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 descends and conditions make further hand-digging impractical. Rick and Marty agree to bring in archaeologist Laird Niven to examine the feature before proceeding. Niven inspects the site and confirms it does not appear natural, noting that rocks have been removed and at least one side may extend laterally, consistent with a tunnel entrance. He recommends a formal archaeological permit before any further excavation, and the team agrees to disclose the find to the Nova Scotia authorities.
At the Money Pit, Rick and Jack meet with Lorne Flowers and the Irving Equipment crew to plan the major excavation. The operation will require 100-ton and 300-ton cranes positioned around two approximately 40-inch-wide steel-reinforced caissons targeting the most promising sites at depth. The ground must be levelled, reinforced with surge rock and geogrid to support the crane weight, and a new access road constructed. Rick stresses the need to keep the footprint as small as possible, referencing the destruction caused by Robert Dunfield's 1965 dig as an example of what to avoid. The crew from Brycon Construction will handle the earthwork before the cranes arrive.
Rick, Charles Barkhouse, and Doug Crowell return to New Ross, roughly 20 miles north of Oak Island, where professional diver Tony Sampson prepares to explore the stone well at the suspected Templar castle property. Using a Bosun's chair rig with safety diver Mike Huntley on standby, Sampson descends and finds a carved triangle with what appears to be an eye in the centre on the stones partway down the well, a symbol consistent with the Eye of Providence associated with both the Freemasons and, some researchers argue, the Knights Templar. Underwater, Sampson identifies what he believes is a Broad Arrow, also known as the King's Mark, engraved into the stone. Doug Crowell points out that both a triangle and an arrow symbol appear on the 90-foot stone found in the Oak Island Money Pit. The bottom of the well turns out to be rough with large rocks rather than the fitted flagstone floor the camera had suggested, though significant debris obscures a full assessment.
The episode takes a somber turn when Rick informs the team that fellow landowner and longtime treasure hunter Fred Nolan has died. A land surveyor who spent more than six decades searching Oak Island, Nolan discovered Nolan's Cross, explored the triangular swamp extensively, and catalogued numerous carvings and artifacts over 40 to 50 years of fieldwork. Marty, Rick, Craig Tester, and Dave Blankenship visit Dan Blankenship to deliver the news. Dan recalls first meeting Nolan in 1965, and the team reflects on the fact that between them, Nolan and Blankenship represented 110 years of dedicated search. Dan responds with characteristic resolve, and Rick invokes the phrase siempre avante: always forward.
