In this week’s episode of The Curse of Oak Island, the swamp continues to be the most interesting part of the island, and we see some fascinating finds as the evidence for a ship buried in the marshy land begins to mount up.
The guys started the show with their usual enthusiasm. Paul Troutman uttered the now common Oak Island refrain, “let’s follow the clues and see where they lead.”
“Let’s go kick some Oak Island butt,” responded Gary Drayton, never one to mince his words.
The most exciting discoveries this week came from Gary Drayton’s finds from the last couple of weeks.
Marty Lagina, Alex Lagina, and Gary headed up to New Ross, Nova Scotia, to consult with blacksmith expert, Carmen Legge, on the two possible digging tools found two weeks ago, and the iron strap found this week in the swamp.
One of the items was dismissed immediately by Carmen as an old plate of some kind; either way, it wasn’t very exciting.
However, the second item was clearly a digging or mining tool; he said it was a pickaxe that dated from the 1700s and was common in lots of European countries.
“But why use it in the swamp?” he wondered. An excellent question indeed.
Expert Carmen Legge suggests artifact is from a ship
Finally, Gary pulled out of a bag the iron strap he found previously.
“Now, this is interesting,” Carmen said, as a big excitable grin came over Gary’s face. “This is off a sailing ship.”
He very confidently stated that it was a bracket that would have held two timbers together.
Could this mean the ship-shaped anomaly in the swamp is what it appears to be? An ancient treasure ship?
If that wasn’t exciting enough, Carmen pointed out that these brackets were from 1710 to 1790. That was 85 years before the discovery of the Money Pitt, and as Gary pointed out, a time when pirates roamed the high seas.
Carmen had a further revelation; he said the bracket had been in a fierce fire. He said, “if you want to hide a ship, you burn it.”
What on earth were they trying to hide in the swamp?
Marty, Alex, and Gary rushed off to tell the other guys the news; they found them drinking in The Mug and Anchor Pub — the perfect setting for a discussion on piracy and buried treasure.
Old theories that a ship is buried in the swamp
Alex theorizes that the ship ran aground while full of treasure; he suggests that perhaps the crew were unable to unload the cargo, so they decided to hide the whole ship.
Historian Charles Barkhouse then tells the group of the theory that a vessel entered the swamp, was unloaded of treasure and then burnt.
The guys have, of course, been long aware of old Fred Nolan’s belief that a ship was buried in the swamp.
Rick Lagina then theorizes that the paved platform from the swamp might have been a roughshod attempt to get the ship unloaded.
Marty asks Jack Begley if he’s “anxious to get back to digging,” and Jack responds with, “well, there’s got to be more pieces of the ship in the swamp.”
That’s the cue for the end of the meeting. It’s time to follow the clues and see where they lead.
Catch The Curse of Oak Island Tuesday’s at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.