Josh Gates Uncovers Ancient Secrets In Fourni’s Deep Sea | Expedition Unknown

This is the port of Pereus. You know, in the  ancient world, Greece was a shipping powerhouse, and they still are. Despite being a relatively  small country with a population that’s roughly the size of North Carolina, Greekowned companies  control a staggering 20% of the world’s merchant fleet. Today, we stuff everything into 40ft steel  containers. But back when the ancient Greeks ruled the shipping lanes on the Mediterranean, their  most valuable goods, wine, oil, exotic spices, even preserved fish were transported in ceramic  vessels called Ampha. Along with commercial shipping, modern Pereas is also a travel hub  for cruise ships and feries that travel between Greece’s more than 200 inhabited islands. And  this is where my adventure begins. You see, a few months ago, I received this mysterious  invitation to a Greek wedding from an old girlfriend. And I got to say, I’m thinking I’m  done. We are not doing Mama Mia, right? Sorry, no Mama Mia. Scary Shipwreck Island. Can we at  least afford some knockoff ABBA music? There it is. Life is short, the world is wide, and I  have a boat to catch. To reach Greece’s answer to the Bermuda Triangle, I board this massive  ferry capable of carrying 1,800 passengers, over 400 vehicles, and one intrigued adventurer.  Our voyage to the shipwreck island of Forny isn’t exactly a quick commute. We’ll be sailing for  nearly 10 hours as we navigate through some of the nearly 200 islands that make up the Cichlides  and steam through legendary waters. Forny with barely a thousand residents is a tiny cluster  of islands that sit near the eastern edge of the Aian Sea. Few tourists make it there as  most hop off on better known and more mythic islands. Our ferry will stop first at Ciros, the  home of the messenger god Hermes. Then to Mkos, where Hercules himself defeated a race of giants,  and on to Icaria, where the doomed fly boy Icarus flew too close to the sun and plummeted  to Earth. These tales are woven into the very fabric of Greece. But in a split second,  the only deity I’m worried about is Poseidon.
Day turns to night and night brings a  howling gale. These are now absolutely terrible. We got huge waves crashing off  the sending water up almost above the ship.
The sea churns, the wind screams, and I imagine  riding this out in an ancient wooden vessel a fraction of the size of this ferry. Just before  I decide to relocate to a lifeboat, though, the Tempest suddenly and mysteriously stops.  The wind has died down, the seas are calm, kind of a an eerie welcome to the  island. With Monos at the helm, we speed around the coast of Forny to hover  over one of the wrecks that’s recently been discovered. To figure out how it ended up here,  we quickly get to work, suit up, and splash in.
Follow me. We’re going straight down.  Copy that. I’m right behind you.
Look at that. That huge pile  down there. That’s the wreck.
You can see the outline of the ship. I can see it  clear as day. Unbelievable. Look at that. Here you can see traces of the wooden framing of the ship.  That is incredible. Yeah, you can see those ribs there sticking out. Absolutely amazing. In the  center of the wreck, we have this huge pile of stones. What are these? Are these ballast stones?  No, there are too many to be ballast stones. We think that somebody filled the ship with stones in  order to sink it. To sink it on purpose. Sink it on purpose to vanish every trace of it. Who would  do that? One word. Pirates. Pirates. [Music] Okay, here we go. Passing 40 ft. Just pass the  100 ft and you’ll see the wreck. I got my eyes open. Just This is what we call wreck  number 13. There it is. Look at that. That is cargo. Now we’re talking. There are containers  everywhere. I’m absolutely stunned by what I see.
Thousands of ceramic containers everywhere  I look. A treasure trove of ancient history littering the seafloor. This amphas is a container  of antiquity. Ampha were the Amazon boxes of the ancient world. Some form of them was used by  every culture on the Mediterranean to ship oil, wine, and precious goods across the sea.  Their design made them deceptively strong and easy to pack into a ship’s hold where they  could be stacked tightly for transport. And how old is this wreck? This is the oldest wreck  we found in For so far, dated back to the 6th century BC. So 550 BC. You’re telling  me this wreck is 2500 years old. Exactly.
Just follow me. I want to show you something else.
Wind just picked way up and I’m going to jump from  5 miles an hour to 20 in a heartbeat and gusting 25 knots. That got real. We’re up to almost  30 knots here on what is a sunny calm day.
If you’re not in this channel, everywhere  else, it’s a paradise. Here it’s hell. It’s hell. Imagine trying to come through  this channel in really bad weather.
It would be madness. Absolutely. We are in  a vortex. Ananometer is literally spinning in circles. You can see the dieac trail  is just swirling in the water now. Really erratic currents in here. The wind and water  are churning wildly around us. Minutes ago, we lived in a predictable world. Now, we’re  at the mercy of the gods. Everybody, hold on.
Hang on. Whoa. Just above 30 to 40 knots.
Then, as quickly as the conditions  kicked up, they subside. [Music] Oh my word. And now no wind. No wind. These  gusts are deadly. Yeah, you can see it. I mean, just under half sail and we’re halfway over.  Nobody expects this, right? When it’s out of the tunnel. That’s right. The weather’s  totally different out there. You sail in, it’s like a trap. Exactly. Jos, you see the many  rocks? The many rocks. Yes. This is Sila. That’s Sila, the manyheaded monster. That’s Sila. All the  shores, all the rocks there that ships could hit.
And behind us, the die trail is swirling. This  is Karibdis. It is Kuribdus. It is a whirlpool of current over there. So maybe this is the  monster. Exactly. Mythical monsters in real life.
Manos, I think we got a good idea of  what’s going on here. We’ve got the dieac uh trail to look at. We’ve got your data  to look at. So, should we head for a safe harbor? Let’s go for a beer. Oh, God bless  this man. All right, guys. We’re headed home.