Oak Island
- Thread starter Marc
- Start date
IrishCharlieM
Sr. Member
The story of Oak Island is one of the greatest treasure stories of all time. I remember reading about it as a kid in Readers Digest while bored at my grandmothers house. I have been amazed by it since. What makes it so interesting is if know we know something is there, we still don't know what, how, when or bye who. The work it must have taken to create so many layers of protection is astounding.
The most amazing part is with todays machinery, we can't accomplish what these unknown people did possibly hundreds of years ago. Hopefully in my lifetime someone will make the incredible find so we will all know what is waiting there.
The most amazing part is with todays machinery, we can't accomplish what these unknown people did possibly hundreds of years ago. Hopefully in my lifetime someone will make the incredible find so we will all know what is waiting there.
Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp
Gold Member
Marc/Doc/Irish: HI peeps, I still don't undertstand why they are having soo much trouble in just excavating, the answer is sooo obvious. a tree in the forest sort of thing.
Tropical Tramp
Tropical Tramp
Re: Oak Island (+ The Copper Scroll)
Hey, where are these ground radar units, and why haven't any of them been lowered into The Money Pit to scan the dimensions and contents of whatever is located there? I had read years ago of some "Silver Snooper" (see below*), and of a unit in MAss. costing only $50,000 (about 20 yrs. ago, now: $_______? for rent too, that could have told me what was down a well covered over by dirt from the widening of a highway, the author Edward Rowe Snow, R.I.P., saying some treasure chest was buried in the well, but not wanting to contract with the Commonwealth of MAss.achusetts, Dept. of Transportation (D.O.T.) for an x% finder's fee, unless some proof was there to start the digging.
* From my files: Chapter 24 @ page 76 of The NORTHEAST RETREAT (of 1759 & 1981) book (c)1981 by me, for "THE TREASURE OF THE COPPER SCROLLS", footnote #4: "(#210358) On July 8, 1976 I wrote to the Geological Survey of the United States Department of the Interior, at 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, in Reston, Virginia 22092 about this 'Silver Snooper' as described on pages 154 and 295 of Richard M. Pearl's book entitled: HANDBOOK FOR PROSPECTORS. And on July 22, 1976 I received an answer from Helen P. Withers, a geologist there, who sent me a copy of her letter dated 6/28/76 to a Mr. Green in Texas, as well as technical data on this now obsolete silver snooper that has been replaced by 'a borehole sonde", computer, and electronic equipment,' selling for over $75,000. The copy of the Aug. 21, 1965 Press Release sums it up the best, as to how it operates: 'Based on the principle of 'neutron activation analysis', the device hurls neutrons - some of the building blocks of the atom - at the ground', said Senftle. 'The neutrons enter the atoms of silver in the rock fragments, making them unstable and radioactive for about ten minutes. As the radioactive silver atoms disintegrate, they can be measured with a radiation detector,' he explained."
--So has a gold "borehole sonde" been invented by now too, to detect the quantity of such within that treasure chest? The basic question of not even what is with"in" the box, but even if such a box exists. It might be jewels within the box too! or like in the Copper Scrolls**, a map to many other locations.
Yours truly, Joe / Joseph S. Haas, P.O. Box 3842, Concord, New Hampshire 03302, Tel. 603: 848-6059 (cell phone).
** pages 75+6 from my book: "According to the copper scrolls there are 61 seperate treasure sites, most of which are located in and around Jerusalem, where over $252 million in gold (based on the Hebrew value of a talant) is buried. On pages 107-8 of Terry's Atlas he lists the inventory as consisting of 1,280 talents of gold, 165 minimum count of gold bars (there are portions of the scroll missing to give an accurate total), 3,282 talents of silver, and an unspecified mixed amount of gold and silver: 608 vessils containing silver and 619 vessels made of gold and silver. - Of particular interest is Site #61, as recorded in the '75 article on pages 38 and 40, and as #28 in the Atlas, both of which read like: 'In a/ pit adjoining on the north, in a hole opening northward, and buried at its mouth: a copy of this document, with an explanation and their measurements, and an inventory of each and every thing.' This site is next to Zadok's tomb and plotted on the map in the Atlas. 'Scientists know that the Zadok mentioned in this fascinating treasure map was in reality a high priest of King Solomon. Scholars also believe they know the location of his tomb, for Zadok's burial is referred to in several ancient writings.' 3 -- With the aid of modern electronic gear, 4 we may be able to find this particular treasure trove, and the book of measurements and instructions."
--Footnote #4 already written above about this "Silver Snooper", etc., footnote #3 = Strange World, by Frank Edwards, (c)1964, "Treasure from the Bible", pages 36-38; and footnote #1: "Treasure World, Vol. 9, No. 9, Sept. 1975, "Treasure Caches of the Zealots," by Gerry Erberich, p. 32; also see The World Treasure Atlas by Thomas P. Terry, (c)1978, p. 108, #63, 79, 80, 84 for details on this cave and other possible locations, as well as #77 & 81 and Treasure World, Vol. 4, No. 5, May 1970, p. 53-56 for info by Leo Heiman also about "The Frantic Search for King David's Missing Treasure", on either Mt. Zion or on or about Mt. Moriah, as recorded in I Chronicles XXII, 14 and XXIX,4 as consisting of 103,000 talents of gold and 1,007,000 talents of silver, worth over $120 million in 1970 when calculated according to the Greek talent, or over $5 1/2 billion when calculated according to the Hebew talent of gold valued at $32,640 and silver at $2,176 (1/15 that of gold), re: Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition +/or page 39 of the 1975 article."
Hey, where are these ground radar units, and why haven't any of them been lowered into The Money Pit to scan the dimensions and contents of whatever is located there? I had read years ago of some "Silver Snooper" (see below*), and of a unit in MAss. costing only $50,000 (about 20 yrs. ago, now: $_______? for rent too, that could have told me what was down a well covered over by dirt from the widening of a highway, the author Edward Rowe Snow, R.I.P., saying some treasure chest was buried in the well, but not wanting to contract with the Commonwealth of MAss.achusetts, Dept. of Transportation (D.O.T.) for an x% finder's fee, unless some proof was there to start the digging.
* From my files: Chapter 24 @ page 76 of The NORTHEAST RETREAT (of 1759 & 1981) book (c)1981 by me, for "THE TREASURE OF THE COPPER SCROLLS", footnote #4: "(#210358) On July 8, 1976 I wrote to the Geological Survey of the United States Department of the Interior, at 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, in Reston, Virginia 22092 about this 'Silver Snooper' as described on pages 154 and 295 of Richard M. Pearl's book entitled: HANDBOOK FOR PROSPECTORS. And on July 22, 1976 I received an answer from Helen P. Withers, a geologist there, who sent me a copy of her letter dated 6/28/76 to a Mr. Green in Texas, as well as technical data on this now obsolete silver snooper that has been replaced by 'a borehole sonde", computer, and electronic equipment,' selling for over $75,000. The copy of the Aug. 21, 1965 Press Release sums it up the best, as to how it operates: 'Based on the principle of 'neutron activation analysis', the device hurls neutrons - some of the building blocks of the atom - at the ground', said Senftle. 'The neutrons enter the atoms of silver in the rock fragments, making them unstable and radioactive for about ten minutes. As the radioactive silver atoms disintegrate, they can be measured with a radiation detector,' he explained."
--So has a gold "borehole sonde" been invented by now too, to detect the quantity of such within that treasure chest? The basic question of not even what is with"in" the box, but even if such a box exists. It might be jewels within the box too! or like in the Copper Scrolls**, a map to many other locations.
Yours truly, Joe / Joseph S. Haas, P.O. Box 3842, Concord, New Hampshire 03302, Tel. 603: 848-6059 (cell phone).
** pages 75+6 from my book: "According to the copper scrolls there are 61 seperate treasure sites, most of which are located in and around Jerusalem, where over $252 million in gold (based on the Hebrew value of a talant) is buried. On pages 107-8 of Terry's Atlas he lists the inventory as consisting of 1,280 talents of gold, 165 minimum count of gold bars (there are portions of the scroll missing to give an accurate total), 3,282 talents of silver, and an unspecified mixed amount of gold and silver: 608 vessils containing silver and 619 vessels made of gold and silver. - Of particular interest is Site #61, as recorded in the '75 article on pages 38 and 40, and as #28 in the Atlas, both of which read like: 'In a/ pit adjoining on the north, in a hole opening northward, and buried at its mouth: a copy of this document, with an explanation and their measurements, and an inventory of each and every thing.' This site is next to Zadok's tomb and plotted on the map in the Atlas. 'Scientists know that the Zadok mentioned in this fascinating treasure map was in reality a high priest of King Solomon. Scholars also believe they know the location of his tomb, for Zadok's burial is referred to in several ancient writings.' 3 -- With the aid of modern electronic gear, 4 we may be able to find this particular treasure trove, and the book of measurements and instructions."
--Footnote #4 already written above about this "Silver Snooper", etc., footnote #3 = Strange World, by Frank Edwards, (c)1964, "Treasure from the Bible", pages 36-38; and footnote #1: "Treasure World, Vol. 9, No. 9, Sept. 1975, "Treasure Caches of the Zealots," by Gerry Erberich, p. 32; also see The World Treasure Atlas by Thomas P. Terry, (c)1978, p. 108, #63, 79, 80, 84 for details on this cave and other possible locations, as well as #77 & 81 and Treasure World, Vol. 4, No. 5, May 1970, p. 53-56 for info by Leo Heiman also about "The Frantic Search for King David's Missing Treasure", on either Mt. Zion or on or about Mt. Moriah, as recorded in I Chronicles XXII, 14 and XXIX,4 as consisting of 103,000 talents of gold and 1,007,000 talents of silver, worth over $120 million in 1970 when calculated according to the Greek talent, or over $5 1/2 billion when calculated according to the Hebew talent of gold valued at $32,640 and silver at $2,176 (1/15 that of gold), re: Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition +/or page 39 of the 1975 article."
Badger Bart
Sr. Member
- Mar 24, 2005
- 301
- 18
http://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/index.shtml
This is the best piece of info I have found on OI. An extensive gathering of known facts and what they likely mean. He describe the phenomena I have personally seen while exposing a long-standing archeaeological scam, though he doesn't recognize or allude to the phenomena.
Below is a small quote from a significant aspect of the whole site.
"The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Report
Introduction
It has long been rumored that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a prestigious research organization located on coastal Massachusetts, had conducted a study on Oak Island. Various messages hinted that the study had been commissioned by the people at Triton and that it was being kept secret due to some sort of confidentiality agreement. One site, run by a fellow named Bill Milstead who is an investor in Triton's efforts, seems to suggest that secret findings are involved and that the results of the study are somehow proprietary ("I cannot divulge the 200 page report...").
Thus it seemed time to track down the facts surrounding this report. Enquiries were made to the Institute requesting access to the data or an interview with one or more of the scientists who were involved. A reply was received and two of the scientists consented to be interviewed by phone.
The first myths to be dispelled were that the study was paid for by the Triton organization and that the contents were somehow confidential; one of the scientists specifically said 'there are no secret Woods Hole files about Oak Island' in order to clear up this misconception. The research was actually commissioned by a Boston-based philanthropist whose name I am witholding from publication in order to prevent him from being deluged with requests for additional information. This individual has no known link to the Triton folk and it is not presently known why he requested the study be performed.
The Findings
The work performed was very brief (only a few weeks) and thus no extensive study of the area was possible. The researchers also did not have full access to the site -- some areas apparently were restricted by Triton. However several very interesting findings were made, and most of these prove much of what we 'know' about the island to be false despite Bill Milstead's assertion to the contrary."
http://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/whoi.shtml
This is the best piece of info I have found on OI. An extensive gathering of known facts and what they likely mean. He describe the phenomena I have personally seen while exposing a long-standing archeaeological scam, though he doesn't recognize or allude to the phenomena.
Below is a small quote from a significant aspect of the whole site.
"The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Report
Introduction
It has long been rumored that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a prestigious research organization located on coastal Massachusetts, had conducted a study on Oak Island. Various messages hinted that the study had been commissioned by the people at Triton and that it was being kept secret due to some sort of confidentiality agreement. One site, run by a fellow named Bill Milstead who is an investor in Triton's efforts, seems to suggest that secret findings are involved and that the results of the study are somehow proprietary ("I cannot divulge the 200 page report...").
Thus it seemed time to track down the facts surrounding this report. Enquiries were made to the Institute requesting access to the data or an interview with one or more of the scientists who were involved. A reply was received and two of the scientists consented to be interviewed by phone.
The first myths to be dispelled were that the study was paid for by the Triton organization and that the contents were somehow confidential; one of the scientists specifically said 'there are no secret Woods Hole files about Oak Island' in order to clear up this misconception. The research was actually commissioned by a Boston-based philanthropist whose name I am witholding from publication in order to prevent him from being deluged with requests for additional information. This individual has no known link to the Triton folk and it is not presently known why he requested the study be performed.
The Findings
The work performed was very brief (only a few weeks) and thus no extensive study of the area was possible. The researchers also did not have full access to the site -- some areas apparently were restricted by Triton. However several very interesting findings were made, and most of these prove much of what we 'know' about the island to be false despite Bill Milstead's assertion to the contrary."
http://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/whoi.shtml
Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp
Gold Member
HMMM WHILE i AM NOT A SUPPORTER OF THE OAK iSLAND STORY, I DO SEE A FEW FLAWS IN SOME BROADLY INTERPRETED CONCLUSIONS BY THE INVESTIGATING GROUP.
DID YOU ALSO?
TROPICAL TRAMP
DID YOU ALSO?
TROPICAL TRAMP
Badger Bart
Sr. Member
- Mar 24, 2005
- 301
- 18
Absolutely, RT, and with a bit of practice, one can set opinions and conclusions aside and and remain focused on the facts in order to draw logical conclusions. This particular person had a piece on the scam I was involved with, so I was somewhat familiar with his reasoning style and the coclusions he made. While some of his extrapolations were incorrect, he did help me to think logically and keep core facts seperate from the distractions (bs).
With OI, there are many claims, but no evidence today of most of them, yet they are believed in and used to support and further belief in the myth. As far as the phenomena goes, it is really no more than human nature, as I see it. Nearly everyone who gets 'suckered' into becoming an investor tries to recover their investment, and save face, by inventing new 'facts', and other things.
With OI, there are many claims, but no evidence today of most of them, yet they are believed in and used to support and further belief in the myth. As far as the phenomena goes, it is really no more than human nature, as I see it. Nearly everyone who gets 'suckered' into becoming an investor tries to recover their investment, and save face, by inventing new 'facts', and other things.
Badger Bart
Sr. Member
- Mar 24, 2005
- 301
- 18
Apparently so, Doc. 1870's at least, perhaps even further. And you are correct in that it has a life of it's own.
I and others who helped me expose the long-standing fraud have received numerous death and other threats, police from many states and even Feds involved, either had no interest or capability to stop the threats, fraud, and other crap. I would caution anyone before attempting to expose such things, especially when it involves large amounts of money, as OI does. People take millions very seriously. It isn't a game, and it isn't for someone who is incapable or un-willing to use deadly force to defend themselves and their family.
I and others who helped me expose the long-standing fraud have received numerous death and other threats, police from many states and even Feds involved, either had no interest or capability to stop the threats, fraud, and other crap. I would caution anyone before attempting to expose such things, especially when it involves large amounts of money, as OI does. People take millions very seriously. It isn't a game, and it isn't for someone who is incapable or un-willing to use deadly force to defend themselves and their family.
J
joseph
Guest
One summer day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering about Oak Island, Nova Scotia (see Geography) when he came across a curious circular depression in the ground. Standing over this depression was a tree whose branches had been cut in a way which looked like it had been used as a pulley. Having heard tales of pirates in the area he decided to return home to get friends and return later to investigate the hole.
Over the next several days McGinnis, along with friends John Smith and Anthony Vaughan, worked the hole. What they found astonished them. Two feet below the surface they came across of layer of flagstones covering the pit. At 10 feet down they ran into a layer of oak logs spanning the pit. Again at 20 feet and 30 feet they found the same thing, a layer of logs. Not being able to continue alone from here, they went home, but with plans of returning to search more.
It took the three discoverers 8 years, but they did return. Along with The Onslow Company, formed for the purpose of the search, they began digging again. They quickly got back to 30 foot point that had been reached 8 years ago. They continued down to 90 feet, finding a layer of oak logs at every 10 foot interval. Besides the boards, at 40 feet a layer of charcoal was found, at 50 feet a layer of putty, and at 60 feet a layer of coconut fiber.
At 90 feet one of the most puzzling clues was found - a stone inscribed with mysterious writing.
Note: For more information about the stone inscription and to try your hand at translating the stone's inscription go here.
After pulling up the layer of oak at 90 feet and continuing on, water began to seep into the pit. By the next day the pit was filled with water up to the 33 foot level. Pumping didn't work, so the next year a new pit was dug parallel to the original down to 100 feet. From there a tunnel was run over to The Money Pit. Again the water flooded in and the search was abandoned for 45 years.
The Booby Trap
As it turns out, an ingenious booby trap had been sprung. The Onslow Company had inadvertently unplugged a 500 foot waterway that had been dug from the pit to nearby Smith's Cove by the pit's designers. As quickly as the water could be pumped out it was refilled by the sea.
This discovery however is only a small part of the intricate plan by the unknown designers to keep people away from the cache.
In 1849 the next company to attempt to extract the treasure, The Truro Company, was founded and the search began again. They quickly dug down to 86 feet only to be flooded. Deciding to try to figure out what was buried before attempting to extract it, Truro switched to drilling core samples. The drilling produced some encouraging results.
First Hints of Treasure
At 98 feet the drill went through a spruce platform. Then it encountered 4 inches of oak and then 22 inches of what was characterized as "metal in pieces""; Next 8 inches of oak, another 22 inches of metal, 4 inches of oak and another layer of spruce. The conclusion was that they had drilled through 2 casks or chests filled will coins. Upon pulling out the drill they found splinters of oak and strands of what looked like coconut husk.
One account of the drilling also mentions that three small gold links, as from a chain, were brought up. Unfortunately no one knows where they have gone.
Interestingly, the earth encountered beneath the bottom spruce platform was loose indicating that the pit may have gone even deeper. A later group of searchers would find out how much deeper.
The Truro Company returned in 1850 with plans to dig another parallel hole and then tunnel over to the Money Pit. Just like before, as they tunneled over, water began to rush in. They brought in pumps to try to get rid of the water but it was impossible to keep the water out. During the pumping someone noticed that at Smith's Cove during low tide there was water coming OUT of the beach.
This find lead to an amazing discovery - the beach was artificial.
Artificial Beach
It turns out that the pit designers had created a drain system, spread over a 145 foot length of beach, which resembled the fingers of a hand. Each finger was a channel dug into the clay under the beach and lined by rocks. The channels were then filled with beach rocks, covered with several inches of eel grass, and then covered by several more inches of coconut fiber. The effect of this filtering system was that the channels remained clear of silt and sand while water was still allowed to flow along them. The fingers met at a point inland where they fed sea water into a sloping channel which eventually joined the Money Pit some 500 feet away. Later investigations showed this underground channel to have been 4 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet high, lined with stone, and meeting the Money Pit between the depths of 95 to 110 feet.
To the Truro Company, the answer was now simple - just block off the water flow from the beach and dig out the treasure. Their first attempt was to build a dam just off the beach at Smith's Cove, drain the water, and then dismantle the drain channels. Unfortunately a storm blew up and destroyed the dam before they could finish.
An interesting note: the remains of an older dam were found when building the new one.
The next plan was to dig a pit 100 feet or so inland in the hopes of meeting with the water channel underground at which point they could plug the channel. This scheme too failed. And this was the last attempt by the Truro company to uncover the secrets of Oak Island.
The Pit's Collapse
The next attempt at securing the treasure was made in 1861 by the Oak Island Association. First they cleared out the Money Pit down to 88 feet. Then they ran a new hole to the east of the pit hoping to intercept the channel from the sea. The new shaft was dug out to120 feet without hitting the channel and then abandoned.
A second shaft was run, this one to west, down to 118 feet. They then attempted to tunnel over to the Money Pit. Again the water started to enter this pit as well as the Money Pit. Bailing was attempted and appeared to work. And then
CRASH!
The bottom fell out. Water rushed into the shafts and the bottom of the Money Pit dropped over 15 feet. Everything in the Money Pit had fallen farther down the hole. The big questions were why and how far?
Over the next several years different companies tried to crack the mystery unsuccessfully. They dug more shafts, tried to fill in the drain on the beach, built a new dam (which was destroyed by a storm), and drilled for more core samples. They met with little success.
The Cave-in Pit
In 1893 a man named Fred Blair along with a group called The Oak Island Treasure Company began their search. Their first task was to investigate the "Cave-in Pit". Discovered in 1878 about 350 feet east of the Money Pit, the cave-in pit appears to have been a shaft dug out by the designers of the Money Pit perhaps as a ventilation shaft for the digging of the flood tunnel. It apparently intersected or closely passed the flood tunnel. While it was being cleared by the Treasure Company it started to flood at a depth of 55 feet and was abandoned.
Over the next several years The Oak Island Treasure Company would dig more shafts, pump more water, and still get nowhere. In 1897 they did manage to clear out the Money Pit down to 111 feet where they actually saw the entrance of the flood tunnel temporarily stopped up with rocks. However, the water worked its way through again and filled the pit.
The treasure company then decided that they would attempt to seal off the flow of water from Smith's Cove by dynamiting the flood tunnel. Five charges were set off in holes drilled near the flood tunnel. They didn't work. The water flowed into the Money Pit as rapidly as ever.
At the same time a new set of core samples were drilled at the pit itself. The results were surprising.
Cement Vault
At 126 feet, wood was struck and then iron. This material is probably part of the material that fell during the crash of the Pit. On other drillings the wood was encountered at 122 feet and the iron was missed completely indicating that the material may be laying in a haphazard way due to the fall.
Between 130 and 151 feet and also between 160 and 171 feet a blue clay was found which consisted of clay, sand, and water. This clay can be used to form a watertight seal and is probably the same "putty"; that was found at the 50 foot level of the Pit.
The major find was in the gap between the putty layers. A cement vault was discovered. The vault itself was 7 feet high with 7 inch thick walls. Inside the vault the drill first struck wood, then a void several inches high and an unknown substance. Next a layer of soft metal was reached, then almost 3 feet of metal pieces, and then more soft metal.
When the drill was brought back up another twist was added to the whole mystery. Attached to the auger was a small piece of sheepskin parchment with the letters "vi"; "ui"; or "wi"; What the parchment is a part of is still in question.
More convinced than ever that a great treasure was beneath the island, The Treasure Company began sinking more shafts in the attempts to get to the cement vault. They all met with failure due to flooding.
2nd Flood Tunnel
In May of 1899, yet another startling discovery was made. There was a second flood tunnel! This one was located in the South Shore Cove. The designers had been more ingenious and had done more work than previously thought. Though this find certainly strengthened the case that something valuable was buried below it didn't bring anyone closer to actually finding the treasure.
Blair and The Oak Island Treasure Company continued to sink new shafts and drill more core samples, but no progress was made and no new information obtained.
Between 1900 and 1936 several attempts were made to obtain the treasure. All met with no success.
Stone Fragment
In 1936 Gilbert Hadden, in conjunction with Fred Blair, began a new investigation of the island. Hadden cleared some of the earlier shafts near the Pit and made plans for exploratory drilling the next summer. However, he made two discoveries away from the Pit.
Fragment of Inscribed StoneThe first was a fragment of a stone bearing inscriptions similar to those found on the inscribed stone discovered at the 90 foot level of the Money Pit. The second discovery was of several old timbers in Smith's Cove. These timbers seem to have been from the original designers due to the fact that they were joined using wooden pins rather than metal. As will be seen later these timbers were only a small part of a much larger construction.
Mystery Deepens
The next treasure hunter was Erwin Hamilton. He began his search in 1938 by clearing out previous shafts and doing some exploratory drilling. In 1939 during drilling two more discoveries were made. The first was the finding of rocks and gravel at 190 feet. According to Hamilton they were foreign and therefore placed there by someone. The second finding came after clearing out an earlier shaft down to 176 feet. At this point a layer of limestone was encountered and drilled through. The drilling brought up oak splinters. Apparently there was wood BELOW the natural limestone.
Tragedy Strikes
In 1959 Bob Restall and his family began their attack on the island which ultimately proved tragic.
His one discovery was made on the Smith's Cove beach while attempting to stop the drain system. He found a rock with "1704" inscribed on it. Though others believed it was prank left by a previous search team, Restall believed it was from the time of the original construction.
In 1965 tragedy struck. While excavating a shaft Bob passed out and fell into the water at the bottom. His son, Bobbie, attempted to rescue him as did two of the workers. All four apparently were overcome by some sort of gas, perhaps carbon monoxide from a generator, passed out and drowned.
Heavy Machines
Bob Dunfield was the next to take on the island. In 1965 he attempted to solve the problem with heavy machinery - bulldozers and cranes. He attempted to block the inflow of water at Smith's Cove, and may have succeeded. Then on the south side of the island an trench was dug in the hope of intercepting the other water tunnel and blocking it off. The flood tunnel wasn't found, but an unknown refilled shaft was found, possible one dug by the designers of the Pit. The shaft apparently went down to 45 and stopped, its purpose is unknown.
Dunfield's other findings were based on drilling. It was determined that at 140 feet there was a 2 foot thick layer of limestone and then a forty foot void. At the bottom of the void was bedrock. This information matched with a drilling done back in 1955. There seemed to a large, natural underground cavern, something apparently common with limestone around the world.
Recent Discoveries
Daniel Blankenship, the current searcher, began his quest in 1965. In 1966 he dug out more of the original shaft found by Bob Dunfield in 1965. It turned out that the shaft did go beyond 45 feet. Blankenship found a hand-wrought nail and a washer at 60 feet. At 90 feet he met a layer of rocks in stagnant water. He assumed this was part of the south water tunnel but couldn't explore further because the shaft could not be stopped from caving in.
A pair of wrought-iron scissors were discovered in 1967 buried below the drains at Smith's Cove. It was determined that the scissors were Spanish-American, probably made in Mexico, and they were up to 300 years old. Also found was a heart shaped stone.
Smith's Cove revealed some more secrets in 1970 to Triton Alliance, a group formed by Blankenship to continue the search. While Triton was building a new cofferdam they discovered the remains of what appeared to be the original builders' cofferdam. The findings included several logs 2 feet thick and up to 65 feet long. They were marked every four feet with Roman numerals carved in them and some contained wooden pins or nails. The wood has been carbon dated to 250 years ago.
The western end of the island has also revealed several items. Two wooden structures, along with wrought-iron nails and metal straps were found at the western beach. Nine feet below the beach a pair of leather shoes were unearthed.
Borehole 10-X
The next major discoveries came in 1976 when Triton dug what is known as Borehole 10-X, a 237 foot tube of steel sunk 180 feet northeast of the Money Pit. During the digging several apparently artificial cavities were found down to 230 feet (see: drilling results).
A camera lowered down to a bedrock cavity at 230 feet returned some amazing images. At first a severed hand could be seen floating in the water. Later three chests (of the treasure type I would presume) and various tools could be made out. Finally a human body was detected.
After seeing the images, the decision was made to send divers down for a look. Several attempts were made but strong current and poor visibility made it impossible to see anything.
Soon after the hole itself collapsed and has not been reopened.
Today
Blankenship and Triton still continue the quest.
Over the next several days McGinnis, along with friends John Smith and Anthony Vaughan, worked the hole. What they found astonished them. Two feet below the surface they came across of layer of flagstones covering the pit. At 10 feet down they ran into a layer of oak logs spanning the pit. Again at 20 feet and 30 feet they found the same thing, a layer of logs. Not being able to continue alone from here, they went home, but with plans of returning to search more.
It took the three discoverers 8 years, but they did return. Along with The Onslow Company, formed for the purpose of the search, they began digging again. They quickly got back to 30 foot point that had been reached 8 years ago. They continued down to 90 feet, finding a layer of oak logs at every 10 foot interval. Besides the boards, at 40 feet a layer of charcoal was found, at 50 feet a layer of putty, and at 60 feet a layer of coconut fiber.
At 90 feet one of the most puzzling clues was found - a stone inscribed with mysterious writing.
Note: For more information about the stone inscription and to try your hand at translating the stone's inscription go here.
After pulling up the layer of oak at 90 feet and continuing on, water began to seep into the pit. By the next day the pit was filled with water up to the 33 foot level. Pumping didn't work, so the next year a new pit was dug parallel to the original down to 100 feet. From there a tunnel was run over to The Money Pit. Again the water flooded in and the search was abandoned for 45 years.
The Booby Trap
As it turns out, an ingenious booby trap had been sprung. The Onslow Company had inadvertently unplugged a 500 foot waterway that had been dug from the pit to nearby Smith's Cove by the pit's designers. As quickly as the water could be pumped out it was refilled by the sea.
This discovery however is only a small part of the intricate plan by the unknown designers to keep people away from the cache.
In 1849 the next company to attempt to extract the treasure, The Truro Company, was founded and the search began again. They quickly dug down to 86 feet only to be flooded. Deciding to try to figure out what was buried before attempting to extract it, Truro switched to drilling core samples. The drilling produced some encouraging results.
First Hints of Treasure
At 98 feet the drill went through a spruce platform. Then it encountered 4 inches of oak and then 22 inches of what was characterized as "metal in pieces""; Next 8 inches of oak, another 22 inches of metal, 4 inches of oak and another layer of spruce. The conclusion was that they had drilled through 2 casks or chests filled will coins. Upon pulling out the drill they found splinters of oak and strands of what looked like coconut husk.
One account of the drilling also mentions that three small gold links, as from a chain, were brought up. Unfortunately no one knows where they have gone.
Interestingly, the earth encountered beneath the bottom spruce platform was loose indicating that the pit may have gone even deeper. A later group of searchers would find out how much deeper.
The Truro Company returned in 1850 with plans to dig another parallel hole and then tunnel over to the Money Pit. Just like before, as they tunneled over, water began to rush in. They brought in pumps to try to get rid of the water but it was impossible to keep the water out. During the pumping someone noticed that at Smith's Cove during low tide there was water coming OUT of the beach.
This find lead to an amazing discovery - the beach was artificial.
Artificial Beach
It turns out that the pit designers had created a drain system, spread over a 145 foot length of beach, which resembled the fingers of a hand. Each finger was a channel dug into the clay under the beach and lined by rocks. The channels were then filled with beach rocks, covered with several inches of eel grass, and then covered by several more inches of coconut fiber. The effect of this filtering system was that the channels remained clear of silt and sand while water was still allowed to flow along them. The fingers met at a point inland where they fed sea water into a sloping channel which eventually joined the Money Pit some 500 feet away. Later investigations showed this underground channel to have been 4 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet high, lined with stone, and meeting the Money Pit between the depths of 95 to 110 feet.
To the Truro Company, the answer was now simple - just block off the water flow from the beach and dig out the treasure. Their first attempt was to build a dam just off the beach at Smith's Cove, drain the water, and then dismantle the drain channels. Unfortunately a storm blew up and destroyed the dam before they could finish.
An interesting note: the remains of an older dam were found when building the new one.
The next plan was to dig a pit 100 feet or so inland in the hopes of meeting with the water channel underground at which point they could plug the channel. This scheme too failed. And this was the last attempt by the Truro company to uncover the secrets of Oak Island.
The Pit's Collapse
The next attempt at securing the treasure was made in 1861 by the Oak Island Association. First they cleared out the Money Pit down to 88 feet. Then they ran a new hole to the east of the pit hoping to intercept the channel from the sea. The new shaft was dug out to120 feet without hitting the channel and then abandoned.
A second shaft was run, this one to west, down to 118 feet. They then attempted to tunnel over to the Money Pit. Again the water started to enter this pit as well as the Money Pit. Bailing was attempted and appeared to work. And then
CRASH!
The bottom fell out. Water rushed into the shafts and the bottom of the Money Pit dropped over 15 feet. Everything in the Money Pit had fallen farther down the hole. The big questions were why and how far?
Over the next several years different companies tried to crack the mystery unsuccessfully. They dug more shafts, tried to fill in the drain on the beach, built a new dam (which was destroyed by a storm), and drilled for more core samples. They met with little success.
The Cave-in Pit
In 1893 a man named Fred Blair along with a group called The Oak Island Treasure Company began their search. Their first task was to investigate the "Cave-in Pit". Discovered in 1878 about 350 feet east of the Money Pit, the cave-in pit appears to have been a shaft dug out by the designers of the Money Pit perhaps as a ventilation shaft for the digging of the flood tunnel. It apparently intersected or closely passed the flood tunnel. While it was being cleared by the Treasure Company it started to flood at a depth of 55 feet and was abandoned.
Over the next several years The Oak Island Treasure Company would dig more shafts, pump more water, and still get nowhere. In 1897 they did manage to clear out the Money Pit down to 111 feet where they actually saw the entrance of the flood tunnel temporarily stopped up with rocks. However, the water worked its way through again and filled the pit.
The treasure company then decided that they would attempt to seal off the flow of water from Smith's Cove by dynamiting the flood tunnel. Five charges were set off in holes drilled near the flood tunnel. They didn't work. The water flowed into the Money Pit as rapidly as ever.
At the same time a new set of core samples were drilled at the pit itself. The results were surprising.
Cement Vault
At 126 feet, wood was struck and then iron. This material is probably part of the material that fell during the crash of the Pit. On other drillings the wood was encountered at 122 feet and the iron was missed completely indicating that the material may be laying in a haphazard way due to the fall.
Between 130 and 151 feet and also between 160 and 171 feet a blue clay was found which consisted of clay, sand, and water. This clay can be used to form a watertight seal and is probably the same "putty"; that was found at the 50 foot level of the Pit.
The major find was in the gap between the putty layers. A cement vault was discovered. The vault itself was 7 feet high with 7 inch thick walls. Inside the vault the drill first struck wood, then a void several inches high and an unknown substance. Next a layer of soft metal was reached, then almost 3 feet of metal pieces, and then more soft metal.
When the drill was brought back up another twist was added to the whole mystery. Attached to the auger was a small piece of sheepskin parchment with the letters "vi"; "ui"; or "wi"; What the parchment is a part of is still in question.
More convinced than ever that a great treasure was beneath the island, The Treasure Company began sinking more shafts in the attempts to get to the cement vault. They all met with failure due to flooding.
2nd Flood Tunnel
In May of 1899, yet another startling discovery was made. There was a second flood tunnel! This one was located in the South Shore Cove. The designers had been more ingenious and had done more work than previously thought. Though this find certainly strengthened the case that something valuable was buried below it didn't bring anyone closer to actually finding the treasure.
Blair and The Oak Island Treasure Company continued to sink new shafts and drill more core samples, but no progress was made and no new information obtained.
Between 1900 and 1936 several attempts were made to obtain the treasure. All met with no success.
Stone Fragment
In 1936 Gilbert Hadden, in conjunction with Fred Blair, began a new investigation of the island. Hadden cleared some of the earlier shafts near the Pit and made plans for exploratory drilling the next summer. However, he made two discoveries away from the Pit.
Fragment of Inscribed StoneThe first was a fragment of a stone bearing inscriptions similar to those found on the inscribed stone discovered at the 90 foot level of the Money Pit. The second discovery was of several old timbers in Smith's Cove. These timbers seem to have been from the original designers due to the fact that they were joined using wooden pins rather than metal. As will be seen later these timbers were only a small part of a much larger construction.
Mystery Deepens
The next treasure hunter was Erwin Hamilton. He began his search in 1938 by clearing out previous shafts and doing some exploratory drilling. In 1939 during drilling two more discoveries were made. The first was the finding of rocks and gravel at 190 feet. According to Hamilton they were foreign and therefore placed there by someone. The second finding came after clearing out an earlier shaft down to 176 feet. At this point a layer of limestone was encountered and drilled through. The drilling brought up oak splinters. Apparently there was wood BELOW the natural limestone.
Tragedy Strikes
In 1959 Bob Restall and his family began their attack on the island which ultimately proved tragic.
His one discovery was made on the Smith's Cove beach while attempting to stop the drain system. He found a rock with "1704" inscribed on it. Though others believed it was prank left by a previous search team, Restall believed it was from the time of the original construction.
In 1965 tragedy struck. While excavating a shaft Bob passed out and fell into the water at the bottom. His son, Bobbie, attempted to rescue him as did two of the workers. All four apparently were overcome by some sort of gas, perhaps carbon monoxide from a generator, passed out and drowned.
Heavy Machines
Bob Dunfield was the next to take on the island. In 1965 he attempted to solve the problem with heavy machinery - bulldozers and cranes. He attempted to block the inflow of water at Smith's Cove, and may have succeeded. Then on the south side of the island an trench was dug in the hope of intercepting the other water tunnel and blocking it off. The flood tunnel wasn't found, but an unknown refilled shaft was found, possible one dug by the designers of the Pit. The shaft apparently went down to 45 and stopped, its purpose is unknown.
Dunfield's other findings were based on drilling. It was determined that at 140 feet there was a 2 foot thick layer of limestone and then a forty foot void. At the bottom of the void was bedrock. This information matched with a drilling done back in 1955. There seemed to a large, natural underground cavern, something apparently common with limestone around the world.
Recent Discoveries
Daniel Blankenship, the current searcher, began his quest in 1965. In 1966 he dug out more of the original shaft found by Bob Dunfield in 1965. It turned out that the shaft did go beyond 45 feet. Blankenship found a hand-wrought nail and a washer at 60 feet. At 90 feet he met a layer of rocks in stagnant water. He assumed this was part of the south water tunnel but couldn't explore further because the shaft could not be stopped from caving in.
A pair of wrought-iron scissors were discovered in 1967 buried below the drains at Smith's Cove. It was determined that the scissors were Spanish-American, probably made in Mexico, and they were up to 300 years old. Also found was a heart shaped stone.
Smith's Cove revealed some more secrets in 1970 to Triton Alliance, a group formed by Blankenship to continue the search. While Triton was building a new cofferdam they discovered the remains of what appeared to be the original builders' cofferdam. The findings included several logs 2 feet thick and up to 65 feet long. They were marked every four feet with Roman numerals carved in them and some contained wooden pins or nails. The wood has been carbon dated to 250 years ago.
The western end of the island has also revealed several items. Two wooden structures, along with wrought-iron nails and metal straps were found at the western beach. Nine feet below the beach a pair of leather shoes were unearthed.
Borehole 10-X
The next major discoveries came in 1976 when Triton dug what is known as Borehole 10-X, a 237 foot tube of steel sunk 180 feet northeast of the Money Pit. During the digging several apparently artificial cavities were found down to 230 feet (see: drilling results).
A camera lowered down to a bedrock cavity at 230 feet returned some amazing images. At first a severed hand could be seen floating in the water. Later three chests (of the treasure type I would presume) and various tools could be made out. Finally a human body was detected.
After seeing the images, the decision was made to send divers down for a look. Several attempts were made but strong current and poor visibility made it impossible to see anything.
Soon after the hole itself collapsed and has not been reopened.
Today
Blankenship and Triton still continue the quest.
J
joseph
Guest
The Mystery Pit of Oak Island
A 19th century excavation.
One can only wonder what would have happened if young Daniel McGinnis had chosen to go exploring somewhere else on that fateful day in the summer of 1795. If he had, perhaps nobody else would have walked the woods on the eastern end of Oak Island for the next ten years. In that time, the clearing McGinnis found might have been reclaimed completely by the woods. In a forest, the thirteen foot-wide depression in the ground might never have been noticed. Thick, leafy branches might have obscured the old tackle block hanging from a branch directly over the pit. Without these markers, there would have been nothing to indicate that this was the work of man. And there might have never been the two-hundred year long treasure hunt that cost several fortunes and many lives.
But McGinnis did see the clearing and the depression and the tackle block. Visions of pirate treasure did fill his head. He did return later with two friends, John Smith, age 19, and Anthony Vaughan, age 16. And together, with picks and shovels, they did start perhaps the most famous treasure hunt of modern times.
Undoubtedly, the three must have thought they were on the verge of discovering the treasure of Captain William Kidd. Stories that the captain had buried a treasure hoard on an island "east of Boston" had been circulating since the 1600's. Legend had it that a dying sailor in the New England Colonies confessed to being a part of Kidd's notorious crew, but he never named an exact location for the hidden booty.
The island McGinnis, Smith and Vaughan were on was one of 300 small isles in the Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was peanut-shaped and about three-quarters of a mile long and 1,000 feet wide.
Cutting away the smaller trees, the three young men started digging in the depression. After two feet they hit a floor of carefully laid flagstones. This type of slate was not found on the island and the group figured it had been brought there from about two miles north. Below the stones they saw that they were digging down a shaft that had been refilled. The walls of the shaft were scored with the marks of pick axes, more evidence that this structure was the work of men.
At the ten foot level they hit wood. At first the group figured they'd hit a treasure chest, but quickly realized that they had found a platform of oaken logs sunk into the sides of the shaft. Pulling up the logs they discovered a two-foot depression and more of the shaft. Continuing to dig, they finally reached a depth of twenty-five feet. At that depth they decided they could not continue without more help and better planning. Covering the pit over, they left. One thing the three were sure of, though, was that something must be at the bottom of the pit. They concluded that nobody would have gone to the trouble of digging a shaft deeper than 25 feet unless he had something very valuable to hide.
Nineteenth Century Excavations
Not much more was done with the pit until around 1802. While stories differ, it seems likely that the three spent the previous years searching for a financial backer to provide assistance for a more sophisticated dig. Simeon Lynds visited the money pit that year, was impressed by the story, and formed a company to support the excavation.
The work was started in the summer of 1803. After cleaning out the old pit, the crew started digging downward. Stories have it that they struck another oak platform at 30 feet below the surface. As they continued to dig they found something every ten feet: charcoal, putty, stones or more log platforms. Finally, at the 80 or 90 foot level, depending on which historical account you read, a flat stone, three feet long and one foot wide, with strange letters and figures cut into it, was found. At 93 feet deep, the floor of the pit began to turn into soft mud. Before the end of that day the crew probed the bottom of the shaft with a crowbar hoping to find something. They hit a barrier as wide and as long as the shaft. The group speculated that they'd finally reached the treasure vault and went to bed with the expectations that tomorrow a fortune would be theirs.
Returning the next day, the crew was shocked to find that overnight the pit had filled with 60 feet of water. Bailing was useless. As soon as water was removed from the pit, more flowed in to take its place. An attempt was made to dig another shaft nearby and get at the treasure by running a tunnel underneath the pit, but the new shaft flooded as soon as the tunnel got close to its objective.
Another attempt to find the treasure wasn't made until 1849. A new corporation was formed to finance the dig. This group wasn't much more successful, running into the same flooding problems that occurred back in 1802. They did manage to use a drill to probe what was below the money pit floor. A platform was constructed in the shaft just above the water level and the drill operated from there. The drill seemed to bore through levels of oak, spruce and clay. One sample recovered what appeared to be several links of chain made of gold.
While the drilling was going on, someone noticed that the water in the pit was salty and rose and fell with the tide. This led to speculation that the builders of the pit had conceived a clever trap designed to flood the pit with water if someone got to close too the treasure.
The existence of the flood trap was confirmed by the discovery that the beach of Smith's Cove, located some 500 feet away from the money pit, was artificial. Examination showed that the original clay of the cove had been dug away and in its place laid round beach stones, covered by four or five inches of dead eel grass, which was covered by coconut fiber two inches thick and finally the sand of the beach. At the bottom of all this were five box drains that apparently merged somewhere well back from the coast into a single tunnel that ran the distance to the money pit. The system was apparently designed so that the filtering action of the coconut fiber and the eel grass would ensure the drains would never be clogged by sand or gravel from the beach. It worked well.
Attempts were made to put the flood trap out of business by building a cofferdam around the cove to by holding the tides back. Later, pits were dug to intersect and plug the tunnel on its route to the money pit. These failed, and this try at reaching the treasure was given up in 1851 when the money ran out.
The next attempt in 1861 cost the first human life. The searchers tried to pump out the money pit using the steam engine-powered pumps. A boiler burst and one worker was scalded to death while others were injured. Further fatalities were barely avoided when the money pit's bottom, weakened by attempts to get at the treasure by digging up underneath from other shafts, collapsed. If there were any treasure chests they were probably carried much deeper by this crash. This dig did succeed in discovering where the flood tunnel entered the money pit, but there was still no way to turn off the water. By 1864 these searchers were also out of money.
In 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931 and 1936 additional excavations were started. Extreme methods were used including setting dynamite charges to destroy the flood tunnel, building a dam to keep the water out of Smith's Cove, and bringing in a crane with an excavation bucket. None of these approaches recovered a single coin while costing the backers a small fortune and one worker his life. One of these efforts did manage to block off the flood tunnel from Smith's Cove, only to discover more water was pouring in from the opposite direction via a natural or man-made route from the south shore. Drilling also indicated that there might be some kind of cement vault at the 153-foot level. By this time the south end of the island was full of old shafts, though, and it was increasingly hard to tell were the original money pit was located. Searchers often ran out of money just trying to figure out where the old shaft had been.
Modern Excavations
In 1959 Robert Restall, a former daredevil motorcyclist, took up the challenge with the help of his 18-year-old son. By then the Smith Cove's flood tunnel had become unblocked and Restall made it his first order of business to seal it off. He had sunk a shaft to the depth of 27 feet near Smith's Cove when tragedy struck. His son found him laying at the bottom of the pit in muddy water. Climbing down to help his father, the boy suddenly fell off the ladder and lay next to him. Kal Graseser, Restall's partner, and workers Cyril Hiltz and Andy DeMont climbed down to assist, but also collapsed before reaching the bottom. Edward White, a visiting fireman from Buffalo, New York, immediately suspected carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust of a nearby gasoline pump and descended the pit with a rope tied around his waist. He was able to rescue DeMont, but the others died. In one day Oak Island mystery claimed four more lives.
In 1965 Robert Dunfield tried to apply modern open pit mining methods to the treasure hunt. Using a 70-ton digging crane he dug a hole at the original pit site 140 feet deep and 100 feet in diameter. The dirt was carefully sifted for any treasure, but only a few pieces of porcelain dishware were found. Heavy rains dragged the work out for months and Dunfield ran out of money. The pit, and its mystery designer, had won again.
The Money Pit today. (Courtesy of Bill Milstead)
In 1970 the Triton Alliance was formed to continue looking for the treasure. Legal battles between owners of different portions of the island resulted in slow progress. A number of holes were drilled in an attempt to locate the treasure and better understand the geological nature of the island, but no gold was recovered. Little work has been done in the area of the money pit itself as the soil is unstable. Often caverns, thought to be natural, have been found beneath the island. A video camera lowered down one borehole into one of these spaces recorded an image that looked like chests and a human hand severed at the wrist. The quality of the images was so poor, though, that positive identification was impossible.
Triton brought the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in to survey the island in 1995 and render an opinion on whether there is something valuable at the bottom of the pit. While their report is confidential, people who have seen it say that its conclusions are "not discouraging." Currently little work is being done on the island while disputes between the owners of Triton are being settled.
In addition to the money pit the rest of the island seems to be loaded with old stone markers of various types. The most peculiar of these are 6 boulders that seem to be laid out in the shape of a cross that is almost 900 feet long. Some wild speculation based on the cross suggest that Oak Island might be home to the long missing Holy Grail, but there is no real solid evidence to support this idea.
Possible Culprits
So, who built the money pit? And did they really put some kind of treasure down there? Was it Captain Kidd? Despite the legends it seem unlikely that Captain William Kidd ever had the chance to bury a treasure on Oak Island. He spent little time near Nova Scotia and certainly not enough to construct the money pit. Kidd did bury a cache of booty on Gardener's Island near the eastern end of Long Island Sound, but it was quickly seized by the Governor of New York.
Blackbeard, who possessed perhaps the most notorious reputation of all pirates, has sometimes been mentioned in conjunction with Oak Island, but only because he once boasted he had an underground cache for his treasure, "where none but Satan and myself can find it." Certainly many of the Oak Island treasure hunters would agree that this sounds like the money pit, but the truth is there isn't any evidence that Blackbeard conducted any operations north of Delaware.
In fact, it seems very unlikely that any pirate could be responsible for such a complex labyrinth as the pit. Pirates buried treasure because it offered a quick way to hide and recover their goods. A digging operation that must have taken several months just doesn't seem their style.
George Bates, a land surveyor in Nova Scotia, suggested that pirates had indeed built structures on Oak Island, but not for the purpose of hiding treasure. Bate's idea was that there was enough pirate activity between 1650 and 1750 off the coast of Nova Scotia to warrant several pirate groups getting together and building a dry dock to maintain their ships. To do this they sailed their vessels into Smith's Cove and built a cofferdam to seal the tiny bay off from the ocean. The flood tunnel was used to then drain the cove and leave the ship high and dry. The water flooded down the tunnel into a large natural cave underneath the island. A windmill located on top of the money pit extracted the water so the cove could again be drained for the next ship.
The weakness of Bates argument is that located on the other side of Nova Scotia, only a hundred miles away, is the Bay of Fundy. The tides in the bay drop at least 30 feet each day making it a huge natural dry dock. Why would the pirates duplicate what nature already provided?
Speaking of nature, is it possible that the money pit is a natural phenomena, not a cleverly designed vault? Certainly there are natural caves under Oak Island and the depression found by McGinnis could have been a sink hole. Unless all early accounts are completely incorrect the descriptions of the platforms carefully placed at 10-foot intervals seem to ensure that at least part of the structure is man-made.
Some theories suggest that the structures built on Oak Island may have been hundreds, perhaps even thousand of years old when they were discovered in 1795. They may have been built by Vikings visiting the New World, or by the native Micmac people who lived in the region before the Europeans appeared. Perhaps they were built by an advanced civilization that we know nothing about. Indeed the flood tunnel trap built into the pit in some ways reminds one of the false doors and granite plugs found in Egyptian tombs to prevent grave robbing.
If any of the above theories were true why did McGinnis discover the pit in the heart of a clearing? The trees around the money pit must have been cut when it was constructed. Given the rate oak trees grow, that meant someone had built the pit not more than fifty years before McGinnis stumbled across it.
Who would have hidden a treasure between 1745 and 1795? William Crooker, author of several books on the Oak Island mystery, suggests that the pit was built as a part of plot by King George III of England and several of his close advisors. On August 12, 1762, British forces captured the city of Havana, Cuba, from the Spanish. Havana was a rich, important city where much of the gold from the New World was shipped back to Spain. Two shiploads of the captured booty, Crooker suggests, was taken by the Earl of Albemarle to Oak Island. Previously the conspirators had arranged for military engineers to come to the island and build what they thought was a secret ammo dump complete with flood tunnels. Albemarle arrived with the treasure in sealed boxes. The treasure was placed in the pit, the pit was closed, and the engineers departed still thinking they had built an ammo dump.
Albemarle returned to England with the idea of retrieving the treasure later. Something, perhaps the madness that afflicted King George toward the end of his life, prevented getting the booty and it was forgotten about.
Crooker's theory raises another possibility, though. Suppose there is no treasure at all and the pit is simply an old ammo dump? We will only find out for sure when someone comes along who is clever enough, and rich enough, to beat the designer of the money pit and make a thorough investigation of what lies at the bottom.
A 19th century excavation.
One can only wonder what would have happened if young Daniel McGinnis had chosen to go exploring somewhere else on that fateful day in the summer of 1795. If he had, perhaps nobody else would have walked the woods on the eastern end of Oak Island for the next ten years. In that time, the clearing McGinnis found might have been reclaimed completely by the woods. In a forest, the thirteen foot-wide depression in the ground might never have been noticed. Thick, leafy branches might have obscured the old tackle block hanging from a branch directly over the pit. Without these markers, there would have been nothing to indicate that this was the work of man. And there might have never been the two-hundred year long treasure hunt that cost several fortunes and many lives.
But McGinnis did see the clearing and the depression and the tackle block. Visions of pirate treasure did fill his head. He did return later with two friends, John Smith, age 19, and Anthony Vaughan, age 16. And together, with picks and shovels, they did start perhaps the most famous treasure hunt of modern times.
Undoubtedly, the three must have thought they were on the verge of discovering the treasure of Captain William Kidd. Stories that the captain had buried a treasure hoard on an island "east of Boston" had been circulating since the 1600's. Legend had it that a dying sailor in the New England Colonies confessed to being a part of Kidd's notorious crew, but he never named an exact location for the hidden booty.
The island McGinnis, Smith and Vaughan were on was one of 300 small isles in the Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was peanut-shaped and about three-quarters of a mile long and 1,000 feet wide.
Cutting away the smaller trees, the three young men started digging in the depression. After two feet they hit a floor of carefully laid flagstones. This type of slate was not found on the island and the group figured it had been brought there from about two miles north. Below the stones they saw that they were digging down a shaft that had been refilled. The walls of the shaft were scored with the marks of pick axes, more evidence that this structure was the work of men.
At the ten foot level they hit wood. At first the group figured they'd hit a treasure chest, but quickly realized that they had found a platform of oaken logs sunk into the sides of the shaft. Pulling up the logs they discovered a two-foot depression and more of the shaft. Continuing to dig, they finally reached a depth of twenty-five feet. At that depth they decided they could not continue without more help and better planning. Covering the pit over, they left. One thing the three were sure of, though, was that something must be at the bottom of the pit. They concluded that nobody would have gone to the trouble of digging a shaft deeper than 25 feet unless he had something very valuable to hide.
Nineteenth Century Excavations
Not much more was done with the pit until around 1802. While stories differ, it seems likely that the three spent the previous years searching for a financial backer to provide assistance for a more sophisticated dig. Simeon Lynds visited the money pit that year, was impressed by the story, and formed a company to support the excavation.
The work was started in the summer of 1803. After cleaning out the old pit, the crew started digging downward. Stories have it that they struck another oak platform at 30 feet below the surface. As they continued to dig they found something every ten feet: charcoal, putty, stones or more log platforms. Finally, at the 80 or 90 foot level, depending on which historical account you read, a flat stone, three feet long and one foot wide, with strange letters and figures cut into it, was found. At 93 feet deep, the floor of the pit began to turn into soft mud. Before the end of that day the crew probed the bottom of the shaft with a crowbar hoping to find something. They hit a barrier as wide and as long as the shaft. The group speculated that they'd finally reached the treasure vault and went to bed with the expectations that tomorrow a fortune would be theirs.
Returning the next day, the crew was shocked to find that overnight the pit had filled with 60 feet of water. Bailing was useless. As soon as water was removed from the pit, more flowed in to take its place. An attempt was made to dig another shaft nearby and get at the treasure by running a tunnel underneath the pit, but the new shaft flooded as soon as the tunnel got close to its objective.
Another attempt to find the treasure wasn't made until 1849. A new corporation was formed to finance the dig. This group wasn't much more successful, running into the same flooding problems that occurred back in 1802. They did manage to use a drill to probe what was below the money pit floor. A platform was constructed in the shaft just above the water level and the drill operated from there. The drill seemed to bore through levels of oak, spruce and clay. One sample recovered what appeared to be several links of chain made of gold.
While the drilling was going on, someone noticed that the water in the pit was salty and rose and fell with the tide. This led to speculation that the builders of the pit had conceived a clever trap designed to flood the pit with water if someone got to close too the treasure.
The existence of the flood trap was confirmed by the discovery that the beach of Smith's Cove, located some 500 feet away from the money pit, was artificial. Examination showed that the original clay of the cove had been dug away and in its place laid round beach stones, covered by four or five inches of dead eel grass, which was covered by coconut fiber two inches thick and finally the sand of the beach. At the bottom of all this were five box drains that apparently merged somewhere well back from the coast into a single tunnel that ran the distance to the money pit. The system was apparently designed so that the filtering action of the coconut fiber and the eel grass would ensure the drains would never be clogged by sand or gravel from the beach. It worked well.
Attempts were made to put the flood trap out of business by building a cofferdam around the cove to by holding the tides back. Later, pits were dug to intersect and plug the tunnel on its route to the money pit. These failed, and this try at reaching the treasure was given up in 1851 when the money ran out.
The next attempt in 1861 cost the first human life. The searchers tried to pump out the money pit using the steam engine-powered pumps. A boiler burst and one worker was scalded to death while others were injured. Further fatalities were barely avoided when the money pit's bottom, weakened by attempts to get at the treasure by digging up underneath from other shafts, collapsed. If there were any treasure chests they were probably carried much deeper by this crash. This dig did succeed in discovering where the flood tunnel entered the money pit, but there was still no way to turn off the water. By 1864 these searchers were also out of money.
In 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931 and 1936 additional excavations were started. Extreme methods were used including setting dynamite charges to destroy the flood tunnel, building a dam to keep the water out of Smith's Cove, and bringing in a crane with an excavation bucket. None of these approaches recovered a single coin while costing the backers a small fortune and one worker his life. One of these efforts did manage to block off the flood tunnel from Smith's Cove, only to discover more water was pouring in from the opposite direction via a natural or man-made route from the south shore. Drilling also indicated that there might be some kind of cement vault at the 153-foot level. By this time the south end of the island was full of old shafts, though, and it was increasingly hard to tell were the original money pit was located. Searchers often ran out of money just trying to figure out where the old shaft had been.
Modern Excavations
In 1959 Robert Restall, a former daredevil motorcyclist, took up the challenge with the help of his 18-year-old son. By then the Smith Cove's flood tunnel had become unblocked and Restall made it his first order of business to seal it off. He had sunk a shaft to the depth of 27 feet near Smith's Cove when tragedy struck. His son found him laying at the bottom of the pit in muddy water. Climbing down to help his father, the boy suddenly fell off the ladder and lay next to him. Kal Graseser, Restall's partner, and workers Cyril Hiltz and Andy DeMont climbed down to assist, but also collapsed before reaching the bottom. Edward White, a visiting fireman from Buffalo, New York, immediately suspected carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust of a nearby gasoline pump and descended the pit with a rope tied around his waist. He was able to rescue DeMont, but the others died. In one day Oak Island mystery claimed four more lives.
In 1965 Robert Dunfield tried to apply modern open pit mining methods to the treasure hunt. Using a 70-ton digging crane he dug a hole at the original pit site 140 feet deep and 100 feet in diameter. The dirt was carefully sifted for any treasure, but only a few pieces of porcelain dishware were found. Heavy rains dragged the work out for months and Dunfield ran out of money. The pit, and its mystery designer, had won again.
The Money Pit today. (Courtesy of Bill Milstead)
In 1970 the Triton Alliance was formed to continue looking for the treasure. Legal battles between owners of different portions of the island resulted in slow progress. A number of holes were drilled in an attempt to locate the treasure and better understand the geological nature of the island, but no gold was recovered. Little work has been done in the area of the money pit itself as the soil is unstable. Often caverns, thought to be natural, have been found beneath the island. A video camera lowered down one borehole into one of these spaces recorded an image that looked like chests and a human hand severed at the wrist. The quality of the images was so poor, though, that positive identification was impossible.
Triton brought the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in to survey the island in 1995 and render an opinion on whether there is something valuable at the bottom of the pit. While their report is confidential, people who have seen it say that its conclusions are "not discouraging." Currently little work is being done on the island while disputes between the owners of Triton are being settled.
In addition to the money pit the rest of the island seems to be loaded with old stone markers of various types. The most peculiar of these are 6 boulders that seem to be laid out in the shape of a cross that is almost 900 feet long. Some wild speculation based on the cross suggest that Oak Island might be home to the long missing Holy Grail, but there is no real solid evidence to support this idea.
Possible Culprits
So, who built the money pit? And did they really put some kind of treasure down there? Was it Captain Kidd? Despite the legends it seem unlikely that Captain William Kidd ever had the chance to bury a treasure on Oak Island. He spent little time near Nova Scotia and certainly not enough to construct the money pit. Kidd did bury a cache of booty on Gardener's Island near the eastern end of Long Island Sound, but it was quickly seized by the Governor of New York.
Blackbeard, who possessed perhaps the most notorious reputation of all pirates, has sometimes been mentioned in conjunction with Oak Island, but only because he once boasted he had an underground cache for his treasure, "where none but Satan and myself can find it." Certainly many of the Oak Island treasure hunters would agree that this sounds like the money pit, but the truth is there isn't any evidence that Blackbeard conducted any operations north of Delaware.
In fact, it seems very unlikely that any pirate could be responsible for such a complex labyrinth as the pit. Pirates buried treasure because it offered a quick way to hide and recover their goods. A digging operation that must have taken several months just doesn't seem their style.
George Bates, a land surveyor in Nova Scotia, suggested that pirates had indeed built structures on Oak Island, but not for the purpose of hiding treasure. Bate's idea was that there was enough pirate activity between 1650 and 1750 off the coast of Nova Scotia to warrant several pirate groups getting together and building a dry dock to maintain their ships. To do this they sailed their vessels into Smith's Cove and built a cofferdam to seal the tiny bay off from the ocean. The flood tunnel was used to then drain the cove and leave the ship high and dry. The water flooded down the tunnel into a large natural cave underneath the island. A windmill located on top of the money pit extracted the water so the cove could again be drained for the next ship.
The weakness of Bates argument is that located on the other side of Nova Scotia, only a hundred miles away, is the Bay of Fundy. The tides in the bay drop at least 30 feet each day making it a huge natural dry dock. Why would the pirates duplicate what nature already provided?
Speaking of nature, is it possible that the money pit is a natural phenomena, not a cleverly designed vault? Certainly there are natural caves under Oak Island and the depression found by McGinnis could have been a sink hole. Unless all early accounts are completely incorrect the descriptions of the platforms carefully placed at 10-foot intervals seem to ensure that at least part of the structure is man-made.
Some theories suggest that the structures built on Oak Island may have been hundreds, perhaps even thousand of years old when they were discovered in 1795. They may have been built by Vikings visiting the New World, or by the native Micmac people who lived in the region before the Europeans appeared. Perhaps they were built by an advanced civilization that we know nothing about. Indeed the flood tunnel trap built into the pit in some ways reminds one of the false doors and granite plugs found in Egyptian tombs to prevent grave robbing.
If any of the above theories were true why did McGinnis discover the pit in the heart of a clearing? The trees around the money pit must have been cut when it was constructed. Given the rate oak trees grow, that meant someone had built the pit not more than fifty years before McGinnis stumbled across it.
Who would have hidden a treasure between 1745 and 1795? William Crooker, author of several books on the Oak Island mystery, suggests that the pit was built as a part of plot by King George III of England and several of his close advisors. On August 12, 1762, British forces captured the city of Havana, Cuba, from the Spanish. Havana was a rich, important city where much of the gold from the New World was shipped back to Spain. Two shiploads of the captured booty, Crooker suggests, was taken by the Earl of Albemarle to Oak Island. Previously the conspirators had arranged for military engineers to come to the island and build what they thought was a secret ammo dump complete with flood tunnels. Albemarle arrived with the treasure in sealed boxes. The treasure was placed in the pit, the pit was closed, and the engineers departed still thinking they had built an ammo dump.
Albemarle returned to England with the idea of retrieving the treasure later. Something, perhaps the madness that afflicted King George toward the end of his life, prevented getting the booty and it was forgotten about.
Crooker's theory raises another possibility, though. Suppose there is no treasure at all and the pit is simply an old ammo dump? We will only find out for sure when someone comes along who is clever enough, and rich enough, to beat the designer of the money pit and make a thorough investigation of what lies at the bottom.
Badger Bart
Sr. Member
- Mar 24, 2005
- 301
- 18
Believers. Despite there being no evidence for the original story, no evidence of any of what was claimed to have been found, and the story repeated for a hundred years, there are still believers. Oak island has in fact become a religion.
I have been through this OI thing more than once, recently with a friend who apparently has a financial backer, and had invited me to help him and be a part of the corporation formed for the purpose. It pretty much came down to this for reasoning, "all those people can't have been searching for NOTHING, surely something is there, why not just go along for the adventure even if you don't believe. It won't cost you anything, it is someone else's money and a tax write off if they lose it." I said no, it is a waste of time and resources, especially mine. I had shown him a hundred pages of factual data as to why it is a fraud despite all the hype that circulates. Looking beyond all the reason, many choose to believe. I think I may have lost a friend because of it.
After exposing a few frauds in my life, I have learned the patterns that constitute them, and the phenomena that occur within them. After 25 years of claims, there was not one verifiable fact regarding the claims of the one well known scam. Hundreds of claims, thousands of excuses as to why nothing had come to light, dozens of phony, doctored, and fraudulent 'data', along with many claims that could not be disproven, can only point to one thing. I can't and won't disprove claims anymore. They can't or won't prove their own claims.
They are identical in every instance with OI, only the details of the 'story' change. The phenomenon that I referred to is the same also. When the 'investors' realize they have been taken, invariably, they will try to recover their loss by selling their 'secrets', data, or story, to anyone interested. New claims are created, a rock with carving or code. A piece of gold, yada, yada, yada. Where are these items? Well, uh, I don't know, they're gone, lost, disappeared. Despite all the claims, the long and interesting story, not even an old penny has turned up as proof or profit for OI. I just hope it doesn't take another 100 years or more for the nonsense to die off and fade away.
Bart
I have been through this OI thing more than once, recently with a friend who apparently has a financial backer, and had invited me to help him and be a part of the corporation formed for the purpose. It pretty much came down to this for reasoning, "all those people can't have been searching for NOTHING, surely something is there, why not just go along for the adventure even if you don't believe. It won't cost you anything, it is someone else's money and a tax write off if they lose it." I said no, it is a waste of time and resources, especially mine. I had shown him a hundred pages of factual data as to why it is a fraud despite all the hype that circulates. Looking beyond all the reason, many choose to believe. I think I may have lost a friend because of it.
After exposing a few frauds in my life, I have learned the patterns that constitute them, and the phenomena that occur within them. After 25 years of claims, there was not one verifiable fact regarding the claims of the one well known scam. Hundreds of claims, thousands of excuses as to why nothing had come to light, dozens of phony, doctored, and fraudulent 'data', along with many claims that could not be disproven, can only point to one thing. I can't and won't disprove claims anymore. They can't or won't prove their own claims.
They are identical in every instance with OI, only the details of the 'story' change. The phenomenon that I referred to is the same also. When the 'investors' realize they have been taken, invariably, they will try to recover their loss by selling their 'secrets', data, or story, to anyone interested. New claims are created, a rock with carving or code. A piece of gold, yada, yada, yada. Where are these items? Well, uh, I don't know, they're gone, lost, disappeared. Despite all the claims, the long and interesting story, not even an old penny has turned up as proof or profit for OI. I just hope it doesn't take another 100 years or more for the nonsense to die off and fade away.
Bart
SolomonKey
Jr. Member
ERINS
You repeated this from another site:
One summer day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering about Oak Island, Nova Scotia (see Geography) when he came across a curious circular depression in the ground.
Now prove any single part of that opening sentence.
You repeated this from another site:
One summer day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering about Oak Island, Nova Scotia (see Geography) when he came across a curious circular depression in the ground.
Now prove any single part of that opening sentence.
OldBillinUT
Full Member
- Feb 7, 2004
- 153
- 11
One thing that I always wondered about was why none of the searchers ever thought of using caissons as were used during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in the early 1870s. Or perhaps something similar as the technology was available. It was pretty exciting at first to learn about the story but it started to sound hokey the more I thought about it. Some of my own family members lost their lives in another farce similar to this one, a federal agency has blocked access and has or will fill the excavation they were working in. Gasses in the shaft following a shot did them in.
erik12152003
Full Member
I was just looking at oak island and the say there going to try again this year. They where saying some tihng about freezing the ground first then digging 
dont know how thats going to work but sounds like a good idea.
dont know how thats going to work but sounds like a good idea.
kiddrock33
Hero Member
freezing it will stabilize the shaft.
Lafitte
Sr. Member
Badger Bart,
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you.
You state:" with a bit of practice, one can set opinions and conclusions aside and and remain focused on the facts in order to draw logical conclusions."
Others have used the same facts as stated on the website you recommend to draw very different conclusions. Evidence can be viewed as accurate for both sides of a disagreement. This individual's site adamantly dismisses any other outcome than his own. I don't find that logical in itself.
I encourage those interested to check a few other books or websites besides that of a debunker. You'd be surprised that one person's conclusions are quite different from anothers.
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you.
You state:" with a bit of practice, one can set opinions and conclusions aside and and remain focused on the facts in order to draw logical conclusions."
Others have used the same facts as stated on the website you recommend to draw very different conclusions. Evidence can be viewed as accurate for both sides of a disagreement. This individual's site adamantly dismisses any other outcome than his own. I don't find that logical in itself.
I encourage those interested to check a few other books or websites besides that of a debunker. You'd be surprised that one person's conclusions are quite different from anothers.
ncali_treasurehunter
Jr. Member
WELL TRAVEL CHANNEL JUST DID A STORY ON THE TOP TEN LOST TREASURES AND THEY WERE ON THE LIST. IF THESE MECHANISMS WERE BREACHED AND THE WATER FLOODED FROM THE BOTTOM UP IS IT POSSIBLE TO FIND THE UNDERWATER TUNNEL WHERE IT FILLED UP FROM AND TRY TO DIVE AND CHECK IT OUT
ivan salis
Gold Member
- Feb 5, 2007
- 16,794
- 3,809
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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- Detector(s) used
- delta 4000 / ace 250 - used BH and many others too
a very long time ago ---the knight templers order was a very powerful group of nobles (the modern day --masons) they were keepers & protectors of certain "holy relics" of the christian faith--they became very rich and powerful and others became jelious of them--they where betrayed by pope clement (who was appointed pope after prince phillip "the fair" of france bought the favor of the other cardnials) and prince phillip the "fair" of france hated the knights ---having applied and being "rejected" by the order for membership mainly due to his rather greedy ways and unfair dealings with others--( he often used his "office" to push deals thru in "his" favor)---being forewarned of the plot to rob and kill the order and take control of the "holy relics" and the wealth of the order (this is why the order went "under-ground" and became rather "secretive"--the prince upon becoming king of france had spies try to hunt down and kill them so coded phrases and special hand shakes and such were used to indentify one to another--plans were made to safe guard both --the holy objects and the knight templer funds---the holy objects were taken and buried by the best and most skilled craftsmen of engineering known to man at the time ---these men were "charged" with the task of protecting these items at the cost of their very lives and to keep the holy relics out of the grasp of corrupt & evil men--- the oak island pit was design to do just that----leave well enough alone---there are things best left where they are---by the way --they were betrayed on friday the 13th---ever since that day --- friday the 13 th has been concidered cursed "day"---Ivan
Lafitte
Sr. Member
I would point out that the Bay of Fundy is a unique geologic formation. Not found anywhere else "nearby". Check the "wikipedia" website for a quick rundown on it's oddities. 
Rubicon
Sr. Member
Fill the shaft with dye and wait for the outgoing tide. Watch the beach with a helicopter. :P
Question: Have any of the excavators ever made a dime from their backers? I'm sure the money was tracked very well.
Question: Have any of the excavators ever made a dime from their backers? I'm sure the money was tracked very well.
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