Original subtitles

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

-It must be something massive. - Whoa!

That's been down there a very long time.

- It's like it was buried. - Yeah.

I think that's a Restall shaft.

If the Restalls are right, it leads to the flood tunnel.

That's definitely it.

We believe there's some source of metal

that's come in from the south.

That's where the original Money Pit's supposed to be.

-Look at that piece of wood. -Wow.

I really feel we're in a tunnel here.

This is it.

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 it comes.

Yep!

What do we got, Terry?

-29. - 29.

As a new morning of exploration

begins on Oak Island

for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team,

the anticipation for a breakthrough discovery

that could solve a 229-year-old treasure mystery

has never been higher.

Okay.

Nice start to the hole, eh, Steve?

Yep.

Our target depth is in around 120 feet

where we tested the water samples.

And we got new data now from Jan Francke

that says in around that level, at 127 feet,

we potentially have a structure or tunnel.

- Yeah. - So we've got two pieces of data

and they're telling us

there's a man-made structure

of some sort at depth.

We have nothing in the historical record

of any searcher activity in this area.

So if we find something here, that's really exciting.

- I agree, Charles. - Yeah.

One week ago,

while the team postponed their core-drilling operation

in the Money Pit area

so that geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner could conduct

new groundwater tests for evidence of precious metals...

And down she goes.

...ground penetrating radar expert

Dr. Jan Francke inserted

a specially designed radar device

into a previously drilled borehole known as HN-16--

a borehole located

in a 30-by-15-foot oval-shaped region

dubbed The Golden Egg--

where prior groundwater testing identified a large source

of gold, silver and other metals

between 80 and 120 feet underground.

As we scroll down the hole, we get this.

A discrete void space.

That's around 127 feet from the surface.

Incredibly,

near the approximate depth where traces

of precious metals were detected,

Dr. Francke's radar device identified a mysterious void.

This could be the fabled offset chamber.

Really?

Sure.

This has led the team to wonder

if they have located an offset treasure chamber

connected to the original Money Pit.

Between a little bit of gold in the water

and a little bit of wood in the water,

we need to pull something out of the ground.

Little bit of solid gold, little bit of solid silver, huh?

Yeah.

Now, having received Dr. Spooner's permission

to continue drilling while he analyzes

the newly collected water samples,

the team has begun drilling borehole HN-15.5,

located in the northern region of the Golden Egg

to verify the existence of the mysterious void

and also determine just what it may contain.

There's every reason to pursue this potential target.

It's certainly in an area that is incredibly interesting:

there's the Garden Shaft,

there's the flooding association with the Garden Shaft,

there are the high metal values deep underground.

And, of course, the hope is

that it will lead to a long sought-after,

currently unknown, fabulous treasure.

Let's hope that this one bingos it.

- That's the plan, Terry. - We got to get down to the anomaly.

Yep.

We're just getting started.

As the core-drilling operation

continues in the Money Pit area...

-Hey, Billy. -Craig.

What are you feeling down at the very bottom?

Well, it's-- it's some rocks there

- and, uh, clay. - Okay.

...at Smith's Cove,

located nearly 500 feet to the east,

Rick Lagina, along with Craig Tester

and other members of the team,

are proceeding with another critical excavation.

So we want to get as deep as we can

looking for the flood tunnel.

- Yep. - Okay.

They are hoping to locate and cut off

the legendary stone-lined flood tunnel

that is believed to feed seawater into the Money Pit,

a believed booby trap, which has thwarted

all previous searchers who attempted to recover

the fabled treasure vault over the past 200 years...

...and which the team believes halted their own exploration

of the so-called Garden Shaft

when it was flooded with salt water

at a depth of some 100 feet in 2023.

- Hey. - Hey.

So he says there are some rocks

down there, but-- but not

focused like it was a flood tunnel

at this point in time.

Okay, so here's what I think,

is... why don't we go deeper first?

- You good with that? - Yeah.

Since the team began

excavating a massive trench two weeks ago...

This has a bunch of same-size cobbles.

Yeah.

That is the description of the flood tunnel.

...they have discovered

not only large cobble stones

matching the reported description

of the flood tunnel...

- Is it concrete? - Yep.

...but also pieces of concrete

that may have been mixed and poured

by Robert Restall and his son, Bobby, in the 1960s

during a failed attempt to plug up

the so-called vertical shaft:

a 32-foot-deep, stone-lined feature

that the Restalls believed was designed to act

as a shutoff valve for the flood tunnel system.

If we can find the vertical shaft

and dig down and intercept the flood tunnel...

Hey, Billy.

...follow it up the hill,

then we can find out right where the Money Pit is.

I think we're plenty far back on this side.

I'll take this bank off so that I can see a little more.

Okay. Sounds good.

As Rick Lagina and Craig Tester supervise

the large-scale excavation...

Well, Alex, let's take advantage

- of this tide going out, mate. -I agree.

...more than 50 yards away,

along the shoreline...

It's been quite a while since we've detected

these beaches. We've got the Money Pit

right up there.

- Could be anything. - Mm-hmm.

...metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Alex Lagina are searching

for additional clues that could help solve

the Oak Island mystery.

When people would have been slipping

and sliding on these rocks, losing artifacts,

the currents would have pushed all the artifacts this way.

That's what I'm hoping.

- Let's hope they're on this side. - Okay, mate.

- See what we can get. - Let's get stuck in.

- Okay. - Zigzag along the shoreline.

In recent years,

the team has not only recovered metal ship spikes in this area

that predate the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795,

but also the 14th-century lead cross,

which may actually be connected

to the Christian military order of the Knights Templar.

Got plenty of places for an artifact to get trapped,

that is for sure.

- There's a hit. - You've got that right, mate.

- And it's in that area there. - There.

Underneath this giant rock.

Yeah, see what's trapped in the rocks.

The problem is,

you have to dig quickly because it keeps

- filling back in. - Yeah.

Let's see.

I mean...

Ooh. It's caving in.

- Sorry, mate. - It's okay.

How does something get down that deep?

With these rocks? I mean, it's almost like it was buried.

Yeah.

I say we bring some help and-and expand the hole

and dig it out.

We just need some more guys, more shovels.

I agree. I can't dig any deeper than that.

- Yeah. - I'm calling my Uncle Rick.

So a text comes in from Alex, my nephew,

and it's hard not to get enthused.

How can you not be excited?

It's a treasure hunt, for gosh sakes.

There might be something here beneath our feet

that will speak eloquently to what happened here.

I don't care if we have to dig it ten feet down.

We're gonna find what's down that hole.

So this is your little pet project, huh?

Yeah.

Little is not the right word for it.

It really could be anything, mate.

And it's still there, that's the good news.

Okay, we need to get this water out of the hole.

Yep. Exactly.

It's draining work, isn't it?

Yep.

The target in Smith's Cove-- I think,

my gosh, how did you even detect it at that depth?

I mean, it's, it's incredible.

And we're two, three feet down.

My only thought is, it must be quite large.

Again.

This is it here.

We just need to dig this out.

- It's moving. -Ooh. -Here we go.

- We got it. -Oh, mate.

- You're getting it. - There it is.

That would be it.

Ooh-wee!

We're gonna need a bigger pouch.

-There it is. -That would be it.

Let's see. You're getting it.

That's it, there.

It looks like an iron plate.

There.

We're gonna need a bigger pouch.

It is an exciting moment for Rick Lagina

and other members of the Oak Island team...

Yeah, I don't know what it is. I have no idea.

...as they have just unearthed a large,

heavily encrusted metal object

beneath the shoreline of Smith's Cove.

Some kind of

big iron conglomerate coming off a wreck.

- Mm-hmm. - How the heck did that

make its way down there?

That's been down there

- a very long time. - Oh, yeah.

A large iron conglomeration?

When iron objects are submerged in salt water

for long periods of time, the metal corrodes

and can collect smaller, nearby objects,

creating one large, solid concretion.

Could Gary Drayton be correct

that this concretion may be related to a shipwreck?

If so, then just what kinds of artifacts might it contain?

And was it buried several feet beneath the shoreline

by a natural process?

Or, and perhaps most importantly,

does it contain valuable clues that compelled someone

to deliberately conceal it?

Emma, back at the lab,

she always scans these artifacts

to see if there's anything else attached.

Could be a coin or two attached to it.

Could be, I mean, I-I'm just glad we got it

- out of the hole, you know. -Yeah.

Just the simple fact

that that was at that depth,

especially in salt water, is quite astounding.

It could be something

that speaks to this mystery.

But to understand what it is, there might have to be

some fairly aggressive physical cleaning of the item.

And I think it gives us new hope for the beach.

Yeah. If something this big

stayed hidden this long, what else is hidden?

Exactly.

Kudos to all three of you

for not giving up.

Okay, let's get that to the lab.

Get this all back in and go find some more.

-Okay. -Sounds like a plan.

Later that afternoon...

-Hey, Rick. -Hey.

Hi, Rick. How you doing?

Um, the next core will tell the tale, right?

- This is it. -...Rick Lagina

arrives in the Money Pit area after being alerted

that the core drilling operation in borehole HN-15.5

is about to reach a depth of 127 feet,

the same depth where a mysterious chamber

has been detected by ground-penetrating radar

in the so-called Golden Egg.

Jan Francke's GPR anomaly

is gonna be on display, hopefully.

I guess we'll know in the next core.

We'll know in the next core.

If there is a structure at 127,

that's a whole new ball game.

Proof's in the pudding.

The hope is that it is an actual chamber...

Here we go.

...cut into the underground

to hold something, and keep something safe

for a long period of time.

This is it. This is it.

-To me, there's significant hope here. - Thank you.

There may be a find that does

the very thing I have long sought to do,

and that is hold a piece of evidence in your hand

that says the old story is real.

129.

Let's have a look.

Well...

...you're seeing what I'm seeing.

119 to 129.

Yeah, we got 110% recovery.

And really, this is very much in situ material.

Just what you'd expect to see at this depth. Sadly.

There's just, you know, there's a dearth

of structure, unfortunately.

I think Jan Francke interpreted

as best he could.

It's not here, unfortunately.

I'm disappointed we did not locate

a void in proximity with what the GPR was telling us.

It's frustrating.

But I still believe, 100%.

If this was easy, it would have been solved 229 years ago.

There's nothing easy about Oak Island,

and I think we've all come to that realization...

- Absolutely. - ...as every searcher before you has come to that.

But the good news is, we've covered some ground

and we know the treasure can't be there.

- Yeah. - But we have to put X's

- on the ground in the Money Pit... - Right.

...for the possibility of digging

the caissons later this year.

Yes.

Well, we didn't find it.

That's a disappointment.

But it is a fact that metals are in the waters

in and around the Money Pit.

Key metals that are associated with treasure.

So we need to hear some more data.

What I'm hoping to hear is,

where is it coming from?

It's not a win, but maybe it's a tie.

Maybe it's a tie.

I know for a fact the story

- is still here. - Oh, yeah.

So, keep at it, stay watchful and see what happens.

-Thanks, Rick. -Thanks, Rick.

See you.

The following morning...

Today, we're going to have a very frank discussion

about this water-testing program

that has been a big part of the search agenda.

...Rick, Marty and Craig Tester

have called a meeting in the war room

with other members of the team at the request

of geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

and his colleagues, chemist Dr. Matt Lukeman

and hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel.

I think we can all sense the importance

of this meeting today.

After analyzing new groundwater samples

that were collected from boreholes

in the Money Pit area,

Drs. Spooner, Lukeman and Michel

have prepared a new report regarding the traces

of precious metals that have been repeatedly detected

between 80 and 120 feet underground

in areas known as the Golden Egg and the Baby Blob.

Gentlemen, we'll turn it over to you.

So, with all the work we've done,

there are some interesting results in the data.

I've got a little PowerPoint presentation.

Steve?

This is the Baby Blob.

Where the X is, is where initially we thought

the metals might be coming from,

because the red arrows show us water movement,

and all the red circles and gold circles

show us high metal values.

And traditionally, when we get metals,

we trace back to source, upstream.

That was part of why we wanted to look

in the Golden Egg, you know, that area.

- Mm-hmm. - Where we're having problems--

being really disappointing for us-- um,

are, all the other wells to the north

show no anomalous results.

The bottom line is,

is we don't think there's any metal

to the north of the Baby Blob.

It's not in the Golden Egg area.

We've done our work, and we have no evidence of it.

So, caisson in the Baby Blob or close proximity?

No.

I don't have that confidence right now.

Marty? Craig?

Go ahead, Craig.

Um...

Well, I'm still trying to digest it all.

Look, y-you know,

I mean, I'm trying to make sense out of this,

- as we all are. - Right.

The data's remarkably inconsistent, in my mind.

It's actually consistently inconsistent.

Right?

I don't know where to start, actually.

I mean, we have ping-ponged around this

now for three years, almost.

Ian, y-you know, I-I don't really see why

you're still convinced there's metals down there.

Because how do metals play hide-and-seek like that?

I understand your frustration,

but I'm frustrated, too.

Yeah.

It's discouraging.

How do metals play hide-and-seek like that?

I understand your frustration,

but I'm frustrated, too.

It is a shocking moment

for Rick, Marty and members of the Oak Island team.

It's discouraging.

According to the most recent

groundwater tests conducted by Drs. Spooner, Lukeman

and Michel in the Money Pit area,

the high traces of gold, silver and other metals

that were previously identified in the Golden Egg

and Baby Blob are no longer being detected.

Well, let me ask you this, Ian,

you guys were super excited about tin,

and I don't see anything about tin today.

So, I mean, I'm trying to,

I'm trying to pull this together.

I mean, what happened to tin?

Well, we haven't seen tin this year.

Right. It disappeared.

But if it was there

in eye-raising amounts,

it's still there in eye-raising amounts,

you just can't see it anymore, right?

The inconsistencies in the water

are... every time we drill,

we dilute the sample.

We're looking for a culprit, and we're blaming it

on drilling, we're blaming it on poor old Mike.

I don't think that's it.

There's something else or...

something badly wrong with the data?

The samples were taken, I think, in a defensible manner.

So, is this human error?

Um, I don't think so.

You guys are scientists,

you understand probability and things like that.

Is it even statically likely

that there's something of immense value

in that intensely drilled area?

Is there a big chunk of metal down there still?

We certainly do have some anomalies

showing up in the water

that we cannot explain as being natural.

So, there must be some.

Where is that?

We have some data to suggest

that when we were drilling sort of around Hedden and Chappell,

metal started to show up north of that.

And perhaps the area of the Baby Blob

was accepting water that was high in metal.

They're coming from a traditional area,

which is around Hedden, Chappell, somewhere around that.

That's really close to where the original Money Pit

- is supposed to be. - You're absolutely right.

Because of numerous dig operations

conducted by searchers between 1795

and the late 19th century,

which were all thwarted by the flood tunnel

originating at Smith's Cove,

the location of the original Money Pit was eventually lost.

However, some believe that a 163-foot-deep shaft

built by William Chappell in 1931,

and a 124-foot-deep structure

dug just to the east by Gilbert Hedden in 1937,

may have encompassed the original treasure shaft.

Curiously, both the Chappell and Hedden shafts

produced compelling evidence of man-made tools

and artifacts that predated 1795.

But neither resulted in the recovery of valuables.

Is it possible that both just missed the treasure?

And now, through repeated groundwater testing,

the Oak Island team may be close

to locating the fabled riches.

This is the exact area where, a few years ago,

F-4 tested consistently for both gold and silver.

And we've had maroon till in the Money Pit and on Lot 5.

- I would put a borehole in the area. - Yeah.

- Good choice. -Yeah.

The one thing that is for certain

is there's metal down there.

Nothing has me deviating from that.

It's just, where is the source of those metals?

Although Dr. Spooner and his colleagues

obtained numerous trace readings for precious metals

in the Baby Blob and the Golden Egg,

it is a scientific fact that, three years ago,

high traces of gold and silver were also in borehole F-4,

located 50 feet to the southwest.

And curiously, this is also the same area

where the team collected soil samples

almost 100 feet deep

that matched a mysterious mortar-like material

unearthed from a stone foundation on Lot 5,

located on the western side of Oak Island.

I am very disappointed with the lack

of being able to put an X on the map.

But again, the metals are there. They're still there.

So, we can't stop.

F-4 had very high concentrations of gold and silver.

That's significant.

Trying to understand the complexity of the Money Pit,

it's absolutely, mind-numbingly difficult.

But I still believe that something happened here.

And so, the dartboard, if you will, still exists.

We just have to keep drilling to find it.

Mm-hmm.

And we have to keep moving forward, Sempre Avanti.

I'm with you, Rick.

Let's reconvene after everybody takes a deep breath

and sees what this means.

- I agree. - All right. Bye, everybody.

Thank you. Take care.

Following the meeting in the war room...

This hole is important and interesting top to bottom.

...as members of the team begin drilling a new borehole

known as D.5-7.4

positioned just several feet to the northeast

of borehole F-4 in the Money Pit area--

nearly half a mile away on Lot 5,

located on the western side of the island...

These rocks seem really out of place.

Especially when you see them in relation to this area.

...Peter Fornetti joins Ethan Green

and Fiona Steele as they continue investigating

the large stone foundation near the shoreline.

This whole area is really important

because we found a lot of things here.

So maybe we explore those first.

They're currently investigating

a recently discovered section of the mysterious feature,

which has yielded numerous stunning discoveries

over the past two years.

In addition to the mortar-like material

that matches soil samples from deep in the Money Pit area

near borehole F-4,

they have also found

a cut, 17th-century silver British coin

as well as a button bearing a starburst design

and a lead barter token,

which, just like the lead cross that was found at Smith's Cove,

may also date back to the 14th century.

Hey, guys?

I think I've loosened enough soil up around this rock

that if you thought there was any way

you could move it or roll it,

then that will allow me access to the floor.

And I'm dying to see what might be down there.

- We can give it a shot, that's for sure. - We can give it a go, yeah.

-Okay. -Let's try.

Well, it's...

-Watch your foot. -That's great.

Thank you, guys.

Oh, nice.

I am finding artifacts galore.

Oh ho! Nice shard.

Oh, I see that from here.

- That was right underneath the rock. - Mm-hmm.

This is not a very big shard.

So, we're finding all sorts of different things in here.

T-That's probably-- You're looking closer to 1780s.

- Okay. - Mm.

It fits the Oak Island timeline.

It's pre-discovery of the Money Pit.

-It's really exciting. - Yeah, it is. - Yeah.

The structure itself has pretty well confounded us

right from the beginning.

It's almost like the feature that just keeps on giving.

So, we're trying to figure out what exactly

this was and who was here.

And I think the deeper down we go,

we might get more answers as to exactly what that feature is.

It could be hiding something

that we're not aware of at this point.

And I've got a big pocket of charcoal

that's stuck under here, too.

That totally shows us

that man put that rock there for some reason.

But that also shows that we never

- got down to the bottom of this. - Hmm.

This is also where we found

that Money Pit soil from 104 feet down.

I'm finding lots of bits of brick.

- Oh, yeah? -I've got mammal bone.

Really, a mishmash of stuff.

- And it really is all coming out from between these rocks. - Wow.

That really has to make you think about,

"What was this for?"

- And pre-discovery of the Money Pit. - Yeah.

This whole structure would've been buried prior to that.

It potentially has clues not just for Lot 5,

but for the Money Pit as well.

Yeah. I would agree with you.

Hopefully we can find more puzzle pieces.

Yeah, I hope so, too.

All right, let's get back to work.

Perfect.

As a new morning begins on Oak Island...

Well, that's good.

...while the drilling operation continues

in the Money Pit area...

You know, I-I was actually part of this find.

And I have no idea what it represents, though.

So, let's figure out what it means.

...Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton

join archeologist Laird Niven

and archeometallurgist Emma Culligan

in the Oak Island laboratory.

What was most curious about it to me

is it was just heavily encrusted.

Over the past two days,

Emma and Laird have been analyzing

the large iron object that was discovered

some four feet underground at Smith's Cove

and have successfully removed

the corroded materials from its surface.

It was too big and too heavy for the CT scanner.

So, we went low tech and did a hammer and a chisel.

We just were kind of caught off guard,

- because this is not what we expected from that big lump. - No, yeah.

It's a cast-iron stove door.

It's a beautiful design, I will say that.

Yes. I find the design quite unique.

And I like that, that starburst design,

because you found that button on Lot 5

that had that starburst design.

An iron door from a stove

bearing a starburst design,

similar to the potentially medieval button

that was found in 2023 in the stone feature on Lot 5?

Could that mean that these artifacts

are in some way related to one another?

Was this a popular design on stoves back in the day?

Hopefully, some research will show us what that comes from.

But Emma, what can you tell us in terms of the elements?

Um, there were a few pieces that were embedded

in some of the concretion.

So, I have those that I scanned.

Prior to their meeting,

Emma scanned smaller fragments of the stove door

using the X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer, or XRF,

which uses gamma rays to determine not only the elements

that make up an object's composition,

but can also help determine their age.

It is cast iron.

So, cast-iron stoves, they can go back to mid-1700s.

But the manganese content in it

- does push it towards more mid-1800s. -Yeah.

But four feet down, that had been there a long time.

So, probably early searcher. But where does it come from?

Four feet down in Smith's Cove, that's strange.

It's possible that these stove parts found here

were left as markers by people who had come searching.

Again, I round back to my beliefs

that there was an effort made by a group

or an entity

or a consortium of people

who had a specific agenda, long ago,

and they hid their work, they hid their efforts.

We need to find out the design of this stove.

And so, hopefully, that will

help us get closer to solving it.

This story is complex, and it needs to be told.

Whether it be the searcher story

or the original depositional story,

it's all important.

But Gary, we need to go find more.

- Yep. - All right. Good luck.

-Thank you both. -All right. Thank you.

Later that day...

-Hey, Craig. -Hey.

I'm hoping we can find the vertical shaft.

Rick Lagina joins Craig Tester

and members of the team at Smith's Cove

as they continue excavating in search

of the legendary flood tunnel believed to feed seawater

into the original Money Pit.

If the, uh, Restalls were right,

I mean, it led down to the flood tunnel.

- Right. -So it'd be a good place to dig deep.

I'm gonna check it out from up top.

If there is some sort of connection

between Smith's Cove and the Money Pit,

then we should see

something that was built by human hands.

It's just a matter of digging as deep as possible

over a considerable distance.

What are you seeing, Rick?

It's a board.

But I can't tell what's underneath of it.

Okay.

We are in the area of the vertical shaft.

It's where the Restalls put wooden forms down the hole.

They poured in concrete,

their forms blew out, and they lost the hole.

Well, here we are at roughly the depth suggested

it should be, and we're finding wood.

This could be the shaft that we're looking for.

Hey, guys, there's an old shaft or something here.

Should be right down there.

Yeah. Let's check where the wood was found.

It takes more than one large board to make a wall of a shaft.

We want to get Gary down there to metal detect.

Maybe he can find fasteners or some other proof

of this shaft construction.

Sounds good.

I'll pinpoint, mate.

It's here, Alex.

Ooh, bollocks.

What the heck is this?

What the heck is this?

While digging several yards

inland from the beach at Smith's Cove...

-Looks like a big bolt, doesn't it? -Yep.

-Modern? -I think probably.

...members of the Oak Island team have

just made a curious discovery while searching

for the remains of the so-called vertical shaft...

Okay, mate. I'll put it in the bag.

...a 32-foot-deep, stone-lined feature

which the Restall family believed was

a shutoff valve for the man-made flood tunnel

that feeds seawater into the original Money Pit.

And we've got another hit here, Alex.

Okay.

Just there.

Ah, I see it.

-Modern nail. - Modern nail.

That's what makes me think that's the Restall Shaft.

Yeah.

A modern nail?

Could it offer an important clue

that the team may be close to finding

the wooden frame or forms

built by the Restall Family in 1961

when they poured concrete into the vertical shaft?

If so, they may also be on the verge of locating

the notorious man-made flood tunnel.

Coming down.

This must be all over the place, seriously.

Yeah.

As I suspected, a modern nail.

-Modern nail? -Yep. Another modern nail.

-Okay. - Put it in the bag?

Yep.

So as we're digging in Smith's Cove,

we found some hints

that we might be in the right place.

These traces of the Restalls' activity to me

are saying that we're getting close.

It's here, Alex.

Oh, is that it, you just pulled it out there?

- Oh, yeah, that is it. - Yep.

Broken spike of some kind.

Rounded, beveled point.

-Modern? -I don't know.

It's a tough one to tell.

- We can get this tested. -Okay.

- Why don't you bag it? -Yep.

If you confirm the location of the vertical shaft,

you can hopefully find the flood tunnel itself.

Because it's a direct connection to the treasure.

There are clues to the location of the Money Pit

- here in Smith's Cove. -Yeah.

And I think we've proved that.

- Yep. -Yeah.

I think the next five, ten feet

is gonna give us some information.

And digging the shaft you guys just found.

I agree.

- Yeah. - So we just got to keep digging.

- Yeah. -Well said. -All right.

While the excavation proceeds

at Smith's Cove...

Well, this is a pretty exciting hole.

We could be very, very close

- to the original Money Pit. - Yeah.

...in the Money Pit area,

other members of the team continue monitoring

the drilling operation in borehole D.5-7.4,

located in an area

where the team's latest groundwater tests

have identified high-trace evidence of precious metals

more than 100 feet underground.

- We're gonna take this one down deep. - Yeah.

We'll all have our eyes peeled around

100 feet down to the 150 level.

Because we could be in the original backfill

- of the Money Pit itself. - That's right.

Another core coming.

Thanks, Dallin. What do we got?

This is 98.

- 98? Thank you. - 98.

- Hey, Mike. - You see something peeking out the end there, Mike?

Yeah, man, we've got some wood.

Whoa. What?

-Yes, we do. -Look at that.

That's what I'm talking about.

- That's really interesting, Mike. - Yeah.

- That's excellent. - Yeah.

So that right there, Terry, is 102.

My casing drove it deeper.

- I see. - I could feel the end of the wood.

- So, that's when I stopped. - Oh, wow.

Terry, do you think that's a top of a tunnel?

I'm not sure, but what intrigues me

is that's a piece of wood below in situ material.

This could be promising.

Wood encountered 102 feet deep

and below in situ, or undisturbed, soil?

This is just a broken run.

We've got the second half coming right now.

Could surveyor Steve Guptill

be correct that the team has found a tunnel?

If so, could it be connected

to the original Money Pit?

- What do you got? - Uh, 108.

- 108. - 108.

Oh, wow.

We got more wood.

Absolutely.

Look at this.

I mean, this potentially could be the,

the bottom of the tunnel.

- Yeah. -I mean,

we've got a lot of wood in place

from 99 to 108.

So this could be potentially a big tunnel.

- Definitely, that's approximately... - Okay.

...an eight- or nine-foot tunnel.

Wow.

- Hey, guys. - Scott, how you doing?

- Hi, Rick. - Hey.

In the Money Pit area,

Rick Lagina and Scott Barlow

arrive after being alerted

that evidence of a nine-foot-tall

wooden tunnel has been recovered from more

than 100 feet deep in borehole D.5-7.4.

So here we are at a very interesting hole.

A borehole located in the area

and at the same approximate depth

where the team has detected high trace evidence

of precious metals through groundwater testing.

Everything got very,

very interesting around 99 feet below grade.

I really feel we're in a tunnel here, no question.

That's one more thing that reinforces

the importance of this area.

We have tunnels coming to a singular point--

- here-- of interest. -Yeah.

Where did it come from? Where does it go to?

We're not sure, but we could be in the vicinity

of the Money Pit.

An unknown tunnel at a previously undiscovered depth

is incredibly interesting.

And when you find something in the Money Pit

that is unexplainable, perhaps it has to do

with the original mystery.

But at this point, you have to make

the right decisions in order to exploit it.

Let's finish the hole,

take it down to bedrock, and see if we find

anything else that might explain these high

values of gold and silver in the water.

So keep your eyes and wits about you

as you investigate the cores.

But let's wait for the data.

- Yeah. - Right on.

Every year

we think this is the year, we really do.

And I am convinced by the data that it's worth continuing

to search here, but for something that happened

hundreds of years ago

about a treasure that is buried deep,

it ain't gonna be easy.

And here we have an indication of something unknown,

so that could be yet another sign that we're getting close.

So keep watching the rig and we'll see what happens.

- No question. - All right?

We'll stay on task, Rick.

- Thanks. - Thank you.

- See ya. - Thanks, guys.

For a week that began with discouraging setbacks,

Rick, Marty, Craig and their team

have learned that their faith in one another

and their determination

to build upon the efforts of those who came before them

may soon lead to the ultimate discovery.

But as they dig deeper,

perhaps the greatest question that remains to be answered

is can they overcome the mysterious forces

that have guarded Oak Island's secrets

for more than two centuries?

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

The metal detecting calvary has arrived.

I've learned everything from him.

- Oh! - What is this beauty?

This looks like it's got a design on it.

- How old could it be? - Old.

Yeah.

It's the center of our next borehole.

It hasn't really been all that explored.

Could be anything there.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa. -We've got a lot of wood.

- This looks like the vault. - Really?

This could be the one.

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