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For more than a century, the legends and mystery of the “Ship of Gold” lured would-be salvagers to the Carolina Coast. Books were written documenting the disaster. Tales abounded of gold bars weighing up to 750 ounces. Ultimately the lure of the SS Central America attracted the attention of the world’s best ocean engineers and scientists. Still, it seemed impossible that the lost treasure ship could ever be found and recovered from the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Shipwreck Located After 131 Years In 1988, ocean engineer Tommy Thompson, geologist Bob Evans, and the Columbus Discovery Group went in search of the treasure ship SS Central America. Dr. Lawrence Stone, a leading expert on search theory, was brought in for the search. He had gathered data from the 1968 search in the Atlantic of the U.S. nuclear submarine Scorpion. With the aid of sophisticated computers, the scientists built sophisticated search models similar to those you've seen used in recent airplane crashes in the Atlantic. An enterprise of 161 partners raised $10 million dollars over three years to fund the team of 40 scientists, engineers and technicians in the search. The advent of side-scanning sonar helped to map the ocean floor in detail. After two years of searching, a ghostly image of the side-wheel of a steamship and a ship's bell appeared on the monitors. Without a doubt, this was the SS Central America! In a strange coincidence, it was the same day September 11th some 131 years earlier that the SS Central America began taking on water during the hurricane. Finding the "Ship of Gold" Was An Historic Event In many ways, locating the SS Central America was a more important event for Americans than locating the Titanic. After all, this was U.S. mail steamship, filled with historical artifacts and Pre-Civil War gold. Then, unexpectedly the first gold ingots came to light. Amidst rotted wood, scattered gold dust, gold bars and gold coins began to appear. And now, after a 12-years of legal battles, the Supreme Court has ruled and the coins are now available to American public. If you'd like to speak to a Gold Specialist about these coins, call Austin Rare Coins at 1-800-928-6468 seven days a week. Return to Page 3
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