Narrator: Tonight on
the curse of oak island...
Gary: Ooh, look at that.
Fantastic, mate! This is old.
Laird: Often the
detail is really cryptic.
Rick: The only people who
would do that would be templars.
- There has got to be more out there.
- Oh! What's that?
Oh! Sweet.
- Alex: Oh, wow.
- Ian: We took the samples to analyze
for silver, and we got a spike.
There is every reason to
believe down in those holes
- there's treasure.
- Marty: Oh, baby!
Jack: Oh, no way!
Narrator: There is an
island in the north atlantic
where people have been
looking for an incredible treasure
for more than 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.
♪ ♪
rick: It is brisk up here.
Terry: Cross your fingers, dude.
It's only supposed
to get up to ten today.
Narrator: It is the
beginning of the final week
that rick and marty lagina,
along with their team,
have to conduct major search operations
this year on oak island.
Now that the harsh north
atlantic winter is setting in,
they are nearly out of time,
at least for now,
to attempt to solve the
-year-old treasure mystery.
However, in a year
that has seen more
progress than any before it,
they intend to use every
precious second they have left
to locate the
fabled treasure vault
believed to lie buried deep
in the original money pit.
The wood is right here,
inside of oc- .
- Yep.
- And a lot of the early drilling we were doing
- for craig was chasing that.
- Yeah.
So, based on our discussion last night,
we've come up with
- this location, c- . .
- Rick: Yep.
We still need a second, uh,
intersection point so we can
get some linear fashion
to that structure.
Well, let's go to ,
see if we're chasing
anything at all,
and then make the call then.
- Okay. - Rick: All righty.
- Terry: Oh! Bingo!
- Charles: We've got wood!
Narrator: During their core
drilling program this year,
the team has found
numerous compelling clues
spanning an area of
more than feet wide
between boreholes c- and oc-
that include evidence
of wood tunnels
nearly feet deep
that all pre-date
the discovery of the money
pit by as much as years.
Hey, jack. Check this out.
Whoa. Good find, mike.
Narrator: However,
it was in the spoils of oc-
that the team discovered a
hand-forged rose head spike
encrusted with
man-made concrete.
It was this kind of material
that surrounded a
seven-foot-high wooden vault
that treasure hunters frederick
blair and william chappell
reportedly drilled
into back in .
Rick: Where is the money pit?
Right now,
we have two areas that
we're significantly interested in,
one around c-
and one around oc- .
We are finding shafts
and possible tunnels
that are not delineated
from any historical context.
Again, you have to stay focused.
And so,
we'll take our time to develop
the x marks the
spot for the vault.
So,
we got our marching orders. We go to ,
unless we see something,
then we go deeper
- until we are out of it. Okay.
- Yep.
- Rick: Okay, let's get after it.
- Steve g.: Yeah.
Narrator: While the drilling operation
in the money pit area continues...
- Later that morning...
- Marty: Hey, guys!
- Hello!
- Narrator: Marty lagina,
his partner craig
tester and jack begley
have gathered in the w*r room
for a meeting via
video conference
with rick and geoscientist
dr. Ian spooner.
Dr. Spooner,
I understand you have a concept for us that
may help us with our sort
of quest in the money pit.
So far,
the drilling has been great, but it
hasn't found us what
we are looking for.
Yeah, basically what we
want to do is help you guys
- put an x on the map. - Okay.
So, the idea is
to look at water, uh,
down drill holes that exist
because the water in
those wells should reflect
the chemistry of the
ground that they interact with.
Mm-hmm.
And so,
I talked to dr. Matt lukeman at arcadia.
He's an excellent chemist.
And matt and I thought,
you know,
well, how would we identify
whether or not
there was treasure?
How would we help you with that?
And so, the bottom line is
silver in the day was by and
large things other than silver.
It had copper, zinc in it,
and silver itself does corrode.
So, the idea is
to basically to do a
pathfinder study and look
for those elements in the water.
Great.
Narrator: As metals such as copper,
zinc, and silver
lie submerged in water
for long periods of time,
they will corrode,
and their particles
will gradually leach out
into plumes that become
less and less concentrated
as they migrate
through open space.
If these types of
metals do in fact lie deep
in the ground of
the money pit area,
dr. Spooner's pathfinder water
test of the flooded boreholes
as well as the man-made tunnels,
should be able to detect them.
I absolutely love this
idea of dr. Spooner's.
If there's a massive amount of
metal down there somewhere,
it should be leaching
into the waters.
Let's test it for the very
things which we seek.
So what I'm suggesting is
just to take a look at wells,
in the money pit area
to see what we get.
Dr. Spooner,
you said it... It can find silver,
but can it test for gold?
No, gold doesn't corrode.
It doesn't end up in water.
So that's why the idea
was... Even silver is hard.
If we find any silver,
I'll be quite amazed, really.
If you find silver,
it is a treasure hunt.
Well, what is associated with
silver in a treasure hunt? Gold.
So, I guess what I'm saying
is don't worry about that.
Let's-let's do what the
science is capable of doing.
- Jack: Yep.
- We'll do the rest later.
Well, rick, you're firmly on
board with this, aren't you?
This sounds like
a great idea to me.
No question. Science.
- Okay. Well, let's do it!
- Ian: That's great. I'll get
dr. Lukeman down here
because he'll also run
the fluorescents on it,
and we'll see what we come up with.
Okay, good. Well,
as rick often says, "let's make it so."
- rick: Let's make it so.
- Ian: Okay. - Craig: Okay.
Narrator: While rick,
marty and craig
wrap up the meeting
in the w*r room...
Near the southwest
corner of the swamp...
Gary: Ready for a
great day at the beach?
Yeah, we got perfect weather,
don't we?
Narrator: Metal detection
expert gary drayton
along with rick and marty's nephew,
david fornetti,
arrive at the
shoreline of lot .
Gary: This is a good place to start,
mate.
Anything we find in this area
is going to be interesting
if it connects to a wharf.
Great. Well,
I'll let you do your thing.
Okay, mate.
- Doug: Oh, look at that.
- What do you got?
It looks like a piece
of finished wood.
Narrator: Two weeks ago the
team unearthed a possible piece
of wooden railing from
a large sailing vessel
and encountered a
massive obstruction
while excavating near the
southern border of the swamp.
However, because the weather
has now made it too difficult
to dig any more this
year within the muddy bog,
it is rick,
marty and craig's hope
that gary can locate
more valuable clues
along the man-made beach
that could help solve
the oak island mystery.
- Gary: Very quiet, isn't it?
- David f.: Yeah.
All right,
mate. I don't want to go too far away
from this area,
so the next line up,
let's take this line,
we'll bypass these
two rows of seaweed,
and we'll take these
rocks along here.
Sounds good.
(beeping)
signal here, david.
(beeping)
just there, mate.
(beeping)
gary: Yeah, you got it out.
Nice one, david.
Is that it?
Let's see what we've got here.
Oh, my gosh!
Gary: There it is,
it's brilliant!
Can you see what this is, mate?
That is a trigger guard
off either an old musket
- or a p*stol. - David f.: Huh.
Gary: And that would date from
probably to .
Narrator: On lot
near the southwestern
border of the swamp,
gary drayton and david fornetti
have just found what
could be an important clue.
The trigger guard from a firearm
that could date back
as much as years
before the discovery
of the money pit.
I mean, this is fantastic.
And this is only our, like,
second line across here.
I'm going to put this in my pouch,
recheck the hole,
and let's find some more artifacts,
mate.
Sounds good.
Marty: It's undeniable
now that there was
substantial activity here in
the late s, early s.
But was that some m*llitary
expedition that we're unaware of
or was it the
original depositors?
(beeping)
another good sounding signal here,
david.
(beeping)
it's in my hand.
Very interesting.
Oh, wow. Look at that, mate.
This is really, really special.
This is old.
This is an old
lead cloth bag seal.
A lead bag seal was used when
- an old sack was sealed.
- David f.: Yeah.
They tied the sack,
and they put a seal on it.
This is a very important find,
mate.
We've just struck gold
with this piece of lead, mate.
Narrator: Dating back
as much as years,
lead bag seals were
generally rounded metal clamps
used to secure goods
inside textile packaging.
What makes this seal
a potentially important
discovery on oak island
is that they are uniquely
designed to identify qualities
such as the manufacturer
and also country of origin.
Could this seal be connected
to other ancient discoveries
made in and near
the swamp this year,
such as the pieces of
th-century keg barrels?
Or the massive stone road
believed to have been
part of a ship's wharf?
This is an awesome
lead artifact.
This is a really old piece
but just the type of artifact
you want to be recovering
in an area where you
believe is an old wharf.
Bingo. We have
hit gold on this one.
We won't know until
this is cleaned up,
but this is very,
very, important.
This is the first
lead cloth bag seal
that we've found on the island.
- David f.: Does that go in the top pocket?
- Gary: Without doubt, mate.
This is a true top-pocket find.
I think this is so
special we should take it
- to the research center.
- Sounds good.
We'll come back here.
I mean, this is fantastic.
Let's show the guys
what we've found.
- Let's go.
- David f.: Sounds good.
Narrator: Later
that afternoon...
- Gary: Hey, guys.
- Laird: Hey. - Rick: Hey.
Just the chaps we want to see.
Narrator: Gary and
david join rick lagina
and archeologist laird
niven at the research center
to share their latest
discoveries from lot .
Gary: We just had
some finds cataloged.
Some metal detecting
finds that we found on lot
- on the beach. - Oh.
So,
you guys should take a look at these.
Rick: Love to.
How interested are you, gary?
Very interested mate, um,
- we found some spectacular finds there, mate.
- Rick: Okay.
Gary: And here's one of them.
See what you think of that,
rick.
- Rick: A trigger.
- Exactly, mate.
Old trigger guard.
You can see that it's been
broken a long time ago.
- It's not a recent snap.
- That's...
- that's decorative too, isn't it?
- Gary: Yep.
A decorative piece
that might help identify it.
It looks like a little
p*stol trigger guard
or maybe a musket trigger guard.
What do you make of
the little decoration there?
Laird: Well,
I think that usually decoration
- means higher status, right?
- Yeah. You got that right, mate.
Rick: There's books
about everything.
Would there be a book
about p*stol guards?
- Trigger guards? - Yeah.
I mean,
the beauty about g*n furniture
is that it's very
specifically sized.
- Yeah.
- So, you can often get the model down
- and perhaps a date even down.
- Yeah.
It's going to be
a little challenge.
If we had a little more of it...
(chuckles) you're
always saying that.
Some of these artifacts are just that,
they're artifacts.
It's a trigger guard of perhaps
a wealthy individual's p*stol
because it is decorated.
But how does that connect?
Is it curious? Yeah.
I mean,
we are on samuel ball's lot.
So, is there a possible
connection there? I don't know.
But it's history come alive,
and that's always fascinating.
We didn't just come in here
with a trigger guard, mate.
- David f.: This is really interesting.
- Gary: Yeah.
But we should have gloves
on if we are going to handle it...
- Okay.
- Because it's made of lead.
Laird: Okay.
Thanks. I will not plant any
seeds in your mind, mate.
- I'm fairly confident I know what it is.
- Laird: Okay.
Gary: We'll see if
you are in agreement.
Laird: Take this delicate
thing out with my left hand.
I know what it is.
- Yep.
- I haven't seen many of these.
Gary: And what is it, laird?
It's a lead bale seal.
Yeah.
- Laird: So, it's for a...
- oh, okay.
Laird: A bale of cotton...
what used to be cotton.
- Now they are changing...
- A sack.
- Laird: Yeah. Yeah.
- A sack or a bag.
Laird: And, uh,
the merchant would put these on
or the excise tax people
would put them on.
There's a corresponding
piece like this. Here.
And it's put under, folded around,
and... and clamped on.
So,
that's why you have that round piece there.
Laird so this little object,
this little bag seal,
would have been attached
to a... To a large bale
of fairly rough fabric like
hemp or something like that.
But it wasn't meant
for one person.
This was an industrial
size bag that was
going to be used
for whatever purpose.
Something we
haven't figured out yet.
But it was for a
large operation.
So, this is adding more
questions to the mystery
and-and giving us
more work to do.
- Gary: But that's got detail on it.
- Mm-hmm. I see that.
So, that... we should get
some information off that.
And it's just the type of find
that you want to be recovering
in an area you think
there's an old wharf.
- Right, because it speaks to loading and unloading.
- Gary: Yeah.
Rick: When did these start
coming into vogue, if you will?
Laird: ?
Even before then, mate.
- s in England. - Yeah.
Again,
it's about connective tissue.
You find this bag seal
in close proximity to
the suspected wharf.
It's a great find,
and we know there
was activity in the area.
We need to look
into this further.
Hopefully we can find a corresponding one,
and maybe
we can find the merchant,
which would help a lot.
- Yeah.
- David f.: I was just going to ask.
Is there like a book or
something you can flip through
- where you can find some sort of example, or...
- Yeah.
Yeah,
there are a lot of references.
A lot of references.
It's just going
- to take a lot of searching.
- Yeah. I'm sure.
Look, I can't but agree,
gary. This is indeed
a top-pocket find.
Congrats to the both of you
for heading out there.
Especially, I-I think that
you find something like this,
and it accelerates the need
to do another search agenda.
Laird,
if you want to do the research,
I look forward to that,
the outcome of that.
Yeah, I'll start researching.
- Rick: Okay, we have a plan.
- Laird: Okay.
- Rick: Let's move forward on it.
- Laird: Yeah.
Narrator: As another
critical day of search activity
begins on oak island,
on lot
near the northeastern
border of the swamp...
Aaron: Based on
our limited time,
I think it's really important
that we get the direction
- of this road or path.
- Miriam: Okay.
Narrator: Archaeologists
dr. Aaron taylor
and miriam amirault
work to uncover more
of the mysterious
cobblestone pathway...
A pathway that extends
from the massive stone road,
or possible ship's wharf
discovered earlier this year,
and which runs along
the entire eastern border
of the man-made bog,
branching off further
into the uplands.
Aaron: If this is continuing the
way it looks like it's continuing,
you know,
maybe this pathway is leading
- to the money pit. - Yeah.
So, I think we go over,
put in a unit,
investigate,
and see what's going on there.
- All right. Let's go string it up and get started.
- Aaron: Yep.
Marty: We clearly have to follow
the stone pathway all the way
cause it's interesting.
What's going on with this?
- Aaron: Let's get rid of this debris.
- Miriam: Yeah.
Marty: That is a well-constructed,
hidden, massive road.
Heavy things were
being moved around on it,
which suggests
something important.
- Hey. How's it going?
- Miriam: Hey!
Aaron: Well,
we can use all the help we can get.
So, um, the path,
what's your thought?
- Just continue this way?
- Aaron: Yeah, um...
- So we just tried to leapfrog a little bit.
- Rick: Mm-hmm.
- It's coming diagonally through the unit we did.
- Rick: Mm-hmm.
So, we are just going
to try and pick it up here,
but there are a couple
areas I'd like to investigate.
Here's the thing:
The time and weather
- window is closing. - Yeah.
So,
if you want to continue here,
I could go down there.
If you want to just focus
me on where I should...
- Aaron: Sure. Sure.
- ..Do the work.
That's a great idea.
Narrator: With time running out,
the team has decided to split up
and search two different areas.
While dr. Taylor and
miriam search further uphill,
trying to uncover the next
section of the cobblestone path,
rick will investigate
along the path itself,
near the beginning
of the uplands,
in hopes of finding any clues
that may shed light on
who built this structure
and how it may connect
to the -year-old mystery.
Rick: We are still struggling
with an understanding
of what the feature represents,
you know?
Is this part of the
money pit story
or is it... Or is it
uniquely a swamp story?
- You see where that stick is?
- Rick: Yep.
Aaron: So,
everything above the stick can be
taken off with the shovel.
Rick: And the
only way to do that
is to continue the
archeological pursuit,
and hopefully come up
with an artifact or artifacts
that will tell us
why it's here now.
Aaron: I really want to
see what is going on here.
- Rick: Okay. Yep.
- Aaron: See those stones?
This is where all the
artifacts are coming from.
It's an interesting area.
- Rick: Okay.
- Aaron: And shout if you see anything of interest.
Rick: If there is anything,
I will call you immediately.
- Aaron: Thank you. - Rick: Yep.
Narrator: While the investigation
continues near the swamp...
Steve g.: Mike, what do we have?
- Mike: ! - Terry: . Thanks!
Narrator: And while the
core drilling operation
in borehole c- .
continues in the
money pit area...
- Ian: Hey, craig.
- Craig: How's it going?
Narrator: Craig tester
and dan henskee
along with dr. Ian
spooner and his associates
dr. Matt lukeman,
nicole kirkpatrick
and victoria hopper
arrive to conduct the
water testing operation
that dr. Spooner
hopes might offer
scientific evidence
of buried treasure.
Ian: What we are trying to do,
I think, right now,
is just sort of a pathfinder study.
- Okay.
- So, get a bunch of samples.
Try to sort of get
the circumference,
the perimeter of
this area right here.
And that way get
a good idea of...
If maybe we're seeing
anomalous material.
- All right. Sounds great.
- Yeah, so we'll see how it goes.
- Okay, good.
- Matt: So, absolutely
there's a high chance
that we are going to see
maybe some signals in there
from more recent human activity
that might complicate
things a little bit.
Which, I think,
is why it's important
that we get samples
from multiple locations.
So it could help point
us in the right direction.
Okay. I think we
are going to start
with c- here, but after that
there's a lot of wells
all over the place
that you guys can sample.
- Are we ready? - We are ready.
So, we'll get our equipment,
we'll head over,
and then we'll go
and get our sample.
- Craig: Okay. - Good.
Marty: First of all,
I love hard data.
It's hard to come
by on oak island.
So now we have
two phd scientists,
dr. Lukeman and dr. Ian spooner.
It's exactly nine
meters to the top
- of the caisson. - Okay.
Marty: They are going
to do a water analyses
from many of the wells
found over near the money pit.
So, yeah, it's exciting.
I mean,
let's say that scientists said,
"look, this is for sure,
there's a big chunk
of precious metal down there." well,
then we've got to find it.
Ian: We'll go as far as we
can with the bailer. Oh, great.
And, uh, we'll get a sample.
At the very bottom
is the open hole or...
- Yes. You can hear the ball valves in it.
- Yep.
Narrator: In order to collect a
water sample from the bottom
of borehole c- ,
the team is using
a dual-valve sampling bailer.
As the device
descends down the well,
the force of the water
on the ball valves inside it
allows it to flow
through the bailer.
Once the bailer reaches
the desired depth,
the balls sink into place,
trapping the water
sample inside the tube.
This will prevent
contamination from other depths
while the device is
brought back to the surface.
Ian: Oh. That's it.
- What depth are you calling it?
- Ian: .
. Okay.
I have always believed
that something of significance
lies within the bowels
of the money pit.
And this water sample
testing done by dr. Lukeman
and dr. Spooner can provide
some very interesting information.
They might be able
to put x on the ground.
That I found
exceedingly interesting,
and I look forward
to their analysis.
Good?
Just hold that up there.
We'll keep that sample.
We'll keep that for sure.
- Okay. - Matt: Wonderful.
- Let's do another sample.
- Okay.
Narrator: As craig, dr. Spooner,
and members of the team
collect more water samples
in the money pit area...
Back in the uplands
near the swamp...
- Hey, rick. - Hey.
Narrator: Rick lagina,
along with dr. Aaron taylor,
miriam amirault and alex lagina,
continue their own
search for valuable clues
along the stone pathway.
Rick: As this path appears
to turn to the upland,
we're finding an incredible
amount of artifacts.
What's that?
So,
I don't know what to make of it.
Is this the centralized location
for the build of the stone path?
I don't know.
The more we look,
the more we find.
- Rick: That might be stone.
- Aaron: I think...
- rick: That's not.
- Aaron: No, that's brick fragment.
This is nice.
That's a fragment
of a pipe bowl.
Clean it up, maybe get a
maker's mark on it, and then we will
- be able to tell where it was made and when...
- rick: What is that?
Aaron: That's annular
ware. That's the early stuff.
Quite early s.
Okay. I'll bag this up.
- Rick: Okay. - Aaron: Great.
I'm just going to go
check on those guys.
- All right. Thanks, rick.
- Okey doke.
Working with aaron and miriam...
It's like a little mini,
mini treasure hunt.
You know,
you're scraping away with the trowel
and all of a sudden
there in front of you is
a little surprise... A little,
again,
a little piece of hopefully
connective tissue.
So,
it's somewhat intoxicating and addictive.
Wow.
That's interesting.
It's huge.
Narrator: Rick lagina has
just made what he hopes
could be an important discovery.
Rick: Aaron will
know what that is.
That's what I like to see:
Three people hard at work.
Aaron: Hey,
rick. Any breakthroughs?
Rick: So,
here's what's down there.
There was one more find,
which I found interesting.
Aaron: Sweet jesus.
This is really
nice. It's a base,
probably a plate.
- There you go.
- Aaron: Just looking at it now,
it looks like creamware.
Creamware comes in .
The british bring it
in when they arrive.
Uh, it might be yellowware,
which is a little later.
Just because all the
pieces we've been finding
are from that period,
I think this is a creamware.
But, uh,
you seldom find a nice base
intact like that.
Narrator: First produced around
the s in staffordshire, England,
creamware is a refined
lead-glazed earthenware
named for its yellowish-white
cream-like color.
Could this discovery be an
important clue to help identify
who made the
cobblestone pathway?
If so,
might it also be connected
to the pine tar kiln
located on nearby lot ,
which blacksmith expert
carmen legge believes
was of british design,
and which archaeologist
laird niven believes
may have been used
for the continuous burning
of materials in the construction
of the original money pit?
Well,
I've been waiting all summer
for a "sweet jesus moment,"
and sweet jesus.
- (chuckling) -
that is a nice base.
Now, let's find the rest of it.
But if that's creamware,
that's a really nice early piece.
Well,
I got about that much of a shelf to do.
That's still a work in progress,
and as you see,
- there's things to be found out there.
- Keeps giving.
- Okay. I'll bag these up.
- Okey doke.
- Aaron: Good stuff. Thank you.
- Cool. All right. Yup.
Rick: I shall return.
Narrator: As rick and the team
resume their investigation
in the uplands,
later that afternoon
in the money pit area...
Terry: We got the
in our right hand?
Steve g.: We've got in our right hand,
I think.
Terry: in our right hand,
okay.
Narrator: Surveyor steve guptill
and geologist terry matheson,
continue to monitor
the core drilling operation
in borehole c- . ,
just north of the oc- caisson.
That's kind of interesting.
Yeah, what? What's interesting?
Uh, there looks like
there might be a little bit
of backfill or burnt material.
Steve g.: Well, that's good.
Terry: Yeah,
possibly. I don't know what it is.
I don't know why
it has an unusual...
Almost look like ashes
or something on it.
Narrator: Burnt
backfilled materials
found in borehole c- . ?
Is it simply evidence of
previous searcher activity?
Or could the team be on the
verge of a major discovery?
Steve g.: You know,
we're in backfill at feet.
And that just suggests
that we're inside
or just outside of a shaft,
so, again,
this is great information.
- Steve g.: Maybe the next core will tell us something.
- Terry: Next run?
Marty: In the money pit area,
we're finding all these works
and all these tunnels,
and then we're finding stuff
to the s,
which is extremely encouraging,
yeah.
It used to be the one thing.
When rick and I were talking,
I used to say,
"I will change my mind about
everything if you show me
concrete evidence of
substantial works prior to ."
well, you know what? He did it.
So, we've already won that much.
Now the objective
is to actually,
you know,
find evidence of real treasure.
Terry: Let's cross our fingers.
- Steve g.: He's into something interesting.
- Something going on?
We got a little
soft right at .
- From on. - Okay.
Narrator: In the money pit area,
representatives
from choice drilling
have just encountered
something out of the ordinary
in borehole c- . .
That might be our tunnel.
- . . - Mike: !
- Are you serious?
- No, it just dropped, whatever's in there.
Narrator: A drop of the
drill rod of nearly feet?
Could it be a natural
void of some kind?
Or could it be evidence
of the money pit
treasure vault itself?
Terry: Get this one up,
steve-o. Whoa!
Whoa.
- Let's have a look.
- All right.
- It's pretty loose at the bottom.
- Terry: Yeah.
Steve g.: Anything interesting?
Terry: Not so much.
See, here is what I think
he was into right there.
This material here, when he hits it,
it starts to slip because
- of all the clay in it.
- Steve g.: Yep.
Terry: So, he finds that soft.
So, this section here
is the interglacial phase,
and you get a lot of
really dark clay in there.
So,
when he hits it sometimes it slips through.
It feels sometimes he
might have broken through
into an open
tunnel or something.
But, usually, it's just this.
What about here? Look,
this is the last two feet.
- Is that redrill?
- Give it a hit.
Yeah, that's a redrill. And
then what are we getting into
- down there? Some more of this?
- It's tight again, yep.
Terry: So,
that's just more of the same.
- Just a lot of ground-up maroon silt stone.
- Steve g.: It's tight.
Terry: The tightness of it tells
us we're probably not close
to a vertical structure,
which is disappointing.
Not terribly interesting
in terms of treasure hunting.
Narrator: Unfortunately
for the team,
what appeared to be a
possible large underground
void where they hoped to
encounter the original money pit
is simply a natural
horizon of soft clay.
Although frustrating,
especially given this late moment
in the year,
it is at least useful information
to help inform their
search moving forward.
So,
c- . turned out to be nothing,
which is good
information because
it helps us really put an x
through our money pit grid,
and we know that's an area of...
Really of non-interest
for us right now.
So,
terry's going to log the information,
I'm going to plot
it in our d model,
and we're going to
move to the next hole.
C- . .
- It's a bust. - Kind of, uh,
d*ed with a whimper.
It was tight. So,
we are not close
- to any structures.
- Terry: Doesn't look like we are very close. No.
So, we're done. We'll move on.
Narrator: While members of the
team regroup in the money pit area...
- Laird: Hey! - Gary: Hey, guys.
Narrator: Rick and alex lagina,
along with gary drayton
and david fornetti
meet with archeologist
laird niven to receive
his follow-up assessment
of the bag seal
found yesterday on lot .
Laird: It's curious. It's...
I was pretty excited to see it.
Often the detail on
bale seals is really
difficult to interpret.
They're very cryptic.
- Rick: Wow. - Gary: Wow.
- That has got some detail on that, doesn't it?
- Rick: It sure does.
Gary: Wow, look.
It looks like an
"x" on the bottom.
- Laird: A double "x."
- gary: A double "x." yeah.
But we can do a
little explanation
of what we are seeing here.
This is actually
the cloth makers,
what they call a privy seal.
These seals are family seals.
So, they'd be passed down
through the generations.
And apparently, back in the day,
if you had a father and a
son alive at the same time,
to avoid confusion you'd add...
The son would add
an element to his seal.
So, they get more and more
complicated over the years.
But this one, if you look here,
has initials.
I think it's an f on
the left-hand side,
- and perhaps an e on the right-hand side.
- Rick: Mm-hmm.
If I pull it down...
It's really faint, but...
What you can't see is
that's actually the
shape of a four.
Rick: Oh, yeah. Okay.
Laird: Apparently,
that's an old symbol
used for a long time,
and it's not actually a four.
They think it represents,
like, the sign of the cross.
Gary: Oh, wow.
Rick: What is the significance,
the sign of the cross?
You wouldn't think to find that
on a commercial enterprise,
right?
Laird: I don't think it derives
from family crests because
that... that symbol is
used by multiple families,
so this would have been something
carried down
through generations.
It's just most
curious to have that
religious symbol on
a commercial item.
I-I find that to
be very strange.
And the only people
who would do that,
in my limited knowledge base,
would be templars.
Narrator: In the oak
island research center,
archaeologist laird niven
has just revealed to rick
lagina and members of the team
what could be a critical
clue on the metal bag seal
recently found on lot .
I'm going back, though,
to the origination of it.
And you think back,
right? The templars
were heavy into commerce.
I mean, they literally were
the bankers and the financiers
and the commercial
operatives of the day.
You know,
those were the people you dealt with.
Laird: Yeah. I just
find it really evocative.
I find it really cool, you know?
It's a symbol that's old enough
that the origins have
basically been forgotten.
Narrator: Could
rick lagina be correct
that the lead bag seal
found near the swamp
might be evidence connected
to the knights templar?
Although the theory
of a possible link
between the oak island mystery
and this medieval
order of warrior monks
has persisted for generations,
rick, marty,
and the team have
made notable discoveries
that potentially corroborate it
including pieces of keg barrels,
a hand point chisel
and tunneling tools
that all date back to
the s or earlier.
However, the discovery of
the lead cross at smith's cove
three years ago remains
the most compelling
due to the fact
that a scientific test,
known as laser ablation,
helped prove that it's
at least years old...
And was made from lead
originating in an area of
southern France that was once
a stronghold for the templars.
Could this bag seal now
be another important clue
that could help prove
this incredible theory?
I've got two words to say:
Laser ablation.
- We should get that tested.
- Yeah.
Rick: Well, that is a good idea.
Gary: And maybe it matches
up to other lead signatures
that were found on
different lead artifacts
- on the island.
- Rick: Mm-hmm. - Right.
So,
you didn't mention a time period.
Some of them actually
have dates on them.
But this one,
the broad date is - .
- That's pretty broad.
- Laird: Yeah.
Rick: This bag seal in
proximity to the wharf...
That's huge.
Is there a possible
templar connection? Maybe.
We need to come
to an understanding
what this represents here.
But it's the strangest
thing I've seen
on this island in a long,
long time.
That is very, very cool.
Yeah. Very cool.
Heck of a top-pocket find for sure,
isn't it?
- Rick: Absolutely.
- I actually agree.
Alex: You got him!
Finally got him.
Welcome to the dark side, mate.
Marty: Welcome! One
of my favorite times.
We get to look at some,
I believe,
will be very interesting data.
Narrator: Two days later,
rick, marty,
craig and members of the team
gather in the w*r room for
the highly anticipated report
from dr. Ian spooner
and his colleague
dr. Matt lukeman
regarding the water tests
they conducted earlier this week
in the money pit area.
So,
I've got one question to ask.
Do you think there is
treasure in the money pit?
- Ooh, I like that lead-in.
- (laughter)
no, you know, I'm serious.
- Do I? - Ian: Yeah.
- Small chance. - I-I do.
I absolutely do. I believe
that what they drilled into
in is real,
- and I think it's still there.
- Right.
So, doug, can you bring, uh,
- bring up the presentation?
- Doug: I can.
Ian: Great.
That image shows the
wells. There were of them.
We took the samples,
and what matt did was
take the initiative to scan it
through the whole spectrum.
And that's when some
interesting things came up.
I'll flash right forward
to why I asked you
that question about
- do you believe in treasure?
- Mm-hmm.
Whether it was pieces of eight,
maravedis,
anything like that,
they were only about ,
maybe percent silver.
The rest was zinc and copper.
And so I said, "okay,
if there really is a ton of treasure
"down there, then what we might
expect to see is elevated levels
of the alloys of silver."
and so, I have red arrows on...
What I was really looking for
- if I was looking for treasure, right?
- Mm-hmm. Yeah.
But what we do see is
at the well we call ws- ,
ws- , ws- .
Look at the copper
and zinc levels.
This is not a minor little hill.
- Blip. - This is...
Ten times... This is a spike,
ten times peak.
I went, "wow." like,
this is big news.
Not only that, we got silver
- in those as well. - Really?
Ian: At the end of the day,
there
is every reason to believe
down in those holes that
there is something close by
that contains a
fair bit of silver.
Doug: I guess I'm still trying to
get a mental picture of how much
silver it would take
to get to these levels.
Like,
is it a handful of silver or is it
- a gerhardt dump truck load of silver?
- It's a gerhardt dump truck.
- Marty: Oh, baby!
- Jack: Oh, no way!
Rick: Wow.
Narrator: Next time on
the curse of oak island...
Steve g.: We need to connect
the cobble path in the swamp
to this path that
leads to the money pit.
- That may be our "x" on the ground.
- Yes.
Narrator: It's the
historic season finale.
- Gary: Oh, my gosh!
- Steve g.: Oh wow.
- Gary: That's old. This is off a ship.
- It's off a ship.
That might actually be the
thing that solves the mystery.
- Rick: Oh, oh, oh!
- Charles: What do you got? What is that?
- I've never seen anything like that before.
- Aaron: It's incredible.
This is the first direct
evidence of real treasure.
(laughter)
08x24 - Silver Lining
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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.