EPISODE 6
The Curse of Oak Island
Season 7 Episode 6
Recap
Season 7 Episode 6
“Closing In”
• Opens: Dan Henskee and Rick at unearthing of sluiceway tunnel, gets them closer to treasure shaft?
o Nice wooden wall shown and unearthed, 1863 Oak Island Association built this?
o Again to siphon water away from Shaft #9 to reach money pit
o Steve Guptill takes GPS measurements to find a line that would continue underground
• Rick and Marty and Craig, with Steve..to meet MASTER BLASTER FAMILY (Eagle Canada), shooting 1000 blasts just that night
o this time they will be able to map areas via charges that were never mapped before and avoids costly drilling
o Like to blast in evening when it is typically calmer and less sound in order to increase accuracy
o 6000 active geophones…what is a geophone?
20 grams of dynamite per blast send out sound waves to 300ft below surface
• WHAT IS A TYPICAL STICK OF DYNAMITE weigh?? TRIVIA TIME
BLASTING AWAY, with imaging hopefully in a few weeks to Find the flood tunnel!
Next area HIGHLANDS (between money pit and swamp) ever heard this before?
• Gary and Peter F. to Lot #32 detecting, SW of Swamp
o Narrator notes Rick and Marty waiting for permits to drain the swamp
o Peter genuinely seems interested in Gary’s detecting…vs OTHERS
o Discovery: nice little surprise! Decking spike , 1700s? reminds Gary of swamp spike found 3 years ago with JACK AND ALEX, that was identified by Dr. Lori Verderame (antiques expert)… 17th century Spanish Galleon…Dan B. was there for that identification on the episode
--Dan thought Spanish were involved
o Also finds a bent up slipway like spike similar to one @ Smiths Cove? Cribbing spike?
Walls? Gates in swamp Gary notes? Bring to Carmen Legge?
• Back at sluiceway ... to keep digging on the line for drain, and find it, Guptill tagged it, (bagged it..sell it ) move on!
• WAR ROOM: meeting with famed journalist and author D’Arcy O’Connor and his daughter Miranda, who is listed as a researcher
o “12 years its been Marty”…Marty remembers a talk titled Debunking the Debunkers
o Darcy notes that’s when Marty introduced himself and he called him The Michigan Mob
Only knew he was from Michigan..and nothing else
o Darcy 50 years spent researching Oak Island mystery
Started in 1970 writing feature for Wall Street Journal
Many books published
Interviewed MR Chappel, Fred Nolan, and Dan Blankenshhip, spoke to locals for info
• 5Ws – led to Spanish conquest with LATAM/Mexico treasures
• Cortez and Pizzaro, took Gulf Stream, to Europe but near Nova Scotia shore by 300 miles
• Ships disappeared, 200 ships? from Havanna to Europe with engineers and crew
• Ship got lost, beached, full of plunder from New World, avoids French and English naval forces, so hide it on Island with Flood Tunnels
o Spanish artifacts found all over the Island
o 1652 coin found maravide, in Swamp
o Coconut fiber used as packing material for vessels
o “not chasing empty holes” D’Arcy notes, there is something here
• Alex and Gary off to our special friend..Carmen Legge…to review decking spike found on Lot 32-Beach
o Carmen notes it was longer, about that long…THAT LONG
o Corrosion big time…could have corroded all others
o Date late 1500s but up to 1800s they stopped with the lip on these deck spikes
• Gary then joins the Shaft #9 area with Charles Barkhouse already there…
o Scanning spoils while Billy G. operating
o 1863 pit to dig over to money pit..since The Money Pit was misplaced !?!
o Gary: “Hey Billy…there’s wood there!”
o Call in Rick and Craig..Dan Henskee credit given again..WHERE WAS THIS INFO IN THE PAST?!?
o Shaft#9 was noted as 6 x 12, tape measured at 12 ft x 6 ft ---1850s account of open shafts being these exact measurements
o Statement made the Money Pit has over 40 tunneling operations over the centuries
Troutman down there with camera snapping pics
11 stories of timbers of searchers…compared to equipment they are using today
Water starts pouring after after finding shaft #9 to sluiceway , they believe it is confirmed…AHA moment on Oak Island says Rick
o Need Guptill to load data and review in Research Center
• Eagle Canada- Eastern drumlin blasting completed, 20000 shots
Lag time of processing data and reviewing it…takes time, several weeks for data to be completely processed
Can see imagery from 10ft to 300 ft…but looking up to 100 ft for interests of flood tunnels
LETS TALK!
Authors and Research
D'Arcy O'Connor talks about mysteries on Oak Island
Darcy O'Conner'
200 ships MIA
according to a historical article "Ship Wrecks of the Caribbean" - between the years of 1492 and 1898, the Culture Ministry charted 681 Spanish shipwrecks. Now, that is both coming to the New World and returning from. It is important to note, Mr. O'Conner was looking at a smaller time period and just ships returning from the Havannah area back to Europe. On the show, he mentions finding over 200 ships that went missing upon their return.
Sailing, Ships, & Technology
Deck Scupper diagram - a scupper on a ship allows water on the deck to drain down and out the scupper hole on the side of the ship
Water coming from the ship's scuppers
Lot map of Oak Island - the decking spike identified by Carmen Legge is found on the beach at lot 32.
cribbing spike types from a ship
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18,000 charges
Exploring the "highlands" - the area between the swamp and the money pit
Seismographic data
They decided to set the charges at night. There is less wind on the island and also no machines are running which might interfere with the data.
Odds and Ends: Marty Lagina
Home grown education - Michigan Tech
a taste of the good life - Mari Vineyard
Heritage Sustainable - Company started by Marty. Craig Tester involved as well.
Help support the show - PATREON