Biggest Treasure Finds EVER | The Curse of Oak Island
Biggest Treasure Finds EVER | The Curse of Oak Island
You know, I’ve always
wanted to ask you. Where does bobby
dazzler come from? It’s a local expression, mate. I’m from Lincolnshire, England,
and we always say bobby dazzlers to shiny, gold things. I know the stories coming from
London where the guys were robbing jewelry
stores and had all the flashy pieces of gold and
jewels to distract bobbies– bobby dazzlers. Ha, ha.
Fantastic. And you bring it
here on Oak Island, it becomes its own
treasure– its own legend. Number three– the
gold-plated brooch. Here we go. [metal detector beeping] Sounding good. [beeping] Oh, my gosh. It’s another bobby dazzler. Look! That’s a bloody brooch. Look at that.
MATTY BLAKE: This bobby dazzler,
found on lot 21 in 2018, officially made Gary and
Rick the brooch brothers. And when Marty and Alex Lagina,
along with Craig Tester, had it analyzed at St.
Mary’s University in Halifax, it was officially proven to
be a piece of actual treasure.
Brousseau! Nice to see you, Christa. Welcome down to
the microscope lab. Xiang. Nice to see you again. Seeing you. Hi, how are you? We have something here that
I think you’re going to find quite interesting, actually. A piece of jewelry of some sort. Very nice. Pretty, isn’t it? Yeah. Where did you guys find this? Kind of the western
end of the island. It’s in really good condition. Have a look, and we’ll
see what your machine says. Now, is there any manganese
in what you’re seeing there? No, that’s just copper,
zinc, typical brass. What are the lighter spots? Yeah, what are we
seeing that’s bright? Is that the potential gold or– It could be. This is right under
where the stone was. This is the brightest–
to the naked eye, this is by far the brightest. So the dark area
here is pure copper. That’s interesting. But the bright area– I would say it’s pure gold. Yeah, gold. Well, how about that? Gary can go do his gold dance. Found some gold. You’ve definitely struck gold. He struck gold. Yeah, I guess I’d have to
say that’s the first piece of verified gold
found on the island. It’s a first for us, right? It’s a first for
us for us, for sure. I think this would be
considered actual treasure.
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Yeah.
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All right. OK. So that’s pretty cool. It’s not bad. I mean, yeah. These brooches
are very, very old. And I’m wondering– do
you feel like they’re part of an original
treasure or maybe dropped here by people who were
searching for that treasure? These bobby dazzlers are
600 and 700 years old, mate. This is precious metal. This is gold plated,
and we’ve got precious gems in them, mate.
I will never forget
that time Rick and I were the brooch brothers,
recovering these brooches. I truly believe that
these bobby dazzlers were lost by depositors. You go to any castle in Europe
and you’ll see a painting on the wall, and there’ll be
someone wearing a brooch very similar to what we recovered.
Wow. That’s incredible, Gary. We are searching for
a medieval treasure. Oh, I love to hear that. We’re ready to go. Right now just scrape this
off and start digging. Sound good.
NARRATOR: For brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina and their Oak Island team, the
hopes of revealing the answers to a 223-year-old
mystery have never been higher. After completing the
construction of a massive 525 foot wide steel cofferdam
around Smith’s Cove, they are finally excavating the
nearly 12,000-square-foot area.
I’m feeling sort of a
childish excitement to see what we’ve only seen in pictures,
to dig up and see with our own eyes what that
enigmatic and peculiar U-shaped structure is. It’s kind of nostalgic, i.e. Dan dug it in ’71,
and we are going to reveal it in its
entirety and hopefully bring that data to Dan and show him.
NARRATOR: After researching old
photographs and surveys taken during Dan Blankenship’s
excavation, the team has identified
an area near the Northwest end of the cofferdam where they
believe the U-shaped structure can be located.
I’ll tell you this. Might be some stuff in
there for Gary to find out. If it’s here, he’ll find it. No doubt about that at all. There you go, Gary. Oh, my metal detector. Big old spoil pile. I got a signal here. Nonferrous. I got a nonferrous here, Rick. [beeping] Where is it? Just here. How deep? I didn’t see. Hey Rick, take a break. Yeah, we want to
see what’s going on. I’ll do it. Help him pull it in. Is that it there? Oh man. Oh man. Now I’m seeing– You’re seeing results reals. Yeah, I’m seeing reals. That must be all. See there in this lump. That sounds like a nonferrous. Yeah, it does. Yeah. It is. It’s nonferrous, whatever it is. [beeping] Gary’s happy. I’ll let you do the
honors just in case. Wow, look at that. I can see gold color. Yeah, me too. Is it heavy? Pretty heavy. Yeah, you can see it here. Look. It looks gold colored. Yeah, it looks gold colored. I think it’s got a
milled edge, doesn’t it? I’d say that’s a coin. Yeah, I think that’s a coin.
NARRATOR: A gold coin? Could the team have found their
first piece of actual treasure at Smith’s Cove? And this is just
the beginning.
I don’t know
about a milled edge. No. No, I’m not so sure
about a milled edge either. I think you’re– no,
I don’t think so. If that isn’t a milled edge– That’s good. That’s good. It means it’s older.
NARRATOR: If the gold-colored
object is, in fact, a coin, the absence of milled edges
is a likely indication that it predates the discovery
of the original Money Pit in 1795.
It’s not copper either. It’s like gold plated. Yeah, I can see sparkles. It’s going to be
interested see what this is when it’s cleaned up. Yeah. That’s going in
the top pocket. Top pocket. Top-pocket find. All right, keep going. Proceed. We need to fill
this pocket up!
DAVID MACINNES:
This whole place is covered with fire-cracked rock. While archaeologists David
MacInnes, Aaron Taylor, and Liz Michels, continue to excavate
the mysterious structure on lot 15–
Let’s go, mate. You keep me straight.
NARRATOR: –metal detection
expert Gary Drayton, along with Jack
Begley, search nearby in hopes of finding
more evidence related to the recent discovery
of an ancient Chinese coin.
As we get further
away from the guys, we’re actually getting
closer towards the swamp– an area which would have been
traversed back in the day by anyone working in between
the money pit and the swamp. [beeping] We got to dig this. This is no blasting cap. There’s a big
piece of iron here. Just there, mate. It’s about eight inches. [music playing] [beeping] Yeah. I see iron residue. You’re on it. [beeping] Ooh. [laughs] Another ox shoe.
JACK BEGLEY:
There’s another one. Yeah. That’s a smaller one. But look how wide it is. I kind of figured that was
going to be an ox shoe. Now, why would you
have ox around here? If you kind of line
them up, though, you’re coming from the
harbor and the swamp and it’s headed back towards
where they’re excavating right now, the lot 15 feature.
You’ve got the
peninsula down there. You’ve got the paved area. And now you’ve got ox shoes
in an area where we know there hasn’t been a lot of farming. So if we start finding these in
one area and if they line up, it could be an old track. Yeah. And it lines right back
towards the tar kiln.
NARRATOR: A pathway
or a track leading from the swamp to the
stone structure on lot 15? Is it possible
that Gary and Jack are finding evidence
of an operation to move cargo away from the swamp? If so, could that
explain the massive stone paved feature the team unearthed
in the swamp one year ago? And also, perhaps the
mysterious anomaly detected by seismic
scanning buried some 50 feet deep in the middle
of a brackish man-made bog.
OK, mate. Let’s get back on track– [beeping] –which is kind of
ironic, because I believe this could be a track. I think so too, Gary. [music playing] [beeping]
Jack, I got more
iron here, mate. Look. See, it disappeared completely. There’s definitely iron there. Right there. Yup. [music playing] [beeping]
GARY DRAYTON: Yeah. I can see the rust. That’s a good sign. Yeah, that is. Hope there’s something cool. [beeping]
Wow. [beeping] What the heck is that? What the heck is that?
JACK BEGLEY: A pin
for hauling something? I don’t think it’s a pin. I have seen similar
things on horse and ox harnesses, where they
have these knobs on the end.
Oh. I think you might be right. Yeah. That’s what this reminds me of. Where they’d, like, put
the reins around that thing? Yeah. But this is heavy. That’s what I like about it. It’s nice and heavy. So you think it’s
really old, then. Pre-1800s. [suspenseful music]
This is amazing. Ox shoes were never
really anything to get too excited
about until you find them in the proper context. So we’re definitely onto
some sort of an oxen trail– Yeah. –that leads between the
paved area inside the swamp over to the money pit. I mean, if we’re looking for
tools and signs of activity between the swamp and where
the guys are working up there, this is what we
want to be finding. Because some kind of hauling
took place along here. We’re on a track. And hauling before they had
any sorts or roads or trails. Yup. Obviously, they
were pushed to have to quickly make
some sort of a trail and force their oxen through it. Sweet. We’re on the
right track, Gary.
GARY DRAYTON: Everything
is lining up now.
WILLIAM SHATNER: The
founding fathers, the history and the mystery is there.
MARTY LAGINA: Yeah. So along comes the fledgling
American Revolution and their very clear
ties to France. You know, Jefferson
was a Francophile. He even had land up here. Benjamin Franklin
was, you know– well, he was the dandy
of Paris, wasn’t he? All the young ladies
liked Ben Franklin. Obviously they were mucking
around for money, right? Wars cost money, lots of money. How was the American
Revolution financed? Let’s just say that there’s
this great treasure here. And let’s just say that
some of the founding fathers knew people who knew about
it, and they tell them, look, it’s up in Nova Scotia. And the timing–
everything, actually, I can tie it all together. Everything sort of fits. Because timing-wise,
this area was starting to get settled–
my archaeologist friend will agree with me. Around 1760 or so, people
are starting to show up.
Oh, really?
MARTY LAGINA: Yes.
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Oh, how interesting.
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You’d been reading that?
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Absolutely.
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Yeah.
MARTY LAGINA: And the
French hated the British– absolutely hated the British. So they do this, and it would
be a politically acceptable way to do it, too, because
nobody knows about this money anyway. And the Americans come. They do what they need to do. They dig down, they
get the treasure, and they leave with the money.
JACK BEGLEY: Something
large happened here on the island many,
many hundreds years ago, and possibly even longer. We’re unsure about that. But some of the dates
that we get back shows evidence of
human activity. Someone was here
doing something. And with the U-shaped
structure in Smith’s Cove, it dated 1769, which is before
the discovery of the money pit.
Ahh.
RICK LAGINA: I am of the
complete and absolute belief that this is not
temporal wealth. There may be temporal
wealth, but it is not the– it is not the “why” of this. And whenever humans do anything,
you can figure out who, what, when, where, how,
if you figure out why. What motivates people? What about faith? I don’t mean in God,
or something like that, but faith in your
knowledge, faith in your perceptions,
the group of people, highly intelligent, motivated?
RICK LAGINA: If this is real,
and I’ll be the first one to say, I believe
Marty’s absolutely right, belief or faith
runs almost counter to hard science and fact.
MARTY LAGINA: Rick
believes that it’s super that these people did
some of this stuff on faith. And I’ll turn to him
and say, well, yeah, but what if it was stupid? You know? I mean, faith isn’t necessarily
the end all get all. So we– I mean, he’s a
wonderful human being. Of course. Of course. More to reason. No, keep going.
RICK LAGINA: But I do
believe that belief married to fact, or hard
science, or whatever, that’s where success is found. And these people,
if this is correct, they were successful
in doing what they did. We merely have to
figure out why.
Well, when you discover
what it is, you’ll know why, presumably. What make sense to
me at this juncture is that the 1770 expedition,
or structure, was a recovery attempt, a withdrawal. And maybe it had something to
do with the American Revolution. It fits. So we’re going to chase
it– or I want to chase it. Look, history is a
fascinating topic, you know, where it takes you,
and what you learn. But what it affirmed to me
is that the information hunt, I call it, it’s
always important, always incredibly interesting. You don’t know where
it will lead you.
WILLIAM SHATNER: So the history
is there, the mystery is there. The solution lies in the future.
RICK LAGINA: Oh yes,
and we’re working together to solve this thing.
WILLIAM SHATNER: Beautiful. After hundreds of years
of digging for the truth, it appears we’re left with
more questions than answers. Did the founding fathers really
know about the Oak Island treasure, and did they retrieve
it, or a portion of it, before Nova Scotia sided
with the British Empire? Perhaps
