To begin, the original depositors dug a fairly wide shaft roughly 60-70 feet deep. At the bottom of the shaft they constructed a watertight vault and deposited the treasure inside the vault. The shaft with the vault is located in the vicinity of the cave in pit.
Once that was completed, the next step was to protect the treasure. To accomplish this, they measured roughly 10' in the direction of Smith's Cove and dug another shaft to the same depth. The Laginas call this second shaft "The cave-in pit". At the bottom of that shaft, they connected the two shafts by digging a tunnel between the two, then built a watertight door that could be opened and closed from above.
After that was completed, from the "Cave in pit" shaft, they dug a tunnel towards the bay at an upward angle ("Flood tunnel"). From there, the tunnel branched out into box drains, which were covered with coconut fiber to filter the water.
When this part of the system was completed, all they had to do was lift the watertight door and both shafts were flooded, thereby concealing the treasure vault. On the surface, it would look like a pond. It is also possible they filled the area around the treasure vault with boulders then covered it with dirt so anybody that was not supposed to find the treasure, would dig until they were stopped by water.
So.......How did they recover, or add to, the treasure?
The treasure vault was underwater, so they needed to create a method for draining the water out of that shaft. To accomplish this, they went inland several hundred feet and dug a shaft roughly 200-250' deep. This is known as the infamous "Money Pit".
Next, they started at the bottom of the treasure vault shaft, and dug a tunnel at a slight downward angle, which intercepted the "Money Pit" shaft at a depth of roughly 100 feet. Where the tunnel intercepted the shaft, they installed a second watertight door. The "Money Pit" was then filled in with dirt.
When they needed to recover the treasure, they closed the watertight door at the "Cave in Pit", dug out the dirt in the "Money Pit", and then opened the watertight door in the "Money Pit". The water flowed out of the treasure vault shaft, down the tunnel, and into the bottom of the "Money Pit".
While they were at the island, they would have used the "Money Pit" as an outhouse, place to dump trash, dispose of bodies, etc., which is why they found bones, paper, book binder, and pieces of pottery at the bottom of it.
When it was time to leave, they filled the "Money Pit" in with dirt; opened the watertight door in the "Cave in Pit" shaft, and the treasure vault was flooded again.
However, when they filled it back in with dirt, the bottom of the shaft had 100-150' of water at the bottom from when they drained the treasure vault shaft. As such, it would have turned into a muddy mess, thereby making it impossible to dig out when they returned at a later date. So.........in preparation for their return, they installed a platform every 10' feet so workers had something solid to stand on and could dig without falling into a pit of mud. Those are the "Wooden planks" found by Daniel McGinnis.
At 90 feet, they put a rock on the platform that said something along the lines of..............DIRECTLY BELOW YOU IS A TUNNEL FULL OF WATER. SHUT THE WATERTIGHT DOOR BEFORE DIGGING ANY FURTHER. McGinnis kept digging and proceeded to flood the "Money Pit" because the watertight door was not closed first.
It is worthy of mentioning the depositors intentionally left a pulley hanging from a tree, and a small depression at the "Money Pit", to draw attention away from the treasure vault shaft. In doing so, they knew anyone that was not supposed to be there would flood the "Money Pit" because they did not understand how the system worked.
Now for the most important part..........Where to dig?
When they arrived, they unloaded the treasure and moved it to the treasure vault shaft using the slipway. Therefore, from the slipway in Smith's Cove, mark a straight line heading inland from the left side of the slipway. Then, do the same for the right side. The treasure vault shaft will be found somewhere between those lines.
After looking at old photos and comparing them to the direction of the slipway in Smith's Cover, the treasure vault shaft is under the road next to the "Cave in pit". Thus, the reason nobody that excavated in that area found it..........They were driving over the top of it.
Albeit, the entire exercise is pointless because the treasure was moved long ago.
