‐It's definitely a void. ‐We're gonna see right now if we get a full scoop.
We're hoping we'll find the Chappell Vault.
It's the exciting season finale.
The dates are rather extraordinary.
‐Wow.
We have a definitive date
when the swamp was built.
‐It's a coin! ‐That's proof positive.
‐That tells quite a story. ‐That might be the find of the year.
We may have a real whodunit.
And we've got an artifact you can hold in your hand.
‐Medieval. ‐Medieval, baby!
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,
mysterious fragments of human bone,
and a lead cross whose origin may stretch back
to the days of 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.
The hope is, today, that... Yeah.
...we find everything there was to find,
‐because the time, the window is closing. ‐Yeah, that'd be huge.
Weather's closing.
After a year that saw the Laginas and their partners
make a number of groundbreaking discoveries in their quest
to solve a 225‐year‐old treasure mystery,
Marty, Craig, Rick and members of their incredible team
are nevertheless determined not to leave the island
without making at least one more historic breakthrough.
But to do so, they will have to work fast.
It is already November, and only a matter of days
until another harsh North Atlantic winter will force them
to suspend all operations on the island
for the rest of the year.
Once November rolls around, your days are precious.
So we need to accelerate this final location that we're on.
‐Gentlemen. ‐Morning, Craig.
‐Good morning, Craig. ‐So, what's the plan for the morning?
Last night when we left, we had about 12 feet up in the can.
So, when we come back this morning,
we took the hammer grab out, and we measured it,
‐and it was at seven. ‐Oh, five‐foot move.
‐Good morning. Hi. ‐Pretty good news, eh? At least to start.
Yeah. So, we'll know here in a minute if it's‐‐
hopefully, it's still loose.
But the fact that it moved is great.
Yeah.
One week ago,
while digging in the eight‐foot‐wide shaft
known as RF‐1...
...a large mass, or object,
became lodged inside the steel caisson
at a depth of some 170 feet underground.
Broke the whole shear off.
Boy, it's disconcerting.
In order to dislodge it,
the team from Irving Equipment Limited
has spent the past few days resting
the 26‐ton hammer grab tool on top of the obstruction,
in the hopes that the sheer weight would push it forward
so that it can be retrieved.
We're hoping, when RF‐1 gets down to where we push
the plug ahead in H8,
we'll try and bring up what's in it.
The one thing or maybe several one things.
Luckily, the team's strategy appears to have worked.
But what was the nature of the large obstruction?
Could it have been the legendary Chappell Vault,
first reported by searchers in 1897?
So, this is the one time when it would be good
to see wood coming up in the spoils.
If there really was a wood interface,
at this depth, that would have to be the one thing.
‐Wow. ‐It would be that important.
Yeah.
A void, nearly 200 feet deep in the Money Pit area?
Is it possible that the large obstruction
was once again pushed out of the way?
Where are we at, Vanessa?
We are at 202,
‐but we definitely had a void. ‐Mm‐hmm.
Full grabs each time,
but for him to have only pulled up two grabs
and us advance seven feet and we're still at the same marker?
That means there's a void below that the material is going into.
Well, this is good. Good job.
All right, well... Hey, Rick!
202. And guess what?
There's definitely a void.
Oh, wow.
Rick and I have always been
really interested in that, because voids would be
a strong indication of a man‐made tunnel.
In the Money Pit, there are extensive tunnelings
and/or voids created by the hand of man.
So if it's a void,
that's significant.
That's the bucketfuls we like.
That's a bucket. Yeah.
We'll move right along with buckets like that.
It's all clay, though, isn't it? Yeah.
Some gravel.
‐Yeah. ‐The vast majority on the top
‐is the‐the gravel... ‐Yeah.
‐...or whatever material that... ‐Yeah. Yeah.
And it's all crushed.
‐It's not natural materials from here. No.
I'm concerned the material on the backside of H8
is falling down
‐into this hole. Yeah.
Gravel, from nearby H8?
Could it be the same gravel the team used last year
to shore up a dangerous sinkhole in the ground
beneath the drilling equipmen?
‐Hello. Hello. ‐Hey, Vanessa.
‐Well... ‐So, what do we think this is?
This last hammer grab, to me, that's all that came up,
was backfill material.
Okay.
If it's‐‐ It's got to be coming from H8, in my mind.
I can't think of any other one.
This looks serious.
Yeah. That's the concern.
That's what it looks like. The collapse, probably.
‐Um... ‐If it's falling down from H8 again,
we may have the same problem.
Obviously, this could mean another cave‐in,
like happened last time.
Where are we right now?
So, we're eight inches below the can.
So, that puts us at, like, 203 and two inches.
What's happening underground in the Money Pit is dangerous.
Material is moving and it's moving quite aggressively.
Where are you in terms of a safety issue?
Because safety has to be paramount.
Yeah. So, what we're seeing, which is backfill
from the shafts we've dug in the years past
start coming up in the can.
Obviously, whatever solution channel we're in,
there's something moving
that we're getting our own backfill back.
That's concerning to me.
That's kind of an all‐stop for me.
Too much of a safety issue.
I mean, you could start losing equipment and then,
God forbid, people or anything.
‐So... The bottom line is safety
has to be the driver of this.
And if you're concerned,
now you have to be seriously concerned, right?
I don't know. My‐my call would be...
terminate the hole.
Despite the team's belief
that a historic breakthrough may be just mere feet away,
the dangerous condition beneath the drill rig
has forced Rick, Marty and Craig
to end their digging operations at the Money Pit site.
RF‐1 remains a very frustrating
adventure for me, because we didn't get
to the bottom ten feet.
RF‐1 told me that
there's a collapse feature in this area.
Now, that demands further exploration.
How we do that, I'm not certain.
I'm grateful for you believing in it, for you believing in it.
Not only you but your people and your companies.
Thank you. Thank you.
We appreciate all the hard work and all the effort, but...
for now, we're done.
The following day...
I'd like to get those stones out of here, maybe...
...Rick and Marty decide to shift
their team's attention to the massive stone‐paved formation
that was recently discovered at the bottom
of the triangle‐shaped swamp.
Hey, Billy? You think you can get your bucket
and pick up those stones?
Yep.
So, this is it, with the swamp?
Yeah.
‐Oh, look. What is that?
Within the past few weeks,
the team has discovered a number of artifacts
which support the theory
that a large sailing ship, or galleon, was at one time
sailed between what was once two separate islands;
then, after a cofferdam was constructed, burned, sunk
and then buried in what is now the Oak Island swamp.
Even more intriguing is the fact that one of the features
of the swamp is a circular stone construction
known as the Eye of the Swamp,
which geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner believes
could date back to the late 17th century.
There's all kinds of data adding up in the swamp
that that area was used for some sort of wharf,
some sort of shipping, some sort of docking point.
Maybe that's what the, uh, paved area is.
I mean, it leads to all kinds of conjecture.
And as Rick has pointed out many times, that's conjecture.
But something happened here.
Hold up a minute.
We've got company.
Doug and Dr. Spooner.
Hey, guys. ‐Gentlemen.
Welcome back. ‐What you guys got going?
Well, so do you remember that squished stick,
smashed by the rock?
‐Mm‐hmm. ‐We got the date.
And so, we just got them back yesterday.
The dates are rather extraordinary.
We kind of rushed down here.
It's gonna, I think, be important.
While investigating the stone‐paved area this year,
Dr. Spooner discovered a number of tree branches
embedded within the layers of rock.
This stick will tell me when that stone was placed.
If you date the stick, you know when that happened.
So this is the paved area, which was
a disturbed area, you know, disturbed by humans.
Right.
There's the dates we're getting.
‐Wow. ‐Yeah.
‐What are they? ‐Around...
1200 AD.
‐Medieval. ‐Medieval, baby!
1200 AD?
More than 800 years ago?
And nearly six centuries before the Money Pit
was discovered in 1795?
‐That's consistent with the first one. ‐That's for the paved area, yep.
Well, to borrow an expression from Gary,
I'm gobsmacked by this date,
because I can't really fit that into anything.
That's big, okay, but I don't know as I sit here
right now what the heck to make of it.
We now have two puzzles, i. e.,
we have a swamp story and a Money Pit story.
I hope that they are related, but, boy, right now
as we sit here, it's hard to put the two together.
Unbelievable! That's what comes to mind‐‐ unbelievable.
When we get this much data that's so awe‐inspiring
and so difficult to digest, it's time to head for the war room.
‐Yeah. ‐And kick this around amongst the whole team.
This was great, Dr. Spooner.
‐Thank you very much. ‐Oh, you're welcome.
Well, let's go figure it out.
The next day, and still excited
by the results of Dr. Spooner's impressive research,
Rick, Marty, Craig and the Oak Island team
gather for what is, perhaps,
this year's final meeting in the war room.
‐Hey, guys. As preparation for the meeting,
Rick and Marty have also arranged for Charles Barkhouse
to place this year's most significant finds‐‐
along with several others‐‐ in a kind of timeline,
one which stretches all the way back to the 12th century.
Quite an amazing display and we're gonna get into it
in a little bit because we have a lot to discuss today.
I want to thank Charles.
Uh, Rick and I asked him to do this,
to set these things up in this order,
‐sort of by year... ‐Yes.
...and that's obviously what you did.
By a hundred years.
Yeah, there's, that's just the point.
Isn't it, Dave?
Look how many years are here.
Way before 1795.
‐That's‐that's... ‐We're down here around 1100s.
The timeline puts it all in context,
particularly regarding, if you look at
to scale let's say, from 1795 to present
is about this big, but from 1795
back to where we're finding data is that big,
so it's just amazing to see it
spread out on the table like that.
‐Yeah. ‐I mean, when I came on this island
with Rick, I thought there was a good chance
that nothing would be found before this line.
Right. ‐I really did.
I thought perhaps that,
you know, this is all just...
‐collective madness. ‐
But we have a lot of data here.
The finds...
I wish they could talk because
there is certainly a story here.
And the hope is that, as part of this process,
we'll be able to mine some of that story
and also see where we are in terms of the...
the process, the search agenda,
the investigation, unraveling the mystery.
‐Absolutely. ‐Yes.
Well, the Dr. Spooner date of 1200 for the swamp.
I mean, the cross...
1300‐‐ are we really now surprised
that Dr. Spooner dates the swamp back to 1200?
‐Yes. ‐Yes. ‐We've actually‐‐
I'm not, because we've got an artifact.
‐Yes. ‐And I feel like the Templars
had something to do with Oak Island.
This would have been a useful place for them and
they might have seen it as a place to store some wealth.
Yeah, we've got a date and we've got an artifact
you can hold in your hand.
And we have a massive paved area.
The paved area is far bigger that what we've,
I've even shown you guys, so, today...
‐Why‐why do you say that? ‐I can tell you now,
based on just the strategic digs that we've done,
the paved area, I checked before we came in here,
is 80 by 170 feet.
‐Really? ‐Yeah.
And when you connect the dots,
they form an 80 by 170 foot,
not a perfect rectangle, but...
Mm‐hmm, that's almost half an acre.
That is just in, in a sense, isn't it?
That data's just in.
‐I didn't know it was that big. ‐Mm‐hmm.
I think it probably, uh...
Dr. Ian Spooner said that there was an open channel.
I think it probably, if you go back to the 1200s,
it probably connects to that open channel.
‐Was an open channel. ‐Was an open channel.
‐Yeah. What I enjoyed
most about Ian Spooner and the,
uh, paved area was the fact that he...
was reluctant to play into the timeline.
He‐he was kind of fighting it and fighting it,
relying on the evidence, and this is what came
out of the hard scientific evidence.
‐You buy it, too? ‐Uh, obviously, I don't think‐‐
‐You can't dispute it. ‐No, I‐I'm asking, yeah.
It's not disputable.
‐Wow. ‐And I would have‐‐
It's the last thing I would have expected
‐in the swamp. ‐Mm‐hmm.
And to have him say it's‐it's man‐made...
‐was significant. ‐Not just him.
‐Yeah, yeah. ‐Also you, also him.
‐Yeah, yeah. ‐Yes. Yeah.
‐A whole bunch of experts. You know, when we started
this year, I mean, you weren't
the biggest fan of the swamp.
No, I'm still not, Tom, sorry.
And I said,
I said going in, I said, something happened there.
Man had a hand in that swamp.
You said, if there's something to be found,
there's‐there's, uh, answers in the swamp.
‐Yeah, so what do you think now? ‐Yeah.
At 1200, really?
And‐and somebody as hard to move as Laird
sitting over there saying, yeah, it's for sure,
it's man‐made, everybody agrees,
and there's twigs that date it to that.
It's amazing.
No, you were, you were right.
Rick was right, um, there were,
there were answers in the swamp.
We just don't know what the questions are.
We don't know what the question was.
Yeah.
Well, you know, Dad spent
a lot of time in that bog and I mean, you‐‐
you know, we probably found as much as he did
in his years in there, but it's, you know,
it's‐it's nice to see that it wasn't all for nothing.
Maybe the Money Pit, you know, and the bog is tied in.
I don't know, but there's, something
‐happened there a long time ago. Yeah.
There's something about that bog that ties this‐‐
maybe this whole thing together.
Gary, there's quite a lot of things that we've been told
can be used in tunneling.
Do you think there might've been tunneling
outside of the Money Pit area?
Yeah, I do.
I mean, why would we be finding
picks at the back of the swamp.
These swages on Lot 21.
Yeah, it's possible that
tunneling could have been done in other parts
‐of the island. ‐Yep.
Now look at that‐‐ that is a really old pick!
For generations, treasure hunters have believed
that an elaborate tunneling system
exists deep below Oak Island.
This year, in addition to finding an 18th century
pickax near the so‐called Eye of the Swamp...
Feel how heavy that is, Rick.
‐Wow! Wow! ‐
...the team found two metal swages,
which were used to sharpen tunneling tools.
They also found an iron chisel on property
which once belonged to Daniel McGinnis,
one of the three young men who first
discovered the original Money Pit in 1795.
‐Wow. Even more incredible
is the fact that these objects were dated to be as much
as 600 years old.
To me, the most significant finds are the tools.
These are the tools of the trade of the people that was working
on Oak Island, from the swages,
the hand‐point chisel,
even these things that we're not sure what they are.
I mean, we're finally pushing
this story back so far, much further back than I thought.
I thought it was, like, a pirate operation.
Now look at these tools going back to the 14 and 1500s.
The problem is the dates don't match up with that.
The paved area, you say,
is 1200s to 1400s, these are...
They‐they could be that old, I suppose.
Mm‐hmm, they match up more with the Eye of the Swamp.
‐Yeah. ‐Which they're calling
‐late 1600s, which is still... ‐Right.
‐...long before this timeline. ‐Right.
We know during specific dates,
large amounts of work went on on Oak Island
in at least two different clumps of time.
You know, you've got the 1600s,
which it fits with the Rosicrucians
and the Francis Bacon theories.
You've got the 11 to 1400s,
which fits right in with the Templar theories.
‐Yes. ‐And...
we have dendro information from the slipway
that someone was there doing a lot of work
‐before searchers. ‐That's right.
After installing a 6,000‐square‐foot extension
or "bump out" to the steel cofferdam
surrounding Smith's Cove,
the team unearthed a massive log structure
while looking for the end of the slipway
that they discovered last yea,
and which was dated to 1769.
Incredibly, after using dendrochronology,
or tree‐ring dating,
this new structure was found to be significantly older.
It's a little head scratcher.
Uh‐oh.
1741.
Whoa!
That significant structure
was being used for quite a long time.
Was it for finding this treasure? I don't know.
Um, it could have been but, you know,
once the searchers started, that we call searchers,
I don't think any of them found it because, you know,
there's no record of anybody
‐becoming rich. No, no.
‐Not a great treasure, yeah. Yes.
All of this changes the mystery as we know it, though,
because it was supposed to be an uninhabited island...
‐Yeah. ‐...in 1795, when the treasure hunt began as we know it.
But this has shown us that there was a story,
and there was activity going on here much earlier.
And on possibly a very continual basis,
whether it's the same group or not.
And as Craig remarked a little earlier,
‐there's a lot converging on the late 1600s. In that area.
I think, looking at the artifacts that are here
and the dates that are, are given,
I think there isn't a theorist out there
that isn't gonna be happy with
what we have on the table here now.
Everybody's gonna see something that they, uh‐‐
pertains to their theory.
You know, I think that's probably right.
Y‐You look back here
at earlier Templar theories.
We've got dates that come back to the 1300s.
We have an artifact that is 1300,
or possibly even earlier that linked back to France and Dome.
The thoughts about, uh, Nolan's Cross and the‐the swamp.
I mean, something happened in the swamp.
Yes.
We have empirical evidence of that now,
and we have science that is dated
to the time period in which it occurred.
So the prevailing theories,
they've all been enhanced by this, in a sense.
I would say more or less, Marty, yes.
Yeah. And a lot of those theories
rely on inscribed stones.
We've got a hand‐point chisel, and it could have been used
for inscribing on a lot of those stones.
‐Yes. ‐Yeah.
By the way, I have something in my pocket...
Oh, I know what this is.
Yeah, you do.
That also is‐‐ actually tells quite a story.
But‐but this happened...
And it belongs at that end of the table.
It belongs way over there, yeah.
This is a...
a rather ordinary toonie.
But guess what. That's my toonie.
That's the one I put down H8.
Two years ago,
after drilling a six‐inch‐wide borehole known as H8,
the Oak Island team made a number of shocking discoveries
that included ancient pottery,
pieces of parchment and leather bookbinding,
and 17th century human bones.
Believing that they may have finally found
the original Money Pit, but concerned that the contents
of the fabled treasure vault may have drifted over time,
Marty Lagina decided to try an experiment.
Here's the test: are we gonna find this or not, right?
Into the six‐inch‐wide borehole,
he tossed a $2 Canadian coin,
otherwise known as a "toonie."
He was hoping that if he ever located the coin
during a future dig, he would be able to see
if it had drifted, and if so, by how much.
‐ ‐Just there.
Incredibly, one week ago, while searching spoils
retrieved from over 200 feet deep
in the nearby RF‐1 shaft,
Marty and Gary found the coin.
Hey, did you hear that little clink?
Ooh, it's a coin!
Oh! Frickin' modern toonie!
Geez.
Not in very good condition, either.
Put it in your pocket.
Not what we're looking for.
Keep going.
Hey, Gary, wait a minute.
Let me see that. Let me see that toonie.
‐Oh, the toonie. ‐Yeah.
It's modern, mate.
I know. Let me see it. I'm having a thought.
It's not old.
Yeah, but, Gary, this has been in the dirt
for quite some time.
Look how it's encrusted with it.
I think me and that toonie have been acquainted before.
‐Is that...? ‐That's my toonie, buddy.
If you think about the center of that plastic pipe
to the center of RF‐1 is probably what?
‐Probably ten feet? ‐Probably ten feet, so that toonie
traveled ten feet underground in that solution channel.
It could have made that distance in a day. Literally.
It could have fallen out the bottom when I dropped it,
and that's why we didn't find it. In fact,
it's likely it traveled the first year, right?
‐Yeah. ‐Or we probably should have got it.
So, I mean, that's proof positive
that metal objects, at least, can move quite readily.
Rick was saying, "I wish these things could talk."
That one's talking.
Could the discovery of Marty's toonie
in the spoils recovered from RF‐1
be evidence that the original contents of H8
could have, like the elusive Chappell Vault,
been swept not only deeper underground,
but also several feet away?
It's for sure that stuff is moving around horizontally
as well as vertically.
Well, that's good because it might explain why
nobody's been able to find this elusive treasure.
It's bad because it explains why no one's been able to find
this elusive treasure; it's gonna be difficult.
So if there is a treasure,
now, how far could this treasure have possibly moved?
With all of the activities and tunnels
and shafts and the water movement,
it could very definitely drop down.
The density of gold is 19 times greater than water.
It has a specific gravity of 19 and some‐‐ and change.
Well, that would drop straight down to the bottom
of that Money Pit.
And I'm not surprised that there might be
a vertical movement.
But to have eight feet of‐‐
‐Was it eight, or...? ‐At least.
Ten. ‐Ten feet of lateral movement,
that speaks to currents down there.
So with all of the...
banging and pumping that's gone on through the years,
the Money Pit area is nothing like what it would have been
at the time of any potential emplacement.
We were looking for signs of a deep collapse
in what we believed to be the original Money Pit area.
We found signs of deep collapse.
And we've always looked above 160 feet, basically.
Now we know we have to move deeper.
Well, we have to think of this in context of something
having been here once, and then maybe
recovery efforts when you see all this.
And maybe recovery successes.
So having framed it that way,
does the fellowship still think that
there's something here to find?
Yes. Definitely.
‐Yeah. ‐Yeah.
Does everybody?
‐I do. Yes. Absolutely.
I agree with Doug. I think we‐we have
‐a new mystery here to discover. ‐Yes, we do.
But yes, there's treasure here.
You just haven't found it yet, but it's here.
I think it's still here.
Dad thought that there was something here. I believed him.
‐Okay. ‐And I still do.
Like Charles, we haven't looked in the right spot.
Well, that I'm sure of.
We're running out of real estate, though,
‐in some places. ‐
‐And perhaps money and time and... ‐Yeah, yeah.
Well, based on some of the things
we've uncovered in the swamp this year‐‐
I mean, I know it's all about treasure.
‐Gold. Spendables, Dave. ‐That's right.
But how do you put a price on something
that might change history, or rewrite a bit of history?
Because this stuff is old.
I mean, it's‐it's just‐‐ it shouldn't be there.
You know, my dad spent almost a lifetime here
looking for this thing, whatever it is.
And‐and so did Dan.
So for their sake, I'd like to think
that there is still a treasure here to be found.
Right.
I can see Laird thinking
from here‐‐ he's thinking. He's thinking,
‐"What am I gonna say?" ‐"Oh, no, it's my turn."
Yeah.
Well,
if we look at the science and the archaeology, um...
something happened.
We have hard scientific evidence for that.
Whether it involves treasure, I couldn't say.
Um, but something significant happened, and...
it's really, it seems to be worth pursuing.
It's obviously worth pursuing.
Dan Henskee, what's your thoughts?
Is there treasure still here?
And of course, I can't say definitively
one way or the other.
If you had to put an odds on it?
I'm an odd guy but not an odds guy.
How about, let me try it this way.
Is it worth continuing to search?
Well, the‐the sneaky way out is to say,
just to be able to get together is worth it,
even if we don't find the treasure.
All right, I can live with that. That's a good one.
Yeah.
So...
is there a great treasure here?
Uh, I think there's a good chance there was.
Because... because there's a lot of stuff.
You know, I can't help it‐‐ I'm a numbers guy.
Maybe, like, 40% that there was something here,
and maybe half that that it's still here.
But that's way farther than I ever was before.
My leading theory when I first came on this island is that
it was just collective madness.
So there‐‐ that's where I'm at.
‐It's still... Well, you can't disagree
‐with what's in front of you, Marty. ‐Yeah, but I don't see treasure
‐in front of me, Dave. ‐No, I agree with you 100% on that‐‐ I don't, either.
Right. Exactly.
To me, it says a huge amount of work was done on the island.
And then you take this little block from 11 to 1400.
You want a "aha moment"?
Well, there's your "aha moment."
It doesn't speak to treasure.
These, in their totality, to me, speak to treasure
or some activity, which was conducted
to hide some sort of secret.
But this, this is your "stand up and take notice."
This is amazing.
‐Yes. ‐That's where I'm at.
It's one thing to look at the dates by century‐‐
1100, 1200, 1300, 1400.
But think about what happened during those centuries.
Context it with all the things that have gone on in the world.
It's quite amazing to think that some of these activities
that we believe have happened here on the island
were during the Crusades to the time of Charlemagne.
From Templars to world‐shattering events
across the globe.
Certainly, on the continent.
On this tiny little island, long ago,
during the time of wonderment, in terms of history.
Something happened here on this tiny little place.
So, having said all that,
are there opportunities to advance the search
and/or move the dial,
because I've always said that the story here
is remarkable and, and it deserves an ending.
Well, this is gonna shock you, but...
‐ ‐Great. Super.
I think, like Laird said,
the potential for the paved area to be man‐made
in the swamp and date back to the 12 to 1400s...
if we're going to do something in the swamp,
that's a no‐brainer.
Looking for a smoking gun,
actually confirming that that is what we think it might be,
‐is potentially a big discovery. ‐Yeah.
Because if you're gonna find something,
it's gonna be from a paved area towards the ocean
along the side of the island,
'cause that's where you would have had to load
or unload things.
And that's gonna be the hardest part of the swamp to get into.
Because it is deep there.
So, if there's something there, maybe that's why it's there.
‐Yes. ‐Yeah. ‐Yeah.
But this whole thing started with the Money Pit.
Without the Money Pit,
all of this doesn't say there's treasure here.
‐Yes. Right. To me,
if you don't do it, I'm coming down
‐on the weekends to... ‐
...to finish.
And it's only this year that I've realized, you know,
seeing that toonie, we're chasing it.
The treasure in the Money Pit,
we're just tantalizingly close every time.
Yeah, but you know what?
I think I already know if we proceed in the Money Pit,
it's not gonna be cheap.
Yeah.
You know, the next step in the Money Pit,
if we are really considering a big dig,
is not just millions, it's tens of millions.
Mm‐hmm.
So, that's a‐a very sobering number.
And with our new discovery of your coin,
‐you're kind of questioning... Mm‐hmm.
I hate to hear myself say this.
The coin argues a bit towards the big dig.
How quick can we do it?
It could take as long as three years.
But that's quite a commitment.
That's not something you enter into halfheartedly.
You set foot on that field, you better bring your pads.
And you better buckle up.
Over the past decade,
the Laginas and their partners
have researched a number of methods that would allow them
to excavate a 100‐foot‐wide area of the Money Pit
down to a depth of some 250 feet.
One of these methods would involve constructing
a massive concrete shaft
around the entire Money Pit area,
so that access to the vault
would be unhampered by flooding.
Another, also known as the "freeze ring method,"
would involve digging dozens of 250‐foot‐deep boreholes
in a giant 100‐foot‐wide circle.
The holes would then be filled with a chemical such as glycol
that would literally freeze the ground
and allow for an unfettered excavation.
The "big dig" has been kind of hanging out there
for a long time. You know,
it's almost kind of a... like a child's dream.
The science is relatively simple.
It's just basically trying to make a solid ring
around the Money Pit, and then plug the bottom of it,
and then excavate that.
It's enormously expensive from a financial,
commitment of time and resources,
but you know, at the end of the day,
if you dig an 80‐foot or a 100‐foot‐diameter circle,
we all believe that we know, within that
resides the original Money Pit.
I think it's ultimately the only way
to really get to the bottom of what happened here
on Oak Island.
This is no small adventure
we're on at this point, given, given this.
It's quite a story laid out here before us,
and I think I've always felt it goes beyond treasure,
the recovery of spendables.
Would that be a cool thing? Yeah. Absolutely.
But it's beyond that now.
To me, this is a bloody success. This is fantastic.
These are artifacts going back to the Middle Ages.
And we're talking about Oak Island!
‐ ‐I think Gary wants to stay.
Yeah, I do. I'm not leaving.
‐ I‐I think
I will, uh, propose we close this meeting
of the Fellowship of the Dig.
And thanks to all. Respect to all.
It's been a good run. Let's see what the future brings.
Cheers to everybody. Hear, hear.
Thank you. You're very welcome.
Following their meeting in the war room,
and before they depart the island
for the long winter...
the Laginas and their team have gathered
at the 10‐X drill site to pay tribute
to their late friend and partner, Dan Blankenship.
Okay, we're all here in honor of Dan Blankenship
and the island, of course, was a big part of Dan.
Dan is a big part of all our lives.
Rick did this beautiful plaque,
and it's all made from, basically, the island.
Along with Dan's son, Dave Blankenship,
and daughter, Linda Flowers,
they have placed Dan's old drilling rig
as a memorial to him,
at the site of what Dan considered
his greatest breakthrough in the 50 years
he tirelessly worked to solve the Oak Island mystery:
Borehole 10‐X.
It's the end of the year, and before we completely
close things up here on the island,
we felt that it was appropriate to honor Dan
for the work that he did on the island for 50 years.
Dan Blankenship led the way in a lot of ways.
It's a measure of respect.
It's built out of rock from the island,
pipe from his drill program.
It just seemed like appropriate
to honor his memory in that way.
I think it's, uh,
borrow from Lincoln, "altogether fitting and proper"
that we do this little ceremony.
And I don't think he would've wanted a whole bunch of words
here today, because he wasn't that sort of guy.
‐Uh, I think he would... ‐Few, few words.
Few words, yeah.
Dan was a big part of our lives, uh, for,
gosh, the last 15 years or so.
I mean, the first role he played,
he was sort of this enigmatic,
you know, almost like a superhero
to Rick and I years ago when we'd read about things.
We came to appreciate him on so many levels.
You know. A friend, a partner,
but it was, it was more than that.
We call ourselves a family here,
because at the end of the day, you know,
that's what this is about.
I would think that my father would feel like
we are all family.
We're the Oak Island family right now.
I think he would be happy.
It's a happy day today to see this plaque
and to know that he's gonna be remembered.
Hopefully, when people visit the island in the future,
they will look at that sign
and remember the man, the individual.
A very unique, one‐of‐a‐kind individual
that will leave a lasting legacy here
on Oak Island and‐and indeed, in all of our lives.
So, for that we thank him and we thank you.
Like I always say, Rick, there's a right way,
the wrong way, and there's Dad's way.
‐There you go. ‐
We‐we kind of learned that.
‐ We are treading
in Dan's footsteps in the sense that
he went after the same things we did.
Where his footsteps seem prudent,
we're trying to follow and extend them.
It's been a great year. Thanks for all the hard work.
But for Dan, I really thought this year
we'd have Dan's breakthrough.
Well, we didn't. We didn't do that,
but we, we sure have come up with a lot of information.
In a year that saw some of the most amazing discoveries
ever made...
from medieval tools and artifacts
to incredible new evidence that something of great value
could very well lie buried in the fabled Money Pit,
in addition to extensive man‐made structures
in the swamp, dating back as much as eight centuries...
Billy! Come on, man. Give me a hug.
...Rick, Marty and Craig
have not only validated more than a decade of hard work
and personal sacrifices...
‐Oh, Henskee. ‐Oh, my God, you're too strong.
...they have now come closer than ever
to revealing the truth behind Oak Island's
incredible mystery.
Charles, my man. Keep the faith.
‐I know you will. I never lost it. I never will.
Theirs is a story that will surely change history
as we know it,
just as it has changed their lives,
and the lives of everyone around them forever.
You know, 1200 AD?
: People working in a swamp on Oak Island?
It's crazy.
There's a wonderful story written here.
I've always wanted to turn the last page
on Oak Island, and, uh, it's certainly not there yet.
We're but chapters in, after all this time.
‐We're just beginning. ‐Oh, yeah.