Offline
I initially read about the mysteries of Oak Island and its supposed buried treasure in a Rolling Stone article several years ago and have been intrigued by the story ever since. Unfortunately, I'm unable to find that article online currently - which is more interesting for its engineering theories than its actual treasure hunting aspect. There are many theories as to the contents of the supposed "money pit" including Marie Antoinette's jewels, unseen works of Shakespeare, the treasure of Spanish marauders and the buried treasures of Captain Kidd and Blackbeard. Whatever is down there, if anything at all, someone went to some pretty great lengths to make sure that no one ever found it.
Several excavations have been attempted and are doomed to a similar fate of having the excavation flooded. Many millions of dollars have been spent during these excavations and it has cost no less than six lives. Franklin D. Roosevelt was among one of the workers in one excavation and was apparently quite intrigued by the contents of the pit.
Anyway, I figured I would pass this along on a slow Friday before the week of Christmas. Also, all "treasure trove" excavation on the island must cease on December 31, 2010, so it would seem that unless something is uncovered in the next week, the mystery surrounding the island will be there forever.
http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnpvOV0hGI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnpvOV0hGI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Several excavations have been attempted and are doomed to a similar fate of having the excavation flooded. Many millions of dollars have been spent during these excavations and it has cost no less than six lives. Franklin D. Roosevelt was among one of the workers in one excavation and was apparently quite intrigued by the contents of the pit.
Anyway, I figured I would pass this along on a slow Friday before the week of Christmas. Also, all "treasure trove" excavation on the island must cease on December 31, 2010, so it would seem that unless something is uncovered in the next week, the mystery surrounding the island will be there forever.
According to one of the earliest written accounts, at 80–90 feet (24–27 m), they recovered a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols. Several researchers apparently attempted to decipher the symbols. One translated them as saying: "forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried."<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-Trans002_4-1>[</SUP>
Investors formed The Truro Company in 1849, which re-excavated the shaft back down to the 86 feet (26 m) level, where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft. According to the nineteenth-century account, the drill or "pod auger" passed through a spruce platform at 98 feet (30 m), a 12 inches (300 mm) head space, 22 inches (560 mm) of what was described as "metal in pieces", 8 inches (200 mm) of oak, another 22 inches (560 mm) of metal, 4 inches (100 mm) of oak, another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet (2.1 m) without striking anything else.
The 1931 excavations by William Chappell sank a 163-foot (50 m) shaft 12x14 feet to the southwest of what he believed was the site of the 1897 shaft, close to the original pit. At 127 feet (39 m), a number of artifacts, including an axe, an anchor fluke, and a pick were found. The pick has been identified as a Cornish miner's poll pick. By this time, the entire area around the Money Pit was littered with the debris and refuse of numerous prior excavation attempts, so exactly to whom the pick belonged is unverifiable.
Around 1967, Daniel C. Blankenship and David Tobias formed Triton Alliance, Ltd. and purchased most of the island. In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235 feet (72 m) shaft supported by a steel caisson to bedrock. According to Blankenship and Tobias, cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below recorded the presence of some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and tools; however, the images were unclear, and none of these claims have been independently confirmed.
http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnpvOV0hGI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnpvOV0hGI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>