The Curse of Oak Island: AMAZING DISCOVERY Reveals Historic Connection (Season 7) | History

DOUG CROWELL: Wait
till you guys see this.
He hasn’t been
dancing, has he?
No, not dancing but it’s a
bobby-dazzler, that’s for sure.
My toes are still tingling.
[laughs]
I can definitely
see the smile.
This is fantastic.
You ready for this?
Stick your hand out, mate.
Look at that.
DOUG CROWELL: Wow.
I think that’s a brooch.
You see the two raised areas
the pin would’ve gone across?
Look, there was
some heft to it, too.
CHARLES BARKHOUSE: Exactly.
Can you imagine,
back in the day,
how much something like
that would have cost?
That’d have been a real
good status symbol.
I never seen
anything like this.
This is quite a unique piece.
The leaf, its shape,
how it’s formed,
I would be very interested
in what it might represent.
I think it needs
to be completely
and thoroughly checked out.
It’s not degraded, really,
so you should be able to find
some information about that.
But what will it tell us?
That’s the question.
What will it tell us?
I believe this is
really, really old.
What is really, really old?
I think that’s
hundreds of years old.
I wouldn’t be
surprised if this is
anywhere between 1500 and 1700.
Wow.
You don’t think it
could be a military cap
badge of some type?
It could be.
But if it is, it’s an old one.
Remember, we found that French
cap badge along the ridge
there.
And you know what?
You know who famous
was in this area?
The Duc d’Anville
with a French fleet.
Yes, 1746.
Yep.
That’s right.
That would be within your
estimate of the dating.
NARRATOR: The Duc d’Anville?
I found eight
pages of a ship–
what looks like a ship’s log.
NARRATOR: Two years ago, Don
Crowell presented Rick, Marty,
and the team with a
handwritten transcript
of an 18th century ship’s log.
It had been authored by a crew
member of a 1746 French naval
expedition to Nova Scotia led by
Jean-Baptiste Louis Fr déric de
La Rochefoucauld, also known as
the Duc d’Anville, an admiral
from a noble family with
ties to the medieval
order of the Knights Templar.
Incredibly, this log
detailed the construction
of a massive treasure shaft on
an uninhabited island in Mahone
Bay, strikingly
similar in description
to the Oak Island Money Pit.
“It has been agreed
that a deep pit be
dug, the pit to have
a secret entrance
by a tunnel from the shore.”
I mean, a great quantity
of treasure in that
they appear to be in this bay.
What troubles me is
how perfect this is.
NARRATOR: Could
this ornate brooch,
which Gary believes might
date back to the 1700s,
be proof that the French
military and the Duc d’Anville
are connected to the
Oak Island mystery?
It’s certainly quite unique.
Never seen anything like it.
My hope is that there’ll be
some relevance to determining
what happened on Oak Island.
That’s why we’re here.
We’ve got to get it cleaned.
We’ve got to get it tested.
What are the answers
going to be and how
might it affect the search?
If this turns out to be
a really old French uniform
decoration or a fancy
brooch, either way,
it’s a spectacular find.
That is indeed
a top-pocket find.
We found a lot of cool
old stuff along this ridge.
And I believe
we’re going to find
a lot more cool stuff as well.
OK.
Well, I’ll make sure it
gets in the proper hands.
And you guys, congratulations.
Hopefully you’ll find
some more things.
You know, the day
is still young.
GARY DRAYTON: Oh, yeah.
RICK LAGINA: But–
GARY DRAYTON: Don’t
wander too far, mate.
We’re having a good day.