Original subtitles

Tonight, on The Curse of Oak Island

Fire up the pump!

There we go.

Showtime! All right, here we go.

I'm excited to finally be digging in the swamp.

We hit the side of a tunnel, gentlemen.

Complete success on this hole.

We could be very, very close to the Money Pit.

We're hot on the trail.

Got a signal, Pete!

What's that? -Oh, my Gosh!

That's bloody silver, mate!

This is what we've been looking for!

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,

mysterious fragments of human bone,

and a lead cross whose origin may stretch back

to the days of 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.

Good morning.

Hey, mate.

For brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

and members of their team,

the recent expansion

of the cofferdam surrounding Smith's Cove

has led to what could be another exciting discovery...

This is far and away much larger

than anything associated with the slipway.

-Yeah. -...one that could provide

important information

about not only when the Oak Island treasure

might have been deposited,

but also, by whom.

See any numerals on it, Rick?

No.

Possible similarity is, this might have been a notch

at one point, but I don't know that.

Yeah. What's got my toes tingling

is all the coins and artifacts that could be in this area.

Hmm. You've not done any of this?

No. I've gone along the top of the rocks, but...

that's where the meat of this structure's gonna be

as far as coins and artifacts trapped underneath.

It'll be interesting to see what Laird's got to say about it.

Yeah, I mean, uh, there's no way we're gonna take this apart

-without his supervision, you know what I'm saying? - No, definitely not.

The hope is that Laird will give us

-the A-OK to do it. -Yeah.

-He is in charge, at the end of the day. -Yeah.

One week ago,

while excavating a section

of the 6,000-square-foot cofferdam extension,

also known as the "bump-out area,"

Rick Lagina and members of the team

began to expose a massive wooden structure.

And this could be oak.

Maybe this is connected

to the U-shaped structure.

Upon closer inspection,

it appeared to be made of oak logs packed with clay.

Incredibly, this construction method matched the reports

made in 1804 by treasure hunter Daniel McGinnis

and members of the Onslow Company

when they excavated the original Money Pit.

Not only did they encounter platforms made of oak logs

at every ten-foot interval,

but at a depth of 40 feet,

they found the oak logs were packed

with a layer of blue clay, which acted as a water sealant.

Here comes Laird.

So, what are we looking at?

We're hoping

-you can tell us.

A bunch of new things.

Wow.

-That's massive. - You've got...

a crossbeam here.

I'm not sure what that is.

Yeah. -This thing is...

I mean, that's U-shaped structure size, isn't it?

- Yeah. Bigger, even, I suspect. -Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, my initial impression

is that I would associate that with the slipway.

Could the structure that the team has found

actually be part of the 18th century slipway,

or ship wharf, discovered last year?

And if so, might they find even more important clues nearby?

Perhaps evidence of something of value being offloaded

from a ship onto Oak Island.

Albeit, there's similar construct here

you've got a... a carry log and then cross pieces.

Yeah.

But this is so much larger than that,

that it defies logic.

But this is like a dogleg.

This. This is where you would have pulled

the ship alongside this area at the end of the slipway.

-Yeah. - Which...

which makes you excited.

-Oh, it bloody well does. -Yeah. Yeah.

So, our quandary is:

how fast can we dig and where can we dig?

I'd certainly like to see this piece,

like, hand-dug as quickly as possible.

-Okay. -This is our one chance

to get answers, right? So...

At least initially, let's...

hand-dig this.

Gary gets in here and finds

what he thinks is gonna be a treasure trove of items,

and, I mean, we're all hoping that to be the case.

So if you're good, Laird, I say we get going.

-Yep. -Okay.

Perfect.

As Rick and members of the team

carefully uncover more of the mysterious wooden structure...

Where are we gonna put it, right here?

...Craig Tester and Jack Begley

meet with Scott Barlow at the Oak Island swamp,

where they are beginning

this year's large-scale investigation

of the area.

Want us to put it here?

Uh, this... this works perfect.

This seems the most stable.

We can just throw the pump out that way.

Having finally received the permits necessary

to dig in the swamp, the Oak Island team

is now more eager to fully drain and excavate the area

to find what may lie hidden there.

It'll work.

Earlier this year,

while investigating a 200-foot-long object

detected by seismic scanning,

the Oak Island team made several compelling discoveries,

including a mysterious paved surface, or pathway.

They also found a circular rock formation

at the northern point,

which the team had dubbed "the eye of the swamp."

This is...

quite a provocative site.

There was something super big going on.

Incredibly, it was after taking core samples

from the same site one week ago

that geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

shared some astonishing data.

And that is, we've got the till, we've got the organic matter,

and it's disturbed.

He determined that not only did significant human activity

take place at the so-called "eye of the swamp"

during the 17th century,

but that the swamp itself may have been artificially created

nearly 800 years ago.

I'm curious. I'm eager. I'm excited about it.

We've worked with the authorities,

we have the permits, and the first stage

would be to drain it down as best possible,

and when that's reached, then we start digging.

Astonishingly, I'm kind of looking forward

to digging there.

Scott, what size pump do you have?

We got two different types.

We have a diaphragm pump we're gonna try using

to see if that'll suck the slurry out of there.

We got a four-inch for over there.

-Oh, really? -Yep.

So, I got this pump just in case.

We have a fallback plan.

In order to successfully drain

the entire Oak Island swamp,

the team will first use a six-inch trash pump,

specially designed to operate in environments

containing heavy amounts of debris.

They will then strategically place smaller, four-inch pumps

at various target sites

in order to remove any remaining standing water.

So we can expect the swamp to be drained

in about a week?

Uh, quite dry in a week.

I mean, most will be done in two days.

You know, to me, the one thing that's gonna be the big t

it's always been wet.

Even when this is, you know, pretty bone-dry out here.

So, uh, where's the water source?

Is it that back pond? And having a pump there

-is gonna be huge. -Yeah.

I'm just excited

to finally be digging in the swamp.

But this is the first year we've gotten permission to be able

to dig it out enough to see the bottom,

to see if there is actually this paved path

or if there's a ship, or...

maybe there's an unknown that's around this pathway.

What if... what if we get to the bottom

and there's... gold coins sitting there?

We don't know what we're gonna find.

That'd be huge. -Another... Yeah.

So... let's turn it on?

-Yep. -Okay.

Fire up the pump, Randy!

As the pumping operation begins at the swamp...

Rick, Peter and Gary continue to investigate

the newly exposed area

surrounding the end of the slipway

in hopes of finding any important clues,

artifacts or, possibly,

evidence of treasure.

So, where can I get in, Rick?

If that is the end of the...

-Mm-hmm. -...slipway/wharf,

that's where you want to be, right?

-Yeah. -And we know that that kind of

flowed into here, because...

there's very few rocks here,

and yet there, there's a whole bunch of 'em.

So I'd like you to just at least do a...

-a quick once-over of this area. -Okay.

-All right. -I know that's gonna be a little sloppy down there, but...

-you're up to it. -I'll try and stand on the stones.

We've got a ongoing puzzle

in Smith's Cove, and if there's

anything to be found, it's at the end of that slipway,

well, hopefully, we'll find it.

I mean, we're all excited,

no one more excited than Gary Drayton.

The hope is we'll find

artifacts.

I'd love to find something, anything.

Got a signal, Pete!

It's actually over this big log.

Somewhere just in here, Pete.

It's in there still.

Let me see if I can dig it out by hand.

What's that? -I don't know.

Now, that has got me stumped.

What is that?

It's a piece of black metal.

Wash it in the water there.

Oh, man, this is interesting.

Wow.

This could be silver, mate.

While investigating the end

of the slipway at Smith's Cove,

Rick Lagina, his nephew Peter Fornetti,

and metal detection expert Gary Drayton

have just made a potentially important discovery.

That's what it looks like.

I don't know if there's some kind of design on it

or whether my eyes are playing tricks on me.

Uh, it looks like some kind of silver tag.

A silver tag?

Could the team have just found an actual piece

of the Oak Island treasure at Smith's Cove?

Why does it have the little scallops in it?

Who knows? I mean, it's probably been down there for, like,

300 or 400 years.

I mean, that's been there a heck of a long time.

Every time I've ever found

Spanish treasure coins made of silver,

they've always had this same patina.

It's oxidized.

It's contact in a saltwater environment, mate.

This had been next to that log, oh, my God,

hundreds and hundreds of years.

And we know how old that cross was.

This could be earth-shattering.

Holy...

Holy schmoly, all right.

- It's a cross. -That's a cross.

Is it possible that Rick, Gary and Peter

have found an artifact that could be connected

to the 700-year-old lead cross

that was unearthed here at Smith's Cove two years ago?

It's a beautiful specimen.

Now we need somebody to look at it.

But we can certainly try to get it tested.

When this is cleaned up, if there is some kind of design,

oh,

we don't know how far back this piece goes.

This is what we've been looking for!

Oh.

I might even go for a swim after this.

This is fantastic!

Let's give Marty a call.

It's what we were hoping to find

artifacts in-in this bump-out.

Well, we found this... what could be silver.

First piece of real treasure found in Smith's Cove.

I think, more importantly, there's a lot of information

that could be gleaned from it.

Caveat is it has to be tested.

Hey. We're down at...

We're down at Smith's Cove

at the, uh, extension of the slipway.

Yeah, we came to the end of it, or so we think.

And I have somebody here that would like to talk to you

for a couple minutes.

Okay, hang on.

I'll spoil the surprise.

We found what could be

a really, really old piece of silver.

Yeah, and it was trapped against

the old log,

the big logs on the slipway.

And it's really, really nice.

I mean, it's almost like a-a large tag.

Um, it's got some kind

of decoration on it that we can't make out.

But it's old. I mean,

this could easily be a friend of the cross.

We keep finding

really interesting things on Oak Island, really interesting.

Lead crosses and old coins and stuff,

but if what Gary found is

a small bar or something of silver,

I'm really excited because that would be treasure.

It's quite a stunning piece, and, uh, hopefully, it has...

a story to tell.

Yeah.

Yeah, we'll send it on.

And we are all kind of amped up about it,

but we got to find more than one piece.

All right. See you.

The next day,

while the excavation at Smith's Cove continues...

Good morning, Terry.

-Hi, Doug, how you doing? -Good.

...geologist Terry Matheson

and historian Doug Crowell are overseeing the core

drilling operation in the Money Pit area.

They are hoping to pinpoint the tunnel leading from Shaft Two,

the first searcher shaft dug on the island

after the Money Pit shaft flooded in 1804.

If successful, the tunnel should lead the team directly

to the original Money Pit

the location of which has been lost

for more than a century.

-We're all... -So, we're all spotted and ready to rock

here on F.25-12.5.

So, this is gonna be an interesting day.

Yup. If this is indeed Shaft Number Two...

Mm-hmm.

...historically, it was 14 feet away from the Money Pit,

but the tunnel only went over

12 feet before the water broke in and chased them out.

The deluge, yeah.

And that's, I think, 12.5 feet away at

the western extent... the farthest western extent

that we think we could find that tunnel.

Built in 1805

by Daniel McGinnis and other members of the Onslow Company,

the Shaft Two tunnel

was constructed at a depth of 110 feet,

just 14 feet southwest of the original Money Pit.

McGinnis was hoping to bypass the man-made flood tunnel

protecting the original treasure shaft and a vault,

which he and his partners intended

to retrieve from below.

Unfortunately, just two feet shy of their target,

the Shaft Two tunnel suddenly flooded with seawater.

Rick and Henskee and the team found Shaft Two.

That is the closest point

that we've ever had to the historic Money Pit.

I'd like to refine that data is all,

but are we close to original works? Yeah, I think.

More so than any other time.

So, at 12.5 feet away,

we'll hit that missing link that we need

-to get the exact alignment of this tunnel. -Yup.

Literally, we are knocking on the Money Pit door right now.

Yeah. - All right.

Tell 'em to fire it up. Let's go get her.

While Terry and Doug continue

to monitor the drilling operation

at the Money Pit area,

Rick Lagina and members of the team,

along with fellow Oak Island landowner Tom Nolan,

arrive at the swamp, where Tom has arranged a meeting

with John Skierka of Great Excavations Incorporated,

a company that specializes in heavy digging equipment.

John, nice to meet you. Thank you for coming.

-Appreciate it. -Nice to meet you.

John has some of the type of excavators that I had

mentioned to you guys that could possibly

go into this bog, and he's here to have a look

just to see if he thinks it's doable,

if we can get this thing out here, but, uh, this is the guy.

I think we all really had a lot of interest in your expertise.

If you want to walk down here, we can show you exactly

what the project is about.

Over the past few weeks,

the Laginas and their partners have met

with numerous contractors to consider different methods

for excavating in difficult environments,

like the Oak Island swamp.

It's a very difficult enterprise,

trying to dig in the swamp,

so Tom Nolan has actually offered an idea,

and he's suggesting that there's a tracked

swamp excavator, if you will, that he believes

you could probably walk in there and dig.

And that's... that's exciting.

Look, a swamp excavator?

We know nothing about it. I certainly

-don't know anything about it. No. We've seen

pictures of them in bogs, but we want this one to go in and

-come back out again. Yeah. Well, so,

most places we go, you wouldn't dare to try and walk in it,

so, in terms of getting out there

and doing what we need to do, I don't see it as being a problem.

So does this thing sort of float?

No. It'll sink down a little bit.

But then you have your ground pressure,

and then you get your displacement, right?

So, all we need to do is run the excavator

like you would normally run an excavator.

Unlike a conventional excavator,

the Trax X300AD-L is equipped with six-foot-wide tracks

known as pontoons

allowing it to maneuver over and in amphibious environments.

It also features a long-reach arm, or boom,

capable of digging as deep as 70 feet underground.

Well, why don't we,

uh, travel down to the end of the swamp

and walk in, and we'll show you exactly the areas of interest?

-Yeah. -Okay. Sounds good.

I'm all

for getting this long-reach excavator. I mean,

you know, it's amazing when you run

those big standard excavators, you know, they look so massive,

but, really, you're limited to about 18 feet,

maybe 22 feet, maybe something like that.

So, I think it's gonna be great.

This is the area we would like to dig.

-How would you do it, John? -Like, if we were

just excavating this pond,

the top three feet off of it, it'd be a day.

Really?

I would come in by that blue stake

over there, and walk along the side

of the excavation area, and I would

start pulling everything this way,

on an angle, and if you're worried about the material,

you can throw all the material behind you over there.

You know, this isn't a get-in and get-out project.

-Right. -'Cause we don't know what we'll encounter here.

So, this needs to stay open for a while

so we really come to an understanding of what it is.

Yeah, and it's gonna be

pretty gentle, a pretty gentle dig in here. You know,

that's a big machine, so just take our time with it.

Yeah.

I know that we have your expertise, we have

your expertise, and we have your expertise.

Between the three of you and the gear,

I think we've got an excellent chance

of investigating all three targets

to the point where we can put 'em to bed.

We should be able to look on

what's underneath her with all that.

And what have you always said?

-If it's there, it's in the swamp.

John, thank you very much.

-Appreciate it. Yeah. I appreciate it.

As a new day begins on Oak Island,

and as the operations at both the Money Pit area

and Smith's Cove continue,

Marty Lagina joins Gary Drayton,

Charles Barkhouse, and Steve Guptill

in the war room.

They have gathered to hear a scientific report

concerning the possible silver tag found two days ago

near the end of the slipway at Smith's Cove.

Well, here's the deal, guys.

It's a pretty good sign that there are only four of us here

to get this information. That means everybody's

out working. That's good.

But, uh, I reached out to Christa Brosseau,

Dr. Brosseau, and she has some results

on some of the stuff you found.

And let's hear what she's got to say.

- Yeah.

Hello.

Hello, Christa.

It's Marty Lagina.

Good.

That looks like iron.

Yes.

-We're quite sure of that. -Yeah.

As an associate professor of chemistry

at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia,

Dr. Christa Brosseau is an expert in the study

of metal objects and particularly

their chemical compositions.

So, you have some, uh, data for us,

which we're keenly interested in.

Um, Gary, why don't you talk about it?

You thought something. You thought it was silver.

Yeah, we found this right next to a log

at the bottom of the slipway.

And when this first came out,

I... thought at first

it might have been pewter.

-But when I looked

at the patina, I'm thinking it's silver,

because I figured that black color

is from oxidization,

contact with salt water.

It had the feel of silver.

It's got the look of silver.

So I'm hoping you're gonna tell us

this is either silver

or pewter.

Okay.

Wow. I'm shocked.

I thought that was silver.

-I wouldn't have thought this was lead. -Yeah.

-That's surprising. - Yeah. -So when you say

"impure lead," just that it's not 100% lead.

Would they use lead to build the slipway?

Well, lead was like the duct tape of the day.

-All the way back to Roman days. -That's true. Yeah.

- They used it for a lot of stuff. - Yeah.

News that Gary Drayton's recent find

is made of lead and not silver

is an unexpected

but not necessarily unimportant development.

If it could be related to the other

lead objects discovered on the island,

like the 700-year-old cross

found at Smith's Cove two years ago,

the team may have obtained further evidence

of European visitation to the island

hundreds of years earlier than was previously believed.

I had to broggle at the side of this log

to-to winkle that out,

and I was certain that was old.

He broggled it out!

Would you please speak English in this conference room?

Okay.

Laser ablation

is a scientific testing method

in which a high-powered laser

cuts microscopic samples from the surface of an artifact.

These samples are then analyzed

to determine the lead's isotope value

and possibly its geographic origin.

The piece of what Gary thought was silver

found near the slipway turns out to be lead.

Initially, I'm disappointed, but then I thought, "Well,

"because it's lead, it could tell us more

than silver ever could because of the isotope analysis."

It's a great test. We have high confidence in it.

And maybe it will tell us the when and where.

Excellent. So we'll have another gander

-at that. - I think so, Gary.

Because, you know, actually,

lead has told us more stories on this island than any other...

-Yeah. -...any other metal.

Yeah, we do.

-That's good. -That's good.

Dr. Brosseau, we thank you.

Uh, I'm sure you're gonna be seeing more of us and our stuff.

-Thank you. - Okay. Cheers.

Look,

that thing's exciting.

Uh, and-and everything she found

is consistent with it being very old.

So let's just let's just remember that

-and go back to our business. How's that? -Yeah.

-Sounds like a plan. -Okay, guys.

-Let's go. -Yeah.

As Marty and the team conclude

their meeting in the war room...

- Hey, Dan. How you doing? -All right.

...veteran Oak Island treasure hunter

Dan Henskee arrives at the Money Pit area,

where Dave Blankenship,

Doug Crowell, and geologist Terry Matheson

are hoping to pinpoint

the tunnel leading off of Shaft Two.

Dan, you came at a really good time.

We're just about into the tunnel zone.

It'd be nice to just put something down the hole

-and say, "Oh, there's a..." -There it is.

Yeah, interesting times.

We're just dialing in

the alignment of that tunnel

off of Shaft Two.

Maybe this is gonna be the big dig.

-Maybe. -DAN H.: Yeah.

-That's we got to hope.

You draining that or putting it up? -Oh, we'll-we'll drain that guy.

This one's good. Okay.

So, we got 98 and a half

-to 108 and a half. - Yeah. 108 and a half.

Super. All right, this one's saying, "Open me first."

-It certainly is.

This is it, potentially, right here, boys.

Whoa! Hold the phone!

It's a it's a very small beginning,

-but I think we have some wood here, gentlemen. -Oh, look, look, look, look.

-Right there. -Oh! Yeah. -Whoa! Hello! Hello!

Where you been all my life?

Hello, Dolly. - Oh, look.

There's more inside.

-There's sawn lumber. - Yeah. Sawn lumber for sure.

Yeah.

In all likelihood, we're right at the edge of the tunnel.

Finding hand-sawn lumber

at a depth of 108 feet

is a major development.

It offers possible confirmation that the team

may not only have intercepted a section

of the Shaft Two tunnel but also that they are

one major step closer to finding the original Money Pit.

This is all diggable here.

Sawn lumber right there. There's the finer sediments.

Yeah.

Okay. Whoa. Come here.

Check this out, Doug.

Look at that.

You can see sand there and a little bit of clay.

That would give water a perfect conduit

from the flood tunnel.

Sand packed inside a layer of clay?

Five weeks ago,

while core drilling between Smith's Cove and the Money Pit

near an area known as the Cave-In Pit,

the Oak Island team found a similar

four-foot section of beach sand

packed between layers of hard clay.

This sand could be the manifestation

of a bygone tunnel.

This discovery also matched an 1897 account

by members of the Oak Island Treasure Company,

who exposed what they believed

to be one of the island's legendary flood tunnels

in the original Money Pit at a depth of 111 feet.

Could it be that the team has intercepted

part of this same flood tunnel?

And if so, could it mean

they are on the verge of finally locating

the original Money Pit?

I think it's starting to be clear

that we could easily have had a very rapid, uh,

flooding out of this tunnel.

We're in the Money Pit right here,

and we're digging towards it.

We're very, very close, uh,

to the Money Pit at this point.

Yeah.

- How you doing? -Well?

We got her.

Do you? What did we find?

Complete success on this hole.

Upon hearing news

that the team working in the Money Pit area

may have intercepted one of the man-made flood tunnels,

Rick, Marty and Alex Lagina have arrived on the scene.

We hit the side of a tunnel, gentlemen.

Oh, wow. That's great.

-That's perfect. -It's perfect.

-So, FG-13 hit the tunnel. -Okay.

-And we have a zinger to show you. -Really?

Check that out, right there.

Look at that. There's sand,

and it's encased in clay, above and below.

We know they lost Shaft Two, so we really feel

that that's good evidence

of sandy material that jetted water

and sand up into the tunnel.

It all came flooding in,

so you got a potential for what Rick's always looking for,

stuff coming in from the Money Pit.

Agreed.

So, uh,

could potentially be close,

uh, to the Money Pit at this point.

Terry's a good geologist,

and he thinks that he's hit a section of sand

that isn't bedded.

But I think it could be done intentionally in a flood tunnel,

because sand will transmit a lot of water,

and it would also keep the thing from collapsing.

Which means we have to be very close to what they considered

to be the original Money Pit.

Absolutely. I totally agree with Marty.

We're-we're close.

Here's the exciting thing.

If this is really the Money Pit,

then maybe one of these things comes up with something.

If you wanted to do one more...

-Right. -...you push it right here and find...

If you're you believe the collapse

-or they didn't get any farther than that. -I think

that's close to the collapse. Yeah, we might

-we might do one out there to confirm that. -You can put one there.

Yeah. So, we'll get this

and we'll see what happens.

Right on.

Later that afternoon,

as work continues at the Money Pit area...

Well, today's the day. - Yeah.

She's rolling down the road as we speak.

...brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

have joined fellow landowner Tom Nolan

at the South Shore road near the swamp.

You've seen these kind of machines before, right, Tom?

-Yeah. Yeah. -Yeah.

This is this is a bigger...

bigger-sized one.

-Yeah. -Thirty 36-ton.

-Oh, boy. -It's a big machine.

Now that the swamp is almost completely drained

after three days of pumping,

representatives from Great Excavations Incorporated

deliver a specialized 36-ton excavator.

Once assembled, it will allow the team

to conduct the most extensive investigation of the swamp

ever attempted,

in an effort to reveal whatever may lie buried

under several feet of mud and muck.

Here we go.

Look at that. Isn't that something?

Great Excavations.

-Hey, John. Welcome back. -How you doing?

Hey. How you doing?

-Hi, I'm Marty. -Hi, Marty.

-John. -Hi, John.

-Yeah, that's a for-real deal there. -That's quite a track.

Oh, I thought it was actually like a pontoon.

It doesn't it doesn't really float, does it?

-Or does it? -It-it does.

- It looks like a tank.Yeah, it does.

Seeing the swamp excavator,

I have a lot of confidence that'll do the job.

The tracks on this thing are enormous.

Plus, it has flotation in it.

So, if Rick's right,

if there are answers in the swamp,

then it could be real important.

It's certainly the piece of gear we need.

Are you gonna have room enough here

-to put it together? It's gonna be tight,

but I think we can do it, yeah.

Okay, so, next step

put that bad boy together.

We're real excited about it.

-Sounds good. We'd be happy to. -Yeah.

-Thank you. -Thank you, John.

We got stuff to do,

but we will be back.

As a new day begins,

and as the team from Great Excavations Incorporated

continues preparations for a large-scale dig

in the Oak Island swamp,

Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with their partner Craig Tester,

gather the team in the war room

for an important scientific report

that has just come in.

Joining them is Dr. Chris McFarlane,

a professor of geochemistry

at the University of New Brunswick,

who has come to present his analysis

of the ancient lead artifact discovered

three days ago at Smith's Cove.

Uh, this is Chris McFarlane,

and he has taken a look at the piece of metal.

Well, we were pretty excited about it, 'cause it was adjacent

to the slipway in Smith's Cove.

Yeah, and that was way down deep.

And you have some information for us, I understand.

Oh, yeah. Now, it's definitely lead,

uh, I'm happy to say.

That particular artifact

ablated beautifully.

I brought some results here.

The, uh...

the one thing of interest is the tin.

Okay? And this thing has a lot of tin in it.

That's, like, nine weight percent tin.

-That's a lot. -Which might explain a little bit

-why it looks kind of weird. - Yeah, it's got

-that strange patina on it. -Yeah.

It's quite high. It's higher than anything I've ever seen.

So what did it tell you?

Well, first off, the slipway artifact

is clearly not of North American origin.

There's a publication

that's a compilation of over 6,000, uh,

measurements of lead isotopes

from ores from all across Europe.

Really valuable data set.

So we want to know where it could be from.

And Europe,

I think, is a good bet.

I would say that the lead

is Italian, French or Spanish.

-Wow. -That sort of neck of the Mediterranean.

Rather than in the Eastern Mediterranean,

more of a Western Mediterranean flavor.

-Wow. -That is pretty cool.

This is fascinating. We all know

who used to travel a lot along those trade routes

in the Mediterranean: Templars, baby!

Ancient lead?

From the Western region of the Mediterranean?

Could it be connected in some way

to the mysterious lead cross found at Smith's Cove

two years ago?

A cross that suggested that the stories of the Knights Templar

visiting Oak Island could be true.

Wow, this is a long way from home.

- Yep. - Given the...

the historical context here of the what-ifs and possibilities

of Oak Island

France, Spain certainly,

and now there's an Italian connection,

or a possible Italian connection.

Those last two keep popping up here French or Spanish

but this is the first time the Italians have showed up.

-You're happy about that. -Yeah!

Maybe there's an Italian connection here.

Other than us.

This is extremely interesting.

I don't know what a piece of tin and lead from...

Italy, France or Spain is doing...

Yeah. Eight feet below sea level

and underneath the slipway.

-That's crazy. -It is.

Well, it's interesting from the different potential areas.

I'd like to reach out

to... to Europe and see if, uh,

the amount of tin in there,

uh, can tell us more information.

Well, the analysis from Professor McFarlane

zeroes in on the Mediterranean: France, Italy, Spain.

It's just incredible, right?

So... you know, that's certainly not inconsistent

with the Templars. I mean,

there is data...

that we've acquired that supports it.

And we've had other, uh...

connections to-to that region.

And possible explanations as to the why

of the endeavor here on Oak Island.

So...

it's supported, but at the end of the day,

it's just one more little piece of the puzzle.

We have got to start putting these puzzle pieces together.

The best thing is that we continue to do

some more specific testing, apply more science,

and different testing methodology to give us

more information.

Okay, well, again, thank you, Dr. McFarlane.

Excellent stuff. I'm sure we're going

to be talking with you again.

While search operations continue

at both Smith's Cove and the Money Pit area...

So, it's showtime.

It's showtime.

Big bog.

...Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with their partner Craig Tester

and fellow landowner Tom Nolan,

head to the newly drained swamp.

This is the Tom Nolan quote:

"If there's anything to Oak Island,

the answers are in the swamp."

Well, I think there's something there.

I love it.

I do not like being in the swamp.

It stinks. It's nasty.

But...

if there's something interesting down there,

then I want to see it.

We have to dig. We have to investigate.

And if it takes getting dirty and wet and cold

and miserable and smelly, I don't care.

I want an answer.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, there's a trio.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

Okay, what's in there?

You tell me.

- No, no, no, no. -Mysteries.

All right. Well, why... what are we...

-what are we standing around for? -Saddle up.

- Yeah, let's go. Turn the key, Billy.

Because a thorough draining of the swamp

has always been difficult to achieve,

the area remains one of the least explored on Oak Island.

But recent discoveries,

including Dr. Ian Spooner's confirmation

that the swamp was most likely man-made

some 800 years ago,

has made digging in the area

one of this year's major agendas.

First among the team's list of potential target sites

is the flat, stone walkway discovered earlier this year

by diver Tony Sampson.

So, me and my copilot here,

we need a little guidance here, because we're wondering...

where to start, and I'm assuming...

way at the end of these blue stakes, is that right?

I was only interested in going...

digging to the paved area.

Do you want us to go to the end first,

so we don't mess things up?

-Yes. Go all the way to the end. -Okay. All right, okay.

Today's operation

is particularly meaningful for Tom Nolan.

It was his father, the late treasure hunter Fred Nolan,

who spent more than five decades

of his life being convinced

that the key to solving the Oak Island mystery

would be found in the swamp.

Well, Rick, it's hard to believe

we actually see this machine in the swamp.

You know, if Dad had been here to see that out there, he...

he hardly could've believed it.

Hopefully, we can...

finally get to the "bottom of this."

You know, this thing's just...

Hopefully, this'll be a game changer

for this bog and what we can, you know...

get it to tell us.

You look out there, and I-I see, you know,

look at all the assets we're-we're pouring into this,

and yet, you contrast that with the years

your father labored here, just you and he.

I mean, it's quite a significant difference.

Yeah. I think if we can get out there

and take some of the top layer off,

I think there's things out here to be had, so...

Well, let's clean that out

and see what we got, how's that?

-Let's do it! - All right.

All right, here we go.

After 225 years

of backbreaking work,

frustrating setbacks,

and bitter tragedy,

the Oak Island mystery may finally be on the verge

of being solved.

But as the Laginas and their partners know all too well,

the island does not share its secrets willingly.

There is likely more hardship ahead,

coupled with the ever-present threat

of a curse that says

one more must die

before the treasure can be found.

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

What is that? Stop.

There you go.

That is exactly what Fred found.

Whoo, baby!

Any idea on an age?

- Whoa! Whoa! We've got some wood here.

Look at this. This is cut with an ax.

-This is wood from the original Money Pit. We found it!

There's a huge storm coming.

Category 1. It's headed right for us.

Anything that can become a sail has to be tied down.

It could be catastrophic.

Subtitled by Diego Moraes/ Ewerton Henrique www.oakisland.tk