NARRATOR: It is the start of another day on Oak Island.
We're trying to cool things.
[LAUGHS]
We're just trying to cool things.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island team
arrive at the Money Pit site to review
the day's drilling strategy with Vanessa Lucido
from ROC Equipment.
Hey.
NARRATOR: They are hoping that by carefully digging
in the vicinity of shaft 6 they will find the tunnel that
was constructed to intersect the original Money Pit along
with a possible debris field which, according to Rick's
research, should be filled with artifacts and evidence
of the Oak Island treasure.
I find myself strangely excited about today anyway,
you know.
I just really want it to happen.
The answers are there.
So just wait and see what comes up.
We're at 107--
6 with it.
Yeah, it's in the zone.
We have 4 and 1/2 feet of possibilities.
I have high hopes in terms of finding objects.
And the hope is that, within this conglomeration of objects,
that there will be an aha moment,
there will be something in it we've never seen before,
something that will speak.
Hey, Doug.
One of those ones, yeah.
Hey, Doug.
Take a look at this.
That's a lot of wood, Terry.
And look, look, look.
Look at the flat surface there.
Now, that's more like something we'd be looking for.
A tan hue, yeah.
Well, it's nice and flat too.
Great.
[INAUDIBLE]
But that's definitely hand axed.
NARRATOR: Ax-cut wood found at a depth of 110 feet in S6?
What does that mean?
We're beyond the tunnel.
NARRATOR: Could the team have already reached the bottom
of the shaft 6 tunnel?
Or could this be evidence of something much older?
There's some more of it coming up.
One of those ones, yeah.
That's what I wanted to see.
We're getting up very, very large chunks of till.
And the boards are embedded within it.
Come-- come over here.
Just take a look at where you pull it out of.
See what I mean?
It's embedded in the clay.
So it has-- it was structurally supporting something.
Those are some big timbers.
Wow.
Those are some really big timbers.
Yeah, there we go.
There.
Let's take it over this way.
That's oak.
NARRATOR: Rick Lagina and members of the Oak Island team
have just made a significant discovery, an oak timber
found at a depth of 110 feet.
When you scratch the dirt on it, it looks like oak to me,
for sure.
There's no question about that.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: When the original Money Pit was excavated
more than two centuries ago, searchers
reported finding nine platforms every 10
feet constructed of oak logs.
Could this timber found in S6 be part of the wood cribbing
from the original Money Pit?
The original Money Pit was described
as having found oak timbers.
So we believe that some of this material is--
is oak.
It's the first time that we've ever seen it.
And if these are oak, it's very interesting.
You guys look like you're trying to build a shaft.
What's going on?
What's that?
Oak.
That's definitely oak.
The Money Pit collapsed in 1861.
And a whole bunch of wood sort of went missing.
Well, the bottom of the Money Pit was never explored.
So these massive oak timbers may be
part of the original construct, and the other timbers
we're finding are part of the recribbing attempts
to get to the treasure chamber.
Rick, what do you think of these big timbers?
I don't know.
What do you think?
I know what I think.
What?
That these remind me, these big ones, of ship timbers.
Yeah.
These big ones.
I've been on beaches after hurricanes in Florida,
and parts of the wrecks have washed up.
And this is exactly what they look like, ship's timbers.
NARRATOR: Timbers from a ship?
Based on evidence found around the island,
many Oak Island theorists have speculated
that the original Money Pit was constructed
by using repurposed wood and materials taken from some type
of large sailing vessel.
Is it possible that a ship that was used to bring treasure
to the island was then deliberately broken apart,
not only to construct a secure hiding place,
but also to destroy evidence that the ship even existed?
And could this oak timber found in the S6
shaft offer tangible evidence that this incredible theory
is true?
They're hand-hewn clearly.
You can see the ax or heads marks.
And they're oak, which would be the only oak we've
ever seen underground, I think.
Pretty much.
Those are two different types of timbers
as well, like, they've reused.
No, I'm thinking we're in two different structures.
Yeah.
That's what it looks like.
So what a shock.
The day ends and we have another mystery.
[LAUGHTER]
Let's call it a night for right now, and get some rest,
and get back at it.
Yep.