NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
Oh, there we go.
GARY: Wow. The heck is that?
It was very common during the middle 1700s.
CORJAN: In 1746, King Louis XV sent two ships
to Oak Island where they later created the Money Pit.
RICK: If we can find original works
at the base of this shaft, it may solve the mystery.
Oh, what's that? Whoa, whoa. What's that?
STEVE: That's a view down the tunnel.
Is it possible that this tunnel could lead
to finding the treasure?
The answer is unequivocally "yes."
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.
-RICK: Morning, sir. -Morning, Rick. How's it going?
-How are you? -How was your weekend?
I see your weekend was quite constructive.
-Oh, yeah. -It looks a lot different than it did.
PAUL: Yeah, it did, eh?
-Why don't we go take a look, then? -Sure.
NARRATOR: As another productive and hopeful day
begins on Oak Island,
Rick Lagina arrives at the historic Money Pit area.
There, he is greeted by Paul Cote
of Dumas Contracting Limited for an update
on the most ambitious operation that he,
his brother Marty and their team
have ever commissioned in the hopes of
finally solving a 227-year-old treasure mystery:
the reconstruction of the so-called "Garden Shaft."
The fill was, uh, backfilling in back into the shaft,
so we had to put some planks in this corner right here.
This corner was, uh, those two-by-sixes missing,
so we added some of those in there.
-So far so good. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: The 80-foot-deep structure,
which the fellowship unearthed in 2017,
was initially believed to be a 19th-century searcher shaft
until wood samples,
taken this year from a depth below 50 feet,
were carbon-dated to the early 18th century.
IAN: We've sampled wells within the Money Pit area,
and we do have some chemistry back from this.
NARRATOR: But that was only the beginning
of promising revelations suggesting it could be
connected to the original Money Pit.
We found, uh, gold in, uh, the Garden Shaft.
(laughter)
So, today's work, what-what's that going to entail?
So, today, we're gonna finish closing up
the, uh, shaft structure.
And then, uh, we're gonna seal it up with some plastic.
Is this gonna be the deck?
That's your top elevation, right here.
-Okay. -There's gonna be 16 inches
of concrete for five feet around.
Like that should hold everything together
and seal everything nice and tight.
And this elevation should be just even with your pad.
NARRATOR: Over the next six weeks,
the team from Dumas will construct
a concrete foundation around the top
of the existing shaft and then proceed to work
with representatives from Irving Equipment Limited
to drain, excavate and refurbish
the old 80-foot-deep structure.
As they progress downward,
a new waterproof, wooden shaft will be constructed
with ladders and platforms at eight-foot intervals.
The team will also be able to conduct lateral drilling,
and potential tunneling, off the main shaft
in order to look for adjacent structures,
voids and the believed valuables
that people have been searching for since 1795.
It's the first time
the fellowship has physically ventured underground.
So, you know, Rick's "eyes and boots."
We're gonna try and do that, as opposed to things
we've tried previously. I think what we're gonna find
at the bottom will be a surprise.
Not only does it let us get down underground
in the Money Pit for the very first time after ten years...
-Yep. -...but this shaft might be
very, very important for furthering
our understanding of where the original Money Pit might be.
You're underground where for 227 years
people were searching for answers for the mystery.
-Yeah. -And now, finally, we're gonna be underground
doing the same thing.
So, I'm taking up time.
I'm gonna let you get to your business.
-All righty, thank you, Paul. -Yep, thank you.
RICK: We'll let your team get back to work.
PAUL: Okay.
NARRATOR: As the team from Dumas
proceeds with operations in the Money Pit area,
Marty Lagina arrives on Lot 32,
located southwest of the triangle-shaped swamp.
-Hello, people. -JACK: Hey, Marty. -GARY: Hey, Marty.
NARRATOR: It is here where archaeologist Laird Niven
has been conducting a methodical investigation after the team
recently found a number of artifacts that could predate
the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795.
Curiously, this is the same area
where over the last two years
the team has found compelling evidence
of an old ship's wharf,
along with an ornate lead cargo bag seal,
which scientific testing has identified
to be of possible French origin.
So, you finding anything? Or is there any illuminations
shed on what's going on here?
We have evidence that unrecorded people were here.
So, there's some unrecorded activity.
-That's one of the positive things. -Okay.
Which could point to more unrecorded earlier activity...
-MARTY: Yes. -...somewhere else on the lot.
Okay, there's a good point.
Yeah. There were so many areas on Lot 32,
we pulled up finds from the 1700s, mate.
Yeah.
This is the type of site, mate, that tells you
there's more to Lot 32 than we know.
Yeah, I mean, we need to know why they were here.
-Yeah. -MARTY: Yeah.
There's a lot going on that we weren't aware of.
Yeah, we've only just started searching near here.
GARY: Yeah, 'cause it's a long way from the Money Pit.
-Yeah, yeah. -GARY: Okay, mate.
We'll try and keep you busy somewhere else.
LAIRD: We'll have more digging to do.
MARTY: All right, oh, I'm sure.
This island, every time you dig, you find something.
-LAIRD: Yeah. -I mean, it's really quite astounding.
All right. See you guys later.
GARY: Let's go make some more discoveries.
NARRATOR: As the team continues to investigate Lot 32,
-back in the Money Pit area... -TERRY: J-15.25.
This could get interesting real quick, Charles.
-Let's hope. -Real quick.
-Hey, Craig. -Hi, guys. -Hi, Craig. How you doing?
-Good. How's it going? -Good. -Not too bad.
NARRATOR: Just 54 feet south of the Garden Shaft,
Craig Tester, geologist Terry Matheson
and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse
are supervising the core drilling operation
in borehole J-15.25,
a borehole where they are hoping to once again intercept
a tunnel that was recently discovered some 103 feet deep,
and also determine just where it may be heading.
Just, uh, mopping up here on the last few feet
above the supposed tunnel.
Yeah, he's right at 98 feet right there, so...
he's just, just above it, right now.
TERRY: Oh, wow. That's fantastic.
We are in the tunnel.
NARRATOR: Over the past month...
Look at that, that's a 45-degree cut right there.
NARRATOR: ...the team has encountered
this wood-cribbed structure on two separate occasions.
And have carbon-dated it to as early as the 17th century.
They've also obtained both video and sonar data inside it,
suggesting that it may be heading toward the Garden Shaft.
If we find the tunnel here,
if it's going more north towards the Garden Shaft,
it may make a big difference on where
we pursue with the Garden Shaft.
We may want to tunnel out of there.
A lot riding on this.
Sure. It's just precise direction and dialing in.
Yeah.
-What do we got? -Uh, 102 and a half.
-102 and a half. -Thank you.
NARRATOR: Now, as they drill five feet closer to the Garden Shaft,
they are hoping to not only confirm
their previous findings
but also attempt to determine
if it may contain something of great value.
Let's, uh, take a quick look here.
I don't see any chips or chunks.
102, so we would be just above
any tunnel that we are aiming for.
It's a little interesting, but I think it's natural.
Now the next core is gonna tell the truth here.
The next core should tell the tale, absolutely.
We'll see what comes.
RICK: I'm on a roller-coaster ride
with the drill program every year.
There's always hope that a feature that you find
may yield some significant data point,
but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Let's stay the course
and extract all the information
and then move on.
CHARLES: We have a core.
That's looking pretty interesting.
Thank you.
Okay, let's see what kind of surprises we have in here.
-Okay. -CHARLES: Wood.
-TERRY: We got some wood, gentlemen. -We have wood.
-Right here. -There's a confirmation for us.
-Well, we have wood all the way down here. -Right there.
-CRAIG: Amazing. -SCOTT: Excellent.
TERRY: There's a confirmation for us. It didn't grow there.
NARRATOR: At the Oak Island Money Pit,
Craig Tester and members of the team
have just obtained more evidence
of a wooden tunnel some 103 feet deep
that they believe
could be related to the nearby Garden Shaft.
Okay, we've got a bottom that is in situ and natural.
And then we've got a confirmation
of a tunnel is what that's telling me.
SCOTT: We have wood all the way down here.
-Quite a bit of it here. -TERRY: Yeah.
Mike, how deep were you when, uh, you stopped to pull out
and then it dropped out on you?
107.
And it felt open below that,
but where exactly I picked that up?
Somewhere between 103 and 105.
-SCOTT: Well, good job for hitting it. -TERRY: Absolutely.
And we're only, what, five or seven feet away
from our other hits?
Do we want to leave casing here and run a sonar?
If we do get a good sonar image, we can try
to get a, uh, camera down there.
Then try the camera, yeah.
Yeah, no, I agree. Let's do it.
MARTY: So, lo and behold, J-15.25 does hit wood
but more to the point,
a void below the wood, an open tunnel most likely.
So, we're gonna run sonar in there and see what it can see.
We have to discover more about it so we can say,
is it a searcher tunnel?
Is it a depositor's tunnel?
If it's within our power to find out,
we need to do so.
Okay, like, I think we got a plan.
Collect the wood, which you already did for possible C-14.
Tomorrow, sonar.
And I'm gonna head back to research,
-but keep me abreast. -We'll keep you up-to-date, yeah.
-CRAIG: Okay. Thank you, guys. -TERRY: See you later, Craig.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
All right, mate.
-You can see the area where it's been cleared out. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...Gary Drayton
and Jack Begley return to Lot 32, west of the swamp...
All the targets are all in there.
You can see all the flags from here.
NARRATOR: ...to continue searching for additional clues
and valuables related to the remains
of a possible ancient wharf that the team has found nearby.
Well, let's see what these targets are, mate.
I'm hoping for something good.
Okay, first flag's over here, mate.
When a lot is cleared, I usually go in first,
and I flag the area.
Meaning I do a methodical grid,
a search pattern of the lot.
(beeping)
Just there, mate.
And then I go in with Jack, and we dig all the flags.
And you never know what's going to come out
of your next hole.
I'll try pinpointing it and then grabbing it out of there.
(beeping)
You're on it.
-Ooh. -That's a piece of something.
That could be interesting.
It's got a curve on it, so it could be, like, a barrel hoop.
JACK: You think it's connected to the wharf somehow?
GARY: If it was a barrel hoop, for sure.
NARRATOR: A possible barrel hoop?
And near an area where the team has
previously found evidence of an ancient wharf,
as well as a French cargo bag seal?
If Gary is correct that he and Jack have just found
part of a cargo barrel,
just what kind of cargo might it have once contained?
I would imagine that's just the type of thing
that would've been unloaded and put ashore. A barrel.
Everything was in barrels back in the days.
-Nails, coins. -Yeah.
So, we'll bag it.
Anytime that we find a piece of iron
that's interesting, it goes to Carmen Legge.
So, I'm hoping Carmen Legge can shed some light
on what size barrel this is
because the smaller the barrel,
the more chance it had treasure in it.
All right, mate. That's that bagged.
Next flag's there.
NARRATOR: While Gary and Jack continue searching on Lot 32...
-PAUL: Hi, guys. -SCOTT: Hey, Paul.
PAUL: Should be all set up to go.
SCOTT: Okay, great.
NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,
Oak Island historian Paul Troutman
has prepared a sonar device in order for the team
to investigate if the tunnel they have encountered
some 103 feet deep in borehole J-15.25
is heading in the direction of the Garden Shaft.
PAUL: Okay, so I texted Rick. He should be on the way.
We'll get eyes on this hole.
Let's hope we get a positive image.
-Yeah. -SCOTT: Let's try it and see.
-We'll go very slow. -Okay.
Want me to spin it for you?
SCOTT: Yeah, if you want to unravel it.
-STEVE: Ready? -SCOTT: I'm just gonna lower it down.
NARRATOR: The Impact Subsea ISS-360 sonar device
works by emitting high-intensity radio pulses
that can detect underwater structures
or voids up to 295 feet below the surface.
Still in the casing right now.
So, there's 103 foot eight.
Okay, yeah. We're coming out.
We're-we're almost out.
Yeah, we're still right on the edge of the casing.
It's getting better.
We're at the bottom.
We're starting to see an outline.
-Want to go a little bit further? -PAUL: Yeah.
SCOTT: I'm gonna go down a couple more inches.
-Whoa. -PAUL: Look at that. Oh, my God.
STEVE: Ho-Hold right there, Scott. That's a great image.
I mean, I-I would say we're pretty close
to being in the center of the tunnel.
-That could be a wall, right? -PAUL: It looks like.
-It's fantastic. -SCOTT: Yeah.
STEVE: Based on this, we can't see the western wall.
It's probably blocked by something.
But I'd say that's the tunnel projection. Do you guys agree?
I mean, it is very tunnel-looking.
Yeah, right angles don't occur in nature like that.
-Hey, guys. -OTHERS: Hey, Rick.
PAUL: So, we have an image now.
It looks like a tunnel here, potentially.
It's a very defined linear object.
And this looks like the outline of a tunnel.
Yeah, I'd say that's apparent, yeah.
And we're just catching the side edge of it, it looks like.
How far are we from where we put the sonar down last time?
STEVE: I would say 15 feet.
We can project an eastern wall, and it's pointed at
the Garden Shaft in a north-northwest projection.
NARRATOR: Could the team be correct that they have further confirmation
that the tunnel is heading near the area
of the Garden Shaft, where gold has also been detected?
If so, could it offer the team another possible pathway
to solving the Oak Island mystery?
I think at this point, every little bit of information
is important, so we should absolutely put the camera down.
We have to follow this. We have to try to understand
the relationship between this and that Garden Shaft.
-SCOTT: For sure. -PAUL: We'll give it a shot.
-RICK: Thank you. Appreciate it. -STEVE: See you later.
NARRATOR: As the sonar investigation is concluded at the Money Pit...
GARY: Let's see what this is, mate.
(beeping)
Just there.
NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley and Gary Drayton work to unearth
what they hope will be another important discovery on Lot 32.
GARY: You're a beast.
Let's see if you're in the right area.
(beeping)
-You think it's more that way? -Yep, I do.
-Let's see. -(beeping)
It's just there, mate.
In the base of that wall there.
Man, you're dripping some gravy now. (laughing)
JACK: Oh, there we go.
-Can you feel it? -I think this is it right here, yeah.
-Geez. -Careful, mate.
There we go.
Oh, wow, that's cool, mate.
-I thought it was a spike. -Yeah, no.
This was made like that on purpose.
NARRATOR: On Lot 32, near the southwestern
border of the swamp,
Gary Drayton and Jack Begley
have just made what could be an important discovery.
GARY: You see all the square shank on it?
I think this is some kind of tool.
It might be some kind of chopping tool?
-Like a small scythe. -Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: A possible scythe, found on Lot 32?
Such tools have been used for agricultural purposes
for thousands of years.
However, they were also known
to be common tools on sailing vessels
that ventured between Europe and North America
between the 15th and 18th centuries.
What I like about this, mate, is the size of it.
It's something that could've been carried on the ship.
If it is some kind of tool.
Remember, we got a potential wharf there.
Just the sort of thing that you would carry here on the boat.
When you come ashore, you're gonna do stuff
on an island, you would need a tool or an implement.
I do believe this came from somewhere else, mate, for sure.
JACK: Any idea on date?
Anytime you see a square-shanked
fastener or tool,
then you know you're in pre-1800s.
NARRATOR: Could Gary be correct that this artifact may
predate the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795?
If so, could it offer more evidence
of a possible ancient wharf nearby?
And perhaps be related to the lead cargo bag seal
that is believed to be of French origin?
-This is what we're looking for in this area. -Yep.
This could show that there's some sort
-of a work area related to the wharf. -Yeah.
JACK: I think we need to bag and tag it.
Yeah, oh, for sure.
This has got a story to tell.
NARRATOR: Two days later...
-MARTY: Hello, folks. -DOUG: Hey, folks.
-Hi, everyone. -MARTY: Corjan, hello.
Charlotte, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
You are all well aware of the serious attempt
we've made in this past year to create a research team.
And, uh, today we have special guests
Corjan Mol and Charlotte Wheatley.
They are the France team.
NARRATOR: In light of recent discoveries made on the island,
which may date to the mid 18th century,
including the Garden Shaft,
and the potential ship's wharf on Lot 32...
-Those are orders from d'Anville, right? -Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...as well as documentation
uncovered in the British archives
by Marty and Alex Lagina,
Oak Island researchers Corjan Mol
and his colleague Charlotte Wheatley
are presenting new information on how these clues
may connect to the Oak Island mystery.
Today they are here, remotely, to make a presentation
about the Duc d'Anville expedition
and possible associations
to what happened here long, long ago.
So, what have you two come up with?
For this presentation, the question is this one.
Could we find any relation between
Oak Island, and perhaps Mahone Bay,
and the 1746 expedition of a French armada
led by Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld,
better known as the Duc d'Anville?
So, let me share some background information with you all.
So, in June 1745,
Fortress Louisbourg in Canada, which was, you know,
the largest military structure outside France in North America,
unexpectedly went into English hands.
The French weren't very good losers, and in response,
they formed the largest armada to sail
from France to the Atlantic coast of Canada
and it was led by the Duke of Anville.
NARRATOR: When King Louis XV dispatched the French armada
with orders to reclaim Nova Scotia in 1746,
the admiral in charge, known as the Duc d'Anville,
was a member of the Rochefoucaulds,
a family of nobles
who had ties to the Knights Templar
dating back to the 11th-century Crusades.
Unfortunately, the armada's efforts
to reclaim control of Nova Scotia failed.
I found eight pages of what looks like a ship's log.
NARRATOR: However, in 2017, Doug Crowell
found a partial ship's log in the provincial archives
stating that d'Anville had carried out a second mission
somewhere south of Halifax that succeeded.
DOUG: "September 8th, it has been agreed that
"a deep pit be dug and treasure securely buried.
"The pit to have a secret entrance
by a tunnel from the shore."
I mean, a great quantity of treasure, and...
and they-they appear to be in this bay.
Before the armada sailed from France
to the other side of the ocean, they sent two ships ahead,
-and that's where we start our story. -Okay.
So, here is the documentation from the French archives.
King Louis sent two ships, the Aurore and le Castor.
These were officially classified as King's Ships, which meant
that they had personal orders from King Louis XV of France.
The documentation mentions here that the king, having given
a particular destination to l'Aurore and le Castor,
demanding that they depart in the first days of March 1746.
And you can see it in the text on the left,
he really says "a certain location,"
which isn't made known anywhere else in the documentation.
But Louis XV, he says something about this destination.
Uh, "The destination that will be given to them
requires an increase in the standard crew."
This means that the Aurore will have 250 men
and the Castor will have 180.
The Aurore and the Castor arrived on the Acadian Coast
on June 4, 1746 near Mahone Bay.
So, Corjan, the French sent two rather large ships full of men.
What officially did they accomplish?
According to the records, nothing.
(laughing): That doesn't make sense.
This is where I-I take off my researcher hat
and put on my, uh, theorist hat.
And, uh, it's possible that they
were sent to check on Oak Island
and to check a location
where they later created the Money Pit.
MARTY: Well, that is quite extraordinary.
RICK: Well, it's certainly thought-provoking.
I will say that.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island war room,
researchers Corjan Mol and Charlotte Wheatley
have just presented new evidence
that French naval vessels may have visited Mahone Bay
and possibly Oak Island in 1746,
just months before the Duc d'Anville
reportedly led a mission to bury a vast treasure in the area.
But the story continues. We have documents from
one man who's called Duvigneau.
So, Commander Duvigneau commanded
both the Aurore and the Castor.
So, these would be the ship's logs, correct?
-Exactly. -It's like a sort of partial diary.
There is a part where the captain
of the Aurore, uh, is in this bay
and he doesn't want anybody else to tell
anybody else that he's there.
That's what was written.
So, that, again, is-is strange behavior.
Hmm.
Now, if you continue to read the logs,
Duvigneau starts to leave holes in his logs,
so the-the holes in his records become bigger and bigger,
and then after another gap in the journal,
the Aurore and the Castor sail home to France.
They were there for two months.
Hmm.
So, that's a long time to do nothing.
Yeah.
What they did is a very good question.
There are so many holes in the journal,
it's hard to actually say.
MARTY: Yeah.
What did they say when they went back?
What did they do?
CORJAN: On return to France,
these captains would submit their journals to the admiralty,
to be stored in the records.
You know, the French were, and are, meticulous record keepers,
so they demanded from the captains their records.
And Duvigneau went with a bigger crew,
where he is past Mahone Bay.
He puts a letter with the submission of his records
in which he says,
"I will not speak to anyone about this place,
but I'm obliged to send my journal of navigation."
This is quite intriguing, I must admit.
RICK: All of that is incredibly interesting.
The Duc d'Anville story,
the expedition to recapture
Louisbourg and the secret mission from the king,
and the fact that two ships were sent on ahead
for a secret deployment.
We've got ships that are outfitted
with more men than are needed to sail the ship.
Typical of Oak Island, it begs more questions than answers.
But the questions are quite interesting.
The only thing you do know is that he was--
he had orders from the king to conduct a-a secret mission.
A special military operation.
And-and yet he reports none of it.
He-he reports neither success nor failure.
Just, "I am not going to speak of,"
quote, unquote, "this place."
Yes.
So, he did do something.
Exactly. That's the conclusion.
And one of the reasons this is so interesting right now
is because some of the carbon dates and even the dendro
that we've been getting on the island here,
some of the dates in the Money Pit area have been
coming up all in that mid-1700s time range.
So, this seems to be in-in that era,
so it makes it extra interesting.
NARRATOR: Could the mysterious ship's logs written by crewmen
who served under the French admiral Duc d'Anville
really be referencing an operation
on Oak Island that was conducted
in order to prepare for the burial of treasure in 1746?
Might that explain the evidence of a wharf,
as well as the metal artifacts,
and the French cargo bag seal
that the team has found on Lot 32?
And might they also be related to the mid-18th-century tunnels
and the Garden Shaft in the Money Pit,
where they've also detected high traces of silver and gold?
MARTY: The trip I took to England fits in with Corjan Mol's theory
about the Duc d'Anville.
And so, is it possible that
that explains the deposit of treasure on Oak Island?
Yes, it's possible.
-I enjoyed the presentation a lot. -Absolutely.
RICK: There's a wonderful story here, and I urge you
to continue the investigation.
And to that end, thank you very much.
It's been an incredible afternoon.
-CORJAN: Thank you. -CHARLOTTE: Take care.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
CRAIG: Carmen, come in.
Hello there. How are you again?
-Good. -Carmen, how are you?
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, Craig Tester
and Jack Begley welcome blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge at the research center.
He has returned to Oak Island in order to give
his analysis of the believed scythe
and other metal objects recently discovered on Lot 32.
Gary and I have already recovered a lot
of iron objects from Lot 32.
And these are just some of the odd objects
that we hoped you could identify for us.
I-I won't preface it at all. What do you think about that?
No, besides a medieval golf club.
Oh.
RICK: Wow.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island Research Center,
blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge
has just given his opinion that the metal artifact
recently found on Lot 32
may have been used long ago to transport cargo on Oak Island.
-That leaves so many possibilities. -Yeah, yeah.
I would have never guessed barrel hoop, to start.
That's impressive.
Okay.
So, this piece was also found on Lot 32.
JACK: Wow.
180 gallons of whiskey?
-I guess. -(laughter)
Would your average person have a-a barrel this big?
So, what-what type of use...?
Like, would this be a naval thing?
Why would you have such a large barrel over on Lot 32?
JACK: Wow. Any dates that you can discern out of this?
Well, that's actually really intriguing.
NARRATOR: A second piece of a large cargo barrel?
And found in the same area where the team
has discovered evidence of a possible ship's wharf,
as well as a lead bag seal believed to be of French origin?
If so, has the team uncovered more evidence
possibly connecting the Duc d'Anville's mission
to bury a vast treasure in 1746 to the Oak Island mystery?
RICK: We know that there was a lot of military-associated items
found on the island.
When Carmen suggested that this barrel
could have been as old as 1740,
well, 1740 is an "aha" date
because that, of course, is, uh,
right around the time of the Duc d'Anville expedition.
Is it a possibility that it could be connected
to some work on the island associated with that expedition?
It's possible.
But we've a ways to go to prove that.
That's incredibly enlightening.
You breathe life into these artifacts
that, to us, are somewhat lifeless.
And now it's come alive.
Well, as always, we appreciate it.
CRAIG: Thank you very much.
-(laughter) -Nice.
CARMEN: See you later.
-CRAIG: See you, Carmen. -RICK: Take care.
NARRATOR: The following day...
-RICK: Morning, guys. -SCOTT: Morning, Rick.
-We're all set? -Yes. We're all set to go.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina joins other members of the team
in the Money Pit area to continue investigating
a believed 18th-century tunnel
some 103 feet deep in borehole J-15.25,
a tunnel that may not only be leading
toward the Garden Shaft
but potentially the fabled treasure, as well.
We'll have a marker so you can
send it down a couple inches at a time.
We'll be able to get a good clear image.
All right, let's put it down hole.
NARRATOR: In order to see clearly inside the tunnel
and identify whatever it may contain,
the team is using the Inuktun Spectrum 120
high-definition underwater camera.
PAUL: All right, send her down.
Down the hole.
NARRATOR: The device, which features
a lens that can pan 360 degrees,
is also equipped with a number of visual enhancement functions.
So, Paul, I'm going to stop at 103 feet,
and from there we're gonna pay close attention
to see where the edge of the casing is.
Absolutely, yeah.
SCOTT: We're in the water.
PAUL: Okay, slow it down just a little bit there.
SCOTT: We should be at 103. So, you're still seeing the casing?
PAUL: Okay, still-still seeing casing. Now we're just coming out.
We're just coming out. We're right on the side.
You're-- There's a casing?
Yep, we're-we're out of the casing.
RICK: It's really clear.
STEVE: That's a good view.
PAUL: Let me just see if I can get around here.
Rotating.
RICK: This is exciting and so interesting
having finally found a feature underground that we can track.
You don't have to infer where it goes.
You can actually visualize it.
If you didn't know you were in a tunnel,
you'd think you were on the sea floor.
-Yep. -Yep.
-RICK: Oh, no. -STEVE: Yeah, still collapsing.
PAUL: Some material just dropped straight off, yeah.
Put your view downwards a little bit and try.
-SCOTT: Whoa. -STEVE: Whoa, what's that?
-Whoa, whoa, what's that? -Right there, right there.
SCOTT: That's broken wood right there.
RICK: Wow.
- Where? PAUL: Right in front of you on the left.
You can see the splinters.
STEVE: Yeah, okay, I see it now.
NARRATOR: It is an exciting moment in the Money Pit area...
Let's rotate around really carefully here.
NARRATOR: ...as Rick Lagina and members of the team
are investigating a believed 18th-century tunnel
some 103 feet underground
that may be heading toward the Garden Shaft
and, potentially, the legendary treasure vault.
There's a timber right here.
PAUL: Yeah, exactly, you can see the splinters right there.
RICK: That whole thing could be a beam.
PAUL: Looks like it.
All right, so we'll rotate the camera around,
rotate the camera up and down, try to get a better view.
So, let's go around.
RICK: Really clear.
SCOTT: Yep. It appears that we have
-basically a jumble of lumber here from the collapse. -RICK: Yep.
SCOTT: You can see a lot of sediment behind it.
You got wood splinters coming down there.
This beam here.
This may be the post that was holding this up right here.
-SCOTT: Yes. -RICK: Yeah.
SCOTT: Just lift it up a little bit right there.
PAUL: Let's rotate through.
STEVE: Right there. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
PAUL: What is that right there? That's interesting.
STEVE: I think you can see-- look-- you can see down that.
PAUL: Looks like there's an opening.
STEVE: I would say so.
This is our opening looking down the tunnel.
SCOTT: Yep.
STEVE: Can you look up a little bit, Paul?
-SCOTT: Just pan it up. -PAUL: Pan it up? Okay.
STEVE: There's our beam. There's our sidewall, maybe?
-PAUL: Yes. -RICK: Wow.
PAUL: Might it help if I turn on the crosshair?
There we go.
STEVE: Yeah, that made a difference.
-RICK: It's quite amazing. -PAUL: Yeah.
So, here's what I see, and tell me if you see something else.
So, do you guys think that this could be two supports
holding up the tunnel from completely collapsing?
Because you can tell that we are looking down the tunnel.
-What do you think? -I think that's what that is, Steve. Y-You're right.
RICK: This is an incredible feature.
-PAUL: Yes. -RICK: It-it's awesome.
STEVE: Yeah, this is good data today.
RICK: Oh, absolutely.
-I mean, this is an area we've never really explored. -Yes.
And, actually, every time we drill a hole and hit the tunnel,
-we're getting closer to the Garden Shaft. -Yeah.
Is it possible that this tunnel, if it were open,
could lead somewhere where there's
some sort of original depositional work?
The answer to that is unequivocally "yes."
The camera imagery from this work is quite stunning.
We are trying to unravel a mystery.
Is it possible that this may lead to an incredible discovery?
Of course. That's the hope.
It's always the hope that some piece
of information is gonna lead us to the Bravo Tango moment.
This is a ten in terms of how it should inspire us
as we move forward with the Garden Shaft.
We can't relinquish the opportunities
that that Garden Shaft might present to us, right?
So, to me, when I see these pictures,
it inspires me to move forward.
I love seeing this.
Yes, yep.
This is very important, and I think we should
do everything we can to-to exploit it
and-and get as much,
glean as much information from this as we can.
And, you know, we're going to drill another hole
that will hopefully find the why.
MARTY: With all we know on this island,
any constructions we're unaware of
in the Money Pit area is exciting.
It appears like there's a tunnel or something that was a tunnel
that goes towards the Garden Shaft.
That shaft could be the key
to understanding what happened here.
Now it's incumbent upon us to do what we can do
to find the treasure, to resolve the mystery.
So, what it tells me is we can't quit.
-No, not today. -Long as you're moving forward.
-Long as you're moving sempre avanti. -Yes.
-RICK: But, anyway, let's finish our work and move on. -PAUL: Okay.
NARRATOR: As Rick, Marty, Craig and the rest of the fellowship
conclude another productive week on Oak Island,
they appear closer than ever to not only identifying
just who was behind the 227-year-old mystery
but also what was so ingeniously hidden
at the bottom of the Money Pit.
Is it possible that the Laginas and their team
have discovered two pathways that could soon
lead them to the ultimate discovery?
Or are they, like the many searchers
who came before them, bound for a much different fate?
Only time, and more digging, will tell.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
-(horn blasting) -RICK: It's an exciting day because we are
-going to dig the Garden Shaft. -That's a big machine.
We're excited to be a part of it.
This year will be the year.
We hit the tunnel that'll point it directly
towards the Garden Shaft.
Look at the core on this.
Wow. What the heck is that? You're right.
LAIRD: Something I've never seen before.
It's such a "wow" thing.
There's just no way it's modern.
ED: It does have some iconography.
It could be some sort of religious object.
RICK: Wow.
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