Well that was underwhelming. I won't spoil it, but I saw some really bad science technique. Eyes rolling in my head.

Go ahead sounds like I wouldn't enjoy it anyway.

kv

 

I didn't watch at all. The National Geographic channel started the new season of, The Story of God, much more interesting to me.

 

Good episode tonight. I enjoyed it and thought it gave me something to, hopefully, look forward to before the end of the season.

edit: spoiler removed.

H8 is done. I am very happy about the new drilling for tunnel 6, but even though the teaser had some nice maps suggesting a "strategy" for where to drill, they are still taking pot shots. I don't care, I like drilling and I only hope that finding wood (which is what the teaser seemed to indicate) is not the end of that site.

The slipway and the bay in general is starting to be pretty cool. Not in a "here is some treasure way", but historically. Even I am thinking that something covert happened there. Not sure why digging under the slipway is supposed to be so significant - is it just a detectorist thing? I wish they had some strong skeptics that would come in once in a while and calm them down. The spikes were interesting in how few of them were found. The speculation on the hinge being for a flood tunnel control is just too easy. We will see.

I like the blacksmith guy.

Glad the ocean mapping is not looking good in the sense that I was afraid that they were just going to do that until season's end. The mighty anchor turning out to be a couple of rocks is just plain funny. No mention of the dye either.

And, as usual, no mention of that gold coin!

 

I promise not to look at the spoiler, if you liked it I know I will. Can't wait to get home this afternoon.

kv

 

Was last night season end?

kv

 

Was last night season end?

kv

Nope. Ended with "next time" teaser. They are starting to talk about wrapping up the digs before the summer ends.

 

Now that over a week has passed, I wanted to express how frustrating it was to watch them test muddy water for presence of the fluorescent dye. That was simply excruciating.

For those that don't know, a typical spectrophotometer passes a beam through the sample and detects the beam on the opposite side. Accuracy and precision are best when most of the light passes through. Something like piss is about the most color you want to use. A fluorimeter or a turbidimeter moves the detector to 90° off-axis, or adds another detector there.

The idea is that you don't want to measure the light that passes straight through (although that can be useful for calibration), you want to measure the light that gets diverted to the off-axis detector. That diversion can due to suspended debris, or to fluorescent chemical species in the sample. You can't measure one in the presence of the other: You can't measure fluorescence in the presence of debris and you can't measure debris in the presence of fluorescent species. You can get a number, but it's useless.

That's exactly what they did - they showed a sample that was obviously so cloudy that you couldn't see the dye with the naked eye. Then they poured it directly into the cuvette without any attempt to filter or centrifuge out the debris! And then the most grating part - they express shock and awe that the reading is so high. Oh my gosh I wanted to reach through the TV and strangle them.

All they had to do was turn off the lights and pull out a UV light. They could have done that down in the cove. In fact doing the dye study at night with a lot of UV lights would probably have given far better results than looking for a faint color in dark and reflective waters.

 

I didn't even see that @wayneh I was concentrating on the level of contamination with sample collection in general.

On the subject of the dye test, I thought you might like this thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/OakIsland/comments/avd4vy/ep15_preview_dye_harder_so_they_dropped_a_super/

Not much real information, but a great line in one of the posts - "I swear if the Ark of the Covenant is now stained red..."

 

All they had to do was turn off the lights and pull out a UV light. They could have done that down in the cove. In fact doing the dye study at night with a lot of UV lights would probably have given far better results than looking for a faint color in dark and reflective waters.

Spoil sport, that would have been the last time they could use dye to keep people watching.

 

Another decent show this week.

edit: removed spoiler

So, they got drilling going very nicely in shaft #6 and I was actually impressed and convinced by the qualitatively different wood they found and at the depth that they hoped to find such a difference. They may actually be digging into either original works or previously unknown searchers. Not sure I believe the whole collapse and debris field idea, but what they are seeing is, so far, consistent with the notion.

A silver coin find, part of a thick chain link and some possible bone. The leather material, however, where they found it (what, 110 feet down) is very interesting and there is a lot of it in contrast to the scraps previously found.

The teasers were also compelling. Large metal object detected, but where they do not yet have a permit to dig.

Next week’s preview was, suspiciously, off track. Why were they detecting in some field when they found the worked lead that is reminiscent of the cross that they already found? The show is famous for their tangents that defy anything remotely related to a follow up or closure. Remember the star charts hat would show the way? How’s that coming?

I don’t know how many they have left, but I am starting to get the feeling that they will come back next year.

Oh yeah, no mention of the “gold” coin.

 

Another decent show this week.

Spoiler

So, they got drilling going very nicely in shaft #6 and I was actually impressed and convinced by the qualitatively different wood they found and at the depth that they hoped to find such a difference. They may actually be digging into either original works or previously unknown searchers. Not sure I believe the whole collapse and debris field idea, but what they are seeing is, so far, consistent with the notion.

A silver coin find, part of a thick chain link and some possible bone. The leather material, however, where they found it (what, 110 feet down) is very interesting and there is a lot of it in contrast to the scraps previously found.

The teasers were also compelling. Large metal object detected, but where they do not yet have a permit to dig.

Next week’s preview was, suspiciously, off track. Why were they detecting in some field when they found the worked lead that is reminiscent of the cross that they already found? The show is famous for their tangents that defy anything remotely related to a follow up or closure. Remember the star charts hat would show the way? How’s that coming?

I don’t know how many they have left, but I am starting to get the feeling that they will come back next year.

Oh yeah, no mention of the “gold” coin.

Oh, yeah. Open ended for sure, the shows title hinted at it. I think following up on the route of the flood drains plus the shaft they've just dug is intriguing.


kv

 

Oh, yeah. Open ended for sure, the shows title hinted at it. I think following up on the route of the flood drains plus the shaft they've just dug is intriguing.


kv

Yeah, open-ended, but they are putting together a story (beyond how to keep me watching a TV show for years).

 

It looks like they're wrapping up the season. They've got a lot of stuff to follow up on, as far as dating timbers, analysis of artifacts and so on. So hopefully there will be a couple of episodes of that stuff before they close for the year. It must be very satisfying for them to close the book on Smith's cove. Maybe next year they can attack the swamp.

 

It looks like they're wrapping up the season. They've got a lot of stuff to follow up on, as far as dating timbers, analysis of artifacts and so on. So hopefully there will be a couple of episodes of that stuff before they close for the year. It must be very satisfying for them to close the book on Smith's cove. Maybe next year they can attack the swamp.

I don't know if they can close the book on the cove without getting that permit to dig where that big detector hit was (flood drain?).

 

I don't know if they can close the book on the cove without getting that permit to dig where that big detector hit was (flood drain?).

I'm thinking that they can access that area even if the coffer dam is removed, and therefore it's not really in "the cove". But yeah, they need to follow it inland. That work can go ahead as long as the ground is not frozen, so if they get their permitting they should have more time.

Hmmm, but on the other hand I suppose anything interesting to dig for is going to be below the water line. They can't destroy the crane platform until the coffer dam is removed, unless they want to rebuild it after digging. So they've got a catch-22. I'd be tempted to dig on the other side of the platform - leaving it alone - and hope they can get deep enough to intersect the tunnel.

Oh yeah, I missed your point about the big metal hit. They can't ignore that, even though it may well just be junk. Cable and buckets or crap like that.

 

I'm thinking that they can access that area even if the coffer dam is removed, and therefore it's not really in "the cove". But yeah, they need to follow it inland. That work can go ahead as long as the ground is not frozen, so if they get their permitting they should have more time.

Hmmm, but on the other hand I suppose anything interesting to dig for is going to be below the water line. They can't destroy the crane platform until the coffer dam is removed, unless they want to rebuild it after digging. So they've got a catch-22. I'd be tempted to dig on the other side of the platform - leaving it alone - and hope they can get deep enough to intersect the tunnel.

Oh yeah, I missed your point about the big metal hit. They can't ignore that, even though it may well just be junk. Cable and buckets or crap like that.

I got the sneaking suspicion that they have found out what they need to find out in the cove, although we don't know that yet...it's just that the brothers *sounded* that way (admittedly, it may be wishful thinking). Could they break the dam and rebuild it next season? I don't know, but it seems unlikely.

Also, I hope you are right that they end with a 2-hour special that serves as a follow up and, further, that they reveal a plan for next year.

 

I'm with Wayne find and follow the french drains. Dan Blankenship died. Maybe they'll find the treasure now, I think he would be really interested in the stuff they've uncovered.

kv

 

I'm with Wayne find and follow the french drains. Dan Blankenship died. Maybe they'll find the treasure now, I think he would be really interested in the stuff they've uncovered.

kv

I agree that DB would definitely have been interested. I saw the dedication at the beginning of the show and I strongly suspect that the timing of this past week's show and his passing did not allow them to do more. I definitely believe that they will do a "memorial" on the show. As I recall, he came out two shows ago to visit the cove!

 

Not much to be seen in the cove, if they can put one more can down before season end we will be in a cliff hanger till next year. Another lead neckless object possibly of the same time period? More Knights Templar? Pottery dating to 17th century? permits in hand will we see anything that will keep me interested? or just more clues without answers.


I think with the searcher tunnels dug down then the collapse it means that the voids mingled into one giant mess and why they find stuff in different areas close to one another. Once the flood tunnel filled the area at a certain depth, it was going to be unstable for sure, now it's a combobulation of muddy mass of material spread far and wide.


kv

 

I cringed again this week when they showed - yet again - the horrendous lab technique they used for "identifying" red dye. Awful. Otherwise a fairly typical show.

I wonder when we'll start to hear about carbon dating of all the wood they hauled out of the cove.