Original subtitles

Here we go, Rick. So it begins.

It is the beginning of another year on Oak Island.

If this isn't an Oak Island day, I don't know what it is.

But unlike previous years, this one begins with an almost oppressive feeling

of dread.

Yeah, I tell you, Rick, the island took a beating this winter.

One week ago, brothers Rick and Marty Lagina received the troubling news.

that a series of harsh winter storms have left trees and various structures

on the island badly damaged and the roads virtually washed away in

his rush to see the damage for himself rick returned to the island early and

without his brother by his side you had a couple big nor'easters that come

through here it's bad we're talking extremely violent storms there she is

I don't care what Mother Nature has done.

The island can throw whatever it wants at us. We're not giving up.

There he is.

Morning, Rick. Hey.

As two of Oak Island's only three full-time residents, Dave Blankenship

and his wife, Garnett, have been living on the island for more than 25 years.

Although they are used to the challenges posed by the harsh winters of the North

Atlantic, they admit that this was one of the worst they have ever encountered.

Charles has told me that Mother Nature did some business out there. She took it

away from us. We have no road back there.

Really? No road?

No road at all. There's nothing there except rocks.

Come on, let's go take a look.

Let's park over here, Rick.

We'll see.

Wow.

The South Shore Road and the area that insulated it from the Atlantic Ocean has

been virtually washed away.

And with it... any ability to reach the Money Pit area with digging and drilling

equipment. Unless the road can be rebuilt, this year's entire search

operation looks to be over before it even had a chance to begin.

The road is gone. It's literally gone.

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 bits of gold chain a

stone slab with strange symbols carved into it even a 17th century spanish coin

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

hey billy we could have brought you out in a little better weather circumstances

right there was worse days in the day when you look at that yep the loss of

the south shore road has dealt the oak island team a crippling blow the

power and ferocity of the wind and the waves to take that road from the

condition i remembered in to the condition it currently is i was in all

the repairs will cost both time and money two precious commodities

that would be better applied in this year's efforts to solve the 222 year old

oak island mystery we've got to get this up and ready because we've got gear

scheduled to come in and we can't put them off we'll make it passable

in just one week major drill rigs and equipment

are scheduled to arrive any further delays could jeopardize this summer's

entire operation.

It's not like we've got existing grade and we just put gravel over it and call

it a day.

That's not going to happen.

It has to be a complete reconstruct.

And we're up against it right now, you know, like it done yesterday.

Taking a break from their road repair efforts.

Rick, Charles, and Dave head to the war room.

Joining them are Rick and Marty's nephew, Peter Fernetti, and Dave's

father, veteran treasure hunter, Dan Blankenship.

It is the team's first opportunity to update Rick's brother, Marty, on the

full extent of last winter's damage.

Hey, guys.

How's it going?

Well, look, here's the thing.

We have some seriously bad news.

Okay.

The beach road?

It's absolutely, completely gone.

Oh, come on.

Really? The entire length of the road, Marty, from the curve over.

Wow. Can we repair it, or is it, like, irreparable?

No, I think we can repair it. The problem is the timing issue, bringing in

the geotech rig.

A week from now, we need to get some seriously big rigs back there.

All at the same time. All at the same time. Make holes.

Last year, Rick, Marty, and the team invested more than $2 million drilling

four 40-inch wide shafts in an effort to locate the original money pit.

What the hell is that?

Although they did find incredible evidence of ancient man-made workings

more than 160 feet below ground. What the heck is going on down there? The

precise location of the so-called treasure vault still remains a mystery.

This year, the team plans to drill an estimated 40 six-inch wide boreholes to

depths of nearly 200 feet.

Using last year's Gal-1 shaft as their starting point, this method may not only

help the team pinpoint the precise location of the original money pit, but

will also allow them to retrieve whatever artifacts or evidence of

treasure may lie at the bottom.

We find the one thing, we get to the bottom of it, then we commit, you know,

resources to it. With the rig scheduled to come in, We don't have time to fool

around with that road. We've got to get it done.

So that's priority number one.

Well, you know what, though? This could be an opportunity, couldn't it? I mean,

if everything's been moved around like that, couldn't there be an opportunity

to metal detect again?

Yeah. I think the next opportunity, if you will, is to bring Gary in and Gary

Drayton and have him metal detect.

I mean, this is exactly right up his alley.

Storm disturbance, erosion.

Find something. You know, you read about that all the time where people find some

old ship or something because of a big storm.

I mean, in a very conventional sense, it could easily have unearthed a clue. We

just have to find it. Right.

Exactly.

I viewed what Rick told me about the devastation from the storm on the island

as a real positive.

Storms like that often reveal things that have been hidden.

So we're eager to metal detect.

this new area because, you know, it could reveal some secrets that could be

very helpful to advancing the cause here. The other thing we need to squeeze

in before the drilling starts, you know, we've done nothing to disturb C1 for,

what, seven, eight months now, so we need to put another camera down there.

You know, every year it gets better and better, you know, new technology,

cutting-edge stuff, and this is cutting edge.

Hopefully we see something.

No, that'd be great. I mean, look, we not only had...

Same old metal detector hits that then vanished. We never did find the shiny

gold object that a lot of experts said was real, so we should look.

You know, there's one personal question, if you will. I see Craig's not there.

How's he doing?

Oh, guys, I mean, he's struggling, of course, and...

His wife is struggling, and yes, you know, you can feel his absence here

right now. He would normally be sitting right here with me, but it's a terrible,

terrible tragedy.

For the past three years, Drake Tester had become a familiar and welcome face

on Oak Island.

The son of Rick and Marty's business partner, Craig Tester, and stepbrother

to Jack Begley, Drake...

was the youngest member of the Oak Island team.

But in March of this year,

Drake Tester died suddenly as the result of complications following an epileptic

seizure. He was only 16 years old.

It hurts me to see him suffering with this loss.

And I can't even imagine how badly it's hurting him.

The problem with something like what happened to Craig and his family is that

you realize how helpless you are to really do anything.

I mean, you know, what can I say or do to take the pain away from such a

terrible loss?

The Tester family has suffered an incredible loss.

I mean, words fail in a moment like this.

I'm not a parent, but I can only imagine what they're going through.

How's Jack doing?

I guess I would say they both are doing as well as you could expect given a

horrible tragedy.

Well, you give them our love.

I will. You know, it's the only thing we can do.

It's, you know, he has to do this himself, but the only thing we can do is

tell him we supported him.

We're there for him. Yes.

Hearts go out to him.

You know, I'm intending to come out in a few days and I...

I don't know where his heart is right now.

Would I like to see him out here? Yes.

He's instrumental on this team. We would not only miss Drake terribly, we'd miss

Craig. We'd miss Jack.

So I hope he comes. But you know what?

Whatever's best for him. Period.

Okay.

We're set on our task.

We'll get as much done as possible.

You know what?

We should get to the bottom of this, Rick. We should find this one thing for

Craig and for Drake.

I like that thought.

You'll get no argument from me. Let's make it happen.

All right, guys.

Okay, take care. Take care, Marty. See you in a few days.

Well, look at this place. It's ripped out from those storms. Check this out.

The Laginas and their partners have invited metal detection expert Gary

Drayton back to Oak Island.

Because the harsh winter storms caused several areas of the island to suffer

significant erosion, it is hoped that Gary will be able to turn up a number of

interesting artifacts.

Artifacts which may provide important clues that will help solve the Oak

Island mystery.

Yeah, I think we'll leave that area till last. Oh, yeah.

And we'll just cross this little area off.

What I'm trying to do is detect where no one else has detected before.

OK.

Today, they will begin their search at the area on Oak Island known as Isaac's

Point, located on the easternmost part of the island.

Let's just try and grid this out in some kind of pattern.

What I'd like to find is some gold coins.

All right.

With over 25 years of experience as a professional treasure hunter, Gary

Drayton has recovered more than a million dollars worth of surface

artifacts and treasure during the course of his career.

Yeah, I'm getting a faint little blip here. That was a false alarm.

Let's pass on that one. We know that's probably iron.

Now that's a good signal.

His past collaborations with the Oak Island team have yielded a number of

significant discoveries.

That is old. It's an unmade spike.

Last year, he uncovered a large metal spike.

that he believes could have been used in the construction of a 16th century

Spanish galleon.

We've got a coin!

It's a gold coin.

He also discovered a gold-plated 18th century British military button.

I think it says plated. If it says plated, it's a button.

Sounds terrible.

There's a lot of iron around here.

It's not a good sign when it's all over. That's not worth digging.

OK. We'll see what's here. Yeah.

While Peter and Gary continue their search.

OK, let's get this baby in some water, see what happens.

Rick Lagina, along with island historian Charles Barkhouse and Dave Blankenship,

meet with remote camera specialist Jeff Christopherson.

in the area of the Oak Island Money Pit, known as C1.

There it is.

That's a new pro bird, is it?

Two years ago, after drilling an exploratory borehole... Still dropping.

Huge trap.

The team obtained video evidence of a mysterious metallic object some 170 feet

deep underground.

What the hell is that?

It's your gold color, David.

Last summer, the Laginas returned to the site and drilled an even larger hole

using a 40-inch wide drilling caisson in hopes of retrieving it. Going down.

But even repeated attempts to locate the object with the help of professional

diver John Chatterton proved unsuccessful.

What are you seeing?

That's what I'm not seeing.

My visibility is unimpressive here.

Given the conditions he was in, he just simply couldn't locate it. The fact that

the hole was allowed to rest, if you will, almost nine months, should give us

a better shot, better clarity.

Okay, we're looking for several things. We're looking for the shiny gold thing

first and foremost for David and for Charles.

I'm looking to see the size of the room.

Hopefully the room should be stable enough below these nine months.

If we see something, we can safely get a guy back down that hole.

You get this down hole, you get us some pictures. We'll be enormously happy.

All right. Let's find that image.

There are answers to be had in C1.

We're intrigued.

You know, where is that shiny gold object?

New technology surfaces all the time. New camera gear.

We're hoping that that can give us a better shot, a better view of this.

shiny gold object.

In an attempt to photograph every area of the underground chamber, Jeff will be

using the Spectrum 120 camera, which can offer a 360-degree view of underwater

environments to depths of up to 1,000 feet.

Hey, I think I heard it splash.

Oh, it's in the water now.

With combined optical and digital zoom, it can also enlarge objects up to 120

times their actual size.

I'll keep it going down at a steady rate. Let me know when you see anything

of interest.

Okay.

How are we looking?

Still warm.

Be 167 feet when you see the end of the pipe. Yeah.

We should encounter the end of that caisson pretty soon.

To prevent the mysterious underground cavity from collapsing, the drilling

caisson was anchored into bedrock at a target depth of 160 feet.

From there...

A 39-inch wide drill bit was used to cut through the remaining 11 feet of

anhydrite stone to complete the shaft.

We're in it or out of it.

There's the anhydrite right there.

Yep. We got to drop down through that.

Going down.

I don't see your shiny gold thing yet, David.

Not yet, David.

If there's this shiny thing, you're going to see it. The clarity is really

quite good. If there's any reflection at all off of any object, we're going to

see it.

When the camera goes down, you know, initially, I'm a little bit dismayed

because I don't see what we're looking for.

Evidence of the shiny gold object, that's, again, disappointing.

Again, you may want to stop.

We may be in it right now.

Can't tell.

Yeah, there's the ledge. Wow, look at that.

Yeah.

It's at the bottom.

I see some features there.

Let's just do a 360 here.

Okay. Let's see if we get anything of interest.

Are we looking straight down, or are we looking... We're looking off to the side

right now.

The water clarity is pretty good.

Water is clear as hell for a change.

Right, exactly.

Luckily for the team, the silt and sediment that normally clouds the water

has had a chance to settle during the long winter months.

Even at a depth of 170 feet, these images... are the clearest ever recorded

in the c1 cavity to date the clarity was unbelievable and i don't know if it's

simply the fact that the hole was allowed to rest if you will precipitate

out almost nine months or if it's because of the high definition of the

camera system but i was impressed surely by the clarity let's just have a pan

around here

What I'm doing right now, guys, is just looking around in general to get a feel

for this cavern.

I can't help but feel like we're in a very large space here.

Right now, it appears that it's retained its integrity.

So it remains divable.

I'm encouraged that the clay hasn't blocked the cavity, but we're not seeing

what we want to see yet.

I'll say yet.

So this gold item, do we have any idea of what it appears to be? Is it round

like a coin?

I think when we first saw it, we all had different eyes on it, but I think you

were the most interested in it. It does have a curve to it on one side, and I

think that's what intrigued everyone.

My concern is that when this caisson went down, was it in such close

proximity to this install that it was dislodged?

Is it possible that the team's efforts to further widen the hole could have

dislodged the metallic object and resulted in it being buried under

several inches of sediment and debris?

Are we close?

You know, is it something that may have fell off the ceiling?

Is it on the other side of that wall?

Who knows?

Until, you know, we fully examine the cavity, who knows where this is going to

go.

Something I'd like to do, very quickly, let's look down.

That's the bottom. We are... So you're looking straight down now? Now looking

straight down.

Okay, hold up, hold up a minute. Hold up, hold up, hold up.

What is that?

That is, in my opinion, man-made.

Okay, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up.

The heck is that?

After putting a high-definition underwater camera... some 170 feet down

the money pit area shaft known as C1.

Stop. I'll stop.

Rick Lagina and the Oak Island team are astounded by the images they are looking

at on their monitor.

Something right here. I'm seeing a shape there.

Yeah, there is a definite shape.

That is, in my opinion, man-made. Yeah.

Yes. I agree. It looks like a piece of metal with another piece of metal going

through it.

Metal at the bottom of C1?

Yeah, right there. If so, could it have some connection to the mysterious gold

object Rick Lagina and Charles Barkhouse first photographed in the shaft nearly

two years ago?

It looks metallic.

How yellow that is.

It's your gold color. Yeah, it is.

Why is it there? Why is it poking out of the sediment?

To me, the more interesting thing about it is not the item itself, but the fact

that it is buried in sediment. Well, what else is buried in the sediment?

Definitely up and over.

But what is it?

Hard to say what it is or where it came from.

Looks like a tangle of...

little bits of steel and there's even more

over this way i thought i saw

that's

interesting let me just zoom in on there there's something right

right in there yeah

that looks like a bent piece of metal or something it looks to me like almost

like a hook that had fallen is laying against that rock and we've got shadows

indicating that it's laying on the surface yeah there's a hook there

now you see the shadow right there

yes you could stick your finger on right under there and pull this thing off the

wall

There are actually a few objects right there.

Is that or is that not real? Does something protrude from the wall and is

it metallic?

Two key questions.

If it is, human beings put that there. Can you zero in on... Yes.

I'll get you as close as I can.

There's a little something there and it goes out. Raining or something there.

There's a tangle of something that looks almost like, what, wire? Mesh?

You can see the bars.

Yeah, where it's kind of interwoven. Yeah.

When Jeff was panning the camera around, we see this kind of a woven mesh affair.

There's the hook-shaped object, and we're seeing what I can only describe as

a debris field.

In 1861, searchers attempted to reach what they believed were two stacked

treasure chests at the bottom of the money pit by digging an adjacent shaft.

Unfortunately, shaft number six, as it came to be known, began filling with

seawater at a depth of 118 feet.

Soon after, a number of thunderous underground crashes were heard, leaving

workers to speculate that the cribbing at the bottom of the money pit had

collapsed leaving whatever treasure that lay below now scattered across a flooded

underground debris field is it possible that the chamber at the bottom of c1

contains artifacts from that very same debris field we have the hook we have

the mesh we have something that looks maybe retrievable

we've got to figure out a way to go on there and get something yeah at this

point To me, it's looking like a possible dive.

There's a lot down here.

We've not given up on it, I guarantee you that.

Nope.

For short-term answers, this is the best imagery we've ever had.

But I'm of the opinion that it's always best to have eyes and boots to

investigate something.

Something's down there.

I'm just going to check in with my brother, give him all the updates.

Hey, Rick. What's up? We tried the camera, the Spectrum 120 from Inaktan in

C1.

And it looks like there's something down there. Not wood, metal

artifacts.

Some of them, there's something there. There's no question. And a bunch of

somethings. Wait a minute.

You know, there's some weird-shaped metal objects. It's hard to put a name

to them because, you know, they're in the silt.

That's obviously hugely exciting, but, I mean, this isn't a bunch of stuff

somebody dropped in there. No, no, it seems as though the vast majority of the

objects are outside of the hammer grab.

Even you, when you see it, you'll say, well, that's not something that was

thrown down that hole.

But again... Well, it's gigantically exciting, Rick, but I mean, you know, I

hate to do this. I hate to do this to myself and to you because we've been

here before. Right. But in terms of how we retrieve these objects, if there is a

consensus, we should entertain bringing Mike Huntley back.

All right, good. Well, that's great, Rick. That's good. Thanks for sharing

that with me.

I'm on my way. I'm on my way. Safe travels. All right. See you. See you

soon. Bye.

Will putting a diver once again down the C1 shaft finally provide the team with

the physical evidence they've invested millions of dollars hoping to find?

If so, it could answer the questions first asked 222 years ago.

What is buried deep below the surface of Oak Island?

And who put it there?

Later that same day, as the critically needed repairs to the South Shore Road

near completion... Let's try this little clearing up here.

Trying to keep in a straight line.

Metal detection expert Gary Drayton, along with Rick and Marty's nephew,

Peter Fernetti, continue their search for artifacts in the woods along the

island's eastern shore.

That doesn't sound bad.

That's a deep piece.

I think we should dig it. Okay.

I was guessing I'd say it's like an... Here it is. It's iron.

Big chunk of iron.

Dang.

Ooh.

That's not bad.

What is it? It's like an old axe.

Wow.

I think that's like a double woodcutter's axe.

It's pretty cool. It is.

It's probably early 1900s, unless it's a Viking axe and then we're making

headlines. I don't think it is. No.

Okay, mate, let's have a little scan.

Just see if there's any other targets.

No. No.

That was it.

Let's go over here.

That sounds good.

You said there's one here?

That sounds really good.

That's like a coin or a button type signal.

Yeah, it's out, whatever it is.

Where are you?

Hopefully it's something decent.

Didn't sound like a nail, that is for sure.

While exploring the storm affected areas of Isaac's Point, metal detection expert

Gary Drayton has just uncovered a potentially important find.

Is it a coin or a book?

I think that is a freaking coin.

Looks like it.

Very irregular shaped.

Yeah, which is good. That means it could be old.

So where do you think this is?

I think that's old. I think we're in the 1700s. 1700s?

It's a good find for sure.

Although old coins are frequently found on Oak Island, finding one from the 18th

century could be a significant event.

Prior to 1795, the year the original money pit was first discovered, Oak

Island was virtually uninhabited and evidence of human activity was scarce.

If the coin in Peter Fernetti's hand can be dated to sometime before the late

1700s, it might actually have been left there by someone who either buried

treasure on the island or someone who came there trying to find it.

Copper or bronze? Copper.

Copper, for sure. I see designs on it.

On this side here, look at all that design. These lines right here? Yeah.

That's either an English or a French coin, my guess.

It should clean up enough to get just even a little design off it so they can

date it. Sweet.

Brilliant. It's a good find. High five, mate.

After sending the coin found at Isaac's Point off to be cleaned and dated...

Can't speak with it now. Yeah, Rick Lagina and members of the Oak Island

team have returned to lot 18 There they will carefully search through the spoils

for any artifacts brought up from the Galwan hole While it was being dug last

year scrape it Spoils they didn't have time to examine before they had to leave

the island for the winter So the idea then is just to spread this out and go

through at shallower depths. Yeah.

Cover the whole thing. This is where we found the gold-plated button.

That's our spot right there.

That's where Gal is.

Gal number one.

Named after Rick and Marty's parents, George and Ann, Gal 1 was the team's

fourth and final search hole last year.

Using a 40-inch wide drilling caisson, It was dug down to a depth of 160 feet

and yielded a number of what are believed to be significant artifacts.

What do you make of that?

I don't know. That's got to get tested. And I mean, look at all these patterns

on it.

We've got a coin!

It's a gold coin.

Honest to God, a coin out of this spoils pile? I think so. It's either a coin or

a button.

I think it says plated. If it says plated, it's a button.

There you go.

We found some significant items in the Gal 1 caisson.

Items that may indicate that, yes, there's something significant in the

money pit.

Think I should start warming up for my gold dance, Rick?

Yeah, I'm ready to see you dance.

You want to see the gold dance, Gary?

Go for it.

We have learned over the course of the digging and the drilling that we have to

investigate and look at every single piece, every sample bag, every spoils

pile.

We have to look at and analyze all of it.

Who's here?

Marty and Alex.

You know what? We've got two fresh diggers.

Members of the Fellowship of the Dig.

Hey, big brother.

You weren't kidding about the road damage.

Marty and Alex's return signals that operations on the island are about to

return to normal. Alex, Charles.

Good to see you again.

Good to see you. Bittersweet, you know.

What's this?

Here's Craig and Jack.

Craig? Jack?

Good to see you, Craig.

The arrival of Craig Tester and his stepson, Jack Begley, offers a welcome.

and very emotional surprise to Rick, Dave, and the Oak Island team.

The tragic loss of Craig's son, just weeks before he was scheduled to return

to the island, dealt a cruel blow that has been felt by everyone.

Craig has been my friend for 40-some years.

He's suffering with a loss I can't even comprehend.

I was surprised to see Craig and Jack.

It's almost incongruous.

You know, it's almost incomprehensible to understand.

I'm glad he's here because I'm sure this is at least a distraction.

You know, he's able to use his considerable intellect on this.

And I think the same, you know, the same distraction is good for Jack.

So, we're here.

And we're glad you are.

Any luck yet? Yeah, what did we miss so far? Well, you know, the truth is we got

a few surprises to show you both. Yeah. You know, it's, you know. Both? What

about me? My chopped liver?

Chopped liver over here?

Well, we put that new camera down, C1, and it's showing what we believe to be

some objects laying on the floor.

Pictures were very clear.

It appears to show... The water was clear?

Yeah, the water was clear. All the snow globe stuff was gone? Looks like there's

a hook object, and then Rick picked up on this kind of a woven object, kind of

interweaved, laying on the floor.

How do we retrieve them? Diver.

This is the best opportunity we have to investigate C1.

If we task Mike Huntley to dive, we now have a hard target.

And I'll just tell you, I'd pretty much written C1 off. I mean, you know, it

just feels like other things that have happened here, you know, the hits that

vanish. I mean, look, I'll reserve judgment, okay?

Let's go look. It's exciting, Rick. I mean, it's great.

I'm tired of the half answers.

I'm sure Marty is too.

We're all tired of that.

Eyes and boots.

That's how you get answers.

Let's go look, okay?

There's going to be some real surprises here. We've got some high-tech gear and

real professionals coming in.

In the Oak Island War Room, brothers Rick and Marty Lagina have called a

meeting in order to thoroughly prep diver Mike Huntley before he begins his

perilous 180-foot deep descent into the dark, frigid waters of the C-1 shaft.

On the agenda, of course, is Jeff with Inneton.

I mean, the camera work, it's a Spectrum 120 HD, high definition.

Several of us looked at that footage. It was awesome in that moment in real time,

but now we can run it through the ProHawk system and hopefully really get

a good hard look at what we're calling the artifacts.

Frank Schiefelebein is the CEO of Barnett & Associates, a company that

distributes a video enhancement program called ProHawk.

This revolutionary technology can transform soft, dark, or otherwise murky

recorded images into ones that appear incredibly sharp and clear.

Can I ask you a question right out of the chute? You know, you see this on TV

a lot. You see a CSI-type TV. You know, there's a grainy camera that has a

picture of a car, and they say, enhance that. And they go down, and then they

can see the license plate. Is that sort of what you do? No.

no nothing like that okay well we got that clear that that technology doesn't

exist that's baloney yeah the police would love to have that technology but

it doesn't exist i've been meaning to ask somebody who knew what they were

talking about forever if you can work route your film through that prohawk

system i think we can get a good hard look and make an assessment of are these

things real and can mike go down and get him okay we're calling this the hook If

you look down in front of this, you'll see there's a lot of interesting stuff

poking out of the sediments on the floor.

So here we are zooming in on the hook.

I mean, it's hard to enhance that, I would think, because it's pretty clear.

So there's the enhanced overlay in the center.

You can definitely see the shadow up on the upper right.

The lighting is up from this area.

It's hitting this part of the hook. I'm really confident that that is a...

a thing that is standing off in a way that from that rock face if our

preliminary conclusions that there are man-made objects in c1 turn out to be

correct one of those things could be the one object that proves the whole thing's

true again it's that's what you call the t's the oak island t's oh yeah and now

we're fixated on okay how do we get to that how do we how do we ascertain what

it really is and that brings us to this thing we're calling the mesh

Look at this arch here and this one and this one here at roughly a 90 degree to

it and another one back here I can't this guy goes over and then under and I

can't help but Come away with the impression that that this is a woven

object It's anomalous. I mean, it doesn't look like rock. It doesn't look

like it belongs there It doesn't even look like anything that could have been

introduced by us. No, so

And that's what we're calling the shackle. I can see that this is also

casting shadows in different directions depending on how it's illuminated.

Like lengths of a chain to me, like an oval chain.

You can see it. There's an over and under to it, right?

Yep. A chain in a cavern more than 170 feet below ground?

Could this be evidence of a treasure buried at the bottom of C1?

Or something ominous and disturbing?

According to area legends, after Treasure was buried on Oak Island, one

of the slaves forced to dig the booby-trapped flood tunnels was chained

to a post and left deep underground to die.

It was thought that his tortured soul would henceforth guard the treasure and

serve as a curse to those who attempt to find it.

It's intriguing. It's annoyingly intriguing.

Part of me goes, how come we didn't bring up anything with the big clam that

we're digging it up? And we brought up a ton of material, and all the stuff is

just outside of where we were digging? That bothers me.

But I'm glad we're going back down there again, especially you had the hits from

the very first time. That's right, yeah.

One year ago, while investigating the C1 chamber...

Mike Huntley obtained a number of hits with a metal detector. He's got

something on the metal detector.

That's another one right there.

Two feet away from the other one.

All stop?

All stop.

But then, the hits on the metal detector mysteriously disappeared.

Maybe that's what they were. We just never found them. I mean, we've all been

fascinated by the shiny gold object in C1.

So we're going to revisit that footage, and I think it's going to be an eye

-opener. So I'm going to turn it over to Frank, and we're going to get a good

hard look at it. Okay.

This would be the original.

This is the enhanced color. The contrast brings out more of the detail.

Holy smokes.

Again, this was really out of focus, unfortunately.

Well, it looks like it actually has depth now.

I mean, what is it?

It looks man-made to me.

And it's real.

It's real.

Mike, why didn't you grab it?

Well, right here, if you remember, the original video was very cloudy. Yes.

Couldn't really see what it was.

We're running edge sharpening. We enhanced the color.

And then also contrast.

with quite high certainty. It is metal. It doesn't look like rock to me.

The enhanced images of a shiny gold object made it look a lot more like a

real piece of metal and a lot less like a reflection.

I had been in the reflection camp on that. I was about ready to say, forget

about C1. I've always been highly skeptical that there could have been

people that far underground in a flooded chamber.

But if there's a gold rod in there, that is man-made well then i have to

you know suspend disbelief mike what is that in your opinion well anytime you

find gold coins or anything like that not to jump right into that uh they're

encrusted in a lot of material so that might just need to be chipped out of

there with a cold chisel and a hammer it's like gold that's bonded you know

fused to whatever's down there i would think that was gold if i stuck my head

in a little water and saw that c1 is intriguing because it's it's

uncontaminated so if we pull a man-made ancient object out of there it's it's a

game changer below searcher depth absolutely yeah you've given us some

reason to have a look so i think we all were on the table came to believe that

that was a man-made object but at some point we have to carry the fact

that we now believe that is a real object to how do we get it? How do we

recover it?

Pressure's on, Mike. I'll be the tool in the toolbox.

Okay, let's go do it.

With work on the South Beach Road

complete, the way is now clear for diver Mike Huntley and his team.

to stage dive operations at the C1 shaft.

Where is he?

There he is. All right, Dr. Huntley, are you ready? Mr. Lagina, I'm ready for

sure. You ready to get wet?

Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

For brothers Rick and Marty Lagina, this could be the day when they retrieve the

first solid evidence that something of great value was buried in the money pit

more than two centuries ago.

I think we're all excited.

Yeah. Yeah, we are too. We're looking forward to getting some answers for you.

Today, eyes and boots are going down C1 to try to retrieve what we come to call

these artifacts.

When you fall through, are you going to start searching as soon as you enter, or

are you going to drop as low as you can and then come up?

I'll probably go to about two feet above bottom.

We should be able to see it from what we saw yesterday, and just turn so I can

see everything in there within reason.

And then if I can see some targets...

I'm getting those before anything gets stirred up.

In order to avoid disturbing the silt at the bottom of the C1 chamber,

Mike Huntley will be lowered down using a device known as a boson's chair.

This will also allow him to maneuver 360 degrees to observe any and all

potentially valuable objects.

Good morning. How's it going? How are you? Good. Mike. Reed. Reed, nice to

meet you. This is Kerry. Mike, Kerry, nice to meet you.

To ensure Mike Huntley's safety during and after the dive operation, the Oak

Island team has arranged for paramedics and even a decompression chamber to be

on site.

Okay, so this is the chamber we don't want to see you in, right? Yes, it's a

good safety precaution. Hopefully we never have to talk to Dave for the rest

of the day. Yes.

Hello, Dave. I'm Marty. This is Marty. Dave Root. Nice to meet you, sir. So

this is it, huh?

It's the chamber.

Hopefully we don't have to use it.

No, we don't want to use it.

Of the many risks that divers face while descending to great depths, one of the

most dangerous is decompression sickness, also known as the bends.

Prolonged exposure to the harsh underwater conditions will also leave

Montgomery vulnerable to other threats, such as hypothermia.

That's like 40-degree water. I mean, he's got a suit on to protect him, but

that really knocks your temperature down.

There's always a bit of danger in this kind of dive. These are technical dives.

Any time you put a man down inside a 48-inch hole, you know, with all that

gear, and then it's deep, and then it's poor visibility, yeah, I get a little

nervous about it. I want to see that guy come out of the hole in good shape.

Roger that. Loud and clear.

Everything is secure.

Main air back online. Over.

Main air is flowing through.

It's gonna go up in the boat this year.

Roger that.

Hey, finger down.

Mike is gonna go down. He's intrepid.

If anybody's gonna find anything down there, it's gonna be Mike.

These guys are driven to succeed.

Roger that.

While the dive operation in C1 takes place, Rick and Marty Lagina, Craig

Tester, and Dave Blankenship join dive supervisor Dave Pilot in the

communications trailer.

From here, they will be able to maintain audio contact with Mike Huntley.

as well as monitor the live video feed from his helmet.

How does it feel? Usually you're watching on a monitor.

Yeah. A little bit more intense.

Yeah.

That's pretty good.

As Mike's going down, one thing he sees is the casing. So the water clarity is,

you know, still very good, but... We're starting to get a little bit into the

part of the hole that wasn't cased.

OK, all, topside. Stop.

All stop.

My toes are at the top of the tamer.

Perfect.

All right, I just want to drop down a little bit further, topside.

Another four feet, topside.

Roger.

Another four feet, please, Garrett.

You can see I'm in the chamber.

It's a lot of particulate.

I haven't moved my feet since I got down here, and it doesn't take much to stir

it up.

Roger that.

Roger that. So you're going to free yourself from the boson's chair, is that

correct?

Just disconnecting the safety line.

Leaning forward.

And then move ever so slowly.

Unfortunately, Mike Huntley's plan of using the boson's chair in order to

prevent disturbing the thick silt in the C1 shaft is having the opposite effect.

Mike enters the hole and then immediately became clear that there was

going to be water clarity issues, visibility issues at that point. He

changed his game plan.

I think he's doing exactly what he needs to do. He's going all the way around,

all the way around the outer perimeter.

Do you guys see any of that?

No. Negative.

We have zero visibility now. We're totally reliant on what you find. Over.

Can you run the metal detector on the floor?

Mike, we're wondering if you can take the probe and go around the bottom

perimeter.

Although he is now working in virtually zero visibility conditions,

Mike Huntley still has the ability to locate potentially important or valuable

objects with an underwater metal detector.

Can you ask him if he found anything on the floor?

Have you found anything on the floor? Over.

Just to let you know, we've exceeded our 20-minute planned dive. We're now into a

25. The maximum we will go is 35.

If you can live with it, so can I. Over.

The time goes so fast.

You know, we're exhilarated to be having another look, and we're invigorated, but

on the other hand, I get frustrated here. I mean, the clock is ticking, you

know?

Metal? Embedded in the wall?

Could Mike Huntley have finally located the gold-colored object in the bottom of

C1?

He's chiseling something out of the wall. You can hear it.

It is a tense and exciting moment on Oak Island as diver Mike Huntley attempts to

retrieve a possible metal object from the bottom of C1.

Okay, we're at 30 minutes now. I'm going to run you for another three minutes and

then the dive is over.

The ball comes down to meet the floor. He can kind of just scrape that with his

hands and feel if there's something there. I'd say that would be the best

option at this point. I'll stop for a second, Mike.

What they would like you to do is go to the bottom, go around the perimeter with

your hands. Yeah, where the bottom meets the ball, is that what you're saying?

Affirmative.

Put in the bag. Might as well get samples. Please bag up the samples.

Over. Roger that.

Mike Huntley must act quickly.

He has only seconds left to scoop up as much sediment as he can and then make it

back to the bosun's chair.

Be as quick as you can, please. Thank you.

During deep dives, Nitrogen gases can become highly compressed

in a diver's bloodstream.

To remove those gases, a diver must ascend back to the surface slowly and in

stages.

Failing to do so can cause the nitrogen to form bubbles in the blood, resulting

in excruciating pain and, in extreme cases, death.

It is now a race against time.

We're into extreme exposure time now, meaning we're facing not only, you know,

nitrogen building up in his blood, now we're facing hypothermia as well.

We could be getting into a life-threatening situation.

Three seconds to chair. Over. Go to chair.

Roger that. Confirm when you're in the chair, ready to travel.

You can leave that sample bag down there.

I'm trying to deal with this heavy bag of stuff down there, and time is

clicking, and it's getting tenser and tenser.

Leave the bag there. Get yourself in the chair. Over.

Leave the bag.

Leave it there. Okay, I'll stop everything right now. We've got to get

something straightened out. Are you in the chair?

Are you in the chair?

Come again?

Okay,

you're in the chair. You're clear and free to travel, correct?

Roger that. Commencing travel.

Over.

Bring him up slow.

You too, Ryan there. Retrieving you slowly.

Sing out if there's a problem. Over.

Okay, make sure to get him stripped down as fast as you can. Just get him out of

the gear.

Everything. Everything. Strip the suit off. Everything. We got seven minutes.

It's scary because...

If he was somehow caught down there, there's no way you're going to send a

rescue diver down there.

Okay, we're on the clock, boys.

Because Mike Huntley exceeded his allotted dive time, he must now get

inside the hyperbaric chamber as soon as possible.

This will prevent him from getting potentially deadly decompression

sickness.

Okay, here he comes.

You're already at seven minutes to get him.

up the air column out of the hole undressed and in the hyperbaric chamber

seven minutes otherwise there was going to be serious trouble don't worry about

bags or anything just get him over so

it

was a bit of a flurry when he got out of the hole well it has to happen quickly

or he's going to get the bends

He's going to be in the chamber for 71 minutes, but we're going to have to

monitor him after he comes out of the chamber, so that'll conclude our diving

for today. That's fine, that's fine, that's fine.

You know, it's pretty clear we had pushed the limits.

We had pushed the limits of human endurance a little bit.

You know, treasure hunt be damned if you're going to take that risk.

After spending over an hour in the hyperbaric chamber, Mike Huntley

emerges. Oh, he's out. He's out. We better go talk to him.

You can hop up there. Grab a seat there for me.

Although he shows no signs of decompression sickness from his

prolonged dive to the bottom of the C1 shaft, as a precaution, he is examined

by the paramedic team.

So far, all your vitals are normal?

No pain on breathing or anything like that? No.

How are you feeling, Mike?

Feeling good.

Yeah, no, good. Just cold.

Still? Almost cold as water.

Well, we're glad you made it back safe. I wasn't coming empty-handed.

Well, we're going to wait for you before we open that bag.

Okay. In fact, you're going to open the bag.

It was the right thing to do to delay the look-see, if you will, into the bag

that he brought up.

Look, he went above and beyond.

Well done, man. Well done. You gave us a start, I'll tell you that.

It didn't feel right with you sitting in that chamber and us digging through what

you brought up. Just didn't feel right.

So we'll go have a look when you're ready. Cool. I'm ready.

Man, you did a lot of work down there.

That is some nasty looking stuff.

As the team searches the sediment collected from the bottom of C1, with a

pinpointing metal detector they are finding no signs of the metal objects

they were convinced they saw on the underwater camera i mean i'm i'm not

finding anything metal but i would like to go through this more and with the

trough i think it should all be washed just like you said jack we didn't get

what we wanted we got a we got a bag full of muck basically we're still

searching through it but we didn't get we didn't get any of the things we saw

in the video not this time The home run would have been the shiny gold object

there in all its sinuous beauty.

You know, that would have been wonderful, but it didn't happen.

You know what? If this was easy, it would have been done 210 years ago,

right?

It's not easy.

Could the strange metallic object Mike Huntley believes he found at the bottom

of C1 really be the same one Rick and Charles photographed two years ago?

Okay, let's get this out of the way.

One day after the heroin dive operation in the C1 shaft... Back to the spoil

piles. Alex Lagina, Jack Begley, Peter Fernetti, and Gary Drayton

continue to look for important clues and possible treasure in the spoils

excavated one year ago from the search hole known as Galwan.

Come on, baby. All we need is one gold coin on edge.

That's all I'm asking for is just one gold coin.

I'm pretty sure that this part of the spoils is higher up. I don't think we're

going to find much important here.

Well, you never know.

Sounds iron.

And, of course, it's under a rock.

What you got?

Yeah, I think whatever it is, it's moved down a little bit further. Might be able

to pinpoint it.

You sure it's not out yet?

Deeper.

Yeah, my threshold would be blanking if it was out.

Well, it must be pretty big then, if it's this deep, right?

All right, I'm getting out of the excavator. Yeah, come here, Alex.

Reading deep, nine inches.

It's dead under the center of the search goal.

It's a deep reading.

There you go.

Oh, what the heck is that?

Come on. Whoa.

That is sweet.

It's square, too. That is an oldie.

An iron spike located in the Galwan spoils?

When the Laginas excavated the Galwan shaft one year ago, they encountered a

mysterious impenetrable object.

at a depth of 160 feet, as well as a number of artifacts, including

the strange hinge-like piece of metal and the mysterious gold-plated 18th

century button.

Could this be another important clue?

One which indicates that the team is close to locating the original Oak

Island money pit?

Seen one like that before, Gary? I've seen plenty like this. I'm telling you

now. This, I actually know the name of this, guys. This is called a rosehead

nail.

From as far back as 1800 BC to the late 18th century, construction nails

were originally forged by hand, one at a time.

Nails made by this method are known as rosehead nails because of the petal-like

marks on the head of the nail made by the strikes of the blacksmith's hammer.

This is an oldie. I would say that is 1700s.

Maybe even 1600s. No way.

Look at that. Wow. Yeah. Could be the original work.

If the rosehead spike proves significant, it could shed new light on

the numerous artifacts recovered last year from the Galwan shaft.

It's really cool to bring up something like the rosehead nail from Gal 1,

because finding something like that means it's a step in the right direction

towards finding the exact location of the money pit, and from there,

potentially finding the treasure.

We're the first people to hold this for maybe 200 years. Long time. Yeah, long

time. Potentially.

All right, well, let's go show the guys.

All right.

We're anxious to show my dad and Uncle Rick.

If it checks out, it's a big find.

At the home of veteran treasure hunter Dan Blankenship, Rick, Marty, and the

team meet to discuss their upcoming drilling operation in the Money Pit

area.

At the age of 94, there is perhaps no one who knows more about Oak Island than

Dan Blankenship.

On heck are you?

Good. Good.

After purchasing a large stake in the island in the late 1960s, the former

Florida-based contractor moved to Oak Island with his wife, Jane, and never

looked back.

Having spent more than half a century working to solve the Oak Island mystery,

Dan remains an invaluable human resource and now serves as the senior partner and

chief advisor.

to rick marty and the entire oak island team we want to bring you up to speed

about the plans you know as we move forward here what we're looking at is

the drilling program to try to find that vault pattern drilling yes yes exactly

exactly so that's what this pattern is for this year the team is planning

to employ what is known as the geotech system

it will involve retrieving core samples taken at depths of up to two hundred

feet from approximately forty six inch wide holes if successful the team should

finally be able to pinpoint the exact location of the original money pit and

hopefully solve the oak island mystery

We'd like to go to bedrock and all of these holes and maybe I would strongly

advise it Rick if you if you're gonna put holes down there take them to bed I

mean to have Dan excited about any process that we undertake is significant

I mean one of the things we wanted to do was to give Dan proof that a lifetime of

search a lifetime of commitment perseverance and passion for this place

is founded in substance

When we did our drilling in the money pit area, we didn't have that

capability.

Makes a lot of sense.

Well, we're going to get to the bottom of it, Dan. We're going to get to the

bottom of the money pit.

Yeah!

We're checking it off the list.

That's what I want to do.

I hate to interrupt, but look what's coming in the door here. Hey, guys,

we've got company.

What's up, guys?

How's it going?

Dan, how are you? Good to see you.

Hey, Dan.

How you doing, man? Go ahead, Gary.

We've got some stuff to show you guys.

It better be good. Grab a chair.

Oh, it is.

Is it? Yep.

So as you guys know, we've been going over the Gal 1 spoils. Yes.

We've been turning them over, going over them with a metal detector, trying to

find things of interest.

And Gary has our finds.

Wow.

That's a big spike.

What that is, that's an old and forged nail spike, sometimes called a

rosehead spike.

You may be quite right, because it has not got an offset head. Then it will

almost have to have an offset head. Right. First of all, they'd make the

shaft, and then they'd put the head on afterwards.

And then when it's bashed into something...

The shape of it looks like petals, so these type got the name rose-haired

spike. This is pre-1780.

And with that being in that condition, you know, that's an oldie. Where'd you

find that?

On the top of the Galwan spoil pile.

Out of the material that you missed.

Yes. Yes.

Gary is...

more or less an expert on these things because he's been finding them his

entire life and getting them dated by experts.

And so because it's significant to him, it's significant to me.

You've gone through all the gal spoils? Just about.

But I don't think that's a railroad spike, Dan, because that head is

perfectly symmetrical.

Most railroad spikes that I've seen all had offset heads on them. Right. I mean,

it's very significant, in my opinion.

I'd be chomping a bit until I at least had it analyzed and see if they could

kind of date it, you know.

But you think on the surface, by observation alone, you think pre-1780.

Yeah. And I was being conservative.

This could be a lot older. I wouldn't be surprised if this is really old. This

could dip into the 1600s. If we can verify that, I'm holding a piece of the

original money pit.

on the heels of what could be a breakthrough discovery.

Hey, guys. Welcome back. We've had a great start.

Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island team gather in the war room to plot their

critical next moves.

We've got some interesting things that have turned up. We've got some data to

report. We've got some things to discuss.

I think, you know, Gary finding that spike in Gal 1, I'm impressed.

I think we can get it tested in some way, shape, or form.

The Gal 1 area, I think, of the four we dug last year is the most interesting by

far and remains interesting.

Yes.

You know, we had that weird metal and old-looking stuff, and now this.

We got the weird-shaped fastening bolt. We got the button. Now we've got

this spike.

It keeps giving us clues, but what are the clues?

If the spike comes back and it's very early...

And we have an interest in saying to ourselves, hey, if that's there, we find

this in the gal spoil, maybe we should revisit that hole.

For future activity regarding dives, we gave Mike way too many tasks, no

question. He went over on his eco time. Yeah, he just simply can't do all of

these things.

Anyway, it was gotten a bit hairy there. You know, God bless him, he wanted to

complete his task.

Here's the deal. We haven't found or at least retrieved whatever the shiny gold

object is, so I'm all for him doing other dyes, but I think we can lessen

the danger factor.

By keeping it down to one thing only.

Exactly, David.

So let's talk about what his task is. We all agree it's one task. What is it?

Well, we've got multiple targets down there that we're wondering if they're

metal, so I think he should go down with a metal detector and see what he can

find down there on the bottom. Just that.

Metal detector, Mike, don't do anything else, or does he? I suppose he tries to

retrieve it. Absolutely. I don't want to have it hit and... Yeah, and then cover

it up. It's over here. It can come back and can't find it. Bring it up. Find and

retrieve. Yep.

Okay. Two words.

Okay. That sounds like a plan.

Yep.

Look, guys, I mean, we're really glad you

guys are back. I mean...

The pain of missing Drake, you know, I can say this for sure amongst every

guy here, you know, would do anything for you. We miss him. He's a great kid,

a great brother, a great son.

It's a big part of his life out here with you guys.

Yeah, I thank you.

It's going to be tough without him.

But I know he wants us here.

That's the big point.

You know, it's... He was a big part

of all of our lives.

Yes.

I know everyone, he thought of all you guys as family, and I know he wouldn't

want us to stop looking.

You know, I guess to some extent we're going to carry on for him.

It's more than we're going to carry on for him.

We're going to carry on with him.

He's in our thoughts all the time. Absolutely.

The fellowship goes on.

Never feel alone.

I hope it's right for Craig and Jack to be out here. For them.

How it impacts us.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I mean, it only matters that we, the Oak

Island family,

this small one here, can be there for them, support them, care about them.

That's all.

Just remember how we signed that case on. Yeah.

Forever family.

Yeah.

There you go, Brian.

Being here without Drake is tough.

It's really tough.

You want to be my pinpointer today?

Sure. All right. It's been a while.

I would say that this island, it was our place to bond as a family.

And it was really a place where all of us connected.

I know he would want Jack and I to be here to follow our own dreams. I mean,

he was big on following what you believed in.

It's tough to follow your dream when, you know... My dream was never not to

have Drake with me.

Drake Tester was just a great kid. Smart, kind.

I mean, I loved him.

We're all going to miss him terribly.

Drake, why here? Why did you want to come work here as opposed to maybe the

more seemingly exciting money pit or something like that? Why here?

It's just the fact that we could find these box drains that would then prove

the story.

And that's huge for me.

You know, over the history, a number of different families have been out here,

so it's nice to have my family adding to the story.

Did it.

What is it?

Maybe a piece of chest handle?

Yeah, it is a handle. Good call.

We're going to miss him, but he's always going to be with us.

There they go, Drake.

This season on The Curse of Oak Island.

Here we go.

You ready to find treasure?

I'm ready. Okay, let's get up there.

My goal is to find the one thing.

Sweet. Holy smokes.

Spendable, Phil. Right, baby. It means something.

We're nearing the end of the hunt.

We're going to make it impossible to miss.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think we've found the money pit. I know we've found

the money pit.

Might this be the back door to the underground workings under Oak Island?

This is the Templar Cross.

Nothing like that has ever come to surface.

That's bone. Is it human?

Somebody got hurt. When you see an accident unfold before your eyes, it's

very sobering.

It's like a key for a lock within a lock. Having evidence in your hand. This

is it. This is the endgame.

We not only found the money pit, the money pit is real.