12x01 - The New Digs

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...

- MARTY: It begins now.
- [horn honks]

NARRATOR:
a special two-hour premiere.

RICK:
We're looking for Shaft Two.

It's the very first one
searchers put down.

I think we need
to get out there and find it.

All right, come on. Let's go.

RICK:
If this is really Shaft Two...

- ALEX: There you go.
- The Money Pit

should be in close proximity.

SCOTT: That's awesome
right there. Look at that.

It looks like you got
the shaft wall, eh?

STEVE: We should be able
to put an "X" on the ground.

MARTY: We do have
the gold in the water.

It has to be coming
from somewhere.

TERRY: Whoa.

- TEDFORD: Whoa.
- DALLEN: Whoa.

- TOM: Here we go.
- MARTY: Boy, look at that.

- IAN: Wow.
- Okay, let's dig.

- PETER: This can tell a story.
- MARTY: Hey, wait.

Something special about this.

Somebody was digging around it

way before Fred Nolan.

- Hey!
- CRAIG: That's a lot of wood come up.

Whoa. That's a big hole.

- RICK: Yeah.
- STEVE: We're 14 feet away from the Money Pit.

Ooh, a banging signal.

- What do you think of that?
- No way.

GARY: This is treasure.

- EMMA: It is silver.
- Yeah.

- Yeah.
- [laughs]

NARRATOR: There is an
island in the North Atlantic

where people have
been looking for

an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.

So far, they have
found a stone slab

with strange
symbols carved into it,

man-made workings that
date to medieval times,

and a lead cross whose
origin may be connected

to the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have died

trying to solve the mystery.

And according to legend,
one more will have to die

before the treasure
can be found.

♪ ♪

MARTY: Gentlemen, here we go.

Another season. Another attempt.

We've come a long way

and opened up a
lot of possibilities.

After all these years,
we're still together,

still passionately
committed to finding answers

to what I have always
believed since we were little kids

and the story
that is Oak Island,

the magic that is Oak Island.

NARRATOR: A new year
of digging into the ground...

as well as history... is
about to begin on Oak Island

for brothers Rick and
Marty Lagina and their team.

I'm all in. I want to throw
everything we've got at it.

It's got to be now.
It's got to be this year.

NARRATOR: Ever since
the ingeniously constructed,

booby-trapped shaft
known as the Money Pit

was discovered in 1795,

hundreds of searchers have tried

and failed to find
what might be buried

more than 100 feet underground.

However, after
more than a decade

of uncovering stunning evidence
of ancient man-made workings

and valuables all
across Oak Island,

the Laginas and their team
may be closer than ever

to finally revealing the truth.

MARTY: Here we
come, Island. [chuckles]

I do think we're
near the endgame.

I really think

we can figure this thing out.

RICK: If we find it, it proves

that some endeavor was
undertaken on Oak Island

that will perhaps change
history as we know it.

Okay, well, the team
is assembled, I believe.

Yep, everybody's gonna
be there. First time ever.

It begins... now.

RICK: This year I wanted
a different start to the year.

I wanted everybody
in the same room

to set forth the agenda.

- Hello, everybody.
- Hey.

- [overlapping chatter]
- We have returned.

RICK: We're having the
first meeting in the museum.

- ALEX: Hey, Steve.
- Hey, Alex.

- Welcome back.
- ALEX: Hey. Terry.

- TERRY: Hey, Alex.
- ALEX: Charles. Judi. -All right, mate.

RICK: And when we
walked in that room

- with everyone there...
- Partner.

- Partner. Good to see you.
- There was just a,

a sense of joy, a
sense of purpose,

a sense of, "Hey, guys,
we're back together,

and we're all ready to
try to solve this mystery."

Wow. What a group.

Are you all fired up for
the season? Let's hear it.

- Yeah!
- [cheering, applause]

You know, we don't
realize just how big

the family has gotten.

We have immense
respect for you guys,

and we're proud as can
be that you're a part of this

because all of you are unique,
bring special skills, talents,

most of all, commitment
to a single purpose,

- and, uh...
- Yeah.

Without you, we are less.

- So...
- That's for sure.

[laughter]

RICK: Having said that,
we're here to talk about plans

for this year, and why don't
we start with the Money Pit?

Dr. Spooner?

We certainly aren't backing away

from the gold and silver
that was found in the water...

in the Blob, in the Baby Blob...

and the whole idea
this year is to see

if we can figure out
where it's coming from

- and give you folks a target.
- Yes.

NARRATOR: An
unfortunate challenge

that the Laginas and
their team have faced

during their quest
is that the location

of the original Money Pit
was lost many years ago

due to previous
searcher excavations,

which nearly all
ended with cave-ins

as a result of mysterious
inflows of seawater

from a believed
man-made flood tunnel.

MATT: All right,
that's the last sample.

NARRATOR: But over the past three
years, geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner,

along with hydrogeologist
Dr. Fred Michel

and chemist Dr. Matt Lukeman,

have conducted
water sample testing

in the team's previously
drilled boreholes,

which have led to a stunning
and promising discovery.

Somewhere near the areas
that the team has dubbed

the Blob and the Baby Blob,

a large source of precious
metals is likely buried

between 80 and


- Steve, can you pull up that map?
- Sure can.

So, this winter,
Fred, especially,

has done a ton of work

looking at the data.
We have a lot of data.

We put together in blue there,

this sort of pie-shaped
six-sided figure:

an area called...
We call it The Pie.

And that's where
we got the highest

- levels of gold and silver in the water.
- Yep.

And so, that's an
area we need to target.

MARTY: What's the yellow?

IAN: The yellow, that's
Fred's special area of interest,

mainly because
that's where we got

persistent high copper,
lead, zinc and, uh, tin.

Those two metals are
a big part of treasure.

Last year, at the
end of the year,

I talked about, you
know, tasking Billy

with leveling the area
around the Garden Shaft.

Did that get done
so we can drill there?

- IAN: Mm-hmm. It did.
- MARTY: Excellent.

I'm hoping that something
will-will arise out of that.

NARRATOR: During
the next few weeks,

the team will conduct a
new core drilling operation.

And follow up with more
ground water testing

in the Money Pit area.

Wherever they find
their best evidence

of potential treasure targets,

later this year,
they will excavate

a number of seven-foot
diameter steel caissons

in an attempt to retrieve them.

The testing of the water
is-is the driver for me.

How can you stop

when three good scientists

are telling you that there is a
source out there somewhere

that's bleeding precious
metals into the water?

Okay. Good stuff.

But that also, I
think, leads nicely

to talking about
something I love doing here,

which is digging.

And you and Billy
have come up with...

Why don't you explain that?

Well, shaft number two, which
we felt we found years ago,

that's the very first one
that searchers put down.

So, with the
clearing we've done,

I mean, we feel we
can dig up Shaft Two.

RICK: We never were
able to finish excavating

what we believe to be Shaft Two.

However, now that
we have a level area,

we get to expose
the shaft in its entirety.

CRAIG: You know, if that
one proves to be Shaft Two,

we know the Money Pit
has to be very close to that.

It was 14 feet away
from the Money Pit.

STEVE: With that,

we should be able to
put an X on the ground

where the Money Pit should be.

[cawing]

NARRATOR: In 1795, a young
man named Daniel McGinnis

discovered a strange
depression in the ground

near the eastern
end of Oak Island.

Suspecting that it
contained a cache of treasure

that had been
buried by pirates...

who were known to
have frequented the area...

he and his two friends,

John Smith and Anthony
Vaughn, began to dig.

Incredibly, with
the help of others,

they would eventually
uncover a pit

that featured
platforms of oak logs

at ten-foot intervals
down to a depth of 90 feet.

There, they discovered a
heavy rectangular stone,

bearing strange symbols.

But just after they removed it,

the so-called Money
Pit flooded with seawater,

due to a believed flood
tunnel connected to the ocean.

In 1805, the searchers
attempted to bypass the flood trap

by digging an adjacent
shaft, known as "Shaft Two,"



At a depth of 110 feet,

they extended a tunnel
toward the original Money Pit

with the hopes of recovering

the believed treasure
vault from below.

Unfortunately, just two
feet from their target,

they were thwarted when
seawater rushed into the tunnel.

Now, using historic surveys

and their own
previous drilling records

in the Money Pit area,

if the team can
uncover and verify

the location of Shaft Two,

it could offer them
another critical clue

as to where the
original Money Pit

and the fabled
treasure can be found.

You know, one of the ways we
also hope to solve the mystery

is through active
ongoing research.

And to that end, I mean,
we understand how important

Professor Gaspani's
work has been to date.

It has been so compelling
that it has brought us

to entertain other perspectives,

other ideas of what
happened on this island.

Yes.

NARRATOR: In recent years,

the Oak Island team
has been investigating

an incredible theory

that some believe
could explain the origins

of the 229-year-old mystery:

That members of
the Catholic order

of the Knights Templar
made numerous journeys

from Europe to North
America in order to hide

priceless religious
artifacts on Oak Island

between the 12th
and 14th centuries.

NARRATOR: In 2023,

archaeoastronomy
Professor Adriano Gaspani,

shared his astonishing,

peer-reviewed
research with the team.

According to
historical alignments

with certain stars
in the night sky,

Professor Gaspani believes

that several megalithic
structures on the island,

including the
formation of six boulders

known as Nolan's Cross,
the five stone piles on Lot 15,

and the stone triangle that
once sat on the south shore

were all created by
members of the Templar order

during the height of their power
between 1200 and 1250 AD.

So we're following the Templars

as a prime suspect.

Well, I think the next big
topic, Rick, is archaeology.

Those stone cairns.

Lot 15.

I think it's imperative

that Laird and his
team members come in

and do an archaeological
development of that site.

I think it should
be very interesting.

That's part of our
focus this year,

but also, we need
to do more work

on Lot 5, the so-called
circular feature.

It's a very
complicated structure.

And then we have
that rectangular feature.

I think last year, one of
the most important things

was the potential
that the work on Lot 5

actually had something
to do with the Money Pit.

NARRATOR: After
purchasing Lot 5 in 2022

from the estate of Robert Young,

the team was eager
to explore a new area

for possible clues.

However, they have been
nothing short of astonished

by what they have found

in two stone foundations
on the property.

Within a round
feature near the shore,

they have unearthed artifacts
such as 17th-century tools

and Venetian trade beads,

a 14th-century lead barter token

that matches the
lead cross found

at Smith's Cove in 2017,

and a mortar-like material
that has also been found

more than 100 feet deep
in the Money Pit area.

Several yards to the south,

the team unearthed a
rectangular feature containing


and pipe stems, but also,

an iron spike that may date
back eight centuries or more.

And several yards
further to the south,

Gary Drayton and Rick have
unearthed four Roman coins

that are as much
as 2,000 years old.

If a great treasure
was deposited here

and a great booby trap
system was put in place,

it would've taken
a lot of manpower.

They had to live somewhere.

Now we found all kinds
of stuff over on Lot 5,

which kind of suggests
that people were here

over, literally,
hundreds of years.

We have three new
members on our team.

We have Jillian Parsons.

- JILLIAN: Hello.
- Hi, Jillian. Welcome.

Hi, Jillian.

- Ethan Green is gonna be...
- Hello, guys.

An archaeological assistant.

And Todd Langseth is going to be

- our second archaeological assistant.
- Hello.

It's gonna be a great crew.

I'm excited.

- Welcome aboard.
- CRAIG: Welcome.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

Yes. I think we've got the
team. We got the background.

Let's-let's get it done.

RICK: Absolutely.

I want to read something to you.

When you hear these
words, think about them.

It says... and this was written
by someone far smarter than I...

It says, "Whether
you are a true believer

"or a skeptic in the
mystery of Oak Island,

"the idea of buried
treasure is captivating.

"This story is a testament

"to the power of faith and hope

"and it embodies
the determination

and ingenuity of men and women."

That's you.

Look around.

Find inspiration
from each other.

You know how many
riches are out there?

Not just treasure?

We can fill this
room to the ceiling

with a wonderful, magical story.

But we can only do it together.

♪ ♪

[applause]

Who wants to follow that?

[laughter]

I think we need to get
out there and find it.

MARTY: I agree.

TERRY: Well, we're
just getting fired up here.

DN-7.

NARRATOR: Following
the team's meeting

- in the Interpretive Centre...
- Here we go.

In the Money Pit area,

while a core drilling
operation begins

in borehole DN-7
within the so-called Pie,

several yards to
the southeast...

- It's a pretty exciting day here.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: Craig Tester

and surveyor Steve
Guptill join Alex Lagina

and other members of the team

where a large-scale excavation

is about to begin in the
hope of uncovering Shaft Two,

a 110-foot-deep structure
that was dug in 1805,

just 14 feet southeast
of the original Money Pit.

We're digging up the first ever

- searcher shaft on Oak Island.
- True.

- True.
- Well, we think.

- That we know of.
- ALEX: Yeah.

[chuckles] That's right.

So the big goal is to get

good, solid pieces of the shaft

so we can do
dendrochronology on it.

That'll give us
an excellent date.

If anything's gonna tie
to the original Money Pit,

it's gonna be Shaft Two.

NARRATOR: Dendrochronology
is a revolutionary testing method

whereby tree rings are
analyzed in wood samples

to determine the exact
year a tree was cut down

for use in construction.

If the team is able to
uncover what they believe

to be Shaft Two and confirm

it dates to approximately 1805,

it could help them locate
the original Money Pit

and also pinpoint the
source of precious metals

that the team has
detected in the area.

Lot of smaller rocks
in there right now.

ALEX: There you go.

That's a big piece of
wood in the side there.

Look at that profile.
Oh, look at that.

SCOTT: That's awesome
right there. Look at that.

ALEX: So that's what
we're probably looking at

- is one of the long walls.
- Correct.

The big question is,
is it Shaft Two or not?

RICK: Shaft Two is
almost like the Holy Grail,

other than finding
the original Money Pit.

Can you pick up that big piece?

The big piece? Yeah.

RICK: If we can prove
definitively that this

supposed Shaft Two
is really Shaft Two,

the Money Pit should be
somewhere in close proximity.

- CRAIG: Wow.
- SCOTT: I like that.

Look how thick that sucker is.

ALEX: Yeah.

Why...?

- This...
- ALEX: That's rounded.

That is rounded.

So this should be
the outside of the tree.

No, this may be
excellent for dendro.

Definitely would like
to get more though.

Yeah. I like that.

CRAIG: We want
to try to get pieces

that look like they have
a lot of tree rings on it

so we can date it
by dendrochronology.

And we need multiple
samples from here.

- Hey. -ALEX: Hey.
- CRAIG: Marty.

MARTY: Look at that.

Looks like you got
the shaft wall, eh?

STEVE: Yep.

It's another piece in
the puzzle, you know?

We need to keep on going
deeper and try to get more wood.

SCOTT: Yeah.

NARRATOR: As the excavation

and drilling operations
continue in the Money Pit area...

later that afternoon...

some 200 yards to
the northwest on Lot 15...

MARTY: So here we go
again with circular, weird things.

So we're really just
getting going on here now.

Okay.

NARRATOR: Marty
joins his brother Rick,

Jack Begley and members
of the archaeology team

as they investigate the remains
of five mysterious stone mounds,

or cairns.

FIONA: The rocks
that we just took out,

they didn't look like
they were disturbed.

You can see roots and
things growing around them.

So that's why we thought
this was more possibly

a likelier area to
maybe find something.

- Okay.
- JACK: In order to help prove

Professor Gaspani's work,
we're gonna want to dig up

- all the piles.
- FIONA: I agree.

JACK: Maybe
we'll find an artifact.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: First documented

and partially
dismantled in the 1960s

by the late Oak Island
landowner Fred Nolan,

the five stone cairns
were shaped like pyramids.

According to
archaeoastronomy expert

Professor Adriano Gaspani,

they were created
around 1250 AD,

based on their alignments to a
star cluster known as Hyades.

PETER: I have the picture
here of the stone cairns.

I'd say it's almost identical.

NARRATOR: And what
makes that assessment

especially compelling

is that in 2023, Rick and
members of the team saw

the exact formation carved

into a rockface in
Bornholm, Denmark,

at a site believed to
have been inhabited

by members of
the Knights Templar

some 800 years ago.

MARTY: Okay. What
would you like me to do?

- I'm gonna roll up my sleeves.
- FIONA: Quite honestly,

the-the rock moving is
our-our best first line of defense

if we can, and they
do kind of continue

all the way around here.

You guys are a lot
younger than me.

ETHAN: Yeah, we
can get that. [laughs]

You know, we'll-we'll
have a go at that.

♪ ♪

RICK: I think that what

the cairns at the
Nolan's Cross represent

is some sort of information

for someone who
understands their importance

that will help you put
an X on the ground.

The curiosity is, to me,

and this is where if
Dr. Spooner were here,

what's all this fractured
slate doing in here?

I don't quite get that.

And it's all at depth.

It's not... it's not
here. It's down here.

- You're seeing it down there?
- Yep.

NARRATOR: A layer of slate

found beneath one
of the stone cairns?

If so, could it be
covering clues

that might help prove
Professor Gaspani's belief

about their origin?

RICK: You've got this big stone,

you've got a big stone,
and then you've got

these smaller stones tossed
in to keep the thing stable.

- ETHAN: Yeah.
- Yeah.

That is very interesting.

RICK: I think we need to
reach out to Dr. Spooner.

NARRATOR: A new day
has begun on Oak Island...

and while the core
drilling operation continues

in the Money Pit area,

several yards to the south...

Hopefully, we may see it
reveal something over there.

A little bit that way might
be a little bit of wood.

Rick, Marty and Craig

are supervising the excavation
of a structure that they hope

will be confirmed as Shaft Two,

the first shaft built by
treasure hunters in 1805,

which was located
just 14 feet southeast

of the original Money Pit.

ALEX: Can you see what
the far wall's made of there?

Not really. Why don't
you grab the mirror?

- ALEX: Yeah.
- CRAIG: We'll do that.

SCOTT: We want to keep our dig

going deeper.

We're using a mirror
to try to shine some light

down there so we can see

to examine this shaft.

Right there?

There you go.

- Yeah.
- CRAIG: There it is.

Now you can see it going across.

- MARTY: So, is that the corner then?
- That's the corner.

MARTY: The thing that
comes to mind immediately

whenever we
unearth these shafts,

what people did here
without technology,

that's the first thing, always,
when you unearth these things.

Then you think, "Okay,
what does this mean to us?"

If we find Shaft Two,
we know we have 14 feet

to the Money Pit. That's
not a great distance.

- Billy.
- Yep.

Reposition the excavator here.

Do a cross-section

along that end,

- try and find the other wall.
- Right.

We'll get our dimensions.

CRAIG: Well, hopefully,

he can find the
far end of this shaft.

[metal detector beeping]

Ooh, I've got a signal, Rick.

Hang on, Billy. I got a signal.

[beeping]

Oh, h*!

Look at this, Rick.

Oh, that's a beauty. Look.

- A rose-head spike.
- Yep.

GARY: It's an oldie, as well.

Look at the condition of that.

- RICK: What years?
- GARY: Yeah, I mean,

a spike like this, 1700s.

Well, it lines up
with the possibility

that that's Shaft Two.

NARRATOR: A rose-head spike?

Between the 1780s and 1840s,

hand-forged iron spikes

were created for construction,

which featured crudely
hammered heads

resembling the petals of roses.

Could this iron fastener

be another important
clue that may help verify

that the team has
located Shaft Two?

Gentlemen.

Check that out.

Typical rose-head spike.

MARTY: Every time we
dig where others have been,

we find something out.

We find an artifact,
we find something

that could be, really,
an important clue.

- I'm going to bag it.
- Yeah, all right.

Good find, Gary.

NARRATOR: As the
excavation continues...

CRAIG: Gentlemen.

- CHARLES: Hey, guys.
- SCOTT: Guys.

Craig Tester heads
several yards northwest

for a progress report
on the drilling operation

in borehole DN-7.

We're just cased now
to 109 below grade.

NARRATOR: A borehole located in

the so-called pie-shaped area,

where recent water
testing has suggested

a large source
of precious metals

may be buried as much
as 120 feet underground.

[whirring]

TERRY: Whoa!

- MIKE: Whoa!
- DALLEN: Whoa!

TERRY: Oh, wow, look at that.

Holy cow.

CRAIG: When they
were running the casing,

they stopped, water started
sh**ting up out of the casing.

Is this some potential problems,

or maybe we're next to
a chamber with air in it?

I don't know.

So, it's-it's a
bit of a mystery.

Mike!

Mike, what do you got?

Hey, Mike. How you doing?

So, this is the core

that just came
up from that level.

- Yeah.
- So, 119 through to 109.

And, Mike, tell
them what you saw.

Well, when I ran
my casing, the, uh...

when I shut it down,
broke my casing free,

the water just kept
spilling out of the top.

Seemed like it
was mixed with air.

Okay.

I'd actually like to take
a look at this stuff...

- TERRY: Yeah.
- If I could.

TERRY: We'll see what comes.

Do you want to do some
honors there, Craig?

Yeah.

SCOTT: It's very soft.

Uh, this is unusual.

There's a little
bit of clay in that.

This is definitely carrying
water and saturated.

CRAIG: Has anything in this area

been this soft at this depth?

It's very, very soft, isn't it?

Which means maybe

we're close to an open space.

Yeah.

So, I think we're in
the right area anyway.

Let's just say we
poke around here

and maybe we're gonna find
some kind of an offset chamber.

- All right.
- TERRY: Okay.

We'll find out.

TERRY: Good eye, Mike. Thanks.

NARRATOR: Because
the ground soils

that the drill has
encountered are soft,

due to being
saturated with water,

could that mean they are close

to a possible flood tunnel?

Or could it mean they are
close to a man-made chamber

that a flood tunnel was
engineered to protect?

Terry... so, what happened?

Well, you could see water
spitting up, out with air,

eight or ten feet.

We really had to tap
into or have been close to

something like an air pocket
that was under pressure.

There shouldn't be any air here

unless there's
something man-made.

CRAIG: So, we're either
right next to a something or...

MARTY: Yeah, we're
close to something then.

It's always good when you get

an anomaly in
drilling these wells...

We've got a core coming.

Showing some evidence

of manipulation by
humans at depth.

TERRY: Let's get the
patient up on the table here.

Sadly, gentlemen,
this doesn't look good.

MARTY: Okay.

TERRY: Just as
Mother Nature left it.

MARTY: So, we
sort of just missed.

Yeah, more or less.

MARTY: We have
two eminent scientists

that say we do have
the gold in the water.

It has to be coming
from somewhere.

At the end of this
year, I want to have

chased these metals to
its conclusion, to the source.

Where are we going next?

We'll talk to Dr. Spooner first

and see if he has any directions

that he wants to give us.

There's some interesting
holes around here.

We have interesting
results in the water.

MARTY: Okay.

- Carry on.
- TERRY: Thank you.

ALEX: There's a big
chunk right down in there.

NARRATOR: While the excavation

of the newly exposed shaft

proceeds in the
Money Pit area...

IAN: Hey, Rick.

- Jack. Fiona. Todd.
- FIONA: Oh, hi, Dr. Spooner.

Just the person we need.

NARRATOR: on Lot 15,

located some 200 yards

to the northwest,

geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

has arrived to inspect
the rock feature

that Rick Lagina discovered

beneath one of the potentially

ancient stone piles one day ago.

RICK: Can you divine anything

from the type of rock
that's come out of the hole?

- Oh, yeah.
- RICK: I'll let you get down here.

IAN: Really
interesting. I mean...

you got nice slate.

Pyritic slate.

I look upon that rock

- as human moved, transported...
- RICK: Mm-hmm.

And here to infill
and lock in a structure.

Something like this,
you can fill in around

to build some kind
of structure, gather up

from the landscape.

From like the surface

- or deeper down?
- You can only

come up with
this stuff two ways:

You're either tilling the land,

bringing it up or
you're-you're digging.

- Hmm.
- You're excavating.

NARRATOR: A curious
geological fact about Oak Island

is that it is composed
of two separate drumlins,

or hill-shaped land masses,

with distinct types of bedrock.

The eastern
drumlin, where Lot 15

and the Money Pit are located,

is made up of
anhydrite limestone

while the western drumlin
is composed of much more

compact pyritic slate.

So, given Dr. Spooner's analysis

that the slate rock
beneath the stone piles

must have been
transported to this area,

where might it have
been transported from?

When, and by whom?

RICK: Professor Gaspani,

he's putting a
date of construct,

with 95% certainty,

mid to later 1200s

for the five stone cairns.

I just see this as very similar

to the Lot 26 wall.

That construct exhibited
this type of stone,

and that smaller stone

that locked that
together to make it stable.

- And then you have the well.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: On Lot 26,

located on the western
side of Oak Island,

the team has been investigating

a mysterious stone wall

that may be more
than 500 years old.

However, several feet
away lies a stone well,

that Dr. Spooner
has personally dated

to approximately 1200 AD

based on carbon testing
of organic materials within it.

Could it be possible
that Rick Lagina's notion

of these two features
being connected

to the stone piles
on Lot 15 is true?

And if so, could he
have found another clue

supporting Professor
Gaspani's theory

that the stone
piles were created

in the early 13th century

by members of the
Knights Templar?

IAN: If you do get to the
bottom, take a very close look

at whatever organic
matter was underneath it,

because that might
give you an age.

Great. That's
all really helpful.

- Appreciate your time.
- Yeah. Okay.

- JACK: Thanks, Dr. Spooner.
- IAN: See ya.

NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...

RICK: Where do you
think the other wall is?

I think we try to go a
little further this way.

NARRATOR: Rick
has rejoined Craig,

Billy, and other
members of the team

in the Money Pit area

as they continue excavating
what is hoped to be Shaft Two.

We got a couple boards
off the top over there.

The big concern is, is
it the original cribbing

or is it re-cribbed
later in years?

Let's try to outline this
and see what we've got.

Yeah.

SCOTT: We found
the wall of a shaft.

So next step is to just

widen our dig out a little bit.

And we'll try and find
another original wall.

And try to figure
out the orientation

and confirm if it is Shaft Two.

- Hey, Gary.
- Hey, Rick.

SCOTT: And with
a little bit of luck,

we're gonna get
some wood out of here.

- Morning, guys. -Hey.
- Marty.

MARTY: What do we got?

CRAIG: The plan is
to move a little bit more

this way because he
hasn't found the other wall.

SCOTT: I keep hoping he'll find

that other parallel
wall to this one rather.

- CRAIG: I thought we'd have found it by now.
- MARTY: Right.

- All right, mate, I'm getting stuck in.
- Yep.

GARY: If we see a gold
coin fall out of that bucket,

- we will turn into Olympic divers.
- [laughter]

- Look at that, Gary.
- GARY: What is it, Rick?

It reminds me of dowels that
we've found in other shafts.

And remember the U-shaped
structure had dowels in it?

Yeah. Good eye, mate.

NARRATOR: First discovered
beneath Smith's Cove

in the early 1970s by
the late Dan Blankenship,

the U-shaped structure is

a 65-foot-long construct

featuring Roman numerals
and wooden dowels

that some believe was part
of the flood tunnel system.

In 2018, Rick, Marty, Craig

and the team
unearthed it once again,

and were amazed when
dendrochronology testing

revealed that it dated to
approximately 26 years prior

to the discovery
of the Money Pit.

RICK: This might be a
candidate to get dated.

- It's deep enough.
- Yeah.

- I'll put it over there.
- All right, mate.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Onslow Company

simply used a similar
style of wooden dowel

to create Shaft Two in 1805...

ALEX: That's a good
one. Look at that.

Or has Rick Lagina
just made a discovery

that suggests the
team may be excavating

a much older structure?

CRAIG: A couple coming up,
but they're all from this side.

- Do we agree?
- ALEX: Yeah.

CRAIG: Let's get
a tape and measure

way to where he's at to
see how far away we are.

- Okay.
- CRAIG: As we were digging

what we hope is Shaft Two,

the wood we're bringing up kept

extending in a
northerly direction.

Much more than what
I would have thought.



The wood is potentially
as far as 17 feet

away from the area where
we thought Shaft Two was.

Shafts are usually six by ten,

six by 12, and-and
we're past 12 feet.

I don't understand how
we're finding timbers

at 17 feet from the one side.

I don't know.

It just doesn't make
sense that this is one shaft.

- Hey.
- What's going on, Craig?

CRAIG: Well, Scott measured out

to how far we're getting
disturbed material.

It's 17 feet, which
is way too big.

Way too big.

CRAIG: So I tend to think it's,

it's two different shafts.

CRAIG: I think there's
two different shafts.

That's very confusing.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,

while excavating
what they believe

could be an early


known as Shaft Two,
the Oak Island team

has unearthed possible evidence
of a second unknown shaft

located next to it.

RICK: We have found more shafts

that are not recorded

- than shafts we know about.
- CRAIG: Yeah.

We can now pin this location

- and then go back to the other shaft.
- Mm-hmm.

Well, you've got to keep
going until we find more clarity

- about what's down there.
- Yeah.

RICK: I think these shafts

are probably somewhat

independent investigations.

So right now, I'd like
to just stay focused

on this supposed Shaft Two.

Well, we can't go
any deeper, so...

we'll move over
to, uh, you know,

what we're calling Shaft Two,
then bring in the long-reach.

RICK: Okey-doke.

NARRATOR: The
following morning...

CRAIG: The key
is getting deeper,

so we can get potentially
original timbers.

- Well, we've got the machine to do it.
- This will do it.

NARRATOR: Billy Gerhardt
has obtained a long-reach excavator,

capable of reaching more
than 30 feet underground.

ALEX: Do you want to
grab any of this wood?

- I'd wait until we get a little bit deeper.
- Okay.

NARRATOR: Once the
team is able to fully expose

what could be Shaft Two,

they will work to unearth
the possible second

mysterious shaft located
just to the east of it.

CRAIG: There's the end of it.

ALEX: Yep. That's a corner.

We got a corner here.

BILLY: Yeah, I see that.

I'm gonna go look at that.

As he's getting
deeper, it looks like

we're getting,
uh, older material.

You know, material
specifically from this shaft.

GARY: Big timbers.

CRAIG: These look
like good samples

with a lot of tree rings,

so we can have it tested.

The center piece
looks like it's right there.

- We've got a lot of rings going up to that corner.
- ALEX: Oh, that's not bad.

CRAIG: So, I think
we're gonna get enough

information to, uh, to date it.

- Hey.
- Hey.

Boy, that is way down there.

- How long is that?
- ALEX: About 30 feet.

We might've reached as deep
as we can go with this technique,

but we got a lot of wood.

MARTY: Okay.

Well, we should have enough data

to see whether this
is Shaft Two or not.

- Yes. -ALEX: Right.
- MARTY: All right.

- Let's call it.
- Okay.

MARTY: Hey, Billy.

We're good.

So, the consensus here is
we've done about what we can.

You did a nice job.

- Yeah.
- MARTY: You know, once we get the dendro,

carbon-14,

metallurgy,

we should have a pretty
good idea how old this shaft is.

So, mission accomplished.

CRAIG: Yeah. It's important

we find out what shaft this is.

I mean, I think we're looking at

two shafts very near each other.

If it is Shaft Two, the records

indicate it's 14 feet
away from the Money Pit.

So, we really
want to pinpoint it.

They're putting
big caissons down.

We need that information.

If it's Shaft Two,
I agree with you.

It would've had a
direct connection

to the original
Money Pit for sure.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

MARTY: Well, I think we're
gonna have to go back over

and chase this mystery shaft

for a little bit and
then come back here.

Yeah.

- MARTY: Okay.
- ALEX: All right.

- MARTY: Thanks, Billy.
- BILLY: All right.

NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...

- DOUG: Hello.
- MOYA: Hello. -EMMA: Hey.

- MARTY: Hello, ladies.
- Hi.

NARRATOR: at the
Oak Island Laboratory,

Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with Oak Island
historian Doug Crowell,

meet with archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan

and archaeologist
Moya MacDonald.

We heard this is gonna
be really interesting.

[laughter]

Okay, what do you got?

So, we conducted a
bunch of soil analysis

on the concretion that we found

under Cone E on Lot 10

and soil samples from
around the Money Pit

- and Lot 5.
- Mm-hmm.

NARRATOR: Last year,

in order to follow up
on archeoastronomy

Professor Adriano
Gaspani's belief

that Nolan's Cross was
created around 1200 AD,

Marty, Tom Nolan,
and other members

of the team lifted the
bottom boulder of the cross,

known as Cone E, to look
for evidence of human activity.

If that's cement, then we
found something. [chuckles]

NARRATOR: Incredibly,
they discovered a mysterious

cement-like conglomerate
that Dr. Ian Spooner

and Terry Matheson
determined to be man-made.

MOYA: We have a
Lot 5 sample over here,

a sample that we
found under Cone E,

and then a Money Pit sample
of maroon till from 91 feet.

NARRATOR: At the direction
of the Laginas and Craig,

Moya has conducted
a comparative analysis

on the Cone E concretion

with other believed
man-manipulated materials

that were unearthed in
the round feature on Lot 5

and nearly 100 feet deep
in the Money Pit area.

So, to start, we're
just going to zoom in

on this little section here.

MARTY: What is the difference
as it grades from red to yellow?

What does that mean?

MOYA: Uh, it's just most
similar to least similar.

So, you can compare all
the samples to each other.

So, we have the
concretion, Cone E.

- MARTY: Yep.
- MOYA: And then we have that mortar sample from Lot 5 there.

It's 95%
compositionally similar.

Wow.

MOYA: So, not
only is the concretion

matching up with Lot 5,

it's also matching
up with the Money Pit.

MARTY: So, it is
highly likely at this stage

there is a direct
connection between

whatever it is I pulled out
from underneath Cone E,

the Money Pit and Lot 5?

- I would say so. Yeah.
- MARTY: You too?

Mm-hmm.

Well, that's astounding.

That's huge because
if that Money Pit soil

went in place during the
placement of that rock,

then we're looking at
possible deposition too, right?

- They work the Money Pit...
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They place the stone
boulders of Nolan's Cross?

That's true, yeah.

DOUG: Gaspani is telling
us that Nolan's Cross

was probably put in
place around the 1200s.

Mm-hmm.

DOUG: And with
the 1200 time period,

the Templars are our
primary suspect right now.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: Man-manipulated soils

from the large stone
foundation on Lot 5?

And others from
more than 90 feet deep

in the Money Pit area,

almost exact matches to
the concrete-like substance

found beneath a
boulder of Nolan's Cross?

A feature which may date
back to as early as 1200 AD?

Is it possible that the
team has now found

three key clues that
the Oak Island mystery

could have originated more
than eight centuries ago,

and be connected to the
order of the Knights Templar?

It's gonna be imperative
that we date Lot 5.

Because whoever was active there

was likely active
in the Money Pit.

- Oh, yeah.
- I think this is the first connection

between Nolan's Cross,
which I've always believed in,

the Money Pit and Lot 5.

So, for me, it's-it's a physical
manifestation of my belief.

It's quite something, and
there it is in front of us.

We're lifting that cone again.

This has to be vetted
further. I-I mean,

it's so... it's so crazy.

Because if it's
for sure correct,

uh, that makes it all real.

You have unique qualities
deep in the Money Pit,

unique qualities over on Lot 5

and unique qualities
under Cone E.

That's really astounding.

The stuff that happens here

on this island is ridiculous.

RICK: Every year, we're
closer to solving the mystery.

I have hope and faith
to make this the year

where, you know, the
answers are brought to the fore.

I want us to be grateful
for the opportunities

that have been presented
to each and every one of us

by our efforts to
try to understand

this magical story
that is Oak Island.

- Okay. Yeah.
- Okay. Let's let them get back to work.

- MARTY: Thank you.
- RICK: Thank you.

- MOYA: Thank you, guys.
- EMMA: Thank you.

NARRATOR: As a new
morning begins on Oak Island...

- TERRY: Some more cores.
- CHARLES: Okay.

Okay. More of the same, guys.

NARRATOR: and while
the core drilling operation

continues in the Money Pit area

to look for the source
of the gold and silver

that has been detected between


SCOTT: I like this
location. It's a mystery to us.

NARRATOR: several
yards to the southeast,

Rick Lagina, Craig Tester
and other members of the team

are refocusing their
large-scale excavation

away from what they
believe to be Shaft Two

to another potential
key discovery.

I mean, we're kind
of halfway in between

the Garden Shaft and
what may be Shaft Two.

NARRATOR: A wooden
structure that was unearthed

a few feet to the
east two days ago

that they have
labeled "Shaft Two-A"

and which was
previously undocumented

by all treasure hunters
since the discovery

of the Money Pit in 1795.

People dug these
shafts for a reason.

RICK: Absolutely.

And a shaft between
the Garden Shaft

and what we call Shaft Two
that we don't know about,

there's a lot of potential
here for unknowns.

Yeah.

Well, if they can
get dimensions,

which is always good to have,

and then wood
samples to get the age

so we can figure out which
time period it was dug in,

- that would be huge, so...
- Yeah.

Every piece of data is good
data, especially this year.

You know, we have
the cans showing up

and we need some
X's on the ground.

Yep.

NARRATOR: Given
the team's current plan

to find valuable targets
now and then install

seven-foot-diameter
steel caissons

later this year in
order to explore them,

if they can confirm
that this shaft predates

the discovery of the Money Pit,

it may prove to be critical

in finding the
legendary treasure

and solving the


We're ready, Bill.

What we don't know, or
are unclear of at the moment,

is whether or
not it is Shaft Two

or it could be much older work.

To simplify things,
we're gonna call this shaft

Shaft Two-A.

It's a previously unknown
shaft we have to figure out.

He's going to dig
closer to this bank

so I think we should
step back some.

Here we go.

RICK: Boy, I can't imagine
sinking a shaft in that stuff.

That excavator bucket
was bouncing off of that clay.

And yet, human beings
had created this shaft

out of the most
hard, dense material

that I've seen on this island.

Whether they be
searchers or depositors,

I was stunned by

what these people had done.

[metal creaking]

- There's boards.
- SCOTT: Huh? Boards?

- RICK: Right here.
- SCOTT: Yeah.

This is a mystery shaft.

The historical record
gives us nothing.

We don't know who
was working here.

This could be
something original.

It's strange. I mean, it's
definitely worth pursuing.

There's a beam here
against the side of the bank.

- All right.
- RICK: There's a big, long one down there.

See right there?

Yep. There's more stuck up.

RICK: It's stuck up like this.

SCOTT: Right now,
with what we're seeing,

the wood looks similar to
what we saw in Shaft Two,

but we need to uncover
more to figure this out.

NARRATOR: A wooden timber,
matching those that the team found

just a few feet away in
the believed searcher shaft

known as Shaft Two?

Because there are
no historical records

of a second shaft
being constructed

in the same area as Shaft Two,

which was built in 1805,

just 14 feet southeast
of the original Money Pit,

could that suggest
that the team has found

an undocumented shaft built
by a different group of searchers?

Or might it have been
constructed much earlier

in order to hide
something of value?

That's exactly the
way that shaft was built.

Certainly looks like
it. But now look at that.

Just looks like a wall.

- CRAIG: Intact.
- RICK: Yeah. Yep.

- CRAIG: Gentlemen.
- STEVE: Hey, guys. -SCOTT: Hey, guys.

Let me look.

- RICK: Pretty cool.
- MARTY: That's a shaft.

- But it's over there.
- It's that way.

STEVE: If we get some old
dates on these two shafts,

it might change where
we think the Money Pit is.

MARTY: So many shafts.

STEVE: That's the thing.

RICK: Remarkably good shape.

SCOTT: It really would
be nice to get down there

and get some
measurements on that,

have our eyes on it,
see how it was made.

I'm aboard that.

Yeah, this is, this is fine.

- RICK: Here's your beam.
- SCOTT: Yep.

- Definitely the inside.
- Yep.

Before we move
anything, let's get your tape,

let's get a real accurate
measurement here.

I'm going to go right
to an edge right here.

I've got 116 inches,
nine-foot-eight.

RICK: Huh.

That's pretty consistent
with the Garden Shaft too,

- eight by eight inside.
- RICK: Yeah.

Well, the design
is exactly... Right?

- SCOTT: Yeah. It really is.
- RICK: You know,

you've got your frame.
You got your rails.

This construction technique
is the same as Garden Shaft's.

Yep. It's very much like
the Garden Shaft right now.

It does to me, too.

NARRATOR: An identical design

to the so-called Garden Shaft

located only eight
feet to the south?

Okay, that would be
probably the outside wall there.

- 10-4.
- CHARLES: A ten by ten shaft.

NARRATOR: When
Rick, Marty and the team

first uncovered that


they assumed it must be

an abandoned


However, after conducting
dendrochronology testing

on wood samples taken from
the bottom of the structure,

it was dated to 1735,


of the original Money Pit.

And even more astonishing,

other wood samples taken
from a depth of some 50 feet,

yielded high traces of gold.

Although the Oak
Island team is now unable

to further investigate
beneath the Garden Shaft

due to the mysterious
flooding that occurred last year,

is it possible that they
have now uncovered

a structure created
by the same people?

If so, just how
deep might it go?

And what might be
buried at the bottom?

What's amazing,
Craig, is that this shaft

- is totally unrecorded.
- Yep. That's so strange.

Y-You could replace the
Garden Shaft with this shaft

- and you wouldn't know the difference.
- That's true.

We have three shafts
within, what, 30 feet?

- Yeah.
- Yep.

RICK: Billy's right.

Why do that in
such close proximity

to another shaft, or
shafts for that matter?

So, we must retrieve
a sample and do C-14

and dendro analysis and
come up with a proper date.

There's so many
questions that it's...

[laughs] it's mind-boggling.

SCOTT: I wish I understood
how they built this shaft.

If you want to see
how it's constructed,

that has to go,
right? On top of it?

BILLY: I think too, yeah.

RICK: Let's keep digging.

NARRATOR: While the
excavation of Shaft Two-A continues

in the Money Pit area,

and while members of
the archaeological team

investigate the stone
piles on Lot 15...

GARY: No mistaking
these spoils, mate.

Now, all of these spoils

that we're gonna go over today,

came from Lot 5

around the big feature.
There's a big pile...

NARRATOR: Metal
detection expert Gary Drayton

and Peter Fornetti
arrive on Lot 4,

located on the western
side of the island.

- Now, let's get stuck in there, mate.
- Okay.

NARRATOR: They are searching

more than ten tons of spoils

that were excavated last year

from the mysterious
round feature

near the shoreline of Lot 5.

Since the team
has found artifacts

in that stone-lined foundation
that wildly vary in age...

such as the 14th-century
lead barter token

and 17th-century iron tools...

and also, because
they have recovered

a mortar-like substance
within it that matches materials

discovered more than 100
feet deep in the Money Pit,

as well as below Cone E

of the potentially


We'll go over it twice, Pete.

- PETER: Sounds good.
- Nonferrous first.

And then we'll pull
some ferrous out.

NARRATOR: Rick and Marty
are hoping that Gary and Peter

will find more
clues to help confirm

when the feature was created,

and, most importantly, why.

[metal detector beeping]

- Ooh, a banging signal, mate.
- Okay.

It's gonna be good,
mate. Just there.

Let's do it.

[metal detector beeping]

- It's out.
- Ooh, it's out.

Let's see what we've got.

[pinpointer beeping]

PETER: In your hand?

GARY: Oh, what a find!

GARY: What a find!

- I think we've found a cut coin.
- Okay.

NARRATOR: While
searching through spoils

from the rounded
stone feature on Lot 5,

Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti

have just made an
exciting discovery.

GARY: And if this
is a cut coin, mate...

[stammers] Oh...

- I'm getting...
- [chuckling]

- I'm getting bumswizzled, mate.
- Yeah.

If this is a cut coin, mate,

- it could well be a Spanish coin.
- Mm-hmm.

- More than likely, it's silver, mate.
- Okay.

GARY: And that has got
to be a really clean break

to cut in like a
quarter like that.

'Cause that's what
they used to do.

- They used to cut the silver and gold coins up.
- Okay.

- It was to make change back in the day.
- Mm-hmm.

NARRATOR: A cut...
potentially Spanish...

treasure coin?

Between the 15th
and 18th centuries,

when European nations

such as Spain,
England and France

were colonizing and
establishing trade routes

throughout the Americas,

it was common practice
for both militaries

and outlaw pirates to cut coins

and distribute them as
payment to crew members.

This is a piece
of treasure, mate.

This is silver treasure.

- Oak Island silver treasure.
- Wow.

NARRATOR: Given the fact
that the team has found evidence

connecting the feature on Lot 5

to underground workings
more than 100 feet deep

in the Money Pit area,

could this cut coin be related

to the much larger
source of precious metals

that have been
detected in the so-called

pie-shaped treasure zone?

This can tell a story,

- and I know that my Uncle Rick...
- Yeah.

Is going to be really
excited to see this.

- He is, mate.
- [laughs]

- High five, mate.
- All right.

This is absolutely brilliant.

We'll put it in a bag, mate,

and let's get it
back to the lab.

All right. Let's do it.

- What a day.
- GARY: Wow. What a day, all right.

NARRATOR: Following
their discovery on Lot 4...

RICK: Well, well, well...

- [sighs]
- [laughs]

-Look at that walk.
[laughs] -What a strut.

NARRATOR: Gary
and Peter arrive

at the Oak Island Laboratory
to share it with Rick

and Jack Begley
and have it analyzed

by archaeologist Laird Niven

and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan.

- What's up?
- GARY: Well, Pete and I

have been searching
those spoils off Lot 5,

and we have just recovered

a real top-pocket find.

You are gonna love this.

Ooh...

What do you think
of that beauty?

It's got some weight to it.

What is it?

LAIRD: It's a cut coin.

GARY: And Pete and I
believe it's more than likely

gonna be silver.

- No way!
- Way!

- And it's perfectly cut.
- GARY: Yeah.

- It's quartered, right?
- Yeah.

This is treasure. This
is Oak Island treasure.

You know, Laird, I
will take a look at that.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's quite cleanly cut.

That's very cool.

I have found a lot of
Spanish silver coins,

and this is typical

early 1700s or older.

But it could be a lot earlier,
could be a medieval silver coin.

We don't know.

I'm not bothered.
It's a silver coin.

[laughs]

- Do you want an XRF first?
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: In order to determine

if the coin is truly
made of silver,

Emma will first scan it
on the X-ray fluorescence...

or XRF device.

By emitting
non-destructive radiation,

the machine can identify the
types of elements and metals

that make up the
composition of an artifact.

RICK: When you find something

as described in the
Treasure Trove License

as treasure, the excitement
in the room goes up.

It's why we're here. To
me, that's quite a high, right?

It's the Oak Island
roller coaster.

I just want the roller
coaster to keep going like this

until it gets to the goalpost.

Here we go.

- It is silver.
- Yes!

- Yeah!
- Ka-ching.

RICK: Oh, yeah. There it is.

EMMA: There's a lot of chlorine.

So, it's been in contact
with, like, salt water

for a really long time.

Is there a possibility
that this could be part of

the treasure that was
deposited in the Money Pit?

It's a treasure coin.
That is for sure.

And the treasure that
Williams Phips recovered

was a bunch of silver.

We know that Phips found
silver on the Concepcíon,

and I believe some
of the treasure

from the Concepcíon
was secreted to Oak Island.

NARRATOR: In 2021,


Freemason Scott Clarke

presented the team
with compelling research

suggesting that the


naval captain and treasure
hunter William Phips

was directly connected
to the Oak Island mystery.

In 1687, Phips
discovered the wreck

of the Concepcíon,

a Spanish galleon that sank near
the Dominican Republic in 1641

while transporting more than


After retrieving
some 34 tons of silver

for the English Crown,

he was knighted by King James II

and then ordered to conduct
another salvage operation

to retrieve the
remaining sunken riches.

But before making
his return to the wreck,

Sir William Phips recruited
a high-ranking Freemason

named Captain Andrew Belcher.

Curiously, when Phips
made his way back to England

after the second
salvage mission,

he delivered only five
additional tons of treasure,

claiming that locals
had already recovered

the bulk of the riches.

CLARKE: I found a 1688 letter

that shows that
Captain Andrew Belcher

was caught with
one of Phips's ships

in the Mahone Bay area

at the exact time that
Phips was coming back

from the second
attempt, where he,

"allegedly," officially, did
not find as much silver.

I strongly believe

that Belcher and his
comrades were actually

transferring treasure from
the Concepcíon to Oak Island.

NARRATOR: According
to Scott Clarke's theory,

Sir William Phips and
Captain Andrew Belcher

deposited much of the
silver that they recovered

from the Concepcíon
in the Money Pit,

due to their secret
Masonic knowledge

of an existing treasure
vault that had been created

centuries earlier by
the Knights Templar.

And as incredible
as that theory may be,

in 2023, the Oak Island team

recovered a number of iron tools

in the round feature on Lot 5,

that Emma scientifically
matched to others

from the birthplace
of William Phips.

Maybe this is more
evidence that William Phips

came to Oak Island and somehow
deposited some of that treasure.

I mean, that definitely
could've been his, right?

Well, it's a
"Phipping" good find,

- that is for sure.
- [laughter]

RICK: Is it possible?

Absolutely, it's possible,

but we need more and
more and more data.

I'm gonna pop it out,
put it in the CT scan,

and try to get an image.

LAIRD: Let's do it.

NARRATOR: In order to visualize

any identifiable
features on the coin,

Emma will now analyze it

with the Skyscan


The device works by
emitting X-ray radiation

to produce magnified,
three-dimensional images

of artifacts.

This is a really,
really quick scan.

So, it's not gonna
be a great image.

There is a lot of scratch marks.

A longer scan should
reveal a lot more detail.

RICK: So, you're
gonna run a longer scan?

Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.

We're gonna have to
be a bit more patient.

- Mm-hmm.
- It's early days.

- It's early days.
- RICK: Where there's one,

there might be
two, three, four, five.

GARY: Oh, yeah.

Yeah, because this
was cut up as change.

RICK: So, look, a great day.

You guys did your
high five out in the field.

- LAIRD: Yeah, yeah.
- We'll do a high five in here, all right?

Come on.

GARY: Uh... Uh.

RICK: There's only
one thing to say.

Let's go find more.

[truck horn tooting]

NARRATOR: A new and energized
morning begins on Oak Island

as representatives from
Lawrence Veinotte Enterprises...

MOYA: Here it comes!

NARRATOR: are
delivering a 30-ton crane.

TOM: Here we go.

MARTY: Boy, look at that.

TOM: Wow.

NARRATOR: At the
direction of Marty Lagina

and fellow landowner Tom Nolan,

the team is about to
once again lift Cone E,

the bottom boulder

of the believed 800-year-old
megalithic formation

known as Nolan's Cross.

MARTY: Okay. The plan,
gentlemen and young lady,

and the whole
reason for doing this

is that conglomerate
is very mysterious.

- Let's move the crane in.
- Yeah.

JASON: Give her a spin, big guy.

LINKLATER: All right.
Seems like a good level.

NARRATOR: Following
the incredible scientific report

that the mortar-like concretion

that was found below
Cone E one year ago

matches similar
artificially-worked soils

from the round feature on Lot 5

and from more than 90 feet
deep in the Money Pit area...

COREY: Put a chain
right around the bottom.

NARRATOR: Marty is eager

to see if any more
evidence of human activity...

Tighten it up.

NARRATOR: can be
found beneath Cone E...

There she goes.

NARRATOR: that
might help prove

when all three features
were originally created

and who was
responsible for them.

TOM: That's a big egg.

MARTY: Sure is.

ROSS: Yeah, she's all yours now.

Okay.

- TOM: There's no water in there. That's nice.
- MARTY: Uh-uh.

Okay. Let's dig. Let's go.

MARTY: What I want is the data.

I want to understand this thing.

It would be great to
find definitive proof

that it was put up for a
purpose and that it was put up

in the 1200s.

Yes. Perfect.

If the science is correct, we
ought to come up with something.

Hey, wait.

This could be something.

You got any water, Pete?

Hey, Tom.

There's more of it.

That conglomerate.

NARRATOR: Another sample
of a man-made conglomerate?

Can I see that?

NARRATOR: And more
potential evidence of human activity

connecting Nolan's Cross
to Lot 5 and the Money Pit?

It's not similar.

- It's the same.
- [laughs]

MARTY: If so, could there be
anything else beneath cone E

that might help the team
prove that Nolan's Cross

and the Oak Island
mystery might date back

as much as eight centuries?

What I'm seeing is a red moss.

It has sticks in it.

And that takes a...

that takes a long time to form.

And what that tells me

is there's a possibility that
before Tom's dad was digging,

somebody else was
digging here, too.

- Yeah.
- So, this is...

extremely interesting.

Nothing in the historical
record indicates

anybody was aware
of the structure

- before your dad found it?
- No. No.

Right.

NARRATOR: Although
the late Fred Nolan

is known to have
excavated around Cone E

after he discovered the
megalithic cross formation

in 1981,

he claimed to have
never moved this boulder

or dug directly beneath it.

So, could the team have
found another critical clue

that could help them
determine the true origin

of Nolan's Cross?

MARTY: We know

Fred Nolan dug around that cone,

but Dr. Spooner is
saying, "Wait a minute.

This looked like this was
disturbed way before that."

If we found out that somebody
was digging around it,

say 300 or 800 years ago, that's

quite substantive.

It may answer some
of the mystery here.

All right. Let's
fill her back in.

NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...

TEDFORD: Try to
give them a little more.

NARRATOR: while
drilling continues

in the so-called pie
in the Money Pit area...

Good?

NARRATOR: several
yards to the southeast...

- See the crossbeam all the way?
- Yeah.

- About there?
- Right there.

NARRATOR: Scott Barlow
has joined Peter Fornetti

and Billy Gerhardt to
proceed with the excavation

of the mysterious structure
they have dubbed Shaft Two-A.

All right, I think that
looks good right now, Pete.

We can probably
get down in there.

All right. I got some shovels.

Shovel off those top timbers.

NARRATOR: After determining

that the structure has
a nearly identical design

and dimensions as the nearby,

potentially mid-18th
century Garden Shaft,

they are now hoping to prove

whether it was built
by treasure hunters

during the past two centuries,

or if it may predate the
discovery of the Money Pit.

SCOTT: The wall is still
intact all along here, as well.

- Look at that.
- PETER: Yeah.

SCOTT: Hey, Billy.

Want to just skim this
off a little bit at a time?

Okay.

SCOTT: So, this shaft... Rick's

starting to call it Shaft Two-A

because this current shaft
could also be Shaft Two.

Until we get some
clearer answers,

the door is still open
to any possibility.

Yeah, it seems very
odd that there's two shafts

this close to the Garden Shaft.

We don't know who
was working here.

There's a lot of
unanswered questions here.

- Hey, guys. -Hello.
- Hey.

We're getting her cleaned out.

MARTY: That's pretty amazing.

Billy, I had my doubts
you could do this

with that machine, but I
doff my hard hat to you.

Doesn't seem to have
damaged anything. Good job.

You know what's amazing to me?

Whoever did this shaft

went to great pains
to fill it back properly.

- I know.
- 'Cause this is packed right in there.

SCOTT: Yeah, it really is.

MARTY: That's amazing.
That almost implies

- trying to hide it.
- Yeah.

Maybe it's a depositor shaft.

MARTY: That almost
implies trying to hide it.

- Maybe it's a depositor shaft.
- Yeah.

MARTY: It sure is impressive.

SCOTT: It really is.

NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,

Marty Lagina and
members of the team

are investigating what they
have labeled Shaft Two-A,

a previously

undocumented
structure that appears

to have been deliberately hidden

by someone many years ago.

- It is in great shape.
- Yup.

Unbelievable.

NARRATOR: The burning
question is whether or not

it was constructed
and then buried

before the discovery of
the Money Pit in 1795.

How deep do you
want to go with this?

How deep can you
go without hurting it?

Uh, we're not having
too much trouble yet.

You know, we could
go to the next set, I think.

MARTY: Well, keep going, then.

I think Rick wanted to see that.

If this shaft dates
to turn of the century,

then it's a searcher shaft.

But if that shaft ended
up being from the 1600s

or perhaps earlier, then

we're gonna put a caisson
down over it because that could be

an original shaft.

Hey, Billy.

Come take a look.

SCOTT: This just
continually impresses me.

- I mean, you look at this, it's history.
- MARTY: Yeah.

Well, big brother,
there's a shaft.

RICK: I mean, those
boards... you couldn't fit

a human hair between 'em.

It's an incredible
piece of construction.

- MARTY: It's very cool. It's very amazing.
- RICK: Very cool.

- RICK: It's very intact.
- It's very... intact.

Why do you think the
compartments are gone?

'Cause they did a
really good job filling it.

- RICK: Mm.
- Which is pretty amazing, too.

RICK: There's some
homework to do.

We have a, Shaft Two-A,

and right next to it,
possibly Shaft Two.

Some of the wood
is very similar,

and they had
similar orientations.

So, it's important to verify

that supposed Shaft
Two is really Shaft Two.

So, we need to go back,
dig down a bit deeper

and see if there's

a different style
of construction.

Well, we need a
proper sample at depth.

We can send that off for
dendro, but we can't wait

for the results. What we
have to do then, is dig down

a bit deeper into the shaft
that we believe is Shaft Two.

- Correct.
- Sure.

MARTY: The Money Pit
has had so much activity on it

that was unknown

because here are
two shafts within,

you know, a putt of each other.

Yet, each one of 'em was
an enormous amount of work.

Hopefully, these shafts give
us information which ultimately

might lead us
towards the treasure.

- Let's go.
- BILLY: Yeah.

MARTY: Call it a day.

NARRATOR: The following morning,

while the core-drilling
operation continues

in the Money Pit area...

Okay. More of the same, guys.

Still into the blue gray.

RICK: Lady, gentlemen,

today we're gonna
learn about something

that I think has caused
great excitement.

NARRATOR: Rick and other members

of the team meet
via video conference

with Marty and
Craig in the w*r room.

They are eager to hear
an updated scientific report

on the silver coin
that was discovered

in the spoils removed
from the stone foundation

on Lot 5.

Hopefully, Emma can

tell us what she found
out about this cut coin.

So, the CT scanner,
although it could catch

some of the abraded surface,

like all the scratches
on the surface,

getting any detail
was nearly impossible.

We couldn't really
see any details,

but there was faint signs or
faint engravings on one side.

LAIRD: You could see
some sort of writing on it,

- but couldn't make it out.
- Mm.

So I just popped that
into the XRF map scanner.

So this is a
compositional surface scan

of one side of that coin.

It is, in fact, silver,

but it does have a little
bit of a lead content.

Like, I only left these elements

'cause they image really
well on the XRF map.

NARRATOR: X-ray
fluorescence... or XRF scanning...

uses highly-focused
beams of x-rays,

which assigns specific
colors to the elements

that are present on
the surface of objects.

The process reveals
fine, microscopic details

that are not visible
to the naked eye.

Initially, when you
guys brought it in,

we did think that it
could be Spanish.

But as you can see,
you see the "GVLI"

- really clearly.
- GARY: Hmm.

EMMA: And this little...
little design over here...

and these two
little triangular spots.

ALEX: Mm-hmm.

So, this right here

is a William III shilling.

Silver, same diameter.

And it matches
the designs to a T.

- MARTY: Wow.
- ALEX: Wow.

EMMA: So it's
an English shilling

from the 1690s.

Oh, yeah. You can
see the ponytail.

EMMA: Yeah.

And the little two
triangles is its little ribbon.

Wow, that's a shocker.

RICK: Wow.

EMMA: It's an English shilling

featuring William
III from the 1690s,

but I'm fairly certain
that it's from 1697.

Wow. That's a
shocker. So, it's English?

Yep. Yeah.

NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island w*r room,

archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan

has just revealed
that the cut silver coin

that was recovered from
the round feature on Lot 5

is part of an English shilling

bearing the likeness
of King William III

and was minted in 1697.

Emma, fantastic detective work.

I mean, there's a
million coins out there,

and to have that match like that

is really, really cool.
Very impressive.

She's figured out
what coin this is.

- Yep.
- ALEX: Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

MARTY: Laird,
doesn't this kind of go

to your thought that that
habitation there on Lot 5,

you know, was
older than mid-1700s,

pushing things back into
the 1600s or very close?

Is that all correct?

Yeah. Yeah.

It certainly supports
a possible earlier date.

So this may also
suggest that this was

a stopping place for
them over a period of time.

Yes.

The hell was they doing there?

MARTY: Well, this is much

less likely to be a component
of treasure, but rather

-somebody who was on Lot 5
doing something... some -Yup.

- Officer, perhaps, being paid.
- Yup.

This makes me think
of a book I read by, uh,

Graham Harris and Les
MacPhie about the British military

trying to recover, um,
William Phips' treasure

here on Oak Island.

NARRATOR: In their 1999 book

entitled Oak Island
and Its Lost Treasure,

Graham Harris and Les MacPhie

put forth an extraordinary
theory about secret events

that they believe took
place on Oak Island

after Sir William Phips

allegedly buried a treasure
vault in the Money Pit area.

According to their research,
English allies of Phips,

who assisted him
and Andrew Belcher

during the second
treasure salvage operation

of the Concepción,

made a number of failed attempts

to retrieve the
valuables on Oak Island

between the late


DOUG: So, if-if that's true,

this could be evidence that
the British military were here.

That fits in really well.

NARRATOR: Could
Doug Crowell be correct

that this 1697 silver English
coin might be connected

to one of those failed
treasure recoveries?

Would that explain

why the team has also found

numerous English
military artifacts

in the round feature on Lot 5

that have been dated
to between the late 17th

and mid-18th centuries

in addition to the metal tools

that were scientifically
linked to William Phips?

And might it also explain
not only who constructed

the mid-18th
century Garden Shaft,

but perhaps also Shaft Two-A,

that has been unearthed
next to what may be Shaft Two

in the Money Pit area?

DOUG: They didn't
retrieve the treasure.

And the gold and
silver particles

in the current
water test indicate

that that treasure's
probably still there.

You got to find it, man.

And I think this is

somehow significant.

The things happening on Lot


I'm sure of that.

Yeah.

RICK: Oak Island is

a very complex mystery.

Perhaps a mystery
that has been developing

over decades, if not centuries.

But there's one way
for this to be put to bed.

We have to find proof

that the most hardened
skeptic says, "I believe."

And we continue to
endeavor to do that.

Okay, I think we're all set to
get out back and keep digging.

- Okay.
- Okay.

MARTY: Get back out there

and find some more. [laughs]

NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...

- MARTY: whoa.
- PETER: Hey.

That's a big hole.

PETER: You can see a wall.

- RICK: Yup.
- MARTY: Look at that.

NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,

Marty and Rick Lagina,

along with members of the team,

are once again excavating
the wooden structure

that they believe could be

Shaft Two.

See where the darker area?

MARTY: Yeah.

There's a whole bunch
of boards in there.

Yup. And blacker
usually looks older.

RICK: Ooh, yeah.

NARRATOR: It is their
hope to obtain wood samples

from a much deeper depth
than their previous excavation

of the feature in
order to confirm

it really is the first
searcher shaft dug in 1805,

which could help them
locate the original Money Pit.

Okay, what do you want to do?

So, Scott's gonna guide Billy,

and we're just gonna
try to nick that off the wall.

SCOTT [on radio]: Okay, Billy.

We'll try and grab the
side of those beams.

RICK: Looking at the bottom,

you can see much older wood.

Shaft Two was created in 1805.

So, the hope is that we
can get a wood sample

that will date to
that period of time,

and bingo, we have the first
discovery shaft on Oak Island.

So, it's incredibly important.

Now, pull... pull your
bucket forward a little bit.

STEVE: That looks like our beam.

Go straight down with your boom.

You got it.

SCOTT [on radio]:
It's perfect. Oh.

It fell out of the bucket.

MARTY: When you get a hole


it's challenging for the
equipment operator.

Billy's really good, but

he cannot see
where that bucket is.

SCOTT [over radio]: There.
It's tipped back into your bucket.

Bring it on up.

MARTY: It's like a very large,

very expensive variation of

the little grabber video games.

- That's a monstrous beam. Look at that.
- Yeah.

It's huge!

- Watch your feet.
- Yup.

MARTY: That's a good piece.

GARY: All right. Let's see
if there's any metal in there.

- MARTY: Yes.
- [beeping]

No metal in there.

That is a good sign.

No fasteners,

maybe an older
style of construction.

Yes.

NARRATOR: Possible
older wooden beams

some 40 feet deep in
the mysterious shaft?

Could that suggest

that someone reconstructed
the top portion of Shaft Two

after it was first
built in 1805?

Although it will
take several weeks

for dendrochronology
testing to be conducted

on the wood samples
that they have recovered,

the team may have finally
obtained the evidence

that they need to locate
the original Money Pit.

STEVE: So, I mean, if
this is Shaft Two, we know

we're 14 feet away
from the Money Pit,

so, it's a landmark for us.

RICK: We've succeeded
in what we intended to do.

We've got a proper
sample at depth.

We can send that off for dendro,

move seamlessly forward
with the drill program

in the pie-shaped area.

Look, we wanted proof that
this may or may not be Shaft Two.

- This could be it.
- Exactly.

Everybody wants to get at it.

Everybody's invested in this.

Everybody wants
to figure it out.

Gentlemen, I think

it's time to declare victory.

GARY: Yeah.

- That's a top-pocket find, Gary.
- [laughs] Yeah.

MARTY: It feels good.
The energy is high.

Everybody thinks
it's worth doing.

Okay. Let's go.

SCOTT:
Good job, everyone.

NARRATOR:
A new year full of great promise

has begun on Oak Island.

Having already made
compelling discoveries

in the Money Pit area,

on Lot 5

and beneath Nolan's Cross,

Rick, Marty, Craig
and their fellowship

have uncovered more evidence
to suggest

that they are actually looking
for numerous treasure vaults,

and that the truth behind them

could change the history
of North America.

And while the team is humbled
by the many known

and unknown people who have
come before them to search,

nothing can break their will

to ensure
that they will be the last.