Josh Gates ventures to Lake Superior to investigate one of the Great Lakes' most haunting maritime mysteries: the disappearance of two French minesweepers, the Cerisoles and Inkerman, which vanished during a massive November 1918 storm. The ships were part of a fleet built in Thunder Bay, Canada, commissioned by the French Navy to combat Germany's deadly mining campaign in the English Channel during World War I. When the final three minesweepers sailed into Lake Superior, only one survived the journey. The other two disappeared without a trace, taking 79 French and Canadian sailors with them—Lake Superior's largest loss of life. Gates travels through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, the critical gateway between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, as he begins his search alongside investigators who have uncovered new leads after a century of fruitless searches.
The disappearance stands as a genuine historical tragedy from the final days of World War I, with no wreckage or bodies ever recovered despite decades of search efforts. What makes this expedition compelling are the recently discovered clues that could finally solve the mystery: a newly unearthed eyewitness account that has completely altered the search zone, and a previously unknown report from a remote Canadian island suggesting that not all sailors went down with their ships. These fresh leads offer the possibility of writing one of the war's final chapters and bringing closure to a century-old disappearance that has defied explanation in the treacherous waters where, as locals say, the lake never gives up her dead.
American Midwest
United States · historical
Josh tracked the infamous crime duo Bonnie and Clyde, investigating their hideouts and following a 700-mile journey to the site of their most notorious shootout.
Deer Park, Michigan
United States · historical
Gates meets Jack Hubbard near the site of the old Deer Park Life-Saving Station, where Hubbard recounts his great-grandfather's eyewitness account of waving off ships during the 1918 storm, potentially placing the minesweepers 100 miles east of the previously searched zone.
Michipicoten Island, Ontario
Canada · historical
Gates flies to the remote, uninhabited Michipicoten Island where Tom Crossman presents a newly discovered 1919 lighthouse keeper's report describing a French sailor's body found on the island's shore, and the team conducts sonar and dive surveys searching for the minesweepers nearby.
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
United States · historical
Gates travels through the Soo Locks, a critical gateway between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, to begin his search for the lost WWI minesweepers Inkerman and Cerisoles.
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Canada · historical
Referenced as the departure point of the three French minesweepers in November 1918, Thunder Bay is where the Canadian Car and Foundry Company built the minesweeper fleet for the French Navy.
Wawa, Ontario
Canada · historical
Gates stops in the remote town of Wawa as a staging point before flying out to Michipicoten Island to meet the second minesweeper search team.
West Sand Bay, Michipicoten Island
Canada · historical
Gates and Tom Crossman identify West Sand Bay as the location where a French sailor's body washed ashore in 1919 and reportedly two additional sailors in the 1930s, leading the team to conduct sonar surveys and a dive in the surrounding waters for the minesweeper wrecks.
Whitefish Point, Michigan
United States · historical
Gates visits the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, where Executive Director Bruce Lynn briefs him on the history of the lost minesweepers and the scale of Great Lakes shipwrecks.