Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

GARY: That looks like it's hand-hewn.

-I mean, it looks like a slipway, doesn't it? -You are right!

-Are you guys ready to make some history today? -Yeah.

ERIN: "La voute en bas de terre" is pointing right to the vault.

Zena's map has been pointing to the vault

this entire time.

Wow.

SANDY: It's somewhere from 400 BC to 900 AD.

That is fan-damning-toesie!

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: Hey, everybody. -CRAIG: Hello. -MARTY: Hello.

So, I'm sure everyone knows why we've gathered.

Erin, thank you again for making

this presentation, making yourself available.

NARRATOR: Night has fallen on Oak Island.

But before they end another day of investigation,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina, along with their team,

have gathered for a much-anticipated meeting

via video conference

with geographic information systems expert Erin Helton.

One that they hope will shed new light

on a 225-year-old treasure mystery.

We all believe that, you know, this is going to be, uh,

it may be, possibly, a turnaround moment

for-for Oak Island.

So please take the floor.

ERIN: Okay, great.

So, to recap what I've presented previously,

um, I sent you guys out for a variety

of potential boulder locations, and with them,

I used them to redraw what has

been lost in the Money Pit area.

So, let me just share my screen, bring up my presentation.

NARRATOR: Three weeks ago,

Erin shared an incredible theory

based on a reported 14th century hand-drawn map

of Oak Island, which the late author and researcher

Zena Halpern shared with Rick, Marty and the team

back in 2016.

This map, which Zena believed to have been made

by members of the Knights Templar,

noted two locations labeled as "the anchors."

It was Erin's suspicion, as a professional mapping expert,

that the so-called anchors

did not refer to anything related to a ship,

but might actually be purposely placed boulders,

or marker points, on a master grid

that would lead to the Money Pit treasure vault.

The coordinate is taking me to...

here.

JACK: You're kidding. It's bang on.

NARRATOR: When the team checked the GPS coordinates

that Erin gave them,

they were more than impressed

by what they found.

STEVE G.: This is her anchor.

-Okay. -JACK: Wow!

I can buy that.

NARRATOR: Tonight, after incorporating the anchor points

into her own master map,

Erin is now ready to share

with Rick, Marty and the team

the rest of her theory of where she believes they will

find the treasure and solve the Oak Island mystery.

To this point, Erin, we've confirmed a lot of your boulders

and we've yet to prove you wrong,

so I think it's time to go make some history.

ERIN: Great. Awesome. So, we've gone out

and found a bunch of boulders to help confirm

where the Money Pit location is,

using these basic alignment principles.

And I actually don't think we need to be digging

in the Money Pit area anymore.

I think it's an entrance, a booby-trapped,

baited entrance,

um, but I actually think the vault location is somewhere else

and I think we can actually follow directions to it

using another clue that was in the possession of Zena Halpern.

Today we'll be talking about

La Formule cipher and the instructions that it contains

to travel from the Money Pit

and to the actual vault location.

NARRATOR: In addition to the map of Oak Island,

Zena Halpern also shared a document known as La Formule,

a cipher comprised of mysterious symbols

which curiously match those reported to have been carved

on the legendary 90 Foot Stone.

In 2016,

Rick, Marty and their partner Craig Tester

worked with computer scientist Dr. Kevin Knight

and his research assistant Nada Aldarrab

from the University of Southern California

in an attempt to decode it.

KEVIN: "Enter the" something and so,

it's some word that starts with a "C."

Professor, could that also be "chamber"?

Hmm.

That's a good connection, 'cause in French,

it's chambre.

If you accept that the Zena Halpern map is real,

then you have to look at it

and try to figure out, well, what does it mean?

You know, we're trying to bring in

the best minds to solve this puzzle,

and I've seen enough

from Erin's first presentation

to be, uh, very enthused about seeing the rest.

ERIN: So we're going to focus on the first section.

We have, "Do not dig."

I believe this is describing, do not dig all the way down,

to you... if you go too far, you're going to set off

the flood tunnel. But then it continues.

It says, "Burrow at 40 foot

"with an angle of 45 degree

the shaft of 522 foot."

Now, "45 degree," I think, is an alignment.

I personally believe it's in the northwest direction.

So, moving forward from here,

we have more instructions.

We have, "You enter the corridor

of 1,065 foot, you reach the chamber."

Now, we don't have an actual trajectory this time.

We only have a length-- 1,065 foot.

So let's draw a circle

from the suspected corridor elbow out to 1,065 feet,

and see if it hits anything.

It does.

It hits Cone "E" of Nolan's Cross.

Wow.

And if you overlay the corridor

as described in La Formule cipher,

"la voute en bas de terre" is pointing right to the vault.

Zena's map has been pointing to the vault this entire time.

Wow.

NARRATOR: Could Erin Helton be correct,

that the treasure that people have been searching for

since 1795 is not buried at the bottom of the Money Pit

but instead at the end of a corridor or tunnel

extending over 1,000 feet to the west?

ERIN: Am I hearing talking?

I'm not sure if I'm hearing discussion. (laughs)

You're hearing stunned silence, that's what you're hearing.

Yes... that's exactly what you're hearing.

(laughter)

MARTY: Well, Erin, for openers,

I love the concept that you're following here

because I've always felt like, to make sense

of what's happened over the years, the Money Pit was

some sort of trap, some sort of diversion,

and an offset chamber,

uh, would be where any valuables would be stored.

Do you have a theory as to how deep this might be?

Well, I'm not, that I'm not quite sure,

but that actually leads me to, um, I guess you could say

a slight warning, um, on how we should probably proceed.

If we drill from the top,

we run the risk of water

rushing into the vault.

So I propose the safest way to approach this

would be to go after the 522-foot corridor.

So if we zoom in here...

this is where I propose we go after

to intersect the corridor line.

RICK: Again,

Erin has brought

an out-of-the-box approach to everything.

She's using Zena's research material

and through that, she's going to provide "X" marks the spot.

What can you say about that other than... wow?

MARTY: So in summation...

I love the concept that it's based on is great.

And I think, um, you know... it's well worth the boreholes.

I mean, it would be...

it would be just fabulous.

All righty, well, thanks, everybody.

Appreciate it. Erin, we will be in touch with you.

If you have any asks, please call.

Great. Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Erin.

-Thanks, everybody. -ERIN: Thank you.

DOUG: Very interesting.

NARRATOR: The following day,

Rick Lagina and surveyor Steve Guptill

arrive at the Money Pit area

where they are joined by Choice Drilling representatives

Mike Tedford and Colton Robinson.

So, are you guys ready to make some history today?

-We're gonna try. -I mean,

I have high hopes, but at the end of the day,

you two are gonna prove whether or not there's veracity to this.

I wish you both well.

It could be a great day.

-Thank you. -All righty.

NARRATOR: Using a series of GPS coordinates

provided by Erin Helton,

the team has set up the drill rig at a location

they have dubbed EJZ-1,

where they hope to reach the suspected corridor

Erin believes will lead

to the fabled Oak Island treasure.

It all seems to be coming around to-to this moment--

the research, the GIS background,

the actual physical locations of these on-island sites--

it's all coming round to this moment,

i.e., "Guys, here's where you want to put a drill."

So what do you think?

I think let's go get it, that's what I think.

I mean, we've always concentrated

on that part of the Money Pit, right?

Nobody has really looked up here.

I think the next step would be, if we do find the tunnel,

where do we go from there?

-Yeah. -That'd be a great problem

-to have. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: While the core-drilling operation

in Borehole EJZ-1 continues in the Money Pit area...

RICK: Welcome to the research center.

SANDY: Thank you.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, Charles Barkhouse

and Craig Tester have arranged to meet

with numismatist Sandy Campbell

at the Oak Island Research Center.

With over 40 years of experience,

Sandy is a renowned expert in rare and ancient coins.

Outside, he indicated to us

that he's gonna put this little mystery to bed, so...

That'd be great.

That would be great.

-Ooh! -Oh, no way!

That's an old coin!

NARRATOR: Seven weeks ago,

while searching on Lot 15

near a structure believed to be a 16th century pine tar kiln

that may be connected to the construction

of the Money Pit shaft,

metal detection expert Gary Drayton,

along with Jack Begley, found a coin

unlike any they had ever discovered on Oak Island.

JACK: That's awesome!

GARY: And it's got that square hole in it, mate.

Oh, yeah.

After cleaning the coin,

artifact conservator Kelly Bourassa

made a surprising suggestion about its possible origin.

Chinese...

coinage had a... had a square hole.

RICK: Let's see what we have.

SANDY: Okay.

It clearly is a Chinese cash coin.

-Wow. -And-and, really,

it'd be hard to identify, but I'm-I'm guessing it's...

you know, it could be 11, 12, 1,300 years old or even older.

-Because it's a narrower rim that's on this coin. -Wow.

-(chuckles) -1,100 years old.

-CHARLES: Wow! -NARRATOR: A Chinese coin?

Dating back as much as 11 centuries or more?

How would such an artifact get to Oak Island?

And who brought it here?

Okay, so, you know, I-I don't know if you can...

you can see here, but...

it's corroded to a point.

Copper corrodes.

Copper's a very active metal.

But this definitely,

in my opinion, is a Chinese cash coin.

And you're estimating the date

based on how much it's deteriorated?

Well, I'm estimating the date based on deterioration,

but also just the way the coin is made,

uh, with a narrower facing rim.

Which really brings it, you know, 900 AD

back to four... you know, somewhere in that time frame.

RICK: If Sandy is correct,

that it was manufactured as late as 900 AD,

I would have to believe it absolutely is the oldest thing

that's ever been found on Oak Island.

I mean...

wow.

It's that simple. Wow.

We've heard multiple times

that, like, the Spanish coins were used

by pretty much everybody.

Were the Chinese coins in circulation

throughout many different countries?

No. What-What's really odd, if you look at...

you know, conquering nations, if you look at England and Spain

and France, as they traveled the world

to-to, you know, spread out,

they brought their coins with them.

The Chinese didn't do that.

They really kept to their part of the world.

So their coins didn't travel.

So how did it get to Oak Island?

Yeah, that-that's where I was going.

What's-what's a coin of that age doing on Oak Island?

I think... I think it landed here as a pocket piece.

You know?

When people landed in the... in the Far East,

you know, they would... they would take this stuff,

as pocket pieces, good luck charms.

You know, 'cause it was so different,

and it was in their... their lucky pocket, and...

-maybe they weren't so lucky that day. -(Rick chuckles)

Who would've thought? Right, Craig?

Yeah, it's amazing.

I mean, that... we don't find that many coins as it is,

and everybody

had them in their pockets, all the searchers,

all the original people, and to find something

that would be rare to be in somebody's pocket is amazing.

RICK: It's quite a piece, no doubt about that.

You know what, we should call Gary, maybe,

-and have him come down... -I think...

He'd be... he'd be sky high, right?

He'd be floating on a cloud.

Absolutely. Why don't I bring him up here.

RICK: You know, Gary has a keen eye.

I mean, there's no question about it.

Not only is he gifted as a metal detectorist, but...

he is so invested and so in the moment, right?

"It's a coin!"

I can't even say it like he does.

I can't even say it with the enthusiasm he says it.

And it brings us all up.

Hello, chaps.

Hey. Step to center stage.

-Yes. -This is Sandy Campbell.

-How you doing, mate? -How you doing? -He's a numismatist,

and we invited him down to take a look at...

...your find.

And everybody's smiling,

-by the look of it. -(laughter)

You've got good news, mate?

Well, I mean...

I think it's good news

for the island, obviously.

It's...

this is a Chinese cash coin.

(laughter)

It's probably somewhere

from 400 BC to 900 AD.

That is fan-damning-toesie!

-That is crazy! -SANDY: Yeah. I-I think

it's been here a while.

GARY: You could just look at it.

It's like the cross. You can hold that in your hand,

and you know that that is really, really old.

JACK: Yeah.

NARRATOR: Once again, Rick, Marty,

Craig and the team

have found something that could suggest

the Oak Island mystery may date back further

than anyone ever knew.

And just like other recent ancient finds,

such as the 14th century lead cross,

two key questions resound more than ever:

Could it be that this Chinese coin was dropped

by someone searching for treasure?

Or by someone who made a deposit?

GARY: This is potentially treasure.

Well, it is treasure. It's...

it's quite valuable in...

in the giant scheme of things for the island, for sure.

GARY: What a top-pocket find that is.

SANDY: Yeah.

RICK: So, Sandy, thank you very much.

It's certainly now part of the Oak Island history.

-Yeah. -It's quite amazing.

-Yeah. -Let's go out and find some more treasure.

-RICK: Let's go back out. -CHARLES: Let's do it.

GARY: This is unbelievable.

JACK: Yeah, it is.

NARRATOR: After his meeting at the research center...

-STEVE G.: Hey, Rick. -Hey.

...Rick Lagina returns to the Money Pit,

where he is eager for a progress report

on Borehole EJZ-1.

So, we're about to hit 99.

It's been hard till pretty much

-the whole way. -TERRY: We did hit

one horizon of...

it wasn't fully saturated s... uh, sand and gravel,

but you could see

bedded clastic clay, so undisturbed.

STEVE G.: So, I watched this core,

and they had a real quick slip where it just dropped.

And this might be interesting.

RICK: In my mind, today is a huge day,

because of Zena's research, the tie between Erin's expertise

and-and knowledge about GIS analytics...

and the research

that now become intertwined.

And, uh,

I'm very hopeful, exceedingly hopeful.

I don't think I've ever been this interested

in a drill program as much as I am in this one.

What is that? Is that bedrock?

No, it's a large boulder.

-TERRY: It's a boulder. -Right over there.

No... Is that a boulder?

No. This is...

No. That's just, uh...

bedded sentiment.

-STEVE G.: Is that your stone? -BRENNAN: That's the stone.

RICK: In order for there to be a tunnel,

you need some competent cap rock over you.

Yeah, you would think.

Uh, you know exactly what we're looking for.

We just have to keep our eyes peeled.

It would be associated

with some loose area.

But this type of material is not what I'm thinking.

-We have to consider the possibility of backfill. -Yeah.

It's just the verbiage on the Formule cipher.

It doesn't say walk in,

or walk-in accessible.

-You have to burrow in. -I see what you mean, yeah.

In my mind, we're not gonna get lucky

to the point where it's just some open void,

with cribbing above and cribbing below.

-TERRY: No. -It's not gonna be that easy.

No, I agree with that.

Keep your mind open for possibilities,

because sometimes, as you all know by now,

something straightforward on Oak Island

isn't necessarily straightforward.

STEVE G.: We'll keep you posted.

NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island...

-Where's our tunnel, Steve? -It's deeper.

...and as Terry Matheson and Steve Guptill continue

to oversee the drilling operation at the Money Pit...

-GARY: You ready, Pete? -I am.

NARRATOR: ...Peter Fornetti

and metal detection expert Gary Drayton arrive

at the southeastern corner of the swamp,

which is currently being drained in preparation

for a new excavation.

-Okay, mate. Let's get stuck in. -Let's do it.

Since a portion of the area is now dry enough to investigate,

and after confirming that the coin found nearby

is not only Chinese

but possibly more than ten centuries old,

Gary is eager to see what other important clues,

or pieces of treasure,

may lie buried near the surface.

(beeps)

GARY: Let's see what it is, mate.

-PETER: Okay. -Just there.

(metal detector beeps)

GARY: A lot of this material came from the beach.

-Yeah. -Well, if that road wasn't here,

this would be the beach.

(beeping)

Yeah, there's a big piece of iron down there.

Mm-hmm.

(beeping)

GARY: Just getting it out.

Oh, look at that.

-PETER: That's... -That's a beauty.

PETER: That's a hefty piece.

(chuckles): Yeah. That is... It's not that heavy,

but that is an old pin, for sure.

A pin for what?

-A pin for a ship or a wharf. -Okay.

GARY: This is easy to I.D. for a date, as well.

-This is easily in the 1700s, maybe even older. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: An iron pin from a ship or ship's wharf

found near the southeastern border of the swamp

and possibly dating back to the 1700s or earlier?

(tapping)

What's this?

NARRATOR: Two weeks ago,

while probing in this area

where a possible man-made structure

had previously been detected by sonar...

-Do you hear that? -Yeah.

-There's rock here. -That could be it.

...Rick Lagina and geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

identified a mysterious stone feature,

measuring some 20 feet wide by 70 feet long,

they believe could be some kind of road or possibly a wharf.

Although the team must wait

for that area of the swamp to be completely drained

before they can further investigate the feature,

could Gary and Peter have just found more evidence

of what it actually may be?

This is fantastic. What a great start, mate, eh?

-It's a good find. -Good digging.

Okay, mate, let's put that in my finds pouch,

and we'll keep moving.

NARRATOR: While Gary and Peter

continue searching on the bank of the swamp...

-...later that day at the Money Pit... -STEVE G.: It's a big one.

Yep.

...surveyor Steve Guptill,

Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse

and geologist Terry Matheson

continue to monitor the progress of Borehole EJZ-1.

STEVE G.: That's not backfill, is it? To me that looks like sand.

TERRY: You know what, Steve?

It is sand.

NARRATOR: A defined layer of sand

found beneath the ground soil in the Money Pit area?

Could it be a natural feature?

Or could it potentially be a sign of the backfilled tunnel

that Oak Island theorist Erin Helton believes

the team will find in this area?

TERRY: What's the, uh, approximate depth there?

CHARLES: It's 119 there.

TERRY: Think we can see a-a coarsening horizon here.

It's some weak indications of bedding.

We grayed out of it here

into perhaps some kind of a bit of till,

and then it gets coarser right there.

STEVE G.: I would say your sand

-is from here to there, wouldn't you? -Yeah.

So, we have potentially four feet, natural or backfill?

TERRY: It looks like it's natural.

STEVE G.: So, this is the end of this hole.

TERRY: Yep.

We didn't find Erin's tunnel.

TERRY: No, we haven't seen any indications...

-CHARLES: Rick's here. -Morning, guys.

-Hey, Rick. How you doing? -So, tell me some good news.

Well, the hole gave no indications

of a tunnel, per se.

But we confirmed a sandy seam, which probably is,

uh, natural.

We've already committed a lot of assets to this.

Now I'm looking to you to be coldly analytical.

I-I'm emotionally connected to it,

and that's never a good way to make a very science-based,

data-driven decision.

So, I will look to you guys for your suggestions.

She's basing her whole alignment

off of RF-1 being the center of the Money Pit,

but from what we know based on the drilling last year,

the center of the Money Pit could be from RF-1 to OC-1.

And so, we have wood in OC-1 dated at 1706.

If we use that as our outer extremity or extreme

of the Money Pit, it moves it east.

NARRATOR: Is it possible,

as Steve Guptill is suggesting, that Borehole OC-1,

where the team recovered hand-cut wood

dating back to 1706 last year,

did indeed intersect the original Money Pit

and could still help prove that Erin Helton's theory is true?

I love the theory, I think there's merit to it.

The geometry works, the data works.

It's driven by science and research, which I've always said

is one of the lynchpins of ultimately solving this.

And Erin needs to have the information so that she can

reassess the results of the drill program.

Absolutely.

So, why don't we give her a call and bring her up to speed?

We continue to believe,

we continue to-to push the envelope

in terms of giving Erin all the information she needs.

And at some point, the drill program will proceed.

Hi, Erin, how you doing?

-ERIN: Hi. Good. -Good. This is Steve.

I'm at the table with, uh, Rick, Charles and Terry.

So, we're just gonna fill you in, uh, on what's going on.

We just finished your hole.

We didn't see your tunnel.

Well, y-- I remember o-our initial conversation.

You consume data, so we'll give you every bit of data

that we, that we have in our possession,

and you can reassess.

NARRATOR: Although the team intends to keep searching

for the tunnel that Erin believes will lead them

to the fabled treasure vault, they will now wait

until she can calculate a new drilling location.

-All right, thanks, Erin. -Okay. Thanks, Erin.

-See you, Erin. -See you.

-Take care. -Bye, now.

RICK: All right, good luck. See you later.

GARY: Construction site stuff around here.

-Modern? -Yeah, too modern.

NARRATOR: While metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Rick and Marty's nephew Peter Fornetti

continue their search for clues near the Oak Island swamp,

some 200 yards northeast on Lot 15...

Hey, you guys.

-Hey, Alex. -Hey.

...Marty Lagina's son Alex

joins archaeologists Dr. Aaron Taylor

and Miriam Amirault as they continue to investigate

a mysterious, serpent-shaped mound.

We've gone through the mat layer, forest mat.

I think it's a lot of this is redeposited.

Interesting.

-AARON: Now, Miriam would like to excavate... -Yeah.

...so I was thinking that the two of you can tackle that.

-Sure. All right, well, we'll, uh... -All right.

...we'll go over there and get set up.

So, I'll just grab this bucket

-and meet you over there. -Okay.

-DOUG: Hey, gentlemen. How are you? -MARTY: Hey, Doug.

NARRATOR: One week ago,

Oak Island researcher Doug Crowell

alerted Rick, Marty and the team to the feature

after discovering it

not far from the 16th century pine tar kiln.

RICK: Those are some big stones.

This structure, once I got looking at it,

I realized it's quite long.

It's this ridge of-of boulders and soil.

It doesn't look natural.

AARON: It sort of reminds you of the Serpent Mounds

-in Ontario. -LAIRD: Yeah.

NARRATOR: Upon first seeing the formation,

Dr. Taylor noted its striking resemblance

to ancient ceremonial features found in Keene, Ontario, Canada,

which date back as much as 2,000 years,

known as the Serpent Mounds.

Is it possible that this feature could in some way

be connected to the Chinese coin

the team discovered on this same lot

and has been dated to be more than 1,000 years old?

Okay. So, what would, what would we be looking for

that's gonna give it away, right off the bat?

Um, we're gonna just dig down.

-We'll see? -See if there's anything in there.

Get rid of this top layer and then we can really get

-into the digging. -Okay.

Cool.

AARON: Ooh. I got charcoal.

Do you guys want to come take a look?

ALEX: We'll be right there.

NARRATOR: Charcoal?

Could Dr. Taylor have just found an important clue

that could help identify the age of this feature?

Where do you see it?

Just a little, uh, little-- some little flecks of it.

ALEX: Oh, yeah.

What's the next step?

-Just keep going and-and bag that? -Yeah.

I'm gonna bag this,

-take it to the lab. -Mm-hmm.

And hopefully run a carbon-14 date on it.

ALEX: Mm-hmm.

Which will tell us when it was burned or when...

-Which will tell us when it was burned. -MIRIAM: Yeah.

AARON: So, the other thing

that we might be able to do with this charcoal,

if we carbon-date it-- 'cause I know

relatively close in proximity to the,

what we're thinking is the tar kiln.

-Mm-hmm. -If this charcoal comes back

as roughly the same date or similar date as that charcoal,

then we know that the burn event

was probably the same burn event,

and that sort of associates

-this feature with that feature. -Right.

This is kind of what we did over there, too, right?

We just, like, chased the hints of a feature

all the way into the center of it and then started finding

-find after find after find. -Yeah.

-So, this is actually, this could be pretty cool. -Yeah.

So, there's a lot of similarities between

the serpent mound, whatever's beneath the serpent mound,

and this Lot 15 anomaly that we think is a pine tar kiln.

Um, could they be related, is a question

we're still trying to answer,

but it looks like that right now.

All right, so I got this bagged.

I'll drop it off at the lab

-and let them take it from here. -BOTH: Yeah.

Keep us posted and we'll, uh, we'll call you over

-if we find anything interesting. -All right. Thanks, guys.

-Thanks, Aaron. -Yeah. Thanks.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, back at the swamp...

GARY: Let's try this little area

and then that little peninsula there.

NARRATOR: ...Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti continue their search

for more evidence of a possible hidden ship's wharf.

(metal detector beeping)

GARY: Yeah, we've got a signal here.

Should be just there, mate.

PETER: There's a lot of wood.

Right there.

Yeah, that piece of wood's interesting, isn't it?

PETER: Yep.

-GARY: Oh, yeah. And this... -PETER: Mm-hmm.

-Is it shaped? -GARY: That looks like it's hand-hewn.

Look.

Let me try and winkle it out.

-What is that? -PETER: Oh, there's another one.

GARY: There's another one. Yeah,

we got something going on here, mate.

The heck is this?

This is all laid on top of one... and that is cut.

-PETER: Yeah. -GARY: Look, that was notched out

-for that to fit on the top. -PETER: Mm-hmm.

We may have discovered the top of a shaft, Pete.

PETER: Wow.

in the southeast corner of the swamp,

Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti

have just made what could be a major discovery.

-Look at that. There's even more going on here. -Mm-hmm.

GARY: Definite crossed timbers.

What a day, mate.

Anytime you discover something new

on Oak Island is a good day.

I believe we've got to call Laird.

-Okay. -Maybe he might want us to stand down.

(line rings)

Hey, Laird.

Good, mate.

Pete and I are on the edge of the swamp,

and we've stopped to dig

a piece of iron,

and we've discovered some kind

of wooden structure, feature.

We don't know what it is,

so we're hoping you can come over here, mate,

and check it out.

-Okay, mate. -All right.

I don't think it's a bad idea to call my uncle

-and have him take a look. -Yeah, Rick would love this.

We don't know what these pieces of timber are,

but hey, we may have discovered another feature.

But more importantly,

this new feature is not too far away from the Money Pit.

Perhaps they're both connected.

PETER: Oh, Laird's here.

-(car door closes) -GARY: Okay, good. -LAIRD: Hey, guys.

PETER: What do you think?

I mean, it looks like a slipway, doesn't it?

-I mean, that's a post. -GARY: Yeah.

We never thought about that.

We was thinking shaft when we first saw it.

But you are right, that does look like a slipway.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: A possible slipway

or ship's wharf protruding from the swamp?

Could Gary and Peter have found the first visual evidence

of the stone feature that Rick Lagina and Dr. Spooner

identified in the swamp two weeks ago?

ALEX: What do you got?

GARY: What happened here,

we got a couple of iron hits.

And as we dug down, we started seeing these timbers.

And look, and they're notched here.

-ALEX: Oh, yeah. -GARY: And the... There's iron in here.

There's an iron fastener here, and there's one here.

And at first, we were thinking it was the top of a shaft,

but Laird... Well, you've seen

this type of thing before in Smith's Cove.

-Yeah, the slipway. -Yeah, slipway.

That is.

This is cut in.

-Yeah. -Yeah. -Yeah, that's cut, too, there.

-That's a little strange. -It's short.

ALEX: It's almost a brace.

RICK: You know, their activities,

their metal detecting activities

in the eastern corner of the swamp,

you know, that's our area of focus.

When I laid eyes on it,

you know, they used the verbiage "slipway."

Does it look like a slipway?

Yeah, it does. It has two sides and crossmembers and...

This feature is certainly interesting.

I mean, this has grown above and below the structure,

so there's some age to it.

If you've got a notch here

and you've got a notch here but it's cut here,

-it's way out there, then. -ALEX: Yeah. -PETER: Mm-hmm.

RICK: It is a significant discovery,

-is it not, Gary? -GARY: Yeah, it is.

Is there metal in that, too? The crosspiece?

-Where is that? -Yeah, where is the metal?

-GARY: Um... -Here?

Yeah, it's... Actually, I'll show you.

So, that would be a brace.

-(metal detector beeping) -Oh, yeah.

And the iron fasteners would tell the story of this better.

Definitely date it.

-PETER: Mm-hmm. -ALEX: Well, that's cool.

I mean, I think we should uncover it.

-Yeah. -ALEX: Don't you agree, Laird?

I agree, definitely. Yeah.

This should be a little treasure trove

-in this area. -ALEX: Yeah.

Pat on the back, mate. You dug it out.

ALEX: Let's see what my dad thinks

-if I can get ahold of him. -RICK: Sure.

(line rings)

-MARTY: Hello? -ALEX: Hey, you're on speaker,

and, uh, I got Rick, Peter, Gary, Laird.

We're standing in the southeast corner of the swamp,

and we're all looking down on what we think is a slipway.

-Yep. -GARY: This is the edge

of the swamp where boats would have come

and probably docked.

And this is the type of slipway,

just a small one like this, that you would need

to take small cargo up on the hill.

Uh, this looks like an area where boats would pull in

and pull something up this slipway.

I'm hoping treasure.

Well, we'll keep looking at it, and we'll...

keep you posted.

-ALEX: Will do. -That's what we're hoping for.

-Yep. See you. -ALEX: No problem, see you.

RICK: It's a significant find.

CK: Gary and Peter were metal detecting

at the eastern side of the swamp.

I don't know if everybody knows, but there was a structure found,

and, uh, not an insignificant one.

NARRATOR: Following their discovery of a possible slipway

for docking ships near the southeastern corner

of the Oak Island swamp,

Rick Lagina, along with his brother Marty

and members of their team, have gathered to discuss

just what this could mean and how best

to further investigate it.

When Rick and I got there, you guys had exposed

pretty much just one corner of it.

But it was obviously, you know,

two fence post-sized pieces of wood, no bark,

pinned together at right angles

and then another one that had been saw-cut

attached at about a 45-degree angle

going off into the bank, so, I mean,

it was obviously a structure.

RICK: It was remarkable. I think that

really made the structure stand out, if you will,

because I think everybody thought possible slipway.

So, we haven't, obviously, been able to test it yet,

but it sure would be nice in the moment

-to understand the age of that. -MARTY: Okay.

So, what does this all mean, guys?

What does this all mean?

(chuckles): I mean, Laird, you're the archaeologist.

-What happened? -(all laugh)

The structure is intriguing.

I think checking the nails

-in the structure will help. -Exactly.

There are at least two spikes in the feature itself,

and when you wash it off and you feel the top of it,

I thought the head was unique.

MARTY: I want to get to the bottom of it.

I think we should keep digging.

And I can't wait to see the structure.

Well, the implications of finding this, right?

Currently, our idea of sheet pile

is to put sheet on both sides of the road.

-Right. -Well, what if there are more structures

and we drive sheet through them,

and then we perhaps obliterate them?

Do we want to revisit our sheet pile proposal?

NARRATOR: Currently, the Oak Island team

has enlisted Irving Equipment Limited

to design a cofferdam

similar to the one they installed two years ago

at Smith's Cove.

Comprised of large steel sheets

hammered deep into the muddy ground,

the cofferdam would create a watertight barrier

that would allow the entire southeastern portion

of the swamp to be drained and excavated.

We have these anomalies to investigate.

As you develop the areas

and you investigate them,

we may say to ourselves,

"Oh, gee, if only we had pushed the sheet further out."

Is that information that's valuable

while we wait for the sheet?

Well, then I kind of go towards

your "dig what we can" strategy,

because you're gonna... you're gonna learn something

by the "dig what you can" deal that might change

where you put the sheet. I mean, that's almost for sure.

Um, something will pop up, making you think

it should go in a slightly different place, probably.

So, we would have

that data.

That sounds appropriate.

-Yeah. -Yep. -Yep.

Guys, this is great.

You guys all know I've always said

there are answers in that swamp. We need...

(all laugh)

RICK: I'll sleep well tonight

-with that statement. -MARTY: Yeah, I know you will.

I know, I know.

Somebody ask me what time it is.

What time is it, Marty?

It's time to dig!

-(all chuckling) -That's what time it is.

Less talking. Let's go dig.

We've all got a lot of work to do, so...

-let's get after it. -Until next time.

-Thank you, all. -CRAIG: See you guys.

NARRATOR: After a week that saw both disappointing setbacks

and historic breakthroughs,

the Laginas and their team continue to validate the faith

that so many before them have brought

to the 225-year-old hunt for treasure on Oak Island.

It is no longer a question

that something of great consequence

took place here long ago

but a question of what was so important and so valuable

that such efforts were taken in order to hide it.

Will Rick, Marty, Craig

and their team defy what has, so far,

safeguarded the island's secrets for more than two centuries?

Perhaps only time

and fate will tell.

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

GARY: This is the day.

-Swamp dig, day one. -JACK: Whoa!

IAN: See the woody material there? That's the structure.

-This is old. -GARY: 1700s, baby.

(gasps) You got to be kidding me, mate!

-JACK: Does that have a hole in it? -GARY: Yeah, it has.

You'd have something like that if you were digging shafts.

That sample came out to be 1320 to 1440.

-Oh, wow. -What?

-There is a date that it does match. -Zena's map.

-Yes. The Knights Templar. -Holy smokes.

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