Читать книгу The Unsolved Oak Island Mystery 3-Book Bundle - Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe - Страница 6

When Dad, Mom, and the boys returned from travelling with the circus, my husband and I expected Dad to go right back to work for Stelco, but he amazed us with the news that he was going to dig for treasure on Oak Island, and that Mom and the boys were going with him. It sounded utterly fantastic to me.

In 1959 I had never heard of Canada’s famous “Treasure Island.” For more than two hundred years, treasure hunters have come to the island, fortunes have been spent mounting recovery operations, and men have died, all for the belief that deep within Oak Island is locked a treasure so vast that it cannot be calculated. Some claim the treasure consists of gold, silver, and jewels; others believe that sacred documents or religious artifacts lie buried there.

Those beliefs are not inspired by the booty that has made its way to the surface during the years of searching, for no treasure has been recovered from Oak Island except for a few links of gold chain and a scrap of parchment bearing the letters “vi.” What fires the imagination and spurs search after search is undeniable evidence that beneath the surface of Oak Island lies a subterranean network of shafts, pits, tunnels, and caverns that are man-made. When searchers dug into the first shaft in 1804, they found indications that it held a treasure. Ever since, that shaft has been referred to as the Money Pit. Each time anyone digs in or near the Money Pit, sea water surges in with such overwhelming force that it destroys the recovery work, thereby safeguarding the treasure of Oak Island. The elaborate underground system that creates this flood must have taken many men many years to construct. Its existence makes no sense at all unless it was designed to secure something of tremendous value. This incredible engineering feat, designed hundreds of years ago, remains unsurpassed and undefeated. That is what draws an endless procession of treasure hunters to Oak Island despite the lack of treasure found so far. Which of us will be the first to finally break through to that fantastic motherlode?

The discoveries made by each group of searchers act as a lure to the next. And that next group, armed now with even more tantalizing information, sets out confident that they will be the ones to at last unlock the treasure of Oak Island. And so it has gone for more than two centuries. During that time, much knowledge has been gained, but all at tremendous cost.

What kind of discoveries are so compelling that they act as the motivation for search after search when there is no material reward, not even any substantial proof of treasure? That is easier to understand if I take you on an imaginary walking tour of Oak Island. Throughout more than two hundred years of searching, each team of treasure hunters has made well-documented discoveries; as a result, we now have the benefit of considerable hindsight. Using information gained by those searchers, let’s try to imagine Oak Island as it must have been in 1750, after the treasure was in the ground but before any treasure hunters disturbed it.

Oak Island is less than one mile long by half a mile wide and lies only three hundred feet from the small town of Western Shore on the east coast of Nova Scotia. Almost all of the work in searching for treasure has occurred at the south end of the island, furthest away from the mainland.

Imagine that we sail in from the Atlantic Ocean through Mahone Bay and land on the beautiful beach of Smith’s Cove on the eastern coastline of Oak Island, almost at its southern tip. Walking inland on the sandy beach of Smith’s Cove, we find that beyond the beach the land rises fairly steeply ahead of us from sea level up to a height of thirty-two feet. At that height there is a plateau about three hundred feet across. When we walk to the other side of the plateau, we see that the land drops sharply down to sea level in a cove on the western coastline of the island. This is South Shore Cove. By traversing the south end of the island from Smith’s Cove up, across the plateau, and down to South Shore Cove, we have covered all the parts of Oak Island that have fascinated treasure hunters since 1795.

If we stand in the centre of the plateau we see a tree with a block and tackle hanging from a lower limb, and under that a depression in the earth. Digging down, we uncover previously dug earth to a depth of ten feet. Under that we find planking made of tightly fitted logs. Surely treasure chests lie below. But no, under the logs we dig through ten more feet of earth, only to find beneath it another layer of logs. Again and again we uncover ten feet of previously dug earth, then a layer of logs. At ninety feet down we find a large inscribed stone that tells of a fortune buried below.

We realize that we have been digging in a man-made hole or shaft (the Money Pit) and that the layers of logs and earth must have been placed there to prevent settling of the earth so that no signs of excavation would be evident on the surface.

If we were able to remove the inscribed stone and to set a drilling rig on the earth beneath it, our drill might pass through oak chests filled with gold at a depth of 104 feet, we might feel the drill pass through a cavity in the earth that must surely be the entrance to a tunnel at 154 feet, and at a depth of 170 feet we might come to an iron plate that stops us from going further. Measuring from the surface of the plateau, we realize that our Money Pit is at least 170 feet deep, and all but the top 32 feet of it is below sea level.

But we will not be able to remove the inscribed stone and make those discoveries beneath it, for the Money Pit contains an ingenious booby trap. Once we have cleared the pit of earth and logs down to a depth of ninety feet, sea water floods in with a mighty force and fills the pit where we were digging up to sea level. This is because those who were responsible for burying the treasure protected it by constructing a tunnel system that causes water from Smith’s Cove with many pounds of pressure behind it to burst in and obliterate any interference with the Money Pit. If we were to pump out the Money Pit, we would find that sea water continues to rush in at 450 gallons per minute.

To fully understand the magnitude of the sea water inlet tunnel, we need to go back to Smith’s Cove, where we landed. Hidden under the water in the sandy bottom of the cove are five box-style drains. Those five drains are protected by layers of first tightly packed stones, then eel grass, then coconut fibre, then two feet, six inches of beach sand. The drains make their way inland under the beach and eventually converge into a single drain constructed in keystone formation. This travels 525 feet inland from Smith’s Cove through the hard clay of the island, sloping downwards until it connects with the Money Pit at a depth of roughly 110 feet. Along its way, it changes from a single keystone drain to a tunnel four feet in diameter that is kept from collapsing by boulders placed within it. The drains and tunnel ensure that every time anyone digs down the Money Pit or digs a new hole near it, sea water breaks through and sweeps away their work. There is a sketch of a cross-section of the Money Pit and inlet tunnel (see Figure 1). Be aware that anything beneath 110 feet in the Money Pit is assumption. The layers of previously dug earth and log planking in the Money Pit, the stone with markings that purportedly tell of a treasure buried below, the connecting sea water inlet tunnel, the keystone drain, and the five box-style drains have all been seen by various treasure hunters since 1795 as they attempted to retrieve Oak Island’s treasure. However, the chests of gold, walk-in tunnel, and iron plate may not exist; they have been deduced from drill core samples or from traces of wood, metal, or clay left on a drill bit.

The original work on Oak Island is ingenious. All that we know of it we learned through the efforts of a series of treasure hunters who, in their attempts to reach the treasure, laid bare parts of the original beach work in Smith’s Cove as well as shafts and tunnels in the island. But these searches by party after party have left the island honeycombed with shafts and tunnels. My brother Bobby wrote a summary of discoveries made by the various treasure hunting parties that came before the Restalls. His account appears in Chapter 13. Some readers may prefer to read that section now.

Figure 1: Cross-section of Money Pit and Smith’s Cove.

OAK ISLAND

Aerial photograph courtesy Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations NS Geomatics Centre 160 Willow St. Amherst, NS B4H 3W5

People often comment that surely with modern machinery and technological know-how, if there were a treasure it would have been raised by now. Perhaps when you read this you will appreciate the way that the brilliantly designed sea water inlet system, treasure hunters, and Mother Nature herself have inadvertently conspired to keep the treasure safe.

Anyone can dig for treasure. But to keep anything you find, you’ll need a Treasure Trove Licence issued by the government. In Oak Island’s case, that is the government of Nova Scotia. This licence gives you permission to keep 95 percent of what you find. The other 5 percent goes to the government. Of course, you will also need the permission of the person who owns the land you want to dig on. When my family got involved with Oak Island, the land was owned by Mel R. Chappell of Sydney, Nova Scotia, and he held the Treasure Trove Licence for Oak Island.

Dad had read about Oak Island in a Popular Science magazine back in 1939. It was a dazzling tale. Throughout the years, numerous magazine and newspaper articles appeared, serving to keep his interest alive. One day he decided the time had come to take action. He began to correspond with Chappell.

Chappell had already, with a partner, mounted his own search for treasure on Oak Island, as had his father and uncle before him. By the time Chappell’s own search faltered, he no doubt reasoned that his family had sunk enough money into Oak Island. Now he was ready to let others shoulder the cost of recovery operations while he collected a share of whatever they found.

When my father got involved with Oak Island, Chappell was in his seventies, in poor health, and desperate to see the treasure raised within his lifetime. Chappell truly believed Oak Island held a vast treasure and he wanted it found — not only for its fabulous monetary value but also to vindicate his father, uncle, and himself for the huge financial sacrifices they had made during their own searches.

Chappell was besieged by would-be treasure hunters. My father was just one of many. I found Chappell’s first letter to my father among the family papers.

November 7th, 1955

Dear Sir:

Your letter under date of October 31st received and the content is quite interesting to me. I would gather that you have known of Oak Island and the Treasure Seeking there for some time.

You mentioned visiting the Island in October. I am wondering whether it was before Mr. Greene had ceased his operations for the season. He finished up his work for the Fall about ten days ago, the last three days being very dirty, miserable weather with snow, sleet, rain, hail, and high winds, and the following week, right up to the present has been very dirty, raw, cold weather.

The most intriguing part to me of your communication is that you feel that “now” is the time to start work. Practically every other person who has ever been interested in Oak Island has thought of starting early in the season and not working thru the late fall and winter months. You must have a different idea in mind than the rest of them have had.

In answer to your direct question, wherein you ask if I am free to enter into an agreement, at this time would say that I made an agreement with Mr. Greene last summer. He has at least carried out his end of it so far, to a certain degree. I will not be in a position to definitely answer your question until I hear further from him and we come to a definite understanding regarding further work. All he did this Fall was to put down four small drill holes.

It is evident to my mind that you have some kind of approach which is different to those who have been working there in the past, or any others with whom I have discussed the matter.

I am also wondering just how familiar you are with the actual true history of the Oak Island workings.

With a little further information as to your intention, I could then determine whether to deal with you further or whether to continue negotiations with some other parties who are very keenly interested.

I would appreciate hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Thanking you

Yours very truly,

M.R. Chappell

Dad must have been pleased with that letter. But that was 1955. Letters went back and forth between Chappell and Dad at no great speed. Chappell’s letter to Dad in October 1956 was brief and cordial, just keeping in touch, and mentioned he would visit the Island “if my health holds.”

In a letter dated January 1, 1957, Chappell stated that he had not visited the island the previous fall due to a slow recovery from peritonitis. He went on to say, “I am anticipating developments there early in the Spring, and I am looking forward to developments that will be of interest to all who have, in the past, had anything to do with Oak Island.” It sounds as if Chappell was hopeful that Greene, still working on the island, was on the brink of bringing up the treasure.

But at the end of the same month, Dad received a long letter from Chappell. This part is interesting:

During the last several weeks I have had a great deal of correspondence regarding Oak Island.

Since my experience with Mr. Greene has finalized and my agreement with him terminated, I am now free to deal with any other party, but before coming to any agreement, I must be definitely satisfied that the work will be carried on. I have lost approximately five years in connection with Oak Island recovery work, due to tying up with parties without investigating, or having a definite undertaking from them regarding the carrying out of the undertaking.

From my angle I have the title to the property, the treasure trove rights, and a considerable amount of work already accomplished, not least of which would be the pumping sump pit which extends down to a depth of at least 150–155 feet. I am putting up these items, along with any other information I may have. The party with whom I make an agreement would carry out the actual work of recovery, which recovery would be divided on a fifty-fifty basis, or if that did not prove satisfactory to the party undertaking the recovery work, I will be willing to negotiate further in this connection. But the main point, and what must be decided first, is a definite knowledge that whoever undertakes the work will carry it through.

Dad must have been over the moon when he received that letter. Here is his reply:

March 1st, 1957

Dear Mr. Chappell:

Thank-you for your most interesting letter of Jan. 28th, which so clearly sets out your position.

At that time my backers were scattered and have only just returned to Ontario. It is good news that you are now ready to enter into an agreement to recover the treasure buried on Oak Island. I completely understand that (because of past experience) you must be sure that there will be no delay in getting on with the job.

My position is this, while having no assurance of ever concluding an agreement with you, I arranged as best I could to interest several people in this venture. These people are sound and would stand any financial investigation, just as my knowledge and experience will stand any investigation.

I can now contract to do all the recovery work, including all material, labour, tools, equipment, and know-how. This at my expense. I will further undertake to work in an intelligent workman-like manner and proceed with all the speed consistent with safety, endeavouring to recover all the treasure to the best of my ability. That I agree not to damage the site in any manner with explosives.

You to provide the license and the site including all material on the site and all work done to the present. You also to provide all information in your possession. All of which I must return after a reasonable time for study.

In the event that I fail to seal the sea off from the shafts in six months you will have the right to terminate the agreement at that time.

He then listed terms that matched Greene’s contract. Dad concluded with, “If I am to have the chance at recovery, an early start is to my advantage, to be there set up, and catch some early good weather before the water temperature rises much.” It seemed as if it was time to get out the pens for signatures. But then Dad received the following letter from Chappell:

April 8th, 1957

Dear Mr. Restall:

I have been delayed in replying to your letter of March 1st, due partly to my being away from Sydney considerable of that time, and otherwise due to being extremely busy.

While I was in New York during March, I contacted an old friend of mine who has been interested in Oak Island for many years. He is an Engineer of high standing and has a number of friends who have decided to throw in their lot with him, and do work at Oak Island with a view to solving the mystery and recovering the treasure. He proposes to commence work as soon as the weather permits in the Spring.

We have had a very backward season and just how soon he will be able to get to work I do not know but anticipate it will be early in June. The party to whom I refer has spent some time on Oak Island and has investigated matters from the beginning and is thoroughly familiar with the situation there and what has been done in past years, the conditions he is up against, etc.

I am looking forward to him solving the mystery, but if anything should happen, through unforeseen circumstances such as sickness, or other cause beyond his control, and I am open to make further negotiations, will be glad to communicate with you.

Yours very truly

M.R. Chappell

It had slipped from Dad’s grasp. But, as Mom always said, Dad had the persistence of a bloodhound. He kept on writing. On October 4, 1957, while responding to a letter from Dad, Chappell made no mention of those New York friends and cohorts, but this letter referred to two Ontario mining men finalizing their arrangements with him and proceeding with the search.

In a letter dated August 22, 1958, Chappell described difficulties with the work now in progress and indicated that he would be in touch with Dad if the present crew abandoned their work.

In February 1959 Dad wrote to Chappell again. He referred to a six-month interval between letters and mentioned that it was time for him to begin planning his season of travelling with the Globe of Death. In his letter Dad stated, “I would very much like to make the next attempt when the present agreement ends or if the brothers abandon it. There would be no running around for financing, I can guarantee to start within thirty days and give it my undivided attention.”

What happened next is not among the papers I inherited (perhaps Chappell and Dad used the telephone, rather than writing), but suddenly Dad had his opportunity to search for treasure on Oak Island. His contract came not in spring, as he’d hoped, but in October 1959.

Just heading into winter, it was the worst possible time to undertake such an enterprise. But in his letters to Chappell, Dad had always declared he would be able to start immediately and had implied that winter was not a problem, so now he could scarcely suggest a delay. It had taken him four years of correspondence to get this opportunity, and he could be sure that if he failed to take action at once, Chappell would never give him another chance.

Mom, Dad, and Bobby, now eighteen years old, moved to Oak Island. Rick, just nine years old, stayed with me in Hamilton to continue school; the rest of the family would get settled before sending for him. They had no idea what hardships they might face through winter on the island, but Dad knew it was necessary to demonstrate to Chappell that they were prepared to work in all seasons and conditions. They arrived on the island on October 15, 1959, with all the equipment and savings that they could muster, a total value of $8, 000.

Their Oak Island adventure had begun.