Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
Wow, look at that.
This might be the missing link to treasure in this area.
CORJAN Never in a million years,
I expected to find a link to Portugal.
And to the Knights Templar.
That’s astounding. Whoa!
-- That can’s going down fast. -- Wow.
We’re right at the vault.
We should be finding something here pretty quick.
This is it.
Wow, this is a big find.
We caught a piece of this vault.
It’s amazing.
-Oh, baby.
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.
Showtime!
Yeah.
Hammer grab’s coming up.
This is the day. This is it, Pete.
Our shining moment, hopefully.
As a new day begins on Oak Island...
-Good morning, gentlemen. -Good morning, Andrew.
-How we doing? -Good.
You tell us.
We’re doing real good.
Really good.
...the level of excitement
for a major discovery in the Money Pit
has never been higher for brothers Rick and Marty Lagin,
their business partner Craig Tester,
and the members of their team.
Danny’s down to 137 feet
with the can now and everything’s going fine.
We’re just gonna keep continuing on,
-same as yesterday. -Yep.
Once we get through this little last thing
of the Hedden Shaft,
it should be virgin ground,
hopefully all the way down to
145 range and that’s where we’re looking for
the vault or the tunnel.
We’ll see what happens.
-Another 20, 30 feet. -All right.
-I’ll keep you informed. -All right.
-Thank you. -You’re welcome.
The team is currently excavating
a 10-foot-wide shaft that they have dubbed "D.M.T.-2."
Although D.M.T.-2 represents their fourth and final attempt
this year to recover the fabled Chappell Vault,
which is believed to lie burid some 153 feet deep,
it was in this area that notable treasure hunter Gilbert Hedden
firmly believed it would be found
when he dug his own shaft back in 1937.
But most importantly, it was also here
that the team obtained evidence of high concentrations
of silver and gold several months ago
while testing the water in previously drilled boreholes.
It’s coming out.
As we approach the area of interest,
my hope is that we find
something definitive indicatig a subterranean void or vault.
Here we go.
So, we have to be very meticulous
to confirm that there might actually be
gold and silver--
not trace elements, but actual...
refined gold and silver in the Money Pit.
Now, that’s going to be tough walking.
All right. Ready?
Okay, mate. Let’s get stuck in.
We have got a signal, mate.
Worth digging.
-Just there, yeah. -We’ll definitely dig that.
-- It’s here. -- Oh, yeah?
-More metal, mate. -Yeah.
A metal fragment?
Found at a depth of some 136 feet
in the D.M.T.-2 caisson?
These could be washed off and they might have
traces of gold on them.
-It could. -This happened before.
-So, if you would hold onto that, mate. -Yeah.
You want to take that to the table, please?
-Yeah. -Cheers.
-Oh, there’s something in there. -There’s something in there.
Earlier this year, while conducting
a core-drilling operation in the Money Pit area...
Yeah, it’s a big chunk of metal right there.
...the team recovered two metal fragments
that contained high traces of gold.
So, we got, I think, more of that same
metal that we found before.
Yeah, maybe.
This shouldn’t be down there.
That’s the big mystery.
-Yeah. -That is the mystery.
Well, we’ll get a quick look with the XRF.
-Try to get a date on it. -Yep.
-All right. -Okay.
Is it possible
that they have found more evidence
of precious metals in D.M.T.-?
If so, could it be just a small sign
of what’s to come from deeper below?
Are we there yet?
We’re getting close, Marty.
All right. Anything?
That piece just came up.
I don’t know what it is, but we’re going to have XRF done.
But it looks quite modern.
Mainly, we’re in virgin ground.
-Yes. Yeah. -Here it comes.
What the hell is that?
-- That’s not good. -- Wait. Wait. Wait.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Uh-oh.
We may have a problem. Houston, we’ve got a problem.
The cable’s wrapped around.
Look, Pete. The cable’s all wrapped up
-in the hammer grab. -Oh, yeah.
-Dang. -What’s it look like?
Is it jammed in there?
The anchor chain went on the other side.
It is a potentially serious situation
for the representatives from Irving Equipment Limited,
as a massive support chain has become
tangled around a stabilizer
atop the 22-and-a-half-ton hammer grab.
It not only comes at a critical moment,
as the excavation is less than 20 feet
from a potentially historic discovery,
it means that the operation will have to be halted
until the malfunction can be remedied.
We’ve spent an enormous amount of time
and effort digging in the Money Pit.
And we’re nearly there and we had to stop,
so that was frustrating.
And we don’t know when we’re gonna be
able to resume our treasure hunt.
So... yeah, it’s-it’s a problem.
Eh, I think we’re going to be on a little break here.
Last time, it took quite a bit to undo that.
Yeah. It took, what, a couple hours?
That’s Oak Island for you, mate.
While the team waits to continue
the excavation of the D.M.T.-2 shaft...
...later that morning...
-Here we are, mate. -MICHAEL J.: Yep.
...metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and treasure hunter Michael John arrive on Lot 8,
located on the western drumlin of Oak Island.
Once you find a large grouping of potentially good
finds like this, it’s like, "What are they doing here?"
So this is, like, a central area.
Yeah. That’s right. Exactly. Yeah.
In addition to the Money Pit and the swamp,
Lot 8 has now become a potentially critical
zone of interest for the team
due to a number of recent discoveries and developments.
These include a large metallic anomaly
detected by ground-penetrating radar some 20 feet deep...
There’s just a big layer of rocks
right across this whole area.
This looks clearly man-made.
...a mysterious stone-paved feature and large boulder
proving to represent evidence of previous human activity,
and a semiprecious garnet gemstone--
a gemstone that 32nd degree Freemason Scott Clarke
believes could be connected to the Knights Templar
and one of the most sought-after
missing holy relics in human history:
the Ark of the Covenant.
-Okay, mate. You ready? -Yep.
Let’s get stuck in.
Now, while Rick, Marty and Craig
await a government permit
to conduct a large-scale excavation
to determine just what
the mysterious buried anomaly could be,
Gary and Michael are hoping to find
any clues to help verify
if Scott Clarke’s incredible theory could be true.
-Okay, mate. -All right.
This is the first target.
Let’s see what this baby sounds like.
Oh, look! That sounds fantastic, mate.
-That’s what I like to hear, mate. -A good signal, isn’t it?
That is the sound of history
-being uncovered in a few minutes. -All righty.
MICHAEL J.: Oh, here we go.
Ooh, look at that.
That’s nice, mate!
That looks like an old, oval chain link.
Yeah.
The old chain links were always oval.
The newer chain links are round.
-And if you notice the irregularity of it... -Yeah.
-It’s a very crude chain link. -Yeah.
-Definitely not factory-made. -Oh, no.
Whenever you need a chain,
that means you’ve been hauling something.
And you never know.
Maybe there was chain, like, around a chest
or an old box.
Could Gary Drayton be correct that this piece of chain
may have once been used to transport a large chest?
If so, who left it on Lot 8?
And could it be connected to the large metallic anomaly
that the team hopes to excavae
as soon as they can obtain a permit?
This is fantastic.
What was a chain doing
-out in the middle of nowhere? -Yeah.
Because this is out in the boonies
-even for Oak Island. -That’s right. Exactly. Yeah.
All right, mate.
Let’s put that flag back in...
and let’s keep rolling, mate.
It’s a good sign that we’re in an area where people were.
There’s got to be other stuff in the area.
MICHAEL J.: Oh, no doubt.
The next flag is down here, mate.
Let’s see what this one says, eh?
A bit jumpy.
-I suspect this is iron. -Okay.
But...
-definitely a biggish target. -Right there?
-MICHAEL J.: Nice and deep. -Yeah.
-Just there. -Yeah?
-There we go. -Here we go.
An excellent sign, mate.
MICHAEL J.: Yeah.
-MICHAEL J.: Still there? -Yeah.
-There we go. -Here we go.
Another excellent sign, mate.
Yeah.
-A big, old ox shoe. -No doubt.
On Lot 8 of Oak Island,
Gary Drayton and Michael John have just unearthed
a potentially important clue.
Just by looking at it like that,
what I can tell you, mate, is it’s kind of out of place
just here, out in the middle of nowhere, mate.
And I don’t believe this was farmland.
MICHAEL J.: I don’t think so, either, no.
And I’m happy
-that we found an ox shoe in this area. -Yeah. Me, too.
They were definitely hauling something here,
because we’ve got the ox shoes,
-we’ve got the oval chain. -The chain link.
Yes. That’s the mystery, isn’t it?
Yep.
A large ox shoe?
Discovered near a piece of chain
where the team has also detected
a large, metal anomaly buried some 20 feet underground?
Wow, this ox shoe was very dep
and it’s in great condition.
Whoever was hauling in this area was hauling something big,
because this ox shoe was on a big beast of burden.
Over the past two years,
the Oak Island team has discovered
numerous ancient stone pathways,
along with ox shoes and other evidence suggesting
large operations to haul cargo onto and across the island.
Previously, the most compellig of these was found
between the triangle-shaped swamp and the Money Pit.
Have Gary and Michael now found more evidence
of a similar operation on Lot 8?
And, if so, could it possibly support Scott Clarke’s theory
that the Knights Templar hid priceless religious artifacts
on Oak Island centuries ago?
What are those artifacts doing out here
in the middle of nowhere?
We’re right in the middle of the island.
I’m telling you, mate, we are on to something here.
All signs lead to activity.
-Something happened here. -Yep.
-Yeah. -Exactly. In this area.
Someone spent a lot of time out here.
Now, whether they were passing through
from one shore to the other shore,
the artifacts tell
-the story of the site. -Yeah.
This might be the missing link telling us
that we’re on to treasure in this area.
Yeah.
Okay, mate.
Let’s keep rolling.
Later that afternoon...
All right.
Today’s the day.
Better find that vault pretty quick, Craig.
That can is going down fast.
Gold coins are easy to dig through,
-so... -Yeah, they really are.
...i-it wouldn’t increase the pressure.
...after successfully repairig the massive hammer grab tool,
Marty Lagina, Craig Tester and members of the team
continue supervising the excavation
of the D.M.T.-2 shaft.
-Hey, fellas. -Hey, Andrew. -Hey, Andrew.
How we doing?
-The man with the data. -Yeah.
-Where are we? -We’re looking good.
We’re at 146 with the dig.
-With the dig? -With the dig.
-157 with the casing. -Okay.
All right, well, we should be finding
something here pretty quick. This is it.
This is your spot, Craig.
Now that the 10-foot-wide steel-cased shaft
has reached a depth of 157 feet,
it is a critical moment for the Oak Island team.
Are we approximately in that zone where we want
-to be right now? -Yes, about this-- -Yeah.
-Beginning with this grab, I’d say. -Okay.
Although the hammer grab tool
has more than ten feet of spoils
to remove from the caisson,
according to the historical record,
the seven-foot-high Chappell Vault
was located at a depth of 153 feet.
That means the team could be mere feet
from a historic discovery.
Well, we should be getting very close now.
This hammer grab or the next one.
We don’t completely understand the Money Pit,
even at this late stage.
The Oak Island Treasure Compay
vault resided roughly at the 150-foot horizon.
And that is the depth where it should be,
unless it had fallen deeper.
Here it comes.
That’s a full one.
Yeah, that is.
That’s a hell of a lot of material in there.
Should we jump in, Ian?
Yeah, yeah, let’s go.
Think you better go help that old man, Pete.
Okay.
What are we into?
-Boulders, I see. -It’s about time you show up.
We’re right there. We’re right at the vault zone.
So we should be around the 148 mark right now.
What do you make-- make of it? This clay, is it?
Yeah, it’s very, very fine clay.
-Let’s take that over there. -Yeah.
So, this looks like clay.
Yeah, it’s very, very, very, very fine.
-- Is that embedded? -- Yeah.
Yeah, like the story of ponded clay or puddled clay.
Puddled clay?
Found at a depth of nearly 150 feet?
When members of the Onslow Company excavated
the original Money Pit in 180,
they discovered large amounts of puddled clay
packed into the oak platforms descending to the 90-foot level,
acting as a kind of sealant
from the believed booby-trapped flood tunnels.
This same type of clay was also reported 93 years later
by treasure hunters Frederick Blair and William Chappell
just before they drilled into the fabled vault
at a depth of 153 feet.
Is it possible that the team
has now encountered evidence of human activity
to protect something of great value?
If so, just what might they find next?
I wouldn’t worry too much about the wood looking real young,
’cause if it was in this kind of environment,
there’s no oxygen whatsoever.
The treasure vault is very, very precisely described.
It was puddled clay through concrete and wood.
It certainly sounds like a vey
properly designed vault.
That’s what we’re looking for.
Here we go. Here’s another one.
Ooh, rainy with a chance of treasure.
Is that a bunch of wood?
-That is wood. -That’s a hell of a lot of wood.
Ooh, look at that.
That looks a little more promising.
Yeah.
Oh, my goodness.
That is exactly what we want.
-That’s a substantial piece. -Yeah, a post-looking piece.
They are dense.
Yeah, that feels very heavy.
I don’t know about that one, but--
This is dense.
Let’s let Billy spread it.
Let’s go over there.
Given the fact that
the Oak Island team obtained
high traces of silver and gold
when they conducted water testing
in this area earlier this yea,
could the vast amounts of hand-cut wood
mean that they are on the vere of recovering the treasure
people have been seeking for more than two centuries?
Axe-cut. Partially, at least.
Well, maybe that’s sawed off.
-- That is axe-cut? -- I don’t know.
Feel the weight of that.
Yeah, that’s why it’s hard to see this
as contemporary with Hedden.
It’s very deep, too.
-- It’s older wood. -- Is it?
-- Oh, yeah. -- Well, let’s keep going.
Okay.
There’s a piece of wood.
Piece of wood on the front there.
A piece of wood right on top there.
Billy’s got it.
Wow.
Dang, that is a big piece of wood.
It’s heavy as all get out.
This is wildly out of place.
Wildly out of place.
Yeah.
This is wildly out of place.
That almost looks like what we’d see
in Smith’s Cove, you know?
The clay is plastered on it.
-I mean, that’s just pure clay. -Yeah.
It is a potentially critical moment
in the Money Pit area for Ric, Marty, Craig and their team.
-- I’m going to go wash it off. -- All right.
An important piece of wood.
At a depth of nearly 150 feet in the D.M.T.-2 shaf,
they have just unearthed what is believed to be
hand-worked, puddled clay,
as well as evidence of a possibly ancient
wooden structure.
What’s it mean, Charles, bringing up
some wood from this depth?
I don’t know. Is that a tunnel?
I don’t know.
I’ll go punch up a tag for it.
Great. I’m gonna go wash it off.
And what makes these discoveries especially compelling
is that a large amount of puddled clay was reported
by searchers just before they drilled into
the so-called "Chappell Vault"
at this approximate depth back in 1897.
So you see saw marks on that, Craig?
It looks like it.
-- Look how broad those are. -- Yeah.
A motorized circular saw puts a whole bunch of them.
You know, I mean, I wonder if this was, like,
-a hand-done thing or something. -Yeah.
Well, what’s it doing down there?
Maybe it’s part of the vault.
It could be.
Are we all tired of wood?
I’m tired of wood.
But this is-- this is wood that’s wildly
out of place. It really shouldn’t be there.
It is also heavy as can be.
I mean, this thing is a very dense piece of wood.
It’s right at the right depth.
So, the conjecture is we caugt
some little piece of this so-called vault.
See how the cut’s right there?
-I see several. -Yeah.
Well, it’s wildly out of place.
Yeah, I know. Doesn’t make sense.
Okay, we’ll get Charles to mark that up.
Excellent.
As the excavation continues
in the Money Pit area...
-Hey, Mike. -Hey, Steve. How are you, man?
-How you doing? -I’m good, brother.
...just 200 feet to the northeast,
near Borehole 10-X,
Steve Guptill joins Michael John to carefully sift
through the spoils that were just removed from D.M.T.-2.
We have a very interesting and significant
data that happens in and around
-the 150-foot mark. -Yeah.
A few feet above that and 25 feet below that is
the interesting area that could be treasure vault location.
-Uh-huh. -So,
potentially, there could be a very
-significant find in this one. -Okay.
MICHAEL J.: As always, I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
D.M.T. is close to a depth where we’re keenly interested
in what it might show and so we have a lot of anticipation.
And of course, every bucket, you’re always looking for
a piece of jewelry, a coin,
and we aren’t gonna miss it.
So, we need to look closely through the spoils piles.
-What is that? -What you got?
Well, I think it’s just a rock or a piece of wood.
But it almost looks like a fossil.
MICHAEL J.: Yes.
Oh.
-Is this coal? -Oh, wow.
MICHAEL J.: Feels like it, yeah.
A lot of coal, so we know people were down there.
Exactly. That’s right. Yeah.
Dating back at least four centuries,
mining operations across Euroe
utilized the method of burning charcoal in underground furnaces
in order to provide oxygen for the workers.
In 1804, when the Onslow Company first excavated the original
Money Pit down to the 90-foot level,
they not only encountered puddled clay at various levels
but also charcoal.
STEVE G.: It breaks really easy.
Is it possible that Steve Guptill and Michael John
have just found more evidence
of original workings that were conducted
in order to hide the legendary Oak Island treasure?
Well, if that says anything, we know people
were in this area. So, that makes
the next couple table loads more interesting.
-Yeah, that’s right. -Yeah.
STEVE G.: What is this? Look at this. That’s interesting.
-What you got there? -Does that look like cement to you?
Or concrete? What is that?
There’s something wound between...
It’s not cement, I don’t think.
But I don’t know.
Yeah. It is cement.
STEVE G.: Oh, wow. Cement’s important in
the search, because cement itself often goes back
-to a treasure chamber, a treasure vault. -Oh.
Cement?
The very substance reportedly encasing
the seven-foot-tall Chappell Vault?
As the clues keep adding up for the Oak Island team,
could that mean the legendary treasure
is finally within their reach?
Good eye, Steve. You know what I’m going to do?
-I’m going to bag it and tag it. -Sounds good.
-Yeah. -Yeah, we should get that examined.
For sure.
There it goes. It’s on.
Back at the Money Pit,
the excavation of the D.M.T.-2 shaft
has now surpassed a depth of 153 feet,
where the Chappell Vault was reported to have
been encountered nearly 125 years ago.
We’re ready.
With all the clues hinting
that a major discovery is imminent,
the question now becomes
just how much deeper could it be?
All right, Danny. What’s the good news?
Hey. All right.
What are the numbers, brother?
We got, uh, we just put on our five-foot piece.
That makes it 191, total casing.
-The casing is in the ground 174. -Okay.
Did you want a measurement
of the water or do you want us to go?
No.
-Just go? All right. -Just go.
-Thank you. -Thanks, Danny.
-Ready, Pete? -Yep. Ready.
Ooh-whee! Smoking.
-It’s going right down. -It is?
Wow.
See how fast that’s going down?
Geez.
That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen
a can go down.
Holy smokes!
That thing went down six feet, probably?
Ten.
You can actually watch it go down.
-- Yeah. It’s flying down. -- Yeah.
It is amazing.
A void has to be below this.
Yeah.
A void has to be below this.
It’s flying down.
You can actually watch it go down.
In the Money Pit area,
at a depth of some 174 feet,
the D.M.T.-2 shaft
has suddenly begun to rapidly sink into the ground.
I don’t know if anybody witnessed that,
-but we just broke a record.
For going down that fast for that size of shaft.
That is something I’ve never seen before.
Anything weird you can think of happens here.
There’s some void, some reason to believe
that there is an open area at depth.
That might indicate a subterranean vault.
It also could be very natural.
And I don’t think we’ll ever be able
to understand what that is
unless we find something down there that is man-made.
Look at that hammer grab.
Wow.
-It’s just soup. -Yep.
At this point, we’re not much farther to bedrock.
Yeah.
It looks like the vault’s not there.
It’s just not.
That was possibly the last grab.
Let’s check it out.
Nothing special.
This is shocking, mate.
-Nothing? -Nope.
Four cans, no results.
That’s all she wrote.
Are we done? Is that the last grab?
We’re in bedrock.
Yeah, we are.
We’re definitely there with the dig.
The fourth and last can of the season.
We’re as far down as we can get. What’s your thoughts? Yeah.
Yeah. You know, I’m obviously disappointed
that we didn’t hit something significantly better.
It is a crushing disappointment for Rick,
Marty, Craig and the team.
After recovering numerous pieces of evidence
suggesting that they might hae finally pinpointed the locatin
of the fabled Chappell Vault, they have reached a dead end
in the form of bedrock at a depth of 183 feet.
Could that mean they were actually digging
in the wrong location?
Or could the treasure cache have fallen somewhere
off to the side in the mysterious void?
Was the hole a success?
I mean, we hoped to get the vault.
-Absolutely. -And we didn’t. Um...
but yet more anomalies, highly anomalous stuff,
needs to be tested. Maybe some more clues.
When we get through that vault area
and it’s not there, it’s disappointing.
So, at this point, we’ve just accepted it.
We can’t stop. We have to go as long as we possibly can
and figure this out as much as we can this year.
We’ve completed the final can
and it’s like a broken record, right?
It keeps replaying, you know?
Unsuccessful. Unsuccessful. Unsuccessful.
So, I don’t know where we go from here.
But you mustn’t be deterred
and we each have to step back and assess
for ourselves what are our thoughts moving forward.
Sempre avanti: keep moving forward.
It’s the only way we’re going to solve it.
So, let’s do that. Don’t quit.
I like your spirit, hombre.
Later that evening...
So, guys. A unique opportunity has presented itself.
...Rick, Marty and Craig gathr in the war room
with members of their team to strategize the few remainig
weeks they have left before they will have to suspend
search activities for the remainder of the year.
I know that we’ve all been a bit troubled by the fact
that the four cans-- to date, at least--
have not yielded much.
There may be an opportunity here for
a possible fifth can location.
Everyone can weigh in, but I think we should possibly,
you know, take advantage of this.
Yep.
Oh, that’s without question, Rick.
I didn’t know we could fit that in.
I mean, I’m a proponent of digging
whenever we can dig.
So, yes, I’ve spoken with Irving
and they’ve confirmed that it is indeed possible
and we have a little bit of wiggle room there.
I mean, that’s a great idea if we can do it.
Yeah, but... do we have a good idea of where we want to go?
-Maybe close to C-1. -Yep.
My thought would be to go up in that area,
the C-1 cluster, to try to confirm that it is
indeed possibly the original Money Pit.
-Yep. -C-1 has
the highest amounts of gold and silver
of any other drill hole that we have.
So why not continue to search around there?
Yeah.
Although the team has already excavated
two ten-foot-diameter shafts in the C-1 Cluster
without making a breakthrough discovery...
We’re going to mix between 2017 and 2020 holes.
-Right. -...earlier this year...
-Let’s hope. -...while conducting water testing
in the existing boreholes around the C-1 shaft,
the team obtained high readins for silver and gold.
Additional core-drilling in the area
then yielded fragments of metal containing gold,
as well as evidence of man-made tunnels that could date
to as early as 1488 at a depth of nearly 90 feet.
Is it possible that digging oe more shaft in the C-1 cluster
will solve the Oak Island mystery?
So, I’ve calculated the positions of
TF-1 to the west and EC-1 to the east.
But I’ve left enough room so we can go to the north.
"Yes, let’s do it," is what I would say.
Put it a foot off of EC-1.
-Right there? -There you go.
-Right there? -Yep.
Well, if we’re going to put it there,
I guess we’re pretty near gonna be centered on B-4.
All right. Well, we’re kind of burning
the very minutes we’re talking about to dig, so Scott,
how about you name this one?
Well, if we’re going to position there,
if we roll that closer to EC-1,
B-4 is going to be basically the center of that caisson.
So, B-4,
call it B-4C for B-4 caisson.
So it’s the hole we dug just
before we found the treasure, is that what you’re saying?
-Just before. That’s right.
Before we see the treasure.
-There we go. -Before we see the treasure.
-I love it. -Works for me. Yeah.
-Now, make it so. -Make it so.
-- Okay, gentlemen. -- All right. Very good.
Excellent. Thank you very much.
-- Ready or what? -- Yep. This is it.
Last can of the year, mate.
-It’s in a great location, just north of C-1, mate. -Yep.
That area, to me, was one of the most interesting
areas of the whole campaign.
They said it couldn’t be done, but here we are.
A new day begins on Oak Island,
and also with it, a renewal of hope
for Rick, Marty, Craig and their team
as they begin excavating the B-4C shaft
in search of the fabled Money Pit treasure vault.
How’s that?
Perfect.
Okay.
Okay, ready? Bring it up.
We’re approaching the end of the year.
Mother Nature’s closing in.
But as I have said before,
we’re not going to give up.
It ain’t over till it’s over, mate.
We’re positive that there is treasure down there.
I feel good about this caisson.
As the excavation of the B-4C shaft gets underway...
...later that morning...
-Hi, guys.
Hey, guys.
...Rick, Marty and Craig
have assembled members of the team
in the war room for a meeting
via video conference with their associate
and Oak Island researcher Corjan Mol.
Hi, everyone. Thank you for having me.
Also joining the team is Judi Rudebusch,
the research partner of the late author
and Oak Island theorist Zena Halpern.
Doug, as you are well aware-- and Judi--
are continuing to make connections
as far as a possible Portuguese connection,
but Doug in particular has reached out to Corjan,
so I’m going to turn it over to Doug
and I think we’re going to learn
some very interesting facts today.
So, Doug, if you want to take over...
Yeah, well, I guess what I’m excited about
is that we’ve got some scientific reason
to look towards Portugal,
because of the dating we’ve attained on objects
both in the swamp and the Money Pit.
We have historic reasons now to look towards Portugal.
Over the past two years,
in addition to finding compelling evidence
that vast quantities of precious metals
lie buried deep in the Money Pit,
the team has also unearthed numerous structures
and artifacts suggesting that someone of Portuguese origin
visited Oak Island as much as five centuries ago.
These discoveries include a fragment of a ship’s cannon
found on Lot 4,
two pieces of stone shot, one of which was
recovered from the Money Pit,
and the massive stone road or ship’s wharf
in the triangle-shaped swamp.
In talking with Corjan, he has a very interesting
theoretical reason why Portugal may
play an important role, so I think you’re going
to be really intrigued to hear what he has to say.
I’m looking forward to it.
Corjan, I’m going to turn it over to you.
Okay, thanks.
I wanted to start with the, u, the first image here.
I believe your team discovered a few
Portuguese things on Oak Island.
Portugal has an incredible Knights Templar history.
I’m sure you are aware
that the Order of the Knights Templar
was dissolved in 1312
in every country in Europe but Portugal.
In 1307, the arrest warrant went out,
first all across France and later all across Europe.
They were arrested,
sometimes they were executed and imprisoned.
Between the 12th and early 14th centuries,
the military order of monks known as the Knights Templar
accumulated a vast treasure
in the Holy Land during the Crusades.
Some researchers believe
this treasure included priceless religious artifacts
such as the Holy Grail,
the golden menorah from Solomon’s Temple
and the Ark of the Covenant.
However, when the order was disbanded
by King Philip IV of France in 1307,
it has been suggested that a number of Templar Knights
fled with their vast treasures to Scotland
before taking them to Oak Island.
Although little of the Templars’ true history
is known following their persecution in France,
it is well established that a new sect
would soon rise again in Portugal.
Many Templars fled from Spain, from France
and maybe other countries to Portugal,
because they were under protection
of the Portuguese king.
King Dinis, who restarted the Knights Templar
as Order of Christ in 1319,
changed their logo.
He kept sort of the same cross
and put a white cross on top of it,
which became the emblem for the Order of Christ.
But under the hood, this was exactly the same brotherhood.
And what you see in Portugal is that the Order of Christ
became very much involved in the Portuguese explorations
and discoveries across the globe.
They sailed on their caravels, their man-o’-wars
with the familiar red crosses all across the sea.
What they did on their journes was make maps.
If you want to have good
15th, 16th-century maps, you need to go to Portugal.
The one you see here is the Cantino map.
This is from 1502.
And you can see that already
they have Newfoundland here,
which is called Terra del Rey de Portugal.
And Nova Scotia is on the map here.
So, if you want to think about the Templar theory,
when the Templars were suppressed in France in 1307,
if a group of Templars managed to escape from France
with a treasure during that suppression, some believe
they brought it here to the New World somewhere.
So, the Portuguese Order of Christ--
they may have been in search
of that Templar treasure themselves.
The Portuguese Order of Christ-- they may have been in search of
that Templar treasure themselves.
Yeah. For sure.
But also, you know, there’s another reason
I’m interested in Portugal.
A lot of Templar archives in France,
you know, in Italy, in England, were destroyed.
They were not destroyed in Portugal.
In the war room, theorist Corjan Mol
is presenting research suggesting
that clues which could help solve
the 227-year-old Oak Island mystery
may be located in Portugal.
There’s some areas in Portugal that I think have
a lot of Templar archives
and would give us a lot of reasons
to put boots on the ground
and check it out for ourselves.
One place is the Convento de Christo,
the Convent of Christ in Toma,
which became the Knights Templar’s successors,
the Order of Christ, head office.
I believe, you know,
we could find a ton of information there.
And we also looked at this church.
It’s called Fonte Arcada.
This is a very interesting place.
Fonte Arcada was the earliest Knights Templar commandery
in Portugal; it’s very well preserved.
I think it would be very, very
interesting and useful to go to these places,
see if there’s any inscriptions
or documents about Templar explorations
that can build a bridge back to Oak Island.
That would be astounding.
-Yeah. -Doesn’t sound so bad.
It’s certainly interesting.
I think what I found most compelling
about Corjan’s presentation is
he makes a very plausible connection
between the Knights Templar
and Portugal during the Age of Exploration.
You have this incredible Portuguese history
of navigational skillset that allowed them to
visit the New World probably before anyone else.
It’s incredibly invigorating,
because we have a tangible possibility
that suggests a who and maybe a why.
I think there’s enough here.
If we have the time and the resources,
I think we should go on an expedition.
You won’t get an argument from me, not on that.
All in favor, say "aye."
Aye.
Corjan, would you agree
that it’s valuable to the point
where you might be willing to assist us?
Yeah. I think that’s a fantastic opportunity.
So, yes, please.
So, here’s a thing too, Rick.
While you’re gone, I’m going to stay on the island
and dig and drill all over the place.
Is anybody against that?
I have high hopes for it.
You know, and with everyone’s enthusiasm,
I think-- I think we may just come back
with something that’ll be an eye-opener.
-Yes. -Okay.
Well, I think we’re all in agreement.
Uh, Corjan, thank you for the presentation.
Thank you for the offer of assistance.
-Thank you. -Okay.
-Thanks. -Take care, guys.
Thank you.
Will a year that began
with new scientific evidence
of a vast treasure buried deep in the Money Pit
soon culminate with the revelation
of Oak Island’s ultimate secrets?
Might Rick, Marty, Craig and the team not only discover
what that long-sought-after treasure is
but also answer the questions that have persisted
for 227 years?
Who put it there?
When? And why?
And, finally, what might they unearth
about the true history of North America?
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
-- Welcome to Portugal. -- Thank you.
If there is a Portuguese connection
to the construction of the road in the swamp,
-maybe this is the blueprint. -Yeah.
That’s exactly what we have on Oak Island.
-Wow! -Oh, man.
Oh, my God. That’s brilliant!
-All right! -That’s a trophy find, mate.
The 90 Foot Stone definitely has
-this symbol on it. -Oh, wow.
It looks the spitting image.
-Yeah. -It’s perfect.
-You’re looking right into it. -Whoa!
-It’s not English? -No.
-Portuguese? -Yeah.
That is amazing.
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