15 APRIL 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® The Oak Island Mystery: Part Three Compiled by Caleb Whitaker, WorldWide Drilling Resource WorldWide Drilling Resource® The Oak Island mystery is a series of excavations completed over two centuries to find possible buried treasure. Following the disbanding of the Onslow Company in 1805, the Money Pit area of Oak Island stayed undisturbed for 40 years. In 1845, one of the members of the original dig, Anthony Vaughan, helped form the Truro Company. With improved funding and organization, the Truro Company returned to the money pit in 1849, beginning the fourth attempt to solve the Oak Island mystery. After two weeks of removing debris and water from the pit, the crew achieved a depth of nearly 90 feet. However, the next day workers were perplexed to find water had returned to a depth of 60 feet. Determined to find a solution, the crew placed a wooden platform over the mouth of the pit and installed a hand auger to drill into the depths below. The auger penetrated a series of strata consisting of 4 inches of oak, followed by 6 inches of spruce, before entering 7 feet of clay. The crew was hopeful this divergence from the usual pattern of log platforms meant a chest containing vast riches was buried just below. When the operators withdrew their probe from the pit, they found three small links of gold chain. The Truro Company sent the auger down for another attempt, reaching a depth of over 110 feet where the auger hit another platform of timbers. No additional gold was retrieved from this drilling, but the device did produce further confirmation of oak and coconut fibers. The crew was convinced drilling had offered enough proof to conclude some sort of cache did lie buried below. In the summer of 1850, the crew devised a plan similar to the Onslow Company’s failed attempt, which included creating a shaft parallel to the original tunnel. At a depth of around 110 feet, the new tunnel would burrow horizontally, thereby entering the Money Pit. However, yet again the new tunnel filled with water. As the crew worked to drain the tunnel, workers made two valuable observations: the water present in the shaft was salty, and the level of the water rose and fell with the tide. They interpreted this to mean the water was either part of a complicated trap or a result of the natural water table. Despite their best efforts, the crew was unable to lower the water level. With little progress being made, the company disbanded the following year. Throughout much of the 19th century, different treasure hunting groups conducted several similar attempts using shafts and drilling boreholes. Discoveries included several curious items including the bottom of a yellow dish, a piece of juniper worked at either end of the wood, oak timber, and a spruce slab scarred by the hole left by a drilling auger, but no treasure. In 1897, a group called Oak Island Treasure Company set out to acquire the presumed fortune. After only moderate success in draining the Money Pit, the team followed their predecessors by relying on drilling to uncover whatever was buried. The team drilled to a depth of around 130 feet. They encountered a five-inch layer of oak, then hit an impenetrable iron surface. The workers extracted the drill pipe and found it crushed on one side, indicating it had hit the edge of the iron obstruction. The men moved their drill one foot from the initial hole, then commenced a second borehole using a drilling chisel. At around 150 feet, the drill seemed to encounter a soft metal. The drill operator found the metal could be moved slightly, forming a crevice where the drill would get stuck. After strenuous work to drill a few more feet down hole, the drill hit a similar kind of soft metal. The chisel embedded into the material and couldn't be turned or driven down, so the drill was withdrawn. Despite drilling through a layer thought to be loose metal or bars of metal, the men only found pieces of coconut fiber, oak splinters, and loose debris. At first, this appeared to be no different than previous attempts; however, among the dirt and rubble, a surprising discovery was made - a piece of parchment with the letters "VI" written on one side of the material. Excavations at the Money Pit during the late 1800s. ENV
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