Oak Island (an old story)

[Old Pilot]

I first read about the so-called Oak Island treasure about 54 years ago, when I was a teenager. Supposedly, someone kinda randomly was on Oak Island, and saw an old rope and pulley hardware hanging
from an oak tree. So of course decided this makes it sensible to assume that there is something valuable buried underground under the hardware. Of course, the story has grown for many decades, and
with each retelling, seems to get further embellished. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of someone now believing (or at least touting the idea, probably for profit) that the so-called Ark of the Covenant
is buried on/in Oak Island.

Human nature isn't rocket science. People try to fleece other people. I get it. What I'd like to know, though, is if somebody had actually buried something valuable under that rope and pulley hardware,
why didn't they remove the rope and pulley before leaving the area? Hype, hype, and more hype is what I see. I wonder whether the folks that started the story were ancestors of Forrest Fenn.

[Dezxman17]

LOL! I have also been looking into this for a long time. It is a little convincing that they have found a few relics on the Island that are really cool. If there is something there, it is very important and not meant to be found by any old Joe. I say if they are bringing in all the fancy equipment, they might as well excavate the entire area like a quarry and get a really good look. If it was hidden by the knights templar then the difficulty of finding it makes sense. They had master architects and excelled in mathematics. I also think that it was not meant to be accessed from the surface. A theory is part of the Island is man made and that would be a perfect way to construct a great hiding spot. The formation of the Island also seems unnatural. There is also a possibility that the sea level was much lower at the time. I think they should dig in between the money pit and the cave in pit.

[Old Pilot]

I am aware that folks have spent a lot of time, money, and at least one has lost his life searching that pit. Decades ago I had an idea about how I would search, if I had a lot of money (preferably someone
else's) to spend doing the search/dig. I would construct a hoop (say, 50 feet in diameter) of welded-together steel plates that had been rolled to a 25-foot radius, so they create a nice round hoop. The plates might be about 1/2" thick, all butt-welded together, such that the hoop, when lying "flat" on the ground would be (say,) about 6 to 8 feet high. Then I would add more similar plates on top, welding them on and to each other, so the hoop would then be (say,) about 14 feet tall (still 50 feet diameter). I would dig out the ground inside, and under the hoop, allowing it to slowly sink into the ground. Always adding more height to the hoop, and also using a crane to hold some of the weight off, so the hoop could be guided to go straight down as it progressed. The purpose of the hoop would be to prevent collapse of the walls of the ever-deepening pit, and also to keep out water that might otherwise flood horizontally into the pit. Any water in the pit could be continuously pumped out to a place relatively far from it. The digging would/could be done mostly by a crane-supported digging shovel (or whatever it's called . . . it would function kinda like a post hole digger). A 50-foot diameter hoop (becoming a tall pipe) could be several hundred feet tall, and for all practical purposes, mostly underground. It would surprise me if someone buried something more than 200
feet deep under the branch of that oak tree where (according to the story) the rope was left hanging. If enough money was available, I might even use stainless steel. Talk about expensive! Yes, this would all be extremely expensive, and might require a few cranes and a lot of welding equipment and operators. But after spending about $200 million or so, one might find a chest containing an autobiography of an arrogant proud person who liked to embellish when he was alive. Hee hee! Honestly, I never believed anything of substantial value was ever buried there. Just like with the Beale treasure story. People don't do stuff like that.