All language subtitles for The.Bermuda.Triangle.Into.Cursed.Waters.S01E01.A.Big.Find.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- There's all these
shipwrecks out there

in the Bermuda Triangle

that there's no names to.

- This area is one of the most
volatile and dangerous

places on Earth.

- You got to go into it
fully prepared

for all potential scenarios.

If you get complacent,

that's when bad things
will happen.

[thunder booming]

narrator:
There is a body of water

that evokes fascination
and dread.

♪ ♪

Bound by Florida,
Bermuda, and Puerto Rico,

it is a
500,000-square-mile enigma

littered with thousands
of ship and plane wrecks,

some in waters
over 5 miles deep.

Countless people
have gone missing

in this maritime black hole,

vanished without a trace.

The question is, why?

- There are so many
different theories out there

about the Bermuda Triangle...

- Look at that thing, dude.

- Alien abduction,
electronic fog, rogue waves,

vortexes, and methane gas.

People started to realize that
these incidents were not

just in the 20th century,

that they had gone
all the way back

to the days of Columbus.

- The Bermuda Triangle
doesn't give up

her secrets very easily.

- The only way you're going
to be able to solve this

is if you hit each
one of them head on.

And that's what
we're going to do.

♪ ♪

narrator: Now an elite
investigation team

is taking on this mystery
with a secret weapon,

a map of unidentified wrecks
decades in the making.

- All right, guys,
this is why we're here.

And this is intel
from 30 years.

These numbers are the
geographic position,

the latitude and longitude,
of shipwrecks

lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

narrator:
Historian David O'Keefe,

pilot and combat veteran
Jason Harris,

investigator Wayne Abbott,

and wreck diver
Mike Barnette...

- Back dive.

- Will attempt to solve
the mystery of the Bermuda

Triangle one wreck at a time.

- This is the
Bermuda Triangle at work.

It's about to get
really bad out here.

- Mother Nature is going
to take these wrecks away,

and these mysteries are
never going to be solved.

The clock is ticking.

- So you're talking
a catastrophic event.

- Yes.

- These are dangerous dives.

- Any sane person would
not be doing this.

- The slightest deviation from
what you've been trained to do

can be catastrophic.

- Whoa! Whoa.
- Whoa.

- We have a great team.

There's no telling
what we're going to find

out there in
the Bermuda Triangle.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Morning.
- Morning, good to see you.

- Since I've been moved
down here in Florida

about 21 years ago,

I've been averaging
about two to three

wreck identifications a year,

which is--it's a pretty
good track record.

[beeps]

[engines revving]

narrator: Mike Barnette
and his dive team

are grizzled veterans
of the Bermuda Triangle.

They've discovered
and identified

more than 50 shipwrecks.

One of his biggest finds
was the SS "Cotopaxi,"

which vanished into
the Triangle in 1925

with 32 men aboard.

The "Cotopaxi's" disappearance
made it to the big screen,

abducted by aliens
in Steven Spielberg's

"Close Encounters
of the Third Kind."

In reality,
Barnette determined

the ship most likely capsized

in a storm
off Saint Augustine.

- It's the search
for the unknown

and trying to answer
questions.

To me,
that's the be-all end-all

of what I'm doing this for.

You can tell the tale now.

You know the final chapter
of where the ship was lost.

And I had the
initial impression that

everything
in Florida had been found;

everything been dived.

But what I found out was that

there was a wealth in
shipwrecks

yet to be found and
identified and dived on.

So I set out to start
acquiring numbers,

trying to research
these sites.

And so over these
almost 25 years now,

I've acquired
a fairly large database.

narrator: The end result
is one-of-a-kind map

of unidentified wrecks.

His best intel comes from
years talking face-to-face

with local fishermen.

- These guys know
where the wrecks are.

They don't know
what the wrecks are.

But they know there's
something on the bottom.

narrator:
Today, the team is diving

on two targets
from Barnette's wreck map

near the Triangle
that may be linked

to the area's
most bizarre case.

- The story of
Flight 19 is very compelling.

And everyone is aware of it.

But the lesser-known story
is the Martin Mariner.

♪ ♪

narrator: December 5th, 1945.

A squadron of five
Navy bombers

takes off from Fort Lauderdale
Naval Air Station

on a training mission
codenamed Flight 19.

Around 5:00 p.m., the planes
radio in that they're lost,

their compasses out.

Then they vanish somewhere
in the Bermuda Triangle.

Hours later,
a Martin Mariner seaplane

is sent out to rescue the
five planes from Flight 19.

It too vanishes
without a trace.

- About 30 minutes
after launching,

the Martin Mariner
disappeared from radar.

An explosion of fire was
sighted by a passing vessel.

And that's all we know.

- It was the first incident
that really fixated

the public's attention
to what we would

now call the Bermuda Triangle.

You have five planes
that get lost,

you get another one that
goes out.

All of them disappear.

27 men are never seen again.

- I find that
just really moving

that their job
is to rescue others

and yet they need rescuing.

♪ ♪

This is a mystery
that I can actually

write the final chapter on it.

That story needs to be told.

And to tell the story,
you need to find the wreck.

♪ ♪

narrator: Barnette's ultimate
goal is to find

every plane lost that night.

Uncovering the Martin Mariner
is the first crucial step.

- Mike has searched for the
Martin Mariner

now for decades.
I mean, it's his Holy Grail.

He has scoured that area.

- I'm stubborn.

It's the one wreck that
has proved elusive.

And I just--
I can't accept that.

♪ ♪

- Today, Barnette's joined by
Captain Chiung Tien

and his right-hand man
for Bermuda Triangle

mystery wrecks,
Jimmy Gadomski.

- There's so much around
the Bermuda Triangle.

We have a huge target area
of shipwrecks, plane wrecks.

- You just never know what
you're going to find out here.

That's what I love about this.

What we've got here,
we have a site

that was a potential target
for the Martin Mariner.

- Oh, wow.
- OK.

- Look at that.

Yeah, I'm starting to show some
things on the bottom

finder here.

- OK.

- Oh, these are fish.

This right here is some sort
of structure on the bottom.

narrator: It's a telltale sign

they're directly over
target one

on Barnette's map.

- As you know,
the structure holds fish,

that's a good sign.

- This is all just sand,
sand, sand, and then, boom.

We start to see some
structure and the fish

are holding to it, so...

- There you go.

Toss it.

♪ ♪

- Something's holding
those fish there.

That means there's
some kind of structure

down there,
whether it be a wreck--

we don't know till we get
in the water and dive it.

[blowing]

♪ ♪

- Testing, testing, testing.

- On our first dive
on a new site,

it's totally alien to you.

- So you have to get
the lay of the land

to figure out what
you're working with.

♪ ♪

- Aircraft wrecks,
usually they're very small.

And it's a highly
corrosive environment.

And typically,
aircraft do not hold up

very long and very well.

Some of these aircraft wrecks,

it's just scraps of metal
on the bottom.

narrator:
They locate an engine

and a debris field
that suggests

this plane came apart
violently.

- The only information we have
about the disappearance

of Martin Mariner was a single
transmission from a tanker

that was offshore
of Cape Canaveral,

which reported seeing
the explosion.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Clues start to emerge.

♪ ♪

- It seemed like a engine

partially buried
on the bottom.

And this was potentially
consistent with what

the power plan of
the Martin Mariner was.

And the length of those
prop blades

matched the Martin Mariner.

- Barnette will need to bring
the footage back to the rest

of the team for a closer look.

But it's a promising start.

♪ ♪

- Need a line in, Mike?

- That is a huge
[bleep] chunk of wreck.

♪ ♪

Identifying a wreck
sometimes comes easy,

and sometimes
it's very difficult.

I've been fortunate
enough to identify

wrecks on my very first dive.

And other times,
it's taken decades.

We've got a lot of footage
to work through with the team

to see if we can
glean any information

of what we've been diving on.

[tense music]

narrator: Having discovered
a plane engine

and propeller
that may be linked

to a legendary
Bermuda Triangle mystery,

the team heads to target two
on Barnette's map,

reported to be a large,
unidentified wreck.

It's off the coast of Cape
Canaveral and Kennedy Space

Center, dozens of miles
from where the Martin

Mariner may have exploded.

But Barnette has a gut
feeling about this one.

- What drew my
attention to this,

it's directly over the flight
path of the Martin Mariner.

So just to rule out this
site, we wanted to dive it.

narrator: Jimmy Gadomski
splashes in solo

for a quick look.

♪ ♪

- As I descend, I get about
20 feet off the bottom,

and it turns to 5 feet
to inches of visibility.

♪ ♪

And I'm having
to crawl on the bottom.

It took me about 5
to 10 minutes just

to find the structure.

♪ ♪

And by the time I found
it, I knew it was some kind

of an aircraft material.

♪ ♪

It has all these weird
tiles all over it.

♪ ♪

- He's been down
a little while,

so for us,
it's just more waiting.

- There he is
right by the buoy.

- Oh, there he is
right by the buoy, yeah.

- Yeah, he's going up;
he's going down.

- Yeah, he's coming up
he's moving.

- Gotcha.

♪ ♪

- It looks like the
aluminum had disintegrated.

There's rivet lines
all down the one side.

♪ ♪

- Can you estimate
the size of the wing?

Is it just one side of it
or is it the whole wingspan?

- It's very hard to tell.

narrator:
With two provocative targets,

Barnette heads to shore
and convenes the full team.

[seagull squawks]

Military historian
David O'Keefe,

investigator Wayne Abbott,

and Air Force
veteran Jason Harris

will help him
evaluate the evidence.

They begin
with dive target one,

the lone engine and propeller.

- What's intriguing
about this is there's

no other aircraft wreckage.

There's no fuselage,
no wings, or anything.

It's just a Pratt Whitney
Double Wasp engine.

- So the exact same engine
that the Martin Mariner had.

- Yeah.

narrator:
If Barnette is right,

this is a major clue.

The Martin Mariner had
two Pratt and Whitney

R-2800 engines mounted high

for water takeoffs
and landings.

The raised wings gave the
crew an unobstructed view

of the ocean below, making
this plane an ideal choice

for search and rescue.

This seaplane also
had a unique feature.

Most Martin Mariners
had a more powerful

four-bladed propeller.

But the plane lost going
after Flight 19 used the older

three-bladed design,
exactly like the one

discovered by divers.

- Three-bladed aluminum
prop, heavily buried.

- Wow.

- Everything here is
consistent with the Mariner.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The team shifts focus

to the strange wing
at dive target

number two.

♪ ♪

- This is the edge of
some piece of structure.

It looks like it's aircraft
grade material of some sort.

♪ ♪

It's got these weird panels
or pads...

- Whoa.
- All over the top of it.

- I don't recall anything
from World War II like that.

♪ ♪

I've never seen any
military aircraft

with that kind of composition
and those colors before.

I mean, really,
it's a fantastic

Bermuda Triangle mystery.

♪ ♪

- What's the plan now, Mike?
We have two targets;

one that could be
the Martin Mariner

and one that's just, like,
this mystery piece.

- I think we should
revisit both of them.

The engine would take precedent
because it seems more in line

what we're looking for.

But I don't think we
should rule this out

till we can dive it again and
see it in better conditions.

♪ ♪

narrator: Barnette hopes to ID

both these wrecks
on his next dive.

To help him do that,

Wayne and David will look
for clues

buried in the historic record.

- As a researcher,
as an investigator,

you track down all leads.

You test them, and you see
what comes out in the wash.

That's what we're going to do.

- David's a military historian

and veteran infantry officer

who served in Canada's famed
Black Watch regiment.

Partner Wayne
is an investigator

who's been obsessed
with the Bermuda Triangle

since childhood.

- I've looked into a lot of
the mysteries and phenomena

of the Bermuda Triangle.

And there's still
a lot of weird stuff

that's happening out there.

So I want to just
get to the truth.

♪ ♪

narrator: Wayne and David
think the key

to the Martin Mariner mystery

may lie in the circumstances
surrounding the lost planes it

was sent to find, Flight 19.

♪ ♪

Around 5:00 p.m.
on December 5, 1945,

Flight 19's leader
begins sending

cryptic and increasingly
panicked radio calls.

The five bombers were lost
somewhere over open water.

- The flight leader,
Charles Taylor,

is completely confused
about his position.

He believes that they're
somewhere south and west

of Florida over the Keys.

And he thinks that
they drifted

out more towards the Gulf.

narrator:
But Taylor is way off.

The Navy triangulate
their position

and determines that
Flight 19 is here,

heading
into the Bermuda Triangle.

The Martin Mariner
follows after in pursuit.

- He thought he might
be over the Florida Keys

instead of over the Bahamas.

And so the next
decisions that he made,

based on that faulty
perception of where he was,

led them farther into
the Atlantic Ocean.

[airplane engines roaring]

narrator: Could Lieutenant
Charles Taylor,

a combat-tested
pilot with thousands

of hours in the
cockpit, have made

such an extraordinary error?

Or is there another
explanation?

♪ ♪

- There are people that
have claimed to have gone

through this mysterious
phenomena called "the vortex"

and traveling in
parts of the Triangle

and getting from A to B quicker
than they're supposed to.

narrator: The vortex theory
is one possible explanation

for why so many
planes and ships

get hopelessly lost in and
around the Bermuda Triangle.

The theory holds that
an unexplained anomaly

acts as a tunnel,
sucking ships and planes

miles off course.

Other survivors report a
strange fog that wreaks havoc

on electronic equipment
or inexplicable compass

malfunctions,
as if something is

interfering with
the Earth's magnetic field.

♪ ♪

Then there are the freak
meteorological events that

seem to appear out of nowhere.

♪ ♪

Were any behind
the disappearance of Flight 19

and the Martin Mariner?

♪ ♪

Wayne and David
meet John Bloom,

director of the
Fort Lauderdale Naval Museum,

one of the largest archives
of the Flight 19 mystery.

- We are so excited about
what you're going to show us.

narrator: Bloom has startling
evidence

that it wasn't just Flight 19

and the Martin Mariner that
had unexplained problems

that night; so did at
least three other flights.

narrator: The team has
discovered wreckage

that points to the
Bermuda Triangle's

biggest mystery,
the loss of Flight

19 and the Martin Mariner.

They're with John Bloom of the
Fort Lauderdale Naval Museum,

examining evidence
that mysterious phenomena

were at play the night
six planes went missing.

- So I was going through
our archives at our museum.

And I came across
a few interesting things

that happened the day
Flight 19 disappeared.

This first letter was
sent to us in 1995...

- OK.
- By a pilot,

instructor, who was out
on a training flight.

And they had gone out on
an eight-hour training

flight east over
the Bahamas and back.

And that's the same time
Flight 19 was getting lost.

♪ ♪

- It says here, "We were
on our way back to Miami

"but were much closer
than we should have been.

"We were back 45
minutes or so early.

"There were a lot of clouds,
and we were in and out

of them as we circled."

narrator: That put the
pilot over 100 miles

from where he thought he was.

- The only explanation
that he could come up with

was that he had some
sort of massive tailwind.

But I guess the question
is, if that tailwind

would have increased
their speed

that much to get
back that soon.

- Yeah, that's quite a clip.

- Now,
is this your only account

or do you have anything else?
- No, I have some others.

Now, this is an interview

transcribed from a
Lieutenant Commander Wirshing.

He was at Naval Air Station
Fort Lauderdale

on the day
Flight 19 disappeared,

flew out of the Bahamas,
went north and then

came back to Fort Lauderdale.

And as they came back to land,

thinking they're landing
at Fort Lauderdale,

they landed at West Palm Beach,

which was Morrison
Air Force Base.

- They thought it
was Fort Lauderdale.

- They thought it was
Fort Lauderdale.

- They attributed that to
problems with their compasses.

They had no clue
where they were.

- We're starting to see
some dots connected, right?

- And there's one more.

- Now, that night when
Flight 19 was missing,

Banana River sent out
two search planes.

- Along with the missing
Martin Mariner,

a second rescue plane
went after Flight 19.

That plane also encountered
an unexplainable

navigational anomaly.

- And they were
flying back to what

they thought was Banana River.

But when they
crossed the coast,

they were in Georgia,
which is very far away.

- Georgia?
- That far out?

- Yeah, yeah.
- That's crazy.

Let me see that.
- Wow.

They floated all the way
up the coast

until they were in Georgia.

And they didn't realize it

until they were on
their way home.

No explanation as to why.

- "We discovered our mistake
when it began to break day

on the wrong side
of the cockpit."

This is even more bizarre.

- So we have three
separate incidents

all wrapped around the
same story on the same day.

All these planes
are experiencing

similar difficulties with
navigation, orientation,

and understanding
where they are.

- Is it a coincidence?

Or was there something
mysterious happening?

♪ ♪

- Now we have others that are
starting to form a pattern,

but we don't know
what it means.

narrator: Answers might be
on the sea floor.

Wreck divers Mike Barnette
and Jimmy Gadomski

are heading back
to dive target number one,

a little north
of the Bermuda Triangle.

They're on the trail of
the Martin Mariner seaplane

which vanished in 1945.

- You guys ready
to get out there?

- Yeah, let's pull
the beanbags up.

narrator: Target number one
is only 150 feet down,

routine compared to other
Bermuda Triangle dive targets

they'll hit on Barnette's
map of unidentified wrecks.

- For me, the chase
and trying to identify

unidentified shipwrecks,
mystery shipwrecks,

that's the entire game for me.

Curiosity just drives me.

narrator: Some wrecks lie
as deep as five miles here

in the Puerto Rican trench,
the Bermuda

Triangle's deepest point.

Many of Barnette's targets
lie under the Gulf Stream,

a shipping superhighway
that can sweep a diver

miles out to sea while
they're descending to a wreck.

Still others lie in areas with
strange geological anomalies,

like mid-ocean sinkholes
and methane gas hydrates

that can allegedly release
massive bubbles

that make the water
beneath a ship disappear.

Each dive comes with its own
risks but a common purpose.

- You're seeing something
that nobody else has seen.

- To be able to connect
with it physically,

it gives you tingles
a little bit to know

that you're touching history.

narrator:
After the first dive,

the team identified a lone

Pratt and Whitney
Double Wasp engine,

the very engine used
by the missing

PBM Martin Mariner
rescue plane.

But that engine was used
on many plane models,

from fighters to bombers.

To determine if this engine
came from the Martin Mariner,

the team will take
a new approach

using specialized gear.

♪ ♪

- So we're not just using air

like most recreational
divers do.

We're using closed-circuit
rebreathers.

We're actually
recycling the gas.

And it's much more efficient.

narrator: Rebreathers work
by absorbing carbon dioxide

and recycling exhaled breath.

It's ideal for the Navy SEALs
and other covert ops

as it reduces bubbles produced
by conventional scuba gear.

This tech also
increases dive times

and opens the door
to a new kind of

visual analysis of this
wreck site:

photogrammetry.

- We used
a photogrammetry tool,

which basically requires us
to take thousands of pictures

that can be digitally
stitched together

and make a three-dimensional
model of the site.

And this would allow us
to take this model

and look at it
in minute detail,

look at every screw
and rivet hole,

to line up with
potential fingerprints

of what this aircraft is.

Now we have this model that
we can share with the team.

And we need to find out
more information

of how significant it is.

[tense music]

narrator: Is this the
wreckage of the lost

Martin Mariner rescue plane?

♪ ♪

The investigation
team is now hoping

to finally solve
one of the greatest

Bermuda Triangle mysteries.

- Now we got some footage from
the return dive to the site

we thought was a suspect site.

narrator: The team has brought
in aircraft expert

Roy Stafford
to help ID this wreck.

- Now, was this the
only engine you found?

- Yeah, it's just a solitary
engine on the seabed.

It's really weird.

- No debris?
- No debris.

♪ ♪

- Is that a prop blade there?

- Yep.

Yeah, and see the
hub right there?

both: Yeah.

♪ ♪

- So could this have been
from a PBM Martin Mariner?

♪ ♪

- With all of the growth in
the degradation over the years,

it would be almost
impossible to give

you an emphatic answer.

narrator: While the propeller
is a provocative clue,

Roy cannot make a call based
on this evidence alone.

But Barnette's photogrammetry
model may aid the analysis.

- Wow.
- And this is the model.

- Stunning.

- That's amazing.

- Not only can you zoom in,
you can rotate it, look above.

- That's amazing.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

- What do you see, Roy?

- See the angle on this?

♪ ♪

- Oh, right here?
- Yeah.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- The angle there,
it gives me the suspicion

this is an F4U Corsair.

narrator: The F4U Corsair,
a World War II fighter plane

built with the exact same
Pratt and Whitney prop

engine as the Martin Mariner.

The Corsair was one of the
most reliable workhorses

of the U.S. Navy,

becoming one of the first
planes equipped with radar

and carrying
high-velocity rockets.

To accommodate such a
massive engine and propeller,

the Corsair had
a distinct inverted wing.

- It's the only plane I
know that the spar coming

off the fuselage descended.

And the reason for that is
they had a big propeller blade.

♪ ♪

narrator: The bend of that
wing tells Roy that this

is not the Martin Mariner.

- Is your professional
opinion that this

is indeed a Corsair and
not the PBM Martin Mariner?

- 99%.

- OK.

- Wow.

- When Roy Stafford
told us that this

was not the Martin Mariner,
it was a bit deflating.

I mean, we were so close,
but yet so far away.

- Scratch this off the list.
And we move on.

♪ ♪

narrator: The search for the
Martin Mariner will continue.

And the team will add the
Corsair to its running

list of wrecks to ID.

But first, Barnette can't
shake a nagging curiosity

about that strange wing Jimmy
found at target number two

off Cape Canaveral.

- I think it's
hard to rationalize it

being associated
with the Martin Mariner,

but it's still odd.

It's very interesting.

And I'm just curious.

We had to go back
to that mystery wing

because,
with the poor visibility,

we couldn't really tell
what we were working with.

We knew it seems aircraft-ish.

But yet,
we have some questions

of what that material was,
those panels.

So just to rule out
this site and not

have that nagging question
in the back of our mind,

we wanted to dive it.

♪ ♪

I'd really love to put
another set of eyeballs

on it, see if the
conditions are better

today to see what it is.

- Let's try it.

Can you guys get ready?
Let's dive.

♪ ♪

- When I jump in,
I realize the visibility

is 100 times better than the
last time that I was there.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Jumping in,
I knew I was looking

for some kind of an aircraft.

But we've done
a lot of aircraft,

and it looked different.

- I was able to use
the scooter to move

a lot of the sand
out of the way

so we could get under it,

get alongside of it.

♪ ♪

- Man, they've been
down there for a while.

Whatever it is they found
is pretty damn interesting.

♪ ♪

- But we could tell that it
was a very modern aircraft,

but it looked bigger--

significant--
- Substantially, yeah.

- Substantially
bigger than anything

that we've been
diving thus far.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

- I would say they probably
spent a total of an hour

down there so far.

There's some crazy
stuff out here.

Every time I drop down, I don't
know what I'm going to see.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: The team has
returned for a second dive

on a mysterious wing fragment.

That mystery
is only deepening.

- It was very unique, very
uncommon type of features.

♪ ♪

- We found more of these rubber
panels all over the exterior.

And then,
as we uncovered more sand,

we actually found, on top of
these panels, this white--

it looks like just stark
white, not even stained,

very unique material.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Is that a diver up, or--
- Way down there.

Yeah, off the bow.

- OK, yeah, let's go.

♪ ♪

- There's actually
tiles in place.

And it's big. I mean, it's--

we tried to [indistinct]
cover another 6 foot,

but it under the sand
and keeps going.

It's a big part of
the wing probably.

♪ ♪

- The structure is huge.

It's definitely an aircraft,
but I've never seen

an aircraft like that before.

- Definitely, it's modern.

I mean, we are
right in the shadow

of the Kennedy Space Center,
so maybe it's NASA-related.

♪ ♪

- Wow.

- That was not the dive
I was expecting.

♪ ♪

narrator: With new footage
to review, the full team

reconvenes onshore.

- So, guys, we had several
things to check out.

We're disappointed
that last one

was not the Martin Mariner.
It's a Corsair.

But there's that one site
that we still had just

a nagging curiosity about.

I had to know what it was.
- Our mystery target, right?

- Yeah, that mystery target.

And we went out,
had much better conditions.

♪ ♪

This is those orange panels
we thought we saw

on the first dive.
- Looks like a tile floor.

♪ ♪

- It doesn't look aviation.
- No.

- I think we all
have our doubts of

what this may or may not be.

But I've actually
called a friend

that is an expert on this
and can shed light on

what this could be.

♪ ♪

How are you doing?
- Hey, good to see ya.

- Yeah.
How you doing, Roy?

narrator: The team has invited
two-time shuttle astronaut

Bruce Melnick
to review the footage.

- So we got something
to show you.

- Yeah, I can't wait.

- So we were trying to find
the PBM Martin Mariner.

Can you make heads or tails
of what we're looking at here?

- What you're seeing there is--
the darker stuff,

the orange stuff,
that's the RTV,

which
is room-temperature vinyl.

And then some of
the white stuff you see there

is foam silica tiles.

- What do you think that is?

- Well...

that's part of
the "Challenger" wing.

- No way.

- There, you can see that--
- Wow.

- Whoa.
That's amazing.

- Yeah, that's part of
the "Challenger" wing.

- You're speechless.

It's the "Challenger."

♪ ♪

narrator: The explosion of
the "Challenger" space shuttle

was one of the most tragic
incidents in the history

of the American space program.

- Normal throttle for
most of the flight, 104%.

- The space shuttle mission,
and it has cleared the tower.

- "Challenger,"
go with throttle up.

[electronic beep]

- Roger, go with throttle up.

♪ ♪

[loud explosion]

- Flight controllers here
looking very carefully

at the situation.

narrator:
On January 28, 1986--

- Obviously
a major malfunction.

- the shuttle's explosion
rained down debris

across 486 square miles
of ocean.

Over the following months,
the U.S. Navy

undertook the largest
salvage operation

ever conducted to recover
over 120 tons of wreckage.

But nothing new
has been discovered

for years, until now.

- Yeah, when you said this
is the "Challenger,"

I mean, that gave me chills.

- I didn't know if it
was folklore or legend,

but I know that there is stuff
left out there because there

was no need to recover a lot of
it when they got to the point

where they found
what they needed.

♪ ♪

narrator: It's a big find
for the team and hits

home for Air Force pilot and
combat veteran Jason Harris.

- As an aviator, we realize in
what we do every single day

that it's possible that
things can go wrong.

When you come face-to-face
with the wreckage

of the "Challenger,"
when you come face-to-face

with the gravesite
of these heroic people,

it's very sobering.

This is a part of history,
that Bruce has just identified

to us that we have found.

This is something that
impacted an entire nation.

♪ ♪

narrator: For a discovery
of this magnitude,

the team needs to be
absolutely certain.

They are taking their
find directly to NASA.

♪ ♪

But space shuttle debris is
considered highly sensitive.

The team is in
uncharted waters.

- There it is, man.
Check it out.

♪ ♪

narrator: The team is
confident their mystery

wing is part of a tragic
moment in U.S. history.

They're now coming to
NASA with a big find.

But they don't know what
they're walking into.

- What we're getting
ready to do today

is such a huge deal, because
how many people actually get

the invite to come
and sit down with some

of the top folks at NASA to
discuss a find from a dive?

- A little apprehensive because
I just don't know how they're

going to feel about this.

I mean, we're-- in a way,
we're dredging up history

of a really tragic event.

So are they going
to be upset at us?

Or are they going
to be thankful?

I just-- I don't know
where we stand with them.

♪ ♪

- Hello.
- Hey.

- You must be Mike and Jason.

- Yes, sir.
- Nice meet you.

- Pleasure to meet you.

- Good to see you this morning.
- Thank you, sir.

Welcome to Kennedy
Space Center.

Well, I must say,
your phone call

certainly piqued my curiosity.

- Yeah, so we have some
footage from our dive here.

narrator: The team is meeting
with Mike Ciannilli,

a program director at NASA
overseeing the legacy

of the "Challenger"
space shuttle.

- So, Mike, when I look
at the coordinates,

it certainly lies outside
of the area that's commonly

known as the Bermuda Triangle.

- Definitely, based
on where the site is,

it's within the debris trail
of "Challenger."

- I have to say,
you have certainly

got my full and
undivided attention.

And I'm always a little
cautious because, as you know,

we've launched rockets
for over 70 years.

So there's a lot of
objects out there.

After looking at the object
in greater detail...

[exhales]

♪ ♪

You've discovered "Challenger."

♪ ♪

- Space shuttle mission,
and it has cleared the tower.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- When was the last time
anything significant

of "Challenger" was recovered?
- It's been a long time, right?

So "Challenger"
happened over 35 years ago.

The last time we had a piece
come forward was back in 1996.

So it's been well over
20 years since a piece came

and washed up on the shore.

So this would be
a very significant find.

♪ ♪

It's a mix of emotions, right?

It's much like when you watch
the folks dive on "Titanic."

You're seeing something
from over 100 years ago.

And you're not connected to it
in some ways,

but then, when you go down
there and see the imagery,

you're onboard the ship.

You're transported
back in time.

And this feels similar to me.

This is a major
part of history.

- How do you think it's
going to impact people

when this is now shared with
the world,

this discovery here?

- There's certain events
in your life

that you don't forget.

There are certain events
that you just remember;

you'll never forget the images.

This is one of those.

I think it's going to be
a moment of reflection.

From someone who has the honor
to work in the space program,

we're in the business of
discovery and exploration.

So I think it's going to
connect a lot of people

back to the purpose of why

we fly rockets like this
and over my shoulder.

So perhaps that's an amazing
legacy of "Challenger,"

not just a past event
that now is resting

on the bottom of the sea,

but it's changed the future
for the better.

But I certainly can't thank you
enough for showing me this.

It's powerful.

♪ ♪

narrator: For the team,
it's been a roller coaster

of an investigation.

♪ ♪

- We've had a lot
of discoveries

that we thought
were our airplane.

We found engines that
were similar propellers

that looked like
they could have

belonged to that aircraft.

- We were able to mark off
a wreck site

that we've been wanting to see
what was there.

And just as a coincidence,
it turned out to be

something significant.

Sometimes happens. We go out
looking for one thing

and we stumble across
something else.

♪ ♪

narrator: And the team's
mission is only just beginning

with dozens of mystery wrecks
from Barnette's map

still to investigate.

♪ ♪

- Not only do we want to solve
some wreck mysteries,

but we want to dig deeper
into the whole mystery

of the Bermuda Triangle

and why it's
so dangerous and ominous

to be in this part
of the ocean.

♪ ♪

- Right now, we have a chance,
more than any other time

in history,
to solve this mystery.

- The destiny has
not been written yet.

The final chapter is
just waiting to be told.

There's just no telling
what we're going to find.

And that's the thrill of it.

♪ ♪

narrator: This season on

"The Bermuda Triangle:
Into Cursed Waters"...

- Let's go identify a wreck.

Any sane person would
not be doing this.

- No one's been to the bottom
of this sinkhole.

- Whoa, whoa!
- Whoa.

- What happened to
this massive ship?

We're the first eyes
to see this wreck.

- You never know when
a storm could pop up.

- 64 knots,
that's hurricane strength.

- Could this potentially
be the Cyclops?

- It's an amazing story
and an amazing find.

♪ ♪