Unbelievable Underwater Discoveries | The Curse of Oak Island

Okay, guys. So, here we are. I’m quite excited to get down there.

Right. In the waters just north of Oak Island, Alex Lagina and Jack Begley join diver Tony Sampson and underwater imaging expert Ken DeBor to search for clues that might be related to a possible buried dam near the northern region of the swamp.

So, we’re 7 to 8 ft in the shallows here.
Okay.
And we dropped down to about 25 out here.
Right. So that’s shallow enough that if we’re looking well in the past, the water level would have been lower.
So it’s plausible that you know something here may have been on dry land at one point.
Yeah.
Cuz Fred Nolan thought he had seen evidence of a structure on his beach here. The one that correlates with Zena Halpern’s map.
Yeah, exactly.
And you guys were looking for the dam.
Exactly. So it is possible that any evidence of that structure might be out here in the water.
Yeah.
This is awesome. Okay. I can’t wait to get on the bottom and get my eyes on it.
And your eyes will be on it with the ROV up here.
Great. So, we need to get the ROV in the water and I’m going to get suited up and go get wet.
Let’s get started.
Beautiful.
All right. Here we go.

In order to further aid Tony while he investigates the possible man-made feature underwater—

She goes, “Perfect.”

Ken will utilize a tethered remote operated vehicle or ROV equipped with thrusters and a high-definition camera. The ROV will act as a second set of eyes for the team to help direct Tony toward any additional targets of interest.

So, Ken, we’ll run a grid.
We’re going to run a grid.
Okay.
We’ll just go back and forth. We’ll follow the diver as well, and we’ll be in communication with Tony the entire time.
Perfect.
Good luck, Tony.
All right, Tony’s in the water.
Tony’s in the water.
There you go.
All right, ready to rock and roll. I’m on the bottom and I’m doing a metal detector scan.
Surface the diver. Let us know if you see any signs of a structure or anything else. Over.
Copy that.

He’s got his head into something now.
Yeah, he’s fanning.
Mhm.
Yeah. Fanning is what we can do. Digging is what we cannot do.

Although Tony is allowed to scan the seafloor with a handheld metal detector, provincial regulations prohibit him from removing or disturbing artifacts. However, if potential clues or valuables are identified, the team can apply for a special permit to retrieve and further investigate them.

Tony’s getting a visual on possibly hand-carved wood, which is actually a really exciting find because we have evidence from Zena’s map that there’s a dam somewhere along the edge of the water and that could indicate that people were around that north edge of the swamp doing something.
Pieces of old timber down here.
Copy.
How big?
This one’s about a foot.
I think that’s it.
Copy.
So, that sounds like a—I don’t know, like a little piece of plank.
Mhm.
Um I don’t know what to make of it.
Yeah.
Investigating further now.
Copy. Keep us posted. Over.
Going shallower.
Yeah.
Oh, Tony’s heading towards a boulder there. You can see. He’s going right straight forward. Whatever that is.
What’s that?
He’s getting right down into it.
Mhm.
Look guys, we’ve actually got some pottery down here with blue marking.
And there’s a great sailor truck over.
We found a fair amount of pottery recently just from lot five. Maybe it’s comparable, right?

Is it possible that the artifacts Tony has found are related to some of the discoveries made in the last year within the two stone features on lot 5? Artifacts that may date back to as early as the 17th century.

After we get this pottery, I’m thinking there’s two possibilities here. One is that the rocks have trapped this stuff here, and the other is that it’s sort of a deposit.
There’s got to be a source for these things.
Hey, Tony, we’d love to see if there’s any other artifacts surrounding this boulder. Over there.
All right.
Wow, that’s incredible, Tony.
That’s awesome.
I’ve got um [Music] with a hole in the middle. [Music]
It could be a coin.

A possible coin—until the team can present their evidence to the provincial government and hopefully obtain a special permit to remove and examine it. Unfortunately, this potentially valuable discovery will have to remain on the ocean floor.

Copy that, Tony. We’ll see you on the boat soon. Over.
All right. I’d say that was a successful dive.
Very.
What makes these artifacts interesting is they’re similar to the artifacts that you’re finding on land. So, either they came in on a ship or maybe it’s part of a shipwreck that was blown up on shore.
Wow, that was cool.
Or maybe it was from people that were on the island itself.
All right, Tony, that was pretty exciting.
That was a fantastic dive, buddy.
What about that metal detector head? What was it?
So, that was a disc like a coin with a hole in it.
No kidding.
Yeah.
Initially, I thought it was um one of those Chinese style coins.
Really?
I’m not sure.
Or something like that.
Something like that. Just right up on that hill is where Gary and I found an actual Chinese coin and that dated back to possibly BC.
Oh, no way.
That’s an old coin. And it’s got that square roll in it, mate.

In 2020, while searching between the swamp and the money pit on lot 15, Jack and Gary unearthed a coin that, according to numismatist Sandy Campbell, is of Chinese origin and more than 1,000 years old.

Is it possible that Tony Sampson has just found the same type of coin in the waters just north of the Oak Island swamp?

If so, could it and other items he has discovered today actually be related to an ancient dam feature that is believed to have been constructed in order to help create the swamp more than 700 years ago?

Well, I was excited before about the pottery, but I mean pipe stems and maybe even a coin or something.
Yeah. Now I’m really excited.

One thing I know it is for sure is a concentration of artifacts underwater. It might be enough to get some kind of a permit to do further investigation here.
That’s what I’m thinking. They’re great finds.
I think the next step would have to be to get a proper permit for actually retrieving some of these items.
We may be able to understand why they’re there and if they are connected to Fred’s wall in the north end of the bog.
This area needs a lot more investigation.
Nice job, Tony.
Well done.
Great job.