Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island,

-a special two-hour premiere. -(horn honks)

-All right, here we go. -RICK: The swamp has answers, and I want 'em.

(beeping)

Ooh, that's fantastic!

This is a bobby-dazzler.

RICK: If we find a ship in the swamp,

it might, perhaps, change history as we know it.

-Got something here! -GARY: That'll be a Spanish galleon.

CRAIG: You ready to drill?

MARTY: Anchors away!

It's time for some answers.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

(whoops) Baby!

-How old? -14th century.

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,

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 died trying to solve the mystery.

And, according to legend,

one more will have to die

before the treasure can be found.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

RICK: You know, I think this year in particular

holds promise for a really good year.

I think so, too. Yeah.

And may be a year that has more answers than questions.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: It is the start

of another year on Oak Island.

But unlike previous years,

this one begins with anticipation

tempered by a profound sadness.

Because this is the first year in more than half a century

that Dan Blankenship, the veteran treasure hunter

who devoted most of his life trying to solve

a 224-year-old mystery,

will not be part of the team.

RICK: Every year, Marty and I drive across,

and we always stop here,

you know, as a remembrance of the first time we came.

But this year is different, and it's because

-Dan's lost to us. -Yeah.

But his presence certainly remains.

Absolutely.

He was quite a guy.

That he was.

RICK: I don't think even yet,

the impact of Dan being gone,

I don't think I quite understand it yet.

It was a privilege to know the man.

He was our friend.

There'll not be a single day where we won't miss him.

Here we go. The hunt is on.

-Gentlemen. -Hi, guys. -ALEX: Hey, everybody.

Hi, guys.

So, welcome.

It's really nice to see everybody around the table.

-Yeah. -CHARLES: Yes.

-Glad to be here. -RICK: So, Alex,

I think maybe if you get Jack

-and your father up. -Sure. Yeah, they're waiting

for our call right now.

-CRAIG/RICK: Hey, guys! -Morning! -Guys.

-Hey. Good morning, guys. -CHARLES: Hey, guys.

-How you doing? -We're doing great.

We'd only be better if we were on Oak Island.

(laughter)

We have two seats waiting for you.

We're on our way. Right, Jack?

-Yeah, we'll be there soon. -Yeah.

RICK: Fair enough.

So, as you well know,

there is one member missing.

Yeah.

RICK: I-I just want to say,

having known Dan, the passing of him

is a-a-- really quite a... quite a change

in terms of the pursuit of the answers

to this long mystery.

-Two centuries plus. -Yeah.

I propose a moment of silence for Dan Blankenship.

♪ ♪

Dan is an integral part of Oak Island--

the history, the lore, the story, the mystery.

You know, you look around this war room,

his pictures are everywhere.

He's invested in this place.

-Dan accomplished some amazing things. -Mm.

And we'll carry on for him.

I have one other thought in regards to...

Dan's life, and that is that,

you know, over the six years, what we really wanted to do

at the end, at the end of this was...

(voice breaking): give Dan his breakthrough.

And... we should try

really, really hard this year to do that.

-Yes. -No problem. We'll get it done, Rick.

-BILLY: Yeah. -Yeah. -MARTY: Yeah.

Dan Blankenship was a true giant of this,

of this Oak Island quest.

-CHARLES: Yeah. -Absolutely.

Absolutely.

He certainly will be missed, but he is still here.

He will always have a presence on Oak Island.

Yeah.

And there's a little bit of Dan in every one of us here.

-Yeah. -Mm-hmm.

-There's a whole bunch in me. -(laughter)

MARTY: Anyhow, what...

what are we up to today, guys?

Well, Steve has a bunch of photos here

and-and maps of the swamp.

STEVE: This is the first time a lot of you guys have seen this.

RICK: Because we got really good results

in the swamp from the seismic data...

Wow.

...there's a lot to do there, a lot of possibilities.

We have significant anomalies we want to investigate.

-CHARLES: It's amazing. -Yeah.

ALEX G.: I'm good to go whenever you guys are good to go.

I'm more than ready. I think the swamp has answers,

and I want 'em.

NARRATOR: Earlier this year,

just a few days before hearing the news of Dan's death,

Rick, Marty, Craig and other members of the Oak Island team

received results of seismic testing

conducted on the swamp that could possibly blow

the Oak Island mystery wide open.

So, the swamp anomaly.

So, this is the object.

It's very unusual.

RICK: What is the size of that?

ALEX G.: So, it's 200 feet long,

and the rear, the south part,

is about 40 feet and 25 feet up front.

MARTY: I know what everybody around this table

is thinking right now.

-So let's not just dork around anymore. -(laughs): Yeah.

Would it be S-H-I-P?

Would that be what everybody's thinking?

(laughter)

MARTY: I knew there would be anomalies

associated with the seismic data,

because there almost always is.

So I was prepared for an anomaly.

I wasn't prepared for a ship-shaped anomaly.

We have to chase it. It's that simple.

MARTY: You just can't kill that swamp,

-can you? -(laughter)

It won't die.

-Sorry. -We'll go back!

Back to the swamp.

So, Steve, why don't you fill us in, in terms of

what your thoughts are regarding that anomaly.

Sure.

So, if we are interpreting this as a potential ship,

but about 200 feet long by about 25 feet wide,

which would be quite a large...

That'll be a Spanish galleon.

You know what they say: the bigger the boat,

the bigger the treasure.

(laughter)

JACK: Are we still planning on drilling

or do we have the ability to excavate part of the swamp?

We're in the process of getting permits to do both.

CRAIG: You know, for the swamp,

the first big step is getting Tony out there diving

and give us a better handle on

what we might see will be beneficial.

If we locate something that's worth investigation,

then we'll have to come up with a plan to do a proper dig.

Wood at depth in the swamp

is much more significant than in the Money Pit area,

because we can pretty much discount

that it would be searchers

that stuck something in the swamp.

-Right. -(laughs)

So what are we gonna do in the Money Pit?

We've got some ideas we're kicking around.

You know, we're looking at having

Choice Sonic Drilling back.

Try to focus on where to do the excavations.

I know you have always said,

"How could this thing still be hiding?"

But there's still places down there where it could be hiding.

DOUG: Well, I, for one, am anxious

to get back to the Money Pit and-and explore that area again.

I mean, last year, when we put down caisson S6,

we brought up unique timbers.

I think that's the oldest wood that we know of

that we brought up out of the Money Pit.

-PAUL: Oh, wow. Look at that. -TERRY: Look at that scoop.

-(chuckles): Whoa! -That's, uh... that's quite the jumble.

NARRATOR: Last year, the Laginas and their partners

dug three new 60-inch-wide steel shafts

in the Money Pit area

in search of a seven-foot-high vault

first reported by searchers in 1897.

Although the team made significant discoveries,

including hand-cut wood timbers

and fragments of leather bookbinding,

along with pieces of paper,

the precise location of the fabled treasure shaft

has remained frustratingly elusive.

From my standpoint, we haven't figured out

for sure what we're gonna do with the Money Pit.

There's a lot of... knowns,

but I think, significantly,

there are more unknowns than knowns,

even after all this time.

So there's a lot of research to be done about it.

MARTY: All right.

-What else? -CRAIG: To me, I think,

determining the age of the U-shaped structure

and the slipway was the big discovery from last year.

Yeah. That's right.

NARRATOR: Of all the incredible discoveries

the team has made over the years,

perhaps the most impressive were those made last year

at Smith's Cove.

After constructing a 525-foot-wide steel cofferdam

around the area in an effort to seal out the ocean,

Rick, Marty and the team were successful in unearthing

one of the legendary stone box drains,

a mysterious concrete wall,

the U-shaped structure

first uncovered by Dan Blankenship in the 1970s,

and a slipway, or boat wharf,

built for unloading cargo.

Using dendrochronology testing,

both structures were scientifically proven

to have been built more than two decades

before the discovery of the Money Pit.

What we're looking at doing is expanding

the-the cofferdam out further

to try to find the end of the slipway.

The end of the slipway is where the boats were at,

and that's where stuff falls off boats,

and hopefully that'll give us

a clue as to who actually built the slipway.

-Yeah. -MARTY: That'll be fun

and exciting. I like that.

I'm pretty excited.

That's well worth doing, yes.

How far are we gonna go out?

We're thinking we can only go about 50 feet,

so it's a good, it's a good amount.

-Right. -DOUG: If we bump the cofferdam

out another 50 feet, gives me hope, that waterside

of the U-shaped structure,

we might find intact infrastructure.

-Yes. -DOUG: Maybe we do have

a good chance of finding

finger drains and things that have been described

-further out into the water. -Absolutely.

MARTY: Gary, what do you think the chances are that

that cross, given the dearth of other finds,

that that might've been pushed off the hill up above?

I mean, do you, do you think that's possible?

Yeah, I do think it's possible.

The more and more I'm seeing erosion every year,

I believe that came from the hillside.

Well, that-that could be it, which means maybe the friends

-are up the hill, right? -Yeah.

GARY: Yeah, that's what I'm hoping.

Hopefully, we'll find some more

and we'll see where that leads us this year.

MARTY: All right, guys.

Sounds like an exciting season.

I mean, I-I don't know why,

against all odds, I'm optimistic.

Everybody there seems to be, you know, game on.

That's infectious in-in a good sense.

-There you go. -Yeah.

You know, this has got to be the year, guys.

Let's make a pact to get it done this year.

-How's that sound? -That sounds better.

-It's the year for-for Dan. -CHARLES: Yep.

And-and for that fella on the end of the table here,

Dan Henskee.

The old guard, if you will.

I think it's gonna be a very good year, and-and to that end,

you guys better saddle up and get out here,

'cause we need all the help we can get.

Jack and I will be out there just as soon as we can,

and for right now,

we're gonna let you do everything and see you soon.

(laughter)

- RICK: Bring your boots. -CHARLES: See ya.

-LAIRD: See ya later. -CRAIG: Take care, guys.

♪ ♪

RICK: It's remarkable how this story has evolved.

Well, it'll be interesting to get out there into the swamp.

It's significant.

NARRATOR: After the team's meeting in the war room,

Rick Lagina, Craig Tester,

and surveyor Steve Guptill head to the Oak Island swamp.

RICK: Tony. Back in the swamp, huh?

-(sighs) Back in the swamp. -(chuckles)

-How you doing? -Good to see you. (chuckles)

Got the water level a little higher for ya.

Oh, yeah. I know. Thanks, Craig.

-Yeah, had to be three days after rain, didn't it? -Mm-hmm.

RICK: That gonna facilitate your search?

It's gonna make it a lot easier to move around in there, Rick.

Yeah.

TONY: 28 feet of water, lads!

NARRATOR: As a resident

of the nearby town of Mahone Bay,

diver Tony Sampson has spent over a decade

exploring the waters on and around Oak Island.

What is that?

NARRATOR: Three years ago...

JACK: Oh, wow. It's huge.

...while diving near the southern base of the swamp,

Tony recovered an 18-foot-long wooden plank,

which was carbon dated

to be approximately 400 years old.

-This is Dana and Krista. -Hi. Krista.

NARRATOR: But now, Tony and his team

have been invited to participate in what could be

the team's most important exploration yet:

in an effort to find out whether or not

an ancient ship-- possibly a Spanish galleon--

rests some 55-feet deep beneath the surface.

Okay, let's take a look at some plans.

I've got the original seismic data,

and they just outline roughly the top of the anomaly.

So, to give you an idea, that tip to tip is about 200 feet.

The center, maybe 150.

Craig and I are gonna follow you around

and we're gonna record some of, uh, your findings.

-CRAIG: Yeah. I think... -Fantastic.

I think it's above where the ship anomaly is,

you know, you can start there.

What's your thought when you see it?

Well, I mean, just from its location,

if you want to go down the-the angle

of maybe it's a ship in the swamp,

the three places on Oak Island

where you have the depth for something like this,

and that's the southern side of the swamp,

the northern side of the swamp, and the Boulderless Beach.

They're the only areas around Oak Island

where you have any depth that a ship could've come in.

And as you come in here

to the south shore side of this beach,

instead of it coming up, it drops.

So you can be 50 yards off-shore there

and you're in 20 feet of water.

And, a clear bottom with no rocks,

so almost like it was a channel.

What's curious to me is what did Mr. Nolan know,

because he did extensive work for years in the swamp.

I mean, he must've had a reason.

Must've had a reason.

NARRATOR: In 1969, Oak Island landowner

and veteran treasure hunter Fred Nolan

became convinced that the swamp

held the keys to solving the Oak Island mystery.

During more than a half a century of investigation,

Fred was astonished to discover

a number of man-made wooden objects

that appeared to be pieces from a large ship,

including scuppers, or drainage holes,

and what Fred believed to be part of a mast.

These findings led Fred to the incredible theory

that Oak Island was once two islands,

and that after deliberately sinking a ship in between them,

the swamp was artificially created

by building cofferdams on both the north

and south ends of the island.

The area was then drained, and later filled in,

so that the ship would remain hidden

along with its precious cargo.

RICK: Fred was fascinated with the swamp.

He spent years looking into it, delving into it.

I've always been on about paying respect

to the people that have come before us.

Fred did significant work, specifically in the swamp,

and if we find this, uh, it would be a real...

it would be a real moment, a significant moment to me.

-Ready? Okay. -RICK: Yep. -TONY: Ready.

-TONY: We're gonna go back towards that, team. -CRAIG: Okay.

Try to launch through the bulrushes.

RICK: To me, it's all about the eyes and boots guys.

And this dive will hopefully assist us

in determining where we go next in terms of discovery processes.

Who else wants to get in?

-I've been in there too many times. -(laughter)

TONY: Okay.

NARRATOR: As Tony Sampson prepares

for his dive in the swamp...

GARY: Ready for action, Charles?

-Yep. -NARRATOR: ...Charles Barkhouse

and metal detection expert Gary Drayton

arrive at the area known as Isaac's Point,

located on the eastern side of the island.

Look how high the water is.

You imagine open water like this,

this place must get torn out.

So, I think we should go looking around the corner,

see if there's any erosion

-towards Isaac's Point. -Okay.

All right, mate. Let's see if there's been

-anything good pushed up this wintertime. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: Because of its close proximity to Smith's Cove,

the team is hopeful that, by searching the surrounding area,

they will find important artifacts or clues connected

to the mysterious structures they uncovered last year.

One of the big surprises last year

was to uncover a massive structure,

pre-Money Pit discovery, and not find artifacts,

the things they would've dropped.

I've always been interested in Isaac's Point,

and maybe there's some stuff there

that could answer some of the questions.

GARY: Here we go, mate.

Nice bit of erosion there on the banks.

-CHARLES: Yeah, I see that. -GARY: It's all undercut by the look of it.

-Good place to start. -(metal detector beeping)

All right. See what we can find.

-Okay, what I'm hoping, Charles... -CHARLES: Yeah?

...is the-the waves have hit this bottom of this bank

and flushed some good finds out.

What I'll do is little areas I can get in,

we'll detect along the side

-of the bank and at the foot. -Okay.

GARY: At least I get a lot of coverage using my big coil.

CHARLES: Yeah.

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize as well is

a metal detector detects a coil,

it detects under the coil and above the coil.

That's why I've been waving it halfway up,

because if there was something underneath this bank,

we'd detect it.

Oh, so the signal goes up and down.

Yup. And around as well.

-It's hot all the way around a few more inches. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: In order to thoroughly search

the steep banks along Isaac's Point,

Gary is using a larger than usual

13-inch-wide detecting coil.

This will allow him to simultaneously scan

for objects buried in the ground both above

and below his metal detector, up to two feet deep.

-(beeping) -GARY: Ooh!

Not sure what that is, Charles.

(beeping)

(whirs)

-Have some fun mate. (laughs) -Oh.

(beeping)

Just there, mate. All right, I'll stand back

and have some fun watching you digging that out.

That's the spot.

-Just here, mate? -Yeah.

GARY: Thanks.

-(beeping) -You got it out.

CHARLES: Oh, did I?

Yeah.

All right, let's see what this baby is.

-GARY (laughs): Oh! -CHARLES: What?

GARY: It's a coin.

-Oh, no, it isn't. -What is it?

It's a shotgun shell.

-I saw the roundness. -Oh, yep.

Blast.

Yeah.

-12 gauge. -That's why it's called

treasure hunting, mate; you have to hunt for the treasure.

CHARLES: Pretty much.

(beeping)

GARY: Sounds good, mate.

Got something?

(whirring)

Right down the middle, mate.

Come on, Charles. Throw something good up there.

(beeping)

-It's out. -CHARLES: It's out.

I'll use a pinpointer.

Hopefully something good.

(beeping)

Oh, that's fantastic!

ing the area known as Isaac's Point

on the eastern shore of Oak Island,

metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse

have just made what could be another important discovery.

GARY: Oh, my God.

-That's an old button. Look! -CHARLES: Yeah.

-GARY: This is a bobby-dazzler of a button, mate. -(laughs)

This is fantastic.

Looks to me like it's silver.

And that's a starburst design

-in the center. -Yeah.

Would you say that's more high-end,

like a person who had money

as opposed to a common person because of the starburst?

GARY: Yeah, this would've been like a little status symbol

-back in the day to have nice silver buttons. -Yeah.

GARY: This is more of, like, a dandy button.

This is a nice design.

And more than likely it's silver.

And this has been here a long, long time.

CHARLES: That is a beauty.

1650 to 1750.

-That's how old this button is. -Wow.

That's amazing, Gary.

NARRATOR: A silver button?

Possibly dating back to the mid-18th century

or even earlier?

Although finding antique buttons

is not unusual on Oak Island,

the fact that this one is made of silver

and bears a unique symbol

means it could be a significant clue.

Prior to the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795,

Oak Island was virtually uninhabited

and was mainly used as a place where farmers

could raise their livestock

safely away from natural predators.

If this silver button

can be dated to a time prior to the late 1700s,

it would mean that it was possibly dropped there

by someone who was, most likely,

not a simple farmer.

The beauty of this: this is something different.

This doesn't compare to other buttons we've found.

We found buttons all over the island,

but not like this.

Not with that back, that shank.

-And that's how you date buttons is the shank. -Yeah.

GARY: Even though I'd love to put this in my top pocket,

-we know we got to tag and bag it, mate. -Yep.

-There you go. -Let's be careful with this one.

-CHARLES: Yep, absolutely. -That's a beauty.

You know, I'd be curious to see what Laird says about that one.

GARY: That is fantastic.

NARRATOR: As Gary and Charles

continue to investigate Isaac's Point...

...Rick Lagina,

Craig Tester and surveyor Steve Guptill

are preparing to oversee the dive operation

conducted by Tony Sampson.

RICK: The story, to me, is everything.

Don't get me wrong.

Treasure's found, I want my share.

But if we find a ship in the swamp,

boy, that's a big deal to me.

It might perhaps change history as we know it.

STEVE G.: We just got to go two meters north and we're there.

NARRATOR: Using his Topcon HiPer II GPS receiver,

Steve will guide the team to the northernmost point

of the seismic anomaly.

STEVE G.: It should be right around here

within a couple feet.

TONY: I wonder if I can probe down there

and actually get hands on.

NARRATOR: Because the murky waters of the swamp

will force Tony to explore in a zero-visibility environment,

he will first search the target area

using a metal probe in the hopes

of locating evidence of the mysterious object.

-(tapping) -Got something here.

That's... that's weird. Solid.

RICK: Steve, where in relation

to that rod is the anomaly?

That's probably 15 to 20--

What would that be, 15 meters northwest?

So it lines up pretty well.

(tapping continues)

That's definitely solid.

Yeah, still going.

Further out.

CRAIG: If it's man-made,

that'd be huge, being out in the swamp.

RICK: That makes this extremely interesting.

Probably five feet down through this.

So, at the moment, we're going out

on a straight line offshore.

Like a path or a roadway, isn't it?

NARRATOR: A possible roadway or path?

Buried in the swamp?

(tapping)

TONY: It seems to come out

directly from the shore.

RICK: And which way is it?

Walk-- Can you walk it?

-(tapping continues) -TONY: Yeah.

RICK: It's an intriguing find.

There's no question about it.

We're certainly gonna try to explain what it is.

If there is a connection

to the so-called ship anomaly, it would be amazing.

I mean,

there's a lot of potential answers.

TONY: All right.

I'll get suited up, then, mate.

NARRATOR: Having oriented himself to the approximate location

of the mysterious stone feature,

Tony will now dive

beneath the murky, brackish water

in an attempt to identify just what it could be.

RICK: I mean, it's gonna be a tactile dive,

essentially, for Tony.

He's gonna have to feel his way down,

push aside the large amount

of organic material that's down there

and hopefully find out what this might be.

What are you seeing?

It's tapering down.

It's like a second level, Craig.

The first level was flat,

and now it's down another, uh, two feet,

then flat again.

Almost like a step.

I'm gonna try and bring a piece up.

-On that end? -TONY: Yeah.

Okay.

(filtered breathing)

From a geological standpoint, it's...

-Cutting across the fault. -It's cutting across everything

instead of being parallel like you'd expect,

which makes you think it's not geological.

RICK: Mm-hmm.

(filtered breathing)

♪ ♪

I've got something!

Which end was up?

Do you know which-which side was up?

-CRAIG: Just like that? -Do you have that corner

-over there, Tony? -Okay.

That's pretty flat.

RICK: Interesting.

RICK: Wow.

-Can you lift one from the north side? -TONY: Okay.

STEVE G.: Look at that other one there.

CRAIG: It's amazing how flat they are.

RICK: That's the top of the anomaly, right?

Yeah.

RICK: If it's that far away that it...

That'd be a massive... platform.

There it is, guys. We're right on it.

-Okay. -TONY: That's the slope off on the other side.

She's... I think she's about five feet down

in the muck.

Exactly.

NARRATOR: A stone road?

Located some five feet beneath the surface

of the Oak Island swamp?

And near the area

where Eagle Canada has identified an anomaly

in the shape of a large ship--

possibly a Spanish galleon?

Interesting find. I mean,

-it's a possibility. -Interesting, eh?

-CRAIG: Yeah. For sure. -Yeah.

TONY: I'll just go back out

to that first mark of mine.

I've got some lobster-style buoys, as well,

and I can secure a weight, drop it,

-and then you can shoot it. -Yep.

-RICK: Okay. All right. -CRAIG: Okay.

NARRATOR: Because Tony believes

the rock feature may be man-made

and of archaeological value,

he will now deploy a number of surface buoys

in an effort to mark its size and orientation.

Which makes sense.

CRAIG: One of his markers?

Yeah.

-CRAIG: Let's go tag that one. -STEVE G.: Sure.

RICK: If it is indeed a structure, we need to know

how long it is, how wide it is, and then we can take that data.

Steve will get GPS coordinates,

and he can plot that as it relates to the seismic anomaly

and see if we can make some connection.

I would not have guessed it to be there.

CRAIG: He seems to be going in a straight line.

STEVE G.: Yeah.

There's no possible way he could've seen

-that he was traveling in a straight line. -CRAIG: No.

RICK: He's operating, literally,

blind.

And yet these buoys are snapping up

to surface, and there is a distinct

linear feature to what he's swimming along.

Have you looked back at what you delineated?

-It's quite straight, quiet linear. -Is that right?

TONY: Wow, you're right, mate.

-That's pretty damn straight, eh? -CRAIG: Yeah.

-RICK: Pretty doggone straight. -TONY: Very interesting.

Pretty much, from my marks...

six feet, eight feet that way

-is the solid platform. -RICK: Just to clarify, though.

The hard line you're describing

you believe is rock, not just hard bottom.

-No. No, it's rock. -Yeah.

Hard to believe that it'd be uniform.

I mean, glaciers do amazing things, but...

-Yeah. -...really small stones like that

all with flat surfaces laying up?

So, you have the anomaly, and you've got

a roadway or a path.

I mean...

-(laughs) -That's hard to...

-Pretty amazing. -It's hard to interpret that

any other way than possible connection.

TONY: I mean, why is it there?

RICK: (chuckles) In the middle of this?

-Yeah. -I mean, where's Charles?

He's always on about puzzle pieces.

-Yeah. -(laughs): We've got a few dandies right now.

Anything could be possible right now.

We don't have enough information.

We certainly have some information

that's extremely curious.

Ideally, it works out well with our anomaly.

It'll be interesting to see when I get back into the office

-and, uh, we draft it up. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: The discovery of a possible stone road,

or pathway, buried at the bottom of the swamp

is an exciting development,

one that serves to make the team more eager

to drain the entire area.

But if a man-made structure is discovered,

who built it?

And did they come looking for the Oak Island treasure,

or did they bury it there?

RICK: Well, Steve, you've got to pin these.

Boy, that sure is intriguing.

(thunder rumbling)

NARRATOR: Before a very productive day

on Oak Island comes to an end...

-LAIRD: Hey-ho. -ALEX: Hey, guys.

-Gentlemen. -CHARLES: Gentlemen.

NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Charles Barkhouse join Rick, Craig

and other members of the team at the research center

to share the new discovery they made at Isaac's Point.

What do I detect?

-Even better still, reaching in here. -RICK: Top pocket.

-Uh-oh. -Oh, yeah.

Check this out.

ALEX: Oh, wow.

GARY: That is a really cool

silver button.

-RICK: Wow. -ALEX: Look at the front of it.

RICK: Yeah.

CHARLES: It has a starburst design on it.

RICK: Beautiful.

ALEX: It is in very good condition.

How about the microscope? Let's-let's put it under there

and take a look-see.

NARRATOR: Using a digital microscope,

Doug can magnify the silver button

up to 2,000 times its actual size

to reveal any identifying marks or designs

not visible to the naked eye.

-GARY: Wow, look at that sunburst design. -But you see the striations?

-CHARLES: Yeah. -CRAIG: Yeah.

Rather than molded, things are curved?

-ALEX: Mm-hmm. -GARY: Yeah. -See the striations here?

-ALEX: Yeah. Mm-hmm. -And there.

And it's like cut glass, too.

They're-they're different widths.

They're definitely done by hand,

-I'd say. -Yeah.

CRAIG: Where was this found, then?

GARY: At the top

of Isaac's Point.

Stone's throw from the U-shaped structure, kind of.

-How old? -Well, I would say that's 1650 to 1750.

ALEX: Wow.

RICK: Laird, do you concur?

LAIRD: I would probably put it a little later,

but not... not a whole bunch.

The 1720s to 1770s kind of thing. So we're not...

-It's still in your 1760 ballpark. -Yeah.

GARY: And we don't really know

if it was a civilian jacket button

or a military jacket button.

CRAIG: Would militaries have

-something that fancy? -CHARLES: Senior officers

might have that; yeah, they would have their own

-uniforms tailored. -There was always the latitude

-to personalize these things, yeah. -Absolutely, yeah.

RICK: Both Gary and...

and Laird affirm that it predated searcher activity.

That's a "wow."

That's what's funny about Oak Island.

Just a... a one-off little tiny find,

and it may tell us

some significant information.

LAIRD: It's not an ordinary find.

It's not a commonplace find.

ALEX: It almost looks folded over.

You see at the end of the... the longest cut there?

Yeah. I-Interesting.

Right... right here.

This is where I pick it up here, and then...

-ALEX: Back. Yeah. -...back again,

and then up and over.

-Mm-hmm. -But, you know,

is that another one of those folds right there?

ALEX: I don't know.

GARY: The corrosion looks like it's on top of that silver.

-ALEX: It does a bit. -CHARLES: Yeah.

I mean, it's-it's beautiful, nonetheless.

I mean, it doesn't detract from the...

from the aesthetic beauty of it.

And the craftsmanship, certainly.

What would you do, Laird, do you know, to conserve that

and to clean it?

LAIRD: Kelly will clean the surface

as gently as he could, um, and then

what he'll have to do is-- see, the green stuff

is-is active corrosion?

He'll stabilize that.

-Yes. -Mm-hmm.

LAIRD: There's the remote possibility

there's a maker's mark.

Can you really narrow the date down, then?

If it's ore marks, the date will be on there.

-It'll be recorded date. -LAIRD: To the year. Who it was,

where it was and when it was.

Hmm.

NARRATOR: As early as the 14th century,

silver and goldsmiths throughout medieval Europe

were required by law to imprint each precious object they made

with an identifying stamp, known as a maker's mark.

These marks, such as family crests

or initials, were unique to each craftsman

and would be officially registered

with the local government,

along with the exact year an object was made.

This was done to certify the purity

of the precious metals they contained,

as well as to prevent counterfeiting.

GARY: What's it look like on the back?

That's your typical late 16, early 1700s back.

The blackening there at the edge is...

GARY: Yeah, that means it's oxidized.

That's why I like, the-the dark gray.

No one's troubled by the degradation on the edges?

GARY: Oh, I'm not, because of the silver mix.

You don't know what alloys are in the silver mix.

-Yeah. -I see.

CRAIG: Is that, is that a marker that's

right dead in the center, kind of?

Oh, I see what you mean.

-There we go. -Oh, there.

-ALEX: Hold for a second there. -CHARLES: Yeah.

DOUG: That looks like a mark, doesn't it?

ALEX: Could be.

GARY: For a beach find,

-it's in good condition. -Yeah. -Yeah.

CRAIG: Yeah.

It's interesting to me.

GARY: Who knows what's on this when it's cleaned up?

-And maybe we'll learn a few more things. -Yeah.

ALEX: Good find.

NARRATOR: One day after the team's discovery

of what could be a man-made stone feature in the swamp,

Marty Lagina has arrived to join his brother

on Oak Island.

So, this swamp, Rick, it's kind of like a...

it's kind of like, to me, it's like the,

uh, it's like a horror movie.

(laughs): You know, it's like this thing that won't die.

You know, I thought we'd killed it,

but there's probably more intrigue in the swamp

than there was the day we first set foot

-on the island, you know? -I would have to agree.

But you know what, look,

if that's where the data suggests, that's where we'll go.

I'm all in. I'll be up to my neck

-in... in something. -(chuckles)

Steve has mapped out

all the information regarding the seismic anomaly.

I think it's-it's quite remarkable, and he, uh,

is gonna make his presentation today in the war room.

Excellent. I love that.

I hate the swamp.

I've gone on record as saying I hate the swamp.

But when you look at all the stuff we're seeing

in the swamp now, you can't help yourself.

You still think, "Wow, that's something worth chasing."

-MARTY: Gentlemen. I'm back. -(excited chatter)

So, I understand that, Steve, you have some data

regarding... my favorite place on Earth,

the swamp on Oak Island, and I'm, believe it or not,

-keen to hear it. -Great.

So, first thing, seismic sent me a shape file.

I dropped it into the world, and it landed right here

in the swamp.

So, there is an image,

just to give you an idea of where in the swamp it is.

So, this is seismic data put into a side-to plan, okay?

So the top of our anomaly is about 15 feet under sea level.

It picks up in seismic,

okay, and it goes down to about 55 feet.

NARRATOR: Using the GPS coordinates

provided to him by Eagle Canada,

Steve Guptill has created a master survey of the swamp,

allowing him to compare the seismic results

with the data gathered during yesterday's dive.

Okay, so, Tony found two distinct lines.

We tied them in with some GPS C-RTK,

so they're, you know, they're precise.

That's where they are in the w-world.

MARTY: So, what is it?

TONY: It appears to be some sort of stone structure,

almost like a roadway leading into the swamp.

STEVE G.: The paved stone, as you see up there,

lands exactly zero.

So it is sea level.

MARTY: Wow.

Feel like it was placed?

Yes. What Steve did there, I mean, you can see that

it worked out almost perfectly as far as the line going.

Mm-hmm.

STEVE G.: That's two meters north

of the anomaly.

It's about 60 or 70 feet, this piece here,

about 12 feet wide, and it's just flat stone.

You got to take it into consideration

with what you found, which is a potential wharf,

because that's not just running a ship aground

and scuttling it; that's more indicative

of-of an operation of some type.

GARY: And you build that

to load and unload cargo.

Treasure.

NARRATOR: A stone wharf?

Could it be that the stone pathway

Tony Sampson has identified

is actually a kind of ancient wharf,

or boat dock?

And if so, could it be further evidence

to support the notion that the 200-foot-long anomaly

revealed by seismic imaging could really be a massive ship

buried deep beneath the Oak Island swamp?

It makes the possibility of it being a ship

that much more intriguing because you've got now

a working platform or a slipway.

So, if they're in close proximity,

one probably is there because the other one is there.

TONY: This is actually a-a stone

-or a rock structure as well. -Yeah.

So this was definitely more permanent than a...

-than a timber wharf structure. -RICK: And there's no...

no closer place to land than right there either,

-if you think about it. -Yes. Exactly.

So, what are you feeling there

when you're sending up those buoys?

What is it you're feeling? A-a joint, like that?

-No, she's a rock-- she's a rock bottom. -And flat.

-Yeah. So she's that flat surface. -And then, and then,

-all of a sudden, it isn't. -And then she--

-No, and then she'll slope away slightly. -Mm.

-So you were at the inflection point? -Yeah.

Because you can go around it and you don't have that consistency

through the rest of the swamp.

And it's an anomaly.

And just by being consistent in its width

across the whole way,

-it-it gives that man-made appearance. -What happens on the other side?

On this side, you said there's an inflection point.

-How 'bout on the other side? -On this other side,

-it's the same. Yeah. -Same. Like, so you got

-something like that? -Exactly.

You have to remember, he was down in the dark.

That, as the buoys were coming up, that it was

incredibly straight line.

-Yeah, for that distance. -He-he did not surface

to take a look at what he was doing.

MARTY: Even if you were trying

-to cheat, you couldn't have. -CRAIG: No.

(laughter)

Well, maybe we found it.

-Right, Gary? -It worked out perfectly.

We've got a treasure ship and a wharf.

-(laughter) -RICK: If we find that

in the swamp, to me, it's the one thing

to prove that the swamp was artificially manipulated.

So, on we go. Uh, you know, the obvious,

the 100%,

-the unanimity here -Yeah.

is we need to drill it, right?

-Yeah. -MARTY: The obvious thing

on the so-called ship anomaly

is to put some boreholes through it.

That's what we're gonna do.

RICK: The hope is one simple thing:

that wood will come up in the core.

If we can find something there, you have to investigate,

and that investigation would entail a dig.

I never thought I'd hear myself say this,

but, uh, let's-let's get in the swamp.

-(laughter) -TONY: Sounds good.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: It is a morning of great anticipation

on Oak Island...

MARTY: Hey, Tom. Been a while.

Marty, good to see you.

...as brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with their partner Craig Tester

and fellow property owner Tom Nolan,

meet at the swamp.

I just got word that the barge

-and the float is coming in. -MARTY: Good.

So, we should be able to see that here momentarily.

MARTY: I'm Mr. Instant Gratification,

-so let's go! -BRENNAN: All right. Well...

-Bring that thing in. Make some hole. -(laughing)

RICK: Hey, Tom. What do you think

your father would think right now?

I think he'd be pretty excited about it all.

-There you go. -You know? He did a lot of work out there.

You know, where you guys are looking to go

is pretty close to where he spent a lot of time.

-Mm-hmm. -So it's pretty exciting.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Working with representatives from Choice Drilling

and RMI Marine Limited, the team will be conducting

a tactical core drilling operation

in hopes of locating a 200-foot-long object

believed to be buried in the triangle-shaped swamp,

an object that,

according to recently conducted seismic testing,

appears to resemble a large ship.

There's the rig.

Yay!

(whoops) Baby!

RICK: That little rig might hold the key

to at least putting some periods at the end of our sentences.

BRENNAN: Yeah. That would be exciting, for sure.

I think this is actually probably

the most excited I've really been.

'Cause the Money Pit's exciting,

but you have no idea where the hell you're drilling.

-Here you have a target. -You have a target.

NARRATOR: Because the team

will have to drill in the open waters of the swamp,

the drill rig will need to be set up on a floating platform,

one capable of supporting a five-ton sonic drill rig.

Unlike oer types of rotary drills,

sonic drilling uses high frequency sounds to penetrate

through soil and hard obstacles

while extracting core samples down to depths

as great as 300 feet.

MARTY: Well, that was quite a parade.

I didn't picture the barge like that.

-Does it kind of bolt together? -Yep.

It's just a sectional barge that-- four pieces will make it.

What is the procedure? They put the barge in first?

Yeah, they'll usually put one in at a time.

So, we'll know if they float here soon.

-That would be a good start, wouldn't it? -I mean, I know they float.

I just hope there's enough water.

-I know they float. -(laughing)

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The massive 800-square-foot barge

will be composed of four ten-by-20-foot sections,

each weighing approximately five tons.

Once completed, the sonic drill rig

will then be set up by means of a 40-ton crane.

RICK: Of all the things we're endeavoring to do this year,

the swamp anomaly is probably the one

that has raised our interest the most.

Hopefully, there's a wood feature down there

that's recovered.

And if it's something that needs further investigation,

then we do a large dig.

What did your father tell you? Anything at all?

He was very secretive, but,

-you know... -(laughter) -MARTY: Really? Your dad?

-That's surprising. -Yeah. Yeah, it-it goes with the treasure hunting,

-uh, theme, but... -Yeah. -Right.

-What do you think? -Well, just based on what you guys

have-have showed me, I mean, it's-it's...

looks like there's something there.

I mean, it really does.

Fred dedicated almost his entire 60 years

to try to come to an understanding

of what the swamp meant in terms of the Oak Island mystery.

So, for Tom, his father's legacy is involved here.

NARRATOR: Although Tom Nolan

has been cooperating with Rick

and Marty's efforts in the years

since his father's death in 2016,

this year, he has joined the team

as an official, full-time member.

This means that, for the first time in almost half a century,

all of the major Oak Island landowners

are woing together to solve the mystery.

Much as I hate that thing--

-and I do-- -(chuckles)

I'm excited to explore it.

TOM: It's a target.

-You never know. -Yeah.

Okay, well, let's get after it.

NARRATOR: Later that afternoon,

as the team from RMI Marine Limited continues

to assemble the 20-ton barge...

-RICK: Guys, here he is. -CHARLES: Hi, Kelly.

Good to see you again.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina heads to the research center,

where he is joined by professional conservator

Kelly Bourassa and other members of the Oak Island team.

We're gonna be keeping you really busy this year.

Oh. Happy to hear that.

And we have your station set up.

KELLY: All good.

NARRATOR: For nearly a decade,

Kelly has worked with numerous museums

and archaeological sites to clean and restore

historical artifacts found throughout Nova Scotia.

We're gonna start with a really cool find.

This wasn't on land. This was on the upper beach.

Oh, my.

NARRATOR: Today, the team has asked him to examine and conserve

the silver button that Gary Drayton found

two days ago at Isaac's Point.

So, it's a-- definitely a button.

And it's a silver button, huh?

-There's a silver component to it. -Silver laminate, actually,

-is what it looks like, right? Yeah. -Yeah, that's what we think.

KELLY: It's got some, uh, some green on it.

Uh, green corrosion typically is copper.

-And the back, that's a typical 1700s back. -Sure.

Based on, uh, Hume's book of colonial artifacts.

We should be able to get a date range on that.

And when I work it a little bit,

we might be able to see some other markings.

Well, I will just start off by doing some gentle brushing

with a toothbrush to get rid of, uh, at least the loose material.

And if necessary, I can go further

and use a, uh, glass fiber brush

and do it very gently on it as well with, uh,

trying not to scratch, of course.

-GARY: Wow. -The end result will be something that'll look

a lot better than what you see here.

So, looks good, guys.

-And this is just the beginning. -Yeah.

And just the beginning. That's fantastic.

So, we'll work on that.

-You work on this. -Yeah. -And I'll work on this.

That's not a problem. Gonna be busy.

-Yeah. -And hopefully,

when we come back after you've done your work,

maybe you'll have some information for us.

-I hope so. -CHARLES: Yeah.

I'll do my best.

-Hey, look, welcome aboard. -Thank you. Yeah.

-The year should be exciting. -It's going to be.

I just know it.

After you.

NARRATOR: As Kelly Bourassa begins

to carefully clean the silver button...

ALEX: So, Isaac's Point again, huh?

GARY: Yeah. I love this place.

NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Alex Lagina return to Isaac's Point

in the hopes of locating more potentially important clues.

So much history that we've already discovered here.

Well, great. Let's go find 'em.

ALEX: We've got pretty high hopes

for the interior of Isaac's Point because this is

an area where we've made some pretty cool finds

in the past, uh, including a pirate token,

some old coins,

things of historical significance.

-Wherever you want to start. -GARY: Right.

Here's a good a place as any, mate.

-Okay. -We'll start out and we'll start

gridding across and go all the way across the top of the ridge.

I know the guys have been clearing some areas.

-We might get lucky. -Great.

(beeping)

I'll just take a loose "W" search pattern.

ALEX: Cool.

(beeping)

-Diggable? -Yeah, it's diggable.

Let me just see if it's a surface find.

-(clears throat) -(beeping)

Yeah, so it's somewhere in between here and the rock.

Okay.

(beeping)

Mm. Seems like it's moved.

-ALEX: That it? -GARY: Yeah, this is it.

The heck is that?

It's interesting.

I don't want to straighten it out.

-You know what that looks like? -No.

That's like a little hand mirror.

I think that's the handle.

-Yeah, it's got the glass in it. -Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's a... So, this is kind of old.

-This is a searcher hand mirror. -That's pretty cool.

It looks like an old one.

You know, probably Victorian,

which would make it, you know, mid-to-late 1800s.

-That's really cool. -Yeah.

And it shows that, you know, weren't just male searchers.

There was females on the island.

-That's a cool little artifact. -Yeah.

It is very cool. It's cool that it's mostly intact.

Yeah.

I think finding the lady's hand mirror

on Isaac's Point is very interesting,

because it shows it's an area

that's had a lot of activity in the past.

And it was discovered very close to Smith's Cove.

So, this is an area of the island

that we got to refocus on and see if we can find

any more of these artifacts, 'cause they're clearly there,

and see if we can keep getting answers.

-GARY: I think we should go down the beach. -Yeah. Okay.

It's low tide. Let's get some more.

Cool. Let's do it.

All right.

This looks like a good area.

Yeah.

What I see along this little stretch here is good.

You see the big rocks here,

and you see the smaller ones up there.

ALEX: Mm-hmm.

Meaning everything's been pushed up at the top.

-Hmm. -I'm sure there was some bad storms this wintertime.

-Oh, yeah. There always are. -So...

And anything you find in this area

is not gonna be very deep if it's along the top.

Here's hoping. (laughs)

All right.

All right. Here we go.

(beeping)

Music to my ears.

(beeping, whirring)

I'm getting a signal here, Alex.

-So... -I want to check it out.

-We haven't really got that much iron on this beach. -Mm-hmm.

So, I'd like to check out and see

-what this big piece of iron is. -Okay.

(beeping, whirring)

ALEX: Where is it?

It's just underneath that rock there.

I'm hoping it's a coin or a button.

I'd take a cannonball. If we found

a cannonball on this beach, that would be a good find.

All right. Now what?

-GARY: Want me to pull it over? -No.

I'll just get this in here.

-All right. -There it is. I see it.

-You do? -An iron spike.

Where?

Just here.

-Yup, and look at this. -Oh, yeah. There it is.

-Huh. -That could be an old, crude spike.

-Sure. -That looks old to me.

That looks hand-forged.

-ALEX: It's not really... -That's nice.

-ALEX: It's not really pitted, though. -No.

And the reason why it isn't pitted--

-That's a good sign. -Hmm.

When it's not pitted, that means the iron's good.

-It's old iron. -Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Doesn't pit and it doesn't corrode

-like modern iron. -Mm-hmm.

It's 'cause of the carbon content in this iron.

-Only me would get happy about an iron spike. -(laughs)

-ALEX: Well, it's... -But this is a good one,

and who knows where this came from.

-Right. -Yup.

-It's a marker spike. -Mm-hmm.

Or it's off, say, like a galleon,

-an old boat. -Mm-hmm.

I won't be surprised if this is

a lot older than the seventeens.

NARRATOR: A hand-forged iron spike?

Possibly from an ancient galleon?

Could it be a piece of the same ship that the team believes

might have been used to bring treasure to Oak Island?

Possibly the same ship that seismic evidence suggests

might lie buried in the nearby swamp?

The fascinating thing about this, Alex,

is it don't compare to other spikes we've found.

Look at that, how thick it is there,

-and it goes in. -That's true.

This is obviously kind of crude.

It was made like this.

-This is a real nice meaty spike. -Mm-hmm.

We've always done that-- we've found spikes,

cribbing spikes and ship spikes,

in different areas and have all been in one design.

-They were longer and thinner. -Right. Right.

GARY: This is a totally different one.

-ALEX: Right. -This is a first.

-It's a new one. -Yeah. This is a first

for the island and this area in particular.

ALEX: Gary and I both think the spike is very old.

I've seen several of these on Oak Island now.

We've had them analyzed. I kind of know what to look for.

And if it dates to the same time period

as the U-shaped structure,

it could be very meaningful.

That's great. Well, I'll bag it.

That's a good find.

-All right, on to the next one. -Okay.

I'll keep going in that line.

ROB RITCY: Right through your central eye there.

NARRATOR: As the team from RMI Marine Limited

continues assembling the sonic drilling barge at the swamp...

The Eagle has landed.

-Good afternoon. -Hi.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina and Laird Niven

return to the research center,

where conservator Kelly Bourassa

has finished cleaning the silver button

found two days ago at Isaac's Point.

Okay, I just wanted to show you guys.

This is the, uh, button that we had.

I actually was able to expose at least that much of it there,

but it's-it's so heavily corroded,

-that's all that's available. -Yeah.

It is a stamped design

on the front.

It has a raised foot on the back,

and if you look where the silver laminate is broken,

that implies that it's what you might call a mold seam,

and if you add those things up

with the Noel Hume guidebook to colonial artifacts,

it says that this is either a type seven or eight,

which can be dated between 1726 and 1776.

-LAIRD: Really? -Yeah.

I think the biggest "aha" moment for the years

we've been involved in this now has been

the 1769 date of the, uh, slipway.

And this brackets right perfectly with that, so...

It's a great time period, yeah.

You can't see anything that, uh, hints at having, um,

-lettering or anything like that. -Oh, you mean like a reg...

a regimental number or something like that. Yeah.

Yeah, like, that's what you're after

-is those kind of marks. Right. -Yeah.

We don't know at the moment whether

that's military or not.

-It could well be. -If we can infer

that it might be a military coat button,

there's a lot of theories that revolve

around the military, right? We've found ev...

a large amount of military-related items.

And so, those military-related theories are-are still with us.

Absolutely.

When Kelly suggests that

that silver button might have

some sort of military association...

I mean, he's-he's a conservator.

He... That's... This is what he does for a living.

Uh, that means something.

NARRATOR: Although the 18th century

silver-plated button displays no marks or symbols

that could help identify its possible origin,

the fact that it coincides with the age

of both the slipway and the U-shaped structure--

as determined by dendrochronology--

makes it a potentially valuable clue.

All I can say is it's... it's shaping up

to be a very interesting year, and I look forward

-to your participation, Kelly. -Thank you very much.

RICK: Appreciate it.

NARRATOR: Later that day at Smith's Cove...

MARTY: Dr. Jardine, how are you?

NARRATOR: ...brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with members of the team,

are meeting with representatives

from Irving Equipment Limited to begin preparations

for yet another major search operation.

JARDINE: Wow.

Did you bring your scuba gear? There's a little bit

of water in there. You know, what are we gonna do?

We're gonna break through there and go out? That's the deal?

We've got a permit to do a 50-foot bump out.

And I certainly want to encompass the slipway,

because the slipway extends far beyond the end

of the sheet pile, so we'd like to find that, uh...

-50 foot this way and 50 foot that way? -Yup.

-100 feet. -100 feet and 50 feet out?

And 50 feet out.

So, basically, there's roughly 100 feet of wall

that will be coming out.

And then there's two walls--

we call them wing walls--

that'll need to be connected with corners

on the inner edge and on the outer, as well.

The hope is that we'll find something

-at the end of that slipway. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: In order to uncover more of the mysterious slipway

and anything else that may be buried in the area,

the Oak Island team has decided

to build a 120-foot-long extension, or "bump out,"

in the cofferdam wall.

Once completed, the team will be able

to investigate an additional 6,000-square-foot area

never explored by previously documented treasure hunters.

We haven't found the end of the slipway, and

if anything was dropped from whatever was being transported

from ship to slipway to shore,

it would have been the transfer from the ship to the slipway.

With this bump out,

there may be artifacts there that will tell a story.

How close can we dig?

It's all designed around the same parameters.

Last year, we were able to get an eight-foot area.

Keep eight feet of level,

and then a one-and-a-half- to-one slope down.

If we find something, we need to go right to the sheet.

Yeah, and that was kind of the reasoning,

why we went with the square structure this time.

Because with a square structure,

you can put bracing on the corners.

That'll give you support.

You know, it may not have any relevance to

the proposed dig, but remember the red dye came out here?

Yeah.

RICK: So we need to track everything.

NARRATOR: In addition to the cofferdam expansion,

Rick and Marty also remain focused

on their ultimate goal--

to locthe place where the five stone box drains,

first discovered in 1850, merge into a single tunnel,

and, thus, presumably lead directly

to the original Oak Island treasure vault.

A lot of curiosity in this little area,

and that's why we picked it. It's a lot of work

in a-a very short period of time.

MARTY: All right, let's get after it.

ALEX: So, we got some stuff to show you guys.

NARRATOR: Later that afternoon,

Alex Lagina

and metal detection expert Gary Drayton

head to the research center

to share the day's finds with Rick, Craig,

and other members of the team.

ALEX: All right, this we found

pretty close to the Cave-In Pit, actually, was this here,

which we think is an old hand mirror.

GARY: I mean, this is highly decorated.

This would have been a thing of wealth.

RICK: It's a beautiful piece.

GARY: I'd say... could be older,

but I'd definitely date it to the 1800s.

And that'll help to date it, the design.

-But that's not all we found. -ALEX: Yes.

We also did a little bit of the beach around Isaac's Point.

This has the best shot at being old enough

to be interesting to us.

We found this iron spike.

You know, we both thought it's in pretty good condition,

meaning it's probably wrought iron.

-RICK: Interesting shape. -Mm-hmm.

RICK: 'Cause this doesn't seem to be

deteriorated at all.

-Why so thin here and so thick here? -Getting wider, yeah.

LAIRD: I mean, it's got some heft to it, that's for sure.

-RICK: What do you think, Gary? -GARY: Yeah, I...

I'd put this in the 1700s, easily.

-That's a nice spike. -RICK: To be used for what?

I would say it's ship-related.

ALEX: Uh, like with any

of these, we can have Carmen Legge take a look.

-Absolutely. -ALEX: You know, he's probably gonna have

a pretty good idea of what this might've been used...

Or if there was anything typically shaped like this,

-he'll know. -LAIRD: Yeah.

And those are our finds.

RICK: That-That's curious.

You know, whenever we find one-offs,

it's worth looking into further, obviously.

And we'll go back, and we'll see if we can find some more

at low tide.

We're gonna keep you busy.

RICK: You better.

NARRATOR: As a new day begins

on Oak Island...

MARTY: Are we floating, or are we bottomed out

-right there? -BRENNAN: No, we're floating.

NARRATOR: Marty Lagina and Craig Tester

are overseeing the final preparations

for their core-drilling operation in the swamp.

If successful,

they are hoping to reveal evidence

of a mysterious 200-foot-long object

that seismic scanning

identified as being consistent

with a possible shipwreck.

Looks pretty cool, though.

This is gonna be great.

Let's quit jawing about it and go find out, right?

-All right, we can do that. -(laughs) All right.

Cool.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,

Rick Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Drayton

travel approximately 20 miles north of Oak Island

to the Ross Farm Museum located in New Ross, Nova Scotia.

They have arranged for blacksmithing expert

Carmen Legge to examine the unusual iron spike

discovered one day ago at Isaac's Point.

-(metal clanging) -(knock on door)

CARMEN: Hello.

Hello. Carmen.

-Yes. -Rick Lagina.

-Good to meet you. -Hi. Thank you very much.

-GARY: Hello, mate. -Yeah.

Gary Drayton. I've been looking forward to meeting you, mate.

Very good. Good to meet you fellers.

-RICK: It's quite a... -What can I do for you today?

So, I-I know that you were kind enough

when my brother visited with Alex and Doug.

And you were of immense help.

-Specifically that hinge. -CARMEN: Right.

I remember that, yes.

NARRATOR: Last year Marty Lagina, his son Alex,

and researcher Doug Crowell

met with Carmen Legge in order to have him evaluate

a number of iron artifacts

that had been found in Smith's Cove.

-Wow. -NARRATOR: Incredibly,

it was Carmen's assessment

that one of these objects,

a large metal hinge,

might possibly date back

as much as 200 years prior to the discovery

of the Money Pit in 1795.

I always find Carmen Legge interesting.

Very knowledgeable guy. Blacksmith.

Not only can Carmen provide a historical context,

but he can provide a timeline.

MARTY: He can look at lots of things that we just don't know

what they are, and oftentimes he knows exactly what they are.

As far as our specific purpose today, Gary?

-Yeah. -What have you got?

GARY: This is the first interesting piece of iron

we've found this year on Oak Island.

Yeah.

It was the chunky middle part

-that threw us off. -Yes, yes. That's right, yes.

GARY: It was found on the beach not far off the swamp.

I was thinking it's something nautical.

It does serve a purpose, but it'sot on a ship.

So it's not... it's not a nautical item?

GARY: Wow.

That is definitely a hand point.

What's a hand point?

I-It's a tool.

They are used to detail or carve rock or stone.

GARY: So, it's more masonry connected.

-Stonemasons. -Yes. That's right, yeah.

-How old? -Uh, well,

this is definitely, I would say, before 1800s.

RICK: I'm quite fascinated

by the possibility of extreme age.

-That's right. That's right. -GARY: This is really old.

RICK: How far back could it be?

CARMEN: Oh...

14th century.

NARRATOR: A stonemason's tool?

Dating as far back as the 14th century?

Could the Oak Island team

have just discovered an important clue

that could be as much as 700 years old,

possibly as old as the lead cross

that Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton found

at Smith's Cove two years ago?

No way to narrow that age bracket?

No, except for before 1800.

RICK: That leads to another question.

There's been a lot of Freemasonry association

with Oak Island,

and that comes from the guild of stonemasons.

The progression from the craft

to Rosicrucians to the Masonic connection

to, you know, possible Templar connection.

Here we have a stonemason's tool.

-That's fantastic. -It is amazing.

NARRATOR: Because Freemasons have been associated

with nearly every treasure hunting company

that has investigated

Oak Island over the past two centuries

and because Masonic symbols

have been discovered all across the island,

many Oak Island enthusiasts and historians have speculated

that the origins of the mystery

may very well be connected not only to Freemasons

but also to their predecessors,

the medieval order of the Knights Templar.

Did Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton

find yet another ancient artifact

that could corroborate this notion?

Is it thicker here because you would grasp it there?

Well, it was definitely used with a wooden mallet.

No iron hammer hit this.

So, with the thick part here

and the opposite end, your hands are going in there.

So, when you hit it...

That makes perfect sense.

Would I be able to hit it with another piece of iron?

RICK: Absolutely.

What do you hope to infer from that?

I want to know how hard it is.

Extremely hard.

Hear that short, vibrating sound?

This dinner gong here

is very soft.

You can hear that go from quite a ways.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised that that has

trace elements in there like manganese.

-Wow... -Really?

NARRATOR: Although the practice

of using manganese to create steel

didn't become widespread until the late 18th century,

there is increasing evidence

that the mineral's importance in making

strong tools and weapons was known

as far back as the ninth century BC.

Could the presence of manganese actually be further evidence

that the object found on Oak Island

is of ancient origin?

Were there any, uh, rocks or stones

carved on the island or found on the island?

There are more than a few,

but the, you know, the significant ones

from the historical record, of course,

are the-the 90 Foot Stone in the Money Pit,

which had a line of carvings on it.

-Hieroglyphs. -CARMEN: You might have the very, uh...

hand point that did that.

RICK: It's incredible.

I go back to reading the story when I was a little boy.

There's some wonderful story written here.

Something happened here long ago.

Everything points to that.

GARY: Piece of iron will never be the same now.

Well, it's an interesting piece,

and it has become more interesting

because of your observations.

-GARY: That's fantastic. -RICK: It is amazing. Carmen,

look, I want to say thank you.

You know, it's been highly informative,

and I think we're both excited.

GARY: Thanks for the great news.

CARMEN: You're welcome.

-GARY: Hello, chaps. -RICK: Hi.

-Good news? -You're gonna...

You're gonna all be interested in this report.

-All right. -It's really quite amazing.

MARTY: Look, I have to tell you, I'm not too interested

in spikes, okay? (chuckles)

-Oh, no, no, no, no. -Here's a caveat here.

NARRATOR: Following their meeting

with blacksmithing historian and expert Carmen Legge,

Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton arrive

at the Mug & Anchor Pub in nearby Mahone Bay

to meet up with Rick's brother Marty and other members

of the Oak Island team.

Alex and I, we found something

that none of us knew what this item was.

-We found nothing like it on the island before. -We all said

that we knew what it wasn't

more than we had any inkling as to what it was.

-It's just a weird shape. -ALEX: Mm-hmm.

And so who better to show it to than a blacksmith?

-Right. -So we went to see Carmen Legge.

And we just left that guy with the biggest, bloody smile

-on his face. -You or him? Him.

-GARY: All of us. All. -Oh, with all of us.

You have a guess, what you think Alex and I found.

Wow. That is really cool.

And it came off a beach as well.

-Not far off the... -You pulled this off

-from under the rock? -GARY: Yep.

He did.

I pulled the rock up.

MARTY: I would have thought

that that was a crib spike.

So, what did Carmen say?

That it's an hand-point chisel

for doing fine detail work.

-A stonemason. -RICK: A stonemason tool.

-Huh. That's a cool thing. -GARY: Yeah.

MARTY: A hand-point chisel.

RICK: I was impressed by Carmen's knowledge

and his understanding of what that represented.

MARTY: Did Carmen have an opinion

-as to how old that is? -GARY: Yeah, he did.

And, surprisingly,

he said that it could go back to the 14th century.

Now, that's old then.

-That is bloody old. -Yeah.

MARTY: And it isn't just the age, either.

You know, farmers aren't using something

to chisel out rocks, generally speaking.

-Not generally, no. -They don't have time

-to be doing such things. -No.

Do you know how many fantastic carved rocks

are-are in this area?

Mm-hmm.

-I mean, the 90 Foot Stone. -Yes.

NARRATOR: Over the past two centuries,

a number of mysterious--

and possibly ancient-- carved stones

have been found on Oak Island.

Although some of these, such as the H.O. Stone

and the infamous 90 Foot Stone,

have mysteriously disappeared,

it is hoped that, if recovered,

their cryptic messages might reveal the identities

of those who carved them,

and reveal the nature of what exactly happened

on Oak Island prior to 1795.

Could this hand-point chisel,

dating back as far as the 14th century,

be another of these important clues?

That is very cool; that is a very interesting piece.

-That is a one-off for Oak Island. -Yeah, I think so, too, Gary.

So, is the reason it's made that way

is literally to hold it like a pen?

-I mean, that's what it-- No? -No. -GARY: No.

-You hold it like this. -You hold it like that.

-MARTY: It's a pen. -RICK: What's interesting is this--

-he calls this the upset, -Mm-hmm.

and it's used with a wooden mallet.

That's why it's not beat.

Well, that makes sense.

The sort of progression of things

as the years go by

seems to be going back farther and farther, in a sense,

-that seem to predate the Money Pit. -Yeah.

-That's-that's excellent. -You're gonna have us back

in the caveman days in a minute.

Oh, no, I'll be happy if we go back to medieval days.

-I mean, is it coincidence... -Is that a friend of the cross?

GARY: It could easily be a friend of the cross.

MARTY: It could if it's 1300s.

-I think that could be quite significant. -CHARLES: Yes.

We can't help but marvel at what we've found.

MARTY: And so, what have we got?

We've got the cross.

We've got this chisel now.

Yet, when you look at it, there are getting to be

a series of articles

that are possibly medieval.

RICK: It's-it's incredible.

They precede the discovery era

by several hundred years.

You think about where the cross was found in Smith's Cove.

-This is just over the hill. -Yep.

It makes you wonder what else is out at Isaac's Point.

It makes me wonder who was using that and why.

I would have thought that was very interesting

and very... neat,

but I would have thought it was a spike.

None of us would have gone back to that era.

Not a, not a stone chisel, no.

It's been a gold mine of interesting finds.

I'm excited about this year.

I guess I'm most interested in seeing

what the swamp anomalies are,

because I'd like to find out what's in there or eliminate it.

And it would be ironic if, after all these years,

the answers still lie there.

So, we'll find out.

Certainly, we have to investigate it.

Well, hear, hear! Great find.

-Cheers! -ALL: Cheers!

(glasses clinking)

MARTY: Well, I never thought I'd see the day,

but I'm excited to find out what's in the swamp.

NARRATOR: A day that Rick, Marty,

Craig, and the rest of the Oak Island team

have been waiting for has finally arrived.

We're at least gonna have an idea whatever the anomaly is.

-Right. -CRAIG: We're going right at the heart of it.

MARTY: It should at least tell us why,

-I think. -Yeah.

You know, what's the secret? Why?

Well, I believe there's something in there.

MARTY: All right, once more into the swamp.

NARRATOR: Now that the staging barge is complete,

the five-ton sonic-drilling rig

can begin to extract core samples

in the mysterious triangle-shaped swamp.

Reveal your secrets.

NARRATOR: If successful, these core samples might confirm

the presence of a massive, 200-foot-long object--

possibly the remains of a sunken ship--

that was detected by seismic scanning conducted last year.

We're gonna set up on the peninsula, right?

-Yes. -Okay.

-MARTY: Brennan! -Yeah.

MARTY: I think we're ready to go.

We're gonna set up on the shore

to look at the cores.

-Okay. -So we'll have to shuttle 'em back and forth.

That way we won't get all congested on the barge.

Yeah. Probably a good play that way.

Who do you need to board? Steve, right?

-BRENNAN: Yeah. -MARTY: Okay, let's go then.

PAUL: All right. Let's get after it.

Let's go for it. Go, Steve.

STEVE: I'll give you this.

BRENNAN: Your scepter.

STEVE: Yes, please.

-Welcome aboard. -Here you go. Thank you.

Anchors away!

Godspeed!

We'll see you on the other side.

NARRATOR: In order to move

the 20-ton drill barge into position,

the teams from Choice Drilling and RMI Marine Limited

will tow it using a system of rope lines.

RICK: Just want to pull that barge down this way a little bit.

Give it another tug!

One foot!

BRENNAN: Little bit more, Rick!

Okay?

NARRATOR: These rope lines,

which have been secured to the shore

using five steel anchors,

will then be used to lock the drill rig in place.

-Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! -CRAIG: We're good! Good! -PAUL: You're good!

Brennan! You ready to drill?

-We're ready to drill. -Okay.

-Fire it up? -BRENNAN: Yep.

We're ready.

MARTY: Hey, guys.

-Hey, Marty. -How's it going?

Looks like everything's situated.

Yeah.

The first bar is on.

MARTY: We're ahead of schedule.

That's fantastic.

All our targets are right around here, right?

-BILLY: Yeah. -RICK: And if you find wood,

then you do your extremities.

Well, if we find some wood

or something interesting,

we'll probably drill the hell out of it,

-trying-trying to find it. -Yeah.

Against all odds, I'm excited about searching in the swamp.

If that's where the-the great answers

or the great treasure are hidden, well, let's go get it.

RICK: I'm hopefu that we can find answers

or certainly the one thing.

Get the steel down hole, let's see what we've got.

NARRATOR: Also joining Rick,

Marty, and the team is Tom Nolan.

-PAUL: Hey, Tom. How you doing? -How you doing?

-Good. How are you? -Good to see you. Hey, Dave.

-How's it going? -TOM: How are you?

-So you want to see what's here, too, huh? -Yeah.

NARRATOR: For Rick, Tom's participation

is particularly meaningful,

as it was his late father, Fred Nolan,

who strongly believed

that the answers to the Oak Island mystery

would be found deep in the swamp.

He just said if his father could see this now.

-Yeah, that thing float... -He's probably looking at us.

Yeah, yeah.

Holy geez, look at that thing out there floating around.

DAVE: This is where you hit wood

-years ago, isn't it? -TOM: Yeah. Right out there.

-Not far from there, actually. -Yeah. Yeah. -PAUL: That's what I'm hoping.

We get a chunk of wood, then we'll rewrite history here.

-TOM: Yeah. -PAUL: Let's think positive.

-It's gonna be a ship. -TOM: Quite a sight.

I have always been interested in the swamp.

I always believed that there was some information in there,

but, uh, my hat's off to-to Fred.

It was Fred who really thought there was information there.

It's a testament to Fred that he endeavored--

well, he committed, as Dan did, a lifetime.

In memory of him, I'd-I'd like to-to find this thing.

MARTY: All right, here we go.

CRAIG: Yeah.

MARTY: It's time for some answers.

NARRATOR: Following a week

of intriguing new discoveries

and surprising revelations,

the Laginas and their partners

are beginning this year more convinced than ever

that the answers to this 224-year-old mystery

are finally within reach.

But as they drill deep down

into the murky depths of the Oak Island swamp,

what will they find?

Proof that the swamp was artificially made

and hides a Spanish galleon

filled with incredible treasure?

Or will they find a doorway,

one that leads directly to the fabled Money Pit?

For more than two centuries,

hundreds of people have devoted both their energy

and their fortunes to solving the mystery of Oak Island.

Six men even gave their lives in the process.

And two-- once bitter rivals--

died before they found the answers

they were looking for.

But one thing is certain:

it is far too late...

to stop now.

This season on The Curse of Oak Island...