You're staring at the Pacific Ocean in Los Santos, and honestly, it looks empty. It isn't. Beneath that shimmering blue water lies a tedious, frustrating, and strangely addictive scavenger hunt involving a bunch of rusted metal. We're talking about the GTA 5 submarine pieces. This mission, officially titled "Death at Sea," is one of those classic Rockstar Games grinds that separates the completionists from the casual players. It's triggered after the "Blitz Play" heist, provided you've got the cash to buy the Sonar Collections Dock in Paleto Cove for a cool $250,000.
Once you buy that property as Michael, a British woman named Abigail Mathers shows up. She’s the widow of Frank Mathers, a guy who died in a "tragic" submarine accident. She wants you to find 30 pieces of the wreckage to prove it was foul play so she can claim the insurance money. It sounds like a noir thriller. In reality, it’s you, a Dinghy, and a lot of slow swimming.
The Reality of the Sonar Collections Dock
Buying the dock is the easy part. The hard part is the actual movement. Rockstar gives you a Dinghy equipped with a sonar app—the Trackify app—which basically acts like a hot-and-cold radar. You see a green blip? That’s your target.
Most players make the mistake of trying to do this all in one go. Don't. It takes forever. The Dinghy isn't exactly a Ferrari on the water. You'll spend a significant amount of time just navigating the coastline of San Andreas. The pieces are scattered almost entirely around the perimeter of the map, starting from the Northwest and wrapping all the way around to the East.
If you're wondering if it's worth it for the money, let's be real: no. Abigail pays you $10 for the first 29 pieces and a whopping $10,000 for the final piece. That’s a total of $10,029 for hours of work. You do it for the 100% completion stat and the "A Mystery, Solved" achievement. Or maybe you just like the sound of the scuba gear.
Where the GTA 5 Submarine Pieces Are Actually Hiding
You’ll find the first few clusters near the North Point of the map. These are relatively shallow. Piece #1 is sitting right there in Paleto Bay. Piece #2 is slightly deeper, tucked near some underwater rock formations.
As you move toward the east coast, specifically near the Humane Labs and Research facility, things get dicey. The terrain underwater becomes jagged. You'll find GTA 5 submarine pieces stuck inside broken pipes or resting on narrow ledges that are easy to miss if you're just staring at the Trackify app.
Navigating the Southern Shipwrecks
The Port of South Los Santos is a nightmare. There’s so much debris from other sunken ships that it’s easy to get turned around. One piece is located near the tail end of a sunken cargo plane. Another is hidden inside a massive rusted hull. This is where the scuba gear—which you automatically get when exiting the Dinghy—becomes your best friend.
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- Piece #15 is located near the Banning area, sitting on the sea floor near some wooden pylons.
- Piece #16 is further out, nestled in the weeds near the terminal.
- The pieces around the airport (LSIA) are actually some of the easiest to find because the water is flat and the seabed is mostly sand.
By the time you reach the West Coast, near the Pacific Bluffs, you’re likely tired of the sonar ping. But stay sharp. The pieces here are spaced further apart. You’ll be driving the Dinghy for minutes at a time without a hit. It’s boring. It’s lonely. It’s peak GTA.
Dealing with Sharks and Oxygen
Sharks exist. They aren't just a myth. While you're diving for GTA 5 submarine pieces, you’ll occasionally see a red dot on your mini-map. That’s a Great White. If you’re in the water, you’re basically a snack.
The trick is to stay in the Dinghy until you are directly over the green blip. Dive straight down, grab the piece, and get back up. If a shark starts circling, you can try to shoot it from the surface, but usually, it's faster to just drive the boat a few yards away to reset its AI pathing.
Oxygen isn't a huge deal because of the scuba tank, but depth is. If you go too deep—usually in the trenches off the eastern coast—the pressure will kill you. The submarine pieces aren't usually that deep, but the "Crush Depth" mechanic is always looming if you get curious and start exploring the abyss.
The Abigail Mathers Twist
So, you’ve spent three hours. You’ve found all 30 pieces. You head back to the Sonar Collections Dock to meet Abigail. She’s thrilled. She looks at the evidence, realizes the sub was tampered with, and then... she gives you a signed photo of her husband. And ten grand.
This is where the game gives you a choice. Abigail starts to leave. You can let her walk away, or you can take her out. Most players choose the latter. Not because we're monsters, but because after 30 pieces of junk metal, a signed photo feels like a slap in the face. If you kill her, she drops a small amount of cash, but the real reward is the closure.
Strategic Tips for Efficiency
If you want to finish this without losing your mind, don't rely solely on the in-game map. The Trackify app is okay, but it doesn't show verticality.
- Use the "Submersible" if you find the Dinghy too exposed, though it's much slower.
- Mark your map in sectors. Do the North, then the East, then the South, then the West. Breaking it into four sessions makes it feel like less of a chore.
- Keep an eye out for Hidden Caches. While you're looking for GTA 5 submarine pieces, you'll often stumble upon briefcases of money ($10,000 to $25,000) near other shipwrecks. This is the only way to actually make the mission profitable.
- Listen for the "clink" sound. When you get close to a piece, the game plays a distinct metallic sound.
The search for these scraps of metal is a grind, plain and simple. It’s an old-school collectible hunt that reminds us of the era before everything was handed to players on a silver platter. It’s about the journey, the scenery, and the sheer audacity of Abigail Mathers asking Michael De Santa to be her personal garbage man.
Actionable Next Steps
To get started, switch to Michael and pull up your phone to check your bank balance. You need $250,000 for the dock. If you don't have it, go hit a few armored trucks or finish the main story heists first. Once the dock is purchased, grab the Dinghy that spawns right there at the pier. Start with the piece immediately to the north of the dock and work your way clockwise. Set a podcast or some music in the background, because the sound of the ocean is going to get real old after the first ten blips. Keep your weapons wheel set to a heavy pistol or an assault rifle just in case a shark gets too close to the surface while you're transitioning between dive spots.