Lee Lamb - Oak Island Obsession: The Restall Story

OAK ISLAND

Obsession

THE RESTALL STORY

LEE LAMB

Copyright Lee Lamb, 2006

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Copy-editor: Andrea Waters
Design: Jennifer Scott
Printer: University of Toronto Press

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Lamb, Lee
Oak Island obsession : the Restall story / Lee Lamb.

Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-10: 1-55002-625-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-55002-625-2

1. Oak Island treasure site (N.S.). 2. Restall family. 3. Treasure troves--Nova Scotia--Oak Island (Lunenburg). I. Title.

FC2345.O23Z49 2006 971.6'23 C2006-901339-X

1 2 3 4 5 10 09 08 07 06

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

Printed and bound in Canada.
Printed on recycled paper.

www.dundurn.com

Dundurn Press
3 Church Street, Suite 500
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5E 1M2

Gazelle Book Services Limited
White Cross Mills
High Town, Lancaster, England
LA1 4XS

Dundurn Press
2250 Military Road
Tonawanda, NY
U.S.A. 14150

Their lives were like no others.

All across Germany, Britain, Canada, and the United States, Bob and Mildred Restall amazed audiences with their death-defying feats on motorcycles inside a steel sphere known as the Globe of Death.

Then, at an age when they might have been expected to settle into a more conservative way of life, they embarked on a bold new adventure one that would bring them recognition from around the world as television stations, magazines, and other news media chronicled the Restall search for treasure on Canadas famous Oak Island. That adventure would test them in every measure and would change them profoundly. Ultimately, it would end in unspeakable tragedy.

Bob and Mildred Restall were my parents. This is their story.

Note: Throughout this book, comments in square brackets within primary source material are mine. Comments in parentheses belong to the author of that particular piece. Original documents have been edited for clarity, spelling, and punctuation and have had extraneous content removed.

Although they were born on different continents, my parents early years had much in common. Each started life in a family that struggled financially, each was forced to abandon formal schooling very early, and each chose a career in entertainment as the portal to adventure.

Once their lives intersected, my parents discovered they were a perfect match. They joined forces and set out, confident that their life together would be exciting and glamorous. Throughout the ensuing years, they encountered exhilarating highs and daunting lows, but true to their expectations, the life they shared proved to be a most extraordinary adventure.

My mother was English, born and bred, but Dad was a fourth-generation Canadian, born in Toronto.

Dads parents, Ernest and Annie Restall, had three daughters and four sons. Shortly after the last child was born, Ernest moved the family to the United States in search of a better life. Ernest was a hard-working skilled tradesman, but he was also a heavy drinker. After only a few years in the United States, Ernest and Annie separated; alcohol was blamed.

Ernest returned to Canada, and Annie and the children remained in the United States. Ernest had taught his trade, plumbing, to his oldest son, my father. By the time his parents separated, Dad was already working to help the family financially. He had left school immediately after graduating from grade eight. His sisters Lillian and Margaret did the same, securing jobs with the Bell Telephone Company. In those days (around 1919), you could leave school before age sixteen if your family needed your assistance. So at the earliest opportunity, each of the Restall children left school to help support the family.

Dad, his siblings, and his mother lived in Yonkers, New York. Soon, the older boys in the family Dad, Goldy, and Bill discovered dirt track motorcycle racing and became local stars. The name Restall hardly conjures up visions of speed, so the boys adopted the surname Lee, after General Robert E. Lee. Dad took the name Speedy Bob Lee, Goldy became Goldy Lee or Curly Lee, and Bill became Wild Bill Lee or sometimes Billy Lee. Bill lost interest in riding motorcycles pretty quickly, but Dad and Goldy were hooked. As well as motorcycle racing, they began trick riding inside a motor drome and were so successful that they took their act to Britain.

A drome (sometimes called a wall) is a huge barrel-like structure. Motorcyclists ride around on the inside of the barrel walls. Spectators pay admission, climb a steep staircase, and stand on a platform that goes all around the top of the drome. Then they peer down into the barrel, watching the riders roar round and round, now riding with no hands, now steering with their feet, now crossing one leg over to ride sidesaddle, now standing with both feet on one pedal with hands in the air. Sometimes two riders on separate motorcycles race along the wall, criss-crossing each others paths. Sometimes a car is driven inside the drome instead.

When my mother and father met, Mom was a dancer. She had been earning her own living, working with variety shows that played across England, from the time she was twelve years old. Mildred Shelley was born in Brackenhill, Ackworth R.D., England, in 1912 to Henrietta Shelley, ne Greenwood, and Henry Shelley, a colliery banksman. Henry went overseas to serve in the First World War, leaving his wife and young daughter in England. In less than a year, Henry was killed in battle. Henrietta took little Mildred and returned to her parents home. Her father owned two or three fish and chip shops and was also a gentleman farmer, keeping a few cows, pigs, and chickens. He was a stern man who expected each of his children to work long and hard in the service of the family in exchange for room, board, and a very small allowance. Henrietta toiled alongside her younger brothers and sisters. There were plenty of jobs, so even little Mildred was pressed into service.

My mother recalled no happiness in that household, no fun, no kindness, no compliments only work. She and her mother slaved for the dour old man. When the family sat down together at mealtimes, his was the only voice allowed to be heard. It was fresh in Henriettas mind why she had been in such a hurry to marry and leave home, but now she was a widow with a young daughter and few options.