SS Central America
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2008-05-13T16:46:47Z
Jacklee
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{{dablink|This article is about the ship. For related uses, see [[Central America (disambiguation)]].}}
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|Ship name=SS ''Central America''
|Ship operator=United States Mail Steamship Company
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|Ship tonnage=2,141 tons
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'''SS ''Central America''''', sometimes called the '''Ship of Gold''', was a 280-foot (85 m) sidewheel [[steamship|steamer]] that steamed between [[Central America]] and the eastern coast of the [[United States]] during the 1850s. Originally named the '''SS ''George Law''''', the ship sank in a hurricane in September 1857, along with 400 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds of gold, contributing to the [[Panic of 1857]].
==Sinking==
On [[September 3]], [[1857]], 477 passengers and 101 crew left the [[Panama]]nian port of [[Colón, Panama|Colón]], sailing for [[New York City]] under the command of [[William Lewis Herndon]]. The ship was heavily laden with between 13 and 15 [[ton]]s of [[gold]] prospected during the [[California Gold Rush]]. After a stop in [[Havana]], the ship continued north.
{{storm path|1857 North Carolina hurricane track.png|left|Hurricane path}}
On [[September 9]], the ship was caught up in a [[Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale|Category 2 hurricane]] while off the coast of the [[Carolinas]]. By [[September 11]], 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. 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 [[Eye (cyclone)|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.<ref>http://www.columbia.edu/~dj114/SS_Central_America.pdf</ref> Another three were picked up over a week later in a lifeboat.
==Effects of the sinking==<!-- Needs a better section title -->
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 [[Valley of the Amazon|Amazon Valley]], was captain of the ''Central America''. Commander Herndon went down with his ship. Two US Navy ships were later named [[USS Herndon|USS ''Herndon'']] in his honor, as was the town of [[Herndon, Virginia]].
Several books were written about this historic ship. The most famous book is ''America's Lost Treasure'', a pictorial chronicle of the sinking and recovery.
*NOTE. 30,000 pounds x 16 ounces per pound = 480,000 ounces of gold. Gold was about $20 per ounce in 1850's so ... 20 x 480,000 = $9,600,000. Total Revenue for the Federal Government in 1856 was approx $45,000,000 so the loss of $10,000,000+ of gold was a huge hit to banks and the insurers.
==Search and discovery==
The ship was located by the use of [[Bayesian search theory]] and a [[remotely operated vehicle]] (ROV) operated by the [[Columbus-America Discovery Group]] 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. [[Thomas G. Thompson]] led the group. Thirty-nine insurance companies filed suit, claiming that because they paid damages 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 pounds sold for a record $8 million USD and is recognized as the most valuable piece of currency in the world.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/09/MN126583.DTL Gold Rush brick sells for $8 million / 80-pound ingot bought by executive<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==See also==
* [[SS Republic (1853)|SS ''Republic'']]
* [[RMS Republic (1903)|RMS ''Republic'']]
==Further reading==
* Kinder, Gary. (1998). ''Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea''. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-87113-717-8
* Thompson, Tommy. (2000). ''America's Lost Treasure''. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-732-1
* Klare, Norman. (1991 and 2005). ''The Final Voyage of the Central America, 1857: The Saga of a Gold Rush Steamship''. ISBN 0-87062-210-2 and ISBN 0-9764403-0-X
* Stone, Lawrence D. ''Search for the SS Central America: Mathematical Treasure Hunting''. Technical Report, Metron Inc. Reston, Virginia.
== Footnotes ==
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==External links==
*[http://www.shipofgold.com/ Web site about the ship]
*[http://www.sscentralamerica.com America's Lost Treasure: The Wreck of the SS ''Central America'']
*[http://www.pacificwestcom.com/klare/ The Final Voyage of the SS ''Central America'' - an exhaustive historical account by historian Normand E. Klare]
*[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3b38388))+@field(COLLID+cph))(The Central America Engulfed in Ocean]
*[http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Wrecks/centralamerica.html Wreck of the ''Central America'']
*[http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadly.shtml NOAA list of deadliest hurricanes]
[[Category:Victorian era merchant ships of the United States|Central America]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean|Central America]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1857|Central America]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast]]
[[Category:Treasure from shipwrecks|Central America]]
[[de:SS Central America]]