Last day, guys.
I think positive.
I believe it was a heck of a lot of treasure
unloaded in this area.
NARRATOR: At the southernmost edge of the swamp,
Billy Gerhardt has joined metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and other members of the team to conduct
their final search of the year in the brackish bog.
So this is the last day we can dig in the swamp
because we're gonna need the water
in the swamp to use on the wash table up at the money pit.
And basically, it's a trade off.
We're going from looking for the ship
to looking for the treasure.
We need to put that thing to work,
and we need to find some metals.
Yep.
Well, we've got one more day, one more shot at it.
- So let's get to it. - OK.
[music playing]
NARRATOR: This year, the team has
made a number of compelling discoveries in the swamp,
including more evidence of a stone wharf
and the numerous pieces of massive sailing vessels.
However, because they will need a fresh water source to wash
the tons of spoils that will soon be
excavated from the money pit--
It looks like the Billy's gonna be dumping spoils here.
NARRATOR: --they have stopped running
the pumps that have kept the swamp drained
for the last three months.
It's bittersweet to have to stop in the swamp.
It's good.
It's done.
We've done a good job.
But it's not concluded.
It'd be better if we had more time to continue
digging in the swamp.
Find anything good?
No, not yet.
But it's time to refocus.
It's time to start the massive excavation up at the money pit.
GARY DRAYTON: That reeks.
DAVID FORNETTI: Yeah. GARY DRAYTON: Yeah.
You ready?
DAVID FORNETTI: Yeah.
GARY DRAYTON: Let's find some good stuff.
It is mucky.
Come on, I know you're hiding in here somewhere.
What the heck is this?
Hey, look at that.
You think it's modern or it's--
It's tough to tell.
I mean, it has been in the swamp.
It's well preserved.
It looks like a handle to a tool.
It is a small little tool.
Maybe it was like a ship's wheel.
NARRATOR: A wooden handle potentially related to a ship?
It served a unique purpose by the look of it.
Yeah.
First find from the first scoop.
It's gonna be a good day.
Yeah.
Set it aside.
I'll put it in my pouch.
Your find.
Let's get [inaudible].
RICK LAGINA: This swamp just keeps
giving and giving and giving.
I have long believe that there is some information
in the body of the swamp that will help
us further the search agenda.
I don't know that there's treasure in the swamp.
I don't know that there are all the answers in the swamp.
But I do believe that there is reason to pursue a search
agenda to try to understand what the swamp may mean in terms
of understanding this mystery.
[music playing]
This is the scoop.
Here we go.
Oh, look at that stake here.
Yeah.
That's massive.
That is one big wooden stake, isn't it?
Look at that.
I mean, look at that.
You can see that that's been ax-cut.
I would assume that if it was more modern
it would have been sawed.
Can you put that to one side, please?
I'll grab it.
[music playing]
There's a lot of stuff in this.
Little piece of planking.
It's the same thickness as all the other pieces of planking
or decking that we've found.
Wow, there's a lot of wood coming out of this hole.
That's brilliant.
Keep that to the side.
All right, I'll get out of here.
NARRATOR: Could all of the mounting evidence that the team
has unearthed suggest, as the late landowner and treasure
hunter Fred Nolan believed, that an ancient sailing
vessel really does lie buried in the swamp?
And if so, could it explain the 200-foot-long object
that was detected by seismic scanning back in 2018?
All right.
I want to know what your found, Gary.
What have you found?
Yeah, we go off to a good start.
Do you want to show Marty?
Yep.
Cheers.
So this is the three pieces.
Couple of stakes.
A couple of stakes.
And then this piece, which could be--
That's a shaped piece of wood, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, there could be an entire ship
if it's spread out like this
Yeah.
The wood that comes out of the swamp
is pretty interesting because it seems to be out of place.
We're getting pieces of wood that just don't seem
like they should be in a swamp.
So we'll track it down.
We'll get C14.
We'll have experts look at it.
Because much as I don't like digging in the swamp,
some of the things that were coming up
could have been clues to what in the heck happened here.
I guess, guys, this is our sort of last hurrah here.
Yeah.
You look at this swamp, and what did we just dig?
2% of it maybe?
Maybe, yeah.
And you think about what we found.
It's from eye-sight, and we're digging through muck.
How much more stuff we missed?
Yeah, of course you missed stuff.
Yeah.
But hey, we got some of its secrets.
Yep.
But for now, we need to let it fill
back up because we're gonna to need
the water to wash [inaudible].
Well guys, you've done a great job,
and we're not giving up on this swamp.
We'll finish up here, and then we'll go up there
and find the real treasure.
I want yellow shiny metal.
[laughter]