NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
MARTY: Here we go.
...the special two-hour season ten premiere.
-Smells like treasure. -RICK: Slice her open.
IAN: There's a source of gold in the Money Pit.
-TERRY: Wow. -And I think you have
a human gold deposit here.
-It's time to dig up some treasure. -Yes.
RICK: We're hoping that the sonic drill program
will be integral to finally solving the mystery.
-(beeping) -GARY: Ooh. Wow.
This could be something special, mate.
EMMA: It is not a modern metal by any means.
-It's nonexistent. -Yeah! -Quite exciting.
They were used for, like, coins.
Treasure coin, baby!
-There's the wood, right there. -Wow. Look at that.
That's a bottom of a beam.
We're obviously in a structure, for sure.
-Yep. -MARTY: It could be that we're close to
an offset chamber that holds the treasure.
RICK: For the first time, we will look at
a structure underground in the Money Pit.
-STEVE: What was that? -You're starting to see something there.
-Right there. -Yep. -RICK: This could be huge.
TERRY: Yes. Wow.
NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking for
an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found a stone slab
with strange symbols carved into it...
...man-made workings that date to medieval times,
and a lead cross whose origin may be connected
to the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And according to legend, one more will have to die
before the treasure can be found.
♪ ♪
MARTY: Gentlemen!
-We're on our way back. -ALEX: Yeah.
I want to get to the bottom of it this year.
Said it before, but this year I mean it, okay?
We got to get it done, guys.
-We got to get it done. -Absolutely.
I think it's gonna be a good year, a very good year.
NARRATOR: Summer has arrived in Western Shore, Nova Scotia...
It's about time to figure this out.
-That's for sure. -...and with it,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina, their partner Craig Tester
and their team have returned with renewed determination
to solve the 227-year-old Oak Island mystery.
This year, for me,
everything we do has to be objective driven.
Like chasing the gold.
-Yes. -Because everyone now believes
-that there's some treasure associated in the Money Pit. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Ever since the ingeniously designed booby-trapped shaft,
known as the Money Pit, was discovered in 1795,
generations of searchers have tried and failed
to find whatever may lie buried more than 90 feet deep.
The depth of this one might be a better chance
-for getting some silver, right? -Okay.
NARRATOR: However, over the past two years,
the Laginas and their team
have obtained scientific evidence of precious metals
deep underground all across the Money Pit area.
Here's the bottom line. It's got gold in it.
It's got gold in the water.
And if it's got gold in the water,
the gold is coming from somewhere.
I told you Bravo Tango was coming at some point.
(laughter)
MARTY: Land, ho! Here she is, boys.
NARRATOR: Now, after more than a decade into their own search...
Here we come, island.
...can Rick, Marty, Craig and the team
locate and recover the believed valuables?
And will they finally be able to solve the Oak Island mystery?
MARTY: Like the old saying,
"From the human heart hope springs eternal,"
there have been other times in this quest
when I thought we were really close
and our hopes were dashed.
But we dusted ourselves off and started again.
Are we as close as I thought those times?
Yes.
Because we now know
there's gold in the water in the Money Pit area.
Okay, Rick, brother.
And so, I'm singularly focused
on chasing that gold
to where it's coming from.
RICK: Everybody's here.
-And so it begins. -All right. -Let's go.
RICK: I have been fascinated with trying to understand
the mystery in its totality.
Who, what, when, where, why and how.
-Hey, guys. -OTHERS: Hey. -Welcome back.
-MARTY: Gentlemen! -Hey, guys.
MARTY: Howdy, howdy. Good to be back.
RICK: And I think we're on the cusp of
a discovery that will ultimately lead to the solution.
I hate to say it, but everybody looks a year older.
(laughter)
RICK: We all come at this differently,
and yet we all sit at the same table
with the same goals in mind, the greater good.
Trying to understand this incredibly powerful,
incredibly complex mystery.
Thanks for everybody being here.
It's great to see the same faces.
RICK: Absolutely. It's nice to see
all of us sitting around the table
and everybody remotely.
-MARTY: There you go. -Yeah.
MARTY: The first thing I want to talk about,
'cause it's what keeps me coming back
with enthusiasm, is that there is gold in the water.
The number one goal is to trace that gold
in the water back to its source,
and then dig it up.
So, last year, we had anomalous gold
in the water,
but our data set wasn't large.
It was based on 20 holes in the Money Pit.
So, this year, we identified 50 holes
-to collect a bigger data set. -Mm-hmm.
To that end, uh, Dr. Spooner,
as we drill all these other wells
to chase the gold in the water,
how are we going to do it and what have we done so far?
Yeah, uh, yeah, thanks, Marty.
I mean, what we're trying to do, really, is
figure out where water travels
in The Money Pit, how water moves.
We've been putting in these wells
that'll help us track water.
So, then, when we do find gold in the water,
we can get a bit better idea
-where it's coming from. -Yeah.
IAN: All right, that's the last sample.
NARRATOR: One year ago,
geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner,
collected water samples from numerous boreholes
that the team has drilled
over the past decade in the Money Pit area...
and, incredibly, found high trace evidence of
both silver and gold in numerous locations.
This year, the team has already begun
a new core-drilling operation involving more than
50 planned boreholes to not only look
for hard evidence of treasure
but also allow Dr. Spooner to conduct
much more sophisticated water tests.
By using a device known as a level logger,
Dr. Spooner believes he can determine the direction
of water flow deep underground in the Money Pit area.
This would allow him to also track where the evidence
of gold is coming from.
IAN: What's important to me is, if we can isolate that gold
in the water down to a specific location.
By specific, I mean 20 feet by 20 feet.
Then we know almost certainly that the gold's been in place.
Fantastic. Find us that 20 by 20 box, okay?
-We'll do the rest. -(laughter)
-We'll do our best. -MARTY: All right. Fair enough.
Okay. Rick, what's the next topic?
I think the elephant in the room is the muon technology.
Right. You know, everything's in place.
-Everything's recording. -Mm-hmm.
But we're not gonna have data for months yet.
NARRATOR: Over the last few months,
the Oak Island team has strategically placed
muon tomography devices in 14 boreholes
across the Money Pit area, at the South Shore
and at the southern border of the swamp,
that are detecting subatomic particles
known as muons as they penetrate the Earth's surface.
The collected data will generate a three-dimensional map
of underground anomalies, including tunnels, voids,
and large objects such as a treasure vault.
However, the data collection may take
the entire summer to complete.
What we could see before too long is
if there's a big treasure close to
one of the sensors, it'll see that quicker.
GARY: Yeah, sounds good.
Instead of the big dig, a big recovery.
-Yeah. -(laughter)
MARTY: Let's talk about my friend, the swamp.
Just to bring everybody up to speed,
we have spoken to Mi'kmaw leadership.
We believe we've reached
-a cooperative relationship with them. -Yes.
-But the standoff distances are still in place. -Yes.
So we'll see how that all unfolds.
NARRATOR: One year ago, while investigating a stone pathway
near the stone road that the team unearthed
in the southeastern corner of the swamp...
-LIZ: What you got? -LAIRD: Mi'kmaw pottery.
...archaeologist Laird Niven discovered
Indigenous Mi'kmaw pottery
that could date back as much as 2000 years.
This resulted in the provincial Department
of Community, Culture, Tourism and Heritage
restricting any further searching
in a 200-foot-diameter zone surrounding the area.
Although the team is currently seeking
new permits from the authorities,
it is their hope that in the coming weeks
they can resume their investigation of the swamp
where they have made incredible discoveries,
including numerous parts of ancient sailing vessels,
and a stone-paved feature that has been dated
to as early as 1200 AD.
You know, contrary to me whining about the swamp all the time,
I have to say every time we've dug in there, we've found stuff.
-Right, Gary? Yeah. -Yeah.
I think there's still some story there to be understood.
-Yes. -MARTY: Okay.
And I see over here on the right,
-with Helen, I see a new face. -LAIRD: Yeah.
So we have a new member of our archeological team,
Emma Culligan.
She's gonna be running CT scanner
and the other equipment
that we're gonna have on the island.
-Oh. -EMMA: Yeah, so I studied engineering,
um, as well as archeology, kind of a niche
that I wanted to create for myself. So...
Uh, yeah, I think you've come into a pretty good niche.
-(laughter) -We're gonna keep her pretty busy this summer.
Excellent. Well, welcome to the fellowship.
Well, that nicely brings us to one of Rick's
favorites and that's research.
Because I will say that
what happened in Portugal is a bit of an eye-opener.
I was surprised
how many potentially relevant things you found.
-Oh. Good morning. -Welcome to Portugal. -RICK: Thank you.
NARRATOR: Last fall, during their investigative tour
of 12th-century sites connected to the Knights Templar
throughout the country of Portugal...
So, this symbol is definitely on the 90-foot stone.
...Rick Lagina and Oak Island historian Doug Crowell,
along with Rick's nephews, Alex Lagina and Peter Fornetti,
made a number of intriguing discoveries.
-ALEX: Right there. Yep. -RICK: It's perfect.
The circle and the dot in the center of the cross,
that's one of our symbols on the H+O Stone.
NARRATOR: These revelations included ancient carvings
in a church constructed by the Templars
that matched known symbols on Oak Island,
such as the H+O Stone
and the fabled 90-foot stone,
reportedly discovered in the Money Pit back in 1803.
ALEX: The stone path looks exactly like this.
Yeah, it looks the spitting image.
NARRATOR: They were also shown a 2,000-year-old Roman road
that was nearly identical to the one that the team uncovered
two years ago in the southeast corner of the swamp.
We do have teams, literally across the globe,
to look into archives
for information relative to our search.
We have a team, literally, in France.
We have people in Portugal. We have people in the Azores.
We have people in Italy.
-Geez. -Uh, we have people in London.
And they have done astoundingly great work to date.
I have high hopes for it.
I-I think they might have some clues
to our current understanding of Oak Island and the mystery.
-Yep, sounds great. -Yes. -MARTY: Well, that's all good.
Then there's Lot 8.
Gary, last year we found a lot of stuff there.
Yeah, some really cool finds off that area.
Yeah.
GARY: When it comes to the surface,
metal detecting, is you always go back
to where you've recovered coins and artifacts before,
'cause you're gonna find some more.
-Yeah. -Okay, so that's Lot 8.
Sounds like we have a pretty full schedule.
I think so.
I think it's gonna be an exciting year.
I'm-I'm really looking forward to it.
MARTY: Okay. I think it's time
to get up from this table and go do something.
The only more words I want to hear are...
-Bravo Tango! -Bravo Tango!
-(laughter) -Let's go.
-It's exciting. -JACK: Yep.
TERRY: Here we are. K-15.5.
-Hey, Marty. -Marty, Rick.
-Rick, how you doing? -What's up?
Got the doubloons?
-(laughing) -No?
Someday soon, Marty.
-Someday soon, man. -All right.
NARRATOR: Following their meeting in the war room,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina arrive at the Money Pit
to check on the core-drilling operation
in Borehole K-15.5--
the newest target on their strategic grid
designed to help trace both underground water flow
and hopefully the source of the gold and silver
that has recently been detected in the area.
-Where are we right now? -Right there.
We're going to 158 to finish it and deeper if we get interest.
NARRATOR: Working once again
with representatives from Choice Drilling,
the team is extracting core samples every ten feet
in the hopes of finding important clues or valuables.
If they encounter water, they will then collect samples
for geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner to conduct further testing.
RICK: We have used the sonic drill program extensively
to further our understanding of the underground
in the Money Pit area, and that continues to the day.
Let's follow the water sampling process
and see if it leads us to a location.
The greatest hope of all, of course,
is that it encounters some sort of treasure.
As we accumulate all these data points,
we need to come to a new understanding
of where we are and where we need to go.
We need everybody to weigh in.
So, I'm grateful for everybody's
active and ongoing pursuit of answers.
MARTY: All right. I think we need to do
another hole or two and see what maybe it tells us.
The next few holes is gonna prove it up.
All right. Keep going, guys.
Let us know if something bizarre happens.
-We will keep you appraised. -All right.
-CRAIG: Okay, guys. -TERRY: Take care now. See you soon.
NARRATOR: As the core-drilling operation,
as well as water sampling, continues in the Money Pit...
-Got it? -Got it.
...later that afternoon...
MARTY: We going to find something today?
GARY: Oh, we are, mate.
...Marty Lagina joins metal detection expert
Gary Drayton on Lot 8,
located west of the triangle-shaped swamp.
I've been looking forward to coming back here.
And this is what brought us here,
-this depression. Yeah. -I love this tree.
-GARY: We found some cool stuff here. -Yes.
NARRATOR: Of Oak Island's 32 four-acre lots,
Lot 8 has produced some of the most significant clues
that could potentially help the team solve
the 227-year-old treasure mystery.
-Look at that. -GARY: That is a bobby-dazzler.
NARRATOR: It was here in 2017 that Gary and Rick Lagina
discovered a semiprecious, red garnet brooch.
-GARY: We just found a jewel. -RICK: That's gorgeous.
I know you keep referring to it as a, uh, a brooch.
I have a different possible interpretation.
NARRATOR: However, one year ago,
the team was astounded when 32nd Degree Freemason
Scott Clarke suggested that the garnet may be connected to
one of the most sacred missing treasures ever associated
with the medieval order of the Knights Templar.
SCOTT: This garnet was actually the perfect color, size,
and general shape as one of the stones
from a Masonic Royal Arch High Priest breastplate.
The breastplate was used
in a specific Masonic ritual meant to mimic the retrieval
of the Ark of the Covenant from a secret vault underground.
Wow.
-Oh, it's time to dig, huh, guys? -Yep.
-(rattling) -NARRATOR: Following Scott's presentation,
Marty and members of the team unearthed
a potentially man-made feature constructed of large stones.
It's just a big layer of rocks right across this whole area.
-I think we need to go that way. -Okay, mate.
-We'll go straight line towards the ocean. -Okay.
NARRATOR: Now, Marty and Gary are hoping to find clues
that might explain the purpose of the mysterious stone feature,
as well as evidence that something of great value
-could be buried in the area. -GARY: Yeah, that's a diggable target.
-(beeps) -It should be right there.
♪ ♪
MARTY: Try that.
(beeping)
You got it out.
(chuckles): Oh, look at this. It's an ox shoe.
MARTY: What the hell? There was never any occupation
-on this lot. -Yeah. -(beeping)
And it doesn't exactly look like farmland.
MARTY: Well, this may be more substantive here
than perhaps elsewhere,
because if that spot there has significance,
then hauling things could've been occurring
between the water and back there.
So it'd be good to know, you know,
-what that thing tells us. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: Because Lot 8 was
never inhabited by farmers,
could Marty's assessment be correct that this oxen shoe
may be evidence of an operation to haul cargo
from the ocean to somewhere in this area long ago?
If so, what kind of cargo could it be?
-Good start, mate. -Yeah.
-Okay. Bag it and let's keep going. -Okay.
All right, continue the line.
(gentle beeping)
-Proceed, partner. -Yep.
(beeping)
-Yeah? -Yep.
Small target or a deep target.
(steady beeping)
Just there, mate.
-There's a root here, Gary. Something. -Yeah.
Have to sort of do it this way.
That will look like it should broggle it out, mate.
-Try that. -(beeping)
GARY: Ooh!
MARTY: Is it a big piece of something?
I'm not sure. Come on out, you little bugger.
It feels like a handle.
(giggles) I got it! I got it.
MARTY: Oh, my goodness. What the hell is that?
(beeping)
-That's it? -What is that?
I have no idea, mate.
We find some unusual things, especially at this site.
Back in business on Lot 8.
-That was down a foot. -Yeah.
It's a mystery find.
We could be looking at corrosion.
Right? I mean, it could be inside there.
Yeah. Oh, it definitely is, mate.
I mean, this is a prime candidate for the CT scanner.
It can see straight through this.
That's why I couldn't describe it.
When I got me hands on it, and I'm like, "What?"
-Yeah, you said it feels like a handle. -Yeah.
Yeah. 'Cause that's how I pulled it out.
I put me hand around it and I think... (gasps)
-That was-- Oh. -I was thinking it was a pistol. I was hoping.
-MARTY: Well... -My hope is that this is
somehow connected to the musket.
You know, Gary, it's possible.
-I mean, in just looking at this butt end here. -Yep.
It's possible this is portion of a pistol.
NARRATOR: A metal fragment of a possible pistol or musket?
One year ago, while searching this same area,
Gary and Marty discovered an iron flintlock from a musket
that may potentially date back three centuries or more.
This end feels a little lighter than that end.
NARRATOR: Could this be another part of that same ancient weapon?
If so, just who left it here?
This is fantastic.
-It's cool, though. -Bag it and tag it.
Put that in your top pocket, you're gonna be bent over.
Yeah, something...
-Next lane, coming up. -MARTY: Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following day, at the Money Pit...
-(whirring) -TEDFORD: Ah, it's coming!
...Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse
continues supervising the drilling of Borehole K-15.5.
-Oh, yeah! Wood! -CHARLES: Wood?
-103 and a half. -103 and a half.
Yeah, there it is.
Right there.
I can see it in the bag.
Oh, yeah, baby.
Smells like treasure.
Nice little chunk there for you, Charles.
Yeah. You got one up here, too.
-So, what depth is that, Mike? -Uh, this is...
-top, bottom. -COLTEN: 111.
-This is 103 and a half. -Right. And this one?
-111. -111. Okay.
I'm cutting it open. I want to see this thing.
Oh!
It's a good beam.
You got a beam, too. Okay.
NARRATOR: Part of a wooden beam?
Unearthed from between 103 and 111 feet deep
in Borehole K-15.5?
The question now is,
what exactly has the team encountered?
A possible structure?
Or could it be some kind of a container?
That kind of looks pretty flat along here, doesn't it?
-Yeah. -Right there, yeah.
That looks dimensional lumber, doesn't it?
COLTEN: I'd say so.
CHARLES: Yeah, we're obviously in a structure,
-for sure. -TEDFORD: Looks like it.
CHARLES: I'm gonna text Rick to come down here.
COLTEN: Yeah.
CHARLES: Looks like we've hit a structure, Rick.
Seems like I show up when all of
the interesting things have already happened.
(laughing)
NARRATOR: After being alerted by Charles Barkhouse
that the team from Choice Drilling
has recovered a large wooden beam
some 103 feet deep in Borehole K-15.5,
Rick Lagina has arrived at the Money Pit area
to inspect this potentially important discovery.
CHARLES: To me it goes horizontal,
'cause the way it's chewed and the way it's all stacked,
but then it extends over to this one.
-This vertical piece here. -RICK: Oh.
CHARLES: And because we're getting these long pieces,
I believe it's coming down the side of a support.
RICK: It's exciting. It's wood at an elevation
that indicates human beings were at that level
doing some enterprise.
No nails or anything?
No. Well, I haven't checked that one yet
'cause we haven't finished cutting that one open.
But there's nothing in this one.
-Certainly quite loose. -It is quite loose, yeah.
It's amazing.
It's that really nice puddled clay.
Puddled clay, yeah.
NARRATOR: Puddled clay?
When the original Money Pit was first excavated
to a depth of 90 feet in 1804,
searchers reported finding puddled clay at various levels.
The clay was believed to have been used
as a kind of sealant to keep water out of the shaft.
Is it possible that the team has just made a similar discovery?
If so, could that mean they have encountered
a structure connected to the original Money Pit?
Hey, Charles. How're you doing?
-Hey, Terry. -Hi, Rick.
RICK: Hey, Terry.
-Interesting times. -Interesting times.
Mike, what's going on?
-(chuckles) -Uh...
As soon as I hit 103, it just dropped.
How far did it drop?
Eight inches, something like that,
then I stopped, pulled it out.
Between this and that, there's a void down there.
-Yep. -RICK: Okay.
-Slice her open, let's see. -Let's have a look.
Bring it over.
All right. This was up against this.
Look at that. That's the bottom of a beam.
Yeah, that was right up against that.
So, that was the piece that was right on the bottom,
and that's the top.
103 the crown,
and the base sitting right here at 108.
SCOTT: There's a good chance that this structure is
basically an open tunnel or a partially open tunnel.
So, 103 to 108, that's a nice five-footer.
CHARLES: Five-foot-high tunnel.
Yeah, five foot, you'd have to creep a little bit.
You know, we-we've seen documentation of tunnels
as high as two feet, and we've seen them
as high as eight feet, so, it goes to show
-there are everywheres in between. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: A possible five-foot-high tunnel,
more than 100 feet deep in the Money Pit area?
But if so, the critical question becomes,
was it built by previous treasure hunters?
Or could it have been constructed by someone
from a much earlier time period
in order to conceal something of great value?
SCOTT: It'd be good to see if we can find some pieces in there
that have a milled surface on them
and see if we can identify what kind of saw cut it was.
RICK: We've looked into the type of tools
to create lumber.
They range from,
you know, industrial-size carbide blades
in the modern era to long ago using axes and adze
to-to cut and shape timber.
What it speaks to is the age of the wood.
TERRY: There's a milled surface there.
Also, one here. Look at this.
-Look at the uprights here, eh. -SCOTT: Yeah.
There's another beautiful piece up there.
TERRY: That almost looks like an adze.
SCOTT: It does, doesn't it?
TERRY: You can see some bevels.
NARRATOR: Believed to have been invented more than 2,000 years ago
in Ancient Egypt, an adze is a type of cutting tool
featuring a blade, which sets perpendicular to its handle.
This design made them ideal for the construction
of ships and finely-crafted buildings up until
the 18th century, when they were replaced
by mechanized tools.
-(beeping) -GARY: Ooh, look at that.
NARRATOR: One year ago, while searching on Lot 4,
where the team also discovered a fragment of a possible
ancient Portuguese cannon,
Rick Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Drayton
unearthed one of these very tools.
The adze proved to be a valuable discovery.
CARMEN: So, with this particular one here,
I would go way back, um, about 1620.
That's cut with an adze.
You know, that strenuously suggests age.
CHARLES: You can see the chop marks right there,
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Definitely, you can see the bevels.
Wow, that's a good indication of something fairly old.
That's incredible.
NARRATOR: If the team has indeed found a tunnel built
prior to the discovery of the Money Pit,
could it be a breakthrough that will not only help identify
who was behind the Oak Island mystery
but also potentially lead them
straight to the fabled treasure vault?
RICK: This wood appears to be old.
It's quite blackened. It has adze cut on it.
An adze, generally speaking--
generally speaking-- is quite old.
So this is certainly a prime candidate for C-14 testing.
TERRY: There's a bevel there. It's really interesting.
RICK: It's not confirmation, but it certainly is
somewhat supportive that it is indeed a tunnel.
Is there any thoughts of trying to determine
the trajectory of this?
Like, do more drilling to try to see
-where this is coming from? -Yep.
I'd chase this tunnel.
But, to me, something this far out
would probably be tunneled directly to the Money Pit.
-CHARLES: Agreed. -Or, you know,
something that was connected to the Money Pit.
If there's ever a chance for water sampling,
-I think this is it. -Oh, yeah. For sure.
RICK: This is eminently interesting.
I've got one thing to take care of, but call me
-if anything new turns up, okay? -CHARLES: Okay.
TERRY: Turned out to be a really, really interesting hole.
CHARLES: Very much so.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
-RICK: Carmen, how are you? -Oh, not too bad.
-Yourself? -Good.
...at the Research Center, Rick Lagina,
Jack Begley and Craig Tester
meet with blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge
to get his assessment
of the mysterious artifact found one day ago on Lot 8.
RICK: We've got a bit of a puzzle for you.
That is this object right here.
My brother and Gary found it. It was found on Lot 8.
And we have run some geophysical investigations there,
and they're showing some anomalous feature.
-Oh, okay. -So, they found that.
NARRATOR: Earlier today,
archaeologist Emma Culligan ran the artifact
through the team's state-of-the-art
SKYSCAN 1273 CT scanner.
The device emits nondestructive X-ray radiation
that penetrates encrusted materials
that build up over time on an object's surface
to reveal a computer image of its finer details.
RICK: Heavily encrusted.
That's why the CT scan should help.
-That is what the CT scanner showed. -CARMEN: Oh. Yeah.
-That helps you? -Yes.
Interesting.
What would be their typical use?
JACK: Like hauling wood out
or also hauling ground material up?
Lifting cargo?
NARRATOR: A bunk hook?
Used for lifting and hauling logs or heavy cargo?
Could Marty and Gary have found more evidence
that something of potential value
could be buried on Lot 8,
as theorists such as Freemason Scott Clarke have suggested?
RICK: It's somewhat of a unique design.
So, I've never seen one in the modern era.
RICK: Wow.
NARRATOR: In the research center,
blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge
has just given his assessment
that the artifact found one day ago on Lot 8
is potentially more than 400 years old
and was designed for hoisting heavy cargo.
CRAIG: Okay.
So, then, this is probably older than 1795, then?
RICK: Personally, I can't come up
with any activity that we know of
that would necessitate a... a hook such as that.
Oh, wow.
Seven to eight tons is a lot.
What's this doing on Lot 8?
We'd expect something on the East Drumlin like this.
How much hauling and work do we know that was done on Lot 8?
Like, in-in our records of
-the history on Oak Island? -We don't.
Whether it was from the searchers or depositors,
I mean, that'd be a useful hook to have.
But this was found, like, in the middle of the lot.
Interesting.
RICK: I see.
We would have to have this conserved
before it could go in the XRF,
since it's so heavily encrusted with something.
We will definitely put a notation on here and...
-Very interesting. -That could date back quite old
and give us great evidence for the Lot 8 area.
I mean, we've found some weird things around there.
When you have an item that, according to Carmen,
the design could be as far back as the 1500s,
we know it was used for extremely heavily loads,
why not try to gain further understanding of not only
that particular item but what other items
we might find on the lot?
There's only one way to figure that out,
and that's to devote the assets and the time necessary
to try to figure out what that mystery might be.
There's more work to do. It's an interesting item.
Certainly found on a lot we don't know a whole lot about,
and we need to know more.
So thank you for the information.
We appreciate your time, appreciate your insight.
-Very good. All right, see you later. -Thank you. Thank you.
-CRAIG: Thanks, Carmen. -RICK: All right, appreciate it.
CARMEN: See ya.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following morning...
-PAUL: Got another core coming in. -TERRY: Yep.
...Oak Island historian Paul Troutman
and geologist Terry Matheson
monitor the core drilling of a new borehole, M-16.25.
-What do we have, Colt? -Hey, Colten.
-It's gonna be 89. -89, all right. -89, thank you
NARRATOR: Located approximately 11 feet to the south of Borehole K-15.5,
the team is hoping to obtain further evidence
of a possible wooden tunnel at a depth of some 103 feet.
PAUL: So, 102 to 108 feet for that, uh,
-wood intersection that was found in K-15.5. -Yep.
-PAUL: Hopefully we'll get on it with this hole. -TERRY: Yeah.
So once we get to depth, if we find that void,
then we'll be able to use the well camera,
get inside it, get a profile.
And even better to find the direction of the tunnel.
'Cause the tunnel came from somewhere.
It's going to somewhere.
-Yes. That would be ideal. -Yeah.
RICK: We're hoping that a six-inch sonic tube
will penetrate a chamber, a void,
tunnel, and if it has open space,
there is the possibility
that one can introduce a small camera down
and take a look.
It gives you all kinds of possibilities.
TEDFORD: You're gonna have to go deeper.
Well, it's at 103, which is the top.
And so you just gotta poke it out.
(whirring)
If we hit the tunnel, and if we can get down inside of it
and get the camera work done, find the orientation.
Even just a hit gives us better information.
Yes, and if it gives us a direction
that we could actually follow a little bit further out...
♪ ♪
PAUL: This is critical.
Here it comes, the moment of truth.
PAUL: Mike, Colten, what's the story?
-TERRY: Hey. -Okay, so...
-102. We felt something. -Right.
Broke through quick, like, four inches or something like that.
-Real easy. -COLTEN: Just a thin layer. -Boom. Right.
And then, I drove my casing to 103.
Yeah, yeah, to get inside.
That's-that's... I would say almost perfect.
-Yeah. -So, we're busted in there.
Rods are out, and it's open to 107.
-Okay. I guess... -And casing's at 103.
-So, you guys got... -Four-foot window.
...four feet to play around in.
For me, that's mission accomplished.
I think we've gotten into the tunnel.
We're gonna get a better alignment.
And I guess the point now would be, I think,
let's call Rick and see what he says.
See if he can get down here.
NARRATOR: Now that the team has once again encountered wood,
followed by a four-foot void and another section of wood,
could geologist Terry Matheson be correct that
they've actually found a man-made tunnel?
(line ringing)
Hey, Rick. How you doing? Rick, we've got some good news.
Really good. Listen, uh, we got some good feedback
here from, uh, Mike and Colten.
I think we're into the tunnel.
How do you want to proceed?
I'll get one together right now
and go off and get it.
RICK: If it is a real tunnel,
it presents the possibility of determining if it's open.
And if we get a real picture of a real tunnel,
it would be the first time ever
that we take a picture of a structure underground.
We have retrieved wood from deep underground in the Money Pit.
We have never seen a structure with our own eyes in situ.
So this could be quite huge.
MARTY: We would like to see underground around the Money Pit.
Something that could help resolve the mystery
of where the heck the Money Pit is.
So we're trying to figure that all out, but it's exciting.
Okay, we'll be in the process of setting up, okay?
Very good. Talk to you soon.
Bye now.
Well, thanks a lot, you guys.
Mission accomplished for you guys, absolutely.
Thanks a lot.
-TERRY: Let's get the camera going. -PAUL: Okay.
SCOTT: We have everything ready to go?
-PAUL: Yes. -TERRY: Right on.
NARRATOR: After being informed
by members of the team
that they've once again drilled
into a possible wooden tunnel
some 103 feet deep in the Money Pit area...
Let's, uh, try to rig a light on the end of this
so we can get a better view down there.
...Rick Lagina and Steve Guptill
join them to explore Borehole M-16.25
with a specialized underwater camera.
SCOTT: That light look fairly centered on there?
-STEVE: Yeah. -SCOTT: That's good.
RICK: As the camera is introduced into the hole,
I think we're all very hopeful
we'll have a real a-ha moment, a real experience.
We'll have eyes on the target and be able to realize,
in real time, what we're encountering.
It's what we're looking for-- confirmation in the Money Pit
regarding structures underground.
SCOTT: All right, so let's turn the light on.
Paul, you want to power us up?
Okay, we're powered up.
Okay. Let's roll.
PAUL: So this is the camera system that we have
that will go down and give us a 360-degree view.
-That looks good. -Super.
All right, Paul, you want to start your descent?
Okay. Moving forward.
TERRY: Let's dive in.
STEVE: That's pretty cool.
PAUL: Okay, so we're just coming up to the water here,
seven meters.
So we're getting close to the water.
You see that reflection, that bright area,
reflecting the light from the downward-facing camera.
RICK: There you go, splash zone.
PAUL: Okay, we're plunged right in.
Eight meters. Target 102 feet.
Let's switch to our horizontal view.
TERRY: That is very sharp.
STEVE: Yeah, that looks much better.
PAUL: Okay, so we're at 16.94 meters.
We're a little more than halfway there.
SCOTT: We're coming up to our depth here,
where we're gonna come out of the casing.
Paul, you just want to slow it down
a little bit there, so we don't plop it too fast?
Almost a 100 feet, with another 2 or 3 feet to go.
Another foot and we should be peeking out.
31.15, we're getting very close.
-Right there. 31.94. -TERRY: There it is. Okay.
Paul, do you want to take us down just a little bit further?
Let's get the camera outside of the casing, first.
PAUL: Just below.
SCOTT: Just right there, right there.
RICK: There you go.
PAUL: There you can see the teeth.
-Can we, can we turn? -Okay.
-It looks like a shark jaw. -SCOTT (chuckles): It is.
TERRY: We got Jaws going on here.
-RICK: Woah! -SCOTT: There's a timber there.
STEVE: Yep.
TERRY: Oh, wow, that's fantastic.
We are in the tunnel.
RICK: We saw broken timbers.
Certainly the bit was coming down, vertically,
It had gone through a ceiling,
and then there was a void.
It's pretty amazing.
TERRY: Look at that, that's a 45-degree cut, right there.
You can even see the splinters on the sides of that beam.
-TERRY: For sure. -SCOTT: That's a great image right there.
I think that-that, to me, is almost
the-the ceiling of the tunnel.
Kind of looks like a fastener or head of a bolt
-or something right there. -PAUL: It could be a dowel.
NARRATOR: A possible wooden dowel?
In a tunnel found more than 100 feet deep in the Money Pit area?
Dating back to as early as the seventh century AD,
wooden dowels are fasteners used to connect
the timbers of large structures.
Because metal fasteners were generally used
by treasure hunters who built shafts and tunnels
after the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795,
could a wooden dowel offer evidence
that this tunnel predates searcher activities?
If so, who built it, when, and where does it lead?
Two things, it is two separate beams,
or it's a collapse.
And that sure looks like it suffered some sort
-of catastrophic break. -Damage, yeah.
So, that would be my guess that it went like that.
Well, guys, I don't know if we're gonna see much more
than we have so far.
We got some great images of those beams.
-Very interesting. -Straight up.
But, you know, we just don't have the light
to see further down into that opening, you know,
to see where that tunnel may go
or what else may be in there.
PAUL: We should definitely send the video to Prohawk,
so they can clean the video up,
maybe get through the sand and silt,
and we'll get a better look at the structure.
But also just an indication, an outline,
-of what it looks like, potentially. -RICK: Yeah.
That's our next step, so let's initiate that process.
-All right. -Super. -Sounds good.
RICK: Marty needs to see this footage.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
Hey, good morning, Fellowshippers!
-Hey, Marty. -Hey Marty.
...Rick Lagina and members of the team
meet via conference with Marty Lagina,
who has been called away from the island
on important business.
They are eager to share the stunning footage
of their latest discovery in the Money Pit.
So, this is one of the most exciting days
we've had in the last... I don't even want to count
how many years we've been here now.
But, uh, for the first time, we will look at
really hi-res photos
in a man-made structure in the Money Pit.
-We'll share a screen. -Yep, I'll share my screen.
That'd be great. It's exciting.
STEVE: All right, Marty. Here's the video.
-Okay. -STEVE: Can you see it?
Yeah, I can see it. Yep.
STEVE: So, this is just a quick view
-of what we could see. -Okay.
All right, Marty, so we took that image
and this is the enhancement from Prohawk.
MARTY: Wow.
NARRATOR: In order to enhance the compelling video footage,
the team has commissioned a company known as
Prohawk Technology Group.
Their revolutionary software makes murky images
appear clearer and in higher resolution.
Yeah, that's a broken timber.
We think the beam has probably collapsed
as the-the casing came down into it.
The original tunnel height is about four to five feet high.
So, at this point, we found a new undiscovered tunnel?
That's the hope.
MARTY: That's really cool.
It's kind of an odd location.
DOUG: So what is that tunnel?
Is that tunnel a searcher tunnel?
Or is it original works?
It may lead to the "True Money Pit."
I mean, we all feel we've lost the location of the Money Pit.
So, it'd be good information to...
You know, if we can confirm what it is,
it'd help decide where we need to go.
NARRATOR: Could it be possible that, after more than a decade of searching,
the Oak Island team has finally discovered
a tunnel more than 100 feet underground
that may be connected to the original Money Pit?
And if so, might it lead to the source of silver and gold
that has been detected through scientific testing?
I'm not an expert in all of this stuff, okay?
But it could be the fabled flood tunnel.
We don't know what it is, but it's previously unknown.
So that's good.
That's clearly, by definition, a find.
It could yield answers.
We should have a proper discussion
-about what we do next. -Yeah.
Considering we're fortunate enough to have this open tunnel,
um, I think it's a good idea
that maybe we put a sonar down there.
See how far it's open, direction it's heading,
get a good image, you know, underground,
-and we can learn a lot from that. -Okay.
JACK: And test the wood.
Maybe this tunnel is from the 1700s or older.
-Ultimately, you're right. -It could be from depositor.
CRAIG: Right. The first well drilled into the tunnel,
K-15.5, it's been sent out for carbon dating.
Okay, good.
Here's my take on it.
-It's really cool and it's neat to see it. -Yeah.
And the most exciting is Jack's hypotheses,
which is that this is a previously unknown,
perhaps, depositor tunnel.
That is really exciting if that's what it turns out to be.
RICK: The most astounding thing of all would be,
if we can make a determination that this is original,
it's huge.
We would expend the sufficient monies,
sufficient time, sufficient energy
to follow the tunnel, literally,
to, hopefully, X marks the spot.
If this is original, it's the one thing,
there's no question about it.
You know, maybe in front of us we have the proof.
MARTY: You know, here we drilled all these wells,
all hundreds of them, and we never hit this before.
And so, you know, it kind of goes to your point
that there could be stuff still within that matrix
that we haven't hit, because we just did.
So, uh, that's-that's good.
Keep going. Good info, guys. Appreciate it.
All right, we'll let you know how it turns out.
-CRAIG: See you later. -MARTY: Appreciate it.
-Thank you. -RICK: See ya.
NARRATOR: As another new day begins on Oak Island...
PAUL: Okay, here's the sonar unit.
...Rick Lagina, along with members of the team,
have returned to the Money Pit area
in order to conduct a sonar operation
in Borehole M-16.25.
We're gonna have to measure it out to 103.8.
NARRATOR: A borehole where, two days ago,
the team recorded video of an approximately
five-foot tall, man-made tunnel,
some 103 feet deep underground.
I'm gonna pull it right to the end, Paul.
Right to the end. Make it tight.
And then we'll mark our spots.
My hope is that we'll see enough to give Steve a line.
-Yeah. -And then you can project the line, right?
Okay, Steve, I think we've got it marked.
-Okay. -All right.
NARRATOR: Now, as they await carbon dating analysis
on a wood sample that they obtained
from their initial discovery of the structure...
Hey, guys. You guys all done? We're all ready.
...it is Rick, Marty and the team's hope
that by utilizing a sonar device,
they can determine which direction the tunnel may lead.
So, Paul, we'll see this in real time, right?
Yes, as we're sending it down it will scan 360 degrees,
and it'll give us a profile of what it sees
outward from the sonar,
and it reflects back for a sound signal.
And the data will record?
Data will record to the unit,
and we'll be able to play it back
-in real time as well. -Perfect.
Okay. Ready, guys?
PAUL: All right. Yep, yep.
Recording the log.
RICK: Let's say this is original.
Then we follow it, no question.
If it's searcher era, we're gonna want to know
the orientation, because searchers were going
to X marks the spot,
where they thought the treasure might be.
-Got 103-foot-eight, I believe, Steve? -STEVE: Yep.
We should be well within the water right now.
If the sonar operates properly,
and if we get that orientation,
we can project those lines.
All right. Well, that's interesting.
RICK: The excitement is palpable.
There's no question about it.
We're already starting to see a profile...
Something rectangular.
We have green to red, so red being the highest.
We're getting solid dense material,
so those could be beams.
I would say it makes sense logically,
because there's a pattern to them.
They're integrally spaced from each other,
and they seem to be reoccurring at regular intervals.
-That looks fantastic. -SCOTT: Also the shape of that
kind of gives like a little bit of an elbow in that,
if it's a tunnel.
TERRY: And we seem to be right in the middle of that bend,
that slight crook.
We're just right about here. It's kind of interesting.
Am I seeing that we're going past the five-meter mark
-in that other direction? -TERRY: Yes.
20 feet out and it's about 15 in the other direction.
We've got about 35 feet of tunnel there in front of us.
That's incredible. That's quite the image.
I'm troubled a bit by why it's not seeing anything here,
there's no explanation like that.
I wonder if that's a collapsed feature there.
And that's why it's not seeing anything.
PAUL: To Rick's point, it does look like it's collapsed.
The other side is very square.
This one comes to a conical point.
It kind of makes you think that it could be collapsed.
TERRY: I think it's really quite something.
We've got 35 feet of tunnel in front of us.
At least we have something in front of us
that gives us a direction.
RICK: There's no question that the sonar
is seeing an opening and it can only be a tunnel.
But we have to derive more data from this location,
and we have to connect it with the other data.
We need to go and further investigate it.
My cautionary tale would be,
let's wait until it gets on the surveyor plan
-before we say it's going here, it's going there. -SCOTT: Exactly.
RICK: Steve has the skill set and the techniques
available to him to properly plot this on a map.
-Absolutely. -RICK: It's a tunnel.
Kudos to you guys for persevering to follow this up,
um, but I'm not gonna say anything about
what this may reflect until I see it on a map.
I say we take another scan or two,
-and then I'm gonna go draft it. -Sounds good.
RICK: Today was a very good day here on Oak Island.
TERRY: Absolutely.
NARRATOR: As Rick Lagina and members of the team
complete their sonar scans in Borehole M-16.25...
GARY: This area is one of the last areas on Lot 7
that's been cleared, and we haven't detected.
JACK: Well, lead the way.
...metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and Jack Begley arrive on Lot 7,
just West of Lot 8.
This hasn't been farmed around here.
-No. -So nothing's out of place.
Everything should be in situ.
-I love your enthusiasm, mate. -Ah, I'm psyched.
I'm ready to get stuck in in this area as well.
NARRATOR: In light of the potentially 500-year-old bunk hook
that Gary and Marty Lagina recently found nearby...
All right, mate. Let's get stuck in.
-JACK: Let's find some artifacts, Gary. -GARY: Okay, mate.
...the team hopes to unearth more important clues
from the surrounding area that could help identify
who may have visited this part of the island
prior to the discovery of the Money Pit,
and also if they left anything of value behind.
(beeping)
-GARY: Whoo-hoo! -Oh...
We have got a signal, mate.
-JACK: Nice. -Just there.
-Mainly just roots. -Yep.
Nice one, mate.
We can't be very far away from it.
(high-pitched beeping)
-You're on it. -Yeah. I'm on it.
-I'm going for it. -(rapid beeping)
-Wow. -Ooh!
You got it. What is that?
Check this out.
-Oh. -Sweet.
-Musket ball. Look at that. -I love finding those.
GARY: Fantastic, mate.
This is an oldie as well, by the look of it.
What time period is musket balls, Gary?
They're black powder weapons, so late 1500s
all the way into the mid-to-late 1800s.
JACK: That could fit in with Portugal, too.
Well, we still haven't discovered
how old that musket lock plate is
-that we recovered on Lot 8. -Mm-hmm. Just nearby.
Yeah, so they could be connected.
NARRATOR: A lead musket ball?
Could it be related to the potential 16th-century
musket rifle flintlock that Gary and Marty Lagina
found near this area one year ago?
And might they both be related to the ancient bunk hook
found on Lot 8 that was designed for hauling heavy cargo?
JACK: Each musket ball is
-its own little piece of art. -GARY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: If so, could this musket ball
have been fired in order to protect
something of great value?
When I think of musket balls-- we are in Canada,
North America-- I got to go back to colonial days
-on that, mid-to-late 1700s. -Yeah.
Fantastic, mate. I love 'em.
-Yep. -Let's see if it's got any friends in the area.
-(beeping) -Ooh.
-That's a nice signal. -Yeah, that's a nice signal, mate.
Just there, mate. That's my best guesstimate.
-What, are you on a rock? -Yeah.
That rock stopped whatever it is from sinking deeper.
(beeping)
It's out, mate.
(high-pitched beeping)
JACK: Shouldn't-- Oh.
-(beeping) -Is it that?
That's a rock.
GARY: Yeah, looks like a rock, but...
-(beeping) -Is it? Because if this isn't a rock...
Oh, wow.
This could be something special, mate.
NARRATOR: On Lot 7, near the border of Lot 8
on the western side of Oak Island,
Gary Drayton and Jack Begley have just made
a potentially significant discovery.
GARY: When I first saw it...
'Cause I was the same as you, "It's a rock."
Uh, but it isn't, it's metal.
-And, uh... Yeah. -It's rectangular and flat.
-Yeah. -It's rectangular,
and it's got some, like, little markings on it.
-JACK: You think those are markings? -GARY: Yeah.
I'd just be guessing what it is,
but that shape,
this could potentially be, like, an old coin.
That's what it looks like to me, mate.
-Oh, that'd be great. -That's how they were made.
You'd get square ones. You'd get oblong ones.
You'd get triangle ones, and I'm not sure yet
whether it's copper or silver.
NARRATOR: A possible coin?
And potentially made of silver?
If so, could it be connected to the bunk hook
that Gary and Marty recently found nearby on Lot 8?
Or perhaps the evidence of precious metals
that have been detected in the Money Pit?
I mean, look at that.
Look how it goes down and to a point there.
It's just the irregularity of it.
There's something special about this.
Wow.
I'm seeing a design on that, mate.
But we'd have to speculate.
All the finds go back to the lab.
Put them under the CT scanner,
get those guys to tell us what metal it is.
It's an interesting find, that is for sure.
JACK: Yeah. I agree.
-Great find, Gary. -Fantastic, mate. Good digging.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following morning...
MARTY: Hey, good morning!
OTHERS: Hey, Marty.
So, we have the sonar results.
-Yeah. -Steve is gonna share a screen
and, uh, show everybody what the sonar has shown.
...members of the team have gathered
in the war room to review the sonar data
they collected one day ago
in a mysterious tunnel some 103 feet deep
in the Money Pit area.
All right, Marty, I have the data up on the screen.
GARY: Oh, wow.
That's a tunnel, all right.
STEVE: As you can see,
it heads off in a northwest direction
and comes from a south-southeast direction.
The sonar went down Borehole M-16.25.
For its orientation, I'll show you the whole map.
I'm gonna zoom into the area.
At M-16.25, we had an open cavity
at 103 to 107 feet, and that's where we put the sonar.
So for tunnel orientation, we have K-15.5,
with that, we incorporate our sonar data.
And there's what it looks like underground.
Oh.
STEVE: So, based on early projections-- and we still have
quite a bit of work to do-- it does point just west
a few feet of the Garden Shaft.
NARRATOR: The Garden Shaft?
Okay, that would probably be the outside wall there.
-Ten-four. -CHARLES: A 10 by 10 shaft.
NARRATOR: In 2017,
while attempting to locate the original Money Pit
the team unearthed a 10-by-10-foot-wide wooden shaft.
At the time, they believed it to be
a 19th-century structure,
built by previous treasure hunters
in a failed attempt to bypass the flood traps.
After constructing a rock garden around it three years ago,
they affectionately dubbed it, "The Garden Shaft."
But if the tunnel that the team has encountered
is potentially connected to that shaft,
is it possible that they have made a discovery
that could help solve the Oak Island mystery?
What about carbon dating? What did that come up with?
-Do we have those results? -CRAIG: Yeah, I sure do.
This is the post
-we brought up from, uh, K-15.5. -Okay.
K-15.5 is 48.1%
from 1731 to 1806.
35.5% from 1640 to 1687.
-Wow. -So, you know, 70 to 80%
is from 1640 to 1810.
The carbon dates are pre-discovery
and post-discovery of the Money Pit.
That's what makes this endeavor so difficult.
This time frame is quite confusing,
and we don't know what to make of it.
This thing just keeps getting more complex
by the... by the moment.
JACK: I see this as kind of damning fact
that we found an old tunnel finally,
and we found something that can be
definitively substantial and lead us on to something
that could be a treasure chamber.
And, if anything, I'd say this might be
the oldest tunnel we've ever found.
I understand Jack's excitement.
-Yeah. -The dates seem to suggest
it's something earlier, so...
that's something to be excited about.
I love those early 1700s dates.
Could be some really, really early gold
and silver coins in that tunnel or in the Garden Shaft.
-CRAIG: We need more data. -Yeah.
If we do drill into the tunnel and we get more pieces of wood,
we'll just get more statistical analysis of what makes sense.
MARTY: Well, this is all intriguing
and of course, as usual, it's a result
that leads to more investigation required, so...
let's pursue this, let's continue to pursue it.
-Yep. -Well done, guys.
Okay.
We're not gonna do any work sitting around this table,
so let's get back to work, everybody.
MARTY: Perfect. Thank you, gentlemen.
-JACK: Bye, Marty. -Bye.
-RICK: Laird. -LAIRD: Hello. How are you?
Well, you tell me how I'm gonna be
after I find out what this is.
NARRATOR: Following their meeting
in the war room, Rick Lagina,
along with Jack Begley and Gary Drayton,
join archaeologists Laird Niven
and Emma Culligan in the Oak Island Interpretive Centre.
This is a-a little piece that, uh,
Gary and Jack found on Lot 7.
NARRATOR: Laird and Emma have spent the last several hours
scanning the believed coin that was found one day ago
on Lot 7 with the SKYSCAN 1273 CT scanner.
Can you show us the edge, Emma,
-please? -Yeah.
LAIRD: Right now, this is the CT scan.
It's a... interesting-looking piece.
The edges are strange.
GARY: It looks like whatever the metal is
was cut with shears.
Just cut like this.
GARY: Looks like it could be something really special.
I was hoping that it was some kind of coin.
LAIRD: I think
you might find what Emma has to say
a little more interesting.
Okay. That sounds great.
Emma, do you want to...
-come up and, uh... -Sure thing.
LAIRD: ...tell 'em what you found?
NARRATOR: Additionally, the artifact has been scanned
with an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, or XRF device,
which can identify the types of elements and metals
that make up an object's composition.
So, what was really interesting about this
is the actual material properties.
This was the XRF analysis.
So, it's mainly copper,
which wasn't too surprising.
Then it had an extremely high tin content,
which makes it bronze,
along with a really high arsenic content,
which makes it an arsenical bronze.
And that stands out to me.
JACK: What would be
the point of a metal mixture like this?
It increases your tensile strength,
and it also reduces,
-like, flaking. -Yeah.
So, anything with, like, a high arsenic content
has a low vaporizing point
that's lower than its melting point of other metals.
So during, like, forging or casting,
there'd be a lot of arsen-arsenic gas in the air,
which would affect your nervous system.
So there was this long period of just it phasing out.
And because it is a phased-out metal,
it is not a modern metal by any means.
16th century onwards, it's nonexistent.
They stopped making
-this type of metal in the 1500s? -They stopped making it...
Yes.
-(chuckles): Yes. -That is absolutely brilliant.
EMMA: It is...
it is pretty old.
(chuckles softly) Yeah.
NARRATOR: The possible coin found on Lot 7
potentially predating the 16th century?
If so, could it offer more evidence
to support the beliefs of theorists like Scott Clarke,
that the Knights Templar
may have been behind the Oak Island mystery?
It was common for coins.
But it was also used for swords. It was used for statues.
But the shape...
(chuckles softly) ...really reminiscent of a coin here.
-Yeah. -Yeah, it is. I knew it!
-(chuckling) -It's quite exciting.
-Yeah, it is. -Quite-quite-quite fascinating.
It's certainly interesting enough. I-I think Marty
would like to know about this. He's all about the data.
So let me-- let me see if he's available.
(FaceTime ringing)
Hey.
Hey. Uh, we're here
in the lab with Emma and Laird and Jack and Gary.
They found something. But it's more than a something.
It's quite interesting.
Uh, Emma has run it through the XRD and the XRF.
I'm gonna let her tell you about it.
EMMA: So, Gary and Jack found
this small rectangular object
that I ran through the XRF,
and the materials that came out has copper,
tin, zinc and a pretty high arsenic content,
which is a very unique material composition.
Those exact material properties
indicate a metal that was phased out
at least in the 16th century.
So,
it is a really unique piece,
and it really stands out.
(chuckling)
No.
It's a very unique property, 'cause it did get phased out
because it's so harmful to humans.
-Yeah. (chuckles) -(chuckling)
RICK: It's-it's quite unique.
There's no question about it.
All right.
We'll send Gary and Jack back out.
-(laughs) -(Emma chuckles)
-We will, for sure. -All right, see ya.
Take care.
-Yeah. Bye-bye. -Bye, Marty.
All right, well, it's incredibly interesting,
as everyone has articulated.
But it's time to get back out there and take a look,
see what else we can find.
-Yep, we can do that, for sure. -RICK: All righty.
-See ya later. -See ya. -See ya later, guys.
-GARY: Thanks for the great news. -(chuckling)
GARY: I had a feeling about that.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following day...
MARTY: All right, guys,
I'm excited about this.
Uh, we're gonna have a session here today
about gold in the water.
...Marty Lagina has returned to Oak Island
and joins Rick, Craig
and other members of their team in the war room.
We're gonna try and find out what all that means
and how it affects the treasure hunt.
NARRATOR: They have gathered
to hear an important update
from geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
regarding his ongoing water testing
of boreholes in the Money Pit area.
And joining them via video conference
is hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel.
Um, Fred, why don't you give a little background of yourself?
FRED: Okay.
Most of my career has been spent
dealing with the physical flow
of groundwater
to try and identify lead
or zinc or copper or gold
in large areas.
IAN: Bit of a recap-- last year,
we found the gold in the water. That was a surprise.
So, the whole idea was to put together a program
in which we could both understand
how water was moving in the Money Pit
and to test this idea
that there's a source of gold in the Money Pit
and that's what's creating the gold anomaly.
-Yes. -'Cause if it's naturally here,
has nothing to do with humans, it shouldn't be a small...
area where it's concentrated.
That's really intriguing.
IAN: We've sampled wells within the Money Pit area.
And we do have some chemistry back from this.
We did do a series of measurements of water levels
near the-the Garden Shaft,
um, heading south.
So, we're seeing
a general flow direction
that is sort of from the north of the site
toward the south of the site.
IAN: We scooped up two samples
in the Garden Shaft, sent those away.
And we found, uh,
gold in, uh, the Garden Shaft.
(chuckling)
MARTY: That's exciting.
IAN: We scooped up two samples in the garden shaft,
sent those away
and we found
gold in, uh, the Garden shaft.
(chuckling)
NARRATOR: In the war room,
geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
and hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel
have just shared an incredible report with Rick, Marty,
Craig and other members of the Oak Island team.
Do you find the Garden Shaft area, then,
the most intriguing area right now,
-based on... -Yeah. Absolutely.
There's something down there.
NARRATOR: According to preliminary analysis,
the water deep underground in the Money Pit area
containing the highest concentration of gold
appears to be flowing from the north,
near the so-called Garden Shaft,
to the south,
in the direction of the tunnel
the team just recently discovered.
Could this mean that the fabled treasure could, in fact,
be located at or near the bottom of the Garden Shaft?
This is really exciting to me.
You know, we've been sort of-- you know, we're feeling
our way around with all these different methodologies.
-This is rigorous science. -Yep.
MARTY: It feels like...
this is the best thing
we have going to actually find a-a deposit of treasure.
I mean, that's what it feels like to me.
-Yes. -MARTY: It was everything I hoped for.
It seems like we're on the right quest.
I think these analyses and chasing
this gold in the water's gonna lead us to the treasure.
Dr. Michel, what are the next steps?
I think it's important to continue measuring
for a little while to try and confirm those flow directions.
And as we start to get some results from the labs
on the chemistry, we'll be able to say a lot more
about, uh, what we're seeing in that area.
IAN: Yeah. Yeah, and so
we should probably do a few more...
regional samples, just to make sure,
right in the interval we're interested in.
And if we get gold through the roof, we know
-we're right there. -Yeah, you're moving in on it, yeah.
-Yeah. -MARTY: Isn't the idea
that, after a certain amount of time,
you look at all this data and then you can say, "Okay,
"we need wells here, here, here and here in order
-to try and trace this"? -Mm-hmm.
When does that occur?
-Weeks. -Perfect.
NARRATOR: Although Dr. Spooner's
and Dr. Michel's water testing operation
may take several weeks or more to complete,
their initial assessment of Rick, Marty, Craig
and the team's efforts is extraordinary.
They are not only one more major step closer
to proving that a vast treasure
really does lie somewhere deep below ground on Oak Island
but may also be
one more critical step closer to finding it.
Okay, well, listen,
that's the most exciting thing we have going this year,
in my mind.
I want to put whatever resources we need to,
whatever experiments we need to do.
We're all gonna be on board to do them.
But I think the goal this year is to--
is just-- is to test that hypotheses
and hopefully it comes back
with, "Yep, it's coming from this area right here."
And then we'll-we'll figure out how to go get it.
-Right. -MARTY: That's the goal.
This is exciting to me. I think it is
to everybody. Uh, I mean, we're talking about gold.
You can't get any better than that on a treasure hunt.
It's time for us to figure this whole thing out.
So, let's get this done and let's get back to work.
BILLY: Let's go look for some gold.
MARTY: There you go.
♪ ♪
-Morning, boys! -CHARLES: Morning! -Hey, Colten.
Here's your first eight feet.
-First core of the day. -Yeah.
Hot and fresh. Thanks a lot.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
DN-12.5, Charles.
Brand-new hole.
...Terry Matheson and Charles Barkhouse
are monitoring the core drilling of a new borehole
known as DN-12.5.
TERRY: So, let's hope
we're gonna see some wood
and perhaps an indication of the structure that seemed
to make all that mess in the previous hole.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Located just 20 feet west of the so-called Garden Shaft,
the team hopes to not only obtain
more evidence of treasure here
but to also once again penetrate a mysterious wooden tunnel
that may offer them an access point to retrieve it.
Okay. Pretty regular.
Pad gravel.
-Sea horizon. -Got some cobbles here.
Sea horizon.
Got to start somewhere.
CHARLES: I agree.
NARRATOR: While Terry continues
to supervise the progress at the Money Pit...
...later that afternoon...
RICK: So, gentlemen,
research is every bit as important
as digging, drilling, looking.
...Rick, Marty, Craig and other members
of the fellowship assemble in the war room.
Gretchen Cornwall has reached out
and said that she has some information for us.
NARRATOR: In light of the believed
pre-16th century discoveries
that were recently made on the island,
one of the team's European-based researchers
has asked for the chance to make a presentation
that she believes could help solve the Oak Island mystery.
All information is good information.
And so, to that end,
Doug, if you'd be kind enough
to bring her up on the screen.
Good morning, Gretchen!
-Hello, Gretchen. -Good morning.
-Morning. -CRAIG: Morning.
Thank you. I appreciate being in the war room.
NARRATOR: Currently residing in England,
Gretchen Cornwall is an author and archaeological researcher
who has studied and written about the medieval order
of the Knights Templar for more than a decade.
We would, uh,
very much welcome your informing us of your research
and-and its relevance to our work.
GRETCHEN: Thank you.
I'm always on the lookout for evidence
that the Templar Knights, as an order,
went to Nova Scotia,
specifically Oak Island.
NARRATOR: In 1119,
the Christian order of the Knights Templar
was formed in France
under the endorsement of the Roman Catholic Church.
Originally headquartered in Jerusalem,
their stated mission was to protect Christian pilgrims
and secure territories in the Holy Land during the Crusades.
Within five decades,
their membership greatly expanded,
leading to new strongholds being established in the Middle East,
as well as in European nations such as Portugal,
France and England.
After devising one of the world's first banking systems,
the Templars became an incredibly wealthy organization.
They are also believed by some to have taken possession
of many priceless religious artifacts,
including the Holy Grail
and the Ark of the Covenant.
Although the Templars were disbanded
in the early 14th century,
when the king of France fell deeply into their debt,
their vast treasure was never accounted for.
And many researchers, like Gretchen Cornwall,
believe some of their most sacred valuables
were hidden on Oak Island.
I'm living here in the UK, in England,
and there is a Templar cave at Royston, England.
And this cave was specifically carved
as a secret place to hold ceremonies.
What do you think is so relevant about the cave?
GRETCHEN: The...
carvings on the wall are medieval.
And they are Templar-related.
And you will recognize many of them
from the island itself.
MARTY: You genuinely believe
that the symbols in Royston Cave
have a direct correlation to Oak Island, somehow?
Yes.
I truly do.
NARRATOR: In the war room, author
and researcher Gretchen Cornwall has just presented
Rick, Marty and members of the team
with her theory that a location in England known as Royston Cave
may hold critical clues
connecting the Knights Templar to the Oak Island mystery.
The iconography that you can find on Oak Island,
you can find at Royston Cave.
The carvings are religious,
political, to mark events.
I think that the same individuals
that were in Royston Cave
were aware of Oak Island.
This cave actually proves the narrative
that the Templars came to the New World,
specifically to Oak Island,
to protect their information
and their treasures, whether spendable
or sacred or both,
you know, for the future.
NARRATOR: Although Gretchen is not the first to propose the theory
that the Knights Templar were behind the Oak Island mystery,
could the clues that she claims reside in Royston Cave
help explain the discoveries made on the island,
which may date back to the Templar era,
such as the paved area in the swamp,
which has been dated to 1200 AD,
the recent finds made on Lots 7 and 8,
the 14th-century lead cross,
which was verified to have originated
in a Templar stronghold in Southern France,
or even perhaps the high trace evidence of silver and gold
deep in the Money Pit?
Here's what I read from what you're saying--
that it-it's something that needs to be experienced.
-Is that correct? -Absolutely.
That was how it was intended.
But I would like to
invite you
to England.
Meet me
at Royston Cave and see for yourself,
see what you think.
Well, at-at the risk of b-borrowing my brother's line,
"Eyes and boots time."
-That was good. -Absolutely.
MARTY: A visit to Royston Cave sounds
very, very interesting.
Absolutely.
MARTY: Great. This would be
a perfect mission for Alex and I,
because we are sort of the skeptics
about the Templar connection.
We're gonna plan a trip.
Splendid.
-MARTY and CRAIG: Thank you. -Thank you very much. We really appreciate it.
-And please stay in touch. -Thank you.
You, too.
RICK: Should be interesting. I look forward to,
um, what you learn.
Okay.
Royston Cave,
as described by Gretchen,
sounds very, very interesting.
It's clearly at a place that has ancient roots.
I'd like to see that.
So it kind of sounds like, if you figure out,
you know, all the symbolism inside the cave,
that we can actually find the Templar treasure
here on the island. So, no pressure, Marty.
-MARTY: No. -(chuckling)
RICK: Here's an opportunity
presented by a very valued researcher,
to come visit a very historic site,
which may yield some information
or may even take my brother and Alex
from skeptic to believer.
You know, we spoke about the importance
of doing research.
We have heard that exhaustively over the years.
And so I would recommend, if you find the time,
to meet with Paul Stewart.
-Uh, he's very knowledgeable. -Yeah.
Very, very accomplished researcher.
He's researched at the British Museum at Kew,
looking for any connections to Oak Island.
MARTY: (chuckles) Yeah, all right. Sounds good as well.
So it is written.
-So shall it be done. -So shall it be done.
Let's get back to work, guys.
RICK: Okay.
NARRATOR: A new year of searching on Oak Island has just begun.
But for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team,
the gathering of new clues and valuable discoveries
is well underway.
Might they have found two potential gateways
to a vast treasure composed of silver and gold
in the Money Pit?
But as they keep digging for the ultimate reward on Oak Island,
could the truth of what happened there long ago
be found in a cave nearly 3,000 miles across the ocean?
Although the team must remain cautious of the forces
that have allowed this mystery to persist for 227 years,
nothing will stop their determination to find out.
♪ ♪
This season on The Curse of Oak Island...
MARTY: This is the year.
We're going to throw everything we've got at the island.
GARY: There we go! Brilliant, mate!
We found a jewel on Oak Island!
-It probably is Roman. -Boom, baby! -(laughs)
RICK: I think the information hunt will be integral
to finally solving the mystery.
This is a secret Templar chamber
commemorating a voyage
-to Oak Island. -Wow.
We've got state-of-the-art methods we're going to employ.
Wow. This could possibly be the hatch.
-DEVEAU: This is quite something! -RICK: This construct
is unique to the island.
This construction dated 1028 to 1172.
Templars, baby!
(laughter)
TEDFORD: Aw, yeah! The rods dropped ten feet,
almost like there's nothing there.
-Like a void. -RICK: Let's dig it up.
We'll be underground in the Money Pit
-for the very first time. -MARTY: All right, here we go.
RICK: Some piece of information
is going to lead us to the Bravo Tango moment.
-TERRY: Whoa! -MARTY: How about that?
-(laughs) -Treasure Island, baby.
♪ ♪
(crew cheers)
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