10x08 - A Lot to Be Desired
Posted: 04/16/24 09:53
Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...
- Sonar’s set up.
- Let’s get it down hole.
- Okay. There it is.
- It is a significant opening.
This could be the
offset chamber.
Another anomaly was this one
in the northern tip of the swamp.
Awfully close to
the Eye of the Swamp.
Would a metal box give you that?
- For sure. Yeah.
- Wow.
We have managed
to purchase Lot 5.
Oh. Cool!
- Look at that!
- Wow.
That’s treasure, mate.
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.
- Jeremy’s here.
- Hey, Jeremy.
- Jeremy!
- Hey, guys.
- You know Tom, don’t you?
- Actually, I do not.
- You do not.
- Tom, it’s good to meet you.
As a new
day begins on Oak Island,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,
their business
partner Craig Tester,
and members of their team
have gathered in the w*r room
with geophysicist
Jeremy Church for a report
that they hope
will help them solve
a 228-year-old treasure mystery.
So, what do you got?
Well, I got some
preliminary results
that are quite interesting
from the swamp.
This map is very preliminary.
So, I need to do some
full kind of processing
on the data set, but
it’s these little red dots.
Those are the
real exciting ones.
There’s all
kinds of stuff on here.
That’s correct, yeah.
- -Whoa. Yeah. She’s going off.
- Big one?
- Like off through the roof.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Fantastic.
One week ago, Jeremy,
diver Tony Sampson
and Jeremy’s colleague
Burton Cosgrove
conducted a new geophysical scan
searching for evidence
of buried metal objects
in the Oak Island swamp.
It is within this curiously
triangle-shaped feature
that the team has made a
number of extraordinary discoveries
in recent years,
including numerous pieces
of ancient sailing
ships and cargo barrels,
a stone road, or wharf,
and even a massive
rock-paved area
that has been dated by
geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
to as early as 1200 AD.
Now, after processing
the data he collected
during the recent survey,
Jeremey has returned to
present the team with his findings.
So, the hot colors,
reds, that’s higher conductivity.
So we’re looking for
higher conductivity
if we’re looking for
metallic features especially.
What do you think
those are, Tom?
- I don’t know.
- Hmm.
So, we need a swamp
excavator to find out.
You know, this could
be the Jack Adams box.
- The box.
- Jack approached your father
- and said, "Hey, I’ve got a metal target."
- Yes.
Whatever that man
found is in that swamp.
And maybe that’s it.
In the 1930s,
island caretaker Jack Adams
probed the swamp and struck
what he described as a "mystery box."
Unfortunately, he was unable
to determine just what it was.
But later in 1969,
after hearing Mr. Adams’ story,
Tom Nolan’s late father,
Fred, drained the swamp
in order to look for it.
The box was never found,
but Fred was astonished
to discover numerous
parts of a large sailing vessel,
as well as survey stakes
that were dated to as much
as three centuries prior to
the discovery of the Money Pit.
This made Fred
speculate that the swamp
may have been
artificially created
in order to hide the wreck of
a ship and its valuable cargo.
Is it possible that
Jeremy Church has found
more evidence that
this theory could be true?
I truly believe in that story.
So, one of those
could be that box.
Would a metal box
give you that anomaly?
- For sure, yeah.
- Well, that’s interesting.
Real interesting.
Yeah.
You’ve got the small hot spots
there, and then around them,
there’s a large
area that’s orange.
- What is that?
- I think that’s a good question.
So, within here you’ve
got a deeper body of water
causing that slightly
elevated conductivity.
But as you come northwards here,
the conductivity
levels are much lower.
So, another anomaly
that I was very interested in
was this one in the
northern tip of the swamp.
You see all this blue,
and there’s this nice little,
circular, moderately
high conductivity feature.
That’s above the eye.
Is that the eye?
Yeah, that’s awfully close
to the Eye of the Swamp.
Three years
ago, the Oak Island team
drained and excavated a
mysterious circular feature
at the northern point known
as the Eye of the Swamp.
That looks like
one of the conical rocks.
There, a formation
of boulders was discovered
surrounding a possible shaft,
which Dr. Ian Spooner believes
may have been artificially
created nearly 350 years ago.
Is it possible that Jeremy
has found evidence
that something metallic,
and of potential value,
could be buried much deeper
at the so-called
Eye of the Swamp?
Yeah, if the Eye of
the Swamp may be indicating
it has more depth to it
than what we see
right at the surface,
- that’s interesting.
- All right.
Well, that’s all
very, very intriguing.
Is it enough to
apply for a permit, though?
- Or at least get started?
- Yes, I would think.
You know, I think
there’s targets here, yes.
But I’d like to see a
little more processing
to get more specific
targets and see which ones
really jump out as
the highest priorities
- and which are more moderate priorities.
- Yeah.
Due to
enhanced provincial restrictions
on swamp exploration this year,
the team must first
identify any targets
they wish to excavate
before applying for permits.
That means, they
will need to wait
for Jeremy’s fully
processed survey data.
Another thing
I would like to try
is to see on the north
side of the swamp.
According to Dad, there is
some sort of a wall system
between the beach and the swamp.
- Right.
- We might be able to find it.
And I mean, that would
be huge if we could.
You’re well aware
of the noninvasive,
geophysical instruments
we could run there.
I think we can
do that in a few days.
- Yeah.
- All right.
I’m eager to get more
data. More things to look at.
Intrigue upon intrigue.
- Thank you, Jeremy.
- Thank you.
Later that afternoon...
- Okay, sonar’s set up?
- Yes, ready to go.
Alex Lagina joins
other members of
the Oak Island team
in the Money Pit area,
where they are
preparing to conduct
a sonar scanning
operation in borehole L-15.
I’m interested to see
how big this cavity is.
When we did the camera,
the scale was, like,
the hardest thing to tell.
And I mean, to be honest,
we don’t really know
- what this is.
- Yeah.
It’s coming up shortly.
One week ago,
after drilling into
a mysterious void
at a depth of some 150 feet,
Rick, Marty and
members of the team
inserted a
high-definition camera
to see if it might
be a natural cavity
or perhaps something
that was man-made.
Wait. No. Stop.
- That’s pretty square.
- Wow.
I think it has the
possibility of not being natural.
The best thing about the sonar
is you get a diameter/perimeter
of what the cavity is.
- Yeah.
- Right. This is gonna be interesting,
and hopefully we can
get some good data.
Okay. Well, let’s get started.
- Let’s get it down hole.
- Yep.
- Help Steve unravel it there.
- Yeah.
Now, after obtaining compelling
but limited visual evidence
of possible human activity
inside the cavern,
the team is hoping that
sonar will help them determine
if it could be a tunnel
or perhaps a vault
that might contain
something of value.
I’m keenly
interested in this cavity.
It’s a long shot, but this
could be the offset chamber.
Okay, now we’re scanning.
Okay. We’re in business.
Maybe the sonar will
show what’s contained in the cavity.
That’s my hope.
Okay. We’re inside
the casing it looks like.
So push it in a
little further, maybe.
Must be getting
close to the end here.
- There’s your 150.
- We’re in the hole.
Okay, now
we’re getting an image.
- It’s not a very strong return.
- Yeah.
Can you lower it
a little bit more?
Sure.
Okay, I’ve just dropped
six more inches.
Now we have
another image coming in.
Whoa.
Oh, that’s a good opening.
It is. It’s a
significant opening.
- It’s pretty distinct.
- Yeah.
You can see the
opening coming down here.
Yeah, that’s something.
It’s a decent-sized cavity.
It is.
Nearly 15 feet long.
We seem like we have quite
an open space right here.
While
conducting a sonar operation
in a borehole known as
L-15 in the Money Pit area,
members of the Oak Island
team have just confirmed
the existence of a large void
approximately 150
feet underground.
- Very large return.
- Yeah.
And we have hard signals
to the east and the west of it.
That material, whether
it’s wood or it’s actually
disturbed material
that’s close by,
it’s high intensity.
- Yeah.
- So that’s what we’re seeing.
It’s a well-defined, open
area to the north and south.
- But it is, as you can see, it’s very linear.
- Yeah.
And I see it goes a
lot farther than that
- based on the data in front of us.
- Yeah.
Linear features?
In a large void at the
bottom of borehole L-15?
Could this mean that the
team has possibly discovered
a man-made tunnel some
150 feet below ground
in the Money Pit area?
If so, who created it?
When? And where does it lead?
That’s good sonar data.
So, what we’ll do is we’ll
download it and process it.
I’ll put it in CAD, and
then I can show the guys,
- Rick and Marty, right?
- Sounds like a plan.
- Okay. All righty.
- All right.
- Let’s pull it up.
- Yep.
The following morning...
Is this about the area?
Yeah. Where we’re at here.
We’re at the actual
northern face of the swamp.
On Lot 10,
located just north of the
triangle-shaped swamp...
This area has
changed over the years.
Peter Fornetti and Oak
Island landowner Tom Nolan
are preparing to conduct a
ground-penetrating radar scan
with subsurface detecting
expert Stephan Grund.
My dad did quite
a bit of work in this area
and at one point, he
thought he had come across
some sort of a structure
that had something to do
with constructing this bog,
if it was man-made.
It was in this area
where, back in the 1970s,
Tom’s father, Fred Nolan,
believed he found evidence
that Oak Island may have once
been two separate land masses
and were joined together by
an artificially-created swamp.
Do you believe there’s
any specific items here, or...
I think what we might
be looking for here
is some sort of
a-a log structure.
- Mm-hmm.
- There was some sort of a damming system here.
Good, then let’s set up a grid.
Okay.
Fred, unlike previous searchers,
was focused on trying
to unravel the mystery.
Here and then we go
down a couple of feet.
And because of his
skill and expertise as a surveyor,
he brought a skill set that
no one had done in the past.
He thought there was
a log wall, a structure,
that he inferred might
be associated with
either letting water into the
swamp or out of the swamp...
12 and a half.
And I would love
nothing better to affirm that
that is true.
Okay. I’m good to go.
In order to search for evidence of
possible man-made workings,
Stephan is scanning
the entire area
just north of the
swamp in a grid pattern,
using the OKM Gepard 3D
ground penetrating radar device.
- Here we go for one more line.
- Yep.
- And then we just extend the grid.
- Okay. Sure.
The device works by
sending radio waves into the ground
which can identify
possible structures
buried as much as 130 feet deep.
Okay.
Okay, good. Let’s
have a look at the data.
Okay.
So, we’re now in the 3D view.
We do see some anomalies,
especially here in the middle.
Perfect. We’re
looking for a log structure.
- Yeah.
- That might be it.
- Yep.
- Pretty exciting. Yeah.
It’s really cool
that we’re getting
the GPR anomalies
in the area of interest,
- kind of the middle of the bog area.
- Yeah.
Which would be kind
of where the two...
If there were two islands...
They would come together.
Yeah.
Is it possible
that Peter, Tom and Stephan
have found potential
evidence that Fred Nolan’s
incredible theory about
the swamp could be true?
If my dad was here
today and seen just the level of
interest in that swamp,
you know, I think
he’d be quite amazed.
Hopefully, we can
shed some light
on where this is going.
So, hopefully once
we have this data processed,
we can maybe see a
damming mechanism.
Yep. No. Looking forward
to getting the data back
- and seeing what it says.
- Yeah.
- Perfect.
- Sounds good.
Later that afternoon...
Afternoon.
- Hi, Marty.
- Hello, mate.
Hey, guys.
Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
have called an important meeting
with members of the
team in the w*r room.
Well, Marty, you and I have
an announcement to make
and I think where everyone’s
gonna be quite interested in it.
So if you want to tell
everybody "the big secret."
All right.
Here we go, guys.
We have managed to purchase...
Lot 5.
- Wow. Sweet.
- Yeah.
- Huh?
- That’s great.
Gary, what do you
think about that?
Bloody brilliant. I can’t
wait to get on Lot 5.
It was really one of
the pieces we’ve been missing.
We have high hopes that
there could be
some real crucial,
crucial data on that
lot and we own it.
Okay.
Located
near the center of Oak Island,
Lot 5’s four acres have
never been accessible to Rick,
Marty, Craig and
the team until now.
Once owned by
the late Fred Nolan,
the property was sold to
his then research partner,
Robert Young, over
two decades ago.
Mr. Young would make a number
of notable discoveries there,
including ancient
coins and artifacts
before his own passing in 2020.
Because of Robert
Young’s kind offer,
we were able to
actually visit his home,
and we saw the artifacts
that he had recovered,
and I think we were
all impressed, right?
We were.
Robert invested a
large portion of his life
in trying to understand
what Lot 5 meant.
He found coins.
He found buttons.
He found other artifacts.
Everything that we
have found, he found.
It’s exciting. We know...
there have been some very
interesting finds on Lot 5.
Look, around the table,
I-I sense the excitement.
- Yeah.
- For a number of reasons,
this is a really good
day for Oak Island.
Not only putting the island
back together but being able
to advance the search
with more puzzle pieces.
Hopefully the ride will
be quite entertaining.
Gary, I’m quite surprised
you’re still in that room.
Oh, I’m anxious
to get out there.
I’ll put some coil to the soil.
This is fantastic news.
Release the hounds.
Big day, Rick.
I’ve been waiting for this day
for a very long time.
I can’t but agree, Gary.
Following
their meeting in the w*r room,
Rick Lagina, metal
detection expert Gary Drayton
and archaeologist Laird Niven
anxiously arrive on Lot 5,
located on the western
side of Oak Island.
Laird, this must
be exciting for you.
Yes. It just bothered me
- to not have access to it.
- Mm-hmm.
To-to have that part
of the story missing.
And we’ll just add
to Robert’s legacy.
Mm-hmm.
That’s the whole point of this.
- Yeah.
- Continuing the work that he did
for many, many, many years.
The lot is a mystery.
Let-Let’s see what we can find.
Okay.
When we take down the sign,
we realize that it is indeed
our responsibility at this point
to carry on Robert’s work.
This is in the past now, mate.
- To the future.
- Let’s get started.
Am I ecstatic, over
the moon, to be able
to go dig on a lot
that has eluded us?
The opportunity for answers?
Hundred percent.
You could equate it
to being given the keys
to the family car
when you’re 15 or 16.
I didn’t think this day
would ever happen.
It’s very, very cool.
All right. Let’s get stuck in.
I’ll just keep zigzagging.
This is the edge
of the lot line.
We’re in business.
Got a signal here.
Just there, mate.
Thank you, sir.
Ooh!
I feel something
heavy in me hand.
A big ol’ fastener.
Look at that.
What the hell’s
that doing out here?
This looks like wrought iron.
- It’s heavy, though, isn’t it? It’s well made.
- Yup.
Does this resemble
anything we’ve pulled
out of the Money Pit?
My first reaction is that
it’s almost chisel-like.
- Oh, wow. Like a tool? Yeah.
- Yeah.
You hit the nail on the
head. No pun intended.
- What’s a chisel doing out here, right?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- And wrought iron.
A hand-wrought iron chisel?
Found on Lot 5?
Because the documented
history of the island shows
no record that anyone
ever established
a homestead or
farm in this area,
just who may have
brought this tool here?
And what did they use it for?
I love finding
artifacts like this.
We have just pulled up what
I believe to be an old chisel.
This is the type of
thing you would need
if you’re depositing treasure.
You bring tools.
Okay, mate. It’s
definitely worth bagging.
Lot 5, baby.
Been waiting a
long time for this.
All right, let’s see if we
can add to the collection.
We ain’t going very
far, did you hear that?
Yeah, we got another
signal, right by the hole.
This train’s a-rolling.
Ooh!
I’m on it.
What’ve we got here?
Oh, look at that.
Another one.
What in the world?
- That’s the same exact thing, though.
- Yeah.
It’s not very often
that we find...
- Not two.
- Two of the same.
You’ve got to imagine that these
two were lost at the same time.
- Yeah, which is odd.
- I think you’re right, Laird.
They look like tools, chisels.
We could be in ye
old toolbox here.
Finding two tools
in very close proximity
means that somebody
was there doing something.
What makes sense to me is
there was an activity happening,
in the moment
things got exciting,
and the tools were lost
or misplaced
because of something
else going on.
I-I find that possibility
incredibly exciting.
Artifacts, every few feet.
This is gonna be
fantastic, mate.
- Lot 5.
- You’re gonna be sleeping out here.
The giving lot.
Another artifact off Lot 5.
Following his
exciting first hunt for clues on Lot 5...
Hey, Craig.
-Hello, Craig. -Hey, guys.
Rick returns to the w*r room
with Marty and
members of the team.
They have gathered
to review a report
of the sonar data
collected one day ago
in the mysterious void located
some 150 feet underground
in the Money Pit area.
These w*r rooms are my
favorite in the sense that
we’ve got some
good data, specifically,
we found a rather odd, open
cavern in and around L-15.
- Yep.
- Who has the data?
- I do.
- All right, Steve.
Put it on the screen.
So, we ran the sonar.
We downloaded the data.
We processed the data.
And then Scott and I, Craig
worked on a couple orientations.
And so, I’ve scaled it. I
put an orientation to it.
I locked it to L-15, and
I’m gonna drop it in place.
There it is. Okay.
This is our sonar cavity.
It was a wide-open
cavity with no obstruction.
And so, the size
of it as it sits now,
it’s about 27
feet, east to west,
about 12 feet north to south.
Wow.
And it could be further.
Holy smokes.
A void
approximately 150 feet underground
in the Money Pit area?
Measuring some 30 feet long?
If so, is it a natural feature?
Or was it artificially created?
Craig, describe it geologically.
Well, it’s in kind of
the-the limestone bed
that’s just above the bedrock.
I look at the other
wells in the area,
i-it doesn’t make sense.
This is very, very odd.
Dan, in all the time you’ve
been here, have you seen
any open cavities
in the limestone?
We had absolutely no discernable
flow of water horizontally
and, uh, therefore
no erosion by water.
Right.
So, uh,
any voids in the
limestone, uh, uh...
would pretty much
have to be man-made.
This could be it.
It could be
man-made in the sense that
somebody started something
or put something there.
Yeah, could be from
the original depositors.
In the Oak Island w*r room,
Rick and Marty Lagina, along
with members of the team,
have just reviewed sonar data
indicating that the
void they discovered
some 150 feet deep
in the Money Pit area
is at least 30 feet long and
is potentially man-made.
Caves are usually
made by water flowing through
porous, permeable
and soluble material.
According to Dan, water
doesn’t move through it.
So, the odds are
if water didn’t
create this cave,
then people did.
With the Hedden Shaft
and the, uh, Chappell pit
where they are,
this area looks as if
it’s in the general area
where those shafts
were flooded out.
Okay.
This depth is basically
where the vault was
found from Chappell.
That’s right. Yeah.
In 1897,
treasure hunters Frederick
Blair and William Chappell
drilled into what they described
as a seven-foot-tall wooden box,
encased in concrete
at a depth of 153 feet.
It was this operation that
revealed traces of gold,
as well as a piece of parchment
with the letters
"VI" written on it.
In the following years,
two different shafts
were constructed
in failed attempts to retrieve
the so-called Chappell Vault.
The first was constructed
by William Chappell, himself,
along with his son,
Melbourne, in 1931.
The second effort was led
by New York-based engineer
Gilbert Hedden in 1937.
But now, is it possible
that in borehole L-15,
where the team has found
a potentially
man-made linear cavern
some 150 feet deep in the
same area of the Money Pit,
that they have
potentially discovered
where the fabled Oak
Island treasure lies hidden?
Could this be associated with
the so-called Chappell Vault
that was drilled, uh,
in the late 1800s? Yes.
Because we don’t know
that it is actually
sealed at the ends.
What if the end of it connects
with the Chappell Vault?
Maybe that’s what
they drilled into.
Look, I’m not ruling
out that this could be it.
- It’s very, very odd. Yeah.
- 100%.
100% oddball.
I mean, we have a great image.
It’s already 27 by 12 feet.
We know it’s a
substantial cavity at that,
but we don’t have
enough information
to really know where it goes
- or how substantial this is.
- Right.
When we pull out of it
at the top of the cavity,
we know it’s probably
gonna collapse a little bit.
Uh, my whole deal
was to chase the gold,
and we’re running out of time.
Yeah.
Although the Oak Island team
is excited by this
potential breakthrough,
unfortunately, it presents
a complicated dilemma
for how to further explore it.
First, if something
of great, historic value
really does lie
within this cavern,
then drilling more
boreholes raises the chance
of damaging whatever it may be.
And secondly, the
team has dedicated
a majority of their financial
resources for this year
to refurbishing the
nearby Garden Shaft,
where high trace evidence
of gold has been detected.
However, the project
is currently on hold
pending necessary
permit applications.
It-It’s worth investigating.
I mean, I can’t believe anybody
around the table would say,
- "Ah, let it go."
- No.
So, we need more information.
- Yeah.
- We need to map it.
- We need 3D sonar.
- Yeah.
Paul did find another
company yesterday,
and he has reached out,
too, for a price on a rental.
And he hasn’t heard
back from them yet.
We could go to another location
because we don’t know
when the sonar’s coming.
Yeah.
Until we arrive at a plan,
we’re going to have a
stand-down, if you will.
So we will move
away from this location,
but we are certainly not done.
I say we go
drilling near the Garden Shaft.
- How’s that?
- Done.
All right. Perfect.
So let’s get back at it.
The following morning...
I’m happy. Lot 5.
- You’ve been flagging, Gary?
- Yeah, mate.
Today is gonna be a good day.
Rick Lagina and metal
detection expert Gary Drayton
return to Lot 5 to search
for additional clues.
All right. Let’s see what
we’ve got waiting for us here.
All right.
See what this one sounds like.
Oh, I like the sounds of that.
See how wide it is?
Well, that’s the center of it.
It’s rocky, man.
Let’s see if that did anything.
See if I can pinpoint it.
Oh.
- Survey marker.
- Yep.
That’s a survey marker, mate.
Don’t dig on top of it.
Okay, so, the next targets
are down here, mate.
And we’re going
further into Lot 5.
Okey doke.
Robert Young did exhaustive
work on his property,
and he worked
intimately with Fred Nolan.
But he did not have the
sophisticated equipment
that Gary has.
So, could something of immense
value still be hiding on Lot 5?
Absolutely.
All right, this is better, mate.
We’re getting more in to Lot 5.
Now, we stand a chance
of finding something good.
- Okay, I’m gonna hold you to it.
- Okay.
Ooh, that sounds better.
- It does, doesn’t it?
- Yep.
Just there.
There’s nothing but rock.
It’s just too rough
land to be farmland, isn’t it?
- You would think, yeah.
- Yeah.
All right, mate. Let’s
see if you moved it.
Yep.
Yup, think you moved it.
Oh.
Cool! Look at that!
That’s treasure, mate.
Oh, wow. Look at that.
Button?
It’s a coin, mate!
Oh, that is old.
On Lot 5,
located on property just
acquired by the Laginas
and their partner Craig Tester,
Rick and Gary
Drayton have just made
a potentially
important discovery.
Look at the patina on that.
- Oh, my God, my hands are shaking, mate.
- Turn it over.
That’s a cut
coin by the look of it.
- Hmm?
- Yeah.
That’s what they
did back in the day.
They cut them in
half or cut little bits off
for change, ’cause
that’s why they cut coins,
especially hammered
coins in half, and...
This is freaking gorgeous, mate,
- and that ain’t no milled coin, mate.
- No.
To me, mate, this looks
like an hammered coin.
Obviously, it’s
not a milled coin.
- No.
- It’s too thin.
And if it is hammered,
mate, it goes way back.
That is old.
Dating back
to the first millennium BC,
hammered coinage was
the first known method
for creating metal
currency in human history.
By placing a small,
blank piece of metal
between two patterned
surfaces, known as dies,
repeated hammering
would create the stamp,
or assigned value, on
either side of the coin.
It’s bloody fantastic, mate.
But what makes this find
potentially important
for the team
is that the process was
replaced by the invention
of machines in Europe
during the 15 century.
This means that it could
be more than 500 years old.
This is the type of find
that you would pull up
in Europe somewhere,
and that’s what
makes it so special.
- That’s treasure, mate.
- That would be.
Yeah. Brilliant, mate.
This is special. We
have got to bag this.
This could be
very, very important.
Wow. That’s a little,
mini piece of art there.
Okay. Get that sealed.
You know where
that’s going, mate.
That is a bona fide
top pocket find, mate,
if ever I saw one.
How about getting it
right back to the lab
- and finding out what it is?
- I’m good with that.
See what the techie machines tell us.
Following
their discovery on Lot 5...
Just the people we want to see.
Rick and Gary arrive
at the Interpretive Centre
to have it analyzed by
archaeologist Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan.
Sometimes when we’re in here,
and we’re just standing
and Gary and Jack,
- or Gary and Peter come in, right?
- Yeah. Yeah.
And what do we always
say? "Oh, they’re smiling."
Look.
That’s a good sign.
That’s a very good sign,
especially about
this item. Gary.
Well, we just come
from Lot 5, mate.
- Right. Yeah.
- And pulled up
a nice top pocket find, mate.
Don’t worry, it’s
still in the bag.
Check that out, mate.
See what you think of that.
Off come the glasses.
Oh, it’s thin.
Yeah.
It looked like a button
at first, but it’s not.
Nope.
Don’t keep me in suspenders,
mate. What do you think?
It’s a cut coin?
That’s what I thought as well.
- The patina’s great.
- Yeah.
We couldn’t tell whether
it looked like copper
- or silver.
- Yeah.
I mean, I’ve
seen a lot of coins.
I’ve actually found
hammered coins in England,
and obviously I’ve found
a lot of Spanish reales
in North America,
but I haven’t seen
this design before.
I just don’t know
what I’m looking at.
Well, we can XRF it.
That will tell us for
sure what this metal is.
Yeah, that’s what
we’re hoping you can do, mate.
All right. Emma?
- I’m hoping it’s silver.
- Yeah.
To gain more information
on the possible
origin of the coin,
Emma will use the X-ray
fluorescence spectrometer,
or XRF device, which
can identify the types of
elements and metals that
make up its composition.
Right now, I’m just
going through each peak
and identifying
all those elements.
It’s preserved like it’s silver,
- and it looks like it’s copper.
- Hmm.
Well, we will soon find out.
All right, it looks
mainly copper, some tin.
Some iron.
That little tiny bump
right there is arsenic.
So, is it arsenical bronze?
Yeah, it would be like
an arsenical bronze.
Wow. So, it’s old?
Yeah. Kind of like 1500s
- and kind of trickled out.
- Yeah.
- Oh.
- By 1700s, you wouldn’t have seen it whatsoever.
- So, it is old.
- Yeah.
Bloody nice.
It is old.
We don’t see arsenical
bronze past a certain date.
In the Oak
Island Interpretive Centre,
archaeometallurgist Emma
Culligan has determined
that a coin just found on Lot 5
by Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
contains arsenical bronze,
an alloy that stopped
being used in coin production
nearly two centuries
before the discovery of
the Money Pit in 1795.
And coins of that
size are usually
like 16 century,
pre-those dates.
- Yeah. -Yeah. Yep.
- Yeah.
You remember the other
arsenical copper piece.
- The little guy.
- The arsenical bronze.
That was found on Lot 7,
and this is a couple
lots over, Lot 5.
- Not too far away from each other.
- Mm-hmm.
Two months ago,
Gary and Jack Begley
discovered a barter token
on nearby Lot 7,
which also contained
arsenical bronze,
and was determined by
coin expert Sandy Campbell
to potentially predate
the 16 century.
It’s 500 years old, at least.
Is it possible
that the team has just unearthed
another critical puzzle
piece that could help them
determine the origin of
the Oak Island mystery?
You can eliminate,
for the most part,
English and Spanish, right?
Yeah, I don’t think
it’s English or Spanish.
- So, that takes it into...
- Yeah.
Some pretty
interesting territory.
We have fingerprints now that
- certainly suggest the 1500s, right?
- Mm-hmm.
So, it’s starting to craft
or weave some sort of
texture towards a
story component, right?
Yeah, I like it when
we can add artifacts
- Mm-hmm.
- And-and really strengthen our argument
that there was
early activity here.
Mm.
Arsenical bronze
dating from as early as 1500.
Um, that’s an aha moment.
That’s quite remarkable.
What does it mean?
You know, it’s like, I’m up
here with "Wow, fantastic.
"1500. Unbelievable, right?
Little piece of
something telling us that."
And then I’m down here
like, "But what does it mean?"
Marty, he’s a science
guy, right? He loves data.
So, I think I’ll
give him a call.
Hey.
We happen to be in the lab.
- So, you know what that means: data.
- Yeah.
It’s not Bravo
Tango, but it’s...
it’s interesting,
let’s put it that way.
So, turn you over to Gary.
Hang on.
Hey, mate. How’re you doing?
No, I wish I was.
We just got the results,
and it is a copper coin.
And the most important part
is it was recovered on Lot 5.
- Can you show him?
- Um...
I’ll try and show you, mate.
This looks like an
old hammered coin.
I can’t really make
out the details on it.
Yeah, you got that right,
mate. Nice pun as well.
But there’s something
special about this.
All right, mate.
- So, I’ll pass you on to Laird and Emma.
- Emma.
Cheers.
- Will do, mate.
- Here’s Emma.
Heyo. Hi, hi.
So, this-this is coming up
as an arsenical-like bronze.
Which is pretty similar
to the arsenical alloy
that we found earlier.
It’s basically faded out
from the 15 century onwards.
And they’re all kind of
gathered around Lot 5 to Lot 7.
So, yeah, there’s
a collection of
these really old
coins and metals
which is really interesting.
- It’s exciting.
- Yeah.
No. -
Oh, we might with this.
That’s how... that’s
how confident I am
that this is a
very, very old coin.
Look, i-it’s a great find,
but the more items we find,
the more story, the
more connective tissue.
There’s plenty of Lot
5. Don’t worry about it.
- Take care. See you.
- Bye.
Cheers.
Okay, well, I mean,
it’s all good news.
- Yeah.
- Lot 5, Lot 7 are now turning up
some really esoteric metals.
- Yeah.
- And we need to find out why.
So, there’s a lot
of work to do, but...
you and I won’t
do it in here, right?
So I think we should
go back out, find more.
- Okay, mate.
- All right.
- Good luck.
- See you later, guys.
- Thanks.
- Cheers.
As another week
comes to an end on Oak Island,
Rick, Marty, Craig
and their team
have once again made
incredible progress
toward solving the
Oak Island mystery.
Now, as they
continue their pursuit of
breakthrough discoveries
in the Money Pit,
the swamp,
and on the western
side of the island,
will something that could
rewrite North American history
soon be revealed?
If so,
will the team, and the world,
be prepared for
what they may find?
Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...
- Oh! We got wood.
- Whoa!
It looks like it might
be a new shaft.
- It changes the whole story.
- Yeah.
We could be looking
at the Money Pit.
There’s significant
anomalies in this area.
Wow. That is huge.
We need to dig.
Oh, yeah. Look at that.
- That is sweet.
- Whoa.
This is Roman.
- Roman?
- No way.
Definitely from 300 BC.
Roman, baby.
It’s remarkable.
The Curse of Oak Island...
- Sonar’s set up.
- Let’s get it down hole.
- Okay. There it is.
- It is a significant opening.
This could be the
offset chamber.
Another anomaly was this one
in the northern tip of the swamp.
Awfully close to
the Eye of the Swamp.
Would a metal box give you that?
- For sure. Yeah.
- Wow.
We have managed
to purchase Lot 5.
Oh. Cool!
- Look at that!
- Wow.
That’s treasure, mate.
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.
- Jeremy’s here.
- Hey, Jeremy.
- Jeremy!
- Hey, guys.
- You know Tom, don’t you?
- Actually, I do not.
- You do not.
- Tom, it’s good to meet you.
As a new
day begins on Oak Island,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,
their business
partner Craig Tester,
and members of their team
have gathered in the w*r room
with geophysicist
Jeremy Church for a report
that they hope
will help them solve
a 228-year-old treasure mystery.
So, what do you got?
Well, I got some
preliminary results
that are quite interesting
from the swamp.
This map is very preliminary.
So, I need to do some
full kind of processing
on the data set, but
it’s these little red dots.
Those are the
real exciting ones.
There’s all
kinds of stuff on here.
That’s correct, yeah.
- -Whoa. Yeah. She’s going off.
- Big one?
- Like off through the roof.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Fantastic.
One week ago, Jeremy,
diver Tony Sampson
and Jeremy’s colleague
Burton Cosgrove
conducted a new geophysical scan
searching for evidence
of buried metal objects
in the Oak Island swamp.
It is within this curiously
triangle-shaped feature
that the team has made a
number of extraordinary discoveries
in recent years,
including numerous pieces
of ancient sailing
ships and cargo barrels,
a stone road, or wharf,
and even a massive
rock-paved area
that has been dated by
geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
to as early as 1200 AD.
Now, after processing
the data he collected
during the recent survey,
Jeremey has returned to
present the team with his findings.
So, the hot colors,
reds, that’s higher conductivity.
So we’re looking for
higher conductivity
if we’re looking for
metallic features especially.
What do you think
those are, Tom?
- I don’t know.
- Hmm.
So, we need a swamp
excavator to find out.
You know, this could
be the Jack Adams box.
- The box.
- Jack approached your father
- and said, "Hey, I’ve got a metal target."
- Yes.
Whatever that man
found is in that swamp.
And maybe that’s it.
In the 1930s,
island caretaker Jack Adams
probed the swamp and struck
what he described as a "mystery box."
Unfortunately, he was unable
to determine just what it was.
But later in 1969,
after hearing Mr. Adams’ story,
Tom Nolan’s late father,
Fred, drained the swamp
in order to look for it.
The box was never found,
but Fred was astonished
to discover numerous
parts of a large sailing vessel,
as well as survey stakes
that were dated to as much
as three centuries prior to
the discovery of the Money Pit.
This made Fred
speculate that the swamp
may have been
artificially created
in order to hide the wreck of
a ship and its valuable cargo.
Is it possible that
Jeremy Church has found
more evidence that
this theory could be true?
I truly believe in that story.
So, one of those
could be that box.
Would a metal box
give you that anomaly?
- For sure, yeah.
- Well, that’s interesting.
Real interesting.
Yeah.
You’ve got the small hot spots
there, and then around them,
there’s a large
area that’s orange.
- What is that?
- I think that’s a good question.
So, within here you’ve
got a deeper body of water
causing that slightly
elevated conductivity.
But as you come northwards here,
the conductivity
levels are much lower.
So, another anomaly
that I was very interested in
was this one in the
northern tip of the swamp.
You see all this blue,
and there’s this nice little,
circular, moderately
high conductivity feature.
That’s above the eye.
Is that the eye?
Yeah, that’s awfully close
to the Eye of the Swamp.
Three years
ago, the Oak Island team
drained and excavated a
mysterious circular feature
at the northern point known
as the Eye of the Swamp.
That looks like
one of the conical rocks.
There, a formation
of boulders was discovered
surrounding a possible shaft,
which Dr. Ian Spooner believes
may have been artificially
created nearly 350 years ago.
Is it possible that Jeremy
has found evidence
that something metallic,
and of potential value,
could be buried much deeper
at the so-called
Eye of the Swamp?
Yeah, if the Eye of
the Swamp may be indicating
it has more depth to it
than what we see
right at the surface,
- that’s interesting.
- All right.
Well, that’s all
very, very intriguing.
Is it enough to
apply for a permit, though?
- Or at least get started?
- Yes, I would think.
You know, I think
there’s targets here, yes.
But I’d like to see a
little more processing
to get more specific
targets and see which ones
really jump out as
the highest priorities
- and which are more moderate priorities.
- Yeah.
Due to
enhanced provincial restrictions
on swamp exploration this year,
the team must first
identify any targets
they wish to excavate
before applying for permits.
That means, they
will need to wait
for Jeremy’s fully
processed survey data.
Another thing
I would like to try
is to see on the north
side of the swamp.
According to Dad, there is
some sort of a wall system
between the beach and the swamp.
- Right.
- We might be able to find it.
And I mean, that would
be huge if we could.
You’re well aware
of the noninvasive,
geophysical instruments
we could run there.
I think we can
do that in a few days.
- Yeah.
- All right.
I’m eager to get more
data. More things to look at.
Intrigue upon intrigue.
- Thank you, Jeremy.
- Thank you.
Later that afternoon...
- Okay, sonar’s set up?
- Yes, ready to go.
Alex Lagina joins
other members of
the Oak Island team
in the Money Pit area,
where they are
preparing to conduct
a sonar scanning
operation in borehole L-15.
I’m interested to see
how big this cavity is.
When we did the camera,
the scale was, like,
the hardest thing to tell.
And I mean, to be honest,
we don’t really know
- what this is.
- Yeah.
It’s coming up shortly.
One week ago,
after drilling into
a mysterious void
at a depth of some 150 feet,
Rick, Marty and
members of the team
inserted a
high-definition camera
to see if it might
be a natural cavity
or perhaps something
that was man-made.
Wait. No. Stop.
- That’s pretty square.
- Wow.
I think it has the
possibility of not being natural.
The best thing about the sonar
is you get a diameter/perimeter
of what the cavity is.
- Yeah.
- Right. This is gonna be interesting,
and hopefully we can
get some good data.
Okay. Well, let’s get started.
- Let’s get it down hole.
- Yep.
- Help Steve unravel it there.
- Yeah.
Now, after obtaining compelling
but limited visual evidence
of possible human activity
inside the cavern,
the team is hoping that
sonar will help them determine
if it could be a tunnel
or perhaps a vault
that might contain
something of value.
I’m keenly
interested in this cavity.
It’s a long shot, but this
could be the offset chamber.
Okay, now we’re scanning.
Okay. We’re in business.
Maybe the sonar will
show what’s contained in the cavity.
That’s my hope.
Okay. We’re inside
the casing it looks like.
So push it in a
little further, maybe.
Must be getting
close to the end here.
- There’s your 150.
- We’re in the hole.
Okay, now
we’re getting an image.
- It’s not a very strong return.
- Yeah.
Can you lower it
a little bit more?
Sure.
Okay, I’ve just dropped
six more inches.
Now we have
another image coming in.
Whoa.
Oh, that’s a good opening.
It is. It’s a
significant opening.
- It’s pretty distinct.
- Yeah.
You can see the
opening coming down here.
Yeah, that’s something.
It’s a decent-sized cavity.
It is.
Nearly 15 feet long.
We seem like we have quite
an open space right here.
While
conducting a sonar operation
in a borehole known as
L-15 in the Money Pit area,
members of the Oak Island
team have just confirmed
the existence of a large void
approximately 150
feet underground.
- Very large return.
- Yeah.
And we have hard signals
to the east and the west of it.
That material, whether
it’s wood or it’s actually
disturbed material
that’s close by,
it’s high intensity.
- Yeah.
- So that’s what we’re seeing.
It’s a well-defined, open
area to the north and south.
- But it is, as you can see, it’s very linear.
- Yeah.
And I see it goes a
lot farther than that
- based on the data in front of us.
- Yeah.
Linear features?
In a large void at the
bottom of borehole L-15?
Could this mean that the
team has possibly discovered
a man-made tunnel some
150 feet below ground
in the Money Pit area?
If so, who created it?
When? And where does it lead?
That’s good sonar data.
So, what we’ll do is we’ll
download it and process it.
I’ll put it in CAD, and
then I can show the guys,
- Rick and Marty, right?
- Sounds like a plan.
- Okay. All righty.
- All right.
- Let’s pull it up.
- Yep.
The following morning...
Is this about the area?
Yeah. Where we’re at here.
We’re at the actual
northern face of the swamp.
On Lot 10,
located just north of the
triangle-shaped swamp...
This area has
changed over the years.
Peter Fornetti and Oak
Island landowner Tom Nolan
are preparing to conduct a
ground-penetrating radar scan
with subsurface detecting
expert Stephan Grund.
My dad did quite
a bit of work in this area
and at one point, he
thought he had come across
some sort of a structure
that had something to do
with constructing this bog,
if it was man-made.
It was in this area
where, back in the 1970s,
Tom’s father, Fred Nolan,
believed he found evidence
that Oak Island may have once
been two separate land masses
and were joined together by
an artificially-created swamp.
Do you believe there’s
any specific items here, or...
I think what we might
be looking for here
is some sort of
a-a log structure.
- Mm-hmm.
- There was some sort of a damming system here.
Good, then let’s set up a grid.
Okay.
Fred, unlike previous searchers,
was focused on trying
to unravel the mystery.
Here and then we go
down a couple of feet.
And because of his
skill and expertise as a surveyor,
he brought a skill set that
no one had done in the past.
He thought there was
a log wall, a structure,
that he inferred might
be associated with
either letting water into the
swamp or out of the swamp...
12 and a half.
And I would love
nothing better to affirm that
that is true.
Okay. I’m good to go.
In order to search for evidence of
possible man-made workings,
Stephan is scanning
the entire area
just north of the
swamp in a grid pattern,
using the OKM Gepard 3D
ground penetrating radar device.
- Here we go for one more line.
- Yep.
- And then we just extend the grid.
- Okay. Sure.
The device works by
sending radio waves into the ground
which can identify
possible structures
buried as much as 130 feet deep.
Okay.
Okay, good. Let’s
have a look at the data.
Okay.
So, we’re now in the 3D view.
We do see some anomalies,
especially here in the middle.
Perfect. We’re
looking for a log structure.
- Yeah.
- That might be it.
- Yep.
- Pretty exciting. Yeah.
It’s really cool
that we’re getting
the GPR anomalies
in the area of interest,
- kind of the middle of the bog area.
- Yeah.
Which would be kind
of where the two...
If there were two islands...
They would come together.
Yeah.
Is it possible
that Peter, Tom and Stephan
have found potential
evidence that Fred Nolan’s
incredible theory about
the swamp could be true?
If my dad was here
today and seen just the level of
interest in that swamp,
you know, I think
he’d be quite amazed.
Hopefully, we can
shed some light
on where this is going.
So, hopefully once
we have this data processed,
we can maybe see a
damming mechanism.
Yep. No. Looking forward
to getting the data back
- and seeing what it says.
- Yeah.
- Perfect.
- Sounds good.
Later that afternoon...
Afternoon.
- Hi, Marty.
- Hello, mate.
Hey, guys.
Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
have called an important meeting
with members of the
team in the w*r room.
Well, Marty, you and I have
an announcement to make
and I think where everyone’s
gonna be quite interested in it.
So if you want to tell
everybody "the big secret."
All right.
Here we go, guys.
We have managed to purchase...
Lot 5.
- Wow. Sweet.
- Yeah.
- Huh?
- That’s great.
Gary, what do you
think about that?
Bloody brilliant. I can’t
wait to get on Lot 5.
It was really one of
the pieces we’ve been missing.
We have high hopes that
there could be
some real crucial,
crucial data on that
lot and we own it.
Okay.
Located
near the center of Oak Island,
Lot 5’s four acres have
never been accessible to Rick,
Marty, Craig and
the team until now.
Once owned by
the late Fred Nolan,
the property was sold to
his then research partner,
Robert Young, over
two decades ago.
Mr. Young would make a number
of notable discoveries there,
including ancient
coins and artifacts
before his own passing in 2020.
Because of Robert
Young’s kind offer,
we were able to
actually visit his home,
and we saw the artifacts
that he had recovered,
and I think we were
all impressed, right?
We were.
Robert invested a
large portion of his life
in trying to understand
what Lot 5 meant.
He found coins.
He found buttons.
He found other artifacts.
Everything that we
have found, he found.
It’s exciting. We know...
there have been some very
interesting finds on Lot 5.
Look, around the table,
I-I sense the excitement.
- Yeah.
- For a number of reasons,
this is a really good
day for Oak Island.
Not only putting the island
back together but being able
to advance the search
with more puzzle pieces.
Hopefully the ride will
be quite entertaining.
Gary, I’m quite surprised
you’re still in that room.
Oh, I’m anxious
to get out there.
I’ll put some coil to the soil.
This is fantastic news.
Release the hounds.
Big day, Rick.
I’ve been waiting for this day
for a very long time.
I can’t but agree, Gary.
Following
their meeting in the w*r room,
Rick Lagina, metal
detection expert Gary Drayton
and archaeologist Laird Niven
anxiously arrive on Lot 5,
located on the western
side of Oak Island.
Laird, this must
be exciting for you.
Yes. It just bothered me
- to not have access to it.
- Mm-hmm.
To-to have that part
of the story missing.
And we’ll just add
to Robert’s legacy.
Mm-hmm.
That’s the whole point of this.
- Yeah.
- Continuing the work that he did
for many, many, many years.
The lot is a mystery.
Let-Let’s see what we can find.
Okay.
When we take down the sign,
we realize that it is indeed
our responsibility at this point
to carry on Robert’s work.
This is in the past now, mate.
- To the future.
- Let’s get started.
Am I ecstatic, over
the moon, to be able
to go dig on a lot
that has eluded us?
The opportunity for answers?
Hundred percent.
You could equate it
to being given the keys
to the family car
when you’re 15 or 16.
I didn’t think this day
would ever happen.
It’s very, very cool.
All right. Let’s get stuck in.
I’ll just keep zigzagging.
This is the edge
of the lot line.
We’re in business.
Got a signal here.
Just there, mate.
Thank you, sir.
Ooh!
I feel something
heavy in me hand.
A big ol’ fastener.
Look at that.
What the hell’s
that doing out here?
This looks like wrought iron.
- It’s heavy, though, isn’t it? It’s well made.
- Yup.
Does this resemble
anything we’ve pulled
out of the Money Pit?
My first reaction is that
it’s almost chisel-like.
- Oh, wow. Like a tool? Yeah.
- Yeah.
You hit the nail on the
head. No pun intended.
- What’s a chisel doing out here, right?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- And wrought iron.
A hand-wrought iron chisel?
Found on Lot 5?
Because the documented
history of the island shows
no record that anyone
ever established
a homestead or
farm in this area,
just who may have
brought this tool here?
And what did they use it for?
I love finding
artifacts like this.
We have just pulled up what
I believe to be an old chisel.
This is the type of
thing you would need
if you’re depositing treasure.
You bring tools.
Okay, mate. It’s
definitely worth bagging.
Lot 5, baby.
Been waiting a
long time for this.
All right, let’s see if we
can add to the collection.
We ain’t going very
far, did you hear that?
Yeah, we got another
signal, right by the hole.
This train’s a-rolling.
Ooh!
I’m on it.
What’ve we got here?
Oh, look at that.
Another one.
What in the world?
- That’s the same exact thing, though.
- Yeah.
It’s not very often
that we find...
- Not two.
- Two of the same.
You’ve got to imagine that these
two were lost at the same time.
- Yeah, which is odd.
- I think you’re right, Laird.
They look like tools, chisels.
We could be in ye
old toolbox here.
Finding two tools
in very close proximity
means that somebody
was there doing something.
What makes sense to me is
there was an activity happening,
in the moment
things got exciting,
and the tools were lost
or misplaced
because of something
else going on.
I-I find that possibility
incredibly exciting.
Artifacts, every few feet.
This is gonna be
fantastic, mate.
- Lot 5.
- You’re gonna be sleeping out here.
The giving lot.
Another artifact off Lot 5.
Following his
exciting first hunt for clues on Lot 5...
Hey, Craig.
-Hello, Craig. -Hey, guys.
Rick returns to the w*r room
with Marty and
members of the team.
They have gathered
to review a report
of the sonar data
collected one day ago
in the mysterious void located
some 150 feet underground
in the Money Pit area.
These w*r rooms are my
favorite in the sense that
we’ve got some
good data, specifically,
we found a rather odd, open
cavern in and around L-15.
- Yep.
- Who has the data?
- I do.
- All right, Steve.
Put it on the screen.
So, we ran the sonar.
We downloaded the data.
We processed the data.
And then Scott and I, Craig
worked on a couple orientations.
And so, I’ve scaled it. I
put an orientation to it.
I locked it to L-15, and
I’m gonna drop it in place.
There it is. Okay.
This is our sonar cavity.
It was a wide-open
cavity with no obstruction.
And so, the size
of it as it sits now,
it’s about 27
feet, east to west,
about 12 feet north to south.
Wow.
And it could be further.
Holy smokes.
A void
approximately 150 feet underground
in the Money Pit area?
Measuring some 30 feet long?
If so, is it a natural feature?
Or was it artificially created?
Craig, describe it geologically.
Well, it’s in kind of
the-the limestone bed
that’s just above the bedrock.
I look at the other
wells in the area,
i-it doesn’t make sense.
This is very, very odd.
Dan, in all the time you’ve
been here, have you seen
any open cavities
in the limestone?
We had absolutely no discernable
flow of water horizontally
and, uh, therefore
no erosion by water.
Right.
So, uh,
any voids in the
limestone, uh, uh...
would pretty much
have to be man-made.
This could be it.
It could be
man-made in the sense that
somebody started something
or put something there.
Yeah, could be from
the original depositors.
In the Oak Island w*r room,
Rick and Marty Lagina, along
with members of the team,
have just reviewed sonar data
indicating that the
void they discovered
some 150 feet deep
in the Money Pit area
is at least 30 feet long and
is potentially man-made.
Caves are usually
made by water flowing through
porous, permeable
and soluble material.
According to Dan, water
doesn’t move through it.
So, the odds are
if water didn’t
create this cave,
then people did.
With the Hedden Shaft
and the, uh, Chappell pit
where they are,
this area looks as if
it’s in the general area
where those shafts
were flooded out.
Okay.
This depth is basically
where the vault was
found from Chappell.
That’s right. Yeah.
In 1897,
treasure hunters Frederick
Blair and William Chappell
drilled into what they described
as a seven-foot-tall wooden box,
encased in concrete
at a depth of 153 feet.
It was this operation that
revealed traces of gold,
as well as a piece of parchment
with the letters
"VI" written on it.
In the following years,
two different shafts
were constructed
in failed attempts to retrieve
the so-called Chappell Vault.
The first was constructed
by William Chappell, himself,
along with his son,
Melbourne, in 1931.
The second effort was led
by New York-based engineer
Gilbert Hedden in 1937.
But now, is it possible
that in borehole L-15,
where the team has found
a potentially
man-made linear cavern
some 150 feet deep in the
same area of the Money Pit,
that they have
potentially discovered
where the fabled Oak
Island treasure lies hidden?
Could this be associated with
the so-called Chappell Vault
that was drilled, uh,
in the late 1800s? Yes.
Because we don’t know
that it is actually
sealed at the ends.
What if the end of it connects
with the Chappell Vault?
Maybe that’s what
they drilled into.
Look, I’m not ruling
out that this could be it.
- It’s very, very odd. Yeah.
- 100%.
100% oddball.
I mean, we have a great image.
It’s already 27 by 12 feet.
We know it’s a
substantial cavity at that,
but we don’t have
enough information
to really know where it goes
- or how substantial this is.
- Right.
When we pull out of it
at the top of the cavity,
we know it’s probably
gonna collapse a little bit.
Uh, my whole deal
was to chase the gold,
and we’re running out of time.
Yeah.
Although the Oak Island team
is excited by this
potential breakthrough,
unfortunately, it presents
a complicated dilemma
for how to further explore it.
First, if something
of great, historic value
really does lie
within this cavern,
then drilling more
boreholes raises the chance
of damaging whatever it may be.
And secondly, the
team has dedicated
a majority of their financial
resources for this year
to refurbishing the
nearby Garden Shaft,
where high trace evidence
of gold has been detected.
However, the project
is currently on hold
pending necessary
permit applications.
It-It’s worth investigating.
I mean, I can’t believe anybody
around the table would say,
- "Ah, let it go."
- No.
So, we need more information.
- Yeah.
- We need to map it.
- We need 3D sonar.
- Yeah.
Paul did find another
company yesterday,
and he has reached out,
too, for a price on a rental.
And he hasn’t heard
back from them yet.
We could go to another location
because we don’t know
when the sonar’s coming.
Yeah.
Until we arrive at a plan,
we’re going to have a
stand-down, if you will.
So we will move
away from this location,
but we are certainly not done.
I say we go
drilling near the Garden Shaft.
- How’s that?
- Done.
All right. Perfect.
So let’s get back at it.
The following morning...
I’m happy. Lot 5.
- You’ve been flagging, Gary?
- Yeah, mate.
Today is gonna be a good day.
Rick Lagina and metal
detection expert Gary Drayton
return to Lot 5 to search
for additional clues.
All right. Let’s see what
we’ve got waiting for us here.
All right.
See what this one sounds like.
Oh, I like the sounds of that.
See how wide it is?
Well, that’s the center of it.
It’s rocky, man.
Let’s see if that did anything.
See if I can pinpoint it.
Oh.
- Survey marker.
- Yep.
That’s a survey marker, mate.
Don’t dig on top of it.
Okay, so, the next targets
are down here, mate.
And we’re going
further into Lot 5.
Okey doke.
Robert Young did exhaustive
work on his property,
and he worked
intimately with Fred Nolan.
But he did not have the
sophisticated equipment
that Gary has.
So, could something of immense
value still be hiding on Lot 5?
Absolutely.
All right, this is better, mate.
We’re getting more in to Lot 5.
Now, we stand a chance
of finding something good.
- Okay, I’m gonna hold you to it.
- Okay.
Ooh, that sounds better.
- It does, doesn’t it?
- Yep.
Just there.
There’s nothing but rock.
It’s just too rough
land to be farmland, isn’t it?
- You would think, yeah.
- Yeah.
All right, mate. Let’s
see if you moved it.
Yep.
Yup, think you moved it.
Oh.
Cool! Look at that!
That’s treasure, mate.
Oh, wow. Look at that.
Button?
It’s a coin, mate!
Oh, that is old.
On Lot 5,
located on property just
acquired by the Laginas
and their partner Craig Tester,
Rick and Gary
Drayton have just made
a potentially
important discovery.
Look at the patina on that.
- Oh, my God, my hands are shaking, mate.
- Turn it over.
That’s a cut
coin by the look of it.
- Hmm?
- Yeah.
That’s what they
did back in the day.
They cut them in
half or cut little bits off
for change, ’cause
that’s why they cut coins,
especially hammered
coins in half, and...
This is freaking gorgeous, mate,
- and that ain’t no milled coin, mate.
- No.
To me, mate, this looks
like an hammered coin.
Obviously, it’s
not a milled coin.
- No.
- It’s too thin.
And if it is hammered,
mate, it goes way back.
That is old.
Dating back
to the first millennium BC,
hammered coinage was
the first known method
for creating metal
currency in human history.
By placing a small,
blank piece of metal
between two patterned
surfaces, known as dies,
repeated hammering
would create the stamp,
or assigned value, on
either side of the coin.
It’s bloody fantastic, mate.
But what makes this find
potentially important
for the team
is that the process was
replaced by the invention
of machines in Europe
during the 15 century.
This means that it could
be more than 500 years old.
This is the type of find
that you would pull up
in Europe somewhere,
and that’s what
makes it so special.
- That’s treasure, mate.
- That would be.
Yeah. Brilliant, mate.
This is special. We
have got to bag this.
This could be
very, very important.
Wow. That’s a little,
mini piece of art there.
Okay. Get that sealed.
You know where
that’s going, mate.
That is a bona fide
top pocket find, mate,
if ever I saw one.
How about getting it
right back to the lab
- and finding out what it is?
- I’m good with that.
See what the techie machines tell us.
Following
their discovery on Lot 5...
Just the people we want to see.
Rick and Gary arrive
at the Interpretive Centre
to have it analyzed by
archaeologist Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan.
Sometimes when we’re in here,
and we’re just standing
and Gary and Jack,
- or Gary and Peter come in, right?
- Yeah. Yeah.
And what do we always
say? "Oh, they’re smiling."
Look.
That’s a good sign.
That’s a very good sign,
especially about
this item. Gary.
Well, we just come
from Lot 5, mate.
- Right. Yeah.
- And pulled up
a nice top pocket find, mate.
Don’t worry, it’s
still in the bag.
Check that out, mate.
See what you think of that.
Off come the glasses.
Oh, it’s thin.
Yeah.
It looked like a button
at first, but it’s not.
Nope.
Don’t keep me in suspenders,
mate. What do you think?
It’s a cut coin?
That’s what I thought as well.
- The patina’s great.
- Yeah.
We couldn’t tell whether
it looked like copper
- or silver.
- Yeah.
I mean, I’ve
seen a lot of coins.
I’ve actually found
hammered coins in England,
and obviously I’ve found
a lot of Spanish reales
in North America,
but I haven’t seen
this design before.
I just don’t know
what I’m looking at.
Well, we can XRF it.
That will tell us for
sure what this metal is.
Yeah, that’s what
we’re hoping you can do, mate.
All right. Emma?
- I’m hoping it’s silver.
- Yeah.
To gain more information
on the possible
origin of the coin,
Emma will use the X-ray
fluorescence spectrometer,
or XRF device, which
can identify the types of
elements and metals that
make up its composition.
Right now, I’m just
going through each peak
and identifying
all those elements.
It’s preserved like it’s silver,
- and it looks like it’s copper.
- Hmm.
Well, we will soon find out.
All right, it looks
mainly copper, some tin.
Some iron.
That little tiny bump
right there is arsenic.
So, is it arsenical bronze?
Yeah, it would be like
an arsenical bronze.
Wow. So, it’s old?
Yeah. Kind of like 1500s
- and kind of trickled out.
- Yeah.
- Oh.
- By 1700s, you wouldn’t have seen it whatsoever.
- So, it is old.
- Yeah.
Bloody nice.
It is old.
We don’t see arsenical
bronze past a certain date.
In the Oak
Island Interpretive Centre,
archaeometallurgist Emma
Culligan has determined
that a coin just found on Lot 5
by Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
contains arsenical bronze,
an alloy that stopped
being used in coin production
nearly two centuries
before the discovery of
the Money Pit in 1795.
And coins of that
size are usually
like 16 century,
pre-those dates.
- Yeah. -Yeah. Yep.
- Yeah.
You remember the other
arsenical copper piece.
- The little guy.
- The arsenical bronze.
That was found on Lot 7,
and this is a couple
lots over, Lot 5.
- Not too far away from each other.
- Mm-hmm.
Two months ago,
Gary and Jack Begley
discovered a barter token
on nearby Lot 7,
which also contained
arsenical bronze,
and was determined by
coin expert Sandy Campbell
to potentially predate
the 16 century.
It’s 500 years old, at least.
Is it possible
that the team has just unearthed
another critical puzzle
piece that could help them
determine the origin of
the Oak Island mystery?
You can eliminate,
for the most part,
English and Spanish, right?
Yeah, I don’t think
it’s English or Spanish.
- So, that takes it into...
- Yeah.
Some pretty
interesting territory.
We have fingerprints now that
- certainly suggest the 1500s, right?
- Mm-hmm.
So, it’s starting to craft
or weave some sort of
texture towards a
story component, right?
Yeah, I like it when
we can add artifacts
- Mm-hmm.
- And-and really strengthen our argument
that there was
early activity here.
Mm.
Arsenical bronze
dating from as early as 1500.
Um, that’s an aha moment.
That’s quite remarkable.
What does it mean?
You know, it’s like, I’m up
here with "Wow, fantastic.
"1500. Unbelievable, right?
Little piece of
something telling us that."
And then I’m down here
like, "But what does it mean?"
Marty, he’s a science
guy, right? He loves data.
So, I think I’ll
give him a call.
Hey.
We happen to be in the lab.
- So, you know what that means: data.
- Yeah.
It’s not Bravo
Tango, but it’s...
it’s interesting,
let’s put it that way.
So, turn you over to Gary.
Hang on.
Hey, mate. How’re you doing?
No, I wish I was.
We just got the results,
and it is a copper coin.
And the most important part
is it was recovered on Lot 5.
- Can you show him?
- Um...
I’ll try and show you, mate.
This looks like an
old hammered coin.
I can’t really make
out the details on it.
Yeah, you got that right,
mate. Nice pun as well.
But there’s something
special about this.
All right, mate.
- So, I’ll pass you on to Laird and Emma.
- Emma.
Cheers.
- Will do, mate.
- Here’s Emma.
Heyo. Hi, hi.
So, this-this is coming up
as an arsenical-like bronze.
Which is pretty similar
to the arsenical alloy
that we found earlier.
It’s basically faded out
from the 15 century onwards.
And they’re all kind of
gathered around Lot 5 to Lot 7.
So, yeah, there’s
a collection of
these really old
coins and metals
which is really interesting.
- It’s exciting.
- Yeah.
No. -
Oh, we might with this.
That’s how... that’s
how confident I am
that this is a
very, very old coin.
Look, i-it’s a great find,
but the more items we find,
the more story, the
more connective tissue.
There’s plenty of Lot
5. Don’t worry about it.
- Take care. See you.
- Bye.
Cheers.
Okay, well, I mean,
it’s all good news.
- Yeah.
- Lot 5, Lot 7 are now turning up
some really esoteric metals.
- Yeah.
- And we need to find out why.
So, there’s a lot
of work to do, but...
you and I won’t
do it in here, right?
So I think we should
go back out, find more.
- Okay, mate.
- All right.
- Good luck.
- See you later, guys.
- Thanks.
- Cheers.
As another week
comes to an end on Oak Island,
Rick, Marty, Craig
and their team
have once again made
incredible progress
toward solving the
Oak Island mystery.
Now, as they
continue their pursuit of
breakthrough discoveries
in the Money Pit,
the swamp,
and on the western
side of the island,
will something that could
rewrite North American history
soon be revealed?
If so,
will the team, and the world,
be prepared for
what they may find?
Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...
- Oh! We got wood.
- Whoa!
It looks like it might
be a new shaft.
- It changes the whole story.
- Yeah.
We could be looking
at the Money Pit.
There’s significant
anomalies in this area.
Wow. That is huge.
We need to dig.
Oh, yeah. Look at that.
- That is sweet.
- Whoa.
This is Roman.
- Roman?
- No way.
Definitely from 300 BC.
Roman, baby.
It’s remarkable.