Season 7, Episode 11 of 'The Curse of Oak Island' begins at the freshly-drained Oak
Island swamp, where Marty Lagina and Billy Gerhardt were preparing to excavate the Paved
Wharf at the end of the previous episode (the Paved Wharf being a pattern of stones on the
swamp floor discovered by Tony Sampson in Season 7, Episode 1).
Using a piece of heavy equipment called a ‘swamp excavator’, the treasure hunters
dig a large hole in the area and expose the tops of the stones that Sampson discovered.
Although the crew is unable to adequately assess the formation due to an influx of muddy
swamp water and an inopportune setback which I will describe shortly, Marty Lagina determines
that the rocks of which it is comprised are not flat flagstones, as some of the treasure
hunters had hoped.
While examining the mud and detritus removed during the excavation of the Paved Wharf,
Rick Lagina discovered two axe-hewn wooden stakes lying in the muck.
These are not the first wooden stakes to be discovered in the Oak Island swamp.
Back in 1969, Oak Island landowner Fred Nolan discovered a line of mysterious survey markers
along the swamp’s edge.
He had one of these wooden stakes carbon dated to 1550.
Dan Blankenship also came into the possession of one of these artifacts and had it carbon
dated from 1490-1660.
Back in Season 5, Episode 13, while metal detecting in the northern section of the swamp,
Rick Lagina discovered a similar axe-sharpened wooden stake.
And, although it likely has little connection with the stakes in the swamp, it is interesting
to note that, back in Season 3, Episode 7, Marty Lagina discovered a thick, saw-cut spruce
stake about 10 feet underground at a point dubbed the ‘Nolan Site’, where Fred Nolan
had previously discovered what he believed to be a subterranean cave.
Near the beginning of the episode, Gary Drayton and Jack Begley conduct a metal detecting
operation on Smith’s Cove, in the vicinity of the wharf-like structure unearthed in Season
7, Episode 9.
The treasure hunters quickly uncover a thin wrought-iron rod which bears some resemblance
to the tapered spike discovered nearby in Season 7, Episode 6.
Later in the episode, Gary Drayton and Alex Lagina present both of these artifacts to
blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge.
After some consideration, Legge identifies the artifacts as pieces of primitive rebar
used to reinforce the cement base of a dry dock at which ships would have been repaired.
At the Money Pit area, the Fellowship of the Dig stands by as Choice Drilling sinks borehole
FG-12 in search of a third piece of the Shaft 2 tunnel.
The treasure hunters dissect a number of core samples and find large chunks of wood at depths
of 74 and 106 feet, respectively.
The 106-foot-deep wood appears to be older than the 74-foot piece, and bears markings
which appear to have been made with an axe.
Although its depth roughly corresponds with that of the Shaft 2 tunnel, Doug Crowell and
Marty Lagina speculate that the 106-foot-deep wood might have been a part of the original
Money Pit, namely a piece of one of the wooden platforms which lay in the Pit at 10-foot
intervals or undiscovered cribbing which initially lay below the 100-foot level.
If the wood is indeed a part of the original Money Pit, then its depth and precise location
are irrelevant; since treasure hunter Robert Dunfield destroyed the Money Pit while digging
his infamous 140-foot-deep crater in the area, any fragment of the Money Pit found at a depth
of 106 feet would constitute loose backfill.
At the very beginning of this episode, the narrator informs us of the impending arrival
of Hurricane Dorian, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.
The remainder of the episode is punctuated by clips of Global News Halifax’ coverage
of the storm’s progress.
The hurricane finally hits the Island near the end of the episode, flooding the swamp
and its Paved Wharf area and damaging the causeway connecting the Island with the mainland,
yet failing to do any serious damage to either the Money Pit area or the Smith’s Cove cofferdam.
The episode ends as Billy Gerhardt moves fallen trees and Rick Lagina and Scott Barlow set
to draining the swamp once again.
Thanks for watching!
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