NARRATOR: Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...
MARTY: We're going to get a look
at the seismic results.
This is definitely
the largest anomaly.
It is a competent structure,
whatever it is.
Is that consistent
with a chamber?
Yeah. It is.
MARTY:
Now we have a target,
so we need to drill it right
away, find out what it is.
TERRY: Wow, look at that.
This is a lot of wood here.
MARTY:
Maybe it is the old Money Pit.
GARY:
Look at this! This is old.
We're talking, like,
Templar old.
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,
mysterious fragments
of human bone,
and a lead cross,
whose origin may stretch back
to the days
of the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And, according to legend,
one more will have to die
before the treasure
can be found.
It is a day
of great anticipation
for brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina
and the other members
of their Oak Island team...
-Looked like a wide road
until we got on it.
-MICHEL: Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...because today
marks the first day
in the construction
of an enormous 525-foot-long
cofferdam at Smith's Cove,
one of the most intriguing
and mysterious places
on the island.
It looks like
a really sturdy pad.
It'll just gradually
start coming together
over the next couple of days.
NARRATOR:
When completed,
the cofferdam
will effectively wall off
ocean water to the cove.
JACK: We have quite
a reach with this crane.
MIKE J.: We've got quite
a reach, but it takes
every bit of that crane
-to reach what we need to do.
-All right.
NARRATOR: Using a powerful
hydraulic hammer,
approximately 120 interlocking
steel sheets
will be driven some 25 feet
into the ground.
This will allow the water
to be drained,
and then the entire area
searched for important clues--
clues that might help
the Laginas solve
a 223-year-old
treasure mystery.
It may also help them locate
an elaborate system
of booby-trapped flood tunnels
that have thwarted searchers
from exploring
the so-called Money Pit
located some 170 yards away.
MARTY: Every time Smith's Cove
has been searched in the past,
it's been just
an earthen cofferdam.
More or less similar
to the bladder system
we used last year.
I mean, there's so much seepage
under there, through the sands
and the gravel and whatever
underneath there,
that it's working
in constant flooding.
So this time,
we're gonna drive sheet piling
down 23 feet and interlock it.
That should stop
the bulk of the water.
What is, realistically,
the closest time frame
to when we start
being able to dig
and excavate in Smith's Cove
this year?
We're anticipating
about three weeks' work
from the time we started today
until we can probably
turn it over to you folks.
-Right on schedule, basically.
-Yeah.
JACK: And then we can get
started and see
if there's anything else
hiding down in Smith's Cove.
-Yes.
-PETER: Absolutely.
NARRATOR: As the team from
Irving Equipment Limited
continues with their operation
at Smith's Cove...
-MARTY:
This should be a good day.
-RICK: Absolutely.
NARRATOR: ...brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina
along with Craig Tester,
Dave Blankenship
and Charles Barkhouse
are traveling some 2,300 miles
west of Oak Island
to the city of Calgary
in Alberta, Canada.
MARTY:
Seismo, here we go.
I'm looking forward to it,
that's for sure.
-It should give us
some good targets.
-Yeah.
NARRATOR:
They are on their way
to the headquarters
of Eagle Canada...
...a geophysical
exploration company
which over the past two weeks
has conducted
a major seismic imaging scan
of the Money Pit site.
This revolutionary process
involves the detonation
of literally hundreds
of expl*sive dynamite charges.
These charges send powerful
shockwaves down into the earth
which are then measured
and recorded,
allowing for the creation of
a virtual three-dimensional map
which, in turn, could reveal
the precise location
of everything from old searcher
tunnels and booby traps
to underground treasure vaults.
CHARLES:
I'm excited.
This is the first opportunity
that people can
look underground.
-Yep.
-CRAIG: Yeah, and the mega-bin
should be in an area
with excellent data.
Where is that?
That's the Triton Shaft,
where Dan, you know,
felt he hit the tunnel
and they brought up wood.
NARRATOR: Also included in
the seismic scanning operation
was another search area
known as the mega-bin,
located some 600 feet north
of the Money Pit site.
It was here,
in the early 1970s,
that veteran treasure hunter
Dan Blankenship
and his company,
The Triton Alliance,
drilled some
40 exploratory boreholes
searching for tunnels
that Dan believed were
connected to the Money Pit.
We're going to get a look
at the seismic results,
which we're very excited to see.
I do have high hopes
for them being able to see
vertical structures.
We each have our own little
version of what that might be,
you know, mental image
of what that might be.
But in any event,
this is the first time we might
get some scientific imaging
of what's going on underground,
both at the Money Pit
and over there on the hillside
by the Triton shaft.
(indistinct chatter)
-Morning, gentlemen.
-Hey, guys.
ROBERT W.: Hey, good morning.
Have a seat.
Welcome to Calgary.
Welcome to Eagle.
ALEX G.: So, I'm glad you guys
were able to make it.
Uh, we got some pretty exciting
news today.
-Great.
-So I'll let Jeremy
talk about the results.
-MARTY: Okay.
-So let's jump into it.
Here is the lay of the two 3-Ds
and the 2-D line mega-bins
up there to the north and then
the orthogonal down here
to the south over the Money Pit.
So here's the mega-bin.
This map is built
from an amplitude slice.
MARTY: And the significance
of the colors?
JEREMY: Um, reds usually
represent reductions in density,
negative values or troughs.
Typically, reductions in density
are usually
the more interesting features.
So yeah, there's your mega-bin
right there.
This is definitely the largest
anomaly in this data set so far.
It's roughly 50 meters long,
so you're in
the 150-175 foot length.
What would the distance be
between the top and the base?
-Seven to 12 feet.
-Can you dimension that?
JEREMY: Yeah, I'll give you
a cross section.
So here it is.
We're around
the 40-ish, 50-foot depth there.
So, like, the anomaly is this.
You've got a hard reflector
on top,
a hard reflector on the base.
What's interesting is things
are draping on top of it,
so it is a competent structure,
whatever it is.
Is that consistent
with a chamber,
with a roof and a floor?
Yeah. It is.
Wow.
NARRATOR:
A 175-foot chamber,
located at a depth
of approximately 50 feet?
Could this discovery finally be
the proof the Laginas
and generations of other
treasure hunters
have been trying to find
for more than two centuries?
Proof that man-made structures
really do exist
beneath the surface
of Oak Island?
Structures that might contain
an incredible treasure?
It's astounding, even,
what you've drawn,
right there already,
because Dan told
Rick and I years ago
that he had drilled that well,
the so-called latrine hole,
and he believed at the time
that it was the "relief area"
for an underground chamber
where people were working,
and he was quite sure.
He was absolutely certain.
And he kind of drew something
that looked just like that.
So it's just incredible.
I'm very excited
to see that they've imaged
what they hope
is some sort of chamber,
and it's only at 50 feet.
RICK: For me, personally,
I've always wanted
to give Dan his breakthrough,
and now we have
a target, a defined target,
not a hope and a poke scenario.
That, I can tell you for sure,
that's going to figure
in our exploration plans.
We're not gonna
walk away from that.
JEREMY:
Okay, so, uh,
-we'll move on to the Money Pit.
-The Money Pit.
-Yes.
-MARTY: Yes.
JEREMY:
So here's the first anomaly
I want to show you
from this area.
This is below any
of the historical excavations.
It is also interesting
how you have,
basically, a large blue region
-of nothing really happening...
-All around it.
...and then this emerges
out of it.
So, here's our limestone,
consistent limestone marker,
here's the anhydrate marker.
And then you have a hard roof
with a void
within the limestone.
There's C-1,
and then H-8, interestingly,
he's kind of on the edge of it.
What depth are we here?
160 to 170 feet.
NARRATOR:
A large void,
located at a depth
of 160 to 170 feet?
And adjacent
to the C-1 and H-8 boreholes
that Rick and Marty
dug in the Money Pit?
That's where a lot
of odd stuff came out of, H-8.
-(clattering)
-DANNY: We are definitely
sitting on something.
It feels like I'm on a whole
bunch of wood at once now.
NARRATOR: Last year,
while drilling borehole H-8,
the Oak Island team found
compelling evidence
of what they believed to be
the so-called Chappell Vault,
the seven-foot-tall wooden box,
first discovered
by William Chappell
and Frederick Blair in 1897.
It was while searching
the spoils from this same hole
that the team also made
a number
of incredible discoveries...
TERRY: Okay, that's
kind of interesting.
NARRATOR:
...including pottery,
bits of parchment
and leather bookbinding,
and even pieces of human bones,
which, when tested,
were determined to be the
remains of two individuals:
one from Europe, and the other
from the Middle East.
And each estimated to be
more than 400 years old.
Unfortunately, when the team
attempted to penetrate
the suspected vault with
a 60-inch-wide drilling caisson
the object was
pushed lower down
into the wet, muddy ground.
Could this large chamber
located near the H-8 shaft
be where the elusive
Chappell Vault is now located?
If it is real, it could answer
a lot of stuff.
It could explain where
we pushed that vault down to.
You know, if there's
a-a cavity over there
that has been breached,
then maybe that's where
the stuff went.
Maybe it is the bottom
of the old Money Pit.
You end up at H-8 here
being at the extremity of it.
Like, all your, uh,
caissons are over there.
We missed it by this much.
(laughter)
It's touching the edge
of that cavern or void.
JEREMY:
It has a squared-off shape.
You just don't--
nature doesn't tend to produce
such square features,
you know, like that.
-Yeah, exactly.
-MARTY: Yeah.
That's obviously dramatic and
it needs to be looked into.
There's no question about that.
And it gets better.
-JEREMY: And it gets better.
-MARTY: Really?
-Yeah.
-Okay.
NARRATOR: While visiting the
headquarters of Eagle Canada
in Alberta, Canada,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with members
of the Oak Island team,
have just been given
the startling information
that seismic scanning
has revealed the existence
of underground voids
in the Money Pit area,
voids that appear to surround
the borehole known as H-8.
This anomaly here,
very interesting.
When you start seeing
eyeball-type features
that's usually
something notable.
So I grabbed a slice
through that.
Here's C-1. Here's H-8.
This complex of linear features
that kind of come off of it,
that carries on into what
looks like a larger network
around the 100
to 110 foot-ish range.
-Flood tunnel?
-CHARLES: Could be.
Wow.
NARRATOR:
A flood tunnel
located at a depth of
approximately 100 feet?
Certainly, it's possible
that it's a flood tunnel.
It does beg
for further investigation.
MARTY: All right, well,
we're going to have
to figure out what we do
with this new data here.
-My understanding
is you would like...
-Yeah.
-to do some more
number crunching.
-Yeah.
MARTY:
I'm very excited about this.
So, I want to explore this.
I think there's
enough data right now
-for us to do something here.
-Yeah.
-RICK: Yes.
-Yeah.
You've given us reason
to certainly move forward,
-you know, and-and we have
intentions of drilling holes.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
-I would like to see
some more investigation
of these two sites, for sure,
and that's awesome.
MARTY:
All right, we thank you.
We look forward to lots more
work, lots more data
and, um, let's get out there
and do something.
-Awesome. -Awesome.
-MARTY: We're done.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you.
NARRATOR: While Rick, Marty
and members of the team
eagerly make their way
back to Oak Island,
Jack Begley, Gary Drayton and
area geophysicist Mike West
head to the beach on Lot 26,
located on the island's
southwest shore.
They have come here in hopes
of finding historical artifacts
like the gold-covered brooch
Gary and Rick Lagina discovered
just one week ago
and which was estimated
to be as much as 700 years old.
We're going to be working
in tandem.
Mike's got different metal
detecting equipment to me
and he's going to be
looking for targets,
hopefully deeper targets
than I can detect.
Then I'm going to cross off
any shallow surface finds
with my surface metal detector.
This looks like a point here,
all the way down here
with the boulders.
This could potentially be a...
MIKE W.:
Yeah, there's definitely
-something going on here.
-...a landing spot.
Yeah.
And what do people do
when they come up by a boat?
-They lose stuff getting
on and off boats.
-Yeah.
JACK: Mm-hmm. If anything,
it almost makes more sense
because this is Captain
Anderson's property.
-He was one of the original
owners of Lot 26.
-Yeah.
NARRATOR: During the American
Revolution in 1783,
Captain James Anderson
was a privateer
who pledged his allegiance
to the United States.
However, after being
given command
of his own ship, the Betsy,
he became a spy for
the British and fled the U.S.,
taking his ship and the
valuable cargo it was carrying
with him.
Facing charges
of treason levied
by then Governor of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson,
Anderson escaped to Nova Scotia
where he purchased Lot 26
on Oak Island.
If this is a natural beach
or man-made,
Mike West's metal detector
should be able
to see deeper than
what your detector can
and especially if
they were possibly
-loading and unloading stuff.
-Yeah.
Let's see what we can find.
Maybe we'll get lucky.
MIKE W.:
All right. Let's get her going.
-All right, mate,
we'll follow you.
-Okay.
NARRATOR:
To assist them in their search,
Mike will use a metal detecting
device known as the EM61.
Unlike conventional
metal detectors,
which are generally limited
to an average scanning depth
of between one and three feet,
the EM61 is equipped
with powerful transmitter
and receiver coils,
allowing it
to sense metal objects
buried up to 20 feet
deep underground.
It also features a GPS device
which will allow the team
to record the exact location
of any targets too deep
to be dug up by hand.
Come on, Mr. West.
Find us something good.
I'll find something.
(EM61 beeping)
JACK:
You think he's got something?
-Come get it.
-JACK: Yup. He found something.
-Great.
-Is it a big or a little target?
Real hard to tell.
-JACK: Oh.
-GARY: You see it?
JACK:
Oh, it's square.
Oh, yeah, now that's an oldie.
-Yeah, that looks old to me.
-Yeah.
Yeah, that's a nice, old one.
That's a 1700s spike.
MIKE W.:
Purely 'cause it's square?
Yeah, it's square and then with
the round flathead like that.
That's textbook 1700s, this.
Might even be older.
If this was a wharf
or a landing or a boat slip,
this is exactly
the type of thing
you would expect
to find in the area.
NARRATOR:
A spike from a shipping wharf
possibly dating back
to the 1700s?
Could it have been part
of a dock or boat slip
once used
by Captain James Anderson?
This was in this area
used for something.
-I'm pretty certain, but what?
-Mm-hmm.
GARY:
Pretty cool.
All right mate, I'll recheck it
-and see if there's
anything else here.
-Sure. Yeah.
(metal detector beeping)
Nope. That was it.
I'm gonna turn off and let you
bring that big, bad boy in.
(EM61 beeping)
JACK:
Find something, Mike?
Yeah, it's small,
but I want to get a feel
for what-what it could be.
Yeah, there's a little piece
of iron here by the look of it.
All right, Jack, just here.
All right, let me see.
I'll try and expose it.
Look at that.
-Wow.
-Oh.
What is that?
JACK:
What is that?
GARY:
All right, let's see.
-Looks like a hook, doesn't it?
-JACK: Yeah.
NARRATOR:
While exploring Lot 26,
located on the southwestern
beach of Oak Island,
Jack Begley, along with metal
detection expert Gary Drayton
and geophysicist Mike West,
have just found another
potentially important artifact.
I mean, hooks were used
for hooking sacks
-and lifting stuff
off boats and onto boats.
-Oh.
NARRATOR:
A hook?
Used for unloading cargo
from ships and found on land
once owned by the 18th-century
pirate Captain James Anderson?
Check this thing out.
Last year, members
of the Oak Island team
travelled to the home
of Steve Atkinson,
a direct descendant
of James Anderson,
where they were shown
one of the infamous buccaneer's
actual sea chests.
STEVE A.: That one opens
that treasure chest.
In addition to the chest was
a ring of four mysterious keys.
STEVE A.: Could there have been
more treasure chests
on the island?
That's what I wonder.
Could the hook that the team
has just found on Lot 26
be evidence that
at least one of the legends
concerning Captain James
Anderson is true?
That he off-loaded a ship
filled with treasure
and then placed it
in each of four chests,
chests which he later buried
at various locations
around Oak Island?
-All right. That's good,
that's good.
-Okay.
You got it?
That's off to a good start.
-So I'll turn this off and wait
for your next target.
-Yeah.
(EM61 beeping)
NARRATOR: As another sun
sets on Oak Island,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
have called a meeting
in the w*r room.
They are eager to share
with their team
the incredible results
of the seismic testing
that they received
earlier that day
from the technicians
at Eagle Canada in Calgary.
JACK:
Hey, Craig.
-Hey, guys.
-MARTY: Hey, Craig.
Okay, guys, I've got
the seismic maps here.
Rick and Craig and I
have seen these results,
um, you others haven't yet.
So this is the mega-bin.
Here's-here's
the Triton shaft, Dan.
Oh, yeah.
This is what they believe
is a cavity of some sort.
This is only 50 feet deep.
So that would be above
sea level, years ago.
Yes.
NARRATOR:
Over the years,
there have been many
Oak Island theorists
who believe that the Money Pit
was constructed as a decoy,
designed to thwart the efforts
of would-be searchers
and keep them from finding
the actual treasure vault.
It was their belief that,
after the Money Pit was dug
and then booby-trapped
with sea water,
another, more secret tunnel
was constructed,
which branched off
from the fabled shaft
and then lead
to a treasure vault
located safely above sea level.
I have always felt that
the theory proposed by others,
that the Money Pit was dug
as deep as could be dug
at the time and then
there is a-a tunnel
that goes off from it somewhere,
and at a relatively
shallow depth,
that created
a chamber underground.
And that makes so much sense
because there would be
absolutely no way to find that
with 300-year-old technology,
unless you knew where it was.
NARRATOR:
Could the shallow anomaly,
as indicated
on the 3-D seismic map
and located some 600 feet north
of the Money Pit,
be evidence that this
incredible theory is true?
It's away from
searchers' excavations,
pretty much guaranteed,
isn't it?
-Yes.
-Nobody ever
really did much there.
Right.
Um, this is H-8 and that's C-1.
Well, what's this
spot right there?
MARTY: They think
that's another chamber.
This is so dramatically
different than
the rest of the stuff.
What's this one taken at, Craig?
That roughly corresponds to 160?
Yes, about there.
That's really the area
that I'm expecting
serious originators work
is below 160 feet
in the limestone, so...
CRAIG:
We also have the other map
that kind of shows potential
tunnels around 100 feet.
MARTY: So we have
a rather simple task today.
We're gonna pick where
we're gonna do the core holes.
I think we should
pick the locations
and then I think
we should prioritize them..
I agree.
MARTY:
So that is an obvious target.
There's one core hole for sure.
Mm-hmm.
I can pick a couple locations
that can hit
both the tunnel at 100 feet
and this deeper chamber,
you know, in the Money Pit area.
-MARTY: Okay.
-So I got two locations,
potentially.
MARTY:
All right.
-I would like to go here first.
-I agree.
Okay.
MARTY: Based on these results,
this will very accurately,
precisely, locate
a core hole location
and we'll try
and core this anomaly.
I mean, it's a
simple strategy, right?
Find something in the Money Pit.
MARTY: I just can't wait
to put the real-world test
to their interpretations.
-Yes.
-MARTY: All right,
I think we're done here.
Uh, this is great.
Um, it's gonna be
real interesting.
So thanks, Craig.
I think we're all set.
-RICK: See you, Craig.
-CRAIG: See you, guys.
-MARTY: See you.
NARRATOR:
The next morning,
as the team waits
for drilling equipment
to arrive on Oak Island,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
head to Smith's Cove,
where the team from
Irving Equipment Limited
has now begun the construction
of the massive steel cofferdam.
Look at that.
It's actually up in the air.
MARTY:
It's a good day, Rick.
Over there, look at all that
sheet piling stacked up there.
RICK:
Look at that.
Well... (chuckles)
Michel, how are you?
-How you doing? How you doing?
-Good, good, good.
-This year, right?
-Oh, yeah, this year.
Quite impressive.
How long do you think
it would take
to do that section right there?
COLIN: If everything goes good,
I think we'll be done--
we'll have the sheets
in a couple days.
MARTY: It's gonna be
a massive undertaking
-for us to dig behind it.
-MICHEL: Yeah, exactly.
RICK: We believe there's
something in the Money Pit,
but here, we know
there's something.
That U-shaped structure
is definitely there
and we want to expose it.
-Yeah.
-RICK: So we have a hard target.
-And maybe some artifacts.
-And maybe some artifacts.
NARRATOR:
In the early 1970s,
Oak Island treasure hunter
Dan Blankenship
made his own attempt
to excavate Smith's Cove
and locate the flood tunnels,
which he hoped would lead him
directly to the fabled
treasure vault.
Like the Laginas, he
constructed a large cofferdam
around Smith's Cove,
made of large boulders
packed with earth.
Unfortunately, harsh weather
plagued his efforts,
and before he could locate
the flood tunnels,
Dan's cofferdam
was washed away,
but not before he made
an amazing discovery.
Located just off shore,
and some ten feet underground,
Dan found the remains of
an elaborate wooden structure.
Because of its unique shape,
Dan dubbed it
"the U-shaped structure,"
although its intended purpose,
as well as the identities
of those who constructed it,
have remained a mystery.
The hope is that, because of
the type of construction,
we can get it quite dry,
and that's the only way to do
a very disciplined dig
and to expose the U-shaped
structure in its entirety,
and if we track one
of the French drains back,
we find the
flood tunnel system,
we find exactly where
the Money Pit is.
All right, well,
I don't want to hold
these guys up.
Let's get 'er done.
RICK:
It's gonna be interesting.
NARRATOR:
Later that day, as work
continues at Smith's Cove,
Rick Lagina, along with
his nephew, Peter Fornetti,
Craig Tester, and other members
of their team,
gather at the Oak Island
visitor's center.
-Hi, are you Brennan?
-I'm Brennan.
-Craig Tester.
-Nice to meet you, Craig.
-Finally.
-Nice to meet you.
NARRATOR:
They have scheduled a meeting
with representatives
of Choice Drilling,
a company that specializes
in a process
known as sonic drilling.
So that's the rig?
This is the rig.
NARRATOR: Unlike regular air
or mud rotary drilling,
which uses powerful drill bits
to literally grind
beneath the ground,
sonic drilling uses vibrations
to create a high
frequency sound,
which can literally
pulverize obstacles.
A coring barrel is then used
to extract samples
of earth and objects from areas
as much as 500 feet deep.
RICK: I think we all
are quite curious how
this-this rig works.
We've never seen one before.
-She'll be a treat for you.
-RICK: Well, we've got some
real targets for you, we'll see.
Well, I'm eager
for the challenge.
-It is Oak Island.
-It is.
CRAIG: Let's head on back,
let you guys get set up.
-Sounds good.
-All right,
super exciting, guys.
Good luck.
RICK: I've always been
against just guessing.
I mean, the whole point of
the seismic program was to find
anomalous features underground
in the Money Pit.
Well, they targeted an area
that's worth investigating,
and thus,
we're gonna drill there.
If we can't get excited
about that,
it's time to go home.
What we're gonna just do is,
we're gonna take
that water truck
and I'll just park it over here.
NARRATOR: Assisting the team
with their drilling operation
is area geologist
Terry Matheson.
Okay, so the surveyors
put in the D-line, D2 to D6,
so there's our spot.
So it's halfway between D and E?
Right on line six,
-so DE-6.
-TERRY: DE-6 it is.
NARRATOR:
Using last year's
Geotech grid as a reference,
the team has decided to dig
their first hole at a location
known as DE-6.
Here, they hope to find
not only a possible system
of tunnels some 100 feet deep
but also a 30-foot-wide chamber
at a depth of approximately
170 feet.
It is also in this chamber
that the team hopes
it will locate
the mysterious Chappell Vault,
in which bits of gold
and a piece of parchment
were recovered
more than a century ago,
shortly before it sank
further beneath the ground.
So, what's the target depth
on this one?
Seismic anomaly,
he's thinking 100 feet to 185,
so it'll go to at least 185,
and maybe deeper.
-All right, let's find out.
-TERRY: This could be the one.
NARRATOR: After coring
and collecting samples
at intervals of up to ten feet,
the samples will then
be transferred
into plastic sleeves
for thorough inspection
of any potential artifacts
or treasure.
-CRAIG:
What depth did you get to?
-MIKE T.: 75.
So, it looks like
we're at 75 feet
at the bottom
of the last sample.
Target depth is about 90
or a 100, I think.
The elevation's changed so much
with all the digging,
we-we want to start
looking early.
-Yeah.
-I'd say about 90.
Sure. So, we got to start,
you know,
looking very closely
at all this stuff.
Yup, there it goes.
TERRY:
It went through?
-Yeah, it went real fast.
-Excellent.
BRENNAN:
Well, who knows what this is.
All right.
-Take the bit right over.
-If it comes out.
Bring it on over.
There's your wood.
MIKE T.:
That's, uh, 83...
-or 93, sorry.
-It's 93.
-93.
-93. Wow.
That's interesting.
And that...
the way it's cut...
-I love it.
-It was laying this way.
-Yeah.
-Not standing up.
It was laying like this,
so it could be
the top of a... a tunnel.
CRAIG:
Could be the top of a tunnel.
-Wow!
-NARRATOR: While examining
spoils excavated
from borehole DE-6
at the Money Pit,
Oak Island partner Craig Tester
and geologist Terry Matheson
have just made
what they believe
could be an important
discovery.
CRAIG:
Definitely more wood.
TERRY:
Certainly very interesting.
CRAIG: Yeah, I like the fact
that it's laying horizontal
-so it looks to me
like a tunnel.
-Yeah. Yeah.
NARRATOR:
Wood? From a tunnel?
But from what period?
Could it be little more
than the remains
of a searcher tunnel--
one of the dozens
that have been dug
on the island over the years?
Or could it be
physical evidence
from an original
underground structure,
one that may have been
put there centuries ago
by the people
who came to the island
looking to hide
an incredible treasure?
We're-we're looking
for open tunnels,
and-and, to me, um, what's
at the bottom of that tunnel?
Is there something down there
that-that man left there
that we can identify
and say, hey,
this is the original tunnel?
So let's see what's
on the bottom of that tunnel.
-Or vault.
-Or a vault.
Here's hoping, yeah.
What's the depth of this, Mike?
-Uh, 96.
-96.
TERRY: Okay. So, we got s...
we got quite some serious
-minced-up wood there.
-CRAIG: Yeah.
-TERRY: It's pretty interesting.
-It is.
Gentlemen.
-TERRY: Hey, guys.
-Hi.
-Wow.
-Look what we got.
This is what
we came into at 93 feet.
This was
the very top of it, here.
And it was all nice
and horizontal.
You can see where the bit was,
cutting right through like that.
We came right
out of the material
into a horizontal beam,
so it sure looks like
it's-it's a tunnel.
But then, when they drilled,
they only drilled
three more feet,
and the last foot
is back into solid clay,
so it's... there's
a very limited interval
where true wood came from.
-So it almost has
to be collapsed.
-CHARLES: A collapsed tunnel?
TERRY: Yeah, you would
think collapsed, yeah.
CHARLES: Craig, does this match
up with the seismic anomaly
-that we saw?
-CRAIG: Yeah. This is the heart
of that anomaly,
right where we're drilling.
We're there.
A tunnel could be there.
It could have been
one of the other tunnels
coming off the Money Pit.
We've encountered a...
what we believe to be a tunnel
in an area
where we have a target
based on the seismic data, but
we don't know what that means.
It could be original work.
We don't know, and that's what
we're trying to decipher.
It's exciting. It-it can't
be just a coincidence.
-Definitely get this
carbon dated.
-Yeah.
If it comes back
really, really old,
-then we know
it's original people.
-Absolutely.
Exactly.
NARRATOR: The discovery
of a possible tunnel
directly connected
to the Money Pit
offers exciting news
for the Laginas
and members of their team.
It means that the seismic data
they received from Eagle Canada
was able to accurately pinpoint
the existence of a structure
located some 93 feet
below ground.
It also means that as they
continue to drill down deeper,
the team may also be successful
at finding another
critically important chamber,
the one which they believe
might contain
the legendary Chappell Vault.
Is this interesting?
Absolutely.
You know, it mandates
that we continue,
and we're gonna
continue the process,
get down to where the anomaly
is featured.
-CRAIG: Yeah.
-CHARLES: Exactly.
NARRATOR: As the sonic drilling
operation continues
in the Money Pit area,
Jack Begley, Gary Drayton
and Mike West return to Lot 26,
property that was once owned
by the 18th-century pirate
and privateer
Captain James Anderson.
(beeping)
GARY: I think Mike's
got another signal.
Any idea of the size of it?
Yeah, something here,
it's quite small.
But in this area here, where
I just kicked off a little bit.
GARY:
Yeah, I'm getting it.
It's only reading
four or five inches.
What? All right,
that makes it easy.
-JACK: You want to check?
-GARY: All right, mate-- yep.
JACK:
Oh, it's out! It's right there.
GARY: I see it, yeah.
Yep, I see it.
JACK:
What is it?
GARY:
Yeah, look at that.
JACK:
A welding rod?
-No. Look at this.
-No?
Oh, sh**t.
GARY:
Unbelievable!
NARRATOR: While searching
for artifacts on Lot 26,
located on the island's
southwest shore,
Jack Begley, Mike West
and metal detection expert
Gary Drayton
have just made
a curious discovery.
GARY:
That looks like a bleedin' bolt.
-Wow! That looks
like a crossbolt.
-(laughs): Yeah.
-JACK: Totally.
-NARRATOR: A crossbow bolt?
On Oak Island? But how
did such an unusual object
come to be in Nova Scotia?
And, perhaps
even more important,
who brought it here?
That is sweet.
I mean, this is old. We're
talking, like, Templar old.
-No!
-Yeah, that's when
they used them.
That could be anywhere
from a 1000 to 1500.
NARRATOR:
Dating back to as early
as the 7th century BC,
the crossbow was
a powerful long-ranged w*apon
favored for its accuracy
and ability
to pierce through heavy armor.
They were also widely used
by individuals of high status
throughout the militaries
of Medieval Europe
until they were replaced
in the 16th century
by gunpowder-based firearms.
Could what Gary has identified
as a possible crossbow bolt
really be evidence that members
of the Knights Templar
visited Oak Island
centuries ago?
Let's give Rick a call.
-He's gonna be excited.
-He's gonna flip out
when he sees.
(line ringing)
If this is a crossbow bolt--
which it looks like it is--
this was a w*apon.
And by the time people started
colonizing Nova Scotia,
crossbows had, like,
really gotten out of use.
People were using muskets
and other firearms.
So an object this out of place
on Oak Island
could be a really,
really big find.
RICK:
Hey, Gary.
GARY: Well, we'll show you
what we've been up to.
A w*apon, or a crossbow bolt.
-Yeah. Exactly.
-Yup. (chuckling)
Crossbolt or arrow,
but I think that's a crossbolt.
And if that's a crossbolt,
that is very, very, very old.
And something like this
would have been used
for piercing chain mail.
Templar, baby.
I'm using the "T" word.
(laughter)
I think we were all blown away
by the potential crossbow bolt.
Gary is saying
it's very, very, very old.
And this type of crossbow bolt
was meant
to penetrate chain mail.
Well, chain mail is Medieval.
So it's possible
that it might go back
perhaps to the 12 or 1300s,
perhaps even earlier.
So it's an exciting find.
There's no question about it.
I mean, that is fantastic.
Crossbolt.
You guys are smiling now.
We knew you would like this.
That is cool.
That is-that is cool.
This shape might be
culture-influenced,
some way to define
where it came from.
Laird and-or Kelly Bourassa
would know something about this.
But you're right, that's-that's
the find, right there.
-JACK: And it's exciting.
-RICK: It is.
And, well, I don't know
which is more exciting, this,
or what yet remains to be found
in the Money Pit.
But it's all about now,
continuing to search
and do research.
I feel like we just scratched
the surface of this area.
RICK: I can't say anything
but thanks for all your efforts.
Great day, you know?
Great day.
NARRATOR: Following a week
of intriguing revelations
and exciting, new discoveries,
Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island
team are convinced
that they are closer than ever
to solving
this 223-year-old mystery.
But as they continue
to drill deeper
towards what they hope is
a centuries-old treasure vault,
what will they find?
Millions in gold and jewels,
stolen by pirates
on the high seas?
Priceless religious artifacts?
Or will they discover
that the Oak Island treasure
is so well-protected
that the price
they will be forced to pay
in order to retrieve it
will not be measured
in dollars, but in lives?
Next time on
The Curse of Oak Island...
RICK: We know we have a target.
The Money Pit.
CRAIG: Fingers crossed,
we hit the vault.
RICK:
All it would take is one little
obscure piece of paper
to make it all worth it.
-Here it is.
-Oh!
RICK: We're on something
really, really hard.
Could this be the "aha" moment?
-We have another sample for you.
-Let's have a look at it.
MARTY: We need to run
composition analysis on it.
Okay.
-MARTY: Wow.
-It appears to be Roman.
-Wow.
-No way!
-Roman, baby.
-(laughing)
06x03 - Depth Perception
Watch/Buy Amazon Merchandise
Follows brothers Marty and Rick as they search for the infamous treasure on Oak Island.
Follows brothers Marty and Rick as they search for the infamous treasure on Oak Island.