'The Curse Of Oak Island' Season 8 Episode 1: Will Gary Drayton's 'top pocket find' be another disappointment?
There was much to be celebrated in the Season 8 premiere of 'The Curse Of Oak Island'. The Fellowship reunite after a long, hard time in quarantine and lockdown and decide to execute their plans of unraveling the mystery of Oak Island. At the beginning of the episode, Oak Island researcher Doug Crowell discusses two historic surveys previously carried out by two treasure-hunters on the island, Fred Nolan and Dan Blankenship, which no one ever followed up on, for some reason.
This is despite the fact that the two surveys indicated underground tunnels, including one that leads to the famous and rather legendary Money Pit. One survey also shows that there are four possible targets of buried non-ferrous metals, which as the team’s metal-detecting expert Gary Drayton points out, could just be gold. An operation is carried out and diver Tyler Newton is sent underground to examine the "shiny gold" objects.
He sees multiple coins but drops the one he is carrying into the ground. The team is rather disappointed, but nothing ever dents their optimism.
However, Gary Drayton with his new metal detectors finds himself a "top pocket find". After examining a circular area on the island, he realizes that there is a strong chance of iron, as well as other non-ferrous metals. And hey presto, he finds an old coin, that he says definitely belongs to the 1700s. He says there is decoration around it and it is not perfectly round.
It is one of the oldest, he says, based on the shape and patina. It has a square hole in the middle, and he is sure that it isn't European and is from "somewhere more exotic". 'This is old mate,' Gary says excitedly.
However, should we get our hopes up? The last time Gary discovered a silver coin, it turned out to be impure lead. The team has had several hits and misses like this. The next episode will discuss whether Gary's find is actually a success or just another dud.
'The Curse Of Oak Island' airs on History Channel at 9 pm on Tuesdays.