Explore the somber archaeological mission of Josh Gates as Expedition Unknown Season 17 locates the Hōfuku Maru, a sunken WWII Hellship and mass grave for over 1,000 Allied prisoners.
Josh Gates returns with one of the most emotional investigations ever featured on Expedition Unknown, shining a light on one of the Pacific Theater’s darkest chapters. In the Season 17 premiere, viewers dive into Hunt for World War II Hellships, a two-part special that is far more than an adventure. It is a solemn archaeological mission aimed at providing answers—and, ultimately, closure—for the families of more than 1,000 Allied prisoners of war who disappeared beneath the Pacific in 1944.
Longtime viewers will quickly notice that this season shifts away from traditional treasure hunting toward historical preservation and memorialization. Working alongside the Hellships Memorial Foundation and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Gates has utilized new archival leads to pinpoint locations that have remained mysteries since 1944. This episode marks a significant milestone in maritime archaeology, blending high-tech diving with meticulous historical research to honor those lost at sea.
What were the Hellships?
To appreciate the significance of this mission, it helps to understand the ships at the center of the investigation. During the height of the conflict in the Pacific, the Imperial Japanese Navy used merchant vessels to transport Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and romusha (forced laborers) from occupied territories to labor camps in Japan, Formosa, and other regions. These ships were not purpose-built for passengers; they were cargo freighters, often carrying raw materials like coal, sulfur, or rubber in their lower holds while prisoners were packed into the remaining spaces.
What made these Hellships especially tragic was that they were rarely marked as carrying prisoners of war. Because Allied forces had no way of identifying them, the vessels became legitimate military targets for submarines and aircraft. This created a tragic paradox where Allied forces unknowingly sank ships carrying their own men, leading to thousands of casualties in the Philippine and South China Seas.
Why were they called Hellships?
The name was not a formal designation but a term coined by the survivors who endured the unspeakable conditions on board. The hellships documentary footage and survivor testimonies featured in the series paint a grim picture of life inside the cargo holds. Prisoners were often packed so tightly that there was no room to sit or lie down. Ventilation was nearly non-existent, and in the tropical heat of the Pacific, temperatures in the holds could soar well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Beyond the heat, prisoners suffered from extreme dehydration, starvation, and the rapid spread of diseases like dysentery. In many accounts, the lack of water led to madness, with men fighting for a single drop of moisture condensed on the metal bulkheads. The term Hellship became synonymous with these floating prisons where the mortality rate was often higher than in the labor camps themselves. For Josh Gates, these ships represent the ultimate test of human endurance and a dark corner of history that deserves to be illuminated.
The history behind the tragedy
The specific focus of the season premiere is the waters off the coast of the Philippines, a region that served as a major transit point for these vessels as the Allied forces began their push to retake the islands. The tragedy can be traced to the Japanese military’s desperate need for labor as their empire began to contract. As General Douglas MacArthur’s forces approached, the Japanese attempted to move thousands of POWs away from the front lines, leading to a surge in transport activity in late 1944.
One of the most significant vessels discussed in the Expedition Unknown Season 17 premiere episode is the Hōfuku Maru. In September 1944, this ship was part of a convoy heading for Japan when it was intercepted and sunk by American carrier-based aircraft. The ship was carrying more than 1,000 British and Dutch POWs. Because the ship was unmarked, the American pilots had no way of knowing they were striking a vessel filled with Allied soldiers. The sinking of the Hōfuku Maru remains one of the largest mass-casualty events of the war in the Philippines.
Josh Gates’ investigation
This investigation is driven by newly uncovered evidence rather than speculation. Instead of beginning underwater, Josh Gates’ search starts in Japanese archives, where newly discovered records help narrow the search area far more precisely than previous expeditions. Gates joined elite divers, historians, and researchers to chart a course through the remote waters of the Philippines, battling unpredictable currents and deep-seated technical challenges.
What sets this mission apart is the collaboration with the DPAA. The involvement of the DPAA underscores that this is more than just a television expedition. The search supports the agency’s broader efforts to locate and identify missing service members, bridging documentary storytelling with the careful work of forensic recovery.
Evidence discovered
As the dive team descended into the darkness, the discoveries were both extraordinary and heartbreaking. Utilizing advanced underwater sonar and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the crew located the unmistakable ruins of the Hōfuku Maru. The wreckage sits as a silent sentinel on the seafloor, heavily encrusted with coral but structurally recognizable.
Divers found artifacts consistent with POW transport, including personal effects and structural modifications to the cargo holds designed to contain large numbers of men. The Hōfuku Maru is widely regarded as one of the largest remaining underwater mass graves of Allied POWs from World War II. The team also explored the site of the Ōryoku Maru, another notorious Hellship, where they worked alongside military divers to excavate areas of the wreck that may contain human remains. This site provided crucial physical evidence of the ship’s final moments and the desperate struggle of those on board.
What Part 1 reveals
The premiere episode concludes with a profound sense of accomplishment and somber reflection. Above all, Part 1 reveals the immense scale of a tragedy that remained hidden beneath the sea for more than eighty years. By locating the Hōfuku Maru, Josh Gates and his team have transformed decades of uncertainty into long-awaited answers for more than a thousand families.
The episode sets the stage for the second half of the special, which focuses intensely on the DPAA’s recovery efforts and the DNA identification process. It establishes the Hellships not just as footnotes in history books, but as tangible archaeological sites that still hold the stories of the men who perished within them. As the season continues, the Expedition Unknown Hunt for World War II Hellships Part 1 serves as a reminder that some of the most important treasures to be found are not gold or artifacts, but the names and legacies of those who were almost forgotten.
For viewers, this investigation into WWII Hellships offers a rare look at the intersection of modern technology and historical justice. It highlights the ongoing efforts of organizations like the Hellships Memorial Foundation to ensure that these mass graves are respected and protected. As Josh Gates continues his journey throughout Season 17, this opening mission stands as his most poignant and historically significant expedition to date.
Looking Ahead: Expedition Unknown Season 17
While the Hellships mission is the emotional anchor of the season, Gates is set to pursue several other high-stakes mysteries in the coming weeks. From the jungles of Laos to the sunken pirate city of Port Royal in Jamaica, upcoming episodes explore a blend of wartime history and ancient secrets.
In Laos, Gates will trek through perilous terrain dodging unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War to search for “death jars” belonging to an ancient civilization. In South America, he will navigate the secret tunnels beneath Cuzco, Peru, looking for Inca riches. Other missions include tracking lost Confederate gold and exploring a massive cave system in Mexico that has already yielded thousands of ceremonial offerings. Despite the variety of topics, the season remains grounded in Gates’ commitment to uncovering lost chapters of a shared global past.
Honoring the Fallen
The ultimate takeaway from the search for the Hōfuku Maru and Ōryoku Maru is the importance of forensic recovery. By working with the DPAA, Expedition Unknown transcends entertainment to become a tool for government-sanctioned accounting. For the families of the British, Dutch, and American soldiers lost in 1944, these underwater ruins are not just wrecks; they are sacred sites.
From advanced ROV surveys to the DNA identification efforts highlighted later in the special, the expedition demonstrates how modern maritime archaeology can restore identities to those long listed as missing. More importantly, Hunt for World War II Hellships Part 1 reminds viewers that history is not confined to museums or archives—it also lies on the ocean floor, waiting for dedicated researchers to bring forgotten stories back into the light. For Josh Gates, this is more than another expedition; it is a mission to ensure those who perished aboard these Hellships are finally remembered.
