The Curse of Oak Island (2014–…): Season 7, Episode 2 - Core Values - full transcript
After years of speculation, new scientific evidence suggests the swamp is manmade.
Is the swamp manmade
or is it not?
Moment of truth, buddy.
This is it.
Here it comes.
Come on, baby,
be something good.
If we find a flood tunnel
between Smith's Cove
and the Money Pit
it would be huge.
Hang on a sec. It looks like
it's got a top
and a bottom to it, which means
it could be a tunnel.
Is that it?
That's an oldie.
Wow.
This could be mid 1400s.
Wow.
Medieval, baby.
There is an island
in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking
for an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found
a stone slab
with strange symbols
carved into it,
mysterious fragments
of human bone,
and a lead cross
whose origin may stretch back
to the days
of the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And, according to legend,
one more will have to die
before the treasure
can be found.
Excited, Craig?
Yeah.
Come on! Get us a core.
Let's go.
Yeah.
For brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina
and their team,
recently conducted seismic data
indicating
that a large ship
possibly a Spanish galleon
could lie buried at the bottom
of the Oak Island swamp,
has them eager
with anticipation.
We're right in the heart
of the anomaly.
Yeah. Exactly.
But rather than drain the swamp
and begin digging,
the team has chosen
a more cautious approach.
Today, representatives
from Choice Drilling
will begin extracting
core samples
from a series
of exploratory boreholes
in the Oak Island swamp.
If the core samples turn up
evidence of old wood
or other manmade artifacts,
it will go a long way
toward convincing the team
that the enormous cost
of draining,
and then digging up the swamp,
will be more than justified.
Moment of truth, buddy.
This is it. This is it.
Coming up.
Yeah.
Joining the team
for the investigation today
is fellow Oak Island
landowner Tom Nolan.
As the son of
the late Fred Nolan,
Tom is keenly interested
in maintaining his father's
legacy on the island.
He has also joined the Laginas
and their partners
as a fullfledged member
of their search operation.
Quite a sight.
I wish Dad could see this.
Yep.
He's probably looking at us.
Yeah. Yeah.
You were in this area.
What type of material
is actually in the swamp?
Like, peat, uh, silt?
What type of silt
are we gonna run into?
What type of material?
I mean, we've only ever done
a surface dig here.
So it'sit's hard to say,
but you guys
are going a lot deeper
than that, so...
it's hard to say
what you're gonna bring up.
We just went shoveldeep.
Oh, okay. All right.
Using a fiveton
sonic drill rig,
which has been staged aboard
a massive 800squarefoot
floating platform, or barge,
the drill team will extract
samples of soil
and any objects
contained within
by means of
a specialized coring barrel
every five feet,
down to the target depth.
All right, here we go.
What a great machine.
Yeah.
We got one core coming out here.
These core samples
will then be collected
into plastic sleeves
and transported to shore,
where they can be
carefully examined by the team
for any evidence
of a possible ship,
important artifacts
or treasure.
Well, there's the core.
Okay, here it comes.
Got it?
Did he say 16 1/2?
16 1/2 at the water line.
Okay.
Got it?
You can move that way, Craig.
Okay. We're good.
Yep.
This is the longest
threefoot core I've ever seen.
Tenfoot core?
This is supposed
to be three feet.
Yes, thatthat's some
threefoot core.
Have to move it
just around this way.
Yeah, we're gonna
have to move it.
So, what do we have for
the recovery on this, Craig?
This is gonna be, uh,
16 1/2 feet deep.
16 1/2, yeah.
And ththey're measuring
from water level.
All right,
let's cut her open here.
It stinks like swamp.
This reminds me again
why I hate the swamp.
This is gonna be even worse.
Yeah.
Organic material.
Not seeing any wood so far.
My experience
is that seismic is fuzzy.
It can be accurate, but it's
generally not very precise.
So we'll obtain the cores
and we'll look at them.
The hope is
there'll be wood in there,
and then we're off
to the races.
Or something else.
Or something else. Exactly.
Come on, baby,
be something good.
Want to get a marker?
This is 21 1/2, 16 1/2.
I'll take this one.
21 1/2.
16 1/2.
That's extremely dry.
Yeah.
Does this remind you of anything
you dug in Smith's Cove at all?
I'd say not really, no.
Yeah, me, neither.
This is some of the color
that you get.
You know, when the...
in the clay up in the Money Pit.
Dry clay?
Found just 20 feet beneath
the surface of the swamp?
And similar to that found
in the Money Pit area?
When the original Money Pit
was excavated
down to 90 feet in 1804,
members of the Onslow Company
reported finding platforms
made of oak logs,
spaced every ten feet.
At a depth of 40 feet,
they discovered
a layer of blue clay,
which they believed
was being used as a sealant
to keep water from seeping
into the treasure shaft
from the ground above.
Could this dry clay
be evidence
that a similar waterproof layer
was intentionally placed
beneath the swamp
to protect something
of great value?
Why would it be dry
at the 21foot mark?
I don't know.
It's unusual.
It's very unusual.
The last place
you'd expect it
to be dry is here.
No, I don't know what it is.
It could be a sealed pocket
of real dry stuff
that would do it.
Yeah, it could be.
Yeah.
The first thing we got
was that the organic matter
was very thin,
and we went directly
into hard clay.
Well, that's significant
because it's
the same sort of clay
and very dense clay
that we see uphill
where the Money Pit is.
It'd be nice to figure out why.
Surely, this next core
will be just as interesting
as this one,
but it's not
what we're looking for.
It's definitely not wood.
No. No, exactly.
We got to keep on going
and see what we find.
Yeah.
Let's get this off the table.
All right, here we go.
Something's stuck.
I think we're on something
very hard.
While drilling
an exploratory borehole
in the swamp
in an effort to find evidence
of a possible ship
buried at the bottom,
the Oak Island team
has just encountered
a mysterious object
at a depth of nearly 30 feet.
Optimistically,
I hope that's wood,
but we're gonna have to wait
and see when it gets over here.
All right, here we go.
It's gonna be in this one.
29 1/2.
29 1/2.
That's... Wow.
That's looking more like clay.
Gray clay.
That's extremely dry.
Boy, that is hard as...
That's probably why it's dry,
Craig. Look at that.
Cap rock.
Like in an oil reservoir.
This would seal anything off
from water.
A cap rock?
Commonly used in the energy
and mining industries,
the term "cap rock" refers to
a natural layer
of extremely dense rock
which covers looser layers
of sediment
or underground voids,
such as those filled
with oil or gas deposits.
This acts as a kind of seal
which prevents anything
contained within
from escaping to the surface,
and is highly resistant
to attempts
to penetrate through it.
Could the hard,
rocklike substance
that the team has encountered
be a natural formation?
Or... could it be something
that was placed there by man,
something intended to hide
an object very deep
below the Oak Island swamp?
All right, well,
let's keep going.
You ready to drill?
Fire it up. Yeah.
Let's go!
Still having a hard time?
Looked like it stopped, to me.
Sounds like it's rattling itself
to death out there.
What's going on?
We're having a hard time
getting our casing down.
What do you think, Rick?
We might be at the point
of refusal right here.
We could take the remaining time
and reposition the rig.
Do you want to call it
in a little bit and move,
or do you want to try it
for a while?
What do you want to do?
Yeah, and I think
it's probably worth
pulling this rod
and trying to drill another one.
All right,
so the decision's made for us.
Okay.
Because the sonic rig is unable
to penetrate the mysterious
stonelike feature,
to avoid damaging
their equipment,
the team has decided to move
to a second drill site.
We're done for today, gents.
Tomorrow's another day.
Absolutely.
The next morning,
as the team from
Choice Drilling repositions
the 25ton drill barge
in the swamp...
This is Smith's Cove.
Last year, we did
a major excavation in there.
Okay.
...Craig Tester, Alex Lagina
and members of the team,
along with
area archaeologist Laird Niven,
gather at Smith's Cove
to meet with groundpenetrating
radar experts Don Johnston
and Steve Watson.
We found a couple of major
wood structures in the cove,
and we think there might be
an underground flood system,
so they felt they intercepted
the flood tunnel at this point.
Wow, that's a heck
of a wall, isn't it?
Yep.
Last year, the Laginas
and their partners
conducted the largest
excavation of Smith's Cove
in the 224year history of
the Oak Island treasure hunt.
In addition to uncovering
a mysterious concrete wall...
Look at that thing.
It's huge.
...and a number
of wooden structures,
which were
scientifically proven
to predate
the Money Pit's discovery
by more than two decades...
See the opening?
Yeah.
...the team also uncovered one
of the five stone box drains.
This discovery means
the team may be close
to revealing the location
where the drains converge
into a single flood tunnel
leading directly
to the original Money Pit.
So, I'm thinking
we can start in here somewhere.
If we run the GPR,
it shows there's a better place
to excavate going inland,
we'd rather do that.
We're trying to limit how much
ground we're excavating.
So, if that makes sense, then.
Okay. Yep.
Okay. We'll head on up.
One thing we want to do with
the groundpenetrating radar
is, uh, to try to look
for the flood tunnel.
So we're hoping that the GPR
can get us a more precise area.
Looks like you're about ready.
Yep.
Okay. Well, let's get after it.
Here we go.
Using a Noggin 100 GPR device,
Don and Steve will send
electromagnetic pulses
into the ground
beneath Smith's Cove.
This will allow them to scan
for possible voids
or buried objects
that might exist
up to several hundred feet
below the surface.
Of particular interest
will be the area
known as the "upper beach,"
where the team believes
the box drain convergence point
could be located.
Whenever you're ready.
We're ready.
Ah. Hang on a sec, Don.
We have some, uh...
interesting anomalies
in the data here.
To me, it looks like
five meters down.
Six, seven meters back.
Oh. Way back there.
Okay. Officially marked.
As Craig and Alex continue
to supervise the investigation
at Smith's Cove...
Park up here, mate.
Yeah.
...metal detection expert
Gary Drayton
has decided to look
for artifacts on Lot 21,
located on the western end
of the island.
Joining him are Rick Lagina
and Dan Henskee,
who are equally curious
about what Gary might find.
Let's go for it.
Let's get Big Bertha ramped up.
Let's go.
Oh, my gosh!
Because of the incredible finds
made on this same lot
last year,
including a goldplated brooch
estimated to be
as much as 700 years old
and a decorative lead object,
which was scientifically linked
to the medieval cross
that was found two years ago
at Smith's Cove,
Rick and Gary are eager
to continue their investigation
of the area.
I very much look forward
to every time
we go out with Gary,
and this area
has history behind it,
has significant finds.
So it's a significantly
interesting area,
and I hope we can...
hopefully come up
with some real targets.
I'm gonna zigzag
along this track.
That sounds good.
Yeah, that sounds good.
Here's the center, mate.
It's probably large iron.
It's not that deep.
It's reading five, six inches.
That's certainly good.
Good twoway repeatable.
Tough digging.
Hey.
It is rocky.
Is that it?
I don't know what that is.
Wow. Look at that.
Whoever made this
did it a long time ago.
located on the western side
of Oak Island...
It looks like there's
a little piece missing off it.
Yeah.
...Rick Lagina, Dan Henskee
and metal detection expert
Gary Drayton
have just made
a curious discovery.
I thought it was a flat iron,
like an old Victorian flat iron,
when I first saw it.
Yeah?
But you know what?
That looks like a...
a quarry hammer.
A quarry hammer?
Found on Lot 21?
Dating back as early
as the first century BC,
a quarry hammer,
or sledgehammer,
is a blunt tool used in
modern mining and stonemasonry
to break apart large boulders.
This type of tool is used
in a quarry for rock work.
The first thought is:
Nolan's Cross.
Or perhaps
even some earlier structure.
So we'll have another look
at our stone,
see if we can't...
draw some connections.
That looks like it was used
for hammering that way.
It looks like it was made
for the wooden shaft to go in.
I mean, that is
a meaty piece of iron.
Oh, yeah.
You think it's very old.
Yeah. I couldn't put
a date on that.
I've seen some old, old tools,
and I've found medieval tools,
but I've never found
anything looking like that.
Yeah, I believe that this
would be a toppocket find.
I'd need a big
top pocket, mate.
Strong pocket, yeah.
Let's see if there's
anything else in the area.
This sounds good.
Just here, mate.
Dig me something up good, mate.
Is that it?
Wow.
It's another hammer.
It looks like a hammer head.
Look! It is!
It's got that same end as well.
And this is even bigger. Look.
It's twice as big
as the other one.
Feel how heavy that is, Rick.
Wow! Wow!
Let's have a look
at that other one, Dan.
Let's see if it's similar.
Wow. So we got two of them.
Yeah. Well...
Uh, actually...
yeah, it's thicker
that's why it's heavier.
Wow, this is heavy,
isn't it, mate?
Yeah, thatthat's
rather dense metal there.
I mean, they look
very, very similar.
Never seen anything
like that before.
We were all
a bit confused by it, so...
what we'll do is probably
bring it to Carmen Legge
and have him, uh,
render an opinion.
But we got two good pieces.
Oh, yeah. These are great.
What a way to wrap up the day.
This is the section
we want to look at.
As team members
Paul Troutman,
Charles Barkhouse
and Doug Crowell
continue to oversee the
coring operation at the swamp,
brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina arrive
at the South Shore Road,
where they've arranged
to meet with geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner...
Marty.
Morning, Ian.
...a professor of earth
and environmental science
at Acadia University
in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
Dr. Spooner has spent
over two decades
studying the geology
of wetlands throughout Canada.
Well, we have something
to show you.
It goes from organic stuff
to hardpacked clay,
like, real fast.
Right.
And not that deep, which,
you know,
I mean, to an amateur like me,
sounds like this isn't that old.
So, I want to...
I want to see that.
You want to see that. Yeah.
We want you to see that. Yep.
I want to see that interface.
Rick reached out
and found a swamp expert,
which is great
'cause we're in need of one.
Right through there.
We're hoping
that he can shed some light
on the perennial question
"Is the swamp manmade,
or is it not?"
Ian, here's...
Yeah.
Here's the first core
right here.
Basically, we use datum
as pond level.
It started right where
the cut on the plastic is,
believe it or not.
Right.
So, this is pretty normal
in terms of what
we see in wetlands, in that
you've got marine sediment here.
And then we've got
the first vestiges of a swamp
right at that connection
right there.
That's kind of odd.
What's that?
It's an angular rock fragment,
which starts me thinking
there might be,
you know, a glacial connection
to this sediment, as well.
But if you take the sediment
and you roll it
between your fingers,
you can see
there's a lot of clay,
which you'd expect
in a marine environment.
If you're saying that's marine,
you're saying that,
whatever time that interface is,
it was sea bottom.
Yeah.
Frankly,
I think this was all water.
Wow.
Yeah.
That would be interesting
to know.
If this was 2,000 or 3,000 years
of wetland,
you'd have more organic sediment
than that.
My first guess is it's...
it's notnot terribly old,
but what I'd like to do
is take it to my lab,
and we can take
a careful look at it.
All right, well,
thank you very much.
Hey, thank you.
Do what you need to do.
We'll get you some more.
Yep. Okay.
Appreciate it.
Thanks.
Because it is
Dr. Spooner's assessment
that the swamp appears to be
much younger than expected
and was, at one time,
open ocean
he has decided to take the core
samples for further testing.
If successful,
he may not only be able
to determine the swamp's
approximate age,
but also whether the samples
contain any signs
of human manipulation.
Okay. Good. Thank you.
Good.
Thank you.
Carry on.
As core samples continue
to be drilled
in the Oak Island swamp...
Gentlemen.
Craig.
Morning.
Well, you ready
to start on this new area?
Ready to start on this, yeah.
Okay.
...Craig Tester, Doug Crowell
and archaeologist Laird Niven
continue to oversee the search
for the legendary
flood tunnels.
If found, they could lead
the team directly
to the original
Money Pit treasure vault.
Ahead of us is what's known
as the CaveIn Pit,
and the flood tunnel was thought
to run up here
through the CaveIn Pit.
And we're thinking that perhaps
your technology will help us
better position that hole.
Let's get the day going
and see what we can find.
Okay. Sounds good.
Okay.
Thank you, gentlemen.
I'll stay here
with these guys.
All right.
Okay.
Thanks, Craig.
In the spring of 1878,
island resident and farmer
Sophia Sellars
was plowing a field
using a team of oxen
approximately 350 feet east
of the Money Pit.
Suddenly, the ground
beneath her collapsed,
sending both her and her oxen
down a tenfootdeep sinkhole.
Later dubbed the CaveIn Pit,
searchers believed
that Sophia had unwittingly
discovered an ancient air shaft
created by
the treasure depositors
as they constructed
the flood tunnel
between Smith's Cove
and the Money Pit.
The CaveIn Pit has always been
of interest.
Certainly, previous searchers
were extremely interested
in it, so...
we have a unique opportunity
at this moment in time
to throw some science at it
and possible excavation.
Okay. Let's roll.
Hang on one sec.
So we've got an anomaly
happening here
about a meter behind me at...
25 meters down.
Let's go ahead and mark that.
Hang on a sec.
It's 28 meters down.
It looks like it's got a top
and a bottom to it.
It could be a... a tunnel.
Okay.
These anomalies coming in at 28
meters, pushing 100foot depth,
that's kind of
thethe magic number of where
the flood tunnel should be
coming through here.
Oh, okay.
So, there's the Cave InPit
and Smith's Cove.
You know, it lines up
pretty good with the Money Pit.
Yep.
Well, we've got two nice markers
here. That one over there, too.
I'm gonna get ahold of Rick.
Oh.
Okay.
Uh, and, uh,
bring him up to date,
'cause if he's anything like me,
he'll be surprised
we're seeing anything
at this depth.
Yeah.
Hey, Rick. It's Craig.
I'm down by the CaveIn Pit
with, uh, Steve and Don.
We just got running
some, uh, GPR lines.
Don had 28 meters, about
90 to 100 feet, but definitely
could be flood tunnel type
anomaly.
Yeah.
Yeah. I know.
It's very encouraging.
Definitely deserves
further attention.
Okay.
Yep.
Talk to you later. Yep.
The following day...
47 to 50.
So let's see what it tells us.
Yeah.
...as geologist Terry Matheson
and surveyor Steve Guptill
oversee the continued drilling
operation in the swamp...
Gentlemen, we have
a very important guest today.
...brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina,
Craig Tester and members of the
Oak Island team have invited
blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge
to meet with them
in the war room.
They are hoping
that by examining a number
of recently discovered
metal objects,
Carmen might be able to
determine not only their age,
but also if they might offer
valuable clues
that could help solve
the Oak Island mystery.
Carmen has a wealth of knowledge
about these things
in front of us.
All of these things were found
on the island.
So, let's get to it.
What do you want to start with?
Well, thank you
for, uh, having me here today,
and I'm sure I can tell you
a few things
in some of the stories
that these tools are telling.
Do any of those ox shoes
stand out to you?
Is it different than this?
Hmm.
And I should tell you,
when we first found these,
we thought it was, like,
stonemasons' tools.
Mmhmm.
They're not?
Oh, wow.
It's a sharpening tool, then?
Dating back as early
as the 12th century BC,
swages are
a blacksmithing instrument
used to mold and sharpen
metal tools
by driving them against holes
of various shapes and sizes,
depending on the object's
desired purpose.
It would have been mounted
on a shaft?
Do you have to
heat that up, then?
Is the drill spun or run back?
Pounded?
For tunneling?
A major mining
or tunneling operation?
Could these swages
have been used
during the construction
of the original Money Pit
treasure shaft?
Have you ever seen
any of these in this area?
Yeah. 'Cause what I'm getting at
is where did these come from?
Wow.
In the Oak Island war room,
blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge
has just shared
an astonishing assessment.
He believes
that the iron objects
found two days ago on Lot 21
are drilling tools
known as swages
and could date back as early
as the 15th century.
So, as old as 1400.
Whenwhen would they not
be being made?
Really?
Wow.
And from the blacksmith's
point of view,
isis... are these crude
or wellmade tools?
Which means it's older.
Medieval, baby.
Yeah, we're going back, baby.
More curious than that
in the sense that the tunneling
that I think
Carmen's talking about would not
have been the kind of tunneling
done over by the Money Pit.
They were just digging
through glacial clay there.
They wouldn't need this.
So that makes me wonder
about this side of the island,
'cause on this side...
Yeah. That's on this side
of the island,
and we've not looked
for tunnels that much over here.
Right.
Surveyorturnedtreasurehunter
Fred Nolan
long believed that Oak Island
was once two separate islands.
This was largely due
to the fact that each half,
known as the eastern
and western drumlins,
are comprised of two very
different kinds of geology.
The eastern drumlin,
where the Money Pit
and Smith's Cove are located,
is made of anhydrite limestone,
a sedimentary bedrock
created when a large volume
of seawater
evaporates over time.
The western drumlin,
which includes Lot 21
and areas of the swamp,
is made
of highly compacted slate,
a metamorphic rock formed
when clay or volcanic sediment
is exposed to extreme heat
and pressure
deep beneath
the Earth's surface.
Fred was convinced
that these two separate
and distinct landmasses
could not have been
conjoined naturally
and were most likely the result
of ancient engineering.
Because a tool
like the drilling swage
would not have been necessary
on the eastern side
of Oak Island,
is it possible that drilling
and tunneling
were also being done
on the western side,
a side that has, until now,
remained virtually unexplored?
You know, from recent history,
Fred and Dan,
as they conducted
their search agendas,
each independent of the other,
they both came
to believe that...
the activities that had been
conducted long ago by what
they both called
"original depositors,"
they believe that the activities
were not solely conducted
in the Money Pit area,
that they extended
into the western drumlin.
So, but now we have
tooling which indicates
those activities
might have been conducted
for that purpose.
All right. Well, again,
I thank you tremendously
on behalf of the group.
Very interesting.
I find all this fascinating.
So I thank you.
I appreciate it very much,
and we will be in contact.
Gentlemen, let's get at it.
Later that day...
Hey, Terry.
Hi, guys. How you doing?
Rick and Marty
head to the swamp
to see
if the drilling operation
has found any evidence
of a large wooden ship
or other ancient structure
that seismic testing
indicated might be buried
some 55 feet deep underground.
Talk to us.
So,
ship anomaly four.
Yeah.
This is the hole
we're looking at right here.
54 feet to, uh, 57 feet.
No wood.
No... no ship, unfortunately.
No ship.
It is a disappointment.
Seems to be...
It is a disappointment.
Um, we really have to look
at that material
to see what we have.
This is just the last
of the S. A. four.
We're not finding what
we're looking for here, are we?
No.
Unless we see some evidence
of disturbed material,
i.e. a tunnel,
this hole hasn't panned out.
Interestingly enough,
you probably could tunnel
through this stuff,
right? You could...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, no question. You could...
you could definitely.
It's dry.
Dry clay?
Creating the perfect conditions
for tunneling deep beneath
the triangleshaped swamp?
Could Rick, Marty and the team
have just been given
key evidence
as to the true nature
of the shipshaped anomaly
recently revealed
by seismic scanning?
But then that begs the question,
if that is a construct,
what was its purpose?
Exactly.
Yeah.
It didn't have to be a ship.
Just something manmade,
and we... and we haven't got it.
Not what we're looking for.
One thing we learned from this
core drilling already is that
it would be possible
to tunnel under the swamp.
That's for sure,
because it's a dry clay.
One meter below the base
of the swamp is dry,
so there could be
a tunnel there, and we need
to check that theory out.
All right, good.
We're not done hoping yet,
buddy.
So, the reason why
we're here, course,
is to talk
about your favorite topic,
the swamp. Um...
Yes, the swamp.
You know, it's been a bit
of a disappointment.
I will say that.
The results have not been
as I would have hoped.
Everybody knows how I feel
about the swamp.
I still think
there's answers there
even though the latest drilling
has been somewhat inconclusive.
Yeah, the answer might be no.
Andand I...
and I'd be okay with that.
I really would.
But if we had
cored a bunch
in Smith's Cove last year,
we could easily have missed
every structure out there.
Mmhmm.
We could, yeah.
Easily.
Because theythey're
vertical structures.
Yeah, I'm not gonna...
So you could be jumping
all around
with data like this
and miss everything.
But what did come
of this round of drilling
is Dr. Spooner's interest
in the science.
His initial inspection
of the cores,
he made that preliminary
assessment, and he was stunned.
It was much younger
than what he had thought.
Yeah.
And if you postulate
that it's manmade,
I don't know what that anomaly
is. If you... Let's say...
Let's say
somebody said right now,
for sure, this is manmade.
All right, so then
you have to figure out...
To what end.
What is it?
And I'm not coming up
with a lot.
I mean, potentially,
that could have been a tunnel.
A tunnel? Is it possible
that the 200footlong anomaly
that was detected in the swamp
was not a wooden ship
but a tunnel?
Well, look, one of the things
I remember saying out there
as these cores came up
is that the clay itself,
once again,
once you got below
the depth of the water
some odd feet,
the clay itself would have been
impermeable enough
to allow tunneling in it.
You could tunnel
under the swamp.
You could do it right now today
based on what we saw.
You go right under it,
probably dry,
because of this Oak Island clay.
So, yes.
Some sort of tunnel.
Entirely possible.
The longfabled back door.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, what about
having a look at it?
What about digging it up?
Putting a fence around it and...
I think it's
a logistical nightmare.
Yes, the excavation
would be problematic.
I mean, and nasty because...
because digging that stuff
is awful.
Mmhmm.
You know,
the bladder system might work.
I don't think the bladder system
would work, Rick,
because it would stop
the surface water,
but the minute
you put a shovel in there,
it all comes oozing in.
Absolutely. Yeah.
What this begs is,
then, the larger question.
How do we exploit it?
What do we do?
If there is a dig,
how large, how wide?
You know, how deep?
Because that's all... rounds to,
then, back to permitting.
Yeah.
The options for digging
in the swamp
revolve around, mainly,
how we do it
and what permits
we have to get.
Exactly. Permits.
So, um, we're looking into
all of that. It's tricky.
First, we have to decide
exactly what the target is
and how deep we're gonna go.
And then we got to figure out
how and what's permissible.
It'sit's a...
Complicated.
It's a complicated deal.
We're wondering
whether we encountered
a manmade structure.
We have an archaeologist
sitting here.
So, what do you...
what do you make of it?
It's unusual.
It certainly feels
manmade to me.
Okay.
Very much so.
Look, I think, you know,
something we should do,
you know, trytry to come
to aa real,
sciencebased understanding
of the development of that swamp
that would facilitate
getting the permit.
Rick, in this particular case,
ifif you want an argument,
you're gonna have to
change the subject.
Well, I...
Because I agree. I agree.
Bringing hard science to it
the morphology, as you say
which was your idea to say,
"Bring in a swamp expert,"
could shed some light on whether
it might be manmade.
Uh, yeah, absolutely,
1,000% agree.
II... II don't like
to speak for people,
but I'll bet you do, too.
Mmhmm.
I'll bet you do, too, and you
do, too, and you do, too.
So, let's do that.
Yeah. Absolutely.
We're not done yet,
I'll say that.
So let's do these things.
And I will get the excavator
and be...
be ready for your command, okay?
Okay. Let's go do it.
For Rick, Marty
and their Oak Island team,
a week that has ended without
the breakthrough they hoped for
may have opened the door
to stunning new evidence.
Evidence that not only could
the swamp be manmade,
but that it could be hiding
some sort of
underground tunnel.
But if a tunnel does exist,
where does it lead?
To a vault containing something
of incredible value?
Or was it built
for some other,
or is it not?
Moment of truth, buddy.
This is it.
Here it comes.
Come on, baby,
be something good.
If we find a flood tunnel
between Smith's Cove
and the Money Pit
it would be huge.
Hang on a sec. It looks like
it's got a top
and a bottom to it, which means
it could be a tunnel.
Is that it?
That's an oldie.
Wow.
This could be mid 1400s.
Wow.
Medieval, baby.
There is an island
in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking
for an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found
a stone slab
with strange symbols
carved into it,
mysterious fragments
of human bone,
and a lead cross
whose origin may stretch back
to the days
of the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And, according to legend,
one more will have to die
before the treasure
can be found.
Excited, Craig?
Yeah.
Come on! Get us a core.
Let's go.
Yeah.
For brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina
and their team,
recently conducted seismic data
indicating
that a large ship
possibly a Spanish galleon
could lie buried at the bottom
of the Oak Island swamp,
has them eager
with anticipation.
We're right in the heart
of the anomaly.
Yeah. Exactly.
But rather than drain the swamp
and begin digging,
the team has chosen
a more cautious approach.
Today, representatives
from Choice Drilling
will begin extracting
core samples
from a series
of exploratory boreholes
in the Oak Island swamp.
If the core samples turn up
evidence of old wood
or other manmade artifacts,
it will go a long way
toward convincing the team
that the enormous cost
of draining,
and then digging up the swamp,
will be more than justified.
Moment of truth, buddy.
This is it. This is it.
Coming up.
Yeah.
Joining the team
for the investigation today
is fellow Oak Island
landowner Tom Nolan.
As the son of
the late Fred Nolan,
Tom is keenly interested
in maintaining his father's
legacy on the island.
He has also joined the Laginas
and their partners
as a fullfledged member
of their search operation.
Quite a sight.
I wish Dad could see this.
Yep.
He's probably looking at us.
Yeah. Yeah.
You were in this area.
What type of material
is actually in the swamp?
Like, peat, uh, silt?
What type of silt
are we gonna run into?
What type of material?
I mean, we've only ever done
a surface dig here.
So it'sit's hard to say,
but you guys
are going a lot deeper
than that, so...
it's hard to say
what you're gonna bring up.
We just went shoveldeep.
Oh, okay. All right.
Using a fiveton
sonic drill rig,
which has been staged aboard
a massive 800squarefoot
floating platform, or barge,
the drill team will extract
samples of soil
and any objects
contained within
by means of
a specialized coring barrel
every five feet,
down to the target depth.
All right, here we go.
What a great machine.
Yeah.
We got one core coming out here.
These core samples
will then be collected
into plastic sleeves
and transported to shore,
where they can be
carefully examined by the team
for any evidence
of a possible ship,
important artifacts
or treasure.
Well, there's the core.
Okay, here it comes.
Got it?
Did he say 16 1/2?
16 1/2 at the water line.
Okay.
Got it?
You can move that way, Craig.
Okay. We're good.
Yep.
This is the longest
threefoot core I've ever seen.
Tenfoot core?
This is supposed
to be three feet.
Yes, thatthat's some
threefoot core.
Have to move it
just around this way.
Yeah, we're gonna
have to move it.
So, what do we have for
the recovery on this, Craig?
This is gonna be, uh,
16 1/2 feet deep.
16 1/2, yeah.
And ththey're measuring
from water level.
All right,
let's cut her open here.
It stinks like swamp.
This reminds me again
why I hate the swamp.
This is gonna be even worse.
Yeah.
Organic material.
Not seeing any wood so far.
My experience
is that seismic is fuzzy.
It can be accurate, but it's
generally not very precise.
So we'll obtain the cores
and we'll look at them.
The hope is
there'll be wood in there,
and then we're off
to the races.
Or something else.
Or something else. Exactly.
Come on, baby,
be something good.
Want to get a marker?
This is 21 1/2, 16 1/2.
I'll take this one.
21 1/2.
16 1/2.
That's extremely dry.
Yeah.
Does this remind you of anything
you dug in Smith's Cove at all?
I'd say not really, no.
Yeah, me, neither.
This is some of the color
that you get.
You know, when the...
in the clay up in the Money Pit.
Dry clay?
Found just 20 feet beneath
the surface of the swamp?
And similar to that found
in the Money Pit area?
When the original Money Pit
was excavated
down to 90 feet in 1804,
members of the Onslow Company
reported finding platforms
made of oak logs,
spaced every ten feet.
At a depth of 40 feet,
they discovered
a layer of blue clay,
which they believed
was being used as a sealant
to keep water from seeping
into the treasure shaft
from the ground above.
Could this dry clay
be evidence
that a similar waterproof layer
was intentionally placed
beneath the swamp
to protect something
of great value?
Why would it be dry
at the 21foot mark?
I don't know.
It's unusual.
It's very unusual.
The last place
you'd expect it
to be dry is here.
No, I don't know what it is.
It could be a sealed pocket
of real dry stuff
that would do it.
Yeah, it could be.
Yeah.
The first thing we got
was that the organic matter
was very thin,
and we went directly
into hard clay.
Well, that's significant
because it's
the same sort of clay
and very dense clay
that we see uphill
where the Money Pit is.
It'd be nice to figure out why.
Surely, this next core
will be just as interesting
as this one,
but it's not
what we're looking for.
It's definitely not wood.
No. No, exactly.
We got to keep on going
and see what we find.
Yeah.
Let's get this off the table.
All right, here we go.
Something's stuck.
I think we're on something
very hard.
While drilling
an exploratory borehole
in the swamp
in an effort to find evidence
of a possible ship
buried at the bottom,
the Oak Island team
has just encountered
a mysterious object
at a depth of nearly 30 feet.
Optimistically,
I hope that's wood,
but we're gonna have to wait
and see when it gets over here.
All right, here we go.
It's gonna be in this one.
29 1/2.
29 1/2.
That's... Wow.
That's looking more like clay.
Gray clay.
That's extremely dry.
Boy, that is hard as...
That's probably why it's dry,
Craig. Look at that.
Cap rock.
Like in an oil reservoir.
This would seal anything off
from water.
A cap rock?
Commonly used in the energy
and mining industries,
the term "cap rock" refers to
a natural layer
of extremely dense rock
which covers looser layers
of sediment
or underground voids,
such as those filled
with oil or gas deposits.
This acts as a kind of seal
which prevents anything
contained within
from escaping to the surface,
and is highly resistant
to attempts
to penetrate through it.
Could the hard,
rocklike substance
that the team has encountered
be a natural formation?
Or... could it be something
that was placed there by man,
something intended to hide
an object very deep
below the Oak Island swamp?
All right, well,
let's keep going.
You ready to drill?
Fire it up. Yeah.
Let's go!
Still having a hard time?
Looked like it stopped, to me.
Sounds like it's rattling itself
to death out there.
What's going on?
We're having a hard time
getting our casing down.
What do you think, Rick?
We might be at the point
of refusal right here.
We could take the remaining time
and reposition the rig.
Do you want to call it
in a little bit and move,
or do you want to try it
for a while?
What do you want to do?
Yeah, and I think
it's probably worth
pulling this rod
and trying to drill another one.
All right,
so the decision's made for us.
Okay.
Because the sonic rig is unable
to penetrate the mysterious
stonelike feature,
to avoid damaging
their equipment,
the team has decided to move
to a second drill site.
We're done for today, gents.
Tomorrow's another day.
Absolutely.
The next morning,
as the team from
Choice Drilling repositions
the 25ton drill barge
in the swamp...
This is Smith's Cove.
Last year, we did
a major excavation in there.
Okay.
...Craig Tester, Alex Lagina
and members of the team,
along with
area archaeologist Laird Niven,
gather at Smith's Cove
to meet with groundpenetrating
radar experts Don Johnston
and Steve Watson.
We found a couple of major
wood structures in the cove,
and we think there might be
an underground flood system,
so they felt they intercepted
the flood tunnel at this point.
Wow, that's a heck
of a wall, isn't it?
Yep.
Last year, the Laginas
and their partners
conducted the largest
excavation of Smith's Cove
in the 224year history of
the Oak Island treasure hunt.
In addition to uncovering
a mysterious concrete wall...
Look at that thing.
It's huge.
...and a number
of wooden structures,
which were
scientifically proven
to predate
the Money Pit's discovery
by more than two decades...
See the opening?
Yeah.
...the team also uncovered one
of the five stone box drains.
This discovery means
the team may be close
to revealing the location
where the drains converge
into a single flood tunnel
leading directly
to the original Money Pit.
So, I'm thinking
we can start in here somewhere.
If we run the GPR,
it shows there's a better place
to excavate going inland,
we'd rather do that.
We're trying to limit how much
ground we're excavating.
So, if that makes sense, then.
Okay. Yep.
Okay. We'll head on up.
One thing we want to do with
the groundpenetrating radar
is, uh, to try to look
for the flood tunnel.
So we're hoping that the GPR
can get us a more precise area.
Looks like you're about ready.
Yep.
Okay. Well, let's get after it.
Here we go.
Using a Noggin 100 GPR device,
Don and Steve will send
electromagnetic pulses
into the ground
beneath Smith's Cove.
This will allow them to scan
for possible voids
or buried objects
that might exist
up to several hundred feet
below the surface.
Of particular interest
will be the area
known as the "upper beach,"
where the team believes
the box drain convergence point
could be located.
Whenever you're ready.
We're ready.
Ah. Hang on a sec, Don.
We have some, uh...
interesting anomalies
in the data here.
To me, it looks like
five meters down.
Six, seven meters back.
Oh. Way back there.
Okay. Officially marked.
As Craig and Alex continue
to supervise the investigation
at Smith's Cove...
Park up here, mate.
Yeah.
...metal detection expert
Gary Drayton
has decided to look
for artifacts on Lot 21,
located on the western end
of the island.
Joining him are Rick Lagina
and Dan Henskee,
who are equally curious
about what Gary might find.
Let's go for it.
Let's get Big Bertha ramped up.
Let's go.
Oh, my gosh!
Because of the incredible finds
made on this same lot
last year,
including a goldplated brooch
estimated to be
as much as 700 years old
and a decorative lead object,
which was scientifically linked
to the medieval cross
that was found two years ago
at Smith's Cove,
Rick and Gary are eager
to continue their investigation
of the area.
I very much look forward
to every time
we go out with Gary,
and this area
has history behind it,
has significant finds.
So it's a significantly
interesting area,
and I hope we can...
hopefully come up
with some real targets.
I'm gonna zigzag
along this track.
That sounds good.
Yeah, that sounds good.
Here's the center, mate.
It's probably large iron.
It's not that deep.
It's reading five, six inches.
That's certainly good.
Good twoway repeatable.
Tough digging.
Hey.
It is rocky.
Is that it?
I don't know what that is.
Wow. Look at that.
Whoever made this
did it a long time ago.
located on the western side
of Oak Island...
It looks like there's
a little piece missing off it.
Yeah.
...Rick Lagina, Dan Henskee
and metal detection expert
Gary Drayton
have just made
a curious discovery.
I thought it was a flat iron,
like an old Victorian flat iron,
when I first saw it.
Yeah?
But you know what?
That looks like a...
a quarry hammer.
A quarry hammer?
Found on Lot 21?
Dating back as early
as the first century BC,
a quarry hammer,
or sledgehammer,
is a blunt tool used in
modern mining and stonemasonry
to break apart large boulders.
This type of tool is used
in a quarry for rock work.
The first thought is:
Nolan's Cross.
Or perhaps
even some earlier structure.
So we'll have another look
at our stone,
see if we can't...
draw some connections.
That looks like it was used
for hammering that way.
It looks like it was made
for the wooden shaft to go in.
I mean, that is
a meaty piece of iron.
Oh, yeah.
You think it's very old.
Yeah. I couldn't put
a date on that.
I've seen some old, old tools,
and I've found medieval tools,
but I've never found
anything looking like that.
Yeah, I believe that this
would be a toppocket find.
I'd need a big
top pocket, mate.
Strong pocket, yeah.
Let's see if there's
anything else in the area.
This sounds good.
Just here, mate.
Dig me something up good, mate.
Is that it?
Wow.
It's another hammer.
It looks like a hammer head.
Look! It is!
It's got that same end as well.
And this is even bigger. Look.
It's twice as big
as the other one.
Feel how heavy that is, Rick.
Wow! Wow!
Let's have a look
at that other one, Dan.
Let's see if it's similar.
Wow. So we got two of them.
Yeah. Well...
Uh, actually...
yeah, it's thicker
that's why it's heavier.
Wow, this is heavy,
isn't it, mate?
Yeah, thatthat's
rather dense metal there.
I mean, they look
very, very similar.
Never seen anything
like that before.
We were all
a bit confused by it, so...
what we'll do is probably
bring it to Carmen Legge
and have him, uh,
render an opinion.
But we got two good pieces.
Oh, yeah. These are great.
What a way to wrap up the day.
This is the section
we want to look at.
As team members
Paul Troutman,
Charles Barkhouse
and Doug Crowell
continue to oversee the
coring operation at the swamp,
brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina arrive
at the South Shore Road,
where they've arranged
to meet with geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner...
Marty.
Morning, Ian.
...a professor of earth
and environmental science
at Acadia University
in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
Dr. Spooner has spent
over two decades
studying the geology
of wetlands throughout Canada.
Well, we have something
to show you.
It goes from organic stuff
to hardpacked clay,
like, real fast.
Right.
And not that deep, which,
you know,
I mean, to an amateur like me,
sounds like this isn't that old.
So, I want to...
I want to see that.
You want to see that. Yeah.
We want you to see that. Yep.
I want to see that interface.
Rick reached out
and found a swamp expert,
which is great
'cause we're in need of one.
Right through there.
We're hoping
that he can shed some light
on the perennial question
"Is the swamp manmade,
or is it not?"
Ian, here's...
Yeah.
Here's the first core
right here.
Basically, we use datum
as pond level.
It started right where
the cut on the plastic is,
believe it or not.
Right.
So, this is pretty normal
in terms of what
we see in wetlands, in that
you've got marine sediment here.
And then we've got
the first vestiges of a swamp
right at that connection
right there.
That's kind of odd.
What's that?
It's an angular rock fragment,
which starts me thinking
there might be,
you know, a glacial connection
to this sediment, as well.
But if you take the sediment
and you roll it
between your fingers,
you can see
there's a lot of clay,
which you'd expect
in a marine environment.
If you're saying that's marine,
you're saying that,
whatever time that interface is,
it was sea bottom.
Yeah.
Frankly,
I think this was all water.
Wow.
Yeah.
That would be interesting
to know.
If this was 2,000 or 3,000 years
of wetland,
you'd have more organic sediment
than that.
My first guess is it's...
it's notnot terribly old,
but what I'd like to do
is take it to my lab,
and we can take
a careful look at it.
All right, well,
thank you very much.
Hey, thank you.
Do what you need to do.
We'll get you some more.
Yep. Okay.
Appreciate it.
Thanks.
Because it is
Dr. Spooner's assessment
that the swamp appears to be
much younger than expected
and was, at one time,
open ocean
he has decided to take the core
samples for further testing.
If successful,
he may not only be able
to determine the swamp's
approximate age,
but also whether the samples
contain any signs
of human manipulation.
Okay. Good. Thank you.
Good.
Thank you.
Carry on.
As core samples continue
to be drilled
in the Oak Island swamp...
Gentlemen.
Craig.
Morning.
Well, you ready
to start on this new area?
Ready to start on this, yeah.
Okay.
...Craig Tester, Doug Crowell
and archaeologist Laird Niven
continue to oversee the search
for the legendary
flood tunnels.
If found, they could lead
the team directly
to the original
Money Pit treasure vault.
Ahead of us is what's known
as the CaveIn Pit,
and the flood tunnel was thought
to run up here
through the CaveIn Pit.
And we're thinking that perhaps
your technology will help us
better position that hole.
Let's get the day going
and see what we can find.
Okay. Sounds good.
Okay.
Thank you, gentlemen.
I'll stay here
with these guys.
All right.
Okay.
Thanks, Craig.
In the spring of 1878,
island resident and farmer
Sophia Sellars
was plowing a field
using a team of oxen
approximately 350 feet east
of the Money Pit.
Suddenly, the ground
beneath her collapsed,
sending both her and her oxen
down a tenfootdeep sinkhole.
Later dubbed the CaveIn Pit,
searchers believed
that Sophia had unwittingly
discovered an ancient air shaft
created by
the treasure depositors
as they constructed
the flood tunnel
between Smith's Cove
and the Money Pit.
The CaveIn Pit has always been
of interest.
Certainly, previous searchers
were extremely interested
in it, so...
we have a unique opportunity
at this moment in time
to throw some science at it
and possible excavation.
Okay. Let's roll.
Hang on one sec.
So we've got an anomaly
happening here
about a meter behind me at...
25 meters down.
Let's go ahead and mark that.
Hang on a sec.
It's 28 meters down.
It looks like it's got a top
and a bottom to it.
It could be a... a tunnel.
Okay.
These anomalies coming in at 28
meters, pushing 100foot depth,
that's kind of
thethe magic number of where
the flood tunnel should be
coming through here.
Oh, okay.
So, there's the Cave InPit
and Smith's Cove.
You know, it lines up
pretty good with the Money Pit.
Yep.
Well, we've got two nice markers
here. That one over there, too.
I'm gonna get ahold of Rick.
Oh.
Okay.
Uh, and, uh,
bring him up to date,
'cause if he's anything like me,
he'll be surprised
we're seeing anything
at this depth.
Yeah.
Hey, Rick. It's Craig.
I'm down by the CaveIn Pit
with, uh, Steve and Don.
We just got running
some, uh, GPR lines.
Don had 28 meters, about
90 to 100 feet, but definitely
could be flood tunnel type
anomaly.
Yeah.
Yeah. I know.
It's very encouraging.
Definitely deserves
further attention.
Okay.
Yep.
Talk to you later. Yep.
The following day...
47 to 50.
So let's see what it tells us.
Yeah.
...as geologist Terry Matheson
and surveyor Steve Guptill
oversee the continued drilling
operation in the swamp...
Gentlemen, we have
a very important guest today.
...brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina,
Craig Tester and members of the
Oak Island team have invited
blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge
to meet with them
in the war room.
They are hoping
that by examining a number
of recently discovered
metal objects,
Carmen might be able to
determine not only their age,
but also if they might offer
valuable clues
that could help solve
the Oak Island mystery.
Carmen has a wealth of knowledge
about these things
in front of us.
All of these things were found
on the island.
So, let's get to it.
What do you want to start with?
Well, thank you
for, uh, having me here today,
and I'm sure I can tell you
a few things
in some of the stories
that these tools are telling.
Do any of those ox shoes
stand out to you?
Is it different than this?
Hmm.
And I should tell you,
when we first found these,
we thought it was, like,
stonemasons' tools.
Mmhmm.
They're not?
Oh, wow.
It's a sharpening tool, then?
Dating back as early
as the 12th century BC,
swages are
a blacksmithing instrument
used to mold and sharpen
metal tools
by driving them against holes
of various shapes and sizes,
depending on the object's
desired purpose.
It would have been mounted
on a shaft?
Do you have to
heat that up, then?
Is the drill spun or run back?
Pounded?
For tunneling?
A major mining
or tunneling operation?
Could these swages
have been used
during the construction
of the original Money Pit
treasure shaft?
Have you ever seen
any of these in this area?
Yeah. 'Cause what I'm getting at
is where did these come from?
Wow.
In the Oak Island war room,
blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge
has just shared
an astonishing assessment.
He believes
that the iron objects
found two days ago on Lot 21
are drilling tools
known as swages
and could date back as early
as the 15th century.
So, as old as 1400.
Whenwhen would they not
be being made?
Really?
Wow.
And from the blacksmith's
point of view,
isis... are these crude
or wellmade tools?
Which means it's older.
Medieval, baby.
Yeah, we're going back, baby.
More curious than that
in the sense that the tunneling
that I think
Carmen's talking about would not
have been the kind of tunneling
done over by the Money Pit.
They were just digging
through glacial clay there.
They wouldn't need this.
So that makes me wonder
about this side of the island,
'cause on this side...
Yeah. That's on this side
of the island,
and we've not looked
for tunnels that much over here.
Right.
Surveyorturnedtreasurehunter
Fred Nolan
long believed that Oak Island
was once two separate islands.
This was largely due
to the fact that each half,
known as the eastern
and western drumlins,
are comprised of two very
different kinds of geology.
The eastern drumlin,
where the Money Pit
and Smith's Cove are located,
is made of anhydrite limestone,
a sedimentary bedrock
created when a large volume
of seawater
evaporates over time.
The western drumlin,
which includes Lot 21
and areas of the swamp,
is made
of highly compacted slate,
a metamorphic rock formed
when clay or volcanic sediment
is exposed to extreme heat
and pressure
deep beneath
the Earth's surface.
Fred was convinced
that these two separate
and distinct landmasses
could not have been
conjoined naturally
and were most likely the result
of ancient engineering.
Because a tool
like the drilling swage
would not have been necessary
on the eastern side
of Oak Island,
is it possible that drilling
and tunneling
were also being done
on the western side,
a side that has, until now,
remained virtually unexplored?
You know, from recent history,
Fred and Dan,
as they conducted
their search agendas,
each independent of the other,
they both came
to believe that...
the activities that had been
conducted long ago by what
they both called
"original depositors,"
they believe that the activities
were not solely conducted
in the Money Pit area,
that they extended
into the western drumlin.
So, but now we have
tooling which indicates
those activities
might have been conducted
for that purpose.
All right. Well, again,
I thank you tremendously
on behalf of the group.
Very interesting.
I find all this fascinating.
So I thank you.
I appreciate it very much,
and we will be in contact.
Gentlemen, let's get at it.
Later that day...
Hey, Terry.
Hi, guys. How you doing?
Rick and Marty
head to the swamp
to see
if the drilling operation
has found any evidence
of a large wooden ship
or other ancient structure
that seismic testing
indicated might be buried
some 55 feet deep underground.
Talk to us.
So,
ship anomaly four.
Yeah.
This is the hole
we're looking at right here.
54 feet to, uh, 57 feet.
No wood.
No... no ship, unfortunately.
No ship.
It is a disappointment.
Seems to be...
It is a disappointment.
Um, we really have to look
at that material
to see what we have.
This is just the last
of the S. A. four.
We're not finding what
we're looking for here, are we?
No.
Unless we see some evidence
of disturbed material,
i.e. a tunnel,
this hole hasn't panned out.
Interestingly enough,
you probably could tunnel
through this stuff,
right? You could...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, no question. You could...
you could definitely.
It's dry.
Dry clay?
Creating the perfect conditions
for tunneling deep beneath
the triangleshaped swamp?
Could Rick, Marty and the team
have just been given
key evidence
as to the true nature
of the shipshaped anomaly
recently revealed
by seismic scanning?
But then that begs the question,
if that is a construct,
what was its purpose?
Exactly.
Yeah.
It didn't have to be a ship.
Just something manmade,
and we... and we haven't got it.
Not what we're looking for.
One thing we learned from this
core drilling already is that
it would be possible
to tunnel under the swamp.
That's for sure,
because it's a dry clay.
One meter below the base
of the swamp is dry,
so there could be
a tunnel there, and we need
to check that theory out.
All right, good.
We're not done hoping yet,
buddy.
So, the reason why
we're here, course,
is to talk
about your favorite topic,
the swamp. Um...
Yes, the swamp.
You know, it's been a bit
of a disappointment.
I will say that.
The results have not been
as I would have hoped.
Everybody knows how I feel
about the swamp.
I still think
there's answers there
even though the latest drilling
has been somewhat inconclusive.
Yeah, the answer might be no.
Andand I...
and I'd be okay with that.
I really would.
But if we had
cored a bunch
in Smith's Cove last year,
we could easily have missed
every structure out there.
Mmhmm.
We could, yeah.
Easily.
Because theythey're
vertical structures.
Yeah, I'm not gonna...
So you could be jumping
all around
with data like this
and miss everything.
But what did come
of this round of drilling
is Dr. Spooner's interest
in the science.
His initial inspection
of the cores,
he made that preliminary
assessment, and he was stunned.
It was much younger
than what he had thought.
Yeah.
And if you postulate
that it's manmade,
I don't know what that anomaly
is. If you... Let's say...
Let's say
somebody said right now,
for sure, this is manmade.
All right, so then
you have to figure out...
To what end.
What is it?
And I'm not coming up
with a lot.
I mean, potentially,
that could have been a tunnel.
A tunnel? Is it possible
that the 200footlong anomaly
that was detected in the swamp
was not a wooden ship
but a tunnel?
Well, look, one of the things
I remember saying out there
as these cores came up
is that the clay itself,
once again,
once you got below
the depth of the water
some odd feet,
the clay itself would have been
impermeable enough
to allow tunneling in it.
You could tunnel
under the swamp.
You could do it right now today
based on what we saw.
You go right under it,
probably dry,
because of this Oak Island clay.
So, yes.
Some sort of tunnel.
Entirely possible.
The longfabled back door.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, what about
having a look at it?
What about digging it up?
Putting a fence around it and...
I think it's
a logistical nightmare.
Yes, the excavation
would be problematic.
I mean, and nasty because...
because digging that stuff
is awful.
Mmhmm.
You know,
the bladder system might work.
I don't think the bladder system
would work, Rick,
because it would stop
the surface water,
but the minute
you put a shovel in there,
it all comes oozing in.
Absolutely. Yeah.
What this begs is,
then, the larger question.
How do we exploit it?
What do we do?
If there is a dig,
how large, how wide?
You know, how deep?
Because that's all... rounds to,
then, back to permitting.
Yeah.
The options for digging
in the swamp
revolve around, mainly,
how we do it
and what permits
we have to get.
Exactly. Permits.
So, um, we're looking into
all of that. It's tricky.
First, we have to decide
exactly what the target is
and how deep we're gonna go.
And then we got to figure out
how and what's permissible.
It'sit's a...
Complicated.
It's a complicated deal.
We're wondering
whether we encountered
a manmade structure.
We have an archaeologist
sitting here.
So, what do you...
what do you make of it?
It's unusual.
It certainly feels
manmade to me.
Okay.
Very much so.
Look, I think, you know,
something we should do,
you know, trytry to come
to aa real,
sciencebased understanding
of the development of that swamp
that would facilitate
getting the permit.
Rick, in this particular case,
ifif you want an argument,
you're gonna have to
change the subject.
Well, I...
Because I agree. I agree.
Bringing hard science to it
the morphology, as you say
which was your idea to say,
"Bring in a swamp expert,"
could shed some light on whether
it might be manmade.
Uh, yeah, absolutely,
1,000% agree.
II... II don't like
to speak for people,
but I'll bet you do, too.
Mmhmm.
I'll bet you do, too, and you
do, too, and you do, too.
So, let's do that.
Yeah. Absolutely.
We're not done yet,
I'll say that.
So let's do these things.
And I will get the excavator
and be...
be ready for your command, okay?
Okay. Let's go do it.
For Rick, Marty
and their Oak Island team,
a week that has ended without
the breakthrough they hoped for
may have opened the door
to stunning new evidence.
Evidence that not only could
the swamp be manmade,
but that it could be hiding
some sort of
underground tunnel.
But if a tunnel does exist,
where does it lead?
To a vault containing something
of incredible value?
Or was it built
for some other,