With the final week of the season underway, Rick Lagina, Steve Guptill, and geologist Terry Matheson direct the drill rig to borehole C-11.5, positioned north of the OC-1 caisson in an effort to establish a second intersection point with the 1706 wooden tunnel structure the team has been tracking across the Money Pit area. At 68 feet, the core returns possible backfill with traces of burnt material, and at 88 feet the drill rod drops nearly 18 feet into what the team initially hopes may be a large underground void. Terry, however, identifies the soft zone as a natural interglacial clay horizon. By the time the hole reaches its full depth, the cores show only tight, undisturbed maroon siltstone with no indication of man-made structures. Steve logs the data for the team's 3D model while acknowledging C-11.5 as a bust.
On the shoreline of Lot 32 near the southwestern border of the swamp, metal detection expert Gary Drayton and David Fornetti recover a decorated trigger guard from a musket or pistol dating to between 1650 and 1750. Their next find proves even more significant: a lead cloth bag seal, the first ever discovered on Oak Island. In the research center, archaeologist Laird Niven identifies the artifact as a privy seal once clamped around an industrial-size bale of rough fabric such as hemp. The seal bears the initials F and E, a double X pattern, and a symbol resembling the number four that Laird explains is an ancient representation of the sign of the cross, one whose origins have been largely forgotten. Rick notes that the Templars were deeply involved in medieval commerce as bankers and financiers, making a religious symbol on a commercial seal consistent with a possible Templar connection. Gary suggests submitting the lead artifact for laser ablation testing to compare its signature to other lead finds on the island, including the cross discovered at Smith's Cove. Laird dates the seal broadly to between 1300 and 1800.
Along the stone pathway in the uplands near Lot 13, Dr. Aaron Taylor and archaeologist Miriam Amirault continue excavating the cobblestone feature as it runs diagonally uphill away from the swamp. Rick joins the effort and recovers a clay pipe bowl fragment, a piece of annular ware pottery from the early 1760s, and an intact creamware plate base that Aaron dates to approximately 1763, the period when the British introduced the refined lead-glazed earthenware to Nova Scotia. Alex Lagina also assists with the dig as the team works to determine whether the pathway ultimately connects to the Money Pit.
In the War Room, Dr. Ian Spooner presents a proposal to Marty Lagina, Craig Tester, Jack Begley, and Rick via video conference. His idea is a pathfinder water study: because silver coins of the era were only 20 to 30 percent silver with the remainder composed of copper and zinc, any large deposit of treasure buried deep in the Money Pit should be leaching detectable levels of those alloys into the surrounding groundwater. Gold, which does not corrode, would not appear in such tests, but elevated silver alloy signatures would be a strong indicator. The team approves the plan, and Craig Tester, Dan Henskee, Dr. Spooner, chemist Dr. Matt Lukeman from Acadia University, and researchers Nicole Kirkpatrick and Victoria Hopper collect water samples from 12 flooded boreholes across the Money Pit area using a dual-valve sampling bailer.
Two days later, the team gathers in the War Room for the results. Dr. Spooner and Dr. Lukeman report that wells WS-1, WS-2, and WS-9 show copper and zinc levels spiking to ten times the surrounding baseline, and silver has been detected in those same wells. When Doug Crowell asks whether the readings indicate a handful of silver or something larger, Spooner replies that the concentrations point to a massive deposit. Rick, Marty, Alex Lagina, Jack, and the rest of the team absorb what Spooner calls the strongest scientific evidence yet that buried treasure lies within reach of the boreholes the team has been drilling all season.
