Oak Island as a Seventeenth-Century Covert Shipbuilding and Naval Logistics Site Jerald Lee Harrah Independent Researcher United States

Abstract Oak Island, Nova Scotia, has long been interpreted through speculative narratives centered on buried treasure. Despite extensive excavation and technological investigation over more than two centuries, no verifiable treasure has been recovered. This paper proposes an alternative, evidence-based interpretation: that Oak Island functioned as a covert seventeenth-century shipbuilding and naval logistics site. By examining the strategic value of oak timber circa 1650, contemporary shipbuilding practices, engineered hydrological systems, and the island’s concealed maritime access, this study argues that Oak Island’s anomalous features are more consistent with industrial maritime activity than with treasure burial. The presence of mature oak forests, artificial drainage systems, stone wharves, and a concealed inlet supports the hypothesis that vessels were constructed, serviced, and discreetly launched from the island, likely in association with French Acadian or naval interests. This interpretation resolves long-standing contradictions in treasure-based explanations while aligning with known seventeenth-century naval doctrine and colonial logistics.