WEBVTT - 10. The Island 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.280 You're recording. We're on a boat. We're on the We're 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:11.600 on a fifty ft boat in Prince William Sound, the 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.200 Arctic Skimmer, and we are right next to Hinge and 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.640 Brook Island. The cliffs are rising above. It's a beautiful 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.320 sunny day and we're just about to turn into Poortn Edges. 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:24.640 So the first time I've ever been on the sound 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:29.639 and were an edges is where the tentster told me 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:34.840 he pulled the cess tail of around. So it's it's 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.040 really stunning right now. You can see, you know, distant 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.839 mountains with snow. It's completely sunny, very few clouds, and 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.880 they're just these like dramatic cliffs rising up from the water. 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.880 From my heart, media, this is Missing in Alaska, the 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.440 story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen two and 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.960 my quest to figure out what happened to them. I'm 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:17.520 your host, John Wallzac. Our trip to Henchin Brook Island 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:21.880 almost didn't happen. We just got lucky sun, blue sky, 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.000 clear water, but only for about forty eight hours. We 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.720 had a narrow window between storms and we seized it. Unfortunately, 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.640 our boat could only accommodate four people, two captains and 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.600 two members of our team. So on October nineteen, I 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:43.000 flew with Paul Decan, our supervising producer, from Anchorage to Cordova, 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.800 a small fishing town on Prince William Sound. I've been 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.240 to something like forty five out of fifty states, so 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.320 I don't say this lightly. Cordova is one of the 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.840 most beautiful towns in America. It's right on the water, 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.320 ringed by snow capped mountains, reachable only by air or sea. 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.760 It's most valuable commodity, Copper River salmon can fetch more 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:10.040 than seventy dollars per pound. Anyway, when we landed, all 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.639 I had was the name of our captain, Andy and 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.520 his phone number. We had been so busy that the 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.440 details of the search the logistics fell to Sam T. Garden, 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:23.640 our research assistant in Atlanta. In the tiny terminal in Cordova, 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.200 I called Andy across the room. A skinny man with 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.160 a gray beard answered. We walked over, said high, then 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.160 went outside and hopped in his truck. Andy and his 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.720 wife see One run a company called Alaska Marine Response. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.960 They specialized in salvaging wreck ships and cleaning up oil spills. 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.760 Andy went to Cornell, where he studied natural resources with 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.440 the concentration and fisheries. He moved to Alaska about thirty 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.880 years ago. On the way to the Marino where he 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.560 docks his boats, and he asked for more details on 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.119 why we wanted to go to Henshin Brook. He knew 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.720 the basics that we were looking for a missing plane, 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.360 but at my request, Sam hadn't told him much. We 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.079 wanted to keep everything tight lipped. But and he is 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.840 a pretty smart guy, and he figured out quickly which 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.880 plane the baggage Bog's plane around nineteen eighty. I said, 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.880 as we sped into town, a man named Bob Martinson. 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:24.200 Andy stopped me. Bob, I know Bob Amazingly coincidentally, Yes, Andy, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.280 our captain knows Bob, the tipster who found the cess 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.200 in the tail. And like everyone else with whom I spoke, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.320 he said, Bob's a good guy, a fisherman who spent 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.960 decades in Cordova on and off, a photographer whose images 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.720 hanging in a local restaurant. When we got to the 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.720 marina and he took us to our boat, the Arctic Skimmer, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.840 I went downstairs for a minute, then above me the 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.400 radio crackled with what sounded like a may day call. 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.920 I ran back up, looked out a window and saw Paul, 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.360 our producer, sprinting down the doctor Andy's truck to grab 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.720 our recording equipment. It seemed that our trip would start 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.560 with a rescue saw one needed help. A few minutes later, 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:06.320 though Clarity, a boat was disabled and needed a toe, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.560 but nothing dramatic. Andy spoke with the coastguard, then dropped 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:12.520 us off at his house, where we had the second 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.400 floor overlooking the water to ourselves. The plan was to 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.200 head out the next day, so Paul and I, with 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:23.279 time to kill, went exploring down a hill onto a 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.360 breaker jutting into the water. As the sun set, everything 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.520 was still and silent but for the sound of sea 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:40.520 otters splashing about and a few birds. We had dinner 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:44.320 at the Reluctant Fisherman, where Bob Martinson's photos hang, some 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.640 fitful sleep, Then the next morning we got up early, 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.360 boarded our boat and met our other captain, Mark, who 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.039 went to grad school at the University of Washington, where 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.400 he studied Russian and Eastern languages before moving to Alaska. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.200 As we prepared to leave Arkin, Andy told us that 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.000 the town was a buzz a thirty three year old 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.520 hunter named Neil Durgo had vanished in the mountains right 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.880 before we arrived. We're kind of surmising that he's hurt 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.320 because he would have easionly meet it back on his own. 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.320 So if he's heard up high, then he's been dealing 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:24.240 with snow and super cold nights. He had, you know, 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.640 he had a space bag in a tent, maybe some 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:33.720 extra clothing or something. The search party is it being 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.160 out of Cordova. We talked about Bob Martinson and assess 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.559 in the tail he found. I know that the odds 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.200 are like one in twenty million that we're gonna find 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.520 this thing. But um, but Bob seems like a good 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:50.679 guy and it's Bob Martin said, that's what he's talking about, 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.720 the guy he's talking to. The Bobby's yeah, Mark knows it. 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:58.800 I mean, you guys, we all know each other. Big dog, 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.159 blond guy. I think he's a great grandfather or something 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.760 already better. Oh yeah, so so that's I mean, that's 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:09.920 why I took what he said seriously, because he seemed 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.040 you know, I've talked other people too, and study he's 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.560 a reliable guy, because you know, doing something like this 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.240 get a lot of crazy people that come out of 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.400 the woodwork. But UM, I thought this was interesting because 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.000 he was he's reliable. Where he found it matches up 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.320 with the roughly with the flight route of the missing plane. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.960 UM and the pilot Don Johns, didn't make radio contact 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.520 at Johnstone Point and he was supposed to UM and 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.200 he did right before he entered Portage Pass. So most 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.120 people that I've talked to think that the plane went 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:46.400 down into sound somewhere between um Cortobage and Pension Brooke. UM. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.039 And then you know, we were talking to Andy, and 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.000 I talked to another guy in Anchorage the other day. 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.040 There's this little strip of land UM near is a 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:58.040 New Check Andy? Yeah. That the airstrip, the spot you 0:06:58.120 --> 0:06:59.960 land a plane if you're going to New Check. Yeah. 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.040 And that little stripple land Can you tell me about that? 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.040 It's just that it's it's just just a little strip 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.440 of gravel that connects you know, a more substantial what 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:14.520 would be an island if that was gone, UM where 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:16.920 the town of New Check wasn't. That stripple land is 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:23.480 um flat level, it's humped, but a nice uh smooth 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.120 surface for a plane to land up. Andy pulled out 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.440 a map and pinpointed the spot where Bob found the 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.160 tail in poor dutches. Around the corner, there's a long, 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.320 narrow strip of land used by bush pilots then and 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.000 now as a rough airstrip. Typically you would only want 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.960 to land single engine small planes on it. But in 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.960 an emergency, it's possible that Don John's the pilot, could 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.480 have tried to land here near what used to be 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.360 the native village of New Check. Or he could have 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.600 attempted a rough water landing adjacent to this strip and 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.760 tried to swim to shore. Remember Don made several attempts 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.480 to swim twenty three miles across the English Channel. He 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.400 was fit and he was used to swimming in choppy water. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.800 And then I was I've talked to some pilots and 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.960 who looked at the weather that day, and they said 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.240 that the I think the wind was coming out of 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.440 the southeast, and so he would have wanted if he 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:18.440 was trying to do some kind of crash landing, he 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.920 would have wanted to fly into the wind um. And 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.640 the way that this little striple land is oriented is 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:29.240 is facing southeast. If you were coming from Cortage Witterer. Um. So, yeah, 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.440 So talking to Bob, like I said, it's been forty 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.720 almost forty years he found this. Um, he was studied 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.680 with his dad and uh, another man and or they're 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:45.040 both dead. Um, but he's he said, I went back 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.120 and reread this this morning. He said that the troopers 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.679 in Cordova expressed the interest that it was related to 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:56.280 the baggage plane. And you know, it's been forty years. 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.600 But one of the things that we've talked about is 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.040 whether or not he brought the tail piece in And 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.720 he doesn't really remember. He knows he gave the numbers whatever, 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.800 he might have written them down. Um. And when people 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.040 are out fishing, what are the boats that come bring 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.360 them supplies called it tenders? Tenders. Yeah, he told me 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:17.560 they might have sent it back on a tender or 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:22.600 that he doesn't really remember. Um. But he told me 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.199 that there were at least four characters and there were 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.520 six on the missing plane. And so the question is 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.280 if there were four characters out of six on it, 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:36.960 like you know, like you said, be a match too 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:42.839 to like. So, I think this is the best lead 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.760 as to the plane's location that I've ever heard, and 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.319 it's probably the best lead in fifty years. We also 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.680 discussed how Bob found the tail in the lead of 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.199 his net. Sam and it liked to run along the beach. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.480 They don't always, but they like doing it. So the 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.880 idea is to cut them off with the net the lead, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.640 you know, so that they'll go into the deeper part 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.960 of the net, and and then you try to keep 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.200 them in there, and then you curse, and then you 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.280 recover your net and haul them at the very end. 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.280 But yeah, the lead is normally the it is the 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.680 shallow end of the net. What what would that indicate? 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.360 Maybe that it was just the net was being Well, 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.440 that's kind of a grabby thing. I mean, it drags 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.640 up all kinds of stuff, you know, sometimes rocks, It 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:38.840 hangs up un rocks a lot. Help Uh, you know, 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:45.480 it's kind of grabby easily. You know, you could grab 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:50.720 it something down there that's point jagged whatever. I mean. Definitely, 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.960 a a tail end of a plane is quite possibly. 0:10:56.200 --> 0:11:02.080 Don't I'm not surprised, you know. Yeah, what's interesting, I 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.480 think I said this earlier. What's interesting is he found something. 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.959 So it's it's like, even if it wasn't this particular plane, 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.160 I wonder which one it was. Well, this is a 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:18.800 kind of a uh pinpoints it kind of you know, 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:24.240 we know where he found it. It's a not a 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:29.160 big area. It's we know it's yes, and uh, it's 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.600 indicating it's on the shallow you know, near the beach, 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:38.000 the shallower area. So that's a kind of narrows it 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:44.040 down quite a bit. I mean. And when I ask you, guys, 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.280 so we obviously I know this is not the ideal 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:48.920 time to do this, so we're very lucky we have 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.280 beautiful weather today. Um, I imagine the ideal time would 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:58.079 be spring and summer. Sometimes a better summers in general 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:03.520 is better weather, but there's no guarantee ever, Um, you're 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:09.559 feeling June you have the longest days, so you can 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.959 make better use of weather windows and generally nicer weather. 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.360 I mean, so if you were to pick one spot 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.680 in the year, one month of the year, that would 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.439 be ideal for doing stuff on the water. June is 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.760 about as good as it gets, but it doesn't mean 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:33.080 it can't blow data any given week. You know, this 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.880 is a nice window. Actually, do you see the way 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.960 this wind is coming. Once we go around that island 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.480 will be in the league so we'll we'll be pretty 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.480 sheltered in there, and then this helps knock down the 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.760 swell that's out because otherwise you get wrap around swell 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.560 in there, and that makes it tough getting stuff on 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.079 and off the boat. If we're you know, doing that 0:12:55.400 --> 0:13:00.400 getting okay, how shallow can this boat get it? I mean, 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.360 what is what would be like the minimum depth touch? 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.920 We can touch? Really, it's an ice class all. It's 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.800 built really thick. So it's made to beach so we 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.920 can drive up, you know, a nice beach rock. You know, 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.640 it's a nice, nice slope beach. We can drive up 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:26.839 to it. So if you found the tail of assessma here, 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.200 if if it didn't originate, if the plane hadn't crashed 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.839 right in this area, do you have any idea where 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:41.360 it would have been brought in from? Oh? If if 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:45.400 that would be that would be tough. You know. The 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.360 thing is that if I think of a tail of 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:54.160 a if a plane brex, Let's say there's some possibility 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.240 there there there could have been a bomb planet on 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.160 the plane right where that it could have broke the 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.440 plane of um. Most of the time when you load 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.640 a plane, you load all the light things in the 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:12.520 stern in the tail and including dry bags with your 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.600 survival gear and stuff like that. So if the tail 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:21.280 could have been ouyant for a long time and floated, 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.760 so the plane could have crashed somewhere else and currents 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.760 could have brought it in there. Or but a southeast 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.680 wind like a wouldn't have that would have taken it 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.240 elsewhere usually but um, but it might have gone out 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:37.640 and then the weather changed and then point in. Um. 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:43.160 But it's that's not a classic collection spot, like the 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.360 currents don't. Like most of the stuff that happens out 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.080 of the Gulf ends up on like Naked Island or 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.960 over here, like they don't. It doesn't go in there. 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:58.280 That's not um. It's like what it seemed to indicate 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.600 to you then that whatever plane this was probably went 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.200 down in that area, that it's a good bed, that 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.960 it's the engines and the rest of it are too 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:13.880 far away. But I could have drifted, you know. If 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:15.480 there was a part of a plane that could drift, 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:20.120 it would be the tail. A few hours later, we're 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.200 on a boat. We're on the We're on a fifty 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.760 ft boat and Prince William Sound the Arctic Skimmer and 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.160 We are right next to Hinchinbrook Island. The cliffs are 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.080 rising above. It's a beautiful sunny day and we're just 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.840 about to turn into fourt edges and then there we 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:42.960 were the exact spot, so that rock formation just right 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.480 off there. The around nineteen man and two other men 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:52.720 found assessment tail, so somewhere out here they were saneing fishing. 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.720 As we idled, we took stock of our equipment. Unfortunately, 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.040 we did not have two very important tools side scan 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.080 sonar and a magnetometer, which would have helped a lot. 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.320 We couldn't get them in time. But we did have 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.240 two r o v s, or remotely operated vehicles, small 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.520 tethered submersibles with cameras. If you've seen Titanic, you know 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.880 what they look like. They're used at the beginning of 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.760 the movie to explore wreckage. One of ours belonged to Andy, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.040 the other to the Prince William Sound Science Center, which 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.800 kindly lent it to us. Tell us about this r 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:37.640 OV in particular, like what its capabilities or how de trekker. Um, 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.880 it's a it's a high resolution camera. It's the highest 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:48.240 resolution camera we have. Um, we're rigging it right now. 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.360 Kind of like a controlled drop camera, so we can 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:55.080 thrust and tip, but we're going to drag it with 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.280 the boat just so we can cover more area than 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.440 we could if we were stopped swimming around with it. 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.679 We also had diving equipment and a crane just in 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:15.040 case we found something interesting, Say the plane the r 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:19.680 o V. So it's in the water. It's in the water. 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:28.920 Um are we searching that way? Starts pointing the reel. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:35.840 But I didn't make a difference. I can to sure. 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.280 Let's let's just let's have it go over at this 0:17:41.359 --> 0:18:01.320 side of the poem means the ploy said this one 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:09.359 something like that at forty dollars. So this at that 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.480 point right there, that's probably what we're looking at. And 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.000 so around there this is that this rounded part and 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:24.280 then that jagged rock area that is that's probably this 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.760 And that's where he said he found the piece to 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.440 be right over there around those rocks. Yeah, yep, right there, 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.840 right where the r o V is now. On a screen, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.840 we watched as the r o V descended. We just 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.800 had a jellyfish some one by the camera. Seymore jellyfish 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.399 over the years, don't they proliferate when there's always been 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.720 a lot of gels, but maybe a few more. A 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.520 few years ago we had a really bad jellyfish season 0:18:54.600 --> 0:19:00.320 affected sang a couple of boats. They were so so 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:05.680 thick about a couple of boats. They the sayners would 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.159 catch so many jellies that they'd roll over like they couldn't. 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:14.440 Their nets would pack up. They're trying to catch fish, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.560 and the gels block the the opening of the web, 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.639 and then we just roll them right over, so the 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:26.880 jelly can literally take a boat down. Are you good 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.560 enough of them? So you can go down a little more? Mark, 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:40.360 I can't yet see the bottom. Okay, I can see 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:45.760 the bottom. Stop. Yeah, so let's we're seeing the bottom, 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:51.600 which is a means visibility pretty good. Hasn't hasn't rained 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:58.679 in a few days, which would money everything? Oh yeahs 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.639 I don't think there's any well as all as cricks, 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:08.760 but I don't think there's anything really big so unusual 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:10.960 this time of the year to be able to see 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.399 to the bottom, you know, the actually winner that is 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:20.080 a higher better visibility because plankton is can be your 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.720 biggest problem, and of course the cooler it is less 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:29.479 likely they're blooming in the summer. But plankton is can 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:33.399 really makes things soupy, you know. As Mark steered the 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.560 r o V aiming its camera side to side, we 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:41.560 stared at the green tinted screen, water, rocks, plants, fish. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:45.080 To minimize glare, we covered the screen with a black 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.600 sheet and crawled underneath. Much better. We were just doing 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.119 it tests above water. See this is uh there? Now 0:20:53.359 --> 0:21:00.800 I'll come back and show you this. You want to 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.159 that's a sea outer hole. They come down dig and 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:08.400 get clams and muscles and stuff. What do you need? Well, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:13.119 I'm just kind of curious. Should I come back? Um, 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.960 maybe just turn off the down thruster and let's just 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:22.200 see where it is. Are you using the propulsion or 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.880 is the boat pulling it? The boats pulling it? I'm 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:28.399 using its propulsion to aim it. Is it pretty simple 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:33.320 to use or is it kind of trucky? Oh? It's 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.040 it's it's kind of like a video game. You kind 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:40.520 of get you know, once you figure out which fingers 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.960 doing what, you know, you get better at over time. 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:49.159 But since my excuse why fourteen year old can use 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.520 it better than I could? Is it something that we 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:56.200 could use for a minute or is it? Yea, I 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.280 took control of the r o V. It is zippy. 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:04.520 It's really surprising. You kind of sucking in to be slower, 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:08.600 so you use the propulsion and obviously to aim it. 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.000 But does does it kind of stabilize on its own 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:16.159 if you just let go? Should be seen in the 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:24.400 bottom conservac You said, where the claw? Where the claw here? Okay? Yes, 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.359 this r o V also had a remote controlled claw. 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:31.639 How would I telt to see the claw? More so 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:38.200 this great same thing on the other side. I'm cool, 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:53.240 you're looking down. H It's not super the clause and 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.600 super quick, but it's quick enough. I don't know, it's 0:22:55.600 --> 0:23:04.159 not quick enough, not for fish so much. Let me 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.040 stop for a minute and meditate on how bizarre all 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:10.760 of this was, how surreal. Here I was off an 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:14.200 island in Alaska, navigating an r o V as we 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:18.240 searched underwater for a missing plane that carried to U. S. Congressmen. 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:21.240 To be honest, I didn't quite think the answer to 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:23.560 can we charter a boat and go search for the 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:28.200 plane would be yes, this is a podcast, But the 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:34.480 answer was yes, so yeah. Anyway, for hours we used 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:36.960 the r o V s to search for wreckage. A 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:41.440 lot of eel grass, but no plane. Later, a change 0:23:41.480 --> 0:24:21.600 of plans, we hopped into a zodiac craft, a small 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:25.760 inflatable boat with a motor, and started zooming around, taking 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:28.560 advantage of the ultra clear water to conduct a visual 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:33.560 search looking to the floor below, because amazingly, yes, it 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:36.400 was clear enough to see to the bottom, at least 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:41.119 in shallow water. We also landed briefly on Hension Brook itself, 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:44.160 so I wonder where they're um on the map there 0:24:44.240 --> 0:24:46.760 was some like inland water feature. I wonder where that is? 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:54.520 Is that an otter's So we're standing on the shore 0:24:54.600 --> 0:24:57.280 of Henson Brook Island. We're kind of on the edge 0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:00.200 of the trees, and the sun is going down and 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.680 we just rode up in a zodiac boat off the 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:06.040 bigger boat. And so now we're gonna wander into the 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:08.960 woods and hopefully not get eaten by bears or this 0:25:09.080 --> 0:25:10.840 is gonna kind of be Blair witchy when you find 0:25:10.880 --> 0:25:15.560 this this audio. We didn't have long on the island, 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:20.399 but we planned to return back in the zodiac, escape 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:39.600 from Pension Brook and back to the Arctic skimmer. Exhausted, 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:43.600 we anchored for the night as the sun sank in 0:25:43.680 --> 0:25:48.000 the distance. We spotted something walking on the beach. How 0:25:48.160 --> 0:25:51.560 how far are we from shore? A couple hundred yards, 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:54.960 you know, I don't maybe more from him, maybe undry 0:25:55.040 --> 0:26:00.159 yards from him. Him was a large brown bay air. 0:26:00.920 --> 0:26:04.639 Where do you go? Uh? Do you go behind a 0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:09.560 kind of rock or something? Now, so we've all the 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:11.840 four of us have been tracking the bear with binoculars. 0:26:12.800 --> 0:26:15.520 I don't think he went into the bushes. He's just behind. 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:20.840 So is this your first bear ever? Yeah? Well yeah, 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:25.080 sounding like in a zoovia zoos don't count. Yes, this 0:26:25.240 --> 0:26:27.680 is this is my third. I saw one in North Carolina, 0:26:27.720 --> 0:26:31.639 on one in Washington State and the North Cascades and 0:26:31.680 --> 0:26:35.320 the street the third, but the first brown bear. It's 0:26:35.320 --> 0:26:39.639 an unusually colored one. Yeah, I got something. I was 0:26:39.720 --> 0:26:43.040 taking pictures through the binoculars. Yeah, so I was using 0:26:43.800 --> 0:26:47.600 what was unusual about the color. It had a blonde 0:26:47.680 --> 0:26:52.560 collar and then blonde ears and a lot darker brown coat. 0:26:52.680 --> 0:26:57.560 Oh wow, here you go. Yeah that was true the binoculars. Yeah. Yeah, 0:26:57.640 --> 0:27:01.600 so I was doing that kind up. Yeah. So, I 0:27:01.640 --> 0:27:06.119 mean it's a much better closer picture. Wow, I've never 0:27:06.640 --> 0:27:09.720 tried it. It's it's hard. You have to stay super stable. 0:27:09.800 --> 0:27:11.399 So I have to find it with my eyes and 0:27:11.520 --> 0:27:14.800 then hold my phone up, you know, in the perfect spot, 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:17.000 and then try to quickly get some pictures. But I 0:27:17.080 --> 0:27:20.480 got video of it too. After a few minutes, the 0:27:20.560 --> 0:27:24.639 bear cross between two rock formations and disappeared. So the 0:27:24.720 --> 0:27:28.040 bears gone. Now for a minute, I want you to 0:27:28.119 --> 0:27:33.520 close your eyes. You're on a boat, vast body of water. Twilight. 0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:42.800 You see distant mountains backlit by a fading glow, cold wind. Calm. 0:27:44.640 --> 0:27:51.560 You're a tiny dot in a dark wild We are 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:55.040 were anchored for the night in Poor Duchess, not far 0:27:55.200 --> 0:27:58.440 from where we were looking for the Thesessina tail with 0:27:58.680 --> 0:28:01.880 r o VS. And we're a few hundred feet off 0:28:01.920 --> 0:28:05.200 the beach. We just saw a brown bear walking on 0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:07.439