Oak Island Artifacts: Just the Facts

[TheCoinKid]

Very interesting. Thanks!

 

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[Honest Samuel]

Well, season three certainly hasn't brought much to the party when it comes to physical evidence. Any chance that changes in the season finale? Probably not.

You are probably right.

 

[Howl]

No problem. I'm just a nitpicker about some things.

As for Oak Island, its been a part of Canadian folklore for ages. I first remember hearing about it in the late 60s/early 70s.

While many of the theories about the island are interesting, I've always had a hard time with the pirate buried treasure scenario. After all piracy was a pretty dangerous lifestyle and any day could be your last.

So the idea that pirates would bury their treasure, knowing that they may never live to return to it, has always struck me as being unrealistic. I would suspect that any pirate who amassed any booty is probably going to blow it on booze and women the first chance he gets.

Also, I'm not an expert on the history of Oak Island and the local area during the 18th century when piracy was in its heyday, but I understand that this part of Nova Scotia was pretty well inhabited by settlers, so the idea of pirates coming ashore and burying some treasure without being seen seems unlikely.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth.

The French built a fort (Fort Sainte Marie de Grace) just 38km away from Oak Island in 1632, and while it was only in military use for about four years it apparently remained as a thriving fishing, farming and trading community until at least 1705, when it was raided during Queen Anne's war. As a result of the war the British took ownership of NS, but between that date and the late 1740's it appears that the majority of the people living in this area were the remnants of the original French settlers and Mi'qmaq, and it sounds like it was a relatively lawless place. The British didn't establish a military presence until 1749.

I've heard other people say that the tunnels at Oak Island may be the remnants of a French gold mine or test pit. There are a few active gold mines not far away today. One possibility is pirates found the abandon French mine and used it to store their treasure sometime in the first half of the 18th century.

 

[scotter1]

what your looking for is absolute tangible proof that its there.sorry,if all the facts and evidence so far doesnt tell you something is unusual and there,then nothing will convince people like you.thats like saying show me proof of god.just look around you,proof is everywhere.you just have to open your eyes and quit doubting it.

 

[Dave Rishar]

what your looking for is absolute tangible proof that its there.sorry,if all the facts and evidence so far doesnt tell you something is unusual and there,then nothing will convince people like you.thats like saying show me proof of god.just look around you,proof is everywhere.you just have to open your eyes and quit doubting it.

Interesting that you're comparing religion and the Money Pit. I've made the same comparison in the past, albeit from the other side of the debate. It's good to see us in agreement on the issue.

 

[Roadhse2]

"all the facts and evidence"

For me...that is the problem...so far, NO verifiable facts

No matter how many times facts have been looked for...none have been found as of yet that support the legend...just conjecture

 

[Howl]

what your looking for is absolute tangible proof that its there.sorry,if all the facts and evidence so far doesnt tell you something is unusual and there,then nothing will convince people like you.thats like saying show me proof of god.just look around you,proof is everywhere.you just have to open your eyes and quit doubting it.

You can believe anything you want to believe, but that doesn't equal proof. Belief and proof are two entirely different things.

In a historical context absolute proof is often difficult to find. You really need hard archaeological evidence, something you can actually hold in your hands. In this case that something would be an item that definitely came from underground at Oak Island. Anything that has a questionable provenience is not going to suffice. It seems there is no such item available to us at this point in time.

Lacking physical evidence we must rely on written records to understand the past. The problem with written records is they are often incorrect. Even first-hand accounts can be exaggerations or mistakes, or they can be misinterpreted or misunderstood be modern readers. Written records say there was a block and tackle hanging above the money pit, but today we have no proof of that, so that in itself can't be relied on to "prove" the money pit exists. That doesn't mean there wasn't a block and tackle hanging on the tree, but it doesn't provide proof.

 

[Roadhse2]

Even a block and tackle 'in hand' wouldnt mean there was any treasure trove there...it's just a block and tackle.

Other items would have to shown as true...such as..

The box drains and flood tunnel....it's already been dug up, SOME kind of box drains are there, but NO tunnel...

The 90 foot stone...it has been said there was one...but no actual proof...just the story..

The Spanish coin found...turns out that Spanish coins of the same time period were used in Nova Scotia back before they had their own coins.....so no proof there

On and on...anything being used as "proof"...isnt

Did you notice the gold cross had a round wire at the top as in a more modern item (and it looked to be silver soldered or brazed on)...not just a hole to put a string through cast into it? Do a search on older necklace items....most will have the string hole cast into place, or drilled out of the casting itself...but NO wire bails for the string loop....so once again...No proof...just a story.

 

[Howl]

Latitude was easy enough. Longitude? Maybe they were using ecliptic sky coordinates instead of polar. They could have determined the local north/south meridian and midnight easily enough at their local position, then observed certain star positions in the zodiac. They would have needed an ephemeris of similar ecliptic sightings from some fixed prime meridian (Giza?) to compare with, but if they had such data, they then could calculate the difference in longitude from the meridian.

If you're sailing due east or west you don't need to know the longitude with any accuracy. You just sail to the right latitude and go west (or east) until you reach your destination. That might mean fighting against currents and winds, but if you get blown off course by a storm you just have to get back on the right latitude and keep going. Someone going to Mahone Bay from Europe would just have to know to go to a point on the coast of France just south of Bordeaux and head due west until they hit land near Mahone Bay. Basque fishermen could get back and forth to the Grand Banks to fish without getting lost by holding their latitude and sailing due west and east on the exact same route, and this was prior to 1500.

Being able to calculate longitude just lets you sail "diagonally" accurately, which saves a lot of time and allows you to work with the currents.

 

[TheCoinKid]

what your looking for is absolute tangible proof that its there.sorry,if all the facts and evidence so far doesnt tell you something is unusual and there,then nothing will convince people like you.thats like saying show me proof of god.just look around you,proof is everywhere.you just have to open your eyes and quit doubting it.

Nothing wrong with having or expressing your opinion. I could do without the "nothing will convince people like you" comment, though. Regarding the "god" reference: We'll all be better off leaving religion out of the thread.

Regards,

TCK

 

[Honest Samuel]

# 49. Every Morning, it is hard for me to calculate myself out of bed.

 

[Raparee]

"Instead they are miraculous tropical African trees thriving in Nova Scotia? Oh yeah, that makes better sense. Easy to verify because Acadia trees have huge thorns that are very durable and would survive in the mast of the "forest" floor. Has a bit of Acadia wood, leaf, or thorn been found?"

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I agree. Not too likely that African trees could survive on an island in the North Atlantic. Could be black locust (Pseudoacacia) which were brought to this area by the Planters and Loyalists.

 

[HappyTrails55]

There is a Oak from North Africa that grows straight up and canopies at the top but I can't remember the name right now, but I'll find out and report back. It's not the Acaicia Trees your talking about, it's a OAK...I'm not even interested in the Oak Island Anomaly, I'm way out here in California and live in the land of Oaks (Paso Robles, Calif.) Spanish name for Paso is "El Paso de Robles" "PASS OF THE OAKS", but I prospect in the neighboring mountains south/east of here in the "La Panza Range of the Los Padres National Forest. Read on and you'll see my Key Interest about these "Oaks" that are or were on Oak Island. Me and some Friends have a big mining claim in La Panza, a 160 acre, there's 8 of us for 20 acre each and we've had it for quite a few years now, on our claims and adjacent to it we have found a lot of Old Spanish Symbols and Signs carved in Granite Rocks and Granite Rocks that were Hand Shaped and Set indicating Messages, some of which we've read fairly accurately. There is as well alot of "Indian Trees", that's what they are called but the Spanish as well did it too, some people call these Trail Trees of Oak and Pine. This country is heavily forested with Oaks, Pines, Manzanita and Scrub Brush. This part of the Los Padre Forest is also stepped in Folklore, Myth and Legend as well as Documented Archives of being the geographical area of the Famed "LOST PADRE MINES" from the Early Spanish. On Our Claim, we have a 'VERY ODD OAK', that is quite old, grows straight up, the trunk is straight with no branches, no old remains of branches and is about 75 feet tall, the last 20 feet canopies out, the trunk does not branch out, it's single and straight and this tree sticks out like a sore thumb in the midst of the area and resembles the old pictures I've seen of the Oak Island...I believe this tree probably marks the spot or close by where the Old Spanish Mine is. So, this tree would have had to be Imported from Spain, well, North Africa is right next to Spain on the south, when the Spanish set up these California Missions, there was a lot of importing going on to the New World Missions and I believe that the Padres from Mission San Luis Obispo or it's Miners transported this Unique Tree to the area, so I've been a looking for references which brings me to Oak Island...I've got to make a Trip down to Santa Barbara Mission one of these days and check their Archives of which they are loaded with, Ships Manafests, etc....if any of you fella's have advice, I'd be happy to hear it. Thanks and I'll post again when I have the Info and Picture of Our Odd Oak...Thanks Again, Darrell

 

[HappyTrails55]

Found a Pic, here it is............

 

[TheCoinKid]

I think it speaks volumes that the best discussion on Oak Island artifacts surrounds the oak trees, themselves.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

And, as precedence dictates, not a single professional biologist, botanist or arborist has been consulted.

 

[Ryano]

What about professional dowser ?

 

[abel_almighty]

Is there actually money/hoard of coins in the pit or is it the old artifacts that are found as money?

 

[Yard Waste]

Is there actually money/hoard of coins in the pit or is it the old artifacts that are found as money?

There is absolutely nothing in the pit of any value, no coins, no artifacts. Just a show on TV and tourist attraction.

 

[TheCoinKid]

Can anyone else add to the list of physical evidence we've accumulated here?