Original subtitles

Narrator: Tonight on the curse of oak island...

-Rick: It's coming up. -This is the money pit area.

All right. So we have a chance at the treasure.

We're on the right spot.

Marty: I can't wait to see what comes out of that hole.

Rick: You're certain that's bone?

It's big. It's probably a human bone.

It's the bottom of a barrel.

Craig: What would a barrel be doing down there?

That's a component of the original treasure cache.

Gary: Oh, my gosh.

It's a ring. This is a ring, mate.

Lewton-brain: It appears to have been chiseled.

Prior to 1730s.

Possibly spanish.

We're back in business!

Narrator: There is an island in the north atlantic

where people have been looking for an incredible treasure

for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it,

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.

♪ ♪

narrator: A chilly fall rapidly makes way

for another harsh nova scotia winter...

-Okay, watch it. It's coming up. -Gary: I'm confident

we're gonna find some good stuff.

...As brothers rick and marty lagina

have only a few weeks left before they will be forced

to end this year's search operations on oak island.

Today they, along with representatives

from irving equipment limited and roc equipment,

are digging a massive, eight-foot-wide

steel-cased shaft at oc-1,

the site of what they believe could be the original

money pit treasure shaft.

God, I never expected this much wood.

We're gonna follow that hedden wall the whole way down.

Narrator: So far, the drilling caisson

has reached a depth of some 50 feet,

and the progress is proving slower than expected.

This is partially due to the fact that they are digging

through the remnants of a searcher shaft

built by treasure hunter gilbert hedden back in 1937.

-Where is all this stuff from? -Hedden shaft.

Narrator: Reaching a depth of 125 feet,

the hedden shaft is a 12-by-24-foot

wood-cribbed shaft

that was designed to recover the legendary chappell vault,

the seven-foot-high wooden chest

that was first discovered in 1897

and was believed to contain both gold and ancient writings.

Unfortunately, hedden's efforts to reach the vault

were repeatedly thwarted by flooding,

and construction of the shaft was ultimately abandoned.

We're taking apart some of the wall of the hedden shaft,

and if there is anything at all to be found,

it's going to be below the hedden shaft itself.

But we've-we've got a ways to go yet.

Now, what do we expect to find at the bottom of this?

Well, if this is the money pit area,

we're gonna watch for the original wood.

Anything old, anything like that.

Rick: That would mean we're on the right spot.

All right. So we could have a chance at the shiny gold thing?

(laughs)

rick: We have significant hope in this.

As part of this excavation, we may uncover

the terminal point of the original money pit.

So, really, it's a matter of if you find hand-hewn timbers

at depth within this can,

I think we are very close, then,

to positioning the original money pit.

And the hope is, of course,

that the one thing will be, uh, downhole.

I'm very hopeful.

Narrator: It was at this location earlier this year...

Whoa! Look at this.

...That a core-drilling operation

revealed evidence of a wooden structure

some 106 feet deep undergroun.

Terry: This is hand-cut.

-That's very old. -Yeah.

Narrator: When tested,

the wood recovered dated to 1626,

more than 150 years prior

to the discovery of the money pit in 1795.

Using one-inch-thick, 26-foot-long sections

of the steel caissons, the oc-1 shaft will be able

to go as deep as 200 feet to hopefully reach what people

have been looking for for more than two centuries.

We have commenced digging on what rick has termed oc-1,

and I love that location

because I think it's a clearer indicator

of the money pit than anything else.

And I can't wait to see what-- what comes out of that hole.

The hope here to me is nothing to do with treasure.

It's finding a chunk of wood big enough to dendro.

-Yeah. -And then we'll have an idea of who and when.

You have the wood, I'll have the gold.

-(laughs): There you go. -Yeah.

-Gary: I'm with you, scott. -Okay, dave.

(laughter)

narrator: Later that afternoon,

as the digging operation at the money pit continues...

Gary: This is where I want to detect, rick.

Narrator: ...Rick and gary head over to the triangle-shaped swamp,

where they are eager to continue

searching for important clues

connected to the massive stone-paved feature

they unearthed earlier this year.

I've never, ever been able to get in here

because the swamp's always been high.

So, let's do this slow.

-I'm gonna zigzag along the bank. -Okay.

(metal detector beeping)

rick: I love that sound.

The swamp has been probably the most interesting

physical feature on the islan.

We've made some interesting finds,

but there's no connective tissue.

There's a lot of speculative tissue,

but there's no aha moment.

We need to try to unravel this mystery.

(detector beeping)

sounds good, mate?

Be careful, it might be a bit mushy down there.

Might be a little bit squidgy.

Seems to be dead down the middle, still.

-Rick: There it is. -It's out.

(scoffs)

-tin can lid. -Oh.

Gary: Yep.

-Definitely not templar-related. -(chuckles)

(detector beeping)

gary: Yeah. Good signal here.

Another good one.

Be nice to have a good find,

-not just a good signal, right? -Just there.

(detector beeping)

(whoops)

it's a ring.

-This is a ring, mate. -(laughs)

that is a ring.

-Rick: Oh, yeah. -Look at that.

Gary: I don't know what type it is,

so I just don't want to mess with it too much.

And what I like about this...

-Rick: It's a perfect shape. -It's nice and thick,

and there's a, there's a lot of pattern on it.

-Rick: It is quite intricate. -Yeah. That's intricate.

And they did that in old rings,

because a modern ring is more likely to have stones in it.

Stones in it.

Narrator: An ornate ring?

Could this simple piece of jewelry offer an important clue

as to who might have constructed

the elaborate stone formation at the swamp and possibly when?

That is a sweet find, mate.

-I wasn't expecting that. -No.

-Is that top-pocket? -This...

Is a top-pocket find, mate, for sure.

-We're back in business! -(laughs)

sweet!

You are my lucky digger.

-Bloody fantastic, mate. -Rick: Beautiful.

Narrator: After finding an ornate ring

in the mysterious, triangle-shaped swamp,

rick lagina and gary drayton

head to the oak island research center

to share their potentially important discovery.

That one's supposed to be six feet deep.

-Marty: Oh, really? Hey, guys. -Laird: Yeah.

-Hey. -There's a big grin.

-There's a big... -Laird: He's got that look on his face.

You found something, didn't you?

-Something in the top pocket. -Top pocket. Let's have a look.

Fantastic.

-(laughs): I can tell, gary, immediately. -(laughs)

yeah, I can't keep any secrets,

-mate. Here you go. -No.

-Marty: What have we got here? -Gary: A nice, little ring.

Marty: Oh, goodness.

Gary: It was on the edge of the swamp, where it goes

up to the beach road.

Marty: That is clearly a ring

-for a very small finger. -Laird: Yeah.

-That's tiny, isn't it? -Mm-hmm.

-We'll let kelly have a look. -Sure.

Nice design.

Actually very female-looking.

-It has to be. I mean... -Yeah.

-If this was a guy, he was... -Given the size.

-Yeah, he was a small man. -Yeah.

But back in the day, they had small hands.

-Mm-hmm. True. -If this is old.

Laird: We can look at it

-under the microscope. -Let's do it.

Narrator: Using a grobet digital microscope,

laird will be able to magnify

the antique ring and examine its features

up to 2,000 times their actual size.

-Gary: Yeah. Like a flower design. -Kelly: Flowers.

-Yeah. -Gary: At first...

-So, that's the central motif. -Gary: Yeah. -Right.

Strange arrangement of the circles

on the inside of the flowers.

Gary: And like a little wave design.

Well, and that circle, uh, shape

is different than the circle shape that's in the middle.

It's got some green tarnish on it.

Little bit of a silvery sheen to it, as well.

Gary: But I love that silver inlay.

Marty: What silver inlay?

-What are you looking at? -In between the flower design.

Marty: And you think those little white bits

-are silver, huh? -Yeah.

Yeah, I suspect so. Yeah.

Narrator: Silver?

Could rick, marty and the team have found

another piece of actual treasure on oak island?

Marty: What's going on right there? Is that silver?

-No. Silver wouldn't be silver, though. Would it? -No.

That's just-- what that is,

is they've just joined the two ends together.

They braised it or soldered it.

It's a weird way to put two things together.

(chuckling): It seems overcomplicated.

The corrosion is different, though.

I mean, green and reddish.

Uh, so two different kinds of metals, perhaps.

Copper alloy, et cetera.

-Laird: That is weird. -Yeah.

Marty: You know, I was just having a thought;

who was the last person

to have that fall off their finger, you know?

What's the story? Why?

-I mean... -Yeah.

Rick: That starburst has to tell you something.

And I don't know what that means,

but certainly someone would know.

Obviously, this has to go to a jewelry expert, right?

Isn't that what you guys would recommend?

Yeah. It can be cleaned up.

Marty: Well, we've had other jewelry,

and we've brought it to professor lewton-brain

at calgary, and he seemed to have a wealth of knowledge.

So, I got a feeling I know where this one's going.

Yeah.

Rick: It's a significant find.

It's a piece of so-called treasure.

But it's not about just finding it,

it's about revealing it.

There's certainly a pattern on it,

maybe related to some cultural influences.

And it may give us a date.

So we will be bringing in some experts

to take a look at it.

There's a lot of information that could be gleaned from it.

Guys, it's a great find.

Anything like that is fascinating,

and we'll keep exploring it.

But you know what I'm gonna say, gary.

Yep. Now get out there and find some more.

(chuckling): Take your lucky digger and get out there

-and find some more. -Okay, mate. Will do.

-Let's go. -See you soon.

-All right, mate. Cheers. -Marty: See you, guys.

Narrator: The following day...

The hope is today that we get to depth.

...Rick and his business partner craig tester

join geologist terry matheson at the money pit area

to hear an update on the progress being made

at borehole oc-1.

-Hey, craig. -Morning, danny. -What's the good word?

Morning. Uh, just going over the numbers.

So, we have 105.4 for the top-top of the plug.

We are where we should be.

-Okay. -Yeah.

You know, we're getting right to some key areas,

really, from here on down.

So we'll see, once we get below there,

if we're bringing up any wood at all.

-All right. Very good. -I mean,

there's a little bit of unknown here.

If you feel anything, if your pressures spike,

if anything out of the ordinary happens,

-we-we would like to know that. -Danny and craig: Yeah.

And the wash plant is up and operative,

so we can process that material right away.

Danny: All right, then. Very good.

-All right, thank you, guys. -Terry: Okay.

See you later, dan.

Narrator: Having reached a depth of some 105 feet,

the oak island team will now begin

the tedious and painstaking process

of carefully sifting through the massive amounts

of earth and spoils

excavated by the 26-ton hammer grab tool.

Rick: So, we're about to enter a significant zone of interest.

We know the depth of the old wood

that may be associated with the original money pit.

So, as we approach that zone,

we're gonna be looking and quite excited

about going through the spoil.

Narrator: As each load of materials are fed into the nearby wash plant,

two shaker decks will automatically separate

and sort the spoils according to size,

as a series of fixed spray nozzles

clean soil and sediment off any objects.

The resulting piles can then be meticulously searched by hand

for any important clues, artifacts, or valuables.

Gary: What depth are we at now?

Rick: 105 excavation.

And what's the target depth, you know,

where we're gonna get into the good stuff?

Another...

Five feet, give or take.

Look, anything that comes out of this location

will be interesting,

because it's somewhat unknown.

Gary: I want some tunnels,

'cause I'm sure this stuff's

been migrating underground.

Well, we'll find out.

Gary: Heads up!

Terry: See a lot of the sand from the hedden.

-Sand from the hedden backfill. -Yeah, I saw that.

Look. Got two wedges here, mate.

Yeah, I see that. I just took one over.

A couple of them with that pointed end.

Alex: Morning, guys.

-Craig: Morning. -Oh, hey, alex. How you doing? -Hey.

Hey, marty.

-What do we got? -Got some wood.

Alex: Yeah, you can see the new versus the old.

Are they hand-hewn on the--

-on the... -No, they're-they're pit-sawn.

-Straight cut. -They're pit-sawn.

The wood that's coming up, some of it

could be very significant, because it looks straight-sawn.

And straight-sawn lumber was done

for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Maybe that was original stuff.

They should be perfect for dendrochronology, so...

We'll see what the science says.

Rick: I'm thinking we're close.

I'm very hopeful that this will give us some answers.

Gary: Wow! What the heck is that,

hanging off there?

Narrator: While excavating borehole oc-1,

brothers rick and marty lagina

and members of the oak island team

have just unearthed a large and mysterious metal object.

Gary: Wow.

Let's see if we can drag some of that out.

He's gonna scrape it off.

Is that the shoe or the shield?

Shield, probably.

That'd definitely be the hedden...

-Shield, right? -Yeah.

That hasn't seen the light of day since 1936.

Craig: Yep.

Narrator: During construction of the hedden shaft,

gilbert hedden reinforced the structure at the bottom

with a six-foot-tall metal brace, or shield,

to protect the shaft from cave-ins

caused by the flood tunnels.

Could finding hedden's so-called shield

mean that the team is on coure

to reach either the original money pit

or perhaps the chappell vault?

Rick: We always assumed we would at least

tag into a piece of the shield.

And it turns out we have.

So there's high hope for this location.

So we're gonna have everyone looking

with a very discriminating ey,

trying to figure this thing out.

We can't wait. These last couple feet, you know?

I mean, we're just about there. We got--

it's gonna be the results of all this research.

We maybe might find the one thing.

Doug: Anything after this is gonna be...

-Unusual. -Alex: Yep. -Craig: Yeah.

(grunting)

rick: Well, I suppose

I'm gonna head down to the wash plant and put

another set of eyes on it.

See you later.

Narrator: Now that the drilling caisson has passed through the bottom

of the hedden shaft into what the team believes could be near

the original money pit,

anything found beyond this point

could be a game-changing discovery.

Because of this, rick lagina

has joined local historian paul troutman

and other members of the team

as they search through the day's spoils.

Huh?

Oh, wow. Look at that.

What do you think of this?

That look like bone?

Rick: Holy...

Definitely bone.

Yeah.

Rick: Oh, baby.

Paul: Well, it's hollow.

I mean, it's big. It's probably a human bone, it looks like.

Rick: That is huge.

Paul: It is a huge bone.

I would have to get it tested,

but it's a pretty thick bone at that.

Narrator: A piece of bone

found nearly 120 feet deep in borehole oc-1?

Could it be related to the two fragments of human bones

that were discovered in nearby borehole h-8

just two years ago?

Bones that, when tested,

each dated to the 1600s

and were determined to be of european

and middle eastern origin?

I don't think any of us is in any position

to state that this is a human bone.

But it's an aha moment.

We're very close to h-8.

We know those were human bone.

Science has said so.

So is this part of that find?

From that depth, it's very strange.

It is.

So, it was 105 this morning

-when it started, right? -Yep.

So it must be at least 118, 120.

Rick: Yeah. It all points

toward something being significant, right?

Hope we can find it.

Narrator: Later that afternoon,

as the excavation of borehole oc-1 continues,

rick lagina gathers with members of the team

in the war room to hear a highly anticipated report

on the possible silver ring found one day ago in the swamp.

Doug, if you'd be kind enough to-to bring him up,

-and we'll say hello to the gentleman -certainly.

And hopefully get some really relevant information.

-Hello, professor. How are you? -Good.

Narrator: Joining them via video conference

is charles lewton-brain,

a professor at the alberta college of art and design,

who has more than 30 years

of experience as a professional gemologist

and master goldsmith.

Having examined detailed photographs taken of the ring,

lewton-brain has been able to determine

not only when the object was made

but also its possible origins.

Well, it's always good

-when you get something out of your top pocket. -(chuckling)

I've found thousands of rings--

gold, silver, bronze, copper--

and this ring's got me stumped.

So I'm hoping you've got some good news for us.

I'm hoping this is kind of old.

Well, it's definitely kind of old.

I think we could start with that.

The repair is crude.

And because of the way it was done,

it looks like somebody needed it done pretty quickly.

And I think there are two repairs.

I think there was one repair

to make the ring a lot bigger,

and a second repair to make the ring a little smaller.

Gary: It does look like there was a better metal used

for the repair, like silver

-or platinum. -Yes.

It's... It's a good ring.

Well... But on the top part of that joint,

it is still bright silver.

And the ring itself has corroded away,

uh, thinned out from that patch of metal.

So that could mean bronze,

or it could mean a higher copper content to silver alloy.

Where did this floral pattern...?

I mean, is there any cultural influence to it?

The, uh, floral design definitely

appears, um, handmade.

The flower in the center

is rather interesting,

because it appears to have been chiseled.

That is, cut out using chisel,

which implies older in time,

because, um, saw blades don't really become available

to jewelers until 1730s, 1750.

And, um... And so, prior to that,

you would be cutting the metal out with a chisel.

So did I hear you correctly, that it would be pre-1730?

It is.

-Sweet. -And the floral pattern

reads european to me.

-I see. -Uh, possibly spanish.

Narrator: A spanish silver ring?

Dating back to the early 1700s or earlier?

Could it be in some way connected

to the spanish maravedi coin-- dated to 1652--

that rick, marty and the team found six years ago

in the swamp?

Yeah. Now you've pointed it out,

I know that flower designs were really popular

on a lot of the spanish jewelry

that you find from the treasure fleets

-around the world, actually. -Yeah.

Well, you know, whenever we find things,

we're always looking to come to a greater understanding

of possibly the "who" of it, but certainly "when."

that timeline is instrumental in figuring out the who, what,

when, where and why and how of oak island, that's for sure.

So, we thank you for your help. It's been insightful.

Thank you.

-Thank you. -All right, mate. Cheers. -Billy: Thank you.

Gary: I'm hoping there's some more there.

Rick: So, let's go.

Narrator: As a new day begins on oak island...

-Alex: Morning, guys. -Craig: Morning!

Narrator: ....Brothers rick and marty lagina,

their partner, craig tester

and other members of their team are continuing

to oversee the excavation of borehole oc-1,

a borehole which they believe could lead them directly

to the original money pit.

Marty: We should be below the hedden shaft now.

Anything we find should be interesting.

-Yeah. -Right on.

Gary: Finally out of that wood.

Terry: Let's get a look at it.

So, we're in situ now. Sand and silt.

Yeah. That's just what we would expect to see at that depth.

Look at that.

Look at the beveled edge.

There's the stave right there.

Craig: What is it?

It's the top or the bottom of a barrel.

What would a barrel be doing down here?

I don't know.

-You think that's a keg? -I think it is.

I thought it was a piece of plywood initially, but...

There was a stave coming right up with it.

So that's the side of the barrel widening towards

-the barreled-out center. -Rick: Oh, yeah. Look at that.

Marty: Definitely the end of a little barrel.

Doug: This is really interesting because that's a component

of the original treasure cache story.

The guy grabbed the top of a keg as he ran.

Narrator: In 1861,

treasure hunters constructed what came to be known

as "shaft six," located 18 fet east of the original money pi.

At a depth of 118 feet,

they began constructing a lateral tunnel

toward the treasure shaft-- in an attempt

to reach the believed vault from underneath it--

while trying to avoid hitting

the booby-trapped flood tunnels.

It didn't work.

Just two feet shy of their target,

the tunnel was suddenly breached by a rush of seawater,

nearly drowning the workers inside.

But after narrowly escaping with his life,

one of the men did manage to recover an unusual object

in the surge of water and debris:

A piece of what appeared to be a wooden keg barrel.

Terry: Look at that tapered edge.

Can you imagine they were doing that without machining and...?

Doug: That's cool.

Marty: When the collapse occurred,

somebody emerged with the circular end of a barrel.

And then, lo and behold, we come up with a rounded piece.

You know, men were down there.

This is a handcrafted item, so men were down at those depths.

Is it related to searchers or original depositional work?

We don't know yet.

Yeah, people mistakenly think

that all spanish treasure was in chests. It wasn't.

-Most of it was in kegs. -All right.

We keep track of that. We don't want to lose that.

Alex: You hear where we're at?

Probably about 147 or so.

Alex: Yeah. Starting now, within the next couple of scoops,

-we should start hitting it. -Craig: Yeah.

It could be any of these hammer-grabs.

-Is that a...? -That's wood.

Craig: Not sure what that means.

What are we looking at?

Well, we brought up this beam.

It definitely is cut by man, axe cuts on the sides.

Not milled.

-Yeah. That's hand-hewn. -Yeah.

Marty: Some of those pieces

that came out were what I call "half-logs."

where they're flat on two sides, but not on others.

And they were hand-hewn, so,

I don't know of any searcher work done,

specifically done here. No shafts anyway.

I agree, and there's no tunnels that we're aware of.

Alex: What could it be?

Craig: Well, unless there's another tunnel

that we don't have any historical records of,

then-then...

Then it has to go way back to the original people.

So if there's a treasure, it's down another two feet.

Alex: Yup.

Well, we'll find out right here.

Gary: It'd just be nice to pull

a big silver doubloon out.

It'd be fantastic.

It's not showing me a lot of love.

Wow.

That's weird. You're through that wood that fast,

-and then nothing. -Yup.

Marty: That doesn't look promising.

Gary: That's crazy.

Not even a squeak.

Marty: But I don't understand

what that wood represents then.

I mean, what, somebody just buried

a big piece of wood real deep?

Wh-whoever did it, it is undocumented. You're right.

Marty: Looks like we're striking out so far, alex.

Alex: Yup.

Craig: Gentlemen,

-what's the word? -The casing is at 158.

Our shaft is, uh, 158.6.

Terry: You're gonna hit the bedrock plateau.

Craig: Yeah, let's just take one more, and unless...

Unless we see something good, we'll call it quits.

One more grab, and then we'll check it out?

-Yup. -Okay.

Rick: Wow.

Not much of anything in that one.

Narrator: Despite finding compelling evidence earlier in the day,

borehole oc-1 is no longer producing the kind of evidence

or artifacts the team thought they'd be seeing by now.

No. Nothing in there. That's it.

-Let's call it? -It's up to you.

Yeah. No. I'm good.

-We gave it a good shot. -Yeah.

Narrator: The laginas and their partners

will now have to rethink their current strategy,

as it is entirely possible

that both the chappell vault

and the contents of the original money pit

may have shifted over time.

Marty: It looked like we might be on top of the money pit,

and then everything went quiet.

Just because we find the original money pit

doesn't necessarily mean

that whatever was once there is still there.

It could be... Elsewhere.

Shadows are getting long.

We're done with this hole.

Andiamo.

Rick: I think we need to take a step back

and-and look at the data, puzzle these things out,

try to put some puzzle pieces together because,

unfortunately, we're not as fr at putting that puzzle togethr

as I would like to be.

Rick: Well, here we are.

Narrator: The next day, as the team reassesses

their search operation at the money pit,

rick lagina, oak island historian doug crowell

and dave blankenship arrive at

the former home of dave's late father--

veteran oak island treasure hunter dan blankenship.

There, they are also joined

by dave's sister, linda flowers,

who is now the owner of the house.

-Hey, dave. Hey, rick. -How you doing? -Hey.

-Hi. Hi. How are you? -Yeah.

You know rick, and this is doug crowell.

-Yeah. Hey. -Hi, linda.

-This is my sister, doug. -Yeah.

-Nice, linda. -Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

-Good to see you again, rick. -Good to see you.

Yeah. You all wanted to look at dad's papers.

-Yeah. -Let's go around the side of the house here.

The office is open there.

That'd be perfect. Ladies first.

Narrator: Dave and linda have invited rick and doug

to search through their father's

vast collection of research, which dan amassed

over 50 years of living and searching on the island.

Dan's archives also include the records

of previous oak island treasure hunters,

such as m.R. Chappell,

erwin hamilton and gilbert hedden.

This is probably the first time, I believe,

-since-since he passed that... -That you've been in his office?

-Yes. -Oh.

Well, welcome. Welcome.

Thank you.

I don't think there's a day that goes by

that each of us doesn't think of mr. Blankenship.

Personally, professionally,

the loss has affected us in-in a variety of ways.

It's a... It's as I remember.

Linda: Getting cleaned up some.

Dad did a lot of maps.

A lot paperwork. Drawers full,

cabinets full.

Somewhere within this

is that one little clue

-that will help us. -Linda: That's all you need.

That's all you need.

Linda: Take your time

-and, uh, enjoy. -Thank you. Thank you, linda.

Really appreciate it.

Narrator: It is rick lagina's hope

that by examining dan's records,

the team will be able to pinpoint

a more accurate location

for their next drilling operation at the money pit.

Do you want to start with maps,

or do you want to start with paperwork?

Rick: There's hidden gems everywhere, so I think

-we just grab a box and go through it. -Okay.

Rick: It's a bit overwhelming

to walk into dan's office without dan being there.

And it's also a bit overwhelming

in terms of the enormity of the material

that dan had accumulated over a lifetime.

Doug: Wow.

Rick: But to see information

that we've not seen before,

it's incredibly interesting.

And we're gonna try

to focus on the material that might be highly relevant

to the search as it moves forward.

Oh, this is interesting.

-An unbound copy of a map. -Rick: Oh, really?

I've never seen this before, rick. Anywhere.

Dave: Now we're cooking.

Narrator: One day

after being given access

to the personal archive of dan blankenship...

-Charles: Hey, rick. -Hey, everybody.

...Rick lagina, along with members

of the team, meet in the research center

to choose where to conduct

the next large-scale excavation in the money pit area.

With only a few weeks left until they must halt

all major operations on the island

before the onset of winter,

every day now represents a critical opportunity

to make a major discovery.

You know, we all know that we're running tight up against

the, uh, drilling in the money pit.

And so, before we leave this building today,

we have to pick a caisson location.

Steve g.: We've got a lot of data

that keeps on pointing us in a-a similar area,

but that area isn't tight enough.

We need to tighten that circle.

Doug: I have something that might help.

Come up here and take a look at these, guys.

When you and I and dave went over and talked to linda

and they let us see dan's files,

we found a really interesting piece of information.

This is from hamilton,

and it shows

the tunnels he explored.

I think you're gonna be really interested in it.

Narrator: In 1938,

erwin hamilton, a professor of engineering

at new york university, formed a partnership

with oak island treasure hunters

gilbert hedden and frederick blair

to locate the original money pit.

For the next five years,

hamilton and his men devoted much of their time

to reexcavating and exploring

more than 20 previously constructed shafts

and tunnels from search expeditions

dating back to 1850.

Although he and his partners were ultimately unsuccessful

in finding the treasure,

they meticulously documented

each of these shafts onto a survey grid.

He's got the 118-foot shaft

sitting back here behind chappell

with a tunnel seemingly pointing into this area.

This being six?

Yes.

Shaft six is probably the most talked about shaft

besides the money pit

because the collapse was supposed to have filled it up,

and it's the possible debris field

of the treasure chamber.

If we can find that,

it'll help us triangulate where the original money pit was.

The answers are there.

Just wait and see what comes up.

Narrator: One year ago,

rick, marty and the team

drilled a 50-inch-wide exploratory shaft

in an attempt to penetrate the wood-cribbed tunnel

that extends off of the 1861 searcher shaft

known as shaft six.

Because this tunnel was only 18 feet

from the original money pit,

it was rick, marty and craig's hope

that they could intercept it

and then trace it back to the fabled treasure vault's

general location.

We're almost certainly in the tunnel.

I would bet everything on it.

Narrator: They had good reason to believe

that they had hit their target

after making a number of compelling discoveries,

including possible leather bookbinding,

18th century pottery

and a hand-cut oak timber...

Rick: That's oak.

-There's no question about that. -Yeah.

...Similar to those reportedly used

to build the platforms

found in the original money pit.

However, the team was left to conclude

that they most likely missed the shaft six tunnel

since no evidence of treasure was recovered.

When linda, dan's daughter,

provided us access to dan's archives,

uh, the hope was always that there would be

some sort of information down there

that might assist us in locating the cans.

Our best guess at the money pit

is pushing us in the area

-where this is pointing to. -Rick: Well,

it turns out doug was able to find the map,

which will be of immense help

in terms of locating

not only shaft six but the tunnel

associated with it

and thus find the original money pit location.

Doug: This one's to scale, so it did give us

actual dimensions on it.

-So that, you could plot. -Yep.

Doug: And come up

with a spot for this version of six.

Well, I think we all recognize

that we need the best "x" on the ground that we can.

Let's grid this out.

Let's ground-truth it as best we can,

and it becomes a caisson location.

This is probably our best gamble right now.

Find six.

All right. Let's go.

-We ready? -Yeah. Yeah, we're ready.

Here we go.

Narrator: It is the start

of another hope-filled day on oak island

as rick lagina and other members of the team

gather at the money pit area

with representatives from irving equipment limited

and roc equipment.

Armed with a nearly 80-year-old survey map

made by professor erwin hamilton,

they have chosen a new drill site

known simply as 8-a...

Coming down, jared.

...Located some 20 feet southwest

of borehole oc-1.

Rick: What's your hope? How many feet per day?

Vanessa: I do expect to probably have

the can down 30, 40 feet today.

Maybe not excavated out, but the can down.

So, where do you think we should really take a hard look?

Where should we start?

Between 90 and 100 feet. Just really slow down.

Yeah. You got to get real serious at that level.

Okay.

Rick: I think we've done

all the homework that we had to do.

We accessed all of dan's archival information.

My hope is that something will come of it,

because without his assistance, I think we would

literally be at square one.

Charles: You know, when you think about it,

the last time that-that they actually knew

where the money pit was was in 1867.

And since then, up until this point,

it's been everybody's idea where it is.

But the pieces are starting to fit together, right?

I mean, I can't be more confident that we're

right where we're supposed to be.

Feels pretty good taking part

in one of the largest smash-and-grabs

-in the world. -(laughs)

I just feel lucky.

I-I think we're gonna find something really cool.

I hope so, gary.

Too many people have labored too long and too hard

for this not to be real.

We need something to validate all that blood,

all that sweat, all those tears.

This, hopefully, will prove

that all of that was not unwarranted.

The early treasure seekers

were singularly focused on treasure,

but everyone who came after them,

I think there was a component

of trying to understand what happened here.

We're trying to unravel histoy

every bit as much as trying to recover

a supposed long-lost fabled treasure.

Hopefully, we'll get some answers.

I would like for all of us to know

that we labored to an end that we all believed in.

Narrator: For rick, marty and the oak island team,

a frustrating setback at the money pit

has led to what could be

their greatest opportunity yet in their hopes of finding

the mysterious oak island treasure.

But if their efforts are successful,

will they find that the closer

they get to revealing oak island's secrets,

the closer they are

to putting themselves in the path

of its deadly curse?

Next time on the curse of oak island...

Gary: What the heck is that?

Same size as the cribbing spikes that we found in smith's cove.

-These were placed as booby traps. -Wow.

-Vanessa: We're cutting through something. -Gary: Wow.

-Doug: Oh, look at the wood. -Marty: There you go.

-Gary: Wow, look at the size of that. -Yeah!

Gary: This piece is hand-hewn, as well. Look.

This should be the money tunnel.

Steve g.: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at this.

This could be a hinge to a chest.

That's freaking awesome!

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