The SS Central America 1852

SS Central America S.S. Central America Time Line

The S.S. Central America carried the most talked about treasure in American history. A book about the ship and its fabulous cargo, Ship of Gold, In The Deep Blue Sea, by Gary Kinder (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998) was on the New York Times Best Seller List, and Warner Brothers has purchased the rights to produce a major motion picture. Tommy Thompson, who organized the expedition to locate the sunken steamship and recover the cargo, wrote a critically-acclaimed book, America’s Lost Treasure (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998). For the first time, individuals now can own treasure from the Central America – extraordinary Gold Rush history you can hold in your hands! Here is a brief recap of the S.S. Central America story.

SS Central America October 28, 1852: Operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the legendary S.S. Central America is launched. Originally named, S.S. George Law, it was a three-masted, 272-feet long sidewheel steamship that made 43 round trips between New York City and Panama. Each leg of the voyage usually took between 19 to 24 days to complete.

SS Central America 1852 to1857: The Central America transported an estimated one-third of the entire California Gold Rush output. That one-third was valued at the time at approximately $150 million.

SS Central America September 3, 1857: The Central America left Aspinwall (now Colón), Panama carrying 476 passengers, 102 crew members and over three tons of gold. The precious cargo included approximately 5,200 recently-minted $20- denomination ("Double Eagle") gold pieces produced in 1857 at the San Francisco Mint. The gold for these coins was mined during the California Gold Rush. There also was a much smaller quantity of other historic gold coins that circulated in the Wild West. (These will be released later for purchase by individuals).

The cargo also contained privately-made gold coins and ingots produced by such historic, government-supervised San Francisco Gold Rush-era assayers as Blake & Co.; Kellogg & Humbert; Wass Molitor & Co.; Harris, Marchand & Co.; and Justh & Hunter.

The largest ingot recovered is an astonishing gold brick that weighs 933 ounces, nearly 80 pounds, made by assayers Kellogg & Humbert. SS Central America Friday, September 11, 1857: In the second day of a hurricane the ship sprang a leak at 9 a.m. Passengers were ordered to assist the crew in bailing. The ship sank at about 8 p.m. on Saturday, September 12, about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon.

Unable to meet payrolls or pay creditors because of the loss of the gold cargo, New York banks began to fail and stores and factories began to close, touching off a financial crash in the United States and Europe. It was "The Panic of 1857."

SS Central America 1985: An ocean engineer with Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, Thomas G. Thompson, founded the Columbus-America Discovery Group to research and locate the Central America shipwreck. The 161 investors raised more than $10 million.

SS Central America 1986: The group, based in landlocked Columbus, began exploring 1,400 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean and located the ship’s bell in 8,500 feet of water.

SS Central America After successfully using state-of-the art technology to recover the treasure and other important artifacts, the Columbus-America Discovery Group began a decade of litigation to retain the historic find. Eventually, courts awarded approximately 92 percent of the treasure to the Columbus group with the remainder awarded to insurance companies. ·

SS Central America July 1998: A casual conversation at a country club (Big Canyon C.C., Newport Beach, California) sets the stage for the world’s largest numismatic transaction. Rare coin dealer Larry Goldberg of Beverly Hills, told coin expert-turned-sports agent, Dwight Manley, that the Columbus group wanted to sell intact its portion of the treasure.

SS Central America July 1998 - January 2000: Intrigued and determined to "do the deal," Manley, now Managing Partner of California Gold Group, Newport Beach, then undertook nearly two years of complex negotiations with Columbus-America Discovery Group, Union Bank of California and Christie’s auction house to acquire the $100+ million worth of historic gold coins and bars. He earlier obtained a $70 million contract for Utah Jazz basketball star Karl Malone, but now declares the treasure project involved the biggest and most complicated negotiations he’s ever undertaken. Manley accomplished what no else could do.

SS Central America January 2000 - present: The coins are being certified by Collectors Universe Professional Coin Grading Service (NASDAQ: CLCT), the world’s largest rare coin authentication company. Each coin is sonically sealed in a protective holder, then placed inside a custom-made leather bound book.

For future academic study, some historic gold coins from the S.S. Central America will be donated by Manley to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; the New York Historical Society, New York City; the San Francisco Historical Society, San Francisco; and the American Numismatic Association Money Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

SS Central America February 10 - 13, 2000: The first public exhibit of this previously unseen treasure is scheduled at the Long Beach, California Convention Center (100 S. Pine Ave.) in conjunction with the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Expo. Future Long Beach exhibits also are planned, June 8 - 11 and October 5 -8, and in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (1201 Arch St.), August 9 - 13, in conjunction with the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money®. (Public exhibits elsewhere also may be planned.) SS Central America March 1, 2000: For the first time in history, individuals will be able to purchase historic gold coins from the S.S. Central America treasure (www.SSCentralAmerica.com). They will be sold by the largest, best-known numismatic dealership in the country:

Here's the story:
SS Central America, Ship of Gold', was a 280-foot (85 m) side wheel steamer that operated between Central America and the eastern coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally named the SS George Law, after Mr. George Law of New York. The ship sank in a hurricane in September 1857, along with more than 550 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds of gold, contributing to the Panic of 1857. On 3 September 1857, 477 passengers and 101 crew left the Panamanian port of Colón, sailing for New York City under the command of William Lewis Herndon. The ship was heavily laden with 10 tons of gold prospected during the California Gold Rush. After a stop in Havana, the ship continued north. On 9 September, the ship was caught up in a Category 2 hurricane while off the coast of the Carolinas. By 11 September, the 105 mph (165 km/h) winds and heavy surf had shredded her sails, she was taking on water, and her boiler was threatening to go out. A leak in one of the seals to the paddle wheels sealed her fate, and, at noon that day, her boiler could no longer maintain fire. Steam pressure dropped, shutting down both the pumps keeping the water at bay and the paddle wheels that kept her pointed into the wind as the ship settled by the stern. The passengers and crew flew the ship's flag upside down (a universal sign of distress) to try to signal a passing ship. No one came. A bucket brigade was formed and her passengers and crew spent the night fighting a losing battle against the rising water. During the calm of the hurricane, attempts were made to get the boiler running again, but these all failed. The second half of the storm then struck. The ship was now on the verge of foundering. Without power, the ship was carried along with the storm, so the strong winds would not abate. The next morning, two ships were spotted, including the brig Marine. 153 people, primarily women and children, managed to make their way over in lifeboats. However, the ship remained in an area of intense winds and heavy seas that pulled the ship and most of her company away from rescue and eventually took the ship and many of the roughly 425 people still on board to the bottom at around 8 pm that night. A Norwegian bark, Ellen, rescued an additional fifty from the waters. Another three were picked up over a week later in a lifeboat.

At the time of her sinking, the Central America carried gold then valued at approximately $2 million USD. The loss shook public confidence in the economy, and contributed to the Panic of 1857. Commander William Lewis Herndon, a distinguished officer who had served during the Mexican-American War and explored the Amazon Valley, was captain of the Central America. Commander Herndon went down with his ship. Two US Navy ships were later named USS Herndon in his honor, as was the town of Herndon, Virginia. Two years after the sinking, his daughter Ellen married Chester Alan Arthur, later the 21st President of the United States. Several books were written about this historic ship. One book is America's Lost Treasure, a pictorial chronicle of the sinking and recovery. Gary Kinder's Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is an account of the recovery efforts. The ship was located by the use of Bayesian search theory and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operated by the Columbus-America Discovery Group of Ohio, that was sent down on September 11, 1987. Significant amounts of gold and artifacts were recovered and brought to the surface by another ROV built specifically for the recovery. Tommy Thompson[who?] led the group. 39 insurance companies filed suit, claiming that because they paid damages in the 19th century for the lost gold, they had the right to it. The team that found it argued that the gold had been abandoned. After a legal battle, 92% of the gold was awarded to the discovery team in 1996. The total value of the recovered gold was estimated at $100–150 million. A recovered gold ingot weighing 80 lb.(36 kg) sold for a record $8 million and was recognized as the most valuable piece of currency in the world at that time.

Interesting conclusion to a very interesting treasure find. By Joshua Rhett MillerPublished August 27, 2012 FoxNews.com
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/23/engineer-who-found-hip-gold-now-sought-by-us-marshals/#ixzz2Sedx4nlh
Treasure hunter who found 'Ship of Gold' now sought by US Marshals
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/23/engineer-who-found-hip-gold-now-sought-by-us-marshals/#ixzz2SecrZVF5

Tommy G. Thompson had a silver tongue when it came to attracting investors and a Midas touch for locating sunken treasure off the Carolina coast. But like a pirate captain who refuses to share the booty, Thompson stiffed his crew and investors, according to a lawsuit — and now, no one knows where to find him. Thompson promised huge returns to investors who backed his search for the SS Central America, which was dubbed in maritime lore as the “Ship of Gold.” The 280-foot ship sank during a hurricane off the North Carolina coast in 1857, taking 425 souls and up to 21 tons of gold to the ocean floor some 8,000 feet deep. The gold had been shipped from San Francisco down to the west coast of Panama, then sent by rail to the Central American nation's east coast and finally loaded onto the steamship bound for New York. When Thompson, an ocean engineer by trade, announced his Columbus, Ohio-based team had found the wreck in 1988, his gleeful backers awaited a big payday.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/23/engineer-who-found-hip-gold-now-sought-by-us-marshals/#ixzz2SedCAgqw


It never came. How much of the Central America's gold was recovered is unclear, though Thompson sold bars and coins to a California mint for $52 million. Investors, including a Columbus newspaper magnate and a prominent auto dealer, say they are due millions. His team of nine technicians, who held find the wreck and recover the gold, say they are due more than $2 million. They've been fighting for their money in court for years. “There is very little reason to doubt that these plaintiffs will prevail and in an amount in excess of $2 million,” Michael Szolosi, an attorney for the technicians, told FoxNews.com. “And all they see from the defendants is delay, delay, delay.”

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus issued a warrant for Thompson, who is now 60. U.S. Marshals are searching for the reclusive treasure hunter, but their task is daunting. They have no current photo of him, and his trail went cold years ago in a trailer park in Florida. Szolosi said Thompson has never shown up in court, and confesses he's never laid eyes on him. His own attorney, meanwhile, says Thompson is "at sea."

Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Drew Shadwick told FoxNews.com investigators are pursuing a “number of leads” and hope to have Thompson in custody shortly. “When he is located, it could take anywhere from a few hours up to a couple of months to get him to federal court in Columbus depending on where he is arrested and how he, his attorneys, and the judges in his district of arrest choose to handle the situation,” Shadwick said.

Sargus temporarily blocked the sale or transfer of 500 restrike gold coins made from some of the discovered gold. Those coins were included in part of a deal in 2000 to sell rights to the remaining treasure to the California Gold Marketing Group for $52 million, leaving about $30 million after the cost of recovery efforts. The judge also ordered Thompson to disclose the location of those coins, as well as funds from a trust. “We have reason to believe that the 500 coins still exist somewhere and that’s why it’s so important for [Thompson] to come to court as he’s been ordered and to answer what the plaintiffs and the judge want answered,” Szolosi said of the 2.5-ounce coins. “We want those assets held.” Thompson is unaware of the warrant issued for his arrest, according to one of his recently-hired attorneys. “Mr. Thompson has not been made aware of and has no knowledge of the warrant out against him and it’s my understanding when he does come back from sea he has every intention of complying with that court’s order,” attorney Avonte Campinha-Bacote told FoxNews.com. “Obviously, he will return.” Thompson, who is believed to have a home in eastern Florida, has faced several other legal battles over claims to the gold by insurance companies, rival salvagers and regarding returns that were expected by a group of 161 investors who paid $12.7 million in the mid-1980s to find the historic wreck, including The Dispatch Printing Co., which publishes The Columbus Dispatch. In 1998, after years of litigation, Thompson and his companies were rewarded 92 percent of the recovered gold, with the remainder going to insurance companies that paid claims after the steamship sank, according to the Dispatch. Eight years later, led by Michael Williamson of Seattle, the team of nine technicians sued in federal court to seek the millions they claim is due to them for locating the most famous shipwreck of its time. Those technicians and investors who funded Thompson’s dream have yet to see a penny in profit from the high-tech recovery mission and the “bizarre” legal battle that has followed, Szolosi said.

Michael Frevola, a maritime attorney in the case, told FoxNews.com he had a copy of author Gary Kinder’s 1999 book “Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea” on desk during an interview with FoxNews.com. The 507-page national best-seller details Thompson’s trip to the bottom of the Atlantic, but the ensuing legal fight is worth another book, he said. “It’s at a point that a book could be written about this is not unfathomable,” Frevola said. “It’s a good read.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.