SEASON 13, EPISODE 22, “ROAD TRIP” EPISODE ANALYSIS BY DANIEL SPINO

Apr 15
9 min read

The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel

In this week’s episode, “ROAD TRIP”, the show began at the WAR ROOM, where the Oak Island Team met with Dr. Ian Spooner and Dr. Fred Michel to discuss the location of the next caisson to be installed. The Doctors were asked where they would put a caisson down to look for the precious metals they believe reside at the bottom of the Solution Channel. They said that the caisson should be put down where the highest readings have occurred, which is in the immediate traditional Money Pit area. This is where there have been high traces of metals that Dr. Spooner suggests is not natural. Dr. Michel was asked what depth they would expect to find these metals, he said about 160 Feet. Preparations would be underway to begin the operation.

The action shifted to THE MONEY PIT AREA, where the Oak Island Team is beginning their operation in the new borehole MS-1. The new borehole is named this because of a combination of Michel and Spooner. Drilling began and the team reached a depth of 40 Feet. It was mentioned that water tests suggest this area was the location of the ingredients of coins. The team hoped that they can finally locate the fabled treasure.

We were then taken to the WESTERN SWAMP AREA, where the Oak Island Team continued its operation at this location which indicated a road was once laid. The team continued to find the sand road leading in a westerly direction. After some digging another wooden stake is found. It is eight sided and decayed. It was mentioned that these stakes would lead the team to the Knights Templar. After some more searching, Metal Detectorist Gary Drayton found a piece of an Ox Shoe. Gary believed it was old and found deep, about a foot down in the ground. He mentioned it looked rough and less finished. The team would consult with blacksmith Carmen Legge for his opinion of its dating and style and it would be sent to the Lab for further testing and analysis.

The action then took us to the WAR ROOM, where the Oak Island team met with Dr. Robert Raeside, Professor of Geology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Dr. Raeside was asked to analyze the stone shot that was found in the Peacock Area. Dr. Raeside previously tested the other stone shot samples and this time cut the most recent shot in half, took a sample and tested it. He stated that the rock is called Anorthosite and originated from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence through Newfoundland to Labrador area. The team then speculated that it could have been brought by the Portuguese who explored those same areas. Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real were early 16th-century Portuguese explorers who vanished during separate voyages to Newfoundland. Also mentioned was João Fernandes Lavrador, a Portuguese explorer of the late 15th century. He was the first known modern explorer to investigate the coasts of the Northeast of Northern America, including Labrador.

We were then taken to LOT 8, where the Oak Island Team continued its exploration of the area beneath the boulder. Archeologists Fiona Steele and Laird Niven continued their work in the “Cradle”. They have dug down and have encountered orange colored soil and further down, dark organic soil. They suspect that they have reached the C-Horizon which would be the bottom layer of the area before bedrock. This area is typically noted to be free of any type of artifacts. The team has agreed to investigate the sides to see if perhaps there is a tunnel or structure beneath that area.

We were then taken to back to the WESTERN SWAMP AREA, where the Oak Island team continued its exploration of the apparent Sand Road. The team is close to edge of the area they are allowed to investigate with their current permit. After some more digging, another stake was found, which suggested a pattern going in that direction. It was then mentioned that the 1762 Survey of Oak Island may have been based on the road. The question the team was pondering was the road Pre or Post Survey. The team planned to take a cross section of Center Road to see if there is an old road beneath it. Please see the Analysis for more information.

We were then taken back to the MONEY PIT AREA, where the Oak Island team continued its drilling in the MS-1 Borehole. The team has reached a depth of 140 feet when they encountered resistance in pushing the can down into the hole. They tried to push it down as far as possible but encountered an obstruction. The spoils were inspected and a piece of wood was found. It appeared to be adze cut. This suggested to them it was old. The team mentioned that the drill was chewing on something, hard material in the 140 to 150 depth. It was then asked if this was a natural or manmade obstruction. The team would continue to work to clear the obstruction.

The action then went to the WASH PLANT, where the Oak Island team continued to go through the spoils of the PC-1 Borehole. Derek Couch and Charles Barkhouse were working on the conveyor belt when Derek found what appeared to be another stone shot. This would be the second found in the Money Pit area, with another in the Peacock area, and another found on Lot 15. This stone shot would be sent to the Lab for further testing and analysis. If found to be shot, it would also most certainly be sent to Dr. Raeside at Acadia University for testing to determine the origin of the rock used to make it.

We were then taken back to the MONEY PIT AREA, where the Oak Island team continued their work in the MS-1 Borehole. The team broke through the obstruction and reached a depth of 150 Feet. The team then encountered limestone boulders but no artifacts and no wood was discovered. The team determined that they could go no farther and were disappointed that they did not find anything of significance other than the potential stone shot. It was decided that they would go back to TPF-1 and try to continue that dig there even though they encountered stability and backfill issues previously. The equipment needed some repairs so it would take several days to complete the repairs before the next operation began.

The episode concluded in the WAR ROOM where the Oak Island team met to discuss their plans for an upcoming trip to the Azores. The team talked about the Portuguese coin and stone shot as evidence of Portuguese involvement on Oak Island. The coin in particular was detailed as it was minted somewhere between 1367 and 1383. In 1383, King Ferdinand I of Portugal died and a two-year civil had occurred over succession. It was then speculated that the Knights of Christ could have moved a treasure to North America, specifically Oak Island. It was mentioned that the Azores were not officially settled by the Portuguese until 1427. Although several old maps were produced from 1339 to 1380 that appear to show the Azores on them. The team suggested this could mean that a Templar treasure was taken there and then on to Oak Island. This seemed to justify to them that a trip to the Azores to investigate would be warranted. It was mentioned that scouting of the location had occurred and they would look at artifacts, visit locations and talk to experts. Until next week…….

DANIEL’S ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY:

During this week’s episode, there are four areas of interest touched on in the episode that this author would like to mention. The first is the scene in the War Room where Dr. Ian Spooner suggested that the precious metal readings in the water in the Solution Channel were not natural. This has long been a contention due to the methodology that he used to come to that conclusion. The reasoning that Dr. Spooner used is that no known precious metals naturally occur on Oak Island and the readings are too high. This is not a good, thorough scientific analysis in this author’s opinion. It’s clear by past findings that natural gold and silver occur in the ground on Oak Island. It has been documented that these metals have been found at various points in history. It is also established that the entire area of Mahone Bay and neighboring Lunenburg have had natural gold and silver deposits, making such deposits on all around Oak Island and very likely.

Next, the team reached the end of its permitted search in the Western Swamp area as they follow what appears to be a sand and rock lined road. The team initially attributed this road to treasure depositing activity by the Knights Templar. This author suggested last week it was more than likely the survey line that was made in 1762. It has been documented that these survey lines were boundary markers for the Lots on Oak Island and it seemed to match up perfectly with the boundary line that separated the northern and southern lots on the island. This week Craig Tester mentioned the survey information but the question of did the road come before the survey marker line was made. It seems quite clear that the survey line laid the foundation for part of Center Road on the island as it extends in the same exact direction and position. At a certain point Center Road curves Northeast, which seems likely to have been done to bypass the Swamp. A cross section of Center Road should confirm this idea.

The Oak Island Archeological team continued working in the cradle area on Lot 8. In last week’s episode it showed that Fiona was working and discovered some black material. After conferencing with Geologist Dawn Herrington, she mentioned that Fiona must have hit the Meguma Slate layer on the western side of the island, which is very thin. Fiona mentioned hitting two layers but Dawn said that they were “not layers, just slate bedding planes in the Meguma.” This was in Episode 21 featured in the first picture. Last night in Episode 22, the exact same scene was shown but apparently before last week’s episode and slate was not shown. It was also stated that they had not hit bedrock yet. It seems this was just unordered editing to suggest the possibility there was something still down below the cradle area. It seems clear, as evidenced by the material that was found under the boulder initially, that it was a site of rock mining and smelting at some point that was obscured by the miners. This was certainly not a natural feature. Why was this mining activity hidden? I would speculate that it would kill the treasure hunting narrative that was being used to generating funds to mine for gold and silver on Oak Island.

Lastly, this entire Season 13, the Portuguese coin that was allegedly found in the Money Pit, has been a driving force for this year’s work. Although this author does believe there is evidence to suggest that the Portuguese may have been on Oak Island, this coin is not one of them. The reason for this is because the coin’s provenance is in serious question. Steve Salomon presented the coin to the team and stated he thought it was what James Pitblado found on the auger bit that was pulled out of the Money Pit in 1849. This author has learned that this coin was in the possession of Salomon’s mother-in-law in her jewelry box. After her death it went to the Salomon’s. It was said it was found on Oak Island, but no other details were given. Salomon then speculated that the coin could have been what Pitblado found on the auger. This morphed into more fact than speculation on the show. While its theoretically possible, there is not enough evidence to substantiate that it was found on Oak Island, let alone coming from the Money Pit.

The old mystery show, “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy used to have this disclaimer before every episode, “This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.”

Please follow our weekly episode analyses during Season 13, along with articles from the original “Compendium/Blockhouse Blog”, and special investigations and features involving Oak Island. Feel free to reach out to us for questions, comments, information and any theories to our email, theoakislandcompendium@gmail.com

Good day from Daniel of the Compendium!