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00:00The year 1281. Japan is about to face its own Pearl Harbor. A surprise attack. Launched
00:18by the fleet. The mighty warrior king, Kubla Khan. 140,000 men. 4,400 ships. The largest invading
00:31fleet ever to set sail. Poised to strike, it vanished suddenly, seemingly without a trace.
00:41Now one man believes he's just found it. Will science prove him right?
01:11In 1281, the world is dominated by a single superpower. The Mongol hordes. Their
01:40emperor, Kubla Khan, has just seized China and is now the new master of Asia. The Mongols
01:50attack with a power and ferocity that has never been seen before. Only one conquest deludes
02:01them. To complete his empire, Kubla Khan gathers a huge fighting force. He will attack not
02:08by land, but by sea. With a fleet of 4,400 ships. Carrying a vast fighting force of 140,000 soldiers.
02:26His target. Japan.
02:33It was awesome. Because you have enormous black cloud on the horizon. When that cloud move
02:43in, it's a fleet of enormous size. And of course, it has tremendous psychological impact.
02:49The Japanese turn to their legendary warriors. The Samurai. The Samurai are the world's most feared swordsmen.
03:06Famed for their skill in close combat. They live and die by a sacred code. Bushido. The way of the warrior.
03:26But against 140,000 Mongol warriors, even the Samurai need a miracle to save their people.
03:35Everybody was scared so they resort to prayer. In hope that somehow some divine force will save them from this Mongol invasion.
03:44It seems that their prayers are answered.
03:59In mysterious circumstances, the Mongol fleet simply vanishes. For the Japanese, this narrow escape became an epic myth. They claim their savior was a divine wind.
04:28The failure of the Mongol invasion, which seemed to be a miracle, was taken by the Japanese to be a heavenly sent wind.
04:35Heavenly sent wind in Japanese is the term kamikaze. Japanese felt that they were divinely protected. That they would never be invaded by an outside force.
04:49However, the earliest account of the Mongol invasion, recorded soon after, mentions no divine wind.
04:59Nor any other phenomenon that might explain what happened.
05:03So what did cause the disappearance of Kublai Khan's fleet?
05:12Kenzo Hayashida hopes to solve an epic mystery. He is Japan's top marine archaeologist and is leading a scientific investigation into the extraordinary disappearance of the world's largest naval force.
05:27A scientific odyssey into the past begins.
05:48I hope we can explain what happened through a scientific investigation.
05:55Because I don't believe it was divine intervention that saved my country.
06:01Like any investigator, Kenzo Hayashida starts with motive.
06:10Who was Kublai Khan and what drove him to invade Japan over 700 years ago?
06:16Kublai Khan's ancestors were nomads, tribes of horsemen who roamed Central Asia.
06:29In the early 1200s, his grandfather, Genghis Khan, united the tribes and led them on a rampage of conquest.
06:45In a single generation, Genghis Khan built the largest continuous land empire ever created.
06:52This is a tremendous empire created in such a short period of time and with such powerful thrust.
07:00So nobody has ever seen this before, not even Alexander the Great.
07:04Kublai Khan built on his grandfather's legacy.
07:11In 1279, he completed the conquest of China, but this wasn't enough.
07:18Once Kublai Khan had conquered the southern Chinese empire, he needed to show to the Chinese people and to anyone else,
07:25I am the new emperor of all China, I am the new emperor of the East, I am the ruler of the world.
07:37He summons his greatest general, Arakan, and gives him a challenge no Mongol has ever faced.
07:43To cross 500 miles of ocean and take Japan.
07:54The Mongols were not accustomed to fighting at sea.
07:58This is one of the extraordinary things about Kublai Khan's sudden decision to invade Japan.
08:05The best cavalry the world had ever seen suddenly decided they were marines.
08:11On the coast of China, the Mongols began constructing over 4,000 ships.
08:20The biggest invasion fleet the world has ever seen.
08:23Kublai Khan was eager for an almost immediate attempt to invade Japan.
08:30And he gave the shipbuilders about a year or less in which to construct this mighty armada that would take on the Japanese.
08:39Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida is searching for the remains of this fleet.
08:46And it's no easy task.
08:51Japan is composed of a chain of over 3,000 islands stretching for 2,000 miles.
08:59No one knew where to start looking until a fisherman stumbled on a metal object inscribed with a foreign script.
09:09News of the find takes Kenzo Hayashida to the tiny Japanese island of Takashima.
09:18Is he on the verge of finding Kublai Khan's lost fleet?
09:22Was it to the waters of this island that Kublai Khan sent his Mongol warriors?
09:36Only for them to vanish off the face of the earth?
09:41Kendo Hayashida is determined to solve the mystery once and for all.
09:56But he needs evidence.
09:59But he needs evidence.
10:04If the object discovered in the waters of Takashima is Mongolian,
10:08then it could pinpoint the location of the lost fleet.
10:18The object is kept under lock and key by the island's mayor.
10:23Is this the clue Kenzo Hayashida has been waiting for?
10:29At once, Kenzo Hayashida recognizes it.
10:36A perfectly preserved bronze seal.
10:40The markings? Distinctly Mongolian.
10:46This character identifies the seal as belonging to a commander of about 1,000 soldiers.
10:52On the back, it says that it was made in September 1276.
10:58Just five years before the invasion, it must have belonged to one of the fleet's generals.
11:07With this discovery, Kenzo Hayashida can narrow the search area from over 3,000 islands to just one, Takashima.
11:24His search for the lost fleet can begin in earnest.
11:37He assembles a team of divers, archaeologists, and marine scientists.
11:41As they map the seabed with sonar, Kenzo Hayashida and his team uncover the next vital clue.
11:50The sonar picks up a series of large objects.
11:55Are they simply natural geological formations?
12:05Or could they be the wreckage of Mongol warships?
12:08The waters off the Japanese island of Takashima are about to surrender their secrets.
12:20After months of painstaking excavation, the team uncovers a huge wooden construction.
12:37Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida quickly transfers it to the laboratory.
12:56It's a wooden anchor.
13:01After centuries on the seabed, it's in danger of disintegrating.
13:07Before he can analyze the timber, Kenzo Hayashida needs to preserve it in a highly concentrated sugar solution.
13:15The anchor must have belonged to a large, ocean-going vessel.
13:19But did it belong to the invading Mongol fleet of 1281?
13:26With the wood safely preserved, Kenzo Hayashida takes a sample of the anchor's fibers and sends it to a laboratory for analysis.
13:37Scientists there hope to extract pollen from the wood.
13:40The pollen will identify the region from which the tree originated.
13:53The results are clear.
13:57The wood did not come from Japan, but from China.
14:02As the Mongol ships were built from Chinese timber, this is the first indication to Kenzo Hayashida that the anchor belongs to the lost fleet.
14:20Then back at the dive site, a sensational discovery.
14:26One after another, nine more anchors emerge.
14:29Proof that the team has found a huge fleet.
14:35Because of the position of the anchors, I think we should be able to find the ships between them and the shore.
14:43Kenzo Hayashida's investigation is closing in on the lost fleet.
14:49From beneath the mud, clear evidence of the lost Mongol army begins to materialize.
14:57A Mongol warrior's helmet.
15:02Sword blades.
15:07Arrowheads.
15:09Finally, the moment that marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida has been waiting for.
15:21The remains of a Mongol warrior.
15:22It's a top of a skull.
15:31Kenzo Hayashida and his team have found the lost fleet of Kubla Khan.
15:37The last resting place of one man's dreams of empire.
15:40And the mass grave of thousands of Mongol dead.
15:50But the cause of the disaster remains a mystery.
15:57The key may lie in the thousands of ship timbers that Kenzo Hayashida is raising from the sea floor.
16:02He must piece this enormous puzzle together in the quest for clues.
16:09The Chinese used cutting edge 13th century technology to build the strongest ships of the day.
16:16Each vessel contained a series of watertight compartments sealed with resin.
16:21If a boat was hold at sea, only one compartment would flood.
16:27So the ship wouldn't sink.
16:30Chinese ships during the early Mongol era were far superior to ships anywhere else in the world.
16:36They were longer.
16:38They used iron.
16:40Their rudders were superior to any other part of the world.
16:43Kenzo Hayashida wonders if there is a clue to the disaster in the days before the fleet sets sail.
16:56In the spring of 1281, Kubla Khan grew impatient.
17:02After less than a year of preparation, he orders his commander-in-chief, General Arakan, to launch the invasion of Japan.
17:08Food, medical supplies, and weapons are rushed from all over the empire.
17:23Warhorses that are the terror of Asia.
17:30And 140,000 undefeated warriors.
17:33In May, 1281, 4,400 ships set sail.
17:51That was awesome.
17:53Nothing can be compared to the Mongol fleet of 1281.
17:57The closest match is the D-Day invasion in 1944, when allies assembled about 4,000 ships to invade German-occupied Europe.
18:16Arakan is confident of victory.
18:18But he has embarked on an unfamiliar type of campaign.
18:28Arakan has never commanded a fleet before.
18:31And he has no idea what threats may lie ahead.
18:34After weeks at sea, the fleet arrives off the Japanese coast.
18:53General Arakan sends a message by carrier pigeon back to Kubla Khan in China.
18:58His troops are preparing to attack and establish a beachhead on Japanese soil.
19:15As the Mongol Armada arrives off the coast of Japan, the samurai warriors prepare for battle.
19:20They are masters of the art of close-quarter sword fighting.
19:38But their skill will be tested to the limit by an enemy with powerful long-range weapons.
19:43The Mongols could wreak havoc with their bows.
19:50And they may have had an even more terrifying weapon.
19:55Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida takes a mysterious object he has salvaged from the seabed to a laboratory for examination.
20:09Is it the world's first exploding missile?
20:16He's going to subject it to forensic analysis to find out.
20:27In size and shape, it resembles a missile from a catapult.
20:34But all other catapult missiles were solid.
20:46This one is hollow.
20:51Kenzo Hayashida's team takes a sample of the sediment inside for chemical analysis.
20:56Does it contain traces of gunpowder?
20:58If so, it could be evidence of a deadly Mongol weapon known as a tetsuha.
21:11A missile that struck terror into the hearts of their enemies.
21:15And whose existence has been debated for centuries.
21:19The chemical analysis shows no gunpowder.
21:29So Kenzo Hayashida tries another technique.
21:37X-ray analysis.
21:42This reveals shards of metal.
21:44This shrapnel indicates that the projectile was indeed filled with gunpowder.
21:53The first exploding missile used in war.
21:57Incredible discovery.
21:58This is a very new weapon.
22:03The technological advantages the Mongols had, the Japanese didn't have.
22:07And that tiny technological advantage could make a difference.
22:12With such a technological advantage,
22:14Kenzo Hayashida wonders why the Mongols didn't overrun the samurai.
22:17When the Mongol fleet was within range of the Japanese shore, the exploding missiles were primed.
22:36The samurai had never encountered such devastating munitions.
22:39Under a barrage of covering fire, the first wave of Mongol warriors storm ashore.
23:03But in the fierce battle that followed, the tide turned.
23:10At close quarters, the Mongol infantry is no match for the speed and skill of the samurai swordsmen.
23:19Unable to establish a beachhead, the Mongols retreat to their ships.
23:25The most crucial element of the entire campaign hinged on one thing.
23:33That is to break the Japanese coastal defense to establish a beachhead from which to expand your invasion.
23:40If you fail that, then you're going to be in big trouble.
23:44Harakan, the Mongol commander, refuses to quit.
23:48But before he can launch another assault, disaster strikes.
23:56On the 12th of August, 1281, the fleet disappears.
24:07To uncover what happened during those final days,
24:10Kenzo Hayashida wants to consult the oldest known account of the invasion.
24:14It is contained in a priceless scroll held at the sacred Hakazaki Shrine.
24:24Could it hide a new lead?
24:28Painted in 1293, just 12 years after the battle, it's the only surviving pictorial evidence of the Mongol ships.
24:51The scroll provides a fascinating insight into the fleet's last days.
25:12Deploying elite bands of samurai, the Japanese counterattacked.
25:15Putting the Mongol invaders on the defensive.
25:22The scroll does not explain the fleet's disappearance.
25:28But it does indicate that the Mongol ships were stranded at sea for weeks in the summer of 1281.
25:35By this time, after weeks and weeks on the sea, illness, diseases, heat must be miserable.
25:50Kenzo Hayashida realizes that if the fleet was marooned at sea, the Mongols were vulnerable to one of Japan's most dangerous weather phenomena.
26:09A violent storm that strikes in summer.
26:16A typhoon.
26:18Seeking evidence of a typhoon, marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida returns to the dive into the ocean.
26:33As they review the clues they've uncovered, the team make a breakthrough.
26:48While plotting the position of the ten recovered ship anchors, they notice a pattern.
26:53All the anchors face the same way, with their ropes leading towards shore.
27:02The fact that all the anchors were facing the south and the ropes are spreading towards the shore indicates that a powerful force was throwing the ships against the land.
27:12It is the first scientific indication of a typhoon.
27:24To understand how typhoons affect this part of Japan, Kenzo Hayashida decides to consult a tropical storm specialist.
27:32Julian Hemming is one of the world's leading experts on typhoons.
27:36Typhoon is a storm which develops over the tropical oceans. The largest might be several hundred miles across.
27:45The name typhoon is specifically used in the Western Pacific Ocean.
27:49It is actually the same as a hurricane which occurs over the Atlantic, but in the Western Pacific they're called typhoons.
27:55When typhoons hit Japan, winds frequently reach speeds of over 150 miles an hour.
28:03The effect is devastating.
28:07Hemming is going to investigate the possibility that a typhoon hit the Mongol fleet in August 1281.
28:14While the weather analysis progresses, Kenzo Hayashida returns to the dive site to re-examine the anchor remains in search of further evidence of a typhoon.
28:27The position of the anchors found on the seabed at Takashima is a strong indicator to Hemming that a typhoon could have hit the fleet.
28:39As he examines recent typhoons that have hit the region, he suspects this one could have been in one of the most powerful classes.
28:49A super typhoon. Using a modern day comparison, he can simulate the ancient storm's deadly path.
29:00The super typhoon which I identified was one called Typhoon Mamie from September 2003.
29:07This storm developed in the deep tropics, but then started to accelerate northwards, approached southwest Japan.
29:17It was this case which might have simulated what happened in the typhoon of 1281.
29:22As the typhoon approached, the Mongol fleet is stranded off the Japanese coast.
29:31The fleet has little chance to take evasive action.
29:35A typhoon will have what is commonly known as an eye, where it will be a relatively calm area near the centre of the storm.
29:49But just immediately on the edges of that will be the strongest winds, winds in excess of 150 miles an hour at the centre of a fully grown typhoon.
30:10A strong typhoon will develop huge waves, 10, 20 metres, sometimes even more than that.
30:30There's every chance that they would have been driven against the rocks or capsized.
30:34Noah Alar
30:50Now
30:55With the aid of Julian Hemming's analysis, Kenzo Hayashida can appreciate the full impact
31:18of the typhoon.
31:19There were 4,400 ships gathered in this bay before they sank.
31:27So it must have been a powerful and destructive typhoon.
31:38He consults the ancient Chinese sources for estimates of the Mongol dead.
31:46More than 70,000 men drowned.
31:49The greatest loss of life at sea in history.
31:56But a select few survived.
31:59Arakan and the commanders of the fleet.
32:06This puzzles Kenzo Hayashida.
32:09In the random chaos of the typhoon, how did all the senior officers manage to escape?
32:14They must have been on decent ships.
32:17Some of the ships were of a good quality, fine, large, seagoing ships.
32:25Kenzo Hayashida wonders why so few of these sturdy Chinese ships survived.
32:32In search of the answer, he returns to his excavation site under the sea.
32:42Perhaps the key is hidden in the wreckage that still litters the seabed.
32:48He's about to make a vital discovery.
32:52Evidence that the fleet may have been doomed long before the typhoon struck.
33:02Kenzo Hayashida's suspicions are raised by the shape and design of a key component of
33:07one of the ships.
33:10The mast step.
33:12The mast step is the part of the ship to which the mast is secured.
33:16So it was positioned in the middle of the ship.
33:24A carefully engineered mast step is one of the most important parts of a sailing ship.
33:30But he's detected a problem.
33:34This mast step is not very well made, which means that the mast itself would have been twisted.
33:44This would have made the ship unstable in heavy seas.
33:56The clue takes his investigation in a totally new direction.
34:01What does the cause of the disaster lie in the shipyards of China?
34:08Perhaps the workmen who constructed this ship were careless.
34:14Or maybe they were forced to build it.
34:19The Chinese craftsmen built ships that didn't meet their usual high standards.
34:25And there is one very good reason for this.
34:32The Chinese had only just been defeated by Kublai Khan and hated their Mongol overlords.
34:44Kublai Khan placed enormous burdens on the shipbuilders to construct the ships as rapidly as possible.
34:52Most of the laborers were Chinese who did not particularly have any fond feelings for the Mongols.
34:59And it's alleged, and may be true, that the construction was pretty shoddy.
35:05Kenzo Hayashida's detective story has taken a dramatic new turn.
35:18His quest now is to prove whether or not faulty shipbuilding was liable for the whole catastrophe.
35:24He must return once more to the seabed.
35:35What he will find will point the finger of blame for the loss of 70,000 lives at one man.
35:43The emperor, Kublai Khan.
35:54Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida knows that in August 1281, the battle fleet of the Mongol Empire vanished without trace off the coast of Japan.
36:04When he found the fleet's remains 700 years later, he hoped that 21st century science would help him recreate a blow-by-blow account of the event and its cause.
36:15So far, he's uncovered the first scientific proof that a typhoon triggered the disaster.
36:21And now, he has uncovered evidence of a more sinister kind, sabotage.
36:27Conscripted Chinese laborers built fatal flaws into some of the ships.
36:35But was this the sole reason why so many ships sank?
36:44Kenzo Hayashida and his team believe that there is still more evidence to be recovered from this underwater graveyard.
36:51While sifting through the debris, Kenzo Hayashida recalls a key piece of evidence that ties the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan himself to this naval disaster.
37:04He had ordered the invasion fleet to be built in less than one year.
37:08An ambitious goal, even for the Mongol Empire.
37:12It was certainly not possible to build the fleet that the Kublai Khan conceived of,
37:20in less than a year.
37:23It probably would have taken two, three or even five years for such a fleet to be successfully launched.
37:31So where did all the ships come from?
37:33After weeks of searching, one fragment grabs the team's attention.
37:46A tiny lacquer sign covered in Chinese characters.
37:50Kenzo Hayashida translates it.
38:01It says that a government inspector checked the repairs carried out on a riverboat.
38:10The shocking truth has been exposed.
38:12The fleet contained riverboats.
38:15A riverboat has a flat hull to navigate shallow waterways.
38:21An ocean-going ship has a keel to ensure stability.
38:27A keeled ship may ride out a violent storm, but a riverboat will simply capsize.
38:33Kenzo Hayashida and his team urgently recheck thousands of boat fragments they've found.
38:43Not a single part belongs to a keeled vessel.
38:50It's a eureka moment.
38:51To make up the fleet's numbers in time, the Mongols must have seized thousands of old Chinese riverboats.
39:06In order to get that bigger fleet together, Kublai Khan had to grab every kind of ship he could lay hands on.
39:13So he even took stuff, which everyone must have told him.
39:17Bring it home quickly, because they're not going to survive in a typhoon.
39:23Kenzo Hayashida has proved that the Mongols allowed a hastily assembled and ill-equipped fleet to set sail.
39:32When the typhoon hit the Mongol fleet, its impact was catastrophic.
39:43For the Japanese, the disaster was their salvation.
39:54And over the next 700 years, the typhoon became a legend known as a divine wind.
40:05The typhoon was the final blow for a fleet doomed from the start.
40:13Through archaeological investigation, we have proved why the damage to the fleet was so great.
40:24Faulty construction, unseaworthy vessels, and poor judgment sealed the fleet's fate.
40:30Consequently, Kenzo Hayashida believes that the ultimate blame for the greatest naval disaster in history rests on the shoulders of one man.
40:46Kublai Khan.
40:47He rushed to war, impatient for his conquest of Japan to herald a golden age for the Mongol Empire.
41:03Instead, news of his fleet's destruction spelt the beginning of the end.
41:07The loss of the fleet was an enormous blow to Mongol prestige, to Kublai Khan's prestige.
41:21The Mongol myth of invincibility had now been destroyed.
41:25Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida and his team have proven that Kublai Khan's lack of respect for the power of the ocean played a key role in his empire's collapse.
41:43He was the last ruler of a united Mongol nation.
41:49And soon after his death, the mighty empire sank, just like the ill-fated fleet.
41:56The