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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 of the mighty warrior king, Kumala Khan. 140,000 men. 4,400 ships. The largest
00:31invading fleet ever to set sail. Poised to strike, it vanished suddenly, seemingly without
00:39a trace. Now, one man believes he's just found it. Will science prove him right?
01:09In 1281, the world is dominated by a single superpower. The Mongol Horde.
01:39Their emperor, Kumala Khan, has just seized China and is now the new master of Asia.
02:01The Mongols attack with a power and ferocity that has never been seen before. Only one
02:12conquest deludes them. To complete his empire, Kumala Khan gathers a huge fighting force.
02:19He will attack not by land, but by sea. With a fleet of 4,400 ships. Carrying a vast fighting
02:35force of 140,000 soldiers. His target, Japan.
02:48It was awesome, because you have enormous black cloud in the horizon. When that cloud
02:56It's a fleet of enormous size, and of course, it has tremendous psychological impact.
03:08Terrified, the Japanese turn to their legendary warriors. The samurai. The samurai are the
03:21world's most feared swordsmen. Famed for their skill in close combat. They live and
03:36die by a sacred code. Bushido. The way of the warrior. But against 140,000 Mongol warriors,
03:53even the samurai need a miracle to save their people.
03:59Everybody was scared, so they resort to prayer. In hope that somehow, some divine force will
04:06save them from this Mongol invasion.
04:17It seems that their prayers are answered.
04:30In mysterious circumstances, the Mongol fleet simply vanishes. For the Japanese, this narrow
04:51escape became an epic myth. They claimed their savior was a divine wind.
05:00The failure of the Mongol invasion, which seemed to be a miracle, was taken by the Japanese to be
05:06a heavenly scent wind. Heavenly scent wind in Japanese is the term kamikaze. Japanese felt that
05:14they were divinely protected. That they would never be invaded by an outside force.
05:22However, the earliest account of the Mongol invasion, recorded soon after, mentions no divine wind,
05:29nor any other phenomenon that might explain what happened.
05:37So what did cause the disappearance of Kublai Khan's fleet?
05:52Kenzo Hayashida hopes to solve an epic mystery.
05:59He is Japan's top marine archaeologist, and is leading a scientific investigation into the
06:05extraordinary disappearance of the world's largest naval force.
06:11A scientific odyssey into the past begins.
06:15I hope we can explain what happened through a scientific investigation,
06:24because I don't believe it was divine intervention that saved my country.
06:35Like any investigator, Kenzo Hayashida starts with motive.
06:40Who was Kublai Khan, and what drove him to invade Japan over 700 years ago?
06:51Kublai Khan's ancestors were nomads, tribes of horsemen who roamed Central Asia.
07:00In the early 1200s, his grandfather, Genghis Khan, united the tribes and led them on a rampage of conquest.
07:11In a single generation, Genghis Khan built the largest continuous land empire ever created.
07:20This is a tremendous empire, created in such a short period of time, and with such powerful thrust.
07:26So nobody has ever seen this before, not even Alexander the Great.
07:32Kublai Khan built on his grandfather's legacy.
07:35In 1279, he completed the conquest of China, but this wasn't enough.
07:41Once Kublai Khan had conquered the southern Chinese empire,
07:45he needed to show to the Chinese people, and to anyone else,
07:49I am the new emperor of China.
07:53He summons his greatest general, Arakhan, and gives him a challenge no Mongol has ever faced.
08:02To cross 500 miles of land, he has to cross the Great Wall of China,
08:08and to cross the Great Wall of China, he has to cross the Great Wall of China.
08:13He summons his greatest general, Arakhan, and gives him a challenge no Mongol has ever faced.
08:21To cross 500 miles of ocean, and take Japan.
08:28The Mongols were not accustomed to fighting at sea.
08:32This is one of the extraordinary things about Kublai Khan's sudden decision to invade Japan.
08:40The best cavalry the world had ever seen suddenly decided they were marines.
08:54On the coast of China, the Mongols began constructing over 4,000 ships,
08:59the biggest invasion fleet the world has ever seen.
09:04Kublai Khan was eager for an almost immediate attempt to invade Japan,
09:10and he gave the shipbuilders about a year or less in which to construct this mighty armada
09:17that would take on the Japanese.
09:21Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida is searching for the remains of this fleet.
09:29And it's no easy task.
09:31Japan is composed of a chain of over 3,000 islands, stretching for 2,000 miles.
09:37No one knew where to start looking,
09:39until a fisherman stumbled on a metal object inscribed with a foreign script.
09:46News of the find takes Kenzo Hayashida to the tiny Japanese island of Takashima.
09:54The island is home to the largest fish tank in the world,
09:58and the largest fish tank in the world.
10:01News of the find takes Kenzo Hayashida to the tiny Japanese island of Takashima.
10:10Is he on the verge of finding Kublai Khan's lost fleet?
10:20Was it to the waters of this island that Kublai Khan sent his Mongol warriors,
10:25only for them to vanish off the face of the earth?
10:43Kenzo Hayashida is determined to solve the mystery once and for all.
10:49But he needs evidence.
10:55If the object discovered in the waters off Takashima is Mongolian,
10:59then it could pinpoint the location of the lost fleet.
11:09The object is kept under lock and key by the island's mayor.
11:14Is this the clue Kenzo Hayashida has been waiting for?
11:24At once, Kenzo Hayashida recognizes it.
11:27A perfectly preserved bronze seal.
11:31The markings? Distinctly Mongolian.
11:37This character identifies the seal as belonging to a commander of about 1,000 soldiers.
11:44On the back, it says that it was made in September 1276.
11:50Just five years before the invasion,
11:54it must have belonged to one of the fleet's generals.
12:06With this discovery, Kenzo Hayashida can narrow the search area
12:10from over 3,000 islands to just one, Takashima.
12:20His search for the lost fleet can begin in earnest.
12:28He assembles a team of divers, archaeologists and marine scientists.
12:35As they map the seabed with sonar,
12:37Kenzo Hayashida and his team uncover the next vital clue.
12:43The sonar picks up a series of large objects.
12:50Are they simply natural geological formations?
12:56Or could they be the wreckage of Mongol warships?
13:07The waters off the Japanese island of Takashima are about to surrender their secrets.
13:20After months of painstaking excavation,
13:23the team uncovers a huge wooden construction.
13:32Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida quickly transfers it to the laboratory.
13:45It's a wooden anchor.
13:50After centuries on the seabed, it's in danger of disintegrating.
13:57Before he can analyze the timber,
13:59Kenzo Hayashida needs to preserve it in a highly concentrated sugar solution.
14:05The anchor must have belonged to a large ocean-going vessel.
14:10But did it belong to the invading Mongol fleet of 1281?
14:16With the wood safely preserved,
14:18Kenzo Hayashida takes a sample of the anchor's fibers
14:21and sends it to a laboratory for analysis.
14:26Scientists there hope to extract pollen from the wood.
14:35The pollen will identify the region from which the tree originated.
14:41The results are clear.
14:45The wood did not come from Japan,
14:49but from China.
14:56As the Mongol ships were built from Chinese timber,
14:59this is the first indication to Kenzo Hayashida
15:02that the anchor belongs to the lost fleet.
15:11Then, back at the dive site, a sensational discovery.
15:17One after another, nine more anchors emerge.
15:23Proof that the team has found a huge fleet.
15:28Because of the position of the anchors,
15:30I think we should be able to find ships between them and the shore.
15:35Kenzo Hayashida's investigation is closing in on the lost fleet.
15:48From beneath the mud,
15:49clear evidence of the lost Mongol army begins to materialize.
15:56A Mongol warrior's helmet.
16:01Sword blades.
16:06Arrowheads.
16:13Finally, the moment that marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida has been waiting for.
16:21The remains of a Mongol warrior.
16:26It's the top of a skull.
16:36Kenzo Hayashida and his team have found the lost fleet of Kublai Khan.
16:42The last resting place of one man's dreams of empire,
16:46and the mass grave of thousands of Mongol dead.
16:54But the cause of the disaster remains a mystery.
16:59The key may lie in the thousands of ship timbers
17:02that Kenzo Hayashida is raising from the seafloor.
17:05He must piece this enormous puzzle together in the quest for clues.
17:14This piece is thick and solid,
17:16so I think it's from the bulkhead.
17:20The Chinese used cutting-edge 13th century technology
17:24to build the strongest ships of the day.
17:28Each vessel contained a series of watertight compartments
17:31sealed with resin.
17:33If a boat was hauled at sea,
17:35only one compartment would flood,
17:38so the ship wouldn't sink.
17:43The ship was built by the Chinese,
17:46so the ship wouldn't sink.
17:49Chinese ships during the early Mongol era
17:51were far superior to ships anywhere else in the world.
17:54They were longer, they used iron,
17:58their rudders were superior to any other part of the world.
18:05Kenzo Hayashida wonders if there is a clue to the disaster
18:08in the days before the fleet set sail.
18:12In the spring of 1281, Kublai Khan grew impatient.
18:18After less than a year of preparation,
18:20he orders his commander-in-chief, General Arakan,
18:23to launch the invasion of Japan.
18:32Food, medical supplies and weapons
18:35are rushed from all over the empire.
18:42War horses that are the terror of Asia.
18:49And 140,000 undefeated warriors.
18:54In May 1281, 4,400 ships set sail.
19:05It was awesome.
19:07Nothing can be compared to this.
19:10It was a great experience.
19:12It was a great experience.
19:14It was a great experience.
19:16It was a great experience.
19:18It was a great experience.
19:21Nothing can be compared to the Mongol fleet of 1281.
19:26The closest match is the D-Day invasion in 1944
19:31when Allies assembled about 4,000 ships
19:34to invade German-occupied Europe.
19:44Arakan is confident of victory.
19:50But he has embarked on an unfamiliar type of campaign.
19:56Arakan has never commanded a fleet before,
19:59and he has no idea what threats may lie ahead.
20:04After weeks at sea,
20:06the fleet arrives off the Japanese coast.
20:11General Arakan sends a message by carrier pigeon
20:14back to Kublai Khan in China.
20:20His troops are ready for battle.
20:27The fleet is ready for battle.
20:33The troops are preparing to attack
20:35and establish a beachhead on Japanese soil.
20:43As the Mongol armada arrives off the coast of Japan,
20:47the samurai warriors prepare for battle.
20:51They are masters of the art of close-quarter sword fighting.
20:58But their skill will be tested to the limit
21:01by an enemy with powerful long-range weapons.
21:07The Mongols could wreak havoc with their bows.
21:10And they may have had an even more terrifying weapon.
21:19Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida
21:22takes a mysterious object he has salvaged from the seabed
21:25to a laboratory for examination.
21:31He discovers that the object is not a human body,
21:34but a human skull.
21:41Is it the world's first exploding missile?
21:51He's going to subject it to forensic analysis to find out.
21:59In size and shape, it resembles a missile from a catapult.
22:06But all other catapult missiles were solid.
22:11It's weird.
22:15This one is hollow.
22:19Kenzo Hayashida's team takes a sample of the sediment inside
22:23for chemical analysis.
22:25Does it contain traces of gunpowder?
22:33If so, it could be evidence of a deadly Mongol weapon
22:37known as a tetsuha,
22:39a missile that struck terror into the hearts of their enemies
22:44and whose existence has been debated for centuries.
22:55The chemical analysis shows no gunpowder,
22:58so Kenzo Hayashida tries another technique.
23:05X-ray analysis.
23:10This reveals shards of metal.
23:14This shrapnel indicates that the projectile was indeed
23:17filled with gunpowder.
23:21The first exploding missile used in war,
23:24an incredible discovery.
23:30This is a very new weapon.
23:32The technological advantages the Mongols had,
23:34the Japanese didn't have,
23:36could make a difference.
23:40With such a technological advantage,
23:42Kenzo Hayashida wonders why the Mongols didn't overrun the samurai.
23:50When the Mongol fleet was within range of the Japanese shore,
23:53the exploding missiles were primed.
24:07The samurai had never encountered such devastating munitions.
24:30Under a barrage of covering fire,
24:32the first wave of Mongol warriors storm ashore.
24:37But in the fierce battle that followed,
24:39the tide turned.
24:44At close quarters, the Mongol infantry is no match
24:47for the speed and skill of the samurai swordsmen.
24:53Unable to establish a beachhead,
24:55the Mongols retreat to their ships.
24:58The most crucial element of the entire campaign
25:02hinged on one thing,
25:04to break the Japanese coastal defense,
25:06to establish a beachhead from which to expand your invasion.
25:11If you fail that, then you're going to be in big trouble.
25:16Arakan, the Mongol commander, refuses to quit.
25:21But before he can launch another assault,
25:23disaster strikes.
25:27On the 12th of August, 1281,
25:30the fleet disappears.
25:35To uncover what happened during those final days,
25:39Kenzo Hayashida wants to consult
25:41the oldest known account of the invasion.
25:48It is contained in a priceless scroll
25:50held at the sacred Hakazaki shrine.
25:55Could it hide a new lead?
26:04The scroll is found at the Hakazaki shrine.
26:15Painted in 1293, just 12 years after the battle,
26:19it's the only surviving pictorial evidence
26:22of the Mongol ships.
26:25The scroll provides a fascinating insight
26:27into the fleet's last days.
26:35Deploying elite bands of samurai,
26:37the Japanese counter-attacked,
26:42putting the Mongol invaders on the defensive.
26:47The Mongol invaders are not only
26:50putting the Mongol invaders on the defensive.
26:56The scroll does not explain the fleet's disappearance,
27:01but it does indicate that the Mongol ships
27:03were stranded at sea for weeks in the summer of 1281.
27:12By this time, after weeks and weeks on the sea,
27:15illness, diseases,
27:18heat must be miserable.
27:32Kenzo Hayashida realizes
27:34that if the fleet was marooned at sea,
27:36the Mongols were vulnerable
27:38to one of Japan's most dangerous weather phenomena,
27:43a violent storm that strikes in summer.
27:47A typhoon.
28:04Seeking evidence of a typhoon,
28:06marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida
28:08returns to the dive site at Takashima.
28:12As they review the clues they've uncovered,
28:15the team make a breakthrough.
28:20While plotting the position of the ten recovered ship anchors,
28:23they notice a pattern.
28:27All the anchors face the same way,
28:30with their ropes leading towards shore.
28:34The fact that all the anchors were facing the south
28:37and the ropes are spreading towards the shore
28:39indicates that a powerful force
28:41was throwing the ships against the land.
28:46It is the first scientific indication of a typhoon.
28:54To understand how typhoons affect this part of Japan,
28:58Kenzo Hayashida decides to consult
29:00a tropical storm specialist.
29:03Julian Hemming is one of the world's leading experts on typhoons.
29:08Typhoon is a storm which develops over the tropical oceans.
29:12The largest might be several hundred miles across.
29:15The name typhoon is specifically used in the Western Pacific Ocean.
29:19It is actually the same as a hurricane,
29:21which occurs over the Atlantic,
29:23but in the Western Pacific they're called typhoons.
29:28When typhoons hit Japan,
29:30winds frequently reach speeds of over 150 miles an hour.
29:35The effect is devastating.
29:39Hemming is going to investigate the possibility
29:42that a typhoon hit the Mongol fleet in August 1281.
29:49While the weather analysis progresses,
29:51Kenzo Hayashida returns to the dive site
29:54to re-examine the anchor remains
29:56in search of further evidence of a typhoon.
30:02The position of the anchors found on the seabed at Takashima
30:05is a strong indicator to Hemming
30:07that a typhoon could have hit the fleet.
30:13As he examines recent typhoons that have hit the region,
30:16he suspects this one could have been in one of the most powerful classes.
30:22A super typhoon.
30:25Using a modern day comparison,
30:27he can simulate the ancient storm's deadly path.
30:32The super typhoon which I identified
30:35was one called Typhoon Mamie from September 2003.
30:40This storm developed in the deep tropics,
30:42but then started to accelerate northwards,
30:45approached southwest Japan.
30:47It was this case which might have simulated
30:50what happened in the typhoon of 1281.
30:57As the typhoon approached,
30:59the Mongol fleet is stranded off the Japanese coast.
31:04The fleet has little chance to take evasive action.
31:08Typhoon Mamie
31:27A typhoon will have what is commonly known as an eye,
31:30where there will be a relatively calm area near the center of the storm.
31:33But just immediately on the edges of that will be the strongest winds,
31:36winds in excess of 150 miles an hour
31:39at the center of a fully grown typhoon.
31:55A strong typhoon will develop huge waves,
31:5710, 20 meters, sometimes even more than that.
32:00There's every chance that they would have been driven against the rocks or capsized.
32:31Typhoon Mamie
32:44With the aid of Julian Heming's analysis,
32:47Kenzo Hayashida can appreciate the full impact of the typhoon.
32:52There were 4,400 ships gathered in this bay before they sank.
32:58So it must have been a powerful and destructive typhoon.
33:08He consults the ancient Chinese sources for estimates of the Mongol dead.
33:17More than 70,000 men drowned,
33:20the greatest loss of life at sea in history.
33:27But a select few survived.
33:32Arakan and the commanders of the fleet.
33:37This puzzles Kenzo Hayashida.
33:40In the random chaos of the typhoon,
33:42how did all the senior officers manage to escape?
33:46They must have been on decent ships.
33:48Some of the ships were of a good quality,
33:51fine, large, seagoing ships.
33:55Kenzo Hayashida wonders why so few of these sturdy Chinese ships survived.
34:02In search of the answer, he returns to his excavation site under the sea.
34:12Perhaps the key is hidden in the wreckage that still litters the seabed.
34:19He's about to make a vital discovery,
34:22evidence that the fleet may have been doomed long before the typhoon struck.
34:32Kenzo Hayashida's suspicions are raised by the shape and design
34:36of a key component of one of the ships,
34:40the mast step.
34:43The mast step is the part of the ship to which the mast is secured.
34:47So it was positioned in the middle of the ship.
34:53A carefully engineered mast step
34:56is one of the most important parts of a sailing ship.
35:01But he's detected a problem.
35:05This mast step is not very well made,
35:09which means that the mast itself would have been twisted.
35:15This would have made the ship unstable in heavy seas.
35:23The clue takes his investigation in a totally new direction.
35:28Does the cause of the disaster lie in the shipyards of China?
35:36Perhaps the workmen who constructed this ship were careless,
35:41or maybe they were forced to build it.
35:47The Chinese craftsmen built ships in China
35:50The Chinese craftsmen built ships that didn't meet their usual high standards.
35:56And there is one very good reason for this.
36:03The Chinese had only just been defeated by Kublai Khan
36:06and hated their Mongol overlords.
36:10Kublai Khan
36:16Kublai Khan placed enormous burdens on the shipbuilders
36:20to construct the ships as rapidly as possible.
36:23Most of the laborers were Chinese
36:26who did not particularly have any fond feelings for the Mongols.
36:31And it's alleged, and may be true,
36:34that the construction was pretty shoddy.
36:40Kenzo Hayashida
36:44Kenzo Hayashida's detective story has taken a dramatic new turn.
36:48His quest now is to prove whether or not faulty shipbuilding
36:52was liable for the whole catastrophe.
36:59He must return once more to the seabed.
37:03What he will find will point the finger of blame
37:06for the loss of 70,000 lives at one man.
37:11The emperor, Kublai Khan.
37:23Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida knows
37:26that in August 1281,
37:28the battle fleet of the Mongol Empire
37:30vanished without trace off the coast of Japan.
37:33When he found the fleet's remains 700 years later,
37:36he hoped that 21st century science
37:39would help him recreate a blow-by-blow account
37:42of the event and its cause.
37:45So far, he's uncovered the first scientific proof
37:48that a typhoon triggered the disaster.
37:51And now, he has uncovered evidence of a more sinister kind.
37:55Sabotage.
37:57Sabotage.
37:59Conscripted Chinese laborers built fatal flaws
38:02into some of the ships.
38:06But was this the sole reason why so many ships sank?
38:15Kenzo Hayashida and his team believe
38:18that there is still more evidence
38:20to be recovered from this underwater graveyard.
38:24While sifting through the debris,
38:27Kenzo Hayashida recalls a key piece of evidence
38:30that ties the Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan himself,
38:33to this naval disaster.
38:35He had ordered the invasion fleet
38:37to be built in less than one year.
38:40An ambitious goal, even for the Mongol Empire.
38:46It was certainly not possible to build
38:49the fleet that Kublai Khan conceived of
38:52in less than a year.
38:54It probably would have taken two, three, or even five years
38:58for such a fleet to be successfully launched.
39:01So where did all the ships come from?
39:08After weeks of searching,
39:10one fragment grabs the team's attention.
39:17A tiny lacquer sign covered in Chinese characters.
39:23Kenzo Hayashida translates it.
39:29It says that a government inspector checked
39:32the repairs carried out on a riverboat.
39:38The shocking truth has been exposed.
39:41The fleet contained riverboats.
39:45A riverboat has a flat hull
39:47to navigate shallow waterways.
39:49An ocean-going ship has a keel to ensure stability.
39:55A keeled ship may ride out a violent storm,
39:58but a riverboat will simply capsize.
40:05Kenzo Hayashida and his team
40:07urgently recheck thousands of boat fragments they've found.
40:11Not a single part belongs to a keeled vessel.
40:16It's a eureka moment.
40:22To make up the fleet's numbers in time,
40:25the Mongols must have seized
40:27thousands of old Chinese riverboats.
40:32In order to get that bigger fleet together,
40:35Kublai Khan had to grab
40:37every kind of ship he could lay hands on.
40:41So he even took stuff, which everyone must have told him,
40:44bring it home quickly,
40:46because they're not going to survive in a typhoon.
40:51Kenzo Hayashida has proved
40:53that the Mongols allowed a hastily assembled
40:56and ill-equipped fleet to set sail.
41:00When the typhoon hit the Mongol fleet,
41:03its impact was catastrophic.
41:07For the Japanese, the disaster was their salvation.
41:13And over the next 700 years,
41:15the typhoon became a legend,
41:17known as a divine wind.
41:24The typhoon was the first
41:26of its kind in the history of mankind.
41:29It became a legend, known as a divine wind.
41:36The typhoon was the final blow
41:38for a fleet doomed from the start.
41:46Through archaeological investigation,
41:49we have proved why the damage to the fleet was so great.
41:55Faulty construction,
41:57unseaworthy vessels,
41:59and poor judgment sealed the fleet's fate.
42:08Consequently, Kenzo Hayashida believes
42:11that the ultimate blame for the greatest naval disaster in history
42:15rests on the shoulders of one man, Kublai Khan.
42:22He rushed to war,
42:25impatient for his conquest of Japan
42:28to herald a golden age for the Mongol Empire.
42:34Instead, news of his fleet's destruction
42:37spelt the beginning of the end.
42:43The loss of the fleet was an enormous blow
42:47to Mongol prestige,
42:50to Kublai Khan's prestige.
42:53The Mongol myth of invincibility had now been destroyed.
43:04Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida and his team
43:07have proven that Kublai Khan's lack of respect
43:10for the power of the ocean
43:12played a key role in his empire's collapse.
43:16He was the last ruler of a united Mongol nation.
43:21And soon after his death,
43:23the mighty empire sank,
43:26just like the ill-fated fleet.