Original subtitles

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

-That's a beam. - Yep.

Somebody stacked those cobbles.

This might be part of the flood tunnel.

Wow.

If that is strapping,

that would be on a chest.

Yes. Now, that is interesting.

We're gonna insert this radar

- to look for voids. -Okay.

127 feet from the surface,

we get a void space.

This could be the fabled offset chamber.

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,

man-made workings that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross whose origin may be connected

to 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.

Here we go. It's gonna be sloppy today.

Yeah, it is.

Despite the foreboding skies

that shroud a new morning on Oak Island,

the hope of a major discovery remains high

for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team

as they dig at Smith's Cove

for clues that could help solve a 229-year-old mystery.

-Hey, Craig. - Hello.

- How's it going today? -It's going good, mate.

No fantastic artifacts just yet,

but I'm hoping for them to come up, whatever they are.

And Rick pulled out a really nice piece of concrete.

- Concrete? -Yeah.

And I believe that's part

of the story of this area.

Let's make some treasure headlines today.

Okay, Gary. We're ready.

One week ago,

the Oak Island team began an excavation

in search of a stone-lined flood tunnel

which is believed to feed seawater

into the original Money Pit

in order to protect the fabled treasure vault.

After studying a detailed survey map of the area,

which was created

by the late treasure hunter Bobby Restall Jr. in 1963,

the team was able to reach a depth of some 30 feet,

where they made a potentially critical discovery.

This is the first bucket

that has a bunch of same-size cobbles.

That is the description of the flood tunnel.

Incredibly, after unearthing potential evidence

of the flood tunnel...

- Is it concrete? - Yeah.

...Rick found a large fragment of concrete

which may be the same material

that the Restall family mixed and used

during a failed attempt to plug up

the fabled booby trap back in the 1960s.

Emma is testing it,

so we may be able to get some answers on

what range it may come from.

- Well, I'm ready to find something. - Yeah.

- Same here, mate. - Okay. Sounds good.

Today, the team is hoping

to not only confirm the location of the flood tunnel

but also track it back to the Money Pit area,

and determine just where the treasure may be buried

deep below ground.

- Hey, Rick. - Hey.

Kind of soupy, eh?

Yeah.

If we find the flood tunnel,

we follow that up, it should be

a direct line to "X marks the spot."

And that's my hope,

that ultimately, we solve this mystery

for all the people that have come before us

looking for answers.

There's something right there.

That is one weird-looking board.

Yeah.

Hey, Billy.

- What's that? - It looks like there's a board

right at the water level right now.

- Do you see it from there? - I think so, yeah.

I'll see if the water that's in the hole

- might help clean it off. - Okay.

It does look shaped.

I'm gonna give Steve a call, have him mark it.

As Billy digs, we have everyone looking

for something that was built by human hands.

Lo and behold, there's a board.

I am curious about who built this structure,

searchers or original depositors.

It's difficult not to want to go down

and put your hands on it and take measurements.

Unfortunately, it's too deep.

Hey, guys.

- Steve. - Hey, Steve.

If you'll step right where I'm at

on this side, kind of, see a board sticking out?

Yep.

Two boards, on this side.

Yeah, I see that.

Yeah, it looks like it's pretty much on top

of the projected line.

I mean, the Restall survey plan from '63 is quite accurate.

So, if the flood tunnel was gonna be down here

and they really did find it, it looks like

this wood lines up with the potential flood tunnel.

- Yep. - We're-- just got to keep going.

It's worth digging.

As the excavation at Smith's Cove continues,

later that morning...

Well, welcome everybody.

The reason for today's meeting is,

Jan Francke, who is gonna bring some real interesting

technology to bear.

- Yeah. - Absolutely.

...Rick, Craig and other members

of the team meet in the war room with Dr. Jan Francke,

a world-renowned ground-penetrating radar expert

who has not only designed technology for scanning

the pyramids of Giza but also the subsurface of the Moon.

We all know that Dr. Fred

and Dr. Spooner are currently resistant

to additional drilling in the so-called "Golden Egg."

Yeah.

We have a core.

Over the past three weeks,

the Oak Island team has been conducting

a core drilling operation in the so-called Golden Egg,

a 30-by-15-foot oval-shaped area in the Money Pit

where groundwater testing

has identified a large source of precious metals

somewhere between the depths of 80 and 120 feet.

Nothing to write home about, unfortunately.

However, after drilling several boreholes

and recovering no solid evidence of treasure...

We'd like to stand down on drilling in that area right now,

and let the site sort of settle, if you will.

...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

and hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel

have directed the team to temporarily halt

all drilling within the Golden Egg.

This will allow the groundwater to settle

while they conduct new water tests.

I'm gonna turn it over to Craig

because he found Dr. Francke.

In the meantime,

Craig Tester has reached out to Dr. Francke

to see if he can offer another scientific avenue

to help pinpoint the location of the believed treasure.

So, we've run ground-penetrating radar in the past,

and I'm always looking for updated technology,

and one thing that he does have is a borehole

ground-penetrating radar.

And-and I'll let you go into the details

- of the tool. -Sure.

Now, my background

is a geophysicist, and I designed GPR systems

for a variety of applications. And so,

this is a hundred-megahertz borehole radar antenna.

The idea with the borehole radar is to combine

all-in-one, self-contained tube,

which is what we have here today.

So, what we hope to see are very obvious targets.

It'll be of interest to all of us, I can guarantee you that.

The 100-megahertz Helix borehole radar

is a device that sends electromagnetic pulses

through the earth which can identify anomalies

such as structures, voids and metal objects.

When you're looking at a borehole

in your environment, it's kind of like looking at

a painting through a straw.

And what I'm hoping to do with this technology is expand

the size of the straw a little bit.

So, if you run this equipment

around the Money Pit, you're rather sure

that if-if there is a treasure or some sort of a vault,

you should be able to pick up on it?

Yeah, I would, I would think

we're looking for an air or water-filled void.

That would be a very strong reflection.

So, what we'll see is, if there's any target underground,

we'll know the depth and we'll know

the approximate distance away from the hole.

- Mm-hmm. - Perfect.

We certainly believe there is something there.

Let's hope that this device will provide those answers.

Absolutely.

-So, good luck. - Let's do it.

Later that afternoon,

while Jan Franke begins to conduct

ground-penetrating radar scans

in boreholes located in the Golden Egg...

You can see the third board there now...

Yeah.

...on the bottom of that row.

Yep.

...Rick, Craig and Steve

have rejoined other members of the team at Smith's Cove,

where Billy Gerhardt has just uncovered

more potential evidence

of the believed man-made flood tunnel.

I mean, somebody had to put those boards there.

It's a curious thing.

- What the heck is it? - Yeah.

Billy.

Can you dump a couple buckets on the wood

to try to clean it up a little more around it?

There's a flat face

about six or eight inches under it.

So, we are looking at a structure that is

only partially exposed in the moment.

We're looking for anything out of the ordinary in the area.

And here we're seeing something out of place,

but there has to be more.

I was hoping something would show there.

Yeah, me, too.

- There she goes. -Oh, yeah.

It's going more. Look at it.

Watch out. There's a crack right there.

- Ooh. -Oh, yeah.

Ooh...

That whole thing's going.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

- Ooh... - The whole thing's going.

That whole thing's going.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

It is a tense and potentially dangerous moment

at Smith's Cove.

A section of the trench

that the Oak Island team is excavating in search

of the legendary flood tunnel

has suddenly begun to cave in.

There is a board. You were right.

That it, you see it there?

Yep. That's a big board.

We should grab that

- before we start digging, you know? -All right.

Oh, there's a beam, too.

Look at that.

I don't think that's a board.

It's a rock, isn't it?

-Rock? -Concrete.

-Oh! -Wow.

Look at that.

Oh, yeah.

See this?

It's not uniform thickness. Right?

- Thicker here than it is here. -Over here? Definitely.

This is where Emma is gonna be incredibly helpful.

- Yes. -She said she can,

you know, with the different mixes,

- she may be able to define a decade or decades. - Okay.

So...

We should just leave it like it is.

If the team can verify

that this concrete was made in the 1960s,

it would likely mean that it was created

by the Restall family and that their efforts

to locate the believed flood tunnel that feeds

seawater into the Money Pit could soon pay off.

Let's take-- let's go take a look at that beam.

We found concrete and then we find a huge beam.

It's evidence of work by human hands.

It could represent previously unknown work.

It's exciting.

There might be something here

that will speak eloquently to what happened here.

That is one big beam.

I would think this would be too massive for Restalls.

Oh, yeah.

It doesn't look like it's been cut by a machine.

- No. -It looks hand-cut.

A massive, hand-cut wooden beam?

If the team is correct

that it wasn't placed here by the Restall family,

could it be connected

to whoever created the flood tunnel

and hid a vast treasure in the Money Pit long ago?

When it caved in, it sure looked like this was

the only thing, that and the concrete.

Why those two things by themselves?

There's no reason to stop

because you've got so many unexplained things.

Yeah.

I think the finding of the concrete,

certainly is highly suggestive that we're in the area

of the Restalls' efforts to block off the flood tunnel.

Unfortunately, the flood tunnel eludes us at this point.

But maybe we are getting close.

There's a chance that we may find more things today.

I think it's just a matter of continuing what we're doing.

Keep digging.

Let's go find something.

The following morning...

in the Money Pit area...

All right.

Well, let's take the borehole radar out

- right now. - Okay.

...Craig Tester joins

Dr. Jan Francke to assist him

while he scans another borehole

with his specialized ground penetrating radar device.

We have a transmitter on one side

and a receiver on the other,

and it's all fit inside a tiny tube.

There's a computer on board as well.

So we're gonna be logging all the data inside the hull.

So we have two little batteries that we're going to insert

and once we do that, it's gonna start up the radar

and it'll be collecting data.

And then, we'll have a little app

- that we can control it with. - Okay.

All right. Let's go ahead and put this in.

There's a number of things that we might be able to see

that could tell us that there's a flood tunnel nearby.

It could tell us if there's a, you know,

a treasure nearby, a shaft nearby.

Okay, this is the next borehole we want to do.

- Okay. - It's, uh, HN-16, it's called.

As you can see, the Garden Shaft is right there.

Located within the so-called Golden Egg,

borehole HN-16 sets

just 18 feet north of the Garden Shaft:

the 18th-century structure where one year ago...

...the team encountered the possible flood tunnel

while conducting a probe drilling operation

in search of the treasure

some 100 feet underground.

There's some theories that, um,

the treasure is hidden

off to the side in-into a tunnel

that was dug off from the main Money Pit.

So if this can image

five, ten, 15 feet out or more,

it'd be fantastic.

Yeah, that's the idea of a borehole radar.

So what we're gonna do is

insert this down slowly and it's going to track

all the way down and look all around the-the drill hole.

Okay. Let's get started.

The recording is all done

at the tool down hole...

And down she goes.

...so we won't have any idea

what the tool is seeing until he can

download the data and process it.

Okay. And downloading data. And we got it.

But hopefully, we'll find

some indication

that the treasure is nearby, indications of a vault

in the Golden Egg.

I don't know how far out it's going to see,

but if we can see 15 feet, that would be great.

But let's see what we see.

Sounds good.

Later that afternoon...

Hello, guys.

-Hey. -Hey, Marty.

-Hi, Marty. -Hey.

This is a very interesting war room.

...Craig Tester,

along with Rick Lagina

and other members of the team meet

in the war room as Marty Lagina

joins them via video conference.

We have here, probably

the most interesting find,

something that might corroborate

what the Restalls attempted to do many years ago.

They have gathered to hear

a scientific report from archaeometallurgist

Emma Culligan regarding the large pieces

of concrete that were recently

unearthed at Smith's Cove.

This is indeed concrete 'cause concrete is

cement, aggregate and sand.

And this is a pretty simple cement-concrete composition.

Prior to today's meeting,

Emma scanned the concrete

with an X-ray diffraction device--

or XRD-- which uses X-rays

to determine the chemical composition

and physical properties of materials.

What's really cool about it is,

in the XRD, I did get a portlandite trace,

which kind of puts it in the group of Portland cement.

Comprised of a combination

of limestone and clay or shale,

Portland cement is the most common type of cement used

in modern-day construction.

It is often mixed with sand,

gravel and water to make concrete.

There's only two locations

in Canada that have portlandite

and that's Quebec and then there's B.C.

And this is most likely Quebec-sourced.

All of the aggregates and sand are most likely

Nova Scotia-based 'cause those are all

compositions that I normally see in our soil and sand.

So there's a few key things that can

narrow down a date for this cement.

So the Quebec location started hydraulic mining in the 1920s.

And this is hydraulically-mined cement.

I don't think it's anything post-1980s

cause it's missing modern concrete mix.

So I can narrow it down to...

...1920s to 1970s cement.

Because it's porous,

the aggregates are not evenly placed throughout.

So it was rushly made. It wasn't mixed thoroughly.

So it would kind of fit

the whole storyline

of, like, filling in a floodgate.

This concrete could fit the period of the Restalls

during the 1960s.

I think you've found

where the Restalls thought the flood tunnel was.

I think what sits in front of us...

thanks to Emma

for corroborating that this, indeed, could be

part of the Restall effort.

In the war room,

Emma Culligan has just presented

scientific evidence

that the cement unearthed by Rick Lagina

and the team at Smith's Cove

may have been used

by the late treasure hunter Robert Restall

and his family in 1961

during a failed attempt

to seal up the so-called Vertical Shaft,

an approximately 32-foot-deep,

1.5-foot diameter stone-lined hole

believed to be connected to the legendary flood tunnel

that feeds seawater into the Money Pit.

Might this piece of concrete offer critical evidence

that the team may be close to locating the flood tunnel,

which could lead them

straight to the Money Pit treasure vault?

They thought that was the spot

to shut off the flood tunnel.

That's why they wanted to cement it.

And they recorded it as having

a direct impact on the flow of water.

So there was definitely

some sort of connection there.

Exactly.

Look,

I'm heartened by it.

The Restalls' understanding

of the location of the Vertical Shaft

was very important to them and it should be to us.

So having said that,

let's try to find the Vertical Shaft.

So, this is our Smith's Cove survey.

We're currently sitting right here.

In that same area, that's where we found the concrete,

along the projected line of the flood tunnel.

And that's really important to us because

it confirms that the flood tunnel system is real.

And it confirms that the Restalls were

in the right place.

We're following a trail of clues.

And I think it's important

to continue this work.

So, I am heartened by this.

I think we're on the trail of something.

So, the only way to do it

is to get back out there.

- Let's dig. - Let's do it.

Go, team.

-Thanks, Marty. -Yep. See you.

The following morning...

Wow, there's nothing in here.

This is quiet.

...at Smith's Cove,

Craig Tester supervises the excavation

to locate the vertical shaft and believed flood tunnel,

an excavation which experienced

a potentially dangerous cave-in just one day ago.

Hey, Billy.

Hey. So, my thoughts are

we just go further in the center

to see if there was any rocks.

Okay. Well, I'm good with digging deeper

and see how it feels.

- Right. - Yeah, we're going to weigh it

on the outside now, just in case that caves.

- Okay. - Yep.

I'm hoping we can find a vertical shaft.

At the surface, it was just a small mound of rocks,

and below that,

it was a rock-filled hole,

but it went down a significant depth.

So, we're looking for small boulders

as we're digging down deeper and deeper.

But one concern we do have is

the sides might cave in.

So, we're watching out very closely for safety purposes.

See the beam that fell in in that corner?

Yeah.

It is still kind of in line

where Steve put that orange mark

for the potential flood tunnel.

Yeah, it is in line where that is.

Might be able to test it

and get some good dendro dates off of it.

Yeah.

More wood planking,

found over 30 feet below the beach?

Is it possible that Billy Gerhardt

has just unearthed another clue suggesting

that the flood tunnel may be located nearby?

Any time we do anything on Oak Island,

you never know what's original and what's searcher,

and that's the whole key is distinguishing the two.

So, anything you can start dating helps us determine

the time frame of the wood going in place

and if it's associated with the flood tunnel.

We've got to keep going.

Every time we make a scoop,

- we're finding something else. - Yep.

That's for sure.

While the excavation continues

at Smith's Cove,

near the shoreline of Lot 5

on the western side of the island...

We're looking for a continuation

- of this stone feature? -Mm-hmm.

Yes. I would like to see how it follows that way,

which I think is what Laird's plan was.

...Jack Begley and archaeologist Moya MacDonald

are proceeding with a methodical investigation

of a large, rounded stone foundation.

A foundation where the team

has uncovered compelling clues,

such as mortar-like soil, matching other samples

that were collected from nearly 100 feet deep

in the Money Pit area,

as well as a cut silver coin

and iron tools that have been dated

to the 17th century.

We're not quite down too far just yet,

so we could find something else.

Yeah?

These discoveries and more

have made the team speculate that this feature

served as a staging ground

for whomever constructed the Money Pit.

Now, they hope to find proof that will reveal

just who the creators of both features may have been.

This looks kind of cool.

Nice.

- Good find? - Yeah, it looks like a...

like a bottle rim.

It's probably a wine bottle.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, we found a large bottle base

- just over by those two trees. - Okay.

I haven't seen a top yet

as long as I've been working on Lot 5,

so this is really interesting.

Great.

Great start to the day.

Lot 5 has been a horde of artifacts.

I think what happened on Lot 5

not only fits right into a deposit in the Money Pit,

but I think they covered over the area,

trying to hide it.

We're off to a good start.

I think so.

Oh. This is cool.

Just popped out of nowhere.

Hey, Jack, do you want to come see this?

Ooh. What is that?

What'd you find?

While investigating

the large stone foundation

near the shoreline of Lot 5 on Oak Island...

It looks like a piece of strapping.

...archaeologist Moya MacDonald has just made

a potentially important discovery.

It's interesting 'cause it's bent at

kind of a 90-degree angle.

Now, "strapping,"

you mean like metal strapping

to keep a box

or a barrel together?

Yeah, it looks like it.

It's straight, so I'm not too keen on saying

- it's from a barrel, but... - So, maybe

- a small box or a chest. - Maybe a small box.

Well, Laird had suggested

that there could be some type of a cache

related to the structures somewhere around here.

And maybe, that's a bit of

strapping to a box as part of the cache.

'Cause we did find some coins.

Actually, a fair amount of coins,

just right from this area.

- Yeah, that's true. - Who knows what

they were keeping in a box or a chest?

Could Jack's notion be correct?

Is it possible that this piece of metal strapping

may have been part of a chest that contained valuables?

If so, might the chest have been moved

somewhere for safe keeping,

such as in the Money Pit?

Or might it be buried even deeper

within this mysterious foundation?

It will help define the story a little better.

Yeah, figure out who was actually here.

Yeah, we still don't know, and their purpose

is unknown, too. I just think

it's treasure-related.

We had some really good finds on Lot 5.

Buttons and coins and the lead piece,

beads and ammunition.

We don't find the type of artifacts

in such concentration

anywhere else on the island.

And so, it makes you wonder

could there be a hidden treasure

just right around here?

-Hey, Helen. -Hi.

-Oh, hi, Helen. - Hi, guys. How's it going?

-Good. -Well, we found

some interesting things I wanted to show you.

So, first cool thing

we found so far has been

this bottle rim.

Yeah. So, this, the, um,

the paler olive glass, should we say, um,

indicative of the French wine bottles.

I think we had a couple of pieces here,

like over in that unit, and we've definitely had some

up at the other feature as well.

It shows that they were

in use at the same time,

since we're finding the same artifacts in both features.

It's amazing, the progress on Lot 5.

We have found artifacts from England

and France, roughly from

the 1600s to the early 1800s.

That's incredibly intriguing

because I believe there was an expansive effort over time

by groups, entities, to hide

something of great value.

And on Lot 5,

I think there's a richness now,

a much more complex story developing.

So, we had that one,

and then we found

a piece of strapping

that we thought was interesting 'cause it's kind of

bent in a 90-degree angle there.

That may just be damage from being in the ground.

It's hard to say.

So, I think if we took this back

and put it in the CT scanner, we might be able to see

if this is cracked, which means

- it would have been damaged -Mm-hmm.

or if it was intentionally

- bent over. -'Cause if that is

an intentional 90-degree turn,

then it would be on, like, a chest

- or some sort of a box. -Something like that.

Yeah, you know, the strapping around the edge of it. Yeah.

If that is some type of a cache,

this is the area

where we found a lot of coins.

It's possible.

I have known, like, coins been found before,

like, you can find a little stack of them.

Like, people will bury them or sometimes put them

under floorboards, so they're here around the outside.

What were they doing here?

And why did they choose Lot 5,

and the deeper Money Pit soils, too?

And why dig such a large foundation?

-Then bury it? -Mm-hmm.

It's why I think there's another story

that we haven't uncovered here,

that relates to the treasure hunt,

and maybe a hidden chapter of it.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay. So, you guys are just

continuing down in this gravelly layer right now.

Take this down as much as we can

and then try and define this line of rocks.

- Mm-hmm. -Okay.

Keep going, find more stuff.

- That's all we can do. -Yeah.

See you, Helen.

As the investigation on Lot 5 continues...

Hey, Billy. Anything new down there?

There's still something going on in this side.

...Craig Tester and other members of the team

dig deeper near the beach at Smith's Cove

in search of the vertical shaft

and the legendary flood tunnel

that feeds seawater into the original Money Pit.

You've got the three rocks

and then, like, there's a rock here.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

We got quite a bit of water coming out underneath.

Small, quite a few cobbles.

But, I mean, you don't normally see one, two, three,

four rocks, and then I pulled a couple out from there.

There's something going on there.

Yeah.

- Keep digging. - Yeah.

As we found these boulders, the question is

is it part of the vertical shaft?

I don't know. I hope so.

You got to be patient, you got to follow the process.

Um, you know, dig deeper.

Those rocks are interesting.

I'm not sure what they mean, but...

Me, neither. You notice, a bunch more

cobbles, this size,

just rolled out from underneath them.

That's pretty odd there, I think.

Yep.

You know, everything still seems to be

coming right under the center line

that Steve put in there

for the potential flood tunnel.

You know, the Restall indicates

that original people put that 18-inch vertical shaft

full with rocks in place.

If it was 18 inches in diameter,

with rocks, I mean, I wonder if, down deeper,

it could be larger,

- like we're seeing there. - Right,

- lined with boulders. - Yep.

It could be it, it could have been a vertical shaft.

The stacked rocks allow the water

to transfer underneath it.

It could be the type of rock formation we're going through.

Yeah.

Is it possible

that the large stones

the team has just unearthed

are part of the man-made feature

known as the vertical shaft?

If so, that could mean that they are on the verge

of locating and cutting off the booby trap

that has stopped searchers from recovering the fabled treasure

for more than two centuries.

I think somebody stacked those in there.

Yeah.

That's the most interesting thing

we saw so far, right there.

-Gentlemen. -Hey, guys.

Hey.

We're digging a hole.

- It's quite a hole. -After being alerted

by Craig Tester that possible evidence

of a man-made flood tunnel has been uncovered

over 30 feet below the beach at Smith's Cove,

Rick Lagina and Scott Barlow arrive

to inspect the potentially historic discovery.

So, what we're finding is, along this wall,

there's some rocks that appear to be

probably below where, uh,

the boards were that we found.

Each rock was touching, you know,

like-- it was, like, they were stacked in, and underneath,

was quite a few fist-sized rocks in there.

What do you make of it, Craig?

Uh, I don't know.

It was definitely odd, 'cause you look around

anywhere else and you don't see rocks like that.

So, to me, it was man-made.

So, what-- where is the elevation

- where the stones were? -Right-right where the water

is coming in the trench there.

Oh, there, yeah.

Everything seems to be lining up with that center line

that Steve put in for the potential flood tunnel.

Yep.

Yeah. Nobody's dug more dirt

on the south shore than you have.

What are those rocks doing down there?

Those rocks definitely were

manipulated to be there like that

- for-- without... -All in a row.

Yeah, I'm saying 110%.

I'll go more than 100.

Wow.

There's a whole bunch of clues here,

-Yeah. - we just got to put it together.

One wouldn't expect to see boulders aligned like this.

There's a linearity to them, which Mother Nature doesn't do.

If you confirm the location of the flood tunnel

and project that line,

somewhere on that line should be the original Money Pit.

So, it's exciting.

I firmly believe Restalls were onto something

- with-with their work. - I agree.

So, that's why it's important,

I think, at this point, not to stop.

If there's something here,

this is where we're gonna find it.

If it really is a flood tunnel,

means there is a Money Pit.

Think of the laborious effort,

but more-- even important than the laborious effort

- is the plan. - Mm-hmm.

A plan. A well engineered, well thought-out,

very cogent application of money, time,

material and effort

to do one thing and one thing only, maybe.

And that's why this story has endured

and that's why it continues to be so fascinating.

Mm-hmm.

There's only one thing to do. Keep digging.

-Okay. - Yep.

As Billy Gerhardt digs for more evidence

of the believed flood tunnel at Smith's Cove...

...later that afternoon...

Welcome to the war room, everybody.

Jan, welcome back.

I believe you have some results in the--

- from your work in the Money Pit. - Yes.

...Rick, Craig and other members of the team

gather in the war room

with ground-penetrating radar expert Jan Francke

as Marty Lagina joins them via video conference.

Let's take a look at this data.

After processing the data

that he collected from a borehole known as HN-16,

Jan has created a visual model of any anomalies,

such as potential voids, tunnels or objects

in the so-called Golden Egg,

where high-trace evidence of precious metals

were previously detected

between 80 and 120 feet underground.

So, what we're looking at here is the radar profile.

It seems that our last good reflection

is at about 12 feet.

Okay? So, we'll call that the-the approximate distance

that we can get away from the hole

- and still see something. -How far are we

- from the Garden Shaft? - Probably 18 feet.

Right, so, when we're looking

at borehole radar results, we're looking for anything

that really pops out.

As we scroll further down the hole,

- we get this. -Mm-hmm.

And that target, absolutely, is characteristic

of a discrete void space.

- Wow. -How far down are you here?

That's around 127 feet from the surface.

A discrete void?

Meaning that some kind of open cavern,

structure or container

appears to lie buried 127 feet

underground in the Golden Egg?

If so, might it be the source of the precious metals

that have been detected through groundwater testing

at that same approximate depth?

If you look on the screen,

you see this upside-down horseshoe.

And that tells us it's a discrete target,

- an individual target. - Oh.

This is something that is sitting

about three or four feet from the borehole.

Now, we have nothing to compare it against, right?

But it seems, just from experience,

that we do see some ringing, or reverberations,

which suggests that it's probably full of water.

So, it could be a tunnel or even a flood tunnel?

Probably not.

It's not salt water

because it's such a strong signal.

If that was salt water, we would see a shadow zone.

- Okay. - Yeah. Right? And we don't.

We see really good penetration through that,

- so that tells me it's probably fresh water. -Okay.

-Yep. -And it's about

three to four feet away from that hole, yes?

Uh, well, it's a little hard to tell exactly where it starts,

but let's say three feet on average.

And it's not a layer of geology; that would look very different.

This is a target, so it-it's a discrete object.

So, this could be the fabled offset chamber.

Really?

Sure.

That's awesome.

This could be the fabled offset chamber.

Uh, and nothing would make me happier than that,

even if you dig it up before I get there.

Hear, hear.

It is an exciting moment in the war room

for Rick, Marty and the Oak Island team

as ground-penetrating radar expert Dr. Jan Francke

has just revealed that an open void has been detected

at a depth of 127 feet

in the so-called Golden Egg,

the same region where recent groundwater tests

have identified high traces of gold, silver and other metals.

Does anybody in the room know

of any searchers who were messing around at that depth?

No. Nothing in that area.

So, it's pretty exciting. I mean, I don't know.

Jan, I hope you're right. I don't know.

How right are you?

I can only show you what's, uh, it says on the screen here.

There is a discrete target here.

I think we just widen the hole and send Jack down there.

Yeah! Let's do it.

MARTY [voice-over]: All of the sudden, we have

a new piece of data,

a possible void.

It might mean that we're close to evidence

of the original deposit.

So, am I excited this could be the year? Yes.

Well, what are we gonna do then, guys?

Are we gonna drill another one right near there?

- What are we gonna do? - First, I'll make sure

that Dr. Spooner has finished

collecting his new groundwater samples in the area.

Yes, definitely.

Well, I think this is great results.

I mean, the tool's definitely working.

- We're finding a void. -Absolutely. Hey, look,

we started this year and I was super hopeful

that the water analysis would really narrow down

where the metals are coming from.

You know, we got the Golden Egg, which is very cool.

And now, if this is correct,

it's about as narrowed down as it can get.

Within a three-foot radius?

We've never had anything like that.

I think Jan well and truly believes in his analysis.

Look, the man has done this work, literally,

across the globe and h-has had success.

This area in particular is underexplored,

or underinvestigated at depth.

The water sampling program has indicated metals on the area.

So, there's a lot of reasons to be hopeful.

Look, uh, how-- If anybody around the table

is disappointed in a legitimate target,

uh, then, we all need to go home,

right?

And maybe this discovery will allow us to go home.

So, you know, let's develop a strategy

by which we can exploit this possible target.

It's all good news. We've just got to stay the course.

So, Jan, again, we want to say thank you.

- And, uh... - Thanks for having me out.

Get out there and start drilling.

- Can do. - Let's do it. All right.

- See you, Marty. - See you, Marty.

Go get 'em, guys. Go get 'em.

As another week comes to a close on Oak Island,

new potential avenues have been opened

that may lead Rick, Marty, Craig and their team

to the ultimate discovery.

After identifying a massive source of possible treasure

more than 100 feet deep in the Money Pit area

and placing an X on the spot

where it has remained hidden for more than two centuries,

is it now just a matter of time

before Oak Island's secrets are finally revealed?

Or might a mysterious

and deadly line of defense

that is much more powerful than a man-made flood tunnel

stand in their way?

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