heroic efforts,
Mudd was granted clemency,

and he was freed.

He went home
on an appropriately
named ship, The Liberty.

[Narrator]
Once home, Mudd resumed
his own medical practice,

where he worked
until his death, in 1883.

Fort Jefferson itself
was never completed.

In a rapidly changing world,
it had been abandoned
in 1874.

[Narrator] Today, the Fort
and surrounding islands

[Narrator] Today, the Fort
and surrounding islands

are under the authority
of the National Park Service.

[Mitchell]
It's a wildlife refuge,

that not only enables people
to enjoy the nature,

but also to have
an appreciation

of an unexpected history
in an unexpected place.

[Narrator] In Bulgaria,
a sprawling site
hides in the foothills

of the Lyulin Mountains.

of the Lyulin Mountains.

The area is very famous
for mineral springs,

where people
would go to recuperate.

It was a place for relaxation,
for important people,
for people of means.

[Narrator] Traces of luxury
litter this site.

The architecture,
it's a mixture between
stark and ornate.

It's got this kind of
grandiosity of the place.

It's got this kind of
grandiosity of the place.

[man 1] This is strange,
when you consider
the country's past.

In recent years,
it wasn't a place
known for its wealth.

[Narrator]
This extravagant resort
is conspicuous in design.

Yet there are no signs to it,

and it's buried
deep in the woods.

[woman 3] Why build
something this showy,
and then hide it?

[Narrator]
Architect Iliyan Nikolov

[Narrator]
Architect Iliyan Nikolov

worked on the construction
of this building.

He hasn't been back here
for 40 years.

[translator speaking]
Now, it's all
coming back to me.

This part was an extension
to the building.

[Narrator]
Iliyan worked here in 1978.

His father, Pavel,
designed this place.

[translator speaking]
In my hands,

I have an original sketch
of this building,

dating back to 1972,
and drawn by my father.

dating back to 1972,
and drawn by my father.

[Narrator] The costly finish
on its now crumbling facade,

suggests that this building
was designed to be special.

[translator speaking]
Making this
rounded stone cladding,

decades ago,
was a near heroic achievement.

Look at that.
This thing here.

Now, this is indeed
a very emotional moment
for me.

This rotting door,

which is very typical
of this building,

which is very typical
of this building,

with its rounded shapes
at the top and the bottom,

this was my very first
ever professional,
commissioned project,

after my graduation
as a qualified architect.

[Narrator] The story
of this dilapidated site

dates back to the aftermath
of the Second World War,

when Bulgaria
fell under the influence
of Stalin's Soviet Union.

[Narrator] By 1954,
the communist leader,
Todor Zhivkov

[Narrator] By 1954,
the communist leader,
Todor Zhivkov

had taken charge.

Todor Zhivkov
was trusted by Stalin

and by subsequent
Soviet rulers,

because he was a yes-man.

[Narrator] Zhivkov's loyalty
meant that by the 1970s,

he was still in power.

And he gave his approval
for construction at this site
in 1973.

And he gave his approval
for construction at this site
in 1973.

It was intended as
a holiday spa complex,

where deserving,
hard-working, party members
could come

and recuperate in
the region's healing waters.

It's now known
as Bankya Residence.

Iliyan remembers
its grand design.

[translator speaking]
We are currently down
in the main lobby,

which was quite
lavishly furnished.

There was
a resting area,
right here,

directed towards the park.

directed towards the park.

Behind the corner
is the dining area,

with access to
an open terrace.

And this feature here
is a stone-carved sculpture

to compliment
the rather large fireplace,

situated right here.

[Narrator]
But the construction
of this site

was shrouded in secrecy.

[Nusbacher] The egalitarian
communist state of Bulgaria

[Nusbacher] The egalitarian
communist state of Bulgaria

is hiding away something
for the privileged,

in a state where nobody
was supposed to be privileged.

[man 1] The work was done
in complete secrecy,

because the government
didn't want anybody to know

about the hypocrisy

that coursed through
every aspect of it.

[Narrator] After this complex
was completed in 1977,

Zhivkov liked it so much,

Zhivkov liked it so much,

he decided that
even Bulgaria's elite
would not be given access.

This place was
meant to be
for the many,

but one man decided
to keep it for himself.

[translator speaking]
What I remember
is that a few years

after the completion
of this building,

it became apparent that
no one is allowed to visit it.

[Narrator] For decades,
Zhivkov kept Bankya Residence

as his unofficial
private country house.

But his behavior
was earning him many enemies.

Zhivkov himself wasn't
a particularly nice character.

He was very quick to eliminate
any potential threats.

[Nusbacher] Everyone
in his country hated him.

If they'd had the chance,
they'd have gotten rid of him.

[Narrator]
Derelict structures
at the edge of the compound

reveal Zhivkov's
increasing paranoia.

reveal Zhivkov's
increasing paranoia.

Zhivkov wanted to beef up
the security for himself
and the people around him.

And so, he set up
extra accommodation
for his secret police.

[translator speaking]
This was designed
as a service structure,

with various purposes,
to accommodate security,
transportation, and equipment.

[Narrator] Unbeknown,
even to the architects,

Zhivkov added a secret tunnel
that connected the buildings.

However, his real protection
was insured,

thanks to
his Soviet overlords.

But that was soon to change.

[Narrator] In the 1970s,
in Bulgaria,

an elaborate, brutalist,
country palace housed
the dictator Todor Zhivkov.

His safety was insured by
his close personal friendship

with Soviet leader,
Leonid Brezhnev.

Addicted to tranquilizers
and alcohol,

Brezhnev had
serious health problems.

Brezhnev had
serious health problems.

So in 1979, Zhivkov
brought his protector here,

to Bankya Residence.

[Jerram] Zhivkov invited him
to come to this sort of
cleansing mountain retreat.

And he wanted
to kind of curry favor

with his kind of
Russian masters.

[Narrator] Inside the retreat,

Brezhnev
wallowed in the luxury.

[translator speaking]
I was here right after
the completion of the project,

and even
took some photographs.

[Narrator]
The architect-designed pool
took advantage

of all the region's
healing properties.

[translator speaking]
I remember that back then,

this was a very
interesting feature,

this ceiling,
with its curved shape
and aluminum cladding.

Its shape was created to draw
your eyes out to the park.

The idea was to have
the surrounding nature
flowing into the pool.

[Narrator] The pool itself
was full of Bankya's famed
healing mineral water.

[translator speaking]
As far as I remember,

the water level was reaching

up to the very top
of this element here.

In other words,
where I am standing
at the moment,

my head is on the same level
as the Head of State.

[Narrator] But Zhivkov's
paranoia was growing,

and his secret police
were increasingly aggressive.

and his secret police
were increasingly aggressive.

Even those beyond Bulgaria's
borders were not safe.

In 1978, Georgi Markov,
a BBC World Services
correspondent

and a Bulgarian dissident,
was murdered
on Waterloo Bridge

by a Bulgarian assassin,

using an umbrella
with a poisoned tip.

[Narrator] Back home,
the death of his daughter

made Zhivkov
retreat even further.

He took up almost permanent
residence at the site,

He took up almost permanent
residence at the site,

kind of removed himself
away from that tragedy.

[Narrator] And by the 1980s,

the death of his ally,
Leonid Brezhnev,

followed by
the softening of communism,

meant Zhivkov's days
were numbered.

He was finally ousted
in a bloodless coup in 1989.

He was actually
kicked out of the residence.

And then he was
held up for trial
for embezzling money.

[Narrator]
Zhivkov was convicted,

confined to house arrest

and died in 1998.

Meanwhile,
the life of his beloved
Bankya Residence

had taken a bizarre turn.

[Selwood]
A Japanese billionairess
bought it,

to convert it
into a golf club.

She re-painted the site pink,
and lived there herself.

[Narrator] The billionairess
died in 1999.

And after a brief spell
as an upmarket brothel,

And after a brief spell
as an upmarket brothel,

Bankya Residence
was abandoned.

[Narrator] Iliyan Nikolov's
father was never given credit

for his unique
architectural work.

[translator speaking]
This was, of course,
done on purpose,

based on his political views.

[Narrator]
Iliyan hopes to change this,

and reverse the fortunes
of Bankya Residence.

[translator speaking]
Let's find a way
to revive this place.

[translator speaking]
Let's find a way
to revive this place.

Let's give it a second chance.

[Narrator]
In Northern Germany,

on the banks
of the River Weser

sits a mammoth building.

[Nusbacher]
It's a vast expanse of cement,

that is just plunked down
in the countryside.

that is just plunked down
in the countryside.

It doesn't have any
indications on the outside
of what its function would be.

There's not really
any windows,

there's only
a couple of openings
in the whole building.

[Narrator] Turns out,
there's a cavernous interior.

This eerie structure hides
clues in its construction.

[Nusbacher]
The struts and the columns

that hold up
this very heavy roof,

are clearly
perfectly designed.

are clearly
perfectly designed.

[Wawro] Massively manufactured
from concrete and steel.

Clearly, it housed
something very important.

[Narrator] Out of the gloom,
a distinct order emerges.

[man 2] It's organized into
a series of enormous bays,

with big, thick,
concrete walls between them.

And as you work your way
to the last couple of bays,

you can see
that they've got water.

[Narrator] So
who built these watery tombs,

and shrouded them
in thick concrete,

and why?

[Narrator] This colossal
and desolate structure

covers almost an acre
of riverbank,

near the German town
of Bremen.

Marcus Meyer is
its scientific director.

[translator speaking]
They started building here
in the spring of 1943,

and the construction work
continued for
more than 22 months.

and the construction work
continued for
more than 22 months.

This bunker was
designed to be bombproof,

to withstand the largest bombs
available at the time.

They used state-of-the-art
building techniques
to build this.

We know from the age
and from its overall
military look,

that it was something
built during World War II.

[Narrator] By 1943,

Germany was struggling
to maintain its foothold
in the Second World War.

[Meigs] The writing
was really on the wall
for the Nazis at this point.

It was only a matter of time
before their Reich collapsed.

It was only a matter of time
before their Reich collapsed.

[Nusbacher] Germany
is being bombed
from the British Isles,

from Italy,

and is being strangled
by an economic blockade.

[Narrator] The precision
building at this site

hints at how Germany
planned to fight back.

[Meigs] The location
might be a clue.

[Meigs] The location
might be a clue.

It's right next
to a major waterway

that flows into the North Sea.

What do you want to put here
that needs access
to the ocean?

[Narrator] With the Allies
dominating the skies,

the Germans wanted to regain
control of the Atlantic.

The most effective
naval weapon that Germany has

is the U-boat,
the German submarine.

[Meigs] They thought
if they could build
enough U-boats,

[Meigs] They thought
if they could build
enough U-boats,

to go out and sink as much
allied shipping as possible,

then maybe they can negotiate
some kinds of terms,

that would be
advantageous to them.

[Wawro] The type 21 U-boat
is what they had in mind.

This is going to be
a diesel-electric submarine,

that can keep Germany
in the war.

Can't just
build it in a shipyard,

because the aerial bombing
campaign is just pulverizing

all of the German
manufacturing facilities.

So this place has
got to be able to withstand
a huge bombing raid.

So this place has
got to be able to withstand
a huge bombing raid.

[Narrator] The result is this.

The Germans'
top secret U-boat
manufacturing facility.

Codenamed Bunker Valentin,
it's located
far from the coast,

away from
the Allies' prying eyes.

[translator speaking]
Bunker Valentin
was the largest project

undertaken by the German Navy

in the last two
years of the war.

Yet, they thought they could
keep the construction hidden
from the Allies.

[Narrator]
Secrecy was paramount.

And it was no mean feat

to keep the building of this
enormous bunker under wraps.

[translator speaking]
This was one of
the most up-to-date

construction sites
in Europe at the time.

It featured a mobile framework
of concrete walls on wheels,

that could be
moved around quickly.

[Narrator]
The Nazi's greatest challenge

was how to build
a bombproof roof.

They built large arches
to hold up the roof.

They built large arches
to hold up the roof.

Those are built on site,
but then later lifted
into place with cranes.

And then more concrete
was poured on top of that.

By the time they were done,
the roof was at
least 15 feet thick.

[Narrator] But the Nazis knew
this wouldn't be
thick enough

to stand up
to the Allies' bombs.

So they ordered
some sections
to be increased to 23 feet.

This vast
piece of engineering
came at a brutal cost.

This vast
piece of engineering
came at a brutal cost.

This building was
essentially constructed
with slave labor.

It's believed they used
10,000 to 12,000 prisoners

to work on this project.

[Narrator] It's not known how
many sacrificed their lives

to bring this secret
facility to near completion
in less than two years.

[Meigs] This was conceived as

a really fast-paced
assembly line for submarines.

a really fast-paced
assembly line for submarines.

They'd essentially be bolted
together in this facility.

[translator speaking]
The submarine production
was going to start here,

through that gate,
where the individual
segments of the sub

were to be
brought into the bunker.

Then, where that water is,

they planned to align them
on a large turntable,

before putting them on
a system of wagons on rails.

[Narrator] The plan
was that at each bay,

more of the submarine
would be assembled,

more of the submarine
would be assembled,

then passed along
the system of rails.

[translator speaking]
The idea was
to put a wagon on rails here,

a wagon on rails there,
and then connect them up.

Eventually, once all
the individual segments

had been put together,

they intended to weld
together the whole boat.

Ultimately,
the completed submarine

had been pushed through
the bunker on these rails,

three times lengthwise
and four times crosswise.

[Narrator] In total,
each submarine was intended
to pass through 12 bays,

[Narrator] In total,
each submarine was intended
to pass through 12 bays,

until finally,
it was ready to enter
the lock chamber.

[translator speaking]
This is the last station
of a submarine assembly line.

The finished submarine would
have come to a halt here.

Then this chamber
would have been flooded,

and the boat
would have dived, briefly,

to test whether
the machines work under water,

to see
if the seals would hold.

Then the boat would have
continued out there
to the river.

Then the boat would have
continued out there
to the river.

The plan was to let
a fully equipped submarine

out into the River Weser,
every 56 hours.

[Narrator] By 1945,
the submarine assembly line

was on the brink
of building its first
state-of-the-art U-boat.

But unbeknown to
German intelligence,

the British were watching.

[Narrator] Toward the end
of the Second World War,

the German Navy was
putting the finishing touches

on a secret submarine
facility of epic proportions.

The Germans were convinced
that the British had
no idea what was going on.

But in fact, they were just
biding their time.

[translator speaking]
There's a British
Secret Service file,

which documents
this construction site
in great detail,

basically, from day one.

So the Royal Air Force
knew exactly
what was going on here.

And they were
particularly interested
in how thick the roof was.

[Narrator] The British
had no intention
of attacking,

until the moment was right.

[Meigs] They let the Germans
keep working on it,

keep pouring men
and material
and time and money

and effort
into this huge project.

and effort
into this huge project.

And the British knew
the minute it was done,

they knew exactly
what was going on.

[Narrator] March 27th, 1945,

20 Lancaster bombers
of Britain's 617 Squadron,

aka the "Dambusters"
head towards Bunker Valentin,

loaded with bombs.

They knew
exactly how to target

the most vulnerable
section of the bunker's roof.

[Wawro] They penetrate
the thinner section,
the West End,

and they get into
the guts of the thing,
blasting it apart.

[Narrator]
Their timing was perfect.

[Meigs] The British did
something very smart.

They could have
bombed this project,

while it was
being constructed,

but they didn't.

[Narrator]
Though Bunker Valentin
remained standing,

the damage was done.

Germany didn't have the time
or resources to rebuild.

Germany didn't have the time
or resources to rebuild.

And overnight, their
hope of victory was gone.

And this enormous structure

didn't even start
producing submarines.

[Narrator]
After the war was over,

Bunker Valentin had
one more onslaught to face.

In March of 1946,
the British and Americans

decide that, "Hey, this
Valentin Submarine Bunker.

"It's the perfect place
to test bunker buster bombs".

"It's the perfect place
to test bunker buster bombs".

They fly a number of missions,

dropping everything
in their inventory.

And amazingly,
this Valentin submarine bunker
withstands

even this
barrage of aerial bombs.

[Narrator] The colossal bunker

has been slowly
crumbling ever since.

In Australia,
in the middle
of Sydney Harbor,

sits a tiny island.

sits a tiny island.

[man 5] It's cluttered
with rusting cranes,

old industrial-looking
warehouses,

and washed-up boats.

[Narrator] An incongruous
villa stands alone.

And beyond,
is an imposing structure.

[man 5] There are these
big windows and airy rooms,

but there's something else.

There're bars on the windows,
tiny cells inside.

There're bars on the windows,
tiny cells inside.

Clearly,
most of the people here
were not here by choice.

[Narrator] The building
is covered in spikes

and hand-carved scratches,

clues, as to who built
the industrial structures

that crowd this place.

[man 6] There's what
looks like a huge warehouse

with a turbine inside.

And there's a sign on it,
and it reads Scotland.

And there's a sign on it,
and it reads Scotland.

[Narrator] Below ground,
there's more.

[man 5] An eerie tunnel
runs for almost 200 yards,

right through
the belly of the island.

Well, what was this built for?

[Narrator] Polly Nowicki
has spent seven years

exploring this island,
which was first inhabited

by Australia's
indigenous Eora people.

by Australia's
indigenous Eora people.

[Nowicki] They called
this place Wareamah.

And it was a special,
sacred place for women

to travel in canoes here,

and it was the place
of childbirth, for privacy.

[Narrator]
But when the British arrived
in the 18th century,

they changed this place
from a cradle of birth
to something far more deadly.

And they gave it a new name.

[man 5] The name makes
it sound like quite a chirpy,
chipper place.

[man 5] The name makes
it sound like quite a chirpy,
chipper place.

However, it was anything but.

[Narrator]
Renamed Cockatoo Island,

it was perfect for
what the British had in mind.

[man 6] In 1788, the area
that we now know as Sydney

was opened up
as a penal colony
for the British,

but it quickly
became overcrowded.

And this is
where Cockatoo Island

comes into the picture.

[Narrator]
The first convicts
to arrive here, in 1839,

faced a brutal task.

The convicts
excavated tons of rock,

to construct
their own prison buildings.

[Nowicki] Each convict
was assigned a signature.

They would use a small chisel
to carve out this shape.

You can see the X's,
the lines,

and the different kind
of shapes.

So, each signature
meant that they were assigned

a different amount
of bricks to build.

[Narrator]
They built themselves
a grizzly punishment block.

[Narrator]
They built themselves
a grizzly punishment block.

So this is
solitary confinement,

where they would keep
prisoners for up to 12 days.

[Narrator] The abandoned jail

reveals the appalling
living conditions.

On the windows,
you can see

that men have
actually grabbed up

to try and get
a breath of fresh air.

[Narrator] Only one prisoner
ever managed to escape,

with the help of his wife,
who was over on the mainland.

with the help of his wife,
who was over on the mainland.

[Nowicki] She rides
the horse there,

she climbs down
the edge of the cliff,

and she swims
to Cockatoo Island.

It's about a 20-minute swim.

There's bull sharks,
strong currents,

all sorts of things
in her way,

on top of her,
supposedly, being pregnant.

[Narrator]
She gives him what he needs
to cut his shackles,

and he manages to swim
to the other side,
to freedom.

Once the prison's
construction was completed,

the inmates were set to task

on an even more
formidable challenge.

on an even more
formidable challenge.

One that would only
further the might
of their oppressors.

[Narrator]
By the mid-19th century,

Cockatoo Island
in Sydney Harbor had become
a notorious prison.

But thanks to its location,

the British had
other plans for it.

European nations
became much more interested

in expanding their empires
in Southeast Asia
and the Pacific.

Britain needed a place
in this part of the world,

Britain needed a place
in this part of the world,

where they could
repair and maintain ships.

It was decided
that Cockatoo Island,

with its deep water
and abundant supply
of convict labor,

would be the ideal location.

[Narrator] They started work
on a dockyard in 1847.

This is Fitzroy Dock.

It was constructed
by convict labor,

and they had to carve it away
with a small
kind of pitch hammer.

and they had to carve it away
with a small
kind of pitch hammer.

An estimated
1.5 million cubic feet
of rock was excavated.

And it was only
supposed to take 470 days.

But it ended up taking years,

due to the unruliness
and unrest

of the poorly treated
convict workforce.

By September 30th, 1857,

the dock was
finally ready to use.

[Nowicki] Without water,
it's about four meters deep.

[Nowicki] Without water,
it's about four meters deep.

It's not as deep as it looks,

but it is quite wide
and quite long.

[Narrator]
But there was a problem.

There was no power
on Cockatoo Island,

and nowhere
to build a generator.

To transform
the basic stone dock

into a modern
naval powerhouse,

Chief Engineer
Gother Kerr Mann

was forced to
take drastic measures.

Marks on
a sandstone cliff face
reveal what happened next.

Marks on
a sandstone cliff face
reveal what happened next.

There's these lines
of sort of dynamite ridges,

where he's dropped
that dynamite down,

and he blew up
that side of the island,

and he was changing
the shape of the island

to make way for
this huge turbine hall.

[Narrator] In one
of the biggest structures
on Cockatoo Island,

cutting edge technology
gave Fitzroy Dock

the capacity to build
and repair modern warships.

Inside the turbine hall,
this is one of our
iron giants.

It came from Scotland
in parts,

and it is, actually,
a huge scale lathe,

and it's used for
sort of carving out metal.

[Narrator]
And to enhance the scope
of their prized facility,

the British commissioned
another, even bigger dock.

[Auerbach] Naval technology
doesn't stand still.

And as sail ships
gave way to steam ships,

the dock had to be changed

the dock had to be changed

to accommodate these
newer, larger vessels.

[Narrator]
So, now, the convicts
had to carve out this,

Sutherland dock.

It was the biggest single
dry dock in the world.

The addition of a tunnel
to move workers
and machinery underground,

made Cockatoo Island
the leading naval facility
in the South Pacific.

[Gutierrez-Romine]
This place ended up
being a vital part

of Australia's
response to war.

of Australia's
response to war.

[Narrator] Throughout
the first half
of the 20th century,

it was put to the test.

After docking
nearly 2,000 ships
during the First World War,

Cockatoo Island would play
a vital role in the next one.

After Japan
entered World War II in 1941,

the stage was set for
naval warfare in the Pacific.

[Narrator] And when
the American warship,
USS New Orleans

was bombed
by the Japanese in 1942,

she retreated
to Cockatoo Island.

Although the dockyards
were able to make
the ship fighting fit again,

the real damage
had been done.

This is where it came.

So in 1942,
they would dock side here,

up to 60 lead-lined coffins,
to send back to America.

up to 60 lead-lined coffins,
to send back to America.

[Narrator] After the war,

shipbuilding
and repair declined.

The last ship to be
constructed on the island

was HMAS Success,
which launched in 1984.

It was the largest
naval vessel

ever to be built in Australia.

[Narrator] Finally, in 1991,

the Cockatoo Island dockyards
closed down.

Today, this trove
of maritime industry

Today, this trove
of maritime industry

needs preserving.

[Nowicki]
We're constantly working
on trying to rehabilitate

all the old machines
on the island.

That's interesting,
innovative, and fascinating.