Beyond Oak Island (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Deep Water Gold - full transcript

Tonight on beyond oak island...

More spanish ships
sunk than got to Spain.

I think there's
three million wrecks

and less than one percent
of them have been found.

- Absolutely.
- Any galleon is worth

- a billion by itself. - Wow.

The fleet hadn't gone back

in two years, so it was loaded

with treasure.

Jewels on board have
to be mind-boggling.

Ooh! It's 22.5-carat inca gold.



This would've been
destined for queen isabella.

This would be

the oldest shipwreck

in the americas. -

- baby!
- You found the san miguel.

Absolutely we
believe we found it.

All the while we
were growing up,

my brother and I were fascinated

with finding treasure.

Pirate treasure,

cursed treasure.

Civil war gold.

Now that we are grown up

and engaged in our own
treasure hunt on oak island...



We've never lost our
interest in solving mysteries.

- Whoa.
- Or in finding treasures.

So now we enjoy reaching
out to other treasure hunters.

- We want to hear the stories...
- X marks the spot right here.

- There. - And find out more.

- And who knows...
- I got it.

Maybe we can help
them with their search.

Not only in america.

Wow. That is gold.

- But all over the world.
- Yeah!

Beyond oak island.

Right now, as we sit here,

despite all the difficulties
you guys have faced,

I think this season,
in a lot of ways,

thus far,
has been one of your most productive ever.

We're making a lot of progress.

I think it's more surprising

than productive.

It is productive but, I mean,

we went looking
for specific things

in the money pit, in the swamp,

at the ball foundation.

We didn't find the things
we were looking for...

- We found other things.
- But we found

more remarkable things
than what we were looking for.

Moving forward,
I mean, I'm trying

to think of things that
have been left on the table.

I mean, you've already hit
so many targets this season.

I'm trying to
f-figure out anything

that maybe has been
left behind a little bit.

You know, like, c-1, here.

Any chance that we might send
a diver down there at any point?

Is it possible yet this
year? I suppose it is.

- Anything's possible.
- Yeah, anything's possible.

- Well... - Any dives anywhere?

There may be a dive coming up,
all right.

It could be a recovery dive.

- Ooh. I like to hear that.
- There you go, yeah.

- That's the dream.
- Yeah, and if... yeah...

And if-if that came to pass,

- we'd need john chatterton.
- I love it.

I would want chatterton.

- He's the man. - He's proven.
- He's unparalleled.

John chatterton is
among the most accomplished

deep-sea divers in the world.

Over the course of his career,
he has explored

such legendary wrecks
as the rms lusitania,

the andrea doria

and even the titanic.

And just like rick
and marty lagina,

john's passion for
treasure hunting

began when he was just a boy.

As a kid,
I grew up at the beach.

So, I was surfing, fishing,
crabbing, swimming.

I was in the water all the time.

When I was ten years old,

I had my first scuba dive.

And I'm looking down
and I'm just watching

the rays of light going
down into the bottom.

And it made an impression on me.

"what's on the bottom?"

and quite literally,
I had an epiphany.

I had a dream.

I had found what
I'm supposed to do.

And I'm still doing it.

I always enjoy talking
to john chatterton.

I guess we have a few reasons.
L-let's get him on the phone.

You got his number?

Not many people have
done what he's done...

- No. - In the water.

- Always interesting. - Yeah.

Let's talk to the
great john chatterton.

I love it. - All right.

There he is.

- Hello, john.
- Hey, john.

Hey, guys, how are you?

We're still living the dream,
you know?

Who gets to do this, right?

Absolutely,
I totally understand that one.

Hey, listen,
thanks for your time.

We're calling, really,
for two reasons.

And this is good news, john.

There may be a
couple more dives,

sort of technical dives,
uh, that we need to do

in and around the money pit,

and I want to make
sure you're still interested.

Whatever I'm doing,
I'll make room for you guys, absolutely.

- That would be great.
- I-I love oak island,

and, uh, I-I love what you guys

- are doing up there.
- Well, we are

similarly impressed with
what you did for us here.

I still shiver a little bit,

uh, when I think about that 10-x dive.

- You ready?
- Ready.

Going down.

Okay. Stand by.

Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!

That's my idea of, like,
a-a fun afternoon.

I know, that's the part

I find amazing, okay?

That was impressive,
though. It really was.

You know, pray for peace,
prepare for war.

So long as you're prepared with

a contingency plan that works,

- that's just part of the job.
- Well, listen,

we're-we're, uh,
gratified to know you're still interested.

Hey, you know what? Anything
you guys are doing, I'm in.

All right, good deal, john.

Appreciate that.
Here's the other reason.

What have you been up to?

We just got back from some
dives off the coast of florida.

We're very much
interested in a wreck called

the florandina, which was
part of a-a larger treasure fleet.

And we believe,
if we can pull this together,

this could be an
important find for us.

One month ago...

- Hi, guys. - How you doing?
- Welcome aboard, fellas.

Just off the coast of key largo,
florida,

john chatterton and his team
conducted a dive operation

in search of the florandina,

a spanish galleon
that sank in 1733

carrying a fortune in gold,
silver and jewels.

Okay. That should do it.

Each member of the
team possesses a specific skill set.

Lead researcher john mattera
is a former security consultant

who first began hunting
sunken galleons in his 40s.

It was the realization
of a childhood fantasy.

I grew up on staten
island in new york,

in... about two blocks
away from the harbor.

We had a bunch
of old shipwrecks,

pretty much in
front of my house.

Old wooden ships
from the 1800s and...

So I've been pretty much
obsessed with shipwrecks

since I was a young kid.

So I always said that when
I was older and I'd get rich,

that's what I wanted to be.

I never got rich,
but this is kind of what I do now.

I'm a researcher and,
uh, I find shipwrecks.

What do you think? Uh,
50 feet?

Okay.

The third
member of chatterton's team

is howard ehrenberg.

His dual talents as both
a seasoned scuba diver

and computer expert

allow him to play a
unique and valuable role.

I'm the techno geek of this
community that we have here.

What side do
you think you want to tow off of?

- Uh, we'll tow off the starboard side.
- All right.

I like doing
tech stuff and analyzing

the data and making
everything work.

All right, captain, we're clear.

All right, here we go.

The wreckage of
the florandina is believed to lie

just a mile off
the florida coast.

It is one of only two ships
from the famously rich

1733 spanish treasure
fleet that has yet to be found.

The final journey of
the florandina began

on Friday the 13th of July,
1733.

That morning,
as part of a heavily-armed fleet

of 21 spanish ships

that had come to
the region in 1731,

it departed havana, cuba,
to travel home to Spain

with one-third of a
vast cargo of goods,

silver, gold and jewels

that king philip v needed
to save his failing economy.

The fleet hadn't
gone back in two years,

so it was loaded,
loaded with treasure.

And as they were coming back,

they would come north
along the straits of florida

and they would make a
right-hand turn around bermuda

and then it would go to the
azores and then to Spain.

Just off the florida keys,

the wind shifted
abruptly from the east

and increased in velocity.

The ships were
caught in a hurricane.

The spanish commander,
rodrigo de torres,

tried to turn the fleet back,
but his efforts were in vain.

By nightfall of the 15th,

the ships were crashing
hard on the rocks or swamping

in deeper water along
80 miles of the keys.

Fortunately, many of the sailors
managed to make their way

to shore and survive.

But most of the ships
in the flotilla were lost.

Now, some 300 years later,

john chatterton and his
team begin their search

for the florandina
and her treasure.

John,
we're all set. Splash the fish.

Off the coast of key largo,
florida,

john chatterton and his team

are searching for
the florandina...

You handle that.
I got the cable.

An 18th-century shipwreck

believed to hold a
treasure worth billions

in gold, silver and jewels.

Any shipwreck
still lost in the 1733 fleet

that was never found
by contemporary salvers

would probably be
loaded with treasure,

hence the interest
in la florandina.

To track the
whereabouts of the florandina,

chatterton's crew
survey the ocean floor

nearest to where they
believe the ship went down.

Fish away.

They are assisted
by a piece of technology

that has long been a
part of their arsenal.

I think the primary tool for
finding these historic wrecks

is the magnetometer.

All right,
we're looking good! I got good readings.

The magnetometer is
a piece of equipment

that actually senses
the earth's magnetic field.

Every piece
of ferrous metal or iron

creates a magnetic
field that will displace

the earth's magnetic field.

Should the sensors
on the magnetometer

detect this stronger signal,

it may indicate the
presence of an iron object,

such as the cannons or
anchor of a sunken ship.

So with that piece of
equipment we can sense

that variation,
and calculate the mass of the object,

and even if it's
buried underground.

Most of the
shipwrecks that we find

are completely buried.

The magnetometer
can see through the sand

and detect usually
large pieces of iron.

So if we find the cannons
or we find the anchors,

we can usually find the ship.

The crew
spends several hours at sea.

They travel in a survey pattern

as they "mag" the ocean's depths

in search of the
florandina and her riches.

When we do a survey,
it is like mowing the lawn.

You lay out the survey pattern,

which is basically
running straight lines

back and forth across the ocean.

After scouring the waters

where they hope
to locate the wreck...

You guys want to take it in?

The magnetometer
is unable to detect

any sign of a structure or ship.

So we finished the survey.

We got... we got a bunch of
data we've got to go post process.

But, I mean,
aren't we right by the infante?

We're very close to the
infante. Why don't we dive it?

- You never know what we're gonna find.
- This is the wreck

that was last... The
last one to see...

- The last sighting of the florandina.
- Okay.

This is probably the wreck

that's the closest
to the florandina.

- This is our reference point.
- Correct. - All right.

- Okay. - We can do that.
- Sounds good.

The infante was
another spanish galleon

that sank in these waters
very close to the florandina

that fateful day in 1733.

Although it has been previously
found by salvage divers,

if john chatterton and
his team can locate it,

they may find important
clues that could help lead them

to the florandina
and its treasure.

The last actual
sighting of the florandina

was made by the infante.

The lookouts on the infante
saw the lights of the florandina

right before they wrecked,
and then after they wrecked,

the lights disappeared and
they never saw them again.

Visibility's cleared
up pretty good.

The team suits
up and prepares to dive

in search of the infante.

Divers away.

A westerly direction.
Westerly direction.

Roughly 270 degrees.

Topside divers,
you are heading in the correct direction.

You're heading in
the right direction.

Right there.

You should be right
on top of the wreck there, howard.

Howard, copy that?

You should be right
on top of the wreck.

For nearly half an hour,
john chatterton

and howard ehrenberg
find no sign of the infante.

But then, suddenly...

There we go.

Copy that.
You're on the wreck.

Actually,
I can fill you in on a little bit.

It was re-planked because
of the teredo worms

right before the
return trip to Spain.

Yeah, she was a 400-ton ship.

You're gonna find a
lot of ballast down there.

The infante was really big.

The florandina is
considerably smaller.

It's about half the
size in tonnage.

We had more visibility

than I thought we
were gonna have,

so that gave us an advantage

it allowed us to do some
documentation on the site

that otherwise we might not
have been able to get done.

John and howard spend
more than an hour documenting

and confirming the wreck site,

finding what may
be important clues

that could help point
them to the florandina.

With their air
supply running low,

it's time to resurface.

Topside divers, you can end "x"

on the dive, uh,
whenever you're ready.

All in all, I think
today worked out really well for us.

This lends a little
bit more credibility

to the florandina
being a viable project,

because, um, you know,

there's so much
left of this wreck.

Amazing wreck.
I'm-I'm totally surprised

at the condition of, uh,

- the-the wooden hull structure.
- Of the wood. Yeah.

- It's well preserved.
- It's well preserved.

- Yeah. - But also,

for a ballast pile,

- it's really... It's really spread out.
- Spread out.

- Yeah.
- You know, typically,

like, if the ship just sinks,

-the ballast pile's pretty well contained,
-yeah.

But this was, like,

a debris field of
ballast pile. It was...

- Yeah.
- It makes you really wonder what's...

- Spread out around it.
- Spread... Yeah.

- That debris field might be amazing.
- Yeah, exactly.

I mean, somebody always said,

- "look under the ballast."
- look under the ballast. - Yeah.

Well,
are you guys ready to head back in?

- Should we tell the captain?
- Let's go. Yeah. Yeah.

For john
chatterton and his team,

the legendary sunken
treasure of the florandina

may still be out there,

but they are now one step closer

to finally discovering it.

When it comes to
finding any wreck,

it's, "where are we gonna look?"

let's try and make that
search area as small

as we possibly can.

So, right now, we're still...
We're still working on research.

- That makes sense.
- All we want to do

is dive in the right place.

That's the name of this game.

Uh, I'm not telling you guys

anything you don't already know.

So, john,

are you working on
anything in the meantime?

We are trying to get back

into the dominican republic.

The shipwrecks down there,

I don't think you
can find something

that's not gonna be important.

But there's one particular ship

that we're looking for.

This is a very important ship

from a very important time

in history.

We're very serious
about the san miguel.

The san miguel is

a spanish ship that sank in 1551

on its way back to Spain.

So it's gonna have aztec artifacts,
coinage...

We might even be
looking at precious stones

and that sort of thing.

This'll be the oldest
known shipwreck

in the americas, and we're

pretty sure we know
exactly where it is.

Wow.

O, john,
you think you've found the san miguel?

Absolutely,
we believe we found it.

- Wow.
- We think we're gonna have

a significant amount of

the hull buried there,
and if that's the case,

we're gonna find
a lot of other things

that-that certainly
went down with the ship.

- That's big. - Game changer.

The san miguel
is really connected to cortés

and the spanish coming
into mesoamerica.

Cortés and the
other conquistadores

were basically like mercenaries.

They're fighting

to conquer this new land.

By 1551,

spanish conquistadores had
spent more than half a century

exploring the americas,
from the caribbean

to modern-day mexico,

not only forcing their
culture and religion

on the indigenous
incan and aztec empires,

but also brutally
enslaving them,

while confiscating
untold billions in gold,

silver and jeweled artifacts.

The historian john
hemming described the conquest

of the conquistadors as,
"a time when there was the spirit

of a gold rush,
but the conviction of a crusade."

The spanish
melted religious objects

they considered idolatrous

into bullion and coinage...

And then loaded massive
amounts of treasure

onto ships destined for Spain.

In 1551,

the san miguel... which was
owned by chacon medina,

the second in command
to hernán cortés...

Set sail from mexico as
part of a nine-ship flotilla.

After reaching as far
as the northern coast

of the dominican republic,

the skies turned dark

and the winds began
to grow more violent

by the hour.

The fleet was sailing directly
into a massive hurricane.

Laden with gold and
priceless treasures,

the heavy san
miguel was battered

by towering waves.

The ship attempted
to reach shore,

but unfortunately for medina,

the galleon was doomed

and sank to the ocean floor...

Along with its untold millions.

So, john,
can you articulate to us

why it is you believe
you found the ship?

We did a survey

that left us...

With a target.

There is definitely
something there that is old.

And unfortunately,
the season there

was running out,
and we literally stayed on site

for three weeks.

The problem is,
we just... We had such a ferocious surge.

The surge was moving
divers back and forth

25 feet or more. So...

So you can't work in those conditions,
so...

We left because we had to.

- I see.
- John, you made reference earlier

to that you're hopeful
you can go back.

What's the situation right
now in the dominican republic

as far as your search?

We need
permission from the government.

We want to work with
them on contract as partners.

And, uh,
hopefully we can make it happen.

Hey, john, I hate to be so
mercenary and ask about money...

But any-any such ship,

hundreds of millions of
dollars is a starting point,

- isn't that true?
- Well, you know,

I-I am so adverse

- to mentioning dollar...
- Oh, do it anyway

- do it anyway. - Come on.

Y-you know what?
You're not gonna find

anything on there

that's not gonna be valuable.

But what is gonna
still be in the area

where you're gonna look?

You better make room in
that safe there behind you,

'cause it sounds like you're
on two hot targets, my friend.

Well, y-you know, it's funny.

The san miguel,
we really feel like

o-our research there has really
led us to a very specific place.

Well, good luck.

- Happy hunting, john.
- Thanks, buddy. Same to you.

Take care.

Wow.

That guy is a true pro.

Oh, he's amazing.

I think what really gets

the imagination and-and
stirs the emotions

is where does the
treasure come from?

You know,
what is the story behind the treasure?

Inca, aztec, conquistador.

That's the tip of the iceberg,
isn't it?

I mean, you've got the vikings,
you've got the phoenicians,

you've got the romans,
you've got the portuguese,

you've got the british,
you've got the americans.

You've got both world wars.

Uh... oh,
the-the oceans are littered

with interesting things.

I think there's three million,
I read one time,

uh, estimated three million wrecks and,
like,

less than one percent
of them have been found.

- That sounds right. - Right?

I was curious just
to get a number.

You know? I-I tried to research,
from the best experts,

what the approximate
value might be if you took

those three million wrecks
and-and started finding them,

picking them off,
and one of the numbers I saw

was $60 billion, estimated.

I thought that was low.

- That sounds way low. - Right?

Any galleon is worth a
billion by-by today's numbers.

That's my understanding.

So there's no lack of treasure out there,
is there?

- No. That's it.
- I mean, it's all over the place.

- Hey! It's the drayton-meister.
- Oh! - Gary: Hey, chaps.

My mate from another state.

How you doing,
gar... You're smiling.

Oh, yeah, you know me, mate.

Always grinding and finding.

- Yeah, you're generally smiling. You're right.
- Yeah.

How can you not be,
mate? It's oak island.

- That's true.
- With my metal detector.

Why are you fiddling
with your top pocket out...

Right out of the,
right out of the gate?

- What you got?
- A little top-pocket find.

- Today? - Yeah.

I don't know what it is yet,
um...

- Whoa. - Until it's cleaned up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Fresh from the
ground on oak island.

- Where, gary? - On lot 25.

Oh, wow.

Look at that image, rick.

It's a little bit crusty,

but, hey, it's a coin.

Fantastic.

Gary,
we were just talking about,

you know, deep-sea wrecks.

Actually,
we were just talking to john chatterton.

- Oh, john, he's a legend.
- Uh-huh.

And-and how he
does what he does.

And I'm-I'm just curious,
like, how does what you do,

close to the surface,
differ to someone

like a john chatterton,
that type of treasure hunter?

It's-it's very similar.

I mean,
I'm a beachcomber and john's got a boat,

mailbox blowers and
underwater metal detector.

And, uh, I've got a dodge,
twin optical scanners

and a metal detector.

It's kind of similar.

But we both are
after the same thing:

Spanish treasure.

And it's all about
sand movement.

And so, I can walk on the beach.

If I see that there's
less sand in one area,

that puts me closer
to the treasure.

'cause there's just as much
treasure on the beaches

as there is in the ocean.

What people don't realize,
though, is wrecks,

when they wreck, they're like 50,
70 yards offshore.

They're really close to shore.

What's the best thing
you've ever found?

That would be my precious.

Whoa.

Wow.

Holy...

- The greatest treasure ring...
- Oh, my god.

- Ever found in america. - Wow.

- Look at that thing.
- That is beautiful.

That is spectacular, gary.

22.5-carat inca gold

with nine flawless emeralds.

Wow.

What might something
like that be worth?

Worth a cool three
quarters of a million dollars.

Oof.

- Just found on the beach?
- Yep.

Wow.

Gary, a spectacular find

like that,
you must remember that day like yesterday.

I'll never forget that day.

I was in one of
my favorite sites

and I saw that the
treasure salvage guys

were blowing this sand off
the reef really close to shore.

But the one thing that I noticed

was there was a
heck of a lot of shells,

and I had a feeling that those guys,
you know,

- they might have blown a treasure coin close to shore.
- Mm-hmm.

I start metal detecting... Within feet,
I get a 1694,

one real, a silver coin.

- I'm thinking, "oh, it doesn't get any better that this."
- Wow.

The research paid off,
so I was, like, in heaven.

But then, when I got to the end

of the shell pile,
I got this signal.

It sounded like a tin can,
it was so loud, and I dug.

I nearly... I'll be
honest... I nearly gave up.

I was thinking, "eh,
it's just a tin can,"

and on the last scoop,

out pops this fantastic piece

of gold-colored metal.

And I thought, "oh,
no." I was disappointed at first.

- What?
- I was thinking it was a champagne bottle top.

- Right.
- Because that's about the size of it, isn't it?

- Yeah, like a wire bale and I'm like...
- Mm-hmm. Right.

"ugh, no," and I picked it up,
turned it over...

Oh, man,
I feel queasy just thinking about it now.

When I saw that inca gold

and those green emeralds,

my knees just turned to jelly.

So, wait a second,

what's incan treasure...

You know,
doing on the coast of florida?

Like the san miguel,
by the mid-18th century.

Hundreds of spanish,
french and portuguese treasure galleons

attempted to navigate their way
from south and central america

back to their home
nations and their monarchs.

A lot of treasure was smuggled.

If the manifest
said $100 million,

it might've had
$200 million on it.

There was a lot
of hidden treasure

because they didn't
want to pay taxes on it.

Jewelry was
not taxed at the same rate

as bullion by the crown.

So they would make jewelry
out of everything they could,

which is why they would wear

17 pounds of gold on them.

There were tax cheats
just like we have them now.

Each spring,

a fleet of spanish
treasure ships

embarked on the often
harrowing journey back to Spain.

The galleons were heavily
fortified against pirates,

but had little protection
from bad weather.

And the storms took
a devastating toll.

After the 1700s,

only one treasure fleet,

the 1705 fleet,
that was laden with treasure,

got back to Spain.

In 1715,
king philip of Spain found himself

in a personal quandary
that motivated him

to launch a new fleet of ships

to bring gold,
silver and jewels back from the new world.

So king philip
gave out the word.

"I need the treasure,"

because he was
married to isabelle.

And isabelle wouldn't
consummate the marriage

unless she got
the dowry of jewels.

So poor old philip, he's like,
"I ain't having any of this.

I need that treasure."

so he gave the word to set sail.

The 1715 fleet

consisted of 11 ships...

Six filled with treasure...

While the others
were heavily armed

in order to protect
the precious cargo.

Unfortunately, the 1715 fleet,

they made it through
the florida straits,

but they were hit by
an horrendous hurricane

on July the 31st, 1715.

The entire fleet,

and billions of
dollars of treasure,

including the queen's jewels,

was lost.

Today, some 300 years later,

this stretch of
florida coastline,

near vero beach,
is known as the treasure coast,

due to the vast riches
that often wash ashore.

I knew what this was.

This would have been
destined for queen isabelle.

It has to be.

I-I just could not believe

something so beautiful

has been rolling around
in the surf for 300 years.

One thing I do know,

this ring is the king
of the bobby-dazzlers.

This treasure ring was part

- of queen isabelle's dowry.
- Wow.

Yeah. This was intended
for queen isabelle of Spain.

That is pretty cool.

She was supposed
to wear that ring,

- and you got it.
- Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Must make your wife

- feel pretty special. - Yep.

- It did, and my wife...
- She ever put it on?

Yeah, she did.

So instead of going to
queen isabelle of Spain,

it went to queen
jennifer of florida.

Well said, gary.

So matty,
we've been talking about

these fabulous
underwater treasures.

I have to turn to you and say,
"do you have a favorite?"

I do.

You know, uh...

Well, this is all exciting,
the ocean wrecks

in-in the caribbean and
florida is all very exciting,

but I've always kind of
been a freshwater guy.

I trained diving in fresh water.

And there's those little...

Lakes,
and bodies of water that have rumors

of people dumping
things in them.

They're usually in panic.

You know,
they're usually dumping things,

not from a wreck,
but because they're running

from something or
hiding something.

Something like lake toplitz.

Oh, where the germans
supposedly put their loot.

That's right. I mean,
you've got this unbelievable story,

supposedly,
of witnesses seeing nazis

dump treasure into this lake.

- It's just fascinating.
- Yeah.

Is there an ongoing search?

Yes, there is.

But, you know,
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention

a darker side of it, too,
besides the nazi connection.

And this actually ties
a little bit to oak island,

or is similar to oak island.

People have been trying to find

this nazi treasure for years,

and people have
done dives in the lake

and people have
lost their lives.

- Hmm. - Yeah.

So it sounds like
there's a curse

- on that treasure, as well.
- Possibly, a nazi curse.

High in the austrian alps,

surrounded by lush forests,
sits an idyllic lake

with a sinister past.

It was here, during the waning
days of the second world war,

that german ss officers
reportedly dumped a collection

of valuable treasure,

including a legendary
cache of gold

seized from their victims
throughout europe,

to keep it from falling
into the hands of the allies.

There's been rumors
of all different sorts of treasures.

The locals claim
to have seen things.

There are people affiliated
with the former nazis

that claim to have seen things.

And people keep
looking for things.

To date, no one knows

the full extent of what was
dumped into lake toplitz.

But in may of 1945,

a young woman who
lived along its shores

was unexpectedly awakened
by several hostile visitors

who forced her to
be their accomplice.

At 5:00 a.M.,

she had ss officers come
and knock on her door,

telling her to get her
horses and her cart together

because the ss needed to
move around 60 to 70 crates,

and then deposit them
on the shoreline of toplitz.

She had watched while
the carts were emptied and, uh,

put on barges and taken
out into the lake and sunk.

She really didn't know
what was in these boxes.

But she knew that
they were there.

After the war, allied troops

organized a search
of lake toplitz.

But the lake's unique conditions

made diving to its depths
especially treacherous.

Lake toplitz is one of the most
dangerous lakes in the world

to go hunting for treasure.

It's because, very quickly,

the oxygen runs out in the lake.

Only the upper 65
feet of the 300-foot-deep lake

is fresh water.

Below this level,
the water is extremely salty

and contains almost no oxygen.

This means anything
that falls below this level

will not rot or decompose.

We know for certain that at
least five people have died,

treasure hunters going
in there and looking.

They were primarily
skin divers that went in,

they got tangled up in
the trees and branches,

and, uh,
had to be pulled out later.

It wasn't until
the late 1950s that a dive

funded by the
german magazine stern

finally began to solve
some of the lake's mysteries

100 feet below its surface.

Divers recovered

350 million pounds' worth of
english counterfeit currency.

The bills were
perfectly preserved

in the lake's unique waters.

They were part of a secret
counterfeiting operation

called operation bernhard,
a plot to destroy

the british economy.

Operation bernhard

began originally with the idea

of making perfect copies
of british banknotes

and then dropping them
all over great britain,

resulting in their
economy collapsing.

Towards the very end of the war,

the nazis wanted to cover
up everything that they could,

including this counterfeiting,

so what they did is
they took the equipment,

they took the bills,

they took them to lake toplitz

and they dumped them in.

What other secrets
might lake toplitz be holding?

In 2005,

treasure hunters norman
scott and jerry lee launched

a high-tech exploration
of the lake to find out.

They were guided by an old,
hand-drawn treasure map

they had acquired
while researching the site

that seemed to
indicate the presence

of an underwater cache of gold.

It was all in german.

Uh,
we've had it translated into english.

And it specifically says,

with an arrow pointing
across the lake,

"skorzeny treasure here."

For several days,

norman scott and jerry lee

scoured the murky
depths of lake toplitz,

searching for any signs
of the underwater treasure.

Some of the technology

that, uh,
jerry used with my father,

that was primarily a
side-scanning sonar.

We detected

a rectangular opening

in the side of the lake

at a depth of 270 feet.

And it is our belief that in
this rectangular opening,

a large amount of
gold was deposited.

Where did this gold come from?

Otto skorzeny,

one of the chief
lieutenants of adolf hitler.

He was responsible
for bringing nazi gold

down to lake toplitz

and depositing
it into this cavern.

It didn't seem to be
that this lake was something

that they wanted to just dump

a bunch of material in
and never come back to.

It seems like
they were hiding it

for some future purpose,

whatever that purpose
might have been.

Unfortunately,
the team was prevented

from making the dangerous dive

to the underwater
cavern to search

for the long-lost treasure.

As a result,
the cave and its contents

remain untouched to this day.

This material has
been down there...

Whatever might be left of it,
anyway...

For over 70 years now.

And oftentimes,
it'll start sinking into the silt and mud,

so it won't be at the
surface anymore.

It'll actually be a
few feet underneath,

and you can look with
your eyes all you want to

and not see if there's
something there.

And someone
needs to bring it out,

not just to be rotting
away in some cave

or at the bottom of some lake.

It would trouble me. I have to say,
it would

trouble me a little
bit to be looking

for nazi anything.

- Yeah, absolutely.
- Yeah,

but if you think about it,

bringing it back to the world,

to where it once belonged,

- I mean, that's a valuable thing to do.
- Yeah, that's the truth.

We always think of
and talk about treasure hunters

Keeping, keeping.

Right? But if the intent
was to rescue artifacts,

to give back to culture,
to reclaim it,

then that's so gratifying
to me because I know...

One of the things that
bonds us is the love

- for history. Right? - Mm-hmm.

And I think that motivates

a lot of treasure hunters is that,
like,

almost subconscious desire to,
like, find that history again.

And in a nazi treasure,
to actually give back

to a community that lost,

say, artwork or something,
that's incredible.

That's a good way to look at it.

You know,
there's something about treasure hunting.

If you remember what we...

When we asked dad
about our treasure hunt,

we said, "dad,
if there's really something on oak island,

a treasure on oak island,
what should we do with it?"

and he didn't
hesitate for a moment

when he said, "do good with it."

- wow.
- And it's not just about,

you know, a-a monetary donation.

One of the ways to give back

is to retell that history,
to bring it back

into the consciousness of...

Of the-the human experience,
right?

- Yes.
- To make it come alive once again.

It is brought alive.

The minute you pull
a piece of treasure

or an artifact out of
the ground or the ocean,

you're-you're experiencing
something special.

You know that you are

the first person to
touch that artifact,

that coin, that gold,
whatever it is in centuries,

and you can't help feeling
something when you find

a little spanish
silver treasure coin.

That silver

was mined in south america.

It was taken to mexico,
where it was made into coins.

And then it was
brought over on a galleon

through the spanish straits,

hit by an hurricane,

and the poor person
who was looking after it

lost their lives.

There is tragedy
attached to these artifacts.

There's some sort of poetic irony in that,
isn't there?

- Yeah. There really is.
- Yeah.

You know,
to think about what you guys do

as not taking but giving,
I just love that. I love that.

And that's a good feeling. I mean,
a lot of times,

I'll find diamond engagement
rings and wedding rings,

- and you get to give them back.
- There you go. Wow.

And it's a great feeling.

And what we're doing on oak island,
as well.

We're recovering artifacts.

People get to see them
'cause it's their history.

Gary, I lost a gold, uh,
ring with emeralds in it

on a beach. -

I was just wondering,
if you run into that,

- could I get that back?
- The number you have dialed

is no longer in service, mate.

You know,
the other thing about treasure hunting

that we fail to
recognize is that...

Look at what it's done for us.

I think this-this quest

we've been on has made us all,
in some way,

more appreciative of others

but has made us
each better people.

No doubt.

And really, life, you know,

as we... As we
move through life,

it's about pursing our dreams.

We actually have had
people tell us constantly,

you know,
"you guys are living your dream,

and you've inspired
me to live mine."

and that is the
real treasure in life,

that we each become
something more than we thought

we could be.

And that,
in and of itself, to me,

is probably the best
aspect of treasure hunting.

I think with that,

- let's get back after it. Yeah.
- Let's go find our treasure.

Let's put the
"hunt" in "treasure hunt."