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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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NARRATOR: Why did
three men vanish

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without trace from
the lighthouse

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on this lonely Scottish island?

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What was their fate?

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Is this a photograph of a
mermaid, the weird half woman,

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half fish of seafarers' tales?

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This egg was laid by an extinct
bird found only in Madagascar.

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How did it come to
be buried 4,000 miles

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away on a beach in Australia?

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Mysteries from the files
of Arthur C. Clarke,

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author of "2001," and
inventor of the communications

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satellite.

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Now in retreat in Sri Lanka,
he ponders the rituals

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of this and other worlds.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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ARTHUR C. CLARKE: The liner that
brought me to Sri Lanka in 1956

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docked just below this
hotel, the Grand Oriental

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here in Colombo.

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This is one of the great
harbors of the world.

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From here, ships
embark on voyages

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all over the Indian Ocean.

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It's a sea I've come
to love, and I've spent

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hours exploring its depths.

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In fact, I celebrated my
75th birthday 100 feet down

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five miles off the coast here.

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The oceans of the world
hold many secrets.

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Weird creatures, perhaps
even our old friend,

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the great sea serpent.

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But there are many
other mysteries much

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nearer the surface.

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Seafarers tend to
be good observers.

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But when they say they
spotted a mermaid,

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can we really believe them?

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NARRATOR: These two scientists
take mermaids seriously.

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But their experiments on
one of Canada's Great Lakes

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have convinced Irmgard
Schroeder and Waldemar Lehn

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that the sailors' sightings are
illusions created by mirages.

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WALDEMAR LEHN: OK.

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We got a nice-- faint, but
nice-- mirage of Willow Island.

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I can actually identify
the trees on it.

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NARRATOR: Lehn has
photographed mirages

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to study the phenomenon.

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Here the setting
sun is distorted

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like an abstract painting.

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This looks like a UFO, but
it's really the upside down

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image of the island beneath.

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A mirage is an optical illusion
created when light rays

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are bent in freak weather.

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A mermaid sighting
in a Viking saga

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struck a chord with
Irmgard Schroeder.

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IRMGARD SCHROEDER: Well,
the mermaid was described

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as a very tall monster.

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And it appeared to rise
straight out of the water.

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It had a shoulder,
neck, head, eyes, mouth.

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And from the shoulders down,
it seems to narrow down.

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In other words, this
animal had never

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been seen from the waist down.

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WALDEMAR LEHN: In my
opinion, sightings

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of mermaids and
mermen are bound to be

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mirages of common objects.

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They could be
mirages of-- I guess

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the best ones would
be sea mammals

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like whales, walruses, seals.

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If there happens to be a good
mirage active at the time,

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this will elongate their head
into a tall, thin object.

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Once we had the theory of
the merman fairly clear

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in our minds, we
thought we better

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get some photographic
evidence that such things

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could actually happen.

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So I began to take field
trips to Lake Winnipeg.

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I was very fortunate in getting
a photograph of a boulder that

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was very strongly refracted
upward into an elongated shape

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that looked almost
exactly like the shapes I

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had postulated theoretically.

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At the time I took the
picture, I didn't even

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know that it was a boulder.

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I just took the picture.

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Subsequently, I was able
to identify where it was

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by recording the line of sight.

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We walked up close to it and
we took another picture of it.

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And it was indeed a relatively
small boulder, about

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perhaps a meter in diameter.

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NARRATOR: The mirage
distorted the stone to look

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like a head and shoulders.

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Easy to mistake for
the mermaid described

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in the ancient writings.

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WALDEMAR LEHN: In
modern day, there

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haven't been very
many reports of mermen

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in the North Atlantic
and the Greenland Sea.

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I think part of the
reason is that the sailors

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are far too high off the water.

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I think a Viking
sitting in his longboat

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would be just at
the right elevation.

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NARRATOR: More modern sightings
of mermaids in Papua New Guinea

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lured this American
halfway across the world.

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Explorer Tom Williams
organized an expedition

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and recorded it
on his home video.

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The weird tales of the
locals spurred him on.

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Tell us about her skin, and
the contrast upper and lower.

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From the head down about
here, it's part of the body.

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And a women's body.

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Yes.

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From here to
downstairs is fish.

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Uh huh.

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Yeah.

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How about arms and hands?

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With arms, hands,
head and eyes.

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TOM WILLIAMS: What--
what were her hands like?

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Looked like [INAUDIBLE].

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TOM WILLIAMS: When we first
arrived in New Guinea,

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after dropping anchor in a bay,
after being there 10 minutes,

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we saw this graceful tail
break the surface water

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and slide slowly under it.

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It was a very graceful
whale-like tail,

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but not the size of a whale.

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And we saw a rolling
back break the surface,

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after which the tail would
break up and slowly descend.

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Of course, we were beside
ourselves with-- with joy

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when we saw this.

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And a little bit later, a
native came up in a rowboat

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and told us in
Pidgin that yes, yes,

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this was the Ilkai,
the legendary animal

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that we'd heard about.

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NARRATOR: Williams suspected
this creature, the dugong,

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had inspired the stories.

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But the locals said no.

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TOM WILLIAMS: There
is a different word

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in the general
language for dugong.

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And in New Guinea
Pidgin, there's

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a distinction between dugong
and a mermaid as well.

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We ran into several people
whom we interviewed in Pidgin

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who described it as ladyfish.

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The Pidgin word for dugong is
[PIDGIN], which is salt water

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cow, literally translated.

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And they told quite
convincing tales of an animal

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that was in no way a dugong.

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She has breasts, long hair,
arms, and lives in the sea.

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And he said there's a man and
a woman and a baby out there.

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NARRATOR: But
Williams' suspicions

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were soon confirmed
when this sad corpse

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washed up on the beach.

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Locals had sworn
it was a ladyfish,

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but there could be no
mistaking a dead dugong.

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So why were the mermaid
stories ever taken seriously?

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TOM WILLIAMS:
Well, it's probably

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like any sort of
men's association

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anywhere in the world.

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Somebody tells a
story and nobody's

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really sure whether he's lying.

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And so somebody comes
back with another story.

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And pretty soon
there's this club,

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and if you don't
have a story, you're

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not a member of the club.

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So you don't call
each other for lying,

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you just add to the stories.

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And pretty soon,
everybody winds up

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trapped in this belief system.

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It happens in bars
around the world,

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so why not in New Guinea?

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NARRATOR: At Edinburgh's
veterinary school,

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the x-ray team has a
most unusual patient.

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Could this tiny creature
be a baby mermaid?

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--one of these before.

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What do you reckon?

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Do you reckon maybe a
small cat or a lizard?

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Try as a small cat.

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We'll see if that works out.

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NARRATOR: David Heppell
wants the x-rays

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to tell him whether this
strange carcass is real.

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DAVID HEPPELL: Wiring of the
fingers-- fairly thin wire

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here.

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NARRATOR: An avid
mermaid hunter,

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he has seen fakes before.

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Sadly, this is another,
made of wire and plaster.

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DAVID HEPPELL: I think
we see there's absolutely

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no trace of any skull--
-No, no.

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DAVID HEPPELL: Inside the head.

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So this idea of them being
a small monkey at the front,

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I think we can
certainly discount that.

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No sign of any bones in there.

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NARRATOR: At the
Museum of Scotland,

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David Heppell is
Curator of Mollusks.

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But he still finds time
for his hobby-- collecting

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eyewitness stories of mermaids.

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He's netted a rich haul
from Scottish seas.

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DAVID HEPPELL: There are
actually more sightings

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and reports of mermaids from
Scotland than from anywhere

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else in the world.

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One of the best
documented sightings

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of a mermaid from Scotland was
that from Thurso in Caithness

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on the north coast at the
very end of the 18th century.

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And the witness there
was a local schoolmaster.

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In "The Times" of the
eighth of September, 1809,

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he wrote, "In the course
of my walking on the shore

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at Sandside Bay, my attention
was arrested by the appearance

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of a figure resembling an
unclothed human female sitting

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on a rock combing her hair."

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And it stayed on the rock for
three or four minutes before it

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slipped back into the
sea, and he noticed

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that it had a fishy tail.

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Apart from several
stories of sightings,

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there is also from
Scotland a story

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of a rather remarkable capture
of a mermaid in the Shetland

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Islands in the year
1833, when six fisherman

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found a creature
they didn't recognize

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entangled in their lines.

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They were certainly
intrigued by the fact

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that it had what seemed to
be large, human-like breasts.

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And it was light gray in
color, pure white on the belly.

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And in this case, they
say it had webbed fingers

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and the eyes were
small and blue.

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Unfortunately, they didn't
bring it back to port

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because it was giving these
piteous cries and they also

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had the superstition
that it was probably

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unlucky to capture a mermaid.

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After that, a sizable
reward was offered

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for the capture of
another one, but it

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has not yet been claimed.

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NARRATOR: In Australia,
nine year-old Jamie Andrich

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and his playmates made an
extraordinary discovery

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in 1993 on their local beach.

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So great was the
sensation they promptly

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reburied their
treasure, and it took

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a government
minister to persuade

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them to reveal where it was.

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This was the cause of the
fuss-- a vast fossilized egg

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laid by the extinct
elephant bird.

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For Jamie, the discovery
meant celebrity status.

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REPORTER: The egg will go
on display in the city,

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but for the kids at
St. Anthony's Primary,

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a firsthand look
at the fossil that

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has become Jamie's golden egg.

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But whether it lasts another
2,000 years is anybody's guess.

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What do you think, Jamie?

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[LAUGHS] Monika Kos,
Seven Nightly News.

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NARRATOR: On the other side of
the world at London's Natural

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00:11:01,270 --> 00:11:04,890
History Museum, prehistoric
bird expert Cyril Walker is

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excited by the discovery too.

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CYRIL WALKER: Elephant bird eggs
are really just like gold dust.

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00:11:10,940 --> 00:11:13,840
There are only 27
specimens in the world.

251
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,750
We are very fortunate
to have 11 of them.

252
00:11:16,750 --> 00:11:19,025
They are really, really rare.

253
00:11:19,025 --> 00:11:21,790
NARRATOR: A single elephant
bird egg would have held two

254
00:11:21,790 --> 00:11:24,220
and a quarter
gallons of yolk, 150

255
00:11:24,220 --> 00:11:25,770
times as much as a chicken's.

256
00:11:25,770 --> 00:11:27,530
CYRIL WALKER: Without
doubt, they're the largest

257
00:11:27,530 --> 00:11:29,110
egg you'll ever find.

258
00:11:29,110 --> 00:11:32,620
The largest animal possibly
as well as far as weight

259
00:11:32,620 --> 00:11:33,620
is concerned.

260
00:11:33,620 --> 00:11:35,160
The moa from New
Zealand possibly

261
00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,950
stood a little higher, which
we have a bone here-- leg bone.

262
00:11:38,950 --> 00:11:41,590
But the major thing that
we have with the elephant

263
00:11:41,590 --> 00:11:43,210
bird of course, is its size.

264
00:11:43,210 --> 00:11:44,705
Hence the name elephant bird.

265
00:11:44,705 --> 00:11:48,050
Now if we look at the thigh
bone, which is this bone here,

266
00:11:48,050 --> 00:11:50,420
and compare it
with the moa bone,

267
00:11:50,420 --> 00:11:54,630
one can start to get some
idea of the actual size

268
00:11:54,630 --> 00:11:55,980
of this animal.

269
00:11:55,980 --> 00:12:00,000
Estimated at being somewhere
in the region of 500 kilos,

270
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,060
or 1,000 pounds.

271
00:12:02,060 --> 00:12:04,070
NARRATOR: The elephant
bird lived only

272
00:12:04,070 --> 00:12:06,990
on the island of Madagascar
off the southeastern coast

273
00:12:06,990 --> 00:12:08,060
of Africa.

274
00:12:08,060 --> 00:12:09,370
So how could its
egg have traveled

275
00:12:09,370 --> 00:12:11,460
4,000 miles to Australia?

276
00:12:11,460 --> 00:12:12,820
CYRIL WALKER: There
are three scenarios

277
00:12:12,820 --> 00:12:14,744
that actually come to mind.

278
00:12:14,744 --> 00:12:15,910
The first one is
that it could have

279
00:12:15,910 --> 00:12:18,540
been a native Australia bird.

280
00:12:18,540 --> 00:12:21,350
But the only animal that could
have actually have laid such

281
00:12:21,350 --> 00:12:23,460
an egg became extinct
30 million years

282
00:12:23,460 --> 00:12:26,600
before we know that this
egg was actually laid.

283
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,880
The second scenario could be
that the egg was washed out

284
00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,980
into the sea off
Madagascar from here

285
00:12:33,980 --> 00:12:37,290
and was picked up on a current--
which there are several-- that

286
00:12:37,290 --> 00:12:40,260
moved it across the Indian
Ocean and eventually

287
00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:43,870
coming to rest somewhere
in Western Australia just

288
00:12:43,870 --> 00:12:45,710
above Perth.

289
00:12:45,710 --> 00:12:48,150
My own idea is
relatively simple.

290
00:12:48,150 --> 00:12:49,910
I think it was in fact
on an East Indian,

291
00:12:49,910 --> 00:12:54,050
and probably dating 16th,
17th, 18th century type stuff.

292
00:12:54,050 --> 00:12:57,480
Would have gone round via
the cape up to Madagascar

293
00:12:57,480 --> 00:12:59,420
for picking up fresh
fruit and vegetables

294
00:12:59,420 --> 00:13:02,610
before undertaking their
journey over to the Far East.

295
00:13:02,610 --> 00:13:06,030
On the way, the ship possibly
got pushed off course by gales

296
00:13:06,030 --> 00:13:10,010
and actually pitched up on
the beaches of West Australia.

297
00:13:10,010 --> 00:13:12,900
The most amazing thing
is that it actually was

298
00:13:12,900 --> 00:13:14,910
preserved whole on the beach.

299
00:13:14,910 --> 00:13:17,130
And then being found
by young children who

300
00:13:17,130 --> 00:13:19,190
could have destroyed
it, but didn't

301
00:13:19,190 --> 00:13:22,050
because they actually realized
it may be of some importance.

302
00:13:22,050 --> 00:13:30,404


303
00:13:30,404 --> 00:13:32,360
NARRATOR: The Marshall
College Museum

304
00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,580
in Aberdeen on the
east coast of Scotland

305
00:13:34,580 --> 00:13:38,200
boasts a strange exhibit,
delivered almost to its door

306
00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,190
by the waters of the North Sea.

307
00:13:41,190 --> 00:13:45,702
It has always fascinated
curator Charles Hunt.

308
00:13:45,702 --> 00:13:47,950
CHARLES HUNT: We're looking
at an Inuit kayak that's

309
00:13:47,950 --> 00:13:50,280
been in the University
of Aberdeen's possession

310
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,130
for about 250 years.

311
00:13:53,130 --> 00:13:58,880
It's made from four seal skins
very carefully sewn together.

312
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,390
There have been various
ideas about where

313
00:14:01,390 --> 00:14:02,850
the kayak came from.

314
00:14:02,850 --> 00:14:05,890
Kayakologists have
suggested Labrador,

315
00:14:05,890 --> 00:14:07,520
they've suggested
West Greenland.

316
00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,300
But the consensus
seems to be that we

317
00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:11,610
have a kayak from
the central part

318
00:14:11,610 --> 00:14:13,842
of the east coast of Greenland.

319
00:14:13,842 --> 00:14:15,740
NARRATOR: The kayak's
exhausted owner

320
00:14:15,740 --> 00:14:19,830
paddled up the mouth of the
River Don over 250 years ago.

321
00:14:19,830 --> 00:14:21,810
He was an Eskimo
who had somehow made

322
00:14:21,810 --> 00:14:23,165
the perilous journey
from Greenland--

323
00:14:23,165 --> 00:14:25,610
more than 1,200 miles.

324
00:14:25,610 --> 00:14:26,910
He died within days.

325
00:14:26,910 --> 00:14:29,430
CHARLES HUNT: The impact
on the local people

326
00:14:29,430 --> 00:14:32,300
when they saw this
hairy man come out

327
00:14:32,300 --> 00:14:35,890
of the sea in this
very slight boat

328
00:14:35,890 --> 00:14:37,510
is very difficult to comprehend.

329
00:14:37,510 --> 00:14:41,450
People who probably never
left their villages suddenly

330
00:14:41,450 --> 00:14:45,216
to have this visitor from outer
space arrive on their doorstep.

331
00:14:45,216 --> 00:14:46,790
NARRATOR: But this
was not the first time

332
00:14:46,790 --> 00:14:48,640
such people had been seen.

333
00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,760
Eskimos had made the
journey to Scotland before.

334
00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,300
Sighted off the Orkney
Islands in the 17th century,

335
00:14:54,300 --> 00:14:56,530
they had been accused
of frightening the fish.

336
00:14:56,530 --> 00:14:59,710
CYRIL WALKER: I think it is
highly unlikely that a kayaker

337
00:14:59,710 --> 00:15:04,040
could paddle his way from
Greenland to Scotland, covering

338
00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,180
1,200 miles of high sea.

339
00:15:07,180 --> 00:15:09,590
That is the shortest distance
he would have to cover.

340
00:15:09,590 --> 00:15:12,430
It seems to me that it
is somewhere between very

341
00:15:12,430 --> 00:15:14,520
unlikely and
impossible that he made

342
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:16,620
the journey by his own efforts.

343
00:15:16,620 --> 00:15:19,060
NARRATOR: Whaling captains
we known to bring Eskimos

344
00:15:19,060 --> 00:15:21,090
home as exotic souvenirs.

345
00:15:21,090 --> 00:15:23,745
In the 1720s, Pock and
Keperock were stars

346
00:15:23,745 --> 00:15:26,450
of the Copenhagen Regatta.

347
00:15:26,450 --> 00:15:28,810
70 years earlier,
these Greenlanders

348
00:15:28,810 --> 00:15:31,520
were kidnapped and posed
for a painting in Norway.

349
00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,280


350
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,250
In Holland, this dried
hand of an abducted Eskimo

351
00:15:37,250 --> 00:15:39,130
has only three fingers.

352
00:15:39,130 --> 00:15:41,435
The fourth was
used as a bookmark.

353
00:15:41,435 --> 00:15:43,870
CYRIL WALKER: Danish
and Dutch whalers

354
00:15:43,870 --> 00:15:47,030
bringing Inuit back reached
such a peak at the beginning

355
00:15:47,030 --> 00:15:49,650
of the 18th century that
they passed a law making

356
00:15:49,650 --> 00:15:53,710
it an offense to kidnap Inuit.

357
00:15:53,710 --> 00:15:57,910
And it's quite possible
that our Eskimo was on board

358
00:15:57,910 --> 00:16:00,680
a Dutch or a Danish vessel
where the captain suddenly got

359
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:04,260
cold feet, and put him
overboard with his kayak

360
00:16:04,260 --> 00:16:06,205
and left him to drift,
and this poor man

361
00:16:06,205 --> 00:16:07,474
turned up on our coast.

362
00:16:07,474 --> 00:16:10,456


363
00:16:10,456 --> 00:16:13,170
ARTHUR C. CLARKE:
This view reminds me

364
00:16:13,170 --> 00:16:16,100
that our planet should
be called Sea, not Earth,

365
00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:18,820
because water covers 3/4 of it.

366
00:16:18,820 --> 00:16:22,610
So much ocean, so much
space for weird happenings

367
00:16:22,610 --> 00:16:23,906
and unexplained disappearances.

368
00:16:23,906 --> 00:16:29,764


369
00:16:29,764 --> 00:16:32,910
NARRATOR: Off Scotland,
Coast Guard Alastair Smith

370
00:16:32,910 --> 00:16:35,010
is heading for the
Flannan Islands,

371
00:16:35,010 --> 00:16:39,120
14 miles from the nearest land
in the wild North Atlantic.

372
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,520
In 1900, another ship
made this journey.

373
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,580
She had come to
relieve Flannan's three

374
00:16:44,580 --> 00:16:47,250
experienced lighthouse keepers.

375
00:16:47,250 --> 00:16:50,370
First mate Jay Moore
climbed ashore, but soon

376
00:16:50,370 --> 00:16:53,300
came running back in terror.

377
00:16:53,300 --> 00:16:55,820
The light was trimmed,
the living quarters

378
00:16:55,820 --> 00:16:58,210
were tidy, only two
sets of oilskins

379
00:16:58,210 --> 00:17:00,290
and boots were missing.

380
00:17:00,290 --> 00:17:03,080
One chair was overturned
in the kitchen,

381
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,940
but the island was deserted.

382
00:17:05,940 --> 00:17:08,780
Onshore, head keeper
James Ducat had lived

383
00:17:08,780 --> 00:17:10,910
in this house with his family.

384
00:17:10,910 --> 00:17:13,705
His daughter remembers
the last time she saw him.

385
00:17:13,705 --> 00:17:14,950
MISS ANNA DUCAT:
My brother and I

386
00:17:14,950 --> 00:17:16,359
were playing out in the garden.

387
00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:18,670
And we looked up and it
was my father coming out.

388
00:17:18,670 --> 00:17:22,150
He was going back
from his leave.

389
00:17:22,150 --> 00:17:26,030
And he walked up the garden
and lifted both of us

390
00:17:26,030 --> 00:17:29,530
and kissed us and walked
away and shut the gate.

391
00:17:29,530 --> 00:17:33,060
And we stood and looked
after him a minute or two.

392
00:17:33,060 --> 00:17:34,570
Watched him walking up the road.

393
00:17:34,570 --> 00:17:36,580
We lived in a house
right at the sea.

394
00:17:36,580 --> 00:17:40,470
The sea was just across from us.

395
00:17:40,470 --> 00:17:43,580
And we run after him
shouting, "Daddy, Daddy!"

396
00:17:43,580 --> 00:17:45,960
And he turned at the
corner, very corner,

397
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:50,730
and walked slowly back,
lifted us up again.

398
00:17:50,730 --> 00:17:54,450
So it looked as if he
had some presentiment

399
00:17:54,450 --> 00:17:57,580
of something going to happen.

400
00:17:57,580 --> 00:17:58,870
We never saw him again.

401
00:17:58,870 --> 00:18:00,335
That was the last
time we saw him.

402
00:18:00,335 --> 00:18:03,720


403
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,620
NARRATOR: People feared
isolation had driven

404
00:18:05,620 --> 00:18:08,270
the men to madness or suicide.

405
00:18:08,270 --> 00:18:10,380
Others spread rumors
that one had murdered

406
00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:12,510
the others before escaping.

407
00:18:12,510 --> 00:18:14,910
Some put it down to
supernatural revenge

408
00:18:14,910 --> 00:18:18,654
for the destruction of the
island's ancient chapel.

409
00:18:18,654 --> 00:18:19,920
ALASTAIR SMITH: There
had been a storm

410
00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,700
for several days, which would
lead to very high swell waves.

411
00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:26,920
Every seventh or eighth wave
is often very much greater.

412
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,820
And maybe perhaps one in 100
or 200 is of exceptional size.

413
00:18:30,820 --> 00:18:41,860


414
00:18:41,860 --> 00:18:45,230
That crane pedestal had been
damaged during the storm.

415
00:18:45,230 --> 00:18:47,944
And when the rescuers
arrived several days later,

416
00:18:47,944 --> 00:18:48,810
the crane had disappeared.

417
00:18:48,810 --> 00:18:51,423
It had been
completely swept away.

418
00:18:51,423 --> 00:18:54,100
It looks as if two keepers--
the principal keeper and one

419
00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:58,930
another-- went out just to
check the southwest landing.

420
00:18:58,930 --> 00:19:01,810
The third man would have kept
a weather eye out to sea,

421
00:19:01,810 --> 00:19:04,830
as he was a lot higher up
to see-- keep an eye out

422
00:19:04,830 --> 00:19:06,790
for large swells coming in.

423
00:19:06,790 --> 00:19:10,430
I think he noticed a
very large one coming in,

424
00:19:10,430 --> 00:19:12,520
ran out without putting
out his sea boots

425
00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,610
and oilskins to
warn his companions.

426
00:19:15,610 --> 00:19:18,630
But I think the wave came
in and was sufficiently

427
00:19:18,630 --> 00:19:23,180
large to sweep all three of them
off the land and into the sea.

428
00:19:23,180 --> 00:19:25,080
MISS ANNA DUCAT: The
men from Edinburgh

429
00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:26,405
all came to see Mother.

430
00:19:26,405 --> 00:19:28,370
There were about five of them.

431
00:19:28,370 --> 00:19:31,470
And we were playing in
the house at the time.

432
00:19:31,470 --> 00:19:35,180
When the doorbell rang,
when mother opened the door,

433
00:19:35,180 --> 00:19:38,825
these men were all standing
outside in the passageway, come

434
00:19:38,825 --> 00:19:41,990
with the news of the accident.

435
00:19:41,990 --> 00:19:45,630
Tell them their father and the
other men were washed away.

436
00:19:45,630 --> 00:19:48,815


437
00:19:48,815 --> 00:19:51,430
NARRATOR: The corporate
headquarters of the Atlantic

438
00:19:51,430 --> 00:19:53,940
Mutual Insurance
Company holds the key

439
00:19:53,940 --> 00:19:55,530
to another mysterious
disappearance.

440
00:19:55,530 --> 00:20:02,160


441
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,470
TED HENKE: Here at
the Atlantic Mutual,

442
00:20:03,470 --> 00:20:08,810
we've kept a disaster book since
1852 on through World War II.

443
00:20:08,810 --> 00:20:11,350
What we used to do is
record, handwritten,

444
00:20:11,350 --> 00:20:15,630
every marine disaster that
occurred throughout the world.

445
00:20:15,630 --> 00:20:17,110
NARRATOR: Ted Henke
is Senior Vice

446
00:20:17,110 --> 00:20:20,245
President of the claims
division of the Atlantic Mutual.

447
00:20:20,245 --> 00:20:22,830
The old books in the
library provide reminders

448
00:20:22,830 --> 00:20:25,850
of the company's illustrious
past, and of some

449
00:20:25,850 --> 00:20:28,050
of their unluckier clients.

450
00:20:28,050 --> 00:20:30,450
They also insured the
cargo of a brigantine

451
00:20:30,450 --> 00:20:32,290
called the "Mary Celeste."

452
00:20:32,290 --> 00:20:35,070
And to this day, the
Atlantic Mutual stuff

453
00:20:35,070 --> 00:20:36,645
can't be sure if
the company should

454
00:20:36,645 --> 00:20:38,420
have paid the claim
that was made on them

455
00:20:38,420 --> 00:20:39,595
when the ship disappeared.

456
00:20:39,595 --> 00:20:42,190


457
00:20:42,190 --> 00:20:46,240
In November 1872, the "Mary
Celeste" left New York

458
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,390
with a cargo bound for Italy.

459
00:20:48,390 --> 00:20:51,520
Four weeks later, she was
found adrift on the high seas.

460
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:55,300
Her crew had vanished
without trace.

461
00:20:55,300 --> 00:20:57,000
TED HENKE: The story
that you first get just

462
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:57,760
doesn't make sense.

463
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,190
You have a seaworthy vessel.

464
00:21:00,190 --> 00:21:02,010
You have a cargo that's intact.

465
00:21:02,010 --> 00:21:06,130
You have a captain that is
a part owner of the ship.

466
00:21:06,130 --> 00:21:09,840
He's got his wife and his small
daughter on board the ship.

467
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,130
It doesn't make sense
that they would leave

468
00:21:12,130 --> 00:21:14,305
the ship when the ship is fine.

469
00:21:14,305 --> 00:21:16,210
NARRATOR: Another good
reason for coming home

470
00:21:16,210 --> 00:21:18,880
safely was seven
year-old Arthur Briggs,

471
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,800
who had been left with his
grandparents in America.

472
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,970
From the ship's log,
the Atlantic Mutual

473
00:21:23,970 --> 00:21:25,900
could chart the "Mary
Celeste's" passage

474
00:21:25,900 --> 00:21:30,220
from leaving New York on the
7th of November until the 25th.

475
00:21:30,220 --> 00:21:33,480
Nine days after the last entry,
she was boarded by the crew

476
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:35,030
of to the "Dei Gratia."

477
00:21:35,030 --> 00:21:38,980
Strangely, this ship had been
beside her in New York Harbor.

478
00:21:38,980 --> 00:21:42,180
The "Mary Celeste" was sailed
to Gibraltar by "Dei Gratia"

479
00:21:42,180 --> 00:21:44,110
first mate Oliver Deveau.

480
00:21:44,110 --> 00:21:45,925
He was met by suspicion.

481
00:21:45,925 --> 00:21:48,550
TED HENKE: One question we
would've asked ourselves is how

482
00:21:48,550 --> 00:21:53,660
likely is it that two ships
berthed together in New York

483
00:21:53,660 --> 00:21:55,870
would meet in the middle
of the North Atlantic--

484
00:21:55,870 --> 00:22:00,230
2,138 miles apart-- by accident?

485
00:22:00,230 --> 00:22:02,670
And we would have
gone back to New York

486
00:22:02,670 --> 00:22:05,410
and we would have found that
the two ships-- the "Dei Gratia"

487
00:22:05,410 --> 00:22:08,740
and the "Mary Celeste"
were side by side.

488
00:22:08,740 --> 00:22:13,120
And there were some rumors, but
unsubstantiated or no proof,

489
00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:15,120
that the two captains
had dined together

490
00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:17,180
the night before they left.

491
00:22:17,180 --> 00:22:18,590
I don't know what
to make of that,

492
00:22:18,590 --> 00:22:19,850
but that's an interesting fact.

493
00:22:19,850 --> 00:22:28,741


494
00:22:28,741 --> 00:22:29,440
It's interesting.

495
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,330
You're looking at
the "Mary Celeste"

496
00:22:31,330 --> 00:22:32,880
through the eyes of sailors.

497
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:34,280
So the first thing
they look at is

498
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:35,810
to see that the
sails are in order,

499
00:22:35,810 --> 00:22:37,810
and the riggings and all that.

500
00:22:37,810 --> 00:22:40,170
But then they begin to
look below into the cabin

501
00:22:40,170 --> 00:22:43,310
to find things that
just appear odd.

502
00:22:43,310 --> 00:22:47,370
Everything is soaking wet
inside, but they're intact.

503
00:22:47,370 --> 00:22:50,620
There's trunks full
of clothes intact.

504
00:22:50,620 --> 00:22:53,090
There are provisions that
they use to sail the ship.

505
00:22:53,090 --> 00:22:54,850
They ate the food that
was on "Mary Celeste."

506
00:22:54,850 --> 00:22:57,040
There was full food.

507
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,310
There was the impression--
the beds were not made.

508
00:22:59,310 --> 00:23:02,010
Now there's speculation that
this, whatever occurred,

509
00:23:02,010 --> 00:23:05,270
happened between
8:00 AM and noon.

510
00:23:05,270 --> 00:23:09,020
In that world, in
that small cabin,

511
00:23:09,020 --> 00:23:11,010
you don't leave
your beds unmade.

512
00:23:11,010 --> 00:23:12,480
You tidy things up.

513
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,260
Sailors by nature,
are very tidy people.

514
00:23:15,260 --> 00:23:18,130
And Mrs. Briggs, the captain's
wife, was a tidy woman.

515
00:23:18,130 --> 00:23:19,900
She would have tidied up.

516
00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:21,580
The lifeboat was gone.

517
00:23:21,580 --> 00:23:22,830
But the only thing
that they could

518
00:23:22,830 --> 00:23:26,490
tell that they took with them
was some navigational tools.

519
00:23:26,490 --> 00:23:28,420
They didn't even take their
pipes-- their smoking pipes--

520
00:23:28,420 --> 00:23:30,470
which is something every
sailor in those days

521
00:23:30,470 --> 00:23:33,321
carried with him
everywhere he went.

522
00:23:33,321 --> 00:23:36,040
NARRATOR: Acres of print
have been devoted to trying

523
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,040
to explain the mystery.

524
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,670
Perhaps there was an
extraordinary accident

525
00:23:40,670 --> 00:23:45,170
that resulted in all on
board falling into the sea.

526
00:23:45,170 --> 00:23:47,970
Or could there have been
such a disease on the ship

527
00:23:47,970 --> 00:23:50,302
that death with the
sharks seemed preferable?

528
00:23:50,302 --> 00:23:53,494


529
00:23:53,494 --> 00:23:55,050
TED HENKE: The best
theory as to what

530
00:23:55,050 --> 00:23:57,900
happened has to do with the
cargo they were carrying.

531
00:23:57,900 --> 00:24:01,010
They had 1,700
barrels of alcohol.

532
00:24:01,010 --> 00:24:04,180
And when you go across the
ocean, from time to time,

533
00:24:04,180 --> 00:24:06,450
barrels break and leak.

534
00:24:06,450 --> 00:24:08,460
Very likely that when
they smelled that alcohol,

535
00:24:08,460 --> 00:24:09,860
they could have panicked.

536
00:24:09,860 --> 00:24:12,340
They could have even
been a little influenced

537
00:24:12,340 --> 00:24:16,290
by the smell of the alcohol and
maybe weren't thinking right.

538
00:24:16,290 --> 00:24:21,000
They maybe grabbed the
lifeboats, took a line,

539
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,770
threw it over one
of the railings

540
00:24:22,770 --> 00:24:26,640
or tied to the mast or whatever,
and drifted away from the boat

541
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,840
to let the fumes clear up.

542
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,300
And this could be the
equivalent of somebody

543
00:24:32,300 --> 00:24:34,550
locking their keys in
the car door and oops,

544
00:24:34,550 --> 00:24:36,490
and there goes the ship.

545
00:24:36,490 --> 00:24:39,450
As it turns out, there
was a squall at that time.

546
00:24:39,450 --> 00:24:41,210
And once the tow line
breaks, the people

547
00:24:41,210 --> 00:24:45,400
that are left in that lifeboat
have absolutely no chance.

548
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,720
NARRATOR: In the 19th
century, the company

549
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,485
paid the claim against them.

550
00:24:49,485 --> 00:24:51,865
Would it have done
the same today?

551
00:24:51,865 --> 00:24:53,870
TED HENKE: If we had to
prove this case today,

552
00:24:53,870 --> 00:24:55,360
we'd probably pay the claim.

553
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,150
This falls into one
of those categories

554
00:24:57,150 --> 00:25:00,480
where we suspect a lot and
we have a lot of suspicions,

555
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:01,600
but we couldn't prove it.

556
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,965
And if you can't prove fraud,
you can't deny for fraud

557
00:25:03,965 --> 00:25:06,472
and you pay the claim.

558
00:25:06,472 --> 00:25:09,640
ARTHUR C. CLARKE: I'm rather
glad that we don't know exactly

559
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,760
what fate befell the
crew of the "Mary

560
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:16,210
Celeste," because the answer
might be boringly simple.

561
00:25:16,210 --> 00:25:19,900
I heard a story recently about
a deserted luxury yacht found

562
00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:22,250
drifting in the Mediterranean.

563
00:25:22,250 --> 00:25:24,980
It turned out that its
crew and passengers had all

564
00:25:24,980 --> 00:25:28,350
gone for a midnight
swim and someone had

565
00:25:28,350 --> 00:25:31,170
forgotten to lower the ladder.

566
00:25:31,170 --> 00:25:34,820
[MUSIC PLAYING]

567
00:25:34,820 --> 00:26:03,167