06x06 - Precious Metal

[bunniefuu]

GRETCHEN:
The Jolly Roger was originally

a Templar symbol.

Some of them became pirates.

MARTY: I am very excited
to see some sort of chamber

-on the mega-bin area.
-Could it be wood?

I don't think so.
It's pretty dense.

CRAIG: If there's a plate
covering up something,

that's gonna be huge.

RICK:
We have this lead artifact.

Can you actually put
a precise location on it?

I think I got some pretty
interesting results for you.

MARTY: It is the most historic
thing that's maybe ever happened

in North America.

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 d*ed
trying to solve the mystery.

And, according to legend,

one more will have to die

before the treasure
can be found.

♪ ♪

(thunder crashing)

NARRATOR: It is the start
of a new and challenging day

on Oak Island.

Did you order this?

-No, I certainly didn't.
-(laughter)

NARRATOR: But despite battling
strong winds and heavy rain,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and their team

remain determined
to continue progress

on one of their most ambitious

and expensive
search operations ever:

the excavation at Smith's Cove.

-CRAIG: How's it going?
-MIKE: We're experiencing

some pretty hard driving
right now.

-Are you?
-Really?
-Yeah.

I see those two are
a little bit higher on the end.

MIKE: Yeah, the last one
that we just drove,

the taller one,
down there on the end.

Do you think you hit a boulder
there, or is it just dense?

No, it's really, it's really
dense till, is what it is.

-Mm-hmm.
-It's like it's really,
really densed, densed up.

NARRATOR:
Using more than 100 sections

of steel sheet piling,

the team from Irving Equipment,
Limited is constructing

a massive 525-foot-long
cofferdam

that will fully seal off
the cove from the ocean,

allowing for it
to be completely drained

and excavated down
to a depth of ten feet.

It is Rick
and Marty Lagina's hope

that by excavating the cove
and carefully examining

the spoils,
they and their partners

will be able to find new,
important clues and artifacts.

Artifacts
such as the medieval lead cross

that Rick and Gary Drayton
found here last year,

that will help them solve

the 223-year-old Oak Island
treasure mystery.

They also hope to be able
to locate and shut off

an ancient flood tunnel system
that feeds seawater

into the Money Pit,
and which many believe

has prevented searchers
from being able to find

and retrieve
the fabled Oak Island treasure.

RICK: As I see the perimeter
of Smith's Cove

being enclosed, I'm very happy.

I think we have
a very unique opportunity here,

and this structure
will allow us

to once and for all properly
investigate it in its entirety.

What's your goal
for today, then?

Put in more false work,
or just run sheet till you're...

We're gonna concentrate
on the sheeting for now,

and then, tomorrow,
we'll concentrate on more frame

-and then more sheets again.
-Makes sense.

RICK: So, all in all, the only
thing you want to change

for tomorrow is the weather.

-Yes.
-(laughter)

-You need help,
you can give me a call.
-I will.

(laughs)

NARRATOR: As the construction
of the cofferdam

continues at Smith's Cove,

Rick Lagina and members
of the team

have gathered in the w*r room

to discuss an exciting
development,

one which they hope
will shed new light

on the origin of their most
incredible find to date:

the mysterious lead cross.

So, guys, everybody
is well aware of the cross.

You know, Gary's smiling
as we speak.

-He's made sure everybody
knows about it.
-Right.

Well, we've got something
for you to look at.

CHRIS:
Yeah, very nice.

NARRATOR: Six weeks ago,
Rick Lagina and Craig Tester

arranged for the cross
to be tested

at the University
of New Brunswick.

Using a process known
as laser ablation,

a microscopically small portion
of the cross was irradiated

with a laser beam
in an effort to determine

not only the exact
chemical makeup of the cross

but where the lead
may have come from.

The results were astounding.

So the lead cross
is not from North America.

-MARTY: Wow.
-Now, with this evidence,

if you will,
it's not North American lead,

it certainly doesn't eliminate
the possibility that this is,

indeed, a Templar connection.

So, in order to further
the-the testing,

we've reached out
to the German Mining Museum.

Charles, why don't you
call him up?

-Okay.
-And, uh, we'll see

-what he can tell us.
-(Skype ringing)

-RICK: Hello, Tobias.
-Hi, guys. How are you doing?

-Good. How are you?
-NARRATOR: Tobias Skowronek

is a geochemist
at the German Mining Museum

in the city of Bochum.

Established in 1930,

the museum boasts
a preeminent research archive

in the field
of mining archaeology,

and is renowned
for its vast database of metals

and other mineral deposits
throughout the ancient world.

RICK:
We're very grateful

for whatever assistance
you can provide us.

I think you have a basic
understanding of our situation.

-We have this lead artifact.
-Okay, great.

And what we would like
to know is, how can you help us?

We're looking for, perhaps,
ore body signature,

perhaps, uh,
dating of the artifact.

RICK:
Can you actually put

a precise location on it,

or is it, like, a regional
definition, if you will?

Uh, that depends, of course,
how good the data is.

If the data is pretty good,
then we can assign this

to a single quarry.

If it's okay,
then it's just, uh...

yeah, some area
like that you say,

it's from England
or from Central Europe,

something like that.

Is there any way
to date the item?

TOBIAS:
Um, if you know

from which quarry
the cross came,

then you can say

when this quarry was in use.

So it all depends
on how good our-our data is.

Yeah. Right, right.

Um, I guess
the next question is,

are you interested in
participating in this project?

Of course.
I'm very much interested in it.

I'm looking forward to this.
Of course.

Well, look,
I-I think on our end,

you know,
we would certainly like

to avail ourselves
of your expertise.

We shall send the data files on,
we will send pictures

of the artifact, and we

very much look forward
to your results.

Yeah, I'm very excited
for the data,

and I hope that I can help you.

-Thank you very much.
-Thank you.

NARRATOR:
As Rick Lagina arranges

for the lead cross data

to be sent
to the German Mining Museum...

Craig Tester
and Charles Barkhouse

arrive at the so-called
mega-bin area,

located some 600 feet northeast
of the Money Pit site.

BRENNAN: Now, we don't want
that pipe to slide back there.

NARRATOR:
It was this same area

where recently conducted
seismic testing

had identified
a large and mysterious void,

and where veteran
treasure hunter Dan Blankenship

believed he had located
a centuries-old latrine pit.

MARTY:
Dan's latrine hole, to me,

is way more exciting
than anything

that could be potentially imaged
in the Money Pit,

because this is
in an undisturbed area

from a searcher standpoint.

If you're going to dig

a toilet facility
in an underground chamber,

it's because men
are working there.

Dan Blankenship came
to an understanding, or belief,

that there were
tunnels and rooms

associated with that area,

so we believe it's worth
looking into investigating.

NARRATOR: In an effort to locate
a possible underground chamber,

the team is using a process
known as "sonic drilling,"

which employs
powerful vibrations

to create
a high-frequency sound

capable of grinding its way

through layers
of rock and earth.

A coring barrel is then used

to take samples at intervals
of every ten feet.

These core samples
will then be transferred

into plastic sleeves...

-It's just like making sausage.
-Yeah.

...so that they can be scanned
with a metal detector

before being
carefully searched by hand.

So, how deep
are you going on this?

The main target is

around 50 feet, but we'll
probably go to a hundred.

We want to get through the
main targets that Dan's found

in this general area.

NARRATOR:
After finding evidence

of what he believed to be
an old latrine pit,

Dan Blankenship
and his company,

known as the Triton Alliance,

drilled some
40 exploratory boreholes

in an effort to locate
any underground tunnels

that might connect directly
to the Money Pit.

In addition to finding
pieces of metal wire,

Dan's most astonishing
discovery

came in October of 1973,

when his drill bit struck

an impenetrable metal plate
at a depth of 100 feet.

A metal plate that Dan believed

could be covering
a treasure vault.

Could Craig and the Oak Island
team be close to locating

this same
mysterious obstruction?

And if so,
what is it protecting?

This whole area has got a big
question mark hanging over it.

Maybe we're gonna get
some answers here.

One way or the other,
we should know.

-Right?
-Yep.

NARRATOR:
As the drilling operation

continues in the mega-bin area,

Rick Lagina
and Dave Blankenship

travel to Smith's Cove,

along with Dave's father,

veteran Oak Island treasure
hunter Dan Blankenship.

So, Dan, I'd just like
to show you the cofferdam.

They made a lot of progress.

-They...
-Backward or forward?

(all laugh)

NARRATOR: They are checking
on the progress

of the massive steel cofferdam,

which is still
under construction.

My God, you've made

a four-lane highway down here.

RICK:
Well, when you see the crane,

you'll know why.

Isn't that remarkable, Dan?

Whoa.

NARRATOR:
Although, at the age of 95,

Dan Blankenship is not able
to participate

in field operations
as much as he'd like,

Rick, Marty, and the other
members of the team

consider him to be
an invaluable resource.

The more than 50 years
he has spent trying to solve

the Oak Island mystery has
made him an expert on what can

and can't be done
on the island.

RICK: These sheet piles,
we're putting about 27 feet

in the ground so that water

doesn't come underneath it.

It's a big,
large-scale project.

DAN B.:
No question about it.

Whew.

I'd like to know how much
counterweight he's got in.

Almost 300 tons.

-DAN B.: You're kidding.
-DAVE: Nope.

That's a 300-ton crane.

It weighs as much
as it can pick.

-Wow.
-Yep.

DAN B.:
I wished at the time

I had put my dam out
another 15, 20 feet.

Well, the U-shaped structure,
we're certainly outside of that.

DAN B.:
You should have

relatively an easy time.

NARRATOR: In the early 1970s,
while conducting

his own investigation
of Smith's Cove,

Dan and his partner,
David Tobias,

constructed a 15-foot-wide,
earth-filled cofferdam

surrounding the area.

While searching for evidence
of the stone box drains,

Dan made
an incredible discovery:

a mysterious,
65-foot-long wooden structure

laid out in the shape of a "U."

Unfortunately,
before Dan could fully expose

and examine the possibly
ancient man-made formation,

a series of violent storms
compromised the dam,

bringing the operation
to a bitter halt.

I wish I could have gotten
inside of Dan's brain.

You can see in his eyes

that he's marveling
at the enormity

of the scale of the project,

how much work was being done,

and his mind
had to wander back to,

"If only I had had that.

"If only I could have access
to this.

If only I would have had
the manpower."

I would guess there was a bit
of wistfulness in Dan,

that "if only."

But I think he's looking forward
to what we uncover.

I'll tell you one thing,
they were awful clever.

Yes, they were.

Stymied people for 223 years.

You bet they were clever.

(all laugh)

NARRATOR: As construction
of the cofferdam

continues at Smith's Cove,

some 200 yards northwest...

CHARLES: We're getting close
to target depth.

...Craig Tester,
Charles Barkhouse,

Gary Drayton,
and geologist Terry Matheson

continue to monitor
the progress

of their drilling operation
at the mega-bin site,

the area where recent seismic
scanning revealed the presence

of a massive
175-foot-long chamber

some 50 feet
beneath the surface.

You know, from seismic, we think
about 50 feet's our target.

-Okay.
-So, you know,
we're at 40, basically,

so we start really looking
really close from here on down

-'cause seismic's
not that perfect.
-Yep.

So let's take a good look.

Hopefully we find something here
very soon.

-So, we're at 48, 53.
-Yeah.

53 to 58.

Put that patient
on the table, please.

I think I'm gonna
have to operate, Craig.

Go for it.

And now, look, that-that's...

that's different.

-It's very dry.
-Yeah.

It's just sandy till.

So, you get these

even within
a major glacial phase,

you'll get a slight period
where there's been some thaw,

and you'll get a sandy stream
running down through

where all the-the fine material
is down the stream.

CRAIG: To me,
from a seismic standpoint,

this may be the anomaly
they were seeing.

It's possible.

NARRATOR:
Although it is not uncommon

to encounter
a sudden change in soil

from dense layers of clay
to loosely packed sand,

the fact that it occurs
at nearly the same depth

where seismic scanning
detected a large anomaly

is a troubling sign.

Seismic technology

relies on the measurement
of sound waves

to identify abrupt
material changes below ground.

What may appear to be
a potential chamber or void

may actually be little more
than a different type of earth.

We went from a very,
very dense clay

into a soft,
unconsolidated sand,

and I think that's
what the seismic was seeing.

It was reflecting off
when it went from a hard clay

to a softer sand.

TERRY: I don't think
it hurts us too much

to try to go a little deeper.
What do you think?

Yeah, I want to go deeper.

NARRATOR: Although the anomaly
has proven to not be a void,

the team will now drill deeper

in an effort to find evidence

of the old latrine pit
that Dan Blankenship believes

he discovered
more than 40 years ago.

CRAIG: I'm excited
to see what's coming yet,

because we're in an area
where historically

there has been some evidence

that man might have been
here underground,

so we've got a target
that we're gonna drill for.

TERRY: What do you think? We're
gonna cut her off at about 100,

-120 or which one?
-Probably 120, yeah.

Yeah, let's see what we got.

Yeah, sounds good.

NARRATOR: As a new day begins
on Oak Island

and as drilling continues
at the mega-bin area...

...brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina,

along with members
of their team,

welcome an important visitor
to the w*r room.

Gentlemen, today we welcome Judi
to the w*r room.

And, uh, she comes to us
by way of Zena.

She's worked with Zena on
her research for over ten years,

and she's here to inform us
about some of her research.

NARRATOR: Judi Rudebusch
is a former colleague

and research partner
of Rick's dear friend,

the late author Zena Halpern,
who recently passed away.

ZENA: These maps are part
of the Templar document.

NARRATOR:
For the past two years,

Zena was an invaluable resource
to Rick, Marty, and the team.

She provided them not only
with compelling theories

based on her decades
of exhaustive research,

but also a copy

of a 14th century map
of Oak Island,

which she believed
had been made

by members
of the Knights Templar.

Having worked closely with Zena
for more than a decade,

Judi has graciously agreed
to aid Rick and the team

in their study
of Zena's vast collection

of research materials.

RICK: Judi has reached out
and made contact

with an authoress,
Gretchen Cornwall.

She has written a very
insightful book. It's called

The Secret Dossier of a Knight
Templar of the Sangreal.

And in that context,
I will turn it over to Judi.

Well, I first got a hold
of Gretchen

after I had seen some things
that she had written,

and we've been corresponding now
for quite a while.

And the person
that she wrote it with,

John Temple--

John is a direct hereditary
descendant of Templars.

And I think they've got
something interesting to tell us

as far as ancient Templars
coming to America.

So, with that...

RICK: Jack, why don't you
make this connection

to Gretchen and John.

All right.

-Good morning.
-GRETCHEN: Good morning.

I guess it's afternoon there,
actually, isn't it?

-(all chuckle)
-Well, good afternoon then.

NARRATOR: Based in the
United Kingdom, John Temple,

a member of the modern-day
order of the Knights Templar,

and author Gretchen Cornwall

have worked together
for over a decade

researching the history
of the Templars

and their vast legacy.

In her 2016 book

The Secret Dossier of a Knight
Templar of the Sangreal,

Gretchen presented what she
referred to as a secret record,

which was passed down
through generations

of John Temple's family

and which purports
to document the survival

of the Templar order
following their persecution

and disbandment in France
during the early 14th century.

GRETCHEN:
I was going to

try to give you a... an overview

-of our perspective of history.
-Okay.

The Templars,
when they were outlawed in 1307

to 1312, they were young.

They were healthy.

They had their craft,

their navigation abilities.

They weren't just going to
disappear into a puff of smoke

because a king in France
wanted them to.

Yeah.

No, they took to the seas,

and some went to Scotland.

Some went to Northern England.

They returned to Nova Scotia.

Some of them became pirates...

because they felt
they'd been betrayed.

What's your theory on this?

St. John the Baptist

is the patron saint
of the Templar Knight order.

And, of course,
he was famously beheaded.

Yeah.

GRETCHEN:
And that's how the Jolly Roger

became a pirate symbol.

It's actually originally
a Templar symbol,

and it represents
John the Baptist.

NARRATOR:
The skull and crossbones,

also known as the Jolly Roger,

a symbol representing
the severed head

of St. John the Baptist.

According to historical
and biblical records,

John the Baptist was a preacher
and prophet

who lived in the ancient
kingdom of Judea

during the first century AD.

Revered as a major religious
figure and Christian saint,

he foretold the coming
of Jesus Christ as a messiah

and famously baptized him in
the waters of the river Jordan.

However,

after publicly condemning
King Herod of Galilee

for unlawfully taking
a second wife,

John the Baptist was imprisoned

and later ordered beheaded

by the king's vengeful wife,
Herodias.

There are many who believe
that the Knights Templar,

while defending
Christian pilgrims

and fighting for control of the
Holy Land during the Crusades,

came into possession of the
skull of St. John the Baptist,

along with a number of other
sacred religious relics.

GRETCHEN: So, the Templars
were highly motivated

to hide something of great worth
that we think

that they discovered
while in the Holy Land.

And it is our thought

that the Money Pit is Templar
in origin.

RICK: Why do you draw
an inference that

there's a Templar connection
to the Money Pit?

GRETCHEN:
Oak Island would be a safe

and a secure hidden place
to put sacred relics.

The Templars were
great engineers.

They would have left

a physical stone key
and marker.

And that's how the Templars
passed down information:

graffiti marks, uh, stone,
buildings, architecture.

So, fast-forward
to the Nolan Cross.

NARRATOR:
In 1981,

Oak Island treasure hunter
Fred Nolan discovered five

massive cone-shaped boulders
on his property,

which he observed formed a
perfectly symmetrical,

megalithic cross.

Even more astonishing
was the sixth stone

he found buried at the center,

which appeared to be carved in
the likeness of a human skull.

Your headstone, uh, the skull...

The head of the Nolan Cross
is a huge signpost,

if you will, that the Templars
were there.

The Nolan Cross being,
literally,

the skull and crossbones.

GRETCHEN:
The head of the Nolan Cross

is a huge signpost

that the Templars
were on Oak Island.

NARRATOR:
In the w*r room,

author and researcher
Gretchen Cornwall,

along with modern-day Templar
John Temple,

have just presented
Rick, Marty,

and the team
with an incredible theory:

that the megalithic
boulder formation

on Oak Island known
as Nolan's Cross

was created by members
of the Knights Templar

in the 14th century

and that it is meant to signify

that priceless
religious treasures

are buried deep
in the Money Pit.

GRETCHEN: The Nolan Cross is
very precise mathematically

and the key to the Money Pit.

GRETCHEN:
As your measurement.

Which is tithing.

Tithing is the key here.

Ten percent of tithing;

it was always about tithing,
of-of giving.

GRETCHEN: With the Nolan Cross
being, literally, a key,

uh, if you could visualize
picking that-that up,

that structure up,

and putting it right down
into the Money Pit.

NARRATOR: According to John
and Gretchen's theory,

by overlaying Nolan's Cross
with the original Money Pit,

and then scaling down
its dimensions,

the result would act
as a literal map and key

to the treasure's
precise location,

hidden in a side chamber

some 36 feet away
from the main shaft.

It's not in the Money Pit.

It's off to the side somewhere.

RICK: Well, there's just one
problem, John and-and Gretchen.

Charles,
you want to explain that?

Yeah, unfortunately,
we don't know

where that original shaft is.

NARRATOR:
Since the Money Pit

was first discovered in 1795,

it has been the subject
of numerous

treasure-hunting operations
for more than two centuries.

Because some of these searcher
efforts were so extensive,

and the area so altered,

the exact location
of the original treasure shaft

has been lost over time.

RICK: It's unfortunate that the
opinions that John has rendered

will not facilitate putting "X"
on the ground in the Money Pit.

It's just the Money Pit has no
points of reference any longer.

It's an interesting theory,

but you have to be able to take
a theory into the field,

and, unfortunately,
at this point at least,

uh, we're not able to do that.

What we can do, we can give you
some information

regarding our most current work,

and that might help you
a little bit

as you further
your-your computations.

GRETCHEN:
All right.

RICK:
Well, Gretchen, John,

y-you've certainly given us
a lot to puzzle over,

and we, for our part, all of us
sitting around the table,

uh, thank you very much
for your time,

considerations,
and your knowledge.

ALL:
Thank you.

-Excellent.
-Take care.

-Take care.
-Thanks very much.

NARRATOR:
Later that day,

Craig Tester and metal
detection expert Gary Drayton,

along with geologist
Terry Matheson,

are continuing their search
of the spoils brought up

from the team's drilling
operation

at the so-called mega-bin site

some 600 feet northeast
of the Money Pit.

NARRATOR:
It is in this same area

that veteran Oak Island
treasure hunter Dan Blankenship

found compelling evidence
of human activity

some 100 feet deep underground,

including mysterious voids,

wooden tunnels,

and an impenetrable steel plate

believed to be protecting
a possible treasure vault.

BRENNAN:
Yes. We've actually drilled

through a railway track before.

-Oh, really?
-Yeah.

What kind of noise does it make
when it goes through?

-Very metallic-y.
-Okay.

-Yeah, there's definitely...
-There's shrieking.

Shrieking, especially as you
core through it,

it, it basically
is like drilling

-without any lubrication.
-Oh, yeah.

So you'll definitely hear
the squeaks.

(grinding)

(grinding)

-Hey, Terry.
-Hello.

Were you expecting
to hit bedrock

or anything like that anytime,
or...?

I would have thought
a little deeper.

Could it be wood or is it...?

I don't think so.
It's pretty... pretty dense.

It could be, uh, Halifax slate.

It could be a-a gray slate.

Uh, it's harder than slate,
whatever I'm on, I think.

Harder than slate?

This could be it.

TERRY:
This could be it.

NARRATOR: While drilling
an exploratory borehole

in the mega-bin area,

the Oak Island team
has just encountered

a mysterious obstruction.

-BRENNAN: Teddy!
-MIKE: Yo!

What was your final depth
on that?

99 and a half.

NARRATOR: Could the team
have found evidence

of the impenetrable
metal object

discovered by Dan Blankenship
at this same depth

back in 1973?

A metal object he believed

to be protecting
an underground treasure vault?

He was torquing on it so much,

-all the joints are locked up.
-Sure, yeah.

Everything's,
everything's solid.

NARRATOR:
Because the drill is unable

to penetrate the obstruction,

the team will now
examine the core sample,

in the hopes of determining
what it is and possibly

how to get through it.

CRAIG: We don't know
what's down there.

If there is a plate,
we'll see it,

and if there's a plate
covering up something,

then-then that's gonna be huge.

BRENNAN: Let's see
what you got on this one.

So, we're in, we're in pretty
competent rock, actually.

Yeah, we like to refer
to that as granite.

-Okay.
-We geologists.

That's bedrock.

And, if we're in bedrock,
that's gonna finish this hole.

NARRATOR: Now that the team
has struck bedrock

at a depth of some 100 feet,

their exploration
of the mega-bin site

has reached
a disappointing end.

Having found no sign
of the massive chamber

indicated
in their seismic survey,

or any evidence
of the underground structures

reported by Dan Blankenship,
they must now decide

whether to conduct
further drilling in the area

or move on to more promising
targets at the Money Pit.

-Gentlemen.
-RICK: Morning, guys.

Didn't find anything
that wasn't geological.

Between 90 and 120, nothing?

Just different clays
and sometimes some boulders,

but in general,
clays almost the entire way.

I think what they saw
on the seismic

is-is this sand interval
right here.

RICK: That's the problem
with seismic.

It's interpretive.

You know, it's not a photograph.

The data showed densities.

This less dense layer
that was interpreted

as a possible tunnel
and/or a cavern or a void.

Unfortunately it's not so.

Disappointing,
but, you know, now we know.

Every piece of information,
good or bad,

ultimately is good info.

-So, move on, unfortunately.
-CRAIG: Yeah...

NARRATOR:
Later that evening...

So, Jack, if you can,
uh, ring Tobias up...

Sure.

...brothers Marty
and Rick Lagina

gather with members
of their team in the w*r room.

RICK:
Hello, Tobias.

Hi, guys.

NARRATOR:
They are eager to hear a report

from German Mining Museum
geochemist

Tobias Skowronek,
concerning the origins

of the lead cross found
last year at Smith's Cove.

So, Tobias, as you can
probably understand,

we're somewhat on pins
and needles

hoping to hear
what you have to tell us.

So, if you you'd be, again,
so kind, uh, we're very anxious.

Yeah, so, I compared
the lead isotope data

of the cross that you gave me
with my database

of ore bodies and metals here,

and I think I got some pretty
interesting results for you.

So, as you already knew,

the lead that was used for the
cross cannot be from America.

Comparing the data,
I noticed that the lead isotopes

of the cross are somehow related
to European deposits.

But I did not find

any match with the quarries
that were used

in the 15th to 17th centuries.

I, therefore, went on
and compared the lead isotopes

of the cross with those
of deposits

where archaeologists know
medieval mining took place,

and I think
I found a match there.

-Really?
-Yeah!

And time period-wise, you think
it's pre-15th century, then?

Um, I think
it's pre-15th century, yes.

-MARTY: Wow.
-You nailed it, Gary.

-Yeah.
-(laughter)

Fantastic.

This could be Templar connected.

TOBIAS: I think
it's pre-15th century, yes.

MARTY:
Wow.

-Fantastic.
-Unbelievable.

-Sweet.
-(laughter)

NARRATOR: During a meeting
in Oak Island's w*r room,

geochemist Tobias Skowronek

has just shared the results

of an astonishing
scientific report.

It suggests that the lead used
to make the cross

found last year at Smith's Cove

was mined
from European deposits

more than 600 years ago.

Pre-15th century,
that's hugely impressive.

How certain about
the time period are you?

It must be earlier, because
from the 15th century onwards,

all the lead came from
very big deposits in Poland

and in Germany, and it's
slightly different from that,

so I think the deposit
from which this lead was mined

is too small to be exploited
on an industrial scale.

MARTY: Wow. Where the heck
did it come from?

The data of the cross
is very consistent

with the area
of Southern France.

Wow.

-Look at him. Look at him.
-(laughter)

Grinning like a Cheshire cat
over there.

GARY:
I knew it.

That's fantastic.

RICK: That cross is associated
with the Templar-influenced

region in France.

It's certainly the time
of the Templars: 1300s, 1400s,

um, or even earlier.

All of that is astounding news,

but it's not just the one item,

it's what that item represents

and that item
represents possibilities.

What other answers reside
in that cove?

So, Tobias, can you name
a specific city or region?

Most probably the area
of two mountain ranges,

the Cévennes and
the so-called Montagne Noire.

It's, like,
20 miles by 20 miles.

In the area
of Rennes-le-Château?

Yeah. Yeah,
that's pretty close, yeah.

That's exactly where we were.

-Wow. Wow.
-(laughter)

NARRATOR:
Four years ago,

Marty and Alex Lagina

traveled to Rennes-le-Château--

a village in Southern France--

that has strong connections
to the Knights Templar

dating back
to the 13th century.

My name is Marty.
Nice to meet you.

NARRATOR: There,
they met with Tobi Dobler,

a modern-day
Templar Grand Master.

MARTY:
If you were gonna look

for the treasure of the
Knights Templar right now today,

you would look on Oak Island.

That's for sure.

NARRATOR:
It was Tobi's belief

that members
of the Knights Templar

moved priceless religious
artifacts to Rennes-le-Château

in the 14th century
for safekeeping

before transporting them
to Scotland

and later to Oak Island.

Could the team finally have
the hard scientific evidence

they've been looking for

that the stories of a Templar
journey to Oak Island are true?

And, if so, does that mean
that the many legends

about Templars hiding
a vast treasure on Oak Island

are true as well?

RICK:
It's stunning information,

but I'm more stunned by the fact
that it has propelled Marty

to really give credence
to the possibilities of

something happened
on this island centuries ago.

It's a piece of data;
I can't disregard data.

Here's a piece that does support
a very ancient landing

on this island at least.

So, it's pre-15th century.

Is there any cutoff going back

where you'd say, "Well, it can't
be older than..." something?

Um, these mines
where the lead came from

were used from the Roman era
onwards.

This is indicated
by pottery shards

that were found there,
so it can be earlier.

RICK: Well, look, Tobias,
all we can do is say thank you.

I think you raised eyebrows
right across the length

and breadth of this table
certainly,

and we'll have to discuss where
we go with the information.

You're very welcome
and I thank you to be involved.

Thank you, Tobias.
Appreciate it.

-MARTY: We'll be in contact.
Thank you.
-Bye.

-Bye.
-Bye.
-Bye.

Wow.

What do you think, Gary?

I mean, I kind of figured
it was medieval.

-You did.
-That's why I believe that cross

is an historic find
for North America.

And we're overlooking
the big picture.

We haven't finished
in Smith's Cove yet.

-That's right.
-We could find

something even more fantastic
than the cross.

I mean, if it was made
pre-15th century

and it was deposited
near the time it was made,

it is probably the most historic
thing that's maybe ever happened

-in North America.
-Yeah.

DOUG:
That's incredible news.

RICK:
The hunt continues.

NARRATOR: For Rick, Marty,
and their team,

the exciting news
that the lead in the cross

found at Smith's Cove
can be traced back

more than six centuries
and may also be connected

to the activities of
the Knights Templar in France

offers a welcome validation.

It also suggests
they may be closer than ever

to solving the 223-year-old
Oak Island mystery.

But as they prepare to embark

on their mammoth excavation
of Smith's Cove,

what else will they find?

Evidence of a vast treasure?

Or will they discover something
of evalue?

Perhaps the identities
of those who left it there?

And why, after more than
two centuries of searching,

has the mystery been
so impossible to solve?

Two weeks from tonight,

a special two-hour
Oak Island event.

MARTY:
Whoa-ho-ho!

Not since Moses has the water
been held back so well.

The stars align to the island.

This is a star map.

It's where
the actual treasure is.

This is one of your points.

There's a huge boulder
over here.

It could be a landmark.

Look at that.

CRAIG: Almost all of them
are leaking.

RICK: Well, we're severely
compromised.

We can't function like this.

DOUG: I think
we've got something over here.

Oh, look!
There's something carved there.

-Holy smokes!
-DOUG: I do think

this is the 90 Foot Stone.