08x08 - High On The Bog

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on
the curse of oak island...

That looks like it's hand-hewn.

- I mean, it looks like a slipway, doesn't it?
- You are right!

- Are you guys ready to make some history today?
- Yeah.

"la voute en bas de terre"
is pointing right to the vault.

Zena's map has been
pointing to the vault

this entire time.

Wow.

It's somewhere
from 400 bc to 900 ad.

That is fan-damning-toesie!

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.

- Hey, everybody.
- Hello. Hello.

So,
I'm sure everyone knows why we've gathered.

Erin, thank you again for making

this presentation,
making yourself available.

Night has fallen on oak island.

But before they end
another day of investigation,

brothers rick and marty lagina,
along with their team,

have gathered for a
much-anticipated meeting

via video conference

with geographic information
systems expert erin helton.

One that they hope
will shed new light

on a 225-year-old
treasure mystery.

We all believe that, you know,
this is going to be, uh,

it may be, possibly,
a turnaround moment

for-for oak island.

So please take the floor.

Okay, great.

So,
to recap what I've presented previously,

um,
I sent you guys out for a variety

of potential boulder locations,
and with them,

I used them to redraw what has

been lost in the money pit area.

So, let me just share my screen,
bring up my presentation.

Three weeks ago,

erin shared an incredible theory

based on a reported 14th
century hand-drawn map

of oak island,
which the late author and researcher

zena halpern shared with rick,
marty and the team

back in 2016.

This map,
which zena believed to have been made

by members of
the knights templar,

noted two locations
labeled as "the anchors."

it was erin's suspicion,
as a professional mapping expert,

that the so-called anchors

did not refer to anything
related to a ship,

but might actually be
purposely placed boulders,

or marker points,
on a master grid

that would lead to the
money pit treasure vault.

The coordinate
is taking me to...

Here.

You're
kidding. It's bang on.

When the team
checked the gps coordinates

that erin gave them,

they were more than impressed

by what they found.

This is her anchor.

Wow!

I can buy that.

Tonight,
after incorporating the anchor points

into her own master map,

erin is now ready to share

with rick, marty and the team

the rest of her theory of
where she believes they will

find the treasure and
solve the oak island mystery.

To this point, erin,
we've confirmed a lot of your boulders

and we've yet to
prove you wrong,

so I think it's time to
go make some history.

Great. Awesome. So,
we've gone out

and found a bunch of
boulders to help confirm

where the money pit location is,

using these basic
alignment principles.

And I actually don't think
we need to be digging

in the money pit area anymore.

I think it's an entrance,
a booby-trapped,

baited entrance,

um, but I actually think the
vault location is somewhere else

and I think we can
actually follow directions to it

using another clue that was in
the possession of zena halpern.

Today we'll be talking about

la formule cipher and the
instructions that it contains

to travel from the money pit

and to the actual
vault location.

In addition
to the map of oak island,

zena halpern also shared a
document known as la formule,

a cipher comprised
of mysterious symbols

which curiously match those
reported to have been carved

on the legendary 90 foot stone.

In 2016,

rick,
marty and their partner craig tester

worked with computer
scientist dr. Kevin knight

and his research
assistant nada aldarrab

from the university
of southern california

in an attempt to decode it.

"enter the" something and so,

it's some word
that starts with a "c."

professor,
could that also be "chamber"?

Hmm.

That's a good connection,
'cause in french,

it's chambre.

If you accept that the
zena halpern map is real,

then you have to look at it

and try to figure out,
well, what does it mean?

You know,
we're trying to bring in

the best minds to
solve this puzzle,

and I've seen enough

from erin's first presentation

to be, uh,
very enthused about seeing the rest.

So we're going to
focus on the first section.

We have, "do not dig."

I believe this is describing,
do not dig all the way down,

to you... If you go too far,
you're going to set off

the flood tunnel.
But then it continues.

It says, "burrow at 40 foot

"with an angle of 45 degree

the shaft of 522 foot."

now, "45 degree,"
I think, is an alignment.

I personally believe it's
in the northwest direction.

So, moving forward from here,

we have more instructions.

We have, "you enter the corridor

of 1,065 foot,
you reach the chamber."

now, we don't have an
actual trajectory this time.

We only have a
length... 1,065 foot.

So let's draw a circle

from the suspected corridor
elbow out to 1,065 feet,

and see if it hits anything.

It does.

It hits cone "e"
of nolan's cross.

Wow.

And if you overlay the corridor

as described in
la formule cipher,

"la voute en bas de terre"
is pointing right to the vault.

Zena's map has been pointing
to the vault this entire time.

Wow.

Could erin helton be correct,

that the treasure that people
have been searching for

since 1795 is not buried at
the bottom of the money pit

but instead at the end
of a corridor or tunnel

extending over
1,000 feet to the west?

Am I hearing talking?

I'm not sure if I'm hearing
discussion.

You're hearing stunned silence,
that's what you're hearing.

Yes... That's exactly
what you're hearing.

Well, erin, for openers,

I love the concept that
you're following here

because I've always felt like,
to make sense

of what's happened over the years,
the money pit was

some sort of trap,
some sort of diversion,

and an offset chamber,

uh, would be where any
valuables would be stored.

Do you have a theory as
to how deep this might be?

Well, I'm not,
that I'm not quite sure,

but that actually leads me to,
um, I guess you could say

a slight warning, um,
on how we should probably proceed.

If we drill from the top,

we run the risk of water

rushing into the vault.

So I propose the safest
way to approach this

would be to go after
the 522-foot corridor.

So if we zoom in here...

This is where I
propose we go after

to intersect the corridor line.

Again,

erin has brought

an out-of-the-box
approach to everything.

She's using zena's
research material

and through that,
she's going to provide "x" marks the spot.

What can you say about
that other than... Wow?

So in summation...

I love the concept that
it's based on is great.

And I think, um,
you know... It's well worth the boreholes.

I mean, it would be...

It would be just fabulous.

All righty, well,
thanks, everybody.

Appreciate it. Erin,
we will be in touch with you.

If you have any asks,
please call.

Great. Absolutely.
Thank you so much.

Thanks, erin.

- Thanks, everybody.
- Thank you.

Very interesting.

The following day,

rick lagina and
surveyor steve guptill

arrive at the money pit area

where they are joined by
choice drilling representatives

mike tedford and
colton robinson.

So, are you guys ready to
make some history today?

- We're gonna try. - I mean,

I have high hopes,
but at the end of the day,

you two are gonna prove whether
or not there's veracity to this.

I wish you both well.

It could be a great day.

- Thank you. - All righty.

Using a
series of gps coordinates

provided by erin helton,

the team has set up
the drill rig at a location

they have dubbed ejz-1,

where they hope to reach
the suspected corridor

erin believes will lead

to the fabled oak
island treasure.

It all seems to be coming
around to-to this moment...

The research,
the gis background,

the actual physical locations
of these on-island sites...

It's all coming
round to this moment,

I.E., "guys,
here's where you want to put a drill."

so what do you think?

I think let's go get it,
that's what I think.

I mean,
we've always concentrated

on that part of the money pit,
right?

Nobody has really
looked up here.

I think the next step would be,
if we do find the tunnel,

where do we go from there?

- Yeah.
- That'd be a great problem

- to have. - Yeah.

While the
core-drilling operation

in borehole ejz-1 continues
in the money pit area...

Welcome to the research center.

Thank you.

Rick lagina, charles barkhouse

and craig tester
have arranged to meet

with numismatist sandy campbell

at the oak island
research center.

With over 40
years of experience,

sandy is a renowned expert
in rare and ancient coins.

Outside, he indicated to us

that he's gonna put this
little mystery to bed, so...

That'd be great.

That would be great.

- Ooh! - Oh, no way!

That's an old coin!

Seven weeks ago,

while searching on lot 15

near a structure believed to
be a 16th century pine tar kiln

that may be connected
to the construction

of the money pit shaft,

metal detection
expert gary drayton,

along with jack begley,
found a coin

unlike any they had ever
discovered on oak island.

That's awesome!

And it's got that square hole in it,
mate.

Oh, yeah.

After cleaning the coin,

artifact conservator
kelly bourassa

made a surprising suggestion
about its possible origin.

Chinese...

Coinage had a...
Had a square hole.

Let's see what we have.

Okay.

It clearly is a
chinese cash coin.

- Wow. - And-and, really,

it'd be hard to identify,
but I'm-I'm guessing it's...

You know, it could be 11, 12,
1,300 years old or even older.

- Because it's a narrower rim that's on this coin.
- Wow.

1,100 years old.

- Wow!
- A chinese coin?

Dating back as much
as 11 centuries or more?

How would such an
artifact get to oak island?

And who brought it here?

Okay, so, you know,
I-I don't know if you can...

You can see here, but...

It's corroded to a point.

Copper corrodes.

Copper's a very active metal.

But this definitely,

in my opinion,
is a chinese cash coin.

And you're estimating the date

based on how much
it's deteriorated?

Well, I'm estimating the
date based on deterioration,

but also just the
way the coin is made,

uh, with a narrower facing rim.

Which really brings it,
you know, 900 ad

back to four... You know,
somewhere in that time frame.

If sandy is correct,

that it was manufactured
as late as 900 ad,

I would have to believe it
absolutely is the oldest thing

that's ever been
found on oak island.

I mean...

Wow.

It's that simple. Wow.

We've heard multiple times

that, like,
the spanish coins were used

by pretty much everybody.

Were the chinese
coins in circulation

throughout many
different countries?

No. What-what's really odd,
if you look at...

You know, conquering nations,
if you look at England and Spain

and France,
as they traveled the world

to-to, you know, spread out,

they brought their
coins with them.

The chinese didn't do that.

They really kept to
their part of the world.

So their coins didn't travel.

So how did it get to oak island?

Yeah,
that-that's where I was going.

What's-what's a coin of
that age doing on oak island?

I think... I think it landed
here as a pocket piece.

You know?

When people landed
in the... In the far east,

you know,
they would... They would take this stuff,

as pocket pieces,
good luck charms.

You know,
'cause it was so different,

and it was in their... Their lucky pocket,
and...

Maybe they weren't so lucky that day.

Who would've thought? Right,
craig?

Yeah, it's amazing.

I mean, that... We don't
find that many coins as it is,

and everybody

had them in their pockets,
all the searchers,

all the original people,
and to find something

that would be rare to be in
somebody's pocket is amazing.

It's quite a piece,
no doubt about that.

You know what,
we should call gary, maybe,

- and have him come down...
- I think...

He'd be... He'd be sky high,
right?

He'd be floating on a cloud.

Absolutely. Why don't
I bring him up here.

You know, gary has a keen eye.

I mean,
there's no question about it.

Not only is he gifted as
a metal detectorist, but...

He is so invested and so in the moment,
right?

"it's a coin!"

I can't even say
it like he does.

I can't even say it with
the enthusiasm he says it.

And it brings us all up.

Hello, chaps.

Hey. Step to center stage.

- Yes. - This is sandy campbell.

- How you doing, mate?
- How you doing? - He's a numismatist,

and we invited him
down to take a look at...

Your find.

And everybody's smiling,

by the look of it.

You've got good news, mate?

Well, I mean...

I think it's good news

for the island, obviously.

It's...

This is a chinese cash coin.

It's probably somewhere

from 400 bc to 900 ad.

That is fan-damning-toesie!

- That is crazy!
- Yeah. I-I think

it's been here a while.

You could just look at it.

It's like the cross. You
can hold that in your hand,

and you know that that is really,
really old.

Yeah.

Once again, rick, marty,

craig and the team

have found something
that could suggest

the oak island mystery
may date back further

than anyone ever knew.

And just like other
recent ancient finds,

such as the 14th
century lead cross,

two key questions
resound more than ever:

Could it be that this
chinese coin was dropped

by someone
searching for treasure?

Or by someone
who made a deposit?

This is potentially treasure.

Well, it is treasure. It's...

It's quite valuable in...

In the giant scheme of
things for the island, for sure.

What a top-pocket find that is.

Yeah.

So, sandy, thank you very much.

It's certainly now part
of the oak island history.

- Yeah. - It's quite amazing.

- Yeah.
- Let's go out and find some more treasure.

- Let's go back out.
- Let's do it.

This is unbelievable.

Yeah, it is.

After his meeting
at the research center...

Hey, rick. - Hey.

Rick lagina returns
to the money pit,

where he is eager
for a progress report

on borehole ejz-1.

So, we're about to hit 99.

It's been hard till pretty much

- the whole way.
- We did hit

one horizon of...

It wasn't fully saturated s... Uh,
sand and gravel,

but you could see

bedded clastic clay,
so undisturbed.

So, I watched this core,

and they had a real quick
slip where it just dropped.

And this might be interesting.

In my mind, today is a huge day,

because of zena's research,
the tie between erin's expertise

and-and knowledge
about gis analytics...

And the research

that now become intertwined.

And, uh,

I'm very hopeful,
exceedingly hopeful.

I don't think I've ever
been this interested

in a drill program as
much as I am in this one.

What is that? Is that bedrock?

No, it's a large boulder.

- It's a boulder.
- Right over there.

No... Is that a boulder?

No. This is...

No. That's just, uh...

Bedded sentiment.

- Is that your stone?
- That's the stone.

In order for
there to be a tunnel,

you need some competent
cap rock over you.

Yeah, you would think.

Uh,
you know exactly what we're looking for.

We just have to
keep our eyes peeled.

It would be associated

with some loose area.

But this type of material
is not what I'm thinking.

- We have to consider the possibility of backfill.
- Yeah.

It's just the verbiage
on the formule cipher.

It doesn't say walk in,

or walk-in accessible.

- You have to burrow in.
- I see what you mean, yeah.

In my mind,
we're not gonna get lucky

to the point where it's
just some open void,

with cribbing above
and cribbing below.

- No.
- It's not gonna be that easy.

No, I agree with that.

Keep your mind
open for possibilities,

because sometimes,
as you all know by now,

something straightforward
on oak island

isn't necessarily
straightforward.

We'll keep you posted.

As a new day
begins on oak island...

- Where's our tunnel, steve?
- It's deeper.

And as terry matheson
and steve guptill continue

to oversee the drilling
operation at the money pit...

You ready, pete? - I am.

Peter fornetti

and metal detection
expert gary drayton arrive

at the southeastern
corner of the swamp,

which is currently being
drained in preparation

for a new excavation.

- Okay, mate. Let's get stuck in.
- Let's do it.

Since a portion of the area is
now dry enough to investigate,

and after confirming
that the coin found nearby

is not only chinese

but possibly more
than ten centuries old,

gary is eager to see
what other important clues,

or pieces of treasure,

may lie buried near the surface.

Let's see what it is, mate.

Okay. - Just there.

A lot of this material
came from the beach.

- Yeah.
- Well, if that road wasn't here,

this would be the beach.

Yeah,
there's a big piece of iron down there.

Mm-hmm.

Just getting it out.

Oh, look at that.

- That's...
- That's a beauty.

That's a hefty piece.

Yeah. That
is... It's not that heavy,

but that is an old pin,
for sure.

A pin for what?

- A pin for a ship or a wharf.
- Okay.

This is easy to I.D. For a date,
as well.

- This is easily in the 1700s, maybe even older.
- Yeah.

An iron pin
from a ship or ship's wharf

found near the southeastern
border of the swamp

and possibly dating back
to the 1700s or earlier?

What's this?

Two weeks ago,

while probing in this area

where a possible
man-made structure

had previously been
detected by sonar...

- Do you hear that? - Yeah.

- There's rock here.
- That could be it.

Rick lagina and
geoscientist dr. Ian spooner

identified a mysterious
stone feature,

measuring some 20
feet wide by 70 feet long,

they believe could be some
kind of road or possibly a wharf.

Although the team must wait

for that area of the swamp
to be completely drained

before they can further
investigate the feature,

could gary and peter have
just found more evidence

of what it actually may be?

This is fantastic. What a great start,
mate, eh?

- It's a good find.
- Good digging.

Okay, mate,
let's put that in my finds pouch,

and we'll keep moving.

While gary and peter

continue searching on
the bank of the swamp...

- Later that day at the money pit...
- It's a big one.

Yep.

Surveyor steve guptill,

oak island historian
charles barkhouse

and geologist terry matheson

continue to monitor the
progress of borehole ejz-1.

That's not backfill,
is it? To me that looks like sand.

You know what, steve?

It is sand.

A defined layer of sand

found beneath the ground
soil in the money pit area?

Could it be a natural feature?

Or could it potentially be a
sign of the backfilled tunnel

that oak island theorist
erin helton believes

the team will find in this area?

What's the, uh,
approximate depth there?

It's 119 there.

Think we can see
a-a coarsening horizon here.

It's some weak
indications of bedding.

We grayed out of it here

into perhaps some
kind of a bit of till,

and then it gets
coarser right there.

I would say your sand

- is from here to there, wouldn't you?
- Yeah.

So, we have potentially four feet,
natural or backfill?

It looks like it's natural.

So,
this is the end of this hole.

Yep.

We didn't find erin's tunnel.

No,
we haven't seen any indications...

- Rick's here.
- Morning, guys.

- Hey, rick. How you doing?
- So, tell me some good news.

Well,
the hole gave no indications

of a tunnel, per se.

But we confirmed a sandy seam,
which probably is,

uh, natural.

We've already committed
a lot of assets to this.

Now I'm looking to you
to be coldly analytical.

I-I'm emotionally
connected to it,

and that's never a good way
to make a very science-based,

data-driven decision.

So, I will look to you
guys for your suggestions.

She's basing her whole alignment

off of rf-1 being the
center of the money pit,

but from what we know
based on the drilling last year,

the center of the money
pit could be from rf-1 to oc-1.

And so,
we have wood in oc-1 dated at 1706.

If we use that as our
outer extremity or extreme

of the money pit,
it moves it east.

Is it possible,

as steve guptill is suggesting,
that borehole oc-1,

where the team
recovered hand-cut wood

dating back to 1706 last year,

did indeed intersect
the original money pit

and could still help prove
that erin helton's theory is true?

I love the theory,
I think there's merit to it.

The geometry works,
the data works.

It's driven by science and research,
which I've always said

is one of the lynchpins
of ultimately solving this.

And erin needs to have the
information so that she can

reassess the results
of the drill program.

Absolutely.

So, why don't we give her a
call and bring her up to speed?

We continue to believe,

we continue to-to
push the envelope

in terms of giving erin all
the information she needs.

And at some point,
the drill program will proceed.

Hi, erin, how you doing?

- Hi. Good.
- Good. This is steve.

I'm at the table with, uh,
rick, charles and terry.

So, we're just gonna fill you in,
uh, on what's going on.

We just finished your hole.

We didn't see your tunnel.

Well,
y... I remember o-our initial conversation.

You consume data,
so we'll give you every bit of data

that we,
that we have in our possession,

and you can reassess.

Although the team
intends to keep searching

for the tunnel that erin
believes will lead them

to the fabled treasure vault,
they will now wait

until she can calculate
a new drilling location.

- All right, thanks, erin.
- Okay. Thanks, erin.

- See you, erin. - See you.

- Take care. - Bye, now.

All right,
good luck. See you later.

Construction
site stuff around here.

- Modern? - Yeah, too modern.

While metal
detection expert gary drayton

and rick and marty's
nephew peter fornetti

continue their search for clues
near the oak island swamp,

some 200 yards
northeast on lot 15...

Hey, you guys.

- Hey, alex. - Hey.

Marty lagina's son alex

joins archaeologists
dr. Aaron taylor

and miriam amirault as
they continue to investigate

a mysterious,
serpent-shaped mound.

We've gone through the mat layer,
forest mat.

I think it's a lot of
this is redeposited.

Interesting.

- Now, miriam would like to excavate...
- Yeah.

So I was thinking that the
two of you can tackle that.

- Sure. All right, well, we'll, uh...
- All right.

We'll go over there
and get set up.

So, I'll just grab this bucket

- and meet you over there.
- Okay.

- Hey, gentlemen. How are you?
- Hey, doug.

One week ago,

oak island researcher
doug crowell

alerted rick,
marty and the team to the feature

after discovering it

not far from the 16th
century pine tar kiln.

Those are some big stones.

This structure,
once I got looking at it,

I realized it's quite long.

It's this ridge of-of
boulders and soil.

It doesn't look natural.

It sort of reminds
you of the serpent mounds

Yeah.

Upon first seeing the formation,

dr. Taylor noted its
striking resemblance

to ancient ceremonial features
found in keene, ontario, canada,

which date back as
much as 2,000 years,

known as the serpent mounds.

Is it possible that this
feature could in some way

be connected to the chinese coin

the team discovered
on this same lot

and has been dated to be
more than 1,000 years old?

Okay. So, what would,
what would we be looking for

that's gonna give it away,
right off the bat?

Um, we're gonna just dig down.

- We'll see?
- See if there's anything in there.

Get rid of this top layer
and then we can really get

- into the digging. - Okay.

Cool.

Ooh. I got charcoal.

Do you guys want
to come take a look?

We'll be right there.

Charcoal?

Could dr. Taylor have
just found an important clue

that could help identify
the age of this feature?

Where do you see it?

Just a little, uh,
little... Some little flecks of it.

Oh, yeah.

What's the next step?

- Just keep going and-and bag that?
- Yeah.

I'm gonna bag this,

- take it to the lab. - Mm-hmm.

And hopefully run a
carbon-14 date on it.

Mm-hmm.

Which will tell us when
it was b*rned or when...

- Which will tell us when it was b*rned.
- Yeah.

So, the other thing

that we might be able
to do with this charcoal,

if we carbon-date
it... 'cause I know

relatively close
in proximity to the,

what we're thinking
is the tar kiln.

- Mm-hmm.
- If this charcoal comes back

as roughly the same date or
similar date as that charcoal,

then we know that the burn event

was probably the
same burn event,

and that sort of associates

- this feature with that feature.
- Right.

This is kind of what we did over there,
too, right?

We just, like,
chased the hints of a feature

all the way into the center
of it and then started finding

- find after find after find.
- Yeah.

- So, this is actually, this could be pretty cool.
- Yeah.

So,
there's a lot of similarities between

the serpent mound,
whatever's beneath the serpent mound,

and this lot 15 anomaly
that we think is a pine tar kiln.

Um, could they be related,
is a question

we're still trying to answer,

but it looks like
that right now.

All right, so I got this bagged.

I'll drop it off at the lab

- and let them take it from here.
- Yeah.

Keep us posted and we'll,
uh, we'll call you over

- if we find anything interesting.
- All right. Thanks, guys.

- Thanks, aaron. - Yeah. Thanks.

Meanwhile, back at the swamp...

Let's try this little area

and then that little
peninsula there.

Gary drayton and
peter fornetti continue their search

for more evidence of a
possible hidden ship's wharf.

Yeah, we've got a signal here.

Should be just there, mate.

There's a lot of wood.

Right there.

Yeah, that piece of wood's interesting,
isn't it?

Yep.

- Oh, yeah. And this...
- Mm-hmm.

- Is it shaped?
- That looks like it's hand-hewn.

Look.

Let me try and winkle it out.

- What is that?
- Oh, there's another one.

There's another one. Yeah,

we got something going on here,
mate.

The heck is this?

This is all laid on top
of one... And that is cut.

- Yeah.
- Look, that was notched out

- for that to fit on the top.
- Mm-hmm.

We may have discovered the top of a shaft,
pete.

Wow.

In the southeast
corner of the swamp,

gary drayton and peter fornetti

have just made what
could be a major discovery.

- Look at that. There's even more going on here.
- Mm-hmm.

Definite crossed timbers.

What a day, mate.

Anytime you discover
something new

on oak island is a good day.

I believe we've
got to call laird.

- Okay.
- Maybe he might want us to stand down.

Hey, laird.

Good, mate.

Pete and I are on the
edge of the swamp,

and we've stopped to dig

a piece of iron,

and we've discovered some kind

of wooden structure, feature.

We don't know what it is,

so we're hoping you can come over here,
mate,

and check it out.

- Okay, mate. - All right.

I don't think it's a bad
idea to call my uncle

- and have him take a look.
- Yeah, rick would love this.

We don't know what
these pieces of timber are,

but hey,
we may have discovered another feature.

But more importantly,

this new feature is not too
far away from the money pit.

Perhaps they're both connected.

Oh, laird's here.

- Okay, good.
- Hey, guys.

What do you think?

I mean, it looks like a slipway,
doesn't it?

- I mean, that's a post.
- Yeah.

We never thought about that.

We was thinking shaft
when we first saw it.

But you are right,
that does look like a slipway.

Yeah.

A possible slipway

or ship's wharf protruding
from the swamp?

Could gary and peter have
found the first visual evidence

of the stone feature that
rick lagina and dr. Spooner

identified in the
swamp two weeks ago?

What do you got?

What happened here,

we got a couple of iron hits.

And as we dug down,
we started seeing these timbers.

And look,
and they're notched here.

- Oh, yeah.
- And the... There's iron in here.

There's an iron fastener here,
and there's one here.

And at first,
we were thinking it was the top of a shaft,

but laird... Well, you've seen

this type of thing
before in smith's cove.

- Yeah, the slipway.
- Yeah, slipway.

That is.

This is cut in.

- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Yeah, that's cut, too, there.

- That's a little strange.
- It's short.

It's almost a brace.

You know, their activities,

their metal detecting activities

in the eastern
corner of the swamp,

you know,
that's our area of focus.

When I laid eyes on it,

you know,
they used the verbiage "slipway."

does it look like a slipway?

Yeah, it does. It has two
sides and crossmembers and...

This feature is
certainly interesting.

I mean, this has grown
above and below the structure,

so there's some age to it.

If you've got a notch here

and you've got a notch
here but it's cut here,

- it's way out there, then.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

It is a significant discovery,

- is it not, gary?
- Yeah, it is.

Is there metal in that,
too? The crosspiece?

- Where is that?
- Yeah, where is the metal?

Um... - Here?

Yeah, it's... Actually,
I'll show you.

So, that would be a brace.

Oh, yeah.

And the iron fasteners would
tell the story of this better.

Definitely date it.

- Mm-hmm.
- Well, that's cool.

I mean,
I think we should uncover it.

- Yeah.
- Don't you agree, laird?

I agree, definitely. Yeah.

This should be a
little treasure trove

Yeah.

Pat on the back,
mate. You dug it out.

Let's see what my dad thinks

- if I can get ahold of him.
- Sure.

- Hello?
- Hey, you're on speaker,

and, uh, I got rick,
peter, gary, laird.

We're standing in the
southeast corner of the swamp,

and we're all looking down
on what we think is a slipway.

This is the edge

of the swamp where
boats would have come

and probably docked.

And this is the type of slipway,

just a small one like this,
that you would need

to take small
cargo up on the hill.

Uh, this looks like an area
where boats would pull in

and pull something
up this slipway.

I'm hoping treasure.

Well, we'll keep looking at it,
and we'll...

Keep you posted.

- Will do.
- That's what we're hoping for.

- Yep. See you.
- No problem, see you.

It's a significant find.

Gary and peter
were metal detecting

at the eastern
side of the swamp.

I don't know if everybody knows,
but there was a structure found,

and, uh,
not an insignificant one.

Following their
discovery of a possible slipway

for docking ships near
the southeastern corner

of the oak island swamp,

rick lagina,
along with his brother marty

and members of their team,
have gathered to discuss

just what this could
mean and how best

to further investigate it.

When rick and I got there,
you guys had exposed

pretty much just
one corner of it.

But it was obviously, you know,

two fence post-sized pieces of wood,
no bark,

pinned together at right angles

and then another one
that had been saw-cut

attached at about
a 45-degree angle

going off into the bank,
so, I mean,

it was obviously a structure.

It was
remarkable. I think that

really made the structure stand out,
if you will,

because I think everybody
thought possible slipway.

So, we haven't, obviously,
been able to test it yet,

but it sure would be
nice in the moment

- to understand the age of that.
- Okay.

So, what does this all mean,
guys?

What does this all mean?

I mean, laird,
you're the archaeologist.

What happened? -

the structure is intriguing.

I think checking the nails

- in the structure will help.
- Exactly.

There are at least two
spikes in the feature itself,

and when you wash it off
and you feel the top of it,

I thought the head was unique.

I want to get
to the bottom of it.

I think we should keep digging.

And I can't wait to
see the structure.

Well, the implications of finding this,
right?

Currently,
our idea of sheet pile

is to put sheet on
both sides of the road.

- Right.
- Well, what if there are more structures

and we drive sheet through them,

and then we perhaps
obliterate them?

Do we want to revisit
our sheet pile proposal?

Currently, the oak island team

has enlisted irving
equipment limited

to design a cofferdam

similar to the one they
installed two years ago

at smith's cove.

Comprised of large steel sheets

hammered deep into
the muddy ground,

the cofferdam would
create a watertight barrier

that would allow the
entire southeastern portion

of the swamp to be
drained and excavated.

We have these
anomalies to investigate.

As you develop the areas

and you investigate them,

we may say to ourselves,

"oh, gee, if only we had
pushed the sheet further out."

is that information
that's valuable

while we wait for the sheet?

Well, then I kind of go towards

your "dig what we can" strategy,

because you're gonna...
You're gonna learn something

by the "dig what you can"
deal that might change

where you put the sheet. I mean,
that's almost for sure.

Um, something will pop up,
making you think

it should go in a slightly different place,
probably.

So, we would have

that data.

That sounds appropriate.

- Yeah. - Yep. - Yep.

Guys, this is great.

You guys all know
I've always said

there are answers in
that swamp. We need...

I'll sleep well tonight

- with that statement.
- Yeah, I know you will.

I know, I know.

Somebody ask me what time it is.

What time is it, marty?

It's time to dig!

That's what time it is.

Less talking. Let's go dig.

We've all got a lot of work to do,
so...

- Let's get after it.
- Until next time.

- Thank you, all.
- See you guys.

After a week that
saw both disappointing setbacks

and historic breakthroughs,

the laginas and their team
continue to validate the faith

that so many before
them have brought

to the 225-year-old hunt
for treasure on oak island.

It is no longer a question

that something of
great consequence

took place here long ago

but a question of what was
so important and so valuable

that such efforts were
taken in order to hide it.

Will rick, marty, craig

and their team defy what has,
so far,

safeguarded the island's secrets
for more than two centuries?

Perhaps only time

and fate will tell.

Next time on the
curse of oak island...

This is the day.

- Swamp dig, day one.
- Whoa!

See the woody material
there? That's the structure.

- This is old.
- 1700s, baby.

You got to be kidding me, mate!

- Does that have a hole in it?
- Yeah, it has.

You'd have something like
that if you were digging shafts.

That sample came
out to be 1320 to 1440.

- Oh, wow. - What?

- There is a date that it does match.
- Zena's map.

- Yes. The knights templar.
- Holy smokes.