NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
MARTY: Time to drain the swamp.
RICK: Do it.
The swamp holds secrets to the mystery.
-Oh, ho, ho! Look. -Oh.
JAMIE: That's interesting.
-MOYA: What do you got? -JAMIE: Holy crap.
It seems like jewelry.
CLARKE: A symbol found on Templar churches
pointing directly to Oak Island and is believed to represent
-the Holy Grail. -Oh.
RICK: If there's gold in that void,
that'd be huge.
There's something there.
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: Hey, Roger. -ROGER: How's it going, guys?
What have you got for us today?
Ah. The guys are down there right now.
So we identified a water source. It looks like it's
-confined to one space. -Okay.
NARRATOR: An especially anxious morning
has begun on Oak Island
for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team
as they work to solve a 229-year-old mystery.
So quite a bit of water.
We're looking at about 250 gallons a minute,
and I think that's our biggest problem down there.
Right.
-We want to look. -ROGER: Absolutely.
That's-- Absolutely.
-I'm ready. -Sounds good.
-Let's go. -All right.
NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
believe they have finally identified the location
where a mysterious inflow of water
has been flooding the 87-foot-deep
mid-18th-century Garden Shaft for nearly two weeks.
What remains unknown is if it may be related
to a legendary man-made flood tunnel
that was reportedly triggered during an excavation
of the original Money Pit back in 1804,
and which has thwarted the efforts
of treasure hunters ever since.
MARTY: A long, bloody way down.
-ROGER: Yeah. (chuckles) -MARTY: You know?
NARRATOR: Now, Rick and Marty are descending
the Garden Shaft themselves to inspect the cavern
and the mysterious inflow of water
in order to help Dumas
not only identify what each feature may be,
but also decide how to achieve
their ultimate goal of extending the Garden Shaft
down to a depth of some 95 feet,
where they hope to breach a seven-foot-high tunnel.
A tunnel which runs westward towards an area known
as the Baby Blob, where high traces of gold,
silver and other metals have been detected
between 80 and 120 feet deep.
Okay, here we be.
Do you think it is all right here?
Without all this water coming in.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Now that the team from Dumas Contracting Limited has
identified the source of the water,
over the coming days, they will attempt to seal it
using an industrial-grade compound known as multiurethane
that expands when wet.
♪ ♪
In there, there's a,
it's like a little cavern.
NARRATOR: One week ago,
while Dumas was searching
for the water source at a depth of nearly 65 feet,
their team also discovered a strange cavity
just outside the shaft containing wooden timbers
and in the same general area where, last year,
a sample of wood from the Garden Shaft
was found to contain high trace evidence of gold.
RICK: I think that we were all quite interested
in what this cavity void represents.
We have spent a lot of time
to try to follow the gold and the silver.
If there's gold in that void, that'd be huge.
That cavity might prove to be very interesting.
What about the wood that we heard was in there?
Some of it's still there, and some of it's
at the bottom of the void, I guess.
Oh, yeah, I do see it.
RICK: How far in is it?
Uh, here, take a look.
♪ ♪
RICK: Just looks like a little grotto.
MARTY: Right about three feet back there?
Four feet, maybe?
RICK: Yeah. It goes back and up.
(indistinct chatter)
There's a board right there.
MARTY: You got it.
-(Roger laughs) -Come here, you.
What's that, then?
That's from the original shaft.
RICK: I don't see enough wood
to represent some other construct.
I think, at this point, it's probably associated
with the original shaft construct.
There are some pieces of wood in there.
They don't look ancient to me.
I think whoever dug the original Garden Shaft,
as they were going down,
might have needed a little bit of work room.
That's what I think we're looking at.
So, more importantly, we have metals in the water
by the Garden Shaft.
And the metals are inclusive of gold and silver.
So the next thing that has to be done in the Garden Shaft is
we have to get control of this water.
Okay. We've sort of got two issues going here, right?
-We've got this water... -Yeah.
MARTY: ...and then we've got this issue over here,
but we know on the outside of the Old Shaft,
-we found traces of gold. -Okay.
Yeah. We've got some good samples here.
We've got a piece of wood from the cavity.
Our job here is done.
NARRATOR: As representatives from Dumas continue their work
in the Garden Shaft...
...later that morning...
MARTY: Billy!
-I was hoping you'd leave some work for us. -(chuckles)
NARRATOR: ...Rick and Marty join Billy Gerhardt
on the south shore road
bordering the triangle-shaped swamp.
It's that time of year again, isn't it?
-Time to drain the swamp. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Having just acquired a government permit,
the team is ready to drain
the brackish water from the swamp
to search for clues that may be critical
to solving the Oak Island mystery.
So, what's the plan, Rick?
You know, I-- I avoid all things swamp. (chuckles)
Well, I think the swamp holds secrets and I--
but I don't know where they are, to be honest with you.
Yeah, I think I'm more excited about the swamp
probably than I have been to date.
-Really? -Yeah.
Because we have the ship's rail,
you know, we got the road, we got the path, a ton of stuff,
and we've-we've only done one of the three sides.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: In addition to ancient coins,
ship pieces and fragments of cargo barrels,
in recent years, Rick, Marty and the team have uncovered
a number of stone structures such as a road, or ship's wharf,
near the south shore road.
BILLY: I'm most interested in what lies at the end of the stone road.
If it's a slipway, that's important.
If it's a wharf, it's important.
So, if I started anywhere, it would be--
-MARTY: The stone road. -The stone road.
Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: Once the area is drained,
Billy will help the team excavate the south shore road
in the hopes of finding definitive answers
of who built the massive stone feature
and if any evidence of valuables remains hidden nearby.
When're you going to start that bad boy up?
Well, I think I did lots of times,
so one of you guys should have the honor.
-So... -Big brother? -Let's get going.
NARRATOR: In accordance with environmental regulations,
rather than pumping the water into the ocean,
it will be diverted several hundred yards away
to the center of the island.
-Time to drain the swamp. -Let's do it. Do it.
Drain the swamp!
NARRATOR: As the swamp begins to drain,
on Lot 5, located on the western side of the island...
-I just want to get this level done. -Okay.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina and members of the team are
carefully excavating a circular stone feature
that has been determined to set atop
a much larger foundation.
JAMIE: Oh.
Huh? That's cool.
FIONA: That's really cool.
JAMIE: It's a little, tiny ring.
FIONA: Wow.
Hey, guys, do you want to come take a look at this?
LINDY: Sure.
-Sure. -JAMIE: It seems like jewelry,
-but very tiny jewelry. -MOYA: Yeah.
-What do you got there? -Check that out.
-Oh, yeah. -Mm.
So, there's no way to determine a time period on this
as we sit here right now?
-No. -ALEX: This is a good find.
NARRATOR: Since they began investigating
this feature one year ago,
the team has been perplexed by the number of potentially
important clues they have found...
It's really cool.
NARRATOR: ...which span a number of eras
prior to the discovery of the Money Pit.
NARRATOR: These include mid-17th-century pottery,
a believed 14th-century lead barter token--
which may be related to the lead cross
that was unearthed at Smith's Cove in 2017--
and a number of metal tools
that have been directly connected
to the 17th-century privateer Sir William Phips,
an English nobleman who some believe
buried a vast cache of silver and gold
in the Money Pit back in 1687.
Oh.
That's interesting.
MOYA: What do you got?
JAMIE: Holy crap!
MOYA: What do you got?
I think it's actually like a decorative piece of metal.
I don't think it's, like, a nail.
NARRATOR: On Lot 5 of Oak Island...
Mind if I take a look?
NARRATOR: ...archaeologist Jamie Kouba
has just discovered a possible clue
in the mysterious foundation that was found
beneath the circular stone depression.
ALEX: Interesting.
Any idea what this might have been used for,
if it is decorative?
I would think maybe on, like, a wooden door or something?
Maybe a chest?
ALEX: That'd be exciting.
Oh, yeah, that would be exciting.
-LINDY: Yeah, it's very cool. -ALEX: We've got this building
that's a little too big to be just a residence.
I'm just gonna throw this out there... Um, privateering?
Yeah.
It's not out of the realm of possibility at all.
There was a lot of privateering in this area
during that time frame.
There's so much evidence of that already here.
So, why would this island not be a part of that to some degree?
ALEX: Yeah.
We need way more evidence of any kind
-to say anything for sure. -Yeah.
Well, one of the metal pieces that came out of this unit
actually was metallurgically connected to Phips' birthplace.
Right.
And of course, you know,
Phips, we know, found the Concepción.
Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: In 1687,
the English politician turned privateer and treasure hunter
Sir William Phips was ordered by the King of England
to conduct two salvage operations
of the famed Spanish galleon wreck known as the Concepción,
which sank off the coast of the Dominican Republic
in 1641.
Curiously, during the second recovery mission,
which was carried out with the help
of a high-ranking Freemason from Nova Scotia
named Andrew Belcher,
Phips delivered less than 10% of what remained on the wreck,
according to its manifest.
We know that Phips found silver on the Concepción.
NARRATOR: This documented fact
led Scott Clarke, a 32nd degree Freemason
and the author of Oak Island Odyssey: A Masonic Quest
to share his theory with the team in 2021
regarding the whereabouts of the missing valuables.
I believe some of the treasure from the Concepción
was secreted to Oak Island.
-That is remarkable. -Yeah.
So Phips may not have sent all of the silver back to England.
So there is that theory
-that maybe he hid some of it here. -Right.
NARRATOR: Because the team has already found several metal tools
that have been scientifically connected
to Sir William Phips in this feature on Lot 5,
could Jamie be correct that they,
as well as this decorative metal piece,
offer compelling evidence that Sir William Phips
could really be connected to the Oak Island mystery?
Look, they're great finds,
but I think they're enough to get us started,
but they're not enough to get us there, right?
-So... (chuckles) -Yeah.
FIONA: We're finding cool things.
-So I'm sure there's gonna be more. -ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
MARTY: Okay, Ray, so...
we should be able to keep an eye on them down there, right?
RAY: Yeah. Man, look at that water.
NARRATOR: ...Marty Lagina arrives in the Money Pit area
to monitor the ongoing effort
to stop the flooding in the Garden Shaft,
using a sealant known as multiurethane
nearly 65 feet belowground.
ROGER: We'll get the urethane mixed and ready to go.
SCOTT: I just want to just try and get
as much pumped in there
-as fast as we can. -ROGER: Okay.
SCOTT: The hope is
that we're gonna pump this foam into there...
Yep.
...it's going to expand up to 20 times its size
and it's gonna fill that void and seal the water up.
MacKENZIE (over radio): We are good to go.
Okay, here we go.
-SCOTT: Start pumping. -MacKENZIE: Coming on.
(soft whirring)
MARTY: Just like surgery.
Scalpel.
RAY: Come on guys, you can do this.
NARRATOR: While the work continues in the Garden Shaft...
...later that morning...
RICK: Gentlemen, I don't think
our guest needs any sort of introduction because
we all know Scott Clarke.
NARRATOR: ...Marty joins his brother Rick
and other members of the team
to welcome author and 32nd degree Freemason Scott Clarke
back to the war room.
In light of the recent discoveries made on Lot 5
that have been connected to Sir William Phips,
Scott has asked to share more information
about Phips' personal assistant, Andrew Belcher,
that may further help prove his incredible theory.
CLARKE: Andrew Belcher has been a person of interest for a long time.
He's very likely one of the very earliest
Freemasons in North America.
I believe that the Belcher family knew
about Oak Island
from connections through Freemasonry.
NARRATOR: Based on stunning discoveries that have been made
in recent years on Oak Island, including structures
such as the paved area and the stone road in the swamp
along with the tunnel running below the Garden Shaft
and artifacts like the lead cross
and a red garnet stone, which have all been
scientifically dated to between the 12th and 17th centuries...
Welcome to the Templar City.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, Marty and their team have been carefully
investigating the theory
that the medieval order of the Knights Templar
and their believed descendants-- the Freemasons--
carried out a generational conspiracy
to hide not only vast amounts of gold,
silver and jewels in the Money Pit area
but also priceless religious objects.
CLARKE: So I'll get into my presentation.
-MARTY: Great. -CLARKE: My current research
involves a really important map that I found
in the archives of Canada from 1762,
which I believe has
Masonic cyphers encoded in the map.
And, uh, I found evidence
that they could strongly tie with the Knights Templars.
MARTY: Really?
Yep.
So the map that I've been referring to, uh,
was created in 1762 by Nova Scotia's chief surveyor
and early Freemason, Charles Morris.
So that's actually the whole map itself.
♪ ♪
So this is the very earliest map,
I believe of Mahone Bay that shows Oak Island.
So when Morris actually surveyed Mahone Bay back in 1762,
he would have been asked to do so by his boss at the time,
Nova Scotia's Lt. Governor Jonathan Belcher Jr.,
the grandson of Captain Andrew Belcher
who worked directly with Sir William Phips.
Jonathan Belcher Jr. was also
the Masonic Grandmaster
of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.
No kidding. Quite remarkable, right?
So Morris, in 1762, surveyed Mahone Bay,
which is the same year
that the island was divided into lots?
-Yeah, by him. -ALEX: By Morris.
Yes. Yeah.
So the map was made by the guy
that divided the island into lots.
Definitely. Yes. Yeah.
NARRATOR: Of the more than 350 islands found in Mahone Bay,
Oak Island was the only one chosen to be divided up
into four-acres lots in 1762.
Is it possible that Charles Morris was
directed to do this by Johnathan Belcher Jr.
because of Belcher's secret knowledge
of what was hidden there?
So as I was studying this map,
it occurred to me that the "A" in Mahone
had this V-shaped crossbar,
which was different from the "A" in Bay
with a much more normal, straight crossbar.
So that's, the "A" with the V-shaped cross bar.
And according to Templar researchers in Portugal,
the "A" with a V-shaped crossbar
is believed by a number of people
to represent the Holy Grail.
Is that right, Charles? Is that true?
Yes.
Researchers have suggested
that these "A" symbols with the V-shaped crossbar
look very similar to the Masonic compass
and square logo,
which was later adopted by Freemasons.
And knowing that Morris was a Freemason, um,
my first thought was that he was encompassing
a Masonic compass and square.
So I quickly realized that the Masonic script "A"
was pointing directly up to Oak Island
33 years before the discovery of the Money Pit.
And you think that he had an idea
that treasure was already on the island?
For sure. Yeah. Yes.
RICK: Wow.
MARTY: That is amazing.
JACK: And you think that when this map was made,
since it was before the discovery of the Money Pit,
that he had an idea
that treasure was already on the island?
For sure. Yeah. Yes.
NARRATOR: In the war room,
32nd degree Freemason Scott Clarke
has just presented a map of Mahone Bay
that was created in 1762 by Charles Morris--
the high-ranking Freemason who divided Oak Island
into four-acre lots that very same year.
And, curiously, Scott believes the map contains secret symbols
indicating that sacred religious treasures
of the Knights Templar are buried on Oak Island.
So at first, I thought this Masonic script "A"
in Mahone was the only one,
but as I kept looking
I discovered three more in the name St. Margaret's Bay
on the far right of the map.
By utilizing those three small A's
in the name St. Margaret's Bay,
if you created a circle on the map
using the exact arc created by the three Masonic script A's,
the circle will not only pass
directly through the compass rose of the map
but also directly over Oak Island.
It seems clear that Morris actually knew the secret
before anyone outside of the depositors knew
that Oak Island was special.
ALEX: Did Morris do any other maps?
I mean, is that the only map that he has those A's?
He did other maps
and I've never seen that same "A" from him.
And those same symbols,
I found on Templar chapels and churches.
So within the Church of Santa Maria do Olival
in Tomar, Portugal,
we find the tombstone of Gualdim Pais,
who was the fourth grand master
of the Knights Templar in Portugal.
And on his tombstone,
there is an "A" symbol with a V-shaped crossbar,
which I've highlighted in red.
A very similar symbol,
"A" symbol with a V-shaped crossbar, can be found
carved into the Convento de Cristo, or Convent of Christ,
that belonged to the Knights of Christ, also in Tomar.
There is also an "A" symbol with a V-shaped crossbar
-carved into a pillar... -ALEX: Yep.
...within the Santa Maria Nuova church in Viterbo, Italy.
Mm-hmm.
You saw it, right?
-Seen all this so far. -MARTY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Over the past two years...
ALEX: Hey, guys.
This symbol is definitely on the 90 Foot Stone.
-Right there. -RICK: It's perfect.
ALEX: Yep.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, Alex,
and other members of the team
have visited numerous sites in both
Portugal and Italy that were known strongholds
for the Templar order
between the 12th and 16th centuries.
ALEX: Wow. That's incredible.
When you think speechless, you see this.
NARRATOR: And in all of these locations...
RICK: H-I-C.
Which in Latin means "here."
NARRATOR: ...including those just noted by Scott Clarke,
they have seen symbols, artifacts
and even structures matching others
that have been found over the years on Oak Island.
ALEX: The stone path looks exactly like this.
Yeah. It looks the spitting image.
ALEX: Yeah.
CLARK: Well, just to recap...
It seems clear that Morris actually knew
from his Masonic connections that there was already
some sort of deposit on Oak Island.
This certainly provides some tantalizing clues.
Yeah. For sure.
RICK: All theories are unique,
but with Scott's, he actually has a document--
the Charles Morris map.
Through his research into Masonic symbolism,
he has made some connections there.
I mean, we've always been confounded
that Charles Morris, surveyor general,
surveys Oak Island and yet,
there were, at the time, 300-plus islands in the bay
and they weren't surveyed.
And we know the history of the Masonic association
with the island and that there was
some sort of interest or some sort of knowledge
about the importance of the island.
It's an incredibly interesting theory
of the story of what might have happened here long ago.
Scott, thank you.
I am always amazed at how many things
can possibly be related to Oak Island through history.
And yet, it's plausible.
-Yeah. -MARTY: So we thank you for coming here.
And don't be a stranger.
CLARKE: Thanks, guys.
NARRATOR: The following day...
I hope we can get the water to stop.
NARRATOR: ...as members of the team
continue their work to stop
the mysterious flooding inside the Garden Shaft...
-ALEX: Hey, Billy. -GARY: Billy.
-RICK: Hey. -BILLY: Good day.
NARRATOR: ...Rick and Alex Lagina,
along with metal detection expert Gary Drayton,
join Billy Gerhardt at the south shore of the swamp.
We're gonna do a dig
past the stone road to see the extent of it.
-It's something you've always wanted to do. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Now that some three million gallons
of brackish water have been pumped out of the bog,
they are eager to once again investigate the stone road.
I'm hopeful we'll be finding all kinds of good stuff.
And where are you going to put all the artifacts?
-In the back of my car. -(laughing)
I'll start scraping some gravel off.
NARRATOR: As Billy carefully digs,
-Gary Drayton... -Do you want this one? -Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...will scan the spoils for any important clues
or evidence of valuables.
RICK: We may find a feature or features
under the swamp road
that may indicate why the stone road was constructed.
I'd like to know every last bit of information
that the swamp can give us and hopefully that information
goes towards the greater goal of solving the mystery.
RICK: Wait a minute.
What is that?
See it? Right there.
There it is.
-I see it, Billy. -Yep.
GARY: Wow! Look at this.
-Let's show your Uncle Rick. -Sure.
NARRATOR: While excavating the swamp...
Hey, Rick!
NARRATOR: ...near the potentially
500-year-old stone road...
-This it? -Yeah. That's it.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina
and members of the team have just made
a curious discovery.
-It looks like a dowel. -Yep.
RICK: When I saw it,
you know what it reminded me of?
The dowels in the U-shaped structure.
-ALEX: Yeah. -It's just about how big they were.
-Yeah, they were huge. -Yeah.
There's a log right there.
Here's a peg right here.
-Is it? -RICK: I think.
NARRATOR: In 2018,
Rick, Marty and the team
unearthed a mysterious feature at Smith's Cove that was
originally discovered by Dan Blankenship
in 1971--
You got a Roman numeral?
CRAIG: Yeah.
GARY: If it is, it's a seven, V-I-I.
NARRATOR: ...a nearly 65-foot-long, U-shaped wooden structure
that was believed to be associated
with the flood tunnels connected to the Money Pit.
It not only featured large wooden dowels,
but was also engraved
with a unique style of Roman numerals.
LAIRD: It looks like V-I-I-I-I.
NARRATOR: Roman numerals that also match those found
on an ancient musket artifact that was discovered
six weeks ago in the circular depression on Lot 5.
RICK: Here, there is some... like it was cut.
-Yeah. -RICK: Just put it aside.
-We'll wash it. -ALEX and GARY: Okay.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
the Oak Island team has found evidence
of a related wooden structure
near the stone road in the swamp?
If so, could it be a critical piece of evidence
that might help complete the Oak Island puzzle?
Hopefully, there's more.
-ALEX: We'll bag this up. -GARY: Yeah.
The U-shaped structure is one of the most mysterious things
we've found on the island.
Finding another wooden construction
using the same technique here in the swamp,
speaks to the extent of the works on Oak Island.
Nope. Not getting any hits.
-ALEX: Nothing? -How much deeper
before we get to the level of the stone road?
I'd say it's another foot.
-Yeah. -BILLY: Well, we're certainly
coming into zone that we start to look for more and more.
-Mm-hmm. -RICK: Yeah. Okay.
-Let's keep digging. -BILLY: All right.
-Okay. I'll get out of the way. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: As the investigation of the swamp continues...
SCOTT: I'd like to see it stop completely.
-Obviously, you'd like it, too. -COTE: Yeah.
Do you feel the flow has slowed down any?
It seems that way.
NARRATOR: ...in the Money Pit area, Scott Barlow
along with Paul Cote of Dumas Contracting Limited,
have descended some 87 feet
to the bottom of the Garden Shaft
in order to assess the progress of their efforts
to stop the mysterious inflow of water
currently flooding the structure.
SCOTT: Yes.
MARTY: It has been quite some time
and we really haven't made any progress in that shaft.
This was one of the main focuses of our efforts this summer,
so I'm a little concerned.
On the other hand,
I am still very confident
that Dumas can stop the water or at least control it.
-We just need to control the water as much as we can. -Yeah.
MARTY: We're gonna continue to fill these massive voids
with this urethane foam.
We need to get to the bottom of the Garden Shaft
and find the treasure that's supposedly here.
Then let's see what happens.
And we'll just try to keep moving forward, I guess.
-Let's go up and make some calls. -COTE: Okay.
NARRATOR: Meanwhile...
JAMIE: Wow.
Holy cow, that's huge.
NARRATOR: ...across the island on Lot 5...
It's massive!
The structure is massive.
30 to 40 feet. Like, wow.
NARRATOR: Jack Begley joins other members of the team,
who have just made a surface outline
of the buried foundation that was identified
beneath the circular depression
during a recent magnetometry survey.
This is way bigger than any other foundation on the island.
-Mm-hmm. -And-and who knows
what other things are going to lie just in between the rocks
-to really tell us... -Yeah.
...you know, is this Phips-related?
-We don't know yet. -Yeah.
But I find it to be really hopeful,
-but it's gonna take a long time. -MOYA: It is.
It would have been a lot of work just to fill it in.
-MOYA: Mm-hmm. -JAMIE: Yeah.
But it's gonna be a lot of work just to dig it back out.
Yeah. And we know at least it was not surveyed in 1762,
which makes me believe that it was not visible in 1762.
But had already been previously constructed
-and then torn down. -Yeah.
-Yeah, pre-Morris. -Yeah.
-I really think it was intentionally hidden. -Yeah.
And it's for that reason that I think
it's tied directly to the Money Pit.
Wow.
Yeah, when you said 30 by 45 feet...
Yeah.
...I knew how big that was,
but to see it taped out, it's a whole different story.
-JAMIE: Yeah. -MOYA: Absolutely.
All right. Well, um, I guess let's get back to work
'cause we've got a lot to do.
Yeah. Let's get back to work.
The fact that someone came
and filled this area in with boulders
and tried to cover it up makes you really wonder,
like, "Was it Phips, and why has it remained hidden for so long?"
-JAMIE: Well, that's weird. -LINDY: What's up?
JAMIE: Mm. I mean, there's a line on it,
but that's-that's natural, right?
Like, that's rock, that's not pottery.
LINDY: It's definitely not natural.
-There's more on this side. -JAMIE: Oh.
-So, definitely, that was engraved. -JAMIE: Oh!
Why would they decorate both sides?
What is it?
It's man-made, but it's a rock.
And there's lines on both sides.
That's a carved stone.
That is not like anything we've found here before.
-JACK: That's really cool. -LINDY: Yeah.
-JACK: Hey, Rick. -RICK: Hey, Jack.
We found something amazing.
Really?
Yeah. I'd like you to have a look at it
and give me your opinion.
NARRATOR: After being alerted
to the discovery
of a mysterious stone artifact
in the foundation
beneath the circular feature on Lot 5...
This is nothing like anything we've been finding here at all.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina arrives to personally examine it.
-This is man-made. -JAMIE: Absolutely.
And the strange thing for me is that it's carved on both sides.
And the edges are clearly,
you know, rounded to that figuration.
FIONA: Yeah.
We're still scratching our heads on that.
Yeah. Absolutely.
NARRATOR: A carved stone found in the buried foundation on Lot 5?
Could it be related to the numerous metal tools
that have been directly linked to Sir William Phips?
And if so, might it be an important clue
that will help explain how this buried structure
may be connected to the Oak Island mystery?
So just catch me up.
This outline you have,
this is the magnetometer work that was done?
JAMIE: Yes.
We've marked the corners
of what looks like the large,
rectangular structure.
And so, it doesn't look like
you would expect a stacked wall to look like.
So, what we think is that whoever built it,
they decided to hide it
and collapsed it in on itself and then buried it.
-Really? -JAMIE: Yeah.
I think that we can definitely say
that this feature and the small, rectangular feature up there
were both intentionally buried.
Wow.
And the artifacts that we've found
from just digging down to this depth,
they speak to when this entire structure was
-buried and covered over. -Yes.
-And that's still pre-Money Pit discovery. -Yes.
And we're not even to the base floor yet.
RICK: There's been some interesting
hypotheticals associated with the construct
that might help explain it.
I think the connection of Sir William Phips
to the Lot 5 feature certainly is possible
if this is a privateer's location.
But it does not say, definitively,
"Here's your answer."
I don't think we have that yet.
JACK: Everyone's excited
to get down to that final depth
where we can get a real good idea
on when this structure was in use.
RICK: Well, congratulations for what you've done.
This is quite impressive.
You may turn history on its ear, and that's pretty cool.
-Yeah. -JACK: Yeah.
Okay. Congrats.
-Good luck. -JACK: Thanks, see you, Rick.
NARRATOR: While operations continue on Lot 5
and in the Money Pit area...
BILLY: We're getting down there.
ALEX: Hey.
Hey. Anything?
ALEX: Just finishing up the, uh,
the first dig area.
NARRATOR: Rick Lagina joins his nephew Alex,
metal detection expert Gary Drayton,
and Billy Gerhardt as they continue excavating
near the stone road
in the southeast corner of the swamp.
RICK: Billy!
When you poke with your teeth,
it seems like there's rocks underneath,
so I'm not really sure.
We might want to do a little hand-digging there.
Well, Alex and I can do that. Gary needs a digger.
-Yeah. -BILLY: Right. -RICK: One of us can hop up.
-Okay. That's the plan. -We'll do that then,
-but keep this guy busy. -BILLY: I'm trying.
♪ ♪
I think anywhere's right in there.
Yeah, even where your feet are.
RICK: It'd have to be in here.
It is definitely rockier there.
You might want to give Steve a call and just...
give me an idea of the relationship
between that depth and the stone road right there.
I'll dig it down to see what happens.
BILLY: Yep.
Keep digging, I'll let you know.
GARY: All right. Let's get stuck in.
(beeping)
I've got a signal.
I've got a signal, Billy.
Let me see if I can pinpoint it.
-Sounds pretty close. -Yep.
-(beeping) -Here we go.
Yep.
What have we got here?
Oh-ho-ho! Look.
GARY: What the heck is this?
-What have we got here? -Oh.
NARRATOR: While uncovering what may be a new section
of the mysterious stone road in the triangle-shaped swamp...
What is that?
That is some kind of chain.
ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina and members
of the Oak Island team have just made
a potentially important discovery.
That has potential to be old, I think.
-Yeah. -Yep.
GARY: It looks old.
You can see it's...
it looks like it's hand-forged.
ALEX: Yeah.
GARY: My guess is pre-1840s.
Oh, wow.
What's the big piece on the end?
-ALEX: Could be a hook. -GARY: Yeah.
Either a hook or just a big link.
ALEX: Yeah.
And you'd need a chain like this
-for, hopefully, unloading. -ALEX: Right.
I'm not gonna say "loading." Unloading.
Because we are looking for treasure.
ALEX: I like it.
NARRATOR: A hand-forged iron chain?
Found near the potentially 500-year-old stone road?
Could Gary be correct that it may have been used
to unload valuable cargo from a ship
and onto Oak Island long ago?
Okay, mate, I'll recheck the pile,
-see if we get any more finds. -Okay.
(intermittent beeping)
We have got something else in here.
-Ooh! Look at that hook! -Oh, yeah.
We got a hook.
(laughs)
That looks like an oldie. That's like a crude hook.
-I hope that Emma can say how old that is. -BILLY: Yeah. That's right.
GARY: Yep. And so,
this might be a sign of great things to come
because whatever they was hauling, this chain broke,
and it might still be in the dig.
Let's keep our fingers crossed and keep looking.
GARY: Okay, mate.
ALEX: We found some
really good artifacts that speaks to
moving some very heavy things in this area.
And it also speaks to the amount of work
that was being done on the island.
Of course, I would hope that maybe this is related
to the Oak Island mystery.
Little blippy blop but nothing big.
-I'll put this to one side. -Yeah. -RICK: Okey doke.
So, anyway-- So, I think you're right.
If it extends, it's got to come through here.
-Hey, Steve. -Hey, Rick.
We're trying to figure out
if the road pushes out further, right?
Yep.
RICK: But in order to figure out
where we lay in relationship to that...
Mm-hmm.
...you need to tell me where we are
at the top of that stone.
I can do that.
NARRATOR: In order to help determine
if they have, indeed,
found a new section of the stone road,
surveyor Steve Guptill is using
his Topcon HiPer II GPS receiver
to measure and compare the elevation
of the newly uncovered stone feature
with that of the stone road.
All right. So the elevation here actually works, Rick.
So we have a two percent slope,
the highest point being closest to land.
-RICK: Yeah. -Sloping southward,
decreasing towards the ocean.
So the slope would work here.
If that has anything to do
-with the stone road. -That's right.
But is it related? We'd have to dig some more.
-RICK: Yeah. -Right.
RICK: Well, the other thing, too,
is, you can see this flare?
-STEVE: Yep. -Why the flare?
-STEVE: I don't know. -RICK: My thought is,
you have a wagon or an oxen come down there
-and this is a turnaround. -Yep.
RICK: If oxen were used to offload a ship or pull heavy loads,
they would have to turn around.
Thus, the need for the flare in the road.
This shows that there was
a tremendous amount of work done on the island.
Perhaps to conceal and hide something.
So, Bill, pull that back a little bit if you would.
-See if we see anything else. -Right.
-And then keep Gary busy. (chuckles) -BILLY: All right.
RICK: There are no answers until you start digging.
BILLY: That's right.
NARRATOR: It has been an especially challenging week
for Rick, Marty and their team.
However, their determined efforts to keep finding answers
all across Oak Island is showing promise
that the ultimate reward
may lie buried deep in the Money Pit.
Because as they keep digging,
they are not only revealing evidence
that people went to great lengths long ago
to keep an immense secret
but to also hide something of potentially priceless value.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
-Look at this. -Oh.
-JACK: Wow. -JAMIE: Oh, that's so cool.
-This is an important artifact. -JACK: Yeah.
-(beeping) -Oh, is that it?
Oh...
That's gorgeous.
Here is the cave.
You could see some sort of opening.
MARTY: That's a pretty clean, right angle.
That's not natural then, right?
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