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USS Samuel B. Roberts
219 Plays1 year ago
A destroyer escort with a heart of gold is discovered in the deepest part of the ocean!
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Transcript
Sponsors Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Today's episode of Killer Shipwrecks is brought to you by Terry's Turpentine offering natural solvents of unnatural quality. We're also brought to you by Choppy Streams, offering the latest technical solutions for those endless Zoom meetings.
Episode Six Introduction
00:00:43
Speaker
Dr. Geller. Colonel Troyer, episode number six. Number six, but number lifetime, number 30. But number six is important, right? That's known as a perfect number. It's halfway there, yeah. Halfway there. It's a symbol of completeness. So in some ways, it's already all the way there. Is that true? I did not know that the six is known for completeness.
What Makes Number Six Perfect?
00:01:05
Speaker
Yes that is the number six weird cuz it's got the you know the thing hanging at the top which doesn't seem complete like i think for completeness i would have gone with eight zero interesting like with no nothing hanging off you know no no but in fact the Pythagorean you know you remember the Pythagorean theorem from your high school geometry class.
00:01:26
Speaker
Wait, were there, was there a group called the Pythagoras? I thought there was just a dude named like Pythagoras. His followers, right? His followers. His followers. They viewed number six as a perfect number. Really? And so when all the numbers, you know, divisors, excluding the number itself are added, the sum equals the number itself.
00:01:46
Speaker
Well, you already lost me, but that's not, um, that's not hard to do once we get into math.
Deepest Shipwreck Discovery
00:01:52
Speaker
So in any case, number six is an achievement feeling pretty good about the episodes. Um, I feel like we've had a good so far kickoff to this season in terms of the variety of ships presented. Absolutely. And of course we are not resting on our laurels. We still have several more ships to get to this season. That brings us to this current episode. So I'm very curious, where are we going today?
00:02:15
Speaker
Today, I'm excited to take you on a voyage, just as I said last time, a little bit different from what I've done before. I didn't mean to, but I started off this season going way back to ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and also, this is an important feature too, that in the two wrecks I've described so far, we were talking about somewhere around 100 feet down is where they found the wreck.
00:02:42
Speaker
So, so far we had our record, our record so far as the 11 feet in which the dale and horse was found, right? In terms of deaths, we we've gone from 11 feet, which I bet you will be the record. I'm still amazed the dive team was able to get down there. I think one of them bumped into it on their way into, to wash their hands. But here's the thing. We probably won't have a shipwreck discovered in less than 11 feet of water. So I feel like that set a record last week.
00:03:11
Speaker
Well, it's so perfect that you put it that way because I'm gonna, I'm gonna bookend it today. Wow. I'm gonna bookend. I'm gonna, I'm gonna be the other end of the spectrum. That means you're probably going pretty deep. This is going to be the deepest shipwreck ever discovered by man.
00:03:28
Speaker
What? By man? Well, by humans. It's the deepest shipwreck ever discovered. Is this true? Yeah, today. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. Wow. I feel like this should have been saved for the finale. We're midstream. Here's the thing, but that's a record that's just constantly getting beaten, like the previous record holder.
00:03:51
Speaker
The previous record holder was a shipwreck found in 2021, and then this one we're going to talk about today was found in 2022.
Technology Behind Deep Sea Exploration
00:04:00
Speaker
Wow, so very recent. The technology, yeah, the technology that's available now, they're going deeper and deeper. Wow, so hold on, because you haven't told us anything except for the fact that this shipwreck was discovered in a very deep ocean, I'm guessing.
00:04:15
Speaker
Very deep. And just for further reference, the Titanic, we like to come back to that as sort of a guidepost. That was found at 12,000 feet below sea level. 12,000 feet? Well, that was the Titanic. No, I know, but 12,000 feet is how far down? A couple miles. It's way down there. It's way down. And so that's the type of thing where you need technology, because you're not just going to swim down there and hunt around.
00:04:42
Speaker
crushing pressure you would implode yeah you would you just insane pressure at 12,000 feet look i still paused at the 11 feet i'm not gonna lie like i'm willing to do it but i'm a little bit like hold on that's way deeper than a pool yeah and i'm a sensitive constitution so i feel like even at 12 feet i'd be feeling a little bit of the change in water pressure maybe my ears maybe feel like they might pop or something
00:05:08
Speaker
What technology revealed this? Were they looking for this? Was this a specific ship? Okay, so they were looking around. They knew the general area they wanted to look in. They had the very latest in submersible technology. They had something that was like,
00:05:27
Speaker
forged to withstand just insane pressures. And this thing was sent to an area off the island of Leyte in the Philippines. Leyte was the site of the largest naval battle in the history of mankind in 1944 and World War II.
00:05:50
Speaker
The you asked, what did you ask you said? Oh, these people did know what they were looking for. They were searching around in the Philippines. Are they historians? Are they there? What were they looking for? They are looking for ships that have gone down in massive naval battles during World War Two. Crazy. All right. So now we're starting to zero in a little bit.
00:06:14
Speaker
We're zeroing in, so this is off the island of Leyte. Leyte. Is that L-A-T-A-Y? How do you spell Leyte? It's L-E-Y-T-E. And I'm probably butchering the pronunciation, but it does seem to be how it's pronounced by people on this side of the world, the Battle of Leyte.
00:06:33
Speaker
largest naval battle in all of history. We're talking the fall of 1944. Okay, fall 1944. So towards the end of the war towards the end of the war and and just big picture what's going on is America's trying to get the Philippines back MacArthur his whole crew. MacArthur was there waiting in boots getting wet. Yep. Yeah, exactly. He said I shall return. So here, you know, now he's
00:07:02
Speaker
Yes. He's waiting. He would have been a good candidate to find your ship from last week. Just waiting in the back knee deep there. With those boots. A lot was going down in the Philippines. A lot was going down in the Philippines. There's a huge battle, but the people that we're interested in today
00:07:23
Speaker
are the crew on a little boat.
The USS Samuel B. Roberts in Battle
00:07:26
Speaker
It's a class of boat called a destroyer escort. Wow. Okay. So these boats, and I think in England, they call this class of boat frigates. Have you ever heard that term? That sounds more familiar to me.
00:07:39
Speaker
This is not a battleship. It's not a huge, massive ship that's with massive guns. This is more of, it's part of a light flotilla. It's an escort ship. It's very good at things like detecting and fighting with submarines.
00:07:57
Speaker
Got it. The one boat that we want to focus in on today, it's called the USS Samuel B. Roberts. Samuel B. Roberts. Sounds like a song. Yeah. And you know, one thing I've discovered is like, if you got a boat named after you, there's a good chance you died heroically. Who was Samuel B. Roberts?
00:08:18
Speaker
I don't know. He got a naval cross. He did something at Guadalcanal. He was some hero. But anyways, this boat gets named after Samuel B. Roberts. And this is a destroyer. It's a destroyer escort. Destroyer escort. Yes. Got it. Got it. Who are you here for? Well, I'm going to be the guy for the destroyer tonight. I'm the plus one for the escort. I mean, for the destroyer.
00:08:45
Speaker
Yeah, you kind of picture this boat like offering its arm. We watched movies, it was no big thing. Okay, so the Samuel B. Roberts is known to its crew affectionately as Sammy B. They call it the Sammy B. They also call it the Sambuca. The Sambuca? Is that a liquor? It is, so they also called it the Sambuca.
00:09:08
Speaker
But they love their ship, and their ship is part of a light flotilla. It's like a convoy group that's known as the Taffy III flotilla. They're there in support of, like sort of logistical support of the big naval force that's amassing in the Philippines.
00:09:27
Speaker
Fortunately on October 25th, early in the day, wait, October 25th, last week, if you recall, I also believe it was a mid-October related shipwreck. It was. And then in fact, I know that one of your ships, one of your ships earlier in the season was September feels like there's a pattern. Yeah. Interesting. I wonder if the weather, October. Well, this one weather is not a fact. No, unfortunately.
00:09:52
Speaker
This one is the massive freaking Japanese battleships coming its way. Okay. So it's first thing in the morning on October 25th, 1944. The little Sammy B suddenly finds itself facing the Japanese center force, like really the heart of its naval force. Like, you know, these are some of the biggest battleships that were ever built. These are like 860 feet long.
00:10:20
Speaker
And suddenly they're coming right at the Sammy B and a couple of the other boats in the Taffy three group. Did they not have any foreknowledge? Did they not know they were entering into a wildly uneven battle? They did not know that they were about to be engaged. They were on their way to do something else. And then all of a sudden it's like wrong place, wrong time. Like, oh crap.
00:10:43
Speaker
massive ships coming in with incredibly large guns. How many people are on one of these escort on this escort they had, let's see, it would have been 210 total, I believe. Yeah, 210 total. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people on a boat. Okay, so it's first thing in the morning. And this is what the captain says the
00:11:09
Speaker
commanding officer is a guy named Copeland and his announcement was like a member of the police. Once he sees the heavy cruiser, the heavy cruiser show Kai coming at them. He announces to the crew of the loudspeaker, we're making a torpedo run. The outcome is doubtful, but we will do our duty. Oh, wow. Blunt.
00:11:32
Speaker
I don't have time for anything flowery. I just want to let you know. No bueno. Yeah. And it turns straight at this massive boat full steam ahead. They, let's see, they launched three of their torpedoes. They wind up firing basically all the shells that they have on their ship. They have one, one hit with a torpedo. They do massive damage to at least one of these big Japanese boats.
00:11:57
Speaker
They get so close to one of these boats that like the guns on that boat can't even like adjust downward enough really to fire well at it. But then eventually they do sustain what is for the ship itself a fatal blow. And so this guy Copeland gives the order abandoned ship. Everybody abandoned ship. We're going down.
00:12:20
Speaker
Oh, and where? So where in the waters are we? We are in the Pacific Ocean. So it's cold. And we're in the Philippine Islands and near the island of Leyte. So the overall battle is called the Battle of Leyte. But this specific little thing that happens where the the flotilla, the Taffy three group is confronted by the Japanese is called the Battle of Samar. There's a little island right there called Samar.
00:12:49
Speaker
But we're in the Philippines, we're in the Pacific ocean, and it's part of the overall effort to reconquer the Philippines toward the end of World War II. Get it back. We're going to get it back. We're going to enable MacArthur. He's going to come waiting in and everything's going to be ducky, except for the 200 people on the Sammy B. Oh, it's just, I mean, it's devastating. Yeah. So really what the Sammy B is known for among
00:13:16
Speaker
Naval historians and like military naval historians is it's called the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship. So it's basically a ship that punched way above its weight. Wow. Through the heroism of the crew, but also just getting the most out of that little boat. It did a tremendous amount of damage, even though it really wasn't designed for that. Right. And very heroic little boat. One hundred and twenty crew members survived. Wow.
00:13:44
Speaker
That's impressive. So, I mean, a very heroic tale. 90 people died and 120 spent upwards of 50 hours in the water, either in life rafts or clinging to life rafts or clinging to wreckage. But those people really, you know, both before the engagement, but then afterward, when it had this sad ending, you know, they really had a real fondness for the ship itself. They do, you know, the Sammy B, they think of it as
00:14:14
Speaker
an amazing little boat that gave her all. That doesn't seem so little. It's got over 200 people on it. Yeah, but it's 300 feet long and it winds up in a battle against a ship that's over 800 feet long. All right, now hold on. Before you tell us about the sinking, which we know is coming because you've already teased the fact that this ship was found at such a tremendous depth.
00:14:36
Speaker
way down that we kind of know what's coming, but still a good time for a quick break. So excited that Terry is back resolved. Everything's good. What are your latest interactions with Terry before we play his, his famous spot? We got an awesome postcard, that postcard they send every year. And he basically just said all good. We're all good for season three.
00:14:58
Speaker
No worries. So no problems. He and Susan, I mean, it sounds like young love again. Great people. So happy for them. Let's hear from Terry. Whether you're thinning varnish or paint cleaning wood stains, making moth repellent at home, or just maintaining industrial equipment, Terry's turpentine has you covered. Terry's turpentine has been family owned and operated since 1993. Terry's turpentine natural solvents of unnatural quality.
00:15:27
Speaker
All right, so now let's get back to the battle in the Philippines, the Sammy B or Sambuca, as you like to refer to it. What's going on? So they're taking this heat, they abandon ship. These people are just floating in life rafts? Yeah, so they get the order to abandon ship. So 90 people die either in the moment or soon thereafter.
00:15:50
Speaker
There's a poor gentleman who gets some posthumous honors this guy, Paul Carr, who was manning the gun mount by the time they get to him right before the abandon ship order, somebody gets over to the gun mount and sees that he's fired almost every last
00:16:07
Speaker
shell that he has, but he's begging for help to load it with like, you know, the very last round or series of rounds and he's got a massive intestinal wound. So he's about to bleed out, but what he's asking for is help finishing loading the gun. Wow.
00:16:24
Speaker
Incredible. So that, that was Gunner's mate, third class Paul H. Carr. He was awarded a Silver Star, uh, afterward. And he now has a guided missile frigate named after him, the USS Carr.
00:16:40
Speaker
No way. And you know who else got a ship named after him? The captain, the commander, Copeland, he gets a ship named after him. It's also a frigate. That's a big deal because how many boats are out there? So this is what I'm saying. You know, it's like, actually, I think he did live. But once you get a boat named after you, there's also a good chance that you died heroically. Right. Unfortunately.
00:17:01
Speaker
Okay. So the, so they get the, the, uh, ordered to abandon ship. They all jump in the water. Nearly half of them died. Uh, 120 of them spent up to 50 hours in the water before eventually being rescued. Wow. So that's like a little over two days when you say 50 hours, like two days. That's insane in the high seas. Yeah. Especially when you're clinging to a raft and.
00:17:24
Speaker
You know, and a lot of them had wounds and different, you know, they're trying to do triage medical, basic medical care to the people that can be saved. Well, it's like that, that book on broken, the Louise amperini, like he spent all that time at sea. Unbelievable story. On the raft, one guy died, they pushed him off. They could, they had no food. Like, I mean, it's really unbelievable. And they're waving to the planes and then the planes just strafe them.
00:17:48
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Okay. So even though, you know, one of the things is you look at it on the map and there's all these islands, you know, it's the Philippines, you're like, okay. Um, you know, there, there's all these islands here. When I look at a globe or a map and I think of what are the.
Discovering the Deepest Shipwreck
00:18:03
Speaker
deepest parts of the ocean around this world. I always tend to think, oh, it's right there smack in the middle of that huge ocean. It's like the center of that huge ocean. In fact, right around these Filipinas, like when the Sami Bee goes down, it does not hit bottom until it is more than 22,000 feet down. So that's almost double what the Titanic is.
00:18:26
Speaker
That's insane. 22,000 feet down. Is that the farthest? Is that like the Mariana Trench? Like where is this? You know, that's a good question. How that compares to like, I think that the actual deepest parts of the ocean are even deeper than 22,000 feet. I think they're up in the 30, uh, above 30,000 feet, but this is the deepest shipwreck that's ever been found.
00:18:49
Speaker
Unbelievable. But that is just absurdly deep. And you know what's down there? Besides this, the wreckage of the Sammy B, not a whole lot. Because one of the things that you see when you see the footage from this submersible is there's not a lot of marine life down there. At least not like stuff that we recognize as marine life and insane pressure. I mean, the amount of pressure, right?
00:19:14
Speaker
It's like outer space, but underwater. Now, I want to bring in another character to our little drama here, and this is a man named Victor Vescovo, okay?
Who is Victor Vescovo?
00:19:26
Speaker
Victor Vescovo. Vescovo? Victor Vescovo is contemporary. He's somebody who's moving around in our world today, and it's sort of like he's not as wealthy as they are, but he's of that mold of the sort of Bezos-esque, like...
00:19:43
Speaker
Oh, wow. You know, those guys all want to like go into space and stuff. He's that type of dude. Very wealthy guy. I don't think I would want to go into space. Just I'm putting it out there and I'm not saying I'm going to achieve that level of wealth ever.
00:19:58
Speaker
to. I don't think I'd want to go to, I do this submersible. Okay. Well, so this guy, I'm glad you said, so this guy Vescovo is, he's from Dallas originally. He went to Stanford for college, then MIT, then Harvard business school, smarty made millions and millions of dollars in private equity, but he was also for years in the Naval reserve as an intelligence office. Wow. Cool. Very smart guy.
00:20:22
Speaker
He's also an adventurer, so he has he's one of those dudes who has climbed the highest mountain on each continent. He has also now visited the deepest spot of each ocean in the world.
00:20:39
Speaker
That reminds me, I did take an oceanography class. You did need to learn about where the deepest part and trenches were, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. And that's why when you said this was so deep, it's the Mariana Trench was right near the Philippines, but that's the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. I met a guy when I was a kid, he was a friend of my dad's, this guy named Jim Joseph, who'd been in the federal government who's plain crashed.
00:21:02
Speaker
But that's not the guy that went to Guyana, right? That was Jim Jones, maybe. Okay, good. This guy, Jim Joseph, was in a plane that crashed over the Marianas Trench, and I remember- Are you serious? Yeah, but he lived, and- Oh, okay. Wow, that's where- Yeah, but he, I remember that was the first time I ever heard of the Marianas Trench, and it just sounded so horrendous, you know.
00:21:24
Speaker
It's super deep. Yeah, super deep. You know, it's the it's like you put the tallest mountain, right? Exactly. And turn it upside down. And then it's still another mile down. Like it's super deep. It's crazy. All right. But so go on about this. So this guy, Vescovo, not only has he climbed the highest peak on all the continents of the Earth, not only has he used his fancy submersibles that he bankrolls to go down to the deepest part of each ocean on Earth,
00:21:49
Speaker
He has also, I think this is what they call completing the explorers grand slam. Must be nice to be a hobbyist. Yeah. It's like you got too much time on your hands, buddy, and too much money to mark. He has also reached both, he has reached both the South pole and the North pole by skiing. Probably had really good gear. Yeah. I mean, you know, seriously, he probably had like the best gear. You've got to watch. There's a, there's a, like, just go to YouTube, just look up VSCOVO.
00:22:18
Speaker
There's an eight minute clip. It makes me laugh is he looks a little bit like Chris Elliott in Cabin Boy. He's got like the blonde sort of like balding, but like long hair in back. Yeah. Oh my God. He looks like a vaguely more athletic guy than Chris Elliott. So underrated, right? Like Chris Elliott is one of the funniest people known to man. Like he's hilarious. Go on. Remember he would pop up from under the stairs at the Letterman show. My favorite.
00:22:45
Speaker
There's a great clip on YouTube where they show the building of this submersible. That's incredible. I mean, this sphere made of titanium that has to withstand these crazy pressures, and they show a clip of him and the chief engineer going down on a test run. They're not going to go that deep. It's just like a test run the night before. The hatch starts leaking.
00:23:14
Speaker
And you just see the look on this rich guy's face as he's like, you know, the engineer's really nervous. He's like, okay, well, sometimes it's just a little whatever, but there's like more and more pouring in. And then you just see the rage on this guy, Viscova's face. Okay. But they sorted that out. What are you thinking about? Because they're sinking.
00:23:35
Speaker
But you know what that also reminds me of and this was I think called a throwback but I don't know the terminology call back sure this totally reminds me of the episode in which you described the Recreation of that ship using only the raw materials, which is like this Serpina lepo wood or whatever And they didn't understand that the wood would swell and therefore seal the cracks and no need for caulking So when he first got in he's like it's leaking, you know what I mean?
00:24:05
Speaker
And then it's like, no, it's not look three hours later, idiot. But this is a, first of all, good callback. Second of all, this is the opposite. Like this is the other end of the spectrum in terms of the, the, um, very latest like machine and technology for, you know, they've got it down to like micro millimeters. And that's why it's hilarious that the fricking hat is really.
00:24:28
Speaker
I mean, you got to see the guy too, because it's like there's something about him that, and we can edit this all out in case he'll ever sponsor our podcast, but who better to sponsor our podcast? Yeah, could be a perfect sponsor. But so that's why I'm saying we'll edit it out here where I'm making fun of him. But there's something about the guy that has
00:24:49
Speaker
Incredibly impressive as he is like he's made all this money. He's visited the highest points the lowest There's something he just still looks like Chris Elliott to me So I can't get over that that thing of like to look at this loser like what is you know? What's gonna happen next right? It's like the reverse judge your book by its cover because it's like he has accomplished all this stuff yet You look at him. You're like, yeah, I'm gonna judge you on the fact that you look like Chris
00:25:14
Speaker
It's just not the look and none of it. It just, I don't know. There's like a certain look for that, for that Titan, for that Titan Explorer. And he's just, he looks more like he would have been like the second, um, what do they call it? Like second AD on like a movie set, like not even the director, but like the guy under, he has that vibe with the long stringy hair.
00:25:36
Speaker
total no at all, but like not totally in charge. Okay. But in addition to chasing personal glory and perhaps one day sponsoring our podcast, Vescovo, perhaps due to the fact that he worked for years in Naval intelligence and in the Naval reserve, he is interested in military history as well. So, you know, as he's getting famous for having developed these submersibles that can withstand the intense pressure at 30,000 feet below, 20,000 feet below,
00:26:05
Speaker
people contact them and they say, you know, there's some ships that they, that would be in reach of those. Oh, so he gets a lot of solicitations like, Hey, you've got that submersible. We're looking at 20,000. Yeah. And unlike me, these are like legitimate solicitations. So, you know, whereas like I get the emails from crypto things, you get a lot of investment opportunities emailed to the office. And you know what? That actually increased after that one episode.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't want to sort of blame anyone specifically, but since I do a lot of the editing, maybe I'm to blame, but that certainly yielded quite a few solicitations. It just felt like they saw that blood was in the water. Like, okay, get this guy has no idea. Like he would invest in a shipwreck recovery company. He'll invest in anything.
00:26:55
Speaker
Yeah. And they're not entirely incorrect in their logic. No, but so this guy's the opposite of this guy is legit. Went to, um, all the best schools, made all the money in the world, successfully, some of it ever successfully went down to the Marianne. He's done it all.
00:27:11
Speaker
And so does he donate his submersible to help find these relics of World War II? I think it's so expensive that he has to partner up with organizations. So in this case, I think he had to partner up with some English explorers as well. But the other guy that he reminds me of a little bit is like Cameron and the effort to go down and see the Titanic. James. Oh, yes. Yes. A little bit of that. Like a rich guy who's just really into the gadgets,
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah, but has great interest. So we all benefit. So people do get him interest in some of these ships that went down in the battle that we talked about at the beginning of the episode. And especially there are people who really love the Sammy B. The very last surviving member of the Sammy B died just last year. Mr. Adrian that Lenoir died last year. And there are some incredible stories of
00:28:08
Speaker
Not only heroism, but the extreme generosity of crew members to each other in final moments. People passing up a chance to escape themselves in order to help a fellow crewmate. But the Sammy B, because of its reputation for punching above its weight and being sort of the little ship that could, or as they said, the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship,
00:28:33
Speaker
There was a special interest in could we one day find it now part of the problem is it's not a massive ship so and the water is so deep there it's more than twenty thousand feet deep it did take quite a long time but using sonar technology as well as military records they finally tracked it down last summer.
00:28:53
Speaker
They say, yo, Vescovo, dude, you've got the thing. You got the submersibles that go down that deep. You, you worked out the problems with the leaky hatch and, uh, and he, you know, like drives the thing himself. It's not, there's not a, it's not a roomy submersible, like it's tethered. It's tethered. It's not just a totally free, uh, floating thing, but it's not a roomy interior. So there's room for like one or two people in there.
00:29:23
Speaker
And he's the type of dude. He's that guy who wants to to to be in the footage like pirate, you know, piloting the thing and steering it around down there. Wow. He absolutely does, which makes it all the more satisfying in the little YouTube clip I'm describing. Not only do they have not only do they have the hatch issue where it's leaking and they have to abort the test run, they're like, you know, blah, blah, blah, leak,
00:29:49
Speaker
And they're like, what did he say? Did they, did he say unique? And they're like, no, I think he said leak. So they bring it up and then they're trying to get him off the top of this submersible over onto their life. They're like rescue raft. He just gets fricking knocked into the Pacific ocean. And he looks so angry. He's like in his little like blue jumpsuit and with his like long hair and everything. And he's just like, I can't believe this video got released.
00:30:19
Speaker
Sounds like a parody. Like this guy didn't get knocked into the ocean. Like, I mean, how absurd. It's a slapstick comedy until they find this frickin Sammy B and they interview some of the Naval historians who say, you know, that ship down there that he helped us find it.
00:30:36
Speaker
to us is on par with some of the most hallowed cemeteries in America or in the world. So for military cemeteries, you think of Arlington, you think of some of the ones in Europe. Yes, Normandy. Normandy, exactly. And they said down there where the Sammy B is in the pitch black at those extreme pressures where there's almost no sea life, that to us is also a sacred site.
Preservation of Shipwreck Sites
00:31:04
Speaker
So there was no talk of
00:31:06
Speaker
and still in fantastic shape. They could read the number on the hull, 413. They found the torpedo tubes. They had to be very careful as they approached the gun mount. They said, look, they're probably still rounds in there. There's unexploded munitions still on this ship.
00:31:24
Speaker
And so with the last person died prior to seeing the images from the submersible or did they see them? No, he did not because I think died March 20 last year and I think it was June or July last year when they got down there and they did six separate times using this submersible and they took great footage. They didn't touch it.
00:31:45
Speaker
I guess one of the things with these ships is because a lot of military people died in it and it is considered hallowed ground, we're not going to disturb it. It's like we're going to leave it just exactly the way it is. Plus, I'm not sure how much recovery they could do at that depth, just to be honest.
00:32:01
Speaker
This guy, Vescovo, I mean, kind of a nutty guy, but in the end, yeah, his submersible captured the images of the Sammy B. Yes. He claims to have encountered, um, small, small marine life at as far down as 26,000 feet of snailfish at 23,000 feet, a spoon worm claims to have discovered several new species of crustacean down there, tiny shrimp like crustaceans.
00:32:29
Speaker
Seems a little cavalier to just say you've discovered these new species. Like, hold on. You haven't had a lot of crime here to research that. Yeah. And also who's going to check? There's a lot of lobsters or a lot of those sea creatures. Yeah. And how good is the visibility? Like, I don't know if you have a mechanism for sort of, you know, scrubbing the window on that little crafty or what it's kind of fogged up or it's got some condensation.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah. Found your ship. Also found a few new species. Um, just put it on the log book. Yeah. Who's exactly now you're good point. Um, but who's going to double check, you know, you're a smart guy, but literally do you have a degree in marine biology? Cause by the way, those are, those are called sea shrimp. You sent me some clip of a shipwreck and was it the great lakes recently?
00:33:15
Speaker
And it looks like it's snowing down there. And I think those may be like krill or some tiny little creatures. Let me just ask you a question. Is there a memorial or what, what has come of the Sammy B in terms of remembrances? Well, you know, as I mentioned, the, some of the most heroic members of the crew got boat subsequent frigates named after them.
00:33:39
Speaker
One other thing, there's a term I had never heard that, but I found charming and it was the, the cruise that served on either destroyers or destroyer escorts or just the flotillas that were, you know, that, uh, serviced destroyers were called tin can sailors. And it's just a term, it's just sort of a term of, um, like they take pride in it and it's a kind of self-effacing thing, but they're called tin can sailors. So you'll see a lot of veterans groups that have that in their title.
00:34:08
Speaker
And that would include the crew of the Sammy B. Interesting. Had no idea, had never heard that. Do we feel bad at all that we have not crossed off a single one of the items on the Explorer's Grand Slam that Mr. Vescovo completed?
00:34:25
Speaker
necessarily. I mean, honestly, when I look at his list, it's not my top five. Like, you know, I haven't been to Rome. Like, so again, going to where the species exist way down there. All right. Well, he has both visited the highest points on the planet and the
Conclusion and Appreciation
00:34:40
Speaker
lowest point. Not interested. And he's been to the polls and he's gone into space. I forgot to mention that he sounds like a tool, doesn't he? Sounds like an insufferable person. But my point is I've never aspired to any of those things.
00:34:53
Speaker
And wait till you see the look of rage on his face when the hatch starts leaking. Would love to have him as a sponsor of the show. Absolutely. And it does sound like he's done well financially and we always welcome that kind of support. So any ribbing or good natured fun here. All in good fun. That's what this show is all about. Yeah.
00:35:12
Speaker
You know, it's history with laughs, but it's all in good fun. We appreciate not only his service in the Navy, but also his service in finding these wrecks. Thank you for your service. Yes. Thank you so much. Of course. So anyways, Dr. Truer, we're running late. So now here's the thing. Incredible story of a classic story in a sense when you think of, you know, battles in World War Two. Yeah.
00:35:36
Speaker
in the Philippines. But the backstory of this destroyer escort, the Sammy B hats off to the incredible bravery aboard the Sammy B and I cannot believe the tale and then it ends up in one of the deepest parts of the ocean. It was completely my pleasure to tell you about it. I'm not an expert on World War II. I don't think
00:35:57
Speaker
tend to be seem to have a lot of knowledge, not a ton of knowledge, but now a renewed appreciation for what's what soldiers and sailors on both sides of the fight went through love that it's centered around a shipwreck. That's what we're all about on killer shipwrecks.
00:36:12
Speaker
So I'm not going to tease next week because I don't want to give something away. I've, I've really wrestled with what the next ship will be, but I've landed on one that I'm super excited about, but that's all I'm going to say. All right. So I'm going to play the outro music as per the usual, and then I will speak to you next week. Sounds good.