NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
-(metal scraping) -It's catching on something.
RICK: Look at that thing.
BILLY: There's something curious
-about this boulder. -That's like
the Nolan's Cross boulder.
JAMIE: This soil is super compact.
This was constructed for a purpose.
-Whoa. -EMMA: It's an almost exact match
to a Money Pit sample.
Wow.
The association that could be made
is mind-blowing.
-What is that? -Pretty solid chunk of metal.
TERRY: That could be a piece of the treasure vault.
Yep.
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: Hey, Paul.
Morning, guys. How's it going?
Well, we're hoping for an update.
So, uh, we finished drilling a couple holes.
-Good man. -NARRATOR: As a new day
begins on Oak Island
for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,
they arrive in the fabled Money Pit area
to check on the progress of an operation
that they hope will finally reveal the answers
to a 229-year-old treasure mystery.
It's getting close.
The first hole, uh, kind of seemed like
it was deflecting off a wall.
Where are we again?
So, that-- it would be the north side.
NARRATOR: One week ago,
after extending the mid-18th century structure
known as the Garden Shaft down to a depth of 90 feet,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
used a coring drill to penetrate a mysterious tunnel
located at a depth of 95 feet,
which is believed to run due west
toward an area known as the Baby Blob.
It is in this region where water testing
that was conducted in previously drilled boreholes
has detected high-trace evidence of silver, gold and other metals
between 80 and 120 feet underground.
There is a structure of some sort down there,
a wooden structure of some sort, and you're about
-to unearth that, right? -That's right.
Okay. That's enough said for me.
So, today, we put in the landing.
We're adding another set.
NARRATOR: Now, after unsuccessfully drilling
into the believed tunnel for a second time,
over the course of the next week,
Dumas will proceed with constructing
the final level, or set, to extend the Garden Shaft
down to a total depth of some 95 feet,
where they hope to intersect the mysterious passageway
and find out what it may contain.
We've invested a lot of time and energy
delineating this tunnel.
And I think there's great anticipation
on everyone's part
to try to, well, to not only put eyes on it
but to see where it may lead.
If the tunnel predates the shaft,
it makes the tunnel far more interesting
than just finding a "previously unknown" tunnel.
-It's all good news. -MARTY: Yes.
I'm starting to get eager now.
-You've got my toes tickling. -SCOTT: You're so close,
-you can smell it there now. -Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
All right, let's let him get back to work,
because we're poised to finally do this.
Okey doke.
-Let's go, guys. -Yep.
-Thanks, Paul. -Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Paul.
NARRATOR: As the operation
to deepen the Garden Shaft continues...
-TERRY: Here we are. -CHARLES: Yep.
-TERRY: We're back at it now. -Yep.
-H-8. -H-8.
NARRATOR: ...approximately 60 feet
to the southwest,
geologist Terry Matheson
and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse
are monitoring a new core drilling operation
in Borehole H-8,
a borehole that was previously excavated in 2017.
This turned into a very, very interesting hole.
-For a number of reasons. -Oh, my goodness.
JACK: What is this?
NARRATOR: After initially recovering pieces
of parchment and leather book binding
with a six-inch-diameter core barrel in H-8,
Rick, Marty and their partner Craig Tester
speculated that they may have encountered
the fabled Chappell Vault,
a seven-foot-tall treasure chest encased in concrete
that Frederick Blair and William Chappell
reportedly drilled into back in 1897
and recovered not only evidence of gold
but also, a piece of parchment bearing the letters "V-I."
MARTY: Come on, baby.
-Make hole! -(machinery whirs)
NARRATOR: Incredibly, when the team expanded H-8 by installing
a 60-inch caisson in the fall of 2017,
a large object was encountered at a depth of 170 feet.
MARTY: He's on something.
He thinks it's perfectly flat.
Wood?
He thinks wood.
NARRATOR: Unfortunately,
as the team drove the H-8 caisson deeper,
in the hopes of breaching the vault,
the plug, or earthen spoils inside of it, fell out,
pushing the potential treasure chest
somewhere deeper below ground.
Anyway, today, we're going back down this hole
all these years later.
We did not finish that dig.
So, it's possible that it broke the vault open.
So, this is gonna be a look
at the sediments, or pieces of the plug.
Maybe pieces of treasure, Charles.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Now, after recent water tests
and subsurface scans in this area
have offered more evidence of potential valuables,
it is Rick, Marty and the team's hope
that if they can pinpoint the possible location
of the vault, they will arrange to excavate
a much larger diameter caisson in order to recover it.
The material that fell out of the H-8, uh, caisson
had to have migrated somewhere.
The possibility certainly exists that this is an area
to which the Chappell Vault has fallen.
It could be deeper, and we'll certainly press on.
So anyway, whatever-- we-we're in it to win it.
We got to exhaust all possibilities.
Cross your fingers that we hit the right section,
and maybe the best section.
CHARLES: And hopefully today we'll find out where it went.
TERRY: Exactly.
NARRATOR: While the excavations proceed
in the Money Pit area,
in the southeast corner of the triangle-shaped swamp
located near the center of Oak Island...
-GARY: This is a great day. -JACK: Yeah.
That is impressive.
-JACK: That should go the distance. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton,
Jack Begley and Billy Gerhardt
are about to conduct a new large-scale dig
in a region of the brackish bog
near the potentially 500-year-old stone road.
JACK: So, we're gonna be digging
in the deepest part
-of the swamp. -BILLY: Yeah.
We haven't really done a whole lot of work
in this particular area, and it's surrounded
by really great finds, so...
JACK: Yeah. With the stone road
and stone path, this was a work area,
so we got to keep our eyes peeled for anything.
-Right. -GARY: Excellent.
Well, should we get stuck in?
Yep.
NARRATOR: Of the many remarkable discoveries
that the team has made over the past decade in the swamp,
the stone road, or possible ship's wharf,
may be a critical key to solving the Oak Island mystery.
Look at how beautifully constructed.
NARRATOR: It is not only a near identical match
to a road that Rick Lagina and members of the team
saw in 2021 in Alqueidão da Serra, Portugal,
where the Portuguese sect of the Knights Templar
maintained a stronghold
from the 12th to the 17th centuries...
This looks old.
-That does, yeah. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...but it is also in an area of the swamp
where they have unearthed numerous clues
such as a heavy chain with a hook,
suggesting the road was created in order to off-load
some kind of cargo onto Oak Island.
GARY: All right, first bucket of opportunity is coming up.
NARRATOR: Now, it is the team's hope
to find more clues that will help explain
the true origin of the stone road,
and hopefully, evidence of valuables.
-GARY: Whew. -JACK: Oh, gosh.
GARY: Smells like treasure.
RICK: The southeast corner of the bog
is the most interesting location for one simple reason.
We want to understand the reason
for the construct of the stone road.
-Hey. -BOTH: Hey, Rick.
RICK: And if it had something to do
with the original treasure story,
then that whole area is of significant interest.
GARY: Whew. Stinky.
You guys get back to work, I'm gonna poke about
in the pile, try to... see what I can find.
-Okay, mate. -Okay?
Come on. Where are you?
Nothing.
MARTY: Look, I've said this many times.
I hate that swamp 'cause it stinks.
But every time we've dug in it,
we've recovered interesting stuff, clues,
and I don't think we've dug ten percent of it,
so we're not done.
(Gary groans)
No targets yet?
GARY: Not yet, no.
(metal scraping, thudding)
GARY: Wow, he's catching on something.
RICK: What is that?
Look at that.
(metal scraping)
rious a,
unlike other ones in the swamp.
It's like it's sitting on top of the peat, right?
Which it shouldn't be if it's, if it's glacier, right?
So it was moved before.
Yeah. I-I agree.
NARRATOR: Near the stone road
in the southeast corner of the swamp,
Rick Lagina and other members of the team
have just uncovered a massive boulder
that may have been purposely placed into position
by someone, but if so, by whom?
And for what purpose?
BILLY: Can't believe how easy I can move it.
The other thing that's interesting here is,
see how it's, it's a row of rocks?
RICK: Yep.
BILLY: We got this big flat rock and it's like a...
giant set of stone stairs almost here coming up the bank.
-Hard to say. -JACK: Yeah.
Maybe they were doing work around that boulder.
BILLY: Yep. We know the road is there,
we know the path is there,
we know the Money Pit is right there.
The opportunities are limitless
as what could have went on right in this very spot.
Absolutely. Yep.
Let's just GPS it and keep digging.
NARRATOR: A row or staircase of stones?
Leading to the massive boulder
in the southeast corner of the swamp?
Could this feature have been constructed
as some kind of symbol? Or marker?
And could it be related to the stone road
and perhaps created
in order to hide something of great value?
I'm not going any deeper.
RICK: It's as though
there's some sort of rock platform here.
So it's not well-seated in the organics
and the inference is that it was placed there
and not deposited by a glacier.
That makes it interesting.
Look at that.
And so my first thought really is
we need to find a way to take a look at it.
That's a board.
How deep do you think it was?
-Two feet. -GARY: Yeah.
Two feet. It's out there though.
This is definitely a shaped board.
That is thick.
Hey, check this out, Rick.
Look at the thickness of this.
Now this is in good condition, so it's got to be a good wood.
That looks like it could be ship's decking or planking
'cause of the thickness of it.
RICK: That's a big one.
But there was no metal ringing off of it?
No. I checked it for fasteners. No fasteners.
It was two feet down and it was out there.
RICK: The planks they are finding
could be called ship's planking.
We've found boards that we think might be associated with a ship.
That very near vicinity, of course,
one of the most enigmatic finds we've ever made
is the ship's railing from 600 or 700 AD.
So that area, hopefully, will yield some answers.
It's worth bringing back, washing it off, take a look,
see if there is anything on it, nail holes or anything.
GARY: All right, mate.
MARTY: We're finding more questions in the swamp.
Every time we've undertaken draining it
and digging somewhere, we've found something.
And some meaningful somethings.
But no one knows why these things are in the swamp.
GARY: It's swampy.
MARTY: So, yeah, would I like an answer to that?
Yes, I'd like an answer to that.
Simple answer would be,
I'm hoping for whatever is, is there.
Any metal is gonna stand out in this stuff.
RICK: That would be something.
All right. Let's see what we can get done.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon,
as the excavation and the drilling operations
continue in the Money Pit area,
near the shoreline on Lot 5,
located on the western side of the island...
Wow, you guys have done a lot of work
since I've last been here.
I bet it looks different, doesn't it?
A lot different.
NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley joins members
of the archaeology team
as they continue their meticulous excavation
of a mysterious stone foundation--
a foundation that was discovered earlier this year
buried beneath a circular depression.
So, what's going on over here?
JAMIE: When we first expanded westward,
we thought that this stone line feature was gonna continue.
-Yeah. -And we assumed that this was where
the house structure sat and that was just a basement.
But it is starting to curve in,
which is bizarre. (laughs)
-It doesn't make any sense. -JACK: Yeah.
But it's too big to be a house.
It's an occupational spot for sure.
NARRATOR: In the past year,
the team has made significant discoveries
in and near this feature that suggest
it may have been occupied by multiple groups
during different time periods.
These discoveries include
a 14th century lead barter token,
which is a compositional match to the lead cross
that was discovered at Smith's Cove in 2017,
two Venetian glass beads, which were not only
once considered a form of valuable currency
but which could date to between 1500 and 1650,
and several metal tools,
which have been scientifically linked
to the birthplace of Sir William Phips--
the English politician and privateer who some believe
buried a large cache of Spanish treasure
in the Money Pit back in 1687.
So the plan today is to make sure
that we define this edge really well.
Well, we've been finding some really good stuff around here.
I can't wait to see what else we dig up in here.
All right. Well, let's get to work
and see if we can figure out what's going on here.
NARRATOR: While the archaeologists remove spoils-- or earth--
from the foundation,
Jack is sifting them through a screen
for clues that might explain how this feature
may be connected to the Oak Island mystery.
JACK: Based upon the different dates,
I'd say this starts to speak more and more to...
people being on Lot 5 earlier.
Bits of brick and pottery and glass.
JAMIE: That's pretty cool.
JACK: Hopefully, we continue to have more finds
and figure out who exactly was here
and is it related to the Money Pit story.
-Thank you. -You girls are digging quickly.
JAMIE: Let us know if we are swamping you
-and we'll give you a hand. -JACK: No, no, no.
You're fine. I'm keeping up.
Good God.
Okay.
This is kind of getting interesting.
This soil over here is super compact.
It's not like the stuff that was over there.
I may have found mortar.
Whoa.
-This is strange. -JAMIE: Like concrete.
♪ ♪
JAMIE: It's really strange.
-LAIRD: Hey, guys. -JAMIE: Hey.
-We have another surprise. -LAIRD: Cool.
I can't wait to hear your take on this.
NARRATOR: Near the shoreline of Lot 5
located on the western side of Oak Island,
archaeologist Laird Niven arrives
at the mysterious stone foundation
after being informed
of a potentially important discovery.
All of a sudden, I hit this stuff
that's got a lot of ash mixed into it,
crushed-up shale and stuff.
LAIRD: Oh, you can hear it.
JAMIE: It's, like, a-a grayish color
and it reminds me of, like, a crude mortar or cement.
LAIRD: Oh.
The mortar looks an awful lot
like the mortar that I found when I was washing through
-Money Pit material. -LAIRD: Oh, really? -Oh.
NARRATOR: Over the past several years,
the Oak Island team has discovered
different forms of concrete
in several of the massive caissons
they have excavated across the Money Pit area.
A prime example was in 2019,
when this type of substance was recovered in the spoils of RF-1.
A ten-foot-diameter caisson
located just a few feet northeast of H-8,
which was also excavated in the hopes of locating
the reportedly concrete-encased Chappell Vault.
We could compare this sample with the Money Pit sample.
See if they come from the same source.
I would love to do that.
If you could get me a sample, I'll take it right back
and, uh, see what Emma has to say.
Okay, yeah, that sounds good.
LAIRD: This is a really difficult feature to get answers from
because we don't quite understand the structure.
So we're not exactly sure what we're looking for.
It's important for us to take a sample of this soil.
It would be interesting to see if it corresponds
with the Money Pit.
And if it does, it would suggest that
those areas were operating at the same time
and were related.
Excellent. You are doing a great job.
I like this. I like what's coming up.
I don't know what it is, but I like it.
(laughs) We're trying to figure that part out.
Okay. I'll take this back to the lab...
JAMIE: Perfect.
LAIRD: ...and check in on you later.
JAMIE: All right.
JACK: I need to get back to sifting.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following morning...
-MIKE: Ready? -RON: Yep.
NARRATOR: ...while representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
continue their efforts to deepen the Garden Shaft
in the Money Pit area...
ALEX: Are we getting our core?
-Here it comes, right now. -Right now.
NARRATOR: ...several feet to the southwest...
MARTY: God, I hope something good is in this.
NARRATOR: ...Marty Lagina and his son Alex
join other members of the team at Borehole H-8
where they hope to find evidence of the Chappell Vault
somewhere below a depth of 180 feet.
It's a long one.
Get ready to slice and dice.
MARTY: We know we had the canister H-8 go down,
and it hit something big
that moved around underground and went somewhere.
We're sure of that.
Yeah, there's a lot of water in there.
MARTY: It is possible that H-8
is very near the original Money Pit.
So, we have to look deeper.
CHARLES: How deep are we, Adam?
We're at 211.
-CHARLES: 211? -ALEX: It's gonna be a mess.
Let's get our hands dirty, gentlemen.
Ready?
TERRY: This is the silt and the clay
and there is a few little clumps of material
that might have fallen from above.
There's a little chunk of wood, right there.
It's just below all our silt and whatnot.
And this sits just on top of bedrock.
Start right there, Charles.
MARTY: Come on. Be something.
-(beeping) -ALEX: You got something.
CHARLES: I've got something right here.
-Excellent. -(beeping)
Want me to wash it down?
-Okay, guys. -ALEX: What is that?
A pretty solid chunk of metal.
That could be a piece of the treasure vault.
MARTY: Oh, my goodness. Cool.
This material to here,
that could be part of the plug. No question.
The plug could have disintegrated
and fallen off to one side.
-And all that stuff. -TERRY: That's right.
The plug that fell out was nine feet or a little over nine feet.
-Right. -And they chewed down one side of it
so we could still get a significant size plug
-on one side or the other of the vault. -Yep.
NARRATOR: If the team has found a portion of the plug,
or the spoils, that may have pushed the Chappell Vault
deeper underground when the H-8 caisson
was originally excavated in 2017,
could that mean that they are close to pinpointing
the legendary chest of valuables?
-Hey, Rick. -Hey, Rick. -Hi, Rick.
-How are you doing? -Hey.
How deep are we?
Well, we are at 211 down there.
But here's the thing, that little bit
could have been our plug.
Because if there was a plug in there,
it probably didn't stay intact.
It probably broke up.
Well, that and probably slid the vault
to one side or the other.
Slid to one side or the other, right.
So, we need to move the rig and come down
in another location.
RICK: I do believe
that material, whatever was contained within it,
has fallen to a far greater depth.
To what side and what cardinal direction, we don't know.
I think at this point
the only way to exploit this possible clue
is to continue to do some drilling.
Okay, we need to figure out where the next hole is.
Okey doke.
Sounds like a plan.
-MARTY: Yep. -RICK: Thanks, guys.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
RICK: Hey, Roger. How are you doing?
ROGER: Soggy but otherwise good.
Come on in and sit down, guys.
NARRATOR: ...Rick and Alex Lagina, along with Scott Barlow,
join Roger Fortin in the Dumas trailer in the Money Pit area,
where they are about to receive a carbon dating report
regarding a wood sample
that was obtained one week ago
from the possible treasure tunnel
located below the Garden Shaft.
I'm going to call Craig and my dad
and get the info right from Craig, so...
RICK: These guys from Dumas bought into this process.
This is not a job to them.
They're excited, they're interested, they're invested.
I want to see that somebody's been down there a long time.
RICK: They have a right to know
what the fruits of the labor has been.
So, I hope the results are informative.
-Hey, Alex. -ALEX: Hey, Craig.
Um, I got Rick, Scott and Roger here
and my dad's on the other line.
So, we are looking forward to the carbon dating results.
RICK: Wow.
RICK: That's exciting.
RICK: Wow.
NARRATOR: It is a potentially historic moment
for Rick, Marty, Craig and the Oak Island team.
That is, yeah, that is something.
ALEX: Yep.
NARRATOR: A carbon dating test
that was conducted on a wood sample
collected one week ago
from the possible treasure tunnel below the Garden Shaft
has indicated that the seven-foot-tall structure
could be nearly 400 years old.
ALEX: So, there's a chance
this is connected to the original Money Pit.
ALEX: Right.
NARRATOR: Incredibly, this is the second wood sample
taken from the mysterious tunnel this year
that has been dated to as early as the 1600s.
This means that it was likely constructed
more than a century before the discovery
of the original Money Pit.
MARTY: The dates are well, well before any searcher
should have been in this area tunneling.
I think that's in everybody's, you know, vision right now
to deepen that Garden Shaft and find out what's down there.
RICK: You have a tunnel, previously unknown,
heading in the direction
where these high metal values are being derived.
So, if this is original work,
then you're a small step closer
to the ultimate solution.
We have every reason to continue the process
of trying to understand what this tunnel represents.
-We have to get down there. -No, absolutely.
And that's pretty well our next step, where we're at right now.
Just getting to it, exposing it.
I think it's going to answer a lot of questions
that we-we have right now.
-Yep. -These results tell me you need to work faster.
-Yeah. Yeah. -(laughter)
Okey doke. We'll let you get to work, Roger.
-Thanks, Roger. -Very good.
ROGER: Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Great news.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
...as representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
continue deepening the Garden Shaft
in order to breach the tunnel
at a depth of some 95 feet...
-JACK: Hey, Billy. -BILLY: Hey, guys.
Ready to keep rolling, mate?
Keep rolling, Gary, I think. Yep.
Got a lot of water in the hole,
but we can see the rock a little better now.
NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley and metal detection expert
Gary Drayton join Billy Gerhardt
in the southeast region of the swamp,
just north of the potentially 500-year-old stone road.
What is the swamp battle plan today?
We'll go a little more back towards the road.
And do the same thing, we'll reach out,
and then continue back towards the peninsula.
All right. We'll get ready to get stuck in.
-BILLY: Okay. -Hopefully not literally.
(Jack chuckles)
NARRATOR: Billy, Gary and Jack are eager
to confirm the potential breakthrough discovery
they made two days ago
of yet another man-made stone pathway in the swamp,
which appears to be leading toward a massive boulder.
This is where the real fun is, Gary.
Yep.
See if we get lucky.
RICK: We have found all of these structures.
They imply purpose, intent.
To me, there's only two trains of thought here
to try to explain the why of the structures
found in the swamp.
One, they were ancillary to other work,
whether that be in the Money Pit or elsewhere.
Or two, there was depositional work in the bog proper
and these facilitated that work.
GARY: Let's see.
Oh, I think we've got a bit of planking here.
JACK: Oh, yeah.
GARY: Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely planking.
Look, it's got that like tongue and groove effect going on it.
-Yeah. -GARY: Wooden planking or siding.
Mm-hmm.
-That looks intentional to me. -GARY: Yeah.
-JACK: More bits of the ship. -GARY: Yeah. For sure.
Good eye, Gary.
Look how deep it came out of.
JACK: Look on the other side, too.
-GARY: Yeah. -JACK: Tongue and groove.
Does that go back quite a long time?
GARY: Yeah.
JACK: All right. I'll set it aside.
GARY: Okay, mate.
We're finding a lot of decking or planks,
which is very interesting
because we are actually way out in the swamp.
Are these planks, these decks part of a mystery ship
waiting to be found in the swamp?
That would be absolutely unbelievable.
It's still sloppy.
-(scraping) -GARY: I hear clanging. Is he hitting rocks?
JACK: Yeah. He's got a rock in his bucket.
Yeah, it's a lot of rocks in line with that big rock
and the shore, but to the side there's none.
Yeah.
If you watch where I put my bucket,
to this side...
...you know, it's-it's nothing there.
-But in here... -(slamming)
Yep.
I think it could be some type of ramp,
leading up around here.
-Yeah. -It could be you're right.
-A ramp for something big. -Mm-hmm.
This is gonna be good.
-RICK: Hey, guys. -GARY AND JACK: Hey, Rick.
-Anything? -JACK: Billy feels like
he might have found some other structure.
It's just hard to see underneath the muck.
Huh, yeah.
Billy, why don't you tell him
what you feel like you can feel?
It's a lot of rocks in line with that big rock.
But as we move this way, there's no stones at all.
RICK: Yeah.
NARRATOR: After being alerted that more of a possible
stone ramp, which may be connected to a large boulder,
has been uncovered in the southeast corner of the swamp,
Rick Lagina joins Billy Gerhardt, Jack Begley
and Gary Drayton to help investigate
the curious feature.
A little bit of mud on top of them,
but they're most definitely there.
RICK: Yeah.
JACK: And this boulder is about the size
of some of those other Nolan's Cross rocks.
Yeah. Definitely conical shape.
NARRATOR: A cone-shaped boulder in the swamp?
And similar to those in Nolan's Cross?
First identified in 1981
by the late Fred Nolan,
Nolan's Cross is a perfectly symmetrical,
megalithic formation of six boulders
near the center of Oak Island.
Over the years,
numerous researchers have speculated
that the cross is a symbol indicating
that the hidden treasure includes
priceless religious artifacts,
such as the Holy Grail.
Nolan's Cross may lead us to a Money Pit location
and where the treasure might be.
NARRATOR: And others, like architect Brian Pharoah,
believe the feature represents a treasure map
which points to the location
of buried valuables in the Money Pit area.
You've got to dig on that side of it and this side of it.
Because then we can shovel it off and take a look.
BILLY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Could this cone-shaped boulder
and the possible stone ramp
be related to Nolan's Cross?
If so, might they represent clues
that are connected to high-trace evidence of precious metals
that have been detected in the Money Pit?
Or could it be related to valuables that are buried
in the triangle-shaped swamp?
RICK: I would like to know definitively
that the constructs within this body
of the bog are related to the mystery.
Is it perhaps associated with original depositional work?
My hope is that as we excavate the ramp
in association with the stone road,
we will hopefully
find some artifacts that will help with that explanation.
It fits all the parameters.
It's big enough to step on
and it's right at the interface between
the muck and the water.
I mean that's like a Nolan's Cross boulder there.
Yeah. We may have discovered something
really important there, mate.
Just got to work on it, clean it off.
There's no question it's pretty unique.
When you see all the digging we did today, there's
something going on there, so...
-JACK: Yeah. -GARY: Yeah.
If there's a ramp, you know,
there's a possibility of...
defining it and looking for artifacts, so
that might be an "aha" moment.
Yeah.
RICK: So keep digging and see what we see.
BILLY: Okay.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
-ALEX: Thanks, Jack. -LAIRD: Come on in.
NARRATOR: ...at the Interpretive Centre...
-How's it going, Laird? -Hey.
Hey, how are you?
-You called? -I did.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, his nephew Alex, Jack
and Scott Barlow meet with archaeologist Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan for an update
on the concrete-like substance that was unearthed
two days ago in the stone foundation on Lot 5.
So, this is a soil sample.
Soil that Jamie thought was mortar.
-Mm-hmm. -And it was
important enough we thought to compare it to some
-of the mortar that we are getting in the Money Pit. -Yeah.
And Emma has the results of the comparisons.
Great.
NARRATOR: In order to analyze
the believed concrete from Lot 5,
Emma has scanned it with an X-ray diffraction device--
or XRD-- which uses X-rays to determine
the chemical composition and physical properties
of materials.
So, I compared it to mortar samples that I have on file,
and it did not match, so it's not mortar.
And it had some differences to...
other soil samples collected from Lot 5.
So I ran a comparison to...
the entire soil database that I have so far.
And on the screen, you can see
a cluster diagram that I have
-of the main soil samples. -Mm-hmm.
And our sample in that grouping,
it's an almost exact match
to a Money Pit sample at a depth of 104 feet.
Wow! That's great.
So, which borehole did this come out of in the Money Pit?
So there's a few.
C-28, C-18.5,
and also the Garden Shaft.
-Okay, great! -Wow.
Amazing.
That's close to our tunnel
below the Garden Shaft.
LAIRD: Explain that.
This soil sample taken from Lot 5 matches with...
Money Pit soil samples found near the Garden Shaft.
-Okay, great! -Wow. -Amazing.
NARRATOR: It is a potentially critical moment for Rick Lagina
and members of the Oak Island team.
LAIRD: I should point out that the little,
tiny piece we thought was mortar,
it's not natural.
ALEX: So it's not naturally occurring.
So it must have been replaced there is what you're saying.
-Yes. -Exactly.
NARRATOR: Archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan has
determined that a mysterious type of artificial soil,
which was recently unearthed in the stone foundation
on Lot 5, matches others that have been collected
by the team some 100 feet deep
in the Money Pit area.
And in the same region as the possible treasure tunnel
located several feet below the Garden Shaft.
LAIRD: We're always looking for a connection between
Lot 5 and the Money Pit.
Didn't think we'd get it from the XRD.
-Yep. Well, this is an exciting possibility. -Mm-hmm, yeah.
And if we think about the interpretation
that we are most interested in, that would be
somebody physically transporting
the same soil from one to the other.
-It doesn't matter which way. -Yeah.
Yes.
Then this might show that the Lot 5 feature
was somehow related to the early excavations
-or the deposit of the treasure. -That's the hope.
ALEX: Yeah, that's one thing we've been looking for on the island
is evidence of people staying here while they did the work.
-We haven't found that at all. -Yeah.
We know that the last reports that we've got on
the wood samples from the tunnel,
there is a strong possibility
that it was pre-searcher from the 1600s.
-Which would be huge. -SCOTT: Which would be huge.
-Yeah. -ALEX: Those dates
do work pretty well with the Phips theory.
Abso-Absolutely.
Phips was in the area.
Yep.
NARRATOR: In early 1687,
the English Naval Captain and politician William Phips
recovered approximately 34 tons
of treasure in the Caribbean Sea from the famed Spanish wreck
known as the Concepción.
Later that year, King James II of England knighted Phips
for his achievement
and ordered him to conduct a second operation
to recover the nearly 65 tons of valuables
that were believed to remain on the wreck
according to its manifest.
Phips made the journey with the help of a Freemason
from Nova Scotia named Andrew Belcher.
But curiously,
they returned with less than two tons of the riches.
I see it as a possible link between Lot 5
and the Money Pit and I think we should try to prove it.
Yeah. Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Could Alex Lagina be correct
that the matching soil samples
from the foundation on Lot 5
and the area around the potentially 17th century
tunnel beneath the Garden Shaft offer evidence
that Phips hid the majority of his discoveries
from the Concepción on Oak Island?
RICK: Here we have a very interesting connection.
I can't deny it.
With these specific timelines
and the significant interest in Lot 5...
...one could make the association
to the salvage of the Concepción.
And it could change the way we perceive
the relationship between Lot 5 and the Money Pit.
But until we get
to the bottom of the excavation,
I think every possibility
is on the table at this point.
That's why it's incumbent on us to
figure out what this structure was.
-Yeah. -RICK: Absolutely.
The association that could be made
is potentially mind-blowing.
Let's just stay the course and move forward.
-Okay. Thanks, Laird. -All right.
-ALEX: Thanks, Emma. -Thank you, Laird.
-EMMA: Thank you. -See you later.
NARRATOR: After more than a decade
of tireless work and perseverance
through numerous unforeseen challenges,
Rick, Marty and their team
may be closer than ever to unearthing the answers
that many before them were unable to reach.
As they dig deeper into the swamp
on Lot 5 and below the Garden Shaft,
will they finally reveal not only
what lies hidden on Oak Island,
but also the truth behind
this 229-year-old mystery?
Or could the next major discovery
that they make unleash a deadly curse?