Contemporary photos from the SS Central America wreck 0

[RWB]

From the BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60866212

[GoldFinger1969]

How much of the 21 tons of gold have been brought up ?  I know there probably won't be any more salvage missions -- they got the low-hanging fruit and it wouldn't be financially profitable to go after the remainder left.

[Nouzillet]

The 21 tons of gold is a Myth that gets repeated over and over again in article after article. It was based on a false claim that the ship carried a “secret U.S. Army shipment” that supposedly consisted of 600-50 lb boxes of gold ingots that were placed on the S.S. Sonora in SF and in turn the S. S. Central America at Aspinwall on her last voyage. It’s not at the bottom of the sea, it never was onboard the S.S.CA. The wreck site is severely degraded-no place for tons of additional gold to hide. Barry Schatz one of the original members of Columbus-America Discovery Group stated this decades ago. A much more realistic number is that the ship carried 3 tons of gold.

This myth, was in part, why Tommy Thompson and CADG got caught up in what seemed like an endless and extremely costly legal battle over the ownership of the treasure. When the wreck was first discovered decades ago, some clueless folks valued her potential treasure at 1 billion dollars.

That’s billion with a B or Baloney

Don’t get me wrong it was a magnificent find and recovery. The ship simply never carried 21 tons of gold on her final voyage. SFBM records etc. show no such gold shipment. Again the wreck site is severely degraded- there is nowhere to hide tons of additional gold.

 

 

 

[GoldFinger1969]

On 3/27/2022 at 12:56 PM, Nouzillet said:

The 21 tons of gold is a Myth that gets repeated over and over again in article after article. It was based on a false claim that the ship carried a “secret U.S. Army shipment” that supposedly consisted of 600-50 lb boxes of gold ingots that were placed on the S.S. Sonora in SF and in turn the S. S. Central America at Aspinwall on her last voyage. It’s not at the bottom of the sea, it never was onboard the S.S.CA. The wreck site is severely degraded-no place for tons of additional gold to hide. Barry Schatz one of the original members of Columbus-America Discovery Group stated this decades ago. A much more realistic number is that the ship carried 3 tons of gold.

That makes more sense.  21 tons would have been ALOT back in the 1850's for 1 ship to carry, tonnage-wise.  Also would be almost $15 MM in gold. 

[GoldFinger1969]

On 3/27/2022 at 12:56 PM, Nouzillet said:

This myth, was in part, why Tommy Thompson and CADG got caught up in what seemed like an endless and extremely costly legal battle over the ownership of the treasure. When the wreck was first discovered decades ago, some clueless folks valued her potential treasure at 1 billion dollars.  That’s billion with a B or Baloney Don’t get me wrong it was a magnificent find and recovery. The ship simply never carried 21 tons of gold on her final voyage. SFBM records etc. show no such gold shipment. Again the wreck site is severely degraded- there is nowhere to hide tons of additional gold.

You would think something like that would have been cleared up right away.  I mean, if there were 7x as much gold found it'd be pretty hard to hide it, right ?

Of course, TT didn't help himself with going into hiding and evading the courts.

[Alex in PA.]

I read some about this 'treasure' find.  It seems odd to me that several insurance companies sued to get some gold saying 'they' had paid claims on the lost gold.  1857 claims paid and 1988 or so sue for damages?  Greed has no scruples, eh?

[GoldFinger1969]

On 3/27/2022 at 5:41 PM, Alex in PA. said:

I read some about this 'treasure' find.  It seems odd to me that several insurance companies sued to get some gold saying 'they' had paid claims on the lost gold.  1857 claims paid and 1988 or so sue for damages?  Greed has no scruples, eh?

I think they got like 7% or so.  I didn't follow the court case(s), but I am sure it's different than if a stolen or lost item suddenly turns up.  In this case, the gold was found but big $$$ were expended in bringing it up.  And the insurance company didn't foot that bill.

[Woods020]

On 3/27/2022 at 6:04 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

I think they got like 7% or so.  I didn't follow the court case(s), but I am sure it's different than if a stolen or lost item suddenly turns up.  In this case, the gold was found but big $$$ were expended in bringing it up.  And the insurance company didn't foot that bill.

I think that’s when I would politely tell the insurance company I was very careful not to touch the gold they insured and left it in place. Didn’t want to mess with their property and it’s right where it was for them to recover. 

[Conder101]

I'm not sure but I believe one of the reasons the insurances companies got such a small award was because manyof the firms saying they paid claims on the wreck no longer had the policys/documantation.  The policy's had been paid and they never expected the cargo would be recovered so they had disposed of the paperwork.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Conder101

[VKurtB]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:53 AM, Conder101 said:

I'm not sure but I believe one of the reasons the insurances companies got such a small award was because manyof the firms saying they paid claims on the wreck no longer had the policys/documantation.  The policy's had been paid and they never expected the cargo would be recovered so they had disposed of the paperwork.

Never is a really long time. 

[Conder101]

True, but in 1857 they really didn't think there would be any chance to recover material from 3 miles down.