Drewin Point is a coastal landmark along the shoreline of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa, overlooking the open Atlantic Ocean near a small fishing village whose residents have lived along these waters for generations. The point itself is largely undeveloped, its waters virtually uncharted by recreational divers — as the Project Recover team noted on camera, no systematic underwater survey had ever been conducted here before their 2021 visit. The site gained historical significance because a 1945 U.S. Army accident report placed an eyewitness account of a crashing C-47 transport aircraft approximately a half mile offshore from this exact point. During the original 1945 search, investigators who brought a local witness out by boat reportedly discovered a mysterious oil slick on the water's surface near that location, but no wreckage, survivors, or remains were ever recovered. The search was called off and the case went cold for nearly eight decades, making Drewin Point the last known geographical lead in one of World War II's lesser-known missing-persons mysteries — the disappearance of 18 members of the Women's Army Corps.
A U.S. Army C-47 carrying 18 Women's Army Corps members disappears over or near the Ivory Coast; indigenous eyewitnesses near Drewin Point report seeing a plane crash into the ocean, and American investigators discover an oil slick approximately a half mile offshore — but find no wreckage or remains.
The original underwater search is called off without resolution; the 18 WAC members remain listed as missing in action.
Gates joins the Project Recover team for the first systematic underwater investigation of the waters off Drewin Point, deploying sonar technology and scuba equipment shipped in specifically for the search (Season 13, Episode 6 of Expedition Unknown, 'America's MIA Heroines').
The Project Recover team — a nonprofit organization that uses scientific methods to locate and identify the remains of missing American military personnel — brought sonar technology and diving expertise to the waters off Drewin Point that simply did not exist during the original 1945 search. One team member, identified in the transcript as Colin, confirmed to Gates on camera that no one had searched these waters since the war ended, noting pointedly: 'Literally nobody since '45.' Researcher Mark Moline also appears in the transcript, helping Gates interpret the accident report and the eyewitness account that placed the crash site near the point.
The historical stakes are significant. The C-47 in question was carrying 18 members of the Women's Army Corps — a trailblazing unit of American servicewomen — when it vanished in 1945. Decades later, those women remain officially listed as missing in action, making this one of the relatively rare WWII MIA cases involving female military personnel. The 1945 accident report, which Gates and the team examined, contains what appears to be a bearing line and an indigenous eyewitness account detailed enough to direct searchers to a specific half-mile radius off Drewin Point.
What makes the Drewin Point case genuinely unresolved — rather than merely cold — is the near-total absence of any follow-up investigation over the intervening eight decades. The original oil slick observed in 1945 was suggestive but not conclusive; oil slicks can have multiple origins in coastal waters, and without wreckage correlation it cannot be definitively tied to the aircraft. The seafloor conditions, depth, and sediment cover in this stretch of the Ivory Coast coast were unknown even to the Project Recover team before they arrived, adding a layer of genuine scientific uncertainty to the search.
Gates' episode for Expedition Unknown brought the first modern sonar survey and dive operations to the site, representing a meaningful step forward even if the episode stops well short of claiming a definitive discovery. The show's honest framing — Gates describing the team as 'the first team to look for this plane and her vanished passengers in almost 80 years' — reflects the genuine novelty of the search rather than overstating its conclusions. Whether the wreckage lies beneath those waters remains, as of the episode's airing, an open question.
According to the 1945 accident report reviewed on camera by Gates and the Project Recover team, indigenous witnesses near Drewin Point were taken out by boat to identify the approximate crash location — an early and unusual use of local knowledge in a wartime investigation.
The Project Recover team had to ship their own scuba tanks and an air compressor to Côte d'Ivoire for the dive — there is no recreational diving infrastructure in the waters off Drewin Point.
The 18 Women's Army Corps members aboard the missing C-47 remain officially listed as missing in action, making this one of the relatively rare WWII MIA cases centered on American servicewomen.
By Gates' account during the episode, the waters off Drewin Point had not been the subject of any underwater search since 1945 — nearly 80 years of an entirely cold case.
Drewin Point is a remote coastal location in Côte d'Ivoire with little to no tourist infrastructure nearby. Visitors interested in the area should be aware that the country's coastal regions vary significantly in accessibility, and independent travel to specific coastal landmarks requires careful logistical planning — check current travel advisories before visiting.
San-Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire, is the nearest significant city, approximately 30–50 kilometers from the Drewin Point area along the southwestern coast.
The dry season in coastal Côte d'Ivoire generally runs from November through March, which typically offers calmer seas and more manageable conditions for coastal visits. Ocean conditions can be rough during the rainy season, roughly April through October.
Normandy Beaches, France
Normandy Beaches share the WWII military history context central to the Drewin Point investigation, with Gates exploring the fate of combatants and lost personnel from the same era.
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan has been the subject of underwater wreck searches similar in methodology to the sonar and dive operations Project Recover deployed off Drewin Point.
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean episode similarly involves Gates investigating a maritime disappearance mystery, drawing on sonar surveys and expert-led underwater search techniques.