Human nature can be a funny thing. Set forth a challenge and we will rise to it. Offer up a mystery and we will set our hearts and minds to solving it. If it were not so, our world would still be unexplored and great discoveries would remain hidden. Like all aspects of human nature, some are bestowed with a greater measure of curiosity and drive then others. Many of the names below and those associated with the companies and syndicates noted were, and are, of a breed who champion the adventurer's spirit.
Let us hope, that someday soon, Oak Island gives up its secret so that all those who have been involved in the search since that fateful day in 1795 can rest in the knowledge that their quest was not without promise.
| 1795 | Daniel McGinnis, John Smith, and Anthony Vaughn |
| 1804 - 1805 | Onslow Company |
| 1848 - 1851 | Truro Company |
| 1858 - 1862 | Truro Syndicates |
| 1863 - 1865 | Oak Island Association |
| 1866 - 1867 | Oak Island Eldorado Company |
| 1893 - 1899 | Oak Island Treasure Company |
| 1909 - 1911 | Old Gold Salvage Company |
| 1931 | William Chappell & Associates |
| 1934 - 1938 | Gilbert D. Hedden |
| 1938 - 1944 | Edwin H. Hamilton |
| 1951 | M.R. Chappell and Frederick Blair |
| 1955 | George Greene |
| 1958 | William and Victor Harman |
| 1959 - 1965 | Robert Restall & Family |
| 1964 - 2016 | Frederick Nolan |
| 1965 - 1967 | Robert Dunfield |
| 1967 - 1969 | Daniel Blankenship & David Tobias |
| 1969 - 2007 | Triton Alliance |
| 2007 - | Oak Island Tours Inc. |
