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NARRATOR: The China Seas.

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Ringed by the countries
of southeast Asia,
these are some of the

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most fiercely contested
waters on earth.

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Beneath the waves,
the shattered remains
of epic battles.

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JAMES: It's as if you took
hundreds of ships and put
them through a blender.

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NARRATOR:
Mysterious treasures, and
technological wonders all

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hidden from view...

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until now.

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Imagine if we could
empty the oceans, letting
the water drain away to

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reveal the secrets
of the sea floor.

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Now, we can.

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Using the latest underwater scanning technology,

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piercing the deep oceans
and turning accurate
data into 3D images.

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How did America defeat
the biggest battleship
of World War II?

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JAMES: It was huge.

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It was powerful, it was fast.

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For the Americans
facing it, it was a
brute of a battleship.

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NARRATOR: What's the
truth behind the strange
disappearance of the

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mightiest invasion force
of ancient times?

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ERIC: One of the biggest
disasters in the history
of maritime warfare.

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NARRATOR: And how do you
protect the Worldwide Web
from the perils of nature?

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To compete or collaborate?

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Trade or invade?

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These twin human
instincts have defined the
China Seas for centuries.

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As these turbulent waters
begin to drain away,

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140 miles south of Japan, they reveal a top-secret battleship.

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The biggest ever put to sea.

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What were its secrets?

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And why couldn't they save
the lives of 3,000 men?

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October 1944,
two giant warships sail
towards the biggest

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naval battle in history.

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The mighty Yamato and
its twin, Musashi.

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-The size of the Yamato
is, is breathtaking.

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The Yamato and
its sister ship, Musashi,
were by far the biggest

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battleships ever built.

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NARRATOR: Almost
900 feet long,
127 feet wide,

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these super battleships
dwarf their opponents.

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Their hulls are protected
by an incredible
16 inches of armor plate.

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And every part of them
bristles with weapons.

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On the bow, two giant turrets.

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Then over 100 smaller guns.

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Before a third turret.

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They are the biggest
floating fortresses
ever put to sea.

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As the flagship of
the Imperial Japanese Navy,
Yamato carries the seal

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of the Emperor himself.

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A golden chrysanthemum.

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JAMES: Yamato comes from the
term Yamato-Damashii, which is
the national spirit of Japan.

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It was literally the
embodiment of Japan itself.

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NARRATOR: Yamato isn't just
big, it's also top secret.

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ERIC: The Japanese took
enormous measures to keep the
Yamato secret from foreign

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navies, even to the extent of,
of, of putting up a building
so that western naval attaches

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could not see the ship
under construction.

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NARRATOR: Even Yamato's
commanding officers
aren't told its true size.

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Its secrets, whatever
they may be, are to be
protected at all cost.

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MARK: And they were
successful in this because
for the entire war,

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the Americans had no
idea of the ship's true
size or the size of the

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guns that she carried.

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NARRATOR: Japan's secret
battleships are put to the
test in one of the biggest

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naval battles of World War II.

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Three years after
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor,

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the Pacific War is
about to reach its peak.

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Advancing towards Japan,

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US and Australian forces
launch an invasion
of the Philippines.

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Yamato and Musashi
lead the Japanese fleet
as it tries to stop the

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allies in their tracks.

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The Battle of Leyte Gulf in
October 1944 is the biggest
naval fight in history.

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An epic slugfest of 300 ships.

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ERIC: Leyte Gulf
was the last chance the
Japanese fleet had to stop

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the American advance.

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NARRATOR: Yamato
draws first blood.

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Its big guns batter
the US carrier Gambier Bay,
sending it to the sea floor.

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The Allies
respond with cannons,
torpedoes and aircraft.

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A massive barrage of
firepower that destroys
26 Japanese ships...

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and damages dozens more.

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MARK: It marked the end
of the Japanese Navy as an
effective fighting force.

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NARRATOR: Yamato is hit...

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but is saved by its
immensely strong armor.

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Musashi isn't so lucky.

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It sinks under
an onslaught of American
bombs and torpedoes,

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and 1,000
crew members are killed.

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On the brink of defeat,
the Japanese now resort to
a new and shocking tactic.

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They call it kamikaze.

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JAMES: Thousands of young
men dive their aircraft onto
the decks of enemy ships.

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NARRATOR: They believe
that their self-sacrifice
will save Japan.

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But it's not enough to
hold back the US forces.

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After their victory at
Leyte Gulf, the Americans
reached Japan's doorstep,

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the outlying
islands of Okinawa.

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Japan sends Yamato
into battle once again.

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On the 7th of April 1945,

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it powers towards
its destiny.

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With orders to
intercept the invaders
and fight to the death.

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The ultimate kamikaze mission.

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JAMES: This huge ship,
this ultimate battleship,

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is sent on a one-way
mission to turn itself
into a giant gun battery

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to try to keep the
American ships away.

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NARRATOR: But Yamato
never makes it to Okinawa.

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The Americans launch a
surprise attack, with
overwhelming force.

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The super battleship's size
and incredible strength
can't save it this time.

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Two hours after
the first wave of bombs,
the flagship of the

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Imperial Japanese Navy
plunges below the waves.

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So, what were Yamato's
secrets and why couldn't
they save the ship?

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Half a century later,

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French and Japanese
wreck explorers set
out to unlock the mystery.

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Sonar readings confirm
wreckage on the seabed
140 miles south of Japan.

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But the ghostly shadow
gives little away.

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They deploy a submarine.

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As it descends into
the darkness, its lights
pick out a strange shape.

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NARRATOR: Could these giant
twisted pieces of metal
really belong to Yamato?

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They search for proof.

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-Yes.

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JAMES: As one who in the world
shipwreck community watched
those first images come back,

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it was striking and powerful.

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NARRATOR: Amongst
the scattered debris...

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reminders of the fate of
the ship's 3,000 man crew.

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Yamato is Japan's
worst naval tragedy.

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Using detailed sonar
data from this expedition,

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along with the latest
computer imaging technology,

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it's possible to drain the
water from the China Seas,

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to reveal one of the biggest
wreck sites in the world.

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And finally, discover
the secrets of Yamato.

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First, the Emperor's seal
comes clearly into view.

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Then, its gigantic
propellers,

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each stretching
20 feet across.

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And shockingly, the final
agonies of this mammoth
warship are laid bare.

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It is completely ripped apart.

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JAMES: The violent death
of Yamato and the sprawled
corpse of the battleship,

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makes for a compelling image
because the ship was literally
broken apart into chunks,

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and that's what you
see on the bottom.

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NARRATOR: So, what is
Yamato's big secret?

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Experts scour the site to
appreciate its sheer scale.

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And the incredible thickness
of its armored hull.

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But they believe there's
something else still hidden,
and to see it means draining

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not only the ocean,
but the seabed itself.

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To reveal these.

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When Yamato was built,
the Allies assumed it was
fitted with 15-inch cannons,

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common on battleships
of the time.

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But they were wrong.

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Yamato's
cannons are actually
18 inches, the biggest and

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most powerful ever
fitted to a warship.

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Each can fire a shell
the weight of a car,
for almost 30 miles.

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JAMES: To have 18-inch
guns on a battleship,

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means not only do you have
bigger guns than other folks,

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you have guns that
can shoot farther, you
have guns that can shoot

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with more punch.

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So, it's, it's a
tremendous tactical advantage
for the Japanese in the

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age of the battleship.

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NARRATOR: Kazushi
Hiro, a Naval Signalman
who served on Yamato,

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recalls their
enormous firepower.

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KAZUSHI: The sound
was very loud.

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It felt as if many
thunderbolts struck
the ship all at once.

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NARRATOR:
But if Yamato had the most
powerful guns on water,

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why didn't it put
up more of a fight?

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NARRATOR: The drained
wreck of the world's
biggest battleship reveals

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dramatic details
of its final battle.

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Scattered all around,
hundreds of shell casings
from Yamato's own guns.

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But a closer look
reveals they're not
from its giant cannons.

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Many of these casings are
from a much smaller weapon.

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Yamato's cannons are designed
to destroy other battleships
but are of little use against

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fast moving attack aircraft.

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It defends itself with
much smaller 25-millimeter
guns that fire shells

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just over an inch in diameter.

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But these guns have a problem.

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ERIC: Unlike British
and American capital ships,
which were armed with

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40-millimeter weapons,

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the Japanese had
nothing like that.

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They moved straight from
a five-inch anti-aircraft
gun, to a 25-millimeter

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anti-aircraft gun, and
this made Yamato vulnerable
to torpedo bomber attack.

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It was a very mediocre
weapon, slow elevation,
slow rate of fire.

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And it had a lot
of vibrations, so it
was very inaccurate.

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NARRATOR: Yamato's
underperforming anti-aircraft
guns are no match for an

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opponent she was never
designed to fight.

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Swarms of fast moving
attack planes, carrying
bombs and torpedoes,

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launched from the latest
US aircraft carriers.

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Each of these holes marks
a successful strike.

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Enough to cripple Yamato.

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But the drained remains
of this sunken giant
reveal another mystery.

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Its 16-inch armor is
shredded like tin foil,

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and its massive
hull is blown in half.

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No bomb or torpedo
could have done that.

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00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,800
Could it be that Yamato
was ultimately destroyed
by her own secret weapon?

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Amongst the scattered
debris lies the heart of the
ship's fearsome firepower.

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This hole is where the forward
18-inch gun turret used
to sit and where shells and

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propellant were stored
in magazines before being
fed to the cannons above.

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-This is a potentially very
vulnerable part of the ship.

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If fire is introduced
into the magazine,

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it has the potential to
destroy the entire ship.

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NARRATOR: A clue
to Yamato's fate comes
from this rare footage.

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It shows a torpedoed
British World War II
battleship, HMS Barham,

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slowly sinking as
it takes on water.

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00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:38,480
As the ship capsizes,
shells begin to tumble from
the magazine racks inside.

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800 men die.

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The drained wreck of Yamato
shows how the blast that
rips it apart starts here,

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at exactly the position
of the second magazine.

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00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,440
This is one of the last
photographs ever taken
of the super battleship.

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Above it, a column
of smoke rises three
miles into the sky.

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The result of that final
catastrophic explosion.

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00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,320
-When Yamato blew up, there
was a huge mushroom cloud, a
preview of the mushroom clouds

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00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:26,680
that would very soon appear
over Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

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00:18:27,120 --> 00:18:29,280
bringing the
Pacific War to an end.

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00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:35,600
NARRATOR: Kazushi Hiro
was assigned to another ship
after his training on Yamato.

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Now aged 94, he still
prays for his many crew
mates who died that day.

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00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,680
KAZUSHI: Dozens of
the names of my friends are
inscribed on this cenotaph.

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00:18:54,360 --> 00:19:00,360
I come here to visit their
graves once a week since
I have time and I'm alive.

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NARRATOR: Japan's
top-secret battleship was
destined for the sea floor.

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00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,520
Not because of its kamikaze
mission, but its secret
weapons were rendered useless

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00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,320
by the changing nature of war.

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00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,320
-The sinking of
the Yamato was the last
gasp of the battleship.

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00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,280
It demonstrated that unless
you had air cover, you were
very vulnerable to torpedo

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attack and therefore the
age of the battleship was
certainly coming to an end.

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00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,240
NARRATOR: The men who
sacrifice themselves on board
Yamato are inspired by an

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00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,880
astonishing event.

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00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:57,840
From the age of
samurai warriors.

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00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:03,200
As the China Seas continue
to drain away, extraordinary
evidence emerges,

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00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:07,040
about an enduring
maritime mystery.

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00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,600
How did the mightiest
invasion fleet of ancient
times vanish without a trace?

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00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,480
-It was one of the biggest
disasters in the history
of maritime warfare.

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00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:25,080
NARRATOR: Imari Bay, Kyushu.

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00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,280
The southernmost of
Japan's four main islands.

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00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:37,960
700 years ago, warriors of
the Mongol empire launch
an invasion of Japan here.

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00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,920
Under orders from one
of the most powerful
leaders of all time...

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00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,080
Emperor Kublai Khan.

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00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,600
The Emperor is the
grandson of Genghis Khan,

223
00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:02,040
the legendary warrior who
united the nomadic hordes
of the Mongolian plains.

224
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,680
Now leading one of the
largest armies in history,
Kublai Khan continues

225
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,200
to expand the
Mongol empire through China.

226
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,640
He establishes
the city of Beijing
and grows fantastically rich

227
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,120
from a vast trade network.

228
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:26,200
His power over life
and death stretches from
Europe to the China Seas.

229
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,640
But the Great Khan
isn't satisfied.

230
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,120
-Kublai Khan was expanding
the Mongol empire eastwards.

231
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,120
He made himself Emperor
of China, he made Korea
into a vassal state,

232
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,720
and now it was Japan's turn.

233
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,200
NARRATOR: Standing
against the Khan are the
samurai warlords of Japan.

234
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:51,200
And in 1281, he
decides to reckon with
them once and for all.

235
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:57,280
He constructs the largest
fleet ever seen and
sends it across the sea.

236
00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:03,520
JAMES: Imagine what it
must have felt like if you
were a Japanese standing

237
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,080
on the shores there?

238
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:12,080
All of a sudden, what you're
seeing is a wall of ships
as far as your eye can see.

239
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,040
-The Mongol fleet was huge,

240
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,160
getting on for 4,000 vessels
of various shapes and sizes.

241
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:30,080
It was probably
the biggest amphibious
operation before the

242
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:33,120
Normandy D-Day
landings in 1944.

243
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,400
NARRATOR: The samurais
fight bravely, and
try to hold the line,

244
00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,880
but are hopelessly
outnumbered.

245
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,400
As the first wave of
invaders battles on shore,

246
00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,360
more are approaching
from the sea.

247
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,000
But then, something
astonishing happens.

248
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:08,040
The massive fleet of Mongol
ships mysteriously vanishes.

249
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:14,160
-The loss of Kublai Khan's
invasion fleet, getting
on for 4,000 ships,

250
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,560
was one of the biggest
disasters in the history
of maritime warfare.

251
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:23,600
NARRATOR: So, what happened?

252
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,160
Japanese scribes credit
divine intervention.

253
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:35,720
Historians, archaeologists,
and divers scour the seabed
and pore over the archives.

254
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,280
But fail to discover
a single shipwreck.

255
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,240
Until now.

256
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,800
NARRATOR: Fascinated with the
legend of Kublai Khan's fleet,

257
00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:01,040
maritime archaeologist
Kenzo Hayashida has
spent years searching for it.

258
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:12,040
KENZO: I have committed myself
to the survey since 1988,
so for more than 30 years.

259
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,080
NARRATOR: Kenzo is inspired
by an ancient Japanese
record of the invasion.

260
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,880
It's only brought out
on very rare occasions.

261
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,000
NARRATOR: The scroll clearly
shows hand to hand combat.

262
00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,480
And even the missing ships.

263
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:51,000
But it makes no mention of
divine intervention plunging
the fleet to the sea floor.

264
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,200
But under the waters of Imari
Bay there are some clues.

265
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:06,360
A Mongol helmet, buckles,
even an ancient comb.

266
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,240
And then, this.

267
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:14,160
A bronze seal inscribed
with a date, 1277.

268
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:21,480
Struck just four years before
the Mongol invasion and it
carries the mark of a soldier,

269
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,120
a very important soldier.

270
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:30,120
IKUHIRO: It was an official
seal of a company commander
in the Mongolian army,

271
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,200
and the discovery became
important evidence.

272
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,200
NARRATOR: It's
the strongest proof yet of
the Mongol invasion fleet.

273
00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:44,160
JAMES: In terms of a smoking
gun in archaeology, it doesn't
get much better than that.

274
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,040
NARRATOR: Inspired
by the find, Kenzo
takes to the water.

275
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,200
Layers of thick mud make
searching here very difficult.

276
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:03,040
But when he starts dredging
the sea floor itself, he
makes his first breakthrough.

277
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,160
-What we found were mostly
goods carried on the ships.

278
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:16,080
For example, weapons,
armor and pots to put food in.

279
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,280
NARRATOR: But still,
where are all the ships?

280
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:27,080
Kenzo and his team need
to find a way to peer
even deeper into the mud.

281
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,160
And for that, they
turn to technology.

282
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,560
NARRATOR: Based on this data,

283
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:58,160
draining the coast of
southern Japan slowly reveals
something spectacular.

284
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,200
First, some fragments
of broken timbers.

285
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,480
But then, blowing away
centuries of silt...

286
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:19,080
exposes the original
seabed of 1281.

287
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:28,000
And there, resting on top
of it, visible for the
first time in 700 years,

288
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:35,440
the extraordinary tangled
remains of Kublai Khan's
lost invasion fleet.

289
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,760
NARRATOR: And the drained
seabed reveals something else.

290
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:02,120
-And there, much like you
would see from a crash
site of an aircraft,

291
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,080
you see fragments of
ships lying everywhere.

292
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:13,960
NARRATOR: Amongst the
debris, weapons, pots,

293
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,400
even the bones of
Mongol warriors.

294
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,200
-It's as if you took
hundreds of ships and put
them through a blender.

295
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,680
NARRATOR: What could wreak
such havoc on an entire fleet?

296
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,720
Is this evidence of
the divine intervention
of samurai legend?

297
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:47,800
The answers lie in the
thousands of wood fragments
scattered across the seafloor.

298
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:54,160
Using the data from
the sonar scan, like a
giant 3D jigsaw puzzle,

299
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:01,120
it's possible to rebuild
Kublai Khan's warships,
and it's not what the

300
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:03,960
archaeologists expect.

301
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,080
Most of these ships
were doomed before
they even set sail.

302
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,360
ERIC: Kublai Khan had great
problems mobilizing a fleet.

303
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,000
There were Korean
vessels, but many of
them were just coastal.

304
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,800
There were Chinese
vessels, but many of them
were just river craft.

305
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,680
They weren't very suitable
for an oceanic invasion.

306
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:27,000
NARRATOR: Many of the ships
lack one critical feature.

307
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,800
A deep keel.

308
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,600
Meaning they are unstable and
easily swamped in rough seas.

309
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,560
What's more,
they're poorly built.

310
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,480
NARRATOR: But shoddy
construction doesn't
account for the extent

311
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:06,880
of the devastation.

312
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,840
A clue to
what happened lies 700
miles away, in Tokyo.

313
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,240
This is Japan's
Meteorological Agency.

314
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:26,120
Its records only
go back to the 1950s,
but in that time,

315
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,920
a clear weather
pattern has emerged.

316
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,680
HIROSHI: Japan is in the
north west Pacific area,
where typhoons develop most

317
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,720
frequently in the world.

318
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,480
NARRATOR: Each year, at
least a dozen typhoons bear
down on the Japanese coast.

319
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,160
One thing about the
Mongol fleet is clear...

320
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,760
it arrives in
late summer of 1281,

321
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,120
in time for typhoon season.

322
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,720
Where wind speeds can
reach 190 miles per hour,

323
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,280
generating deadly
waves 40 feet tall.

324
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,680
A wind the Japanese
call, kamikaze.

325
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,280
JAMES:
Kame for God,
Kaze for wind,

326
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,720
creates a powerful
legend of the Divine
Wind that saved Japan,

327
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,160
or the kamikaze.

328
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,240
NARRATOR: Japan will
evoke the Divine Wind

329
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:32,920
again on the brink of
defeat in World War II.

330
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:40,000
It doesn't stop US forces
then, but 700 years earlier,

331
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,040
the original kamikaze smashes

332
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:46,600
Kublai Khan's poorly
built fleet to pieces.

333
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,040
-Most of the damage would
be due to the typhoon.

334
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,800
NARRATOR: The greatest
army of the age...

335
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,080
powerless in the face
of nature's fury.

336
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:15,680
As the China Seas
continue to drain away, the
receding water reveals another

337
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:21,800
maritime mystery just off
the coast of Vietnam, a
vast jumble of shipwrecks

338
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,960
spanning 2,000 years.

339
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:29,560
What made this stretch
of water one of the most
dangerous in history?

340
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:34,160
And what extraordinary
treasures lie buried
on the sea floor?

341
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,680
IAN: First time in history,
eyes are looking at this.

342
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,400
NARRATOR: The Cham
Islands, off Vietnam.

343
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,640
Part of a region
known as the coast
that sank 1,000 ships.

344
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:58,360
Not the ships of
fierce invaders, but
ambitious traders.

345
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:06,040
Clues to centuries of
bustling commerce are still
found on the sea floor here.

346
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,800
For as long as anyone can
remember, local divers have
been making intriguing finds.

347
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,640
Porcelain and ceramics,
hundreds of years old.

348
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:24,120
TRAN XA: According to
archaeologists, the object
is considered antique.

349
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,640
It belongs to around the
14th or 15th century.

350
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,600
NARRATOR: In local shops,
recovered ceramics sell for
hundreds of dollars apiece.

351
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,920
Where do these
treasures come from?

352
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,120
And why are they strewn
across the harbor floor?

353
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,120
A research team is scanning
the harbor with the
latest sonar technology.

354
00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:58,760
IAN: If you go to
a beautiful place like
the Mediterranean,

355
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,040
you've got
40 meters visibility.

356
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,400
Here we can be down to half
a meter so this time, the
government has allowed us to

357
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,120
bring remote sensing
equipment, and we're
using side-scan sonar.

358
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:13,960
First time in history
eyes are looking at this.

359
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,520
NARRATOR: Just minutes
into the search, grainy
images of what could be

360
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,480
wreck sites appear
on the screen.

361
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:23,280
-Guys, come and
have a look at this.

362
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,640
This is really interesting.

363
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,760
NARRATOR: The team
dives for a closer look.

364
00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:37,440
And in the
gloom, a field of broken
ceramics slowly emerges.

365
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:47,760
They scour a total area of
four square miles and what
they find is extraordinary.

366
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,120
-Ooh, hello baby.

367
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,240
NARRATOR: After careful
analysis of the survey data...

368
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:04,200
it's now possible
to drain the sea
from the Cham Islands.

369
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:13,080
And remove layers of
sand and mud to reveal
an astounding sight.

370
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:19,240
A treasure trove of 15th
century Chinese ceramics.

371
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:26,600
Cups, bowls, plates,
still stacked in neat
rows after 600 years.

372
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:36,360
Scattered all around are
more wrecks, as many as 30.

373
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:44,080
-We're talking 2,000
odd years at least of wrecks
that we'll actually have

374
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,360
under the surface here.

375
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,520
NARRATOR: Why so many wrecks?

376
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,560
And why so many
loads of porcelain?

377
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,800
The answer lies in the Cham
Islands' unique position,

378
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,440
at the eastern
end of the world's
greatest trade route,

379
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,560
the Maritime Silk Road.

380
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,920
Stretching from Asia to
the Middle East through to
Constantinople and Europe.

381
00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:18,840
For 1,000 years,
this oceanic superhighway
connects princes and popes,

382
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:22,040
kingdoms and empires.

383
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:27,120
JAMES: It thrived because
you had silks, you had spices,
but you also had porcelain.

384
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,600
Chinese porcelains
are beautiful,
they're magnificent.

385
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,960
-It's simply down to the
clays the Chinese had.

386
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,160
They had very,
very white clays and
it was unlike anything

387
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,040
anybody had seen before.

388
00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,360
NARRATOR: The drained
harbor of the Cham Islands

389
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,360
reveals yet more
spectacular sights.

390
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,080
A United Nations
of shipwrecks.

391
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:01,280
A Spanish galleon.

392
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,520
A Chinese junk,
an Arabian dhow.

393
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:09,680
But why are so many ships
wrecked in such a small area?

394
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,040
-I like to call this
the parking lot theory
because most car accidents

395
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:17,800
happen when you're
trying to get in and
out of the parking lot,

396
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,240
and the same thing
holds true for harbors.

397
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,800
You have a cluster of ships
trying to get in, get out,
and if the wind changes,

398
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,360
you're blown right up onto
the rocks of the beach.

399
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:34,160
NARRATOR: Drawn by the
lure of porcelain and silk,
the crews of these ships

400
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,920
all hoped to
make their fortune.

401
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,640
But instead,
they paid the ultimate
price on this congested

402
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,640
and storm-lashed coast.

403
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,320
Today, the China Seas are
still a major trade route,

404
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,120
but it's not porcelain
that's transported
across the seas, it's data.

405
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:02,760
What was once the Great
Silk Highway, is now an
Information Superhighway.

406
00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:10,120
And just like
the Maritime Silk Road,

407
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,400
this Data Highway
is beset with dangers.

408
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:20,680
What are the deep-sea
risks to the Worldwide Web?

409
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,160
GRAHAM: In this particular
case, effectively
it was a perfect storm.

410
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:35,400
NARRATOR: Our love of
the internet knows no bounds,
with demand for data doubling

411
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,360
every two years.

412
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,160
And the biggest
gigabyte gluttons?

413
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,800
Social media and video.

414
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,520
Lots of video.

415
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:51,400
GRAHAM: Currently, there
are four million views of
YouTube videos per minute.

416
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,840
That is an enormous amount of
data that's being consumed.

417
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,600
NARRATOR: Add to that
the trillions of dollars
in electronic funds

418
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:05,160
that shuttle between
corporations and banks...

419
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:11,080
and it amounts to an
astonishing 3.4 petabits
of data that we gobble up,

420
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:14,280
every 60 seconds.

421
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,680
-And for those who don't
know what a petabit
is, ten to the 15 zeros.

422
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:26,040
NARRATOR: All that data
has to be stored somewhere,
which we call the cloud.

423
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,200
But data doesn't
travel up into the sky.

424
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,800
It's actually transported
deep below the sea.

425
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:44,520
Draining all the oceans
reveals the million-mile
network that connects

426
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,600
the Worldwide Web.

427
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:53,800
Where data shoots
across the sea floor
at the speed of light,

428
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,200
inside vast
arteries of cables.

429
00:39:57,240 --> 00:39:59,120
JAYNE: We talk
about the cloud.

430
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:05,120
The reality is 98% of
the internet runs over fiber
optic cables under the ocean.

431
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,440
NARRATOR: One of the
busiest and most important
stretches of the internet

432
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,280
is here under the China Seas,

433
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:17,040
in the Luzon Strait, between
Taiwan and the Philippines.

434
00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:22,840
And like all undersea cables,
this Data Superhighway
is vulnerable to attack.

435
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:29,280
From the ocean's most
fearsome predator,
biting onto cables...

436
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,960
to entanglements with
even bigger creatures.

437
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:41,120
This footage shows what
happens when a humpback whale
becomes wrapped in a loose

438
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,280
data cable off the
coast of Norway.

439
00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:50,040
The fire department manages
to free the whale, but
it means cutting the cable,

440
00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:55,720
plunging parts of Scandinavia
into an offline abyss.

441
00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:06,720
To reduce the dangers,
engineers take a course not
open to ancient mariners,

442
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:11,200
burying precious cables
deep below the seabed.

443
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:17,440
This delicate work
is performed by a flotilla of
specialized engineering ships,

444
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:23,840
which slowly unwind enormous
drums of cable that will
stretch for thousands of miles

445
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:27,040
across the oceans.

446
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,960
But the crucial work,
happens deep below the waves.

447
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:43,800
Draining the water from
above the ocean bed exposes
the giant machines that

448
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,120
build the Worldwide Web.

449
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,840
A plough, the size of a house,
crawls along the sea floor.

450
00:41:55,040 --> 00:42:00,200
High pressure water
jets help carve a trench
ten feet deep and the

451
00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:03,160
cable is buried inside it.

452
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:15,040
In the deepest parts of the
ocean, far beyond the reach
of anchors or even whales,

453
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:19,240
the engineers lay cables
directly on the seabed.

454
00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:28,960
Draining the deepest canyon of
the Luzon Strait reveals the
main data artery that connects

455
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:35,040
Asia and the West,
19 cables that shuttle
trillions of gigabytes of

456
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:40,040
data between businesses,
governments, universities,
and stock markets,

457
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:46,240
all of them lying
exposed and vulnerable.

458
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:52,040
Graham Evans is
the Managing Director of
a company that plans where

459
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:55,520
cables are threaded
across the globe's oceans.

460
00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:00,160
-It's not just a flat,
featureless seabed.

461
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,840
Some of it is extremely rugged
and we're having to maneuver
around some of these features.

462
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,080
NARRATOR: His job is to
find the shortest route
from point A to point B.

463
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,960
But avoiding underwater
obstacles mean that
cables converge to what's

464
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,120
known as a Choke Point.

465
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:29,240
Like the Luzon Strait
and its 19 cables
linking east and west.

466
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:33,080
-Why is it a choke point?

467
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,440
There are no alternative
routes when you're trying
to go from Asia to the

468
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:40,040
United States,
or Asia to Japan.

469
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:46,320
NARRATOR: On December 26, 2006, the choke point becomes choked.

470
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:50,680
-It was certainly
a, a date that the
industry won't forget.

471
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:59,120
NARRATOR: At 8:26 pm,
a deep rumble shakes the
seabed of the China Seas,

472
00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:05,000
an earthquake with
a magnitude of 7.1.

473
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:19,400
In Taiwan, buildings
collapse, two people are
killed, and dozens injured.

474
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,680
But that's not the end
of the devastation.

475
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:30,680
In the deep canyon of
the Luzon Strait, there's a
second stage to the quake.

476
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:37,040
A massive underwater
landslide.

477
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:43,440
-In this particular case,
it was a, effectively
it was a perfect storm.

478
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:47,200
There had been this huge
build up of sediment at
the head of this canyon,

479
00:44:47,240 --> 00:44:50,080
and it didn't need
much to trigger it.

480
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:54,160
NARRATOR: Directly in
its path, the data cables
on the canyon floor.

481
00:44:54,720 --> 00:44:57,640
-So, if you're
on the floor of the canyon,
what you would see is this

482
00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:01,080
billowing mass of black mud.

483
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,240
It pretty well took out
every single cable that went
between southeast Asia and

484
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:11,760
the United States.

485
00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:23,120
NARRATOR: The internet
shuts down and within
minutes millions feel the

486
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,440
pain in their wallets.

487
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:29,480
-No submarine cables, no cash.

488
00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:31,840
NARRATOR: ATMs stop working.

489
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:34,160
Stock trading halts.

490
00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:37,560
Billions of dollars of
transactions freeze.

491
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:43,840
Corporations and banks
are paralyzed on both
sides of the Pacific.

492
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,840
-In this particular case,
there was never so many
simultaneous cable breaks

493
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:53,600
that had such a devastating
impact on the world's
ability to use the internet.

494
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,080
NARRATOR:
After some frantic work,
data is rerouted via

495
00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:02,440
other networks,
eventually stemming the chaos.

496
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:08,320
But it takes three
months to fully repair
all the broken lines.

497
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,040
This cable crew
and others like them,

498
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:17,840
will be busy
for decades to come as the
demand for data continues

499
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:23,040
to surge, driven by the
booming economies of Asia.

500
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:31,000
To compete, or collaborate,
trade or invade?

501
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:36,840
These twin human
instincts continue to
define the China Seas.

502
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,080
Draining the waters here
reveals a turbulent past.

503
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:50,000
Exposes the truth behind
a mysterious legend.

504
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:58,320
Celebrates the wonder
of the Worldwide Web.

505
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:05,600
And whatever's to come in
the next digital revolution.

506
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:07,720
Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.