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Season 4 of The Curse of Oak Island (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)

The Curse of Oak IslandSeason 4

Bigger Digging

15 Episodes • Nov 15 – Feb 28, 2017

Written by Corjan Mol, author & Historical Researcher, Oak Island Team

Artifacts found and discussed in Season 4

27 artifacts were found or discussed in Season 4.

All 27 artifacts

Season 4 in brief

Armed with a two-million-dollar budget, the team launches its most ambitious Money Pit excavation to date, sinking massive five-foot-wide steel caissons deep into the earth. The C-1 shaft punches into a 21-foot void at 171 feet, where divers encounter murky water and tantalizing metal detector hits. Meanwhile, the team visits the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, uncovering documents that prove the future president was personally invested in the Oak Island mystery. Research into former landowner Samuel Ball, an enslaved man who became a wealthy citizen after settling on the island, raises questions about what he may have found. The season ends with four shafts drilled but the treasure still just out of reach.

Key events

  • Zena Halpern's 1347 map, treasure chest corner plate at 160 ft, Spanish galleon nail (1575-1600), McGinnis cross (1550-1700), metal sheets at 154 ft

Key people

  • Rick Lagina
  • Marty Lagina
  • Craig Tester
  • Alex Lagina
  • Dave Blankenship
  • Dan Blankenship
  • Charles Barkhouse
  • Doug Crowell
  • Laird Niven
  • Jack Begley
+ 4 more
  • Dan Henskee
  • Peter Fornetti
  • John Chatterton (diver)
  • Zena Halpern

The underground works of Season 4

7 holes and 5 tunnels and areas appear in Season 4 episodes, the deepest hole at 235 ft (10-X). Bars share one scale, 0 to 240 ft.

All 7 holes

Tunnels and areas

All 5 tunnels and areas
Open the full borehole map

Research behind the season

Dan Blankenship and Borehole 10-X (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)
The Hunt

Dan Blankenship and Borehole 10-X

Dan Blankenship gave up everything for Oak Island. In 54 years he drilled the deepest shaft, survive...

Fred Nolan, the Oak Island Surveyor (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)
The Hunt

Fred Nolan, the Oak Island Surveyor

Fred Nolan surveyed every inch of Oak Island, bought a quarter of it for $2,500, and spent 58 years ...

Oak Island Flood Tunnels and Box Drains: The Water Trap (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)
The Evidence

Oak Island Flood Tunnels and Box Drains: The Water Trap

The box drains at Smith's Cove look real. The coconut fibre is confirmed. But has anyone ever actual...

All 15 episodes of Season 4

1 Episode 1 Going for Broke Rick and Marty Lagina return to Oak Island with a two-million-dollar budget and a mandate to excavate the Money Pit. In the War Room, the team sets the season's priorities: sink large-diameter steel caissons into two target sites at the Money Pit, drain the triangular swamp under the new cooperation agreement with fellow landowner Fred Nolan, and settle the lingering debate over Borehole 10-X.… 2 Episode 2 Always Forward Jack Begley continues excavating the rectangular depression near Dave Blankenship's property on Lot 22, the site that aligns with the so-called hatch marked on Zena Halpern's 1347 French map of Oak Island. Digging through what appears to be bedrock chiseled by hand, Jack reaches a solid surface that sounds hollow when struck, possibly wood beneath layers of mud and slate. The hole narrows as it… 3 Episode 3 Swamp Things Rick Lagina, Dave Blankenship, and Charles Barkhouse return from Fred Nolan's funeral, where roughly 100 people gathered to honour the veteran surveyor who first came to Oak Island in 1958 and was later invited to survey the island in 1961 by landowner M.R. Chappell. Rick reads a tribute to surveyors in Nolan's memory. In the War Room, the team discusses the practical implications of Nolan's… 4 Episode 4 No Stone Unturned The first pieces of the massive drilling equipment arrive at Oak Island as preparations for the Money Pit excavation enter their final phase. Multiple low-float rigs deliver components for 100-ton and 300-ton cranes along with 60-foot steel caissons and the oscillator that will grind them into the earth. Rick and Marty Lagina bring 93-year-old Dan Blankenship to the cleared and levelled Money Pit… 5 Episode 5 Bullseye The first of several five-foot-wide, 30,000-pound steel caissons begins grinding into the earth above the Valley 3 target, the site where Rick Lagina and Craig Tester believe the Chappell Vault lies roughly 143 feet underground. In 1897, treasure hunters William Chappell and Frederick Blair located what they described as a seven-foot-tall wooden box covered in concrete at that depth, and their… 6 Episode 6 Circles in Wood With the Valley 3 caisson sitting on what appears to be a wooden structure at roughly 143 feet, Rick and Marty Lagina must decide how to proceed without destroying whatever lies inside. The team first attempts an airlift method, pumping air into the shaft to lower the water level and potentially force artifacts to the surface. The results confirm a direct connection to an enormous source of… 7 Episode 7 All That Glitters With Valley 3 now confirmed as Mel Chappell's 1930s searcher tunnel rather than the Chappell Vault, the team shifts its full attention to Borehole C-1, located 20 feet northwest. The massive steel caissons continue grinding toward the 21-foot-deep void detected at approximately 171 feet, where last season Rick Lagina and Charles Barkhouse spotted a shiny gold-coloured object on an underground… 8 Episode 8 The Mystery of Samuel Ball A high-resolution camera descends the C-1 shaft for the first time since the caisson broke through into the 21-foot void at 171 feet. The water is remarkably clear compared to the perpetually murky conditions in Borehole 10-X. At the cavity walls, the team spots an anomalous feature with what appears to be a 90-degree angle, a shape rarely found in nature and potentially evidence of man-made… 9 Episode 9 Echoes from the Deep Geophysicist and sonar expert Brian Abbott returns to Oak Island to conduct a new scan of the chamber at the bottom of Borehole 10-X, the 235-foot shaft northeast of the Money Pit. In 2014, Abbott's previous scan identified several targets in the chamber, including one he assessed at 90 percent confidence as a man-made chest roughly two and a half feet by two feet. However, when John Chatterton… 10 Episode 10 About Face John Chatterton returns to the C-1 shaft for a third dive into the cavity at 170 feet, carrying an underwater metal detector to replicate the hits reported by Mike Huntley. Visibility has deteriorated further since the previous dives, with thick clouds of stirred-up clay silt reducing sight to near zero. Despite methodical sweeps of the walls, ceiling, and floor, Chatterton registers no metal… 11 Episode 11 Presidential Secrets The airlift operation at Borehole 10-X begins in earnest, with Irving Equipment pumping compressed air down a pipe to the bottom of the 235-foot shaft to force water, sediment, and any objects up to the surface. Dan Blankenship, who first drilled the borehole in the early 1970s and has long maintained he saw evidence of wooden posts, a large chest, antique tools, and possibly human remains on his… 12 Episode 12 Hyde Park & Seek At the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Rick and Alex Lagina continue reviewing the archives with Paul Troutman and Doug Crowell. A document from Duncan Harris, Roosevelt's Harvard classmate and personal Oak Island liaison, reveals the specific theory that drove FDR's interest: a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette was reportedly ordered to smuggle the queen's gold and jewels out of… 13 Episode 13 One of Seven Drilling begins on the T-1 shaft, the team's third and final Money Pit excavation for the season, at a location chosen by Craig Tester based on historical records placing the Chappell shaft south of the original Money Pit and at least four feet from the old Hedden shaft. Progress is slightly ahead of schedule, with the caisson reaching 82 feet and the excavation at 75 feet. A striking anomaly… 14 Episode 14 Of Sticks and Stones At the T-1 shaft, the hammer grab continues bringing up material from depths beyond 100 feet. Craig Tester is particularly intrigued by a piece of wood recovered at approximately 102 feet that features a peg and a wedge shape clearly cut by hand. A second piece, recovered around 118 feet, is far denser, darker, and heavier than anything else found this season, with a foul odour and an extremely… 15 Episode 15 Blood Is Thicker The GAL-1 shaft, named after Rick and Marty's parents George and Ann Lagina, is the team's fourth and final exploration hole of the season. Positioned seven feet south and four feet west of the Valley 3 bottom hole based on drilling consultant Greg Dwyer's debris-field analysis, the shaft is designed to intersect the scatter zone created when the Money Pit collapsed toward Shaft Number Six in…

Keep exploring Season 4

Deepest hole 10-X 235 ft, on the borehole map Top artifact Copper coin, pre-1816 (Lot 6, Samuel Ball property) See the full record Research Dan Blankenship and Borehole 10-X Read the analysis
Season 4

Frequently Asked Questions

Question One

How many episodes does Season 4 have?

Season 4 of The Curse of Oak Island has 15 episodes, which aired on the History Channel from November 15, 2016 to February 28, 2017. Every episode has its own summary page, listed below.

Question Two

What was found in Season 4?

Artifacts recorded as found in or discussed during Season 4 include Copper coin, pre-1816 (Lot 6, Samuel Ball property), Dandy button, Flat Stone with Hooked X. This page lists all 27, each with its own record.

Question Three

Which holes were drilled or discussed in Season 4?

Season 4 episodes refer to 7 holes on Oak Island, including 10-X, GAL-1, C-1. The deepest record of the season is 10-X, at 235 feet. Each links to its record on the Money Pit borehole map.

Written by
Corjan Mol
Corjan Mol Author & Historical Researcher, Oak Island Team since 2019 TheCurseOfOakIsland.com
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