National Treasure (2004)
The Charlotte
From the film · 00:14:30
“The secret lies with Charlotte.”
Arctic Circle, north of the Hudson Bay, aboard the wreck
What we know
A colonial-era merchant ship preserved in Arctic ice
Charles Carroll of Carrollton — last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence — gives this single sentence to a young stable hand named Thomas Gates on his deathbed in 1832. For one hundred and seventy years the family treats Charlotte as a person. She is not a person. She is a ship: a colonial freighter that vanished in the high Arctic with cargo, gunpowder, and one carefully sealed wooden case in the hold. We find her hull preserved in pack ice. Riley estimates the temperature in the hold at approximately "Why are we here?" degrees Fahrenheit. Inside the wooden case is the next clue.
The Puzzle
Charles Carroll’s deathbed clue — “The secret lies with Charlotte” — refers not to a person but to a colonial vessel. Pick the ship.