Either way, at one of these depths was a flat stone with strange symbols resembling a code. After the crew discovered the stone, they hit something solid and decided to take the evening to rest and examine their find. .
When they got up the next morning, the claimed that the shaft was found flooded. Bailing the pit out was useless, because no matter how hard they worked, the water level stayed the same. It was as hopeless as trying to empty the Atlantic. In fact, it was later discovered that the water source was indeed the nearby ocean. Documented subsequent attempts assert to have bypassed the water with a parallel shaft intended to intercept the speculated treasure suffered the same fate. Water poured in just as quickly and the Onslow Company's expedition ended. The mysterious stone with cryptic symbols was allegedly analyzed, reported and seen by many people from the date of its discovery until the early 20th century. Unfortunately, the reported stone has been missing since 1919, so no recent tests or analogies can be made (Crooker 1993: 21). Before its disappearance, however, a language professor at Dalhousie University purportedly deciphered the code. His translation is documented to say "Ten feet below two million pounds are buried". (Whipps, 2005) .
The pit was now named, "The Money Pit". The reason why isn't cited, but perhaps it was because of its potential payout or the large amount of money already invested. The pit and its suspicious findings attracted the attention of the Truro Company who re-excavated the original pit. When they encountered water, they employed the use of a hand operated auger. With this equipment the men were able to get samples of what was below. Among the alleged samples were clay, wood, and three links of a gold chain (O'Connor 1988: 18). Excited by their evidence, they eagerly tried to intercept the money pit in a similar fashion to the Onslow Company's attempts.
