Since 1795, treasure hunters have been digging in the mystery-shrouded pit on the small island off Nova Scotia and have been stopped by an ingen- ious aquatic booby trap that has foiled all attempts to crack it. Now Triton Alliance—a syndicate of 24 American and Canadian businessmen—has put up half a million dollars (to get at least $30 million?), plus all the re- sources of modern science to launch a NEW EXPEDITION = MONEY PIT 26 0 SAGABy Al Masters J} WE GAVE you any information now, we'd be shooting ourselves in the back!” ‘The speaker was dynamic Kerry Ellard, project coordinator for Triton Alliance Limited, a company presently trying to solve the incredibly stubborn riddle of the Money ‘Pt on Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Questioned as to what Triton has found so far—if anything—Ellard promptly slapped a fop secret label on the company’s progress. Believed to be the most financially endowed and scientifically equipped group to tackle the mysterious pit to date, Triton, nevertheless is bucking 175 years of com- plete failure by other treasure hunter Just what does Triton Alliance expect to find on Oak Island? Strange as it may seem, there is no answer to this question! Although a minimum guess of $30 mil- lion has been put on the Money Pit's contents, no one really knows what is buried there, This fact puts ‘riton-in a peculiar situation: it doesn't know what it is look- ing for! Stil it's prepared to spend $500,000 to look for. . it doesn’t know what. Weird? Yes, but also true. ‘The strange saga of Oak Island is not new. It goes back to at least 1720. One Gark night in that year, people near Mahone Bay of Nova Scotia saw strange lights moving about on the island. Since the place was supposedly deserted a few curious citizens sailed out to its vicinity. Most came back to report seeing many men, roughly dressed like pirates, engaged in some sort of activity in the light of hhuge bonfires. When morning came it was found that two of the curious sailors had not returned. Had they landed on the island and suffered some unspeakable fate? No one knew, but rather than go look for them their neighbors decided to de- clare them drowned. Following this episode, no one would go near Oak Island for any reason and for the next 75 years its visitors were few, if any. Then came the spring of 1795 when 16-year-old Dan McGinnis of Chester, Nova Scotia, decided to go to the lonely Island, four miles distant, to do some hunting. Paddling across the narrow channel from Western Shore (an area on the eastern side of Nova Scotia), young Dan landed his small boat at a little cove, and set out on foot. McGinnis already knew something of the island's background and features: one of more than 300 islands in Mahone Bay; 54 miles from the Nova Scotian capital at Halifax; small, 128 acres, 1-1/2 miles long, 1/2 mile wide; shaped somewhat like a question mark (later to prove quite symbolic), and the name was derived from the beautiful grove of red oak trees on the islands eastern end. The last fact was a curious one since the island was the only one in the Mahone group to bear oak trees. ‘About 400 feet from the beach McGinnis suddenly came upon a small clearing. ‘Vo one side, on a knoll, stood a tall oak tree from which, a large branch extend- ed about 15 feet up. What was even more curious was that this limb had either been broken or sawed off about four feet from the trunk and near the branch's end deep marks were bumed in the wood. This led MeGinnls to believe that at some time in the past someone had used this limb with either a heavy cable or a block and tackle, On looking closer he could see that directly under the limb the ground hhud settled to form a slight depression about 12 feet in diameter. Bxcited, MeGinnis forgot all about hunting and hurried back to Chester. There he told his two close teen-aged friends, Johnny Smith and Tony Vaughan, about his find and suspicion that something—""probably a great pile of pirate treasure”— was buried there. Barly the next morning the three excited boys arrived at Oak Island with tools. Once at the “treasure” spot they quickly set up thelr tent camp and began digging. ‘Ata depth of two feet they unearthed a layer of flagstones. After digging out the flagstones the boys came upon what was evidently the mouth of an old pit, about seven feet in diameter, which had been filled almost to the top with loose earth. "Why would someone dig a pit, then flit up again?” McGinnis asked, "To bury something, of course,” his friends chorused. “Right!” shouted McGinnis, and the boys began to dig. like mad. After two days of back breaking labor, the youths were down to the 10-foot SAGA O27Some people think it is an Inca trea- sure hoard while others wonder whether it might not be the crown jewels of Louis XVI. Other research- ers claim it’s either the gold reserve of New France or the missing trea- sure from St. Andrew's Cathedral in Scotland. The most popular theory, however, is that it is the long lost pirate loot of Henry Morgan. The fact is, nobody knows what is buried there, even though millions have been spent and many men have died in the search for what must be the world's most elusive treasure cache 28 2 SAGA level. ‘There their excitement increased as they ran into a platiorm of half rotted logs, five inches thick, that had their ends embedded in the pit's clay sides. Hurriedly they wrestled the logs out of the hole, expecting to find a treasure chest below. But no such luck! Be- neath the layer of logs was nothing but more loose earth. Bitterly disappointed, the boys went home. But they couldn't forget what they had found. Later, when time permitted, they went back to the island and began digging again but their efforts were shortlived. At the 15-foot level they also reached the level of their young cap- abilities, Unable to proceed farther without help, they returned to Chester and tried to get assist” ance. They knew the pit was much deeper, and there was no telling what it might contain. But everyone they asked for help turned them down, Most people, it seemed, were either un- interested or afraid of Oak notorious Past Years passed and the boys grew to manhood and married, with McGinnis and Smith actual- ly building homes and settling on Oak Island to be near the “Money Pit,” as they now called their find. All three believed that some fabulous sum lay hidden in the depths of the mysterious hole. In early 1804, Johnny Smith’s wife had toFrederick 1. Blair was @ young man, with unique ideas on how to work the Oak Island Money Ptt, when he and others formed the Oak Island ‘Treasure Company in 1893. The group worked 10 hard years on the ‘project. Their drill turned up some man-made coment and drillings from ‘@ wooden container filled with loose metal. It also recovered a tiny piece of parchment with writing. Was lta financial ledgert travel to Truro, Nova Scotia, for the birth of thelr first child, There Smith met a young doctor named Simeon Lynds and told him the story of the steange pit. Curious, Lynds paid f visit to the site and came away with "the treasure bug.” Shortly thereafter he persuaded a number of men to come in with him to form a treasure company. In the summer of 1804, Lynds’ expedition sall- ed from Onslow. Unloading their tools and pro- visions at Smith’s Cove, the group, now known as the Onslow Company, began operations un- der the guidance of Col. Robert Archibald. In the intervening years the Money Pit had caved in and had to be dug out again, At the 15-foot level, where the three boys had stopped, the new digging commenced. Five feet lower —at the 20-foot level—they ran into a layer of charcoal under which was another woodenplat- form. Ten feet below this they found a layér of material analyzed as puddled clay, a putty- like substance commonly used in early under- ground hydraulic workings as a water seal This was followed at 40 fect by another layer of charcoal. At 50 feet a layer of smooth stones apparently taken from the island's beach was found. At 60 feet a layer of something like hemp was found. Tests made on this showed it to be coconut fiber, a material often used as dunnage in stowing ships’ cargoes during early sailing days. A tropical product, the fiber does not grow in Canada (later the Smithsonian Tnstitu- tion would label it ofpro- bable Caribbean origin). At 70 feet anotherlayer of puddled clay was found, At 80 feet a single object was uncovered, a large stone threefeetlong, one foot square, and with strange characters cut in- to one side. This stone was of a different variety than any existing on the whole coast of Nova Sco- tia and weighed 75 pounds. At each of the above 10-foot levels a wooden platform was found. At 90 feet water began to slowly seep into the pit but at 93 feet it soon increased to one bucket of water removed for every two of earth. At the end of the day on which the 93-foot level was reached, the men were preparing to leave the hole when one of them picked up a long crowbar and idly drove it into the wet earth at the bottom of the pit. There was a hollow ring of wood as the bar hit a hard substance, five feet below. A chest, or just an- other wooden platform? Excited, the men slept fully as they waited for morning to come to find out But during the night fate struck! When the men approached the pit the next morning they found 60 feet of water awaiting them. Though thoroughly disgusted, they set to work trying to bail it out. They had no luck, for no matter how hard they bailed, the water always stayed at the same level. Discouraged, the expedition decided to call it quits until fall. In September they hired A. T. Mosher of Newport, R.1., reputed to be one of the best water pumping experts in the business. ‘Taking his biggest and best pump to the island, Mosher began work but soon he was back with a grim report. In trying to keep up with the water's flow into the pit, the pump had burst. “There's sure a hell of a lot of water running into that pit,” commented Mosher. “I wonder where it's comin’ from?” ‘The men of Onslow Company didn'tknow and didn't care. They did (COAK ISLAND (Continued from page 29) ‘know that something was probably buried ‘on Oak Island and they meant to find cut ‘what, no matter how much water there was. So. in the spring of 1805 dhey were back, digging again. Fourteen feet east of the Money Pit they sank a new shaft, 112 feet deep. Their object was to tunnel un- der the Money Pit so as to come up under the treasure, because, at that time, the Money Pit was thought to be roughly 100, feet deep. ’At the 110-fot level ofthe new shat @ Isteral tunnel was started, running tow. the'stney PH Ar only 12 eto earth hhad been dug out water suddenly burst in tupon the men and they barely escaped with their lives. Strangely, the new shaft also filled with water to.a depth of 60 feet ‘Their funds completely exhausted, as were their spirits, the men of Onslow Company abandoned their operations and sled for home. ‘Now began belated attempts to identify the strange characters carved on the stone found at the 80-foot level. All efforts failed, Years later, however, an old Trish schoolmaster declared that he had worked ‘outa olution. According to his trans: Tation, the stone read: "Forty feet below, ‘wo million pounds are buried.” ‘That no cone bothered to, preserve a copy of the strange “writing” or the stone itself is al- most unbelievable. The object finally Appeared about 1828, ‘From 1805 to 1849 only nature worked ‘at Oak Island. The Money Pit caved in 70 1 SAGA again and filled up, 8 did the Onslow Company's parallel'shaft. This is what the men of the Truro Company found when they” arrived on the island in the summer of 1849, Named after the town of ‘Truro, this expodition’s operations were headed by J. B. McCully. After only 12 days of hard work under his supervision the men were down to 86 feet. Then, on Sunday, while the diggers were at church ‘on the mainland, water appeared in the newly opened pit. Again the level rose to 60 feet and no amount of bailing did any good. Faced with the water problem, McCully ‘calmly decided to do some test boring. Ac- cordingly, a platform was built 25 feet ‘down in the Money Pit, just above the wa ter level, Using a pod auger (a horse- driven drill whose bit picked up samples, of whatever it passed through), MeCully’s ‘men began bering. His report describes the work: “A platform (not a treasure chest) was struck at 98 feet just asthe digger found it ‘when sounding with the iron bar. After go- Ing through the platform, which was five inches thick and proved to be of spruce, ‘the auger dropped 12 inches and. went through four inches of oak, then through 12inches of metal in pieces, But the auger failed to bring up anything in the nature of ‘treasure except three gold links of a watch chain (2). The auger then went through tight inches of oak, which was thought to hae the bottom of the first box and top of the next, then 22 inches of metal, same as before, and four inches of oak, six inches of spruce, and then into clay for seven feet without striking anything ese.” It was McCully's belief that two oak bboxee, each filled with loose metal, and attached one on top of the other, lay just below the 98-foot level in a space 62 inches deep. Apparently all later diggers at Oak Island have accepted this as fact ‘The foreman in charge of these oper- ations was James Pitblado. His instruc- tions were to carefully remove from the ‘pod auger every bit of material brought to the surface, Thie material was to be pre- served for iater examination tnder a mi ceroscope.. ‘One day as the auger came up, John Gammell, one of the major stockholders in the company, was watching nearby. He saw Pitblado look closely at the drill, then remove something, wash it off, and ‘Quickly stuff it into his pocket. “Say there, Pitblado,” Gammel called, ‘you find something?” “Why, yee." the foreman stammered, embarrassed at having been seen. "I'll show you tonight at the directors’ meet- ‘What is it?” Gammell asked. T'll show you tonight,” Pitblado insst- ed, He began to un the drill again, cutting ‘off the conversation. “Instead of showing up at the directors’ meeting, however, Pitblado left the island {that night and never came back. Later it ‘was reported that he had gone to the offi ‘of Charles Archibald, manager of the Ac ian Iron Works at’ Londonderry, Nova Scotia, and soon afterwards Archibald tried to buy that part of Oak Island where the Money Pit is located. Unsuccessful, he later sailed for England. ‘(Continued on page 72)(Continued from page 70) ‘As far ae can be ascertained, Pitblado was killed soon after in an accident while engaged in railroad construction work ‘What did he find on the dill? What did be show or tell Charles Archibald? No one hhas ever found out ‘Tn the spring of 1850, the company be- gan a new shaft, 10 feet northwest of the Money Pit. At 109 feet a lateral shaft was run out toward the Money Pit but, as in the case of the Onslow Company, the wa- ter burst in and the men had to flee for their lives, Tt was at this time that an important discovery was made—one which should hhave been made long before. The water that came into the pit was salty and rose and fell concurrently with nearby ocean tides, How clear it all seemed nos—the water in the pit came from the ocean, Since it hadn't affected the original dis- ers of the pit, it must have been chan- heled into the pit after it had been dus. Obviously the water served as some sort of aquatic booby trap. Faced sith this real ination, the men of Truro Company set ‘ut to explore the island's shoreline, seek: ing an artificial channel entrance on the beach. Finally, 20 feet east ofthe pit, the men ‘came across an area 200 feet long where fevery stone had been removed from the beach. Next, as the tide went out they no- ticed that all along this cleared area water bubbled up through the sand as though «from a hundred little underground springs Shovels were brought down and the men began digging out the sand in the Cleared aren. To their surprise they uncov ered a two.inch layer of coconut fiber Spread out along the beach Below the foconut fiber was a five-inch I srass and below this of black rocks. Investigation showed this Strange setup ran for 145 fect along the beach, from the low water mark to the high-water mark. ‘Further searching soon revealed a series of five conduits made of rocks Iaid in par allel lines, eight inches apart, and covered ‘with flat stones, Like fingers stretching from a monster hand, these five conduits ‘converged at a common point on the high tide side, "The whole “apparatus” had the effect of being a huge man-made “sponse.” As the tide came in, the coconut fiber soaked Lup and held the water which was then ried through the five conduits to an under ‘ound channel that led to the Money Pit. Tn the face of this amazing find, how- ‘ever, the company with funds exhausted hhad to reluctantly give up their search, ‘From 1863 to 1865 the Oak Island As- sociation tried its hand. A huge engine land pump were brought in which managed to keep the water at lower level. Never- theless, the water was always present, and ‘upon the advice of a consulting engineer, who predicted @ disastrous cave-in, the ‘Association abandoned its projet {In 1866, the Oak Island Eldorado Com pany’ came to the island. Planning to cut fff the water channel running from the beach to the pit, the company hap: hhazardly sank several shafts but missed the intake channel completely and re- turned, defeated, to Halifax Then, in 1893, the Oak Island Treasure Company was formed. One of its foremost members was Frederick L. Blair of Am- herst, Nova Scotia, an intelligent young man who had different ideas about how ak Island operations should be con- ducted First, 50 feet inland from Smith's Cove, Blair's company drilled five holes, each ‘one in direct line with the five conduits running underground. In each hole dyna- mite was set off in an effort to stop the water running from he ocean to the pit. ‘As far as the men could tell, their efforts ‘were successful ‘Secondly, a three-inch metal pipe was sunk into the Money Pit to a depth of 98 feet, the level where the two treasure boxes were thought to be. Within the con- fines of this pipe, a drill could work more efficiently. Once their drill got going. how: fever, the men ran it down to 170 feet, 72 {eet beyond the end of the pipe. Beyond the 98-foot level the drill en countered the same materials as reported earlier by McCully. Then, at 151 feet, it ‘went through seven inches of something Tike soft gray stone, followed by four inches of wood, 32 inches of loose metal, four more inches of wood, and seven more inches of soft gray stone. At 170 feet the drill an into iron of steel plate which no Grill on hand could pierce ‘Analyzed, borings of the soft eray stone tumed out to be old but man-made ce: ment. ‘The men were elated. Apparently there was a cement chamber near the bot- tom of the pit~a chamber holding a largo ‘wooden container that was full of loose metal. ‘The impenetrable iron at 170 feet Seemed to mark the bottom of the pit Whether it did or not. no drill has ever sotten through it ‘But there was something else the drill hhad brought up and examination showed itto be a small fibroas ball about the size ‘of a grain of rice. Flattened out, the mate- ial Was sent to experts in Bocton. They Soon reported that the item was a tiny piece of parchment containing writing in India ink made by a quill pen. A piece ofa financial ledger? No one knows, ‘A few days later the men’s excitement tumed to consternation when, without ‘warning, a stream of sea water suddenly hot high into the air from the drill pipe Blair was teribly disappointed. He had been certain the dynamite blasts had sealed off the sea conduits running from the beach. To make sure, he had large ‘quantities ofa bright red dye pumped, un- der pressure, into the dril:pipe in an effort to pinpoint any break in their obstruction. To the men's surprise, however, no dve showed up at the conduit site. Instead the ‘dye appeared. at three locations on the South Side of the island. ‘This meant only one thing: there was another flooding channel—maybe ‘more—leading from the ocean to the Mon- ey Pit. Although Blair's outfit tried for ‘Weeks to find this new channel, or chan- nels, its efforts were unsuccessful In 1503, ‘the company's money ran out and its work ‘came toa halt. ‘In 1909 young New York lawyer whore parents had a summer home on ‘Campobello Island, New Brunswick, be- ‘came interested in the Oak Island riddle. With a few others he put §5.000 into the tty and a new treasure seeking organiza tion came inte being. This young man was (Continued on page 74)(Continued from page 72) Franklin D. Roosevelt, later to become President of the United States. Called the Old Gold Salvage and Wrecking pany, this effort was commanded by blus- tering Capt. Harry L. Bowdoin, deep-sea diver and inventor, It was Bowdoin's plan to overcome the water problem by sending divers down to ‘work in the pit. Whether this might have worked is not known since the idea was Soon labeled “too dangerous" by the di vers themselves. Tn spite ofa lot of braguing about what hae intended to do, in the end Bowdoin ac- tually did nothing. In 1911, however, ana tional magazine ran an article by Bow- doin in which he completely debunked the treasure idea. Stating that no one would hhave buried the treasure at such depth, he Went on to say that no water channel ran {rom the beach to the Money Pit; instead, the water simply seeped in from the shore. ‘The gold chain links and the piece of parchment had been dropped in the hole by earlier diggers, he claimed, and there were no. weird characters cut into the Strange stone that had been found. ‘This was too much for Fred Blair who, ‘through local newspapers, rebuked all of Bowdoin’s statements. “The knowledve hhave obtained in respect to Oak Island, Blair said, "has made me a firm believer in the existence of buried treasure in the so-called Money Pit thereon. That it will be recovered some day is also my opi fand T trast that T may live to ace such a re ult and the mystery solved." But Pred Blair never got his wish, ‘When the old gentleman died in 1951, the mystery of Oak Island was still as much of an unsolved riddle as it had ever been, In the summer of 1912, Prof. 8. A liams of Soldiers Grove, Wis., announced that he would attempt to onganize the Oak Island Salvage Company by offering stock to the public. "In my search,” Williams said, "T plan to use the Poetsch freezing ‘method, 'an engineering accomplishment Successfully used in France, but prac- lly unknown in America ‘According to Williams, the Poetsch freeting method would be performed as fellows: “Thirty-five holes five inches in diameter and 160 feet deep, will be bored three feet apart, around the Money. Pit. ‘These holes will be encased, closed at the Dottom with cement and pumped dry Into each hole a freezing mixture, a solu- tion of calcium chloride at a temperature be kept i fing by means of small pipes, After ‘while the water around the pipes will be frozen with a ring of ice being created round the pit. After this, there will be no Tocal interference from the water chan- rele." ‘Although Williams’ plan sounded plau- sible and may have worked, his stock is- fue was a failure. "What would we look for the treasure with.” laughed one pros- pective buyer, “ice picks?” In the face of Sch ridicule, the professor's project never fot off the ground. ‘After this there was a string of treasure seekers, all leaving their mark on Money Pit history. Then, in 1959, Robert Restall, an Ontario steelworker, quit his $160- ‘-week job and meved to Oak Island, tak- ing his family with him. For six years, Restall, a former circus daredevil _mo- toreyele rider, and his wife, Mildred, lived with their two sons, Robert Jr., and Ricky, in'a small eabin near the Money Pit, On August 17, 1965, Restall, who had been working with a gasoline powered pump, suddenly collapsed and fell into a 27-foot shaft, In attempting to rescue his father, Robert and two workmen, Bob Gracser and 16-year-old Cryil Hiltz, were ‘overcome by fumes in the hole and died ‘long with Restall. Although their deaths were listed as having been caused by ear- bon monoxide fumes which had filtered into the hole from the pump, no one seemed to know for sure what had actual: Iy killed the four men. When they heard the news, old-timers on the mainland just shook their heads. "What can you expect?” they said. "Dam: nod place hae always been jinxed!” ‘The memory of tragedy is no bar to treasure hunters, however, and soon others were busily working at the site, finding only failure. ‘Then Dan Blankenship, a contractor from Miami, Fla... moved in—and thereby hangs the genesis of the present search. After almost five years of fruitless ‘work, during which he spent ‘$80,000 of his own moncy, Blankenship joined new treasure-seeking syndicate Made up of 24-Canadian and U.S. busi: nessmen who call themselves Triton Al- Taince Limited, they pooled over {$500,000 and, headed by David Tobias (46-year-old president of the Jonertin Company, a Montreal label manufac- turer), have gone after the Money Pit with ‘Consultation with outside engineers has led Triton to drill 75 exploratory holes in the vieinity of the original pit. Oak Is. land's bedrock level. berins at about 165 feet and extends to a depth of 200 fet or slightly more. To date, ‘Triton’s drills hhave gone down farther than any other. ‘Samples taken from core drills boring be- Tow the bedrock level show slomeration of oak buds, tr land hemlock pollen, and tiny pieces of china, brass, and low carbon steel, ‘This ‘material has been found in elobs of pud: dled clay brought up by the drills ‘Some of these drills have bit into deft nite chambers, eight to 10 feet deep. ‘These fare below bedrock at the 200-foot level. Drill samples show these chambers to have wooden ceilings made of planks sev- ‘eral inches thick. Carbon dating tests ‘made on ceiling wood samples show them ta date from some time between 1490 and 1660. ‘There is, no doubt, says Triton's members, that “"several” original shafts ‘and chambers exist under the island’ clay ‘surface, ‘What is the secret of the puzzling Mon- ey Pit? The construction ofthis enigmatic shaft and its unknown contents has led to ‘may speculations as to who did it and ‘why and what they put in it. Here are the leading contenders for what's down there: Tinea treasure of Peru. In 1532, Fran cisco Pizzaro, the Spanish conqueror of Peru, visited ‘Tumbez. ‘There he was so impressed with its profusion of gold and silver treasures that he made plans to car Fy them all of, While he was gathering to- sether a force large enough to capture the city, the Incas found out about his Scheme. Loading all of their treasures on ships, the rulers of Tumber set out for the faster Caribbean and some unknown hiding place. Fierce hurricanes descended on the flotilla, forcing the ships up the coast of North America and finally, far northward at Oak Island, the ships put in and Inca engineers buried the great trea Sires of Tuber. ‘© Treasure from St. Andrews Cath- edral. Vast amounts of piate, gold, silver, and priceless gems, plus spoils taken from the English in 1314 at the Battle of Ban- nockburn, all mysteriously disappeared when this wealthy and ancient cathedral in Scotland was suppressed, How this wealth got to Oak Island isn’t made ex- {actly clear by those who favor this story ' Crown jewels of France belonging to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, This Roosevelt's pet theory. '* Gold reserve of New France. In 175i during the French and Indian War, the bi French fortress at Louisburg, situated on Cape Breton Island near Nova Scotia's northern end. fell to the British after a long siege. Aithough the fortress contain- ed part of the gold reserve of New France, there is no official record of it falling into British hands, * Various pirate treasures including Henry Morgan's loot of Panama. Pirates did inhabit the waters around Nova Scotia at one time, and in force. In fact, Mahone Bay comes from the ward mahon, a low rakish pirate craft. Citing the fact that the Money Pit is "the greatest piece of engineering on the North American con tinent," many “experts” contend that no pirate in history had the brains and tech ‘nical know-how to produce this fiendishly Clever burial site. ‘Apparently this is a false belie bec in 1949 an underground “apparatus” ilar to the Money Pit was discovered in Haiti, Classed ax a “pirate ‘communal ‘bank’ it was determined that the under: round works had been enginocred By Bi Fates and probably dug and constructed by slave labor. By descending a vertical shaft one could reach the main “vault.” From there several corridors ran into smaller chambers, each of which appar- ently served as a “safe deposit” room for Various. buccaneer groupe. When found, these underground diggings still contained {$17,000 in Spanish coins. And not only ‘was the whole works similar to what is now known about the Money Pit’s con- struction but, also, like the Money Pit, the entrance shaft was protected by several flood tunnels, or aquatic booby traps. Viewed. in’ retrospect, the Money Pit presents the peculiarity of being a treasure hhunt in reverse. Although $2 million have, in effect, been poured into it, nothing of value has been taken out, And unless, be- hind its’ ell of seereey, ‘Triton Alliance now stands, poised on the momentous threshold of long-awaited discovery, too, will fail. In that case the hunt wi then go on, pursued by other adventurers tnt finally, one day, the “most elusive treasure secret in the whole world” will, ultimately be revealed.” THE END SAGA 1D 75