The Curse of Oak Island

Tonight on the curse of oak island...

This is typical of something to do with

- ships or parts of ships. - Wow.

There's a couple of wharfs on Samuel ball's property.

Yes, Alex. Right here is the second one.

We were 75 to 100 feet from shore.

- Yeah. - So, that's a huge wharf.

- Yeah. - Why do you need such a massive wharf?

- Take a look at this. We found a coin. - Look at that!

- I think that's gold. - It's stunning.

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.

Hey, rick. Hey.

- I see you started. - Yeah. We're getting through it.

- Okay. - We're finding stuff right away, so...

- Really? - If you want to

get in there and keep pulling that back...

Right here?

- Right there? - Yeah, that little island there.

Yep. Yep.

And we'll dump the buckets right on top of here.

- Fair enough. - All right.

As a new day begins on oak island,

brothers rick and Marty lagina, along with their team,

remain focused on their historic investigation

in and around the triangle-shaped swamp,

looking for more critical clues that could help solve

a 226-year-old treasure mystery.

So, moving up slope

I think our best hope is to follow the artifacts

and stuff like coal,

which we've found along the road,

- is a really good artifact to find. - Sure.

You know, ceramics, they help us date the road.

But anything that might be associated with a cart,

with oxen, and coal, I think are the big ones.

Okay.

Over the course

of their discovery work this year,

which was delayed by two months

because of the covid-19 pandemic,

the team has found not only compelling evidence

that the swamp was once an open harbor or throughway

between two islands

but also numerous discoveries suggesting a deliberately

hidden operation to bring heavy cargo of some kind here.

These finds include a massive stone ship's wharf,

pieces of 15th-century cargo barrels.

And also a cobblestone pathway,

one that runs northward along the eastern border

of the swamp, which branches off somewhere

into the uplands of the island.

Now, with winter fast approaching,

rick, Marty and the team are tirelessly continuing

to track the pathway to its end,

possibly to the location of the original money pit.

That looks like...

Pottery. I think so.

Looking at it, it looked like it had lines on it.

That's, annular ware.

And the annular ware we know

comes in early 1750s.

So, we're still pre-searcher.

Pre-searcher? Absolutely.

The pottery adds to the mountains of data

that this road is very old and can't be younger

than probably the turn of the 1700s to 1800s.

Can't be any younger than that.

There's a piece right there.

If you want to see it in sit...

Yeah.

Just going to give it a good wash.

Hang on. Here's another one.

- Similar level, too. - Yep.

Same thing.

This is a stoneware, too.

You can see, even before cleaning it,

it's been badly burned.

Badly burned pottery?

What the heck is that?

Just one week ago, metal detection expert

Gary drayton, along with rick and marty's nephew,

David fornetti, discovered a badly burned iron rod.

An iron rod that dr. Aaron Taylor believes

may have been part of a large sailing vessel.

Could this burned pottery be connected to that discovery?

And, if so, is it another clue

that the team is getting closer to discovering whatever caused

the need for a carefully hidden pathway?

Or, for that matter, an artificial swamp?

They're both stoneware.

And if it's in the same area as the annular wares,

then this can go back into 17... Mid-1700s as well.

So, that's a nice find.

- Same pattern. Same... - Yeah. Look at that.

- Fits like a glove. - Fits like a glove.

Yeah. Perfect.

- Well, that's nice to find that. - Yes.

Although the clues that the team keep finding

are revealing more evidence

of where the stone pathway is heading,

just how far will they have to keep going

to find whatever might lie buried at the end of it?

It's just one more inch that way.

- It's always one more inch. - Is that what you tell yourself?

- Yeah. - All right.

Let's see if you're right. One more inch.

While rick, Aaron and Miriam

continue investigating the stone pathway...

- Hey, Carmen. - Well, lookee here.

Oak island historian Charles barkhouse,

David fornetti and treasure hunter dan henskee

have arrived at northville farms in centreville, nova scotia

to have blacksmithing expert Carmen legge

inspect the burned iron rod found one week ago in the swamp.

Well, what do you got today, Charles?

Well, I'm hoping you can tell us.

Well, you've got a big bar.

Yeah. We've got a big bar is right.

It's a really interesting piece.

We have a bunch of different ideas

of what it could be, but obviously, you're the expert,

so we wanted to get your take on it.

Well, let me just, say

what I see, and then you can probably

- help out what it was for. - Yeah.

- Yeah. - It's about an inch in diameter.

Very consistent size all the way down through.

This obviously had a broken piece on to it.

So, it was an eye. So, this would be an eye bolt.

So, Carmen, do you have a date or a time frame for this piece?

It could be as far back as the late 1600s.

Wow.

A burned eye bolt found in the swamp?

Dating back as far as the 17th century?

- Wow. - Wow, indeed.

Could it be connected to the large iron ring bolts

the team has also found this year in the swamp,

which date back to the same time period?

And which the team also believes might have been used

to haul cargo from a ship onto oak island?

So, you mentioned that it was an eye bolt.

I know on the island, we look a lot for ring bolts.

Can you help me understand the difference between the two?

The eye bolt would have the end

of this tang would come around and butt onto this, right?

So, there was a solid, piece attached to this.

A ring bolt... the ring is-is loose, but it's inserted

through the bolt.

This is just, like, one piece, whereas a ring bolt is two piece.

Usually two piece.

A ring bolt is usually heavier, too.

This is very typical of something to do

with anchoring ships or parts of ships.

You know, ships are obviously of interest on oak island, so...

Absolutely.

Well, certainly appreciate you

shedding some light on what went on here.

I know our team back on the island

is going to be thrilled to hear about,

everything that we've learned, so we should probably pack

this up and hit the road.

Very good. Yep.

- Great stuff. - Thank you.

Thanks, Carmen.

Have a safe trip.

Later that afternoon...

As members of the team continue their work in the swamp

I brought a trowel in case you need some help.

Excellent. We can always use help.

Marty lagina's son Alex arrives at the foundation

of late 18th-century oak island landowner Samuel ball.

We've got the cellar all cleaned out.

Just some final, you know, getting rid of dirt,

- excavating in there. - It looks good.

It is here where archeologists

laird niven and liz michels

continue their meticulous investigation

for clues that might help explain how mr. Ball,

a simple cabbage farmer and former American slave,

mysteriously became a very wealthy man

by the early 19th century.

Piece of pottery here.

You should find lots.

I see why you needed somebody to sift.

Yeah.

It's, it slows things

- I could be here all day. - It slows things down.

That's true.

I'm impressed with the patience these archaeologists