One of the U.S’s most famous shipwrecks – and the millions of dollars in gold that it carried when it went down 4 years before the U.S. Civil War – is being re-explored after 23 years.
RENO (MINEWEB) – Nearly 1,000 gold ounces (28 kilograms) have been recovered during the first reconnaissance dive since 1991 to the SS Central America shipwreck site deep in the ocean east of Charleston, South Carolina.
Launched in 1853, the SS Central America is an 85-meter (280 foot) wooden-hulled, three-masted side-wheel steamship that operated during the California Gold Rush era, making 43 round trips between New York City and Panama.
On August 20, 1857, the mail steamer Sonora left San Francisco harbor carrying about 600 passengers and crew, as well as 10 tonnes of gold ingots, freshly-minted U.S. $20 Double Eagle coins, nuggets and gold dust mined in the California Gold Rush.
It also carried the largest Gold Rush relic, the Eureka Bar, which weighed 933.94 troy ounces, and was valued at $17,433 in 1857. The Eureka gold bar was scheduled to be melted and turned into coinage at the Philadelphia Mint.
Arriving in Panama, the travelers and the cargo were met by a train which took them to the Atlantic Coast to board the mail steamship,Central America, which sailed on September 3, 1857, for New York
However, by September 10th, the SS Central America was caught in a hurricane and sank 160 miles off the coast of South Carolina on Sept. 12, 1857, with the loss of 425 lives including her captain. Fifty-nine women and children, plus 41 male passengers and crew had made it to the brig, Marine, before evening when darkness and distance discouraged further rescue efforts. At 6:30 p.m. the El Dorado tried to speed to rescue the steamship, but the Central America captain asked the schooner to stand by until morning. By then the El Dorado drifted away in the storm.
Shortly before 8 p.m. on September 12th, Captain William Lewis Herndon fired his final rocket indicating the ship was going down and she sank into the ocean. Meanwhile, 50 more men from the ship were rescued by a Norwegian sailing vessel, The Ellen. Three more survivors were picked up 400 miles north of the shipwreck eight days later.
Because of the large quantity of gold lost with the ship, public confidence in the U.S. economy was shaken, contributing to the Panic of 1857 as nearly bankrupt New York banks were awaiting the much needed shipment of gold. The sinking caused bank failures across the U.S.
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