Scott Barlow and Charles Barkhouse meet with Roger Fortin of Dumas Contracting to check on the Garden Shaft, where probe drilling is under way to reach the tunnel believed to lie at a depth of 95 feet. The tunnel runs through the Baby Blob, where the highest concentrations of gold were found in water samples. When the next rod takes the drill to 95 feet, Scott calls Rick Lagina to report they have hit something that sounded like wood. Rick and members of the team arrive, and Roger explains that the probe struck what appeared to be a wooden structure. A sewer camera is lowered through a casing installed to prevent collapse, and the feed reveals wood embedded in clay. Marty Lagina suggests filling the hole with urethane to stabilize it before drilling resumes. Two days later the team returns, and the drill advances about two inches before stopping on something hard. Wood recovered from the bit is enough for carbon dating, and the team plans to come back with a six-inch drill bit to push through.
In the War Room, Rick reports on the trip taken to Italy by himself, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, and Peter Fornetti. For two weeks the group was guided by Italian researcher Emiliano Sacchetti to sites known as strongholds for the Knights Templar, where caves may have been used to hide treasures later transported to the New World during the 12th to 14th centuries. The team found several Templar carvings that have also appeared on Oak Island and toured a cave system designed in the shape of the lead cross found in Smith's Cove in 2017. At the Santa Maria Nuova church in Viterbo, Alex discovered the Latin letters HIC carved on a pillar and proposed that with a few pen strokes the letters could be transformed into the symbols on the HO stone, yielding the message "Here Templar Gold." The HO stone was found on Oak Island in the 1920s but was destroyed by searchers who believed treasure lay buried beneath it.
At the swamp, Rick and members of the team inspect the stone ramp that was cleared during the previous two weeks. The ramp appears to connect the paved area, dated to the 1200s, to the stone pathway along the eastern edge. Dr. Ian Spooner tells Rick the ramp shares characteristics with the cobble path and that organic matter found beneath the stones can be dated. Gary Drayton recovers what he identifies as a brass doorknob, possibly from a ship's cabinet, from the last scoop of spoils. Billy Gerhardt excavates toward the eastern edge of the ramp until he hits stone, and Jack Begley, Steve Guptill, and Alex dig down to C-horizon, establishing the ramp's boundary.
On Lot 5, archaeologist Laird Niven and Jack continue excavating the circular stone structure near the area where a half Roman coin and a possible barter token were found. Jack recovers a piece of red earthenware on the outside of the feature that Laird identifies as a fired clay pottery common in Europe and North America between the 17th and 18th centuries and that went out of style by the 1750s. Laird then finds a second piece inside the feature, leading him to conclude the structure was built, occupied, abandoned, and later filled in with rocks and pottery. The early pottery on Lot 5 could mark one of the earliest occupations on the island. When Rick, Marty, and Alex arrive for an update, the group discusses whether this could be the Hatch noted on Zena Halpern's map, a possible opening to a tunnel.
By video conference, Professor of Geochemistry Dr. Chris McFarlane presents laser ablation results on the lead barter token. The artifact carries a thick crust indicating it has been buried for hundreds of years, and its isotope values closely match those of the lead cross. The team discusses the token's proximity to the circular stone feature and the possibility that it was once inside the structure. McFarlane will continue analyzing the lead to narrow the origin.
