Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island,

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

RICK: I think we're closer than ever to understanding

what may have happened here.

We identified a lab that can take a look at our water samples

-from the perspective of gold. -That's great.

What the heck? That's lead.

It's highly decorated.

It's like the crosses.

This island has got to be close to giving up its secrets.

TERRY DEVEAU: This is a type of road that was built in Europe.

The Portuguese were active in Nova Scotia

-in the 1500s. -Wow.

(laughs) What do we got here?

What the heck is that?

I hate to say the "G" word, but it could be.

I have some results.

You know, I'm-I'm obviously sort of excited by this.

-Oh, really? -Really?

BRENNAN McMAHON: Fire it up.

We're getting to the top of the Chappell Vault.

-You guys ready? -RICK: It's a great day.

-This year, we're going for the gold. -Going for gold.

That's right.

-All right. -There you go.

NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking for

an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it...

...man-made workings that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross whose origin may be connected

to the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have died

trying to solve the mystery.

And according to legend, one more will have to die

before the treasure can be found.

♪ ♪

-RICK: So, here we go, guys. -GARY: Yep.

We've been doing a lot of preparing,

and I'm ready to get on the island.

Yes.

I'm looking forward to getting out there

and finding some bobby-dazzlers and top-pocket finds.

And silver is my second favorite coin.

-(laughter) -And I've got a silver dance.

-You've got a silver dance? -Oh, I have.

(laughter)

NARRATOR: A new year of searching for a legendary treasure

is about to begin on Oak Island.

But for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

their partner Craig Tester and their team...

RICK: Here we are.

GARY: That's a heck of a sight, innit?

NARRATOR: ...they are starting out with an assurance that no one

before them has had since this mystery began back in 1795.

RICK: I mean, how can we all not be excited

about the evidence of silver last year?

I think it's fantastic.

-Yep. -I think it's very exciting.

What-what depth are you calling it?

-IAN: 183. -183. Okay.

NARRATOR: Just before the team ended

their search operations last year...

Good.

...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

conducted water sampling tests in a number of

previously drilled boreholes across the Money Pit area.

IAN: We'll keep that sample.

-We'll keep that for sure. -Okay.

NARRATOR: The results were astonishing.

There is every reason to believe, down in those holes,

that there is a very large amount of silver.

Is it a handful of silver

or is it a Gerhart dump truck load of silver?

-It's a Gerhart dump truck. -MARTY: Aw, baby.

(laughter)

GARY: I think this year is gonna be really, really significant.

CRAIG: My hopes are high. That's for sure.

It was a phenomenally successful year last year.

I mean, how can you not get enthused about

traces of silver found in the Money Pit?

-Looks like everybody's inside already. -CRAIG: Yeah.

-Let's head on in. -PETER: Let's go.

MARTY: Last year, for instance, we found all kinds of things,

dramatic things.

And this is the first year

we've had direct indications of precious metals.

And by that, I mean we have silver--

silver dissolved in the water.

That screams of treasure.

-Hey, guys. -Hey, guys.

-How you doing? -How's it going?

Hey.

-Welcome back. -RICK: We're glad to be back.

Fellowship of the dig.

I think we're closer than ever

to furthering our understanding of what may have happened here.

The goal, the focus, the hope, the commitment

was always solve the mystery, and that has never changed.

Friendly faces all around the table.

How the family has grown.

This is my Everest. I want to climb it.

I want to find the answers.

Doug, if you could get everybody on the screen up.

And, uh, we'll see if we can't get this meeting started.

-Hey, everybody. -Hey.

-Hello. -NARRATOR: Due to important business

back in Traverse City, Michigan,

Marty Lagina and his son Alex must wait

before they can travel to Nova Scotia

and join the team in person.

I think the best way to begin this is

to turn it over to Ian.

Sure. The bottom line is, no matter how you cut it,

there's silver there.

It's in wells in the Money Pit area.

And it's not a little silver.

To create an anomaly in groundwater, it's...

it's a fair bit of silver.

A dump truck load. Don't forget.

-Uh... -(laughter)

BILLY: I remember the dump truck part, Marty.

I-- That's my recollection, too, right?

(laughter)

DOUG: That's exciting because

the highest concentration was just a few feet north of C-1.

Charles picked C-1 a few years ago,

and the shiny gold thing was found.

-Right? -Yep.

NARRATOR: Of the many steel shafts

the team has excavated in the Money Pit area

over the past five years,

one of the most promising and intriguing sites

is the one known simply as "C-1."

It was here, in 2015, that after drilling

a six-inch-wide exploratory borehole...

Right there.

...the team captured stunning video evidence

of a mysterious gold-colored object

embedded in the wall of a large cavern

some 170 feet underground.

RICK: Those are gold-colored.

CHARLES: Yeah, and there's another piece of it there, too.

Yeah, another piece.

(staticky squealing)

NARRATOR: Subsequent efforts to confirm the identity of the object

included the expansion of C-1 to a 48-inch diameter,

along with a number of dive operations.

Oh, what's this? Is this another one?

I can see gold.

NARRATOR: Last year,

the team obtained additional video evidence

of three more gold-colored objects.

This evidence, combined with the recent water testing results,

has given Rick, Marty and the team

every reason to believe they may be close to finally locating

the fabled Money Pit treasure vault.

The question was: Where do we go

with-with those results so that we can focus our efforts?

And so, we identified a lab that can take a look

not only at our water samples from the perspective of silver,

uh, but they can take a look at our water samples from

the perspective of gold.

-All right! -There you go.

I thought gold wasn't detectable, though, in water.

-Apparently, it is. -Okay.

IAN: And, so, this is something new.

It's a lab in Queens, Ontario,

and they specialize in looking at groundwater

in exploration for gold mines.

Great.

And so, I'm pretty excited.

Rick, I want to look for this gold

-as soon as possible. -(laughter)

We've been looking for gold for ten years now,

and now we hear that maybe we can detect it in the water.

Let's see.

Yeah, I think everybody's on board that.

Yeah.

So, we'll get going on that as soon as possible.

And we're just gonna need everybody's help

deciding where to sample.

NARRATOR: In order to pinpoint the exact location of precious metals

buried deep in the Money Pit,

Dr. Spooner will take water samples

from over 30 boreholes throughout the area,

strategically chosen based on last year's findings.

Then, using cutting-edge mineral analysis,

the team will be able to identify not only the areas

with the highest concentration of silver

but also any presence of gold.

This is not just about chasing the gold and silver.

It's about chasing where the gold and silver is.

And the only way, I think, to do that

is testing further water samples from this area

where these trace elements are coming up.

MARTY: That's great, but, Rick, we're all excited about

this silver in the water and eager to see if there's gold,

but what about putting down big cans?

RICK: Yes, we have reached out to Irving

for a quote, and the quote is for a ten-foot can.

Right.

NARRATOR: Once the upcoming water tests are completed,

the Laginas and their team will drill up to

20 new six-inch boreholes in the areas that reveal

any evidence of silver and hopefully gold.

Based on those findings, they will conduct their biggest

and most expensive dig to date by excavating

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

to depths of as much as 200 feet.

RICK: The caisson size came down to simple math.

A ten-foot can over an eight-foot can represents

40% more material to search through.

That's why we're doing this. We want to find something.

I think we should round back to the swamp.

Who would've thought, you know, we'd find this

-down the road, right? -Yeah. This is crazy.

God, look at that.

That looks exactly like an old Roman road.

AARON: It's possible.

NARRATOR: Last year, the team uncovered

a massive stone road, or possible ship's wharf,

in the southeastern corner of the swamp.

This is really cool.

It's impressive.

This is mondo cool.

NARRATOR: Further investigation revealed a separate cobblestone pathway,

extending up the swamp's eastern border and continuing on

to an as yet undetermined destination on the island.

It was along this stone path

that the team also found pieces of 15th-century keg barrels,

iron ring bolts--

possibly utilized as part of a pulley system--

and a trade weight, an ancient tool typically used

for the measurement of gold and silver coins.

But who built these features, when, and for what purpose,

remain burning questions for Rick, Marty and the team.

The sole purpose of everything associated

with the stone path is to find out where it goes.

It may go to the Money Pit.

If you're offloading something from a ship,

you're gonna need a stone path or a road

to carry something inland.

So, we need to follow that path.

I'm interested in going back to the stone path.

-Mm-hmm. -I think, uh,

Miriam has got the trowel she loaned me.

Yes. We'll give you a trowel, don't worry.

-Okey doke. -(laughs)

RICK: So, that leads us to

something that is-- will be very impactful this year.

-So, Laird... -Yeah.

...can you give us some background about

...CCH's renewed interest

and what the permitting process will be?

Yeah.

You know, where we currently sit.

Yeah, so this year, um, obviously we have

a lot of stricter regulations.

The Department of Community, Culture and Heritage,

who oversees archaeology in Nova Scotia,

they've suddenly sat up and, uh, and taken notice.

They want more control over any search for

past human activities.

RICK: So, with any archaeological exploration,

we're not gonna be able to operate

the way we did in previous years.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: In 2010,

the Laginas and their partners

obtained permission under the Oak Island Treasure Act

to investigate all areas of the island,

excluding designated locations of cultural importance

such as the Samuel Ball foundation on Lot 25

and the Daniel McGinnis foundation on Lot 21.

However, in the spring of 2021,

they were informed by the provincial department

of Community, Culture and Heritage

that regulatory oversight, especially activities involving

archaeological investigations across the island, had changed.

In previous years, the island was divided into two parts:

the western drumlin, which we needed

regular archeological permits for,

and then the eastern drumlin, where,

the vast majority of which, we needed no permits at all.

The Department of Community, Culture and Heritage

decided to rescind all of that, except for that small area

around the Money Pit, and require permits for

any work done, and to monitor the excavation work.

So, they want more formal tests and excavated by hand

and screen everything, uh,

just like we would on a, on a normal archaeological site.

Okay.

MARTY: When we first started

on this quest of Oak Island,

with the original treasure trove license that we had,

there was very little extra permission we needed.

There has been a gradually increasing level of scrutiny,

oversight and regulation since that time.

And I think it's because of our efforts.

We've proven that this place has some real historical value.

The unintended consequence is we got more regulation.

But it's kind of a pat on the back, really.

The powers that be have basically blessed it now

by saying, "Hey, this is for real.

This matters."

Well, that's great. We made them care.

-We made them care, yeah. -Yeah.

RICK: I don't think,

at this point, you see it as restrictive

-or prohibitive. -No.

In fact, what they've said, I believe, is,

- "We'll work with you." -Yes.

So, all good news to me, mate.

-Exactly. -MARTY: Okay.

It sounds like we're all on the same team

and we can do this properly.

-Well said. -Yeah.

RICK: So, let's get to work.

-To the quest. -Thanks, everybody.

-See you, guys. -See you later, guys. -See ya.

NARRATOR: Following their meeting in the war room...

STEVE G.: Finding some more treasure today.

-Some more silver water. -IAN: Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

and chemist Dr. Matt Lukeman

join Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse,

surveyor Steve Guptill

and project manager Scott Barlow in the Money Pit area.

So, we-we formed a game plan with Rick,

and the game plan is to test a lot of water wells.

-Right. -I think we're gonna mix

between 2017 and 2020 holes.

SCOTT: Yes, that's right.

NARRATOR: Unlike last year's water test,

which was limited to three boreholes

in the Money Pit area,

this new test will involve

sampling from nearly ten times

as many drill sites and past excavations,

all of which yielded promising clues,

pre-18th century artifacts and man-made structures.

It is the team's hope that by identifying where

the highest concentration of silver and possibly gold is,

they will be able to pinpoint the precise location

of the Money Pit treasure vault.

So, today we're gonna start with E-8.

-It's top on our list. -Yep. Well, we got lots to do,

-so let's get at it. -Yeah.

-We have a game plan. -Great.

I think it's astounding

that you can test for gold in the water, minute traces.

You have to remember, it's parts per billion

is what they're measuring,

but hopefully there is some evidence

that there's gold down in the Money Pit.

The depth of this one might be, uh,

a better chance for getting some silver.

-Right? -Okay, let's hope.

NARRATOR: In order to collect the water samples,

Dr. Spooner is using a single-valve sampling bailer.

As the device descends down, the water within the borehole

will force a ball valve to open, filling the bailer.

Once it reaches the desired depth,

a ball joint at the device's base will close,

trapping and securing the water sample inside

to prevent contamination as it is brought back to the surface.

IAN: It's a little discolored.

-MATT: That's it. -Okay.

-I'm just gonna taste this. -Oh, you're serious?

Ugh.

Quite mineral-rich but fresh.

A fair bit of iron.

Or calcium.

There's nothing that would ever hurt you down there.

-CHARLES: Moving on. -Okay, yeah.

NARRATOR: Later that same day...

-MARTY: I think we're gonna learn something. -CRAIG: Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, Craig Tester

and members of the team make their way

to the southeast corner of the triangle-shaped swamp.

In accordance with new regulations

imposed by the provincial department

of Community, Culture and Heritage,

archaeologist Laird Niven

has agreed to oversee a new investigation

of the area near the stone road, or potential ship's wharf,

that the team discovered one year ago.

RICK: Morning, Bill.

-Good day. -I see you brought your favorite trowel.

-Yes. -(laughs)

You should be happy this morning, right?

-For sure. -There you go.

Why don't you hop down and we'll figure out a game plan here.

There's the man of the hour, Laird.

If you want to give him the lowdown.

LAIRD: Well, we're looking at

excavating this whole... this whole section in here.

So, we're just going over, uh, logistics.

The hope is to find some connective tissue

to the stone road

and further the understanding of it, specifically.

Hopefully to date the structure.

Well, the beauty of the swamp is it preserves the wood.

Right? So, that's the importance.

Well, hopefully we'll find out something today.

We still don't know a whole lot about the stone road.

So, the hope is, as we peel back the layers

in the southeast corner, we'll find artifacts.

We'll figure out some clues as to

the who, what, when, where, why and how of it.

How deep are we gonna go?

As deep as it takes.

Good. That's what I like to hear.

NARRATOR: At present, Rick, Marty and Craig

may only conduct excavations without Laird Niven's oversight

in the so-called green zone, which encompasses

the Money Pit area on Lots 18, 19 and a portion of 20.

It is because of the destructive digs

that have taken place there over the last century

that the provincial government has exempted it

from their jurisdiction.

The rest of the team's property on the island,

including the swamp, is subject to

the new strict Community, Culture and Heritage guidelines.

However, in light of the significant discoveries

made near the stone road last year,

that also included wooden survey stakes

and a possible stone mason's tool,

all of which were carbon-dated to be over 400 years old,

the team has obtained permission to continue a closely supervised

excavation of the site for more important clues and artifacts.

RICK: Last year, the work in the swamp indicated that

there are some answers there, there are some mysteries there.

It's an important feature, but that's the problem.

Right now, it's only a something.

It's a bunch of rocks laid out,

and it presents itself as a stone road.

But what is it?

Where does it go?

Why is it there? Who built it?

We're hoping that some of those answers

are in that southeast corner.

♪ ♪

Here we go.

Hold it, Billy.

Part of a barrel again.

Another barrel stave?

-Yeah, no mistaking that one. -Yeah.

It's more concaved, yeah.

That's really cool. Good eye, Craig.

Oh, look, you can see where the, uh, the top

-or the bottom was notched into there. -Oh, yeah?

NARRATOR: Part of a wooden keg barrel?

Found next to the remains of the believed stone wharf?

-GARY: Think there's another one there. -There's another one, yeah.

-A few of them. -Over here, too.

GARY: Yeah.

Wow.

RICK: Check that out.

-Top of a keg. -Wow.

NARRATOR: Could these pieces of keg barrel

be related to the ones Rick found one year ago

along the nearby stone pathway leading out of the swamp,

ones dated to as early as the 15th century?

If so, could they be more evidence

that this possible stone wharf

and stone pathway were used to unload

and then transport valuable cargo

off a ship and onto Oak Island?

-Laird! -Laird!

-CRAIG: We found one nice piece of the barrel. -Yeah.

-CRAIG: But now it looks like three or four of them, right? -Oh, yeah.

-That's cool. -This is one right here, too.

LAIRD: Nice.

Think we've found a barrel here.

-Yeah, that's probably where this came from. -Yeah.

All part of the same barrel.

RICK: What do you make of this?

GARY: Red paint on it.

Red paint and a little dowel.

Huh.

It's the top of the barrel.

RICK: Yeah. It is the top of the barrel.

That paint might tell us something.

-LAIRD: Yeah. -They could maybe date paint.

RICK: The barrel staves are interesting.

What did it carry? When was it made?

What we need to do is concentrate on what kind

of sciences and professionals can look at these things.

We can certainly find someone who can render an opinion.

I noticed there's no metal loops,

so that would make this barrel probably older.

-No iron hoops. -Mm-hmm.

-Now we're getting to the interesting stuff, right? -LAIRD: Yeah.

-RICK: Well, let's keep going. -Yeah.

MARTY: The swamp road is a very interesting area.

The obvious question is: Why build a road in a swamp?

I've come full circle. I'm with Rick.

The swamp still has some secrets.

He thinks the key to Oak Island is in there.

I'm not so sure about that.

But it clearly has been hiding some secrets.

-(metal detector beeping) -Oh, got a signal.

(beeping)

-CRAIG: Right in here? -GARY: Just here, mate.

RICK: Good one, too.

GARY: Shouldn't be a blasting cap this far down, should it?

CRAIG: Shouldn't be.

Let's see if I can pinpoint it.

(beeping)

Come on. Where are you?

It's in my hand.

I knew it was in this bit.

(excited laugh)

What do we got here?

What the heck is that?!

NARRATOR: While investigating the possible stone wharf

in the Oak Island swamp, metal detection expert

Gary Drayton has just made a potentially important find.

GARY: Is that like a-a cog of some kind?

-CRAIG: A gear. Yeah. -Yeah, like a cog.

Don't want to mess with it too much,

but a nice color underneath.

That's my favorite color underneath.

Here you go, mate.

That's unusual, innit? What the heck is that?

Down so deep, as well.

Is it a gear?

-Gear, yeah. -GARY: Yeah.

-Clock gear? -Small gear.

GARY: What would you say that is?

-Copper? -I have no idea.

I hate to say the "G" word, but it could be.

-LAIRD: It's a watch? -GARY: That's what I was thinking.

Maybe a piece of a watch. A pocket watch.

-LAIRD: Or a clock mechanism. -Yeah.

Pocket watches go back a long time.

I mean, early 1700s, I believe.

I think the first ones were in England.

Yeah, I know the early watch mechanisms are

even older than that.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

-(ticking) -NARRATOR: Pocket watches

were first developed in Europe sometime in the 15th century.

But up until the late 1700s, they were reserved for the elite

due to the fact that they often contained

gold, silver and even jewels.

If this object is indeed part of an ancient pocket watch,

was it left behind by someone

who buried treasure on Oak Island?

And could further analysis of it help determine the nationality

of just who it may have belonged to?

And the cool thing is, 'cause we have found a little gear,

if there was a pocket watch here,

it would probably be made of silver or gold.

That would be excellent.

CRAIG: So, you could do some dancing, eh?

You got that right, mate.

RICK: Really? You'd dance for that?

-GARY: I would. -Would you?

Gold. On Oak Island.

That would be brilliant.

(laughter)

RICK: Okay, keep looking.

GARY: Let's step it up a gear.

(laughter)

NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...

RICK: Gary, you had some thoughts in the field.

Yeah, I didn't want to say the "G" word,

but, hey, fingers crossed.

NARRATOR: Rick Lagina, Gary Drayton

and archeologist Laird Niven join Billy Gerhardt

and geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner in the archeology trailer

to clean and conduct preliminary analysis

on the gold-colored object just discovered in the swamp.

So, I see the ultrasonic cleaner is on.

You're gonna clean it first?

Yes. Yeah, it need-- it needs access to the bare metal.

NARRATOR: In order to begin conserving the artifact,

Laird is using an ultrasonic cleaning machine.

RICK: Wow, look at it.

-GARY: Dang, that's zapping it, innit? -Yeah.

GARY: You can see it's definitely some kind of cog.

LAIRD: Yeah.

RICK: That's remarkable.

NARRATOR: By generating high-frequency pressure in water,

the device gently cleanses objects

without causing abrasions or damage to them.

In addition to revealing fine details,

this process also removes any surface contamination

that might interfere with chemical analysis

conducted on the object.

LAIRD: We may stop it there.

GARY: Is that enough to test it?

-LAIRD: Oh, yeah. -Yeah.

What is the compositional analysis gonna really tell us

in terms of possibly dating the item?

So, I think it's a matter of something like this

is getting the data.

First of all, verifying whether or not

there's precious metal involved.

And then, along with form and chemistry,

you can pretty well nail it.

It's a powerful tool, but it still

doesn't take away the expert who can

-look at the shape. -RICK: Sure.

-Yeah. -GARY: Yeah.

Be very careful. It's pretty delicate.

(Gary groans)

That is delicate. I don't want to crush it.

NARRATOR: Now that the object has been cleaned,

Dr. Spooner will analyze it

using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer machine,

also known as XRF.

It works by emitting nondestructive radiation,

which identifies the types

of elements and metals present in objects.

Because metal is often found combined with other minerals,

every mined source of raw ore

bears its own unique elemental mixture,

also known as an alloy.

By determining this object's composition,

the team may be able to trace not only

where the metal in it was mined, but also when.

IAN: I'll interpret the metals we see,

but all we have to do is give it

a little press of the button, and then off it goes.

So, yeah, we have, uh, an alloy of copper and zinc, which is...

-Brass. -Brass.

IAN: Yep, with a little bit of lead,

iron and nickel, which is quite common, too.

Dang, I put my dancing boots on, as well.

(laughter)

Hey, maybe the case will be gold.

We're still digging there.

-You never know. -Right.

Yeah, I mean, it's not gold, but it doesn't mean

-it's not significant. -IAN: Exactly.

But the coolest thing of all is the XRF machine.

-IAN: It's-it's a wonderful tool. -Yeah.

-RICK: Anyway, thank you. -Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're welcome.

-Quite a lesson. Appreciate it. -Yeah.

See you later, mate.

IAN: See you.

MATT: All right. That's the last sample.

NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island,

and as the water test at the Money Pit continues...

RICK: Gentlemen, we all remember Terry Deveau.

Terry, thank you, on short notice,

for coming down to the war room. Appreciate it.

Well, it's my pleasure, Rick. I'm really glad to be here.

NARRATOR: Rick, along with Craig Tester

and Laird Niven, gather with other members

of the team in the war room to meet with

antiquities expert Terry Deveau.

You know, guys, I needn't remind anyone here of the--

probably the most unique discovery last year,

and that was the stone road in the swamp.

Absolutely.

That is very impressive. Wow.

NARRATOR: Last year, Terry, who is an environmental scientist

and also the current president

of the New England Antiquities Research Association,

made a stunning assessment of the massive stone road

that the team discovered

in the southeastern corner of the swamp.

This is 16th century and before.

That's remarkable.

NARRATOR: In light of the recent discoveries

made near the stone road in the swamp,

Rick has invited Terry to present new research

that he's prepared about the possible origins of the feature.

You don't find stone roads underneath swamps, you know,

below the surface of a swamp, but we did.

And we're finding odd things

in the southeast corner of the swamp.

Can't wait to see what else is there.

So, Terry, I turn it over to you.

All right.

So, when we saw that stone road

uncovered in the swamp last year, it just blew me away.

Like, I was pretty much speechless.

I've never seen anything of that magnitude in Nova Scotia

built that way.

So, afterwards, I started doing

a little bit of research into the historical records.

I know that you're following the stone path

up towards the north, and then towards the east.

So, what I was looking for in my investigation

is to see if there was some imagery

of the terrain that surrounds the beach.

Because the beach as it exists now

was probably different many, many years ago.

I found aerial imagery that had the most detail.

And then the next thing I did

is outline areas on the aerial imagery.

I started looking at the actual underwater features,

and the purple lines are

linear features on the sea floor.

The next thing I did is look for boulders

on the sea floor, as well.

And so the golden dots are the boulders.

The boulders seem to be clustered

in these lines,

but they're not totally random.

They do have a pattern.

So, that right away is pretty suggestive.

So, I brought in a aerial photo

of the actual excavation that was done in 2020.

And it is kind of amazing how the stone road seems to line up

with the boulders and the linear features

that were evident in the aerial imagery.

RICK: Wow.

Just purely observationally, that-that alignment is strange.

-SCOTT: Yeah. -CHARLES: Yeah.

TERRY: The linear features that are there suggest that

there may be some remnants of dock construction materials

that would give you some indication that

it did extend, let's say, out into a-a stone dock perhaps,

in-into the water.

NARRATOR: A stone dock?

Although Laird Niven,

geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner and the team

have speculated that the massive stone road may have been

the remains of a shipping wharf centuries ago,

is it possible that Terry Deveau has found photographic evidence

that could help verify it and identify

more of the ancient feature

and clues that could help determine its origin?

Is it your suggestion, then, that a-a ship

comes up to that dock,

offload, and then it's taken ashore?

-Is that what you're suggesting? -TERRY: Yeah.

If there had been a fairly narrow dock

and road attached to it, coming in this direction,

you would need to have kind of a staging area.

Yep.

RICK: Is there a ballpark date, era

when you think this was constructed?

This is a type of road that was built in Europe in the 1500s.

CHARLES: Wow.

If you look for the way

roads were generally made by people in Nova Scotia,

what comes to my mind is the Portuguese.

The Portuguese were active in Nova Scotia from 1522

up till no later than, uh, 1583.

Hmm.

NARRATOR: In 2015,

Terry alerted Rick, Marty, Craig and Dave Blankenship

to a mysterious carving some 145 miles southwest of Oak Island

in the town of Overton, Nova Scotia.

TERRY: For my mind, this is

diagnostic of Portuguese.

NARRATOR: Terry's assessment was that the cross on the Overton Stone

was made 500 years ago or more,

just like the stone wharf in the Oak Island swamp.

If Terry is right and this is a Portuguese structure,

that's impactful.

What he is suggesting that, "Hey, guys,

"it's not just the stone road you're looking at.

You're looking at a wharf."

I think it all makes sense.

The problem is: Is it real?

You have to find hard physical evidence to support the theory.

It's very tantalizing that there may be some

well-preserved evidence within easy reach of the shore

that could really reveal when these constructions were made.

-Yep. -RICK: I do believe you have something else

you'd like to show us, correct?

Yeah. And so, with that in mind,

I did come across some imagery from

the 1930s here in the Money Pit.

What I found interesting was

an apparent stone path right over here,

which doesn't seem to have any explanation or purpose

for any of the known searcher activity.

It appears that it may be the remains

of an ancient stone path,

and it would align with the path in this direction.

NARRATOR: A stone pathway?

Extending from the massive stone ship's wharf in the swamp?

Could Terry Deveau have discovered a photograph

of the very pathway that the team found evidence of

last year, which included iron ring bolts and ox shoes,

believed to have been used in an operation

to transport heavy cargo?

STEVE G.: Based on just the finds that we've made on the island,

that was, at one point, a very heavily used path.

-Interesting. -And if the artifacts are there,

wouldn't the path be there?

-You'd think so. -Right.

Well, what you've done has

amped up the interest in-in that area,

and I think we can follow up on several fronts.

And we really appreciate your input.

-Thank you very much. -It's our pleasure.

I think we have more work to do.

TERRY: All right.

NARRATOR: It is the start of another exciting day

on Oak Island, as Rick and members of the team

resume excavating the stone wharf

in the southeast corner of the swamp.

IAN: There's the well.

NARRATOR: And while water testing

continues in the Money Pit area...

GARY: All right.

-Back to Lot 13. -PETER: Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton,

along with Rick and Marty's nephew,

Peter Fornetti, arrive at Lot 13.

In light of Terry Deveau's new evidence

of a possible pathway leading from the stone wharf

in the swamp to the Money Pit,

Gary is eager to search the area

for any important or valuable clues.

All right, mate. Finally, back to the uplands.

I've been looking forward to this because if we can find

some more artifacts in this area, we could potentially

give the guys an area to start digging.

And, who knows, maybe the stone pathway

-goes up towards the Money Pit. -Yeah.

So if we can find something that gets the archeologists here

and really gets them a defined area,

that'd be perfect for us today.

And we've got plenty of flags that we put down

in this area, and we got permission to dig, mate.

-Today is gonna be a good day. -All right.

Okay, mate, let's dig 'em up.

NARRATOR: Due to the new Communities, Culture and Heritage protocols,

Gary scanned the area earlier this morning

but was only allowed to plant flags

where he obtained signals for possible buried metal objects.

Now, after Laird Niven has documented the area

and given his professional approval,

Gary and Peter can now determine what these targets are.

-Let's see what we've got. -(metal detector beeping)

-Just there. -Right there?

Yep.

-(beeping) -You got it out, Pete.

Let's see what we got.

(beeping)

Ah.

Nope.

-PETER: Nothing. -Piece of junk, yeah.

Piece of aluminum cap.

Bag it and tag it.

-All right. -Yep.

-Where's the next one, mate? -Let's pop in right there.

Okay.

(beeps)

(beeping)

Doesn't sound too bad.

(beeping)

You got it out, mate.

PETER: Yeah, I think it was there. I pushed it.

High hopes.

Fingers crossed, mate. Let's go.

(beeping)

Come on, baby.

Come to papa.

Where are you?

Here we go.

What the heck is that?

I mean, look at it.

Look at that spiral.

Yeah, this is definitely not machine-made, mate.

Uh, this is a unique little object, whatever it is.

At first, I thought this was iron.

-It's really heavy. -Yeah.

-That's lead. -Oh.

I've never seen a piece of lead like this

on Oak Island that's spiraled like that.

But the ultimate test is if we get a rapid vibration

-with the pinpointer... -Then it's iron.

Then it's iron.

(beeping)

Oh!

It is. It's iron.

(beeping)

I believe, uh...

Yeah, I'd have to say that it's iron.

I thought that was lead.

Could it be multiple different... materials?

Yeah, it could be a mix of alloys.

-(beeping) -(scoffs)

I've got to go with iron. I've got to go with iron.

-Yeah. Yeah, trust your machines. -Yeah. Yeah.

To be honest, I was hoping it was lead

because you can get so much more information off lead.

And it's heavy. Feel how heavy it is.

You can do the laser ablation test on lead,

so you can find out where that lead came from.

You can actually date lead,

and iron is much more difficult to date.

PETER: That's definitely interesting, for certain.

GARY: Yeah. Exactly.

And we recovered it in a unique place

'cause this is just up from the stone pathway.

Which makes it even more interesting.

And of course, we'll put it on the XRF.

Mm-hmm. Well, and once Kelly gets that cleaned up,

-we'll know for certain. -Yeah, exactly.

We got plenty of experts that this is gonna

go through their hands.

-We'll get answers. -Yeah.

-So, let's bag it and tag it. -Yep.

-GARY: Onto the next. -Yep.

NARRATOR: Later that evening,

after the team has departed the island...

Hi, everybody. How you doing?

-Hello, Ian. -Hey, Ian.

NARRATOR: ...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

has contacted Rick, Marty and Craig via videoconference

from his home in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Along with his colleague, Dr. Pier Pufahl,

he has an important update regarding the water tests

that were conducted earlier this week

in the boreholes across the Money Pit area.

I have some results that have been shared with me

that I really felt I had to

convey to you as soon as possible.

And I asked, uh, Dr. Peir Pufahl to join us, as well.

Dr. Pufahl is at Queen's University,

and he's the codirector

of the Queen's Facility for Isotope Research.

I just want to say that we're, uh, appreciative

of the opportunity to help all of you on Oak Island.

Yeah, so are we, and much appreciative.

(chuckles): Uh, you know, I'm-I'm obviously sort of excited by this.

And-and so, I-I hope you are, too.

Yeah.

So, we sent some samples to Peir's lab.

I think it was 12 samples.

Is that correct, Peir? I think...

Yeah, I think that's about right, 12 samples.

IAN: Yeah. He analyzed them,

and a number of the samples that I sent to him showed...

...gold.

-Oh, really? -Really?

Yeah, gold.

-Wow. -(laughs)

NARRATOR: It is a historic moment

for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

and their partner Craig Tester.

-Wow. -That's great.

This is the coolest thing.

NARRATOR: After conducting extensive water tests,

Dr. Ian Spooner and Dr. Peir Pufahl

have found evidence that a number of boreholes

in the Money Pit area on Oak Island

contain a substantial amount of gold.

Okay, well, listen.

I can't, I can't contain myself anymore.

But question number one: I thought gold was

so, uh, insoluble that it didn't show up.

-What's up with that? -So, nothing is truly insoluble.

If we take a general sample of seawater, uh,

we can analyze and detect every element in the periodic table.

Basically, it comes down to

the kind of instrumentation you have

and the ability to detect very, very minute quantities.

And-and that's what we're dealing with.

And I've got three samples, uh, that we're fairly confident have

elevated trace concentrations of gold.

Fantastic.

PEIR: We're talking about parts per billion.

You know, looking at the data, these are the three samples

that we can say confidently at this stage

have elevated concentrations of gold within them.

MARTY: I-I know it's small numbers,

but is it a magnitude bigger than what you would expect?

I mean, can you, can you put brackets around

what we're looking at here?

For something that is essentially, uh, insoluble,

to have any concentration at the levels that,

you know, we're discussing, it's-it's exciting.

In normal waters, it shouldn't be there.

-That's great. -Fantastic.

What is really interesting is the....

not all the wells show gold,

but the wells that did show gold were the wells

in the vicinity of C-1.

And it mirrors some of the silver results we're getting.

And F-4 and E-8,

those were the two this year

that we had the highest silver in.

CRAIG: F-4 is just north of the Chappell Shaft.

They tended to think north of the Chappell Shaft would be

the Money Pit, and that's where that well's at.

Maybe it's leaching from the so-called

fabled Chappell Vault, too.

Could be.

NARRATOR: In 1931,

44-year-old Melbourne Chappell

joined his father William and longtime treasure hunter

Frederick Blair to begin a new expedition on Oak Island.

It was their intent to locate the seven-foot-tall

wooden vault that William and Frederick had drilled into

at a depth of 153 feet back in 1897,

an operation which recovered not only a scrap of parchment

bearing the letters "V-I"

but also traces of gold.

However, because the location of the original Money Pit

was unknown by this time, they made an educated guess

and constructed a 12-foot-by-14-foot

wood-cribbed shaft down to a depth of 163 feet.

Although they did recover an early 18th-century axe

and part of a ship's anchor,

they unfortunately never encountered

any signs of the so-called Chappell Vault.

Is it possible that, in borehole F-4,

Rick, Marty and Craig have found evidence of a target

that the Chappells and Blair just barely missed?

RICK: It's interesting. It's exciting.

And what it does say to me,

because I've always looked backwards

to the people that have come before,

it means something to me on that level

that they did not labor in vain,

that here's the proof

that indeed there is temporal treasure on Oak Island.

To me, if the treasure was there and taken away,

you wouldn't have any signals at all of silver or gold,

so makes me think it's still there.

Yeah, that's really exciting.

Uh, there's no way around it. What a great way to start.

-That's great. -RICK: Very interesting.

Very interesting.

Hey, this is fantastic, okay?

I was over the moon about silver in the water.

Now they're saying there's gold in the water.

Also, an extremely significant point.

If all the wells showed gold in them,

I would think it's a fluke of some sort.

So, I find it very substantive that most of the holes that

we've drilled and have access to on Oak Island don't show gold.

That means that something special

is happening in-in the ones that do.

So, what is the next step, guys?

Well, as Ian mentioned, this is preliminary data.

It's truly hot off the press, and the full, uh, suite of data

we'll provide to you guys, uh,

in a week or so, once we've had a chance to basically

go through the whole data set.

Right.

Well, you know, the data's gonna be great

for our-our drilling program.

So, uh, we can definitely incorporate this data.

Absolutely.

The hope is that,

if these test results are real,

we can pull a core with a large amount of gold.

Again, it's exciting stuff,

but you got to put steel down the hole.

There's no way around it.

There's-there's gold showing up

in some of the waters is really exciting.

-(laughs) -Okay.

Hey, listen. This is great.

Many thanks to the scientists here.

-Thank you. -We really appreciate it.

This is fantastic.

This is the year we go for the gold.

-(laughs) -So, can't wait to get out there.

Uh, hopefully, you guys will have it all

figured out by the time I do.

But carry on. Thanks.

Thank you both very much.

-PEIR: You're welcome. -CRAIG: See you, guys.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Three days later, brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

and their partner Craig Tester have invited representatives

from Choice Sonic Drilling to help them in their efforts

to retrieve more substantial evidence of what could be

the legendary Oak Island treasure.

-Gentlemen. -Well, well, well.

(chuckling)

-Fancy you back. -TEDFORD: Yeah.

-How you been? -Good. You?

Good. Glad to see you back, that's for sure.

Well, thanks for inviting us.

So, Craig, tell them the good news.

We did water testing, uh, last year

and came up with some silver, and then this year,

they've done more testing and sent it to a lab.

-Okay. -Came up with gold in the samples.

Really? I like the sounds of that.

I am probably as hopeful as I've ever been this year.

Good to hear. Looking forward to finding something for you guys.

-CRAIG: Good. -That's the goal. -Looking forward to it.

All we got to do is get that thing running

and put you over an "X."

-Let's go. -CRAIG: Okay.

-We hope to bring up some silver and gold, so... -(chuckles)

-BRENNAN: We'd like to do that for you. -RICK: All we can ask for.

-BRENNAN: All right. -TEDFORD: We're excited.

NARRATOR: Over the next several weeks, the Oak Island team will drill

approximately 20 boreholes across a strategic grid

in order to zero in on the source of the gold and silver

detected in the area near the C-1 shaft,

an area which they have now dubbed the "C-1 cluster."

Based on their findings, they will then work once again

with Irving Equipment Limited

to dig up to four massive ten-foot-diameter steel shafts.

-(vehicle beeping) -CRAIG: Hey, guys.

-Hey, guys. -Hey, guys.

NARRATOR: For their first target borehole...

STEVE G.: Right there.

...surveyor Steve Guptill and Craig Tester

mark a spot that will be known as DE-7.

Located just 13 feet from borehole C-1,

it will represent the team's first attempt this year

to intercept the fabled Money Pit treasure vault.

CRAIG: We're going with the symbol for gold.

(laughter)

-There we go. -TEDFORD: Nice. -BRENNAN: I like it.

-Perfect. -I got it. -Ready?

-All right. -Okay. -Let's do it.

RICK: This year is very unique

because we intend to drill right in the middle of the

"suspected area" of gold and silver.

Um, that's different than every other year.

Other years, we just set up a grid

and we were hoping to find something.

We already found something.

Now we need to figure out what that is.

You guys ready?

Hey! Ready, ready.

We're standing steady.

-RICK: It's a great day. -Yeah.

-So, this year, we're going for the gold. -Going for gold.

That's right.

NARRATOR: Using a 30-ton sonic drill rig,

the team will extract core samples every ten feet.

These samples will then be carefully examined by hand

for any evidence of underground structures,

artifacts, and hopefully treasure.

MARTY: We're starting anew, and we're starting anew with new data.

Gold in the water, silver in the water.

We're gonna try and narrow that down.

This doesn't look like a wild-goose chase at this point.

It looks like there's some gold here.

And hopefully we're gonna find that treasure chamber.

(machinery whirring and buzzing)

Good concentration.

What do you got, Adam?

-ADAM: Nine. -Nine?

(groans): A little more.

Mix of pad gravel and a little bit of... soil.

Definitely disturbed.

Anyway, let's move on.

Now, gold obviously would be the end-all, be-all.

-Yeah. -Let me hold something. Right?

Something that says the Money Pit story is real.

Yeah.

-I'm excited about that. I really am. -TERRY: Yeah.

NARRATOR: While the core-drilling operations continue

in the Money Pit,

later that afternoon...

-RICK: Okay, Bill. Have at her. -BILLY: All right.

NARRATOR: ...Rick, Craig and Steve

join archeologist Laird Niven

and other members of the team at the swamp to search for

more potentially valuable clues near the believed stone wharf.

CRAIG: Hold it, Billy.

(whirs, clanks)

LAIRD: It's pretty thick and dark.

-But there are organics in it. -GARY: What does that mean?

LAIRD: I think if you're looking for human activity,

that's what color soil you're looking for.

-Just keep scraping away. -Yep.

RICK: I've said it before: if there's anything to

the Oak Island story, the answers are in the swamp.

And we did uncover some mysteries:

the road, the stone path.

So, we want to uncover the southeast corner

of the swamp and see if there are

any other structures that have not been found.

So, there's a lot of work that remains to be done.

GARY: A little bit of pottery.

Oh! Look at this.

This is beautiful.

-It's blue and white. -RICK: Yep.

GARY: Now, look at that speckling on it.

It's fantastic.

Have you ever seen this type of pottery

in-in the province before?

-Have you ever found it? -Not-not that I can recall.

GARY: Yeah, so this is a first for Oak Island, this color.

LAIRD: Mm-hmm.

So, would you say it's European or local?

No, it'd be European.

-GARY: That's cool. -Yeah, for sure.

-The glaze is really nice. -Yeah, it really is.

LAIRD: Cool. We'll get it all cleaned up.

NARRATOR: Could this pottery, found near the massive stone wharf

and which Laird Niven believes to be of European origin,

help identify who built this mysterious structure

and perhaps even support the opinion

of environmental scientist Terry Deveau

that the feature is of Portuguese origin?

RICK: Okay. Keep looking.

MARTY: All kinds of things are coming out

of the southeast corner of the swamp.

And every time we find something,

we hope that it allows us to figure it all out.

I can't wait to see what else is there.

Got anything?

What's that right there?

Look at this.

GARY: What the heck is that?

Look at that.

I don't know what this is.

NARRATOR: While digging near the possibly ancient stone wharf

in the southeast corner of the swamp...

Kind of rounded, you know?

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina has just discovered what could be

another important clue.

RICK: We're in a swamp.

We're in a place where there might have been a slipway.

We're looking for nautical items

and also the purpose of the stone road.

-Is it a nod or a no? -BILLY: I don't know.

RICK: The artifacts, just to me, speak to

there's got to be more.

Well, let's keep going.

BILLY: Yeah, there is something.

-Is it square? -RICK: Look at this.

GARY: Yeah, that looks man-made for sure.

-That's, uh, hand-carved, too. -Yeah, that's cool.

-BILLY: What is that? -No idea.

Looks handmade as well, doesn't it?

That end.

That's-that's not a household thing.

-GARY: No. -LAIRD: No.

I would bet anything that's from a ship.

GARY: Yeah.

CRAIG: What are we finding, guys?

GARY: Lots of interesting pieces of wood.

This looks like it was meant to go into something,

and that stopped it from going all the way through.

But it was sail-related.

GARY: Maybe it's dowel? A pin?

Can you see the lines coming through here?

GARY: Maybe that's where a rope was wrapped around it?

Could've been.

NARRATOR: Dating as far back

as the 7th century A.D.,

wooden dowels were used as fasteners

in ancient shipbuilding

due to their high resistance to weathering.

Could this wooden dowel,

found alongside the mysterious stone road,

be not only further evidence that this feature

is in fact the remains of an ancient wharf

but also perhaps part of a ship

that was once docked there centuries ago

when the swamp was an open harbor?

If so, what did it carry to Oak Island?

And could the answer be waiting at the bottom of the Money Pit?

I find both of these very interesting.

Yeah.

-That one in particular, I think. -Yeah.

RICK: Both of these should go to someone who's familiar

with ships of that era-- 15-, 16-, 1700s.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

We have found so many nautical

marine-related items on the island,

specifically wood artifacts.

Some of these ship finds in the swamp need to be

brought to experts and opinions rendered about their usage,

what types of ships,

what timeline can be associated with them.

But every little piece of data

seems to be aligning.

We found a number of things

that can actually tell us something.

-Yeah. -That's the whole point of this, right?

-Yep. -Finding things, determine what they are

and how they may affect our interpretation

of the stone road.

GARY: It's definitely getting interesting now,

deeper we're going.

NARRATOR: Later that same day...

...Gary and Peter join Rick at the archeology trailer.

-Hi, Kelly. -Hey, Kelly. -Hi.

-Hello, mate. -Hello.

NARRATOR: They are meeting with professional conservator

Kelly Bourassa, who has already cleaned

and conducted preliminary metallurgical analysis

on the spiral-shaped object found one day ago on Lot 13.

How does that look?

KELLY: Well, this one, of course,

is-is really unusual.

I've never seen anything like it.

When we first found it, you know,

I'm thinking it was lead 'cause it's so heavy.

And then, when I put my pinpointer on it,

it was reacting like it was iron.

You had a good point with the iron.

We did, uh, our XRF analysis on it.

There's a certain percentage of iron content in this.

1.47%.

Antimony: 6.68%.

Lead was 90%.

GARY: Nice.

-It's lead. -Yeah.

KELLY: Yeah, it's just, uh, something

I've never come across before, so I'd be interested

-in learning more about that particular design. -GARY: Yeah.

RICK: You know what I would like,

if it's not inconvenient?

When lead items come in, run the XRF and keep track of

-the trace elements. -Sure.

-You know where I'm going. -GARY: Oh, yeah.

-Drayton's cross. -The cross, yeah.

-RICK: We did laser ablation on the lead cross. -Yeah.

We now know it's from southern Mediterranean.

Well, if there are a number of these

and we could track them that way through the trace elements,

that may be a real clue.

NARRATOR: Could Rick's notion be correct

that this mysterious lead artifact

found near the believed stone wharf in the swamp

is possibly connected to the 700-year-old lead cross

that was discovered four years ago at Smith's Cove?

Laser ablation can literally give us a fingerprint of lead,

that from it we can learn where these materials,

these artifacts, are from.

We can't do that with the iron objects.

If we could, we would be much further down the discovery road.

So, there's no reason not to do it.

The million-dollar question: What the heck is it?

Yeah, no idea. Um...

NARRATOR: Although they are eager to conduct follow-up testing,

due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,

the team will have to wait several weeks,

if not months, for access to a university laboratory

where laser ablation testing is available.

GARY: That is an unusual design.

And it's highly decorated, and it's nice and crude.

Just like the cross is, nicely, crudely made.

What the heck was that?

'Cause that's only part of something.

Um, also, when I was cleaning,

there's a small hole in one end,

so I'm not too sure if it was on a spike or what.

And I'm feeling this is gonna be a nice surprise.

Thing is, it's really old.

-I'm hopeful, yes. -PETER: Yeah.

Let's track these trace elements.

Okay.

-And we will hit the trail. -(chuckles)

-Find some more lead. -Literally.

-GARY: Cheers, mate. -KELLY: Okay.

NARRATOR: The next day, as operations at both the swamp

and Money Pit continue...

-PETER: Let's start right here. -GARY: Okay.

NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Peter Fornetti arrive on Lot 17.

-Okay. -Just there, mate.

NARRATOR: After the discovery of

the mysterious lead artifact one day ago,

they are eager to look for more evidence of the possible

stone pathway between the swamp and the Money Pit.

GARY: Go above it.

Either in the hole or out.

-(beeping) -There we go.

Damn. Yeah, that's-- you'd have to say that's modern.

-Yeah. -Just a modern nail.

Okay.

-Put that in the bag. It's trash. -Yeah.

-Just class that as a warm-up. -Yep.

-All right, let's go down. -Okay.

-I got plenty of flags down here, Pete. -Yep.

NARRATOR: In accordance with the new Community, Culture and Heritage

guidelines for metal detecting on the island,

Gary already flagged several promising targets in the area

earlier this morning, and has now obtained

Laird Niven's permission to dig them up.

Just there, mate.

Let's hope this is something good.

More trail-ish.

I'm optimistic today's gonna be

a really good treasure hunting day.

We have a chance at potentially finding a coin or an artifact.

Another piece of scrap lead.

-It's not what we're looking for, though. -No.

GARY: We're following the stone roadway.

So, this is an exciting area.

-Let's go to this one. -Okay.

(beeping)

-Just there, mate. -Okay.

(beeping)

Right there, man.

That is a screamer.

And I would chunk that bit out...

-PETER: Yeah. -...because I can actually see the rust on it.

-PETER: Yeah. -I'm hoping this is an old find.

(beeping)

It's that, whatever that is.

What the heck is that?

GARY: What the heck is that?

NARRATOR: While searching Lot 17

for evidence of the stone pathway

between the Oak Island swamp and the Money Pit,

metal detection expert Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti

have just found what may be a significant clue.

-(beeping) -It's that, whatever that is. -Oh, yeah.

It is this.

PETER: Is it heavy?

GARY: Yeah, it's fairly heavy.

-Kind of looks like an iron band. -Mm-hmm.

The good thing is it's got looks like

a square crude hole that's broken there.

So maybe it's an old iron band that went around something.

-PETER: Mm-hmm. -Can you imagine the size of it?

Maybe it's like an old band around a mast

or something like that.

-But we're just guessing, mate. -Yep.

-GARY: All right, mate, we'll bag it. -Absolutely.

NARRATOR: If Gary's speculation that this iron band

was part of a ship can be proven,

might it also be connected to the stone wharf

the team discovered in southeast corner of the swamp

and perhaps offer more evidence of the pathway between

the swamp and the Money Pit?

This is a special find

because we're right in the middle

of the Money Pit and the swamp.

It's gonna be interesting to see what went on in this area.

And I know of a guy that is definitely gonna

give us a very good I.D. on this,

and that is Carmen Legge.

-Where is the next one, mate? -Just up the hill.

Okay.

NARRATOR: As Gary and Peter continue their search on Lot 17...

-STEVE G.: Hi, Rick. -RICK: How we doing?

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina joins Craig Tester

and members of the team at the Money Pit

to check in on the progress of borehole DE-7.

We're at 139.

Then we're down, the next one would be around 150.

Right.

(machinery clanking)

Hopefully with this program, we get silver or gold.

And it gives us a... a leg up on placing a large can.

CRAIG: We're not only drilling and looking for wood

but the water samples and the soil samples

we get as we test them.

I mean, obviously, if we get some area

that tests high amount of gold and silver,

uh, we're most likely gonna want to put a can

right down in that area, seeing if there's a treasure there.

So, we got to use all the information we're gathering

and to pick out the best location.

-ADAM: 164. -Thank you.

-Want me to cut it? -Sure. Please do.

Okay, so at 145-ish, right here,

we seem to have some disturbed material.

There's-- it's fairly well-bedded down below

and it looks like up above, but we're seeing some disturbance

through here at about 145-foot level below grade.

It's also black, you can tell...

TERRY: Somewhat blackened and disturbed.

It's definitely out of place.

Well, well, well.

Now, we weren't expecting that, Craig.

Oh.

TERRY: That's a fairly substantial

little chunk of wood, but, you know, I don't see

-any other-other beams in there. -Yep.

So, it's hard to say what's going on here.

Well, at 145, you're getting

about to the top of, uh, where the Chappell Vault was found.

NARRATOR: Could Craig's notion that the team has

possibly encountered the legendary treasure vault,

first reported in 1897, be true?

If so, might they be one more core sample away

from the source of the silver and gold

recently identified by underground water testing?

CRAIG: Is there any chance it's an open tunnel

and collapsed on itself?

Oh, my goodness, there's an absolute possibility of that.

But if this kind of rushed into a relative void,

you know, all of that soft material could bypass

and ooze around a lot of cribbing.

I mean, it's a pretty loose section.

So, anyway, it's interesting stuff.

I definitely want to get these...

these pieces of wood C-14 dated.

Will do.

CRAIG: Okay, are you done with this?

I am. For sure.

MARTY: If that wood dates to before the Money Pit was discovered,

that could get really exciting.

I mean, we could be close to the so-called Chappell Vault,

which myself and others

have been interested in for a long time.

Is this encouraging?

You bet it is.

It's-it's really encouraging.

I guess, do you want to open this up to take a look?

TERRY: We should find some disturbed material here.

CRAIG: If it fell in, yes.

TERRY: Let's see if we can see any evidence of same.

(chuckles) She's definitely loose; it's hard to say.

I don't see any of those, uh, shavings or splinters.

CRAIG: I don't see any wood.

TERRY: Which is a little disappointing.

NARRATOR: The team is encouraged

to have found evidence of a wood structure at a key depth

and in the very same vicinity that water testing

has identified the presence of both silver and gold.

However, could the lack of any more wood

or artifacts in subsequent core samples

mean that they may not have hit their target

-but only grazed it? -Okay.

RICK: The interesting thing about finding this wood

at that horizon, that elevation, is that's certainly the area

where the so-called Chappell Vault once was.

And so, of course,

your-your mind goes to that possibility.

And thus, to me, it rounds to

let's stay focused on the grid, because if it is

associated with the vault, then let's define the vault.

We're here. Okay, we just drilled this one.

We got wood on the last one.

You know, I think it's a victory.

I'm ready to move on to the next hole.

TERRY: Yep.

RICK: Okay.

-We just keep pressing on. -CRAIG: Sounds good.

GARY: Here we go.

NARRATOR: As a new day of investigation begins

in the Oak Island swamp...

...and in the Money Pit area...

PETER: So, I'm pretty excited.

Yeah, I mean, Carmen-- wealth of knowledge.

-You never fail to learn something with him. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...some 50 miles north

in the town of Centreville, Nova Scotia...

-PETER: All right. -DOUG: I haven't seen Carmen for a while.

NARRATOR: ...Doug Crowell and Peter Fornetti

arrive at Northville Farm.

-DOUG: Hey, Carmen. -Hey! How you doing today?

-Good. -PETER: Good. How are you doing?

NARRATOR: They have arranged for

their first meeting of the year with blacksmithing expert

Carmen Legge to get his analysis on the mysterious iron band

that was found one day ago on Lot 17.

CARMEN: Got some more stuff for me?

-PETER: Yeah. -DOUG: Yeah.

Let's have a look.

This was found towards the Money Pit.

Okay.

Uh...

this is a handmade iron band.

You can see there's a-- well, it's a hole here.

-The width and the thickness of it... -PETER: Mm-hmm.

...it's a band off of a wagon wheel

-or a cart wheel. -Oh.

This goes around the hub that holds

the center of the wheel together.

The size of it indicates

early-early time period use of a cart.

I'm gonna say 1650 to probably 1780, 1790.

After that, they got bigger, thicker.

That is intriguing.

NARRATOR: The hub of a wagon wheel?

Dating back to as early as 1650?

And found between the possibly ancient

stone wharf in the swamp and the Money Pit?

Is it possible that Gary Drayton has found more evidence

of cargo being hauled between the two sites

as much as 150 years prior

to the original treasure shaft's discovery?

If so, might it also support Terry Deveau's theory

about the approximate age of the stone wharf

and its potential Portuguese origin?

DOUG: We've had this idea that carts were used

along this stone road and pathway,

and perhaps heading towards the Money Pit.

-PETER: Mm-hmm. -But this would be the first

tangible piece of evidence that

this would go hand-in-hand with ox shoes and...

-Mm-hmm. Yeah. -...and carts.

Where's the rest of the cart?

That's a good question.

You might be narrowing down the time period

and maybe the activity.

PETER: Okay.

That's exactly...

exactly what we're looking for: evidence that

high-wheeled carts are associated

with the stone road or the stone path.

That's substantive information.

That's exactly the kind of evidence we're looking for.

That's the first artifact of that type

-associated with a cart that I'm aware of. -PETER: Yeah.

-I think the guys will be interested to hear that. -Yeah.

-DOUG: Yeah. -Absolutely.

-All right. -Very good.

-Thank you, Carmen. -Oh, you're very welcome.

-Glad I could help. -Absolutely.

-Thanks, Carmen. -Come back again with some more.

-Take care. -Will do. -Happy digging.

PETER: Yeah, thanks.

NARRATOR: As Doug and Peter make their way

back to Oak Island, in the Money Pit area...

STEVE G.: We're in a hot zone.

NARRATOR: ...Craig Tester and other members

of the team are supervising

the core-drilling operation in a new borehole known as CD-6.

A borehole located less than ten feet from the C-1 shaft.

So, we have multiple targets and points of interest

-in this hole... -Yeah, absolutely.

-CHARLES: ...that we can get more sample from. -Yep.

Let's hope it's a very interesting hole.

Yep.

NARRATOR: As they work to pinpoint

the source of silver and gold that has recently been

detected through water sampling in the so-called C-1 cluster,

the team's hope for borehole CD-6

includes a secondary target,

a possible tunnel at a depth of some 90 feet

that they found in this area just one year ago.

One of the key things here is we get the tunnel.

We'll run in and we get a water sample at that zone.

If we can duplicate that gold and silver

-and then isolate it to which horizon. -Yeah.

-You can come on in, drop it off. -What's the good word, Adam?

-How's it going, Adam? -ADAM: 85.

85. Let's take a look, shall we?

I would say that's moving into, uh,

it looks like the clay to me, but...

-STEVE G.: Is it just natural? -It's still...

Oh, it's still natural.

It would still be good to dig in, but it's a little bit

looser than normal.

That might mean that it's close to, uh,

an open water cavity beneath "a tunnel."

The next core is the tell on this hole.

-That's the hope. -(knocks)

Knock on wood.

(machinery whirring and buzzing)

CHARLES: Here we go, here we go.

Let's hope it's a good one.

Which end do you want me to hit? Right here?

-Is this the bottom? -That's the bottom, yep.

What's the word, Mike?

Uh, 90 feet.

STEVE G.: 90 feet?

CHARLES: Terry, we got wood.

SCOTT: That's what we want to see.

-TERRY: Wow. -Look at this.

-There's our wood, guys. That's great. -Yep.

TERRY: Looks good to me.

And that looks like a fairly good section of beam.

Really looks like a cut surface for sure.

I think, well, that really bodes well for age.

CHARLES: Yeah, it does.

TERRY: That's probably a floor-to-ceiling

-collapse of a tunnel right there. -CHARLES: Yeah.

TERRY: There's no question in my mind that that was an open structure,

once upon a time.

NARRATOR: Wood? At a depth of 90 feet?

Is it possible that the team has once again encountered

the man-made tunnel they first discovered one year ago?

CHARLES: That's probably enough.

NARRATOR: And, if so,

could it also be connected to the evidence of silver and gold

detected in the so-called C-1 cluster?

RICK: We're getting multiple hits of wood

at a consistent depth,

indicating a possible tunnel

in an area that was previously unknown.

So, given the significance not only of the C-1 cluster

but the silver and gold water sampling results,

finding this tunnel depth at

somewhere in the 80-to-90-foot horizon is interesting.

So, Craig, you want us to get a water sample out of here

-at this depth? -Yes, yep.

You know, anything that came out of this tunnel zone,

be great to test if silver and gold was in it.

-You know, it may come out of this horizon. -Yeah.

Testing will help us define the zone of interest,

-so maybe that's the tunnel we have to follow. -CRAIG: Absolutely.

Once we've associated it with gold,

we got to follow that tunnel.

-CHARLES: That's right. -TERRY: There you go.

NARRATOR: The following morning...

Rarely do we have a sense of anticipation around this table

like we certainly do today.

NARRATOR: ...in the Oak Island war room,

Rick and Marty Lagina, along with members of the team,

are meeting once again with geoscientists Dr. Ian Spooner

and Dr. Peir Pufahl,

along with chemist Dr. Matt Lukeman.

After conducting a more detailed analysis of the water tests

recently taken from several boreholes across

the Money Pit area, which produced preliminary evidence

of both silver and gold,

Dr. Pufahl is now prepared to present his final report.

Really, the core of this discussion,

I think, is: What do we do next?

I think we're all anticipating

what these results are gonna indicate.

So, I'm gonna turn it over to you, Ian.

IAN: So, what do you got to tell us?

PEIR: All right, here is essentially

a location map of those drill holes

that were sampled, uh, for their water.

And so, really, what I'd like you to do is to, number one,

turn your attention to these holes

that are gold in color, because these are the holes

within which we found gold in the water samples.

All right? That would be C-1,

F-4, E-8 and K-7.

So, without further ado, let's look at

some of the concentrations of gold

that we're actually focusing on here.

Your mind jumps to: Well, is there some sort of

natural source to this gold?

We have to have eliminated a natural source

for the gold to be meaningful here on Oak Island.

PEIR: So, when we look at F-4,

all right, we're talking about 0.044 parts per billion.

Hole C-1: 0.017 parts per billion.

And K-7: 0.012 parts per billion.

To put this in context, all right,

seawater has an average concentration of gold of about

0.10 parts per billion.

So, the take-home message here is this,

that, yes, gold is present and it's elevated.

It's either coming from the till,

it's coming from the bedrock,

or there's something buried down there.

MARTY: Wow.

NARRATOR: It is an incredible moment for brothers

Rick and Marty Lagina and the Oak Island team.

Geoscientist Dr. Peir Pufahl has just confirmed

his analysis of water sampling tests

conducted in numerous boreholes across the Money Pit area.

Something containing large amounts of silver and gold

lies deep underground in the vicinity of the C-1 shaft.

What I do think is interesting, when you look at where

the gold-enriched wells are, they're only, you know,

25, uh, 50 feet away from each other.

And so, if I were a betting man,

I bet we're in the right area.

When you look at these data,

I think we're-we're kind of right close to that bull's-eye.

MARTY: Wow.

MATT: Given that F-4-- I mean, obviously

it's the well of interest and it seems to be

the, uh, biggest outlier

of all the wells we've been looking at.

'Cause it's the standout here by far.

Yeah, so when we look at the chemistry of F-4,

almost every other trace element

was also elevated in relation to the other holes.

Silver was present only in F-4.

So, there's something unique about it.

But here's the bottom line: It's got gold in it.

-(laughs) -It's got gold in the water.

And if it's got gold in the water,

the gold is coming from somewhere.

And that's where the next steps come in.

The next steps-- sampling that till, sampling that sediment--

will help us fingerprint exactly where and why

that gold and silver are elevated in that hole.

As Dr. Pufahl said, the gold's got to come from somewhere.

And if it's coming from the soil, there'd have to be

a fair bit in-in the soil to produce these anomalous results.

We've got to get those till sample and see what they hold.

RICK: This is great news.

It-It's great science.

Uh, I know Marty loves great science.

So does Craig and, uh, everybody on the team.

Can't add anything to that.

Couple of weeks to the gold, Rick.

-(laughter) -Calm down.

I told you Bravo Tango was coming at some point.

What the hell?

I would be lying if I said it wasn't impactful.

(chuckles): I've believed since I was a little guy.

And it means something to me on that level,

that here's the proof.

Uh, it-it justifies everything, right?

MARTY: Gold is where it started.

The search for gold is what drove this way back,

230 years ago almost now.

So, nobody really found

any direct evidence of gold until now.

Is this impactful? It's hugely impactful.

It looks like there's some gold here.

So, it vindicates Rick and, I guess, a little bit me.

This is summed up by two words, really:

Sempre Avanti.

Let's keep moving forward.

Maybe we can get to the bottom of this.

-Absolutely. -Fair enough. -Thank you.

-RICK: Okay. Thank you very much. -IAN: Thank you. See ya.

NARRATOR: A mystery captured their attention,

faith and hope drew them in,

and now science has validated their efforts and persistence.

For brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

and the Oak Island team,

the answers that others have sought

for more than two centuries appear to be within their reach.

However, they must still brace for the unknown

and the forces that are beyond their control

that have guarded the island's secrets through the generations.

Will the fellowship finally zero in on a target

that could change history as we know it?

Only time and fate will tell.

This season on The Curse of Oak Island...

We're back, Oak Island, old friend.

-Oh, it's a coin! -Yes.

-RICK: That's the aha. -Yeah.

RICK: I still believe there's some answers in the swamp.

This path heads to the Money Pit.

Wow. These are indigenous artifacts.

LAIRD: Department of Culture and Heritage

-ask that we stop down. -Immediately.

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

We're gonna do what's right,

we're gonna continue to do what's right,

but we have to look after our own rights, too.

-Yeah. -We're gonna go bigger.

-Look at that. -Yeah, here she be.

MARTY: We're gonna go harder.

We're running out of time,

and we got big work to do up there.

-Maybe I get lucky, huh? -I hope so.

RICK: For 227 years, people have sought

a treasure in the Money Pit on Oak Island.

-GARY: Whoa! Look at that! -(beeping) -MARTY: Perfect!

Nobody really found any evidence of gold until now.

-So, we have ancient Spanish gold. -That's huge.

It's empirical, hard evidence.

MARTY: Okay! Let's get this done.

Let's find it. Let's go!

I want to find the answers.

♪ ♪

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