The Curse of Oak Island: Rick Ventures Inside the Money Pit (Season 10)

Hey Rick, hey Jack, good morning.
Good morning. That hammer grab is fun to watch.
Yeah.
Dumas seems to be moving along quite quickly. Good as a new day dawns on Oak Island for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and the members of their team, the hope that they may be on the verge of solving a 228-year-old treasure mystery has never been higher.

How’s it going?
I see you guys. What’s the depth?
Well, right now we’re about 23 feet. Uh, we’re going to be marking a little bit more, blowing that in, and then we’re going to be installing another two sets.

Okay.
Although a number of investigations are currently being conducted all across the island to search for critical clues and valuables, their most promising operation is underway in The Money Pit area with Dumas Contracting Limited, a mining company that is reconstructing the so-called Garden Shaft.

The material is still just really mucky right now.
Yeah. Yeah, so it’s kind of… you can tell that it’s backfilled clay, but you’re right, they kind of were careful as to what they dumped in there.
Correct.

Based on numerous recent discoveries this year, the team has good reason to believe that this 80-foot deep decayed wooden structure may be connected to the original Money Pit.

Wood samples from the shaft have not only been dated to 1735, but water testing within it has also revealed high trace evidence of gold. In addition, it is also located in close proximity to a potential void or chamber that the team drilled into earlier this year at a depth of just 55 feet.

There are some pretty concrete signs that say this might be the original Money Pit or it could be right next to it. It could have been the original attempt, one of the original attempts.

I really would like to see what’s at the bottom of that shaft. So the hope is that once we get down 50-60 feet, we’ll be able to drill horizontally, vertically, yep, and hopefully we do find a tunnel from this shaft at least in some directions.

Some of our better water sample tests have been from here that had the gold and the silver.

Yeah, we would love to find original work. So there’s all kinds of hopes here. We just have to learn as much as we can about this location.
Yeah.

Having already rebuilt the first two sets or 8-foot sections of the Garden Shaft, in the coming weeks, Dumas will complete a new vertical structure down to a total depth of approximately 80 feet.

During the process, they also have the ability to probe outside the shaft and even build lateral tunnels in order to let members of the team search for evidence of treasure.

Heads up, guys.
Here we go.
[Music]
Highlighting coming down. Watch out.

As the team from Dumas continues excavating and reconstructing the Garden Shaft…
Oh, that’s pretty cool.
Very cool.

Members of the team will be able to monitor the operation using the Enactin Spectrum 120 high-definition camera.
We’re fortunate enough to be able to put a camera down here with Roger’s assistance. So, I mean, it’s a great tool for us to be able to see what’s going on down there.
It’s amazing.

The device, which features a lens that can pan 360 degrees, is not only designed to operate in low light conditions but is also equipped with a number of visual enhancement capabilities, such as high-powered zoom function.
It really gives you an idea of how small of an area it is.

Do I believe that there’s treasure at the bottom of the Garden Shaft?
I’ll be honest, I’m hopeful, but I just want to get underground. The Money Pit. Let’s get underground and exploit the opportunities that the shaft represents.
I want to go down there soon.

It’s an exciting day.
Yeah. Roger, hey, how’s it going, guys?
Good, how are you?
Good, good, good, good.

In The Money Pit area, Rick Lagina, along with Oak Island operations manager Scott Barlow, are about to experience a moment that Rick has dreamed of since he was just a boy and first read about the Oak Island mystery.

We have all kinds of emotions running through us. You know, bottom line is we’re radically changing the search agenda now. We’re going to go looking for what’s underground. By being underground, that’s pretty cool.

Oh, I think so. I think so, but it’s kind of bittersweet. Like I was telling just before we walked in, this will be our only first time underground in The Money Pit, so we better enjoy it.
Oh, yeah, for sure. It’s going to be a moment that we’re going to remember the rest of our lives.
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, yeah, we’ll get you suited up. Also, I’ve got a couple of, uh, coveralls for you guys here.
Okay, cool. I got another one for you.

Now that the reconstruction of the Garden Shaft has reached a depth of 44 feet, and after completing the required safety training…
Perfect. Rick will have his first opportunity ever to personally go underground in The Money Pit area.

Okay, today we’re going to head down there and we’re going to go see what we can see.
Sounds good.

Yeah, for the first time, we’re going to go underground in The Money Pit. That in and of itself is pretty cool, but we’re here to solve the mystery.
Go ahead, Roger. There you go.

And the hope is that when we go down in the shaft, our senses will be more attuned to the possibilities of what the shaft represents in terms of furthering our understanding in The Money Pit.

There we go. I’ll go down and you guys can follow me in there. Let me know if you have any questions on the way down, Rick.
Good.

Intensely emotional.
The underground in The Money Pit, where so many people who have come before us had that same experience. And I think life is all about shared experience because I do believe this is a wonderful story, and we know the people that have come before us, their legacy now is being carried by us.
Wow. Beautiful.

I believed in Oak Island since I was a little boy.
As a little boy, I dreamed of treasure and hidden wealth and booby traps and underground tunnels.
Wow. And now that I’m underground in The Money Pit, I mean, oh…
This is astounding.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[Music]
It’s pretty amazing.
Yeah, it is, eh? So, what you see below this set that we’re installing right now, everything in there in the bog that you see is all original.
Oh, wow.

I mean, not just the work you’re doing, which is quite amazing…
Yeah.
But this is what is astounding. You’re looking at history. Right? To see how that wood has been preserved is… it’s unbelievably… it’s amazing.
It’s quite remarkable.
Yeah, it is, eh? You look at this shaft and you think, my goodness, people long ago, they didn’t have cranes. It’s a testament to their will, to their desire, to their belief that where there’s a will, there’s a way.

And there was certainly a will to their enterprise, not only the searchers but the original depositors as well.

So, Roger, now that we’re down near 50 feet here, I mean, there’s a lot of potential for other works to be in the area, offset chambers and the tunnel at the 95-foot mark.
Well, for sure. There may be original work beneath this, you’re right. And that’s one of the reasons why we pound on that timber all the time to see if there’s any void behind us.
But, yeah, we’re expecting to get some answers as to what happened here. Why? Boy, this is interesting. And it’s… it’s quite phenomenal.
Oh, it is. It is. It’s been an amazing experience. You stand here and you look up…
Yeah, I can’t explain how I feel right now. Thank you. This… this has been very unique.
Right?
Yep. Forever grateful for this opportunity.
Really, really good. Appreciate it.
Glad you enjoyed it.

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