Sunday is mysteries of the seas night on Science Channel. The next Shipwreck Secrets exclusive explores a very odd turn of events off Ireland on the network, and we have an exclusive preview of all the action with host and explorer Michael Barnette and his historian Guy Walters.
SS Justicia mystery is under the spotlight
Back on July 20, 1918, two German U-boats launched a 22-hour assault that eventually took the SS Justicia to its watery grave off the coast of Scotland.
According to Irish historian Daniel Farrell, the Justicia was a British troopship built in the Belfast shipyards of Harland and Wolff. She was launched on July 9th, 1914, and eventually took on a crew comprised of the survivors of the Titanic’s sister ship Britannic which had been sunk in the War as well.
Of her condition prior to the sinking, he wrote: “The ship was painted with dazzle camouflage, a technique to help confuse the enemy and make it harder to target, and was used to transport troops.”
In the clip, British historian Guy Walters is called upon by Michael Barnette to help find the SS Justicia’s underwater resting place and figure out how it migrated from Scotland to Ireland under the water.
Walters is a digger for information, and he combed the archived naval records to see the odd and mysterious happenstance for the SS Justicia that allegedly had a direct connection to the Titanic via her fated crew.
What is Shipwreck Secrets about?
Science Channel Sunday nights are all about the mysteries of the oceans around the Bermuda Triangle and beyond. Sunday night’s block of programming features shipwrecks and vessels that vanished into thin air.
What other maritime mysteries are explored on Shipwreck Secrets?
Some of the featured wrecks are The Ghost Ships of Chuuk Lagoon. In 1944, American forces launched an attack on Japan’s primary World War II base in the South Pacific, and over a two-day bombardment, more than 60 Japanese Imperial Vessels ended up on the floor of the lagoon, partly in retribution for Pearl Harbor.
Another mystery involves Lake Serpent. A 200-year-old schooner lies at the bottom of Lake Erie, which was an integral part of the North American trade route through the Great Lakes.
Our exclusive preview of Shipwreck Secrets
Watch as the mystery of the Justicia is introduced and British Historian Guy Walters researches the details of who was on this ship and why the ship lay off Ireland and not Scotland where it was reportedly sunk.
Shipwreck Secrets airs Sundays at 8/7c on the Science Channel.