1
00:00:07,455 --> 00:00:12,315
NARRATOR: The wild seas
of Europe's far north.

2
00:00:12,357 --> 00:00:16,017
For centuries, a
global centre of trade.

3
00:00:17,086 --> 00:00:20,496
And home to wealthy,
powerful nations.

4
00:00:23,678 --> 00:00:29,678
Their success relies on one
thing above all others:

5
00:00:29,719 --> 00:00:33,099
mastery of these
storm-tossed waters.

6
00:00:34,965 --> 00:00:37,135
Through astonishing
seamanship,

7
00:00:40,385 --> 00:00:42,555
and groundbreaking design,

8
00:00:49,049 --> 00:00:50,459
it begins with a people

9
00:00:53,122 --> 00:00:57,512
whose name strikes terror
across all Europe:

10
00:00:58,644 --> 00:00:59,654
The Vikings.

11
00:01:03,132 --> 00:01:08,762
From their heartlands in
Scandinavia, the Vikings
build extraordinary

12
00:01:08,792 --> 00:01:16,632
sailing ships and use them
to raid and conquer,

13
00:01:16,662 --> 00:01:19,602
reaching even the shores
of North America.

14
00:01:24,601 --> 00:01:31,951
So revered were these ships
that the Vikings buried their
great kings inside them.

15
00:01:36,544 --> 00:01:39,104
What was the secret
of their success?

16
00:01:46,623 --> 00:01:52,663
This quiet field in
Southern Norway may
provide an answer.

17
00:01:55,356 --> 00:01:59,396
A huge burial mound,
hinting at a deeper history.

18
00:02:01,190 --> 00:02:02,850
DR PASSCHE: It's so exciting.

19
00:02:02,881 --> 00:02:05,951
It's one of the biggest
we have in Scandinavia.

20
00:02:05,987 --> 00:02:08,127
And that's why we wanted
to go into this area.

21
00:02:09,474 --> 00:02:15,514
NARRATOR: Previous
excavations here have
found little.

22
00:02:15,549 --> 00:02:22,039
Now, armed with the latest
scanning technology,
archaeologist Knut Paasche,

23
00:02:22,072 --> 00:02:24,352
and his team, probe the site.

24
00:02:27,561 --> 00:02:35,431
As the ground starts giving
up its secrets, they identify
11 more burial mounds.

25
00:02:38,088 --> 00:02:41,198
And then the motherlode.

26
00:02:43,577 --> 00:02:46,957
DR PASSCHE: But there's
no doubt what it is.

27
00:02:46,994 --> 00:02:48,134
We have the shape.

28
00:02:48,168 --> 00:02:49,958
It's definitely a ship.

29
00:02:57,418 --> 00:03:00,248
NARRATOR: Very little
is known about the
Viking Longships

30
00:03:00,283 --> 00:03:02,673
of the eighth and
ninth centuries.

31
00:03:07,117 --> 00:03:14,227
Just a few images past
down, and a handful of
archaeological relicts.

32
00:03:16,265 --> 00:03:19,225
DR PASSCHE: Our main
problem today is that
we have so few left,

33
00:03:19,268 --> 00:03:23,578
so we don't know what did
they actually look like.

34
00:03:23,617 --> 00:03:29,307
NARRATOR: Of the thousands
of Viking ships that
once sailed the oceans,

35
00:03:29,347 --> 00:03:32,247
just four have been
found in Norway.

36
00:03:34,490 --> 00:03:37,220
Knute hopes this
could be another.

37
00:03:38,563 --> 00:03:41,393
DR PASSCHE: Well you
don't find things
like that every day.

38
00:03:41,428 --> 00:03:45,978
When we recognised,
whoa, this is actually
a ship, then it was wow!

39
00:03:47,641 --> 00:03:55,271
NARRATOR: And now armed
with his scanning data,
we can remove the soil,

40
00:03:59,135 --> 00:04:07,105
peel back the sediments
of time and reveal what
lies beneath.

41
00:04:09,835 --> 00:04:15,005
Hidden one and a half
feet below ground, an
unmistakable outline.

42
00:04:20,467 --> 00:04:23,227
Almost 65 feet long.

43
00:04:23,263 --> 00:04:25,683
Large enough for
a crew of 30 men.

44
00:04:30,339 --> 00:04:34,409
Made up overlapping oak
timbers, joined by nails.

45
00:04:38,450 --> 00:04:44,010
And this a flat, rectangular
structure towards
the centre of the ship.

46
00:04:50,531 --> 00:04:54,431
The burial mounds are in
the south east of Norway,

47
00:04:54,466 --> 00:04:58,056
close to where other buried
Viking ships have been found.

48
00:05:02,094 --> 00:05:06,414
Those are roughly the
same size and design.

49
00:05:08,031 --> 00:05:10,591
DR PASSCHE: It's very
comparable to the others.

50
00:05:10,620 --> 00:05:14,450
Then you have the length,
the width and the depth
of the ship as well.

51
00:05:16,074 --> 00:05:20,014
NARRATOR: For Knut, it
can mean only one thing.

52
00:05:20,043 --> 00:05:23,463
DR PASSCHE: There's no
doubt, it is a Viking ship.

53
00:05:27,465 --> 00:05:31,605
NARRATOR: Knut wants to
learn more about this
1,000 year old vessel,

54
00:05:31,641 --> 00:05:34,511
to understand the secrets
of Viking ship design,

55
00:05:37,406 --> 00:05:43,376
and learn how this race of
seafarers mastered the wild
seas of Scandinavia.

56
00:05:49,349 --> 00:05:52,839
First, he recognises
the overlapping plant
construction.

57
00:05:58,668 --> 00:06:01,978
It's a style known
as clinker built.

58
00:06:02,016 --> 00:06:05,566
Oak planks fastened
together with iron rivets.

59
00:06:08,575 --> 00:06:18,785
A design that's water proof,
and gives Viking ships the
flexibility they need

60
00:06:18,826 --> 00:06:22,346
to stand up to the power
of the Northern seas.

61
00:06:25,108 --> 00:06:27,278
DR PASSCHE: This
construction, first
of all it's flexible.

62
00:06:27,317 --> 00:06:29,317
That's very, very important.

63
00:06:29,354 --> 00:06:34,394
It's not as stiff as you can
see at other wooden boats
or ships further south.

64
00:06:34,428 --> 00:06:37,568
Not fighting the weather,
but actually go with it.

65
00:06:40,745 --> 00:06:44,645
NARRATOR: Knut turns his
attention to the flat
rectangular structure,

66
00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,130
sitting in the
heart of the vessel.

67
00:06:47,165 --> 00:06:49,995
Its location at the centre
of the ship is a clue.

68
00:06:53,516 --> 00:06:57,516
It must have once supported
a large mast and sail

69
00:06:57,555 --> 00:07:00,445
key breakthroughs
in ship design.

70
00:07:06,978 --> 00:07:11,498
A simple rowing boat could
never traverse these seas.

71
00:07:11,534 --> 00:07:16,644
Knut also notes the
shape and position of
the flat structure,

72
00:07:16,677 --> 00:07:20,747
cleverly placed to
distribute the huge
forces on the sail

73
00:07:20,785 --> 00:07:22,745
down into the frame
of the ship,

74
00:07:25,065 --> 00:07:30,545
allowing Viking
expeditions to withstand
even gale force winds.

75
00:07:34,281 --> 00:07:38,011
DR PASSCHE: They have all
these details in the ship
that they have used hundreds

76
00:07:38,043 --> 00:07:40,873
of years to learn
how to build them,

77
00:07:40,908 --> 00:07:43,768
and that's why they actually
could survive out there.

78
00:07:52,541 --> 00:07:57,371
NARRATOR: But these details
alone can't explain the
Vikings legendary ability

79
00:07:57,407 --> 00:08:02,787
to navigate the
stormiest oceans and
even the wild Atlantic.

80
00:08:06,796 --> 00:08:09,486
A piece of the
puzzle is missing.

81
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:16,250
And to find what that
is, Knut's come here

82
00:08:18,532 --> 00:08:22,922
to study the most
beautifully preserved
Viking ship ever found.

83
00:08:26,713 --> 00:08:33,693
Discovered close to the Oslo
Fjord, at 70 feet long,

84
00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:38,380
it's similar in size
and construction to
his own discovery.

85
00:08:41,072 --> 00:08:43,182
DR PASSCHE: You have
these beautiful lines
going downwards.

86
00:08:43,212 --> 00:08:44,422
They're not only beautiful.

87
00:08:44,454 --> 00:08:46,944
This is actually
really important.

88
00:08:46,974 --> 00:08:50,224
NARRATOR: And beyond the
strength and flexibility
of the ship's unique

89
00:08:50,253 --> 00:08:55,783
wooden construction,
there's something else.

90
00:08:58,986 --> 00:09:01,366
Its hydrodynamic profile.

91
00:09:03,543 --> 00:09:06,443
The Vikings were centuries
ahead of their time

92
00:09:06,476 --> 00:09:11,026
in understanding the
principles of streamlining

93
00:09:11,067 --> 00:09:14,687
and how to keep a ship
riding on top of the waves.

94
00:09:16,141 --> 00:09:17,591
DR PASSCHE: When you
meet the waves,

95
00:09:17,626 --> 00:09:20,556
the ship should actually
swallow the waves with it.

96
00:09:20,594 --> 00:09:24,434
The water should go underneath
and lift the ship in the
middle and the water

97
00:09:24,460 --> 00:09:26,290
should be pushed
out in the back.

98
00:09:30,915 --> 00:09:35,885
NARRATOR: The design that
lies behind the Viking
legend is now clear.

99
00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:44,760
Brilliantly engineered
to skim across the most
violent waters.

100
00:09:48,864 --> 00:09:55,014
A sleek, ocean raider built
for exploration and conquest.

101
00:10:00,945 --> 00:10:06,775
Capable of taming the
wild oceans, wherever
they may be.

102
00:10:12,991 --> 00:10:18,131
Knut has cracked the DNA of
his buried ship's design,

103
00:10:18,169 --> 00:10:20,649
but there is still
one final puzzle.

104
00:10:25,383 --> 00:10:32,633
Like the Ancient Egyptians
before them, ship burial
was an old Viking custom.

105
00:10:33,460 --> 00:10:38,710
Sending a dead king
along with all his most
treasured possessions

106
00:10:39,777 --> 00:10:42,187
on a final journey
to the Afterlife.

107
00:10:43,677 --> 00:10:50,477
Other burial ships have
been found close to the sea,
but this one is different.

108
00:10:51,651 --> 00:10:55,971
DR PASSCHE: I mean we are
more than a kilometre
away the sea here.

109
00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,450
Why on earth have they
brought the ship all
the way in here?

110
00:11:09,910 --> 00:11:13,780
NARRATOR: Marine
archaeologist Knut
Passche wants to find out

111
00:11:13,811 --> 00:11:18,641
why a buried Viking ship
has been found so far
from the coast.

112
00:11:20,024 --> 00:11:22,374
DR PASSCHE: That
has been a mystery.

113
00:11:22,405 --> 00:11:29,855
It's not easy to carry
more than 2 tons maybe
of oak in here.

114
00:11:29,896 --> 00:11:34,616
NARRATOR: Norway's coastline
of small inlets and deep
Fjords is the result

115
00:11:34,659 --> 00:11:37,249
of millions of years of
geological change,

116
00:11:40,354 --> 00:11:44,634
especially the long Ice
Age, when glaciers
covered this land.

117
00:11:49,225 --> 00:11:54,125
As Knut studies the pattern
of that geological change,

118
00:11:54,161 --> 00:11:56,341
he makes a surprising
discovery.

119
00:11:59,822 --> 00:12:05,902
During the Viking era,
the coastline here
looked very different,

120
00:12:06,829 --> 00:12:09,799
with the sea much
higher than it is today.

121
00:12:12,317 --> 00:12:19,077
And that means these fields
were part of the Fjord,

122
00:12:19,117 --> 00:12:21,837
and this narrow stream
running all the way up

123
00:12:21,879 --> 00:12:23,119
towards the burial site,

124
00:12:26,366 --> 00:12:27,746
was a river.

125
00:12:31,060 --> 00:12:36,690
Norway's changing geology
explains why Knut's
vessel lies so far inland.

126
00:12:39,448 --> 00:12:42,928
DR PASSCHE: You could
actually row it into the
river and up the creek.

127
00:12:46,662 --> 00:12:49,422
NARRATOR: It's now possible
to understand exactly

128
00:12:49,458 --> 00:12:53,808
what happened here 1,000
years ago, as the Vikings

129
00:12:53,842 --> 00:13:00,372
bring their most hallowed
possession to be buried along
with their fallen king.

130
00:13:12,515 --> 00:13:17,515
With their Longships
designed for raiding
and crossing oceans,

131
00:13:17,555 --> 00:13:19,825
the Vikings reach
ever further.

132
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:29,880
Could the discovery of
these circular stones hold
the key to the next chapter

133
00:13:29,912 --> 00:13:36,332
in the evolution of
Viking society, and
of their ships?

134
00:13:40,578 --> 00:13:45,448
Here close to the Southern
tip of Norway is an
ancient shipping route

135
00:13:45,479 --> 00:13:49,969
used for centuries by
seafarers to travel
along the coast

136
00:13:50,001 --> 00:13:53,111
protected from the
worst of the weather.

137
00:13:57,388 --> 00:14:01,498
DR PASSCHE: This landscape
is quite dramatic.

138
00:14:01,530 --> 00:14:03,290
Something could have
happened while they came in,

139
00:14:03,325 --> 00:14:06,355
because it's very narrow
through this Sounds here.

140
00:14:09,918 --> 00:14:16,888
NARRATOR: It's here that the
chance discovery of some
strange looking stones

141
00:14:16,925 --> 00:14:21,575
could help explain how
the Viking way of life
began to change.

142
00:14:24,311 --> 00:14:29,871
PAL: A diver called and said
yes, seen a lot of rounded
stones with a hole in it.

143
00:14:29,903 --> 00:14:32,603
Yes, I think that we
have to check this.

144
00:14:36,116 --> 00:14:38,906
NARRATOR: With the stones
just a short distance
from the harbour,

145
00:14:43,261 --> 00:14:47,891
the archaeological team
sets out to make a thorough
investigation of the channel.

146
00:14:51,683 --> 00:14:55,763
DR SOREIDE: We are going
to a really advanced
scanning of the sea floor

147
00:14:55,791 --> 00:14:58,661
to look at the stones
in more detail today.

148
00:15:02,660 --> 00:15:09,120
NARRATOR: Now, with those
high resolution scans,

149
00:15:09,149 --> 00:15:11,979
we can drain the shore
of Southern Norway

150
00:15:13,740 --> 00:15:18,990
to discover for the first
time what lies beneath
these waters.

151
00:15:25,648 --> 00:15:35,138
A cluster of at least 26
stones, each one is made
of hard rock,

152
00:15:35,175 --> 00:15:41,625
is almost a foot in
diameter and weighs
around 75 pounds

153
00:15:44,322 --> 00:15:49,122
Perfectly round and with a
hole drilled in the middle.

154
00:15:53,607 --> 00:15:58,407
The team soon realizes
they must be grindstones.

155
00:16:00,649 --> 00:16:04,269
DR SOREIDE: They came
in pairs. You have one
on the bottom

156
00:16:04,308 --> 00:16:09,758
and you rotate the other one
and you then can make flour.

157
00:16:11,591 --> 00:16:18,321
NARRATOR: Studying the
site, the team notices
something important.

158
00:16:18,356 --> 00:16:24,326
The stones are strewn in a
definite pattern, lying the
length of a narrow ditch

159
00:16:24,362 --> 00:16:25,922
at the bottom of
the channel.

160
00:16:28,194 --> 00:16:36,374
PAL: The way it looks is it
tells us quite obviously that
this has to be a wrecked ship.

161
00:16:36,409 --> 00:16:41,069
NARRATOR: A wreck whose
wooden remains have
completely rotted away.

162
00:16:41,103 --> 00:16:44,243
DR SOREIDE: The total
extent of the site is
about 18 meters,

163
00:16:44,279 --> 00:16:46,939
probably something has
shifted so but it indicates

164
00:16:46,971 --> 00:16:49,351
that this has been a
fairly large ship.

165
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,430
NARRATOR: The team now
wants to discover what
kind of ship it was.

166
00:17:02,435 --> 00:17:06,745
With the hull missing, that's
going to be difficult.

167
00:17:13,860 --> 00:17:16,040
Then, they find something.

168
00:17:26,424 --> 00:17:33,364
A reindeer antler, often
traded from Norway and used
to make combs or needles.

169
00:17:35,847 --> 00:17:40,707
To the scientists,
it's an important clue.

170
00:17:43,648 --> 00:17:49,518
PAL: This is the antler
that we managed to pull
out from the wreck site.

171
00:17:53,900 --> 00:17:59,420
As we can see, it's
the thickets part of
the reindeer antler

172
00:17:59,457 --> 00:18:03,007
and this is chopped
off in both ends.

173
00:18:04,773 --> 00:18:09,813
NARRATOR: By carbon dating
the marrow inside the bone,
they're able to date it

174
00:18:13,506 --> 00:18:17,226
to the final decades of
the Viking golden age.

175
00:18:23,032 --> 00:18:26,622
You don't need grindstones
for raiding and pillaging.

176
00:18:28,107 --> 00:18:29,377
Why so many?

177
00:18:33,319 --> 00:18:38,149
The team realizes they
had to be some form of
valuable cargo.

178
00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:46,060
DR SOREIDE: This was
definitely a part of the
cargo and probably an item

179
00:18:46,090 --> 00:18:49,680
that was for sale, that
they were going to
deliver to somewhere.

180
00:18:51,544 --> 00:18:54,724
NARRATOR: Using the
footprints of the stones,

181
00:18:54,754 --> 00:18:57,964
as they reconstruct the
shape of the vessel,

182
00:18:57,998 --> 00:19:04,318
it becomes clear this was
wider than the traditional
Viking Longship and deeper.

183
00:19:07,318 --> 00:19:09,148
Large enough to
carry those stones.

184
00:19:13,462 --> 00:19:19,922
A new direction in Viking
design: a Viking cargo ship.

185
00:19:27,752 --> 00:19:31,892
So what can this cargo reveal
about how the Vikings built

186
00:19:31,929 --> 00:19:35,589
and secured their
long term success?

187
00:19:44,700 --> 00:19:51,090
NARRATOR: After 1,000
years at the bottom of a
channel in Southern Norway,

188
00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:56,640
this cargo of grindstones
could reveal something
new about Viking trade.

189
00:20:00,958 --> 00:20:02,928
DR SOREIDE: I find this
site really exciting

190
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,170
because it's the first sort
of ocean going trade vessel

191
00:20:06,205 --> 00:20:08,345
that we have found
in Norway underwater.

192
00:20:08,379 --> 00:20:12,759
So I'm really hoping to see
where it had been, where it
came from, where it was going.

193
00:20:16,594 --> 00:20:21,154
NARRATOR: Careful examination
of the grindstones reveals
they had been deliberately

194
00:20:21,185 --> 00:20:24,425
hewn from a very particular
type of rock.

195
00:20:27,398 --> 00:20:33,578
A kind of schist that
carries a unique
geological signature,

196
00:20:33,611 --> 00:20:40,861
and using that signature,
the team is able to trace
it back

197
00:20:40,894 --> 00:20:45,174
to here: Hyllestad,
in Western Norway.

198
00:20:48,177 --> 00:20:51,177
By sea, a journey of
over 300 miles

199
00:20:56,047 --> 00:20:59,567
A distance that only
reinforces the theory

200
00:20:59,603 --> 00:21:03,023
that these had to be
valuable items for trade

201
00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:10,860
And by following where
these and other Viking
goods have been found

202
00:21:15,722 --> 00:21:18,282
an extraordinary
picture emerges.

203
00:21:21,038 --> 00:21:27,488
The unmistakable footprint
of a vast trading network.

204
00:21:29,805 --> 00:21:37,255
From the North Sea towards
Great Britain, Ireland and
Iceland, south to France,

205
00:21:37,296 --> 00:21:41,266
Spain and into
the Mediterranean Sea,

206
00:21:41,300 --> 00:21:46,340
even reaching across the
Atlantic, as far west as
North America

207
00:21:46,374 --> 00:21:52,384
and down the great rivers
of Asia, as far east as the
Black and Caspian Seas.

208
00:21:54,140 --> 00:21:57,520
DR SOREIDE: It shows that
the Vikings were really
opening up their world

209
00:21:57,557 --> 00:22:01,797
and being able to trade
with areas they had
never been to before.

210
00:22:02,597 --> 00:22:06,427
The ship also had to
evolve and that
interconnection

211
00:22:06,463 --> 00:22:08,403
is really what happened
at that time.

212
00:22:12,434 --> 00:22:17,034
NARRATOR: Just a few
decades after the sinking
of the cargo ship,

213
00:22:17,059 --> 00:22:20,749
the spread of
Christianity in the
Nordic countries brings

214
00:22:20,787 --> 00:22:23,887
and end to the Viking
way of life.

215
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,520
But over the coming
centuries, the Viking
seas continue

216
00:22:31,557 --> 00:22:35,627
to be a focus for
trade and conflict.

217
00:22:37,770 --> 00:22:41,530
How do the remains of
a sunken giant reveal
the battles

218
00:22:41,567 --> 00:22:44,257
to control these vital
trading routes?

219
00:22:49,954 --> 00:22:55,134
Sweden in the 16th century.

220
00:22:55,166 --> 00:22:58,166
An ambitious new king
sits on the throne.

221
00:23:01,725 --> 00:23:07,795
King Erik the 14th dreams
of dominating the Baltic's
lucrative trade routes.

222
00:23:09,111 --> 00:23:11,741
But something stands
in his way.

223
00:23:14,220 --> 00:23:18,810
Sweden's sworn enemies in
Denmark and Northern Germany.

224
00:23:19,674 --> 00:23:22,684
DR RONNBY: He has the
ambition to be a big
European king really.

225
00:23:22,711 --> 00:23:26,161
I mean he tries to be
one of the big players
in Europe.

226
00:23:28,648 --> 00:23:32,068
NARRATOR: And so he
commissions what in
the 16th century

227
00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:34,690
is the ultimate symbol
of power.

228
00:23:35,759 --> 00:23:40,449
A battleship, greater
than anything the
Baltic had ever seen.

229
00:23:41,558 --> 00:23:44,218
Her name is The Mars.

230
00:23:46,114 --> 00:23:49,014
RICHARD: Think of Mars like
the Death Star in Star Wars.

231
00:23:49,048 --> 00:23:51,398
It's a super ship.

232
00:23:51,430 --> 00:23:54,050
It has more cannons
than ever before.

233
00:23:54,087 --> 00:23:56,257
It's more robust.
It has more armour.

234
00:23:59,299 --> 00:24:02,409
NARRATOR: The Mars is
built for a new kind
of naval warfare

235
00:24:07,584 --> 00:24:14,254
Instead of getting up
close and boarding an
enemy's ship,

236
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:17,900
keep it at a distance and
sink it with cannon fire.

237
00:24:19,078 --> 00:24:23,008
RICHARD: That's the coming
way of fighting and you're
putting more and more guns

238
00:24:23,047 --> 00:24:25,257
and more and more gun decks.

239
00:24:27,327 --> 00:24:31,637
NARRATOR: King Erik's new
super weapon is put to the
test for the first time

240
00:24:31,677 --> 00:24:33,887
in May 1564

241
00:24:39,823 --> 00:24:42,413
At the head of a fleet of 37,

242
00:24:42,446 --> 00:24:52,076
including 16 large warships,
the Mars goes into battle
off Sweden's eastern coast.

243
00:24:55,632 --> 00:25:01,292
She damages the Danish
flagship and sinks another
enemy vessel in just minutes.

244
00:25:02,708 --> 00:25:05,118
RICHARD: Bang, bang,
bang and the ship sinks
and everybody's like

245
00:25:05,158 --> 00:25:07,128
"what happened here?"

246
00:25:09,749 --> 00:25:13,619
NARRATOR: But then on
just the second day of
her military career

247
00:25:19,172 --> 00:25:23,802
the Mars disappears
somewhere into the icy
depths of the Baltic

248
00:25:26,145 --> 00:25:33,045
with over 800 men on board,
vanishing from history

249
00:25:37,501 --> 00:25:42,371
How could this super
weapon of the Baltic
have simply disappeared?

250
00:25:46,579 --> 00:25:53,619
For marine explorers like
Richard Lundgren, finding
her becomes an obsession.

251
00:25:55,312 --> 00:26:00,702
RICHARD: We spent the better
part of our whole adult lives
searching for this shipwreck

252
00:26:00,731 --> 00:26:06,811
and I can't tell you how many
times people was telling
you, Richard, you're crazy.

253
00:26:06,841 --> 00:26:08,431
Why don't you give it up?

254
00:26:09,257 --> 00:26:14,707
NARRATOR: For over
20 years Richard's team
scours the Swedish coast,

255
00:26:14,745 --> 00:26:16,945
searching for the
missing ship.

256
00:26:18,646 --> 00:26:24,376
MEMBER 1: A few anomalies
there, but that could be
fish or something else.

257
00:26:24,410 --> 00:26:31,070
NARRATOR: They find
over 160 wrecks on the
bottom of the Baltic.

258
00:26:31,106 --> 00:26:33,866
Not one of them is the Mars

259
00:26:42,152 --> 00:26:48,992
Then one day, they
detect something truly
massive on the sea floor.

260
00:26:51,506 --> 00:26:55,956
RICHARD: I see up into
the water, the only
thing that tells you

261
00:26:55,993 --> 00:27:01,653
that you're actually falling
through space and actually
falling back into time,

262
00:27:01,689 --> 00:27:05,929
time travelling, is
the fact that you
see this line.

263
00:27:08,557 --> 00:27:17,977
NARRATOR: As they dive down
to over 230 feet a vast
shape begins to appear

264
00:27:18,015 --> 00:27:20,115
from the milky haze.

265
00:27:31,028 --> 00:27:33,408
After searching for
over 20 years,

266
00:27:36,447 --> 00:27:42,037
Richard Lundgren has
finally found what he hopes
is the wreck of the Mars.

267
00:27:43,144 --> 00:27:46,294
RICHARD: It's like a mist
down there, a milky mist,

268
00:27:46,319 --> 00:27:54,399
like a ghostly mist and that
hull appear in front of you.

269
00:27:56,329 --> 00:28:03,099
NARRATOR: With a wreck this
large, a diver only ever
sees part of the picture.

270
00:28:04,993 --> 00:28:07,583
RICHARD: You can't compare
with anything you've
seen before in the water.

271
00:28:07,616 --> 00:28:09,376
This is massive.

272
00:28:13,105 --> 00:28:16,895
NARRATOR: Now, using the
data from Richard's detailed
scan of the wreck

273
00:28:22,908 --> 00:28:30,708
we can drain the oceans
to reveal a vast ship on
the floor of the Baltic

274
00:28:36,887 --> 00:28:40,267
Scattered over an area the
size of a football field

275
00:28:48,140 --> 00:28:53,420
the bulk of the hull remains
intact with gun ports running
along its upper part.

276
00:28:58,081 --> 00:29:05,571
But the bow is entirely
missing the victim of
some unknown cataclysm.

277
00:29:07,815 --> 00:29:15,545
Cannon are strewn across the
site along with the twisted
remains of huge timbers.

278
00:29:19,102 --> 00:29:27,942
Over 55 yards long, and
15 yards wide, the Baltic had
never seen anything like her.

279
00:29:32,322 --> 00:29:34,812
RICHARD: The wreck site
is a perfect time capsule.

280
00:29:34,842 --> 00:29:39,502
There is very few wrecks
on this earth that are in
such a pristine condition.

281
00:29:40,848 --> 00:29:45,778
It's almost like it sank
yesterday, right, even if
it's more 450 years ago.

282
00:29:47,820 --> 00:29:49,820
But is it the Mars?

283
00:29:49,857 --> 00:29:50,997
We didn't know.

284
00:29:53,515 --> 00:29:56,825
NARRATOR: To find out, the
divers search for evidence.

285
00:30:00,281 --> 00:30:06,531
And find a bronze canon
over 15 feet long

286
00:30:11,292 --> 00:30:14,022
with a unique marker.

287
00:30:15,641 --> 00:30:20,961
DR RONNBY: The real
proof was when we saw the
coat of arms on the guns.

288
00:30:20,991 --> 00:30:24,821
Then we were 100 percent
sure that this was actually
the Mars we had found.

289
00:30:28,861 --> 00:30:32,111
NARRATOR: The drained
wreck site reveals that
the Mars carried over

290
00:30:32,140 --> 00:30:34,730
100 canon and other guns.

291
00:30:36,627 --> 00:30:40,557
A huge number for a
16th century warship

292
00:30:44,325 --> 00:30:50,745
Based on the evidence on
the sea floor and from
Swedish archives,

293
00:30:50,779 --> 00:30:56,159
it's now possible to
reconstruct what the Mars
must have looked like

294
00:30:56,199 --> 00:31:00,439
just before her final
and fateful battle.

295
00:31:05,208 --> 00:31:07,208
A true colossus.

296
00:31:12,525 --> 00:31:14,835
DR RONNBY: This is
a very big ship.

297
00:31:14,873 --> 00:31:19,363
In the bow it was quite a
high castle sticking up
and the same in the stern

298
00:31:19,394 --> 00:31:22,984
of the ship, it was
also quite a big
castle sticking up.

299
00:31:26,263 --> 00:31:30,203
NARRATOR: To equip her
for this new style of
naval warfare,

300
00:31:30,233 --> 00:31:36,143
the Mars had both upper
and lower gun decks,

301
00:31:36,170 --> 00:31:39,520
with canon ports spanning
the length of the ship.

302
00:31:41,554 --> 00:31:46,254
That kind of firepower
demanded a crew of at
least 600.

303
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:50,360
The population of a village.

304
00:32:01,609 --> 00:32:05,199
Mars more than lives up to
the myths surrounding her.

305
00:32:07,580 --> 00:32:11,760
But for Richard and his
crew, there is now a
further question.

306
00:32:15,347 --> 00:32:22,767
How does this invincible
titan of the seas end up
on the floor of the Baltic?

307
00:32:29,568 --> 00:32:32,358
PAL: Welcome back from the
Mars dive and I think today

308
00:32:32,398 --> 00:32:37,088
it was a very successful day
and very productive also.

309
00:32:37,127 --> 00:32:43,337
NARRATOR: For the team,
every piece of timber, every
artefact on the sea floor

310
00:32:43,375 --> 00:32:46,475
MEMBER 2: We have
georeference of
every single objet.

311
00:32:46,516 --> 00:32:52,066
NARRATOR: is a clue to be
deciphered in the quest to
understand what sank the Mars.

312
00:32:55,111 --> 00:32:57,631
DR RONNBY: When you see
Mars on the sea bottom,

313
00:32:57,665 --> 00:33:01,075
you can actually understand
what happened on the
surface.

314
00:33:03,843 --> 00:33:07,363
NARRATOR: Examining
the drained wreck, the
team begins to see

315
00:33:07,399 --> 00:33:08,989
what must have happened.

316
00:33:11,403 --> 00:33:16,443
RICHARD: When you get down
to Mars, you can see that
this is a battlefield.

317
00:33:16,477 --> 00:33:21,407
You can see that something
powerful and very dramatic
has happened here.

318
00:33:24,071 --> 00:33:31,321
NARRATOR: The bow is
entirely missing and appears
to have been blown clean off.

319
00:33:34,943 --> 00:33:39,783
The hull is cracked open,
while along the port side,

320
00:33:39,810 --> 00:33:44,400
these ballast stones
have been blasted right
out of the ship.

321
00:33:45,299 --> 00:33:47,989
And there is also evidence
of a significant fire.

322
00:33:52,513 --> 00:33:59,213
RICHARD: You can
actually smell the fire
and that's really eerie.

323
00:33:59,244 --> 00:34:01,944
I've never experienced
that before in my life.

324
00:34:05,629 --> 00:34:08,939
NARRATOR: The drained
wreck reveals that somehow

325
00:34:08,977 --> 00:34:12,637
this impregnable ship
has a weak spot.

326
00:34:15,536 --> 00:34:17,366
What is it?

327
00:34:20,575 --> 00:34:24,055
The team believes a
grappling hook found on
the side of the wreck

328
00:34:24,096 --> 00:34:25,506
could hold the answer.

329
00:34:29,584 --> 00:34:34,314
Its location suggests it
belongs not to the Mars,

330
00:34:34,348 --> 00:34:38,798
but to an enemy ship that
has managed to get close
enough to board her

331
00:34:44,392 --> 00:34:50,092
After the success of the
first day's battle, the
Mars finds herself alone.

332
00:34:52,780 --> 00:34:55,890
A change in wind direction
leaves her vulnerable

333
00:34:55,921 --> 00:34:58,611
and isolated from the rest
of the Swedish fleet.

334
00:35:04,378 --> 00:35:08,548
RICHARD: Mars alone is
a giant, but it needs
bodyguard.

335
00:35:08,589 --> 00:35:11,759
Without those bodyguards,
the other ships can come
very close and

336
00:35:11,799 --> 00:35:16,179
they can throw grappling
hooks and they can tie
themselves into the ship

337
00:35:16,217 --> 00:35:18,387
and then you simply
overwhelm it.

338
00:35:18,426 --> 00:35:21,076
And that's exactly
what happens.

339
00:35:21,636 --> 00:35:25,426
NARRATOR: Incendiary
bombs start fires on
board the Mars,

340
00:35:25,468 --> 00:35:30,128
and soon the two sides
are struggling in hand
to hand combat.

341
00:35:31,888 --> 00:35:35,888
DR RONNBY: Just in that
moment, there is an
explosion on board.

342
00:35:39,413 --> 00:35:42,353
RICHARD: One of the canons
mid deck caught fire

343
00:35:42,381 --> 00:35:47,901
and exploded and then it
went to the gunpowder
and then boom

344
00:35:47,938 --> 00:35:52,558
[explosion]

345
00:35:52,598 --> 00:35:55,148
When she explodes
she goes down quick.

346
00:35:58,156 --> 00:36:00,876
NARRATOR: The crew of the
Mars and the enemy sailors

347
00:36:00,917 --> 00:36:04,577
who board her vanish to
the bottom of the ocean.

348
00:36:06,578 --> 00:36:10,238
Perhaps as many as
1,000 men.

349
00:36:21,282 --> 00:36:26,322
King Erik's gambit to
seize control over the
Baltic sea has failed.

350
00:36:30,395 --> 00:36:34,465
But the historic rivalry
between Sweden and
Denmark continues.

351
00:36:39,852 --> 00:36:45,932
How does this pile of stones
reveal the enormous stakes
in another epic battle

352
00:36:45,962 --> 00:36:49,592
for control of these
contested waters?

353
00:36:53,349 --> 00:37:02,289
By the beginning of the 18th
century, Sweden's King
Charles the 12th is battling

354
00:37:02,323 --> 00:37:07,433
to dominate the great
seas of the north, but
he has many enemies.

355
00:37:10,331 --> 00:37:14,401
JENS: The suggestion that
we have in 1714, 15, is
that basically Sweden

356
00:37:14,439 --> 00:37:21,479
is facing a huge allied
axis of Denmark, Prussia,
Poland, Saxony and Russia.

357
00:37:21,515 --> 00:37:24,755
So Sweden against
everybody else.

358
00:37:26,347 --> 00:37:29,587
NARRATOR: Charles is forced
to retreat to his coastal
stronghold in what

359
00:37:29,626 --> 00:37:31,796
is now Northern Germany.

360
00:37:39,326 --> 00:37:42,776
The city of Stralsund.

361
00:37:42,812 --> 00:37:46,372
JENS: This was one of the
main fortresses the Swedes
had along the coast here

362
00:37:46,402 --> 00:37:48,302
and this is where the king
was, the Swedish king,

363
00:37:48,335 --> 00:37:53,885
Charles the 12th and
this is what they wanted
to protect most.

364
00:37:53,926 --> 00:37:58,346
NARRATOR: Stralsund
is very well defended.

365
00:37:58,379 --> 00:38:04,699
For the forces led by
the Danish to reach it,
there's only one way

366
00:38:06,974 --> 00:38:09,874
through this bay to
the East of the city.

367
00:38:13,705 --> 00:38:18,185
And now a new gas pipeline
being laid across that bay

368
00:38:20,850 --> 00:38:24,300
is about to collide with
the region's history

369
00:38:27,615 --> 00:38:33,685
Maritime archaeologist Jens
Auer is asked to investigate
the proposed route.

370
00:38:48,395 --> 00:38:51,115
JENS: We found a
number of anomalies.

371
00:38:51,156 --> 00:38:54,016
There were loads of places
that looked suspiciously

372
00:38:54,055 --> 00:38:56,845
like manmade objects
on the seabed.

373
00:38:57,990 --> 00:39:00,680
NARRATOR: And then he
finds something unusual

374
00:39:02,374 --> 00:39:04,964
right in the proposed
path of the pipeline.

375
00:39:07,137 --> 00:39:09,377
JENS: We see loads of
rocks on the seabed,
just a big mound.

376
00:39:09,416 --> 00:39:11,136
It looks a bit out of place.

377
00:39:18,459 --> 00:39:22,049
NARRATOR: Removing the
waters of the Baltic,

378
00:39:22,083 --> 00:39:26,503
reveals the strange scene
that confronts Jens and
his diving team

379
00:39:32,646 --> 00:39:37,026
At first, it appears
to be no more than a
pile of stones,

380
00:39:39,756 --> 00:39:42,616
but it becomes clear
there's more.

381
00:39:46,245 --> 00:39:49,385
Timbers sticking out
from beneath the stones.

382
00:39:52,873 --> 00:39:54,603
JENS: You think, okay
this is a shipwreck.

383
00:39:54,633 --> 00:39:58,713
It's a shipwreck under a
heap of stones, a mound
of stones basically.

384
00:39:58,741 --> 00:40:01,811
NARRATOR: How had a wrecked
ship ended up at the bottom

385
00:40:01,847 --> 00:40:05,817
of the Baltic buried
under those stones?

386
00:40:06,749 --> 00:40:08,539
JENS: This is where the
detective work starts.

387
00:40:13,341 --> 00:40:15,971
NARRATOR: Archaeologists in
Germany are investigating

388
00:40:15,999 --> 00:40:19,209
a wreck buried under
a pile of stones.

389
00:40:21,971 --> 00:40:26,461
They begin by carefully
recovering the timbers
from the sunken vessel

390
00:40:33,085 --> 00:40:36,805
Tree ring tests date
them to the turn of
the 18th century

391
00:40:44,476 --> 00:40:50,376
The very moment when this bay
was at the centre of the war
between Denmark and Sweden.

392
00:40:53,623 --> 00:40:56,833
JENS: We're at the entrance
to the Bay of Greifswald.

393
00:40:56,868 --> 00:40:58,318
This is the bay here.

394
00:40:58,352 --> 00:41:02,942
Between the island of
Rugen and the mainland.

395
00:41:02,977 --> 00:41:06,837
NARRATOR: The only way to
reach Sweden's King Charles
in his fortified city

396
00:41:06,878 --> 00:41:09,468
of Stralsund is via the bay.

397
00:41:12,331 --> 00:41:14,441
For approaching enemy ships,

398
00:41:17,544 --> 00:41:24,554
there's only one access
channel deep enough and out
of range of Swedish canon.

399
00:41:26,173 --> 00:41:29,183
JENS: That was the scary thing,
the week spot, the one place
where you could come through.

400
00:41:32,282 --> 00:41:36,222
NARRATOR: The buried
wreck lies exactly on
the weak spot,

401
00:41:36,252 --> 00:41:38,532
right in the middle of that
vulnerable channel

402
00:41:43,121 --> 00:41:47,021
For Jens, the wreck's
position cannot be a
coincidence.

403
00:41:52,717 --> 00:41:55,687
And returning to the drained
wreck reveals why

404
00:41:59,586 --> 00:42:05,006
At first glance, the rocks
covering the wreck appear to
be stones used as ballast

405
00:42:05,039 --> 00:42:09,869
by the sunken ship, but
there's something odd.

406
00:42:11,218 --> 00:42:17,428
JENS: Normal ballast
stones are small and these
were like massive rocks.

407
00:42:17,465 --> 00:42:19,015
NARRATOR: And that
isn't the only thing.

408
00:42:21,711 --> 00:42:26,721
Instead of lying within
the wreck, as you'd expect
with ballast stones,

409
00:42:26,751 --> 00:42:29,481
these rocks were
sitting on top of it.

410
00:42:32,446 --> 00:42:35,446
There is one possible
explanation.

411
00:42:37,002 --> 00:42:42,082
JENS: They looked like they
were used for sinking it on
purpose, intentionally.

412
00:42:42,111 --> 00:42:45,771
NARRATOR: It means the
ship must have been
deliberately scuttled.

413
00:42:50,119 --> 00:42:52,879
Then, Jens finds
something else

414
00:43:01,648 --> 00:43:04,338
The scuttled ship is
not alone.

415
00:43:07,170 --> 00:43:13,900
There are others lying
in a straight line right
across that narrow channel.

416
00:43:17,180 --> 00:43:22,880
It had to be a deliberate
barrier designed to block
the channel to enemy ships.

417
00:43:27,812 --> 00:43:31,782
JENS: When you look
in the area, you see that
this is not the only ship.

418
00:43:31,816 --> 00:43:37,196
There's actually 15 mounds
of stones over a distance
of about 840 meters

419
00:43:40,134 --> 00:43:44,074
stretching across the whole
shallow entrance to the bay.

420
00:43:51,870 --> 00:43:56,190
NARRATOR: Strengthened
with anchors and other
debris between each ship,

421
00:43:56,219 --> 00:43:58,979
it was almost impossible
to get through.

422
00:44:00,948 --> 00:44:03,568
JENS: They made a
good job of really
blocking this off.

423
00:44:05,504 --> 00:44:12,034
NARRATOR: And so, blocked by
the barrier, and unable to
invade via these forbidding

424
00:44:12,063 --> 00:44:22,253
cliffs, for almost two months,
the Danish fleet remained
stuck outside the bay

425
00:44:25,352 --> 00:44:29,082
But then, in September of
1750 something happens

426
00:44:32,255 --> 00:44:34,525
and the fleet makes
it through.

427
00:44:36,708 --> 00:44:40,818
JENS: So you have to
imagine 495 vessels,
boats out here,

428
00:44:40,850 --> 00:44:44,720
so the whole water is covered
with vessels coming to the
shore taking soldiers,

429
00:44:44,751 --> 00:44:47,581
infantry, cavalry to
the beach here.

430
00:44:51,412 --> 00:44:56,072
NARRATOR: This monument
commemorates the moment
when over 14,000 Danish

431
00:44:56,107 --> 00:44:59,967
and Allied soldiers
surge onto the island.

432
00:45:03,770 --> 00:45:07,840
A force three times the
size of the Swedish army.

433
00:45:08,498 --> 00:45:11,158
JENS: And that's really
the turning point in
this conflict.

434
00:45:12,537 --> 00:45:16,507
NARRATOR: By December,
Stralsund has fallen

435
00:45:21,891 --> 00:45:24,381
So how did they get
through the barrier?

436
00:45:26,068 --> 00:45:29,308
Only the Swedes know there's
a secret entry point.

437
00:45:31,211 --> 00:45:35,041
JENS: They left an opening,
but that opening was
invisible from the surface.

438
00:45:35,077 --> 00:45:37,977
If you don't know where
the opening is, it's
very hard to get through.

439
00:45:40,358 --> 00:45:44,158
NARRATOR: But one man
is ready to betray the
location of the opening.

440
00:45:46,260 --> 00:45:50,640
JENS: A pilot in Swedish
service ran away

441
00:45:50,678 --> 00:45:55,508
and joined the Danes
and he knew everything
about this barrier.

442
00:45:58,617 --> 00:46:00,647
NARRATOR: Going over
to the Danish side,

443
00:46:00,688 --> 00:46:02,758
he shows them the way
through the barrier

444
00:46:11,182 --> 00:46:13,082
As for the scuttled ships,

445
00:46:13,115 --> 00:46:18,285
they remain for hundreds
of years underwater and
forgotten.

446
00:46:18,327 --> 00:46:21,877
Hidden ghosts from
another battle to
control the Baltic.

447
00:46:25,265 --> 00:46:29,715
Today, Scandinavia is
peaceful and still an
important hub

448
00:46:29,752 --> 00:46:31,102
for international trade,

449
00:46:35,240 --> 00:46:39,420
while thousands of shipwrecks
silently recall the genius,

450
00:46:39,451 --> 00:46:45,351
the courage and the sacrifice
of those who sought to tame

451
00:46:45,388 --> 00:46:46,868
the Viking seas.

452
00:46:53,051 --> 00:46:54,051
Captioned by SubTitlePro LLC