[music playing]
BILL SMITH: OK, boys, we're on the northeast
side of Oderin Island.
I know it's been a bit of a walk,
but we're going to head up this way now.
We're coming up on the place that I've been really
excited to show you guys.
NARRATOR: On Oderin Island, some 10 miles off the southern coast
of Newfoundland, Canada, researcher Bill Smith
has led Marty Lagina, Matty Blake, and a diver Tony Sampson
to a location rumored to contain millions
in looted treasure connected to the 17th century
English pirate Peter Easton.
Oh, wow. This is it?
This is it.
Wow.
BILL SMITH: I believe that this is
the pond that hides Peter Easton's
treasure from 400 years ago.
MARTY LAGINA: Is there any doubt amongst,
let's say, conventional historians that Peter
Easton was here on this island?
That he had this as part of his dominion?
There's a consensus amongst all--
all parties that have been involved.
The historical accounts have been handed down verbally.
Here.
The oral traditions plus the written accounts.
And then with some of the finds in the local area,
I'd say I'm 99% certain.
- That's certainty. - Yep.
Conjecture is what's in that pond.
Yep.
Mr. Conjecture, get suited up.
Looks like I got another pond, doesn't it?
MARTY LAGINA: Yeah. - Yeah.
MARTY LAGINA: The pond is exactly
as I pictured it except that the island itself
is way more rugged and barren.
If this pond is actually lined with oak planks,
well, for one thing, look around.
There are no oak trees here.
That would mean they were brought there
specifically for some reason.
I think if that particular legend is true,
that this pond is lined with oak planks,
I think we're on to something.
NARRATOR: While Tony investigates
the muddy shallow pond for signs of valuables,
he will not only attempt to confirm that the feature's
bottom is lined with oak planks, but he'll also
look for evidence of possibly man-made flood tunnels
that Bill believes are connected to a nearby natural spring.
So that anomaly will be coming down
here somewhere, feeding in.
It--
Way over there.
It stops abruptly at the bottom of the hill.
Got it.
Just it starts and stops at the same spot,
which is really peculiar.
Interesting.
Yeah.
There's no way something should be there.
There are so many legends about hiding things underwater
and it appears to work.
Let's do what we came here for. - Let's go.
Let's go.
I'm impatient.
Mud diver.
TONY SAMPSON: I've heard so much about this pond from Bill.
I'm so excited to get in this pond
and actually prove or disprove that this might be
a hidden location where Peter Easton
might have stashed a treasure.
Another day in the muck.
MARTY LAGINA: When diving in basically mud,
that's the usual challenge for Tony.
You know, you've got water on top of a lot
of muddy, silty nastiness.
So, you know, it's difficult. Tony's up for it, though.
And if anybody can figure it out, I think he can.
Go get 'em, buddy.
[music playing]
TONY SAMPSON: Once entering the pond,
I realized that this is going to be a Braille dive.
There's zero visibility and I have my metal detector
going from side to side.
And I'm slowly moving forward.
MATTY BLAKE: So Tony's probably touching bottom right now.
[music playing]
TONY SAMPSON: What I'm feeling on the bottom
is silt. I can penetrate through up to my shoulder in this silt
and I'm still not touching a hard bottom.
[music playing]
MATTY BLAKE: Is that a piece of wood?
That looks like a piece of wood.
Yeah.
[music playing]
MATTY BLAKE: Another piece of wood.
That was definitely wood.
TONY SAMPSON: So I'm feeling my way through the silt.
I can feel timber planks, almost like they've
been part of a box system.
So it may be some sort of drainage system.
So I don't know what these artifacts are so I can't wait
to get something up to the surface
and let the guys have a look at it.
He's found something.
BILL SMITH: Yeah.
MATTY BLAKE: Look at that.
MARTY LAGINA: Well, look at that.
Yeah, he's got timber.
Whoa.
MATTY BLAKE: Whoa.
BILL SMITH: Wow.
MARTY LAGINA: What on Earth is that?
- I don't know. - That's quite a collection.
Yeah.
That's quite-- that's quite a bit, eh?
Looks like planking to me.
It stinks like the swamp, Marty, back on Oak Island.
MARTY LAGINA: Oh, good.
Huh, that is definitely planking.
Look at that.
Good job, mate.
We're shutting off the air.
There was timber on the bottom.
Wow.
So I don't know if it's oak, but.
And then this you can see has been worked.
Look at that.
Yeah, that definitely has.
You see, she's cut on the end there as well.
Both ends, yeah.
That's beautiful.
Notice they're notched out.
They almost fit together like a puzzle.
TONY SAMPSON: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
MATTY BLAKE: Piece of a crate. Looks like a crate box.
That could be an old crate, yeah.
MATTY BLAKE: Yeah.
TONY SAMPSON: Or it felt like it was in the mud,
so maybe it was boxing something in.
Ah.
Question is, do those grooves there in the end
look fabricated or hand done?
BILL SMITH: I mean, what they used to do with the old fret
and coping saws is that.
Look at the beautiful French furniture
that was done by hand, eh?
MATTY BLAKE: Who knows, buddy.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Although varying styles of joinery
have existed in woodworking for thousands of years,
the dovetail style, which Tony has just found an example of,
was widely commonplace in Western Europe
during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Is it possible that the team has just recovered evidence
of a legendary treasure that many
believe Peter Easton buried in this area sometime around 1612?
TONY SAMPSON: I mean, you wanted an oak-lined pond.
I don't know if it's oak, but it's definitely lined in there.
How much of it is down there?
TONY SAMPSON: Oh, there's still heaps.
BILL SMITH: It's a start. TONY SAMPSON: Yeah.
BILL SMITH: So I'm not an expert in wood,
but when we look at the wood, there's patterns of a cutting,
there's dovetailing.
There's so many questions that need to be answered.
Plan B is we'll do some more magnetometer
work with the drone.
So we're still optimistic.
Good job, mate.
BILL SMITH: Good job, Tony.
MATTY BLAKE: Matty to LiDAR team.
We've called the dive in the pond for now.
So if you want to run the full scan on the pond,
that'd be a great time right now.
Over.
NARRATOR: Due to the lack of visibility
and thick muck on the bottom of the pond, drone expert
Jordan Bannister will now scan it with a magnetometer
in order to look for signs of metal
beneath the wood planking.
Once the scan is completed, it will then take several days
to process the collected data.
MATTY BLAKE: If Peter Easton left any significant part
of his treasure under that pond, under those planks,
they could find it with this technology
and give us a clear picture and a real GPS-located spot
to dive on, which would be really cool.
Great job, guys.
Talk soon.
Ah.
MARTY LAGINA: Oh, baby.
BILL SMITH: Perfect.