[.ca] Oak Island and Its Lost Treasure (ISBN 0887804926)

good work on an incredible mystery:
The Oak Island mystery is one of the greatest treasure tales of all time. The authors are mining engineers who objectively delineate over 200 years of failed attempts to recover the treasure. One of the most amazing facts is that modern man, with all his heavy earth-moving equipment, drilling rigs and other technology has not been able to recover a treasure put in the ground in what was most likely the 17th century. And don't be fooled by other reviewers of the Oak Island mystery who claim to be skeptics or that it is merely a "natural sinkhole". Over the last two centuries, countless ancient artifacts, metal and unnaturally occurring substances such as putty, charcoal and coconut fiber has been pulled from the money pit. That is in addition to hand-hewn oak platforms that were discovered every 10 feet down or so in the pit. Also, extensive oak cofferdam supports and an excavated filter bed made of various materials including coconut fiber has been found in Smith's Cove. The authors depart from previous works on the mystery by introducing intriguing new theories. One of these theories is that the original plan was to dig the money pit down to bedrock and deposit the treasure there or in an excavated space below the bedrock. After this was accomplished, water infiltration through the bedrock, which turned out to be porous, made recovery of the treasure impossible. As a result, the original treasure holders decided to make sure no one else could recover the treasure, and build the flood tunnel as insurance. This theory makes a great deal of sense when all of the facts are taken into consideration. The second theory offered by the book is that the treasure was the major portion of the Spanish galleon Concepcion's booty, skimmed off by British Captain Phips and other British recovery operations of the wreck. While they have no direct proof supporting this theory, it is nevertheless a possibility, and there is some indirect evidence to support it, including a curious reference to gems and Lapis Lazuli in mineral rights covering the area. There is no known Lapis Lazuli deposits in that area of the world, although the Concepcion was known to be carrying quantities of it in their booty. As a final thought, I once heard that there was a legend that seven people would die before the treasure would be recovered. Currently, six people have died trying to recover it. Care to give it a go?

The Truth:
Everyone loves a good treasure hunt and stories about pirates. For centuries explorers have been working their way through the mud, rock, and shafts of Oak Island in their illusive search of this mysterious prize. Does X mark the spot? Depends on where the spot is...now. This book gives great insight behind the mystery of Oak Island and defines some truth as to the tresures "existence". Where it lies today and is there a tresure to be found really depends on so much. Finally a book that explains the mystery with validity.

The Oak Island Legend:
I may as well state at the outset I am not a believer in the Oak Island Legend. However, this book is by far the best and most clearly written of the many Oak Island books I have read. The clarity of exposition is greatly assisted by the wealth of diagrams, maps, and tables. My personal preference would be to have the authors also consider the various "skeptical theories" of Oak Island, which they don't do. Whenever a seemingly mysterious fact is discussed, the authors do tend to accept it unquestioningly instead of also considering various ordinary ( if boring ) explanations. For example, if the flood tunnels exist, why has nobody ever been able to intercept them ?. Would not the entrance to the flood tunnel allegedly found by the Halifax Syndicate in 1867 and by the Oak Island Treasure Company in 1897 more reasonably be explained as the connecting tunnels dug into the pit from the same direction and at the same level by earlier syndicates ?. Explanations like this are usually eschewed in favour of more exciting ( but less plausible ?) explanations such as pirate tunnels and the like. Having said that, the book makes exciting reading, although at the end of the day I do not find it especially convincing.