Forbidden History - The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Shipwreck

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

In this episode of the Forbidden History podcast we follow a team of expert divers on their search to identify a mysterious shipwreck off the coast of Florida. Did this ship sink as the result of a WW2 targeted attack or is something more mysterious to blame, like the Bermuda Triangle? Cast List: Chuck Meide: Maritime Archaeologist Michael Barnette: Marine Biologist and Underwater Explorer Brendan Burke: Maritime Archaeologist Joe Citelli: Diver Axel Niestle: WW2 Historian Robert Tyler Eric Meyers: Narrator The Happiness Experiment: Start your journey to a happier, healthier you today – visit ⁠this link⁠ ⁠to begin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Forbidden History Podcast. This program is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It contains adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. Close to the infamous Bermuda Triangle lie the remains of a mystery vessel that has been baffling maritime experts for almost two decades. What we don't know, the name of the vessel, what happened to the crew? One thing we know for certain, there is a freighter at the bottom. This makes this another great mystery of the sea.

Is the ship yet another victim of the strange phenomena that surrounded the Bermuda Triangle legend? And why is the wreck completely uncharted? There's nothing reported to have been lost in this area. There shouldn't be a wreck there, but yet there is. Now, a team of maritime experts, armed with the latest underwater technology, is on a mission to identify.

defy the wreck and solve the mystery of its sinking. Along the coastline of Florida, more than 5,000 known shipwrecks litter the ocean bed. Florida is a giant hazard to navigation between the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. In over four centuries of historic shipping around Florida, hundreds of vessels have wrecked on our reefs,

in our dangerous inlets, and on our beaches. The shipwrecks are time-calfields. preserved in the sand below the seas. But for one of these wrecks, there is no record. It simply should not exist. It's a large vessel. It should be really easy to identify, but yet over 20 years, it's thwarted all my attempts

and it's really starting to just be a thorn on my side. Michael Barnett is an underwater explorer, who for 30 years has been discovering, diving, and identifying shipwrecks all around. all around the world. As a kid, I've always been fascinated with the ocean. That's what led me to become a marine biologist. But as an aside, I've also a very big history buff.

So obviously there's just that natural gravitation towards shipwrecks. One anonymous wreck in particular fascinates Michael. A theory at the top of the list is that this wreck is one of many missing ships that traveled through the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is really kind of a legendary phenomenon, and that area changes depending on who you talk to. It encompasses a large swath of the ocean.

The ship encounters a storm that's so powerful. It's not that uncommon an idea that a ship would found her at sea. The wreck is located 25 miles off the coast of Sebastian, Florida, and lies 300 feet deep in water at the edge of the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream has been the greatest highway in human history. It provides a natural source of energy to sail from the new world back to the old world. The Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida into the North Atlantic.

It's about 60 miles wide, maybe 4,000 feet deep, so it's a massive movement of water. Earth. Could this movement have carried a wreck that passed through the Bermuda Triangle to its current resting place? It's something you put your ship in if you're sailing from the south to the north, and it gives you an extra push. You save fuel, you save time. But while the area continues to be a crucial part of ocean travel today, it comes with dangers. The warm water intensifies hurricanes and tropical storms, creating a raft of potentially lethal conditions. Could treacherous weather have played a part in this ship sinking? The tricky climate is the reason Michael has only been able to dive the wreck

on a handful of occasions during the last 20 years. We were struck because it's sitting bolt up right in the bottom. Almost like a ghost ship. It looks like it's just steaming along the bottom. Very skeletal, though, there's areas where the hull plates have dropped away. It looks similar to what someone would imagine in a... a Hollywood movie. There are no visible markings left on the wreck that would identify it.

But what Michael has established from previous dives is that it appears to be a steel freighter from the 20th century, measuring roughly 270 to 300 feet in length. On one expedition, he was able to recover evidence that may shed some light. So the wreck has fallen apart over the years since we've been visiting her, but we have seen quite a few clues. Founds one shard of China. It was manufactured by the Shenango China Company in Newcastle, Pennsylvania,

which indicates potentially this vessel was American in origin. Shenango China operated for over 90 years from 1901. But Michael has determined that the maker's mark on the back of the plate dates its year of manufacture to 1912. He's also found another interesting artifact that may help identify the date of its sinking.

There's a large deck gun right on the stern of the vessel. Deck guns were installed on merchant ships during the 20th century in times of war. Michael has sent the footage of the deck gun to Bill Kismek, the director of the American Victory Museum, in the hope that he can date the gun more accurately. A lot of marine growth on there makes it difficult to specifically identify this,

but would the deck gun, with some of the deck equipment we're looking at, the hatches, it clearly looks like it could belong to some of the classes that supported World War II. From 1941, Liberty ships were used by the U.S. Merchant Marine and its civilian crewmen to transport cargo for the war effort. It's truly the lifeline for the British forces

and the Allied forces overseas in delivering those critical supplies that were needed by the troops. The Merchant Marines were some of the war's unsung heroes, Often not knowing where they were going or what they were hauling were not the only uncertainties facing them at sea. Because prowling the oceans was a sinister and deadly threat, the German U-boat.

U-boat stalked and hunted their prey in the Atlantic Ocean. Their aim was to sink ships carrying vital Allied war cargo. Could the mystery wreck have been a U-boat victim? The way the anchor is placed and the way the bow of the ship, kind of its cut looks of that era, but a smaller maybe a coastal freighter is what I feel like we're looking at here. After the U.S. joined the war in 1941, Germany's U-boat commander, Carl Dernets, devised a daring plan to attack this new enemy. What he intended, of course, was not just a surprise attack.

He started a continued effort of the American East Coast in order to exploit that situation as long as he could. In December 1941, five U-boats left the German naval base at L'Oren, northwestern France. Their destination, the East Coast of America. On the American East Coast, merchant traffic was like in peacetime. There was no protection neither from the air or from the sea. For the Germans, it was an attractive target. The Germans gave the plan a code name, Operation Drumbeat. The mission was not only to attack shipping before it left port,

where defense measures were weak and disorganized, but more importantly, to sink the coastal vessels that were keeping America's industry alive. Combat was not this abstract thing that happened across the ocean. It's happening right off the beach. They can see it, they can hear it, they can smell it. The attacks continued down the American East Coast towards the state of Florida. This was a battleground.

These tranquil waters were filled with German submarines on the hunt. Freighters and tankers trying to escape a fiery end. By the end of the Second World War, A total of 24 merchant vessels had been sunk by U-boats off the coast of Florida. But none of them matched the description of Michael's mystery wreck. There's no information indicating any vessel should have been sunk within 20, 30 miles of this location. To identify this shipwreck, we really need a smoking gun, an object that has the name of the vessel on it, a serial number or patent number that can trace, and that will basically lead us down the trail

where this vessel came from and how it was lost. In doing so, I think, we're actually going to potentially change history because this vessel does not belong here. Now I'm trying to think outside the box. Now I'm looking at these other vessels sunk north of Yucatan, sunk north of Cuba. Those kind of vessels I need to pay closer attention to. It's possible the vessel could have floated north with the Gulf Stream and eventually come to rest off Sebastian Inlet a day later.

Could it be that this ship's sinking is unrecorded because of the embarrassment surrounding Operation Drumbeat, not for Germany, but for America? This is still inexplicable, is that American coastal cities were very slow to initiate blackouts. They wouldn't turn their lights off. They didn't want to scare the tourists. So German submarines could see these ships silhouetted

against the shore, making them perfect target. Determined to avoid a panic, the American authorities issued no warning to the public, which was completely unaware that a battle was taking place right on their own doorstep. There's a really fantastic documentation of an attack of a tanker off Jacksonville, Florida, where they could see a fairer going on, see a ferris wheel, see people on the beach. So again, we did not think the U-boats could touch us. Having exhausted all known records on land, it's clear to Michael that he will need to locate some hard physical evidence.

There's a break in the weather. Knowing conditions may not be on their side for long, Michael and his team quickly sees the opportunity to finally dive the wreck. So it looks like we definitely have over three knots, maybe three and a half knots, so current is definitely smoking. We're definitely on the edge of the Gulf Stream. The rapid currents of the Gulf Stream make it impossible for them to drop anchor. So diving straight down on top of the wreck is not an option.

Instead, they will have to perform a negative entry dive, otherwise known as a heart drop. It's really akin to skydiving because you're basically launching away from the wreck and trying to use the current to guide you right into like wind would guide you into your landing spot. It's all in the skill of the captain. Yeah. The plan is to enter the water south of the wreck, and instead of fighting against the current, they will use it to drift to the target as they descend. Their timing will need to be perfect, or they'll risk missing the wreck.

All right, I guess we need to start suing up. All right, ready to go. That's good. Neutral. Five-five-dive. Working with the currents, they begin their descent. As the visibility drops, spotting the wreck becomes very difficult. becomes very difficult. But at 300 feet, they spot their target. Scanning the wreckage,

they find what looks like a possible reason for its sinking. A break in the hull. But what could have caused it? With precious little time available, they continue their search. Within moments, Michael frantically signals to Joe. Has he found something which will at last reveal the identity of the mystery wreck, we continue the search after the break. 25 miles out to sea, a specialist dive team are exploring the remains of a mystery wreck believed to have passed through the Bermuda Triangle, and it looks like they've found something. The signal buoy breaks the surface. Support diver Ken quickly enters the water to investigate. It's a lift bag containing evidence from the wreck. Back at the bottom, Michael and

Joe scrambled to retrieve a serial number from the deck gun. But time and air are running out. They have to abandon their search and begin to resurface. On deck, the rest of the team are eager to find out what they have discovered. First to come back up is Joe. But something has gone wrong. Well, we left, we hit black water, and we were probably five feet apart, couldn't see anything. Sudden loss of visibility can occur during dives when the currents pick up. That's how Joe lost contact with Michael, who hasn't resurfaced. When you leave the bottom and you shoot the lift bag, it hits the surface. My whole reel, 250 feet, just completely dragged out.

And it just pulls you up. And I just lost him. I couldn't say him. He couldn't say me. It's proof of the dangerous threat posed. threat posed by the strong current. All the team on deck can do now is wait, but time is running out. The team at the top anxiously look out for Michael,

and after tense moments of waiting, he finally resurfaces. Wow, it's a good dive. Excellent fact. Chili dive. Yeah. On the starboard side, you can see where it broke down. It also seemed like there's a big breach.

Right. the taping hole inside of the hall, which, I mean, I don't know. That could look like it could be a torpedo. Michael has found what he thinks could be evidence of a U-boat attack. But perhaps an even more vital clue is what was sent up in the lift bag. It was found in the cargo hold, and Michael believes it could prove invaluable in identifying the wreck. The clue has distinctive smell and color. The cargo, wow, look at that.

It looks white in the bottom, it's yellow. Yellow, yeah. I mean, that looks like silver to me, don't this? Looks like two-tone. Yeah, solid chunk. In the early and mid-20th century, sulfur production was big business around the Gulf Coast, an important commodity which was transported from Texas all the way up the East Coast.

If what they found is sulfur, it'll narrow down the list of poplar possible ships the wreck could be. Axel Nistel is an expert in World War II-era German U-boats. Michael has sent him footage of the breach in the Bermuda Triangle Mystery Rex hull. Could this ship have been a victim of Operation Drumbeat? What we see here is a ship hull being broken apart with clear-cut brakes in the outer hull. There's no indication for a torpedo explosion, and that leaves us

to the conclusion that it is probably not a victim from a German U-boat. But if the ship wasn't sunk in a U-boat attack, why did it go down? And why is there no record of it? All hopes of identifying the mysterious Bermuda Triangle shipwreck now lie on one last piece of evidence. Michael Barnett has delivered the cargo samples from the wreck to the lighthouse archaeological maritime program, also known as LAMP, in Florida. Here, maritime archaeologists Chuck Meade and Brendan Burke are about to carry out tests on the material that on first inspection they believed may be sulfur.

What we will learn from burning this, which is what we're going to do, will hopefully tell us a lot about the wreck. It's a priceless opportunity to narrow down the search. During their tests, Chuck and Brenda, are looking for three telltale signs that the object is sulfur. So if it is sulfur, when you burn sulfur, what do we expect to see? We're looking for color of the flame. That should be blue. Second, we should see kind of a reddish hue of melting.

Probably start bubbling almost instantaneously with a very kind of maroon reddish color. And it should also catch on fire. Sulfur is known for its volatile nature. It's easily combustible. So it should smolder, burn, and ignite when it comes into contact with a flame. But it's burning, and you can really start to smell the sulfur dioxide now. It's providing its own fuel to the fire. It's just melting more, like a candle. With the cargo now confirmed as sulfur, Michael has new search criteria.

Looking for vessels that disappeared while carrying a cargo of sulfur. He is almost immediately able to narrow the search down to just a half. handful of ships. Suddenly, Michael notices something. Came across his one vessel called the Hewitt. It was carrying sulfur as well, and it had a deck gun for World War I for protection against U-boats in the First World War. She looks about the right length. Looking at all the dimensions and the characteristics of this vessel, it kind of has that vibe of our mystery wreck.

In 1921, the SS Hewitt was carrying a cargo of sulfur from Port Arthur, Texas, Texas to Portland, Maine. But it never arrived at its final destination, and it vanished without a trace. Its planned route would have taken it through the Gulf Stream and the area of the Bermuda Triangle. It seems as if Michael has identified his wreck. But something's still not right.

Kept digging at this, I realized that it was actually probably lost much further north than our mystery wreck. There was a radio report off Jackson So we'd already passed through our area of interest. Determined to solve his mystery, Michael retrieves the records once more and stumbles across another ship, which also left from Texas

and was also carrying a cargo of sulfur. The M.V. Sonora. So I tracked down the Sonora, I look at the archival images here, and I'm seeing features, especially right, the anchor placement is what we see on the wreck. We're seeing there's a scupper, a small hole, just above the anchor hoss pipe where they give 10 lines and things like that.

And it matches up exactly in our archival photo of our vessel of Sonora earlier in our career in the wreck. I mean, you see that feature. It is almost like a fingerprint that's almost identical. With its cargo of sulfur, the Sonora was traveling from Texas to Boston in 1945. It was last seen burning in flames off the east coast of Florida, and its wreck was never found. was never found. So we have these clues in these articles saying it caught fire anywhere between 17 and 20 miles offshore of Hobbesound to Fort Pierce. So we have that as a starting point. I need to look at the map here to

see where that falls proximity to our mystery wreck. And it looks like it's at a maximum distance we're only about 45 miles or so south of our mystery wreck. A key thing that is overlooked here in these articles is that we have in this area we have the Gulf Stream, which is a very powerful current that flows northward. This could carry it exactly to where our mystery wreck is. The Sonora was in operation during World War II, and it was also fitted with a deck gun, a cargo of sulfur, a deck gun. Could this be the Bermuda Triangle mystery ship Michael has been looking for?

Michael's wreck was an engine-powered ship, but newspaper clippings of the time show the sonora to be a completely different type of vessel. a sail-powered schooner. Schooner laden with sulfur burns sinks. Burning schooner sinks. We think schooner, you think of a sailing vessel. Confusing. Despite the fact that the Sonora was reported to be a schooner,

Michael is convinced that he has found his ship. In order to confirm his hunch, he has tracked down a copy of the Sonora's building plans and has come to meet with Chuck and Brendan at Lamp. They begin by viewing the footage by the team on their dive. Michael is hoping that the layout of the wreck will match with the plans of the Sonora.

Here is the after cargo hold, that bulkhead right here. So machinery space is back in here, right on the wreck, which happens to be right at the bulkhead. Everything they are seeing on the wreck seems to match. We also see, see that there was a strake sticking out up here, and that's Stake S right below. We see that right over here,

strike S right there. We have Trouble, have treble layers of rivet for butt joints, but at the S strake, we have four layers of rivets. So that's something that's unique to this wreck, and that's exactly what we saw on there. But the fact remains that Michael Shipwreck was an engine-powered vessel and not a sail-powered schooner.

So the term schooner is really a red herring, and it's that time in American shipping where it's some of the last application of schooner. When you take these lines as drawn, and you look at what The Sonora ended up being they're almost unrecognizable. The Sonora had originally been built in 1916 as a four-mast schooner, but it was also fitted with an engine.

Later modifications turned it into a three-mast cargo ship, exactly matching the configuration of Michael's Bermuda Triangle mystery wreck. Is this enough for Michael to have conclusively proved that his wreck is the Sonora? Is a cargo of sulfur highly flammable that's just waiting to catch fire? On June 22nd, 1945, the Sonora sent a message reporting a fire in the engine room. And at some point, the heat from the engine room fire causes that bulkhead to possibly fail, and the sulfur now catches on fire. But is there any evidence on the wreck that shows that there was a fire before it sank?

The sulfur retrieved by the team came from the... the forward and center cargo holds. The rear cargo hold, where the fire would have started, was empty. For a number of hours, she was ablaze. You know, the crew is getting off. So we've got this hold is full of sulfur. This hold is full of sulfur. We do not see sulfur here, and fire was supposed to have been started by an engine room fire.

So I wonder if this hold was full of sulfur and that has burned. That is more than sufficient heat to breach the hall. Because you've got heat on the inside and cold sea water on the outside. And all of a sudden she just splits open. Moulton sulfur pours out, seawater pours in, and the vessel sinks. Goes down. Yeah. So that's direct evidence of fire right there.

Uncontaminated, undamaged, damaged because of the heat that was back here. And then mostly gone. Yeah. So here we have the ocean, Florida on the west side, and the approximate location of the Gulf Stream is right there where we got a plane that spots Sonora on fire June 22nd. 16 hours later, drifting northwards at about three knots being pushed by the Gulf. being pushed by the Gulf Stream.

And we can see that on this nautical chart right here. Yeah, where those black arrows are, that's the force shoving her to the north. Then at 925 on June 23rd, Sonora cracks wide open, full of flames, fills the seawater and sinks to the bottom. Based on time, distance, and speed, it puts it right where the mystery wreck is.

It certainly does. Mike, I think there's no question. The construction features we've seen, the things we see on the seafloor, the sequence of the fire and how we can tell the different compartments how the sulfur is burning in different stages, the location of the wreck. This is it. I think you've solved the mystery. I mean, this is the sonora it's got to be. So congratulations. That's fantastic news. I mean, we've been working at this for 19 years. I mean, this is, it's nice to finally wrap this one up.

Another mystery solved. Michael fills out the official shipwreck identification form, a very satisfying conclusion to nearly two decades of research and investment. In the end, it was not German U-boats, treacherous weather, or the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, that sent the ship to the bottom of the sea. The Sonora sank because an uncontrollable fire tore through it. Miraculously, there was no loss of life. In my career, I've been fortunate enough to dive quite a few historical shipwrecks, and many of them with a lot of loss of life. In this instance, though, the wreck of the Sonora, all we have is the grave of a ship. Everyone was rescued, there's no loss of life, which is quite unique in most shipwreck tales.

The ship still went down, but everyone was rescued and lived to get home to their loved ones. Thanks for exploring the past with us today. If you like this episode, please be sure to follow for more. We post new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Don't forget to leave a comment below and feel free to leave us a rating or review. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners like you. And for more from the Like a Shot Network, check out Where Did Everyone Go,

Histories of the Abandoned, a deep dive into the incredible stories behind Forgotten Places, available now on your favorite podcast platforms. Thanks for listening.