In Season 6, Episode 5 of 'The Curse of Oak Island', the Oak Island boys
drill two more holes in the Money Pit area. The core sample from the first of
these holes, called HI4, contains a solid piece of diagonally aligned wooden plank
which had rested somewhere between the depths of 109 and 118 feet. Geologist
Terry Matheson speculates that this wood belongs to the tunnel suggested by the
results of the seismic survey conducted back in Episode 1. The second hole, called
IJ5.5, is drilled in close proximity to Borehole GAL1, which
yielded a number of mysterious metal objects and a gold-plated military
officer's button in the Season 4 finale, as well as a rosehead nail in the
Season 5 premiere. IJ5.5 hits wood at a depth of 111 feet and
brings up a whole, vertically-aligned timber. Craig tester opines that the
drillhole has intersected the side of what he calls the "Shaft 6 Tunnel". The
story of the Shaft 6 Tunnel begins in 1861, when the Oak Island Association was
in charge of operations on Oak Island. That year, the Association attempted to
bypass the Smith's Cove flood tunnel by digging a shaft called Shaft 6, or the
Oak Island Association Shaft No. 2, adjacent to the money pit and tunneling
towards the point at which they believed the treasure to lie. This move was
questionable considering the experiences of their predecessors, the Onslow and
Truro Companies, which had both tried the same thing and had been flooded out.
Unlike their ill-fated predecessors, however, the Association decided to sink
this new shaft 18 feet west of the Money Pit; the Smith's Cove flood tunnel, if it
truly existed, almost certainly approached the Money Pit from the east.
This new shaft was sunk to the depth of 118 feet without incident. From there,
workers tunneled laterally towards the Money Pit. Much to their pleasure, the
tunnel reached the Pit without encountering flood water. The
circumvention was a success. With the elusive treasure nowhere to be seen, the
laborers dug through the Money Pit to the eastern side. This decision would
cost them dearly. As soon as they breached the
eastern wall, water began to seep in. In no time, the Money Pit, the tunnel, and
Shaft 6 were all flooded with seawater. After a massive bailing operation, the
Association men went to clear the tunnel, which had become choked with mud and
clay resultant of the flooding. No sooner had they entered the tunnel, however, than,
according to foreman Jotham McCully, they:
Apparently, the tunnel that intersected the Money Pit had weakened the shaft's
structural integrity. The Money Pit collapsed, dropping its supposed treasure
into a chaos of mud clay and timber. Some researchers believe that the treasure
slipped into the Shaft 6 tunnel during this collapse. As we mentioned in our
analysis of Season 6, Episode 3, it seems unlikely that any searcher tunnels,
including the Shaft 6 tunnel, exists today in the immediate vicinity of the
original Money Pit, since Robert Dunfield dug a massive hole in the area measuring
100 feet in width and 140 feet in depth. In the late 1960s. However, when we
consider that Dunfield's Pit was more of a graded crater than a uniform shaft,
and allow for the possibility that the original Money Pit did not lie in the
centre of this crater, it seems possible that a small section of the Shaft 6
tunnel remained untouched. Prior to the sinking of IJ5.5, Gary Drayton
discovers what appears to be a decorative badge for an 18th Century
French grenadiers hat. Alex Lagina remarks that this find is consistent
with the Duke d'Anville theory, which Doug Crowell introduced back in Season 5,
Episode 10. Unfortunately, this fascinating theory is too complex to
include here, and will have to be the subject of another video. Thanks for
watching! If you enjoyed this video and would like to read a more in-depth
analysis of Season 6, Episode 5 of 'The Curse of Oak Island', please check out the
link in the description.