Original subtitles

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

I love the smell of treasure in the morning.

Ooh, look at that! I would say this looks military.

This particular artifact was found in the swamp

and I've never seen anything like that.

Wow. What the hell is that?

We're hoping you might have an idea of what it is.

Oh, this is really, really old. Middle 1400s.

- Oh, wow. - What have you got?

It looks like a piece of finished wood.

It looks like railing.

It looks like ship's railing.

We found the ship in the swamp!

Yeah.

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.

- So, rick, I just talked to the drillers. - Okay.

And I have them pinned dead center

in the barringer survey... The vlf survey.

Yup.

The one they were very convinced was a nonferrous target.

Yeah.

It's the beginning of another

hopeful day on oak island for brothers rick and marty lagina.

With just a little more than a month before the harsh

north atlantic winter will force them and their team

to halt all major search operations for the year,

they are determined to make every effort that

could lead to a major discovery

in the 226-year-old treasure mystery.

To put an x on the ground is pretty impressive work.

- Mm-hmm. - And if this is a nonferrous target,

I mean, it's singularly attractive, right?

- Mm-hmm. - It will be very interesting.

There's the end of it.

So not really any wood that we were hoping to run into.

91 feet and nothing to report.

After reaching a frustrating setback

with their core drilling operation

in the money pit area one week ago...

Do we have any other options?

We have the barringer anomalies.

- Can we go after one of those? - I would.

Rick, marty and their partner craig tester

have decided to pursue what could be

a number of other treasure deposits

located near smith's cove, that were first identified

more than 30 years ago on the barringer survey.

Commissioned in 1988 by dan blankenship

and his partner david tobias,

the barringer survey was a military-grade

vlf... or low frequency radio wave scan...

That denoted possible tunnels some 100 feet deep

in and around smith's cove

and the eastern perimeter of the money pit area,

as well as four distinct nonferrous deposits,

meaning they could be composed of either silver or gold.

Although dan and david did not have the resources

to pursue these targets when the data was first obtained,

after doug crowell recently found these records

in dan's archived files,

rick, marty and craig believe it is

worth trying to finish what their late partner started.

The barringer survey has indications

of nonferrous material at depth.

If it's nonferrous material at depth,

it's probably treasure, if it's really there.

It could be everything.

You know, one percent chance of finding this thing

for drilling one hole or two,

Drill.

This is a treasure hunt.

- Morning, guys. - Hey, rick. - Morning.

Hey, steve. How you doing?

- Good. - Good.

I brought an updated plan for everybody.

It's just an overview, it's not

like our drill program in the money pit, terry.

- Right. - But it lets you see what's going on here.

So these are the four nonferrous targets.

We're currently sitting at this one.

80 to 120 is our target depth.

And I've referred to this one as "nonferrous metal-1."

- right. - We're right now... this is only at 68.

But it's in very tight, clay-rich material.

So let's cross our fingers for gold and silver.

There you go. - Yeah.

- Okay. Let's find it. - Yup.

As rick lagina oversees

the drilling operation at smith's cove,

near the northeastern border of the triangle-shaped swamp...

We still have a lot of shoveling

- to do before we find this road. - Right.

Right.

Marty lagina's son alex

joins archeologists miriam amirault

and dr. Aaron taylor to continue the team's

efforts to uncover more of the mysterious stone pathway

that extends out of the brackish bog

and into the uplands, possibly toward the money pit.

So it would be great if we found

another artifact with a good date.

- Mm-hmm. - Which could prove to us,

"okay, the road is actually continuing uphill."

have we looked at, like, contour?

To kind of figure out the most likely path of the road?

Or are we just kind of chasing it?

No, at this point, we're just chasing it because

this is the first time we've had an actual curve,

- a turn, um... - Mm-hmm.

That we think is-is the road.

Got it. Okay.

- We'll keep looking. - Yes, exactly.

Over the past several weeks,

the oak island team has made a number

of compelling discoveries that indicate

this man-made stone pathway was possibly used

to move heavy cargo off of a ship and onto oak island.

These discoveries include the massive stone road,

believed to have once been part of a ships' wharf;

large iron ringbolts,

potentially used as part of a pulley system;

and pieces of wooden keg barrels,

that may date back as far as the 15th century.

Now, with winter fast approaching,

the team is determined to find out just where

the pathway leads and what they may

find at the end of it.

I'm curious what's going on here,

if there's any more in this.

Yeah. I kind of think it's...

It just seems to keep moving kind of under the berm.

Well, it's hard to say because down there,

- we're not finding any stones. - Right.

I just want to make sure it's actually definitive

- before I say "this is the road." - mm-hmm.

- Hey, aaron? - Sorry?

Do you mind taking a look?

Yeah, yeah. What do you got?

There's not much down here. I mean, in terms of rocks.

Over here, we're finding these stones

from the path are higher on that end

and much lower on this end.

So, what we're wondering is,

are we looking at it maybe curving around and heading back

- up the hill that way? - That's a good question.

It looks like we probably have a corner.

- Wow. That's good. - Yeah.

Has the team really uncovered a corner in the stone pathway?

If so, could it bring them another step closer

in determining just where it leads,

and how it might offer answers

to the 226-year-old oak island mystery?

To me, it-it really seems like we probably need

to have somebody take this entire berm out.

- Yeah, we need to be right on this. - Mm-hmm.

- I'd say we do it. - Right.

I think the singular most important item

Where does the road lead?

Does it lead back to the money pit?

Is it possible that it goes somewhere

we're currently unaware of?

So, to have this turn to the upland,

that's great.

- Hey, guys. - Hey.

Hey! - Alex: What's up?

Arriving to search for artifacts

or valuable clues, that could help identify more sections

of the stone pathway,

are metal detection expert gary drayton

and rick and marty's nephew david fornetti.

- Any finds? - Nothing today.

Also joining the effort

is heavy equipment operator billy gerhardt.

There's the big trowel!

- Good day. - All right, mate.

- Hey, gary. - So, yeah.

We want to try and see if we can find the elbow.

So maybe two bucket-widths back. Just to be sure.

Okay.

As cool as that road is in the swamp,

it leads to more questions than answers.

So, is it an indirect indicator of potential treasure? Yes.

But it's just exactly that: Indirect.

And so, against all odds, I'm one of the biggest

proponents of digging up the rest of it at this point.

And there's a lot undug yet.

Billy!

You're right on top of it, there.

So we don't want to go any deeper.

Yeah, I've got a hit here, david.

Just there.

I'll stop billy when he starts getting close.

Oh, you got it out.

It's this. Oh, my gosh!

Wow, this is fantastic!

It's a little cuff button, that's what that is.

In the uplands,

northeast of the triangle-shaped swamp,

metal detection expert gary drayton

and david fornetti have just made a potentially

telling discovery along the stone pathway.

And you can see, it's a single loop.

That's the back where it would have fastened

onto a sleeve of a shirt or a jacket.

I would say this looks military.

More than likely a little military cuff button.

That's a sweet find.

And if I was dating it, I'd put it at 1750 to 1850, mate.

A possible military-style button?

Dating back half a century before

the discovery of the money pit?

Although rick, marty and the team have

found evidence of both british and french military activity

on oak island that predates 1795,

could this military button help identify just who

was behind the pathway's construction?

It's got a lot of detail on that. A lot of design.

So, when that's cleaned up,

we'll definitely be able to date this.

It's a nice little find, crackin' little button.

If we can get a regiment, we can get a date,

we can get a nationality.

You can gleam a lot of information

off one single button.

This could be a very valuable find.

Having been alerted to the discovery

of a possible bend in the stone pathway,

rick lagina,

along with oak island historian doug crowell,

arrive to help with the investigation.

It looks a lot different.

- Oh, yeah. - Yeah.

- So, this way? - So just... yeah.

We just want to... I think this is the elbow.

So we just want to make sure.

- This, right here? - Yeah, yeah.

Is gary metal detecting that?

Over there, in the pile, as it's dumped. Yes.

I wonder if we should get him in here right now.

Might as well. Better to do it here than up on a hill.

Yeah.

Hey, gary! - Pardon?

Want to come down here and do this?

Yup, I'll come down.

Anything interesting down here?

Not yet... You're about to find it.

All right.

Oh...

This is going to be fun.

Yeah.

We're definitely getting signals.

There's definitely something here.

It's definitely iron, by the sound of it.

Yup. Right there.

This is a decent chunk.

Wow! You got it out?

Yeah, what the heck...

This kind of reminds me of an old fire grate.

That's what that reminds me of.

I bet this is part of a fire grate.

A possible fire grate?

Look how big that charcoal feature is.

Just one week ago, the oak island team

uncovered the remains of what appears to be

an ancient fire pit next to the stone pathway.

You've got this big stone, and then above it a big stone.

- Mm-hmm. - And in that area, you've got the fire.

A fire pit that, much like the pine tar kiln

discovered earlier this year on lot 15,

was likely used for a major construction operation.

Because the archaeological team suspects that the pine tar kiln

was used to construct the original money pit,

they are just as curious to identify what the fire pit

near the swamp was used to create.

Could the discovery of a possible fire grate

bring them closer to finding out?

Makes sense if you think about it.

- Could be some kind of grate that they used on the fire. - Yeah.

And they go back a long way.

They go back all the way to roman days.

This is a great find. This-this is getting exciting.

All right.

Let's see if we got anything else.

The following morning,

marty lagina and archeologist laird niven

join doug crowell in the research center.

Hey, doug.

Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for dropping by.

Yeah. What you got for us?

I've got a couple of artifacts from dan's archives.

Yeah.

There's several artifacts he-he's kept.

After the discovery of the barringer survey

in the files of dan blankenship,

doug has been combing through the rest of his archives to look

for any more clues that might aid the team's current efforts

to solve the 226-year-old treasure mystery.

- This was all in dan's basement? - Yeah.

What caught my interest immediately:

This actually says "found in the swamp by dan blankenship

in the 1970s."

- dan seems to have kept everything. - Good.

But what was in there is this.

This apparently was found in the swamp in the 1970s.

What do you think it is?

I'm thinking it's forged.

- That looks like a latch. - Mm-hmm.

A possible hand-forged latch?

Found nearly 50 years ago in the swamp?

Since the team has made curiously similar finds

this year near the stone road,

such as the gold-colored knob, which artifact conservator

sandy campbell believes might have come from a jewel chest,

as well as a potentially ancient lock,

could this object be connected to those discoveries?

And perhaps offer more evidence related

to the treasure mystery?

I don't know what that is, doug, but it's cool.

You know who comes to mind immediately: Carmen legge.

- Yeah, I can touch base with him and see what he thinks about it. - That'd be great, doug.

Will do.

Later that afternoon,

as the drilling operation continues at smith's cove...

There's an awful lot of getting up and down in archeology.

Yup, I'm there with you, doug.

Doug crowell has rejoined rick lagina,

and archeologists miriam amirault

and dr. Aaron taylor,

to continue investigating the stone pathway extending

out of the northeastern border of the swamp.

About a hundred years ago, the dig site director

would just sit in a chair and people would

- just bring him things. - Oh.

Sounds like a good position to have.

It's not gonna happen, aaron.

Hey, aaron.

Do you want to take a look at this?

Nice. I like that.

From the shape, just the squareness of it,

it looks like it went into a musket.

I think it might be a piece of gunflint, rick.

So you mean like flintlock weapons.

Yeah. Muskets.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

When did flintlocks first come into use?

Well, gunflints, again,

you know they had them in the american revolution.

And when the europeans first came,

the french and the british had them.

- So early 1600s. - Early 1600s.

A flintlock from a musket?

Possibly dating back to the early 17th century?

Could it be more evidence, like the button located

one day ago by gary drayton, that might help determine

the identity of just who built the stone pathway?

That's one definitely we'll look at in the lab.

Something happened in this one specific area.

- Yup. - What do we make of it?

We have something that's human-made here.

We've got burning,

- we've got artifacts. - Yeah.

To me, this road was built before the start

of the treasure hunt, as proven by the artifacts that are on it.

- True. - And I think

we're close and we just got to

- get it across the finish line. - Yeah.

Great day, everybody.

As another day dawns on oak island,

and while the investigation of the stone pathway

continues near the swamp...

Gonna find treasure this morning?

We'll find out. -

Rick lagina and steve guptill

arrive at smith's cove

to check on the progress of the core drilling operation

in borehole nf-1,

where the team is investigating a possible cache

of precious metals buried some 100 feet deep,

which were identified on the barringer survey,

conducted almost 30 years ago

by dan blankenship and his partner david tobias.

Man, that's some nice till.

That's pretty solid stuff.

This is embedded clay.

- How deep is this? - 79.

- This is 79? - Yeah.

Okay, yup.

All right, I've seen enough of this, this is in situ.

Okay, let's get the next one up on the table.

Our next few cores are our target depth.

We're into the 88-foot range.

Because the soils being brought up in the core samples

are densely packed with hard clay,

this means, at least at this depth,

that the ground would be ideal for constructing tunnels,

which have also been identified on the barringer survey.

- Which way does it go? - That way. That way.

Okay, that's not exactly a good sign.

It looks like we're out of this very dense clay,

into a limestone-rich sediment.

So, we-we're grading out of our clay

into a more crumbly, limestone crumble.

You're not gonna tunnel in that.

It's gonna be tricky, yeah.

I don't know what to make of it.

There was some cobble and some loose gravels.

That does not a tunnel make.

We want to find that tunnel on the first hole.

I mean, it-it's human nature.

It doesn't mean that all is lost.

It's just the first hole.

I think everyone would agree,

this is too crumbly to tunnel through.

Yeah, I would call it poor tunnel terrain, absolutely.

It goes from almost a perfect medium to...

- I mean, you'd have to crib this, hundred percent. - Yes.

And I don't even know if that would be safe.

You'd have to work your way along.

It would be a struggle all the way.

- I think we call the hole. - Yeah.

There's no tunneling through that.

Calculate the second spot

- and we'll move. - Okay.

It's not that we're not in the right area,

- it's just the target's not there. - Yeah.

I know there's a fascination with the nonferrous target

'cause it's "treasure."

if it were me, I'd try to confirm the tunnel.

We're getting close.

- I would move it... Right there. - Why not move it to there?

Yeah. Let's do that.

Yeah, I-I'd go there.

Although their first attempt to confirm

that treasure might actually be

buried at smith's cove has proven unsuccessful,

the team will now move the sonic drill rig

15 feet to the east and focus on a larger target identified

on the barringer survey as a possible tunnel.

If they can at least find evidence

of man-made workings deep underground,

it will offer good reason that this effort is worth pursuing.

Just for the record, our second hole is going

to be the east point of the golden anomaly.

Steve, if you could put a pin in,

so mike and colton can get after this.

- Will do. - Thank you.

Later that afternoon,

some 50 miles north in centreville, nova scotia,

oak island historian doug crowell

and project manager scott barlow

arrive at northville farms.

- Oh, lookie here. You're back again, are ya? - Yup.

They have arranged

for blacksmithing expert carmen legge

to examine the metal artifact

that doug found in the archives of rick and marty's

late partner dan blankenship.

This particular artifact was found 50 years ago.

- 50 years ago? Wow. - Yeah.

So, found in the swamp around 1970.

Oh, okay.

Very near where we're exploring now.

And we're hoping you might have an idea of what it is.

Wow, this is very unique.

Made of several layers.

That construction of layered metal,

which is not iron or steel, is a very, very old technique.

I think it has something to do with weapons or military use.

Like on top of a cannon or some type of guns

- or-or that sort of thing. - Really?

Part of a cannon?

Found in the oak island swamp?

Could it be connected to the evidence of a signal cannon,

which the team discovered just two weeks ago

on lot 15 between the swamp and the money pit?

This had something to do with explosives.

It was strong and I think these holes

released pressure of the powder.

And I think that what you see trapped

in there is burnt gunpowder.

Well, we have found military-style buttons

- on the island. - Yeah.

Off of... Off uniforms.

So they would have had, uh, weapons of some sort.

And if this is off a cannon, it's a fairly big one.

So, from the craftsmanship of this,

any idea of the period of time?

Oh, this is really, really old.

They started making weapons using gunpowder

in the middle 1400s.

- Wow. - It's very indicative of

that type of construction, in that time period.

There's that date again.

That's right, yup.

- There's that date again. - That's right, yup.

I'm curious as to where's the rest of it?

At northville farms,

some 50 miles north of oak island,

blacksmithing expert carmen legge has just given

his opinion that the artifact dan blankenship reportedly found

in the swamp back in the 1970s

came from a large cannon, dating back

as far as the early 1400s.

Did he not find any more?

It might still be at the bottom of the swamp.

It could very well be, yeah.

If carmen's assessment is correct,

could this discovery be connected to other finds

the team has made matching that same time period?

Such as the pieces of keg barrel,

also found this year in the swamp?

Perhaps the tunneling tools, known as swages,

unearthed on lot 21 last year?

Or even possibly the lead cross,

discovered three years ago at smith's cove,

which might be connected to the knights templar?

The richness of the story, it just keeps expanding.

I always believed that there were interesting finds

in the swamp.

In terms of connection to past historical events,

I don't think anyone can say to themselves,

"oh, there's nothing to that."

thanks, carmen.

You're very welcome, yeah. Very interesting piece.

- Thanks for bringing it. - Yeah.

- See ya, carmen. - See ya!

Later that afternoon...

- Hey, marty. - What'd you find out?

After returning to oak island, doug crowell

and scott barlow meet with marty lagina

in the research center.

Might be easier if I lay it out here, I guess.

All right.

This is what we took up to carmen legge.

His impression of what it is, is surprising.

He thinks it's a part of a... You tell him, scott.

- He thinks it's part of a cannon. - Really?

- Yup. - How so?

Well, he believes this was mounted

on the back of the cannon. You would put your wick in here.

- In there? - And this would be

exhaust ports here where the blowback

would come out and down and knock back at you.

- Really? - He thought he even

saw the remains of black powder.

He did give us a period, didn't he, scott?

Earliest was early 1400s.

Boy, I wouldn't have guessed that.

How sure was he?

He spoke with conviction.

1400s cannon?

Yeah.

You know, dan might've discarded something

as irrelevant or-or stuffed it away in-in a file

because it didn't make sense to his conception

of what was going on.

But-but now that we have a lot more data,

uh, it's really valuable.

It's a happy thing that there's a bunch of data

in dan's basement and I guess

dan's still helping us in that aspect.

Let's get it into the hands of an armament expert because,

you know, if that's verified? It's a big clue.

Great, find the rest of the cannon and call me back.

Will do.

The following morning...

I love the smell of treasure in the morning.

Metal detection expert gary drayton

and david fornetti

join rick and alex lagina,

along with archeologists miriam amirault

and dr. Aaron taylor,

to continue unearthing more of the stone pathway

and also to search for any clues that might reveal

just who constructed it, and for what purpose.

I'll start down at the bottom here.

Yeah, that's a little squeaky piece of iron.

Ooh, look at that!

That's nice.

That is beautiful, isn't it?

Look at that.

Yeah, that is nice.

So, this is a transfer print ware.

It dates quite early.

And what kind of date are we looking at on that?

It's definitely, uh, pre-searcher material.

Probably early 1760s.

- Oh, wow, that's old. - Yeah.

But what nationality?

Is that native to this area, or does it come from europe?

This comes from europe. It would have been french.

Ancient french pottery?

Found on the stone pathway?

Because no previous searches

since the discovery of the money pit in 1795

have ever documented this feature,

could this discovery be potential evidence

of who was behind its construction,

and the oak island mystery?

So, just a tiny little thing like this

can give us so much information.

So, it's really, actually a really exciting find.

But every piece of information helps.

- So we need to find more. - We need to find more.

As rick and members of the team

investigate the stone pathway,

over on the eastern end of the island at smith's cove,

geologist terry matheson

and oak island historian charles barkhouse

continue to supervise the drilling operation

looking for evidence of a tunnel,

and a stockpile of precious metals

that were identified as possibly existing

more than 100 feet underground

by a radio wave scan conducted in 1988

known as the barringer survey.

What was the last depth there, colton?

134?

Okay.

Hey, charles, where are we?

134.

Here we go.

Okay, what have we here?

Let's have a look.

So this, to me, is just the continuation of a fracture.

Gypsum material falling back into the fracture

from both sides.

Unfortunately, I don't see anything other than

mother nature here. It's not a tunnel.

The lack of artifacts and the presence of all this

sheared-up geology says we probably can stop this hole.

Because terry has identified geological evidence

of a fracture in the bedrock below,

could that explain the anomaly on the barringer survey

that appeared as though it could be a tunnel?

If so, what would explain the readings

for possible precious metals like silver or gold?

The fact that we didn't find it,

you could've missed it

by an inch, you could've missed it by five feet.

But again, time and weather conspire against us

and we have a lot of search agenda,

I.E., drilling remaining to do.

So we gave it two attempts.

We weren't successful.

It doesn't mean it's not there.

I believe this hole,

- nfm-2, is done. - Is done. Okay.

- I'll give rick a call. - Yeah.

- Hey, guys. - How's it going?

- Hey, guys. - Hey, guys.

In the oak island war room,

marty lagina, craig tester

and jack begley are meeting with rick lagina

and doug crowell via video conference

to discuss the results of the drilling operation

at smith's cove,

and how best to move forward with harsh fall weather

already here and winter fast approaching.

So, what happened?

It's not what we were hoping for.

We've got no gold or precious metals to put

on the table at all. You know?

But we took two shots that... We knew it was a long shot.

And really,

to do full justice to it, we'd need 16 holes

to cover it completely.

So the silver lining in this

might be that we might still be able to repeat this

when we get out of this pandemic.

So I think the targets

that were seen by barringer certainly could have

- been seen. - I don't think we can put an x through it yet.

I don't think the door is closed on this yet.

I think we need to do some homework,

but the door remains open to the possibility

of either duplicating

the survey,

or set up over it and drill it.

We will continue to pursue this,

but it may have to be put on a back burner.

Okay, but in the meantime, what do we do with the rig?

Well, I think we come back up to the money pit.

We want to look at our current grid,

see where there's some unexplored space.

Let's do it. I mean, that's my vote.

Yes. We can look at either

duplicating this study

with a very low frequency in the mag-data.

You know, I think we just make this a research agenda

for down the road, and we get back to

drilling at the money pit.

Get us a few days to look at the documents

and then go back to the money pit.

Okay. Well, let's-let's give up

on the barringer survey for right now.

But, doug, next time we're discussing drilling results,

will you please not use the term "silver lining"?

My heart jumped.

I'll try not to.

Yeah.

Okay. Good deal.

- All right, see ya. - Bye, guys.

Later that afternoon...

Billy, can you do right-right about there?

- Yup. - Yup. - Okay.

Rick, marty and craig

send steve guptill

and members of the team to the southern border of the swamp.

After making a number of significant discoveries

in this area that may date as far back as the 14th century,

including pieces of wooden cargo barrels,

iron ringbolts,

and part of a cannon, originally unearthed

more than five decades ago by dan blankenship,

they will begin an even deeper excavation of the area

to see what else might be buried here.

Billy?

- Yeah? - You can go deeper.

Okay.

I'll grab my gps.

As heavy equipment operator billy gerhardt

removes the tons of muck and mud, hoping to unearth

new clues or anything of value...

There's bottom.

Surveyor steve guptill will be

recording the depths once they reach the bottom,

or hardpan, in order to build a computer model

of what this area looked like centuries ago

when the swamp may have been an open harbor.

We're gonna dig a long...

Like almost a trench... Through the swamp.

A cross section, really. It will help us to see

if there was a spot deep enough in the swamp

to get a small boat or small ship in,

and they'd be able to dock it at the paved area.

- We're getting deeper here, eh? - Yup.

Could you dig it a little closer to your track?

Yup.

Getting down to the hardpan,

where this deep part

of the swamp might've been some sort of little harbor,

that is extremely important.

To me, the main targets in the swamp would be

any artifacts that might've fallen to the bottom

when it was a lot deeper, and maybe open to the sea.

That's deep.

Nine feet there, I'd say.

- Yeah. - At least, yeah.

That's bottom there?

No.

Doesn't that feel like till?

- No? - No.

How do you explain that?

There's something on the bottom there, and I'm not joking.

Is that a piece of cut wood there?

Or is that the corner of a rock?

Is that cut wood or not?

Or just did I split it with the bucket?

It might be. I'll go get it.

Oh, look, they got something.

Oh, look at that.

What have you got?

It looks like a piece of finished wood.

While excavating

at the southern border of the oak island swamp,

billy gerhardt, along with other members of the team,

have just unearthed what may be an important discovery.

It's very smooth, seems really polished.

I mean, I can't see that happening naturally.

I'm going to toss it in to ya.

It seems like a pretty solid piece of wood.

That's beautiful, actually.

It looks like a handrail.

Or the top of some baluster.

Yeah, the top of your ship, right?

Around, uh, around your rail, right?

Yup.

Part of a possible

ship's railing?

Discovered in the oak island swamp?

Could it be connected to the nearby stone road,

believed to have once been part of a ships' wharf?

And also offer further evidence

that the swamp was once an open harbor?

Hey, look at the rounded corners on that

and everything, that's like it's been sanded down.

That does look like a rail.

And billy's saying that we're on something down there

that we're not getting down to the bottom.

We can't get to the sand.

There's wood or something at the bottom there.

Some-something is blocking us there, yeah.

Something down there quite deep.

A large object,

blocking the excavator's ability to dig below,

where part of a possible ship's railing was just recovered?

Good to go whenever you guys are good to go.

I'm more than ready. I think the swamp

has answers and I want 'em.

Two years ago, after conducting

a seismic scanning survey across the entire swamp...

Rick, marty, craig and the team were astonished

that a 200-foot-long anomaly, that eerily resembled the shape

of a massive sailing vessel, was detected in this same area.

It's very unusual.

Let's not just dork around anymore.

Would it be s-h-I-p? Would that be what everybody's thinking?

Although subsequent drilling was unable

to reveal any definitive proof of what the object was,

is it possible that the team may now be close to finding out?

This is pretty exciting, scott. Why don't you give rick a call.

Yeah.

- Here's another piece of it. Look at that! - Oh, look at that.

We found another piece of it, guys.

This is a nicely worked piece of wood.

This is crafted, and it looks like a railing.

There's something down there keeping us from digging deeper.

The bucket is sliding along something and it's not rocks.

If we can get eyes down there,

I think we're going to find a lot more.

- Hey, guys. - Hey, guys.

- Hey. - Hey.

So, this came up from quite a depth.

I mean, it looks to be quite a-a uniquely finished piece of wood.

You put your hand around it, rick,

it has that feel, you know.

What do you think? You're the guy to ask.

This looks like a finished piece of wood,

this is out of place down there for sure.

It-it looks like railing. It looks like ship's railing.

And it looks kind of square hole there as well,

which is a good sign.

So there would have been a square fastener there,

making it old, if it's an old iron fastener.

Virtually every time we dig in the swamp,

we find something.

Um...

We haven't found the answer we seek yet,

but-but it clearly played a role

in what happened on oak island.

And not just in a small sense.

I have that at ten feet below sea level. That's deep.

We haven't been able to get by whatever's

down there obstructing us to get to the bottom.

We haven't reached bottom yet.

You're scraping on it right now?

Yeah.

- Can you see anything in there? - No.

You can't get close enough to the hole.

Why not?

It's all slumping in.

It's really unstable.

Where is it, in relation to the... To the hole?

The whole length of the hole.

We have to find out what that is.

I've always believed that there were

some answers in the swamp.

It's the keeper of secrets.

You know, even as a young child,

I remember looking at the little map

on the reader's digest article

Why is that, why is that swamp there?

What's at the bottom? What's down there?

I still feel the same way about the swamp.

What's down there?

What's it hiding?

Look, you guys a-are making a great case

that there's some answers down there.

So, whatever it takes. Seriously.

It's a great find and it presents

all kinds of possibilities.

I wish it were 9:00 instead of the...

Latter part of the evening,

but it's time to call it a day

and come back with a plan tomorrow.

- Very cool. Very cool. - Yup.

Good eyes.

Top-pocket find.

Good one, billy.

Despite the frustrating setbacks

that the laginas and their team

must sometimes endure as they work to unravel

a 226-year-old mystery,

their persistence

and willingness to learn from those who came before them

may have finally brought them to the brink

of a major breakthrough discovery.

Will the swamp lead them to the ultimate answers,

and reward, that generations have been

searching for since 1795?

Or, will they discover

that it is only one part of this incredible story?

Next time on the curse of oak island...

- Look at this! Something in there. - What is that?

- This could be it, man. - What's in that thing?

Holy cow! - Steve g.: Oh, wow.

These artifacts are pre-searchers.

- Whoa. - What was going on here?

That is the question.

Oh, what the heck is that?

Wow, that is very badly burned.

Wow.

He's getting close.

Oh, look at that.

- Whoa, whoa! - Hey, hey!

There's a big timber running this way.

Oh, baby.

Oh, that's fantastic!

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