Original subtitles

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

What is it?

These are bricks.

That's looking pretty structure-like to me.

What a perfect place to hide something.

-Yeah. -Oh!

That has got a good chance of being gold.

You see the CT scan?

Oh, my gosh.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that.

As I was going down, there's definitely nothing solid there.

Like, totally open?

-Yeah. -That sounds like a void.

It could be the treasure 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.

♪ ♪

- Ready to rock? - Here we go.

Thank you.

-Hey, Rick. -Hey, Steve.

Where are we?

We're down to about 35 feet in D.25-8.25.

It's a place where we don't have any information on.

So let's gather that information in right now.

A new day of hope and excitement has begun

on Oak Island for brothers

Rick and Marty Lagina and their team...

That is undisturbed material.

That's within the range of normal.

...as they explore the fabled Money Pit area

in search of the answers

to a 230-year-old treasure mystery.

If we're drilling near the Money Pit,

what should we expect to see as we go down?

We're really close to areas where Dr. Spooner

and Dr. Michel have tested for,

uh, precious metals in the water.

But we don't have a lot of information in this area,

-so I don't know what we're gonna see. -Well, we're hoping for

a structure in and around 150.

After high traces of gold and silver were detected

through recent groundwater testing in this area,

over the past three weeks...

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

...the Oak Island team

has drilled through a mysterious nine-foot-high tunnel,

some 109 feet deep, on multiple occasions.

We're seeing wood.

A middle section.

Then wood again. And concrete after that.

-This looks like the vault. -Interesting.

However, at a depth of some 150 feet,

they also recovered compelling evidence of the legendary

Chappell Vault.

A seven-foot-high wooden chest encased in concrete

that was first reported by treasure hunters

Frederick Blair and William Chappell back in 1897.

You know, every time a drill bar goes down,

you know, you're hoping for the one thing.

-Right. -Yeah.

Now the team is drilling

borehole D.25-8.25

just a few feet to the northeast.

If the location of a possible treasure vault

can be verified, they will install

a massive steel caisson in order to retrieve it.

Let's hope we continue to gather information all the way down.

And something more than information.

-Exactly. -Treasure.

Treasure, treasure, treasure.

What I'm hoping for is a breakthrough.

I'm hoping for what Rick always calls the aha moment.

And finally bring this treasure to the surface.

I always say, you know, "Cross your fingers."

Well, now maybe you might want to cross your toes, too.

- Yep. Let's see what happens. - Let's see what happens.

While the core-drilling operation

proceeds in the Money Pit area...

...later that morning

on Lot 5, located on the western side of island...

This test pit area has been a conundrum to us.

We really felt that there was something

that we were gonna discover at this level

and we haven't yet.

...Rick Lagina and metal detection expert

Gary Drayton join archaeologist Fiona Steele

and other members of the team to assist

with the investigation of a mysterious stone foundation.

We haven't totally given up on this.

So we would really like to see

if you wouldn't mind doing a check, too.

- All right. - In fact, Gary, if you'd

- wander everywhere, just in case, right? Yep. Yep.

Over the past two years,

this stone structure has yielded numerous clues

that suggest it may be directly connected

to the Oak Island mystery.

In the wall?

- Yeah. In the wall, you've got some iron there. Okay.

These discoveries

include 17th-century trade beads,

a mortar-like material that matches soil samples

from more than 100 feet deep in the Money Pit area

and iron tools that have been scientifically

linked to Sir William Phips,

the 17th-century English politician

who some believe conspired

with a high-ranking Freemason named Andrew Belcher

to bury a vast cache

of Spanish silver and gold on Oak Island

back in 1687.

We're coming over, Moya,

- to do a scan of your pit. - Okay.

Now, since the feature has been deemed

a "special place" by the government of Nova Scotia,

Gary is allowed to detect potential metal targets.

However, the archaeological team must then slowly

and methodically work to uncover them.

The Lot 5 feature, though it has

expanded two to three times its original appearance,

it's still not completely exposed

and to do it properly,

you have to have a lot of patience.

And that's fine, that's the process.

Yep, I'm getting iron.

I'll get out of the way.

Bigger piece of iron there.

Iron.

There's iron all over in this one.

Iron.

Cor blimey.

You guys are going to be busy.

That's different.

Non-ferrous!

Yeah. That is non-ferrous.

-Oh! -Okay. We'll remember that.

There's a good chance that's a coin.

A non-ferrous target?

Indicating that something potentially composed

of precious metals is buried in the feature?

If so, could it mean that this structure

was used to hide something of great value?

I'm telling you now,

there's only three metals that really make that sound.

It's gonna be copper, lead or gold.

You've got some great things

- waiting for you there. - Mm-hmm.

Well, we'll keep excavating and maybe when we get further

into it and have this pit almost complete,

- we can call you back for that again. We'll find it.

We'll call you, you have to come down and do your gold dance.

Okay. I will do that.

Can't wait to see what you dig up.

Yep. Let's hope for the gold.

While the search for answers and valuables

continues on Lot 5...

...several hundred yards to the east,

in the northern region of the triangle-shaped swamp...

Hey, Craig.

- So how we doing? - Well...

over in the corner there,

we found this huge pile

-of logs. -Okay.

And there's stones underneath it.

Yeah. It's definitely path-like.

Okay.

...Gary Drayton joins

Craig Tester, Alex Lagina

and Billy Gerhardt as they investigate

a recently unearthed cobblestone feature.

Kind of leading towards the Eye of the Swamp. Okay.

-So that's another reason we thought it might be something. -Mm-hmm.

Because we feel that the Eye might also be something.

- Yeah. We already have dates from that.

I mean, there's several theories that fall into that interval.

That's early enough to fit Phips, but we need to prove it.

-That's solid. -Yeah. That's a good one.

In 2019, the Oak Island team

began investigating a mysterious circular feature

near the apex of the swamp

that resembled a well-known symbol

of Freemasonry known as "the All-Seeing Eye."

Wow. That is massive.

That's a big boulder.

Incredibly, after draining

and excavating the area, the team discovered

that the so-called "Eye of the Swamp"

was a man-made feature.

I'm very confident we're looking at 1680 to 1700.

Really interesting.

And when geoscientist Dr. Spooner

carbon-dated organic materials within it,

he determined it was created in approximately 1680.

The same time period that Sir William Phips

and his masonic partner

Captain Andrew Belcher are believed

to have hidden Spanish silver on Oak Island.

The plan now is to just keep going here

and then we'll dig.

And then work our way over?

Getting closer, closer in here, as well, as we go.

Okay. Okay.

Now, the team hopes to uncover

more of the possible cobblestone pathway

to determine if it may actually lead

to the Eye of the Swamp

or perhaps other man-made structures.

I have to be honest about the whole swamp.

I never thought we'd find anything.

- Just keep going, right? - Continue on.

And yet every time we dig there, we find something.

Maybe one of these days, it will all fit together

perfectly and answer the Oak Island riddle.

It seems like a lot of rocks

- towards the surface right through here. Let's find out.

This is definitely higher up

- than what you've been, uh... - Yes.

...digging over there.

So far, I'd say

they're sitting on other rocks.

Seem to be quite a few more rocks,

at least right in through here.

Yeah, those are placed in there by someone.

Another potentially man-made feature?

If so, could it contain clues that will help identify

who made the cobblestone pathway?

And, perhaps, the Eye of the Swamp?

Yeah, there's a piece of cut slate there, too.

- See it? - Oh, yeah.

Oh, that's a bigger piece

than I thought.

How big is that piece of slate?

It's at least six inches deep in there.

Uh...

What is it?

- It's a brick. - Ooh, look at that.

Let's get Laird out here.

- That's a brick. - Several in a row.

In the northern end of the Oak Island swamp,

Craig Tester and other members of the team

have just uncovered yet another man-made feature.

They do look fairly crudely made.

They do.

-Not like modern bricks. No. -No. Mm-mm.

Yeah, actually, you can see where it was molded,

and it, it's just slumped a bit right there.

Oh, yeah.

And there's three or four lined up in a row.

Yeah, there's no way a bulldozer pushed those back in like that.

No. N-Nice flat line?

No. And we're not very far

-from the Eye of the Swamp. -Yeah.

A brick structure buried beneath muck and mud?

And just 50 yards from the so-called

Eye of the Swamp?

Is it possible that the team has found a related feature?

If so, could it prove to be the secret

that the Eye was created to signify?

Yeah, let's put it back and, uh,

let's get Laird out here to take a quick look.

I don't know what it means, but maybe Laird will.

- Yeah. Okay. - I'll give him a call.

Haven't found bricks

in the swamp before.

It was definitely put there by man, but why?

- Hey, guys. - Hey, Laird.

Why put something in the swamp?

It didn't make any sense.

There's something really interesting happening.

Here we go.

Now that, the middle brick right there,

- Alex pulled that one up. - Okay.

And then, uh, once we saw there was multiple bricks,

- he put it back in place, but... - I mean, you can tell

-right away, they're not modern. -Right.

You could see it's almost like they're still

-as they were placed, even though that's broken. -Yeah.

These are hand-made,

probably locally fired.

-Mm-hmm. -I'm wondering if this is all part of...

I mean, Anthony Graves' house was here.

I wonder if it's part of that.

He was known to have bought items

from local merchants with ancient coins.

- Spanish coins, wasn't it? - Spanish, yeah.

In 1857,

a man by the name of Anthony Graves

purchased a majority of Oak Island

from the family of the late John Smith,

one of the three young men

who originally discovered the Money Pit in 1795.

However, rather than living on Lot 18 as John Smith did,

and where the Money Pit is located,

Graves established his homestead

just north of the swamp at Joudrey's Cove.

And curiously, after living on Oak Island for some time,

he reportedly began paying for goods on the mainland

with Spanish silver coins.

Is it possible that the team has found

a structure that is somehow connected to Anthony Graves?

And, perhaps, the Spanish treasure

that he is rumored to have possessed

while living on Oak Island?

I mean, the Spanish silver coin legend

-is good enough, isn't it? -Yeah.

Oh, yeah. You had me at "silver."

There's got to be some more artifacts here.

So, we got the go-ahead to keep going here, though?

-Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. -Cool.

We're gonna keep exposing this

and see if there's a path leading to it,

if there's more structure around it.

If it does have something to do

with Anthony Graves, it could be pretty significant.

Maybe it's related to the treasure mystery.

So, we need to confirm what the heck this thing is.

-All right. I'll take this back, give it to Emma. -Perfect. Thanks, Laird.

-Okay. Well, thank you. We'll keep going. -Cool. Thanks.

If anything changes, we'll call you back. Yeah.

- See you later. Thank you. See you.

The following morning...

How deep did you get, Leighton?

- 109. - 109.

Thank you, Leighton.

...in the Money Pit area,

Alex Lagina joins his uncle Rick and other members of the team,

where they continue to monitor the progress

of borehole D.25-8.25.

This looks really soft.

So, this is very loose, and I'm...

I'm seeing something here that interests,

I think, everybody.

Yeah, I see some here, too.

We've got wood.

♪ ♪

H-Holy...

-That's a big old chunk of wood. -Big old chunk of wood.

-You said it, my friend. -Yes, sir.

Yeah, that's a shaped piece of lumber there.

-Yep. -Definitely.

We got one more.

Oh, yeah.

We got some wood, guys.

Does it look like a tunnel

-or a shaft, Terry? -I don't know, Steve.

This is a vertical piece,

and they sheared it off that way.

So, we could have some type of a support.

And another piece here, look.

And there seems to be a pretty darn good fit right there.

It could be a tunnel.

More evidence of a wooden tunnel?

At a depth of 109 feet?

Could that mean that the team has once again

drilled into the previously unknown nine-foot-tall tunnel?

If so, could it be a critical sign

that they are getting closer to finding

the original Money Pit?

- What you got, Leighton? - Thank you, Leighton.

- 119 there for you guys. -Thanks. Thank you.

Let's see what we've got next.

This is all in situ and it's...

just the way you might expect to encounter it.

I would say we're, we're beneath our tunnel.

We have to hit 150 feet and see what we find there.

So, here we are.

We're in a tunnel.

This, again, is hugely significant

because it's in the conventional Money Pit area.

- Gentlemen. Hello. How you doing, Craig?

- Hey, Craig. - Hey, Craig.

-Do you see that wood? -Oh, wow.

So, the next thing we'll be looking for,

I would think, is somewhere around 150 feet,

where this so elusive Chappell Vault was encountered.

And we have lots of information

that says treasure is still there.

Probably getting close.

When you put a drill hole

down in the Money Pit, you know,

there's every hope that you'll come up with treasure.

Everyone's very excited around the drill table.

We have these anomalously high values

of precious metals-- gold and silver-- in this area.

So, as the dig proceeds,

we just have to keep eyes on target.

'Cause we have to remember,

the goal this year

is to put X's on the ground for the caisson work.

To actually find the treasure.

We have another core, gentlemen.

- Hey, guys. - 158.

158. -158. 158.

150 feet target depth.

Okay.

So, we've come in contact with the bedrock right there.

It doesn't look like anything so far.

Yeah.

Sadly,

nothing to write home about in particular,

-I guess. -Nothing.

After all the anticipation

for a major discovery,

this borehole has unfortunately

failed to reveal any more signs

of the legendary treasure vault.

However, given the other evidence

of man-made workings,

and water test results that indicate

a large source of gold and silver

is buried in this area,

could the team have just missed their target?

We need to put a few more holes in this area, hopefully, to find

this previously unknown tunnel or the Chappell Vault.

We're going to chase this to the end.

There might be a locatable source

for these high values of gold and silver in the water.

The hope is that, as we proceed further,

there will be something there.

I think we just move south

of this location

and, uh, see what we come up with.

Yep.

-The more information, the better. -Yep.

Okay, guys.

- Thank you. - We'll keep you in touch.

Sounds good.

So, if we find buried treasure,

do we get a bonus or what?

As a new core-drilling operation

gets underway in the Money Pit area...

That's a lot of bricks in a row.

That's looking pretty structure-like to me. Yep.

...in the northern region of the triangle-shaped swamp...

- Ooh. - ...Craig Tester,

archaeologist Laird Niven and other members of the team

continue to investigate a mysterious brick feature

that was recently uncovered

beneath the brackish water and mud.

The bigger thing is that it-it's-- these bricks

are all sitting on this rock here.

- That is something. - That's something.

Interesting.

You wouldn't waste bricks and slate

for a walkway or... you know, that's all reusable,

-pretty good material. -Brick's not a great walkway material.

It looks as if it's been dug out.

- Mm-hmm. - And there could be

some artifacts in the bottom of here.

Is it feasible to determine the age of the bricks?

They're not factory-made. Mm-hmm.

They're hand-made, laid down.

In terms of their fabric,

they come pretty close to Lot 5.

- Well, that's super cool. - A structure

composed of slate and hand-made bricks

that resemble those found one year ago,

in the rounded foundation on Lot 5?

Because the team has also unearthed iron tools

in the Lot 5 feature

that have been scientifically linked

to Sir William Phips,

who is believed to have buried a cache

of Spanish silver and gold on Oak Island back in 1687,

could this structure in the swamp

be another critical clue

that could help prove that theory?

If so, just what might the team find

when they get to the bottom?

- This is a board. - Yeah.

There's a couple boards in through here.

- There's actually one... - And right here.

...it looks like it broke.

Oh, maybe the same board right here.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it went across.

Someone put some work into this.

A lot.

Yeah. I can work on it for a bit.

- Okay. - Okay. We'll go ahead

and we'll get back on that-that cobbled area over there.

Okay. All right.

- Okay. - See you in a bit.

My first impression is it's obviously

deliberately stacked pieces of slate

with some brick outlining the top.

Very unusual looking, but very well made.

As I explored a little bit more,

I could see that the slate was actually forming

a square structure,

which I found extremely unusual.

The really perplexing thing about this structure

is that I haven't seen anything like it before.

- Wow. - Yeah.

Cleaning it off, it's a whole different thing.

-Yeah. Yeah, completely. -Yeah.

Why use slate and bricks?

I mean, any kind of structure we're looking at

almost always is just built out of stone,

especially in the swamp.

It wasn't your ordinary farmer-used...

There was something special about this...

this new, square structure.

Now, would it be normal for them

just to put the bricks without any mortar or...

I wouldn't have thought...

Unless something was sitting on top.

Yeah, I don't know if that wood

could have been part of a frame

-that they put it in and just... -A superstructure.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think Dr. Spooner here take a look at it

-to help date this. -Yeah.

We need to keep following it.

While members of the team continue to uncover

the brick and slate feature in the swamp,

later that afternoon...

I like to just kind of push it around.

...back on Lot 5,

located on the western side of the island,

Craig Tester and Laird Niven have joined Jack Begley

and other members of the team, as they continue investigating

the rounded foundation and nearby test pit

where Gary Drayton identified

a non-ferrous target just one day ago.

Oh, I think I found it.

- The metal hit? - Yeah.

- Oh, yeah. - Oh...

It's looking like a button.

It's got a pretty big eye on there.

- Yeah, it sure does. - Mm-hmm.

Does it have designs on it?

It's odd. It's got, like, a rim.

Yeah.

That is a weird-looking button.

Oh, jeez, Laird,

I bet you there's something on the... on the face of that.

- You definitely see some sort of design there. Yeah.

Almost floral?

From first glance, with that green, it's copper alloy.

-Mm-hmm. -Mm-hmm.

Have you ever seen a button

that looked like that?

Honestly, no. I haven't.

Wow.

An ornate, copper button?

Could it be another important clue

that might help determine who created this feature,

as well as the brick structure in the swamp,

and perhaps even the Money Pit?

But the beauty of having the CT,

and even the XRF, if that's a design,

Emma can bring it out.

It's certainly corroded enough to be fairly old.

Well, good find. That's for sure.

With it being so unique,

I'm hoping there's a real deep story

in just who might have made it

and how it made its way to the island.

-Yeah, for sure. -Fingers crossed.

- Well, we'll get back after it. - All right.

While the investigation proceeds on Lot 5...

Now is when we should start seeing something...

...in the Money Pit area...

...because our target depth is here, all the way to 159.

...Alex Lagina has joined

other members of the team to monitor

the drilling of borehole D.75-6.6,

which is located just a few feet

from borehole D.25-8.25,

where they hope to obtain more evidence

of the legendary Chappell Vault

more than 150 feet below ground.

Right now, we're treasure hunting

and looking for caisson locations.

We're due for a win.

That's true.

So, I really like this borehole because

it's in an area where we have had a lot of success.

We have multiple water testing boreholes around

that suggest there's gold and silver in the water.

And so, ideally, today,

we'd love to tap into the treasure vault

and bring up some coins.

That core looks like it's not backfill.

No, it does not.

Potentially.

What've you got, Leighton? Let's have a look.

- I got 119. - 119.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- 119. - Let's open it up.

We're into a lot of, uh, shreds of wood.

Okay, this could be

the bottom of some type of a structure.

There's some wood and grainy material in there.

This could be clipping the very end

of some other structure.

Okay, this could be the bottom of some type of a structure.

There's some wood and grainy material in there.

That's good news right there, guys.

That's really good.

Terry, I'm going to pin-point that.

- Absolutely. - Okay.

In the Money Pit area, while drilling

borehole D.75-6.6,

where the team hopes to encounter evidence

of the so-called Chappell Vault some 155 feet underground...

It's clear.

...curiously, they have just recovered

part of an unknown structure

at a depth of just 120 feet.

We're down 129.

Not too much to write home about here, gentlemen.

Backfill.

I don't see any wood chips

or chunks included among this, so that's disappointing.

When we get to about 154, we hope to intersect

what we thought was a treasure chamber,

the edge of the treasure chamber.

Yep. So, that's what I'm talking about.

We gotta really hope that the, uh,

Oak Island gods are on our side here.

Well, we will see.

Time's gonna tell.

Our target depth is basically 155 feet.

If our interpretation of the core is correct,

then we have drilled into and directly through

an unknown structure of some kind.

So, it's kind of an exciting possibility here,

and it's also exciting to know that

whatever we hit down there at 155 feet

could be the original vault.

What we care about the most is 155 to 159.

Okay, cross your fingers.

Hopefully, we get some structure here.

Definitely nothing there.

-Hey, Mike. -Hi, Mike. How're you doing?

Good.

So, as I was going down,

there's definitely nothing solid there at 157.

Feels like there's nothing there,

-like totally open? -That's what it felt like.

That sounds like a possible void, doesn't it?

Absolutely.

There was nothing in my core barrel,

and then we took another measurement

and there was material right at the bottom of my casing.

So, you lost material

into a potential void?

That's the only thing

I can come up with.

We passed through

a relative void or an open space.

A void at 157 feet,

but no signs of the concrete-encased container

known as the Chappell Vault?

Could that mean that the team may have,

once again, missed their intended target,

but perhaps penetrated

a man-made chamber that contains it?

Okay. You were-- you were thinking where?

-In here? -Here or here.

Mike comes over and tells us

he's gotten very little recovery.

It was in a void.

This is where the treasure

is most likely to be found.

That's amazing.

You know, adding this evidence to the rest,

it's just another reason that we should

consider this as a caisson location.

I mean, that's the depth

we expected to see something.

Now, we didn't see a wooden structure,

but we saw an open void.

Absolutely.

Let's finish this up and bring back the news.

- Sounds good. - Thanks, guys.

Nice work.

The following morning...

I can't even imagine how many times we've come into

the lab here to talk about an artifact from Lot 5.

And that little button

is quite unique.

...Rick Lagina, Craig Tester

and other members of the team join Laird Niven

and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan

in the Oak Island lab.

Laird, you certainly have to speak to it.

They are eager to hear

Emma's scientific analysis of the mysterious button

that was unearthed just one day ago,

near the rounded stone foundation on Lot 5.

So, when I uncovered the button,

I thought it was just a plain button back

until Emma showed me something

quite different and, I think, quite unique.

-Mm. -All right.

Come on, let's see.

So, first off, the CT scan.

Earlier today, Emma examined the button

in the Skyscan 1273 CT scanner,

a device that uses concentrated X-ray radiation

to produce three-dimensional images

of artifacts and their finer details.

So, there will be some, um,

image distortion but not a lot.

- Ooh. - Wow.

It's the first thing I saw, when I went, "Oh."

So, imagine my surprise when I saw that.

Whoa, yeah, that is a dandy button, all right.

So there is a design on it.

There is a lot of copper, especially buttons,

do have some lead in it.

So it's a copper alloy.

It does have a little bit of zinc, some lead,

there's a little bit of iron, but that's about it.

So, these two rivet-like things...

...I've never seen before in a button.

And that's holding that other level of design?

Yeah, so you have two--

You have at least two layers of metal.

It's a multi-component button.

Yeah. It's a two-piece button, then.

- At least. - That's really unique.

At least a two-piece button.

It's quite ornate. Yeah. Yeah.

You have the eye and then the boss

is what's holding the eye in place.

It's almost like a dome, it's...

- Whoa. - ...really big.

Is there anything specific about the design?

Well, we weren't really happy with the resolution on the CT,

so Emma did an XRF map scan.

X-ray fluorescence mapping

uses highly concentrated X-ray radiation

to assign colors to the individual elements

on the surface of artifacts.

The process creates a two-dimensional image

that further highlights an object's finer details,

but can also help to determine when it may have been created.

Oh... my God.

That is one fancy button.

Mm-hmm.

What is that design? Can you tell?

-Is that a flower? -It's a flower

and there's an intricate flower inside.

So, you see these different little petals?

Oh, wow.

It's got an English-y feel to it.

It looks like it could be an English button.

Yeah.

You see the little petals and how...

Yeah.

...they're formed there?

-That's a really pretty button. -Yeah, it sure is.

So, what are the speculative dates?

Safe bet would be 1700s and then possibly...

-Yeah. -...earlier.

I think there's a good chance this button

could go in the late 1600s, by the look of it.

Yeah.

It's an odd story that's going on in Lot 5.

It could go in the late 1600s, by the look of it.

Wow.

In the Oak Island laboratory,

Rick Lagina and other members of team

are examining an ornate button that was found

near the round, stone feature on Lot 5.

And which may date back to more than a century

before the discovery of the Money Pit.

It's the multi-component part that has me confused.

Yeah.

I haven't seen that.

What do you think this button would have been?

Where would it have been worn?

It's relatively small, so I would say it's not from a coat.

Mm-hmm. What do you think, Gary?

I think it's too big to be a cuff button.

I think it's a jacket button--

fancy jacket button, as well.

To me, it looks like there's a design on the outer ring.

T-That's what I was noticing as well, yeah.

It's just really worn, isn't it?

- It's super ornate. - Yeah.

If this button dates to the 1600s,

that fits really well with Sir William Phips.

In 1687,

King James II of England ordered Sir William Phips

to conduct two salvage operations

of the sunken Spanish treasure galleon

known as the Concepcíon,

near the modern-day Dominican Republic.

However, Phips and his assistant,

Captain Andrew Belcher,

delivered less than half of the silver and gold treasure

that was recorded on the ship's manifest.

We know that Phips found silver on the Concepcíon.

And I believe some of the treasure

from the Concepcíon was secreted to Oak Island.

According to the theory

of 32nd-degree Freemason Scott Clarke,

Phips and Belcher,

who was also a high-ranking Freemason,

hid much of their actual recovered valuables

on Oak Island.

I think there's something about this button

that might tell us if it's William Phips.

Yeah.

Could Jack be correct that this button

might prove to be another clue

that supports this theory?

Just like the iron tools found in the round feature

that have been scientifically linked to William Phips?

Laird and the team have spoke often

of how you believe that the feature might be

considerably older than we first thought.

This may be one of those points, uh, to support that.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I'm really excited.

What we have so far sure is amazing, so...

- Love the flower design. - Mm-hmm.

Yeah. It's a blooming lovely find.

Just got to button this one up.

So, having said that, we need to go find more.

And we'll leave the both of you

to try to come to a further understanding

-of what that represents. -Great.

- Great work. - Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, Emma. Thanks, Laird.

Later that afternoon...

Hey, Laird. Hey, Craig.

-Hey. -Ian.

...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner

joins Craig Tester and other members of the Oak Island team

in the northern region of the swamp.

Holy cow.

After uncovering more of the mysterious

brick and slate feature, or container,

that was discovered one day ago,

they are hoping that Dr. Spooner might be able to help determine

just how old it may be.

Yeah, so there's a whole bunch of things going on.

To me, it seems to be in actually pretty nice shape.

You know, I wonder what's inside it,

because you can always get a core inside

and you know, maybe get to the bottom of it,

so to speak, when it was abandoned.

- Yeah. - That kind of thing.

But there looks to be a fair bit of sediment

that you're standing on, and I'm standing on too,

that's graded over it, 'cause this was not visible.

Not at all, no.

And it takes time for that swamp material to build up over it.

And we have to kind of suspend the reality of today

that none of this muck would've been there.

- Yeah. It would have been sort of a little bit of a meadow.

And I'm just looking at those bricks

and Laird probably knows, they look hand-made.

They're hand-made.

Hopefully, we can section one, get a better look at it.

W-What's kind of interesting to me is

they've got the slate to build the form

and it's very different from anything I've ever seen.

Well, you know, we can get Steve to pin the corners

and he'll get the elevation.

We'll see how far it is above sea level,

or the swamp of the time.

-Yeah. -I just wonder how deep it is,

because they of course, would've had to excavate out.

I'm almost certain there'll be something down within this.

-Within this? -Yeah.

I'm just going to grab my tools, so we can get these samples.

We need to get Rick out here.

Hey, guys. Hey. Uncle Rick.

Okay, so, this is obviously new. Yep.

In the northern region of the Oak Island swamp...

What's going on?

It's hard to tell at this point.

...Rick Lagina has joined Craig Tester,

Dr. Ian Spooner and other members of the team

as they work to determine the age and purpose

of a mysterious brick and slate container-like feature.

Rick, why don't I show you this find over here? Yeah.

I mean, it looks like

bricks were probably on top of the slate.

- They are on that far piece. Here. Mm-hmm.

You know, the whole thing was covered.

We didn't see it until we took off the top layer.

Which is a strange, strange thing.

Yeah. So, the best thing I can do here for you guys today

is to survey the location of this.

-Okay. -So, the top elevation

matches the cobble path, if that means anything.

- I don't know. - It's completely unknown.

I know nothing of this, it's...

- Yeah. - It's another mystery.

Yeah.

Well, you know,

Anthony Graves lived right there.

- Yeah. - About 100, maybe 100 yards away.

The family tore the house apart looking for what he had.

What a perfect place to hide something, right?

Yeah.

After the death

of Anthony Graves in 1888,

his family reportedly searched his home--

just north of the swamp--

for a cache of Spanish silver coins

that he was rumored to have discovered on Oak Island.

Unfortunately for them, nothing was found.

But could that be because the treasure

was located in a secret vault, buried in the swamp?

If so, what might the team find

as they dig deeper into this feature?

To me, it just looks like a little tiny safety deposit box

in the middle of a bog.

And the suspicion

of where Anthony Graves acquired his wealth

would be that he found something on the island.

Your mind goes to the Sir William Phips

salvage of the Concepcíon.

There was a tremendous amount of silver recovered from that.

As the story goes, not all of it made its way back to England.

I can only but think that this is a place

where he stored valuables.

And maybe multiple vaults could still exist in the swamp.

I think this is certainly a...

a turn of events, you know?

It's cool, it's very cool.

You know, I think we should get on artifact recovery ASAP.

Okay.

Maybe removing soils from around it, see how deep it goes.

Yeah.

Every time we dig in the swamp,

we find something new, from a long time ago.

-Well, this is fantastic. -This is totally unique.

-Yeah. -Totally different, and we're here now.

Now is the time to investigate it.

Okay.

Week by week,

day by day,

Rick, Marty, Craig and their team

are peeling back the layers

of the 230-year-old Oak Island mystery.

As clues continue to mount--

which may soon identify just who may have buried

a vast horde of riches here--

have they finally unearthed a feature

that contains a portion of that treasure?

And if so, could it merely be a sampling

of what awaits them much deeper...

at the bottom of the Money Pit?

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

Look what we've got here.

This could be a piece of the treasure.

Yes!

Oh, Charles. We got wood.

This is incredible.

We could be within feet of our offset chamber.

Doesn't that look like a vault to you?

I would expect a lot of stuff down there.

It's giving off metallic signals.

Oh, whoa, whoa.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Here's something.

- Wow. - What the heck is going on?