America Unearthed (2012–…): Season 4, Episode 8 - Chicago's Mystery Bomber - full transcript
Scott Wolter teams up with the FBI's explosives unit to puzzle out the identity of the man who threw the bomb at the infamous Haymarket Rally in Chicago in 1886.
In 1607, 104 englishmen
sailed to america's east coast
And began the first successful
british colony in the new world.
But 40 years earlier,
New England
almost started somewhere else...
On america's west coast.
And the treasure meant
to bankroll it...
Has never been found.
But new evidence says we've been
looking in the wrong place.
The history that we were
all taught growing up is wrong.
My name is scott wolter,
and I'm a forensic geologist.
There's a hidden history in this
country that nobody knows about.
There are pyramids here,
chambers, tombs, inscriptions.
They're all over this country.
We're gonna investigate
these artifacts and sites,
And we're gonna get
to the truth.
Sometimes, history isn't
what we've been told.
AMERICA UNEARTHED - SEASON 4
EP - 8 - Drake's Lost Treasure
I just received footage
from a researcher in california
Named robert stupack
That shows his efforts
to find a lost treasure buried
By 16th century english explorer
sir francis drake.
Many believe drake hid
a treasure
Somewhere
on america's west coast,
And robert has spent years
searching for it.
Now he has a new clue,
And he needs
my geologic expertise
To figure out
if it could lead to millions
In plundered
spanish gold and riches.
He wants to meet at point reyes,
Which is one place
some people think
Drake may have landed
his ship to make repairs.
The first english settlement
in the new world
Was founded in jamestown,
virginia in 1607.
But 30 years before that,
sir francis drake
Tried to establish a colony
called new England
Somewhere on the west coast.
It's rumored he was also
on a secret mission
For the queen of England to find
a fabled route back to europe
Called the northwest passage.
We know drake made it
to the west coast.
Exactly where he landed
and possibly buried treasure
Is debated by historians today.
But in 2012, the u.S.
Department of the interior
Designated point reyes
As the place
where drake came ashore.
- How you doing?
- Fine.
So, where are we headed?
Follow me.
You know, it's kind of amazing
to think that sir francis drake
May have walked on this
very ground right here,
Where he supposedly
landed over 400 years ago.
If he really did bury
a treasure out here
Somewhere along the ocean,
We should find it fast
Because things are
just changing fast.
We've got sea level rise
going on.
We've got all kinds of erosion.
Whatever clues he may have
left behind could be gone soon.
Well, out here at the beach,
The landscape
is always changing.
I've always admired drake.
This is a guy who was
the first person
Ever to circumnavigate
the globe and survive.
Magellan did it,
but he didn't survive.
Now, he did follow magellan's
route down the southern tip
Of south america
up the western coast,
And he was pillaging
ships and villages
And amassed a huge treasure.
Some people think that
he fixed his boat here
And then buried
some of that treasure.
I worked in the investment
business for a long time,
And I think that probably today
it'd be worth about $9 million.
Wow.
Inventories taken upon
drake's return from the americas
In 1580 show
a huge trove of treasure...
At least 20 tons of silver,
five boxes of gold,
And huge quantities
of valuable pearls.
But letters by
the queen's advisors
Suggest that wasn't all of
what he pillaged and plundered.
He may also have had
english shillings with him,
If the money was to be used
for a british settlement.
The queen's letters say
that a portion of the treasure
Was landed secretly.
Could it have been left for
a planned british settlement?
That treasure that is believed
to have been left here by drake,
That he didn't bring
back to England...
The question is,
where is that treasure now?
I believe he buried it
and planned to come back
And dig it up.
I'd like to take you right over
here and show you something.
If drake did bury treasure,
It wouldn't have been
the first time.
In 1573, six years before
he sailed up our west coast,
Drake raided some french ships
off the coast of panama
And took 200,000 pieces
of eight worth approximately
$5 million today.
There was too much to carry,
So drake buried some
of the treasure on the beach,
Planning to return
to collect it later.
Here's the landmark.
It says that francis drake
Landed right here
and repaired his boat.
This is what history says
is the place.
I don't believe
that he landed out here.
Why do you think that?
I have the inset of the hondius
broadside map of 1595.
So, I recognize this
as the hondius map,
And it was basically created
from the entries
From drake's expedition.
Cartographer jodocus hondius
Created the hondius map
in 1595 to publicize
Drake's unprecedented journey
around the world to create
New albion or new England.
But what robert stupack
is telling me
Is that while people assume
this map is of point reyes,
It isn't.
I took a look at this map,
And I actually think
it matches the positions
Of san francisco bay
right near san quentin prison.
And that's where you think
drake landed?
Yes, I do.
San quentin is roughly
an hour east from here
At drake's bay by land,
and longer by sea.
It matters where drake
actually landed
During his voyage in 1579,
because it's a good bet
That his where his famed
treasure might be buried.
I found a hole in a rock where
I believe they passed a rope
And tied up the ships,
right near san quentin prison.
- You mean a mooring stone hole?
- Yes.
Well, I have a little
experience with those.
And if you have
a mooring stone hole,
I'd like to see it.
Holes cut in rocks
have been used
For tying up ships
for centuries.
Ancient hawaiian fishermen
tethered canoes to them,
And similar pierced stones
have been found in pompeii,
Italy dating to around 62 a.D.
But the hole robert
has to show me
Is somewhere
a bit more unexpected.
San quentin is california's
oldest prison,
Having opened in 1854.
But before it was
a maximum-security prison,
The land was known
as point quentin,
Named after a native american
warrior with the same name.
Hey, we called ahead
to get permission
To look at the rock on the beach
with the hole in it.
Oh, you're scott.
Yeah.
Welcome to san quentin.
We'll let you in.
That was really nice
of those authorities
To let us in here
at san quentin prison.
I mean, rarely do people
wanna get in like us.
- They're trying to get out.
- They sure are.
There's a lot of famous
people that were in here,
And I can't help
but think about them.
Johnny cash sang here,
But probably
the most famous inmate
Who was here for a long
time was... Charles manson.
- He just died last year.
- Right.
But hundreds of years
before them,
Drake may have even
walked these beaches.
And I think I know
where he tied up his boat
To prevent it from
slipping out into the bay.
There it is.
Let's take a look inside there.
You know, this thing has
a couple of rocks in here.
But it looks like it goes back
quite a ways.
How far back do you think
that goes?
It goes all the way through
to the other side.
I also see some weathering here.
And normally,
that would indicate age.
But not here,
and I'll tell you why.
You see, this rock,
This is a very soft sandstone.
- You see this white stuff?
- Yeah.
Can you guess
what that might be?
Could be quartz.
Well, it looks like quartz.
But I don't think it is.
I think it's calcite.
Calcite in this rock
would be a telltale sign
That this stone hole doesn't
date back to the time of drake.
Calcite is soft
and erodes quickly,
And a hole like this would be
much more weathered
In the four-and-a-half centuries
since drake was here.
The way we can tell is
by using hydrochloric acid.
This is dilute
hydrochloric acid.
And when I drop I on here,
if it fizzes, it's calcite.
It's fizzing on the white.
That's calcite. So that's soft.
And you'll notice how the white
is actually standing out?
It's probably modern.
The weathering,
for sure, is not old. Okay.
I don't think it's connected
to drake.
The other problem is that
it's perfectly round,
Which means it was drilled
with a mechanical drill.
They didn't have that back
in drake's day.
What else makes you think
that drake landed right here?
I've got a lot more up
at my place.
Let's see what you got.
- Come on in.
- All right. Thanks.
How did you get into
all of this,
And what led
to this discovery here?
One day I was talking
to a neighbor,
And he said that the treasure
of sir francis drake
Is buried around
my neighborhood.
What I did was I started out
digging in my own yard.
I dug down as far as 36 feet
below the ground.
- 36 feet?
- 36 feet.
- It's a long way down.
- What'd you find?
There were numerous booby traps,
And not unlike
"raiders of the lost ark."
And what kind of booby traps?
Several collapsing rooms
where you took out one stone
And the whole room
would collapse around you.
There was a flooding tunnel
Designed to drown the person
who went in for the treasure.
You may have hit some aquifers
that were filling with water.
Especially if it's saturated,
you can just pull one stone out
And it'll slough down.
But I'd have to see it
to know for sure.
Well, unfortunately,
I filled everything in
And I don't own
the property anymore.
Robert's video proves
that he clearly
Did an extensive search
on his property for treasure.
He shows me some
of his other finds,
Including what he thought
were gemstones
Before I told him otherwise,
But nothing that looks
like treasure to me.
The biggest clue he shows me
to where the treasure might be
Is a journal
about drake's expedition
To the american west coast.
"the world encompassed"
is a diary of the voyage
Of the circumnavigation voyage
of sir francis drake.
Within the diary, it says
that they created this plaque
And before he left,
they nailed it to a grey post.
Oh, you're talking
about the drake plate.
- The drake plate, exactly.
- Okay.
The drake plate of brass
is an artifact
That was originally found
Along the shores
of drake's bay in 1933
By a chauffeur
who brought it to his boss.
They decided it was worthless,
And discarded it
along a roadside.
Three years later in 1936,
the plate was rediscovered
By a shop clerk
named beryle shinn,
Who was picnicking when
he stumbled upon the plate.
The plate was interpreted as
A possible legitimate
land claim,
Which would've given control
of what is now california
To England, not Spain,
in the 16th century.
However, in the 1970s,
scientific testing
Suggested that
the plate was a fake.
Today, its provenance
remains controversial.
But I think new testing
could shed new light.
I believe that the plate
that was found in 1936
Was the authentic plate.
The plaque itself says,
"I claim this land in the name
of queen elizabeth,"
And the date on the plaque
is June 17, 1579.
I am really interested
in the plaque.
I wanna see if this thing
is real or fake.
And the only way to do that
is to see it myself.
A lot is riding on whether
the drake plate is a modern hoax
Or an authentic artifact laid
down as an english land claim.
If England had control of
california before Spain later
Claimed it as their own,
Then that would force a rewrite
of the history books
And be a clue
to where the treasure is buried.
When it was found in 1936,
The plate was given to
The bancroft library
at berkeley,
Where it still is today.
This is the plate of brass.
The key sections
of the plate read...
Where was it found?
Tell me about that.
It was found in '36
by a man named beryle shinn.
He found it someplace
in marin county in the area
That is now called greenbrae,
near san quentin.
And as he looked at it,
he began to be able
To read a word or two.
May be drake.
And they said, "you should
take this to berkeley,
Because they know everything
about these antiquities."
And he took it
to herbert eugene bolton,
Who was then the director
of the bancroft library.
Herbert bolton was
instantly fascinated
With the legend of the plate.
He had been telling students
for a long time that he plate
Drake left had to be
out there somewhere,
And to look for it
in marin county.
When it was found, no one
was more excited than him...
Though he was careful
who he told about the discovery.
Bolton, in early '37,
spread the word quietly
Because if this was real,
It would've been
extraordinarily important.
From the standpoint
of american history,
The authenticity
of this plate is huge.
And I don't think
it can be overstated.
That's why it's so important
To really try to get
a better sense of what this is.
They did very sophisticated
metallurgical test of it,
And they concluded
that it seemed to be genuine.
In the early '70s,
we had new ways of testing
And we knew that oxford could do
metallurgical examination
Of nuclear components,
and decided to have it tested.
There are things in this brass
that surprised them.
It has much more zinc in it
than was true of the brasses
Of the 16th century
that they found.
A higher zinc content.
If this is an authentic
land-claim plaque
That drake put here
in the late 16th century,
This is a priceless object.
- Right?
This thing was originally
thought, at first,
To be authentic.
And then later on in the '70s,
It was considered
to be a hoax, right?
That's correct.
There was controversy
About authenticity
from the very beginning.
There are certainly people
who believe that it was a prank.
Did anybody confess to that?
Not exactly, but members of this
fraternal order e clampus vitus
Could've been doing a hoax.
The e clampus vitus fraternity
Has been around since 1845.
Some of the members had
the motto that they were
"dedicated to the erection
of historical plaques,
And having a grand time."
That's basically been taken
to mean they both
Set up historical plaques
but also committed hoaxes.
I'm not saying it didn't happen,
But it really falls
into the category of hearsay.
I've always thought
that there was a little bit
More work to be done.
Looking at this plate,
I think so, too.
Just like new science
in the 1970s overturned results
In the 1930s that suggested
the plate was real,
Science in the 21st century
Could tip the scales back
in favor of authenticity.
Would it be possible
to take a look at this thing,
To take it out?
I've got a portable microscope.
I'd love to take a closer
look at this.
Yeah, let's do that.
I wanna look at how the lines
were made,
The edges for cut marks,
the surface for indentations,
Scratches, anything that might
tell us how it was made.
That's really interesting.
You can see the sharp edge here.
Using the microscope to find
the edges of letters
Carved onto the plate means
that I can look
For telltale buildups
of all kinds of material.
If there's a lot of material
in the grooves
Where the carving was made,
Then it could indicate
advanced age...
As would patina,
a film caused by oxidation
That only develops on materials
like metal
Over a long period of time.
There's a lot of
secondary material
Or the patina, that's developed.
It goes all the way
down into the grooves.
The scratches were there
previously.
And then the patina
developed on top of it.
Peter, look at that.
Look down in the groove.
I can't believe what I'm seeing!
As I look at this,
I see that two-part patina...
The lighter color that's
in contact with the metal,
The darker material
that's on top.
Patina develops on objects
over time.
And the darker it is,
The longer it's been exposed
to carbon in soil...
Potentially 450 years,
which would be consistent
With sir francis drake's voyage.
But perhaps more importantly,
I don't think
it could be a hoax.
This doesn't look fake to me.
I have seen what I consider to
be some really good things...
Things that tell me
this might actually be
An authentic artifact.
This could be one of the most
important historical artifacts
In the history
of the united states.
If francis drake placed
this plaque, as it says in 1579,
This served as the basis for
the british to come over here
And claim the whole continent.
I think it was possibly this
plate that started it all.
While chemical testing
was conducted in the 1970s,
It left open to interpretation
the age of the artifact.
One scientist was inclined
toward a modern forgery,
But said the results
should not be taken
As evidence of modernity.
Drake's own records mention
That he laid down
a plate of brass,
And no other plates
that fit the description
Have ever been found.
Advances in testing equipment
Have come a long way
since the 1970s.
So if I can prove
that this is legit,
It might prove key to finding
Where drake's treasure
was buried.
I implored the museum to let me
conduct more scientific testing,
Including non-destructive
x-ray fluorescents
That can examine the plate's
composition in detail.
And while peter hanff
was in favor of it,
Library authorities ultimately
denied me permission repeatedly.
In writing, they said...
I wonder if maybe they don't
want the truth
About drake's treasure
to be found,
Which they agree is valuable.
By one account, the amount
of treasure he amassed
On that voyage
Was equal to half the income
of the queen for the year.
So it was a lot of money.
To find out more about
drake's treasure
And more about that voyage,
I'm going to England
because I wanna find out
Exactly what drake brought there
to better understand
What he might've left here.
Drake sailed aboard
the golden hinde,
A galleon from England
towards south america
In search of treasure.
It was a perilous voyage.
He originally set sail
with five ships and 164 men,
But many of the men died
and all but the hinde were lost.
Six months into the journey
off the coast of argentina,
Drake accused
his co-commander of mutiny
And had him beheaded
For questioning
the motive of his mission,
And fearing he was a spanish
spy sent aboard
To stop drake from plundering
countries Spain controlled.
The golden hinde made it
back to England,
And a replica
of that vessel exists today
Along the river thames.
I'm meeting the ship's owner,
roddy coleman,
To learn more
about drake's ship,
How much treasure it could hold,
And a modern-day trip
it took to the u.S.
- May I come aboard?
- Of course. Come on.
Okay.
This is a beautiful ship.
I'm looking into the history
of francis drake
And his circumnavigation
of the world.
And this ship, has it gone
to the west coast
Of north america
near california?
She has.
Twice, she's been there...
On the initial circumnavigation,
And then she returned
and we went to vancouver.
Wow.
So, tell me a little bit
about this.
Well, she's a galleon.
Her style is galleon,
so she has three masts
And she has five levels of deck.
What's in that door there?
You wanna...
Well,
let me take you and I'll show you. Okay.
Oh, wow.
Is this where they kept
the treasure?
The treasure would be here,
But of course it would be below
where we are now.
They'd lift the boards up,
discard the stones... right.
...The ballast that was
destabilizing the ship...
And replace it with the gold
and the silver.
Heading back up top,
I'm thinking about something
I learned.
"forbes" magazine lists
sir francis drake
As the second-richest pirate
of all time
Based on the treasure
he brought back to England.
But he would be first if you add
the millions more in gold
And gems robert stupack
and other treasure hunters
Believe he left behind
on the west coast,
Knocking the current leader...
Black sam bellamy of
the caribbean... down a notch.
It was a money-making mission.
Drake had investors, and he had
proved himself as a privateer...
So a licensed pirate.
And so he set off
to gain riches.
The hinde was a ship
That he obtained
prior to his circumnavigation.
Some historians wonder
if the queen of England
May have tasked drake
with another mission
Besides claiming land...
A mission to seek out
the northwest passage,
The long-rumored route
from the atlantic to the pacific
Through the islands
of northern canada.
European rulers had been
seeking the fabled passage
As a trade route to china for
decades before drake's journey.
King henry vii sent
italian navigator
John cabot in search
of it in 1497,
And spanish explorer
Juan rodriguez cabrillo
tried to find it in 1540.
If that's what drake was doing,
It would've taken him
north of california
And means we've been looking
for treasure in the wrong place.
What route did they take?
How did they navigate?
Where did they go?
Well, they set off and the crew
Didn't know what
the mission was about.
But they sailed south down
through the atlantic
And then through what are now
the straits of magellan...
So not around cape horn,
but just slightly above that...
And then up the west coast.
And that took them up to
california and possibly beyond.
I wanna ask you about
the treasure specifically.
I know a lot of it was brought
back here to the u.K.,
But some people say that drake
kept some of that treasure
And hid it
in what is now california.
I mean, obviously,
california is somewhere
That a lot of people
think he landed.
There is drake's bay
just north of san francisco.
But, of course, further north
you have other claims
At such places like whale cove.
Whale cove? That's in oregon.
Francis drake
heading north to oregon
Would've made a lot of sense
If he was also
on a secret mission
To look for
the northwest passage.
But it means treasure hunters
like robert stupack
May have been looking
in the wrong place.
This fabled route from
the pacific
To the north atlantic
Is something that
american explorers
Like lewis and clark
sought, too,
Because it could've
greatly expanded trade.
One thing I know for sure
is that whale cove
And its churning seas
Have a lot of legends
about pirates and lost treasure.
And one archeologist thinks
there's no doubt
Sir francis drake made it here.
Whey do you think it is
that drake
And his travels here
are so important to history?
Why do we care?
Look, this was way
before plymouth rock,
Way before roanoke island.
This was the moon shot
of its time.
The one thing that everybody
agrees on
Is that he did land somewhere
on the west coast here.
They just don't agree
on where that was.
Let's just assume
that drake did land here.
I don't think there's any
question that his ship
Was loaded with treasure.
- So you think it was here?
- I think it was here.
His ship was leaking,
so he needed a sandy beach
That was well-protected
from breakers
So that he could careen the ship
and completely lay it over.
Melissa and I
do a quick check to confirm
Drake's 80-foot ship
would've fit here.
80 feet,
there's plenty of room here.
It could've been done.
And it could,
But I wanna know
if she's got more evidence.
What else makes you think
that drake landed here?
He came in, according to one
of the accounts,
At 48 degrees north where he saw
some snow-capped mountains.
That fits the olympic peninsula.
According to records published
By the queen of England,
Drake only got to
38 degrees latitude
Which is near san francisco.
But drake himself wrote
that he made it to 48 degrees,
Which is oregon.
Melissa has her own
interpretation
Of the same new albion map
that robert stupack believed
To be the area of california
near san quentin.
She thinks it shows whale cove.
I think the shape of the cove
matches the maps that he drew,
And there's no other cove
on this part of the coast
That fits that shape.
So can we take a look
at that map?
Okay.
So if we orient it this way to
kind of lay it out as we're...
We're standing right here,
right?
- Exactly.
- Okay.
Now, this peninsula here
is this jetty of rock,
Which is basalt...
A very strong, durable rock.
And we have more of it
on the other side,
Which is creating the opening
to the bay here.
Now, on this side,
we have sandstone.
That's not nearly as strong
as this rock,
But yet,
it's still pretty strong.
Geologically, 440 years ago
is like yesterday.
So from the perspective of how
did this bay look 440 years ago,
It probably looked
exactly like this.
Let's just assume
that drake did land here.
Some people believe some of
that treasure
May have been left here
on the west coast.
If drake's ship was in here,
There might be evidence out
in the water.
Melissa says this cove was hit
by a tsunami in the 1700s,
So there's no evidence
on the sea floor.
But there is some evidence
that she tells me about,
Just a little further
up the coast.
It's a collection
of carved rocks
That are thought
to be connected to drake,
Known as the treasure rocks
of neahkahnie mountain.
In this area of oregon,
there are a lot of legends
About shipwrecks
and missing treasure.
Treasure seekers have dug
so much around here
That the state had to ban
digging in the 1970s,
Which is bad news for me,
meaning I can't dig, either.
But I think drake's treasure
could be the origin
For these legends,
And I'm hoping to find a way
to crack the mystery
Of where it could be another way
By starting with a rock
carved with a strange clue.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey.
Hey.
You claim to have some evidence
that francis drake
Made it up here to oregon,
in the form of an artifact
And something on-site
in the woods here, right?
- We do, yeah.
- Okay.
Something very tangible.
We've got it in the car.
Wow, look at this.
Oh, wow.
It's called
the measurement rock.
It looks like it's been working,
and there's line that goes here,
And it goes all the way
around here.
This rock and many others
like it were first discovered
Scattered around
neahkahnie mountain
In the 1870s.
The rocks bear strange carvings
including crosses,
A five-pointed star
inside a pentagon,
And other symbols that have
puzzled archeologists
For decades,
but are likely modern.
I don't think the same
can be said for this rock.
It's the line that's carved
all the way around this stone
That could connect it
to sir francis drake.
That line measures 36 inches,
which is the english yard.
So from here to here to here
is 36 inches?
Yes.
The english yard is
a unitive measurement
Dating back to king henry I
in the 12th century,
And we use as it as a standard
three-foot unit of measure
Here and in britain today.
Tom and garry believe this rock
was a crude tool
That drake and his crew
used to measure lengths of rope
In english yards,
Which could, in turn, have been
used to survey the area.
But is this carved rock
really that old?
The true test is
with the hand lens.
This has clearly been worked
by man.
This is a manmade groove,
and this is weathered.
- Yeah.
- This is old.
It looks like it could very well
go back to drake's time.
- Where'd that come from?
- On a cairn over here.
- You know what a cairn is?
- I sure do.
It's basically a pile of rocks,
and they can be of varying sizes
And they were often used
as survey points.
It was under a huge tree root,
And that tree was 150,
200 years old.
The tree grew on top
of the cairn.
While native tribes in oregon
Are known to build rock cairns,
Garry and tom think that the way
the tree roots
Grew over this rock
with an english measurement
Is evidence that it dates
to the time of drake.
If so, the cairns may be a clue
To the pirate's treasure
being here.
There was a number
of piles of rocks
All through this county here.
- Mm-hmm.
As it turns out,
there was a pattern.
So you're saying
these stone cairns,
These carved rocks,
are associated
With drake's land claim?
- They all tie together.
- Okay.
On that map render,
it's showing triangulation.
This was a survey,
and that's the reason
Why they left these cairns.
In the 1970s,
a mathematician plotted out
Where all the stones were found.
Garry thinks the layout
of these stones
Means they were left as surveyor
marks by francis drake,
And is proof he was here
claiming land for England.
But I think this could be
something else, as well.
Do you think it may be
marking treasure?
A survey that marked treasure?
Well, there certainly are
a lot of people
That endorse your thoughts,
because this mountain is riddled
With holes
from treasure seekers.
I'd like to see
where it came from.
Is there any chance
we could see this cairn?
We'd be glad to take you
down there and show you.
Okay. Well, let's do it.
Okay.
Here we are, scott.
- Wow.
- That's a lot of rock.
Yeah.
And it's all spread out
like this.
How tall was this cairn
originally?
- One, two-foot tall.
- Right.
It was two feet, yeah.
The fact that it's not still
two feet tall
And it's all knocked down
like this
Is what I was hoping to see...
- Sure.
...Because if this cairn
was still in good condition
It would tell me that
it probably isn't that old.
But what I see here
really looks good.
Could this be 400 years old?
It absolutely could.
I think that this cairn
could definitely
Have been associated with drake
Because the first settlers
came here in the late 1800s.
- Right.
- This is way before that.
So it's either native american,
Which I don't think that carved
stone supports, or drake.
Really, the only plausible
explanation would be drake.
So I think you guys are right.
I think drake was here.
The question is,
what was he doing?
Was he burying treasure?
Everything does line up,
at least in my opinion.
Proof that sir francis drake
Buried riches somewhere
on the west coast
Might be found at nearby
vancouver island,
Where a treasure hunter
recently discovered
Something very intriguing
that might be part of a fortune
Drake left behind.
So, bruce, I understand
you're the guy who found
Sir francis drake's treasure.
I did find something
that may have been left behind
By sir francis drake.
That's a fact.
I have it right here.
Awesome.
This was a british coin.
Where'd you find it?
I found it in the gorge,
And it's actually
a silver shilling.
And how'd you find it?
I was metal-detecting
with a friend one day
And I went down
while he headed up.
And I landed out on the mud
flats of the gorge.
Wow, look at that.
You know, my first impression
is it's thin.
I guess for some reason,
I thought it would be thicker.
Do you know how they made these?
They hand-stamped them
individually
With a hammer and a dye.
So, what was the date of this?
1551 to 1553.
Oh, that's perfect.
I mean, just a couple
decades later,
Drake was on the coast here.
You know, this coin
is really important.
And if there were other coins
like this found,
That would be
interesting to hear about.
There are three
other coins found,
All within the general vicinity.
Three other british coins?
Absolutely, the same date range.
That's pretty important.
And it could hold the clue,
and maybe even the final answer,
To what happened
to francis drake
On his voyage home
and the treasure.
You know, I have something
I wanna show you
Back at the car.
- Wanna take a look?
- Sure.
The historical narrative is
Drake went north
to san francisco bay
And point reyes,
and then he went straight west.
But I don't think
that's what happened.
I think what happened is
he was loaded with treasure
And he was heading north.
And when he found
san francisco bay,
He was gonna explore it.
And then, he wanted
to get back home, right?
He wanted to bring
this treasure.
And the quickest way to do it
would be to go north
And go through
the northwest passage,
A shortcut,
if you will, back home.
- Fabled route.
- Absolutely.
So I think what he did
is he kept going north.
Now, I think he probably
stopped at whale cove.
That's where he repaired
his boat.
And after he carved
these stones,
He went north up to the sound
here, around vancouver island.
He headed east,
and he quickly realized,
"this isn't
the northwest passage.
I can't get home
going this way."
And then he decided
to head west.
But you know what I think is
The most important
piece of evidence
That tells us the truth
about where drake went
And where he probably
buried his treasure?
No, what's that?
Your coin that you found,
right here.
Maybe, just maybe,
Drake's treasure
could still be out there.
I've seen the drake plate
of brass in san francisco
Which, though regarded
as a fake,
May be a real artifact...
Something I could prove if they
would just let me test it.
I also think there's compelling
evidence to show
That drake may have stopped
near the san francisco coast,
But also headed further north...
Evidenced by discoveries
in oregon.
And the coin that I've seen that
was found on the coast of canada
Is evidence to me that drake
and his riches are real,
And could still be out there.
And maybe this discovery
means we know
Exactly where
we should be looking.
If you have a mysterious
artifact or site
I need to see,
I want to know about it.
Go to travelchannel. Com/
americaunearthed.
sailed to america's east coast
And began the first successful
british colony in the new world.
But 40 years earlier,
New England
almost started somewhere else...
On america's west coast.
And the treasure meant
to bankroll it...
Has never been found.
But new evidence says we've been
looking in the wrong place.
The history that we were
all taught growing up is wrong.
My name is scott wolter,
and I'm a forensic geologist.
There's a hidden history in this
country that nobody knows about.
There are pyramids here,
chambers, tombs, inscriptions.
They're all over this country.
We're gonna investigate
these artifacts and sites,
And we're gonna get
to the truth.
Sometimes, history isn't
what we've been told.
AMERICA UNEARTHED - SEASON 4
EP - 8 - Drake's Lost Treasure
I just received footage
from a researcher in california
Named robert stupack
That shows his efforts
to find a lost treasure buried
By 16th century english explorer
sir francis drake.
Many believe drake hid
a treasure
Somewhere
on america's west coast,
And robert has spent years
searching for it.
Now he has a new clue,
And he needs
my geologic expertise
To figure out
if it could lead to millions
In plundered
spanish gold and riches.
He wants to meet at point reyes,
Which is one place
some people think
Drake may have landed
his ship to make repairs.
The first english settlement
in the new world
Was founded in jamestown,
virginia in 1607.
But 30 years before that,
sir francis drake
Tried to establish a colony
called new England
Somewhere on the west coast.
It's rumored he was also
on a secret mission
For the queen of England to find
a fabled route back to europe
Called the northwest passage.
We know drake made it
to the west coast.
Exactly where he landed
and possibly buried treasure
Is debated by historians today.
But in 2012, the u.S.
Department of the interior
Designated point reyes
As the place
where drake came ashore.
- How you doing?
- Fine.
So, where are we headed?
Follow me.
You know, it's kind of amazing
to think that sir francis drake
May have walked on this
very ground right here,
Where he supposedly
landed over 400 years ago.
If he really did bury
a treasure out here
Somewhere along the ocean,
We should find it fast
Because things are
just changing fast.
We've got sea level rise
going on.
We've got all kinds of erosion.
Whatever clues he may have
left behind could be gone soon.
Well, out here at the beach,
The landscape
is always changing.
I've always admired drake.
This is a guy who was
the first person
Ever to circumnavigate
the globe and survive.
Magellan did it,
but he didn't survive.
Now, he did follow magellan's
route down the southern tip
Of south america
up the western coast,
And he was pillaging
ships and villages
And amassed a huge treasure.
Some people think that
he fixed his boat here
And then buried
some of that treasure.
I worked in the investment
business for a long time,
And I think that probably today
it'd be worth about $9 million.
Wow.
Inventories taken upon
drake's return from the americas
In 1580 show
a huge trove of treasure...
At least 20 tons of silver,
five boxes of gold,
And huge quantities
of valuable pearls.
But letters by
the queen's advisors
Suggest that wasn't all of
what he pillaged and plundered.
He may also have had
english shillings with him,
If the money was to be used
for a british settlement.
The queen's letters say
that a portion of the treasure
Was landed secretly.
Could it have been left for
a planned british settlement?
That treasure that is believed
to have been left here by drake,
That he didn't bring
back to England...
The question is,
where is that treasure now?
I believe he buried it
and planned to come back
And dig it up.
I'd like to take you right over
here and show you something.
If drake did bury treasure,
It wouldn't have been
the first time.
In 1573, six years before
he sailed up our west coast,
Drake raided some french ships
off the coast of panama
And took 200,000 pieces
of eight worth approximately
$5 million today.
There was too much to carry,
So drake buried some
of the treasure on the beach,
Planning to return
to collect it later.
Here's the landmark.
It says that francis drake
Landed right here
and repaired his boat.
This is what history says
is the place.
I don't believe
that he landed out here.
Why do you think that?
I have the inset of the hondius
broadside map of 1595.
So, I recognize this
as the hondius map,
And it was basically created
from the entries
From drake's expedition.
Cartographer jodocus hondius
Created the hondius map
in 1595 to publicize
Drake's unprecedented journey
around the world to create
New albion or new England.
But what robert stupack
is telling me
Is that while people assume
this map is of point reyes,
It isn't.
I took a look at this map,
And I actually think
it matches the positions
Of san francisco bay
right near san quentin prison.
And that's where you think
drake landed?
Yes, I do.
San quentin is roughly
an hour east from here
At drake's bay by land,
and longer by sea.
It matters where drake
actually landed
During his voyage in 1579,
because it's a good bet
That his where his famed
treasure might be buried.
I found a hole in a rock where
I believe they passed a rope
And tied up the ships,
right near san quentin prison.
- You mean a mooring stone hole?
- Yes.
Well, I have a little
experience with those.
And if you have
a mooring stone hole,
I'd like to see it.
Holes cut in rocks
have been used
For tying up ships
for centuries.
Ancient hawaiian fishermen
tethered canoes to them,
And similar pierced stones
have been found in pompeii,
Italy dating to around 62 a.D.
But the hole robert
has to show me
Is somewhere
a bit more unexpected.
San quentin is california's
oldest prison,
Having opened in 1854.
But before it was
a maximum-security prison,
The land was known
as point quentin,
Named after a native american
warrior with the same name.
Hey, we called ahead
to get permission
To look at the rock on the beach
with the hole in it.
Oh, you're scott.
Yeah.
Welcome to san quentin.
We'll let you in.
That was really nice
of those authorities
To let us in here
at san quentin prison.
I mean, rarely do people
wanna get in like us.
- They're trying to get out.
- They sure are.
There's a lot of famous
people that were in here,
And I can't help
but think about them.
Johnny cash sang here,
But probably
the most famous inmate
Who was here for a long
time was... Charles manson.
- He just died last year.
- Right.
But hundreds of years
before them,
Drake may have even
walked these beaches.
And I think I know
where he tied up his boat
To prevent it from
slipping out into the bay.
There it is.
Let's take a look inside there.
You know, this thing has
a couple of rocks in here.
But it looks like it goes back
quite a ways.
How far back do you think
that goes?
It goes all the way through
to the other side.
I also see some weathering here.
And normally,
that would indicate age.
But not here,
and I'll tell you why.
You see, this rock,
This is a very soft sandstone.
- You see this white stuff?
- Yeah.
Can you guess
what that might be?
Could be quartz.
Well, it looks like quartz.
But I don't think it is.
I think it's calcite.
Calcite in this rock
would be a telltale sign
That this stone hole doesn't
date back to the time of drake.
Calcite is soft
and erodes quickly,
And a hole like this would be
much more weathered
In the four-and-a-half centuries
since drake was here.
The way we can tell is
by using hydrochloric acid.
This is dilute
hydrochloric acid.
And when I drop I on here,
if it fizzes, it's calcite.
It's fizzing on the white.
That's calcite. So that's soft.
And you'll notice how the white
is actually standing out?
It's probably modern.
The weathering,
for sure, is not old. Okay.
I don't think it's connected
to drake.
The other problem is that
it's perfectly round,
Which means it was drilled
with a mechanical drill.
They didn't have that back
in drake's day.
What else makes you think
that drake landed right here?
I've got a lot more up
at my place.
Let's see what you got.
- Come on in.
- All right. Thanks.
How did you get into
all of this,
And what led
to this discovery here?
One day I was talking
to a neighbor,
And he said that the treasure
of sir francis drake
Is buried around
my neighborhood.
What I did was I started out
digging in my own yard.
I dug down as far as 36 feet
below the ground.
- 36 feet?
- 36 feet.
- It's a long way down.
- What'd you find?
There were numerous booby traps,
And not unlike
"raiders of the lost ark."
And what kind of booby traps?
Several collapsing rooms
where you took out one stone
And the whole room
would collapse around you.
There was a flooding tunnel
Designed to drown the person
who went in for the treasure.
You may have hit some aquifers
that were filling with water.
Especially if it's saturated,
you can just pull one stone out
And it'll slough down.
But I'd have to see it
to know for sure.
Well, unfortunately,
I filled everything in
And I don't own
the property anymore.
Robert's video proves
that he clearly
Did an extensive search
on his property for treasure.
He shows me some
of his other finds,
Including what he thought
were gemstones
Before I told him otherwise,
But nothing that looks
like treasure to me.
The biggest clue he shows me
to where the treasure might be
Is a journal
about drake's expedition
To the american west coast.
"the world encompassed"
is a diary of the voyage
Of the circumnavigation voyage
of sir francis drake.
Within the diary, it says
that they created this plaque
And before he left,
they nailed it to a grey post.
Oh, you're talking
about the drake plate.
- The drake plate, exactly.
- Okay.
The drake plate of brass
is an artifact
That was originally found
Along the shores
of drake's bay in 1933
By a chauffeur
who brought it to his boss.
They decided it was worthless,
And discarded it
along a roadside.
Three years later in 1936,
the plate was rediscovered
By a shop clerk
named beryle shinn,
Who was picnicking when
he stumbled upon the plate.
The plate was interpreted as
A possible legitimate
land claim,
Which would've given control
of what is now california
To England, not Spain,
in the 16th century.
However, in the 1970s,
scientific testing
Suggested that
the plate was a fake.
Today, its provenance
remains controversial.
But I think new testing
could shed new light.
I believe that the plate
that was found in 1936
Was the authentic plate.
The plaque itself says,
"I claim this land in the name
of queen elizabeth,"
And the date on the plaque
is June 17, 1579.
I am really interested
in the plaque.
I wanna see if this thing
is real or fake.
And the only way to do that
is to see it myself.
A lot is riding on whether
the drake plate is a modern hoax
Or an authentic artifact laid
down as an english land claim.
If England had control of
california before Spain later
Claimed it as their own,
Then that would force a rewrite
of the history books
And be a clue
to where the treasure is buried.
When it was found in 1936,
The plate was given to
The bancroft library
at berkeley,
Where it still is today.
This is the plate of brass.
The key sections
of the plate read...
Where was it found?
Tell me about that.
It was found in '36
by a man named beryle shinn.
He found it someplace
in marin county in the area
That is now called greenbrae,
near san quentin.
And as he looked at it,
he began to be able
To read a word or two.
May be drake.
And they said, "you should
take this to berkeley,
Because they know everything
about these antiquities."
And he took it
to herbert eugene bolton,
Who was then the director
of the bancroft library.
Herbert bolton was
instantly fascinated
With the legend of the plate.
He had been telling students
for a long time that he plate
Drake left had to be
out there somewhere,
And to look for it
in marin county.
When it was found, no one
was more excited than him...
Though he was careful
who he told about the discovery.
Bolton, in early '37,
spread the word quietly
Because if this was real,
It would've been
extraordinarily important.
From the standpoint
of american history,
The authenticity
of this plate is huge.
And I don't think
it can be overstated.
That's why it's so important
To really try to get
a better sense of what this is.
They did very sophisticated
metallurgical test of it,
And they concluded
that it seemed to be genuine.
In the early '70s,
we had new ways of testing
And we knew that oxford could do
metallurgical examination
Of nuclear components,
and decided to have it tested.
There are things in this brass
that surprised them.
It has much more zinc in it
than was true of the brasses
Of the 16th century
that they found.
A higher zinc content.
If this is an authentic
land-claim plaque
That drake put here
in the late 16th century,
This is a priceless object.
- Right?
This thing was originally
thought, at first,
To be authentic.
And then later on in the '70s,
It was considered
to be a hoax, right?
That's correct.
There was controversy
About authenticity
from the very beginning.
There are certainly people
who believe that it was a prank.
Did anybody confess to that?
Not exactly, but members of this
fraternal order e clampus vitus
Could've been doing a hoax.
The e clampus vitus fraternity
Has been around since 1845.
Some of the members had
the motto that they were
"dedicated to the erection
of historical plaques,
And having a grand time."
That's basically been taken
to mean they both
Set up historical plaques
but also committed hoaxes.
I'm not saying it didn't happen,
But it really falls
into the category of hearsay.
I've always thought
that there was a little bit
More work to be done.
Looking at this plate,
I think so, too.
Just like new science
in the 1970s overturned results
In the 1930s that suggested
the plate was real,
Science in the 21st century
Could tip the scales back
in favor of authenticity.
Would it be possible
to take a look at this thing,
To take it out?
I've got a portable microscope.
I'd love to take a closer
look at this.
Yeah, let's do that.
I wanna look at how the lines
were made,
The edges for cut marks,
the surface for indentations,
Scratches, anything that might
tell us how it was made.
That's really interesting.
You can see the sharp edge here.
Using the microscope to find
the edges of letters
Carved onto the plate means
that I can look
For telltale buildups
of all kinds of material.
If there's a lot of material
in the grooves
Where the carving was made,
Then it could indicate
advanced age...
As would patina,
a film caused by oxidation
That only develops on materials
like metal
Over a long period of time.
There's a lot of
secondary material
Or the patina, that's developed.
It goes all the way
down into the grooves.
The scratches were there
previously.
And then the patina
developed on top of it.
Peter, look at that.
Look down in the groove.
I can't believe what I'm seeing!
As I look at this,
I see that two-part patina...
The lighter color that's
in contact with the metal,
The darker material
that's on top.
Patina develops on objects
over time.
And the darker it is,
The longer it's been exposed
to carbon in soil...
Potentially 450 years,
which would be consistent
With sir francis drake's voyage.
But perhaps more importantly,
I don't think
it could be a hoax.
This doesn't look fake to me.
I have seen what I consider to
be some really good things...
Things that tell me
this might actually be
An authentic artifact.
This could be one of the most
important historical artifacts
In the history
of the united states.
If francis drake placed
this plaque, as it says in 1579,
This served as the basis for
the british to come over here
And claim the whole continent.
I think it was possibly this
plate that started it all.
While chemical testing
was conducted in the 1970s,
It left open to interpretation
the age of the artifact.
One scientist was inclined
toward a modern forgery,
But said the results
should not be taken
As evidence of modernity.
Drake's own records mention
That he laid down
a plate of brass,
And no other plates
that fit the description
Have ever been found.
Advances in testing equipment
Have come a long way
since the 1970s.
So if I can prove
that this is legit,
It might prove key to finding
Where drake's treasure
was buried.
I implored the museum to let me
conduct more scientific testing,
Including non-destructive
x-ray fluorescents
That can examine the plate's
composition in detail.
And while peter hanff
was in favor of it,
Library authorities ultimately
denied me permission repeatedly.
In writing, they said...
I wonder if maybe they don't
want the truth
About drake's treasure
to be found,
Which they agree is valuable.
By one account, the amount
of treasure he amassed
On that voyage
Was equal to half the income
of the queen for the year.
So it was a lot of money.
To find out more about
drake's treasure
And more about that voyage,
I'm going to England
because I wanna find out
Exactly what drake brought there
to better understand
What he might've left here.
Drake sailed aboard
the golden hinde,
A galleon from England
towards south america
In search of treasure.
It was a perilous voyage.
He originally set sail
with five ships and 164 men,
But many of the men died
and all but the hinde were lost.
Six months into the journey
off the coast of argentina,
Drake accused
his co-commander of mutiny
And had him beheaded
For questioning
the motive of his mission,
And fearing he was a spanish
spy sent aboard
To stop drake from plundering
countries Spain controlled.
The golden hinde made it
back to England,
And a replica
of that vessel exists today
Along the river thames.
I'm meeting the ship's owner,
roddy coleman,
To learn more
about drake's ship,
How much treasure it could hold,
And a modern-day trip
it took to the u.S.
- May I come aboard?
- Of course. Come on.
Okay.
This is a beautiful ship.
I'm looking into the history
of francis drake
And his circumnavigation
of the world.
And this ship, has it gone
to the west coast
Of north america
near california?
She has.
Twice, she's been there...
On the initial circumnavigation,
And then she returned
and we went to vancouver.
Wow.
So, tell me a little bit
about this.
Well, she's a galleon.
Her style is galleon,
so she has three masts
And she has five levels of deck.
What's in that door there?
You wanna...
Well,
let me take you and I'll show you. Okay.
Oh, wow.
Is this where they kept
the treasure?
The treasure would be here,
But of course it would be below
where we are now.
They'd lift the boards up,
discard the stones... right.
...The ballast that was
destabilizing the ship...
And replace it with the gold
and the silver.
Heading back up top,
I'm thinking about something
I learned.
"forbes" magazine lists
sir francis drake
As the second-richest pirate
of all time
Based on the treasure
he brought back to England.
But he would be first if you add
the millions more in gold
And gems robert stupack
and other treasure hunters
Believe he left behind
on the west coast,
Knocking the current leader...
Black sam bellamy of
the caribbean... down a notch.
It was a money-making mission.
Drake had investors, and he had
proved himself as a privateer...
So a licensed pirate.
And so he set off
to gain riches.
The hinde was a ship
That he obtained
prior to his circumnavigation.
Some historians wonder
if the queen of England
May have tasked drake
with another mission
Besides claiming land...
A mission to seek out
the northwest passage,
The long-rumored route
from the atlantic to the pacific
Through the islands
of northern canada.
European rulers had been
seeking the fabled passage
As a trade route to china for
decades before drake's journey.
King henry vii sent
italian navigator
John cabot in search
of it in 1497,
And spanish explorer
Juan rodriguez cabrillo
tried to find it in 1540.
If that's what drake was doing,
It would've taken him
north of california
And means we've been looking
for treasure in the wrong place.
What route did they take?
How did they navigate?
Where did they go?
Well, they set off and the crew
Didn't know what
the mission was about.
But they sailed south down
through the atlantic
And then through what are now
the straits of magellan...
So not around cape horn,
but just slightly above that...
And then up the west coast.
And that took them up to
california and possibly beyond.
I wanna ask you about
the treasure specifically.
I know a lot of it was brought
back here to the u.K.,
But some people say that drake
kept some of that treasure
And hid it
in what is now california.
I mean, obviously,
california is somewhere
That a lot of people
think he landed.
There is drake's bay
just north of san francisco.
But, of course, further north
you have other claims
At such places like whale cove.
Whale cove? That's in oregon.
Francis drake
heading north to oregon
Would've made a lot of sense
If he was also
on a secret mission
To look for
the northwest passage.
But it means treasure hunters
like robert stupack
May have been looking
in the wrong place.
This fabled route from
the pacific
To the north atlantic
Is something that
american explorers
Like lewis and clark
sought, too,
Because it could've
greatly expanded trade.
One thing I know for sure
is that whale cove
And its churning seas
Have a lot of legends
about pirates and lost treasure.
And one archeologist thinks
there's no doubt
Sir francis drake made it here.
Whey do you think it is
that drake
And his travels here
are so important to history?
Why do we care?
Look, this was way
before plymouth rock,
Way before roanoke island.
This was the moon shot
of its time.
The one thing that everybody
agrees on
Is that he did land somewhere
on the west coast here.
They just don't agree
on where that was.
Let's just assume
that drake did land here.
I don't think there's any
question that his ship
Was loaded with treasure.
- So you think it was here?
- I think it was here.
His ship was leaking,
so he needed a sandy beach
That was well-protected
from breakers
So that he could careen the ship
and completely lay it over.
Melissa and I
do a quick check to confirm
Drake's 80-foot ship
would've fit here.
80 feet,
there's plenty of room here.
It could've been done.
And it could,
But I wanna know
if she's got more evidence.
What else makes you think
that drake landed here?
He came in, according to one
of the accounts,
At 48 degrees north where he saw
some snow-capped mountains.
That fits the olympic peninsula.
According to records published
By the queen of England,
Drake only got to
38 degrees latitude
Which is near san francisco.
But drake himself wrote
that he made it to 48 degrees,
Which is oregon.
Melissa has her own
interpretation
Of the same new albion map
that robert stupack believed
To be the area of california
near san quentin.
She thinks it shows whale cove.
I think the shape of the cove
matches the maps that he drew,
And there's no other cove
on this part of the coast
That fits that shape.
So can we take a look
at that map?
Okay.
So if we orient it this way to
kind of lay it out as we're...
We're standing right here,
right?
- Exactly.
- Okay.
Now, this peninsula here
is this jetty of rock,
Which is basalt...
A very strong, durable rock.
And we have more of it
on the other side,
Which is creating the opening
to the bay here.
Now, on this side,
we have sandstone.
That's not nearly as strong
as this rock,
But yet,
it's still pretty strong.
Geologically, 440 years ago
is like yesterday.
So from the perspective of how
did this bay look 440 years ago,
It probably looked
exactly like this.
Let's just assume
that drake did land here.
Some people believe some of
that treasure
May have been left here
on the west coast.
If drake's ship was in here,
There might be evidence out
in the water.
Melissa says this cove was hit
by a tsunami in the 1700s,
So there's no evidence
on the sea floor.
But there is some evidence
that she tells me about,
Just a little further
up the coast.
It's a collection
of carved rocks
That are thought
to be connected to drake,
Known as the treasure rocks
of neahkahnie mountain.
In this area of oregon,
there are a lot of legends
About shipwrecks
and missing treasure.
Treasure seekers have dug
so much around here
That the state had to ban
digging in the 1970s,
Which is bad news for me,
meaning I can't dig, either.
But I think drake's treasure
could be the origin
For these legends,
And I'm hoping to find a way
to crack the mystery
Of where it could be another way
By starting with a rock
carved with a strange clue.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey.
Hey.
You claim to have some evidence
that francis drake
Made it up here to oregon,
in the form of an artifact
And something on-site
in the woods here, right?
- We do, yeah.
- Okay.
Something very tangible.
We've got it in the car.
Wow, look at this.
Oh, wow.
It's called
the measurement rock.
It looks like it's been working,
and there's line that goes here,
And it goes all the way
around here.
This rock and many others
like it were first discovered
Scattered around
neahkahnie mountain
In the 1870s.
The rocks bear strange carvings
including crosses,
A five-pointed star
inside a pentagon,
And other symbols that have
puzzled archeologists
For decades,
but are likely modern.
I don't think the same
can be said for this rock.
It's the line that's carved
all the way around this stone
That could connect it
to sir francis drake.
That line measures 36 inches,
which is the english yard.
So from here to here to here
is 36 inches?
Yes.
The english yard is
a unitive measurement
Dating back to king henry I
in the 12th century,
And we use as it as a standard
three-foot unit of measure
Here and in britain today.
Tom and garry believe this rock
was a crude tool
That drake and his crew
used to measure lengths of rope
In english yards,
Which could, in turn, have been
used to survey the area.
But is this carved rock
really that old?
The true test is
with the hand lens.
This has clearly been worked
by man.
This is a manmade groove,
and this is weathered.
- Yeah.
- This is old.
It looks like it could very well
go back to drake's time.
- Where'd that come from?
- On a cairn over here.
- You know what a cairn is?
- I sure do.
It's basically a pile of rocks,
and they can be of varying sizes
And they were often used
as survey points.
It was under a huge tree root,
And that tree was 150,
200 years old.
The tree grew on top
of the cairn.
While native tribes in oregon
Are known to build rock cairns,
Garry and tom think that the way
the tree roots
Grew over this rock
with an english measurement
Is evidence that it dates
to the time of drake.
If so, the cairns may be a clue
To the pirate's treasure
being here.
There was a number
of piles of rocks
All through this county here.
- Mm-hmm.
As it turns out,
there was a pattern.
So you're saying
these stone cairns,
These carved rocks,
are associated
With drake's land claim?
- They all tie together.
- Okay.
On that map render,
it's showing triangulation.
This was a survey,
and that's the reason
Why they left these cairns.
In the 1970s,
a mathematician plotted out
Where all the stones were found.
Garry thinks the layout
of these stones
Means they were left as surveyor
marks by francis drake,
And is proof he was here
claiming land for England.
But I think this could be
something else, as well.
Do you think it may be
marking treasure?
A survey that marked treasure?
Well, there certainly are
a lot of people
That endorse your thoughts,
because this mountain is riddled
With holes
from treasure seekers.
I'd like to see
where it came from.
Is there any chance
we could see this cairn?
We'd be glad to take you
down there and show you.
Okay. Well, let's do it.
Okay.
Here we are, scott.
- Wow.
- That's a lot of rock.
Yeah.
And it's all spread out
like this.
How tall was this cairn
originally?
- One, two-foot tall.
- Right.
It was two feet, yeah.
The fact that it's not still
two feet tall
And it's all knocked down
like this
Is what I was hoping to see...
- Sure.
...Because if this cairn
was still in good condition
It would tell me that
it probably isn't that old.
But what I see here
really looks good.
Could this be 400 years old?
It absolutely could.
I think that this cairn
could definitely
Have been associated with drake
Because the first settlers
came here in the late 1800s.
- Right.
- This is way before that.
So it's either native american,
Which I don't think that carved
stone supports, or drake.
Really, the only plausible
explanation would be drake.
So I think you guys are right.
I think drake was here.
The question is,
what was he doing?
Was he burying treasure?
Everything does line up,
at least in my opinion.
Proof that sir francis drake
Buried riches somewhere
on the west coast
Might be found at nearby
vancouver island,
Where a treasure hunter
recently discovered
Something very intriguing
that might be part of a fortune
Drake left behind.
So, bruce, I understand
you're the guy who found
Sir francis drake's treasure.
I did find something
that may have been left behind
By sir francis drake.
That's a fact.
I have it right here.
Awesome.
This was a british coin.
Where'd you find it?
I found it in the gorge,
And it's actually
a silver shilling.
And how'd you find it?
I was metal-detecting
with a friend one day
And I went down
while he headed up.
And I landed out on the mud
flats of the gorge.
Wow, look at that.
You know, my first impression
is it's thin.
I guess for some reason,
I thought it would be thicker.
Do you know how they made these?
They hand-stamped them
individually
With a hammer and a dye.
So, what was the date of this?
1551 to 1553.
Oh, that's perfect.
I mean, just a couple
decades later,
Drake was on the coast here.
You know, this coin
is really important.
And if there were other coins
like this found,
That would be
interesting to hear about.
There are three
other coins found,
All within the general vicinity.
Three other british coins?
Absolutely, the same date range.
That's pretty important.
And it could hold the clue,
and maybe even the final answer,
To what happened
to francis drake
On his voyage home
and the treasure.
You know, I have something
I wanna show you
Back at the car.
- Wanna take a look?
- Sure.
The historical narrative is
Drake went north
to san francisco bay
And point reyes,
and then he went straight west.
But I don't think
that's what happened.
I think what happened is
he was loaded with treasure
And he was heading north.
And when he found
san francisco bay,
He was gonna explore it.
And then, he wanted
to get back home, right?
He wanted to bring
this treasure.
And the quickest way to do it
would be to go north
And go through
the northwest passage,
A shortcut,
if you will, back home.
- Fabled route.
- Absolutely.
So I think what he did
is he kept going north.
Now, I think he probably
stopped at whale cove.
That's where he repaired
his boat.
And after he carved
these stones,
He went north up to the sound
here, around vancouver island.
He headed east,
and he quickly realized,
"this isn't
the northwest passage.
I can't get home
going this way."
And then he decided
to head west.
But you know what I think is
The most important
piece of evidence
That tells us the truth
about where drake went
And where he probably
buried his treasure?
No, what's that?
Your coin that you found,
right here.
Maybe, just maybe,
Drake's treasure
could still be out there.
I've seen the drake plate
of brass in san francisco
Which, though regarded
as a fake,
May be a real artifact...
Something I could prove if they
would just let me test it.
I also think there's compelling
evidence to show
That drake may have stopped
near the san francisco coast,
But also headed further north...
Evidenced by discoveries
in oregon.
And the coin that I've seen that
was found on the coast of canada
Is evidence to me that drake
and his riches are real,
And could still be out there.
And maybe this discovery
means we know
Exactly where
we should be looking.
If you have a mysterious
artifact or site
I need to see,
I want to know about it.
Go to travelchannel. Com/
americaunearthed.