In the war room, Rick and Marty Lagina, Craig Tester and members of the team meet with Dr. Ian Spooner and Dr. Fred Michel to reassess the caisson program. While the previous shafts in the solution channel have been technically successful, none have produced the physical evidence of treasure the team hoped for. Spooner and Michel propose a new target where their underground water and soil testing has detected the highest concentrations of silver and gold in the Money Pit area. Unlike the deeper reaches of the solution channel, which generally bottom out around 215 feet, bedrock at this location sits at approximately 160 feet. The team agrees to proceed, dubbing the new shaft "Michel-Spooner," or MS-1.
In the western swamp, Peter Fornetti, metal detection expert Gary Drayton and heavy equipment operator Billy Gerhardt continue uncovering the sand and cobblestone road. Gary's detector registers an iron signal deep within the feature, and the team recovers an old ox shoe buried roughly a foot below the surface. Gary notes that ox shoes indicate travel and the possible hauling of materials toward the Money Pit, and suggests blacksmith Carmen Legge can determine its age. As Billy traces the road to the edge of their permitted dig area, the feature appears to head toward Center Road, the path following property boundaries drawn by Surveyor General Charles Morris in 1762. Craig raises the possibility that the sand road predates the survey, and Peter suggests a road linking Lot 5 to the Money Pit would explain the connection between the two sites.
Via video conference, Dr. Robert Raeside, a professor of geology at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, presents his analysis of a stoneshot recovered from the Peacock-1 shaft. This type of medieval stone cannonball was replaced by cast iron munitions in the late 15th century. Raeside has also examined two other stoneshots found on the island and believes they may have originated in the Portuguese Azores. Marty states he is 90 percent certain the specimen is a projectile from the 1300s or early 1400s. Jack Begley questions what such an object would be doing near the Money Pit, and historian Doug Crowell suggests those depositing material may have needed armed protection. Alex Lagina notes the growing significance of three nearly identical spherical stones, two recovered from deep in the Money Pit. At the wash plant near Smith's Cove, Derek discovers what appears to be another stoneshot in the MS-1 spoils from more than 100 feet deep, and Charles Barkhouse confirms its resemblance to the earlier finds.
On Lot 8, archaeologists Fiona Steele and Laird Niven work with Craig and Alex to excavate deeper into the cradle-shaped stone feature where traces of silver and a mortar-like material potentially dating to the 13th century have been identified. The team appears to reach the C horizon, the sterile natural soil layer marking the base of cultural activity, though without hitting bedrock they cannot be certain the feature does not extend further. Alex proposes bringing in an excavator nearby to define its boundaries without disturbing the hand-dug section. At MS-1, operators Jared and Josh encounter a hard obstruction between 140 and 150 feet. After breaking through, Scott Barlow identifies possible adze-cut wood among the spoils, but the final buckets from target depth yield only limestone boulders. Rick, joined by Terry Matheson and Peter, acknowledges the disappointment and confirms the next caisson will target the Top Pocket Find location.
With caisson repairs requiring several days, the team gathers for a presentation by Doug Crowell, Emiliano Sacchetti and Judi Rudebusch on the Portuguese connection to Oak Island. Crowell outlines how the death of King Ferdinand I in 1383 triggered a civil war that may have motivated the Order of Christ, the Templar successor organization, to move treasures to safer ground. Emiliano presents maps dating from 1339 to 1385 that already depict the Azores, decades before their official Portuguese discovery in 1427 under Prince Henry the Navigator. Brothers Miguel and Gaspar Corte-Real of the Azores, both Knights of Christ, are rumored to have led undocumented expeditions as far south as Nova Scotia. With the Pitblado coin tied to Portugal and the stoneshots traced to the Azores, Rick and Marty agree to send a group to the islands to investigate the trail further.
