Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island.

-JACK: Today's the day, Gary. -Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR: It's the groundbreaking season finale.

This is what we saw

-in Portugal. -Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's incredible.

-Wow. -(laughing)

We can actually image the entire island

underground to find a target

-in the Money Pit. -That's great!

-GARY: We've hit the tunnel, mate. -Whoa!

-That tunnel will lead us to the treasure. -Yeah. There you go.

Oh, look at that. What we got here?

Oh, what the heck is that?

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.

♪ ♪

MARTY: Alex, Rick, Craig and I

want to hear everything about Portugal.

Talk to us.

I think it was a great trip.

-We learned a lot. -We-we did.

CORJAN: Oh, morning.

-Welcome to Portugal. -Thank you.

NARRATOR: For the past two weeks...

Wow.

...Rick, along with his nephews

Alex and Peter

and Oak Island historian Doug Crowell,

have been in central Portugal

investigating numerous sites that once served

as strongholds for the 12th-century Knights Templar

as well as their 14th-century descendants,

the Order of Christ.

Over the arch, the big Templar cross.

This was their trademark.

NARRATOR: Guided by researcher Corjan Mol

and Templar historian Joao Fiandeiro...

Okay, let's see what we can find.

NARRATOR: ...they saw numerous carvings

matching those reportedly found

on historic Oak Island artifacts...

You might be interested in this one over here.

NARRATOR: ...such as the 90-foot stone

and the H+O Stone...

ALEX: The stone path looks exactly like this.

Yeah, it looks the spitting image.

NARRATOR: ...a cobblestone road and pathway

eerily similar to those uncovered two years ago

in the triangle-shaped swamp,

and even a mysterious Masonic well

matching the exact dimensions

of the original Money Pit treasure shaft.

Oh, man. So you would

perfectly see that oak tree from here, right?

RICK: The branch of an oak tree over the well.

That's exactly what the Money Pit story is about.

NARRATOR: Now, as the team is working

to conclude their fifth major excavation

in the Money Pit area this year in a location

where they have previously detected large concentrations

of precious metals...

I don't think Portugal could be Portugal without the Templars.

NARRATOR: ...Rick and Alex have rejoined Marty Lagina,

Craig Tester and the rest of the team

in the hopes of making the ultimate discovery

before they must halt their search activities

until next spring.

RICK: You know, what's been happening here on the island?

MARTY: Well, a lot of stuff.

We did a major effort, Alex,

to ground-truth your OKM swaths on the road up from the swamp.

Hey, all right!

MARTY: So, we had a mini excavator

in there, and we cut some swaths.

It's a little bit difficult to be definitive.

But I would say

-that there was some sort of road there. -Sweet.

GARY: You think this could possibly be a road, Laird?

It's a feature, it looks like.

NARRATOR: One week ago, Marty and members of the team

began investigating a mysterious buried feature on Lot 15,

extending out of the swamp from the stone road,

which Alex and his cousin David Fornetti had detected

using ground-penetrating radar earlier this fall.

It's kind of dipping down.

STEVE G.: It's filled in with rocks.

NARRATOR: Incredibly,

they began uncovering

a cobblestone path feature

similar to the one that was unearthed two years ago

running along the eastern border of the swamp.

RICK: Well, we're here. Let's go take a look.

MARTY: Yeah, I'll show you our road.

RICK: It feels good to be back.

Portugal was a wonderful experience,

but when we had left,

we had some unfinished business.

This way.

RICK: If they've encountered a stone road feature

on Lot 15, that's exciting.

That's very, very impactful.

-Look who I brought. -Hey!

-Hey. -ALEX: Hey, guys. -Welcome back.

ALEX: Oh, wow.

RICK: Wow.

MARTY: So, you've done some work here since I left.

-LAIRD: Yeah. -That's impressive.

-So, what do you think? -LAIRD: Well, we all have in our mind

that it's a nice cobble path coming up here,

-so they're hauling something up. -Oh, yeah.

So, they're still filling... they're filling in low areas

-just to make a path. Yeah. -Yes.

MARTY: What you've dug out of there looks like

what we found down there

-in the swamp. -Yeah. -Yeah.

If you look down here,

the road went through here, we think.

Yeah, it essentially comes off of the stone road in the swamp.

Well, we are in kind of like a central area.

You've got the Money Pit over there, paved area, swamp.

We're in the middle of that area.

Yeah.

The interesting thing, you know,

we were lucky enough to see an actual

Roman road in Portugal, but when we got

to the higher elevations, this is what we saw.

-Mm-hmm. Yeah. -It was somewhat rudimentary,

-just like here. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: Could Rick Lagina be correct

that the cobblestone pathway

extending from the stone road in the swamp

may match the exact design of the one

that he recently saw in Portugal?

If so, might it offer more potential evidence

that Portuguese members of the Knights Templar

may actually be connected to the Oak Island mystery?

So, what would you do next, Laird?

Unfortunately, we'd have to take this much off a large area.

Um, so it'd be a lot of work.

-Yeah. -RICK: And as you can see,

weather's going to get quite inclement here shortly.

-LAIRD: Yeah. -GARY: Yeah. -Indeed.

MARTY: Okay, well, as per usual,

-we've added, not subtracted, from the mystery. -LAIRD: Yeah.

It's a... it's a mystery waiting to be solved.

But there's time yet to gather more data.

And you need to metal-detect that whole line

and see what you find.

-MARTY: Okay. Sounds Good. -ALEX: All right.

NARRATOR: Later that morning,

as archaeologist Laird Niven

conducts a preliminary analysis of the cobblestone path

before the team continues metal-detecting

in search of clues...

JACK: Today's the day, Gary.

NARRATOR: ...over in the Money Pit area...

GARY: We got a chance.

NARRATOR: ...members of the Oak Island team

are monitoring the excavation of the B4-C Shaft.

GARY: Hopefully, we start seeing wood soon.

JACK: Hopefully, it's a tunnel to a treasure chamber

-or an offset vault. -I hope so, too.

NARRATOR: Located just five feet north of Borehole C-1,

B4-C will soon reach the approximate 90-foot depth

in the so-called C-1 Cluster,

where earlier this year,

the team not only recovered evidence

of potentially 15th-century wooden tunnels

but also detected high trace evidence

of both silver and gold.

This has prompted them to speculate

that they have either located the general area

of the original Money Pit

or perhaps a tunnel that may lead

to an offset treasure chamber.

RICK: Even though this is the final can,

we're not gonna give up.

We know that there is a tunnel

in the 90-foot horizon.

Well, a tunnel means we're close to finding

the original Money Pit.

-We got to be getting close. -Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we should be in wood soon.

MARTY: Every time we dig, you just wait and see

that next scoop, that next grab, hoping that it's it.

The fact that there's gold in the water means

there was gold introduced into the Money Pit.

It's amazing to me.

GARY: See what we got.

Wow! That's some old wood in there.

Hello, Dolly. Check that out.

-GARY: That's a post. -Yeah.

Oh, look at that.

-JACK: Uh-huh. -GARY: That's tunnel.

Got to be tunnel.

-Yeah, it has to be a tunnel. -Yeah.

It's not a shaft.

That's a big piece of timber.

Do you think that's for the support beam?

GARY: Probably.

Five and a half. Yeah.

That's gonna hold a pretty good-sized tunnel for us.

It's dimensioned, and this stuff looks hand-hewn.

JACK: Wow.

That tunnel, mate-- that'll lead us to the treasure.

This is great stuff.

NARRATOR: Hand-hewn timbers

found some 90 feet deep in the B4-C Shaft?

At the same approximate depth

that the team recovered wood which dated to as early

as the 15th century?

Is it possible the team has finally intercepted a tunnel

that might be connected

to the original Money Pit treasure vault?

-Okay, mate. We're ready. -JACK: Yeah.

-(beeping) -JACK: Hey.

-I hear that. -Yeah.

Let me see if I can pinpoint it.

Yeah, you want to get in there first, don't you?

Yeah.

-What have we got here? -Oh!

What the heck is that?

Oh, it's a fastener, I believe.

NARRATOR

the Oak Island team has just recovered an iron fastener

offering more evidence of a possible wooden tunnel

nearly 90 feet below ground.

It appears to have some square features to it.

-GARY: Yeah, I'm hoping. -I think that's an old nail.

-GARY: I'm hoping. -Yeah.

Hey, Terry.

Hey, Rick. How you doing?

I heard, uh, finally wood, right?

Really, really interesting.

Let's take a quick look.

Look at this dimensioned lumber.

So, that's five and a quarter.

And I'm not seeing any circular saw, uh, marks

or crosshatch back marks.

That, to me, is a pit saw.

NARRATOR: As a method for construction,

the use of manually operated pit saws dates back

to as early as the 13th century.

Since most of the searcher activities

from the 19th century onward employed mechanized saws,

could that mean that the team has encountered workings

built prior to the discovery of the original Money Pit?

If so, could the team be close

to a much more valuable discovery?

RICK: The wood we hit--

I find it incredibly intriguing, because

we don't know of any previous searcher work

in this entire area.

It could be original depositor work.

But we must stay the course

and let the data tells us what we've encountered.

-TERRY: Here we go. -GARY: Let's see what we got.

God. Just bits of wood everywhere!

Look at that. That's a big old iron fastener.

Whoa!

Wrought iron, hammered round.

-That's what we're looking for. -GARY: That's cool. Yeah.

JACK: How old do you think it is?

I think we're in the 1700s or older.

-It's so crude. -Okay, so...

-Yeah. -So, pre-Money Pit discovery.

-Yeah. -Oh, that's sweet, Gary.

RICK: Lo and behold,

there is a... what we deem to be a handwrought spike.

And so, we have an opportunity with this spike

to do some types of analysis on it.

Every little clue means something.

What was that big spike I saw?

-(rhythmic beeping) -Yeah, this is old, mate.

That's an oldie for sure.

It's mushroomed in at the top there.

Hand-forged, wrought iron, nice and heavy.

Nice, big, chunky iron.

(thudding)

Looks like they're advancing the can a little bit.

More and more water.

IAN: There's nothing in that one.

I mean, there's no wood, no... no structure.

GARY: Nope, nothing.

Just limestone.

RICK: All eyes are on deck at this point,

and we all take note of the fact

that the wood appeared, and then a certain amount of footage,

and then it disappeared again.

There's only one conclusion.

That is that it's a tunnel.

-Rick, how you making out? -Hey, Sam.

Well, you tell me. How are we making out?

We've gotten into some harder stuff down there.

Our teeth just, uh, broke the 130 feet.

-With the excavation? -Yeah. That's right.

Uh, then I think we're gonna get crumbly limestone

right around that depth.

We know from past experience

it's highly unlikely there's something below that.

NARRATOR: It is a startling turn of events

for the Oak Island team.

After recovering incredible evidence

of a potentially ancient wooden tunnel,

bedrock has just been encountered at a depth

of approximately 130 feet in the B4-C Shaft.

So, long day.

-Yeah. -Appreciate all the hard work,

but we're at bedrock.

The bottom line is, I think

we're pretty close to being done.

NARRATOR: Although the team is now out of time

to conduct any more excavations in the Money Pit area this year,

the fact remains that all five

of the massive steel shafts they dug over the previous months

offered evidence

that the legendary treasure people have sought

for more than two centuries is still buried somewhere below.

The question is, what will it take for Rick,

Marty, Craig and the team to finally recover it?

RICK: I think we have all now come to the understanding

that the Money Pit is incredibly complex.

What it tells me is we need to find new technologies

and the application of those technologies to our situation.

That has been key to moving the search forward.

So,

there's reason to be hopeful.

MARTY: We're disappointed

in the results in the Money Pit, but the scientists say

there are big quantities of gold down there

and big quantities of silver down there,

and there's plenty of evidence that it's true.

So, we need to do more searching.

Look, I think

-every hole teaches us something, right? -TERRY: Sure.

I mean, we have definite

elevations for that tunnel.

We do have a significant artifact that can be tested.

-We have quality candidates for C-14. -Sure.

And we're approaching the depth at which we call the hole.

-Yup. Okay. -I agree.

That's where we're at.

TERRY: Absolutely, Rick.

-All right, See you later. -RICK: See you guys.

NARRATOR: Two days later...

RICK: So, guys, I think

this is a very important meeting, and I think it's really

gonna yield, um, benefit.

So, Steve, if you could bring the Ideon team up and Marty.

- Hello, everybody. -(overlapping chatter) -Hey, guys.

NARRATOR: ...Rick and Marty Lagina,

Craig Tester and members of the team

have gathered for a videoconference

with Gary Agnew, Doug Schouten, Max Howarth

and Kim Lawrence of Ideon Technologies

based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

RICK: They brought up something that I think you're gonna be

stunned to hear-- the possibility

of imaging Oak Island, underground,

the entire Money Pit area.

Just as a preliminary,

I would ask that the Ideon team tell us

a little bit of background about the company.

The best analogy I can give you for our technology

is a medical X-ray.

(laughs)

NARRATOR: Muon tomography is a cutting-edge

scanning technology used in the mining industry

that measures subatomic atmospheric particles

known as "muons," as they penetrate the Earth's surface.

By placing specialized muon-detecting devices

deep underground,

a three-dimensional image is captured,

displaying specific subsurface anomalies such as tunnels,

voids and large objects.

In 2017, muon tomography was used

to identify a previously unknown chamber

deep inside the Great Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, Egypt.

MARTY: How about if there was a, uh,

a solid cube of, you know, let's say, gold.

Could you see that?

-Good answer. -(laughter)

RICK: Wow.

The only problem with muon technology

is the deployment time.

It takes up to seven months

in the Money Pit for the detectors to collect the data.

But I think this technology, of everything we've tried

to throw at Oak Island, I think,

finally, for the first time, maybe,

we're gonna get some real information

about what's underground on the island.

I think this is incredible technology.

I think it's very applicable to what we're doing.

I think this is imminently doable

and-and I think it's gonna yield great results.

MARTY: You know, I find this really exciting.

If you're looking for my input, I say we move full steam ahead.

I think, we all think this is something that we,

that we need to do.

We're very grateful for you reaching out.

I feel like we're actually on to something,

-that's for sure. -Thank you so much. -CRAIG: Thanks, everybody.

-See you later. -Thanks a lot.

RICK: Who knows what lies beneath?

-MARTY: Hey, guys. -STEVE G.: Marty.

NARRATOR: Following their meeting with the team

from Ideon Technologies, Rick and Marty Lagina

join members of the team on Lot 18,

just south of the Money Pit...

TEDFORD: There we go.

NARRATOR: ...where they are eager to begin the preparations

for one of the most promising subsurface scans

ever conducted in order to solve the Oak Island mystery.

ADAM M.: Good?

RICK: So, I'm excited about today

because this is the start of the muon program.

So, the ability to look underground on Oak Island has

stymied every searcher from day one.

-Yeah. -MARTY: Basically gonna X-ray this old girl, right?

TERRY: Something like that, yeah.

STEVE G.: So, we're starting the first hole today.

Uh, we're gonna drill a series of five.

And we're gonna start here in the South Shore Pit.

-Okay. -So that will give us a good map underground

of any potential tunnels running to the Money Pit.

DANNY: Hold that right there. Stop.

NARRATOR: Because it will take the team from Irving Equipment Limited

several days to disassemble their gear

in the Money Pit area...

That's perfect. Right there.

NARRATOR: ...to begin the muon tomography operation,

Rick, Marty and Craig have enlisted

Choice Sonic Drilling to place a borehole

near the so-called South Shore Pit.

Here, they hope to locate a tunnel

that their late partner Dan Blankenship believed

might be connected to the original treasure shaft.

Ideon will come in, place the detectors downhole,

and then basically, it's allowing it time

to gather enough information

such that it can show us what is in the area.

It-it's the first time ever

that we'll be able to look underground

with some sort of certainty.

Yes.

Once we do this, then-then to image the whole island,

where do we go?

Up to... up by the Money Pit, right?

-Yes. Yep. -Great.

-I think we're ready to go. -Yeah.

MARTY: Okay, Mike, make some hole, put some steel in it.

TEDFORD: Let's do it.

NARRATOR: Later that day...

MARTY: Carmen, welcome back once again.

-It's much appreciated. -NARRATOR: ...Marty Lagina,

along with his business partner Craig Tester and Gary Drayton,

meet in the research center

with blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge

to get his analysis of the iron spike

recently discovered more than 100 feet deep

in the B4-C Shaft.

GARY: This came out

of the Money Pit spoils when we was digging.

Oh.

GARY: A rock drill?

Used for what, Carmen?

Okay, so, uh, used in the digging process.

You come to a big boulder, you need to break it up.

Well, those swages were old, so is this old?

GARY: Wow.

Whoever made this did it a long time ago.

NARRATOR: Two years ago, while investigating Lot 21...

GARY: And this is even bigger.

NARRATOR: ...which was once owned by Freemason Daniel McGinnis,

one of the men who originally discovered

the Money Pit in 1795,

Rick Lagina, Gary and Dan Henskee discovered

two heavy iron swages, or rock drill sharpening tools,

which Carmen believed could date back

to the mid 15th century.

Is it possible that this rock drill,

found in the B4-C Shaft,

could offer more evidence that the team was

within striking distance of the fabled treasure after all?

That's absolutely fantastic, because that was brought up

by the hammer grab.

This is very interesting.

With these dates, though, this has got to be an artifact

from the original Money Pit construction.

MARTY: This rock drill could go back to medieval times.

So, when you let your mind wander,

it could have been used to chisel out a chamber.

If that's the case, maybe we're looking in the right spot.

I mean, this speaks to me.

It says medieval, baby.

MARTY: We're coming to the end of the season,

so we're out of time, but are we eventually gonna

investigate it? Yes.

We can't walk away from that discovery

without looking more closely.

I mean, this really is, this is holding a piece

of history in your hand from the Money Pit,

which makes it even more special.

MARTY: Carmen, thanks for explaining things

to us once again.

Um, Gary, go find some more stuff.

-GARY: I can do that. -MARTY: Thanks, Carmen.

CRAIG: Take care.

NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...

-GARY: We're here? -MARTY: We're here.

NARRATOR: ...Marty, Gary and surveyor Steve Guptill

return to Lot 15 to search

for more potentially important clues

along the mysterious stone pathway

between the swamp and the Money Pit.

We've got lots of targets inside of this potential road.

-GARY: Good. -MARTY: And we'll find what's findable.

GARY: All right.

-Let's see what this one is. -MARTY: People drop things on roads,

and we can search all along

this road if we know where it is.

(device beeping)

GARY: It is just there.

MARTY: We want to see artifacts,

which could reveal its secrets.

See if I've loosened it up in there, bud.

-Okay. -(beeping)

GARY: It's sounding stronger, so we're getting closer to it.

-Pinpointer time. -Yep.

GARY: It's... I'm on it.

-Oh, ho, look at that! -MARTY: All right!

-STEVE G.: Oh, there we go. -GARY: Right on the road!

Oh, look at this.

(laughs): It's an ox shoe.

-All right, a find! -Oh, there we go. -Right on the road!

What is it I always say, mate?

Sometimes you get a nice surprise.

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

Marty Lagina, Gary Drayton and Steve Guptill have just found

a potentially significant clue

along the mysterious stone pathway.

Yeah, that is brilliant. And it's an oldie by the look of it.

-STEVE G.: How old? Do you know? -I have no idea.

Something serious went on here.

Something requiring lots of oxen.

Yeah.

MARTY: What were a bunch of oxen doing out here?

-They weren't farming. -GARY: Exactly.

There's no way they were farming.

(chuckles) It's just not possible.

RICK: Check that out. The top of a keg.

NARRATOR: One year ago, while investigating

the stone road in the swamp,

the team found pieces of 14th-century

wooden keg barrels and iron ring bolts,

offering evidence of cargo being hauled from the swamp

to somewhere on the island.

-MARTY: A road ox shoe. -GARY: Yeah.

-Yep. -That's why it's here.

It couldn't sink any deeper

'cause of the rocks that were put here.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the team has now uncovered

the pathway used in that operation?

And if so, could it prove to be leading

to the original Money Pit?

GARY: If you're hauling treasure up to the Money Pit,

you would use a very large animal,

uh, with a big ox shoe on it like this for hauling.

So, that leaves us with more evidence

as to what massive undertaking occurred here.

We're running out of daylight. I say we call it a day.

You got to get your equipment up there, Gary.

GARY: Brilliant. A great find to end the day.

-MARTY: Yeah. -See you later, chaps.

STEVE G.: Great find, Gary.

MARTY: Hey, Craig.

-CRAIG: Hello. -I see our old friend the rig is back.

Yep.

NARRATOR: ...after the departure of representatives

from Irving Equipment Limited and ROC Equipment,

Marty Lagina arrives in the Money Pit area

as the team from Choice Drilling has begun

putting down the boreholes for the upcoming

muon tomography scanning operation.

Tell me a couple things-- how many wells

are we going to drill around here

-so we can see this whole area? -CRAIG: Uh,

five in the Money Pit, one in... right in the very heart of it,

and four on the outside-- north, south, east and west.

We should be able to see by springtime

any high-density treasure.

Something a little farther away, partially collapsed tunnels,

-it's gonna take longer. -All right, well,

I'll try and set up a meeting in the war room.

We need to kind of go over all of this stuff.

And then maybe talk about, you know,

where we're at and where we're going.

-Okay. Sounds good. -All right. You carry on, bud.

-Yep. -Go, muons.

NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...

MARTY: Gentlemen.

Welcome, all.

The Fellowship of the Dig assembles

for the final time this year.

NARRATOR: ...Rick, Marty and Craig

have gathered their team

to take stock of the year they have spent together

working to solve the Oak Island mystery.

And the purpose of this meeting is basically to just make sure,

as we go our separate ways for this season,

that everybody's on the same page.

Uh, we had super high hopes.

We were digging this year, I'd say,

more for treasure than we have ever before.

We've done an awful lot.

This table is testament to all of the finds

and all of the clues that we've been pursuing all these years.

RICK: Gaze at the table.

I mean, we've made progress.

There is information in front of us, and we need to digest it.

We need to understand it.

STEVE G.: It was on this day a year ago

I talked about having a big year and we found 700 artifacts.

Well, we've pushed that number to about a thousand this year.

-MARTY: Wow. -CRAIG: It just seems like

there's been a lot of information found,

but there's a tremendous amount to go yet.

-Yep. -MARTY: Right.

Okay, where do we dig?

(laughter)

What are we gonna do next?

-What say you, Rick? -RICK: Everybody knows

that I've always been fascinated with the swamp.

I-I... I think there are answers there.

-I've always thought that. -Yeah.

DOUG: The swamp truly is a time capsule, though.

I mean, look at the dates on the wood we've gotten.

Mm-hmm.

GARY: Oh, that's interesting.

-What do you have? -We don't know, mate.

Some kind of wooden plug.

NARRATOR: Over the past year...

RICK: Look at this.

NARRATOR: ...no location on Oak Island proved

to contain more clues and evidence

of man-made workings

predating the discovery of the Money Pit

than the triangle-shaped swamp.

JACK: Yeah, it's cut to a point!

NARRATOR: Near the southern border

of the brackish bog,

in addition to a number of survey stakes

potentially dating back more than four centuries,

the team unearthed numerous wooden artifacts

believed to have come from ancient sailing vessels.

One time frame.

-224 to 376 A.D. -ALEX: Wow.

NARRATOR: While some where carbon-dated to the late 17th century,

a section of possible deck planking

could go back more than 1,000 years earlier.

-What you got? -I have a piece of pottery.

NARRATOR: However, after the team unearthed

a mysterious stone path near the stone road

in the southeastern corner, archaeologist Laird Niven

discovered ancient indigenous Mi'kmaq pottery,

which triggered an unforeseen and shocking response

from the provincial government.

The archaeologists asked that we stop down.

MARTY: Our ability to work

and function on our own island is getting eroded

in leaps and bounds.

Well, I-I think we did extremely well

with the cards we were dealt with this year.

-We have a road that we don't know where it started. -Yeah.

Well, bureaucracy is holding us back.

That was the most promising area, wasn't it?

-The southeast corner? -IAN: It's closest to the Money Pit.

It's right by the road.

And I think there was a ton of promise.

So for me, it was also a disappointment

that we couldn't continue the work that was very carefully

and very respectfully-- to history-- being done.

Yeah.

So, I hope we can move forward with the work we've been doing.

-Yeah. -MARTY: Laird, are we gonna

get relief on this issue?

I don't really hold out a bunch of hope

that that's going to happen.

No? Really? You think, six months from now,

we'll still be off-limits down in that southeast corner?

Uh, you know, I don't know which way it's gonna go.

Oh, boy.

NARRATOR: In the war room,

as Rick, Marty, Craig and the rest

of the Oak Island team contemplate

the future of their quest to solve

the 227-year-old treasure mystery...

I'm not that optimistic.

NARRATOR: ...archaeologist Laird Niven

has just shared his concern

that key areas of interest in the triangle-shaped swamp

could remain off-limits in the coming year.

LAIRD: Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity

to suggest radical changes.

-Yeah. -What would our proposal be?

-Just go back to what we were doing, right? -LAIRD: Yeah,

and trust that we know what we're doing.

There you go. Yep.

BILLY: You know, for me, I have hope

because the premier came to the island.

-Yeah. -Mm-hmm.

We have a commitment to meet with,

you know, new management and new government at CCH,

and I-I have... I have great hope going forward.

So do I.

Yeah.

MARTY: This is the fabled Money Pit.

NARRATOR: Earlier this year,

after the Provincial Department

of Community, Culture and Heritage

restricted the team's search activities in the swamp...

-CAROL: Wow. -MARTY: Those are something, aren't they?

-(laughter) -A little big.

NARRATOR: ...Billy Gerhardt arranged for the newly elected

premier of Nova Scotia Tim Houston

and his wife Carol to visit Oak Island.

Anything that's worth doing is worth doing right and, uh...

-Agree. -...and you guys are doing it right.

-We're trying very hard. -Yeah, I feel that way.

NARRATOR: Although no guarantees were made

about lifting any restrictions

that have been imposed on the team's search agenda,

Premier and Mrs. Houston offered support for the quest

and acknowledged how it has positively impacted

the province of Nova Scotia.

It's a big thing that's happening here,

and I think it's gonna have a happy ending.

RICK: I hope so.

(laughter)

RICK: Like Billy, I hold out great hope.

We need to get in a room with CCH

and have a very frank and proper discussion.

And I think we're-we're close to doing that.

And I really am quite positive about that.

-Yeah. -MARTY: All right.

So there's hope for the swamp. Oh, good.

-Yay. I'm happy. -Yay.

(laughter)

I hate that thing.

GARY: And treasure's where you find it.

I mean, look at the table.

These finds are from all over the island.

-MARTY: Yep. -GARY: All these artifacts--

bona fide artifacts-- because we've been searching

for anomalies on different lots,

Lot 8, Lot 4.

Some of my favorite finds have come off the western side.

Yes.

CRAIG: It's right in through here.

-I'll lead the way. -All right.

NARRATOR: This year, Rick, Marty and Craig

commissioned a magnetometer survey

across the western side of Oak Island

in an attempt to locate the so-called

Hole Under the Hatch,

a site marked on a believed 14th-century map

that the late author and researcher Zena Halpern

believed to have been created by members of the Knights Templar.

The data revealed two compelling anomalies.

The first was on Lot 4, where the team would unearth

a number of compelling clues,

including copper sheathing from a possible treasure chest

and a fragment of a cannon that chemist

Dr. Christa Brosseau believes could be of Portuguese origin.

The second anomaly was located on Lot 8,

a lot that Freemason Scott Clarke suggested

may have once been the site of Masonic rituals

memorializing the burial of holy Templar treasures

believed to be buried on Oak Island.

JACK: If we explore Lot 4 further,

we might actually, really discover where the hatch is.

But we haven't cleared the lots well enough yet

to allow metal detectors and other technologies

to go in there.

-MARTY: That would be a project for next year. -Yeah.

MARTY: And there's the Lot 15 road

to put on the agenda for whenever

-we gear back up. -SCOTT: Yeah.

Yeah, in regards to that lot 15 road,

-my thought goes to the road in Portugal. -Yeah.

RICK: It does look like the stone road.

That type of technique has survived,

certainly in Portugal, for generations.

And to me, this Portugal trip, it presented another culture

that might explain what happened here on Oak Island long ago.

ALEX: When you ask yourself, who was responsible

for what happened or may have happened on Oak Island,

the Portuguese have to be on there,

-on the list of suspects. -Yeah.

-Mm-hmm. -ALEX: It's not impossible

that the Knights Templar or a group

that traced their lineage through the Knights Templar,

through the Order of Christ, came here

with something important that they wanted to hide.

RICK: I don't think anybody can deny the fact

that the Portuguese, they were here in the area.

Oh, yeah. True.

DOUG: The Portuguese,

they are a very likely suspect

for involvement here on the island.

They were in the neighborhood probably earlier

-than most other countries... -Mm.

...at a very early date.

BILLY: When you think about it, if you're...

if you got this most valuable treasure

in the world, you're gonna put it on your ship,

you'd want to go somewhere that you'd know, right?

Yes.

You look at these things

on the table in front of us,

they all tell the story.

NARRATOR: With the discoveries that the team has made

in recent years across the island,

from the stone-paved area in the middle of the swamp,

which could date to 1200 A.D.,

and the 500-year or older stone road

in the swamp's southeastern corner,

along with the discoveries on Lots 4, 8 and 15,

could the team finally be zeroing in

on just who was behind the Oak Island mystery?

If so, then what is it that was so ingeniously hidden

deep in the Money Pit?

There is a nice progression here,

at least in terms of metals.

I mean, lead...

...copper, silver, in the water.

And then, early this spring, gold in the water.

And then, later on in the year, gold out of the Money Pit.

And those trace elements of gold

on those pieces of metal, mate,

they're just our starting pistol.

It's down there.

We just got to put our hands on it.

(laughter)

RICK: We have a huge opportunity with the muon technology,

which will-- that data will not come in for another

-seven or eight months. -JACK: We got to just wait

until the muon collects the data and see

-what's in the Money Pit. -Seems like it.

-Yeah. -SCOTT: Right now, I think

-the muon is the way to go. -Yeah.

RICK: The hope is that the muon,

uh, technology will actually find

a target "treasure" in the Money Pit.

And that-- we can say to ourselves,

"We put a rig or a caisson at that location,

we're going to find the one thing."

Well, I feel better. I don't know about you guys.

DOUG: I will say one thing.

I feel very fortunate to be able to participate with you all

in a world-class mystery, so...

-IAN: Hear, hear. -No question about it.

-Definitely. -Yeah.

For me...

...it's been an absolute pleasure and a, and a...

uh...

I owe everyone a sincere thank-you

for continuing to stay involved

in what I have always thought since we were little kids.

This is a wonderful story, a wonderful mystery,

and it has only gotten better because of all of you.

And now it's inspirational.

That's real treasure.

And I am grateful for the experience.

And I thank you all for it.

And then he makes me follow that.

-I mean, come on. -(laughter)

No, look, here's... I would just say,

we didn't win this year, but we can no longer lose.

It's not possible to lose anymore because...

...there's gold on Oak Island.

There's gold in the Money Pit.

We ain't gonna give up. It's down there.

-We're gonna find it. -MARTY: Yeah.

We got a good thing going, and we need to think about it

and advance the ball next year.

-Hear, hear. Yep. -Yes.

-Shall we? -Cheers.

NARRATOR: When they were just boys,

Rick and Marty Lagina

dreamed about a legendary treasure

buried deep in the Money Pit on Oak Island.

As grown men, the fact that so many capable searchers

had tried for more than two centuries to find it

inspired the brothers to take a chance themselves.

-ALEX: See you. -MARTY: Gary, bud.

-(laughter) -See you.

Till next year. Charles. And Billy.

NARRATOR: And now, after more than a decade of tireless work

with the help of their dedicated team...

-Keep the faith, guys. -We will.

...they have not only proven that the Oak Island mystery

is more profound than anyone ever thought possible

but are closer than anyone who came before them

to finally recovering the treasure.

MARTY: Honestly, I feel better

about this whole thing than I ever have.

There's no way to say we were on a wild-goose chase,

because we can prove,

for sure, that there's gold down there.

RICK: Now the hunt for information

is every bit as important.

And it will ultimately, hopefully,

yield results.

It will find what we seek.

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