In this video, we’re going to take a look at the developments that took place in Season
7, Episode 5 of The Curse of Oak Island.
But first, I’d just like to remind you that my book 'The Oak Island Encyclopedia' is still
available for purchase on Amazon.
If you’re interested in getting a copy of this book, please check out the link in the
description.
Season 7, Episode 5 of The Curse of Oak Island begins just north of the Cave-In Pit, at one
of the two anomalies discovered during the ground penetrating radar scan conducted in
Season 7, Episode 2.
Choice Drilling sinks a hole at this location and fails to find anything of note at the
depths of interest indicated by the GPR scan, which would either be 82 or 91 feet below
the surface depending on which anomaly was being investigated.
A core sample taken from 99 to 109 feet, however, contains four feet of pure sand.
Some of the boys believe that this sand might be the remains of the Smith’s Cove flood
tunnel.
The notion that the Smith’s Cove flood tunnel might have been packed with sand is a new
idea that has not previously been suggested on the show.
This notion appears to conflict with the generally accepted purpose of the coconut-eelgrass filter
discovered at Smith’s Cove by the Truro Syndicate in 1850, namely that the filter
was designed to prevent the Smith’s Cove flood tunnel from becoming clogged with sand
and debris.
It also runs contrary to the idea that the tunnel is supported by wooden cribbing, as
suggested by several members of the Oak Island team following the discovery of hand-cut beams
in OITC-6 the previous episode.
Perhaps most importantly, it conflicts with a particular discovery made by the Oak
Island Treasure Company in 1897.
That spring, the Company men cleared out the Money Pit to a depth of 111 feet.
There, they got a good look at the entrance of the Smith’s Cove flood tunnel before
floodwater overcame their pumps.
According to the workers, the flood tunnel was 4 feet high, 2.5 feet wide, and constructed
from rock.
In order to determine whether the four feet of sand continues in the direction of the
Money Pit area, the crew drills a second hole five feet west of the first one.
A core sample taken from a depth of 99 to 109 feet in this second hole contains some
sand mixed with clay, but nothing resembling the four feet of pure sand found in the previous
hole.
In light of this setback, the crew decides to abandon the drilling operation in the Cave-In
Pit area.
Immediately after the drilling operation, we learn that the Oak Island crew has tasked
Eagle Canada with conducting a massive seismic scan of the entire eastern end of Oak Island.
This operation will be the third seismic scan conducted on the Island.
Throughout Season 6, Eagle Canada carried out seismic surveys in the Money Pit area,
the Swamp, and a place northwest of the swamp dubbed the ‘Mega Bin’ area.
Although these scans revealed several tantalizing anomalies, further investigation of these
areas of interest failed to yield anything noteworthy.
After a brief meeting with Alex Gauthier of Eagle Canada, several members of the Oak Island
team meet with GPR experts Steve Watson and Don Johnston at the foundations of the old
McGinnis family cabin on Lot 21.
Watson and Johnston conduct a GPR scan of the area and discover several anomalies, the
strongest of which is a four-foot-wide anomaly located four feet below the surface.
The team decides to apply for a permit from the provincial government which will enable
them to excavate these anomalies under the direction of archaeologist Laird Niven.
In the middle of the episode, the Fellowship of the Dig meets in the War Room with naval
historian Chipp Reid, who has come to share his theory regarding the nature of the structures
discovered at Smith’s Cove the previous season.
Reid shows the boys a diagram depicting a ‘water battery’, or a beachside artillery
station.
Although it is not mentioned in this episode, this diagram is from a map of Cartagena, Colombia,
drawn by English engineer John Thomas the Elder in 1741.
Reid points out several structures on the diagram which bear remarkable resemblance
to the U-shaped structure, the L-shaped structure, and the slipway discovered at Smith’s Cove, implying that the mysterious Smith's Cove structures constitute the remains of a water battery.
He goes on to suggest that the battery was constructed by members of the French military
in the early 1700s.
He also expresses partiality towards the theory that the Oak Island treasure consists of the
treasury of the Fortress of Louisbourg, buried by members of the French military prior to
the First Siege of Louisbourg in 1745- a theory will be the subject of a future video on this
channel.
One major problem with Reid’s theory, of which the naval historian is doubtless aware,
is the dendrochronological dating of the various Smith’s Cove structures carried out in Season
6, Episode 21.
Specifically, wood from the slipway was dated to 1771, and wood from the U-shaped structure
was dated to 1769.
If the dendrochronological dating is accurate, then it is unlikely that the French had a
hand in the structures’ construction.
France lost peninsular Nova Scotia to Great Britain during Queen Anne’s War, the
North American theatre of the War of Spanish Succession, fought from 1702 to 1713, only
retaining the large island that lies north of the peninsula, known today as Cape Breton
Island.
Although the French made several attempts to retake peninsular Nova Scotia, including
the disastrous Duc d’Anville Expedition of 1746, they never succeeded in their endeavors.
The French lost their Nova Scotian holdings to the British for good in 1758, following
the second Siege of Louisbourg.
By 1769, when the trees of which the U-shaped structure is comprised were felled, all of
Nova Scotia was firmly in British hands.
Near the end of this episode, we learn about a lost Oak Island landmark discovered years
prior by Dan Henskee and members of Triton Alliance, who made the discovery while looking
through the papers of former Oak Island treasure hunter Mel Chappell.
Back in 1863, the Oak Island Association dug a 120-foot deep shaft, called ‘Shaft 9’,
about 100 feet southeast of the Money Pit and 20 feet south of the Smith’s Cove flood
tunnel.
In order to prevent this tunnel from flooding, the Association constructed a sluiceway which
directed any water which might collect in the tunnel towards the South Shore Cove.
It must be mentioned that, in his 1958 book 'The Oak Island Mystery', Oak Island lawyer
R.V. Harris stated that this tunnel connecting Shaft 9 with the South Shore Cove was actually
intended to intercept the South Shore Cove flood tunnel, not to drain water.
After constructing the sluiceway, the Association built another 108-foot-deep tunnel from Shaft
9 towards the Money Pit.
Although the narrator informed us in this episode that the workers were unable to complete
this tunnel, R.V. Harris, in his book, stated that this tunnel “entered the [Money] Pit
at a point 100 feet down and there they found the hard bottom of the Pit on the west side.”
Whatever the case, Doug Crowell, in this episode, directs Rick and Marty Lagina to a place on
the South Shore Cove where the mouth of the Shaft 9 sluiceway was believed to be located.
Marty Lagina excavates this area with a backhoe and unearths a wooden tunnel from which water
gushes forth.
The delighted crewmembers agree that they ought to follow this tunnel to Shaft 9, and
to the Money Pit beyond.
Thanks for watching!
If you enjoyed this video and would like to help support this channel, please check out my book
'The Oak Island Encyclopedia', which you can find by clicking the link in the description.