09x02 - The Gold Metal

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...

MARTY:
We're back, Oak Island,

old friend.

Hold it! Whoa, look at that!

(beeping)

- Something in there.
- Oh, there's something in there.

- Yeah, it's a big chunk of metal right there.
- CRAIG: Wow.

IAN:
I'll give it a sh*t here.

Wow, those are
some strange elements.

- GARY: AU.
- RICK: Really?

That would be gold.

These came back
with one time period.

Really and truthfully?

Medieval, baby!

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.

♪ ♪

TERRY: And the day
begins. Here we go.

NARRATOR: It is the start of a
new day of exploration on Oak Island.

- This is gonna be it, man.
- And for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team,

their level
of excitement and anticipation

of a major discovery
has never been higher.

TERRY:
Okay, it's showtime!

CHARLES:
Here we go.

Now we're cooking with gas.

- STEVE G.: We're on D-2, right?
- Yep.

This is a good hole, because we
have about a 15-foot rectangle

with good data,
but unknown data.

So we're going west to see
how far this extends.

We're gonna continue to chase
this wood

till we no longer find it.

And then we know it lives
in this area.

Yeah.

NARRATOR:
Today they have begun drilling

a new borehole known as D-2,

which is located less than
eight feet from the C-1 Shaft

in the Money Pit.

The team has dubbed the area
the "C-1 Cluster,"

not only because they have
recently discovered evidence

of a man-made tunnel system
some 90 feet deep,

but also,
evidence of the treasure

people have been looking for
since 1795.

So, what have you got
to tell us?

NARRATOR:
One week ago,

geoscientists Dr. Ian Spooner
and Dr. Peir Pufahl

presented their astonishing
report of water samples

taken in previously drilled
boreholes

in the area of the C-1 Cluster.

Here's the bottom line:
it's got gold in it.

It's got gold in the water,

and if it's got gold
in the water,

the gold is coming
from somewhere.

RICK:
I told you Bravo-Tango

was coming at some point.

Continue on here with the, uh,

- soil sampling to get the background and gold content.
- Yep.

Right.

Dr. Spooner basically looked at
all kinds of different samples,

and his overall conclusion
was that he could not find

a natural source
for the gold and the silver

we're seeing in the water.

(laughs):
There she is! Beautiful!

MARTY:
That is really good news.

Does it absolutely mean
it's coming from a treasure? No.

But does it get us closer
by process of elimination?

Yes, definitely.

NARRATOR:
Now the Oak Island team

is in the process of drilling

up to 20 new boreholes
across a strategic grid,

taking core samples
at ten-foot intervals

down to depths
of as much as 200 feet

in an attempt
to pinpoint the location

of the possible treasure.

Once completed,
they intend to dig

a number of ten-foot-wide
steel-cased shafts

later this year,
and hopefully solve

the Oak Island mystery
once and for all.

RICK: The hope,
certainly, amongst the team

is that they
can reverse-engineer

where these deposits

might be
and put an "X" on the ground

and investigate it
with a drilling program

or a large can.

We're in a good spot.

So this is gonna tell us a lot.

This is the year that everything
seems to be coming together.

TERRY:
Agreed.

NARRATOR: While the
core-drilling operation

in borehole D-2 continues...

RICK:
How far over do you want to go?

- I mean, we got to do this whole area anyway, so...
- To that? Okay.

in the southeast corner
of the swamp,

Rick Lagina, along with
archaeologists Laird Niven

and Miriam Amirault,

as well as heavy equipment
operator Billy Gerhardt,

continue investigating
near the massive stone road,

or possible ship's wharf,

a ship's wharf that
researcher Terry Deveau believes

could be as much
as 500 years old.

This is a type of road

that was built in Europe
in the 1500s.

CHARLES:
Wow.

TERRY D.:
What comes to my mind

is the Portuguese.

BILLY:
We don't know how deep it is.

We may have enough room there.

If we get anything from there,
that's significant.

BILLY:
Yeah.

We did find a ship's piece

- in that lower layer.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR:
One week ago,

just after Terry's
incredible presentation...

RICK: I would bet anything
that's from a ship.

the team discovered
a curious wood artifact

that may have come
from a large sailing vessel.

CRAIG:
This is one right here, too.

GARY: I think we've
found a barrel here.

along with pieces

of potentially ancient
cargo barrels.

We anticipated the southeast
corner of the swamp

would be productive,
and it's not disappointing.

Finding barrel staves,
things that could be from ships,

um, it's looking good.

- Hey, Laird.
- Hey, Craig.

- I'm here to help.
- Okay.

Billy will bring
the bucket up for you

- and just shake it out.
- Okay.

- All right? Okay.
- Sounds great.

♪ ♪

(scraping)

CRAIG:
Got something here.

- LAIRD: Whoa, Bill.
- Yeah.

CRAIG: There's a structure
there, a wooden structure.

Rick, come look
at this structure we found.

NARRATOR:
A wooden structure?

Buried in the southeast corner
of the swamp?

Could it be connected
to the believed stone wharf?

Or might it be another,
completely separate construct?

If so, who built it? When?

And for what purpose?

CRAIG:
All of a sudden, the, uh, muck

fell away from the side.

You can see the boards--
There was, like,

three boards
on top of each other.

Looks like cribbing

- of some sort.
- Is that, uh...

- dimensional lumber?
- LAIRD: Looks to be.

- Well, I don't actually know.
- CRAIG: I'll jump in there

if you want me to, Laird.

Sure, if you want.

LAIRD:
Going in.

Uh, this appears to be
the bottom here.

- That's all one board to there.
- LAIRD: Wow.

- 12-to 16-inch board.
- That's a huge board.

LAIRD:
It's big, isn't it?

I wonder,
did the Restalls supposedly...

think they probed something
and then dug a shaft

down to it, maybe?

Maybe.

They probed looking for the...

Jack Adams box.

NARRATOR:
According to Jack Adams,

who served as a caretaker
on Oak Island during the 1930s,

while probing in the southeast
corner of the swamp,

he made contact
with a large wooden box

that was buried beneath the
brackish water, muck and mud.

Although the box
was never verified or recovered,

years later, Mr. Adams
shared his believed find

with the Restall family,
who spent five years

living on Oak Island
between 1959 and 1965.

Thank you.

In 2013,

Lee Lamb shared the journals of
her late brother, Bobby Restall,

who documented much of
the family's legendary efforts.

There's September 22, 1960.

This is exactly
what we were talking about.

Included was an entry detailing
how Bobby constructed

a wooden platform in the
southeast corner of the swamp

to search for what Jack Adams
believed to be hidden there.

I have pictures of this, Rick.

There's pictures
of them working in the swamp,

like, leaning over the water

and probing
with this big, long pole.

CRAIG:
It comes all the way up to here.

One solid board.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that this wooden structure

is part of the platform
Bobby Restall built,

attempting to locate
the so-called "mystery box"?

If so, could that mean
that it is still hidden

somewhere in this area?

BILLY: I guess no matter
which way you look at it,

Restalls or not, you know,
they were here,

and somebody knows something
about this corner of the swamp.

CRAIG:
Oh, yeah.

We're chasing the same thing.

RICK: Okay, well, if
everyone's in agreement,

- well, let's keep going.
- All right.

NARRATOR: While Rick
Lagina continues to oversee

the investigation
in the swamp...

CHARLES:
A core coming out.

TERRY:
Looks like, yep.

NARRATOR:
back in the Money Pit area,

the team has just reached
their zone of interest,

around 90 feet deep
in borehole D-2.

- What's the good word, Adam?
- 88.5.

That's good.

Ready, Terry?

- TERRY: This is more like it.
- STEVE G.: Oh, it's full of wood!

- TERRY: Yeah.
- CHARLES: We've got some major wood there.

TERRY:
Wood piled on top of wood.

Some kind of planking
or material on the floor.

STEVE G.:
That's a lot of wood.

Yeah.

NARRATOR:
Planked wood?

Nearly 90 feet deep
in borehole D-2?

One week ago, the team made
a nearly identical discovery

in borehole CD-6
some 15 feet away.

Is it possible they've
encountered the same structure?

And if so, could it be connected
to the silver and gold

they recently detected
in this area?

- Gentlemen. - STEVE G: Hey, Craig.
- TERRY: Hi, Craig.

- How you doing?
- Take a look at this.

It's dark and looks woody.

This is very dark and woody.

CHARLES:
Yeah.

CRAIG: Did you run your,
uh, metal detector over it?

CHARLES:
I'm gonna do that now.

Charles, I'll get you
some wood samples,

- if you want to grab the bags.
- Yeah, I'll get it. Let me run

the pinpointer over it first.

Okay.

(beeping)

Oh, what do we got?

Let me pick the bag up.

- There's something in there.
- Oh, there's something in there.

STEVE G.: It'd be nice
to find an artifact.

NARRATOR: At a depth of
some 90 feet in borehole D-2

in the Money Pit area,

the Oak Island team
has just retrieved a core sample

that not only contains more
evidence of a wooden structure,

but also something
they hope will be

a much more valuable clue.

CHARLES:
There's something in here.

CRAIG: Oh, there it
is, a piece of flat metal.

CHARLES:
Yeah, it looks like it.

There's metal right here.

- (beeping)
- STEVE G.: That's a big chunk.

CHARLES: Yeah, it's a big
chunk of metal right there.

- STEVE G.: That's good.
- TERRY: Wow.

Hey, can you take a quick look
at this?

Do you think that's mud caked
on there? Clay?

Or do you think it might be
cement of some sort?

Mm, actually, okay.

Yeah, on closer inspection,

yeah, that looks
like it might be

a little more solid than mud.

That looks like is has the
possibility of being cement.

NARRATOR:
Possible cement?

Found 90 feet deep
on a piece of metal

in borehole D-2?

But if so, is it simply evidence
of previous searcher activities

in the Money Pit
from the past two centuries?

Or from something
that was done deep underground

on Oak Island much earlier?

What would they be using
the cement for?

What would they be cementing in?

STEVE G.: What's the
history on that, Charles?

In the vault that the Oak Island
Treasure Company found in 1897,

they drilled through
what they believed to be cement.

They actually sent a sample away
to London,

and it came back
with a high probability

that it was man-made cement.

NARRATOR: When treasure hunters
Frederick Blair and William Chappell

reported drilling
through a cement substance

that encased a seven-foot-tall
wooden vault back in 1897,

they also discovered
the scrap of parchment paper

bearing the letters V-I
as well as shavings of gold

when they retracted
their drill bit.

CHARLES:
Don't break it.

NARRATOR: Since the team
has already obtained evidence

of both silver and gold
in this area,

could they be close
to finally locating

the so-called "Chappell Vault"?

TERRY:
Interesting.

CHARLES: You know, the fact that
we're finding what could be cement

on this piece of metal,

that brings me back to the story

of the Oak Island
Treasure Company

drilling into the vault.

And they actually went through
cement and a very thin metal.

And that's maybe what we're
actually picking up now.

Yeah, this appears
just metal here.

TERRY: It's a little
too thin for drill casing.

I think so, too, yeah.

RICK: These are the first metals
that we have found

of unknown origin

in the Money Pit.

We've recovered metals,

but in association
with drive shoes

and old shafts and nails.

This is a unique find

at a depth we're
significantly interested in,

in a previously unexplored area.

It means you're close
to a structure.

That's my interpretation.

It would be interesting to see
if there is correlation

or relation between the two.
I mean,

- as we know, multiple workings underground.
- Absolutely.

Dr. Brousseau can look at the
metal and see if it's cement.

Okay, let's bag 'er.

- CHARLES: Okay.
- NARRATOR: While drilling in the Money Pit continues,

along with the search
in the southeast corner

of the swamp...

- GARY: So we'll give it a go, mate?
- RICK: Okay.

NARRATOR: Rick Lagina and
metal detection expert Gary Drayton

arrive at the uplands on Lot 15.

It was in this area...

What is this?

where just one week ago,

Gary and Peter Fornetti
discovered an unusual iron band

on nearby Lot 17,

which once belonged to the wheel
of an old cart or wagon.

This find not only dated

to before the discovery
of the Money Pit in 1795,

but also offered evidence
of a potential pathway

between the swamp
and the original treasure shaft.

To find this hidden road,
it is Rick and Gary's hope

that uncovering a trail
of pre-searcher artifacts

between Lot 15 and the Money Pit

could prove this theory
to be true.

We put flags on any target

that sounds good to me.

- Mm-hmm.
- And now we've got permission to dig them up.

So all we got to do is see
what they are,

put them in a bag, mark them,

exact same as the flag,
and Bob's your uncle.

- Okay.
- Find something good.

RICK: Metal detecting is different
this year-- we have to create

transects, or grids,
across the island.

Uh, we also have to get a permit

from Communities,
Culture and Heritage

for that process to continue.

In that area there, mate.

NARRATOR:
In 2010,

Rick, Marty,
Craig and their partners

obtained permission from
the government of Nova Scotia

to search for treasure
on Oak Island.

It is the only location
within the province

where such activities are legal.

At the time, other than
the late 18th century homesteads

that once belonged
to Samuel Ball-- on Lot 25--

And Daniel McGinnis--
On Lot 21--

They were subject
to few restrictions

regarding
metal detecting activities

across their property.

That all changed in the wake
of the historic discoveries

the team made last year
in the swamp,

such as the massive stone road

and the cobblestone pathway,

which may be leading
in this direction on Lot 15,

and potentially even toward
the original Money Pit.

I think the arising awareness
in the public

of how important this might be

has caused regulators
to sit up and pay attention,

in large part due to the success
of us making this real.

NARRATOR: Now, other
than a designated green zone,

which covers the Money Pit area

from Lot 18
to Smith's Cove on Lot 20,

Gary must first mark
metal targets that he detects

with flags,
and then obtain permission

from archaeologist Laird Niven

to go back and retrieve
whatever they may be.

GARY:
There, mate.

(beeping)

GARY:
Oh!

- Our old friend, the pull tab.
- Imagine that.

Bag it and tag it,
even though it's trash.

Yeah, I think issues like this
need to be addressed with CCH.

This just seems like
a waste of time

- and assets.
- Yeah.

We have to really dig
through the trash

to get to the treasures.

RICK: My hope is that the
positive will outweigh the negative,

but to be honest,
it will slow down the work.

Yeah, it's like a scrapyard
around here.

All right,
next flag is just here.

(beeping)

Just here.

(beeping accelerates)

That sounds even better.

Whoa, look at that!

There you go.

It was there.

Yeah!

Ox shoe.

NARRATOR: On Lot 15, between
the swamp and the Money Pit,

Rick Lagina and metal detection
expert Gary Drayton

may have just discovered
what could be an important clue.

That looks like an oldie.

Crazy, isn't it?

So, all that modern junk,
and then we get

an older ox shoe in this area.

We're not too far off
the Money Pit, as well.

And we found all those ox shoes

- down below the so-called pine tar kiln.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR:
An ox shoe?

Since the team has found
a number of ox shoes

over the last year
on the island,

might it be more evidence of,
not just a path

between the swamp
and the Money Pit,

but also an operation
to haul heavy cargo

between the two locations,
as well?

That's cool.

That's what we want
to be finding, some old stuff.

And I knew there had to be
some more old stuff in here.

It's just clearing all this out.

And unfortunately,
somewhere like this,

we're gonna have to take
all the surface junk out

to get to the good stuff.

GARY:
Where you find ox shoes,

you're in an area which could
potentially be a trail,

or an area where treasure
was hauled, perhaps.

So...

this is exciting.

What is that? French? British?

To me, it looks British, because
it's got that wider bottom...

- Mm-hmm.
- And that thinner top.

NARRATOR: If Gary's assessment
about this ox shoe's origin is correct,

could that mean
it may be connected

to the British pine tar kiln

that the team found
on Lot 15 last year?

The same one that
archaeologist David McGinnis

believes to date back
as far as the 16th century,

and which Laird Niven suspects
may have been used

in the construction
of the original Money Pit?

Maybe we should go back
to the old aerials.

Plot this, these finds,
against the old aerials

where it's cleared

- Yeah.
- And see if they correspond.

Yeah.

Well, that's good.

We know someone was here

using an ox a long time ago.

That's better, mate.
These are the type of finds

we want to be recovering.

I knew we could sniff out
an old find.

- On to the next flag.
- Okay.

NARRATOR:
Later that afternoon...

after being informed
of the mysterious piece of metal

that was found in borehole D-2
in the Money Pit area...

All right, chaps.

- How's it going?
- Good.

Rick Lagina, Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt

join geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner and Laird Niven

in the archaeology trailer.

In order to learn
what the object is composed of,

they are preparing to scan it
using an XRF,

or X-Ray Fluorescence device.

RICK: I believe the
classroom is now full.

- (chuckles)
- Excellent.

So, I want to show you

a piece of metal that came up.

I think it's D-2,

uh, near C-1 at 88 feet.

So, it's
a very interesting zone,

and it's really odd,
to me at least,

that metal's coming up.

- Did wood come up with it?
- Yeah.

Wood came up.

So, I'm just gonna throw it on
and see what we get.

- This should be interesting.
- Yeah.

Let's just give it a sh*t here.

RICK: When I learned that
they had found some metals,

at depth,
I'm there in a heartbeat.

Wow. Those are
some strange elements.

- Right.
- Yeah.

This horizon,

to me, it's very interesting.

The tunnels that
have been found previously,

whether they were inferred
to be original work

or part of the searcher work,

was previously unknown.

And the addition of the XRF

has been a boon to understanding

the importance
of some of these artifacts.

Osmium. Is that cobalt? Iridium.

Manganese.

- Zirconium?
- IAN: Zirconium, that's correct.

Titanium.

GARY:
AU!

RICK:
Really?

IAN: Well, let's
just let it figure out...

It's doing all its math
right now.

That would be gold.

- I don't see that yet, Gary.
- No, I did.

- I saw it flash. Yeah, I did.
- BILLY: It flashed for a second.

- I saw that AU.
- Let's move it around a bit,

'cause I saw that, too.

NARRATOR:
Traces of gold?

Detected on the mysterious piece
of metal

retrieved from D-2
in the Money Pit?

Could it mean that the team
is close to pinpointing

the location of the fabled
Oak Island treasure?

- GARY: There it is! AU!
- RICK: There it is.

IAN:
That's-that's pretty high.

Like, 6-8? Yeah, .068%.

Not parts per million,
but percent.

Is that a large amount of gold?

Yeah, that's more gold
than you think.

Like a dump truck full of gold?

(chuckles):
No. That amount is...

No, a thimble.
A thimble full of gold.

I think we were all shocked
that there was a gold signature

when they ran the XRF
on these metals.

Well, I love this machine now.

(laughs): Yeah. We've
had this thing for a year,

and I've done a fair bit
of metal on it

and I've never seen any gold.

RICK: I don't know
what to make of it.

Follow the science.

Is it possibly an aha moment?
Yes, it is.

IAN:
So it's significant gold.

It's either on the surface
of the metal,

or it's on...

the sediment on the metal,

'cause it hasn't been cleaned.

GARY: Does this, in your
opinion, make it more likely

that there is treasure
in the Money Pit?

Well, there's gold on the metal
at 88 to 92 feet,

somewhere around there.

I mean,
it's not what I expected.

I've got one piece
of a big puzzle.

The water's another piece.
And these data are coming in.

They're provocative
in exactly the spot

that you'd expect provocative
results to come from.

So, I'm getting surprised
at a furious rate these days.

(laughter)

- Welcome to the island.
- Yeah.

RICK: It's just more homework,
more in-depth analysis,

and I think in combination
with the water sampling,

the lab work,

as a team, we can move this
thing forward at this point.

I think we're
on a very good path to success.

- Yeah.
- Anyway...

- We better go find some more.
- Yes.

GARY:
That was good news.

BILLY:
Sure was.

NARRATOR: One day after
unearthing a metal object

which contains high traces
of gold from the Money Pit...

- 48.7 meters without casing.
- Yeah, 48.7.

the drilling operation there
continues

in search
of more valuable clues.

STEVE G.:
We've got a long ways to go.

Meanwhile...

- Morning. - Morning.
- MIRIAM: Hi.

We found rocks.

- Yeah, you sure did.
- Yeah, we're just...

we're just kind of
cleaning it off.

Rick Lagina

and heavy equipment operator
Billy Gerhardt

arrive at the southeastern
corner of the swamp,

where archaeologists
Miriam Amirault and Laird Niven

have just uncovered
what they believe to be

more of the ancient stone
ship's wharf.

So, what's the plan
for the day, then?

Um, if you don't mind
helping Miriam...

I will... I will do
whatever you tell me.

- I'll work with Billy.
- Yep.

- And we'll start.
- Then we'll go in here. - All right.

RICK:
It's an ongoing story,

and that's what
the archaeologists

have really taught us.

You're not gonna find one or two
or five or ten things

and go, "There's the story."

This is evolving, and I'm glad

that they're leading the charge.

Rick, will you just grab that...
those couple sticks?

I don't know
if they're important or not.

- That's interesting.
- That's a different one.

Miriam?

- What's up?
- Look.

Well, that's weird.

I've never seen
anything like that.

No. It's broken here.

Almost like a bowl. Feel that.

It's concave.

Oh!

Oh, that's really weird.

Laird? Do you want to come here
for a second?

LAIRD:
What do you have?

- Hey. - I don't know.
- Oh.

What is it?

- No idea, Laird?
- No.

I don't. I really don't.

But given the items that we
think are associated with boats

or building of boats, this might
be a maritime object as well.

Makes sense.

Yep.

NARRATOR:
It was the belief

of the late Oak Island
treasure hunter Fred Nolan

that the swamp
had been artificially created

in order to hide the wreck
of a massive treasure galleon.

In 2019, Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team identified

a mysterious 200-foot-long,
galleon-shaped anomaly

deep in the middle
of the brackish bog

using seismic scanning.

However,
that was only the beginning.

- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, look at that! That's nice!

That is old.
It's a handmade spike.

They have also found
17th century ship spikes...

- MARTY: What is that?
- Possible deck planking...

and a number
of b*rned wood pieces

that blacksmith Carmen Legge
believes to be parts of a ship.

It's almost like it's meant
to rest on something

or go into something.

Now, after finding
another wooden artifact

next to the ancient stone
ship's wharf

in the swamp's
southeastern corner,

could the team
be close to proving

that Fred Nolan was right?

It's really cool.

I've never seen
anything like that.

- RICK: Somebody will know.
- LAIRD: Somebody will know.

Okay,

- I'll take care of it.
- All righty.

LAIRD:
All right.

NARRATOR:
Later that afternoon...

while drilling continues
in the Money Pit...

Oh, yeah, right to the bottom.

GARY: I was looking forward
to coming back in this area.

Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
arrive on Lot 16

to continue searching for clues
along the possible pathway

between the swamp
and the Money Pit.

We've got to find
something good.

Let's find something good.

I have my favorite shovel,
if that helps.

GARY: Your favorite
shovel and my lucky digger--

- What can go wrong?
- (laughs)

It's probably in the top.

I expect some junk here, 'cause
we're not too far off the lane.

Sure.

Let's see
if I can pinpoint for...

(beeping)

-(rapid beeping) -There
you go. Yeah, we're on it.

A square nail,
by the look of it.

A big chunky one.
Yeah, it's tough to say

how old it is,
but, I mean, it's heavy.

- Mm-hmm.
- I know it's an oldie.

That's maybe the head
of the nail. I don't know.

Yeah, 'cause that tells
the story of the nail, the head.

Well, mate, great start.

- I'll tag and bag it.
- Okay.

RICK: The hope is that you
can connect these artifacts

with other artifacts
that have been found.

Because there's always someone
who knows something

about the most esoteric subject,
maybe there's someone

who can look at all the spikes
and say: You know what, guys?

There's
a cultural influence here.

Or maybe there's
a specific forging technique.

They are not just static finds.

They should be able
to tell us something.

One thing I've noticed
when we flagged this area,

Peter and I,
is that most of the targets

seem to be along the top here
and along the bottom.

So the next group of targets
are down near the water.

Okay.

GARY:
Hold it!

- Do you see what I see?
- RICK: Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR:
On Lot 16,

between the swamp
and the Money Pit,

Gary Drayton and Rick Lagina

have just made what could be
an important discovery.

Look at the shape of that.

Whoa, look at that!

It's a round sh*t!

RICK:
Wow.

Dang, that is a nice find.

NARRATOR:
A piece of round sh*t?

Although dating as far back
as the 12th century in China,

round sh*t is
a spherical projectile

designed to be launched

from both cannons
and handheld firearms.

While the early form
of round sh*t

was made of stone,
it was eventually replaced

by iron throughout Europe
in the 17th century.

Steve, look at this.

Oh, wow.

Last year,
while sifting through the spoils

excavated
from the Money Pit area,

treasure hunter
Michael John discovered

a very similar small,
round stone.

- Have you seen this, Gary?
- This...

is a dress stone,
or a g*n stone.

This is really, really old.

Before the days of cannonballs,
iron cannonballs.

Could this piece of stone sh*t,

found between the swamp
and the Money Pit,

and the one found last year
in the Money Pit area itself

be connected?

This being stone sh*t, mate,
wonder where this came from.

You'd have to say it came
from the water,

- Yeah.
- Which is not too far away.

And about the right distance if
you was f*ring a small cannon.

So how big a cannon
does that come out of?

It would... more than likely,
it would have been

like a small rail g*n,

- Mm-hmm.
- That would have been attached

to the side of the boat,

and this would have been
an antipersonnel a*mo.

It would have been
like scattershot.

It would be interesting

just to bring, like,
a rototiller up here

- and see if there's more of them.
- Yeah, we really should.

I thought it was a bird's egg
when I first saw it.

Well, that
just goes to show, mate,

using your twin
optical scanners.

RICK: Oh, yeah, it's
an amazing surface find.

Rarely do we find those.

GARY:
Oh, without a doubt.

NARRATOR:
The following morning...

MARTY: We're back,
Oak Island, old friend.

- Okay, well, how you feeling, Alex?
- Good.

Rick Lagina has just picked up
his brother Marty

and nephew Alex after their trip
from Traverse City, Michigan,

to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Yeah, I'm glad to be back.

Looking at this from afar,
and, you know,

- Mm-hmm. Yep, yep.
- Punching in and punching out.

What do you find
the most exciting?

What is the things that
you're dying to show us

and that, you know, I mean,
we can sink our teeth into?

I might as well show it to you
right now.

This is the most curious thing
of all.

What is that?

RICK:
That's one of the pieces

of metal we retrieved
from D-2 up by C-1.

There's a gold signature
on that.

Really?

Per the XRF?

- Yep.
- This...

is probably
the most exciting thing

- Yeah.
- In terms of a treasure hunt.

- Yes.
- Not the information hunt,

- but the treasure hunt.
- Yes.

- Yeah.
- RICK: The other curious thing about that

is that it's right in the
horizon of one of the tunnels,

- Mm-hmm.
- the 86 to 93 tunnels up around C-1.

This was found at 88 and a half.

And that's a much more
plausible depth than 220.

MARTY:
Exactly.

Exactly.

Well, that kind of brings us
up to speed,

but our first task here, though,
when we get there

is to get in
the w*r room, right?

'Cause Craig's here, and Craig
has some, to my understanding,

more C-14 data, is that right?

Yep, and I'm gathering that
it's gonna be very interesting.

And it's in the D-2 borehole.

Well, that's the same one.

- The same one, yes.
- As this stuff.

- With the gold.
- Yes. Yes.

MARTY:
All right.

We had silver in the water,

we had gold in the water,
now we're seeing gold

on a piece of metal unearthed...

in the Money Pit at a depth

where an offset chamber
might lie.

That is really encouraging.

It's the first direct evidence

that precious metals
might be here.

I'd say we're closing in
on the treasure.

MARTY:
Gentlemen!

- We're back!
- Welcome!

SCOTT:
Welcome to Oak Island.

Good to see you all.
Good to be back.

I hope you feel the same.

(laughter)

DOUG:
Absolutely.

Anyway, we're here.
Good to see you all.

What the hell
you got here, Craig?

- Samples.
- Do you got a bunch of new data for us?

Uh, just one new data,
but I wanted to incorporate

some of the old finds
we found in here, too.

MARTY:
Okay.

This is, uh, the other one,
this is from last year.

This is CD-2.5,

which is only a few feet away
from... from this one.

And this is
from 91 and a half feet,

so just, you know,
a foot and a half deeper.

- Really?
- 1488 to 1650.

Just one period.

It's certainly...

I mean, it's inarguable.

We need to put a caisson
at this location.

- GARY: Yep.
- CRAIG: And then,

everybody knows D-2, kind of
an exciting well this year.

We brought up
the pieces of metal,

brought up wood
all around the 90-foot level.

Wait a second,
you mean the piece of metal

- with gold on it, that one?
- The piece of metal

- with gold on it, exactly.
- Okay.

Just wanted to be able
to say that.

(laughter)

CRAIG:
And, uh, so, you know,

one thing we did was, we sent
the wood out for testing,

and this is the sample
from 90-foot,

and, uh, it came back
from Beta Analytical

- with one time period.
- That's good.

1488 to 1650.

- Really and truthfully?
- CRAIG: Yeah. - GARY: Wow!

ALEX:
Wow.

Exact same time period.

- ALEX: Wow.
- Pre-Columbian date.

I find that incredibly amazing.

GARY:
That is incredible.

NARRATOR:
In the Oak Island w*r room,

Craig Tester has just presented
an astonishing scientific report

regarding wood that was obtained

just two days ago from
borehole D-2 in the Money Pit.

That's crazy.

- Wow.
- GARY: That is incredible.

NARRATOR: Matching a sample
taken last year from borehole CD-2.5,

which sat just two feet away,
the wood dates

to as early
as the late 15th century,

more than 300 years
before the discovery

of the original Money Pit.

So, whether these are both
the same log...

Wait, I want to revel in this
a little bit.

(laughter)

Seriously, this is very...

We don't have
the oddball bracket here.

ALEX:
Is that clearly warped wood?

I mean, is it obviously
man-made and...

Uh, yeah, this is stacked
upon each other, yeah.

- To me, that's huge, don't you think?
- MARTY: Yeah,

and the only other thing,
if it was a log and the...

glacial stuff, it should be
10,000 years old, right?

- Yeah.
- RICK: Historical data indicates

to the north of C-1,
or even in C-1, was...

unexplored, literally.

And so now, yes, this data,

- this... the metal pieces...
- Absolutely. - Right.

These dates just support

my belief for a long time

that whatever work was done here
was done quite early.

Exactly. Exactly.

NARRATOR: Because
of more than two centuries

of prior searcher excavations
and subsequent cave-ins

caused by the man-made
flood tunnels,

the location
of the original Money Pit

has been lost
since the early 1900s.

Could the matching
carbon dating of the wood

in borehole D-2 and CD-2.5

mean that the team
has finally rediscovered

the original treasure shaft?

So, it has always seemed
virtually impossible to me

that after all the holes
we've put down

in the conventional
Money Pit area,

that this treasure
could still be hiding

in the conventional
Money Pit area.

This has 95.4% confident.

But I think
it's entirely more likely

that we've been looking
in the wrong place

and that these new holes might
be where the real treasure is.

To get those dates there, that's
pre-searcher by a long sh*t.

The Templars
could have been here first.

Medieval, baby!

- There it is!
- I couldn't resist it.

I wasn't going to leave
till I got one of those, Gary.

RICK:
You know what?

What this does say, as
definitive as these results are,

if you try to...

do a probability window, say,

about the various theories,
they all fit.

They pretty much do.

RICK: There are various
theories that seem to indicate

possible evolving of
the Templars into Rosicrucians,

into Free Masonry,

and there's
so much fractured history there

that it's very difficult to say
with clarity,

"This-- aha!-- this is what
happened in this time period."

But there is no denying that
this story has persisted

because of the belief
that there is treasure

buried on Oak Island.

I mean, think about it, right?

14 years in,
down the road of discovery here,

we thought surely science
will carry the day,

and now it
certainly has paid dividends,

but we also thought that,
one by one,

we could eliminate this theory

and that theory and this theory

and get down, narrow it down
to one, two or three.

And yet,
five or six still remain,

even with specific information
like this.

MARTY:
Well, I think we can eliminate

or just about eliminate
one of the theories, Rick.

The, uh,
"nothing happened" theory.

- That's pretty much dead.
- I'd say that's a...

- It's pretty much dying fast.
- It's dead and buried.

So, with that thought,
let's all get back out there

- and do what we're doing.
- Yep.

NARRATOR: With every search
operation that they conduct,

and with every new technology
that they apply,

Rick, Marty,
Craig and their team

are collecting more pieces
of the Oak Island puzzle.

But as the picture
continues to take shape,

will they ultimately identify
a masterful group

of conspirators who hid
something of great value here?

Or several of them, who,
connected by a secret agenda,

made numerous deposits
over a number of generations?

What is almost certain
is that treasure

still lies buried on Oak Island.

The question is,

can anything stop the Laginas
and their team from finding it?

(wind whistling)

Next time
on The Curse of Oak Island...

MARTY:
If there really is gold found

on these pieces of metal,
this is

very, very significant.

Wow, this is really interesting.

So, we have
ancient Spanish gold.

- That's huge.
- So, when you project

this path,
it heads to the Money Pit.

Wow!

LAIRD: Department of
Community, Culture and Heritage

asked that we stop down
immediately.

It is very discouraging to me.

The more we cooperate,
the more of our island we lose.

Fine, let's throw in the towel.