09x18 - Playing the Dunfield

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island.

GARY: Ready to find some
good stuff out of these spoils?

- RICK: Wow.
- GARY: What have you got there, Rick?

- RICK: Look at this.
- Ooh. That's nice.

Wow. This is old.

JOE: This came out
of the medieval period

- from about 1235.
- CHARLES: It's amazing.

- Yeah.
- [laughs]

GARY:
I'm hoping that we smash

straight through
the Chappell Vault

and come up with some treasure.

- This should be it.
- Wow, big timbers.

Chappell Vault, here we come.

[laughter]

NARRATOR: There is an
island in the North Atlantic

where people
have been looking for

an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found
a stone slab

with strange symbols
carved into it...

man-made workings
that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross
whose origin may be connected

to the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have d*ed

trying to solve the mystery.

And according to legend,
one more will have to die

before the treasure
can be found.

♪ ♪

CRAIG:
Gentlemen.

- GARY: Morning, mate.
- Had many pulls yet?

No, they're readjusting
and sinking the can down.

This is it, mate.

DANNY:
All good? All right.

NARRATOR:
It is the beginning

of another potentially
historic day

on Oak Island for brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina,

their partner Craig Tester
and the members of their team.

- DANNY: Okay, go ahead.
- GARY: First hammer grab, mate.

I'm hoping that we smash
straight through

the Chappell Vault and come up
with some treasure today.

Yeah.

MICHEL:
We're going in.

NARRATOR: In the area
dubbed the C-1 cluster,

they are now approaching
a depth of nearly 150 feet

with their ten-foot-wide
steel-cased shaft known as EC-1,

or more affectionately,
"Early Christmas."

Positioned just one foot east
of Borehole C-1

and just eight feet northeast
of the recently dug TF-1 shaft,

which may have intercepted part
of the original Money Pit,

EC-1 is believed
to possibly be on target

to reach a seven-foot-high
wooden vault

first reported by searchers
in 1897 at a depth

of some 153 feet
and encased in concrete.

I'm gonna go see
what kind of, uh, pressures

Danny is seeing over there.

- All right, mate.
- All right, sounds good.

GARY:
I'm confident, mate.

Today is the day.

NARRATOR: The team has good
reason to be hopeful,

as it was in this same location

that, earlier this year,
water testing

and a core-drilling operation
revealed evidence

that vast amounts
of both silver and gold

lie buried somewhere below.

PETER: Here comes the
first hammer grab, so let's...

- GARY: Yep.
- Go to it.

I'm confident.

- Hopefully.
- Yep.

GARY: All right,
mate, let's get stuck in

and find some treasure.

I've got high hopes for EC-1.

It's not too far off
where we found traces

of gold and silver on pieces

of metal and water samples.

If this can works out,
we'll all be home for Christmas.

- Good?
- I'm not getting any metal hits.

- Okay.
- It's clear, mate.

Yeah.

GARY:
Maybe the next hammer grab.

We're following along
this concentration of gold

that they found in the Money Pit
itself in the C-1 cluster.

There's just too much there.

Gold on the metal, ancient wood,

and so, we hope this is it.

This is the one.

PETER:
What did Danny say?

We're down to about


He'll measure in a little bit.

He figures the plug
is about six feet behind him.

RICK:
No increase

in pressures
or decrease or anything?

No. Nothing significant.

What about what's coming up?

GARY:
Yeah, we had one hammer grab

of slurry and limestone.

Next, treasure.

[laughs]

NARRATOR: As the
excavation of EC-1 continues,

just 200 feet to the northeast,
near Borehole 10-X...

We got to go through
Early Christmas material

and try to get as much of that
taken care of as possible today.

- ERIC: Okay.
- NARRATOR: Jack Begley and surveyor Eric Valois

are at the wash table,
preparing to search for clues

and valuables in the spoils
recently unearthed from EC-1.

So, keep your eyes peeled.

Um, but I-I'd like to do
a little bit bigger loads

than we have been.

And as you can see, I've added

- this plastic mesh on top.
- Mesh, yep.

Hopefully it's gonna be able
to catch

if there are any parchments
or other softer materials.

- Really, in the past, I was just looking mainly for gold coins.
- [laughs]

- JACK: Now, we should be able to see everything. Yeah.
- Catch those smaller finds.

- Perfect.
- And... Yeah, I-I say we get cracking.

I'll get in there, I'll
go get our first load.

All right.

We've got huge
hammer grabs this year

to facilitate the
extraction of soils

from the ten-foot caisson.

It's just a process
to move that material

and at the same time,
visually inspect the material.

And we need to be
at the top of our game

in order to get through as
much material as possible.

Here's a piece of glass.

Wow.

We'll save that. It doesn't
look very old, though.

No, it's pretty thin and clear.

JACK: Which could be
from down in the shafts, but...

still just searcher stuff.

I've grown quite fond of just
washing through the spoils,

'cause that's where
you find things

that everyone else misses.

And so, I'm really hoping

that we can make it
through all the material,

'cause I'd really
like to put a coin...

A gold one, specifically...
In Marty's hand this year.

ERIC: What about this?
It's got a little flex to it,

so it's not a rock.

JACK: I-I'm not
quite sure, though.

I-It might be a conglomerate
of some other type.

- ERIC: Okay.
- You see how it's not a natural limestone...

- Yeah.
- Because you wouldn't see so many little clasts

or small, little stones
included inside this rock.

- ERIC: Yeah.
- You know, I can't say

that what's drawing
it all together in here

is, uh, limestone, though.

It could be even a
type of a concrete.

Like, look at those stones

that are all trapped
inside of there.

- Mm.
- It almost looks like it's a cement.

It might be an older one.

NARRATOR: Concrete,

found nearly 150 feet
deep in the spoils of EC-1?

Since no previous searchers
have ever been documented

to use concrete while excavating

or reinforcing shafts
in the Money Pit area,

could Jack and Eric
have possibly found

an important clue?

Perhaps evidence of the
concrete-encased vault

first reported by the Oak Island
Treasure Company in 1897?

It could be a
depositor concrete.

- Yeah.
- When they encountered the vault,

- they encountered a layer of concrete...
- Yeah.

That surrounded the entire vault

- at the bottom of the Money Pit.
- Yeah.

So this could be
a piece of that.

- Yeah.
- But for me, this is a keeper.

And-and maybe it's big enough

that we can
actually get it tested.

- Okay.
- You know, figure out if it is natural

- or maybe it is an old concrete?
- Yeah.

Great job finding
this. I'll bag it.

NARRATOR: While Jack
and Eric continue sifting

through spoils at
the wash table...

RICK: It sure would be
nice to find something.

- Anything.
- CRAIG: Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR: back
at the Money Pit...

- Hey, Charles.
- Guys.

NARRATOR: Rick
Lagina, Craig Tester

and members of the team
continue monitoring the excavation

of the EC-1 shaft
as it approaches

the critical depth of 150 feet.

You know, we all hope
that this encounters

the Oak Island
Treasure Company vault.

- Yeah.
- Because we're in that vicinity right now.

We are in that vicinity.

It was the Oak Island Treasure
Company in 1897 that drilled

through what they believed
to be cement and then wood

and then loose metal.

Is that coins? Is it
silver bars or what?

You know, I know
you... Or gold bars?

Who knows? So, hopefully,

we can find what
they found in 1897.

- RICK: That'd be great.
- Oh, yeah.

CRAIG: If we're
gonna be finding it,

it's gonna be in the next

- few hammer grabs.
- CHARLES: We're close.

Yep.

GARY: Got another
load coming in.

RICK: Well, Gary, have at it.

All right.

Another sh*t at glory.

Dang, that was a big bucketload.

PETER: There's some wood.

- There's wood in there?
- Yeah, right there.

GARY: Excellent.

- That's exactly what we want.
- Yeah.

- GARY: It was in that area.
- PETER: Let's see.

CHARLES: Let's
hope it's a good one.

GARY: Here we go.

Oh, look at that.

PETER: There's some wood.

GARY: Oh, look at that.

NARRATOR: In the
Money Pit area, Rick Lagina,

Craig Tester and
members of the team

have just made a potentially
important discovery

nearly 150 feet deep
in the EC-1 shaft.

That could be important.

- That fits with the story.
- Mm-hmm.

- Especially with this vault area.
- Yeah.

This wood recovery is
exciting because, so far,

we've been going
through in situ material

and now we're going through wood

at quite a deep depth.

I'm hoping that
we've hit the vault.

So, this just came up.

- Just in there?
- It was in... Yeah, it was in the bucket.

CRAIG: Well, it'd be a good
one to carbon-date, then.

RICK: Yep. Well, let's see
if anything more comes up.

Yeah, it's the next
one that really matters.

RICK: There's hope that the Oak
Island Treasure Company vault

resides roughly around 150 feet,

and now we have a
limited amount of wood.

It's exciting.

So, after the hammer grab dumps,

it's kind of like
a-a race to get in

to see who can find what.

Well, gentlemen, anything today?

It brought up a
little bit of wood.

GARY: And unfortunately,
no metals at the moment,

but that might change.

We got another bucket coming up.

A couple buckets
of hope here yet

for the Chappell Vault, right?

- Yep.
- We should see some wood, though,

- in these next grabs.
- CHARLES: That's right.

- MARTY: Boy, that is a lot more water for some reason.
- CHARLES: Yeah.

That's the most water
we've seen come up yet.

RICK: It's somewhat
surprising that we're not finding

substantial amounts of wood.

And the amount of water
coming out of the grab

suggests we're getting
to the bottom of the hole.

- PETER: It's silent.
- Yep.

It is silent.

- This looks like a report coming.
- Hey, guys.

- Here's a report coming in.
- Uh-oh.

So, this is what came out of
the hole with the last bucket.

That material is coming up now.

It's the same as that gypsum.

MARTY: Did the can rotate down

or didn't it really go anywhere?

We achieved an inch
and a half in 15 minutes.

- Oh.
- Currently as it sits,

we're at 152 and
a half with the can

and 151 with the grab,
so we're really struggling.

Danny is seeing some
high pressures right now,

obviously associated
with that as well.

Hey... they run those
things through all...

They don't, they don't
only just go through

glacial till, they
go through rock.

- That's right.
- Why is this stopping it dead like this?

That's the question
that we're all looking at

for an answer right now.

Anhydrite is
notoriously hard to drill.

It's actually soft,
but it's gummy.

And it gums up the
bit, it gums up the teeth,

and the teeth don't cut.

It's really hard to drill,
even with a big rig.

Given that metric of advance,

we could be here for a full
day and we can't afford it.

MARTY: I'm with
you. Let's just see

if Gary will find
ten coins in this one

and then we'll reconsider.

Other than finding ten
coins, I think we're done.

- Yeah, then we'd be done. Yeah.
- RICK: All right.

MARTY: Not a lot
in that one, either.

Essentially nothing.

Yeah.

- GARY: I've got the okay from Michel.
- PETER: Yeah.

That's some
anhydrite right there.

- Yeah, that's what they're struggling...
- Yeah.

- To get through at the moment.
- That's it.

PETER: I'll take this over
to Craig and Dr. Spooner.

GARY: Okay, mate.

So, I think we're
pretty much there.

I mean, that's
anhydrite, isn't it?

Well, this could
be gypsum already.

- CRAIG: Yep.
- IAN: Yep.

RICK: There's nothing in it,

so I think we're done.

- I'm ready to call it.
- MARTY: Yeah.

Call it. Start getting
ready to backfill

- and do all your thing.
- Okay.

- Thank you.
- Perfect. Thanks, guys.

- RICK: Thanks.
- Yep.

NARRATOR: After excavating
two ten-foot-wide caissons

in an area where,
earlier this year,

two six-inch-wide boreholes

returned high traces
of precious metals,

the team finds themselves
facing an extraordinary question.

Just where is the vast source

of the detected
valuables located?

MARTY: We just dug
two enormous holes,

bigger than we ever have.

We expected to
find gold and silver,

and we didn't.

So, are we disappointed?
Damn right we're disappointed.

Those two caissons were costly,
time-consuming, labor-intensive,

and we had high hopes for them
and we didn't find any treasure.

RICK: Well, we're
done in this can.

Unfortunately, Dan,
it didn't turn out,

but there's always
the next one, right?

We need to go to
the w*r room now

and decide about
the third location.

MARTY: Let's go. We're done.

- The king is dead.
- RICK: The king is dead.

NARRATOR: Later that evening...

MARTY: We have
a full house today.

And that is
entirely appropriate,

because what we're gonna
discuss today is basically what we do,

what we're here for, we
want to find some treasure.

NARRATOR: brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina,

Craig Tester and
members of the team

have gathered in the w*r
room to make a collective

and critical decision.

MARTY: We have now placed

two ten-foot canisters
into the ground,

the hallowed ground
of the Money Pit,

and we didn't
come up with a lot.

We came up with some clues...

- Clues.
- But nothing I would call treasure.

MARTY: We have the
time and the material

to do two more caissons.

So, with that, I will
open it up to discussion

because we're
running out of time,

so we have to decide
where we go next.

RICK: So,

when we started the
year, the Dunfield dig

was certainly on the
list of priority targets

because of F-4, again,
a-a gold signature.

NARRATOR: After
conducting water testing

earlier this year in previously
drilled six-inch boreholes

across the Money Pit area,

the Oak Island
team was astonished

that F-4 was one of several
to yield high concentrations

of gold and silver.

Coincidentally, F-4
happens to be located

at the very center of the
most notorious operation

in the history of Oak Island,

the excavation by California
geologist Robert Dunfield.

After constructing the
Causeway in the fall of 1965,

Dunfield transported a


and dug a massive 100-foot
diameter hole in the hopes

of finally locating the
legendary Chappell Vault,

believed to lie buried
at a depth of 153 feet.

Unfortunately, his
plan was thwarted

at approximately 140 feet

when his massive crater
flooded and caved in.

Is it possible that even
though Robert Dunfield failed

to recover any treasure, he
may have come dangerously close

to solving the Oak
Island mystery?

So, I guess I'll open it up.

What's everyone's thought about,
uh, the Dunfield, um, location?

From the evidence
in front of me,

my best placement should be

to cover very
thoroughly the area

on the north and west side

of the bottom of
the Dunfield dig.

That's F-4.

And so, the quadrant
is entirely opened

and could have a vault

that is not covered
by any drill hole

that we've done since 2017.

And a ten-foot can should
cover that really quite easily.

ALEX: So, my thought is,

that's a good reason
to investigate there.

If you look at the TF-1,

C-1 area, Dunfield
took a lot of earth

off the surface of
the Money Pit area

and saw all the shafts,
as far as I'm aware,

as they're laid out.

If there was anything
to see, he saw it.

- Right.
- Yes, absolutely.

And he never really
got the answers

in that location that
he was looking for.

Not because he didn't
find anything but because

- he lost the hole.
- JACK: Yeah, and maybe

he actually saw the top of
what the old Money Pit was?

You know, maybe there
are some real nice things

just sitting right
at the bottom.

DOUG: Well, one thing
we can't deny, though,

is our testing this year
has told us that is the site

of the highest concentration
of gold in the water.

You cannot deny that.

RICK: There are more
than a few reasons

why the location
should be centered

over the deepest
part of the Dunfield dig.

One of the reasons, of course,
is that there's always been

this conjecture that Robert
Dunfield did not go deep enough.

The other reason, of course,

is that the F-4,
sonic drill location,

that's the highest gold
level that we've tested.

So, there's a reason
to place it there.

DOUG: I like that spot.

I mean, the F-4 results
are really intriguing.

MARTY: So, is this RA-1,

- "Rick and Alex"?
- RICK: No,

I'd propose it to be... DH-82.

Anybody know what that means?

Oh, I do. [chuckles]

MARTY: It stands
for Dan Henskee-82,

the, uh, senior explorer here.

This will be your can, Dan.

- DAN H.: Uh-oh.
- Your chance to shine.

- In other words, I have to take the blame.
- [laughter]

MARTY: If it's good,
we'll give you partial credit,

and if it's bad, you can have
the entire blame. Yes, sir.

- Sounds fair to me.
- [laughter]

- MARTY: Well, let's do that, then.
- RICK: I think we're good.

CHARLES: Yeah, let's do it.

NARRATOR: As a new
day begins on Oak Island

while representatives
from ROC Equipment

and Irving Equipment Limited

fill in the EC-1 shaft and
prepare for the team's

next excavation in
the Money Pit area,

approximately 200
feet to the south...

- GARY: All right, Billy.
- BILLY: Hey, Gary.

I'm gonna remove
some of this junk

and make a little
better spot for you.

NARRATOR: metal
detection expert Gary Drayton

and heavy equipment
operator Billy Gerhardt

begin searching
through a mound of spoils

that were excavated
from the Money Pit

by Robert Dunfield in 1965.

Spoils which have never
been thoroughly searched

for clues or
potential valuables.

GARY: It's just a
matter of time, mate,

before we pull up a nice coin

or some kind of
artifact with a date on it.

If we find one thing, you know,
it changes everything, right?

Yeah, I mean when these spoils

were moved around
originally, mate,

they didn't have a magic wand.

- [laughs] - You
dig it, I'll detect it.

- Okay.
- All right, mate.

NARRATOR: Because
Dunfield never searched

through the spoils
that he unearthed,

and because the team did
detect gold earlier this year

in the area where Dunfield
conducted his work,

they are hoping to
recover any more important,

or valuable clues that
he may have missed.

GARY: Here we go.

JACK: Oh, oh, wow.

There's dowel holes.

NARRATOR: At the
beginning of this year,

the team made a
number of promising finds

in a nearby spoils pile
from the Dunfield dig,

including timbers that
were potentially related

to the original Money Pit,

as well as an iron
spike that could date

to as much as two
and a half centuries old.

GARY: There could
be anything anywhere,

because Dunfield totally
dug all this area out.

It's a higgledy-piggledy mess,

but there could be some
treasure in these surface layers.

BILLY: Pretty old-looking
plank in that one, Gary.

Big old plank in there?

See the black piece of wood?

Yep.

RICK: Found anything, Gary?

GARY: Perfect
timing, mate, yeah.

Just that piece of wood
was in this last load.

That came off that
other piece of wood there.

It's fairly rotten.

Yeah.

As you peel the top,

you know, up here, I
think you can look and see

one pile and then another pile.

I don't know what
it tells you, but it...

If you see these
different horizons,

that is from long, long ago.

I hope so.

Have at her.

MARTY: Going through
the Dunfield spoils

out by the Money Pit,
it's been a hard job.

There's a lot of stuff up there.

The good news is, we can
find anything in the spoils.

I mean, it could've come
from deep in the Money Pit.

[beeping]

GARY: Got an hit here, mate.

RICK: What's that?

GARY: I don't know what
it is, so it's got to come out.

- RICK: Where is it, Gary?
- Uh, well, let me pinpoint it.

[electronic whirring]

In there somewhere.

- RICK: Where to?
- Anywhere you like, mate.

All right, well,
pinpointer time.

What's this?

Looks like a...

- Wonder Woman bracelet.
- [both chuckle]

No, it looks like a...

- just a piece of cut pipe, doesn't it?
- RICK: Yeah.

- Cast-iron pipe, by the look of it.
- Yep.

Don't know how
old it is, though,

but I'll put it in my pouch.

Keep digging.

I am always keen about
digging the material

from the so-called
Money Pit spoil piles

because that material
is from long ago.

And so, I'm hopeful that
we can find something

that will be relevant,
uh, to the search.

Perhaps another clue.

You only find clay like
this in a backfill of a shaft.

GARY: What do
you got there, Rick?

RICK: I don't know.

Leather, that's for sure.

GARY: Wow... Oh, yeah.

It's like a, an old leather
strap, by the look of it.

Looks like an oldie.

Yeah, we could get this tested.

NARRATOR: A potentially
ancient leather strap

found in the Dunfield spoils?

What do you think
with this piece?

- Oh, wow.
- NARRATOR: Over the past five years,

the Oak Island
team has recovered

several leather artifacts
in the Money Pit area

including bits of bookbinding

and the heel of a boot that
was dated to as early as 1492.

GARY: Looks like a belt.

NARRATOR: Could this leather
strap also predate the discovery

of the Money Pit in 1795?

If so, what else
could still be hidden

within the so-called
Dunfield spoils?

What do you think it
would be that wide from?

It could be a, could
be an harness,

- perhaps off an ox.
- Yeah.

Or it could be the bottom

of a leather shoe.

There has been
some old shoes found.

Yes, there has. Yes.

- Thick.
- GARY: And it's thick, yeah.

Yeah, that is sweet.

That's a sweet piece of leather.

I've got some bags
in the back of me car.

I'm gonna put this in the bag.

- I'll go get them.
- So we'll see... All right, mate.

Right in the trunk.

RICK: Usually, we find
little scraps of leather.

This is quite a large piece,
but it could be anything.

- Here you go.
- Nice one, mate.

RICK: It's a heavy
piece of leather,

and I think this piece of
leather is substantial enough

that it should be tested.

I'm going to bring this down
to the archeology trailer,

have Laird look at
it, see what he thinks.

If you and Billy want
to keep going on this,

I would just carry us out
right to the end, okay?

And I'll keep my twin
optical scanners on the soil.

- Okay.
- Good find, mate.

And I will be back.

GARY: Okay, mate. See you later.

NARRATOR: Another exciting
day has arrived on Oak Island...

RICK: Good morning.

How's it going?

- CHARLES: Good.
- TERRY: Not too bad.

NARRATOR: as Rick Lagina
joins members of the team

in the Money Pit area...

PETER: DH-82,

first scoop's right here.

NARRATOR: where the
excavation of their third ten-foot-wide

steel-cased shaft known
as DH-82 is now underway.

Gary's in there
like a dirty shirt

seeing if he can
dig up some metal.

How deep is the can?
How deep is the excavation?

Uh, they are somewhere
between 17 and say,

let's just say 20.

They're going about
two feet a grab,

and they'll give us another
measure here before too long.

- RICK: You know, it's-it's the Dunfield Dig, right?
- CHARLES: Yeah.

So, you know, we know he
got down to a certain depth

and that measurement
is a bit in dispute.

I mean, and he-he
was fighting it every day.

I mean, it was caving in,

uh, it was a bad time
of year, December,

there was rain, there was snow.

The sides were-were...
Kept caving in,

so probably for every
bucket he was pulling up

or every grab he was pulling up,

he was probably
losing two or three.

- That's right.
- So, it was a constant fight.

I don't agree with
the-the methodology,

but you know, h-had he found
the treasure, he'd have been a hero.

Absolutely.

MARTY: We're
convinced that Dunfield,

doing what he did under
very difficult conditions,

without a lot of the
technology we have,

without metal detectors, without
observers, without wash tables,

could easily have missed
extremely substantive things.

MARTY: And then he
also stopped a little bit short

of the so-called vault.

So, we're kind of
just trying to find

what Dunfield might have missed.

It's down there, Rick, you
just haven't found it yet.

TERRY: That's it.

RICK: I'm hoping for
the Bravo-Tango moment.

This could be it. This
could be "X" marks the spot.

You know, there's all
kinds of possibilities here.

All kinds.

So, we'll see what happens.

I'm very hopeful.

- Yeah.
- TERRY: Yeah, for sure.

NARRATOR: While Rick
Lagina continues to oversee

the excavation of
DH-82 at the Money Pit,

later that afternoon...

PETER: You know, Oak Island
is more than a treasure hunt,

there's a story here.

And the research might help tell

- the other half of the story.
- Oh, I agree.

NARRATOR: Rick and
Marty Lagina's nephews

Peter and David Fornetti,
along with Charles Barkhouse,

are traveling some


to Dawson's Print Shop
in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

They will be meeting
with rare documents

and artifacts expert Joe Landry,

to get his analysis
on the piece of leather

discovered just one
day ago in the spoils

that were excavated
from the Money Pit

by Robert Dunfield back in 1965.

MARTY: Leather
is always important

from any of these holes
because it can be dated.

It was used for a
couple years, maybe.

I mean, at the outside ten,

so if it comes back with a,
pardon the pun, concrete date,

it's probably gonna be accurate.

And if it's old, and old
enough, it could have been used

in the original digging
of the Money Pit.

- CHARLES: Right here, guys.
- MARTY: So,

it's something we have
to get an expert to look at.

Hi, Joe.

- Hi, guys.
- Hi, nice to see you again. - Hello.

- Guys, this is Joe Landry.
- Hi.

CHARLES: This is Peter
Fornetti and David Fornetti.

- DAVID: Nice to meet you.
- PETER: Nice to meet you. So, we were

exploring, um, to the
west of the Money Pit area,

and we found
something interesting.

And in this area, just to
give you a little bit of context,

there's belief that this
area had spoil piles

that may be from
the original Money Pit.

So, as they were digging,
they found this piece of leather.

JOE: Yeah.

PETER: We kind of want to
know what your take is on it.

A bit of a shoe sole here.

It looks like the, uh,
oak bark-tanned leather.

So, when you say that tanning,
what do you mean by that?

The, uh, the process

is that they take
bark from an oak tree

and-and make an emulsion
that they can soak the leather in.

And the, uh, the leather absorbs
the tannin from this emulsion

and, uh, that
preserves the leather,

and, uh, it takes them
a full year to tan this.

- Okay.
- It makes quite a strong leather,

a well-wearing leather.

And was particularly
sought-after

for the soles of
shoes and boots.

Just to give you an idea of
what it looked like, probably,

you know, when it was tanned,

it was sort of
this lighter color.

But once this gets
wet, it gets much darker.

And if it's wet and
put under pressure,

it can get very
dark, even black.

And, uh, you know,

obviously if it was underground,

it was under a certain
amount of pressure.

You mentioned
that it's oak tanning.

When was oak tanning done?

Well, it was started,
uh, in the, uh,

medieval period, you know,
ar... about, uh, 1235 or so.

JOE: So, this type of tannage
was done from about 1235,

the medieval period.

NARRATOR: At Dawson's Print
Shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia...

leather expert Joe Landry

has just informed members
of the Oak Island team

that the artifact
found one day ago

in the 1965 Dunfield spoils

is the sole of a
finely made shoe

and could date as far
back as the 13th century.

You know, Joe, we're getting
some different date ranges

i-in the Money Pit area.

And one in particular
was 1488 to 1650.

Is it possible that this
could relate to that?

Yeah, it could quite
easily fit within that period.

CHARLES: Wow.

PETER: What type of people

wore this type of shoe?

JOE: It's difficult to
say for what's left here,

exactly what style this was.

It looks to be a sole
from an officer's boot

rather than a heavy-duty
workman's boot.

- What makes you say that?
- Well, it's the shape, mainly.

It looks like it was quite a
nicely cut and shaped boot.

You know, with a good
taper here and here.

NARRATOR: A potential
fragment from a m*llitary officer's boot

discovered in the
Dunfield spoils?

- ALEX: Oh.
- PETER: Yeah, what is that?

- It looks like leather almost.
- It for sure looks like leather.

NARRATOR: One year ago, the team
recovered the sole of a fine leather boot

in spoils they excavated
in the Money Pit area

that was carbon-dated
to as early as 1492.

It's a refined design.

NARRATOR: If Joe Landry
is correct in his assessment,

could that mean that the
two artifacts are related?

And could it also offer
hope that the team is digging

in a location where
something of even greater value

lies buried?

So, you-you've talked
about the oak tanning

as a way to somewhat date this,

and maybe you can't tell
us just from looking at it,

but are there any other
tests that could be done

or any other avenues
that we could take

in order to try and
get a-a better date?

Well, yeah, you can try to
see if-if they used anything

to dye the leather, because
that-that kind of locks in

- the date as well.
- Yeah, that'd be great.

RICK: We need to press
the envelope every time

we make a find such
as this to apply science,

technology and expertise
to try to understand it.

And not just what it is
and when was it made.

There are other questions.
Is there a cultural influence?

Is there some s...
Type of science

that we're currently unaware
of that can be brought to bear?

Are there other
experts we can ask?

So, there's a lot
of things to do

and that is what we are
in the process of doing.

I want to thank
you for everything

that you've done
today and pointed us

in the right direction
to how to proceed.

You're welcome. I enjoyed the
chance to look at this material.

It's not something
we see a lot of

in Canada or Nova
Scotia, so it-it's a real treat.

PETER: We'll take this
information back to the guys

and let them know
and, hopefully,

we'll get some testing
and we'll let you know

if anything evolves from this.

- Yes, it'd be very interesting.
- All right.

- Thank you.
- CHARLES: Thank you, Joe.

- CHARLES: You're a wealth of information.
- JOE: Take care.

NARRATOR: While
Charles, David and Peter

make their way
back to Oak Island...

GARY: So, we haven't
seen a lot of timber yet.

RICK: Nothing but backfill.

NARRATOR: Rick Lagina
and members of the team

continue to monitor the
excavation of the DH-82 shaft.

- Hey, Terry.
- Hey, how you doing, Andrew?

- Good, you?
- Not too bad, my friend.

- Yeah?
- So, what's the tale of the tape at this point?

We are sitting at 75 with
the excavation right now.

"Excav: 75."

ANDREW: It's going a
lot faster than anticipated,

and I think that's just
solely due to the backfill

in here as well.

There's no new
ground to be into,

no timbers are really
being encountered.

No holdups, essentially.

- You guys are going quick.
- Real quick.

- That's great.
- Real quick, so it's looking good.

Hopefully we see past
that 100-foot mark today.

- Right on. Okay, good. Thanks a lot, man.
- All right.

- No problem, Terry.
- Thanks for the catch-up.

GARY: All right.
Let's get stuck in.

What have we got here?

Ooh, look at that.

That's shaped.

That's definitely shaped.

RICK: Yep. For
sure looks like it.

- GARY: Yep. Definitely, mate.
- Like, right here.

Maybe like an old
handle off an old tool?

It could be a trunnel?

- It doesn't have a collar...
- Yeah.

- But it's definitely been shaped.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: A possible trunnel

found some 75 feet
deep in the Money Pit?

Dating back as far as
the seventh century AD,

a trunnel is a wooden fastener

utilized to connect large
planks or timbers together,

especially for the purpose of
withstanding wet environments.

GARY: Terry, this
came out of the last load.

NARRATOR: Is it
possible that Gary

has just found an ancient
wooden fastener that was part

of the booby-trapped,
original Money Pit?

- TERRY: That's definitely a peg.
- Yeah.

TERRY: You see where it
goes in here, I mean, it looks like

- it was pounded in to about that point.
- Yeah.

- Thanks a lot, Gary.
- Okay, mate.

Got to get back to the spoils.

- Wow, a lot of material.
- Yeah.

GARY: That last bucketload
was a different shape.

And more big timbers coming up.

RICK: Wow.

This has just started, mate.

Holy crap, that's a big timber.

RICK: That's great.

That's what we're looking for.

I think our fortunes
are changing, mate.

GARY: Holy crap,
that's a big timber.

RICK: Look at that.

NARRATOR: It is
an exciting moment

in the Money Pit area...

GARY: That's a
big boulder as well.

- I haven't seen any of those.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: as Rick Lagina
and members of the team

have begun unearthing
what they hope to be evidence

of the original Money Pit some


RICK: Hi, Terry.

You can see...

- Wow.
- Here.

RICK: This is probably adze cut.

Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR: A timber
with possible cuts

made by an adze?

First developed in ancient
Egypt more than 5,000 years ago,

an adze is a
type of cutting tool

featuring a sharp edge that
runs perpendicular to the handle,

and was designed
for shaping timbers.

GARY: That's a little screamer.

NARRATOR: Earlier this year,
while metal detecting on Lot 4,

over on the western
side of the island...

GARY: Ooh, look at that.

Gary and Rick discovered
one of these very tools.

One which blacksmithing
expert Carmen Legge believed

could predate the
discovery of the Money Pit

by nearly two centuries.

MARTY: Those are good numbers.

Yeah.

RICK: That is pretty rough.

TERRY: Oh, yeah.

- And we'll get those tagged up. Thanks.
- Okay.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that this adze-cut timber

is connected to that discovery?

And if so, could it be part
of the original workings

constructed long ago

in order to hide the
fabled Chappell Vault?

GARY: Yeah, he's definitely
gonna have to get these out of here.

RICK: I think any
time a piece of wood,

coming from a
borehole or a caisson,

if it's cut with an adze,
that indicates age.

Yeah, that looks
good, too. Thanks, Rick.

RICK: So, it's possible that
the older wood we're seeing,

some of which is adze-cut,

is actually part of
the original Money Pit.

- You can see a few marks here.
- Yeah.

RICK: I think it demands

further investigation.

GARY: Do you think it
could be a shaft or a tunnel?

- RICK: This place is such a conundrum.
- Yeah.

Such a puzzle.

GARY: Yeah. But you know what?

You never know what's gonna
come out of your next hole.

And this is a bloody big hole.

RICK: Yeah.

Look, until all the gear's gone,

until all the keys
are turned off,

every hammer grab is a-a chance.

- Yeah.
- Every single one.

Every time they turn
on the wash plant,

every time your metal
detector goes off,

every time you put a
shovel in the ground,

there's always that chance.

That's really the essence
of treasure hunting.

Yeah. All it takes is
one good find, mate.

So let's find some
gold and silver next.

NARRATOR: For more than
two centuries, a fabled treasure

has eluded generations
of determined searchers.

Although many tantalizing
clues have been unearthed,

hinting at its location
somewhere deep in the Money Pit,

Rick and Marty
Lagina and their team

may finally be zeroing in.

Will the Fellowship
of the Dig soon realize

an extraordinary dream,
and justify the sacrifices

of all those who
came before them?

Or will they encounter

another fabled
presence on Oak Island...

the manifestation
of a deadly curse?

[bird squawks]

Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...

TERRY: We've got
gold in the water.

Let's hope we get
some gold in the mud.

There's anomalies
all over the island.

On land and in the water.

RICK: We have to
map the whole island.

COLIN: She's gonna go out.

Oh.

- Oh, there's a big target.
- Holy... look at that.

- Big one?
- It's big.

Is there a shipwreck
off the island?

GARY: Here we go. Come on.

- Wow.
- RICK: That's it.

- GARY: That's it. Yeah!
- That's old.

RICK:
It's possibly the Money Pit.

[laughter]