In this video, we’re going to take a look at the developments that took place in Season
7, Episode 20 of ‘The Curse of Oak Island’. But first, I’d like to wish you and yours
a very happy Easter. Season 7, Episode 20 of ‘The Curse of Oak
Island’ begins at the Money Pit area, where the sinking of caisson 8A is underway. Recall
that Borehole 8A- similar to Borehole S6, which was excavated back in Season 6, Episodes
17 and 18- is intended to intersect the junction of the Money Pit and the Shaft 6 tunnel. Back
in 1861, this tunnel lay at a depth of 118 feet. Since the Money Pit area is now ten
feet lower than it was in the past, however, the tunnel is now believed to lie at a depth
of around 108 feet. Borehole 8A reaches a depth of 78 feet without
incident, passing through what appears to be ‘in situ’ soil. At a depth of about
103 feet- five feet shy of the approximate target depth- the caisson encounters some
resistant material which caisson operator Danny Smith believes to be wood. The next
hammergrab load indeed contains a handful of splintered wood, to Danny’s obvious delight.
Certain that 8A has intersected the Shaft 6 tunnel, the treasure hunters extract several
more hammergrab loads from the caisson, which they scan with a metal detector before washing
by hand. The spoils yield many tiny scraps of leather.
These are not the first pieces of leather to be found on Oak Island. Throughout Seasons
5 and 6, the crew discovered fragments of leather in Borehole H8 which, the narrator
informs us, lies ten feet northwest of 8A. At least one of these fragments, found a depth
of 162 feet, was determined to be vegetable-tanned book binding through which fibres of sheepskin
parchment were found woven. Strikingly similar to the events of this episode, the crew also
found leather at a depth of 101 feet in Borehole S6 in Season 6, Episode 17, at what was then
suspected to be the confluence of the Money Pit and the Shaft 6 tunnel.
Also among the 8A spoils is a small piece of what appears to be hand-wrought iron. Jack
Begley initially suspects the artifact to be a piece of a hinge. Laird Niven subsequently
verifies his hunch by independently yet tentatively identifying the object as part of a strap
hinge. The crew continues to excavate 8A, finding
a large hand-cut piece of oak at a depth of 114 feet. Gary Drayton then examines the spoils
with his metal detector. “Talk about finding a needle in a haystack,” he says as he retrieves
what he identifies as a sail cloth needle from the muck.
The treasure hunters sink 8A to a depth of about 165 feet. The last few hammergrab loads
contain nothing but water, prompting the crestfallen Fellowship to abandon the hole.
Near the beginning of the episode, Alex Lagina, Gary Drayton, and Billy Gerhardt dig an exploratory
trench between the Eye of the Swamp and the Paved Wharf. Less than a foot below the surface,
they uncover a layer of large rocks embedded in clay, which Gary suggests might be a continuation
of the Paved Area. The boys then do some metal detecting in the trench and come across two
long, thin iron rods bearing resemblance to the pieces of primitive rebar found near the
slipway in Season 7, Episode 11, and to the cribbing spikes discovered at Smith’s Cove
throughout Seasons 6 and 7. Gary remarks that these artifacts, which are the first of their
kind to be discovered in the Oak Island swamp, constitute evidence of tunneling or shaft-building
in the area, similar to the pickaxe head found at the Eye of the Swamp in Season 7, Episode
13. Alex, Gary, and Billy continue digging and
quickly come across several pieces of charred wood. The narrator then reminds us of the
theory, introduced in Season 7, Episode 14, following the discovery of the scorched metal
bracket in the northern section of the swamp, that a sailing ship was burned centuries ago
in the swamp. Gary Drayton suggests that they show the wood to Dr. Ian Spooner, while Alex
Lagina suggests that they have the pieces carbon dated.
The three treasure hunters then call over Rick and Marty Lagina and show them their
recent swamp discoveries. Marty confidently identifies one of the metal rods as a crib
spike, concurring with Gary Drayton’s earlier assessment, and expresses surprise that such
an object would be found in the swamp. “What does it mean?” he asks, clearly frustrated
by the discoveries’ mysterious implications. The next day, Marty Lagina, Alex Lagina, and
Gary Drayton drive to the Ross Farm Museum, where they show Carmen Legge the thin iron
rods they found in the swamp. The blacksmithing expert identifies the longer of the two artifacts
as a tine from a “long fork or a seaweed fork or a moss fork”. He then suggests that
the shorter rod, which is tapered at both ends, might be a marlinspike- a tool used
for nautical rope work and rope repair. The narrator subsequently attempts to connect
the possible marlinespike with the theory that a sailing ship was burned or buried centuries
ago in the Oak Island swamp. Finally, the treasure hunters show Legge the needle-like
object found at a depth of 114 in Borehole 8A. Although the blacksmithing expert initially
declares that he has no idea what the object is or what it was doing at depth in the Money
Pit area, he later opines that it is too large to be a sailing cloth needle, and suggests
that it might have served as a spike in a trou de loup-type booby trap at the bottom
of the Money Pit. 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.