Original subtitles

Tonight, on the Curse of Oak Island, a special two-hour event.

Whoa! Not since Moses has the water been held back so well.

Stars align to the island. This is a star map where the actual treasure is.

This is one of your points. There's a huge boulder over here. It could be a

landmark. Look at that.

Almost all of them are leaking.

Oh, we're severely compromised.

We can't function like this. I think we've got something over here. Oh, look!

There's something curved there. Always. I do think this is the 90-foot stone.

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

It is the start of another promising day on Oak Island, as Rick Lagina calls his

brother Marty from the war room to report on the team's recent progress.

Good morning.

Hey, Rick. How's it going out there?

Really good.

You know how we hate to say that, but the last of the sheet files should go in

today in Smith's Cove.

Yes. You know, we're on the brink of starting that project, and it's

exciting.

And it's actually up in the air. Wow, look how fast they're going.

Four weeks ago, Rick, Marty, and their partners, along with the team from

Irving Equipment Limited, began construction on their most ambitious and

costliest project to date, a 525-foot-long steel cofferdam

surrounding Smith's Cove.

Quite impressive.

So far... Nearly all of what will be 117 interlocking steel sheets have been

driven some 25 feet deep into the seabed.

This will allow the team to effectively seal off Smith's Cove from the Atlantic

Ocean, drain the area, and then conduct an intensive excavation.

It's very exciting to be able to really excavate in Smith's Cove, and I think

this sheet piling system is going to do it.

And the hope, of course, is that we will find whatever there is to find in

Smith's Cove.

My hope is who and when those answers will be dealt with.

Hey, Ricky, it occurs to me, you know, we had a lot of trouble just washing the

hammer grab stuff last year, and we're going to be looking for anything we can

find in Smith's Cove.

In past years, all of the team's spoils had to be painstakingly washed.

and then carefully sifted by hand.

I'm not seeing anything.

Back to the spoil piles.

Come on, baby.

The process was not only messy, but was so painstakingly slow that much of the

material couldn't be examined for several days, or in some cases, months.

You know, any thoughts about the massive amount of material?

You know, the good news about that is there's a wash plant, turns out, for

sale at a quarry.

So we're going to go look at it. It's still in operation, so we can actually

fire it up.

Well, good on you, Rick, because it's going to be a logistical issue handling

all that material, especially since, you know, the exercise would be pointless if

we don't search it all.

Absolutely. Good. Can't wait to go and join you. I'll be out there tomorrow.

Appreciate that. We miss you, so I'll get back here. All right. See you

tomorrow, then. All right. See you.

Following the call with his brother, Marty, Rick Lagina, Charles Barkhouse,

Dave Blankenship, and Dan Henske head to Smith's Cove, where the team from Irving

Equipment Limited is about to complete construction of the massive steel

cofferdam.

I think we're just about done.

How many more sheets, Mike?

That's the last one. That's it? Yeah.

How far are these embedded?

Well, you see the 20-foot mark right there? So we've got about 17 feet of

embedment into the dirt.

I'll tell you what, it couldn't have gone better, given all the potential

problems. No, it went quite well, yeah.

But you do believe we've got to put two 6-inch pumps on there? You have to draw

the groundwaters out of it, because if you don't, you'll have a continuous flow

just trickling in all the time that you're going to be battling against, and

you have to get that out to be able to maintain it. Right.

Before the team can begin their excavation of the cove, the entire area

must be completely drained of more than 100,000 gallons of seawater.

To accomplish this, the team will be using two 12-horsepower sump pumps, each

running 15 hours a day.

We have the possibility of finding some, hopefully some culturally influenced

artifacts that...

We'll answer some of the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions. No,

I think you're going to uncover a lot of information here that's going to really

help. I think you and your team should be very proud of what you accomplished,

and we're very grateful for it. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Great, guys.

Good luck.

We can use them.

Later that day, as the team begins preparations to drain Smith's Cove, All

right, where do you want it, Charles?

Look, I got a couple of blocks over here. Why don't we set it up on those,

okay? Jack Begley, Charles Barkhouse, and researcher Doug Kroll install a new

artifact for display at the Oak Island Interpretive Center.

Everybody be careful, because this thing is heavy.

Charles has asked Jack and I to come over and help him move a stone that Fred

Nolan had found years ago.

Fred thought it was a boundary marker or perhaps a pointer stone that pointed

into the swamp, in Fred's opinion.

It definitely was a stone that was worked by man. It was triangular in

shape, made it really unusual.

I wish I had seen it in its original location, but I think it's going to find

a fitting home on display for the public.

I know Fred put great importance on this stone as a survey monument, and it's

been in storage for quite a while, and I've been quite anxious to get it in the

museum.

It's nice that we have it next to the 90-foot stone.

Yeah, when you think of elements in the original legend and the lore of Oak

Island, the 90-foot stone is pretty prominent.

For more than two centuries, the 90-foot stone has been the subject of numerous

theories, speculations, and myths.

It was discovered in 1804 while treasure hunters were excavating the original

money pit.

At every 10 feet, they found evidence of wooden platforms made of oak planking.

But when they reached a depth of 90 feet, they discovered a large olive

-colored slab with a series of strange markings carved into it.

Markings, which when later translated, were believed to read, 40 feet below, 2

million pounds are buried.

When the stone was first removed, it seemed to trigger a booby trap, which

flooded the money pit.

A situation that continues to plague that area of the island to this day.

You know, I'd really like to get back to the book bindery and take another look.

I feel like when we were in the basement there and exploring around, that we

never fully got under all of the foundation of the book bindery itself.

I don't think we did.

This photo is the last known location of the 90-foot stone.

This is it. And we're looking at it, I can tell right now. Right there.

Two years ago, Doug and Charles, along with Alex Lagina, visited the Nova

Scotia College of Art and Design in nearby Halifax.

the place where the 90-foot stone was last seen nearly 100 years ago.

They were hoping to find, if not the actual stone, information that might

lead to its current whereabouts.

Careful of the debris on the floor.

Yeah, geez, look at this place.

But after searching through a virtual maze of basement corridors and crawl

spaces, they found no sign of the mysterious artifact.

I think it's a bust.

Well, we can bring the 90-foot stone back home.

That would be a good day. Mm-hmm. Yep.

I think it'd be worth contacting the book bindery and have another look.

Yeah. About time I made that call.

We'll lock up and get out of here.

Let's get back to work.

Following his review of operations at Smith's Cove, Rick Lagina, along with

Dave Blankenship.

and geophysical engineer John Wannacott travel some 20 miles southwest to the

town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. They have come to check out an industrial

-sized wash plant, one they hope will be able to process the massive amount of

spoils that will be dredged up during the excavation of Smith's Cove.

I mean, we know that Smith's Cove presents

certainly a variety of problems.

One of which is how do you process such a huge volume of material?

And the hope is that this is something that we may be able to utilize as part

of our process.

That's the machine, I take it? That's the machine, yeah. Can you just give us

a basic rundown of the operation?

I mean, I get the point that the material goes in the hopper, but then

exactly what happens?

Well, it's very simple, Rick. You put it in the hopper like you said.

It picks it up at that point and it takes it up to the screener deck and it

does the screening process as they are shaken.

Do you think you could get this started for us so we could take a look at it? I

can start it up if you want. Yep.

Pretty quiet.

It ain't running yet.

As each load of excavated material or spoils is fed into the hopper,

they will be transported by way of a conveyor belt up and into a heavy-duty

grate which will filter out any large rocks or debris.

The remaining spoils are then distributed onto two separate shaker

decks. where they are then sorted according to size soil and bits of

sediment are literally shaken off as a series of fixed spray nozzles wash the

spoils clean they are then deposited into uniform piles that will be further

examined by hand for possible artifacts or hopefully evidence of treasure

we can't do it as we have done before hand washing the material the volume

of material is far too great It's very simple. The wash plant will allow us to

move material, wash it, and then get Gary Drayton to metal detect it.

I'll be honest, I think we should pull the trigger on this. I think we should

really do it and get it set up and get going.

Yep. I know one thing, Gary Drayton's going to be on a pogo stick.

Yeah.

Later that same day... Just say my name, please.

Alex Lagina and Peter Fernetti.

along with metal detection expert Gary Drayton, head to Lot 24, located on the

western side of the island.

Yep. This lot's got a lot of potential.

We'll follow you.

Now that the wooded lots have been largely cleared of brush, Gary will be

able to use his metal detector to scan the area in search of potentially

important artifacts.

And you can see how thick this is. Yep.

I mean, before you couldn't even swing a metal detector in here.

Right. Going through these areas that were previously forested and difficult

to metal detect in, we're really hoping that this trip is going to net us some

pretty cool stuff.

That sounds good.

Should be able to just clear it and get closer to it.

Oh man, this is interesting. Look at that.

What's that? That definitely looks like a ramrod to me.

A ramrod?

An object used in the loading of muskets and early rifles?

How old do you think this would be?

If that's a ramrod to like a brown vest musket, that would put it at late 1700s,

early 1800s.

Wow.

From the early 18th to mid-19th centuries, The land pattern musket,

nicknamed Brown Bess, was standard issue among members of the British Army.

Holy smokes.

Look at these.

These are all British coppers.

All in one spot?

Yep. In the past two years, Gary and the team have found a number of artifacts on

Lot 24, including British musket balls and uniform buttons, which indicate

that Oak Island was once used as an 18th century military encampment, probably

during the time of the American Revolution.

Oh man, that's sweet.

We'll show that to Laird.

Right.

See if there's anything else in the area.

Yeah, we can't pass on this one.

Okay.

Just to the side of it.

I'll use my little trowel.

Wow, that's a freaking bone.

That's a bone, isn't it?

Yeah, that looks like it.

Wow.

Keep that to one side.

See if there's any more in there.

If the bone is determined to be of human origin, it could be one of the team's

most significant finds.

It could provide an important clue as to who was on the island prior to the

discovery of the money pit in 1795.

Is that a bone as well, or is that a rock?

Ooh, a pottery, piece of pottery.

Really? Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Wow, now we're getting interested in a bone and a bit of blue-glazed pottery,

because this is the old stuff.

yeah pretty confident saying this is more than likely early 1700s i think so

yeah pottery possibly from the early 1700s and found buried with a piece of

bone prior to the discovery of the money pit not much is known about the history

of oak island or details about the area's early inhabitants in addition to

the indigenous peoples known as the mi'kmaq Portuguese and Spanish sailors

were known to frequent the waters of Nova Scotia's Mahon Bay as early as the

16th century.

Later visitors included the French and English, many of whom settled here and

began to develop Oak Island as a place for farming and grazing livestock.

If the bone and pottery fragments can be definitively dated to some time before

the late 1700s, it could give insight Not only to who may have inhabited Oak

Island hundreds of years ago, but what they were doing here.

Ooh, look at that.

This is crazy. We got this high-tech metal detector.

Yeah, we would have missed this. And then we're putting our hands in the

hole, pulling out old pottery.

So Gary's reaching into this hole that we've dug, looking for a metal object.

Next thing you know, he's pulling out shards of pottery from the hole. Every

handful, it seems like, that he's pulling out of this hole, he's finding

something significant.

and we haven't even found the metal object yet right let's see what else is

in here yeah i'm on it it's definitely there

where the heck is it must be deeper

oh i see something oh great yeah

what the heck is that that looks like a little

latched on it to a door. It does, yeah.

This is nice. I mean, look at this as a group.

Yep, all in the same area.

What these different pieces of materials tell me, I believe this is a new site,

and that would really be fantastic.

Yeah, Carl, correct?

Yep. I think with the potential British military encampment so close by on the

island... It's totally possible that we've actually found a little bit more

evidence that maybe this part of the island was a staging point for something

else. And potentially even the original works. In this fresh territory, we're

thinking this is potentially another game changer.

Hey, Pete. Hey, I'm out here with Gary and Alex. We found something pretty

interesting. Really?

Where are you? We're on lot 24.

Okay, just give me a few minutes and I'll be there.

Awesome. Okay, mate.

Hey, guys, where are you?

Over here.

After discovering what could be a significant new search site, Alex Lagina

has asked his uncle, Rick Lagina, to come and examine the team's recent

finds.

We've got some good stuff here.

Check this out. We put them on a rock so that we could keep them.

Separate. So this all came out of that hole right there. Yeah.

This is what we were originally digging for, but it looked like an old door

latch or something.

It's a curious, eclectic number of finds.

I mean, that's quite remarkable.

It's significant because we've just been able to access the entirety of Lot 24 by

this mulching program we've undertaken.

And Gary can finally get into these areas which have been inaccessible all

these years.

It's exciting.

So we thought we would stop digging here and maybe get layered.

Yeah, I think you did the right thing. I think we need to move off of here and

let Laird render an opinion.

Although the team would like to continue searching for artifacts on Lot 24, they

are required by the province to suspend further exploration of the area until

they are joined by authorized archaeologist Laird Niven.

It'll be interesting to see what Laird thinks.

Yep, we'll bag it up.

The next morning... Here it comes.

Oh, yeah.

That would be the wash plant proper.

Rick Lagina joins Craig Tester at Smith's Cove to supervise the arrival of

the new 50-ton wash plant.

It's a beast.

Yes, it is.

Oh, yeah, what an armada.

What's different about Smith's Cove is...

There's important information there. We have to be able to process this material

as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Without this plant, I think we're dead in the water.

Hey, Billy.

How you doing? Good.

So what's the plan?

How do you intend to lay this out?

So that truck will pull in first, and we'll unload the conveyors next, and the

wash plant will come off last.

Okay.

For generations of treasure hunters, Smith's Cove has been the starting place

for the entire Oak Island mystery.

It is here that a baffling network of stone box drains were discovered in

1850. And although their purpose is still not entirely known, the box drains

are believed to be the entrance point for the ocean water that fuels the booby

-trapped flood tunnels.

It is also at Smith's Cove where rick lagina and gary drayton made what is

arguably one of the team's most important discoveries a lead cross one

that eerily matches a carving that rick found on the wall of a 14th century

templar prison last year this is what we've come to call the templar cross

if the elaborate wash system is successful at retrieving more important

artifacts during their excavation of smith's cove then all of the hard work

and millions of dollars invested will have been worth it.

Billy, how long do you think it's going to take to put this all together?

I would think this week should put it all in place.

Well, we'll see what Smith's Cove has for us, whether it's gold or... Yeah,

what other hidden secrets are in there, right?

I think it's exciting, but it's going to be a lot of work. It's a lot of work,

absolutely. But it's a good plan, and just implement it and get going.

Yep, absolutely.

Okay. Sounds good. We got our marching orders. Thanks.

As the team begins assembling the massive wash plant at Smith's Cove.

I tend to believe the 90-foot stone has to be somewhere in Nova Scotia still.

I still believe it's out there somewhere.

Oak Island historians Doug Kroll and Charles Barkhouse, along with Jack

Begley, head to Halifax.

Back to the site of the bookstore where the 90-foot stone was last seen.

It is now the home of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, otherwise

known as NASCAD.

Here is why the 90-foot stone is so important to the Oak Island mystery.

It was one of the earliest artifacts described right from the beginning of

the hunt, and it stands as a message of some kind from the original diggers.

Exactly. So that's why it's important. If we can find it, and we can determine

what the characters really were, then...

it'll help us determine what message they were trying to impart so we have a

little bit of a hunt on our hands today yeah this is it right up here yes it

is where do you want to start go up and see joe

see this jack this was the old book binder right here right here this is it

well this looks exactly like the book bindery picture that i saw One of those

two windows is where the stone would have been displayed back when it was a

book bindery.

According to reports, the so-called 90-foot stone was taken to the city of

Halifax in 1865, where it was put on display in the window of the Creighton

and Marshalls Bookstore in an effort to draw investors to the Oak Island

treasure hunt.

But when the combination bookstore and book bindery closed in 1919, the

stone... seemed to vanish without a trace.

Let's get in there and see what we can find.

Hi, good to see you again. Great to see you again. Yes. Good to see you, Joe.

Hey, Joe.

Well, here we are.

Yes, again.

Yes.

As I was telling you on the phone, you know, I just feel we haven't really

explored all of the basement.

It's a real maze down there, that's for sure. Yeah, it sure was.

But we didn't find the stone.

I'd really like to get down there and explore and see if we can get in under

the actual bookbinder itself.

Okay, well, let's have a look.

Awesome. Lead on.

So, how big is, like, the bookbinder? Did it used to be much larger?

No, it was about this size, but on the other side of the building.

Yeah, and it was back more in line with the gray unit here?

Well, why are we going down here?

Well, the entrance to the basement starts here and then moves north.

You'll see when we get down there, Jack, it's really hard to get your bearings.

You'll get disoriented pretty quick.

I think there is a really good chance that Doug's correct, that the 90-foot

stone is hidden somewhere at Nazcat.

It's worth at least a second try, because to be able to bring one of the

major pieces of this puzzle back to the island would be really rewarding.

Ooh.

What have we got here, Joe?

This is a series of basements underneath where the book bindery would have been.

Ooh, careful.

So we're directly under the book bindery right now? Yes, this should be the

space. We haven't been in here before. No, this doesn't look familiar at all.

No, this is... I'm going down. Shall we have a look, Jack? Yeah.

at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the city of Halifax. Oh, man,

be careful. There's all kinds of stuff all over the floor down here.

Jack Begley, Charles Barkhouse, and Doug Kroll are exploring the basement of the

building where Oak Island's infamous 90-foot stone was last seen more than

100 years ago.

That's really creepy.

Jeez.

This is a really gross basement. It's musty. There's cobwebs everywhere.

I mean, everywhere.

Covering the walls, covering everything.

Oops. And there's a lot of just forgotten stuff.

I don't remember us being in here at all.

No. We weren't in any crawl spaces like this.

No, this is not familiar at all.

There's a crawl space back here.

There's a stone back here, but...

It's definitely not big enough.

That building seems to be ever-changing.

We've been looking through the basement, and again, there's new additions, new

partitions. It really is like a maze, and we haven't found the spot I feel is

directly under the bookbinder yet, but we're going to keep looking.

You seeing anything, Doug?

No, rock wall and lots of old brick.

Yeah. This corner's kind of interesting, though, because it looks like it might

have been open at one time.

Yeah, there's a lot of loose brick right there.

There's a lot of wires here, Charles, just to make sure you don't come in

contact with a bear one. Oh, God, I know.

Anything interesting, Jack?

Yeah, there's a bunch of spider webs over here.

There's spider webs everywhere.

There's junk everywhere. You can tell no one's been down in this part of the

basement for a really, really long time.

Hey, guys, you seeing anything yet?

Watch out for rats. That's for sure.

What was that?

I think something just crawled back there.

As Jack, Doug, and Charles continue their search for the 90-foot stone,

Marty Lagina returns to Oak Island, eager to get a first-hand look at the

team's progress while he was away.

All right, Rick, I've been gone a long time.

What did you accomplish?

Everything is in place right now.

I'm just back on the island, and I'm very eager to see what's been

accomplished in Smith's Cove. The guys have done a lot since I've been gone, so

I want to put my own eyes on it.

All right, well, I guess things have changed here, Rick.

Whoa!

Yep.

Whoa! Wait till you see it. I do see it. No, no, you don't.

Not till you walk in the crane pad, will you?

No, that is really cool.

Because we're at mid-tide. Look at that.

Not since Moses has the water been held back so well.

Wait till you stand up there, or else you'll not know the scope of it. Very

impressive.

I say we're ready to dig.

We could hold off pirates with this thing.

I knew the cofferdam was going to be a massive project, but when I came down

that hill and saw it, I really thought, wow, that is quite a structure.

And I know Rick did an enormous amount of work to perfect it.

It's very impressive.

You know, when you get out here, it looks a lot bigger, doesn't it? Back

there, it looks like a small area. Yeah.

Just stand here.

Stand here.

Yeah, yeah.

Water out there.

Mm-hmm.

Man, you've done a lot of work.

Yep.

We all have.

This is going to be fun, but it is going to dish up a load of problems.

Problems aren't easily dealt with. It's the surprises and the finds and the

story of what that U-shaped structure is, what's underneath it, what we might

find in association with it.

Every time we do something out here, it's amazing what the people before us

did, because they didn't have any of these resources.

Nope.

In the early 1970s, Oak Island resident and veteran treasure hunter Dan

Blankenship conducted his own large-scale excavation of Smith's Cove.

It was then, while searching for evidence of the legendary flood tunnel

box drains, that Dan made an unusual and astonishing find.

A 65-foot-long wooden U-shaped structure located some 10 feet deep, and

on it were carved a series of Roman numerals.

But before Dan could carefully examine his mysterious new discovery, severe

storms destroyed the cofferdam and once again buried the U-shaped structure.

It hasn't been seen since.

Quite a project you got going here, big brother.

We, we have a project, yes.

As Rick and Marty finished their inspection of the cofferdam at Smith's

Cove,

Some 50 miles northeast of Oak Island. I think this crawl space has been a catch

-all for things for decades.

Jack Begley, Charles Barkhouse, and Doug Kroll continue their search for evidence

of the so-called 90-foot stone.

Anything, Jack? I'm headed back over towards you guys.

I'm not seeing anything except for just old gels.

Lots of broken glass on the ground, too, guys.

Oh, look at that, guys.

I think we've got something over here.

What do you think that is?

Look at that.

Man, if that isn't close to two feet, I don't know what is.

Does it have any markings on it?

There's something curved there.

It's a stone close to the right dimensions. Close your eyes, Jack. All

right.

There's a couple of letters by the looks of it.

Charles, it looks to me like an L-N.

L-N.

Charles, it's even got rounded corners.

There's no sharp corners on this thing. This may be the stone.

Let's get this up on the deck.

All right. You ready?

Yep, I'm ready.

Here we go.

The reason why we actually did bring a cat rental unit here. Hi, guys.

Hey. How are you lugging in here now? We've got a little something to show

you. Wow.

it doesn't look very little something a little something looks like a little

heavy something that's a big fight heavy whoa holy smokes

all right we're ready

Can I touch it?

It's a smooth rock.

What am I supposed to be seeing? Doug?

Well, gentlemen, this particular stone came from the book bindery in Halifax.

It was in a crawl space in the NASCAD building, right where it was supposed to

be, in my opinion, because I do think that this is the stone that Bowdoin saw

in the book bindery.

The one, wait a second, the 90-foot stone?

The supposed 90-foot stone.

Where's all the inscriptions? There's writing on it. Right. Remember what

Bowdoin wrote about it in 1911?

He wrote that he saw the stone, that the inscription was worn off of it due to

beating leather on it in the book bindery. So supposedly the symbols were

worn off it.

In 1909, upon hearing reports that the 90-foot stone was on display in a

Halifax bookstore, Oak Island treasure hunter Captain Henry L. Bowden traveled

there to see it firsthand.

He was hoping that by finding the original stone and carefully examining

the carved symbols and markings, he might be able to find clues in the stone

that had been previously overlooked.

Unfortunately, when he arrived, he was horrified to discover that the stone was

being used as a slab for beating and cutting leather, and that years of

repeated blows from the bookbinder's hammer had left the inscription so

damaged that it was almost completely worn away.

The only carvings on the stone that Bowdoin could make out were the initials

L and N, but nothing similar to the symbols that had earlier been reported.

Bowdoin left the bookbindery both disappointed and empty-handed.

between when it was found and how long was it beaten on to get, because it

would take a lot to get rid of carvings. Yeah. The literature says they weren't

deeply carved, even when they first found the stone.

Etched or lightly engraved, but Bowdoin said there were only two initials left

on it that he could see at that time.

And if you look right there, gentlemen, you'll see two well-carved initials.

LN? Is this an L?

That's right.

It has the appearance of an LN.

That's interesting. Yeah.

Sounds good so far.

Yeah.

The statement said it was close to 200 pounds.

I'm pretty sure it's close to 200 pounds, isn't it, Jack?

The other things that he said in his statement about the stone was that it

was flat on two sides, that it had rounded corners, that it was about 10

inches thick, about 15 inches wide, and about two feet long.

The dimensions are almost exactly... Is it indigenous to Nova Scotia? If

it's not, that's very interesting.

Because if you're going to get a replica, you're going to get a stone, a

local stone. Exactly.

What they brought in fits a lot of the descriptions of stone.

It checks all the boxes. Same size, same dimension, same weight.

There appear to be some very faint carvings.

In the face of the stone, it could be the original stone.

It could be a huge breakthrough.

It's exciting. It's just the beginning.

Okay, well, do you know that in Stonehenge, just very recently, they did

some kind of laser, and they found all kinds of ancient carvings that you can't

see with the naked eye. Is that right?

In 2002, a team of researchers from Wessex Archaeology and

Archaeoptics in Salisbury, England, conducted a high-tech examination of

Stonehenge. Using high-resolution laser scanners capable of recording details as

small as half a millimeter, they discovered numerous carvings that had

been impossible to detect with the naked eye.

Could this same technology allow the team to recover markings on the

suspected 90-foot stone that could help them find the Oak Island treasure?

There are techniques used at Stonehenge that can find carvings that have been

obliterated. You can see where they were. Look, we tracked down a stone that

was seen almost 100 years ago.

That's encouraging.

This is a real mystery, and we're trying to apply hard science to it, and a real

science with real professionals.

And I think this begets that.

There is information out there. We just have to find it.

Can we see if we can have that done? We need to. See if there's any remains.

Because there are so many marks.

Yeah. If that really is the 90-foot stone, and if we can apply some

technology and actually see the inscription, I'm going to be pretty

excited. And let's get Laird to look at it. Yes. Absolutely. Scanned over the

top of this? No question about it. And I would like a geologist. Yeah.

I think there's a consensus this is the stone that was in the books. It could be

the 90-foot stone.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

The next morning... Let's take a look.

Rick Lagina and Craig Tester head to Smith's Cove.

They are eager to see if efforts to drain the newly enclosed area have been

successful. All right. Cross your fingers.

Once dry, the team will be able to safely excavate the cove in hopes of

rediscovering the mysterious U-shaped structure.

It doesn't look too bad.

This is high tide, right?

This is high tide.

Well, remember what it looked like at low tide.

Yeah, looks quite a bit the same.

Oh, look at that.

Right here, too.

Horns through there.

What Rick and Craig have noticed is not a good sign.

Any leak... no matter how small, will force the team to shut down the entire

Smith's Cove operation.

That's not going to work.

It seems like all the water's coming in right there, doesn't it?

Just those two alone introduce a lot of water.

That one's significant right there.

We've got three major leaks.

We see several locations in the sheet pile works where water is literally

flowing in at a substantial rate.

Almost all of them are leaking.

Look at where the water mark is coming through.

You can't be dewatering this every single day.

No, not that much.

I expected some water coming in. I didn't expect that.

No.

No, that's pouring in there.

Finding what now appears to be several leaks.

in what was supposed to be a watertight barrier is a devastating development for

Rick, Marty, and their partners.

It could mean that after one year of planning and more than $1 million

invested, the operation at Smith's Cove is over before it begins.

We're severely compromised if we fail to staunch the incoming water. I mean, it's

just, we can't proceed.

You cannot.

do a dig at the U-shaped structure and properly expose it. If we're chest high

in liquid mud, it's just not going to happen. But there certainly is a

significant problem at this point.

It's a call. We have to call Mike and see how we can address this. Yeah. We

can't function like this. No.

Shortly after the devastating discovery, that the steel cofferdam at smith's cove

has developed a large number of leaks rick lagina and his partner craig tester

have placed an emergency call to representatives from irving equipment

limited hello hey good morning mike this is uh rick and craig hi guys

we did as you suggested uh we did run the perimeter inside and out and there

is There's more than a few what we consider to be substantial leaks.

Well,

any kind of leaks, there was over 30.

And more significant ones, this is coming inward, there was like five or

six. But that was what we could see above the water level. We don't know how

many were below the water level.

The prime directive, as you well know, Mike, was to get it as dry as possible.

Right. We can't be down there and, you know, dig 10 feet deep and have water

sloshing around our hips. I mean, it just can't happen.

We're wondering if there's some way that, you know, you can address that.

It's the typical emotional rollercoaster ride on Oak Island.

It's beyond frustrating, beyond disappointing, but it just is, and you

have to deal with it and you have to move on.

So there's a silicone that you can get that sets really fast.

You apply that in that lock, but you're going to have to introduce pumping when

you start doing all this because you need to get clear of the water on the

inside.

With applications ranging from common home repairs to commercial construction

and manufacturing, silicone is a rubber-like adhesive capable of creating

a flexible bond.

It is also highly resistant to water, friction, and extreme temperatures.

So if you mark those locks from the inside that are leaking, so now you know

where they are when the tide goes out. So at low tide, you lock the perimeter

on the outside and you apply silicone in that lock.

On the face of the lock, not down the lock.

Right. But on the outside of the water, the pressure of your water will hold it

in. And when the water goes down, it'll still stay there.

And what I'll do is I'll touch base with the office and see if we have the

availability to make a rundown and assist you with that. Well, we

appreciate you working with us, Mike. I mean, we're quite inexperienced in this

arena, so we're relying on your expertise.

All right. Thank you, guys. All right. Thank you, Mike.

Take care. Bye.

The next morning, Rick Lagina, along with his nephews, Alex Lagina and Peter

Fernetti, join metal detection expert Gary Drayton and archaeologist Laird

Niven on Lot 24.

Okay. Here we are. So,

this is what we found.

And we had a metal detector hit here and we started investigating, looking for

the metal object.

Pretty soon we started seeing little chunks of other things in the dirt that

he had pulled out, which is this bag here. Every time I put my hand in the

hole, pulled it back out, there was something else interesting in the area.

So we've got a few different kinds of pottery. Yeah, there's glazed and

unglazed pottery in there. So that's hand-painted pearlware.

So that's 1780s. Okay.

That's nice. That's what we'd like to see. That's a little bit earlier than

the other stuff we've been seeing. Yeah. Yeah.

And there's this metal object that we ended up finding. Not sure exactly what

to make of that.

I thought that was probably like a latch.

Yeah, I mean, it's decorative iron, right? It's been twisted.

So this does make your toes tingle? Yeah, absolutely.

It does.

It does.

Although the ultimate goal of the Oak Island team... is not to find pottery

and pieces of antique metal.

They are hoping that by carefully searching for and examining man-made

artifacts, they can piece together a virtual timeline of what might have

happened on Oak Island prior to the discovery of the money pit in 1795.

So far, the team has found evidence not only of British, but also French and

Spanish activity on Oak Island dating as far back as the 17th century there's a

variety of finds and that's what made it interesting and we can feel rocks in

there so who knows what else is in the old i haven't explored that at all or

put my hand on there but you're indicating there's a substantial amount

of rock in there yeah why would that be it could in theory be a well i mean

there's only one way to find out is to delineate it i think we're all intrigued

enough to want to wonder what else no absolutely i mean it's

It's seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Right. So how would you grid it out?

I'd clean it off first, and then we'd do a one-meter by two-meter kind of grid.

So why don't we do that very thing? Do you want to stay here and start this

process? Sure.

Cool. Sounds good.

Okay, Mike. See you in a bit. Good luck. All right. Thank you.

Okay, lead on, guys.

begins to carefully excavate the mysterious site on Lot 24.

Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina head to the war room, where they have called an

important meeting with members of their Oak Island team.

Well, gents, I have had the opportunity to make contact with an incredibly well

-credentialed person in the field of seismic and actually a whole bunch of

other stuff. His name is Travis Taylor.

And to that end, Charles, hit the screen.

Travis. You are now in the war room. Welcome.

Thanks. Nice to see you guys.

Why don't you give them real briefly what your background is?

Right. Okay. Well, I've worked with the aerospace and defense industry and the

intelligence community for 25 years, pretty much since I was a teenager.

Dr. Travis Taylor is an astrophysicist and aerospace engineer with degrees in

the fields of optical sciences, quantum physics, and astronomy.

He has also spent more than two decades working closely with the United States

government on numerous classified programs for both NASA and the

Department of Defense.

So I like to solve problems. In fact, that's what I do is I find hard problems

and solve them, or at least attempt to.

Well, you found one.

Yeah, this looks like a very interesting conundrum.

Watch what you guys have done, and I know you've done one seismic test and

some ground-penetrating radar.

Yeah, we ran EM61s, we ran MEGs, we ran GPR.

Right. You know, we've had problems interpreting the data. Yeah, not real

happy with the data. Okay.

Ready to go? Roger.

Here it comes.

Earlier this year, the Laginas and their partners commissioned Eagle Canada, a

geophysical exploration company, to conduct extensive seismic testing on Oak

Island.

The process involved the detonation of more than 1,500 dynamite charges, which

sent shock waves deep into the Earth.

After these waves were carefully recorded and measured, This anomaly

here, very interesting.

the team was presented with a virtual map of possible tunnels, chambers, and

anomalies that might lie as much as 200 feet deep underground. Is that

consistent with a chamber? Yeah, it is. Wow.

Oh, that's definitely vertical. Oh, that's a whole piece.

I think he hit the tunnel from shaft six.

Although the seismic maps have led the team to discover incredible new

evidence, the precise whereabouts of the treasure vault remains a mystery.

You know, I mean, it's all been valuable data, but...

but none of it has unlocked the riddle like we wanted to. It's not yielded the

results that we sought.

It's all about information. I was hoping we would get some relevant information.

It's not done yet, so that's the hope.

We're kind of eager to know what you think you might be able to help us with.

Well, I have worked on a seismic program before.

If I could get a look at the seismic data that you guys have taken, maybe we

could compile it and do something called data fusion.

where we use all the sensors and compile that information together, sometimes it

shows you something that you don't realize is there.

I tell you right now, if you're willing to help us, or at least try to help us,

I don't see... We'd be foolish not to. Yeah, it's like bringing in a team with

all those degrees.

Well, you know, I can't promise anything because it's possible that there's

nothing in the data, right? Yeah, I understand.

No, listen, I would have discounted you right away if you promised me anything

on Oak Island.

Seismic has not worked so far in terms of results, but we hope to refine it,

give it another go, and see if we can get some. Oh, yes.

Okay, well, I think we have a plan here, and we thank you for wanting to be

involved. Oh, well, I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity, and

maybe we can find something. Yep, perfect.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

See you guys. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

Well, that's great.

You know, look forward to the data, but let's get back to work.

Following his meeting in the war room... Hope he's found something.

Yeah. Rick Lagina and his nephew Peter Fernetti return to Lot 24.

You've been busy.

Hey. Yeah.

How's the process coming?

Well, lots of rocks.

Does it go that way, or does it end?

I ended at the trees. It goes further that way, and there's a rock just in

here. So you can see the higher area here was filled in, and then the

artifacts we were finding are from the later occupation.

What is it telling you?

Well, I think the fact that you found artifacts means that humans were

probably occupying this place.

The larger stones could be structural.

The smaller stones could be fill.

So it could be a shaft or a tunnel that was filled in.

A shaft or tunnel?

Could the team have found what was once the entrance to secret man-made workings

underground?

But if so, who built it and for what purpose?

We're always looking for clues, you know, about underground work having been

done on this end of the island.

There's Dan's belief and Fred's long-held belief that there was

extensive work done here. Right.

One of the rare times that Dan Blankenship and Fred Nolan were able to

agree on something, they agreed on this, that the underground workings were very

complex and they were not limited to the money pit. They extended into the

Western Drum Room.

Here we now have Laird indicating there is a possibility that there's an

underground structure here on the Western Drummond. I mean, that's what

we're looking for, tunnels under Oak Island.

How would you approach it? If we wanted to explore this further, i.e. deeper,

how would we go about that process to see if it is a shaft or a tunnel?

Probably try to section it. That way we can see the stratigraphy vertically.

and then proceed to record and remove the rocks.

I see.

So right now you're intrigued.

Oh, absolutely.

So the next step is sending that off to get the permitting?

Yeah, before you explore it further.

Yeah, I'd apply for another permit.

When Laird indicates to us that he feels this is important, that it needs to be

under his supervision, that's a good thing, because there's something going

on here.

What it is, it's too early to say.

This could be a significant find.

Yeah, they're certainly starting off with more promise than than last year

After

the discovery of a possible tunnel on lot 24

hey guys Rick and Marty Lagina along with other members of the Oak Island

team gather at the mug and anchor pub in nearby Mahone Bay So the update is Larry

explored the Lot 24 area. He dug a site about, it's about the size of two

tables. And there's a substantial amount of rock in the hole.

The majority of them appear to be laid or perhaps placed there. And because of

what he has found, he feels it's a tunnel.

A tunnel? To what? Well, we don't know yet. But everything is good. He will be

back next week to continue that dig.

and hopefully we'll get some answers.

Well, if it gets an archaeologist's attention, it's clearly significant.

And if those guys hadn't cleared that track down there, we would never have

found it, and we're finding new areas on Oak Island, undiscovered areas because

of the clearing.

Certainly has opened up the lots that were inaccessible before.

And I haven't finished yet. We have got a lot of area to cover still.

Okay, well, good.

Keep it coming. Yeah.

This is a previously unknown, ancient, in the sense of at least several hundred

-year-old structure on Oak Island that may be archaeologically significant. And

the reason I say that is because Laird thinks it's archaeologically

significant. His conjecture is that it could be a tunnel of some sort. So he's

going to investigate it the way archaeologists do, and that means with a

trowel. So it's going to be a while before we have answers there.

So, new information coming every day. Good.

One of these discoveries is going to be a breakthrough.

Yeah. Thank you for the news, guys. To the huts.

Cheers.

With the new day ahead of them, Alex Lagina and Peter Fernetti begin the

process of patching the massive steel cofferdam at Smith's Cove.

Because the silicone-based caulking compound must be applied on the ocean

side of the wall,

Alex and Peter need to work quickly while the tide is low.

All right, Peter.

According to Uncle Rick, this is leaking pretty bad out here, so we're going to

go around and caulk up all the seams here, maybe seal them off a little bit

better and keep it a little drier in there.

All right.

I guess if it looks inadequate, then we'll hit it. Yep. Because we don't have

a lot of time out here.

I think most of it is probably underground, but the seepage.

yeah but anything we can do to slow it down is going to help as alex and peter

continue caulking the steel cofferdam guys i'm very pleased to have travis

taylor with us today brothers rick and marty lagina along with their partner

greg tester and other members of their oak island team welcome aerospace

engineer dr travis taylor to the war room he has come to present his findings

after reviewing the underground seismic data the team received earlier this

year.

So you've done some investigative work and you have some stuff to show us, I

understand. Yeah, I do. So to start with, I'll show you the analysis.

Now, the seismic data that you guys sent me, there was a lot of it that was kind

of much ado about nothing.

So then I did some more post-processing on the data specifically through the

Money Pit area here, and you can see clear anomalies between 20 and 30 meters

of depth.

When you say clear anomaly, indicating vertical structures?

There are vertical striations in all of it, which suggests to me that there

might be some shafts or voids that are vertical along places.

When you say voids, are you meaning an open area or just a density contrast

from a hard rock to a, you know, water, air, or maybe just soft material?

Yeah, so from the data, all I can really say is it was a complete opposite in

densities. Okay. Right, so I don't know if it was granite or if it was empty,

right? There's clearly something there, but all I can say is it's an anomaly in

the density of the material, right?

This anomaly here, very interesting.

Is that consistent with a chamber?

Yeah, it is.

Wow.

Because seismic scanning... Detected what appeared to be a mysterious

underground chamber located some 50 feet deep in the so-called Megabin area, the

team employed sonic drilling in an effort to find it. I think I'm going to

have to operate, Craig.

Unfortunately, what everyone had hoped was a man-made chamber turned out to be

nothing more than a thick layer of sand.

Oh, yeah.

It's just sandy till. To me, from a seismic standpoint, this may be the

anomaly they were seeing.

At this point, it's no longer science, it's an art. And the artistry of seismic

is the interpretive. It's a talent and quite unique.

All right, so this is an idea that I had on how you might could search the island

for voids underground.

And if you look at this chart, there is a lot of uranium that's found very close

to the island. Now, the key to that is when uranium decays,

you get a bunch of products from it, and radon is specifically the one.

This is a way that we find uranium on the moon, and we found it on Mars, is

looking for radon gas.

Radon is a radioactive gas.

It forms in trace amounts when deposits of uranium, which is naturally found in

rocks and soil, breaks down underground.

In recent years, radon detection has been used experimentally.

as a way to map subsurface features in the energy and mining industries.

Well, the idea is if you have a void underneath the surface, over time, the

uranium is going to cause this to fill with radon gas, especially if there's no

ventilation in it.

And this would occur in a fluid-filled cavity? Absolutely.

Actually, radon is soluble in most materials.

I think what we've learned is that seismic isn't going to work in the Money

Pit area. It's too jumbled up.

I always love when somebody thinks of something that had just never occurred

to me. That's the best kind of information there is. And so Travis

Taylor came in with a whole new perspective on maybe how to find

cavities through radon testing.

And I don't know if we're gonna have time for that this year or not, but I'd

like to pursue that.

So as I started doing this, I started reading more about Oak Island and

looking at what it's all about.

I came up with sort of my own theory as to what may have happened here.

almost everybody that's been involved in investigating it are freemasons exactly

beginning with daniel mcginnis the man who first discovered the money pit in

seventeen ninety five the ancient fraternity of master builders known as

freemasons have played a large role in the oak island treasure story prominent

masonic symbols such as the letter g which represents the grand architect as

well as the triangle or pyramid, have been found on numerous carvings both in

and around the island.

So I started looking into the Freemasons, and one of the first things

that jumped out at me was Hiram Abiff's Freemason drawing template.

There are actually meanings on this map that are based on astronomy.

According to the teachings of Freemasonry, Hiram Abiff... was the

chief architect of King Solomon's temple in ancient Jerusalem.

His so-called drawing template is presented to all Freemasons who join the

order's third and highest degree.

It depicts many well-known sacred images, such as Jacob's ladder to the

heavens and the Holy Grail.

So if you continue to look at this drawing table, you see at the top, The

hand of God is holding a chalice or the Holy Grail or the Cup of Life.

But what the Freemasons used that as a symbol of is as above, so below.

Right? And you can use that metaphorical or whatever, but if you use it literal,

then the way they would draw maps is by as above, so below. The stars would be

their guide on how they created the map.

if they were going to make one. The star on the upper right is actually, if you

count, there are seven stars there. It looks like the Pleiades, which is part

of Taurus. I got to thinking, is there something that archaeoastronomy might

have to do with the island?

So I overlaid the constellation on the island. What we have are all of the

stars aligned onto the island, and then you have the Pleiades somewhere between

the beach and Frog Island.

The point star where this piece would be actually overlays perfectly on Apple

Island. This is a star map.

A star map?

One matching the constellation Taurus to points not only on Oak Island, but to

neighboring islands?

But if so, to what does it lead?

What it also suggests to me is that we should see if there might be points of

interest. where the stars are from the constellation.

If we follow the right procedure, we might be led to the point on Oak Island

where the actual treasure is.

Do you think there's something here?

You know, there's too much history to it. There's too much anecdotal

clues.

Somebody was doing something here.

But what? You know, I don't know.

What the hell was all the works on Apple Island?

Well, it might be a starting point.

It could be that there's a clue there that tells you how to start. That could

be where the key is.

A trail of information.

Absolutely. Right.

I don't know what to make of the possible connection between Oak Island

and Apple Island.

What does that mean? I don't know. Is it a potential target zone? Absolutely.

There's a lot more need to be done on that if we are going to pursue it.

Travis, thank you very much for all this data. I mean, very interesting. Yeah,

I've enjoyed it. Thanks. So let's do this, Travis.

Gary, if you're available, Jack, let's take Travis and we'll show you around

the island. So let's have a look. Oh, that sounds great.

Following the team's informative meeting in the Oak Island War Room, Marty

Lagina, Jack Bagley, and Gary Drayton.

take Dr. Travis Taylor over to Lot 2, located on the western side of the

island.

Travis, why don't we check out your first target spot?

Okay. Right, Jack, you have a better idea where Lot 1 and 2 meet, do you not?

Yeah. Yeah, just a little bit further.

They are eager to investigate various points on the island that are indicated

on what Travis believes to be a massive star map.

A map?

which may point to important clues that could help the team solve the oak island

treasure mystery so which way is it follow him based upon your map travis

you can very lightly see the lot lines and it looks like the first star would

be located near the lot line between three and two lead on maestro so how do

you know where the lot line is is there a marker stone walls travis taylor is

the bright guy he's a physicist in many disciplines so when you add all that up

he might be able to bring a new perspective to the hunt here on oak

island watch yourself here mate we're getting into the deep part of the law

that rock wall right there that's the border of lot two and three so it should

be just on the other side of that all right It looks like we've reached the

destination that you pointed out on your map. Wow, with the moss and the mulch

and the underbrush, it's real hard to see anything, right?

On the map you've created for us, this is just a relative idea.

At least 100-foot air bar radius. Okay. I'd say anything, just look. So there's

a huge boulder over here.

It could be a landmark.

Well, we should look at it, right? Yeah.

This is a big rock, though.

That is a pretty big boulder.

This boulder is actually pretty close to your spot.

I don't see any other large boulders like this around here. Not just sitting

there, right?

Well, that's interesting.

Yeah, the first point that we came to, there's a large boulder at.

That is intriguing.

So we'll see if there's a pattern developed. Yeah, right. We go to the

next place. All right, let's go do that. All right, let's do that.

Having found a stone marker that appears to correspond with one of the places

indicated on Travis's star map, the team heads to a second location just south of

the Money Pit site.

We're about 1,000 so far.

One interesting spot, one big boulder.

All right there, this would be one of your spots. Is the stone triangle on the

rotten side?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is one of the spots.

In 1897, while exploring on the island's southern shore, treasure hunter

Frederick Blair discovered a mysterious group of round stones that formed a

perfect triangle.

Even more astonishing was the fact that the apex of the triangle pointed

directly towards the money pit.

Unfortunately, during a massive excavation conducted by treasure hunter

robert dunfield in 1965 the so-called stone triangle was destroyed

and although a replica has been built in its place the precise orientation of the

triangle as well as the location of the original money pit shaft remains unknown

I'm not even going to get my metal detector.

I'm sure it's been detected to death, right? Oh, yeah.

This is one of your points, and there was a stone feature here, a very obvious

one. That's wild, right?

Two for two.

Two for two.

You're on a roll, Mike.

When you were building your map, did you specifically use the stone triangle as

one of the points? How did you orient it?

No, I just tried to make sure that the leg of the bull fit on the island.

Oh. It just happened.

This is what it is.

And in your defense, in terms of what you're looking for here, this has all

been heavily bulldozed.

Yeah, you can't deny that you're hitting on all cylinders, so that's cool.

On to the next.

And this is another point where there's some sort of large boulder or a stone

monument on Travis's map.

Maybe it is actually finally getting connected the way it was supposed to be.

Having already marked two potentially important locations on the island,

Travis Taylor now uses his star map to lead Marty, Jack, and Gary to Lot 13,

where if his theory is correct, they will find another stone marker.

Is that a dirt pile?

Is that not a giant stone right there?

No, that's a rock. Oh, it is.

Well, it'd be nice to clear this out and look at it better, wouldn't it? Yeah.

This one has a flat side back here.

We are in the general area of where this point's supposed to be. Oh, it's amazing

that we've run into big boulders at each point. Yeah.

Could those stones that we saw be markers that were put there by some

human beings a long, long time ago to correspond with a star map? The answer

is, of course they could.

We need to get corroborative information, first of all, and then

we'll draw, you know, what conclusions we can draw from that. What else do you

see for feedback exchange?

Well, I would like to see GPS coordinates to the rocks we've been to.

Yeah. Then that might help me anchor the map better. You can move it around,

yeah.

Anyway, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. It's been a great day.

Pleasure to meet you.

We'll look forward to this feedback exchange and suing fund.

All right, great. Hopefully we'll find some.

Before another long day on Oak Island comes to an end, Rick Lagina and Dave

Blankenship meet with representatives from Irving Equipment Limited who have

come to inspect the structure.

At stake, is whether or not the team's ambitious plan to excavate the cove can

continue. Looks like you got it quite dry there now.

Yeah, it doesn't look bad. We did do substantial caulking. Okay. We were on

the perimeter or most of the way around.

Yeah. We've reduced the water infiltration by a lot, but you can see

some of the, see those wet spots there? Yeah.

So water is coming in. There's no question about that.

You know, maybe we should walk the perimeter and take a look. Sure.

We initially had some concerns about the amount of water that was infiltrating

through the sheet pile locks.

And Mike and his team had suggested a couple of different ways to keep that

water from infiltrating. But at this point, you know, we're getting a bit

more water than we would like to see. And the whole project relies on getting

that ground as dry as possible.

called Irving and Mike Jardine and Scott are going to come in today and visit the

site and take a look at the problems and hopefully make some suggestions that we

can implement and that will mitigate that problem.

See any water here yeah that's that's definitely a leak and I'm sure there was

there was more of those along here. Oh yeah there were I guarantee you and they

were like a garden hose on several of these.

Yeah no that's and that's very common to see that.

From what I'm seeing right here now, you've got more water coming this way

than you have this way.

Because right here, again, you've got a flow of water that's coming towards your

sheets.

It's not going away.

Right.

Obviously, the water's coming from back here somewhere.

We all know that drops off back there.

You're going to want to put a small trench along there if you were reading

here. With your trench, you know, come across and then go right across.

Stay out about six or eight feet. From sheet to sheet? I would. I would.

Because Mike Jardim believes the water is not only coming in through the

cofferdam, but from other natural sources on the island.

The Oak Island team will need to dig a trench on the inside perimeter of the

cove. This will allow water to collect inside it before being pumped out of the

area.

I think we'll implement your idea here, interdict this water coming from the

upland, and then we'll see how that affects that water level.

Yep. With that, I think you're going to see a significant difference by

controlling the water back there. It's very manageable here now.

Because of our efforts to staunch the incoming water, we've been more

successful than we perhaps had even anticipated.

There's work to be done. We're going to have to put pumps on this, but we can't

wait to start digging.

It's incredible to think that this has been done.

I'm ready to get in there and start digging right now. Oh, no, absolutely.

Rick, I have this really good feeling.

It is a moment of great anticipation for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina.

I woke up this morning thinking, okay, it's time to figure out this island.

Good. Today, months of careful planning and tireless effort, as well as an

investment of over $1 million, are finally about to pay off as the team

prepares to break ground on their massive operation at Smith's Cove.

Smith's Cove, I think, will go a long way towards answering two of the W's,

right? Who, possibly, and when, and when. Yes. Whoa, look at that.

After successfully sealing the leaks in the cofferdam wall and digging trenches

to collect and drain out the water. That is quite a structure.

The nearly 12,000 square foot area is now dry enough for Rick, Marty, and

their team to begin excavating.

Why isn't this thing running?

Well, you tell us. Let's get going. Push the button. You tell us. They're moving

dirt, finding coins.

Come on.

As the dig in Smith's Cove is about to commence with that huge structure in

place, I am realistically optimistic.

It's unlike any other project we've endeavored to do on the island, but I

very much look forward to it. Once we find the east log or the north or south

log will be properly oriented and the dig can proceed.

I was thinking we could start digging right where that water is because Rick

wants to go parallel to that U-shaped structure. Yep.

Guided by photos and surveys taken during Dan Blankenship's excavation of

Smith's Cove in the early 1970s, the team is beginning their dig on the

northwest side of the beach.

It is here they hope to uncover what Dan dubbed a mysterious U-shaped structure

that reportedly lies buried at a depth of some 10 feet.

Hopefully, we can find the south arm of the U-shaped structure.

I'd love to find a piece with a Roman numeral on it. That would be cool. Oh,

yeah. I mean, as soon as that's exposed, I want to get in there and take a look

at it.

And get down to the very bottom of it to see what else is down there. There may

be broken tools and stuff like that, which can date what time this is.

The pictures where Dan excavated, those soils at 10, 11 feet down could be at

surface. Oh, and some of it, yeah, where he dug and dumped it over.

So we have to pay attention from day one up here.

As the team dredges up tons of earth and material in search of the U-shaped

structure, they will also carefully sort through piles of spoils by means of

their newly installed wash plant.

The plant.

will automatically clean and sort the spoils according to size in hopes of

uncovering historically important artifacts or possible treasure, such as

the medieval cross that was discovered by Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton just

last year.

I can't speak to whether or not there's going to be actual treasure discovery in

Smith's Cove, but there's certainly going to be lots of clues. We now are

accumulating a very

big box of puzzle pieces.

And it's about time we start putting the puzzle pieces together.

Kind of anything?

Just found that. Just a good old thing. I don't know what it is.

Would that be like a hinge?

Yeah, one sort.

Yep.

Same.

For Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island team.

Holy shmoly, all right.

It's a cross.

That's a cross.

What began with the discovery of a small lead cross has led to their most

ambitious and most expensive engineering project ever conducted at Smith's Cove.

But as their excavation efforts finally get underway, what will they find?

More incredible religious artifacts?

The U-shaped structure discovered by Dan Blankenship?

nearly half a century ago the stone box drains that have thwarted searcher

efforts to dig in the nearby money pit or will they find something else

something so incredible it will help them solve a

223 year old treasure mystery once and for all