The Death Coast: New docuseries follows Cape Breton captain on shipwreck salvaging missions

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Docuseries sheds light on NS wrecks

Secrets of The Death Coast

A new Canadian docuseries called the “The Death Coast” follows Cape Breton captain Jeff MacKinnon, who leads a team of divers uncovering lost artifacts and hidden treasure beneath the rough waters of the North Atlantic.

It is estimated there are up to 25,000 shipwrecks off the coast of Nova Scotia.

MacKinnon, who is a third-generation shipwreck salvager, says he works to save history from being lost forever.

“The wrecks we work on are in-shore wreck sites and they are at high-risk of being lost due to our weird weather patterns that we now have and global warming, basically we do what we can to preserve history,” he told CTV Morning Live’s Crystal Garrett.

MacKinnon has been following his father in the world of treasure hunting since he was a child.

“He’d take me out on the boat and stick me off to the side and let me watch all the magic happen. And then into my teens I worked for him in the laboratory as a dive tender and it progressed up until they repealed the (Treasure Trove Act), I think I was around 36 years old when they did that, right when I was about to get started in my own trajectory in this business,” he says.

MacKinnon successfully made his case for the continuation of salvaging and now has an exclusive, five-year pilot project with the Nova Scotia government.

He says many people have the misconception that entire shipwrecks are in the North Atlantic.

“They imagine a hull and the entire wreck, but nothing could be farther from the truth. There is actually no super structure of any shipwreck down there, especially the wreck sites that I work on, which are in-shore wreck sites, there’s nothing there, it’s cobble, so basically you’re feeling around with a metal detector to see if you can find little bits and pieces of what’s left over,” he explains.

He and his divers also doesn’t find chests full of gold.

“We find lots of good stuff, lots of interesting stuff, lots of things that I think will be very educational for the viewer… it all goes to the Nova Scotia government,” he says. “Everything is under archaeological scrutiny. I basically have two to three archeologists working with me at any given time following a very strategic plan for recovery.”

MacKinnon also supports veterans through his interest in salvaging. Some of his divers have worked for the FBI, fought in combat or were first responders.

“The problem is they don’t have an outlet, and what I do, this type of work, it benefits them because it’s so high octane, it’s high stress, high energy,” he says. “It’s almost like they’re going back to what they know and these guys and gals all have these very specific skill sets that compliment wreck hunting. And I identified that and put together a small team and it became very beneficial to their mental health.”

MacKinnon, a former lobster fisherman who now runs several businesses, says there was a learning curve to allowing a camera crew to follow him while salvaging.

“We kind of became a family… I was hard on them at the beginning, but I quickly realized just how hard of a job that they have trying to collect as much content as they possibly could, so at least I recognized that, so I’ve grown from my infancy in this community and hopefully I’ll be a better person for it as time goes on.”

He also hopes “The Death Coast” has an impact on Cape Breton tourism.

“Just the economic impact of doing the television show there, I’ve already seen the benefits, and if we can keep going I think that it’s going to draw a lot of people to Cape Breton to see what a beautiful place it is. I think that we usually get listed up in the top 10s of the most beautiful places in the world. I hope that I add some credence to that and entice some more people to come and see just how wonderful Cape Breton is and Nova Scotia is as a whole.”

The series premieres Tuesday night on USA Network with new episodes streaming Wednesday on Crave.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page