Original subtitles

Sonar's picking up a bunch of targets.

We're right there, the gold bar. I want to get down there.

BRIAN: Okay, diver in the water!

There were secret tunnels

underneath Charles Hackley's house.

You're saying there was a tunnel from his house

-to the train depot? -Correct.

BRAD: The only reason you'd need a tunnel

is if you were hiding something,

had to move something in secret.

-All right. -You're saying there was a third vault.

STEVE: Yep, that's when they pulled the bags out.

-Bags of what? -Gold.

Bags of gold?

♪

AL: Are you excited to get back to Frankfort?

I am so excited to get back to Frankfort.

-So am I. -$140 million worth of gold,

-just waiting for us to find it. -[chuckles]

NARRATOR: In the northern, lakeside town

of Frankfort, Michigan,

researcher and treasure hunter Kevin Dykstra,

along with his younger brother Al,

believe they could be just days, if not hours,

from making a history-changing discovery.

I think we're right there,

where that gold is buried under the surface.

-I know we're in the right area. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: They are hoping to confirm

the precise location

of a sunken railway boxcar

containing a fortune in lost Civil War gold.

I can't wait to see how the sector scan sonar works

-that Dr. Holley is bringing. -Yeah, me, too.

I personally would love to be able to show

-that our theory was right... -Yeah.

...and here's the proof of it.

-Absolutely. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: According to Kevin Dykstra's research,

when Confederate president Jefferson Davis was arrested

in 1865,

six wagons filled with gold, silver and jewels

taken from the Confederate treasury were found with him.

The stolen cargo was then confiscated

by Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pritchard

who, acting under orders,

later arranged for it to be transferred by railroad

north to Muskegon, Michigan and into the waiting hands

of lumber tycoon-turned-banker Charles Hackley,

who began laundering it,

first through the local banking system

and then through a number of his gold mines out west.

According to a deathbed confession

made by a lighthouse keeper more than 100 years ago,

one of Hackley's secret shipments

was deliberately pushed off a ferry and into Lake Michigan

somewhere near the city of Frankfort,

where it remains to this day.

KEVIN: Yeah, I can't wait to get this started.

-AL: Me, too. -This is gonna be fun.

-Yeah? -Yep, got it.

-Gentlemen. -Hey, guys.

-How are you? -BRIAN: Good.

-Hey, guys. -Hey, what's happening?

-How are you? -Good, good.

KEVIN: Holy smokes. Look at all this stuff.

Guys, this is, uh, Brian Abbott.

-Brian, nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

Brian. You gonna help us find that gold?

[chuckles] Well, we'll see about that one.

[laughter]

-Brian actually helped us a lot on Oak Island. -Oh, wow.

-Hopefully, it works out for us today, right? -Yeah.

Here we go. Yep.

NARRATOR: For the past six years,

underwater imaging expert Brian Abbott

has been helping brothers Rick and Marty Lagina...

-Look at that. -...in their quest

to solve the 223-year-old treasure mystery

on Oak Island, in Nova Scotia.

He has also played a key role in a number

of high-profile sonar operations,

including the first complete mapping

of the RMSTitanic in 2010.

What this is, is this is a scanning sonar.

I think it's a really nice tool to give you some information

and data that will be useful for you to help build

an understanding of what's going on down there.

I'm chomping at the bit to get this thing in the water.

So let's get this stuff loaded on the boat.

-Sounds good, let's go. -Absolutely. -All right.

NARRATOR: Today, Brian will be using sonar technology

to help Kevin and the team map the underwater structure

they discovered last week,

along with the nearby debris field,

where they may have spotted a gold bar last year.

MARK: So, what our plans for today, guys,

are why don't we go out to the square structure

that we dove on last time, and then we'll move on

to the debris field and spend the rest of our time

imaging and mapping that.

NARRATOR: Last week, Kevin and the team found

what they believe to be a section of a possible boxcar.

Using a metal detector,

they also obtained indications of non-ferrous

or possibly precious metal objects.

If Kevin and the team can verify his findings,

he can then apply for the permits he needs

from the State of Michigan to excavate the area.

So these images that we get,

will that help us in the permitting process?

MARK: Absolutely, that's gonna be

the very first thing the state asks for,

is they're gonna want to see a survey of that entire area.

-KEVIN: Okay. -So let's get to the site.

Get this thing underway.

NARRATOR: Using side-scan sonar

and the GPS coordinates obtained last week...

You're right on line...

NARRATOR: ...Dr. Mark Holley

guides the team to the location

of the potential remains of the boxcar.

MARK: On our GPS, we're 60 feet,

so we're coming right up on it,

and right there it is on the sonar.

There it is right there.

Slow her down, right there, stop.

As soon as we have anchor down, we can set up the tripod.

Well, let's get the tripod out.

NARRATOR: To map today's target areas,

Brian Abbott will be using a sector scanning sonar device

called the MS1000.

Using a steel tripod, the MS1000 will be able to stand

on the lake bottomo generate a three-dimensional map

of the surrounding environment, and any near-surface

buried objects not visible to the naked eye.

Once the team has finished mapping a series

of different areas around the possible boxcar remains,

as well as the nearby debris field,

these individual sonar images will be joined together

to form what is called a mosaic.

Tip it back this way.

KEVIN: Brian wants to do enough scans

to build this nice, large mosaic.

Okay, we're clear.

KEVIN: When he puts that all together,

it's gonna show the bottom,

it's gonna show all of the features on the bottom.

We'll go off this side.

KEVIN: And then you just have that much more data

to give the state and help our chances to get the permit.

We can get it in the water now.

And let it go.

AL: There she goes.

BRIAN: We just slowly start

lowering cable out until we hit bottom.

-What's your depth, skipper? -49 feet.

BRIAN: So, let's go to, like, 60 feet.

-We're on bottom. -Okay, roger that.

Okay, there it is, there.

We got the structure here.

Oh.

So are you able to measure that?

BRIAN: Sure. I'm going to drop this down to a lesser range,

so we can get some better resolution on this target.

So what I'll do is I'll grab my, uh, measurement tool.

-Pick a corner right there... -Mm-hmm.

and drag it all the way across and I'll mark it right there,

and I'll measure from this corner all the way across.

So our dimensions that we have we could say that it's roughly

16 feet long, 14 and a half feet wide.

NARRATOR: Because late-19th century railroad boxcars

were designed to be 36 feet long by seven feet wide,

is it possible that what Kevin and the team have found

is not a complete boxcar, but instead a portion of one?

Perhaps a piece that broke off

when the gold-heavy wooden structure

hit the bottom of the lake.

KEVIN: If you look at the scan,

there's a definite-- I'm gonna call it a header piece

across the north side, but the south side is wide open,

like there was something else attached to it.

AL: Something broke off from it.

KEVIN: So, this could be the boxcar

laid like this, and then somehow broke in half

as it come off from the car ferry.

-I wouldn't rule it out. -Yeah, neither would I.

NARRATOR: If Kevin and his team have in fact

located a portion of the missing 19th-century boxcar...

Let Alex come up here.

...does this mean they are close to returning

to the area where they think they may have discovered

a debris field last year, the one where Kevin believes

he and the team photographed evidence

of one of the missing Confederate gold bars?

I think we've got the data that we need for this location.

-Right. -With the wind picking up

and the sea kind of picking up,

I think we need to get to that debris field.

-Yeah. -BRIAN: Yeah.

BRIAN: So let's pull the tripod,

and we'll move to the debris field.

ALEX: Watch this side scan there.

And then just walk it back this way, guys.

It's inside the frame, then we're good.

Let me set our navigation, then.

[engine starts]

LARRY: Right away, getting on it.

Spin the nose around.

Turning around to the west now.

STEVEN: I was told that there More to the northwest.

KEVIN: We're 55 feet from the target,

so we should be able to see something.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: After mapping the location

of what they think could be a portion of a boxcar

on the bottom of Lake Michigan,

Kevin Dykstra and the team are now searching for an area

where, last year...

-KEVIN: Right there. -MARTY: Hmm.

...he believes they discovered

a debris field and a possible bar of stolen Confederate gold.

KEVIN: Have you spotted it yet?

AL: There it is. There it is.

-MARK: Stop right there. -KEVIN: Stop right here,

and get it down there.

NARRATOR: Using the sector scan sonar device,

underwater imaging expert Brian Abbott will attempt

to get a three-dimensional image of the area.

-On bottom. -MARK: Okay, we should be clear, Brian.

BRIAN: Roger that.

-What do you see? -BRIAN: Sonar's picking up

a bunch of targets, guys.

KEVIN: We are definitely in the debris field as we speak.

I bet there's 15 targets right here.

This is amazing.

You know, if that boxcar came off of that car ferry

-and just broke apart, that's what we'd look for. -Mm-hmm.

-KEVIN: That's exactly what we'd look for. -AL: Mm-hmm.

All right, I'm pretty happy with the data.

Well, we'll do a couple more drops and-and build a better

-picture, is that what you're thinking? -BRIAN: Yeah, absolutely.

We're ready to move.

-AL: Start pulling it up? -Pull her up.

NARRATOR: Although the team has already collected

a large amount of data from the debris field...

...the more drops they perform with

the sector scanning device will help Brian Abbott

build a more comprehensive mosaic of the area.

It may also help Kevin obtain permission

from the state of Michigan to dredge portions of the site

and hopefully retrieve artifacts

and possibly gold from the lake bed.

60 foot will be the diameter of our circle.

KEVIN: I'm trying to get as much data as I can.

Look at that.

KEVIN: The map is much more thorough

with the more places he sets the sector scan

and he can build a lot better picture.

KEVIN: Let's call it good right here.

I think we're far enough back, we're gonna get more data

at this location.

-Are we ready to set that down, Dr. Holley? -MARK: Yeah.

AL: He's lowering it.

Boy, I wish these waves would calm down.

Hang on guys, we've got some big ones coming.

NARRATOR: With weather conditions on the lake

rapidly deteriorating,

Kevin and his team must now work both quickly

and carefully.

Okay, we're on bottom.

Roger that; on bottom.

When we set that sector scan on the bottom,

it has to stay in that position

until it's done recording its data.

If the wind blows us out of position,

we have to start all over.

We're totally at the mercy of Lake Michigan.

BRIAN: Check it out.

That's a real interesting target right there.

See how that's curved?

KEVIN: If that is a piece

-of cable, we're right there. -BRIAN: Mm-hmm.

KEVIN: When we talk about the cable,

it's significant because

in the footage of what we believe is a gold bar

from the dive last year, we clearly see cable.

KEVIN: I know where we were

when we got that footage of what we think is a gold bar,

-And this is where we're at. -AL: Yep.

You always said, "Find the cable, find the gold."

[chuckles]

NARRATOR: While Kevin continues to supervise the mapping

of the debris field area,

120 miles south in Muskegon, Michigan,

his friends and research partners

Brad Richards and Jeff Zehr have arrived at the home

of Steve Habetler.

-Pretty excited, though, to meet this guy. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: Steve claims to have information that could help

verify Kevin's theory that Confederate gold

made its way to Michigan after the Civil War.

BRAD: Any time you're talking about

-a conspiracy like this... -JEFF: Yeah.

...and then you get someone to reach out and say,

-"Hey, I've got something... -Mm-hmm.

-...that you might want to hear." -Right.

BRIAN: Having people reach out to us,

it gives us a really big opportunity.

There's an unexplained story about Confederate gold

that I really believe we're gonna explain.

STEVE: Hey, there.

-BRAD: Steve? -I'm Steve.

-Hi, I'm Jeff Zehr. -Jeff, glad to meet you.

-Brad Richards. -Brad.

-Glad to meet you, come on in. -Thank you. Thank you so much

-for having us over. -STEVE: Not a problem.

NARRATOR: After learning of Kevin's incredible theory,

Steve Habetler has offered to share a story

that he's kept secret for more than 50 years.

It concerns a job he once held at a local ba

founded in the early 1900s

by associates of the late Charles Hackley,

the man who Kevin believes conspired

to launder millions in stolen Confederate gold.

So, Steve, when you reached out to Kevin and I

and said you had something interesting to tell us

because you worked at Hackley Union National Bank?

Well, I related my story about being

a vault boy for Hackley Bank.

-"Vault boy"? -STEVE: Vault boy.

When, this was back in the '60s, the early '60s,

they gave me a key to the vault and told me that

was only one of three keys and I...

-Thevault? -The vault.

Turns out, there was more than one vault.

-How many vaults? -Well...

two official and one not official.

Uh, "not official."

Because we've been in two of the vaults.

-Oh, lookee here. -Look at that.

-There's hundreds of them. -Nice.

NARRATOR: Last year, after hearing rumors

that Confederate gold was once kept hidden

at the Hackley Union National Bank,

Kevin and the team gained access to a number of

abandoned safe-deposit boxes in a basement vault.

Oh. No.

Oh, watch out.

NARRATOR: Although his search turned up no sign

-of the legendary treasure... -Get away, get away, get away!

NARRATOR: ...Kevin did find evidence

of a secret tunnel.

There's wood, I can feel nails.

It feels like a latch back in there.

There's something back there.

You're saying there's a third vault?

A third vault, yep.

-Oh, okay. -I was in the mail room

and he said, "Now follow me,"

so I followed him down a hallway.

I asked the vice president,

"Why's that steel plate on the wall?"

And as I said it, I noticed there was something like

a doorknob, and he said "That's not a steel plate;

-that's another vault." -Oh, wow.

And that's when they pulled the bags out.

Bags of what?

-Gold. -Bags of gold?

-Correct. -Gold or gold coins?

-Or, what... -I... My...

My memory is they were small go-gold bars.

Did the bars have any identifiers on them?

I didn't see any. I can't remember if

it was stamped with anything.

And this was the mysterious vault

-that no one knew about? -Correct.

NARRATOR: A secret vault?

Containing gold bars at the Hackley Union National Bank?

Could this have been part of the remains

of the Confederate Treasury

that Kevin believes was smuggled

to Muskegon by Charles Hackley?

If so, does it mean the gold that was once kept

in the Hackley Union National Bank

is connected to the gold

that Kevin is now searching for at the bottom of Lake Michigan?

You've been keeping this quiet for 50 years.

I guess I was instructed, keep this to yourself.

Do you ever hear-- Remember hearing of any tunnels

-at Hackley National Bank? -Yep.

-Have you? -Sure did.

Remember I told you about the steel door?

-Mm-hmm. -Right? And then I was told

that there was a tunnel

leaving Hackley Bank, going across the street.

And I was told it ran underneath a whole bunch of buildings.

And then I was told that there was a tunnel

leaving Hackley mansion, going across the street.

NARRATOR: Tunnels...

connected to the Hackley Union National Bank,

as well as the home of Charles Hackley?

If so, where do they lead?

And what might they contain?

Could you show us where you're talking about, exactly?

Do you want me to drive, or you want to drive?

-Um, I'll drive. -Okay.

NARRATOR: While Brad Richards, Jeff Zehr and Steve Habetler

head out to investigate a possible secret tunnel

in Muskegon...

back on Lake Michigan, just outside of Frankfort,

Kevin Dykstra, Alex Lagina and other members of their team

continue with their sector scan survey of the debris field.

If you look at this shadow right here,

this is kind of rectangular.

Geez!

BRIAN: About three feet long,

this one individual target.

We've always believed that that gold

was contained in something.

They wouldn't just take gold bars

and stick 'em in a boxcar.

They would put them in something.

I don't think doing any more sonar work is gonna help us.

-I think we need to get in the water. -Yep.

I want to get down there and see these targets.

I agree.

KEVIN: The seas are getting rough.

AL: You doing all right, Doc Holley?

You feeling a little nauseous at all?

MARK: Oh, yeah. I'm gonna hurl soon.

-Are you? -Yeah.

-Really? -I'm doing okay, but I'll give you some space.

Do you think you're in a position to dive, or no?

No, I'm definitely not diving today.

Well, Al, looks like it's just you and I, like old times.

FRED: The waves are just getting too rough.

The wind's coming out of the west.

It's coming way too heavy.

If I had a choice, I'd call the day.

STEVE: This is the Hackley home.It t

out on the waters of Lake Michigan,

as Kevin Dykstra is trying to decide

if he and his brother Al

can make a critically important dive...

one that could verify if what they saw last year

is, in fact, a debris field

containing bars of Civil War gold.

Unfortunately, the water on the lake

has taken a turn for the worse.

We need to see what's down there.

BRIAN: We can do that, but if you want to get in the water,

having been a diver myself for many years,

I think it's a very, uh...

dangerous situation to put a diver in.

It's rough.

It's coming way too heavy.

We've only had one incident where you got hurt,

and that's because we went in when we shouldn't have.

NARRATOR: Last year,

while Kevin and the team were attempting a dive

to locate the boxcar in this very area,

high winds and rough waters led

to a near-disastrous accident.

[grunts]

ALEX: I think, in the name of safety, we should probably wait

for a little calmer weather.

It just doesn't make sense to me.

AL: I mean, you can see the whitecaps.

We typically won't dive with whitecaps.

-It's just too hard. -ALEX: No, I mean, you can get in just fine,

but getting back on the boat's where you run into problems.

Right, yeah, you have the boat hit you in the head,

and you're done.

ALEX: I think we have time

in the schedule to wait for calmer weather,

whether that's later today or tomorrow.

NARRATOR: For Kevin,

the situation represents an agonizing dilemma.

He has come so close to what he thinks

could be the discovery of a lifetime,

only to be unable to find out

whether all his efforts to locate the missing gold

have paid off.

KEVIN: It's a bitter pill when somebody tells you,

you can't dive,

or you shouldn't dive, when we really want to.

Yeah.

Why don't we head back in?

-All right. -Yeah.

But, then, common sense comes in.

It just wasn't safe.

I'm agreeing with you.

I think what we need to do is get this equipment

back up, and, uh, give it a couple hours

and see if the lake calms down

-a little bit. -Mm-hmm. Yeah.

-That sounds right. -I agree.

I think it's a good move.

KEVIN: I think it just goes to show

that no matter what technology,

what resources you throw at it,

the lake will always win.

NARRATOR: While Kevin and the team reluctantly return to shore

to wait for calmer weather,

back in downtown Muskegon...

BRAD: Let's go down towards Terrace Street, right?

Yeah, that's right.

NARRATOR: ...history teacher Brad Richards

and team researcher Jeff Zehr, along with local resident

and former bank employee Steve Habetler,

are traveling to a house which they believe contains

a secret, underground tunnel.

A tunnel that supposedly leads directly into the basement

of Charles Hackley's former home.

BRAD: Steve,

you said you knew about some-some tunnels?

STEVE: Correct.

The rumors that I had heard,

had them spiderwebbing out all over this town.

There's a house near the Hackley house,

that was a starting point for the tunnels

-that I had heard about. -No kidding.

Yes. There it is.

See? Now this is the Hackley home right here.

BRAD: Yup, there's the Hackley home.

Can you point out which house you think had the tunnel

going underneath the street to Hackley's mansion?

Yup, that house right there.

That belonged to another one of the millionaires.

This house connected to the Hackley house

underneath the street by a tunnel.

NARRATOR: In 1897,

Muskegon, Michigan's most prominent citizen,

Charles Hackley,

built a three-story, Victorian-style mansion.

Having already established great wealth

as a lumber baron before the Civil War,

afterward, Hackley's wealth grew exponentially

as he entered both the railroad

and banking industries.

At the time of his death in 1905,

Charles Hackley had a declared net worth

of just over $3 million.

However, he left an estimated $12 million

to local charities.

Could the disparity between Hackley's great wealth

and all he left behind

be due to his involvement in a plot

to steal a portion of the Confederate treasury,

as Kevin Dykstra believes?

So, Steve, you're saying this house here

has a tunnel, all the way underneath the street,

-over to the Hackley mansion? -That's correct.

To the livery stable.

BRAD: To the Hackley house

-livery stable. -STEVE: Livery stable.

And then, according to rumor,

that tunnel then continued on down to the south,

underneath the street,

heading down the hill towards downtown,

and, eventually, to Charles Hackley's office

and also the train depot.

-JEFF: Wow. -Wow. [chuckles]

I was just gonna say. I was just gonna say that.

You're saying there was a tunnel

from his house to the train depot?

-Correct. Mm-hmm. -Wow.

NARRATOR: A tunnel system?

According to Kevin Dykstra's theory,

in the late 1860s,

Charles Hackley built a private rail line

from Ferrysburg, Michigan, to Muskegon,

where it literally came to an end

outside his downtown office.

If, in fact, a tunnel exists

connecting Hackley's home to his office,

it is more than possible he used that tunnel

to secretly transport the stolen gold.

We could research and find out

who owns that now and see if we can get in the basement

-and check it out. -STEVE: Yeah. I'm sure if you

contacted somebody,

-they could let you walk through there. -Yeah.

BRAD: If there's a tunnel between those two houses,

it says a lot could have been going on here

that was covered up.

The only reason you'd need a tunnel

is if you were hiding something, had to move something in secret,

or you just wanted to move in secret.

I feel like we have to try to find this tunnel,

so we have to try to get a peek inside this house.

It all adds up to there was more to this town

-than a lot of people realize. -[laughs] A lot more.

-[chuckles] -STEVE: And I'm sure

that those tunnels will find their start

-at Hackley Bank. -Yeah.

STEVE: I'm getting more and more excited

about the potential of the mystery being solved.

BRAD: That gold went somewhere.

Okay, two divers in the water!,

as Kevin Dykstra and his team

are about to attempt another dive into Lake Michigan.

If successful, they will be able to explore

a debris field that Kevin believes

contains some $140 million

in lost Civil War gold.

These are definitely the seas we're looking for.

-It's a lot better. -KEVIN: These are nice.

Brian, can we start getting this thing ready to deploy?

Yeah, absolutely.

KEVIN: You got that.

NARRATOR: Mark Holley and Alex Lagina

lower the sector scan sonar device

back into the water to guide

the three divers to potential targets

that merit inspection.

MARK: We're on bottom. 43.

BRIAN: Roger that. On bottom.

We have the debris field right in here,

and you've got another debris field another 20 feet out here.

KEVIN: So, really, if we do a radius around the tripod

of about 20 feet, we're gonna see all of those targets.

-Yes, you should. -All right, let's get our gear on.

-I want to get down there. -AL: Yeah, let's do it.

Okay. Diver in the water!

NARRATOR: While Kevin

and Dr. Holley will be equipped with underwater cameras,

Al Dykstra will be using a metal detector

able to discriminate ferrous metals, such as iron,

from non-ferrous metals

such as silver or gold.

Third diver on the surface!

ALEX: I'm really excited

that the guys are gonna head down.

Comm check, Mark?

ALEX: With the sector scan to locate the targets

and the metal detectors to investigate them,

yeah, this could be a dive that-that finds us

some gold, honestly.

Copy.

All right.

What do you see?

[beeping]

You think it'd be more non-ferrous?

ALEX: I don't know. If it is non-ferrous,

there's only a few things it could be.

-[beeping] -NARRATOR: In order to confirm

that the hit is a high-pitched, non-ferrous signal,

Kevin Dykstra listens for himself with Al's headphones.

[beeping]

NARRATOR: Even though it's possible Kevin and Al

have located something that could be made

of precious metal buried beneath the sand,

they currently do not have a legal permit that allows them

to dig or even retrieve artifacts on the lake bottom.

I already got it.

Brian marked the spot.

We have it on the sonar.

NARRATOR: Brian Abbott has pinpointed the location

of the debris field.

The team can now use this information

in their application

to the State of Michigan for a salvaging permit.

FRED: Copy that.

Keep looking and get excited.

I want to know about the gold, boys.

Copy that.

NARRATOR: In order to make it back safely to the boat,

Kevin, Al, and Dr. Holley

can only stay on the lake bottom until their tanks

are down to 500 pounds of air.

KEVIN: In the footage

of what we believe is a gold bar, we clearly see cable.

Al and I have always said, "Find the cable, find the gold."

And we were on top of that cable.

near the city of Frankfort,

brothers Kevin and Al Dykstra,

along with underwater archaeologist

Dr. Mark Holley, may have just made

an incredible discovery.

They have located what they believe

to be the debris field where, last year,

Kevin photographed what he thinks

could have been one of the missing gold bars.

[filtered breathing over comms]

[rapid beeping]

Divers, I would like you to stop.

I want you to give me an air check.

You're breathing awful heavy.

Come on up. Your time is up.

-W-We marked it. -We marked the spot.

Brian marked the spot. We have it on the sonar.

Come on up.

Al was getting high-pitched hits on the metal detector,

no different than what happened last year.

See, there might be gold bars

laying all over the bottom down there,

but we just can't get to it yet.

NARRATOR: Unfortunately for Kevin, Al and Dr. Holley,

after more than a half hour on the lake bottom,

their air supplies are running too low

to continue their investigation...

at least for now.

Time for de-co, come on up.

Have you left the bottom yet?

Copy that, thank you.

NARRATOR: Decompression sickness,

also known as the bends,

could pose a serious threat to the divers.

It occurs when gases like nitrogen

become highly compressed in the body

when a diver is underwater.

When they rise to the surface,

they must do so in short stages,

allowing their body to decompress.

Failing to do so can cause the gases to expand

and form bubbles in the bloodstream.

This, in turn, leads to intense joint pain, vertigo, seizures

and, in some cases, death.

Your two minutes are up. You can surface.

KEVIN: When you're diving, you have

to keep track of your air pressure.

You just don't have that luxury of taking your time.

I-It's really hard to explain, because it's not like

you can just sit down there.

Okay, diver on surface.

NARRATOR: Despite having to return to the surface,

the dive operation has been successful.

The team has not only located the place where, last year,

Kevin obtained footage of a possible gold bar,

they also mapped the area with a sector scan sonar device.

-BRIAN: Divers are well? -We're good.

You're good? Okay.

-KEVIN: We're good. -Did you hear that non-ferrous hit?

-Oh, I did. -[chuckles]

ALEX: We heard you screaming about it.

I was gonna say, maybe you got a little excited down there.

KEVIN: When we saw that cable right there,

we were right back exactly there.

Yeah, and the metal detector was going... [imitates beeping]

KEVIN: Yep, yep, yep.

-That was fun. -Now, that's a dive.

Yep.

To see that debris field, to see

the objects on the bottom of the lake, it's huge for us,

and everything's lining up.

So we are very hopeful that we'll see that gold very soon.

You think you saw any evidence of the potential gold bar,

-or no? -I didn't.

You know, I wanted to get right into that gravel

and move it out but I heard him chirping in my ear.

"Can't touch nothing," so we just fanned above it,

-I didn't touch nothing. -That's the right way to do it.

I mean, nothing. We left every stone unturned.

I'm gonna say that is our spot.

-Yes. -That's where we were.

Thanks to the sector scan, we have GPS coordinates.

-Awesome. -Seriously? We got it?

-So we're right there. -Oh!

BRIAN: I think I can build you

a photomosaic of your area, where you've been,

to, you know, show you the areas where

you've covered with your metal detector and everything.

I can't wait to see that mosaic

that Brian puts together with all that data,

so we can take that to the state of Michigan and help

our chances to excavate this site.

ALEX: We did great today.

We did about as well as we could have today, I think,

and there's a lot more to do, but I got to get back

-to Oak Island. -No.

We're-we're pretty shorthanded out there right now, so...

Tell your dad. Tell him you need to be here.

Honestly, when I talk to my dad, nothing but good things.

But when we get the permit, I'm back.

Fair-fair enough. It's-it's great having you here.

-There's no doubt about it. -Mm-hmm.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Hey, Larry, can you, uh, get us back to shore?

Sure. No problem.

-It was a good day. -Yeah.

ALEX: Yup.

NARRATOR: Two days after a sonar and diving operation

which produced potential evidence of some $140 million

at the bottom of Lake Michigan...

Let's get Marty and Alex on the phone.

NARRATOR: ...Kevin Dykstra and his team gather

in his Muskegon workshop for a video conference

with Marty and Alex Lagina.

-BRAD: Here they are. -Hey.

-KEVIN: Hey, guys. How are you? -There you are.

-MARTY: Hey, guys! -JEFF: Hello!

-BRAD: Hey, Marty and Alex. -Hi, Marty!

-Howdy, howdy. -Hey.

I see you made it back to the island, Alex?

Did-did you have a good trip back?

I did, yeah. It was a lengthy one.

I got delayed a couple times, but I made it eventually.

KEVIN: I'm glad to hear that.

What's going on on the island?

Is there anything you can share from up there?

Well, Kevin, I got to be a little circumspect about that.

I would say, stay tuned.

[laughter]

What we are is thirsty for news.

KEVIN: Well, we investigated

two different sites. One of them

is where we saw what looked like a boxcar.

-Oh, yes. -We got

great images of-of that target.

Then we went over to the area where

we believe we filmed that gold bar.

Okay.

KEVIN: We were getting signals from the metal detector,

which could be gold or silver.

Wow. That's pretty cool.

-We're pretty excited about this, guys. -It must be

exciting and frustrating, I imagine, 'cause you know

legally, you-you probably want to

just at least dig with your foot, I'll bet.

-[Al laughs] -Yeah.

You know, what you said Marty, times ten.

-All right, good. -[laughing]

Literally, we could be an inch away

from millions of dollars' worth of gold,

but legally, we can't do it.

Okay, well, that's as good as you can do.

I mean, until you can move some dirt,

you probably are about as far as you can get, right?

I mean, isn't that a fair statement?

-Yeah, exactly right. -Yeah.

MARTY: Okay, well, do you happen

to know what the criteria are to get a permit?

You know, honestly, we're hoping that,

you know, with Brian Abbott's help and his expertise

in putting a mosaic diagram together

of the bottom of the lake, that it'll be compelling enough

to go to the state and possibly get that permit,

and that's really where we're at right now.

Understood, but who gets the gold bar?

[laughter]

-Hopefully, we do. -[laughter]

KEVIN: Marty really feels like I do--

that we're moving this search forward,

but it's hard.

It's hard to look and not touch,

'cause we don't want to be in trouble with the state.

We need to secure that permit from the state of Michigan.

You know, you-you got this going with the state. That's great.

That's the obvious next step, but in the interim,

what are you gonna be working on?

You know what, guys? You're gonna be excited by this.

We have an older fella with firsthand experience

in a secret vault in the bottom of Hackley National Bank.

So, wait a minute. This guy's talking about

-a secret vault in the bank? -That's right, and

in addition to that,

he says there were secret tunnels in Muskegon,

-underneath Charles Hackley's house. -MARTY: Wow.

Oh, I-I... I'm gonna just, you know, make a wild guess.

You're gonna go find that tunnel. Is that right?

[laughs] That's the plan.

-You gonna be able to get access? -Well, that's what

-we're working on right now. -Do it!

[laughter]

Guys, you're doing great, and, uh, you know,

we obviously wish you a ton of luck.

Get down in that tunnel, get those permits,

and let's talk again soon.

Any-any idea when we can get Alex back?

I will be back there as soon as I can, Kevin, trust me.

All right. Look-Looking forward to it. Thanks, guys.

See you guys. Thanks for the call.

-See ya. -See you guys.

-AL: See you guys. -FRED: Bye-bye now.

KEVIN: I know you heard Marty.

Let's get back to work.

NARRATOR: For the past eight years, Kevin Dykstra

has been following an incredible trail of clues...

a trail that may soon lead to not only millions

in stolen Civil War gold,

but also the truth behind a carefully-constructed

conspiracy that could rewrite history.

But will Kevin and his team

make their next breakthrough discovery

deep down in the frigid waters of a lake?

Or will it be in a tunnel

beneath a millionaire's mansion,

where secrets could be hiding

that are more shocking and disturbing

than anyone could imagine?

NARRATOR: Next time on The Curse of Civil War Gold...

-Wow. -That's something right there about nine foot down.

We're walking right on top of the tunnel.

Do you feel that's a man-made

structure on the bottom of the lake?

-Oh, yeah. -Go get the permit.

BRAD: Charles Hackley had secrets to keep,

-no doubt in my mind. -So, you like secrets, huh?

-What kind of secrets? -I'm gonna show you something

-in the basement. -Oh, look at there!

-[drill whirring] -Yeah, you're through it.

-Look at it. -Oh, wow.

JEFF: This could lead right to Hackley's side door!

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS