Tonight’s kick off episode of Curse of Oak Island is called “On the Money.” Last year, they had evidence that they were closing in on the treasure at the Garden Shaft.  Digging was discontinued as winter set in.  Honestly, I’m not sure how bad the winter was, but I’m waiting anxiously to see how two hurricanes will later in the season affect the hunt.  But the hurricanes are episodes away and first we must see if there was any damage during the winter on Oak Island.  With commercials of golden glow, will they finally find that dough?  Please let it be more than a nail.

All seem to be happy to be back to solve this over 200 year old mystery.  The question is where should they focus their search.  The Garden Shaft is one area but will the Money Pit or swamp play a role in the uncovering.  It seems the meeting will determine what to do at Marty, Ricky, Craig and the team start the meeting.

Gary Draper is still on a high over last year’s finds.  Gary retells the story and is upset that they had to leave the Garden Shaft.  Here is where they found gold soundings under the structure.  Marty, Rick and Gary became excited, but the weather caused the search to cease.  They’re also going to look at the Baby Blob which is associated with the Garden Shaft.  Gold has been found in those water samples also.  So this is a key area near the Money Pit

So, where else is an area of interest.  Laird Niven will lead the archaeological team which has been expanded.  He has teams that will be working in specific areas like Lot 26 and 5.  The Roman coin and the possible connection to the Portuguese design of a rock circle have raised significant questions including if the circle is connected to 2,000 years ago.  The rocks used in the structure are not from the area and have raised questions.  Was there people on the island before the 1700s.  Then, more information is needed from the waters off the coast.  A dive also is planned. 

Lot Five

On Lot 5, Laird and two staff are setting up a dig of the stone structure with Jack nearby to help.  This seems to be the area of finds tonight.  One of the ladies finds pottery which Laird, an expert in pottery, has never seen.  Jack knows they need to go deeper and more pottery is found.  The date, Laird says, has to be 1600s which points to people being there before the first Money Pit dig in the 1760s.   When Rick and Marty get there, Laird admits he hasn’t seen pottery like this before.  Gary joins in with the metal detector and finds a large iron piece.  Marty points out that vegetation does not grow in the area and he’s wondering if it could be part of a latch. 

The latch is taken to be scanned.  Once Lauren (I believe) finishes the scan, it turns out to be something they’ve never seen before.  It could be a latch but Laird thinks it may be from a river raft.  During the off time, Laird had been contacted by Frank White who wants to have the group look at what he found in Maine.  This, like those artifacts, may be connected to an explorer, Phips, whose ship sank off the coast.  The analysis if a 100 percent similar.  While part of the cargo was recovered, some was rumored to be buried on Oak Island.

While Laird’s group continues at the rock formation, Rick and Gary go to investigate a spot about 100 yards away.  The find is a coin much like what was found last year and suspected to be Roman in origin. The search continues and a second and third coin is found.  At the lab, the coins are found to be from three different periods but all ancient.  One also has markings that could be Templar in origin with marking that Alex found last year.  Once again, the Templar Knights raise a flag for the team.  The next day, Craig, Marty, Rick and Gary continued the search and find an additional coin.  The coincidence is just too profound not to mean something.

A coin expert arrives and reviews the coins.  One is 1500s English, the expert said, but he wants to do more investigation on it.  One is definitely Roman which makes Gary excited.  It could be from between 3 and 300 A.D.  The third one shows a design and it could be from India.  Marty doesn’t see this as making sense.  The fourth coin has a pronounced male face on it and is definitely Roman.  The back has two figures and the coin expert puts it in the B.C. era.  Marty thinks an ancient treasure would have coins from different areas and ancient times.  Rick feels more investigation is needed.  All are thinking of the Templars and what they have seen overseas.  Signs are there from coins to structures but more work will be needed.

The Money Pit Area

While Lot Five is producing some finds, the same can’t be said of the soil samples.  The first two spots seem to be a bust.  Marty suggests that they move to a spot closer to an area investigated last year that had traces of gold.  At the new dig, excitement grows as a large section of wood is found.  Have they finally found the tunnel or the destruction left by a previous dig? 

And the Swamp

The swamp area is next.  The group decides to look for further evidence of a docking area used by early ships before the swamp was made.  Tony, from previous dives, joins Alex and Jack on the boat and will be doing the dive with a underwater camera system.  Nothing can be brought up until Nova Scotia agrees. 

Offshore Jack, Alex, Tony and the ship, head north for the dive.  They are looking for any trace of structure or things of interest.  Tony makes the dive with an underwater camera which will give the team a clear picture.  It’s not long before Tony finds wood.  As he moves toward a rock, pottery and other “trash” is found.  Tony even finds a coin like on that Jack and Gary found from China near or on lot 5.  This would add another angle to the discoveries with the other coins.  Alex thinks this will allow Canada to allow the investigation underwater to continue. 

Next week, it’s more digging and shaft investigations.  With the addition of more crew, there is hope.  At least tonight, they found more coins that nails!