NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
GARY: Ooh! Big chunk.
-Oh. -RICK: Check that out.
This might tell us who built this stone road.
-Right there. -GARY: Oh, yeah.
It's Latin.
PHIL: These are very old.
They were a precious commodity.
The first hole.
MARTY: Finally, we're drilling
under the Garden Shaft.
MARTY: Talk to me. What do you got?
RICK: We found it.
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: Okay, gentlemen.
Money and time are getting more precious.
-Absolutely. -Time especially.
NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island
for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and members of their team...
Mother Nature and some other things got us
in the Garden Shaft.
...they have gathered in the war room to discuss
the most ambitious and challenging operations
that they are conducting in the hopes of solving
a 229-year-old mystery.
The excavation and drilling programs
in the fabled Money Pit area.
After much deliberation, Rick and I, Craig,
with input from a lot of you, actually,
we have decided that we don't feel
we have the requisite targets
for canisters at this time, for caissons.
So, we're going to just put it off
until next year, as far as the canisters go.
RICK: We thought there would be
targets out there that we could say,
"Okay, we need a can here,
we need a can here, we need a can here."
And, unfortunately, we don't have that at this point.
It's a timing issue. We can't get
the Garden Shaft done in the time it would take
for caisson work on additional targets.
So, we're not going to put cans down.
Are they pumping right now? They're pumping it out?
ROGER: Yeah, that's what they're doing right now.
They're lowering the pump and we're going to see
where the sediment's at.
NARRATOR: It was Rick, Marty and Craig's hope
that by now, representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
would have been able to complete the reconstruction
and extension of the mid-18th-century Garden Shaft
down to a target depth of 95 feet
where it is expected to breach
a seven-foot-high tunnel.
A tunnel that leads directly west
into the so-called "Baby Blob,"
where water testing in previously drilled boreholes
has identified a massive source
of gold, silver and other metals
between 80 and 120 feet underground.
This is where our water starts, right here.
And then it comes in along the side.
NARRATOR: However, several weeks ago
after salt water began flowing into the Garden Shaft
at a depth of nearly 67 feet,
Dumas has been working tirelessly
to seal any leaks and stabilize the structure.
And now, even though they are finally able to
continue the efforts to reach
the potential treasure tunnel below the shaft,
the workspace that Dumas requires to safely operate
in the Money Pit area will prevent Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team from conducting what they hoped
would be a second major operation this year.
The installation of several ten-foot-diameter
steel caissons at other locations
in the Money Pit area,
where evidence of not only man-made workings,
but also precious metals,
have been recovered between depths of
150 and 180 feet underground.
So, then what are we going to do in the Money Pit instead?
RICK: Well, to address everyone's concerns,
what're we going to do?
Currently, the sonic rig is still there.
There's a lot of unique opportunities left
to come up with high-value targets.
-MARTY: Yep. -Yep.
So, we're gonna get more data.
We will continue with the vertical drilling
with the sonic rig, which will allow us
to be most efficient when
we finally do mobilize the oscillator next year.
-RICK: Yep. -SCOTT: And don't forget, guys,
the Garden Shaft isn't finished, there's still
a lot of work to do there yet.
They're gonna come down on this tunnel.
When they get close, we're gonna start drilling.
And then, as they come down through that,
we're going to see how this tunnel lies.
We're going to see how it was built.
We're going to see where it goes.
That tunnel is going in the direction of
where our precious metals are coming from...
-Right. -...which is very exciting to me.
RICK: Dumas suggested they could get
40 feet out. Well, you're talking an 80-foot diameter.
From an informational perspective,
it is literally a big dig.
Yep.
NARRATOR: As Dumas continues
extending the Garden Shaft to a total depth of 95 feet,
where they hope to breach a mysterious tunnel,
in the coming days, once they have reached
a depth of 90 feet,
they will use a lateral probe drilling device
capable of reaching up to 40 feet
outside of the Garden Shaft.
This will allow the team
to not only collect samples of the tunnel
in order to determine just who may have built it,
but also, hopefully,
pinpoint the source of all the precious metals
that have been detected in the area.
I know that there's been some setbacks,
but when I look around the war room table
and I look in the eyes of the guys,
I don't see any sense of being done.
I see enthusiasm,
I see some really smart people
all focused on a singular agenda:
Trying to solve the mystery.
So, I know we're making progress.
You know, there's every reason to believe that
as we move out in the year,
that we are really gonna use this opportunity
-and turn it into a positive. -Yep.
MARTY: Okay, let's get back to the things we can do.
RICK: Yep. Agreed.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon,
as the team from Dumas Contracting Limited
continues the extension of the Garden Shaft
in the Money Pit area...
-GARY: Artifact time. -RICK: Hope so.
God, I love this place.
...Rick Lagina and Craig Tester
join metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt near the southern edge
of the triangle-shaped swamp.
Got that stone roadway, we're close to shore.
Imagine how many people landed on this beach
back in the day, came ashore.
Ooh, look at that.
Kind of looks similar to the rocks
-on the stone roadway. -MARTY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: One week ago, while excavating
near the massive cobblestone road
in the southeast corner of the swamp,
Marty Lagina, Billy and Gary
uncovered yet another possible section
of the mysterious construct.
This is a type of road
that was built in Europe in the 1500s.
NARRATOR: Since the team's discovery of the stone road
in 2020, experts, such as historian Terry Deveau,
have speculated that it could be as much as
500 years old.
ALEX: The stone path looks exactly like this.
NARRATOR: And incredibly, in 2021,
while visiting Alqueidão da Serra, Portugal,
a location that served as a stronghold
for the Portuguese sect of the Knights Templar
from the 12th to the 16th centuries,
Rick and members of the team
were shown a nearly identical feature.
BILLY: The bottom there is different.
Way more rockier and bigger rocks.
I guess we've got to dig,
-right? -GARY: Yeah.
-CRAIG: Gotta dig. -Yeah.
Craig?
There's a rock here.
And there's one in the ground here.
And there's one here.
Four in a row?
Four or five there, at least. Yeah.
And it's all very uniform.
Rocks don't end up in a straight line
-like that normally. -Yeah.
Hey, Rick.
Okay.
As you can see, we got down deeper here.
We started hitting rocks everywhere.
So, to me, it almost looks like
it's an extension,
part of the stone road or work material,
but it's definitely way, way more rocks
than there should naturally be here.
RICK: I agree with you, Craig.
And you're roughly at the same elevation as the stone road.
CRAIG: Yeah.
It's a natural incline
from that stone roadway coming down like a ramp.
CRAIG: Yeah.
Probably went right on to the beach.
-RICK: Well, it's definitely different. -CRAIG: Oh, yeah.
GARY: It's a natural incline
from that stone roadway
coming down like a ramp.
And elevation-wise, it just seems to be
a continual slope coming on down with this.
This would be, definitely, the lowest part.
It probably went right on to the beach.
RICK: Well, it's definitely different.
It's a tough one.
-CRAIG: Could be an extension. -RICK: Could be.
NARRATOR: In the southeast corner of the Oak Island swamp,
Rick Lagina and members of the team
have just discovered a possible ramp feature
connected to the stone road.
Well, we're not gonna pull this out right now.
I think, I think we want to continue
looking that way because he hasn't gone deeper there.
-Mm-hmm. -That's basically it.
And if it's, you know, continually going lower,
then it could be right there.
NARRATOR: If the team has actually found a ramp
connecting the stone road to the shoreline,
could it represent more evidence
that the road-- or ship's wharf--
was constructed in order to move
heavy cargo from a large sailing vessel
onto Oak Island?
Craig felt there were some rocks that one could
suggest that they were a little, mini-wharf.
-Why don't you go ahead and metal detect this? -Yeah. Will do.
RICK: And it certainly does look like that.
Could a small boat pull up to it? Sure.
And my hope is that as we excavate,
we'll come to a greater understanding
of what the stone represents.
No. No metals in there.
Why is it there?
Why was it built? Who built it?
We have that construct,
but we have no explanation for it.
Well, you should dig over here.
And then we can clean this area up and then...
have a go at looking at this area in its entirety.
Yeah. I like, I like that idea.
Okay.
RICK: Let's get after it.
NARRATOR: As the investigation in the swamp continues...
TERRY: HI-6.75. Here we go.
This is a little bit to the north and west
-of the actual H-8 caisson. -Yeah.
-...in the Money Pit area... -28.
Thank you.
...geologist Terry Matheson
and Oak Island historian Paul Troutman
are overseeing the drilling of a new borehole
known as HI-6.75.
A borehole nearly two feet
from H-8, one of the team's additional targets of interest
located more than 50 feet southwest of the Garden Shaft.
Thank you.
TERRY: The H-8 caisson intersected
possibly the Chappell Vault.
This hole will hopefully cover that ground.
If we could recover that, there'd be a lot of artifacts.
TERRY: No question.
NARRATOR: In 2017,
after recovering pieces of parchment
and leather bookbinding in a six-inch borehole
known as H-8,
the Oak Island team
excavated a five-foot diameter steel caisson
in the hope of encountering
the legendary Chappell Vault.
A large, wooden chest that was reportedly
drilled into by Frederick Blair and William Chappell
in 1897.
And which was believed to contain both gold
and parchment documents.
We have a 14-foot plug right now.
But we're stuck.
NARRATOR: Incredibly, the Oak Island team's caisson
struck a large object at a depth of 170 feet.
Something was in front of the can and we were pushing it
for a while until it hit something hard.
NARRATOR: But unfortunately, as they extended the caisson
deeper in the hopes of breaching the potential vault,
it was pushed deeper and into a void
somewhere off to the side.
I'm glad that we're getting it done.
We're going to 171.
TERRY: Yeah. That's right.
NARRATOR: If the team is able
to not only penetrate the mysterious void,
but also locate the fabled Chappell Vault,
once the Garden Shaft project is complete,
they will be able to excavate a ten-foot-diameter caisson,
and hopefully, retrieve it.
PAUL: Hopefully, we can get a few more answers
-with this borehole, but... -TERRY: Right now,
we're well above target horizon, we're only 28 feet below grade.
HI-6.75 is going to yield up a lot of secrets.
PAUL: Yes.
NARRATOR: As the core drilling operation continues
in the Money Pit area...
-ALEX: Hey. -RICKY: Hey. -GARY: Hello, chaps.
NARRATOR: ...at the Oak Island Interpretive Centre,
Rick Lagina and his nephew Alex
are meeting with Gary Drayton,
archaeologist Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan.
All of this is coming from inside that circular feature.
NARRATOR: They are eager to receive Gary,
Laird and Emma's analysis of a coin,
as well as a potentially 500-year-old Venetian bead
that were both found one week ago
in a large stone foundation
located near the shoreline on Lot 5.
GARY: Uh, let's have a look, mate.
That's the right size for a penny
-or an half-penny. -Yeah.
GARY: Oh, yeah. No mistaking that.
King George?
Well, let's take a look. Emma?
NARRATOR: Earlier today,
Emma scanned the coin
with the SkyScan 1273 CT scanner,
which emits non-destructive X-ray radiation
to penetrate corrosion
and reveal the object's finer details.
-RICK: Oh, there you go. Yeah. -ALEX: Okay.
-LAIRD: Right there, see on the righthand side? -GARY: Oh.
-Yeah. -LAIRD: It should say, "Georgius III Rex."
GARY: Yeah, it's Latin-- Georgius.
LAIRD: It's the third.
Yeah. That's definitely, yeah.
So, 1760 to 1820.
-GARY: Yeah. -LAIRD: I think
it's the first edition head.
-GARY: Yeah. An early head. -LAIRD: Yeah.
So, that's... takes it into 1770s.
NARRATOR: An English penny or half-penny
that could date back nearly three decades prior
to the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795?
If so, who left it in the foundation on Lot 5?
Someone who may have left something of value behind?
Or was it someone looking for the fabled treasure?
ALEX: We think we're still in the foundation,
and this just came from the fill
-that's actually really close to the top of it. -Yeah.
ALEX: It's also in the stuff
that was thrown onto this feature.
It means whatever's underneath it is older.
Older, yup. Yeah.
ALEX: The Money Pit was supposed
to have been discovered in 1795.
And that's why these 1760s dates
that we're getting off the coin and the other artifacts
make Lot 5 so fascinating.
If this feature was covered over,
it may have been associated with whatever did happen
in the Money Pit prior to its discovery.
So, in our world, that means
maybe this Lot 5 feature is associated
with early depositor activity.
-You were here for this, as well? -Yeah.
This was exciting, too. It's a glass bead.
-Oh, wow. -Yeah. It is colored.
This is a stretched bead.
You know, they'd have different colors
of enamel laid in, and then they'd stretch it...
-Mm-hmm. -...for, like, 150 feet...
-ALEX: Mm-hmm. -LAIRD: ...and then just cut off the beads.
GARY: So, it's probably off
-a bracelet or a necklace. -Mm-hmm. -Yeah. Yeah.
-Most likely from Venice. -GARY: Wow.
NARRATOR: In 1470 AD,
a specialized method for the production
of fine glass bead jewelry
was developed in Venice, Italy.
As demand quickly grew,
Venetian glass beads also became
a highly valued type of barter currency
along trade routes
in Europe, India, Africa and the New World.
LAIRD: Interestingly, we did find another one earlier on.
This one's even smaller.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that
if the team has actually found two Venetian glass beads
in the mysterious foundation on Lot 5,
could there be even more valuable artifacts
waiting to be recovered deeper below?
LAIRD: Yeah. So, very, very similar.
Which means there's probably a lot of them out there.
-Yeah. -LAIRD: Yeah.
ALEX: If this was truly valuable, maybe this
and the other things we're finding could be a trade item,
could be just in a chest of valuables
that was taken from somebody.
LAIRD: We need to find an expert because beads are
an extremely complex subject.
And that's why we need someone who's been doing it
for years and years and years.
RICK: That little item there
-might be highly significant. -Yeah.
These are nice finds, but as your dad always tells us,
"Let's go out there and find some more."
-More digging. -Yup. -Okay.
RICK: Thanks, Laird. Thank you, Emma.
-EMMA: Thank you. -RICK: Bye-bye.
NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island...
-OPERATOR: Coming down? -RON MacKENZIE: Copy that.
NARRATOR: ...and while operations
to deepen the Garden Shaft
continue in the Money Pit area...
GARY: What a great day for finding treasure.
RICK: Okay. Here we go.
-All it takes is one good find. -That's right.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt continue
searching for valuable clues near the potentially
500-year-old stone road
in the southeast corner of the swamp.
Is that pottery?
-RICK: Billy! -GARY: We both saw that.
-Look. See that? -Oh, I see it, mate.
That's nice.
Oh, ho, ho. That's...
I see... I see color.
That's gorgeous, mate!
Oh, look at that!
And there's another piece there, as well.
-RICK: Where? -There.
-RICK: Oh, yeah. -You see the rim?
RICK: Yup, yup.
All right, let's see if this is a match.
Oh, that is absolutely stunning.
-That's beautiful, mate. -What is that?
That-that's old. That is some fine china,
by the look of it.
I mean, this is high-end stuff.
I know that this Chinese porcelain
was really, really popular.
That's what the Portuguese fleets used to bring up
through these trade routes.
Really, really nice.
NARRATOR: Potentially ancient Chinese pottery?
If so, could Gary Drayton be correct
that it may offer another Portuguese connection
to the stone road in the Oak Island swamp?
According to documented history,
beginning in the early 16th century,
Portuguese explorers,
including Vasco da Gama, who was also a member
of the Portuguese sect of the Knights Templar,
made extensive trading expeditions to China,
bringing back, among other goods,
fine Chinese porcelain,
which then became highly traded
throughout the region and the Americas.
But you look. You can see the age on the back.
-You see that crackling on the back? -Mm-hmm.
It's been in there a while.
RICK: What we're looking for is to try
to establish a connection between these artifacts
and the actual
physical constructs:
stone road, stone path.
It's possible this pottery will give us great insight
into what this feature represents
because that stone road, to me, is still inexplicable.
There's something right there.
-Something? You've seen it? -Yup.
-Ooh! -Ooh!
-Big chunk. -That's a big chunk, too.
GARY: Yeah, that's a big chunk.
Okay, mate, I've got it in me hand, mate.
I'll wait till you get out.
There's-there's another one. Gary!
-There's another one. Yup. -There's another one?
GARY: That is so fantastic.
-I think this may be something different. -Is it?
GARY: Yeah. I think this is teacup.
Don't get any better than that, mate.
What a perfect start to the morning.
Let's see. Look at that.
-No. It's not... -It's either a teacup or a bowl.
Oh, yeah. Actually...
-It might fit? -...it's two different vessels.
Where's the silver spoons, though, with it, right?
That would be nice.
And I'll bet there's more in here.
-GARY: Yup. -RICK: Yup. Here you go. Here you go.
Oh, look at that, Billy.
Yeah.
GARY: I love this blue glaze.
Oh. Yeah, that's a Chinese design on it, as well.
Turning into the swamp tea party, isn't it?
(both laugh)
If you found all that pottery,
it should be a pretty good chance
of finding something else there too, right?
Yeah. With that amount of finds,
I think we have to go through it by hand.
GARY: Agreed, mate.
And I'll put these to one side
'cause I'm turning into Gary Potter.
(Gary and Rick laugh)
NARRATOR: While Rick, Gary and Billy
continue searching for clues in the swamp,
back in the Money Pit area...
TERRY: Let's, uh... get ready
for another core. Here it comes.
-118. -Thank you, Colten.
NARRATOR: ...other members of the team
continue monitoring the core drilling operation
in borehole HI-6.75,
a borehole where they hope to recover evidence
of the fabled Chappell Vault nearly 180 feet below ground.
Thank you.
Wow. That doesn't look good.
-Little bit of, uh, PVC? -Yeah.
You know what that means, my friend?
-It means we're drifting. -Yeah. That means
we're not going straight down.
Yeah. Unfortunately,
the drill drifts off, it looks like we tagged
into either H-7 or maybe H-6.5 that's in this area.
And so, we're going down and getting that PVC.
NARRATOR: Unfortunately,
the drill pipe has veered off course,
and apparently, encountered another nearby borehole
that was previously drilled by the team.
MARTY: It's very difficult to drill a straight hole.
Sometimes these holes wander on average five or six feet.
And if the borehole walks a little bit
and gets into one of those other ones, it'll...
it's almost impossible to get it out.
So, we're going to move the rig.
And if we're still in the right area,
or heading for the right area, then we can keep going.
It's discouraging. Uh, the idea that we're passing
-through an old borehole-- that's-that's not good. -Yeah.
We don't want to keep chewing on this all the way down, so...
That's right. Yeah. We've got to get them a new spot.
I agree.
-TERRY: And then we move on. -PAUL: Okay.
NARRATOR: While Terry and Paul regroup in the Money Pit area...
JACK: I'm really excited to see what this guy has to say.
CHARLES: Yeah.
I think this is the place, Jack.
NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley
and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse
have traveled some 50 miles northeast
to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I think it's back here, Jack.
-(knocking) -Hi, Phil.
-Hey. How you doing? -Good. How are you?
Not too bad.
NARRATOR: Here, they are meeting
with Philip Doucette, a specialist
in glass bead design, at his studio
in order to have him examine the believed Venetian beads
that were recently found on Lot 5.
So, we were working on Oak Island,
and we've uncovered this buried feature.
And while digging amongst the boulders,
our archaeologists found these beads.
They believe that they could be Venetian beads?
PHIL: Very nice.
And they've come out of the ground?
And they were there for a while.
The signs of the pitting that you can see on the ends.
Well, I know exactly what these appear to be.
These are drawn glass beads.
And what really identifies these as drawn
-is that the stripes are incredibly straight. -CHARLES: Right.
And that comes from pulling against the glass.
It pulls them out straight.
-Oh. -Yeah.
These beads, I'm very confident, were made in Venice.
This color--
the red and the blue and the white--
are very early formulations
of glass in that color.
So, the style of this bead--
it speaks towards it being older?
Is there a time period?
Yes. So, based on the color and the design,
I would confidently say that these were made
between 1500 and 1650.
JACK: Wow.
PHIL: These were made between 1500
and 1650.
-Wow. -Really?
NARRATOR: In Halifax, Nova Scotia...
PHIL: These are very old.
NARRATOR: ...glass bead expert Philip Doucette
has just confirmed that the two beads
that were recently unearthed
in the stone foundation on Lot 5
are Venetian trade beads
and date as far back as the early 16th century.
CHARLES: The date range for these beads--
you're extremely confident that
it falls into that time frame?
That's correct. Um, drawn glass, white-striped.
They were a precious commodity.
Wow.
Yes. There was a really brisk trade going on.
Five or six of these beads would
-buy a beaver pelt. -Really?
And that's a high-value item.
And a bracelet would probably have 40, 50 beads on it.
-Oh. -That's a small fortune in trade.
CHARLES: Okay.
PHIL: And it was a great currency
for the people that were coming across the Atlantic.
In particular, in Nova Scotia.
It was first the Portuguese, and then,
the Spanish, and then the French took over,
and the British taking over Louisbourg.
The Portuguese were a major trader
up and down the American coast,
and then, the Canadian coast at that time.
And they would have these barrels of beads
that they would trade, which come originally from Venice.
We have found some things
that pointed to the Portuguese possibly being on the island.
There's even questions on the stone road along the swamp.
There are theories that, that stone road was
built by the Portuguese, based upon the dates.
We've wondered if the Portuguese could be involved,
and they had made it to Oak Island, but
maybe they were over on Lot 5, as well,
and these beads got lost.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that these Venetian beads--
which may be 500 years old, or older--
could offer evidence that the feature
on Lot 5 was built during that same time period?
If so, could it also have been constructed
by those who created the stone road
in the triangle-shaped swamp?
And perhaps explain the high trace evidence
of precious metals that have been detected
all across the Money Pit area?
If the Portuguese were here,
these beads could be an indication
that they were around the Lot 5 area.
They might be the depositors of the treasure in the Money Pit.
We don't know, but this could be what answers it all.
Well, here. Let me give these back to you.
But keep them safe.
JACK: This makes the bead more important.
CHARLES: Yeah, absolutely.
Lot 5 has become a very prominent point
on-on the island.
And-and it makes you wonder,
-"What else is there?" -JACK: Well, this is
-really great information. -CHARLES: Agreed.
-We appreciate it. -And I want to thank you for your time.
-PHIL: Oh, you're very welcome. -JACK: Thanks, Phil.
NARRATOR: While Jack and Charles begin their return journey,
back on Oak Island...
-RICK: This was the most interesting area. -GARY: Yeah.
-Why don't you just start digging? -Yup.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina,
along with Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt
continue their search for additional clues
along the stone road, or ship's wharf,
in the southeast corner of the swamp.
BILLY: Do I dump it, or do you want to pull some of it out?
GARY: Did you see something, Billy?
BILLY: It looked like
a piece right away, but...
but I'm not sure.
GARY: Seems to be a lot of peat in this.
There could be some pottery.
RICK: I think that's a rock.
I'm not sure.
No, that's a bit of pottery, mate.
And it's different, as well.
It's got black edges.
So, it's two-toned. It would have been black and brown.
Or brown and tan. Look.
-See that darker glaze there? -Oh, yeah.
-GARY: And it's on that side. -Yup.
-I've never seen that before. -And I haven't, mate.
It's got the black glaze on both sides.
That... that is different.
All right, I'll put that in the bag
to add to the collection.
RICK: I do find the credible collection
of pottery telling some sort of story.
And so, we need to do our homework.
Uh, we need to understand what... how old this pottery is,
what it might have been used for.
Is there a cultural-stylistic understanding of it?
And then go from there.
GARY: There we go.
More pottery, mate. Look. It's tumbling out.
(Rick chuckles)
Oh, here you go, Gary.
Here's your favorite.
What've you got? Oh. (laughs)
Oh, that's bloody beautiful. Look at that.
That... is really nice.
I think this is older
than that other porcelain we found. Oh, yeah.
I mean, this is really nice.
Look. That's not the same pattern.
-That's an older pattern. -RICK: No, that's different.
There was a lot of people here, spent a lot of time right here
at the end of this road, and it might span centuries.
-RICK: Let's see what else there is, right? -Yeah.
Look at that, Gary.
Check that out.
What the heck is that?
GARY: Oh!
GARY: This is absolutely stunning, mate.
That is either a shoe or a boot.
NARRATOR: While searching for clues near the stone road
in the southeast corner of the swamp,
Rick Lagina, Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt have just made a potentially
critical discovery.
Obviously, it's leather.
It looks like the heel piece.
I think that is a heel
of a boot or a shoe.
I'd say it's the heel, yeah.
-Do you see that square hole there, mate? -Mm-hmm.
GARY: And that was made by fastening this sole
to the shoe with odd nails.
Little handmade nails that had square shanks.
Now, if it was modern, it would be glued.
So, this is an oldie--
1800s or older because now they're glued.
NARRATOR: The sole of a possibly ancient boot?
Found near the stone road in the swamp?
But if so, just how old could it be?
And who did it belong to?
-That's a very cool find. -Yeah.
RICK: If there's a certain
style to this type of shoe,
since its close proximity to the stone road,
you may be able to infer who built the road.
I think it's important
to understand the age of this artifact...
I'm going to put it in a bag.
RICK: ...and the dates on the pottery
and see what it tells us about the mystery.
I'll bring it back to the lab
where they can conserve it properly.
All right, mate. And I'll let you know if we find any more.
Perfect.
Good luck. See you.
GARY: See you, mate.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
-MARTY: Hey, Scott. -SCOTT: Hey, guys.
They're just above where the tunnel should be
-on the west side. -NARRATOR: ...Rick
and Marty Lagina join operations manager Scott Barlow
in the Money Pit area.
SCOTT: They're gonna be on an angle for the first hole,
judging by the looks of how that drill's sitting.
NARRATOR: After months of tireless work
and unforeseen challenges,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
have successfully extended the Garden Shaft
to a depth of 90 feet,
and are ready to begin a core-drilling operation
in the hopes of penetrating the seven-foot-high tunnel
located just five feet deeper below ground.
A tunnel which leads directly toward the Baby Blob,
and a potential cache of buried treasure.
Hopefully, they get some wood in their returns.
-Let's find a tunnel today. -Let's find a tunnel.
MARTY: Finally, we're ready to do the probe-drilling
down to what we think is the tunnel.
-RON: Hold the rod. -So, we need the data.
We need to probe-drill first and try and see
where this tunnel is and what might be inside it.
Okay, let's just see what happens.
Okay, Ronnie, want to start drilling?
(air hissing)
-All right, there we go. -There we go.
Yeah.
MARTY: I am extremely excited about this,
because what we find at the bottom of that Garden Shaft
could be everything.
The key to this whole mystery might be down there.
It's possible that that's where the treasure is.
So, I mean, we could find it.
RICK: What does this tunnel represent?
It's been the focus of the year, you know?
Does it represent searcher era or-or pre-searcher era?
So...
all fingers crossed.
The hope is there's a wood core in there and we'll send it off.
SCOTT: You may not hit anything
until the very bottom, until the 95-foot mark.
-They're about there now. -Yeah.
(metal crunching)
RON: Copy, Paul?
Yeah. Go ahead.
We're on something.
-MIKE S.: Yeah. -But if it's wood,
it can only be the tunnel.
NARRATOR: It is a potentially critical moment
in the Money Pit area
for Rick and Marty Lagina and their team.
MARTY: It'd be about the right depth for the floor
-of the tunnel. -NARRATOR: After weeks
of frustrating setbacks,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
may have finally reached a seven-foot-high tunnel
located just below the Garden Shaft
at a depth of some 95 feet.
A tunnel that runs westward towards an area
known as the Baby Blob, where water testing has detected
high-trace evidence of gold, silver and other metals
between 80 and 120 feet underground.
-Wow. -Could be you're going through the floor.
-So, that's potentially the floor of the tunnel. -The floor of the tunnel.
-Pull it out and see what we got. -See what we got.
Pull it out.
♪ ♪
MIKE S.: Yeah.
(air hissing)
We'll soon know.
MARTY: We're about to see what they went through.
I mean, sometimes it fails. Sometimes you don't get a core.
But I think we have one.
MARTY: I want to see a good piece of wood.
That's what I want to see. That means that
our efforts are worthwhile.
♪ ♪
COTE: Okay. Watch it when you open it.
SCOTT: Is that wood right here?
-RICK: Right there? -Yeah.
That's wood there, yeah?
-MARTY: We got wood, baby. -Beautiful.
RICK: There's a collective sigh of relief,
that it confirms the existence of the tunnel
underneath the Garden Shaft.
Bingo, they did it.
Great relief.
And we can send it off for C-14 testing,
and keep going to see if that will lead to solving
the mystery or finding the treasure.
MARTY: This whole thing is wood, then, isn't it?
-That's clay, wood. -A lot of wood.
Yeah, that's got to be six inches, isn't it?
Could we be one step closer to finding a treasure
if, in fact, a treasure's there? Yes.
I've been focused for three years now
on the metals in the water.
You got two preeminent scientists saying
these metals are coming from somewhere,
and it's probably very near the Garden Shaft.
SCOTT: So, do we want to drill another hole or do we want
to just get to digging?
I'd say we drill the north corner,
tell you something about the structure of it.
-Exactly. -Might be a good data point
to figure out what it is.
It's a tunnel to somewhere.
-COTE: Yeah. -It's a tunnel for something.
-It could be original. -Yeah.
RICK: If that C-14 date comes back
and if it predates
searcher activity, it's incredible.
If you are looking at a tunnel where people went in
to safeguard a secret treasure...
(chuckles) ...that raises the bar so high,
I can't even get over it.
I mean, look, it-it's been a long summer,
there's been a lot of obstacles,
but we've proven there's wood down below the Garden Shaft.
We found it, right? That was one of the goals, right?
And we're this far from...
-well, we're more like this far... -COTE: Yeah.
...from getting to the top of that.
So, let's figure out what this thing represents.
Hey, here's the deal: right now, we're still in the game.
If that'd come up empty, we'd start to think
-game was getting bad. -There you go.
-We're still in the game, so... -Let's move on.
NARRATOR: For more than two centuries,
the inability of searchers
to recover something of great value in the Money Pit
has caused many to wonder
if the Oak Island mystery was based on mere fantasy.
But now, after discovering new evidence
of ancient human activity on Lot 5 and in the swamp,
as well as a possible treasure tunnel
just below the Garden Shaft,
Rick, Marty and their team
have all but proven...
that an extraordinary treasure is waiting to be found.
And they may have finally located the solution
that will allow them to recover it.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
GARY: It's catching on something.
-RICK: Look at that thing. -BILLY: There's something curious
-about this boulder. -That's like
the Nolan's Cross boulder.
JAMIE: This soil is super compact.
This was constructed for a purpose.
-Whoa. -EMMA: It's an almost exact match
-to a Money Pit sample. -Wow.
RICK: The association that could be made is mind-blowing.
-What is that? -Pretty solid chunk of metal.
TERRY: That could be a piece of the treasure vault.
Yep.
CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS