The Curse of Oak Island

Here we go. Floodgate's about to open.

Here it goes.

I think it's time to get our feet wet.

-Let's do it. -There's a structure down there.

It's ten feet underwater.

We found Nine. I think this disturbed area

in this photo might be Shaft Two.

Steve can triangulate and see where it intersects.

X marks the spot. -Look at all the wood.

-Oh, look at the wood. -Looks like we're in

-the middle of a shaft. Ooh, look at that!

I don't know why this is here.

-I don't know what this would be. This may be

bigger than we thought.

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.

Wow.

That is one big machine.

Yeah, that's impressive.

Definitely some iron

-in Smith's Cove now. Yeah.

Look at that thing.

It's time to start.

We're about to explore new ground.

-How you doing, guys? -Mike, how you doing?

-Quite well. -That is some vision coming down from that hill.

Yeah. For brothers Rick

and Marty Lagina and their partners,

today marks the beginning of yet another

and more extensive investigation at Smith's Cove.

What are we looking at?

Where are you gonna start?

So, we'll-we'll pull that one sheet; we'll lay it down.

We're gonna lay 'em right in across here.

The team from Irving Equipment Limited

has returned to the area in order to build

a massive extension, or bump-out,

to the 525-foot-long steel cofferdam

they had constructed last yea.

How far out is the bump-out going?

Based on the arch in that 100 feet that we're gonna remove,

it's 50 feet from there out

to the surface of the next wall out.

-So, are you excited? -Oh, yeah, I'm excited, 'cause

when we did the excavation last year,

we didn't really find that much

-when it comes to artifacts. -Yes.

-And if it's not here, it's got to be over there. -Yeah.

-And we're gonna find it. -

Although the Laginas and their partners

made a number of historic finds here last year,

including a boat wharf, or slipway,

that was proven to have been built more than two decades

prior to the Money Pit's discovery in 1795,

the team was shocked to learn that additional structures

and important clues might stil lie further out into the ocea.

One of the big agenda items this year is

to finish up in Smith's Cove.

We found some exciting things there last year,

but we never got to the end of the slipway

where there could be all kinds of artifacts.

And that's what this is all about,

looking for friends of the cross,

and an explanation possibly of some of the structures,

their purpose, their age, who did it.

There's a lot of mystery down there,

and we need to explore it.

Okay, Mike, turn it over to you,

-and let's get it started. -Thanks, guys.

Before construction of the bump-out can begin,

the Irving team must first remove 22 interlocking

steel sheets from the cofferdam wall

using a powerful vibratory hammer,

which is attached to a massive 440-ton crane.

Once completed,

Rick, Marty and the team will be able

to search a 6,000-square-foot area where,

so far as they know,

no previous searchers have ever been able to reach.

Here we go.

Floodgate's about to open.

Here it goes.

Wow.

I think it's time to get our feet wet.

Let's do it.

While construction on the cofferdam continues,

Rick Lagina heads to the Oak Island Research Center

for a meeting with island historian Doug Crowell

and surveyor Steve Guptill.

Hey, Rick. -Hey.

Steve and I were just talking about an idea we had.

You know Steve's calculated this on the 3-D model

for what we found for Shaft Nine.

With finding Nine and proving it was Nine,

we brought back a landmark from the past

at a time when they knew where the Money Pit was.

-And we know we found Nine. -We know it's Nine.

That's that certainty you want to start talking with, right?

Hey, Billy! There's wood there!

One week ago,

Rick, Marty, Craig and members of the team

unearthed a massive wooden structure

which matched the historical descriptions

of a searcher shaft built in 1863 known as "Shaft Nine."

According to archival records,

it was constructed some 100 feet southwest of the Money Pit

in an attempt to bypass the flood tunnels

which are believed

to protect the fabled Oak Island treasure vault.

Because the location of the original Money Pit

was still known at the time Shaft Nine was built,

the team hopes to use it as a key landmark

that should help them pinpoint the Money Pit's exact location.

So, Steve's calculated

-Shaft Number Nine right there. Mm-hmm.

Which is supposed to be 100 feet away from the Money Pit,

according to the historical documentation.

So, 100 feet out from here

roughly puts an arc through like that.

So, I've been going through my head trying to think

of other landmarks we might be able to bring back.

-Mm-hmm. -It got me going through

these old photos, and I found this one

from 1931 during the Chappell exploration.

Mm-hmm.

And this area here really caught my interest.

This looks disturbed here to me.

In fact, back here where Nine is-- that also

-looks disturbed, doesn't it? -That also looks... Yeah. Yup.

We know where Nine is.

We found Nine there.

We know 100 feet away from that should be the Money Pit.

I think this disturbed area in this photo

might be indicating that we should find a shaft in there,

which I think would be Shaft Two.

If there's any shaft that

its relationship to the Money Pit was known, it's Two.

There's no question about that.

In 1805,

one year after the Money Pit flooded with seawater

when Daniel McGinnis and his partners hit what they believed

to be a boobytrap at a depth of 90 feet,

members of the Onslow Company attempted

to work around the problem

by digging an adjacent shaft some 14 feet to the southeast.

Known as "Shaft Two,"

it reached a depth of 110 feet without encountering water.

McGinnis then dug a horizontal tunnel

in hopes of reaching the treasure vault from below.

But within two feet of its target,

the tunnel caved in and flooded.

Shortly afterwards, the Onslow Company went bankrupt,

thus ending the recorded treasure hunt

of the three-man team who first discovered the Money Pit.

Certainly, Shaft Two is-is key

to understanding the original location

of the Money Pit, because

the original Money Pit was denoted "Number One,"

and Shaft Two was the second shaft ever dug, trying to

uncover the treasure.

If Shaft Number Two is where we think it is,

then we've got another landmark,

because we know that Two should be

14 feet away from the Money Pit, and we have two measurements.

With Shaft Number Nine right there,

Steve can triangulate 14 feet out and 100 feet out and see

-where it intersects. -Right.

If we can find Two, we have an X marks the spot.

Yeah.

So, are you suggesting a drilling program?

I-I think if we throw a little bit of sonic at it

and see if there is indeed a shaft there.

Well, look, it's a... it's a great plan.

-There's no choice but to pursue it. -Yeah.

So, guys, there's still a lot of work to do.

Get that X on that map.

Let's find Two. More importantly,

let's find the Money Pit.

Later that afternoon...

-Hey, gentlemen. Hey, guys.

...Steve Guptill and Craig Tester

join other members of the Oak Island team

at the Money Pit site to begin

a new core drilling operation in search of Shaft Two.

We've picked out a location.

-So, we'll get them going. -Okay.

They're waiting on you over there.

-They're waiting. -Get them spotted.

Using aerial photographs

taken of the Money Pit area in 1931,