Australia's Lost Gold - The Search for Sunken Treasure | Free Documentary History

australia's treacherous coast and coral reefs have claimed over 8 000 ships some carried fabulous treasures remnants of early dutch and english exploitation now dashed upon jagged reefs they've become sunken treasures and filed dreams [Music] the dutch were the first to explore australia from 1606 and the bones of seven of their treasure ships bound for batavia lie along the west australian coast the unknown east coast was not explored until 1770 by captain cook [Music] [Music] an era began where thousands of ships went down to a watery grave ravaged by storms and inaccurate charts i found more than 100 of these shipwrecks moorings off adam please now i'm looking for those that had treasure on board my pursuit of these sunken treasures must surely be the most tantalizing and subjective of all my discoveries now she's not sitting very high above the sand only a meter or two and from what i hear is just a great pile of ballast stones must have gone down the cyclone because she's sitting out here in a 15 mile off port douglas out in the shipping channel that we don't know what ship it is there's no record of this ship going down here every time i come across a wreck like this i think about the treasure ship madagascar she left melbourne in 1853 with 60 000 ounces of gold on board and that's worth about 40 million dollars today and she disappeared never seen again no one knows really where she's been lost and one day you know some lucky diver is going to stumble across this treasure ship and all that gold and that's why you know every time i see a wreck like this i think i never know could be the madagascar i'm going down for a look pete west and i have talking masks visibility will be poor communication essential okay ben i'm on the bottom i could just make out a dark mass up ahead she seems to be spread over quite a distance here look at that pile of palace stones lots of lionfish very tame my eyes are focused for the glint of gold and i take only a passing interest in this brass ring from the ship's wheel here's a cannon it's lying on top of another the ship must be old [Music] this is a big ship well over 100 ton you know big enough to be the madagascar i think i'll keep my eye out for the color yellow there was no colour yellow i dropped pete off at port douglas and head north with a crew of four my son adam lynn roberts john harding and erin please dial we enter bathurst bay where aborigines painted history on cave walls that link with australia's greatest maritime disaster ah here it is it looks good there really something lin aren't they beautifully drawn axes a pipe scissors here another racks obviously the aborigines who drew this they were given these by the white men they were working for the pearl divers and obviously they were paid in these goods so they brought up the scissors axes pipes and drawn them exactly can't tell exactly what these are with the h all i can think of is maybe bags of pill shell and h would be the the company name this is interesting lynn look at the jacket you know when you first look at this you think wow this is a gentleman you know from the 1700s a fancy jacket tight pants like breeches and down here high heeled shoes you know i was looking at this thinking boy you know this thing could be english portuguese spanish french you know way way back but looking at it more no no absolutely no it's a stockman the main thing that gives it away is the head now that's a profile and i know that the aborigines never drew profiles of white people until quite much later when they got to know them very well when they really were living with them working with them so this would be a drawing back around the 1890s i suppose at the same time that the luggers came here and of course the stockmans rode in and they thought well we'll draw him more here but it'd have to be a knife and have a look on the ceiling this has to be a dolphin or a dugong or maybe a pilot whale yeah it looks a bit like a dolphin you excavating tuffy this would be a mother ship so all the sail set would have been sailing just past here in bathurst bay and should be part of the pearling fleet the the mothership and such intricate you know design especially with the sails maybe the portholes maybe even the name here nt beautiful dugong up here this is a beautiful drawing of a lager the amazing thing here this is history you see these luggers would have been drawn in the 1890s when the pearling fleet were out here when the aborigines were helping them when they collected their knives and axes but these luggers don't exist anymore they were wiped out in the big cyclone of 1899 right out here in bathurst bay [Music] john there's so many wrecks out there you know 70 of them lots of luggers but we've got to go out and find some of them at least you know i'm pretty sure i know where the light stick is anyway we can do that one first 300 people drowned 70 ships went down in the most powerful of all cyclones right we're coming up to light ship now you can see the position marked on the gps i found her about 18 years ago you see i i marked it on the chart and we didn't die because the water was very dirty and on the way up we saw a tiger shark and we went oh we'll leave this for another day and today's the day she went down in the cyclone of 1899 and the waves simply engulfed her and down she went at the mooring and she's the only light ship wreck in australia so definitely worth a dive okay [Music] visibility is poor 25 meters down so we extend the line from the anchor and sweep the ocean floor to locate the wreck the line will also be our guide back to the anchor chain and my boat [Music] the key to this being the light ship is the artifacts we find marine organisms and sea water attack a sunken ship like a mummy long entombed the ship's remains will deteriorate if taken up to the air [Music] hardly recognizable this is an old-fashioned grinding wheel here are two oil lamp bases and adam has found the ship's bell the wreck is indeed the channel rock light ship divers up baited hooks go down the 1899 cyclone created a massive tidal surge of 12 meters the highest ever recorded it swept boats bodies and equipment high above the beach area i'm hoping to find some evidence of this flotsam girl have a look along this eroded bank here because you know things could be exposed if we're washed in with the cyclone worth looking i'm going to follow up the creek how is he going here come on john what do you got brass wow bit of wreckage yeah oh i can't even yeah look look i think it's what what is it diver's helmet okay this way coming yep let me go there's more than fish and corals down here on clack reef now we're above where the eastern argosy were the ground she wasn't totally wrecked she got off but before she got off she had to throw all the cargo overboard and it's literally a minefield of cargo down here there's croppery stacks of crockery some liquor as well but the water's dirty and you're just going to have to sort of scrounge around she went aground in 1970 so she doesn't come under the historic shipwreck back so you can bring this stuff up [Music] relics in the mud are well preserved but corals grow quickly on the exposed cargo even mundane relics are exciting to find how's that okay great oh b bubble beautifully coral and crusted isn't it it gives you an idea just how how quickly that coral grows so that's since 1970 yeah and cups pretty some of them are broken but even this you know the delicate corals and look what john found there'd be crates of this down there lots and lots of them pity you've only found one to go back and get more i think we should try it it's got an air pocket so it should be okay yeah erin can you grab me a um bottle opener please we'll try it thank you this should be a good drop hey you can try it man yeah all right oh yeah it comes out easy here we go here we go that tastes all right i'll tell you what that's a powerful drop you're right right it smells better now oh ah i don't think we'll go find any more [Music] where are we we're just coming into ferguson reef and we're going to look at the wreck there it's actually called the ferguson went down in 1840 right i found it about oh 25 years ago and it's worth a dime [Music] many a reputation has been made and tarnished in the pursuit of treasure direct diving does something to you but the law in common sense curbs the pirate that stirs in your blood all goodies recovered to the more than 75 years old must go back on the seabed and that's a hard thing to do believe me [Music] aha you know what that is no no that's a trigger guard from a brown best with the the name of the rifle in those days when i said the wrestling pity you've got to go and put it back really oh good john these were commemorative buckles and they they went across the sash you know the straps that went across the chest crossways and they yeah well they commemorated the battle of the nile and you can see here the 50th region well these were called the fighting 500 uh famous regiment well john [Music] i'm coming into the area that is a graveyard of old sailing ships now this is great detached reef where we're here now and i know that there were seven shipwrecks on this particular reef and years ago we searched this whole reef area here and we found six of them one was missing and the reason why i want to find this seventh one is very important because one of the ships was called the fatima and she went down with 18 600 ounces of gold and that's worth about oh 11 million today i've looked at all these other wrecks haven't found any sign of gold so if i can find the seventh one maybe maybe that's the one that we want we'll head out near the breakers just a little bit john look for any dark spots on the reef in any straight line correct and look at the chain here oh this is shark too big shark oh good party it's all right you can get in with that one right we've got our wreck number seven here's another shark coming in now there he is a little wilder the fatima is a typical treasure ship where fates so cruelly snatched the gold from its rightful owners identifying the ship is difficult i have seven names and seven wrecks to choose from finding the right cargo will help me [Music] you know what that is well that's a crucible that's what they uh you know i say precious minerals and they put them in little assay cups to check out the mineral and here i've got an essay cup yeah it's mate and this one you know what that is no it's not a cross it's part of a scale oh yeah so we're definitely on a ship that carried precious metals so could that be the fatima i would say so yes but now we're going to really find the golden and the problem is the gold's not going to be here where this stuff got washed in it's going to be right out in the surf and it's heavy it's going to be right down on the bottom and if it's gold dust we forget it but if it's um fingers of gold you know they make by pouring the gold into furrows in the sand then we've got a chance we're really excited now all eyes of focus for the glint of gold my heart jumps every time i see the color yellow it happens to be a common color in corals we scrounged the wreckage for two days and failed to find the motherlode of gold bullion it may be well buried under 150 years of coral growth very likely the bullying was mostly gold dust now scattered like grains of sand across the re-floor and lost forever [Music] it's not only gold the glitters the reef sparkles in the clear waters of the coral sea its inhabitants large and friendly [Music] so [Music] catching a feed is easy as long as i reel it in fast before the sharks take it from me we visit sir charles hardy island once a haven for shipwreck survivors you know lynn there's so many spanish galleon legends in australia and i've investigated all of them and they're just no no except for one i've got my doubts about one and it actually happened right here onto charles hardy island and that was because the ship mariner was wrecked out there on great detached reef where we were and the survivors landed here and they found two wrecks one recent one old and from the old one they recovered this brass cannon to use as ballast in the boat and it had the markings santa barbara on it and apparently the date 1596. so maybe there's a spanish galleon out here but only here all the rest of them around australia no they don't exist anyway there's the water up there here's the water hole now this was very important to the castleways it was marked on the old charts and that's why they came in here and also the another good thing about it is there were no head husters here so every castaway every shipwreck out there they came here to sir charles hardy to drink this water how is it well it's okay if you're desperate still it was vital for them well it's a child's grave you know too small not many children you know survive the ordeal of being a castaway cockburn reef another graveyard of ships what's this for that's a matter board i'm going to tell you guys across the reef here because out here there's nine shipwrecks and one in particular i want to find because it's called the anne and she went down with a cargo of species which is coins in 1853 okay who's first i'm ready i'll toss it to you the motherboard is simple and efficient we cover a large area in a short time expertise is required to identify any passing shape shrouded in coral that may be a wreck oh he's got something what'd you say wreckage heaps of wreckage iron cauldrons are everywhere they must be cargo for a foundry [Music] the wheels are for transporting those smelting pots to the furnace now the treasure ship anne could have carried these but our next fine dashes my hopes [Music] have a go at this all right that's good bullets you've got a whole pile too i recognize these that's a caliber 45 you know they used in the colt handguns the old wild west movies it's a pity because this dates the wreck you see they didn't start manufacturing these till 18 1873. and the anne she went down in 1853 you know 20 years earlier so we know we're not on the wreck that i want but still interesting story here because their 58 caliber and they used those in the snyder rifles they had they actually had a cardboard backing that's why you're not seeing the rest of the shell now they're the calibers of rifles that were given to the natives up north in the islands when they were swapping for kanaka labor so you're probably on a black birder here anyway they've got to go pull them back he's got something what did you see great pile of ballast oh right okay and what looks like some keel bolts now this looks more promising the line of kill bolts shows she's a timber sailing ship that broke her back on the reef [Music] that's a glass skylight once a fixture in the top deck then what's this it's very heavy it's heavy now that's a lead line you see that's what they drop to determine the the depth and you can see this hole here right that's where they put tallow and so they they know what's on the bottom [Music] drop too late to save her all that remains now is the line of kill bolts one cannon and a great mound of ballast rocks [Music] the wreckage is totally covered in seaweed obliterating our chance of seeing a mound of coins which are going to look like one of those rocks anyway let's forget it john that weed just makes it impossible you know there's going to be one lost treasure that's going to stay lost yeah treasure hunting is so frustrating but i never give up hope i'm just running up to the top of ashmore reef now adam yeah another half hour i want to look for a wreck up right up the top the sun that's that really old treasure ship isn't it with all the coins that's right 30 or 40 000 spanish silver dollars that's worth a bit now they did say that it went down on eastern fields but i remember wally gibbons and i 25 years ago we really searched that reef and then i realized yeah they're always out in longitude latitude they're correct and on the same latitude we've got a small reef and also another clue i've got is that back in 1906 some native divers were fishing around there for beach de mer and they came across this wreck and they recovered a small brass cannon which was a french espanol now the skipper of the sun also was french it was a french ship and very very likely they've actually found the sun for us see that black line running across the reef now that's the anchor chain of a shipwreck and i reckon that that would be the treasure ship the sun i think we may have found it let's go have a look definitely an anchor chain just go down near the end of it i want to find the ballast pile this will be where the ship broke up slow down slow down right down look for the odd coin occurring up but the real bulk of the coins will be in a big rock like a conglomerate of lots of coins used together since 1770 most ships applied australian waters were english and they were a poor lot when they came to carrying treasure the glory days of spanish and dutch conquests and pirates were over this treasure ship sun was an exception forty thousand spanish coins relives boyhood dreams of pirates of the spanish maine [Music] [Music] hey got something there hey couple of coins oh yeah definitely coins very encrusted i thought it was just a bit of metal but no that's a coin yeah that's a coin but uh we'll have to put them in in some acid you know find the date the date's important then we know we've got the wreck at the day trade it's hydrochloric acid about an hour or so and they'll be shining clean it looks about right all right it should be all right let's see what we got well that one didn't clean up much at all erin that one you got didn't it no this one here that's got a hole in it that would've been worn around the neck of someone yeah it looks like a four real aha this one looks good dave aaron you got better eyes than me yeah 1807. 1807. so the sun went down 1826 and that's perfect this has got to be the sun but where are the rest of the coins well since i've been waiting for this to come good i went through all my files and i found something which is quite a disappointment yeah now you've heard of the jardine treasure famous jardine treasure jardine sent a schooner out here and they accidentally found a wreck and when they checked around an anchor they found this massive coins thousands and thousands of coins and brought them back now they never said exactly you know where they found it and there were so many legends attributed to all this but jardine drew a map and this map is identical to the one in there there's the upright anchor there's the cannon on the left this anchor here where you found the coins the long chain and this circle here represents the coins that they found a massive coins so the treasure did exist but it's gone it's gone someone else beat us to it should be coming up to it soon we're on a level bottom 100 feet 30 meters one shipwreck where the treasure still exists is the pandora i discovered her back in 1977 she was returning to england with captured mutinies of the famous bounty and struck a coral reef when trying to pass through torres strait the shackled mutineers barely escaped as the ship went down [Music] here it comes yep this is the pandora we've got it a marker boys drop so that i can anchor free them a short distance away and run back in the dinghy i don't want my heavy anchor and chain damaging the wrecked sight [Music] she's a perfect time capsule of a british naval manor war of the 18th century all the items the ship and crew carried lie buried on the seafloor [Music] claims is the most significant marine archaeological find in australia the queensland museum divers have carried out the fatiguing process of exhuming artifacts for further study on land and the creation of a pandora museum in townsville from unrecognizable clumps of concretion a sextant emerges and the ship surgeon's gold watch all carefully restored in this room what are you doing alexandra i'm in the process of mending a couple of glass fragments together from the pandora i'll be using an adhesive and epoxy adhesive to glue the fragments together this is are these all from the pandora yes they are yeah yeah and we're just what we're doing here is we're trying to assess the condition of the object and what's the reading for andy this is a ph reading and this is just here to check the stability the solution to make sure that the iron is going to be stable at that ph level which it is it's in the right range and we're impressing a current into the metal which is converting the corrosion product and actually helping to release chloride ions which will cause deterioration of the artifact off townsville i search for a fabled pirate legend you know lynn there's quite a treasure story here on magnetic island a japanese pirate a yamada nagamasa apparently was plundering ships you know in the southwest pacific and he came here to magnetic island and apparently buried his treasure somewhere here and people have looked for it but no one has found it yet and this bay here is the only anchorage that he could have sat in while he buried the treasure so what i'm looking for is some significant landmark that he couldn't recognize if he wanted to come back and pick up the treasure what about that big rock up there ben let's flick right down the middle yeah that's a real landmark i think we should check it out ah there it is there's a crevasse running all the way through i think we can get in wow boy so what do we look for a sign x marks the spot ah ah see this lin look this little hollow here and a cross and there's a line two going out and looks like an arrow a couple of diamonds definitely something that pretty faded i think we've got to sketch it and i have a really good look at what it is all right there's a ring and a cross and this big up sweep with the two arrows oh little gecko looking at it and these diamonds wonder i wonder what that means you know two diamonds and finally a little arrow on the top there it is len what does it mean i showed the symbol to renowned psychic and she said it tells her that a fabulous treasure is indeed buried here the dutch found australia's west coast by accident and left the bones of seven galleons and fabulous treasure on the coral reefs beacon island became an isolated strip of hell when the batavia survivors struggled ashore in 1629 the riches in a hole 10 chests of silver and gold caused mutiny massacre madness and torture 96 men women and children were slaughtered [Music] archaeologists have unearthed gruesome clues to violent deaths this one suffered a cutless blow to the head [Music] in 1973 i joined the west australian museum's team of archaeologists in their first excavation of the batavia in this archival film the divers are sandbagging the excavated timber hull to keep it in place until lifted and restored we help with the recovery of coins there are thousands of them [Music] hundreds of bricks are salvaged these were destined for the fortress in batavia the dutch capital of java australia's richest treasure trove is painstakingly restored [Music] today there are still some coins to be found down on the batavia graveyard if you know precisely where to look [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the mutineers in their gruesome murders for the treasure met an equally violent retribution tortured for ten days until they signed their confessions their hands were then cut off and they died on the gallows oh that was good get rid of that see what we got that's a wild man it's a german coin from the 30-year war he's holding a tree trunk like a staff and look at the date 1624 i mean that's old old and over on the back he's got a beautiful design now this is a very valuable coin this is worth you know at least a couple of thousand dollars but i can't sell it the australian government actually owns all the coins down here i recognize this one that's william of orange he's got a sword over his shoulder now he was actually the cause of the 30 year war because he was assassinated by the spanish so the spanish and the dutch went to war the date 16 19. this one's a cross i think it's called a cross dollar this this is german also and here we've got a double eagle a double eagle there and look at the date there it is 1586. now that's what 200 years before the colony of australia was founded with captain arthur phillip and it's been sitting on the seabed for 150 years before cook sailed along the east coast on the australian coastline this has been sitting that was amazing the remains of three more dutch treasure ships have been found in 1656 the gilt dragon piled up on a reef 110 kilometers north of perth all on board perished for those who made it ashore died of thirst carrying handfuls of useless coins [Music] calm seas belie the tragedy that unfolded here her remains are so scattered and buried it's only by chance i find a little of the treasure she carried [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] how'd you go oh i got some goodies hold out your hand there you are be careful yeah there's spanish pieces of eight eight reals in those days this coinage was common denomination all around the world you know the english the dutch everyone used this as general currency a lot more down there people you know the museum has picked up thousands and thousands of these somewhere out there along the rugged west australian coast lie three more dutch galleons an enormous treasure in gold and silver is yet to be found those crew who did not drown were cast ashore on an inhospitable coast and the little wealth they may have carried is now dead men's silver [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary - History

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Rating: 4.7050691 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full Documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), History, History Documentaries, Free Documentary History, History Documentary, Australia, West Australia, Batavia, Dutch East India Company, Dutch East Indies, New Holland, Shipwreck, Sunken Treasure, Pirate Treasure, Sunken Ship, James Cook, european colonization, Pirates, Bounty, mutiny, Lost Treasures, Gold, british east india company

Id: oIhh3RdGsN4

Length: 51min 1sec (3061 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 27 2021