Pirate Gold of Adak Island is the latest documentary series released on Netflix on 29 June 2022. The series is created by Mak Pictures with executive producers, Mark Kadin and Will Ehbrecht. It is an eight-part docuseries with a runtime of about 25-34 minutes respectively. It follows the expedition team which is called to hunt down the treasure hidden in Adak Island, Alaska.
The expedition team includes Dr M Jackson, Burke Mitchell, Jay Toomoth, Brian Weed and the mayor of the island Thom Spitler. The small island with only 45 residents left is on the verge of economic collapse and to revive its community, the mayor decided to dig 150 years old treasure sprawled around the island by a Pirate.
-Pirate Gold of Adak Island Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
Plot: Find That Gold
Over the past one hundred years, caches of gold coins from the nineteenth century have been found buried on the remote and eerie island of Adak. The entire pirate treasure, most of which has not been found, has an estimated value of $365 Million. Mayor Tom Spitler is assembling a team of experienced treasure hunters to search for the booty.
This proves to be a treacherous task as Adak is littered with unexploded bombs left over from World War II. Luckily, the mayor himself happens to be specially trained in bomb removal – but will that be enough? They could get rich, but they might die trying. Or they might not find anything at all due to the human activity over the years, which might have buried the treasure far under or displaced it somewhere else.
Tracing the Steps of the Pirate Captain
In 1892, an illegal seal poacher and Pirate named Gregory Dwargstaf hid gold coins worth $365 million dollars in 150 food and milk tin cans, on the island of Adak. He was running away from the govt officials and found the secluded island to be the best place for his treasure to be hidden for a long time. But before he could come back to get it, he was arrested when his ship wrecked and ultimately died in prison.
In World War II, the island was used as a base by America to attack Japan. During the construction of the base in 1943, a worker found a tin can with gold coins from the 1880s-90s which was worth thousands of dollars. Later on, in 1959, another can with $2.5 million dollars worth of gold was found by a Seabee while constructing drainage.
But since the island was working as an army base, digging of land was absolutely prohibited and you would be punished if found doing such acts. Until 1997 when all the army operations ended, the handful of people who knew about the treasure, couldn’t find anything due to the changes that human settlement and the army had done to the island and also, due to its harsh tundra weather conditions which freezes the land in winters.
In 2022, the island is going to collapse economically and it needs funds to keep functioning. Therefore, Mayor Thom Spitler has called upon the experts to work together and find the treasure. Out of which 95% will go to the Island and 5% will be awarded to them but the catch is, that they will not be paid at all unless they find the treasure.
Brian is the tech guy with all the high-tech gadgets, he can help find objects in places that human power can’t. Dr M Jackson is a scientist who knows all about topography and how to get around things with the help of science. Lastly, Jay and Burke grew up on this island only and know it very well, they are the fabricators who can make you any machinery you want from scrap or scratch.
Their task is to find the remaining 148 cans before the ground freezes up, but that’s not the only problem as the island is filled with unexploded bombs left behind by the army and any wrong dig can kill them all. That’s where the Mayor helps them as he is an expert on the topic. But on the sequestered island, all the odds seem to be against them.
They try to find more gold at the places where it was found but all they could get is metal scraps, soda cans and human trash. Or even some Japanese bombs and some Rommel spikes that could kill you in an instant if put on one wrong foot. Hurdles like these slows down their quest and chances look bleak after facing failures at every point.
Final Thoughts: Let’s Go on a Treasure Hunt
Pirate Gold of Adak Island on Netflix is an intriguing documentary series which will keep you on your toes. There’s nothing better than watching people find the legendary treasure hidden by some runaway pirate in unknown and treacherous territory. Pirates have been a topic of great interest and to find actual proof of their existence is exciting.
Although when the expedition team were facing one failed attempt after another till episode 4-5, my pessimistic self was quite sure that they won’t be able to find anything and felt that the documentary might just end at the same point where it started. And go back to ‘where is the treasure’? To my surprise, it is not a dead-end but a surprising one and not as disappointing as I had expected. If you like to know about Pirates and their famous lores’ then you should definitely watch it.
Pirate Gold of Adak Island is streaming on Netflix.
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5 episodes in and they still haven’t found anything, absolutely nothing. It’s like watching a bunch of bad actors. And the drama… everything they do they’ll make it a life or death situation. Sure they made up the injury, planted the bone…
yah. and also they find a clean gold coin that buried 100 yrs haha
I can locate it in a matter of minutes all the targets I have a very proprietorial Instrument contact me if you want to make some money
Stationed there from 70-71 with the Navy. Never once heard this story. I’m enjoying it
just for the memories.
The fake drama is ridiculous. The fake half fall on the edge of the cliff. The camera just happens to be at his feet. The fact almost fall on the Japanese steel rod. She’s a horrible actor. The mayor is completely not happy with all the fake stuff the crew is making up.
Then they can’t find anything real so they actually go 10 mile in on the island to look by lake Betty, after just telling us and showing us how the captain would NOT go far from shore. What a completely made up show and so fake. It’s to bad they there are so many ridiculously fake shows now. We are on to them.
This makes the idiots who did the “Finding Hitler” series fricking PhDs. And trust me those clowns were clowns.
I lived on Adak in 76-77. I actually graduated from high school there. If I knew there was gold, I would have been spending my summers digging for treasure.
This show is so full of crap and fake made up stories. It was painful to watch and a terrible waste of time. I only watched it because I lived there from 1976-1978 and wanted to see my old stomping grounds. I am very disappointed that they really did not show the island and its facilities and buildings very much at all. Anyone who lived there remember the “coffee Break” jingle on Armed forces Radio? If you do can you remember the lyrics? I would love to have a recording of that jingle its still an ear worm for me. Hmm Hmm Hmm coffee break….ha ha ha!
The gold coin that was found was in mint condition. How is this possible? I doubt it.
Worst series ever. I watched it in about 10 minutes. I watched the last 30 seconds of each episode where they were acting all excited, then the first 30 seconds of the next where they revealed it was a Dr. Pepper can or something like that. If Netflix knows it is a complete waste of time, they should not put it on their streaming service.
I have some old maps of Adak.
Wasn’t interested you wasted hours of my life digging up garbage bring a camera I got trash in my yard too
Can’t believe Netflix charged me for this
It would be good if they donated money to seal conservation charities and work due to the illegal seal poaching the money originally came from.
(A percentage of money if it is eventually found)
Agree.
Wow, this was one of the dumbest show I have ever seen. The whole thing was scripted with the absolute worst “treasure hunting team” I have ever seen. And to find two perfect looking planted coins at the end. Don’t waste your time.
Wow. Biggest waste of my time. The show is obviously a fraud. They find NOTHING. Save yourself the time and watch literally ANYTHING else.
I feel like they are using dr Jackson as reason to watch the show like she’s Pam Anderson..
Spent a year there in 1973-1974 in the navy. I did hear a rumor of gold buried there from one of the old guys who had been on the island for years. I never did go out and dig for it though. Very unhospitable weather and the threat of unexploded bombs persuaded me not to dig around for things. Lots of old building from WW2 there. I liked the show and hope that they film a season 2 as I would like someone to get the gold.