Original subtitles

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island

Here are the stones of Nolan’s Cross.

-They intersect at this location.

-MARTY: Wow.

X marks the spot.

DANNY: Yeah! That’s what

we’re looking for!

RICK: We’re on something.

That is massive.

-GARY: Whoa! Look at that. -JACK: What?

-That’s a lock. -It is.

That looks like it’s off a treasure chest.

-CRAIG: That does not look good. -MARTY: Nothing’s running.

-RICK: Hammer grab’s down. -We’re in trouble.

JARDINE: Very disappointing for me.

We got the word this morning that we’re on strike.

NARRATOR: There is an island

in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking for an incredible treasure

for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it,

mysterious fragments of human bone,

and a lead cross whose origin may stretch back

to the days of the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have died trying to solve the mystery.

And, according to legend,

one more will have to die

before the treasure can be found.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: As a new day begins

on Oak Island...

DOUG: I see a piece of timber there.

Let’s have a look at that before he takes it away.

...local historians, Paul Troutman and Doug Crowell,

along with geologist Terry Matheson,

are monitoring the excavation of the 60-inch-wide borehole

known as GG-1.

DOUG: It looks like

an older timber to me.

Oh, she’s well over six-inch.

NARRATOR: It is this borehole

that the team believes could get them within a few feet

of the original Money Pit treasure shaft,

first discovered in 1795.

TERRY: Old chunk of timber.

PAUL: Yeah, you got a little notch

right in here.

Break at the top, break at the bottom.

Notch right on the side.

TERRY: Yesterday, we didn’t see,

uh, we didn’t see any changes.

Just saw a lot of debris and, uh, little wood splinters

-and twigs and this and that. -Yeah.

-That looked different. -Where are we at now?

JARDINE: The hole was at 90, 91 feet.

So we’ll be pushing 100 feet right there now with the can.

PAUL: We should be in the target area

between 100, 150 or so.

So hoping to see some more timbers

-as we, as we come into it, so...

-Yeah.

DOUG: Something like that

could be, uh,

supporting the top of a tunnel.

RICK: There’s no question about that.

NARRATOR: Two weeks ago,

while excavating a 60-inch-wide borehole known as S-6,

some six feet southwest of GG-1,

the Oak Island team penetrated what they believed

to be the infamous Shaft Six,

the searcher tunnel that was originally dug back in 1861

as a kind of back door into the original treasure vault.

It was while searching through the S-6 spoils

that the Oak Island team made a number of exciting finds,

including bits of leather bookbinding,

stoneware pottery dating back to the early 1700s

and a hand-hewn oak timber, similar to those

reportedly found in the original Money Pit.

These finds convinced them that not only

might they have finally found Shaft Six,

but they could be closer than ever

to finding the original Money Pit treasure vault,

and, thus, solving the Oak Island mystery.

RICK: Based on these maps,

the Money Pit is up in this northwest quadrant.

I have high hopes and high anticipation. I think that

we’re on the cusp of possibly finding

the one thing in the Money Pit.

DOUG: Hey, Rick.

RICK: Hey, guys.

DOUG: We’ll let Danny fill you in

-on what’s been going on. -DANNY: All right.

We have 111 feet of casing in the ground.

And the oscillator pressure is the highest it’s been

since we’ve last year to this year, we’re breaking records.

We’re flirting with 210 bar right now.

What do you, what do you make of that, though?

The real enigma is what are we biting into that’s creating

those high torque pressures on the oscillator?

RICK: We’re all hoping for something

significant here, but I...

you know, we got to let the facts tell the story.

NARRATOR: News that the massive

oscillator is circulating

at a torque pressure of nearly 210 bar,

over double its normal operating pressure,

is a potentially significant development.

It indicates that the 60-inch-wide steel caisson

is now drilling into an extremely hard object

some 111 feet deep underground.

The question now becomes whether the object is natural

or man-made.

PAUL: Interesting thing is

we’re getting an assortment,

just like we did last time,

of many different types of woods and shafts.

RICK: That looks like oak.

It does, doesn’t it?

That’s what you’d think in the Money Pit.

TERRY: A lot of oak in and around here.

Can we see the cuts?

There’s an indication of a saw direction.

See that?

Seems even more of a vertical than a circular saw.

NARRATOR: Oak timbers?

Found at a depth of 111 feet?

As searchers began excavating

the original Money Pit more than two centuries ago,

they reported finding the first

of what would eventually be nine oak platforms,

each ten feet deeper than the last.

Could these oak timbers found in the spoils of GG-1

be evidence that the team has finally found

the original Money Pit treasure shaft?

PAUL: So, the question is,

with all this wood coming up,

do you want to put another can on?

-Keep going? Okay. -Oh, yeah. We have to.

Yeah, we got to continue going on.

Well, you can’t can’t stop now,

you got to figure out what’s going on.

NARRATOR: As the excavation

of borehole GG-1 continues...

Ooh! Wow, it’s cold out here, Gary.

-Wait, hang on, mate. Let’s put the seats down.

-Oh.

NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley

and metal detection expert

Gary Drayton...

GARY: This clips on here.

...are heading to the western side of the island, to Lot 25.

It is one of nine four-acre lots on the island

once owned by the former American slave Samuel Ball.

-JACK: Right here? -GARY: Here’s good.

-JACK: This good? -Yeah.

Ooh!

Where do you want to start?

GARY: The edge of the lot.

-The other side of the wall. -Okay.

NARRATOR: In light of the recent

and significant finds

made on the western side of the island,

such as the lead fragments that have been scientifically proven

to be associated with the medieval cross

found last year at Smith’s Cove,

the team is hoping that this side of the island,

and perhaps Samuel Ball’s former property,

will reveal more clues that could help solve

the 223-year-old treasure mystery.

GARY: All right,

so we’ll see what we can find.

(beeping)

I’ve been all over Oak Island,

but these lots have always been too thick to get in.

But now they’re cleared, there’s more ground opened up,

and we’ve been finding some good stuff.

(beeping)

Wow, that sounds good.

This is iron, but definitely worth a go at.

Good digging.

JACK: Now it’s gone?

Should be out.

-Whoa! Look at that. -What?

What - I have no idea what that is, Gary.

That is a lock.

An old one, by the look of it.

-Look at that. -JACK: Oh, it is.

See those nails.

-Look at that old nail in there still.

-JACK: Holy...

GARY: That is a lock plate.

I mean, this would have been on a box or a chest.

Oh, definitely. I know!

That’s amazing, Gary.

GARY: This looks like an oldie to me.

-Oh, look, you can see the keyhole. Look.

-JACK: Yeah.

NARRATOR: A lock plate,

from a possible chest?

This is a good sign.

NARRATOR: Could it be from a chest

once owned by Samuel Ball?

Or could it be from one belonging

to his former neighbor,

the 18th century privateer Captain James Anderson?

It makes you wonder what was going on here.

NARRATOR: Reportedly born

in Baltimore, Maryland,

Captain James Anderson pledged his loyalty

to the United States

during the American Revolution in the late 1700s.

However, after being given command of a ship,

known as the Betsy, Anderson defected to the British.

Although he was charged with treason and piracy

by then governor of Virginia and future American president

Thomas Jefferson, Anderson escaped to Canada,

where he purchased Lot 26 on Oak Island and lived there

until he sold the property to Samuel Ball in 1788.

-Hey, Steve? -Yes.

NARRATOR: Just last year,

members of the team visited the nearby home

of James Anderson’s direct descendent, Steve Atkinson.

There, Steve showed them one of Anderson’s own sea chests,

as well as a mysterious set of keys.

STEVE A.: That one opens

that treasure chest.

Could there have been more treasure chests on the island?

That’s what I wonder.

NARRATOR: Could this lock plate

be from a chest

that once belonged to Captain James Anderson?

JACK: Samuel Ball got rich

for a reason,

and if he was wealthy, he had something worth hiding.

GARY: Ah, we’re cashing in.

DANNY: Yeah! That’s what

we’re looking for! big p.

NARRATOR: At the Money Pit...

-Gentlemen. -Hey, Craig. How you doing?

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, Craig Tester

and other members

of the Oak Island team eagerly monitor the excavation

of borehole GG-1,

a borehole which they believe may have intersected

with the original Money Pit treasure shaft.

CRAIG: What are we finding?

PAUL: Just a mix of everything.

CRAIG: How long have you been

going through this wood?

Uh, about over ten feet.

-Yeah. -Okay.

-Uh, let ’em dump this. -Yeah.

(horn honking)

JARDINE: Oh, wow. What’s that?

PAUL: Is that wood?

DANNY: Yeah!

JARDINE: Oh, wow.

DANNY: That’s what we’re looking for!

Whoa!

Nice section right there.

That is large.

DOUG: And I don’t think we have

the full width of it there.

I think it split.

Want to try knocking it off?

RICK: Let Danny just

put the bucket on it.

That is one big piece.

Give it a try here? (grunting)

Ooh, yeah.

There we go.

Five-foot.

CRAIG: That’s an awful massive beam.

TERRY: That’s a big ol’ chunk of tree.

CRAIG: What kind of depth we at?

One... 115 with the teeth,

maybe 113 with the excavation.

NARRATOR: A five-foot wooden beam

found at a depth of 113 feet?

RICK: Can you imagine getting that

down at that depth?

-Just the labor. -I know. I know.

-That is massive. -Mind-boggling.

CRAIG: The way it came up, it could

have been vertical at the time.

Like it was part of a tunnel.

How high was the Halifax tunnel?

RICK: This is roughly at the right

depth, is it not?

That’d be the Halifax tunnel.

NARRATOR: In 1867, searchers from

the Halifax Company

dug a large shaft some 200 feet southeast

of the original Money Pit.

After reaching a depth of 110 feet, they constructed a tunnel

heading in a northwest direction in the hopes of

reaching the treasure vault from the side.

Several feet short of their target, they encountered

what they reported to be a two-and-a-half-foot-wide

by four-foot-tall flood tunnel

that was filled with rounded stones.

Although it was a major discovery,

unfortunately for the Halifax Company,

breaching the booby trap thwarted their efforts,

and by the following year, they no longer had the financial

resources to continue operations.

Could it be that Rick, Craig and the team were wrong

in their previous assessment,

that they had intercepted the original Money Pit?

Is it possible that the timbers they uncovered in borehole GG-1

are actually the remains of an abandoned

19th century searcher tunnel?

It’s all great news from a historical perspective,

but sad, because then we’re in, we’re in already-worked ground.

What do you think about going to whatever depth?

CRAIG: Yeah, I’d like to take it

as deep as we can.

PAUL: Be interesting to find out

what we have.

RICK: Tomorrow’s another day.

CRAIG: Yeah.

NARRATOR: The next morning,

as the excavation

of borehole GG-1 continues at the Money Pit site...

TERRY: Hey, Billy.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, his partner

Craig Tester,

and geologist Terry Matheson meet

with heavy equipment operator Billy Gerhardt at Smith’s Cove.

Beautiful day for shorts.

-It is. -(laughter)

NARRATOR: With the days getting shorter,

and with just a few weeks remaining before

major operations on the island

must shut down for the winter,

Rick Lagina and his partners are determined to excavate

beneath the massive 6,000-square-foot crane pad

and make what could be their greatest breakthrough yet.

Do you think you’ll have the crane pad out today yet?

Well, there’s the edge of the crane pad.

We took a little of the edge, and I have a little of this

top section to go yet.

You have any holes open right now, or...

Uh, there’s a hole there in the corner,

and there’s - we’re down to horizon up here

-where those excavator scratches are.

-Okay.

There’s definitely more water, it appears, in this corner

-than anywhere else. -RICK: Yeah, it has.

It’s making a lot of water.

Yeah, there are some steady streams here

that are running, you know, pretty full-on.

RICK: That’s a lot of water.

Well, you know, to me, the dye coming out

in this water right through here indicates, you know,

is it part of the flood system?

Let’s do this.

NARRATOR: Four weeks ago,

the Oak Island team conducted a major operation

that involved pumping thousands of gallons

of water, colored with nontoxic red dye,

down borehole C-1.

-MARTY: The dye has been cast. -Copy that.

NARRATOR: They were attempting

to locate the entrance

of one or more flood tunnels believed to be protecting

the Money Pit treasure vault.

Have you guys spotted anything yet?

NARRATOR: Just a few hours later,

metal detection expert

Gary Drayton found that red-colored water had begun

seeping out of the ground at Smith’s Cove

from beneath the crane pad that had been put in place

to construct the 525-foot steel cofferdam surrounding the area.

If we’re looking for red, guys, I’d say that’s red.

NARRATOR: It is the team’s belief

that this water,

which tested positive for traces of the dye,

indicated they may have discovered the site

of the so-called convergence point--

the place where the five stone box drains,

first discovered in 1850,

are believed to merge into a single flood tunnel.

A flood tunnel that should lead them directly

to the Money Pit treasure vault.

If we can find one arm of that old drain system,

and that’s what’s leaking the water right here,

that’d be fantastic.

Yeah. I mean, at some point, they’re going to converge,

and then we’re really onto something.

-Mm-hmm. How much more of the crane pad

do you want to remove

before we start cutting these... these trenches?

Uh, I think we can remove all of it.

-Oh, really? -Yeah.

It bodes well that there’s something to be learned

underneath the crane pad.

It’s just unfortunate that it’s there, but...

We have to dig under the crane pad for a couple reasons.

One is the obvious: it’s unknown.

We haven’t dug there yet.

So there’s the unknown factor.

There’s the fact that the

If there was a drain system, it would be converging

very near that point.

So, we have to look under there, and we don’t have much time.

-Okay. -Okay.

-All right.

-See you in a little bit. -Thank you, Billy.

-Very good. -See you in a bit.

NARRATOR: As the operation to remove

the crane pad continues

at Smith’s Cove...

DOUG: Hey, Rick.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina joins

Craig Tester

and other members of the Oak Island team

at the Money Pit area.

They are eager to see if the excavation of borehole GG-1

has turned up any new evidence that the team is drilling

in the vicinity of the original treasure shaft.

The dig’s at 159.

And, uh, we’re not hitting much.

You know, we’re not we haven’t gotten much wood.

That’s just, that’s the extent of the wood we’ve found.

DOUG: But he came out with so many

empty grabs before that.

TERRY: Right around 155.5, we did ten

grabs and made about a foot.

The last few grabs that were brought up had nothing in them.

RICK: The dig’s at 159?

159.

RICK: Well, let’s see what

the next few come up with.

Yeah.

MARTY: It’s a little bit disappointing

in the lack

of significant artifacts,

from a discovery process.

Anytime you work on Oak Island, no matter what you’re doing,

whether we’re digging, drilling, exploring,

you know, your expectation level is way up here. You know?

It’s always, "Today’s the day. Aha! There it’ll be."

And we don’t have that yet.

RICK: There we go.

Come on, baby.

No.

Nothing in that one.

We need to make a decision.

Yeah, I agree.

I’d call it. At this point, we’re...

-we’re running tight up against it, right?

-Yes.

Time is our biggest enemy right now.

And if we can save some time by cutting this off...

NARRATOR: Because Rick and the team

believe they are now drilling

in an area explored by previous searchers,

they see no reason to continue excavating

in borehole GG-1.

Mike, we’re ready to call it quits.

-Shut this one down? -Yeah.

-Okay. -We’re ready to move on.

-Sure. -Okay.

NARRATOR: After weeks of careful research

indicating that this was the most likely location

of the original Money Pit,

shutting the hole down deals a devastating blow

to the Laginas, their partners and everyone on the island.

One day after need

excavation of borehole GG-1...

RICK: I’ll introduce you to everyone.

Gentlemen...

this is Rich Moats.

NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina has invited

archeoastronomer Rich Moats

to the war room for a meeting with the Oak Island team.

After having spent a great deal of time

working with Rick’s close friend,

the late author and researcher, Zena Halpern,

Rich has recently developed a theory

which he believes may help the team find

the precise location of the Money Pit’s

original treasure shaft.

Gentlemen, I thank you for asking me to come here today.

I think that what I’m about to show you

is going to help you greatly in what you’re trying to do here.

What I am about to show you is my analysis

of Nolan’s Cross.

As we look at the overall view of the island

and then move in closer,

uh, here is, um, a shot

of the five stones

that comprise Nolan’s Cross.

NARRATOR: In 1981,

Oak Island treasure hunter Fred Nolan

made the astonishing discovery

of five cone-shaped boulders

which, when connected together,

formed a giant, perfectly symmetrical cross.

Although some researchers believe

that Nolan’s Cross represents a religious

and most likely Christian symbol,

just who made the megalithic formation

and for what purpose remains a mystery.

All of these stones, uh...

were selected and shaped

to be roughly the same size and shape

and stand six-foot above the ground.

They were often called cones.

There are only five stones

on this island of that size and shape.

There are no other stones,

to my understanding,

that are conical shaped

and of the same size, is that correct?

There are significant-sized boulders,

but as you say, shaped like that?

I don’t know of any.

I-I haven’t seen any.

So, that brings to the question:

why was Nolan’s Cross constructed?

Nolan’s Cross was constructed by engineers with

ocean navigation capability ’cause it’s how they got there.

-I see. -RICH: Okay.

That was their technology.

That was their science.

We forget about that now.

You know, back in the day,

-navigating by the stars... -Yeah.

-That was what you did. -RICH: Exactly.

Nolan’s Cross provides a means

of relocating specific places on the island

by using navigation principles

along with markers that could not

be changed by natural processes.

They were using sunrises

and the stars for terrestrial navigation.

Okay?

The association of Nolan’s Cross with the Christian cross

suggests a group of people,

highly motivated by a fervent Christian belief system,

constructed Nolan’s Cross.

Together, this points to a subgroup

of sailors and navigators

I believe known as the Knights Templar.

NARRATOR: It is believed by many,

including some of the Mi’kmaqs,

the first nation people of Nova Scotia,

that members of the Knights Templar

sailed from Europe to North America

as early as the 14th century.

According to them,

the Templars arrived on Oak Island

and constructed what is now known

as the Money Pit.

There, they hid a vast treasure

that they had accumulated

during their years in the Holy Land,

including the golden menorah from King Solomon’s Temple,

the Holy Grail

and even the Ark of the Covenant.

Nolan’s Cross is a device

so large that its true purpose

would not be easily recognized.

RICK: The other thing

about Nolan’s Cross is...

the permanence of the structure.

What is the one way, long ago, that you’re guaranteed

that your map...

stays where it’s needed to be?

You use large stones.

And you use the word "map."

Conversely, it’s not written on paper.

They didn’t have to write it on paper.

All that had to be done was the knowledge

maintained as to what the stones did.

Mm-hmm.

Here are the stones making up Nolan’s Cross.

If you extend the sight line

C through stone A,

and you extend a line from

stone D across stone B...

Don’t tell me that lines up.

RICH: They intersect at one location.

MARTY: Wow.

(chuckles softly)

Stone E across stone B

intersects at a different location.

Those are possible places to look...

for what you might be looking for.

NARRATOR: According to

Rich Moats’ theory,

by tracing the sight lines between

each stone of Nolan’s Cross,

there are four potential target sites

in and around the Money Pit area.

One of which, Rich believes,

is the location of the original treasure shaft.

I have already given you

places where I hope you would search,

but the most important of these...

is "Site Three."

I strongly implore you

to search the earth to see what may be there.

RICK: First, I want to say thank you.

We’re certainly intrigued,

’cause you’ve been kind enough to give us proper coordinates.

NARRATOR: Could Rich Moats’

incredible theory be true?

Is Nolan’s Cross really part

of an ingenious treasure map created by

members of the Knights Templar centuries ago?

And if so, could this explain the lead cross

and other artifacts that the team has recently found

and scientifically traced

to a 14th century lead mine

in Southern France?

RICK: He’s bringing all this

disparate information to bear

and he’s come up with this theory

that indeed, Nolan’s Cross

is a map on top of the ground.

Many, many theorists have suggested that.

Not a single one of them have done what Rich has done.

Rich actually puts X marks the spot

on the ground, on Oak Island.

We appreciate everything you’ve done.

GARY: That was fascinating.

-RICK: Yep, absolutely stunning. -You’re welcome. Thank you, sir.

NARRATOR: One day after the team’s

meeting with

Oak Island theorist Rich Moats...

-CRAIG: Morning, Mike. -Morning, Craig.

-How are you this morning? -Good, yourself?

Oh, not bad.

...Craig Tester arrives at the new

60-inch-wide borehole

that Rich had designated as Site Three,

and where the Oak Island team hopes will find evidence

of the original Money Pit treasure shaft.

-Hey, Craig, how you doing? -Good.

-Freezing. -So...

-the teeth are at 33 feet below grade.

-Okay.

The dig, uh, five-foot of plug,

so the dig is at, uh, 28 feet.

The hammer grab seems to be bringing up

an awful lot of timber.

From about eight feet down.

CRAIG: Well, that’s expected.

So we should be

in it for a while, but then once we get

down to the important areas, the 100-foot range and below.

-It’s a great spot. -Okay.

It’s an unknown territory by degrees.

NARRATOR: As the team continues

their excavation at Site Three...

BILLY: The water is coming

right here for sure.

-RICK: Under the crane pad? -CHARLES: Yeah.

...brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with Charles Barkhouse,

arrive at Smith’s Cove.

They are responding to news that heavy equipment operator

Billy Gerhardt may have made a potentially important

discovery at the beach.

So that water was leaking out more like there

-than here, right? BILLY: It was leaking out

there,

but the source is somewheres

right in this general area.

-CHARLES: See it pouring right there.

-BILLY: Yeah.

CHARLES: Right near your left foot.

And there’s some timbers in there, too.

(Rick grunting)

Obviously we got into something here,

-though, right? -RICK: Definitely something.

MARTY: Where did the crane pad

come out to, Billy, about right here?

Uh, there where that foot-and-a-half boulder is.

RICK: Well, there’s a bunch more

boards in there.

BILLY: It looks like the wood

is a foot deep under the crane pad.

NARRATOR: Wood?

Buried as much as one foot deep beneath the crane pad?

Could it be the remnants

of yet another man-made structure?

If so, is it one put there by a previous searcher

or by someone much earlier?

And could it be associated with the flood tunnel

believed to lead directly to the Money Pit treasure vault?

There’s another board here.

BILLY: It looks like a structure.

-CHARLES: Yeah, right in here. -RICK: Yeah.

I suppose there’s a possibility

someone thought they found the flood tunnel,

tried to block it right here.

CHARLES: Yeah.

RICK: Well, I would say...

-keep digging. -BILLY: Yeah.

-I’d just dig it real slow. -MARTY: I would.

-CHARLES: Yeah. -So let’s keep digging, Billy.

Hope springs eternal every time somebody says,

"Hey, we got a new structure, we got

a new find, you better come here and look."

It’s always exciting.

I think it’s reasonably likely

that the crane pad was obscuring

some significant answers.

-RICK: Hey, Gary. -Anything exciting going on?

MARTY: We just pulled a bunch

of planks out of there, so we’re thinking it might be time

to do a quick sweep.

GARY: Okay.

CHARLES: Oh, look at here.

See a crosspiece on it, now.

And there’s one going in that way.

-GARY: Yeah. CHARLES: you got All that

water behind it.

GARY: I think you got

your answer there.

The water’s running, they tried to stop the water.

RICK: That’s a brace,

that’s not the wall,

so it probably goes back further.

CHARLES: Yeah.

RICK: I don’t know

what to make of it.

Why so many structures

in a very confined space.

I-It’s hard to fathom.

And there’s still one yet to uncover.

That may give us, uh, a little more insight

as to what actually occurs between

Smith’s Cove and the Money Pit.

Looks like you’ve really opened the floodgates, now.

Maybe it is a floodgate.

One day after discovery

of a possible floodgate at Smith’s Cove,

Craig Tester, historian Paul Troutman

and geologist Terry Matheson,

returned to the Money Pit area

to monitor the progress at Site Three.

CRAIG: So where we at?

DANNY: So, I’d say eight feet an hour.

-Half an hour would be 104. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: Since beginning

to dig the shaft

just two days ago,

the Oak Island team has now finally reached a depth

of approximately 100 feet.

-You guys will be able to make a house here pretty soon.

-Yeah.

And is it Chappell or is it just some other...

This one is. A Hedden or a Chappell.

-Clearly a six by six. -Yeah.

Whereas this one, definitely hand-hewn.

Yeah, little notches, holes and imperfections.

-All kinds of more box joints. -Yeah. Good notch hole

on that one.

CRAIG: Yeah.

-That could be collapsing of any of the old...

-PAUL: The old shafts, yeah.

We’re definitely in a conglomeration of...

-They were hewn by hand. -Yeah.

-That says you’re going back a ways.

-That’s for sure.

NARRATOR: Hand-hewn wood?

Found at a depth of 104 feet

in the Site Three borehole?

Prior to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution

in the late 18th century,

lumber used in construction was cut manually,

such as with an ax or hand-operated saw.

But could the hand-cut timbers the team has just found

be remnants of an early attempt by searchers

to reach the bottom of the original Money Pit?

Or have they finally found evidence

of the treasure shaft itself?

TERRY: Let’s see what’s up here.

It’s just dominantly old wood.

Hand-hewn.

That’s a good chunk right there.

TERRY: There’s a new one.

Tongue joint.

Oh, that’s interesting.

CRAIG: That’s an interesting one.

Yeah. You can see it on both ends.

What the heck was that used for?

I don’t know. Between something, or...

-Perhaps a central support? -Or up, over here? Or there?

Central support?

-Beam sitting on each side? -For a tunnel, yeah.

Maybe there was something tunneling off all of a sudden.

PAUL: That’s encouraging. Out of all

the ones we’ve been inside,

this is-- I haven’t seen anything like that.

Look at the round it’s rounded, hand-hewn, just...

I mean, what a significant effort.

NARRATOR: Because the team believes

they’ve begun drilling

into some kind of tunnel or wooden structure,

100 feet deep in the Money Pit area...

Dump it!

...Alex Lagina,

Jack Begley and Dan Henskee

will meticulously search the spoils excavated from the shaft

at the nearby wash table

for any important clues, artifacts,

and hopefully, evidence of treasure.

DAN H.: Finding any pottery?

-I haven’t seen any pottery. -Yeah.

-Well, that’s a different depth. -Yeah.

So if we find something interesting, we know it is

from relatively deep. At least 100 feet down.

Pottery?

Pottery!

ALEX: Yeah, I think that’s...

that’s definitely pottery.

DAN H.: But it’s, it’s shattered

little pieces broken off.

Like a teacup, or actually, a...

Oh, you’re right, ’cause there is

a little bit of glaze on this.

Like a fine china teacup, something like that?

ALEX: Here, I’ll, uh, I’ll bag it up

-and we can show it to Laird. -Yeah.

-Here’s your purple wood. -Is it?

-Yeah, definitely purple looking.

-Yeah.

DAN H.: Must be a... must be, like,

fluorescent or something.

-It looks much more purple in the sunlight.

-ALEX: Right.

NARRATOR: Purple wood?

JACK: Look at this, Dan.

Purple wood!

NARRATOR: Last year, while searching

the spoils excavated

from the nearby borehole known as H-8,

Jack Begley and Dan Henskee

discovered strange pieces of wood,

which appeared to be stained the color purple.

How often was this color purple used?

Well, just in important, uh, church documents

and royal documents.

NARRATOR: When the wood

was later examined

by medieval book expert Joe Landry,

the purple color was thought to have been created

by means of an ancient dye used in the production

of important books and manuscripts

throughout the Middle Ages.

Could the presence of this purple wood,

found alongside pieces of pottery,

be evidence that the team has in fact located

part of the original Money Pit?

-PAUL: Oh, wow, look at that! -DANNY: Look at that scoop!

-Whoa-ho-ho! -That’s quite the jumble.

We haven’t encountered, uh, pieces like this before

that are this solid.

What do you make of this, Craig?

I saw that all come up.

They came... these... most of them came up vertical.

-Those were vertical? -Yeah.

TERRY: I like our chances of being

in the collapsed structure of the Money Pit.

-Big brother! -Where are we?

CRAIG: This is one of the last ones

brought up.

MARTY: You feel like

any of this is oak?

Uh, yeah, there’s some of it looks like

it has an oaken grain, yeah.

CRAIG: Yeah, then we get those things,

which are obviously old.

TERRY: Hand-hewn.

What we were thinking is varied materials

cobbled together to hold the...

side of the actual Money Pit together.

-That’s good. -Let’s cross our fingers.

Is it, perhaps,

part of the original Money Pit?

The only thing I can think of: whoever built the Money Pit

would have cared, and oak would last better,

would be heavier, would be stronger, so if...

if these anomalously large timbers are oak,

then yeah, it could be part of the original Money Pit.

Okay. Good.

Keep going.

Find something.

Yup.

NARRATOR: As a new day begins

on Oak Island...

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with their partner Craig Tester,

head back to the Money Pit area

to continue supervising the excavation of Site Three.

MARTY: Ominously quiet.

I’m not seeing anybody.

RICK: What’s going on?

CRAIG: I don’t know.

Hammer grab’s down.

CRAIG: That does not look good.

-(crickets chirping) -No sounds.

Crickets.

We got crickets.

-Nobody’s working. -CRAIG: Yeah.

-MARTY: We’re in trouble. -RICK: Yes.

Mike’s here, though. Let’s go in.

-Yeah, let’s go in the trailer. -RICK: Yup.

As we pull onto the pad,

it is very clear that nothing’s running.

The men are gone.

I mean, this looks serious.

Hey, Mike.

Morning, guys.

RICK: There’s something

going on, and...

we want answers.

MARTY: Pretty quiet out there.

JARDINE: Way too quiet for my likings.

So, it’s a very disappointing morning for me.

-Right. -Yeah.

We got the word this morning that

the crane operators...

they are on strike.

NARRATOR: A strike?

One that has shut down

drilling operations on Oak Island?

Although the crane operators at the Money Pit site

are employed by Irving Equipment Limited,

their rates are regulated

by the Nova Scotia Construction Labor Relations Association.

Over the past 24 hours, the union,

which represents some 100 heavy machine operators

throughout Nova Scotia, went on strike

due to wage issues unrelated to the work on Oak Island.

JARDINE: I am in touch with my guys

back at the office

that’s, you know, digging into that to see

what they can find out, to see what we’re up against.

-It’s just a waiting game. -Mm-hmm.

Uh, we know that...

they are negotiating again and-and... and they’re hoping

to have this resolved within 21 days.

NARRATOR: The fact that operations

at the Money Pit site cannot continue

for what could be the next three weeks

offers yet another setback for Rick, Marty and their team.

The harsh winter weather is already setting in...

and it won’t be long before conditions on the island

become too difficult to resume drilling.

MARTY: For me, it’s a big

disappointment,

because I want to put an X through something,

and the Money Pit, you know,

we’ve thrown a lot of resources at it.

We can’t proceed,

and we are coming tight up against some windows.

We are running out of time.

I think I speak for these two guys.

Um... we understand completely.

-We just soldier through this. -Yeah.

I think we got to respect the workers’ rights here.

-Yep. -So, we’ll let this play out.

-Yep, absolutely. -MARTY: Okay.

Good. Thank you. Appreciate it.

-RICK: Thanks, Mike. -JARDINE: Thanks, guys.

NARRATOR: For Rick, Marty and their team,

the bitter realization that their efforts

to find the original Money Pit have been halted by a strike

is both heartbreaking and infuriating.

Nevertheless...

they are determined to make the best of it.

If experience has taught them anything,

it is that patience and persistence

are stronger than any drilling caisson.

They can now redouble their exploration efforts

at Smith’s Cove.

They will also have time to examine new theories...

evaluate new evidence...

and employ new methods of reaching their ultimate goal:

the discovery of a treasure vault

that has endured centuries of setbacks,

and whose secrets have remained hidden,

at least... for now.

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

Look over there, Marty.

-Is that a wall? -RICK: Yep.

Yeah, there it is right there.

I think it’s a shaft.

-(beeping) -JACK: I see it!

Yeah, that’s 1700s all over it, mate.

JAMES: The Knights Baronet

are connected

to the Knights Templar,

and might be responsible

for a treasure buried on Oak Island.

GARY: All right, here we go.

-What do you got? -I don’t know yet,

but it looks shiny!

Subtitled by Diego Moraes