Uncovering the Secrets of New York City is a National Geographic full episode that takes viewers on a journey through the history of one of the world’s most iconic cities. From its humble beginnings over 400 years ago to becoming a global powerhouse, New York City has a fascinating story to tell. The episode uses cutting-edge technology to drain the city’s oceans and reveal submerged shipwrecks, offering a glimpse into the hidden history that lies beneath the waters surrounding the city.
One of the most notable discoveries featured in the episode is a shipwreck found at Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 tragedy. Archaeologists uncover a well-preserved ship that dates back to the Revolutionary period, shedding light on New York City’s past during the American Revolution. The vessel’s small keel and shallow draft suggest that it was specifically designed for use in sheltered coastal waters, perfect for operating within New York Harbor during the city’s early years.
The episode also delves into the dark chapter of New York City’s history, including the most gruesome and bloody event of the entire Revolutionary War. British forces captured thousands of American prisoners and transported them to wallabout Bay, where they were held in incredibly harsh conditions aboard prison ships. The most notorious of these ships, the HMS Jersey, is believed to have been a floating dungeon where thousands of men perished due to overcrowding, disease, and brutal treatment.
Uncovering the Secrets of New York City provides a fascinating look at the hidden history of this iconic city and how it has shaped the world we know today. From the struggles of the Revolutionary War to the tragedy of 9/11, New York City’s past is brought to light in this captivating full episode. Viewers are invited to take a closer look at the episode and explore the incredible stories that lie beneath the waters of New York City.
Watch the video by National Geographic
Dynamic in your face and always moving forward no City looks more to the Future than New York City the Big Apple grew out of water The Secret Story of its success lies hidden under its two rivers and its Mighty Harbor this is one of the most notorious
Stretches of water on the New York Waterfront imagine if we could empty the oceans letting the water drain away to reveal the secrets of the seafloor now we can using accurate data and astonishing technology to to bring light once again to a lost world how does the horror of 9/11 lead
To an extraordinary Discovery from the birth of America the most Grizzly and bloodiest event of the entire Revolutionary War what does this offshore wreck reveal about the city’s explosive growth people talked about the forest of p and what sank this huge us warship just miles from New York the largest city in America 300 square miles 8 and A5 million People tenacious powerful confident all of it built from scratch in just 400 years and the secret to its success it’s River and harbor in the waters around New York archaeologists have located thousands of wrecks time capsules that can reveal this City’s incredible story in a new light one in
Particular what is this strange wreck and why is it here As New Yorkers recover from the shock of 911 the ruins of the Twin Towers reveal a secret from the very start of their City’s story little did we know that from this terrible tragedy there would be a major Discovery a secret from the past by 2010 1.8 million tons of debris have been
Removed the construction of a high security parking garage is underway they decided to make that entrance underground so they dug down down deeper than they had before 22 ft beneath the tarmac in the shadows of the Twin Towers the remnants of an ancient Ship at the construction site at Ground Zero a rare find what we can see is believed to be half of a ship construction halts and a team of archa ologists rushes to Ground Zero the principal investigator Warren Reese it was right there right where the security area is for parking at the
World Trade Center when Warren arrives only part of the ship is exposed its Secrets still hidden under the mud the history of this particular vessel might fill in tremendous gaps in our knowledge about the history of New York City itself to find out more Warren’s team scans the excavated site with high
Accuracy Laser Technology combining the highresolution 3D data with cuttingedge computer Imaging we can turn back time and drain Ground Zero to reveal an astonishing Subterranean secret layers of Earth crumble away 22 ft underground in the heart of Manhattan the flattened wreck of a wooden ship it’s 30 ft long and its wooden structure
Is roughly hee we never seen a vessel just like this one it was not only rare it’s one of a kind what is this ship and what’s it doing beneath the heart of Manhattan more than 500 yard from the shoreline to find out Reese and his team need to learn its age
Taking a closer look inside the wood they find well-preserved tree rings they reveal that the timber was felled in 1773 or soon after it was like a time capsule it’s a secret time capsule in America the 1770s mean only one thing Revolution what we have is a a vessel
That’s been hiding underneath New York City that’s from the Revolutionary period back then New York is home to just 255,000 people but the quality of its harbor has already made it one of America’s most successful ports its strategic importance puts New York firmly in the crosshairs of Britain’s King
George when the American Revolution begins in 1775 just a year later a huge British Invasion Force drives George Washington’s Army out of the city could this ship have been part of the battle going back to the drained wreckage Clues emerge beneath the decking 327 pieces of artillery including a cannon ball and 56
Musket Balls soldiers from one side or another have clearly been on board this ship then in the center of the wreck Warren Reese’s team discovers the smallest of Clues Now this button was found in the midships area of the vessel between some frames and some planks and because of that we know it was on the ship before it was buried the putter button is stamped with the number 52 it’s fallen from the uniform of a soldier from the 52nd
Regiment of the British army they were grenadiers which mean they’re very aggressive assault troops pretty exciting to find this because this ties the ship to a British soldier in New York During the Revolution a common Soldier who’s lost their button if this ship was used by some of
The most fearsome troops in the British army what were they using it for combining the scanning data with new research by Texas A&M University we can resurrect the Ship as her original form rises from the dirt her full size becomes clear and her striking features 50 ft long her beam 18 ft with the hull of a rivercraft Just 4 ft deep and a small Keel this is not an ocean goinging vessel it’s specifically designed for use in sheltered Coastal
Waters it was able to get into shallow water into little Coes up alongside Ships a ship that’s perfect for operating within New York Harbor and crewed by British grenadiers evidence that she could be part of a little known but brutal story during the War British forces fed many thousands of Americans to a horrifying destination just 2 miles away off the shores of
Brooklyn during the American Revolution this was known as wallabout Bay and it was the most lethal place during the whole Revolution for the Americans New York City still has its Secrets its dark passed including the most Grizzly and bloody bloodiest event of the entire Revolutionary War as the British try to quell the
Uprising they capture thousands of prisoners and Ferry them out onto the Waters of wallabout bay to a place known as hell afloat a flotilla of festering British ships overcrowded freezing cold old poorly supplied and run by brutal guards the diseases that swept through just terrorized the men on
Board most notorious of all the HMS Jersey she would serve as potentially the worst prison ship floating dungeon in human history Warren Reese believes that the World Trade Center ship may play a role in this dark chapter of New York’s history they needed boats to go back and
Forth and to bring prisoners out and this would have been a perfect vessel for that they would have just stuffed them in there even if they had to pack them in sitting down it might carry 100 people on board the casualty figures are staggering far worse than 9/11 historians estimate that 11,000 men
Die on HMS Jersey alone twice as many men died aboard the Jersey as were lost in combat during the entirety of the Revolutionary War it’s unimaginable a very dark chapter of American history one last mystery remains about the British fairy booat why was it found under the heart of Manhattan America finally wins Independence and New York changes fast in the years after the American Revolution New York very much uh is Like a Phoenix Rising From the Ashes politically and economically at its heart a thriving gawk that looks very different from the city of today we’re in the middle of a modern
City here we in the lower districts of Manhattan and about halfway down that block was the original Shoreline eager to improve their Harbor New Yorkers build new Wares extending the island of Manhattan out into the bay abandoned in the docks half sunk in the mud the old British Ferry is Simply
Built around and over centuries later the World Trade Center Rises on top of the old dockland and the ships that had witnessed a America’s bloody Birth Commerce drives the city’s expansion and for Commerce location is Everything facing the Roaring Atlantic at the mouth of the Hudson River New York’s huge natural Harbor is the perfect place for an international Port miles of Shoreline in a protected Bay from which and independent America can trade with the world in the 1800s more passengers and cargo flow through New York than all
Other us ports combined there were so many sailing vessels coming and going and docking here that observers would describe it as a forest of masts but the city’s ambition soon outgrows The Fabulous Harbor provided by Nature just yards from bustling uptown Manhattan evidence of an earth shattering event that reshaped this
City just how far would New Yorkers go to make their port the greatest on Earth New York York Harbor’s main entrance is the verit Sano Narrows but there’s a second gateway to the Atlantic Long Island Sound crucial to sustaining the frenzy flow of Commerce but it’s obstructed by a perilous stretch of the East River Hellgate in the 1850s one in 50 ships are devoured here a terrifying statistic James Delgado Maritime archaeologist from search Incorporated
Wants to learn more about the dangers of Hellgate this early map is particularly remarkable because it shows us Hellgate with the the positions of a number of rocks marked islands and hidden reefs choke the shipping Lane churning the water into a Maelstrom this is a challenging if not dangerous area to
Navigate a gauntlet to be run among the many Perils of Hellgate one monster looms large and deadly flood rocks nine acres of stone lurking just beneath the surface right at the heart of Hellgate today the channel is still dangerous the major obstacle was basically right in the middle of the
Road right off of here but there’s no sign of Flood Rock above the water does the ship devouring monster lie beneath the surface James takes to the water okay sounds good this is one of the most notorious stretches of water on the New York water FM what you would have been faced with
Is all this fast moving water and it’s not just moving in One Direction it’s going back and forth It’s swirling around rocks you sail through you lose the wind and suddenly that movement of water drags you right into the teeth in search of Flood Rock the team from Noah scans Hellgate with multi-beam
Sonar firing sound waves into the murky depths the return signal records the shape of the features beneath this is a real time image of the bottom and you can see all the rubble wow using the 3D multi-beam data and the latest computer visualization technology it’s now possible to pull the plug on
The entire Harbor to reveal a jaw-dropping sight icons of the city as never seen Before as the water recedes from the East River the remains of Flood Rock should come into view but there’s not a trace of the Beast that is shown in the old charts nine acres of rock have vanished How buried in the archives an incredible story of New York’s self-confidence and ambition this 1848 chart by the US Coast survey is actually a working document it was never published lished this is for an engineer to figure out how best to start dealing with this how do we pull
These teeth to make this a smoother ride through backed by wealthy New York Merchants the city fathers make a decision the future of the city is at stake Flood Rock has got to go it is the beginning an age in which nothing was deemed impossible if enough ingenuity
Engineering and perhaps money was put behind it as human beings work to reshape the planet to their purposes James discovers how the city’s Engineers planned to do it by attacking the problem from beneath first they sink a 70ft shaft Into the Heart of the island over nine long years miners dig
Four miles of tunnels and drill 15,000 bore holes and in them they place a staggering 150 tons of explosives the Hellgate work is an epic moment in the history of civil engineering this is a moment in which technology will triumph over nature on October the 10th 1885 50,000 people flocked to New York’s
East River everybody’s waiting for the Big Show Flood Rock is primed with explosives and the Detonator is pushed 7 million cubic feet of pulverized Rock flies up up into the Skies over New York City the greatest explosion not only that New York has seen but that the world has seen up to that
Time and when the spray clears Flood Rock is history leaving the riverbed looking like a gravel pit if you really want to think about how New Yorkers have reconfigured and reshaped their entire environment both on land and in water I think the word hutzpah is perfect for
That with its second entrance now secure New York’s shipping business increases at an Ever faster rate cargo ships move sugar spices cotton machinery and construction materials all to feed America’s booming economy New York expands dramatically in the 19th century it’s becoming the Industrial and Commercial heart of the United
States by the 1880s the City’s population is more than a million and its waters are getting crowded dangerously so in the wild Atlantic just a few miles Beyond new New York Harbor what can one strange offshore wreck tell us of the pace of trade through the waters of New
York and the Peril facing those pursuing the American dream before Daybreak on March 14th 1886 the SS Oregon is nearing the end of a 3,000m voyage from England transporting her cargo and over 600 passengers through the dark approach to New York Harbor it’s a calm night just 60 miles stand between her
And her final Destination but at first light a lookout from Fire Island signal station reports her masts drifting off Course moments later the Oregon disappears and never arrives in New York what happens to her and all the people on board out in the darkness as flat as this seems this is a dangerous section of ocean there are many disasters that happen within the reach of this light’s beams
But every once in a while there comes a big disaster in which a large ship is lost for over 130 years Oregon has Lain shrouded by the Atlantic the waters off the New York coast are dark cold and often murky the ocean has cons sealed her Secrets but now that’s
Changing off the southern shore of Fire Island the Ferdinand R Hassler goes in search of wreckage you are clear to turn around and make another pass for hundreds of years the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration’s Coast survey has been charting and recharting these Waters we’re about 12 nautical miles south of Fire Island
And we’re about to go right on top of that multibeam scanners in the ship’s Hull emit sonar pulses and we use this technology to very accurately and precisely map features on the ocean floor oh wow there it is look at that that’s awesome based upon this detailed three-dimensional data we can bring the
Oregon and her story back into the light first a towering structure of Tangled metal the water receding further the Oregon has never seen before she’s taken a beating from the ocean her insides are exposed to the elements allowing us to examine what type of ship she is though her masks were seen from
Ashore they must have been supplementary Oregon isn’t a Sal ship in fact she represents a revolution in shipping she is a steamer beneath her four-story High steam engine the remains of nine boilers each 16 ft wide this thing is a behemoth with so many fires going that it’s consuming massive amounts of
Coal and towards her Stern a huge screw propeller 24 ft wide this is the corpse of an athlete a ship built with one thing in mind speed but Why the answer is part of the DNA of New York City itself immigrants folks from all around the world that came for opportunity and for this dream that New York City was more than 70% of immigrants Bound for America arrive in New York New York is the
Gateway as Lincoln said it was the front door by the late 1800s 650,000 immigrants arrive every year and up to 20,000 boats a year maneuver through the harbor and everyone is in a hurry is a time of rampant capitalism great fortunes are being made profit is everything the waters are just alive with
Vessels faster ships mean more trade and bigger profits time is money the Quest for profit leads to an extraordinary technological race to build ships that will cross the Atlantic faster and faster the early days of ocean steam are Cutthroat you have entrepreneurs who are battling It Out on the
Ocean by the 1870s and into the 1880s that’s when you begin to see the birth of truly magnificent ocean Steamers Greyhounds of the sea leviathans the British operated gon line builds the Oregon in 1881 to boost its New York express service and she’s Cutting Edge it has the largest steam engine yet
Put into one of these ships consuming over 200 tons of coal a day her boilers generate upwards of 12,000 horsepower driving the huge screw propeller that thrusts Oregon forward at an astonishing 18 knots in April 18 1884 she crosses the Atlantic in under 6 and 1/2 days
Slashing 13 hours off the Record it’s something that nobody had thought could be done Oregon claims the prize and earns the nickname Greyhound of the Atlantic so what took down such a powerful machine return to the drained wreck there’s a clue disguised by Decades of Decay on her port side a section of the hull is more crumpled than anywhere else something must have ripped a hole right here but what the degradation means it’s impossible to tell from the wreckage alone an article from The New York Times holds the Answer Oregon is a victim of New York’s heaving waterways the risk of getting into a collision is actually shockingly High combining This research with the evidence from the drained wreck we can piece together the final moments at 4:30 in the morning Oregon is Bound for New York under a full head of
Steam it’s a dark night they’re lining up and heading towards the port they can see the lights along the Long Island Shore the Fire Island light is brilliantly Lit a light appears on her port side it’s another ship heading right for them and it strikes them dramatically on the side then the other ship backs off and disappears the ocean is pouring Into the Heart of Oregon over eight frantic hours nearby boats rescue every passenger on board the Oregon their dreams of a new life In America still intact but the mighty Oregon has suffered a fatal blow this Greyhound of the Atlantic has been gored and sunk just off the entrance to the
City while Oregon never makes it to Port thousands more liners do Ellis Island opens in 1892 12 million new Americans pour through its Halls ocean liners flood the harbor beckoning a golden age in just a century New York’s population grows from 60,000 to 3 and5 million by 1900 it’s the largest city in
The Western Hemisphere drawing the eyes of the world including those who would try and take her down 40 mil from New York off the shores of Long Island what sank this giant and how does her sinking reveal New York’s vulnerability at the dawn of the 20th century in the summer of
1917 America is at War transatlantic convoys carrying troops and supplies to Europe are key to the Allies hopes of success protected by warships like the USS San Diego 500 ft long over 13,000 tons armor plated with 40 guns of up to 8 in and multiple watertight bulkheads to make her
Unsinkable on July 19th 1918 she’s approaching New York to pick up a convoy at 11:05 a.m. just outside the harbor she is rocked by a huge explosion within 20 minutes the had sunk San Diego was the only major US Navy warship lost in the Great War it
Happens to lie just a few miles from the coast of New York so what happened a team from the US Navy has reopened the case led by archaeologist Alexis katsanis the question has lingered for over a century what San Diego to find out Navy divers explore the wreckage of this sunken Warrior but it’s impossible to see the whole picture through the murky Waters working with the University of Delaware Alexis deploys three dimensional scanning equipment to map San Diego’s structure on the seafloor this project is the first time we’re getting comprehensive remote sensing data combining this new data with the latest computer imaging technology we can do something impossible before
Now reveal in perfect detail the wreck of a US casualty of the Great War the Sandy Diego comes into the light for the first time in a 100 years it’s the beautiful Sleek shape of her 500t hole that appears first the steel structure is in remarkable condition for her age apart from
This towards her Stern a section of the hull that’s damaged this is the blast site eroded by Decades of Decay but it appears to be below the water Line if something hit the ship it was beneath the Surface the team studies the historical records there’s no suggestion that engine malfunction or onboard ordinance caused the blast reinforcing The View that it could have been caused by something more Sinister advances in technology mean German OTS can now cross the Atlantic this is a a new era where submarine warfare is taking over the war was brought to New York Shores by the 1900s New York is the planet’s busiest port an irresistible Target for the Imperial German
Navy if you’re an enemy of the United States what is a more symbolic Target than New York City the team wonders if a torpedo from a boat could have caused the explosion to answer the question they calculate the original size of the blast hole what damage is related to that
Original point of impact and that original explosion they find a report from a Navy diver who visited the wreck in 1918 he says he was along the bottom on the port side around the number four Smoke Stack he estimates the cavity to be just 5T wide well that corresponds to being right
Below the armor belt which makes sense using this data we can reconstruct the original blast hole could it have been caused by a Torpedo the team models the damage that World War I torpedo payloads cause and get a surprise it became rather evident that the Torpedoes were simply too large of a weapon They Carried too large of a charge and would have resulted in a hole that was Far larger than 5 or 6
Ft they wonder if it was a mine incredibly archives from the German government reveal uots were ordered to lay mines outside New York Harbor they knew that it was an important area for shipping for the United States and allies but they discover standard German mines known as type four also inflict a
Blast hole larger than 5T then a key Insight by 1918 Germany is running short of explosives the Germans by the end of the war were using diminished charges and allowing for the reduced charge in a type four mine it produces a blast hole close to 5 ft wide it appears to be a match San Diego was almost certainly hit
By a small German mine but there’s another question the hole is still tiny how could it sink a 500 ft long ship in just 20 minutes and flip her upside down 40 mil from New York the drained wreck of the San Diego reveals another piece of the Puzzle understanding the weapon is only one part of a larger picture we want to understand the whole sequence of events that occurred and how the ship HCK watertight bulkheads and doors are specifically designed to stop the spread of water and keep this warship upright but somehow San Diego turned upside
Down she sank through just 100 ft of water not enough for her to roll on The Descent she must have capsized at the surface how did a small small hole in a watertight section of this ship leave her lying prone on the seafloor Alexis and his colleagues are
Sure that water must have penetrated further into her Hull we need to understand how this happened how did we get to the point where instead of Simply sinking the ship turned it onto herself analysis shows that even with substantial flooding San Diego wouldn’t capsize baffled the team studies San
Diego’s structure looking for signs of weakness so here we can see a plan of the gun deck of USA San Diego but plans are no match for inspecting a real warship a contemporary of the San Diego although a few years older is the Cruiser USS Olympic the oldest steel warship still
Afloat examining her internal structure the team makes a breakthrough then we realize that the fact that she was coal powered was critical and crucial to our determination of how she capsized coal stored on Deck has to be delivered to the engine rooms below so this shoot
Would have been similar to like the one we would find on San Diego it would have allowed coal to be deposited all the way through to the coal bunkers and even though you can close it it’s still not watertight this weakness hadn’t been clear on the San Diego’s plans there
Were additional entry points we were not factoring in the watertight bulkheads prevent seawater from flooding the entire Hull but these shoots and a network of vents gave it another route and so water coming in through through the gun deck would have permeated through these shoots into the
Coal bunkers and from there onto the engine rooms and the boiler rooms and throughout the vest by examining San Diego’s wreckage and piecing together the clues we’re able to tell her complete story for the very first Time the USS San Diego is headed for New York The Horizon is clear but there’s danger lurking beneath the water a German ubo has laid a Minefield San Diego rushes against one water spewed into the air and it started then flooding the engineering and Boiler Room
Spaces as she lives s water pours onto the gun deck from the port side rapidly penetrating the ship via the coal shoots and vents tipping her further within a few moments she had capsized and was on her way to the bottom all but six of her 1100 strong crew
Survived but San Diego sinks to her watery Grave Just miles from the heart of New York City a heavyweight victim of a calculated Attack draining New York City reveals stories of conflict immigration and ruthless ambition today the spirit and success of this remarkable City still invites enemy attack to which New York gives a familiar Reply
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