Tonight
on The Curse of Oak Island...
It's coming up.
-This is the Money Pit area.
All right. So we have
a chance at the treasure.
We're on the right spot.
I can't wait to see
what comes out of that hole.
You're certain that's bone?
It's big.
It's probably a human bone.
It's the bottom of a barrel.
What would a barrel
be doing down there?
That's a component
of the original treasure cache.
Oh, my gosh.
It's a ring.
This is a ring, mate.
It appears
to have been chiseled.
Prior to 1730s.
Possibly Spanish.
We're back in business!
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.
A chilly fall rapidly makes way
for another harsh
Nova Scotia winter...
-Okay, watch it. It's coming up.
I'm confident
we're gonna find
some good stuff.
...as brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina
have only a few weeks left
before they will be forced
to end this year's search
operations on Oak Island.
Today they,
along with representatives
from Irving Equipment Limited
and ROC Equipment,
are digging a massive,
eight-foot-wide
steel-cased shaft at OC-1,
the site of what they believe
could be the original
Money Pit treasure shaft.
God, I never expected
this much wood.
We're gonna follow that Hedden
wall the whole way down.
So far, the drilling caisson
has reached a depth
of some 50 feet,
and the progress is proving
slower than expected.
This is partially due to the
fact that they are digging
through the remnants
of a searcher shaft
built by treasure hunter
Gilbert Hedden back in 1937.
-Where is all this stuff from?
-Hedden Shaft.
Reaching a depth of 125 feet,
the Hedden Shaft
is a 12-by-24-foot
wood-cribbed shaft
that was designed to recover
the legendary Chappell Vault,
the seven-foot-high
wooden chest
that was first discovered
in 1897
and was believed to contain
both gold and ancient writings.
Unfortunately, Hedden's efforts
to reach the vault
were repeatedly thwarted
by flooding,
and construction of the shaft
was ultimately abandoned.
We're taking apart some
of the wall of the Hedden Shaft,
and if there is anything at all
to be found,
it's going to be below
the Hedden Shaft itself.
But we've-we've got
a ways to go yet.
Now, what do we expect
to find at the bottom of this?
Well, if this is
the Money Pit area,
we're gonna watch
for the original wood.
Anything old,
anything like that.
That would mean
we're on the right spot.
All right. So we could have a
chance at the shiny gold thing?
We have significant hope
in this.
As part of this excavation,
we may uncover
the terminal point
of the original Money Pit.
So, really, it's a matter of
if you find hand-hewn timbers
at depth within this can,
I think we are
very close, then,
to positioning
the original Money Pit.
And the hope is, of course,
that the one thing
will be, uh, downhole.
I'm very hopeful.
It was at this location
earlier this year...
Whoa! Look at this.
...that a core-drilling
operation
revealed evidence
of a wooden structure
some 106 feet deep undergroun.
This is hand-cut.
-That's very old.
-Yeah.
When tested,
the wood recovered
dated to 1626,
more than 150 years prior
to the discovery
of the Money Pit in 1795.
Using one-inch-thick,
26-foot-long sections
of the steel caissons,
the OC-1 shaft will be able
to go as deep as 200 feet
to hopefully reach what people
have been looking for
for more than two centuries.
We have commenced digging
on what Rick has termed OC-1,
and I love that location
because I think
it's a clearer indicator
of the Money Pit
than anything else.
And I can't wait to see what
what comes out of that hole.
The hope here to me
is nothing to do with treasure.
It's finding a chunk of wood
big enough to dendro.
-Yeah. -And then we'll have
an idea of who and when.
You have the wood,
I'll have the gold.
-: There you go.
-Yeah.
I'm with you, Scott.
-Okay, Dave.
Later that afternoon,
as the digging operation
at the Money Pit continues...
This is where I want
to detect, Rick.
...Rick and Gary head over
to the triangle-shaped swamp,
where they are eager
to continue
searching for important clues
connected to the massive
stone-paved feature
they unearthed
earlier this year.
I've never, ever been able
to get in here
because the swamp's
always been high.
So, let's do this slow.
-I'm gonna zigzag
along the bank. -Okay.
I love that sound.
The swamp has been probably
the most interesting
physical feature on the islan.
We've made some
interesting finds,
but there's no
connective tissue.
There's a lot
of speculative tissue,
but there's no aha moment.
We need to try
to unravel this mystery.
Sounds good, mate?
Be careful, it might be
a bit mushy down there.
Might be a little bit squidgy.
Seems to be dead
down the middle, still.
There it is.
-It's out.
-Tin can lid.
-Oh.
Yep.
-Definitely not Templar-related.
Yeah. Good signal here.
Another good one.
Be nice to have a good find,
-not just a good signal, right?
-Just there.
It's a ring.
-This is a ring, mate.
That is a ring.
Oh, yeah.
-Look at that.
I don't know what type it is,
so I just don't want
to mess with it too much.
And what I like about this...
It's a perfect shape.
-It's nice and thick,
and there's a, there's a lot
of pattern on it.
It is quite intricate.
-Yeah. That's intricate.
And they did that in old rings,
because a modern ring is more
likely to have stones in it.
Stones in it.
An ornate ring?
Could this simple piece of
jewelry offer an important clue
as to who might have
constructed
the elaborate stone formation
at the swamp and possibly when?
That is a sweet find, mate.
-I wasn't expecting that.
-No.
-Is that top-pocket?
-This...
is a top-pocket find, mate,
for sure.
-We're back in business!
Sweet!
You are my lucky digger.
-Bloody fantastic, mate.
Beautiful.
After finding an ornate ring
in the mysterious,
triangle-shaped swamp,
Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
head to the Oak Island
Research Center
to share their potentially
important discovery.
That one's supposed to be
six feet deep.
-Oh, really? Hey, guys.
Yeah.
-Hey.
-There's a big grin.
-There's a big...
He's got that look on his face.
You found something, didn't you?
-Something in the top pocket.
-Top pocket. Let's have a look.
Fantastic.
I can tell,
Gary, immediately.
Yeah, I can't keep any secrets,
-mate. Here you go.
-No.
-What have we got here?
A nice, little ring.
Oh, goodness.
It was on the edge of the swamp,
where it goes
up to the beach road.
That is clearly a ring
-for a very small finger.
Yeah.
-That's tiny, isn't it?
-Mm-hmm.
-We'll let Kelly have a look.
-Sure.
Nice design.
Actually very female-looking.
-It has to be. I mean...
-Yeah.
-If this was a guy, he was...
-Given the size.
-Yeah, he was a small man.
-Yeah.
But back in the day,
they had small hands.
-Mm-hmm. True.
-If this is old.
We can look at it
-under the microscope.
-Let's do it.
Using a Grobet
digital microscope,
Laird will be able to magnify
the antique ring
and examine its features
up to 2,000 times
their actual size.
Yeah. Like a flower design.
Flowers.
-Yeah.
At first...
-So, that's the central motif.
Yeah. -Right.
Strange arrangement
of the circles
on the inside of the flowers.
And like a little wave design.
Well, and that circle, uh, shape
is different than the circle
shape that's in the middle.
It's got some green tarnish
on it.
Little bit of a silvery sheen
to it, as well.
But I love that silver inlay.
What silver inlay?
-What are you looking at?
-In between the flower design.
And you think
those little white bits
-are silver, huh?
-Yeah.
Yeah, I suspect so. Yeah.
Silver?
Could Rick, Marty
and the team have found
another piece of
actual treasure on Oak Island?
What's going on right there?
Is that silver?
-No. Silver wouldn't be silver,
though. Would it? -No.
That's just What that is,
is they've just joined
the two ends together.
They braised it or soldered it.
It's a weird way to put
two things together.
It seems overcomplicated.
The corrosion
is different, though.
I mean, green and reddish.
Uh, so two different kinds
of metals, perhaps.
Copper alloy, et cetera.
That is weird.
-Yeah.
You know, I was just
having a thought;
who was the last person
to have that fall off
their finger, you know?
What's the story? Why?
-I mean...
-Yeah.
That starburst has
to tell you something.
And I don't know
what that means,
but certainly someone
would know.
Obviously, this has to go
to a jewelry expert, right?
Isn't that what you guys
would recommend?
Yeah. It can be cleaned up.
Well, we've had other jewelry,
and we've brought it
to Professor Lewton-Brain
at Calgary, and he seemed
to have a wealth of knowledge.
So, I got a feeling I know
where this one's going.
Yeah.
It's a significant find.
It's a piece
of so-called treasure.
But it's not about
just finding it,
it's about revealing it.
There's certainly
a pattern on it,
maybe related
to some cultural influences.
And it may give us a date.
So we will be
bringing in some experts
to take a look at it.
There's a lot of information
that could be gleaned from it.
Guys, it's a great find.
Anything like that
is fascinating,
and we'll keep exploring it.
But you know
what I'm gonna say, Gary.
Yep. Now get out there
and find some more.
Take your lucky
digger and get out there
-and find some more.
-Okay, mate. Will do.
-Let's go.
-See you soon.
-All right, mate. Cheers.
-See you, guys.
The following day...
The hope is today
that we get to depth.
...Rick and his business
partner Craig Tester
join geologist Terry Matheson
at the Money Pit area
to hear an update
on the progress being made
at Borehole OC-1.
Hey, Craig. -Morning, Danny.
-What's the good word?
Morning. Uh,
just going over the numbers.
So, we have 105.4
for the top-top of the plug.
We are where we should be.
-Okay.
-Yeah.
You know, we're getting right
to some key areas,
really, from here on down.
So we'll see,
once we get below there,
if we're bringing up
any wood at all.
-All right. Very good.
-I mean,
there's a little bit
of unknown here.
If you feel anything,
if your pressures spike,
if anything out
of the ordinary happens,
-we-we would like to know that.
-DANNY ANDYeah.
And the wash plant
is up and operative,
so we can process
that material right away.
All right, then. Very good.
-All right, thank you, guys.
- Okay.
See you later, Dan.
Having reached a depth
of some 105 feet,
the Oak Island team
will now begin
the tedious
and painstaking process
of carefully sifting
through the massive amounts
of earth and spoils
excavated
by the 26-ton hammer grab tool.
So, we're about to enter
a significant zone of interest.
We know the depth
of the old wood
that may be associated
with the original Money Pit.
So, as we approach that zone,
we're gonna be looking
and quite excited
about going through the spoil.
As each load of materials are
fed into the nearby wash plant,
two shaker decks
will automatically separate
and sort the spoils
according to size,
as a series
of fixed spray nozzles
clean soil and sediment
off any objects.
The resulting piles can then be
meticulously searched by hand
for any important clues,
artifacts, or valuables.
What depth are we at now?
105 excavation.
And what's the target depth,
you know,
where we're gonna get
into the good stuff?
Another...
five feet, give or take.
Look, anything that comes out
of this location
will be interesting,
because it's somewhat unknown.
I want some tunnels,
'cause I'm sure this stuff's
been migrating underground.
Well, we'll find out.
Heads up!
See a lot of the sand
from the Hedden.
-Sand from the Hedden backfill.
-Yeah, I saw that.
Look.
Got two wedges here, mate.
Yeah, I see that.
I just took one over.
A couple of them
with that pointed end.
Morning, guys.
Morning. -Oh, hey, Alex. How you doing?
-Hey.
Hey, Marty.
-What do we got?
-Got some wood.
Yeah, you can see
the new versus the old.
Are they hand-hewn on the
-on the...
-No, they're-they're pit-sawn.
-Straight cut.
-They're pit-sawn.
The wood that's coming up,
some of it
could be very significant,
because it looks straight-sawn.
And straight-sawn lumber
was done
for hundreds
and hundreds of years.
Maybe that was original stuff.
They should be perfect
for dendrochronology, so...
we'll see what the science says.
I'm thinking we're close.
I'm very hopeful that this
will give us some answers.
Wow! What the heck is that,
hanging off there?
While excavating Borehole OC-1,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and members
of the Oak Island team
have just unearthed a large
and mysterious metal object.
Wow.
Let's see if we can drag some
of that out.
He's gonna scrape it off.
Is that the shoe or the shield?
Shield, probably.
That'd definitely be
the Hedden...
-shield, right?
-Yeah.
That hasn't seen
the light of day since 1936.
Yep.
During construction
of the Hedden Shaft,
Gilbert Hedden reinforced
the structure at the bottom
with a six-foot-tall
metal brace, or shield,
to protect the shaft
from cave-ins
caused by the flood tunnels.
Could finding
Hedden's so-called shield
mean that the team is on coure
to reach
either the original Money Pit
or perhaps the Chappell Vault?
We always assumed
we would at least
tag into a piece of the shield.
And it turns out we have.
So there's high hope
for this location.
So we're gonna have
everyone looking
with a very discriminating ey,
trying to figure
this thing out.
We can't wait. These
last couple feet, you know?
I mean, we're just about there.
We got
It's gonna be the results
of all this research.
We maybe might find
the one thing.
Anything after this
is gonna be...
-unusual.
Yep. Yeah.
Well, I suppose
I'm gonna head down
to the wash plant and put
another set of eyes on it.
See you later.
Now that the drilling caisson
has passed through the bottom
of the Hedden Shaft into what
the team believes could be near
the original Money Pit,
anything found
beyond this point
could be
a game-changing discovery.
Because of this, Rick Lagina
has joined
local historian Paul Troutman
and other members of the team
as they search
through the day's spoils.
Huh?
Oh, wow. Look at that.
What do you think of this?
That look like bone?
Holy...
Definitely bone.
Yeah.
Oh, baby.
Well, it's hollow.
I mean, it's big. It's probably
a human bone, it looks like.
That is huge.
It is a huge bone.
I would have to get it tested,
but it's a pretty thick bone
at that.
A piece of bone
found nearly 120 feet deep
in Borehole OC-1?
Could it be related to the two
fragments of human bones
that were discovered
in nearby Borehole H-8
just two years ago?
Bones that, when tested,
each dated to the 1600s
and were determined
to be of European
and Middle Eastern origin?
I don't think any of us
is in any position
to state
that this is a human bone.
But it's an aha moment.
We're very close to H-8.
We know those were human bone.
Science has said so.
So is this part of that find?
From that depth,
it's very strange.
It is.
So, it was 105 this morning
-when it started, right?
-Yep.
So it must be at least 118, 120.
Yeah. It all points
toward something
being significant, right?
Hope we can find it.
Later that afternoon,
as the excavation
of Borehole OC-1 continues,
Rick Lagina gathers
with members of the team
in the w*r room to hear
a highly anticipated report
on the possible silver ring
found one day ago in the swamp.
Doug, if you'd be kind enough
to-to bring him up,
-and we'll say hello
to the gentleman -Certainly.
and hopefully get some
really relevant information.
-Hello, Professor. How are you?
-Good.
Joining them
via video conference
is Charles Lewton-Brain,
a professor at the Alberta
College of Art and Design,
who has more than 30 years
of experience
as a professional gemologist
and master goldsmith.
Having examined detailed
photographs taken of the ring,
Lewton-Brain
has been able to determine
not only when the object
was made
but also its possible origins.
Well, it's always good
-when you get something out
of your top pocket.
I've found thousands of rings
gold, silver, bronze, copper
and this ring's got me stumped.
So I'm hoping you've got
some good news for us.
I'm hoping this is kind of old.
Well, it's definitely
kind of old.
I think
we could start with that.
The repair is crude.
And because of the way
it was done,
it looks like somebody needed
it done pretty quickly.
And I think
there are two repairs.
I think there was one repair
to make the ring a lot bigger,
and a second repair to make
the ring a little smaller.
It does look like
there was a better metal used
for the repair, like silver
-or platinum.
-Yes.
It's... it's a good ring.
Well... but on the top part
of that joint,
it is still bright silver.
And the ring itself
has corroded away,
uh, thinned out
from that patch of metal.
So that could mean bronze,
or it could mean a higher
copper content to silver alloy.
Where did
this floral pattern...?
I mean, is there
any cultural influence to it?
The, uh,
floral design definitely
appears, um, handmade.
The flower in the center
is rather interesting,
because it appears
to have been chiseled.
That is, cut out using chisel,
which implies older in time,
Because, um, saw blades
don't really become available
to jewelers until 1730s, 1750.
And, um...
and so, prior to that,
you would be cutting the metal
out with a chisel.
So did I hear you correctly,
that it would be pre-1730?
It is.
-Sweet.
-And the floral pattern
reads European to me.
-I see.
-Uh, possibly Spanish.
A Spanish silver ring?
Dating back to the early 1700s
or earlier?
Could it be
in some way connected
to the Spanish maravedi coin
dated to 1652
that Rick, Marty and the team
found six years ago
in the swamp?
Yeah. Now you've pointed it out,
I know that flower designs
were really popular
on a lot of the Spanish jewelry
that you find
from the treasure fleets
-around the world, actually.
-Yeah.
Well, you know,
whenever we find things,
we're always looking to come
to a greater understanding
of possibly the "who" of it,
but certainly "when."
That timeline is instrumental
in figuring out the who, what,
when, where and why and how of
Oak Island, that's for sure.
So, we thank you for your help.
It's been insightful.
Thank you.
-Thank you. -All right, mate. Cheers.
Thank you.
I'm hoping
there's some more there.
So, let's go.
As a new day begins
on Oak Island...
Morning, guys.
Morning!
....brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina,
their partner, Craig Tester
and other members
of their team are continuing
to oversee the excavation
of Borehole OC-1,
a borehole which they believe
could lead them directly
to the original Money Pit.
We should be below
the Hedden Shaft now.
Anything we find
should be interesting.
-Yeah.
-Right on.
Finally out of that wood.
Let's get a look at it.
So, we're in situ now.
Sand and silt.
Yeah. That's just what we would
expect to see at that depth.
Look at that.
Look at the beveled edge.
There's the stave right there.
What is it?
It's the top
or the bottom of a barrel.
What would a barrel
be doing down here?
I don't know.
-You think that's a keg?
-I think it is.
I thought it was a piece
of plywood initially, but...
there was a stave
coming right up with it.
So that's the side of the barrel
widening towards
-the barreled-out center.
Oh, yeah. Look at that.
Definitely the end
of a little barrel.
This is really interesting
because that's a component
of the original
treasure cache story.
The guy grabbed the top
of a keg as he ran.
In 1861,
treasure hunters constructed
what came to be known
as "Shaft Six," located 18 fet
east of the original Money Pi.
At a depth of 118 feet,
they began constructing
a lateral tunnel
toward the treasure shaft
in an attempt
to reach the believed vault
from underneath it
while trying to avoid hitting
the booby-trapped
flood tunnels.
It didn't work.
Just two feet shy
of their target,
the tunnel was suddenly
breached by a rush of seawater,
nearly drowning
the workers inside.
But after narrowly escaping
with his life,
one of the men did manage
to recover an unusual object
in the surge of water
and debris:
a piece of what appeared
to be a wooden keg barrel.
Look at that tapered edge.
Can you imagine they were doing
that without machining and...?
That's cool.
When the collapse occurred,
somebody emerged with
the circular end of a barrel.
And then, lo and behold,
we come up with a rounded piece.
You know, men were down there.
This is a handcrafted item, so
men were down at those depths.
Is it related to searchers
or original depositional work?
We don't know yet.
Yeah, people mistakenly think
that all Spanish treasure was
in chests. It wasn't.
-Most of it was in kegs.
-All right.
We keep track of that.
We don't want to lose that.
You hear where we're at?
Probably about 147 or so.
Yeah. Starting now, within
the next couple of scoops,
-we should start hitting it.
Yeah.
It could be any
of these hammer-grabs.
-Is that a...?
-That's wood.
Not sure what that means.
What are we looking at?
Well, we brought up this beam.
It definitely is cut by man,
axe cuts on the sides.
Not milled.
-Yeah. That's hand-hewn.
-Yeah.
Some of those pieces
that came out were
what I call "half-logs."
Where they're flat on
two sides, but not on others.
And they were hand-hewn, so,
I don't know
of any searcher work done,
specifically done here.
No shafts anyway.
I agree, and there's no tunnels
that we're aware of.
What could it be?
Well, unless
there's another tunnel
that we don't have
any historical records of,
then-then...
Then it has to go way back
to the original people.
So if there's a treasure,
it's down another two feet.
Yup.
Well, we'll find out right here.
It'd just be nice to pull
a big silver doubloon out.
It'd be fantastic.
It's not showing me a lot
of love.
Wow.
That's weird. You're through
that wood that fast,
-and then nothing.
-Yup.
That doesn't look promising.
That's crazy.
Not even a squeak.
But I don't understand
what that wood represents then.
I mean, what,
somebody just buried
a big piece of wood real deep?
Wh-Whoever did it, it is
undocumented. You're right.
Looks like we're striking out
so far, Alex.
Yup.
Gentlemen,
-what's the word?
-The casing is at 158.
Our shaft is, uh, 158.6.
You're gonna hit
the bedrock plateau.
Yeah, let's just take one more,
and unless...
unless we see something good,
we'll call it quits.
One more grab,
and then we'll check it out?
-Yup.
-Okay.
Wow.
Not much of anything
in that one.
Despite finding compelling
evidence earlier in the day,
Borehole OC-1 is no longer
producing the kind of evidence
or artifacts the team thought
they'd be seeing by now.
No. Nothing in there.
That's it.
-Let's call it?
-It's up to you.
Yeah. No. I'm good.
-We gave it a good sh*t.
-Yeah.
The Laginas and their partners
will now have to rethink
their current strategy,
as it is entirely possible
that both the Chappell Vault
and the contents
of the original Money Pit
may have shifted over time.
It looked like we might be
on top of the Money Pit,
and then everything went quiet.
Just because
we find the original Money Pit
doesn't necessarily mean
that whatever was once there
is still there.
It could be... elsewhere.
Shadows are getting long.
We're done with this hole.
Andiamo.
I think we need
to take a step back
and-and look at the data,
puzzle these things out,
try to put some puzzle pieces
together because,
unfortunately, we're not as fr
at putting that puzzle togethr
as I would like to be.
Well, here we are.
The next day,
as the team reassesses
their search operation
at the Money Pit,
Rick Lagina, Oak Island
historian Doug Crowell
and Dave Blankenship arrive at
the former home
of Dave's late father
veteran Oak Island treasure
hunter Dan Blankenship.
There, they are also joined
by Dave's sister,
Linda Flowers,
who is now the owner
of the house.
-Hey, Dave. Hey, Rick.
-How you doing? -Hey.
-Hi. Hi. How are you?
-Yeah.
You know Rick,
and this is Doug Crowell.
-Yeah. Hey.
-Hi, Linda.
-This is my sister, Doug.
-Yeah.
-Nice, Linda. -Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
-Good to see you again, Rick.
-Good to see you.
Yeah. You all wanted
to look at Dad's papers.
-Yeah. -Let's go around
the side of the house here.
The office is open there.
That'd be perfect.
Ladies first.
Dave and Linda
have invited Rick and Doug
to search through
their father's
vast collection of research,
which Dan amassed
over 50 years of living
and searching on the island.
Dan's archives
also include the records
of previous
Oak Island treasure hunters,
such as M.R. Chappell,
Erwin Hamilton
and Gilbert Hedden.
This is probably the first time,
I believe,
-since-since he passed that...
-That you've been in his office?
-Yes.
-Oh.
Well, welcome. Welcome.
Thank you.
I don't think
there's a day that goes by
that each of us doesn't think
of Mr. Blankenship.
Personally, professionally,
the loss has affected us
in-in a variety of ways.
It's a... It's as I remember.
Getting cleaned up some.
Dad did a lot of maps.
A lot paperwork. Drawers full,
cabinets full.
Somewhere within this
is that one little clue
-that will help us.
- That's all you need.
That's all you need.
Take your time
-and, uh, enjoy.
-Thank you. Thank you, Linda.
Really appreciate it.
It is Rick Lagina's hope
that by examining
Dan's records,
the team will be able
to pinpoint
a more accurate location
for their next drilling
operation at the Money Pit.
Do you want to start with maps,
or do you want to start
with paperwork?
There's hidden gems everywhere,
so I think
-we just grab a box
and go through it. -Okay.
It's a bit overwhelming
to walk into Dan's office
without Dan being there.
And it's also a bit overwhelming
in terms of the enormity
of the material
that Dan had accumulated
over a lifetime.
Wow.
But to see information
that we've not seen before,
it's incredibly interesting.
And we're gonna try
to focus on the material
that might be highly relevant
to the search
as it moves forward.
Oh, this is interesting.
-An unbound copy of a map.
Oh, really?
I've never seen this before,
Rick. Anywhere.
Now we're cooking.
One day
after being given access
to the personal archive
of Dan Blankenship...
Hey, Rick.
-Hey, everybody.
...Rick Lagina,
along with members
of the team,
meet in the research center
to choose where to conduct
the next large-scale excavation
in the Money Pit area.
With only a few weeks left
until they must halt
all major operations
on the island
before the onset of winter,
every day now represents
a critical opportunity
to make a major discovery.
You know, we all know that we're
running tight up against
the, uh, drilling
in the Money Pit.
And so, before we leave
this building today,
we have to pick
a caisson location.
We've got a lot of data
that keeps on pointing us
in a-a similar area,
but that area
isn't tight enough.
We need to tighten that circle.
I have something
that might help.
Come up here
and take a look at these, guys.
When you and I and Dave
went over and talked to Linda
and they let us see Dan's files,
we found a really interesting
piece of information.
This is from Hamilton,
and it shows
the tunnels he explored.
I think you're gonna be
really interested in it.
In 1938,
Erwin Hamilton,
a professor of engineering
at New York University,
formed a partnership
with Oak Island
treasure hunters
Gilbert Hedden
and Frederick Blair
to locate
the original Money Pit.
For the next five years,
Hamilton and his men
devoted much of their time
to reexcavating and exploring
more than 20
previously constructed shafts
and tunnels
from search expeditions
dating back to 1850.
Although he and his partners
were ultimately unsuccessful
in finding the treasure,
they meticulously documented
each of these shafts
onto a survey grid.
He's got the 118-foot shaft
sitting back here
behind Chappell
with a tunnel seemingly pointing
into this area.
This being Six?
Yes.
Shaft Six is probably
the most talked about shaft
besides the Money Pit
because the collapse was
supposed to have filled it up,
and it's
the possible debris field
of the treasure chamber.
If we can find that,
it'll help us triangulate where
the original Money Pit was.
The answers are there.
Just wait and see what comes up.
One year ago,
Rick, Marty and the team
drilled a 50-inch-wide
exploratory shaft
in an attempt to penetrate
the wood-cribbed tunnel
that extends
off of the 1861 searcher shaft
known as Shaft Six.
Because this tunnel
was only 18 feet
from the original Money Pit,
it was Rick,
Marty and Craig's hope
that they could intercept it
and then trace it back
to the fabled treasure vault's
general location.
We're almost certainly
in the tunnel.
I would bet everything on it.
They had good reason to believe
that they had hit their target
after making a number
of compelling discoveries,
including
possible leather bookbinding,
18th century pottery
and a hand-cut oak timber...
That's oak.
-There's no question about that.
-Yeah.
...similar to those
reportedly used
to build the platforms
found
in the original Money Pit.
However,
the team was left to conclude
that they most likely missed
the Shaft Six tunnel
since no evidence of treasure
was recovered.
When Linda, Dan's daughter,
provided us access
to Dan's archives,
uh, the hope was always
that there would be
some sort of information
down there
that might assist us
in locating the cans.
Our best guess at the Money Pit
is pushing us in the area
-where this is pointing to.
Well,
it turns out
Doug was able to find the map,
which will be of immense help
in terms of locating
not only Shaft Six
but the tunnel
associated with it
and thus find
the original Money Pit location.
This one's to scale,
so it did give us
actual dimensions on it.
-So that, you could plot.
-Yep.
And come up
with a spot
for this version of Six.
Well, I think we all recognize
that we need the best "X"
on the ground that we can.
Let's grid this out.
Let's ground-truth it
as best we can,
and it becomes
a caisson location.
This is probably
our best gamble right now.
Find Six.
All right. Let's go.
-We ready?
-Yeah. Yeah, we're ready.
Here we go.
It is the start
of another hope-filled day
on Oak Island
as Rick Lagina
and other members of the team
gather at the Money Pit area
with representatives
from Irving Equipment Limited
and ROC Equipment.
Armed with
a nearly 80-year-old survey map
made by
Professor Erwin Hamilton,
they have chosen
a new drill site
known simply as 8-A...
Coming down, Jared.
...located
some 20 feet southwest
of Borehole OC-1.
What's your hope?
How many feet per day?
I do expect to probably have
the can down 30, 40 feet today.
Maybe not excavated out,
but the can down.
So, where do you think we should
really take a hard look?
Where should we start?
Between 90 and 100 feet.
Just really slow down.
Yeah. You got to get
real serious at that level.
Okay.
I think we've done
all the homework
that we had to do.
We accessed all
of Dan's archival information.
My hope is that something
will come of it,
because without his assistance,
I think we would
literally be at square one.
You know,
when you think about it,
the last time
that-that they actually knew
where the Money Pit was
was in 1867.
And since then,
up until this point,
it's been everybody's idea
where it is.
But the pieces are starting
to fit together, right?
I mean, I can't be
more confident that we're
right where
we're supposed to be.
Feels pretty good taking part
in one of the largest
smash-and-grabs
-in the world.
I just feel lucky.
I-I think we're gonna find
something really cool.
I hope so, Gary.
Too many people have labored
too long and too hard
for this not to be real.
We need something
to validate all that blood,
all that sweat, all those tears.
This, hopefully, will prove
that all of that
was not unwarranted.
The early treasure seekers
were singularly focused
on treasure,
but everyone
who came after them,
I think there was a component
of trying to understand
what happened here.
We're trying to unravel histoy
every bit as much
as trying to recover
a supposed
long-lost fabled treasure.
Hopefully,
we'll get some answers.
I would like
for all of us to know
that we labored to an end
that we all believed in.
For Rick, Marty
and the Oak Island team,
a frustrating setback
at the Money Pit
has led to what could be
their greatest opportunity yet
in their hopes of finding
the mysterious
Oak Island treasure.
But if their efforts
are successful,
will they find that the closer
they get to revealing
Oak Island's secrets,
the closer they are
to putting themselves
in the path
of its deadly curse?
Next time
on The Curse of Oak Island...
What the heck is that?
Same size as the cribbing spikes
that we found in Smith's Cove.
-These were placed
as booby traps. -Wow.
- We're cutting
through something. Wow.
-DOUG: Oh, look at the wood.
-There you go.
Wow, look at the size of that.
-Yeah!
This piece is hand-hewn,
as well. Look.
This should be the money tunnel.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at this.
This could be a hinge
to a chest.
That's freaking awesome!
07x19 - Lords of the Ring
Watch/Buy Amazon Merchandise
Follows brothers Marty and Rick as they search for the infamous treasure on Oak Island.
Follows brothers Marty and Rick as they search for the infamous treasure on Oak Island.