The team meets in the War Room to decide where to place the first ten-foot caisson of the year. Of the twenty new boreholes drilled this season, D2 is chosen because of the water testing results showing gold and silver, the wooden structures found there, and the piece of metal recovered at ninety feet that tested positive for gold. Irving Equipment and ROC Equipment will bring in heavy machinery, including a 220-ton crane and a 22.5-ton hammer grab capable of pulling five cubic yards, or 11,000 pounds, of material per scoop. Craig Tester identifies the areas of interest as seventy to one hundred feet deep. Billy Gerhardt will prepare the Money Pit pad with more than 1,150 tons of gravel to stabilize the two-and-a-half-acre site. On Lot 18, east of the Money Pit, Terry Matheson, Brennan McMahon, and Alex Lagina drill Borehole FTS2 in search of the flood tunnel. Two weeks earlier, while drilling Borehole A13, the team hit a void and discovered eelgrass in the core sample. In 1850, eelgrass and coconut fiber were found at Smith's Cove being used to filter seawater entering the flood tunnel. A core from 48 feet reveals soft blue-gray till that could indicate proximity to a structure. At 107 feet, two pieces of worked wood appear, shaped as if by an adze, indicating significant age. Rick arrives and Terry tells him they may have intersected a tunnel. Rick notes the original flood tunnel measured two by three feet, and if they can locate and block it, the discovery could determine where the caissons are placed.
On Lot 32, Rick and Gary Drayton search west of the swamp for artifacts like the lead cargo bag seal, ox shoes, and wharf-related items found there previously. They recover a broken ox shoe, a copper or brass piece bearing part of an inscription or initials, and a coin. Gary spots Britannia on the shield and calls it English. Two 17th-century British coins were found on Lot 13 in 2017 by Gary, Marty, Rick, and Dave Blankenship, and these new finds could support the theory Scott Clarke presented the previous week about Sir William Phips and Andrew Belcher hiding silver on the island in the late 1600s.
In the swamp, Gary, David Fornetti, Peter Fornetti, Michael John, and Billy continue searching for artifacts before swamp work ends for the season. Over the past weeks the team has found numerous pieces resembling parts of a ship and barrel staves. After Gary metal detects the area, Michael finds a piece of shaped wood that will be sent for testing. In the War Room, Craig presents the carbon dating results: the wood dates to 224 to 376 A.D. with 95.4 percent probability. It was found within thirty feet of where the ship's railing was recovered the previous year, and the team discusses whether the ancient wood could have been reused at a later date alongside the railing, which dated to 660 A.D. The pieces will be sent to the University of Alaska for species and country-of-origin analysis.
The first load of equipment for the ten-foot shaft excavation arrives at the Money Pit: a 220-ton crane from New Brunswick, the first of twenty loads that will reach the island. The 22.5-ton hammer grab follows, along with sections of the ten-foot caissons. Vanessa Lucido, Danny Smith, and Jared Busby of ROC Equipment and Michel Ouellette and Andrew Beaulieu of Irving Equipment arrive to help supervise the dig. Vanessa explains that the oversized hammer grab will be less destructive than other excavation methods while bringing up 11,000 pounds of earth with each grab.
