NARRATOR: Tonight, on the Curse of Oak Island...
-CHARLES: Here it comes. -RICK: The Garden Shaft project
is finally underway.
BILL: This way a bit.
GARY: Time to open Pandora's box.
-ALEX: Oh, boy. -Wow. -Wow.
HELEN: I'll tell you, Jack,
it's the first time in 40 years of fieldwork
I have seen something like this...
buried.
They're hiding something.
Ooh, interesting.
Brilliant.
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.
♪ ♪
ALEX: All right, guys, D.5N-27.
-Yep. -We've moved east
of where we last hit the tunnel,
hoping to intercept it again.
Yep.
NARRATOR: Another exciting morning
has begun on Oak Island
for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and their team as they continue their quest
to solve a mystery
that has captivated treasure hunters
for more than two centuries.
This is an attempt to hit the furthest east extension
of our tunnel, which in this area
will hit it at over a hundred feet.
-Yep. -ALEX: The tunnel that
we are following today
that emanates from the Garden Shaft,
it could be a conduit through which the water
with the high metal concentration is flowing,
bringing it to the Baby Blob.
That's a very good point.
NARRATOR: Today, the team is drilling
a new borehole on their strategic grid
known as D5N-27,
located several feet east of the 82-foot-deep,
mid-18th-century structure
known as the Garden Shaft.
Here, they are hoping to once again encounter
a mysterious seven-and-a-half- foot-high tunnel
located some 100 feet underground,
which they have previously drilled into
numerous times over the past year.
A tunnel which has yielded high trace evidence of gold,
and which runs westward directly below
the Garden Shaft and into
another possible treasure zone
known as "The Baby Blob."
-53. -TERRY: 53? A broken run. Okay.
STEVE: Let's pull it down and I'll drain it.
-Gentlemen. -Hey, fellas.
-Well, look who's here. -Morning.
TERRY: Hi, guys. How are you doing?
Good. What are you finding?
Well, it's...
We're down 53 feet,
and as you can see,
-it's relatively soft. -CRAIG: Soft? Okay.
TERRY: It's always been an omen
that we're fairly close to a structure
when you hit soft material like this.
We're definitely close to a tunnel.
Well, I mean, it's going to be a little bit
before you guys get down to the 100-foot level.
So, we're gonna go run and do some stuff.
-Okay. -But if you get wood...
-Yep. -...or anything else,
-give us a call. -Yep, will do.
STEVE: See you, guys.
This is gonna be the time we find something.
NARRATOR: As the core-drilling operation
continues in the Money Pit area...
-RICK: Hey, guys. -CRAIG: Hi, guys.
MARTY: Morning.
The Garden Shaft project
is very, very critical this year
and this will certainly push the search forward.
Agreed.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina and Craig Tester,
along with operations manager Scott Barlow,
have gathered in the war room.
Thank you very much, Rick,
for accommodating our request for the meeting this morning.
NARRATOR: They are meeting via videoconference
with Marty Lagina and representatives
from a mining and construction company
known as Dumas Contracting Limited.
RICK: So, Cameron and Tony,
they asked for this meeting.
I'm hoping this is
the much-anticipated code of practice
because we've got to get going on that project.
Right.
NARRATOR: While the Oak Island team
continues core drilling
in an attempt to pinpoint new targets
around the Garden Shaft,
Rick, Marty and Craig are eagerly waiting
for Dumas to have a code of practice,
or new permit, approved by the provincial government
to vertically extend the Garden Shaft
by as much as 20 feet.
This operation would not only breach
the tunnel running below it,
but also allow the team to personally explore it
or build a new tunnel, if necessary,
in order to reach new targets
identified by the current core-drilling process.
Cameron, I'm going to turn it over to you.
I hope you have good news for us.
Uh, we do have favorable news to report.
Great.
CAMERON: We did receive notice
from the Ministry of Labor in Nova Scotia
that our code of practice has been approved and granted.
It's a culmination of an awful lot of engineering work
led by Mr. Linton
and his technical team, um, at the Dumas group.
And the ministry is confident
that we have the right means and methods
to go forward with the deepening of the Garden Shaft.
Great.
CAMERON: Further, we are actively
mobilizing to the island,
and look forward to getting
the shaft deepening work underway.
Excellent.
That was fabulously unrelenting good news.
(laughter)
(chuckles)
RICK: The good news is
the work in the shaft can begin.
We have to take advantage of this time now,
in terms of the sonic drill program in the Money Pit,
because when Dumas arrives,
the areas we have interest in will be off limits,
so it might provide some answers to the overall mystery.
We couldn't ask for any better news,
so we're exceedingly grateful.
And, uh, we'll have everything ready
and in place and ready to start.
See you out there.
Looking forward to it.
-Thank you. -All right, take care guys.
-Bye, guys. -Thank you.
RICK: Let's get out there.
NARRATOR: As Rick, Marty, Craig and Scott
conclude their meeting in the war room...
GARY: I'm really confident, mate.
The beach has got our money.
NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and Peter Fornetti arrive at the shoreline
of Lot 5 to expand their search of an area
that has proven to be rich with important clues.
GARY: You pick the lucky flag, Pete.
PETE: Let's go right in the slipway.
Okay.
And notice where these flags are, mate.
They're dead opposite those two features,
the big round one,
and then that feature there
where all the archeologists are working further up the hill.
-Perfect line for a ship. -Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: Since Rick, Marty and Craig's purchase
of Lot 5 one year ago,
they have made compelling discoveries here
that suggest multiple secretive operations
may have taken place on Oak Island
before the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795.
These finds include three Roman coins
dating back as much as 2,000 years
and a 14th-century lead barter token that,
just like the lead cross that was discovered
at Smith's Cove in 2017,
may be connected to the medieval order
of the Knights Templar.
Near the center of the lot,
they have unearthed a rectangular foundation
that was deliberately buried
and could date to the same period in the 1700s
as the Garden Shaft.
And nearer to the shore,
they are also currently investigating
a mysterious circular depression
that may have been created sometime in the late 1600s.
All right. You picked this flag, mate.
Let's make it lucky.
(metal detector beeping)
A bit jumpy.
It's coming out, mate. It's there.
NARRATOR: Now, it is Gary and Peter's hope
to find more definitive clues on the beach of Lot 5
that might help explain who could be connected
to these incredible discoveries.
(beeping)
Pin-pointer time.
(beeping)
There it is.
-Oh, yeah. -What do we got here?
This might be a small cribbing spike,
which makes this really interesting.
We have never found one...
-Mm-hmm. -...on this side of the island before.
And in this condition,
it's probably wrought iron, mate.
-It's what it looks like. -Yeah.
It looks like the other stuff we found.
Yeah, it really does, doesn't it?
It does look old.
And they weren't just used
for shafts and tunnels.
These were used for buildings and also
-on boats and wharfs as well. -Yeah.
-We'll bag it... -Yeah.
...'cause this is an interesting find.
These types of fasteners
are called cribbing spikes,
and it was for attaching two timbers together.
We're finding a wide variety of artifacts in this area.
Okay, mate. Next flag's over here.
I told the guys Lot 5 is me priority
because we are finding some of the oldest artifacts
you can find in North America on Lot 5.
-Right here? -Yep.
There's a heck of a lot of iron in that area, and I know
there are more important artifacts to be found there.
(beeping)
-That's where I got the hit. -Yep.
And more than likely, it's iron.
Oh, there it is. I see it.
Oh, wow.
GARY: Oh, wow.
Looks like it's an old piece of iron.
-Yeah. -Oh, interesting.
NARRATOR: On the shoreline of Lot 5,
Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti
have just made a potentially significant discovery.
GARY: Maybe it's a handle.
It looks like it's broken just there.
Um, this could possibly be
one half of a pair of shears
or some kind of snipping tool.
-Mm-hmm. -It reminds me
of the handles on those old Spanish scissors
that Dan Blankenship found.
-Mm-hmm. Definitely. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: While investigating Smith's Cove
in the summer of 1970,
the late Oak Island treasure hunter Dan Blankenship
uncovered a pair of hand-forged iron scissors.
Incredibly, subsequent testing indicated
that they not only dated as far back as the 17th century
but were also of Spanish origin.
GARY: Carmen Legge will take a look at that and tell us.
He'll render an opinion.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Gary and Peter
have now found a related artifact
a half-mile away on Lot 5?
If so, could it help reveal the truth
behind the 228-year-old mystery?
-All right, I'll bag it. -Yep. Sounds good.
RICK: Dan's find of an old pair of scissors
was quite a find for him,
because to him, in his mind,
he believed that this was a Spanish treasure,
so it reinforced to him that he was on the right track.
GARY: We've got some interesting finds, mate.
-I say we take 'em back to the lab. -Yep.
GARY: And then, when the tide goes out, we'll be back.
NARRATOR: While Gary and Peter
conclude their search on the beach at Lot 5,
approximately 50 yards inland...
JACK: Hi, everybody.
-How's the dig going? Good. -HELEN: Hi, Jack.
-How you doing? -Good.
NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley joins archeologist Helen Sheldon,
and other members of the team,
at the mysterious rectangular stone feature,
which may be related to the Garden Shaft.
HELEN: I'll tell you, Jack, it's the first time
in 40 years of fieldwork
I have seen something like this buried,
which is really weird.
It's fun seeing you so excited, Helen.
-(laughs) -And to know that
you haven't seen a feature like this before.
No.
JACK: Is it normal
for the foundation to be so low in the ground?
HELEN: No. Normally, you see
an indication of it on the surface.
(sighs) Well, that makes me think
that it's somehow related to the Money Pit story.
This could've been base camp
for operations in the Money Pit.
Something happened on Lot 5.
We just need to keep digging
and gather more evidence and find out
what actually was going on here. That's the plan.
-JACK: I'd be happy to sift. -HELEN: Okay, sounds good, Jack.
-JAMIE: Sounds great. -LINDY: Sounds good. Thanks.
NARRATOR: While the archeologists
continue to carefully scrape away dirt and sediments
from the rock feature,
Jack will sift the collected spoils
to search for any possible clues or artifacts.
JACK: Lot 5 is still such a mystery.
There's so many other
odd features around Lot 5
and weird finds that Gary's had,
that I still think there's a good chance
this was some sort of an encampment
and this is just a start
to really figuring out what happened here, pre-settlers.
JAMIE: Ooh. Hey, Jack.
-Yeah. -We've found
the biggest piece of creamware so far today in this unit.
Great. Let's have a look.
JAMIE: Just the tiniest piece of glaze
so I can identify it.
JACK: What type of pottery is this?
JAMIE: So that's the creamware.
That's the stuff that was first made in 1762.
NARRATOR: A piece of creamware pottery
dating to as early as 1762?
Has Jamie Kouba found more evidence supporting the theory
that Lot 5 may have been a staging ground
for a secret operation
prior to the discovery of the Money Pit?
JACK: It'd be nice to find
enough pieces that we can start to
-put it back together. -Yeah.
JACK: Nice find.
Let me know when you find a coin.
JAMIE: I'm looking.
NARRATOR: As the investigation efforts
continue on Lot 5...
STEVE: There could be wood right there.
NARRATOR: ...back in the Money Pit area...
-Yeah. That... Yep. -That is wood.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina
and other members of the team
have just made a potentially
important discovery in Borehole D.5N-27
located several feet east of the Garden Shaft.
What you got for depth there?
It's gonna be 95 feet.
95 with wood. Cool.
Oh, yeah, that's a wood chunk.
-STEVE: That just doesn't make any sense. -ALEX: No.
We've usually hit it at 99 plus.
Yes. Yeah.
NARRATOR: Because the location
of Borehole D.5N-27
is in an elevated area to the east of the Garden Shaft,
the team was not expecting to encounter the tunnel,
where they have detected evidence of precious metals,
for several more feet.
Could it be possible that they have just discovered
a completely different structure?
This doesn't look like the wood we've hit
in previous boreholes in the tunnel.
-Hey, Scott. -Hey, guys.
We've got a bit of a ...
Looks like spruce.
...a question. Yeah. It's...
To me, it's a different type of wood.
It's higher than we typically see it.
STEVE: Yeah.
ALEX: This is really, really weird
because there is no record
of anything at this depth in this area.
-Hey, fellas. -Yeah.
ALEX: This is a totally unknown structure.
-Wow. -Oh, look what we found.
ALEX: It's possibly the top of an offset chamber
for all we know. It's a big deal.
I don't think anybody expected to see that.
STEVE: Different wood. Different height.
-It's a different structure. -TERRY: I don't know.
-Here comes more information. -TERRY: Right on.
This is going to be 101 feet.
-101. -101. Thank you.
All right, let's carve it up.
What do we got? Okay, there's some more wood,
but... is it in place or not?
SCOTT: We've lost recovery
from-- basically from 95
to 101. We just pushed through it.
And the loose material falling out, though,
that says that possibly, it's a... it's a tunnel.
But it's out of place, isn't it?
SCOTT: It's out of place.
-Hey, fellas. -ALEX: Hey.
CRAIG: What's the news, gentlemen?
SCOTT: We're finding timbers at 95 feet.
CRAIG: That's at a shallower depth
than anything we've seen in the area,
so, to me, it's got to be new.
The other problem with this, though, is we're out of time.
-We got the crane chasing us off this area. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Because representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
will soon arrive on Oak Island
with numerous heavy digging machines
needed to deepen the Garden Shaft,
that means that the team will no longer be able
to drill in this area for potential valuable targets.
RICK: We are under time constraints.
We have one more chance to try to
delineate this tunnel that we seek,
because once Dumas comes in,
certain areas of the Money Pit will be off limits.
We have time to drill one more hole here if we want to.
I'd drill one more. I'd drill until it's coming.
Yeah.
RICK: We are in a bit of a haste
to try to hit a target.
We're not certain of the data yet.
We have to continue to drill and hopefully
something more definitive will come from that drilling.
There's a lot of "homework" to do here.
I can't stand here right now and tell you
what I think this is 'cause I don't know.
-But we have to follow it. -Yeah.
Just what we need, another mystery on Oak Island.
(truck horn honks)
NARRATOR: A day that has been highly anticipated by Rick,
Marty, Craig and the rest of the Oak Island team
has finally arrived.
Here he comes.
NARRATOR: Having received
the necessary governmental permits,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
and Irving Equipment Limited
have begun to deliver heavy equipment,
starting with a 109-ton crane...
-RICK: Hey, Bill. -Good morning.
NARRATOR: ...that will be used
to deepen the Garden Shaft
in the Money Pit area,
and hopefully help the team solve
the 228-year-old mystery.
MARTY: Okay, put that crane together
because last year, we feel like we got
just about to where we needed to be,
and we needed to go deeper.
So that's the drill.
And this is the year.
Aw, yeah. Aw, yeah.
So, we're counting on you.
(laughter)
RICK: We really, really
want to put this thing to bed,
put a period at the end of this story.
BILLY: We want to put an exclamation mark
on the end of the story, not a period, right?
Well, there you go.
(chuckling)
And without people like you,
it's not possible.
But more to the point, what Marty said, this is the year.
I'd say, let's get going.
Let's roll in and get this crane together.
-Yep. -Perfect.
RICK: The Garden Shaft extension project
is going to be highly informative.
Without the crane, we can't even begin to start.
One piece of the puzzle is now in place.
We now await Dumas' arrival,
and we can start that project
and get some answers.
BILL: Come this way another foot or two.
NARRATOR: Once the crane is fully assembled in the coming days...
-BILL: This way a bit. -NARRATOR: ...it will be used to maneuver
a three-ton hammer grab tool
that will remove the earth and sediment
that sits at the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
BILL: That's good.
NARRATOR: This will allow the team from Dumas
to begin extending the 18th-century structure
down an additional 20 feet
into the believed treasure tunnel
that the team has discovered several feet below it.
MARTY: We know there's a tunnel under the Garden Shaft
that could be going to an offset chamber.
There could be a large treasure down there.
There are lots of possibilities
in the next 20 feet of the Garden Shaft.
OULETTE: That's good, she's tight.
BILL: Awesome.
NARRATOR: As the crane assembly begins on the South Shore road...
ALEX: Hey, guys. Where are we?
Same line, just five feet further south.
-Got it. -NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina
arrives at the Money Pit area
where the team has already begun
a new core-drilling operation in Borehole C5N-27,
located several feet east of the Garden Shaft.
It is the team's goal
to not only encounter another section
of the seven-and-a-half- foot-high tunnel
some 100 feet underground,
but also identify a valuable target
that Dumas may be able to help them recover
by constructing a new tunnel
from the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
ALEX: Okay, here's the thing, guys.
This is our last shot at this.
We have this hole,
whenever we finish it,
and then the crane moves in.
-The crane needs to be right here. -Yeah.
ALEX: We need to find something
quickly, 'cause right now,
we're drilling in an area that's going to become off-limits
as soon as Dumas is ready to put people underground.
-We can do stuff elsewhere... -Yeah.
...it's just that we can't be
this close to the Garden Shaft,
and unfortunately, what we're looking for
goes right under the Garden Shaft.
-Yeah, that's right. -So this is
where our best chance of hitting it is.
Yeah, it's a time crunch, though.
It's a time crunch on the whole drill program
-in this area. So... -Absolutely. Yeah.
ALEX: Keep your fingers crossed.
NARRATOR: As the core-drilling operation
continues in the Money Pit area...
RICK: Carmen, thank you for coming back.
Gary and Peter have actually found
a very interesting item.
NARRATOR: ...at the Oak Island Interpretive Centre,
Rick Lagina, along with other members of the team,
meet with blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge,
to have him examine the fragment of potentially ancient scissors
discovered one day ago on Lot 5.
GARY: Pete and I dug it out,
and it so reminded me
of that pair of shears,
that old Spanish shears
that Dan Blankenship found
in Smith's Cove during that excavation.
Okay, I'll take a look here.
Well, your hunch is right.
It is a handle off a pair of scissors.
RICK: Any way to infer a date?
CARMEN: This is very old. And very old, I mean,
1600, early 1700s.
Wow.
I can go grab them.
RICK: When Carmen related
that the handle was a date
1600 to 1700s...
CARMEN: 'Cause this is one continuous loop, right?
RICK: ...are those original deposition artifacts
or do they pre-date that?
That's really what we're trying to do with dating artifacts.
Are they pre- or post-depositional?
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
This-this is,
so this pair of scissors was older than that.
Brilliant.
NARRATOR: The scissor fragment
found on the beach of Lot 5,
potentially dating back to the 1600s?
The same era as the mysterious circular feature located nearby?
Could it be related to another compelling clue
that was recently discovered within that same feature?
MARTY: It looks like a latch, Laird.
NARRATOR: Three weeks ago,
at the bottom of the structure,
the team discovered a latch
designed for lifting heavy cargo.
MARTY: I'd say it was made
to be driven into something.
NARRATOR: Incredibly, it was found
to be a compositional match to artifacts
known to have belonged to the 17th-century
English politician Sir William Phips,
a man believed by some
to have conspired with a prominent Freemason
named Andrew Belcher
to bury a large cache of treasure on Oak Island in 1687.
GARY: Lot 5 is where
we're finding those incredible artifacts, coins.
-Yeah. -GARY: Brilliant stuff,
this included.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Gary and Peter
have found another critical clue
that could prove that theory?
And perhaps explain the high trace evidence
of precious metals that have been detected
near the Garden Shaft in the Money Pit area?
GARY: And hopefully, there's some more parts of it.
They might be on the beach.
PETER: Yeah.
That's the front door to Lot 5.
-PETER: Yeah. -100%. Yep.
I want to see some more of these items.
And Gary will continue to find...
And not pieces.
-(laughter) -Oh, I will.
Thank you, Carmen. I appreciate it.
All right. See you later.
Happy searching.
GARY: Great, mate. Thanks.
NARRATOR: While the assembly of the massive crane
continues on the road just south of the swamp...
...and as more heavy equipment arrives on Oak Island
for the upcoming operation to deepen the Garden Shaft...
ALEX: Hey, everybody.
This is quite a team now.
-MOYA: Oh, hey, Alex. -HELEN: Oh, yeah.
-How's it going? -Good.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina joins archeologists Helen Sheldon
and Moya MacDonald on Lot 5
as they continue their investigation
of the rectangular stone foundation.
ALEX: Any new information?
We've got more white salt-glazed stoneware,
which is the earlier stuff, like mid-1700s.
Like 1740 to 1760-ish. -Okay.
Um, and some more creamware.
Today we had
part of a little, um, porcelain teacup.
-Oh. -Which is interesting, because porcelain
-was a high-end material. -ALEX: Right. That's awesome.
Moya, what do you think so far?
We've been finding a lot of pearlware...
ALEX: Mm-hmm. -...which is also pretty consistent
with the kind of time period we're looking at.
Mm-hmm. It is not really consistent
with the Oak Island story
in that we don't know of any structures here at the time.
HELEN: We don't.
So this would have probably been before the island
was actually divided up into the four-acre lots.
-Mm-hmm. Okay. -So, this predates that.
Pre-discovery of the Money Pit, too, if we're right.
NARRATOR: Of the more than 350 islands in Mahone Bay,
Oak Island was the only one divided up
into individual four-acre lots
by the English surveyor general Charles Morris in 1762,
33 years before the discovery of the Money Pit.
Although it is unknown why Mr. Morris made this decision,
could the fact that he was a high-ranking Freemason
offer a clue?
Might he have had secret knowledge
of the mysterious structures on Lot 5,
and perhaps a vast treasure buried deep in the Money Pit?
HELEN: So, preliminary deductions here
is that this is a rock-lined pit...
-Mm-hmm. -...that was then actually covered up.
Because we've got very loose rubble in the middle,
and on top, like it was filled in.
We have a few artifacts in this layer,
-and then above it... -Oh, yeah.
...you have an absolutely barren layer
-with no artifacts in it at all. -Right.
ALEX: It is unusual
that this site appears to have been covered back up.
In the context of Oak Island, when you have
this secret treasure being hidden here,
the people that may have done that
would have wanted to keep everything a secret.
So-so, there's your reason that this was covered back in.
Well, it's fascinating.
I mean, Lot 5, we have
all kinds of really strange
metal-detecting finds on the lot.
-Yeah, we do. -ALEX: And, you know,
it could be a really meaningful piece
to the puzzle, whatever might have happened. So...
So, thanks for the update.
Well, we'll let you know
if anything exciting comes up.
-ALEX: Thank you. -HELEN: See you, Alex.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
We have a core.
I got it.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina has returned to
the Money Pit area.
Ninety-three!
NARRATOR: ...to monitor the core-drilling operation
in Borehole C5N-27...
-You got it? -I got her, yeah.
NARRATOR: ...the final borehole that the team
will be able to complete near the Garden Shaft
before representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
arrive on the island.
All right.
Let's cleave her open, gentlemen.
Let's see what's up.
93, well...
It's maroon till,
full of cobbles.
-Thank you. -There's some slough
-on top of this. -Okay.
Okay.
Nothing but Mother Nature,
and it's pretty firm.
93 feet below grade.
C.5N-27 has yielded up very little
in terms of treasure.
ALEX: This is, like,
time crunch
-of all time crunches for us. -Oh, yeah.
'Cause the crane needs to be right where that drill rig is.
-CRAIG: Yeah, tomorrow morning, so... -ALEX: Like, like... Yeah.
TERRY: Hopefully we'll get what we need here
because we won't be able to get back for a while.
Yep.
With Dumas coming in a very short period of time
to start deepening the Garden Shaft,
we need to get all the information,
because once the equipment is moved in,
we need to move the drill rig.
So, I'm eager to find out as much information as we can
to get us our best possible target
before Dumas has to move their equipment in.
BRENNAN: Went in the void, man!
TEDFORD: Oh, that's a good sign.
So it dropped to 104.
This will be the run. Yep.
CHARLES: There it is, gentlemen. We have a core.
TEDFORD: Might actually be into something here.
When I ran the casing,
-it dropped to 104. -ALEX: Down to 104?
So is any of that in here?
-We'll see how long it is. -ALEX: Okay.
The rods dropped down.
That's usually an indication
that the soil, the ground, the earth
underneath is disturbed.
So, it's a good indication
that we're in the vicinity of this tunnel.
CHARLES: What do we got, Alex?
Ninety-eight.
-98. -But it dropped to 104.
Got no wood there.
No wood so far.
TERRY: It's good and firm,
but the rods sank immediately below this point,
so that's interesting.
CHARLES: We have a core, gentlemen.
Hopefully we pick up some wood in the top of this core.
CRAIG: Yep.
What do we got, Alex?
-111. -111.
Scott, 111.
All right, well let's take a hard look at this right here.
Let's see what we got.
-Hello. -CHARLES: We got wood.
-CRAIG: Wow. -TERRY: Here we go.
w.
NARRATOR: In the elevated region
of Money Pit area, the Oak Island team
may have just penetrated
a possible treasure tunnel
at a depth of approximately 111 feet.
STEVE: Oh, we have wood there, too.
NARRATOR: A tunnel that runs directly below the Garden Shaft.
-STEVE: Where's it at, Terry? -108.
That's where the chunk of wood seems to fall.
It seems pretty firm below.
CRAIG: You got a piece above that?
TERRY: Yeah, that's a good point.
Let's have a look. And actually, yeah, we do.
There's some more wood impregnated right there.
There's a chunk right there. That's-that's wood.
Yeah, that's embedded
just above the top of that.
And I think I can see irregular axe cuts there.
Yeah, maybe right there.
CRAIG: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Axe-cut wood,
recovered from the believed tunnel
that runs below the Garden Shaft?
Because it is documented that treasure hunters
began using mechanized saws in the early 1800s
to construct shafts and tunnels in the Money Pit area,
could that mean that this tunnel was created by someone
who deposited valuables on Oak Island prior to 1795?
TERRY: There's some kind of a stria or something going there.
ALEX: I think I see evidence that this is hand-hewn,
and so far all the hand-hewn beams we've found
and dated have come back really old.
So, there's a good chance that this
is also a really old beam.
So, obviously, that's exciting to us.
TERRY: Anyway, let's have a look at this one.
See what we got, gentlemen. Open 'er up.
There's some wood fiber right there.
Yeah, there's some fibers in that, Terry.
TERRY: Yeah. Uh... wow.
We're seeing a lot of
wood chips and chunks.
There's a fairly solid little chunk of wood.
And it's all above this beam.
So that wood would seem to be the floor
more so than the roof.
But if it's the roof beam,
I don't know what to make of it.
ALEX: Well, any big piece of wood
is going to be the ceiling, not the floor.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
CRAIG: If this is the original top
of the tunnel, and it's been pushed down here,
this material's on top...
I'm wondering if we've had a significant cave-in,
and our tunnel,
is this debris in through here.
That the whole thing
collapsed down and above that it's all really loose.
ALEX: I think it means we're in a collapse.
I mean, I think the most we can say about this
is it's a probable hit
-on the tunnel under the Garden Shaft. -Yeah.
CRAIG: Some of this soil we'll probably want Emma to test.
Some of the wood,
-we may want to do C-14. -Yep.
-When you bag stuff up... -Yeah. Okay.
...keep the big, thick ones separate
-from some pieces of wood up higher. -Okay.
NARRATOR: It is a bittersweet moment
for the Oak Island team.
While they are encouraged
to have possibly encountered the tunnel
once again, where high trace evidence
of precious metals has been detected,
unfortunately, they were unable to recover
any more clues to determine
just where the source is located.
However, in the coming days,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
will begin deepening the Garden Shaft
to breach this very tunnel.
CRAIG: Can you put in your notes
the multiple cut small-cut pieces?
'Cause there's a lot of them in here.
NARRATOR: And that will allow the team
to not only better explore it,
but perhaps finally solve the Oak Island mystery.
ALEX: We have this mysterious tunnel
with no known origin. It's just a big mystery.
When Dumas gets here, we are going to start getting answers.
So, hopefully, we won't be leaving
unanswered questions in the ground.
SCOTT: Well, we do have some more work to do, I guess,
to try and figure this out. So...
Yeah, certainly. I think we need to
look at it on a map, honestly...
-Yeah. -...and then figure out
where we can drill still.
-Yeah. -CRAIG: Okay, Terry.
Let you and Steve finish up here
and we will head on back to the research center.
-Excellent. -Okay.
-We'll see you back there. -Keep in touch.
-Great stuff. -Thank you.
ALEX: It's a mystery, that's for sure.
SCOTT: Yeah.
CHARLES: Here it comes.
TERRY: I've seen that crane before.
He's going to perch right up there.
NARRATOR: The day that the Oak Island team has been waiting for
has finally arrived.
TERRY: There they are.
NARRATOR: Now that representatives
from Dumas Contracting Limited have completed
their preparations and amassed all of their heavy equipment,
they are about to begin extending
the 82-foot-deep Garden Shaft
by an additional 20 feet
in order to breach a tunnel
that may lead to the Money Pit treasure vault.
CRAIG: Gentlemen.
RICK: I don't know about you guys,
I don't know if you got the right look going on here.
(laughter)
-Rick, how are you? -How are you guys?
It's a credit to everyone
that this project is finally underway.
We are locked in. Locked in.
100% locked in to the Garden Shaft project,
and we believe that it will help us solve this thing.
This is a huge endeavor here.
We have significant interest in this area,
but there's unfinished business here.
Are we standing on top of the treasure? We don't know that.
Are we standing on top of information?
We do believe that.
100%. But the only way to verify that is with your help.
-That's exactly what it is. -We're a team. So...
ROGER: Yep. This year we're really excited
getting down there, getting back to
where we were and moving forward.
What are the first steps?
We're gonna lift this cover right off
and we're gonna set up our pump and we're gonna start pumping.
-The water is pretty high in there. -Was it?
When we get to the bottom, we'll be ready.
NARRATOR: Since it was sealed shut
at the surface last winter,
the Garden Shaft has become filled to the top
with groundwater, and possibly inflow
from the legendary booby-trapped flood tunnel
that originates from Smith's Cove.
While it will take several days to drain,
the water has actually helped to preserve
the wood in the structure.
CRAIG: Well, I'm eager to get down
to the tunnel level, see what that is.
And to drill out,
and see what we find from drilling out.
NARRATOR: Over the coming weeks,
the team from Dumas Contracting Limited
will use the massive 109-ton crane,
along with a 3-ton hammer grab,
to excavate the muck and water
from the bottom of the shaft.
Then, they will build two additional levels,
or sets, down to a depth of some 100 feet,
breaching the tunnel below it.
Depending on what is discovered,
the Oak Island team will also be able to probe drill out
as much as 40 feet in every direction from the shaft
to look for evidence of valuables.
And, if necessary, they can construct
new lateral tunnels in order to recover any verified targets.
We need to get to the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
We have a potential tunnel that could be
going to an offset chamber.
There could be treasure itself right below there.
And there could be things
that were left in there from a long time ago
that are also very substantive clues.
So, there's lots of things that could happen
in the Garden Shaft.
This year we have a chance to find treasure.
I think we all want to get down there to the bottom.
-I'll go first! -(laughter)
You said it right, mate, unfinished business.
This year we could get down there and actually
hold shiny gold things in our hands.
I want to hand these keys to open this up to Dan Henskee.
We all have immense respect and admiration
for what Dan has done almost his entire adult life.
And so, Dan, I'm going to hand them to you.
-Oh, yeah. -And I want you to
hand them to Roger,
and we can get this party started, if you will.
Ooh, don't want to lose these.
(laughter)
RICK: Dan Henskee,
I've said it many times,
has lived, breathed and bled Oak Island.
This is what he was meant to do,
and I think to honor him is the right thing to do.
All right, Dan. Let's get this puppy open.
Oh, yeah.
I'll get back here out of the way a little.
GARY: Time to open Pandora's box.
-BILL: There we go. -RICK: There you go, yeah.
So, gentlemen, this is what we're dealing with.
-Oh, boy. -Wow. -Wow.
ROGER: That's what we got, guys.
(team exclaiming)
Well, I'm ready.
(laughter)
Dive in.
Did you hear that?
That's treasure calling our name.
(laughter)
Treasure, answers,
call it what you will,
but there's something at the bottom of this shaft.
-Oh, yeah. -And I think
you are the team to make it happen.
So, let's get some answers.
-What do you say? -Absolutely.
-Roger... -Looking forward to it.
...we're gonna give you the go-ahead signal.
-You have at her. You and the team. -Absolutely.
It won't be long, we'll get you down there.
Great.
All right, let's go, guys.
-ALEX: All right. -TERRY: Out we go. Lead us out, Dan.
NARRATOR: For brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and their team, the long wait
to see what lies beneath the Garden Shaft,
and perhaps in the original Money Pit,
may finally be nearing an end.
And a dream that has been collectively shared
by searchers for more than two centuries...
-RODNEY: Ready? -ROGER: Good.
NARRATOR: ...could soon be fulfilled.
But if so, just what is down there
waiting to be revealed?
A vast cache of silver and gold?
Priceless religious artifacts?
On Oak Island, only one thing is certain.
She fiercely protects
her precious secrets.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
MAX: We're excited to present the results
from the Muon tomography. So what we're seeing is
high-density anomaly below the surface of the Money Pit.
-We think its Aladdin's Cave. -It could lead to the treasure.
I think I've hit a void.
TERRY: The plot thickens.
Oh, it's a... Look at that.
RICK: This is really something.
There are letters stamped on it.
Whoa! It could be very old.
Yeah.
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