Narrator: Tonight on the curse of oak island...
Marty: Hello, guys.
Narrator: ...A special two-hour premier.
You guys are gonna have to carry the ball.
Covid has really altered our plans, but
things are starting to happen.
Rick: We're going to try once again to put a camera down c-.
-What's that thing right there? -Mike: I can see gold.
We have to answer the question:
Is there really a tunnel entrance here?
This is going higher now.
-It's like a wall. -That's fantastic.
David: This is a structure.
He dated it from 1550 to 1620.
Gary: So I'm going below normal metal detection range.
-Jack: Oh, no way! -Gary: That's an old coin, mate.
-Oh, yeah. -That is an old coin!
-Alex: All right, so we made it in. -Marty: Yeah, we did.
Rick: The elusive chase for the shiny gold thing begins.
Doug: They're putting the dive cage over the caisson now.
Tyler (over radio): Keep coming down.
Charles: He's in.
He just took something out of the wall.
I want that shiny gold thing on the surface.
Narrator: There is an island in the north atlantic
where people have been lookig 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 orign 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.
Narrator: It is the start of another year on oak island,
but, unlike any other, in the centuries-old search
to find an incredible treasure,
this year's progress is challenged by a deadly virus
known as covid-19,
which rapidly spread to every corner of the world.
Almost overnight, international borders were closed,
and once-thriving economies began to crumble.
It is against this grim backdrop
that operations on oak island have ground to a halt.
At least until the island's principal owners,
brothers rick and marty lagina,
along with their coworkers and partners,
can figure out how, if at all,
they can proceed.
Marty: Look, guys...
As you know, uh,
I don't know, I'll say it: You know,
covid has just kicked our exploration efforts,
uh, really hard.
-Yeah. -Jack: I know access through the border,
from the u.S. To canada just got kicked back
another 30 days.
So is there a chance we're actually gonna be able
to join the rest of the team
and get out there to search on the island this year?
I think that's the whole point of today's meeting, jack,
is that, yes, I believe there's a chance.
But we want the search agenda to move forward
under both scenarios.
So we're gonna talk about a scenario
we can get out there and do something,
and the scenario, look, you guys are gonna have to
carry the ball.
We're gonna talk about both of those here today,
-I believe is the point. -Absolutely.
Rick: For the first year ever,
this search agenda is gonna be guided
by situational conditions.
Covid-19 is gonna have impact in terms of
actually getting a physical presence on the island,
understanding what the protocols will be,
what we can and cannot do.
But most importantly, keeping everyone safe.
What we'd like to do first is
you've got it set up where the whole fellowship
is together separately.
Sure. I'll get them up on the screen.
Marty: Thank god we have a team on oak island.
They're great, uh, they're dedicated, and they are
the boots on the ground on oak island right now.
So-so things are starting to happen.
-Hello, guys. -Hey, guys.
(overlapping greetings)
-good to see you all back. -Marty: Yeah.
So how are you all weathering the covid storm?
-Terry: We've been fortunate. -Yeah.
I think this week we're seven days without a new case.
-Which is great news for us. -Yep.
Things are moving in the right direction here.
-That's fabulous. -Yeah.
When you say that, though, what is the outlook
internally within the province?
What kind of decisions are going to be made here
in the near term, do you know?
Well, what they're pushing for is something they're going to
call an "atlantic bubble,"
right now, which I guess is gonna put
nova scotia, new brunswick and p.E.I. Under one bubble
so that the borders could open between the atlantic provinces.
-Yeah. -Well, that brings us to the issue
and point here today is that we're trying to stay safe, too.
And we realize crossing the border is gonna be fraught
with all kinds of issues.
I mean, bottom line, guys, is the fellowship resides
out there right now.
We're here remotely, but anything that's gonna be done
for at least the first little bit is gonna be by you guys.
And, um, you know, we're just gonna have to
-play it by ear, basically. -Yes.
Dr. Spooner.
Can you give us a synopsis of what you've been up to?
Yeah, so, um,
I'm really excited to, uh,
to kind of get out on the swamp.
-Great. -(laughter)
we've got a new sonar rig
that we actually just got the equipment a week ago,
and we're gonna run it over the anomalies
on the east side of the swamp and see if
we can resolve anything using that new sonar rig.
That's great.
Here's the first core right here.
Marty: Last year we found that the southeastern edge of the swap
might have been
a very deep harbor back in the day.
There's substantial evidence of almost industrial-like
activity in the late 1600s.
This stick will tell me when that stone was placed.
Marty: And perhaps significant activity
in the 13th century as well, which is really a...
An eyebrow raiser.
Ian: What's coming together for me is when you
take a look at the seismic.
And what we're trying to do is put together some air photos,
and see if that matched up with
a shallow seismic anomaly from the geophysics.
But what's interesting is they all kind of matched up.
There's some kind of feature in that cove,
right on the edge of the swamp, but still in the swamp.
-Wow. -Wow.
So I'm pretty excited to take a look at that.
Well, that's interesting stuff.
And then, I'd like to hear from gary.
What do you got plans for this year, gary?
Gary: I've been checking out
some deep-scanning equipment.
It's similar in appearance
to a metal detector, but it does a lot more.
It doesn't just find metal, it finds cavities, tunnels.
A vault.
And it's quite deep.
I believe it's 60 feet. And I would like to use that
in areas where we found really cool coins and artifacts.
Yeah, but I can't help but picture right now,
here's the fellowship,
all excited about all this technology
we're gonna bring to bear this year.
And I'm picturing the island sitting right over there,
you know, and saying, "go ahead, bring it on."
-"knock yourself out." -"knock yourself out."
but no, I'm very hopeful. This is all exciting stuff.
Excellent.
So let's move on. I understand that
there's some enthusiasm for yet again
trying to find the shiny gold object in c-1?
Rick: I'd like to ask charles,
of all the work we've done in the money pit over the years,
it would seem that we continually come back to c-1.
Well, rick, you know, every time c-1 comes off the table,
something happens,
or a technology comes along
that it comes back on the table.
And I think it's just worth another look.
We just can't walk away from c-1.
We have to take another stab at it.
What's that? That right there.
Rick: That's your gold-colored...
Charles: Yeah, there's another piece
of it there, too. Look.
Marty: The shiny little flecks of gold in c-1,
there's enough data where it's still alive.
So there's reason to continue to look at c-1,
and we'll figure out a way to perhaps retrieve them
and put that to bed once and for all.
We have to take another kick at the can; no pun intended.
(laughter)
marty: Yes, it's worth a look.
-What else we got? -So, doug,
if you want to take over...
Doug has made a significant find through...
-Dan blankenship's archives. -Yes.
In the, uh, midst of all this chaos
of the pandemic,
I was on the island in March getting ready for
what we thought was gonna be our
April drill program.
And, of course, the-the lockdown happened.
And I was fortunate to get isolated on the island
for the last four months,
and I spent that time going through dan's files.
And, uh, I found two old surveys,
one of which was a map drawn by fred nolan
while he and dan were working together.
The other was a geophysical study of the underground
called the barringer survey, done in 1988.
What struck me about this is both these surveys indicate
possible tunnels under lot 15.
It's a really interesting construct because
just below the brow of the hill on lot 15,
it does look like it leads into the side of the hill.
It's just these two rock wals that are in
the rise of the hill, right at the brow.
The barringer survey suggests that there's a tunnel
running from the money pit past c-1 towards lot 15.
It doesn't look like this report
ever got followed up on.
There was supposed to be a phase two conducted,
and that never happened.
What really caught my interest in reading through the report
is that they found
four possible nonferrous targets on the island.
Jack: They found nonferrous hits,
-but no one ever investigated them? -Right.
It is the sleeping beauty survey that hasn't been acted upon
these 32 years.
-Wow. -Nonferrous.
What are some of our favorite nonferrous metals?
Gold!
(laughter)
we could repeat that study.
-We could do the whole island. -Marty: Exactly.
Okay, so we're all in agreement on that,
and we're all, you know, weathering a tough storm.
Yeah.
Marty: This meeting has been appreciated.
-Rick? -I-I'm just grateful
and humbled by the fact
that you guys... That we're still a team,
and that we're still all pulling together.
My hat's off to all of you,
and I'm thinking I wish I was there.
Jack: Yeah.
Rick: It was wonderful to see all those faces.
Every face on that screen, you could see in their eyes,
they're supremely committed o moving this agenda forward.
I am in awe of that and humbled by it.
I think we've got a great team,
and hopefully that will resut in some answers.
Marty: When I see that there is
incredible and genuine interest
from a bunch of very smart people
to pursue this, and a passion for it,
it's inspiring to me.
It brings me back to say yeah, this is worth doing.
Now get busy.
-(laughs): Yeah. -Cheers, guys.
Thanks.
Cheers, you guys. See you later.
-(truck beeping) -come back. Good.
You're backing in right here.
Good.
We're good to go now.
Narrator: After their meeting with ric, marty, craig and the team...
-Mr. Huntley. -Good morning.
How you doing, doug? Charles, how are you?
Good, man. Good to see you again.
Narrator: ...Oak island's historians charles barkhouse
and doug crowell
arrive at the c-1 caisson near the money pit site.
They have arranged to meet with professional diver
mike huntley, along with his team
in hopes of locating a mysterious gold-colored objet
that is believed to be somewhere in the c-1 shaft.
The object was first caught on camera
five years ago, after charles convinced rick lagina
to drill a six-inch-wide borehole at the site
where he believed evidence of the original money pit
might be found.
At a depth of 170 feet, they encountered a large voi.
Glen: Here we go.
Narrator: Later, using a pipe-inspection camera,
they obtained astounding video evidence
of a mysterious gold-colored object
embedded in the bedrock wall of the borehole shaft.
Right there. It looks metallic.
Look how yellow that is.
Charles: What the hell is that?
Marty: Okay, get after it.
Narrator: Unfortunately, one year late,
when the laginas drilled a much wider caisson
into the area, now called c-1,
they were unable to locate the elusive object.
Rick: So, we're going to try once again to put a camera down c1
because the water has been given the chance to
settle out over the winter.
The elusive chase for the shiny gold thing begins once again.
How will we do that? You know,
there's still an open discussion about that,
but it's not off our radar.
We're really curious to get back down c-1.
Yeah, I am, too, in a different way.
-(laughter) -a warmer way.
-Charles: You won't get wet this time. -That's right, yeah.
What kind of camera system are we putting down today, mike?
We have a deep-water-rated hd camera and light,
so they're nice and robust,
-so they'll handle the pressure. -Excellent.
Narrator: For today's operation, mike huntley and his team
will be using a high-definition multi seacam,
which features a sealite sphere led light, and is designed
to withstand depths
of as much as 20,000 feet underwater.
You know, ever since charles chose the spot for c-1,
we've been fascinated by the allure
of this shiny gold thing that was seen
in the original hole.
Great. I'll wait for you guys to get set up,
and then we'll get this in the water.
-Thank you, sir. -Thank you.
It's still so interesting that charles barkhouse
picked this spot for c-1.
And they found a cavity 173 feet below the ground.
Not only that, they see a shiny gold thing
when they drill the original hole.
C-1 has offered up so many questions.
I hope today we can find some answers.
Mike: Okay, down slow, sam.
Sam: Camera's just touching the water now.
Mike: Ooh.
Completely submerged?
Wow.
Little slower.
Narrator: While the team proceeds with
their exploration of borehole c-1,
some 1,000 miles west of oak island,
in traverse city, michigan...
-Marty: Hey, guys. -Craig: Hey, guys.
-Good. How are you? -We're doing well, we think.
Narrator: ...Rick and marty lagina, along with their partner
craig tester, have arranged a teleconferene
with david irving and representatives
from irving equipment limited.
-Marty: Whoa, baby! -Rick: Over the years,
working with irving equipment and david,
I think the most significant thing that we've found is
we believe we've relocated the money pit.
Just really big, impressive timbers.
We're back in the old stuff.
Rick: If, and there's rising belief on our part
that we have found the collapse feature of the money pit,
well, that-that's probably the most significant find.
You know, we all are in the shadow of this covid thing.
You've got a big operation, lots of employees.
How's that working out?
Yeah.
Hmm. Interesting.
It's just interesting to see how others are-are handling it.
Um, so let's talk about oak island for a minute.
How-how would you like to proceed?
-Okay. -So I'll turn it over to matt here.
Marty: Great. Let's see what you got there.
I'm sure we'll have questions.
Sounds cool.
Narrator: Using augmented reality,
a technology that overlays
computer-generated images onto real-world objects,
the team from irving equipmet limited is presenting
a new dig method that will allow the oak island team
to effectively excavate the entire money pit area.
Yeah.
Narrator: Inspired by the unique patten
bees use to make beehives,
the honeycomb method would involve digging
a large number of eight-foot-wide steel caissos
down into the bedrock.
By excavating each shaft
along a strategically designed pattern,
the team would be able to drill, backfill the hole,
and maneuver the equipment to each new drill site.
This would allow the laginas and their partners
the ability to cover a large area,
but without the enormous expense
and inherent dangers associated with drilling
a massive, 100-foot-wide hole.
Are you leaving the cans in in each case?
What are you doing with that?
Marty: Okay.
Here's how I'd like to sum it up, if it's okay.
Let us think about the honeycomb thing here.
And also, you're gonna work on logistically
how you would do that, how much time it might take,
what you'd do with the spoils.
Maybe you could give us the same kind of presentation,
if you would, on that.
Perfect, guys. Look forward to seeing you.
-Stay safe. -Yep.
-Marty: Cheers. -Rick: Bye-bye.
Narrator: Meanwhile, back on the islan,
doug crowell and charles barkhouse,
along with professional diver mike huntley and his team,
are continuing their exploration of the c-1 shaft.
Okay, keep going slow.
Visibility's starting to get better.
Charles: I'm quite impressed with this camera.
-The resolution's really nice. -Yeah.
Mike: We have teeth. We're at the bottom of the caisson.
All stop.
Sam: Roger. At all stop.
Okay, gonna point down a little bit, too.
Charles: Look how clear that is, though.
That's some of the best views we've had
in a long time, really.
Mike: Oh.
-What's that right there? -Oh, I see that, too.
Mike: Back up a bit.
What's that thing right there? Right there.
It's kind of, like, on an angle.
Mike: What do we have there?
-This area right here. -Yeah, yeah.
Look, it's almost triangular, and it has color to it.
Mike: I can see gold.
Here. Right in there. Yes
-doug: That color just popped.
-Doug: That triangular-shaped area. -Mike: Yeah.
Charles: There's some gold-colored object there, that's for sure.
Narrator: At borehole c-1,
near the site of the original money pit,
oak island historians doug crowell and charles barkhous,
along with mike huntley and his team,
have made what they believe
could be an exciting discovey in the cavity
at the bottom of borehole c-1,
some 170 feet below ground.
Doug: What's getting me though is that,
when you find gold veins in quartz and whatnot,
it's-it's just all irregular.
-Right. -To find edges that look
-like a triangle are-are not natural. -No, you're right.
Narrator: A gold triangle?
Could the team have finally pinpointed
the same gold-colored object
that was first spotted in c-1 five years ago?
Do you want to continue... Continue to look around,
see if we can find a bigger one?
We'll continue down then, slowly, and we'll...
-We'll keep looking. -'kay.
-See if we can spot anything else. -Sounds good.
Okay, sam.
-Down slow. -Roger.
Coming down slow.
Mike: Oh. All stop!
Sam: Roger. At all stop.
Mike: What's that right there?
Yeah, I see that, too.
Mike: There's another one right there,
just off to the center of the screen.
Yeah. This-this area, right here.
We do have more of that golden color there.
Charles: We're seeing another shiny gold thing.
But this one is very small,
maybe even the size of a pea.
But that's only an estimation.
Uh, who knows? Until we get down there
and fully investigate this, we're not gonna know.
-Mike, are we ready to go lower? -Yes, we are.
All right, let's-let's go really slow.
-Down slow! -Yeah. -Sam: All right.
Down slow.
Doug: There were some nice patterns there
-for a second. -Charles: Yeah.
I didn't see any coloration in it.
Mike: All stop.
Sam: Roger. At all stop.
Axel, pull it straight into you.
-Nice and slow. -Yeah.
-Doug: Uh, mike, just hold for a sec! -Oh!
-Charles: Go back, mike. -Roger.
Oh. Is this another one?
Charles: That-that's definitely
a gold object right there.
A gold-colored object.
I mean, it pops compared to
-the surrounding area. -Yeah.
-You guys see that there? -Doug: Yeah.
-Yeah. It's pretty bright, isn't it? -Yeah.
Narrator: Might obtaining video evidene
of not one but three gold-colored objecs
embedded in the wall of the c-1 cavity
mean the team has finally located actual treasue
within a close vicinity of the original money pit?
And, if so, could it mean
that the team may have made a historic breakthrough,
one that could bring definitive answers
to the oak island mystery?
Mike: Um, I think the visibility is starting to go.
And it's getting really hard to see.
We could be passing stuff and we don't even know
-we're passing it. -Well,
we've probably seen all we can see now, right?
-Yeah. -I think what we should do is go back,
to where we can implement a video call with the guys
and fill them in.
For sure. Okay.
Doug: Great work, guys.
-Charles: Yeah. -Mike: Thanks.
Narrator: Later that afternoon...
-Marty: Hey, guys. -Alex: Hey.
Doug: Gentlemen.
...Rick, marty and alex lagina,
along with craig tester
and jack begley, gather at marty
and craig's office in traverse city
to hear charles, doug and mike's highly anticipated report.
We're eager for some good news.
-You got any? -(chuckles)
we-we have news that is, uh...
We can report a successful operation in-in c-1.
And the results were both intriguing and perplexing.
Marty: All right. Let's hear about it.
Take it away. Talk to us.
I'll show ya. I'll bring the first one up here now.
So, this is target number one.
If you look just center,
it's just in the, uh, top left quadrant.
Just-just off of center.
What the hell's that?
Jack: Is that the gold shiny thing?
Marty: Looks like a fleck of gold.
-That's what it looks like. -Yeah.
So, the next one.
It's, uh, right here.
And it's one foot directly below the triangular object.
Mike: And then, right around the 180-foot,
we had something that was even clearer and larger,
about the size of, um, a quarter or so.
Doug: This is target number three.
You can see the luster changing now
as he's moving the camera around.
Alex: Oh, yeah.
So there's multiple gold shiny things down in c-1.
-(laughs) -I mean, it's not just a one-off.
There's something down there.
-You know? -Craig: But is that anything
of value or is it something
that's just natural and it appears gold?
Been the shining object
and everything else since the beginning.
Well, that-that's why I said it was perplexing.
Because, uh, after mike pulled the equipment up,
uh, out of c-1,
I put in a call to terry matheson.
And I'm going to quote terry here.
"there's no known natural emplacement of minerals
that would look like gold in anhydrite."
so that's why it's perplexing.
It had to be placed there
by something other than natural processes.
I mean, we don't know either way,
-so it needs to be pursued. -Exactly.
Marty: You know what, doug, I'll give you this.
You-you named it right.
It's, uh, interest--
intriguing but perplexing.
Agreed.
-Right. -Doug: Mike, tell-tell the guys,
uh, your thoughts about your previous dive there,
when you had your metal detecting equipment.
Uh, from where bottom is in relation to that third target
is pretty much where I'd had those hits.
At the bottom of that, uh-- that cavity.
(beeping)
(trilling)
narrator: Three years ago,
during one of the previous attempts to retrieve
the gold-colored object in the c-1 shaft,
diver mike huntley initially received
a number of hits with his metal detector.
Unfortunately, when he returned down the shaft
to remove the object,
both the signal and the elusive object
seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.
I think if, uh, you know,
we put the camera down and we only saw one thing,
I'm not sure it would warrant a dive.
But if there's four targets,
you know, that might allow the diver to be successful,
in terms of retrieval.
Now what we have to do is try
-to retrieve a sample. -Doug: Yeah.
A diver could go down there and try to get hands on the targets.
It's worth a try. I don't-- I mean, unless somebody disagrees.
No, I agree.
-Marty: So, let's try it. Set it up. -Will do.
I want that shiny gold thing on the surface!
(laughter)
we remain your boots on the ground for now.
Thank you very much.
-Rick: Thanks guys. See ya. -Doug: See ya.
Narrator: Two days after obtaining compelling video evidence
of three gold-colored objects more than 170 feet deep
at the bottom of borehole c-1...
I think these guys mean business.
Charles: This is quite an operation.
-Just a few trucks. -Yeah.
...Oak island historians doug crowell and charles barkhouse,
along with project manager scott barlow,
are preparing to oversee a dive operation
which is designed to take a closer look at the objects
and hopefully retrieve them.
Just come ahead a bit
-and just square your back right up here, okay? -Yeah.
Narrator: Because diver mike huntley was unavailable,
rick and marty lagina have enlisted the services
of rob ritcy and his team from rmi marine
to conduct today's investigation of the c-1 shaft.
We'll pull him in like that.
I'll leave my truck right here.
Narrator: With nearly 50 years of combined experience,
rmi marine specializes in conducting
deep underwater surveying, construction
and salvage operations.
Guys, it looks like rmi marine is ready to go.
Okay.
We're gonna get rob to give you an update.
Perfect.
Narrator: Although they are still unable to enter canada,
rick and marty lagina,
along with their partner craig tester,
have arranged to monitor every second
of today's potentially historic operation via video conference.
Joining them will be craig's son, jack begley,
and metal detection expert gary drayton.
Hey, guys. So-so, we're all set.
-Great. -We're ready to roll.
So, I just want to confirm with everybody
what the itinerary was.
I-I believe target 1-2 is probably first.
That was the shallowest target.
-That's correct. Yup. -Okay, good.
So, after that, we can hit target 3 and see
what we can do there to get-- to get those-- to get those pieces.
Okeydoke.
So, we're probably looking at-- looks like
in the neighborhood of a 20-minute dive.
That all sounds... Brilliant to me.
That sounds perfect.
I think it's time
for your guy to get wet. Let's do this.
Okay, man. Let's do it.
Marty: Proceed.
Narrator: Due to the serious risks
facing the divers as they explore the dark,
confined depths of borehole c-1,
the oak island team has arranged
for emergency medical technicians to be on site.
Rob ritcy has also set up a hyperbaric chamber
for the unlikely but potentially deadly risk
of either of the divers developing
decompression sickness, also known as "the bends."
you know, with anything we do on oak island,
safety is paramount. Before, you know--
it's-it's more important
than any treasure we could possibly find.
It's not worth the risk of somebody's life.
Narrator: In order to safely reach the bottom of c-,
diver tyler newton will be lowered down in a steel cage.
Upon reaching a water depth of 50 feet,
a trap door will open,
allowing tyler to complete his descent
to a depth of some 170 feet
in search of the gold-colored objects in the cavity wall.
Once located,
he will attempt to delicately extract them
using a small hammer and chisel.
Comms check. One, two.
Roger that. I've got you loud and clear, as well.
-Okay, here. -(filtered breathing)
they're putting the dive cage over the caisson now.
Good. Let's do it.
Here we go.
There's not much room, either side, I'll tell you.
It's a good thing that wasn't any smaller.
You're right.
Ritcy: Just watch vise-grips.
Uh, bring them a little quicker.
Can everybody see this?
Yeah.
Ritcy: Coming down. All stop at 40.
About five more feet, just so you know. Coming down.
Charles: He's just about to the water.
Ritcy: Perfect.
-He's in. -Scott: Yeah.
Ritcy: Four, three, two,
one. 40 feet. All stop.
Light doesn't penetrate very far, does it?
No, it doesn't.
Okay, we're all stopped here at 40 feet.
You're clear to come out of the basket.
Leaving the basket?
Brad: Roger that.
Dang, this is exciting.
Narrator: Now that tyler newton
has left the dive cage,
he will descend to a depth of some 170 feet
to the area below the metal caisson's cutting teeth,
where he can begin to search the walls of the shaft
for the gold-colored anomalies.
Ah, it's getting clearer now.
The water gushing by it as it's displacing it.
Charles: Yeah.
Well, so far, he's coming right down on it.
Scott: Yep.
Getting clearer.
Doug: The diver's currently at about 90 feet,
and visibility is good.
-I'm gonna go over and listen to the divemaster. -Okay. Yep.
How you feeling?
What do you think you got for depth there?
130, 135.
Charles: There's the teeth.
All stop.
They've reached the bottom of the caisson.
They've reached the bottom of the casing.
-We can see the teeth. -Marty: Okay.
Got you at 144 here now.
Brad: Is there anything shiny ther?
Brad: So, you're getting lots of reflections
but no shiny objects?
Brad: Roger that.
That's not it there, is it?
What's that?
Brad: Kind of, yep.
Charles: Going after something.
Gary: Look at that shine.
Charles: Yeah.
Is that a coin?
Oh, is it?
Oh, yeah.
Narrator: A coin?
Found some 170 feet deep
within the walls of the c-1 shaft?
Could this be a vital clue
marking the location of the legendary treasure?
Charles: He just took something out of the wall.
Gary: Is that a coin?
Oh.
There it went.
That looked like a coin falling.
Yeah.
Narrator: At borehole c-1,
some 170 feet underground,
professional diver tyler newton has been attempting to locate
and carefully extract three gold-colored objects
that were spotted on camera just two days ago.
Unfortunately, his first sample,
an object which the oak island team
believed might have been a coin,
has slipped out of his grasp
and plunged more than 20 feet down the pitch-black shaft,
deeper than these divers are currently permitted to g.
Got about two minutes before we start traveling up.
Brad: Anything that's shiny down there,
take some samples of that.
Well, you would think that you would be able to see it.
I mean, we all saw that shiny gold thing
-on the camera. -Yep.
Can you do a slow scan up the...
-Up the twine? -Yep.
Can you go back to the twine there?
Brad: And then just head down that.
Just real nice and slow.
Find the gold shiny thing.
Yeah.
What's that?
Doug: What was that back there?
Down to his right a little bit.
-That looks triangular to me right there. -Yeah.
-He might be on it now, guys. -(chuckles): Yeah!
Brad: We'll get us one more sample,
and then we'll get you prepared to come up.
That sure looks like the shape, though.
Brad: Really hard material?
-Could be that slate material. -Brad: Yeah.
Brad: Roger that.
Brad: Roger.
Doug: So, he's coming up.
So, he took some samples.
We'll see what he's got.
All right, fingers crossed.
Ritcy: Okay.
Got the helmet.
(indistinct chatter)
the diver is out, guys. He's heading into the chamber.
Marty: Okay.
Narrator: As a safety precaution,
diver tyler newton spends the next 22 minutes
inside the hyperbaric chamber.
-Here you go, guys. -Oh. That's for charles's hands.
-Let's see what we got. -Okay.
Narrator: While waiting for tyler to emerge,
charles barkhouse and the team
inspect the samples that were brought to the surface.
What is it, charles?
Charles: Well, obviously, we got some anhydrite here,
but this is very curious.
-It's different, isn't it? -Yeah, it is different.
What is it, charles?
It's interesting. Th-this piece right here,
guys, it seems to be slate anhydrite.
Don't know if you can see it, but right-right here,
there's a really clear crystallization.
-Charles: That is odd. -Marty: Yeah.
Narrator: Unfortunately,
none of the samples retrieved from the c-1 borehole
appear to match the gold-colored objects
spotted two days before.
Is it possible that tyler newton missed them
due to poor visibility?
Marty: C-1
hasn't really revealed its secrets, has it?
Guys, rob ritcy's gonna debrief us.
Perfect.
Ritcy: Okay, guys. So, we just finished up.
-Okay. -Ritcy: So,
the diver scanned through one foot on each side.
So, six square feet. Six square feet.
There was one target just outside.
It-it sort of showed up as something yellow,
and, um,
he tried to chip that out.
He couldn't get it chipped out.
We had just run out of time.
-The island wins again. -Yeah.
That is crazy.
You know, it's a confined space dive.
It's possible, if these shiny gold things
fell to the bottom, our first thought is
all is not lost.
It's gonna have to demand possibly an airlift.
Narrator: By forcing air into the c-1 borehole
at a rate of as many as 100 pounds per square inc,
the airlift process creates a powerful vacuum
that would force any silt, sediment
and, needless to say, any valuable artifacts
up to the surface.
-Doug: Hey, guys. Have a seat there. -Charles: You guys...
-Divers have a seat here. -Rick: First of all,
I just want to say thank you. I'm sure we all do.
-Yeah, no problem. Yeah. -Yeah, thanks for having us.
Thank you very much. I think you did a great job,
and we appreciate your effors in that regard.
We would prefer you find where things is. (chuckles)
(all laugh)
but that can happen next.
We still might want to airlift that cavity, just so you know.
And then if we do, when we get a lot of stuff up,
-we might want another dive. -Yep.
If the bosses are happy with it and the dive supervisor says go,
then I'm down to do that for sure.
Marty (chuckles): Okay.
All right. On to the next job.
Let's call it a day, gents.
All righty. Thanks again, guys.
-Ritcy: Okay. -Charles: Thanks, guys.
-Rick: Appreciate it. -Marty: Cheers.
Narrator: Three days after the dive in c-1,
marty and rick receive the exciting news
that the travel ban between the united states and canada
has been modified.
Effective immediately,
certain approved visitors may enter the country
on condition they quarantine themselves
for a 14-day period.
This means no human contact of any kind
for two full weeks.
Having already secured the necessary approvals,
marty, along with his son alex lagina,
and rick, along with nephew peter fornetti,
are finally able to enter nova scotia.
Alex: All right, so we made it in.
Yeah, we did.
It was strange to be so close
to oak island for two full weeks and not be able to go there.
Rick: Being in quarantine is different, because usually
when we come, the very next morning we're hard at it.
There's all kinds of work to be done,
so I'm-I'm anxious to get at it.
Covid has really, markedly altered our plans.
But it's just kind of refocused us.
Alex: Here's home for two weeks.
Marty: We're gonna do new things.
We're gonna employ new technology, new methods.
What I hope is to find a giant treasure,
or the answer to this giant riddle-- this year!
I think it's possible.
Doug: Hey, guys.
-Alex: Hey, doug! -Marty: Doug!
I understand, uh,
welcomes are in order-- you're in nova scotia now.
-Yes. The eagles have landed. -Rick: We are.
Quarantined, but here.
Narrator: One day after their arrival in nova scotia,
but while still prevented from venturing out
due to strict quarantine measures,
brothers rick and marty lagina,
along with alex lagina and peter fornetti
call into the oak island war room
for a meeting with other members of their team.
They are eager to discuss several of the search
and discovery operations planned for the week ahead.
Well, we, uh, we've been kind of regrouping here
after the c-1 dive, but, uh,
laird has some updates on the work intended for lot 15.
Marty: That'd be great.
Keen to know about that.
Yeah, actually, the-the lead archeologist
is gonna be david macinnes.
A very experienced archeologist.
Name might sound familiar, related to, uh...
-Yeah, mcginnis? -...Daniel mcginnis.
Wow.
Doug: Direct descendant.
A direct descendant, yeah.
-Wow. -Yeah. He's agreed to, uh...
Do the investigations in lot 15
and he'll be, uh, aided by aaron taylor.
And we're really looking forward
to what david's gonna come up with,
with this, uh, mysterious feature
that we have up there.
Boy, laird the believer!
(laughs) I'll tell you.
It is curious, though. It-it's two rock walls
that just lead into the side of the hill.
Mm-hmm.
Last spring, doug crowell did a-a very thorough search
of the documents in dan blankenship's basement.
And he found two old maps.
One by fred nolan, who was a surveyor.
And one called the barringer survey from 1988.
Both indicated the possibility
of a tunnel near the feature on lot 15,
both of them coming from the money pit, north of the swam.
The barringer survey also indicated a possible tunnel
near c-1 in the money pit.
If these tunnels exist, could they be connected?
Could it be a possible back door to the money pit-- who knows?
Sounds like you got a downright
brain trust there, laird. I mean, uh,
let us know what it is.
I will. Yeah, no, I'm excited.
I've got my fingers crossed that it's
some kind of, uh, cavity or passage
leading towards the money pit area.
That's-that's my hope.
Rick: Is it worth investigating?
Absolutely.
Let's see what the answers are.
Another thing that's, uh, taking shape, guys,
is furthering the exploration of the swamp.
And dr. Spooner's ready to follow up on that with some
scans of the swamp.
So, yeah, just to fill you in on what, uh,
I have planned in the swamp.
What we're doing is we're running a new kind of survey.
It allows us to pound down a ways
into that swamp sediment
and to see if we can resolve that feature in the swamp.
So that's what I'm up to in the next week, week or two.
Great.
Oh! Holy crow.
This stick will tell me when that stone was placed.
You date the stick, you know when that happened.
Narrator: Because of the incredible finds made
in the oak island swamp last year...
Ian: I'm very confident we're looking at 1680 to 1700
that that disturbance took place.
Narrator: ...Including evidence that significant human activity
took place in the area dubbed eye of the swamp
during the late 17th century,
along with proof that the massive paved-stone area
the team unearthed was most likely constructed
more than 800 years ago,
the oak island team is eagr to continue their investigatin
of the area, but now on a much larger scale.
One of the team's first targets is an anomaly
that dr. Ian spooner first spotted
in a series of aerial photographs
taken nearly 100 years ago
and located on the southeastern edge
of the mysterious triangle-shaped swamp.
Great, I-I'm glad I'm in quarantine.
(laughter)
ian: I'm looking forward to it, personally.
It's intriguing, because it's only ten feet down.
And this is the one location where if there
are going to be artifacts,
this is the place where they will be.
-Yes. -And it's in front
of the paved area, so that's really I think as much
my focus in terms of,
of trying to understand what's going on there.
-Good! -And then doug filled me in on
the story of a shaft in that location.
-Is that correct? -Doug: Y-yeah.
When, uh, fred drained the swamp,
he spotted the remains of an old shaft.
He didn't say exactly where, but this spot that ian
has recognized, identified, may be it.
-Yep. -Rick: Fred obviously saw
something and recorded it.
And now this work will confirm or deny it.
Yeah, it sounds well worth doing, sounds grea.
All right, guys, that's all we have from here for now.
We'll, uh, we'll see you in two weeks.
(laughter)
rick: We all knew it was going to e
an abbreviated year, but everybody stepped up.
Without them laying the groundwork for the year,
given the fact that we were late
in-in being able to come into the country,
I-I think we would be behind the eight ball.
The guys did an incredible job
of setting the stage for the year's effort.
If you need anything while you're in isolation,
just, uh, call.
Okay. We might do that.
Figure it out while we're gone. That'd be great.
-(all laugh) -marty: That'd be fine, yeah.
We'll be there with a brinks truck in 14 days.
(all laugh)
-doug: Take care, guys. -Marty: Thanks, guys.
-Rick: See you. -Peter: Buh-bye.
Narrator: Later that same day...
-Hey, guys. -Aaron: Hey, laird.
-Laird, how you doing? -Laird: Good.
Narrator: ...Archaeologist laird niven
arrives at lot 15,
where fellow archaeologists aaron taylor
and david macinnes are investigating
a mysterious rock formation.
It is located near the exact same spot
where one of the late fred nolan's survey maps
had indicated a potential tunnel entrance.
What interested me about this one
is the disturbance on top.
Mm-hmm.
And it's disturbed soil.
So, uh, it can be several things.
It could be people searching for the treasure
may have come across this stone feature
and found it interesting
-and dug it up. -Laird: Mm-hmm.
-Yeah. -And thrown the spoil up here.
And aaron has just gone through that,
and he's found nails in it.
-Wow. -Which is interesting, as well.
Narrator: The great-great-great-great grandson
of daniel mcginnis,
the young man who first discovered evidence
of the money pit in 1795,
david macinnes is an expert
in the prehistory of maritime canada.
During his distinguished career,
he has investigated multiple archaeological sites
that date as far back as 3200 bc.
So, I took that down.
In that, we found three cut nails.
-That's cool. -Aaron: So, I went through that,
and I've come down
-on a charcoal feature here. -Laird: Wow.
-Definitely a burn event. -Laird: Yeah.
David: Well, there are several
burning events that happened here.
On a personal level, I was very happy to find it
because it gave me charcoal.
I can send charcoal to the lb and get a date.
If that charcoal dates anything to do with this structure,
it dates its end.
It burned down.
I'm opening up this second unit
to try to uncover more of this charcoal feature.
-Yeah. -We were talking about possibly
-there being some sort of cover. -David: Right.
Wooden cover over top of that,
which might explain the nails.
-Can I take a look at the nails? -Aaron: Sure.
I found this just a few minutes ago.
Oh, yeah, 'cause...
Excellent.
I've seen a lot of nails on oak island.
-They are corroded, aren't they? -Aaron: Mm.
Laird: But that head's machine-made, yeah.
-Aaron: Yeah, cut. -David: What's important to me
about the nails is that it dates the disturbance.
The nails are in the disturbed layer.
And, so, searchers who were digging around,
uh, trying to find something,
and somehow, the nails ended up here.
-Laird: Mm-hmm. -Uh, so, we still have mysteries,
but, uh, we've got some evidence.
I'm kind of getting more and more confident
that we're gonna find something really dateable.
-Yep. -All right. I guess I'll get back to work.
-You guys can get back to work. -Sounds good.
Narrator: Could the stone formation
be connected in some way
to the construction of the mysterious tunnel
which was indicated on fred nolan's map?
-Laird: David? -David: Yeah?
What do you got?
What is it, nail?
-Laird: I'm not telling you. -David: Oh.
You're not telling me? (chuckling)
-that's slag. -Laird (chuckles): It is.
Narrator: Produced when a desired metal is separated
from raw ore by means of intense heat,
slag is commonly found near foundries
or any place where smelting has occurred.
Could this iron slag found within the rock feature
be additional evidence of some sort
of large-scale blacksmithing effort on oak island,
perhaps one that could be associated
with the possible construction of the money pit treasure shaft?
Laird: Lot 15 has exceeded my expectations by tenfold.
With the evidence coming up, it's really intriguing.
I'm pretty excited about what it potentially could be.
David: So, maybe an iron foundry.
The question would be, in my mind,
is why would there be a blacksmith shop here?
This would be a big forge if that's what this is.
Yeah. This was a big operation. (laughing)
this was a big... Yeah. I mean, yeah. I never thought
about the possibility of a blacksmith shop.
-Did you? -Laird: No.
Doug: Hi, gentlemen.
-Hey, guys. -Hi, doug. -Hey, guys.
Well, we have a lot of different,
interesting things happening
from lot 15.
I'm gonna cede this,
un, position to laird,
who's probably gonna show you some visuals
-somewhere along the way. -Narrator: One day
after investigating a mysterious rock formation on lot 15,
one that could rest on top of an underground tunnel system,
oak island historians doug crowell and charles barkhous,
along with archaeologists laird niven and david macinne,
gather in the war room to share their findings with rick lagina,
his nephew peter fornetti,
marty and alex lagina.
Also joining them, via video conference,
is rick and marty's friend and partner, craig tester.
Are you related to...
The mcginnises?
On the island?
Yeah. He was my four times great-grandfather.
So I'm not just here as an archaeologist.
I'm here because I have an interest
in my family history.
-Great. -And, uh, so, yeah.
Yeah, uh, we've got an interesting structure.
We've got some visuals for you.
Um, this is an overhead, of course.
And what's really important here
is that there are mounds
on either side of this structure.
This is on the hillside.
You don't have mounds on a hillside
next to a depression.
That's a positive relief, uh, and that rarely happens.
So, for artifacts,
we've got nails, we've got possible slag.
Slag can mean a whole bunch of things.
Slag can be smelters. Slag can be forges.
This is...
Not a natural feature.
People have done something here
to make a structure of some kind,
which we're still undecided upon.
This is not a house.
It's not a barn. It's something else.
Now, we've had some expert advice.
We've had carmen legge come in.
His conclusion is, this is a tar kiln.
It's used to break wood down into tar-related products
for preserving wooden ships
and for preserving rigging and sails on ships.
Marty: Wow.
David: And he even dated it.
He dated it from 1550 to 1620.
He says it's an english tar kiln.
That guy.
And it's got a particular date range,
a very specific date range.
Well, that has to be government or military.
Exactly.
Narrator: A pine tar kiln...
Possibly constructed by the british military
and dating as far back as the 16th century,
nearly two centuries before the discovery of the money pi?
Laird niven and his team of archaeologists
have come to lot 15 to try to answer the question--
is there really a tunnel entrance here?
What they found was evidence
that the stone structure on lot 15
was possibly a fire pit or a pine tar kiln.
Certainly, the tar produced in a pine tar kiln
may have been used as ships' waterproofing.
Marty: Okay, so, I know scientists hate conjecture,
so I'm gonna make you do it if I can.
-Sure. -Uh, if you were on a treasure hunt on this islan,
which is what we are, does this add to the intrigue
of that it could have something to do with that?
Or is this just interesting
'cause it's an out-of-place archeological feature?
Laird: I think it seems to tie together
the paved structure in the swamp
-yes. -And what we were finding in smith's cove.
Narrator: One year ago,
while conducting a massive excavation of smith's cove,
rick, marty, craig and the team
uncovered a wooden ship's wharf,
which was scientifically proven through dendrochronology testing
to have been constructed in 1741.
Could the suspected pine tar kiln on lot 15
have been used to manufacture tar
to seal and repair the many boats
that were believed to have docked at smith's cove?
Or might it have served another strategic purpose,
perhaps one involving the construction of the money pi?
Perhaps the tar could have been used
to waterproof the tunnels in the money pit.
Certainly lot 15, which has never been on our radar,
is now proving to be very significant.
And I very much look forward to what it has to tell us.
It raises all kinds of possibilities.
So there's a lot of work left to do
to try to understand what this feature is
and what it may mean to the island.
Marty: The feature on lot 15 was denoted
on fred's map as the entrance to a tunnel, "tunnel entrance."
so, of course, that's what we're hoping for.
David: But recall, now, it can be two different things.
Lots of people have speculated this might be
an underground chamber of some kind, or a tunnel.
Whether there's a tunnel there or not,
we should be able to determine that.
Rick: Surely it's purposeful.
Surely it has a reason
as to why it was built.
But again, it rounds back to the theory.
A theory's but a theory until you hold it in your hand,
and a tunnel's not a tunnel
till there's an opening in the ground.
Look, excellent. Excellent data, excellent presentation.
Thank you very much.
We need to digest all this, and you guys keep giving us data.
-Appreciate it. Thank you. -You're welcome.
Thanks a lot. We're gonna sign off.
See you later.
Craig: Take care.
Gary: Wow, I never knew all this existed.
The outside world.
Two weeks' quarantine.
-It feels good to be out. -Yeah.
Narrator: Having traveled to nova scota
prior to the arrival of rick and marty lagina,
jack begley and metal detection expert gary drayton
have finished their time in quarantine and are now fre
to join their fellow treasure hunters on oak island.
Gary: I've been...
Immersing myself
on the new equipment I'm gonna be using, the okm.
Is it really gonna be able to detect tunnels?
Yeah, it does. It does several things really good.
It's a ground-scanning piece of equipment,
it's a mineral scan,
a kind of metal detector, and it find tunnels
and voids and vaults.
-So, what we're looking for. Yeah. -Yeah.
Gary: Here we go, mate.
This is what we've been waiting for.
You can't beat this feeling,
-driving across the causeway. -It's such a ride.
Maybe this is the year we find the money pit.
This is the year.
This is the year that we're gonna find treasure.
Oh, yeah.
All right, here we go!
Gary: Lot 15, mate.
Couple of hurdles to cross here.
Hey, guys.
-How you doing, laird? -That's a sight for sore eyes.
-Bringing in the big guns. -Yep.
(sighs): Ah. This...
Is the okm exp 6000. It does a lot
-of different things. -Yeah.
Tunnel scanning.
Mineral scan.
-It's a magnetometer. -That's cool.
And a metal detector.
-Wow. -And it goes deep.
(chuckles): So if it's ten feet down, what are we gonna do?
I brought an excavator.
-(laird chuckles) -the jack 6000.
All right, mate.
-Time to get stuck in. -Have fun.
Narrator: While preparing for his retun
to oak island this year...
We'll start in the very corner.
...Gary drayton was eager to employ an arsenal
of metal detection equipment that is, in some ways,
more sophisticated than anything he has used in the past.
One of these is
the okm exp 6000.
Featuring a display unit
that creates 3d visualizatios of underground anomalies,
the okm exp 6000 is able to detect metal objects
up to ten feet below the surface,
as well as any voids or tunnels
that might exist as deep as 60 feet underground.
Turn it on.
There we go.
I like how it has the treasure chest.
-How appropriate. -Kind of ironic, isn't it, eh?
-Jack: Mm-hmm. -Let's hope that works.
So, what we'll do is,
you try and keep me straight.
I'll go in a straight line.
When we get to the flag on the tree,
we're gonna turn around.
I'll head over there now,
-and then we'll get going. -Okay.
Narrator: Because gary will have to wat
until laird niven and his archaeological team
complete their painstaking investigation
of the mysterious stone-and-wood structure
they unearthed on lot 15,
gary and jack will begin a grid-like sweep
of the surrounding area.
All right, mate. First scan.
♪ ♪
so, I'm going deeper this year,
below normal metal detection range.
I'm hoping to find anything that'll help
tell the story of this area.
(quiet beeping)
it does make a sound.
Almost sounds like a chicken, doesn't it, jack?
Let's hope we find a golden egg.
Jack (chuckles): I like that.
Gary: All right, mate, on to the next.
-You ready? -Yup. I'm ready.
Narrator: While gary and jack continue their search
for metal artifacts on lot 15...
...Doug crowell and surveyor steve guptill arrive
at the money pit search site.
Let's do this.
Using the data obtained from the barringer survey,
doug and steve carefully mark and retrace areas of interest
in order to determine if any of them are connected
to the original money pit shaft.
If the barringer survey proves to be accurate--
and that can only be done by ground-truthing,
I.E. Drilling into the anomaly--
we'd be ecstatic, over the moon.
Right there, doug.
There's the first one.
See if we can actually get this down through the pad.
-Okay. -Ready?
We got... 30 meters that way.
Doug: It's really interesting, 'cause the barringer survey,
they found an interpreted tunnel.
We're scaling that old survey to our current 3d model.
We need to get stakes out on the ground
so you can see where it actually sits
in relation to the surroundings.
We're getting pretty close, doug.
Right here.
That's perfect, steve. I mean...
When you look straight down that line...
-Yup. -Yeah, c-1's right in the middle of it.
-C-1's right in the middle. -This is the outskirts
-of the barringer survey, so... -Mm-hmm.
...There could very well be a tunnel that just continues on.
Yup. You know where this goes.
I bet if I project a straight line,
it goes up to the potential rock tunnel on lot 15.
-This is all good information. -Yup.
Narrator: A tunnel?
One that possibly connects the c-1 shaft
to the mysterious rock formation on lot 15?
The same formation that is noted
as being a tunnel entrance on the survey map
of the late fred nolan?
If so, could it mean
that the oak island team has discovered
not only a direct link to the 170-foot-deep cavity in c-1,
but also the precise location
of the long-lost oak island treasure vault?
Steve g.: You know, this barringer survey is turning out
to be quite the find, doug.
-This is really interesting. -Yup.
Narrator: As a new day begins on oak island...
Charles: I want to get the guys up on video conferencing.
Narrator: ...Brothers rick and marty lagina...
-Charles! -...Along with
alex lagina and peter fornetti,
are now ten days into their mandatory two-week quarantin.
Together again, technologically.
Sitting here in quarantine, growing a beard.
Narrator: In addition to receiving daily updates
from members of their team, they use their time
to consider and plan various projects for the coming year.
So, the barringer geo-surfaces survey
that we found in dan's files
gave us an interpretive tunnel
-on lot 15. -Okay.
Maybe if steve could bring up the overlay
-of the barringer survey? -Sure.
Do you have the color-coded one, steve?
Yup. And we can turn them on and off as requested.
Looking over what we calculated,
I just turn the data on on top of the overlay.
The data is starting to line up.
Lot 15 leads into c-1.
Lot 15 is exactly 500 feet
between the paved area and the money pit.
That sort of confirms the survey from 1988.
That potentially could be a tunnel.
-Fantastic. -We've got to expand the search.
We've got to go over these areas with this
deep-scanning equipment.
You'll get a more accurate reading.
If gary can get in there with, you know, all...
With your equipment, we should be able to find stuff.
Yeah, get busy, gary.
I'm ready. I'm ready.
If you guys are excited, I'm excited.
And, uh, I can't help but observe
that the sort of resurrection of this barringer survey
after 32 years is sort of like
finding the treasure map finally in grandma's purse.
You know what I mean? Or in the attic.
-(laughter) -we're all energized, so,
get after it, gentlemen.
-Gary: Aye-aye, sir. -Charles: Bye, guys.
-Steve g.: See you, guys. -Terry: Okay, bye, guys.
Narrator: Later that day,
area geoscientist dr. Ian spooner arrives
at the man-made, triangle-shaped swamp
with local diver tony sampson.
What's made you pick this part of the swamp,
and what are you hoping we're going to find out here today?
Right over here we have, um,
some very interesting features
that shows up in the air photos.
We also have a geophysical,
seismic, low-density anomaly.
-Uh-huh. -And so,
two things are lining up.
Plus, we have a story of some kind
-of structure in there. -Excellent.
Narrator: After carefully analyzing
a collection of aerial photographs taken
from the archives of oak island treasure huntes
fred nolan and dan blankenship,
dr. Ian spooner believes he has found strong evidence
of an unusual feature-- possibly a wall
or some type of wooden structure--
located near the eastern edge of the swam.
Today, with the help
of professional diver tony sampson,
dr. Spooner hopes to verify whether or not
this strange wooden anomaly actually exists.
So, what I want to do is take the sonar in.
-Okay. -And see if we can duplicate
or replicate some of those results.
Fantastic, and this is a specific sonar
that you've put together, right?
Yeah, it's a unit that is especially suited
-to shallow water and to sub-bottom. -Uh-huh.
So, penetrating into the sediment a ways
and so we can see structures with it.
-Okay. -I've got some confidence
-we'll get some good returns. -Good stuff.
I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Okay. I'm gonna get the stuff and start putting it together.
I know you've got to get stuff together here.
-Excellent. -Okay. See you.
Rick: What is the swamp anomaly
that dr. Spooner has rendered an opinion about?
It's a singular goal. We know what we're after,
unlike the previous dig in the swamp.
We didn't know there was a paved area there.
To some degree,
we just stumbled upon it.
Ian: So, we'll try
to put it in right here.
-Another. That's good there. -You good?
-Yup. -Yup.
Okay, I'm gonna hop in.
We're good.
I'm going to start pinging it right now.
Okay. Do you want me to take you away
-from shore a bit, buddy? -Yeah.
Do you want to do, like, lawnmowing,
in a grid pattern-pattern or...?
I think just slowly back and forth,
-and we'll see what we get. -Okay.
How's the penetration look, ian?
It's... Oh, it's incredible.
It looks really good right now.
It looks like we're getting down
to around three, four meters, which is good.
Three, four meters? That's fantastic!
Ian: Yeah, this is good.
Narrator: The syqwest hydrobox echo sounder sonar device
that dr. Spooner is using
works by emitting sound pulses
that penetrate through the muck and mud
on the bottom of the swamp
which reflect back to the surface,
identifying any objects or structures buried below.
-Tony: So, towards south shore beach, buddy? -Yeah.
-Okay. -Just gonna watch really carefully in here.
Okay.
Beauty.
Are you seeing any new features down there then?
Yeah. Yeah, we're seeing some hard stuff.
Excellent.
This is going higher now.
Higher. Higher.
Ah, beauty.
You can see at one-meter depth all these logs.
Yup, that's funny you should say that, ian.
-I can feel them under my feet. -Yeah.
And right here... A big drop-off.
A big drop-off, right here.
-It's like a wall. -That's fantastic!
-Yeah. -Narrator: A wall?
Could this be evidence of further human activity
in the oak island swamp?
If so, who built it, and why?
Ian: The sonar seemed to show
that we were in probably two meters of mud, and then,
uh, boom, we dropped down to three or four meters.
And that's not normal in a swamp.
Now, you just don't get these, uh, radical changes in height.
Yeah, so, what I'm convinced of,
and I think it's backed up by the seismic and the air photos,
is a real feature exists right here.
There's something here that's-that's different.
That's great news. I've-I've always felt
there's something weird about the swamp.
Right, and this is where that cribbing is, right here.
Fantastic.
Narrator: A possible wooden structure
buried in the swamp?
Could it be the same wooden shaft
that was first discovered by fred nolan in 1969?
And could it also be connected
to the 16th century pine tar kiln,
which the oak island team believes may have been used
in the construction of the original money pit?
We see some very interesting features
right on top of the seismic anomaly
and just a little bit to the south of the 1943 air photos.
Any one of these pieces of evidence
on their own is interesting.
But all three, together, are really provocative.
Do you think we're getting some data here that, um,
corroborates that this is man-made, ian?
What it tells us is that if man was here,
they might have made use of this site.
-Yeah. -So, let's call it quits.
-Okay. -Yeah, we got
some great data, so my job now is, I think,
to take it to the research center and sort of compile it.
-And then I can build a 3d model. -Excellent.
Ian: So we'll get the boat out, head back.
Tony: Fantastic.
Narrator: On lot 15, just northeast
of the money pit on oak island,
archaeologists laird niven, aaron taylor and david macinns
continue their investigation of the 16th century pine tar kiln
that, according to their research, may have been used
in the construction of the money pit treasure vault.
-Where's the next line, jack? -Right through me.
Narrator: Metal detection expert gary drayton,
along with jack begley,
return to the area with the okm exp 6000
in search of any buried objects, voids or tunnels.
(soft beep)
come on. There's got to be something in this area.
Right through here.
(soft beeping)
there's something interesting about these.
Like, these circular groups of rock.
Aw. Come on, man.
You're not telling me
this is natural, what I'm standing on now.
-This is something. -Yeah?
Look at this.
Yeah, I think this is something.
I mean, if you look around here, jack,
there's definitely a circular pattern around here. Look.
Yeah, you're right.
I mean, you look at some of the rocks and how flat they are.
Jack: It looks like these rocks
-have been split and broken apart. -Yeah.
They're all very similar.
This could be some kind of stone structure.
Narrator: A stone structure?
And located just 100 feet from the pine tar kiln?
Could the team have finally found evidence
of a long-lost tunnel entrance?
Gary: This is undisturbed.
I don't think we should touch the moss, anything.
Let those guys take a look at it-- david and laird.
I don't even want to walk over it.
All right. I think we've done enough scans, mate.
Narrator: Because the stone feature may be a significant clue,
gary and jack know they must wait
until archaeologist laird niven and his team
have the opportunity to evaluate the site.
So, let's check it out.
Narrator: Having performed deep scans across the area,
gary and jack now review their results to see if they may
have also found anything of interest below ground.
The green color is just the background.
-Mm-hmm. -What I'm interested in is those reds and oranges.
Red and orange is always ferrous.
A lot of iron in this area.
And if it's nonferrous,
it's gonna be bright red.
As we're going along,
we're finding a good mix of targets.
One thing for sure,
there's a hell of a lot of metal in this area.
A lot of iron but, even more important,
there's some nonferrous targets.
Well, I'm a treasure hunter.
That's probably gold and silver coins.
There's reds and oranges everywhere.
Do you see anything that stands out to you
that we need to go after on this?
There's a couple of areas over there.
Let's continue with the ctx,
see if we can find surface finds.
I'd like to find that one coin, that one ring,
oh, man, that one bobby-dazzler that tells us a story.
Let me grab my shovel.
Narrator: In order to narrow down the possibility
that there could be important metal objects near the surfac,
gary will now use the ctx 3030 metal detector,
the same device he has used over the years
to find numerous objects,
like the mysterious lead cros at smith's cove,
which is believed to be some 700 years old.
Jack: There's got to be another coin
or something around here, gary.
-Gary: I know there is, mate. -(beeping)
(trilling)
there's something there, mate.
Gonna have to dig it out.
Damn. You went all medieval on that one, mate.
Oh, yeah. I'm not wasting time.
Gary: Hopefully you've moved it.
Ooh!
I see it.
What do you see?
Gary: That's a ax.
It's a broken ax.
Oh, it is!
Gary: Look at that.
The way it comes down.
That's a really old ax then.
Gary: Definitely.
And just the weight of it tells me
that this is really old.
I don't think it's a weapon.
In the maritimes, you'd call it a ship's rigging ax.
You'd use it on the ship for cutting ropes.
Jack: What would it be doing right here?
Gary: Well, let's say
you came onto the beach here
and you wanted to come inland.
What are you gonna use?
You're gonna use one of these
to hack your way into this area.
-Like a machete. -Yeah.
-Because, if you think about it,
you got those operations up there.
You got the beach here.
Narrator: Could gary's theory
about this so-called ship's rigging ax be correct?
Could it be further evidence of human activity
connecting the 800-year-old man-made stone-paved area
in the swamp to the nearby pine tar kiln,
as archaeologist laird niven and his associates have suggested?
Jack: What's the most recent it could've been used?
Gary: (sputters) I don't know, but it's out here
and it's been here a heck of a long time.
So, probably before the discovery
-of the money pit. -Yeah.
Okay. Let's keep going then.
-(beeping) -ooh.
(beeping continues)
it just sounds so good.
Just there.
(chuckles)
(beeping)
(trilling)
come to papa.
Where you hiding?
-I see it. -Ooh!
-Oh, no way! -(quietly): What the heck?
That's an old coin.
Gary: That's a little beauty. Look at that.
-That's an old coin, mate. -Oh, yeah.
-That is an old coin! -(chuckles): Oh, yeah.
Gary: That is. I'm sure it is.
I mean, you can see some kind of... Decoration.
Any time there's writing around the outside, mate,
-that's a dead-- no, I don't think we should. -No?
-Okay! Oh! -No, always--
-this is a top pocket find. -Yeah.
Gary: It's got the original patina.
It's got the shape,
that old shape.
It's not perfectly round.
And it's got that square hole in it, mate.
And you can tell it's old-old because it's square.
I mean, this could be an integral clue
in figuring out exactly who used this tar kiln.
But we found a lot of coins over the years on oak island,
and this looks to be
probably one of the oldest,
based upon the shape and the patina.
What's fascinating about this coin is the shape
and the fact that it's got a square hole in the middle.
This coin is very, very old.
And I don't believe it's european.
This coin is from somewhere much more exotic.
Jack: You're the coin expert, gary.
Can you date this coin off of just the features?
This is old, mate.
My guess is 1600, 1700s.
This is great, gary.
This is bloody brilliant.
Jack: I think so.
-Elbow bump? (laughs) -(laughs)
gary: That's what I love about metal detecting--
the chance to pick up a piece of history.
Jack: Here we are, gary.
Narrator: Following their exploration of lot 15,
gary drayton and jack begley head to the research center
to share their discoveries
with oak island historian charles barkhouse.
-Hello? Hey, charles. -Hey, guys.
-Hey, charles. -How you doing?
-Gary: Good, mate. -Good. We've had a really good
day back on the island.
-Really? -Gary: We have got some...
Really great finds, mate.
We found some good stuff.
Uh, would you say this is a top pocket find?
It's in the top pocket, mate.
-(laughs) -some are in the pouch,
-but definitely got a top pocket find. -Really?
So, I guess the obvious question is,
what did you find?
What did we find?
Actually, I think these are so important
that we should call the guys that are in quarantine--
rick, marty, alex and peter--
-and let them all know. Yeah. -Really?
Yeah. They are-- it's that special.
-Okay. -I'm gonna get the guys up
on the video call.
-I know they want to know. -And they're in quarantine, mate.
This is just what the doctor ordered.
Charles: Give 'em a little boost.
Gary: Exactly.
Hey, rick! Hey, peter!
Hey, marty and alex!
Gary: How you doing, chaps?
Hi, guys.
Jack: So, gary and I were over
-at lot 15. -Yes.
Gary: The archaeologists--
they gave us permission to metal detect,
and we took full advantage of it
-and... I got a top pocket find. -(laughs)
-wow. -Yeah.
(laughing)
let's see it!
♪ ♪
you know, uh...
This is worth waiting for, guys.
When you get out of quarantine,
this will lift your spirits, mate.
Wait a minute! Wait a minute.
Stop.
You're really not gonna show this to us?
-Um, no. I believe... -(laughs): What?
...You will get a better perspective
when you see these finds in person.
Are you really that excited about it, gary?
-Or are you just pulling our leg? -Yeah.
Alex: Do you think that it sheds
any light on the structure on lot 15?
These artifacts that we found are definitely gonna shed light
on who probably made that structure up on the hillside.
-Yeah. -Marty: Oh, rick,
what do you think about these guys dorking us like this?
-I don't like it. But... -(laughter)
can you seriously
put a date to it?
It should shed light on a country
and hopefully a date
-and maybe a surprising date. -Marty: Wow.
I'm gonna play along. I'm gonna go along with this.
You know, it'll make coming to the island even more exciting.
-Mm. -Yeah.
Well, look, if you're not gonna show us anything,
-then get back out there. -(laughter)
-yeah. -Rick: Okeydoke.
-Marty: Okay, thanks, guys. -Gary: All right, mate.
Jack: Let's go get some more.
♪ ♪
narrator: Despite a number of devastating setbacks,
brothers rick and marty lagia remain as committed as ever
to solving the 225-year-old mystery of oak island.
But now perhaps equally important
to unearthing a vast treasure
is finding out what happened on oak island
centuries ago.
Perhaps it can explain
why the island has been guarded by a mysterious curse,
one that has claimed six lives
and threatens to take one more
before the truth about oak island
can be revealed.
Next time on the curse of oak island...
Marty: We're out of quarantine. We're heading to the island.
There's a lot of new things to explore.
It truly feels like the fellowship's
getting back together now that you're here.
Gary: I like the look of this, jack.
What the...?!
-I think it's lead or something. -Oh, wow.
See, this is what we're looking for.
That might be the find of the year.
David: Not only is it man-made,
this goes all the way back to 1500.
It could have been used for construction of the money pit.
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