NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
This is the year. Let's do it.
NARRATOR: ...a special two-hour premiere.
That story can be finished, and I'm committed
-to doing that. -Amen. Let's go.
MARTY: I want to throw every resource we can at it this year.
STEVE: So, this location's where the treasure could be.
MARTY: We're clearly into a collapsed
chamber of some sort.
The scientists say metals are coming out of here.
That's a big enough box for an offset chamber.
-LAIRD: Marty. -What do you think it is?
LAIRD: Could be a trapdoor.
-Wow. -Yeah!
-(laughter) -It's a coin!
That is fantastic.
JACK: Good luck, Tony.
He's getting right down into it.
He's got his head into something now.
ALEX: Yeah.
Oh. No, that's not modern.
This is probably BC.
MARTY: Holy smokes.
(laughter)
NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking for
an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found a stone slab
with strange symbols carved into it...
...man-made workings that date to medieval times,
and a lead cross whose origin may be connected
to the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And according to legend, one more will have to die
before the treasure can be found.
♪ ♪
MARTY: Well, how does everybody feel about being back?
How can you not be excited?
JACK: Yeah. I've had the feeling
that we're about to find the treasure this year.
Jack, let's have a little optimism here.
(laughter)
NARRATOR: The most highly-anticipated and potentially historic chapter
of the 228-year-old Oak Island mystery
is about to begin.
MARTY: I want to throw every resource
we can at it this year, because
I think we're closer than we have ever been.
We'll do whatever it takes this year.
-There you go. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Dating back to 1795,
generations of determined searchers
have found startling clues
that suggest a vast treasure could be buried
in a more than 100-foot-deep
booby-trapped shaft known as the Money Pit.
And after spending more than a decade
on their own quest for answers,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina have returned,
along with their team,
to fulfill the dream
they've shared since they were just boys.
MARTY: All right, there she be, guys, in all her glory.
Oak Island.
As I drive up to the island,
my expectation is that this year we will figure it out.
The main reason is that the data supports that.
And a lot of data points to gold and silver
in the water in the Money Pit area.
So, I do feel in my heart that this has to be the year.
Big brother, let's get 'er done.
Let's do it.
There's a wonderful mystery here ensconced
within an island in the North Atlantic
that has endured centuries long.
Okay, guys. Let's go see the team.
RICK: And my expectation is...
...that we'll be able to solve it.
That's my hope.
DOUG: Hey, guys.
Gentlemen.
-Hey, guys. -Hey.
MARTY: We're back. (chuckles)
RICK: We are all together,
all of us, the whole team.
The fellowship is striving to-to make that happen.
Well, welcome, everybody.
I see we have the rest of the team up on the screen there.
Which has grown to be quite a group. Some new faces.
And so, the purpose of this meeting is to get us
all together again and get us all on the same page.
-So, let's get to it. -GARY: Before we get too far
into talking about this year, what about last year?
(laughter)
Well, that is a perfect segue, because last year,
at the end, what happened, Gary?
Down at the bottom of that Garden Shaft
and getting those nonferrous hits,
and then having to leave the shaft...
(laughter)
...I mean, oh, my God.
NARRATOR: Although the 82-foot-deep structure
known as the Garden Shaft
is not believed to be the original Money Pit--
which was lost in the 19th century
due to constant digging by previous searchers--
last year, after wood samples from the structure
were scientifically dated to 1735
and water samples produced high-trace evidence of gold,
the Oak Island team commissioned
a mining company named Dumas Contracting Limited
to remodel the shaft for further exploration.
-(device beeping) -GARY (laughs): Oh!
That's the best-sounding target.
-That's nonferrous. -RICK: Really?
-Yeah. -NARRATOR: Just before they were forced to halt
their search operations due to the onset of winter...
-MARTY: That's a screaming large hit, isn't it? -GARY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, Marty, and metal detection expert Gary Drayton
identified nonferrous-- or precious metal-- targets
just below the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
Now, once new permits can be secured,
Dumas will return to deepen the shaft by 20 feet,
with the potential to construct lateral tunnels
depending on what is encountered below.
GARY: Well, I'm hoping we get down there again,
because we know those hits are there.
Yeah, plans have been laid for that.
-Right. -So, I'd like to hear,
uh, Ian, from you.
I've been a big believer in this methodology--
the gold in the water, the silver in the water--
for a long time, and those seem to be concentrated there, too.
-So, why don't you kind of give us a recap on that? -IAN: Yeah.
You know, I'll pull Fred in--
he's the real expert here-- but, uh,
last year, we were able to concentrate
and be very confident in the Baby Blob area.
That's right.
MATT: All right, that's the last sample.
NARRATOR: Over the past two years,
geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner and his colleagues,
including hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel,
have been analyzing water samples from numerous boreholes
that Rick, Marty, Craig and the team have drilled
over the past decade in the Money Pit area.
Incredibly, these tests have identified evidence of gold,
silver and other metals between depths of 80 and 120 feet,
with the highest concentrations in a zone
they have dubbed the "Baby Blob."
which sets just several feet west of the Garden Shaft.
It is also within this zone that the team has encountered
a believed tunnel at a depth of 95 feet
that appears to run almost directly below the Garden Shaft.
IAN: I think what's got us particularly excited
is that we've got the area of interest
narrowed down to about a 20-foot radius
around the Garden Shaft.
-Well, that's a good start. -Yeah.
FRED: Well, as some of the drilling takes place this year,
and looking at the data from last year,
I think we might be able to narrow it down a bit more.
-IAN: Right. -MARTY: Well, that I consider
-very good news. -ALEX: Yeah.
MARTY: Okay, so,
we're gonna chase these metals until they--
-we figure out what they mean. We got that. -Mm-hmm.
We haven't given up yet on the sonic drilling, too, right?
Yes.
-Right. -So, if we can continue
to narrow down this radius that we've been supplied with
from Ian and Fred,
we can really narrow in on the Money Pit.
NARRATOR: While the team awaits
the return of Dumas to deepen the Garden Shaft,
they will continue with their strategic
core-drilling program throughout the surrounding area.
If any new boreholes produce physical evidence of valuables,
Rick, Marty and the team will have exact locations
for where tunnels can be extended
from the bottom of the Garden Shaft
to hopefully solve the Oak Island mystery.
STEVE: Right now, we've got the drill out there
waiting for us to pin our first location.
And that's gonna give us great information
to where we need to tunnel to.
Okay. Well, let's move on
to something that was exciting last year.
So, Laird, why don't you bring us up to speed
on what you've planned this year, archaeologically.
And-and your team.
Well, we have lots of new members.
We have Emma, of course.
Uh, in the middle, we have Jamie Kouba
and to the left is Moya MacDonald.
Up above, we have Helen, who's come back.
And then Danny Hennigar, who's a Oak Island historian.
You got enough trowels?
-We bought more trowels. -More trowels?
(laughter)
NARRATOR: Although the search
for the legendary treasure vault
remains focused in the Money Pit area,
last year, archaeologist Laird Niven and his colleagues
helped the team make several stunning revelations
in other areas of the island.
These include Lot 26,
where the team investigated a stone wall
that may be more than five centuries old
and of Portuguese design, along with a stone well
that could be more than 800 years old,
and which also contains trace evidence of silver.
However, of all the recent discoveries
made by the team on Oak Island,
the most compelling were unearthed on Lot 5,
which was purchased in 2022
from the estate of the late Robert Young.
It was on these four acres that the team
found half of a nearly 2,000-year-old Roman coin,
a 14th-century lead barter token
and a stone foundation that could date back
to the same era as the Garden Shaft.
-That's 13 feet. -It's a bizarre measurement.
NARRATOR: But the most curious structure that was investigated on Lot 5
was a circular stone depression featuring a 13-foot diameter.
A measurement that is an exact match
to the reported description of the Money Pit,
when it was discovered in 1795.
Where are you starting?
The circular feature on Lot 5.
-We're gonna expand that search. -Mm-hmm.
And actually, Danny's just recently brought
some photographs that shed some light
-on the circular feature. -Okay.
So, I have some pictures from Laird and Danny.
-I'll share them. -DANNY H.: In the photographs
that we, uh, received from the Robert Young family,
it has an enormous amount of rocks around the structure.
LAIRD: I don't think those rocks came out of the feature.
SCOTT: This looks like the progression of how it's being built.
LAIRD: Right.
Robert Young created the stone circles
around the depression.
RICK: Wow. Look at that.
-Robert Young did all that? -Yeah.
LAIRD: Yes, but he didn't dig the depression.
MARTY: It's like he thought this thing was really important,
so he built this beautiful apron around it.
-LAIRD: Exactly. -MARTY: And you find stuff--
lots of stuff-- from the earliest,
1700-dated things we found on the island, correct?
Yeah.
MARTY: It's very clear, Robert Young
didn't build that entire feature on Lot 5.
It was already there.
There's way too many 17th-century artifacts in there.
We're going to carefully deconstruct
the piece he didn't build.
The hope is the feature had something to do
with the deposit of treasure.
Okay, the next topic is,
of course, my often nemesis: the swamp.
-(laughter) -But just about every time we dig,
something comes up.
And some of it is inexplicably old.
-Really old. -Yep.
NARRATOR: In recent years,
the team has found evidence
that the mysterious triangle-shaped swamp
in the middle of Oak Island
is either partially or completely man-made.
And within it, they have unearthed numerous pieces
of ancient sailing vessels dating anywhere
from the seventh to the 18th centuries.
They have also uncovered a stone road,
an adjoining cobblestone pathway
and a stone ramp that all may be related
to the stone wall on Lot 26.
And finally, a massive paved feature
that is believed to have been created
as early as 1200 AD.
So, we have, currently, four areas of interest
-that we've permitted. -(mouse clicks)
They're in bright yellow on your screen.
RICK: So, we have the southeast corner,
the area off of Fred's peninsula to the south,
and then we have the paved area.
But I am positively fascinated
with the north side of the swamp.
GARY: Yep. That side of the island,
maybe we should send Tony Sampson
and have a look around.
RICK: Every time Tony dove
in the waters around Oak Island,
y-you know, he's found something.
So, I, absolutely, am convinced that a dive should happen.
Yes.
-I think we should do that. -JACK: Great.
It looks like we have a very busy year.
CRAIG: Well, every area
we've talked about, I'm excited to get into.
I just think there's so much to learn yet on this island,
and hopefully, this is the year.
-Yep. Beautiful. -RICK: As I look around this table
and I see the fervor in people's eyes,
that story can be finished,
and I'm committed to doing that.
And I know that all of you are as well.
Absolutely.
Amen. Let's go.
Okay, let's get going.
The mystery will get solved.
MARTY: So, let's get to it, big brother.
TERRY: All right, here we go.
-Hey, guys. -STEVE: Hey, Alex. How you doing?
-Alex. How you doing? -Good. -Hey, Alex.
So, first hole of the year.
-STEVE: Yep. -Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Following their meeting in the war room,
Alex Lagina joins other members of the Oak Island team
in the Money Pit area
as they begin drilling a new six-inch-diameter borehole
on their strategic grid known as B5N13.
-So, we have the Garden Shaft, which is right there. -Yep.
STEVE: So, this location's really interesting
because Dr. Spooner and Dr. Michel put a 20-foot radius
around the Garden Shaft where the treasure could be.
-And we're right into that location. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Located between the so-called Baby Blob
and the Garden Shaft, it is the team's hope
that Borehole B5N13 will make direct contact
with the mysterious source of gold, silver and other metals
that have been detected in the area between a depth
of 80 and 120 feet.
So, this is gonna help us gather more information
because the end goal of this is, really,
dig the Garden Shaft deeper and tunnel out.
So, we need a location to tunnel out to,
and potentially, this could be the area.
Yes.
RICK: The sonic drill program
is gonna be important and informative.
The one evocative thought from all of us is,
"This is the hole.
This is where we're gonna nail this thing and this'll be done."
So, I'm very hopeful.
-It's looking good. -Yeah.
Keep your fingers crossed. We'll see what it brings up.
-TERRY: Absolutely. -NARRATOR: As the core drilling operation
continues at the Money Pit,
on Lot 5, located on the western side of the island,
Jack Begley joins archaeologists Laird Niven,
Jamie Kouba and their assistant Fiona Steele to continue
investigating the mysterious circular stone depression...
JACK: So, where are we starting?
-Over... Okay. -Right here.
NARRATOR: ...a feature that is now known
to have been altered by the late Robert Young,
but which is believed to possibly date back
to at least the mid-18th century.
The main goal is to expose the bottom,
but also to look for the south wall that we hope is there.
If this was a dwelling, it should have
a foundational wall.
-Well, let's get started. -All right.
So, did you have any particular area
where you'd like to get started?
I was kind of thinking here...
-Yeah. -...at this sort of point.
-Take that lump down. -Okay.
Your goal is to expose the top of the rocks.
-FIONA: Perfect. Okay. -All right. Let's do it. -LAIRD: Yeah.
NARRATOR: As Jamie and Fiona carefully remove sediment
from the rock layer that Mr. Young added to the feature
some 20 years ago,
Laird and Jack begin sifting those materials
for any artifacts that may help identify
who originally created it.
FIONA: Jamie, look at this.
-Look. -JAMIE: What'd you find?
FIONA: I'm finding some red earthenware here.
That's exciting.
Hey, Laird.
You might want to come have a look at this.
-All righty. -That's incredible.
I think we found some redware.
LAIRD: Wow. That's cool.
NARRATOR: Redware, which is a type
of earthenware pottery made from fired clay,
was a widely used material for the storage and transport
of goods in both Europe and North America
between the 17th and 18th centuries.
It's just that the glaze is...
...unusual.
It's kind of purple and black.
We see a lot of coarse earthenwares,
a lot of redwares.
-Yeah. -So when we can't recognize it,
we immediately wonder if it's earlier.
-Okay. -Right?
JACK: How early do you think it could be?
LAIRD: Oh...
in general, it can get into the 1600s.
Wow. Great find.
Yeah.
JACK: If there were people settling here,
and-and it happened before the discovery of the Money Pit,
uh, did they have knowledge of the Money Pit,
and is there a reason why they-they dug around this area?
-Right. -I'm wondering if the answers are deeper.
LAIRD: Oh, absolutely.
The further down we go, the older the artifacts.
Yep.
All right. I still have to screen.
I kind of like getting dirty.
-(laughs) You got Jamie's bucket? -Sure.
-Okay. -Why, thank you, sir.
LAIRD: I'm actually excited about the round feature.
This is an indication
that there were people living on the island
before the 1760s, before the island
was divided up into lots.
So, this is a new and exciting and unknown occupation.
Okay, guys.
Here's our hardworking archaeologists,
and this is our playground right here.
-RICK: Good morning. -JAMIE: Morning.
Ladies, gentlemen, what's new?
LAIRD: We found a nice piece of, uh, coarse earthenware.
One that I can't... I don't recognize.
Really? Okay.
What is strange about this piece of pottery?
Um, purple glaze on the rim
and the dark glaze on the interior,
I just don't recognize.
Laird, if there's a piece of pottery you don't recognize,
-it's likely to be older, right? -Exactly.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
RICK: What's the earliest that could be?
LAIRD: 1600s.
What brings it back to 1600? That's quite early.
This is utilitarian pottery,
so it doesn't change over-- much over time.
When Laird, who is a pottery expert,
uh, says, "Guys, this is an inexplicable find,
I've never seen such earthenware before,"
I mean, how can you say anything but "Wow"?
If Laird is mystified, we certainly are.
Can Gary do a little perimeter?
He can if he wants.
-Oh, you know I want. -(laughter)
-RICK: Go for it, Gary. -MARTY: Get in there, Gary.
GARY: All right.
LAIRD: I remember last year, you said it was really noisy in there.
GARY: Yeah, it is.
(device beeping)
JACK: That means there's a lot more to find.
LAIRD: There you go.
GARY: Yeah, there's a lot of iron.
-JACK: Is that something? -Yeah, it's iron.
It's a large piece of iron.
MARTY: All right, well, let's keep going.
Let's get out here and see what we got.
Yep. Let's keep rolling.
RICK: Okay, Gary, it's all up to you.
-Right, uh, let's... -Uh, are you gonna, do you want to start
-some kind of pattern? -Yeah.
Uh, let's grid this out.
Lot 5 is a complete mystery.
We're going to have Gary
metal-detect around the circular feature
to see what other artifacts might be found.
-I'm happy to screen for a bit if you want to get down... -All right.
-...and do some trowel work. -Yep.
JACK: I'll find everything.
The Lot 5 feature is extraordinary
because there's no record of any habitation there.
Every other feature we've found on the island,
we kind of know about.
Lot 5, there's no record of anybody ever living there.
FIONA: Look at this, Laird.
It's much thicker than what we found before.
LAIRD: Oh, yeah.
And yet, we're still not to the bottom of it.
It's a coarse earthenware.
So it could be older.
-FIONA: Neat. -Yep.
That'll clean up nicely.
I couldn't stay away.
-You got a bucket ready to go there? -FIONA: Actually, we do.
MARTY: Okay. Hand me the bucket, let's go.
I'm gonna try one.
Okay. Now hold that.
-Yep... -I'll do this.
We'll see if I can find something, just for grins.
(chuckles)
-All right. -JAMIE: Much easier.
MARTY: Yes. Much easier.
-Marty? -Yes, sir.
Remember the metal hit Gary got here?
-I sure do, yeah. -I think I have it.
-Really? What is it? -It's big.
Is it? Good, I'll come down there and have a look.
-Okay. -Show me, Laird.
JAMIE: Wow.
MARTY: Well, that's a good CAT scan thing.
LAIRD: Yep. (chuckles)
-What do you think it is? -I don't know.
Let me see it, Laird.
-I think Emma's gonna be excited with it. -LAIRD: Yeah.
-It's pretty solid. -JAMIE: Yeah.
MARTY: It looks like a latch, Laird.
MARTY: This goes like that.
-I think it is a latch of some sort. -LAIRD: Yeah.
Could be a cellar door. Could be a trapdoor.
-Wow. -MARTY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: An iron latch?
Possibly from a cellar or trapdoor?
Could it be related to the pottery
that Laird believes might date back
to as early as the 1600s?
And might it also be evidence that this feature
was created in order to hide something?
If so, what might the team find deeper below?
MARTY: That is rather unique, Laird.
-LAIRD: Yeah. -I would like to take that straight to the lab.
-Okay. All right. -Thank you, sir.
Find some more stuff.
-LAIRD: See you later. -See you.
NARRATOR: While the investigation continues on Lot 5...
CHARLES: We got a core, gentlemen.
MIKE M.: This here is 88.
-TERRY: What've we got? 88? -Yep.
NARRATOR: ...back in the Money Pit area,
members of the team continue monitoring
the core drilling operation, which has just reached
the believed treasure zone between 80 and 120 feet deep.
-It's dense, eh, Charles? -CHARLES: It is very dense.
CHARLES: Yeah.
TERRY: Look at that.
That's pretty soft material right there.
-That's interesting. -Yep.
CHARLES: You know, we hit a soft zone in this borehole...
ALEX: Onto the next core.
CHARLES: But oftentimes, a soft area
or a slushy area indicates that you're close
to a structure, or a void, if you will.
So, we're very excited about this area.
-What you got, Mike? -MIKE M.: 109.
TERRY: 109. Thank you.
STEVE: Terry, what do you think?
Looks like we've hit the soft zone.
This is saturated and loose.
So, maybe what lies beneath is what caused this soft material.
STEVE: So, here's a piece of information:
only feet away is the Baby Blob.
-The Baby Blob's just north of this hole. -ALEX: Yep.
STEVE: The highest source of the metals
is just feet from this in one of our testing holes.
So, we're only about two and a half to five feet away
from the source of where we're getting
the highest precious metals: gold, silver.
TERRY: Suffice it to say, we're in an interesting area.
ALEX: Yes. We could be looking at a change
in density propagating out from a void
that's collapsed in and allowed all the soil and earth around it
to become less dense.
TERRY: Exactly.
Charles, are we still feeling like...
like we might be close to the original Money Pit here?
Because there's the story of the collapse...
-Yeah. -...which would create an area like this.
I-It's certainly possible, Alex.
I mean, we don't know where the original Money Pit was.
-It's been lost. -Yeah.
For over 150 years, it's been lost.
-Yeah. -So, i-it's very possible
that that could be the tunnel going from Shaft Six
-to the Money Pit. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: In 1861,
while drilling straight down into the original Money Pit,
members of the Oak Island Association
encountered what they believed to be
two stacked treasure chests at a depth of some 100 feet.
Because of a believed booby-trapped flood tunnel,
they sunk an adjacent shaft, known as Shaft Six,
18 feet to the west down to a depth of 118 feet
and began tunneling laterally toward the Money Pit,
hoping to recover the treasure from below.
Unfortunately, just before reaching their target,
the tunnel filled with seawater,
which soon caused a catastrophic collapse in both shafts,
leaving the underground tunnel full of broken timbers,
debris and possible scattered treasure.
ALEX: Well, this could be the aftermath
-of a collapse like that. -CHARLES: Yeah. Absolutely.
Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Could the Oak Island team
be close to locating the tunnel
between Shaft Six and the original Money Pit?
-Gentlemen. -Hey, Craig.
NARRATOR: ...and perhaps the source of precious metals
that they have detected in the area?
-What you got, Mike? -MIKE M.: Uh, 119.
-119. -Thank you.
ALEX: So, this is an exciting moment.
What we're seeing today could be the remains
of the Shaft Six collapse, which would mean
that we've found the original Money Pit.
But it could also be the remains of
a more recent collapsed searcher shaft.
So, that's what we're trying to answer with this borehole.
CHARLES: That's pretty dry.
TERRY: Yeah. This is relatively firm material,
and it looks like, uh...
a mix of limestone and sediments.
Fairly regular stuff.
We've moved out of the slush zone probably about 114.
-We're into classic sediments. -CRAIG: Okay.
STEVE: We need a firm target to tunnel to.
Is this it? At this point, probably not.
But it's a great borehole to help define the area.
-Yeah. -Yes.
RICK: The sonic drill program
is a huge asset.
The data that we are collecting will provide information
in terms of what directions to tunnel
at the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
But we have to be patient.
I believe there's a very good chance that whatever was
put in place at the depths in the Money Pit
is still there, and we're going to find it
and we're going to dig it up.
CRAIG: Okay, guys.
-We need to pick a new-- next location, so... -STEVE: Yeah.
CRAIG: We'll get with Scott and move the rig.
-Okay. -TERRY: See you later, Craig.
CRAIG: See you later.
NARRATOR: As a new morning begins on Oak Island...
-LAIRD: Hey, Marty. -MARTY: Oh, yes,
-there's our artifact. -NARRATOR: ...Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with Craig Tester,
arrive at the Interpretive Centre.
So, it's substantial.
NARRATOR: They are meeting with Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
for an update on the iron latch
that was found one day ago on Lot 5.
RICK: W-When you say it's heavily encrusted,
-it's heavily encrusted. -(laughs): Yeah.
So, I've just finished a CT scan.
So we'll go over that right now?
NARRATOR: Earlier this morning,
Emma examined the artifact
using the SkyScan 1273 CT scanner,
a device which emits nondestructive X-ray radiation
that can penetrate encrusted sediment
that builds up on the surface of objects over time.
The process generates clear images of artifacts
and their finer details.
LAIRD: So, that's the reconstructed image.
MARTY: It looks like a door knocker. It's pointy.
So, I'd say it was made to be driven into something.
Definitely been used. You can see the top's been hammered.
MARTY: Were you able to do a data search, Laird,
to see what it is?
Any light on that?
The only thing I found is that it was, um,
it was a river-raft spike.
But functionally, you could use that for anything.
Have you been able to do any analysis?
I've done an XRF map scan.
So, it's really high in iron.
-MARTY: Is there any manganese? -No.
-So, it's pre-1840, right? That's kind of our benchmark? -Mm-hmm.
EMMA: But what's really interesting is that...
now that we have a database
and we've scanned all these artifacts,
I can go and compare it
to the ones that we have.
Does it match any of our other stuff?
No.
MARTY: So, Laird,
-what do you make of this? -LAIRD: I think it's odd.
No, I-I mean... (stammers)
But what was a lot more interesting, early in the year,
I was contacted by a-a man named Frank White
who, um, follows the Oak Island story.
And he had some artifacts--
some, uh, archaeological artifacts--
from the William Phips birthplace in Maine.
And he asked if we would do analysis on the artifacts,
so he sent them over.
RICK: Well, we all know the William Phips story.
It's the Concepción theory.
And Phips is known to have traveled in these waters.
So, the idea is that his treasure
-was brought here to Oak Island. -Right.
Scott Clarke did a fantastic job of laying out the parameters.
Many people are actually familiar
with William Phips's discovery of the Concepción back in 1687.
We know that Phips found silver on the Concepción,
and I believe some of the treasure
from the Concepción was secreted to Oak Island.
NARRATOR: Two years ago,
32nd-degree Freemason Scott Clarke presented research
linking the 17th-century English nobleman
Sir William Phips to the Oak Island mystery.
In 1687, Phips located the wreck of the Concepción,
a Spanish galleon that sank near the Dominican Republic
in 1641 while attempting to transport
more than 200 tons of gold, silver and jewels
back to Europe.
After recovering nearly 100 tons of silver
during his initial salvage of the wreck,
Phips returned to the site one year later
with an assistant named Andrew Belcher
who was also a high-ranking Freemason.
However, after completing this operation,
they delivered a much smaller bounty.
During the second expedition of the treasure,
Phips brought back to England what was only valued
at 10,000 pounds.
He literally found one twentieth of what he found the first time.
NARRATOR: According to Scott Clarke's theory,
Sir William Phips and Andrew Belcher,
who is known to have owned land near Oak Island,
buried a vast amount of their recovered treasure
in the Money Pit.
LAIRD: So, Frank sent the artifacts
from the William Phips site, and we did the analysis.
So, we're making a comparison to that?
-Yeah. -EMMA: It's matching to that.
So, it's matching really similar
to the-the William Phips artifact.
-And-and nothing else? -MARTY: But not ours?
-EMMA: Nothing else. -Is it definitive?
That latch was 100% matching to the William Phips site.
That's astounding, Emma.
NARRATOR: A latch found
in the circular depression on Lot 5?
An identical metallurgical match to artifacts
directly related to Sir William Phips?
Could that explain not only the potentially
17th-century pottery recovered from the feature
but also the high-trace evidence
of precious metals in the Money Pit?
Amazing.
So... I mean, even the fact
that it doesn't match anything else...
-EMMA: Mm-hmm. -Yeah.
You don't get too many 100% sensitivity matches.
I'm excited about it.
-RICK: Yeah, it's cool. It's very cool. -Yeah.
MARTY: All right, well, we need him to go back out there
-and keep digging. -(laughter)
-LAIRD: That's right. Yep. -Right?
There could be all kinds of more things in there.
-This is really interesting. -Mm-hmm.
-So, thank you. -No problem.
All righty. Thank you, Emma. Thanks, Laird.
MARTY: Thank you, Emma. Thanks, Laird.
NARRATOR: Later that morning,
while the archaeological team continues investigating
the circular stone depression on Lot 5...
-Head in here. -Okey doke.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
search the nearby area
for additional clues and evidence of valuables.
We have flags here, the potential of these finds
helping us try to understand that feature,
it's-it's fairly elevated.
NARRATOR: Earlier today,
in accordance with provincial guidelines,
Gary identified a number of metallic targets,
which Laird Niven has now given him and Rick
permission to retrieve.
RICK: Okay. Let's get after it.
(device beeping)
Little blippy signal.
Let's see if it's in the surface.
(device beeping)
-Uh-oh. -Oh, yep.
That is more than likely surface junk.
Okay, where's the next flag?
Uh, right at the side of us, mate.
Oh.
Okay.
(device beeping)
There we go. That's better.
Good-sounding target, mate. Just there.
RICK: Wow.
-(chuckles) -It's tough digging, isn't it?
I'm just gonna take the top off,
and you can kind of pinpoint it, all right?
Yep.
Can't be that deep.
(device beeping)
(high-pitched beep)
-It's in my hand. -(rapid beeping)
Let's see what we've got.
(chuckles) Look at that.
RICK: Wow.
(laughs): I think we've got a coin! Look at that.
That looks like a really, really old coin, mate.
NARRATOR: On Lot 5, located on the western side of Oak Island,
Gary Drayton and Rick Lagina have just unearthed
another potentially important and valuable clue.
-That's a coin, mate. -(chuckles)
And that could potentially be really, really old.
-Look at that. -RICK: That's a beauty.
You know what that looks like?
Remember over here?
-Yep. That... -That's what that looks like.
NARRATOR: It was less than 30 yards from this location
where one year ago...
GARY: (exclaims) Look at that!
-It's a coin, mate. That is old. -(laughs)
NARRATOR: Just days after the team purchased the lot
from the estate of Robert Young, Rick and Gary discovered
the nearly 2,000-year-old half Roman coin.
Is it possible that they have just found another coin
of the same origin?
If so, how did they end up on Oak Island?
And what could it mean for Lot 5's significance
as it relates to the 228-year-old treasure mystery?
Doesn't that give you that hand-hammered look?
Yeah, it's got that same vibe about it.
That looks like an head, doesn't it, Rick?
RICK: You can see it, right there.
I see that hand-hammered look,
like the half Roman coin.
We have to bring it back to the lab,
we have to have Emma do the XRF and the CT scan,
hopefully, there's something on the coin.
But it was a heck of a find.
That's a top pocketer there.
Imagine the look on their faces
-when we take that into the-the lab. -(laughs)
Part of me would like to go back to the lab,
but I don't think we should.
-We should just keep going. -Yeah.
Keep going, mate. We've got other flags.
Fantastic. That's going in the bag, mate.
RICK: Lot 5 has presented all kinds of unique opportunities
for metal detecting.
-Next target's over there. -Okey doke.
RICK: There have been a number of finds.
And so, the future of Lot 5 looks exceedingly bright.
Hopefully there's more.
GARY: Next flag, coming up.
(device beeping)
Okay.
Another sharp signal.
RICK: Let's see where it is.
Let's see what we've got.
-(high-pitched beeping) -RICK: It'd be amazing if it were another one.
-It's in your hand. -It's in my hand.
(rapid beeping)
Let's see what we got, Rick.
Big reveal.
-Ooh-hoo! We got another coin, mate! -(laughs)
Hey!
That is fantastic.
-Look at that. (whoops) -I thought I saw something.
-GARY: That's a coin. -And another hand-hammered one.
GARY: Yeah.
You know what? I think at this point,
we need to call my brother and we need to call Craig
and see if they want to come down.
I can't imagine they'll say no.
-Yeah. -All right, I'm gonna call them right now,
-see if they want to come down. -(line ringing)
-MARTY (over phone): Hello? -Hey.
-It's Rick. -We're on lot... we're on Lot 5.
-Yeah? -And I think you and Craig want to come down here,
and I am not gonna tell you the reason why.
Okay. I'm on my way.
-On my way. -All right. See you both.
All right, take care.
Big Brother Rick calls me out of the blue
and tells me I better come see something, I'm excited.
He won't do that for just anything,
so this is gonna be something good.
All right, all right.
You teased us enough. What do you got?
We're not gonna say anything.
-GARY: No. -But what I want is
your first impressions.
GARY: Here we go. Hold your hand out, Marty.
There's your little reward from Lot 5.
RICK: What's your first impression?
MARTY: I don't know. It's a very old coin.
Doesn't remind you of anything?
Maybe the Roman one, I guess. I don't know.
Wait. There's insignia on this.
There's some sort of cross or something on that.
RICK: There's three loops of chain.
-See that? -MARTY: Oh, yes. I do.
This coin is gonna tell us something.
What do you got in your other hand?
Uh, this is a little prezzy for Craig.
RICK: See-see the hand-hammered look?
CRAIG: Yeah.
What-what's this... what's this all about, Gary?
I have no idea, mate. I'm gobsmacked.
MARTY: Were they found together?
GARY: Not too far away.
I don't know what the hell to make of this,
but I sure am intrigued with it.
What it's saying is there is a real mystery here
and there is a real story here,
-and we will uncover it. -CRAIG: It... Yeah.
-Pretty cool, guys. -GARY: Yep.
We have a couple more. Why don't you dig one?
-You pick one and you pick one. -Craig, you dig one.
-Yeah. -No, mine will be a, mine will be
-a .22 shell. -Oh, pick one. Come on.
-GARY: Let's go dig another one up. -MARTY: That one.
MARTY: My turn to dig.
My track record is poor, but...
from the human heart, hope springs eternal.
Maybe this is mine.
-(device beeping) -Yeah.
That sounds terrible.
Yeah, it's nothing.
I didn't even get anything.
Let's move on. That ain't nothing.
Here you go, Craig. (laughs)
-You got me beat. -Let's give it back to the expert.
Show us how it's done.
MARTY: Then it's Rick's turn again.
Honestly, Rick seems to find the good stuff.
Jack. Jack and Rick seem to find the good stuff.
(device beeping)
-There we are. -Is that it?
-Yes! A coin. -(laughter)
(whoops)
MARTY: So, what's the score at this point?
Not that we should be keeping score,
but I believe it's, uh, Big Brother Rick: 3,
Craig and Marty combined: 0.
-GARY: Look at that. -(laughter)
-CRAIG: You know how to do it. -Come on.
What the hell?
GARY: Fantastic.
MARTY: I think this is a record.
Three coins in one morning,
and all of them peculiar and perhaps ancient.
These are potentially major-league finds.
GARY: Yeah, no, it's got that same patina.
RICK: Yeah, that's the same thing.
GARY: That's got to be a really old coin, mate.
-RICK: It-it-- it's like the other ones. -Yeah.
Pretty cool.
-You're coming around to it. -Well, I-I...
I'm-I'm not ready to say those are Roman.
-Exactly. -Yeah, but they're old coins,
and they-- there's a story going on here.
I know we don't understand this story yet.
I know we don't understand
the complexity that the mystery is,
but we know for certain in our heart of hearts
that there's something here to this mystery.
It has long endured. 228 years.
-Let's go to the lab. -Yep.
GARY: Lot 5 just keeps giving it.
MARTY: Laird.
-Hey. -We've got some stuff for you.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island Interpretive Centre,
Rick and Marty Lagina,
their partner Craig Tester
and metal detection expert Gary Drayton
meet with archaeologist Laird Niven
along with archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan.
-Lot 5. -LAIRD: Yeah.
Just up from where the feature is.
NARRATOR: They are eager to have Laird and Emma analyze
the discoveries that were made earlier today on Lot 5:
three potentially ancient coins.
Uh, we'll let you take a look at them
and tell us what you believe these are.
Cool stuff, though.
LAIRD: Hmm.
-It's an oldie, isn't it? -GARY: It is, mate.
Almost the same patina as the Roman coin.
-RICK: There you go. -GARY: Yeah. -LAIRD: Right.
If you find one half-Roman coin, which we did last year,
okay, that's one half-Roman coin.
It's still amazing. But three coins?
They're clearly very old. They're patinaed.
I want to believe that they're hugely significant.
What do these things mean
with regard to what happened on Oak Island?
-What, should she do an XRF? -Yeah.
-CRAIG: Get a scan going? -LAIRD: I think so.
Emma, we want to know exactly what this is,
when it was made, and who dropped it, okay?
No pressure.
-And when. -(chuckles)
NARRATOR: In order to help determine
the possible origin of the coins,
Emma will scan them
using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer--
a device that bombards objects with non-destructive radiation
to identify the elements and minerals
that make up their composition.
EMMA: So, the XRF is done for the first coin.
It's 94% copper with about five percent silver.
-Copper and silver? -EMMA: Yeah.
Normally, Roman coins have tin and lead,
which I'm not seeing in this one.
So, not Roman, but it's not modern, either,
'cause it has no modern coin alloys.
-CRAIG: Okay. Want to look at another one? -Yeah.
RICK: Which one is this one, the big one?
MARTY: The itty-bitty one.
Ooh, that's a different metal.
-MARTY: It is? -LAIRD: It sure looks like it.
It seems, it's a different color.
It's more brassy, bronzy.
Here, check that out. Now tell me what you see, mate.
LAIRD: I see the stuff in the center.
MARTY: It looks like a female.
GARY: Definitely looks like a face, doesn't it?
-Let's have her run that one. -MARTY: Yeah.
-Can we run this one in the XRF, please? -EMMA: Yes.
RICK: Finding these coins
from roughly a very localized area,
that's certainly intriguing.
Why here?
We're really gonna have to put our heads down
and try to figure out what it means.
And maybe it will help us as we move forward.
So the second coin I scanned,
we've got copper, silicon, some lead, some tin.
So I'd say yeah, pretty good candidate for Roman coin.
CRAIG: She matched it
to the Roman coins in the database.
So, what were the coins doing here?
Who brought them here?
Knights Templar, obviously,
is one of the groups
that jump into your mind.
Well, that... that one's looking promising.
NARRATOR: A second potentially ancient Roman coin
discovered on Lot 5?
If so, were they brought to Oak Island by the same people
who may have hidden something of great value in the Money Pit?
In recent years,
members of the team have found clues
possibly related to the Oak Island mystery
at locations across Europe--
such as in Portugal, England and Italy--
that were once part of the Roman Empire...
What did you find, Pete?
I think something pretty interesting.
It's the same as the H+O stone.
NARRATOR: ...but later, between the 12th and 16th centuries
served as strongholds for the Knights Templar--
a Christian military order that many believe
hid a vast treasure
along with priceless religious artifacts on Oak Island,
including the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant.
ALEX: You get the H+O Stone.
And this symbol, we've learned today,
means Templar-related relic.
And what have we found that the symbol at the end means?
Some have interpreted it to be gold.
ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Last year, while investigating
a medieval church in Viterbo, Italy,
Marty's son, Alex, speculated
that a mysterious symbol they found,
which was also discovered on Oak Island in the 1920s
carved into a boulder known as the H+O Stone,
may very well have a Templar connection.
ALEX: To put it all together, I mean,
there is a possibility that the H+O Stone represents
"Here, Templar gold."
And then you can look at the last one.
That's the one with a lot of markings on it.
CRAIG: Yeah.
LAIRD: To me, it almost looks like
a woven pattern.
GARY: Almost looks like some chain links.
Yeah. Why don't you throw that one in?
Emma, here's the last one.
So right now, we have one indeterminant coin--
which is weird--
95% copper, five percent silver, which is very strange.
We have one coin that could be Roman
based on the metallurgy.
And then we have a yet to be determined,
while it's put in the XRF.
GARY: From metal detecting experience,
some of these features that you're looking at on these coins
are ancient features.
This one is the last one.
CRAIG: And which one are we looking at now?
MARTY: Waffle coin.
From first look, I've got brass...
...with iron, heavy manganese,
especially with a brass coin... Oh.
No, that's not modern.
Why? What is it?
So it is technically a brass,
but the high calcium and phosphorous,
I was looking at where have I seen
such across-the-board composition.
And that is the French denier. I've scanned a French denier
-dated... 13th century? -I think so.
-Just like the cross. -Wow.
NARRATOR: First minted during the late 7th century
to replace gold coins that were in circulation,
the French denier was widely used
from the Middle Ages up to the 17th century.
Is it possible that this coin could be of French origin?
And if so,
could it be connected to the French lead barter token
also found on Lot 5 one year ago,
a barter token that when scientifically analyzed
proved to be a compositional match
to the 14th-century lead cross
that was found at Smith's Cove back in 2017,
and which is also believed to be of possible Templar origin?
All three oddballs.
-Three unique coins. -Yep.
Yep. This makes it better for me.
I would rather have
these coins come from different areas.
You know, it goes to trade.
You're going around,
you've got different coins in your pocket
from different countries.
-I think this is great. -Yep.
Emma, go ahead and do your more comprehensive scans
and then let us know.
And we will get a hold of Sandy Campbell.
-Yep. -MARTY: And get him out here.
And we will go out and find some more stuff.
-EMMA: All right. Have fun. -MARTY: Talk to you soon.
-CRAIG: See you. -GARY: See you later.
We will. Cheers.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
-(thunder rumbles) -ALEX: Hey, guys.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina joins
other members of the team in the Money Pit area
as the strategic core-drilling operation continues.
So, where are we?
We're right in the middle of the Baby Blob.
So, this is our best guess right now
as to the source of the metals in the water?
TERRY: Exactly.
NARRATOR: The current borehole that is being drilled
is known as E5N-9.5.
It is located several feet west of the Garden Shaft
in the so-called Baby Blob
where high-trace evidence of precious metals
have been detected between 80 and 120 feet underground.
Okay, guys, this is it.
-How you doing Mike, we go to 99? -98.
-We picked up a rock around 97. -Okay, very good. Thank you.
Let's slice and dice, see what we got.
That is Mother Nature, unfortunately.
There's a boulder in it.
Sadly, gentlemen, this doesn't look good.
-Marty. -Hey, Marty.
Hello, gentlemen. It's a wet one.
It is a wet one.
Anyway, nothing so far, Marty.
This is not looking good, we're at target depth
and we don't think we see anything.
Show me, show me where we are, please.
Steve's got a map there for you.
Okay. So we're right here.
You can see we are about
32 feet west of the Garden Shaft,
and we are about seven or eight feet
northwest of our tunnel from where we hit last year.
Somebody got a pencil?
TERRY: There's one right there.
Okay.
This is the most interesting well.
STEVE: That's our eight-foot void or tunnel.
This one right here, which is what number?
That is DN-11.5.
NARRATOR: One year ago,
while drilling borehole DN-11.5,
some 12 feet southeast from their current position
at a depth of approximately 90 feet
the team encountered an eight-foot-high void--
or possible chamber--
located just 20 feet west of the Garden Shaft.
-There's some wood, Terry. -Whoa!
-We've got wood at the bottom here. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Incredibly, they also recovered
a wood sample...
TERRY: Oh, my gosh. We're into something.
NARRATOR: ...that when analyzed by Emma Culligan
contained high-trace evidence of gold.
It shows gold.
-Yeah. It's there. -(chuckles)
The scientists say metals are coming out of here.
The only thing that could be producing metals
is out of some man-made something.
That's a big enough box for an offset chamber.
I just want to put another one right down, right down into it.
Marty, I'm with you, if we go back
to DN-11.5, we should put another well right next to it.
-Yep. -And try to get back into this,
whatever it is, tunnel or chamber.
Agreed.
Let me talk to everybody else and see.
I'm gonna take off right now.
Finish this one up, we'll get you some info.
-Thanks, guys. -Okay. -MARTY: See you, guys.
♪ ♪
TERRY: Gentlemen, here we go.
-Hey, Alex. -Hey, guys.
-STEVE: How're you doing? -TERRY: Alex, how're you doing?
Good.
So, just getting started?
Just queueing her up.
NARRATOR: In spite of an ominous storm
that has enveloped Oak Island,
another hopeful morning has begun in the Money Pit area
for Alex Lagina
and other members of the team.
-Where are we? -DN-12. I've got a map.
-ALEX: Cool. -TERRY: The man's got a map.
NARRATOR: At the direction of Alex's father Marty,
the team has just broken ground
on a borehole known as DN-12--
a borehole located within the so-called Baby Blob,
or possible treasure zone,
that sets less than three feet east of borehole DN-11.5.
It was there that a mysterious eight-foot void was discovered
one year ago at a depth of some 90 feet
containing high-trace evidence of gold.
STEVE: Based on all the information we've had so far,
DN-12 is still our best target to hope to get back
into that eight-foot chamber.
Right. And I'm with my dad.
I mean, he-he really feels that, you know,
this is probably our best chance to hit something meaningful
and with that eight-foot span that we hit in a previous hole,
we could have found an offset chamber.
Absolutely.
MARTY: The site itself is interesting because
I am a believer in an offset chamber
as a likely repository
for any treasure that might be here.
The good news about this location is
it's close to the Garden Shaft.
So it's well within the range of where we can
tunnel to from the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
-Exactly. -So...
I'm gonna run for a little bit.
I'll check back in later if I can.
-No problem. -Let me know if anything happens.
TERRY: Yeah, we'll be in touch.
-CHARLES: Will do. -ALEX: Thanks.
NARRATOR: As the core-drilling operation
continues in the Money Pit area...
MARTY: Guys, you know we're waiting on our swamp permit.
NARRATOR: ...Alex joins his father Marty
and his uncle Rick
along with other members of the team
in the research center.
I talked to Tony. He's available this year.
I thought we'd talk about dive targets.
Yeah. Yeah, the north end of the bog
has drawn Tom's curiosity
as it has every year.
Well, we intend to, as part of our permit,
we intend to do a dig there, but...
if there is this artificial wall
that Fred spoke of quite earnestly,
then there had to be some evidence of
some of that work offshore.
GARY: Big old log on there.
And we got a plank here as well.
NARRATOR: One year ago,
fellow Oak Island landowner Tom Nolan,
along with Rick and members of the team,
unearthed evidence of a mysterious wooden structure
just north of the triangle-shaped swamp.
GARY: Wow. Look at this.
That could be like an old iron pin.
RICK: I'd say it is.
NARRATOR: They were investigating a long-held theory
of Tom's late father Fred Nolan
that the swamp was artificially created
centuries ago by the installation of dams
on the northern and southern boundaries of the island.
Incredibly, Fred's theory was also corroborated
by a reported 14th century map of Oak Island
that was given to the team in 2016
by the late researcher Zena Halpern--
a map which Zena believed had been created
by members of the Knights Templar
and featured numerous landmarks
including one in the northern region of the island
labeled as The Dam.
As part of that exploration on the north bog,
we should have an understanding of what's out in the water.
ALEX: Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: While the team awaits a permit to conduct
a larger excavation in search of the dam on land,
they are hoping that the waters just off the island might
contain more clues to support Fred Nolan's incredible theory.
The thing that was most curious about that,
the northern end of the bog,
is we did do a dig there with Billy,
and we found that spike.
It was only about yay long.
And Emma did her analysis of it
and it's possibly very old.
If Fred is right,
there may be evidence of this artificial wall
or some other edifice out there
that we are currently unaware of.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
We should go out there and do a dive,
and maybe, we know that Tony's very good, right?
He takes a line and he runs a grid.
Why not do it?
No, I think you two guys should do it.
You young guys go out there and do it, and report back.
And if there's something really cool to see,
-then maybe I'll suit up. -ALEX: Okay.
RICK: Solving the mystery
is all about connecting the dots.
Well, we certainly have
some very interesting dots at this point.
We've found, at the very least,
ancient-looking coins.
Is there something in the water offshore of the swamp
that's related to the finds in Zena's map?
It's possible.
-See what you can see. -Okay.
We'll get in touch with Tony.
-Okey doke. -I want a full report.
-ALEX: Okay. -RICK: Good luck.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon,
while the drilling operation continues
in the Money Pit area...
TERRY: Hey, Mike.
-Thank you. -28. 28.
GARY: All right.
Let's add to that ancient coin collection.
Next target's here.
NARRATOR: ...on Lot 5,
located on the western side of the island...
GARY: It's there, mate.
Come on, Craig. One time.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, Marty and Craig
join Gary Drayton to search for more clues
near the area where three ancient coins were discovered
just two days ago.
GARY: He's going full dung beetle on it.
-(laughs) -MARTY: Geez, look at him.
RICK: Keep looking, Craig.
-You might find it, yourself. -Yeah.
CRAIG: There it is.
GARY: There it is, mate.
-You got it? -Yeah.
GARY: What have we just found?
-MARTY: Iron? -GARY: Yeah.
It looks like a map of Ohio.
CRAIG: I haven't worked with Gary very often
but when I have,
I've never had any luck finding anything of importance.
I'd have to go with "modern" on that.
CRAIG: My record stands,
zero good finds, a whole bunch of junk.
MARTY: Good find, Craig.
-Yeah. -GARY: I'm gonna keep that in the pouch.
And the next flag is over there.
MARTY: Treasure bound.
Yep.
All right.
In the valley.
(detector beeping)
It's good.
Right there, mate.
That's a good sounding target.
I'm gonna have to pry him out of there.
All right, Gary. Try that.
Let's see what we've got.
It's underneath this pile.
We've got another one!
Look at that.
-(beeping) -GARY: We've got another one!
That's a coin. Look!
It is a coin. All right!
-Another coin. -GARY: Look at that.
NARRATOR: On Lot 5,
located west of the swamp on Oak Island...
GARY: Wow. Look at that.
NARRATOR: ...Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with Craig Tester
and Gary Drayton, have just made
another potentially important discovery.
Is it the same as the other ones?
MARTY: I don't see anything on it, but it's about the same size.
GARY: Anything on the other side?
Thank you.
I don't see anything, Gary.
Oh, wait.
Is that a number?
There's some kind of number or something.
If you can see stuff with a naked eye on it,
-then there should be some details. -I think, I think I can.
Let's have a look.
Yeah. Look at that.
Some kind of like squiggly design.
That is just like those other ones.
-MARTY: Yeah. -These are old.
That's brilliant, mate.
MARTY: I'm flabbergasted.
We have a half a Roman coin
verified by experts.
We have four new coins.
That's five coins found on this Lot 5 that are all inexplicable.
So, we're gonna get Sandy Campbell.
He's been out here before. He's a numismatic expert
and he is gonna tell us all about these coins.
You can see by the patina, I mean,
that's been in circulation a while.
And, basically, it's just change.
It's in awfully good shape.
GARY: Yeah.
-What a day on Lot 5. -MARTY: Oh, yeah.
-Bag it and tag it. -GARY: Yep.
-Call it a day. -GARY: Put it in the bag.
Wow.
-Smell that ancientness. -(laughs)
GARY: That's unbelievable.
RICK: It's been a really good day.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
Okay, guys. Here we are.
-I'm quite excited to get down there. -Right.
NARRATOR: ...in the waters just north of Oak Island
Alex Lagina
and Jack Begley join diver Tony Sampson
and underwater imaging expert Ken Deboer
to search for clues that might be related
to a possible buried dam
near the northern region of the swamp.
So we're seven to eight feet in the shallows, here.
ALEX: Okay.
And we dropped down to about
-25 out here. -ALEX: Right.
So that's shallow enough
that if we're looking well in the past,
the water level would've been lower.
So it's, it's plausible that,
you know, something here may have been on dry land
-at one point. -Yeah.
'Cause Fred Nolan thought he had seen evidence
of a structure on his beach here.
The one that correlates with Zena Halpern's map.
Yeah. Exactly.
And you guys were looking for the dam.
ALEX: Exactly.
So it is possible that any evidence
of that structure might be out here in the water.
Yeah. Awesome. Okay.
I can't wait to get on the bottom
and get my eyes on it. Your eyes will be on it
-with the ROV up here. -JACK: Great.
So we need to get the ROV in the water,
and I'm gonna get suited up and go get wet.
-Let's get started. -Beautiful.
All right. Here we go.
NARRATOR: In order to further aid Tony while he investigates
the possible man-made feature underwater...
KEN: In she goes. Perfect.
NARRATOR: ...Ken will utilize
a tethered, remote-operated vehicle or ROV.
Equipped with thrusters and a high definition camera,
the ROV will act as a second set of eyes for the team
to help direct Tony
toward any additional targets of interest.
-ALEX: So, Ken, we'll run a grid? -We're going to run a grid.
-Okay. -Just go back and forth.
-We'll follow the diver as well. -Mm-hmm.
And we'll be in communication with Tony
-the entire time. -ALEX: Perfect.
Good luck, Tony.
-All right. Tony's in the water. -Tony's in the water.
There you go.
KEN: All right.
Ready to rock and roll.
Surface to diver,
let us know if you see any signs of a structure
or anything else.
Over.
-KEN: He's got his head into something now. -ALEX: Yeah.
He's fanning.
Yeah. Fanning is what we can do.
Digging is what we cannot do.
NARRATOR: Although Tony is allowed to scan the seafloor
with a handheld metal detector,
provincial regulations prohibit him from removing
or disturbing artifacts.
Can you tell if there's any more buried there?
Over.
NARRATOR: However, if potential clues or valuables
are identified,
the team can apply for a special permit
to retrieve and further investigate them.
JACK: Tony's getting a visual on possibly hard-carved wood
which is actually a really exciting find because...
we have evidence from Zena's map
that there's a dam somewhere along the edge of the water
and that could indicate that people were around
that north edge of the swamp doing something.
Copy. How big?
ALEX: Copy.
So that sounds like, I don't know,
a little piece of plank.
I don't know what to make of it.
KEN: Yeah.
Copy. Keep us posted. Over.
-KEN: We're going shallower. -ALEX: Yeah.
Tony's heading towards a boulder there.
You can see him.
He's going right straight for whatever that is.
What's that?
He's getting right down into it.
ALEX: Mm-hmm.
We found a fair amount of pottery recently
just from Lot 5.
-Maybe it's comparable. -Right.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the artifacts Tony has found
are related to some of the discoveries made
in the last year within the two stone features on Lot 5?
Artifacts that may date back
to as early as the 17th century?
ALEX: After we get this pottery,
I'm thinking there's two possibilities here--
One is that the rocks have trapped this stuff here.
And the other is that it's sort of a deposit.
There's got to be a source for these things.
Hey, Tony, we'd love to see
if there's any other artifacts surrounding this boulder.
Over.
Those are some big boulders.
KEN: Yeah.
(detector whirring)
JACK: All right.
-There you go. -KEN: Wow.
-JACK: All right. -KEN: Wow.
That's incredible, Tony. That's awesome.
NARRATOR: After finding pottery
and other artifacts in the waters just north
of the Oak Island swamp...
Keep us posted. Over.
NARRATOR: ...diver Tony Sampson
has identified a potentially valuable clue.
NARRATOR: A possible coin?
Until the team can present their evidence
to the provincial government and hopefully obtain
a special permit to remove and examine it,
unfortunately, this potentially valuable discovery
will have to remain on the ocean floor.
Copy that, Tony. We'll see you on the boat soon.
Over.
All right.
I'd say that was a successful dive.
Very.
TONY: What makes these artifacts interesting
is they're similar to the artifacts
that they're finding on land.
So either they came in on a ship
or maybe it's part of a shipwreck
that was blowing up onshore.
Wow. That was cool.
Or maybe, it was from people that were
on the island itself.
All right, Tony. That was pretty exciting.
That was a fantastic dive, buddy.
What about that metal detector hit?
-What was it? -So that was a disc.
Like a coin with a hole in it.
-No kidding. -Yeah.
Initially,
I thought it was one of those
Chinese-style coins.
-Really? -I'm not sure.
-Or something like that? -Something like that.
Just right up on that hill is where Gary and I found
an actual Chinese coin,
and that dated back to possibly BC.
-Ooh! -Oh! No way.
That's an old coin.
GARY: And it's got that square hole in it, mate.
NARRATOR: In 2020,
while searching between the swamp and the Money Pit
on Lot 15,
Jack and Gary unearthed a coin
that, according to numismatist Sandy Campbell,
is of Chinese origin and more than 1,000 years old.
Is it possible that Tony Sampson has just found
the same type of coin in the waters
just north of the Oak Island swamp?
If so,
could it and other items he has discovered today,
actually be related to an ancient dam feature
that is believed to have been constructed
in order to help create the swamp
more than 700 years ago?
Well, I was excited before about the pottery
but, I mean, pipe stems and maybe even
-a coin or something. -TONY: Yeah.
-Now I'm really excited. -TONY: Yep.
ALEX: One thing I know it is for sure
is a concentration of artifacts underwater.
It might be enough to get
some kind of a permit to do further investigation here.
-Right. -ALEX: That's what I'm thinking.
RICK: They're great finds.
I think the next step would have to be
to get a proper permit
for actually retrieving some of these items.
We may be able to understand why they're there
and if they are connected to Fred's wall
in the north end of the bog.
This area needs a lot more investigation.
Yeah. Nice job, Tony.
-Well done. -TONY: Thanks, my friend.
JACK: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
TERRY: This is it. This is the run.
88 to 98's gonna do it.
ALEX: This could be the one.
NARRATOR: ...in the Money Pit area,
Alex Lagina has joined Craig Tester
and other members of the team
as the drilling operation in borehole DN-12
is approaching the depth where they hope
to once again encounter an eight-foot void
and, hopefully, the legendary treasure.
-How deep are we? -88.
STEVE: They're on something.
There it is.
That's the bottom of the run.
-What you got, Mike? -MIKE: 101.
101, that's what I thought.
Three feet under. There you go.
That looks fairly soft there, Terry.
-TERRY: It's softish. Yeah. -MARTY: The base of it though.
-Right? That's the bottom? -Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CHARLES: Here's the top.
Thank you.
All right. Bring her in.
MARTY: Is there wood there?
CHARLES: Feels like something there.
CHARLES: That's wood.
-SCOTT: Bingo. -ALEX: There's wood.
-STEVE: Oh, good. -TERRY: Wood up here, too.
CHARLES: Yeah.
TERRY: It's a fairly significant beam, yeah.
It's very close to 97 and a half,
right about there.
That's where we want to be for this hole.
TERRY: Yep.
I have a question, is this our tunnel
or is this, is this the chamber?
I don't know because we can't see the top.
But I'd say there's enough loose material,
so it's a chamber.
-Chamber? -MARTY: I'd say.
TERRY: Yep.
MARTY: Lo and behold, we do hit wood in DN-12 at about 97 feet,
which is very close to exactly where we hit wood before
in the Baby Blob that we interpreted to be
a chamber or vault.
We're clearly into a collapsed chamber of some sort.
So we hit what we wanted to hit.
We'll want a bunch of samples of this.
We test the metals.
If it tests high enough, this is it.
Yeah.
Yay!
This is a success from a technical standpoint.
It worked.
TERRY: No question.
So let's see what it says.
ALEX: It's gonna tell us a lot, one way or the other.
NARRATOR: Following the potentially historic discovery
in the Money Pit area...
MARTY: Hey, Gary. Laird.
-Marty. -Hey, guys.
-We have Sandy Campbell with us today.
Hey, Sandy. How's it going?
-Good. -Lots of work for you.
Yeah. That's what I hear.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty and Craig Tester
accompany numismatist
Sandy Campbell to meet with Gary Drayton
and Laird Niven in the Interpretive Centre.
With Sandy's 40 years of experience
analyzing rare and ancient coins,
it is the team's hope that he can determine
the origin of the four mysterious coins
discovered earlier this week on Lot 5.
We had a heck of a week on Oak Island.
-(Marty chuckles) -Let's have a look.
It's interesting.
(mutters quietly)
This design goes back to the 1500s, 16th century.
RICK: Which cultures are you referencing?
SANDY: British. This is Tudor period.
It's very obvious
that that's a portcullis on there.
And it's used even today on modern British coins.
NARRATOR: Between the 5th and 15th centuries,
heavy iron gates
known as portcullises were used to protect castles
and fortifications
across Europe from invading armies.
Beginning in the late 15th century,
the portcullis was incorporated into the design
of English coinage to symbolize strength and resilience.
Is it possible that this coin is related to the other
English artifacts recently found on Lot 5,
such as those potentially connected
to Sir William Phips who is believed by some
to have buried a large cache of silver in the Money Pit?
SANDY: That's a, you know, Tudor monarch period item.
I'm gonna have to try and do a little more research.
Well, that wasn't the only coin, mate.
We have been roaming around on Lot 5
and we've got another
little bobby-dazzler of a coin to show you, mate.
You are leading the witness, Counselor.
Oh. (laughs)
That's pretty obvious.
MARTY: Okay.
SANDY: Well, this here you can see
the pretty common design,
SANDY: That's pretty obvious.
NARRATOR: In the Interpretive Centre...
SANDY: Well, this here you can see
the pretty common design,
a Roman coin.
-(Marty laughs) -Roman, baby!
-MARTY: Is it? -I knew it.
NARRATOR: ...numismatist Sandy Campbell
has just confirmed that the Oak Island team
has found another Roman coin on Lot 5.
What is it? You said it was obvious. What?
What does that mean?
It's-it's a Roman coin from probably...
...between 100 and 300 AD,
-if I'm allowed to use AD. -RICK: Wow.
My new best friend.
NARRATOR: Over the past year
this is the second coin found on Lot 5
that has been verified to be more than 1,000 years old
and of Roman origin.
The questions now are when were they brought to Oak Island?
And who brought them here?
MARTY: Had somebody told me
that we would find this here, I would have said no.
"No, we're not gonna find Roman coins here."
No. No, but here we are with number two.
MARTY: Right.
But you are quite definitive about 100 to 300 AD?
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, this is all great, mate.
But we got some more candy for Sandy, mate.
We got more coins.
Sandy, I have the honor of being the one who dug this coin up.
Of course, Gary found it and that is unique because
I never find anything.
SANDY: Well, it's... it's interesting.
I'm seeing things that appear to be design.
But nothing that's giving me
feedback where I can identify.
What could that be?
-It could be Indian. -MARTY: Indian like India?
India. Yeah. You know, like
6th, 7th, 8th century type thing.
-Sheesh. -That's a box we haven't ticked off yet.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
MARTY: We've found English coins. We've found Spanish coins.
Now, we've found an Indian coin. We've found a Chinese coin.
Who gathers all these weird non-associated coins?
I'm just trying to make sense
out of something that doesn't appear to make sense.
We've got another little coin to show you.
-I hope that one's just as interesting. -Yep.
Very tiny.
Like, the detail for this type of coin is quite pronounced.
-It is? -SANDY: Yeah.
This is a clearly Roman design.
So, it is a Roman coin?
Absolutely, yeah.
-Two for two. -Brilliant.
Remember when we were out there, high-fiving?
-Yeah. Yeah. -RICK: Now we know why.
What do you see on there?
I-I think this is a male portrait.
You got more of a pointed chin, bigger nose.
And then on the, on the reverse,
you got two, two conjoined people here, I think.
You know, this is probably,
you know, BC.
Holy smokes.
Is this 100%, Sandy?
It's 100%.
Absolutely incredible.
So this could be the oldest coin ever found on Oak Island.
To unearth this is pretty remarkable.
You know, the design is very pronounced on a coin
that's more than 2,000 years old.
MARTY: The puzzlement grows.
Three Roman coins found on Oak Island.
It's possible that if there's an ancient treasure,
it would have ancient things in it,
including perhaps a component of Roman coins.
You have to keep an open mind
because "facts," as Winston Churchill said,
"are stubborn things."
Here's a fact--
we found those coins on Oak Island.
That's a fact.
I've always believed there was a plan
properly executed over,
perhaps generationally,
perhaps over decades or centuries.
It was that important.
Look, I'm a big proponent of Zena's research, right?
That there was
transatlantic voyages to the New World
long before it's accepted.
NARRATOR: In 2016,
when Zena Halpern gave the team
a reported 14th century map of Oak Island
that she believed to have been created
by members of the Knights Templar,
she also shared a second believed Templar map
of Nova Scotia dating back to the 12th century.
Since then, Rick, Marty
and members of the team
have visited numerous sites around Europe
that served as strongholds for the Knights Templar
between the 12th and 16th centuries...
Whoa.
NARRATOR: ...including in England...
Up there, on one of the bricks is literally carved "1347."
NARRATOR: ...Portugal...
It looks a lot more similar to what we have.
-That's for sure. -ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...and Italy
that were also once part of the Roman Empire.
We have seen this symbol before.
-RICK: H+O Stone. -PETER: Yeah.
-ALEX: Right there. -RICK: It's perfect.
NARRATOR: And in each of these locations
they have seen carvings
and structures similar to those
that have been found on Oak Island.
Could Rick Lagina be correct
that the ancient Roman coins unearthed on Lot 5
and the mysterious structures found all around the island
offer evidence that Zena Halpern discovered
the true origin of the Oak Island mystery?
GARY: What this tells me is
there's a heck of a lot
of stories going on, on this island,
from a long time ago.
I concur. We've got to prove it.
Let's be metal detectives.
-GARY: Get back to Lot 5. -Yeah. Metal detectives.
Let's get going.
NARRATOR: A new year of searching has just begun
for Rick, Marty and their team.
And already, they have made discoveries on Oak Island
and in the surrounding waters that suggest
this 228-year-old mystery is more complex
and profound than anyone could have ever imagined.
As the research, expert analysis
and digging continues, will they be able to shatter
the protective barrier of a deadly curse
and finally recover a treasure
that could rewrite North American history?
This season on The Curse of Oak Island...
MARTY: This is the year.
There could be some actual treasure just below us.
RICK: You have to follow the clues
-where they lead. -MARTY: Let's go!
Let's go deep.
We're very close
-to what we're trying to find. -Right.
We need to get to the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
ROGER: We pushed a hole and there's a long void in there.
MARTY: It could be the offset chamber that we seek.
-TERRY: There it is, guys. -Seven or eight-foot tunnel.
This one is a mystery tunnel.
RICK: We found a structure in the swamp.
GARY: Look at that!
HELEN: It's the first time in 40 years
of fieldwork I've seen something like this
buried.
MARTY: The results of the muon technology are in.
What we're seeing is
high-density anomaly 230 feet
below the surface of the Money Pit.
We think it's Aladdin's Cave.
MATT L.: There is wood in that void.
MARTY: It could be a man-made structure.
That makes the cave even that much more important.
MARTY: We are not leaving this island
without having a go
at this Aladdin's Cave.
I want to know what this thing is.
GARY: This year, we could get down there
and actually hold shiny gold things in our hand.
♪ ♪
(whooping)
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