Shipwreck of the SS Central America (1857)

In a story that would make a great movie, the "Ship of Gold", sunk in a hurricane on September 11, 1857. That ship, the SS Central America was a 280-foot side-wheel steamer carrying 400 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds of gold. Roughly 425 people went down with the ship. In 1987, a group led by Tommy Thompson found much of the gold on the ocean floor, the gold's value today is between 100-150 million dollars.

Public domain photo courtesy Wikimedia

An artists rendition of the 1857 shipwreck.

Public domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

On September 3rd, 1857, 100 crew members and over 475 passengers left the Panama's port of Colón, setting sail for New York under the leadership of Captain W. L. Herndon. The ship was carrying with around 14 tons of gold mined during the Gold Rush in California. After a stop in Cuba, the ship headed northward.

On the 9th of September the vessel was encountered a hurricane while passing the Carolina coastline. Two days later, the strong winds and harsh seas had ripped apart Its sails, the ship was rapidly taking on water. A leaky paddle wheel seal doomed her fate, and, around noon that day, her steam engine could no longer operate. This shut down the pumps that kept the water at bay and the paddle wheels that kept the ship pointed into the wind. The crew flew the ship's flag upside down to try to inform a passing vessel of their predicament.

When the back half of the hurricane hit, the ship was on the verge of sinking. With no power, the ship was whisked along with the storm. The next morning, two vessels were spotted, including the....(read more at Wikipedia)

Public domain image courtesy Wikimedia/Library of Congress

The detailed and engrossing story of the sinking of the SS Central America, and the quest to recover its cargo some 131 years later.