The sinking of the wooden hull steamship, the SS Central America, during a hurricane in 1857 was America’s worst peacetime sea disaster, claiming a loss of 425 lives and over 3 tons of California gold. Alan Scott, a key member of the team that rediscovered the ship in 1988, joined us and shared his adventure in recovering one of the richest treasures from America’s past.
History of the Wreck
He began with the history of the wreck. The gold was being shipped from California, during the Gold Rush, to New York. Why? Because the price of gold in New York was significantly higher, and that difference made it profitable to ship the gold to the East Coast. Sending it by ship was the fastest and most economical way to do it. This was prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, so there were two routes: a long and risky trip around the tip of South America through the Straits of Magellan, and a shorter sailing to Panama, where the cargo would be transferred to a narrow gauge railway to cross to the Atlantic and transferred to another ship. They chose this second route, and the SS Central America was the ship that took on the last leg of the journey from Panama to New York.
From Wikipedia:
On September 3, 1857, 477 passengers and 101 crew left the City of Aspinwall, now the Panamanian port of Colón, sailing for New York City under the command of William Lewis Herndon. The ship was laden with 10 short tons (9.1 t) of gold prospected during the California Gold Rush. The ship continued north after a stop in Havana.
On September 9, 1857, the ship was caught up in a Category 2 hurricane while off the coast of the Carolinas. By September 11, the 105 mph (170 km/h) winds, and heavy seas had shredded her sails, she was taking on water, and her boiler was threatening to fail… Central America sank at 8:00 on the evening of September 12th, with a loss of 425 lives.
The loss of over $8 million in gold (approx. $2.4 billion in 2025 value) crippled New York banks, triggered widespread business failures, and caused a nationwide contraction of credit.
The Expedition
The wreck was found by the Columbus-America Discovery Group, led by Tommy Thompson on September 11, 1988. Alan emphasized that pretty much everything they used in the search and recovery: the searching technique, the side-scan sonar, ROV, (pre-GPS) satellite navigation for the search pattern, station keeping and returning to the wreck on subsequent voyages, was invented by the team and largely homemade. Each trip out they’d learn and adapt, improving their equipment.
The total value of the recovered gold was estimated at $100–150 million. A recovered gold ingot weighing 80 lb (36 kg) sold for a record $8 million and was recognized as the most valuable piece of currency in the world at that time.
Another fun fact: On several of the recovery voyages they carried marine scientists onboard to study the deep sea environment. They were there in the interests of science, and for legal reasons. To abide by legal requirements, the expedition had to also have a legitimate scientific component. But the science was not just window dressing. During their work they observed and identified a number of never before seen species, including the deepest living octopus ever recorded.
The Legal Battles (also from Wikipedia)
Thirty-nine insurance companies filed suit, claiming rights because they paid damages in the 19th century for the lost gold. 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.
Thompson was sued in 2005 by several investors who had provided $12.5 million in financing, and in 2006 by several crew members over a lack of returns for their respective investments. In 2009, he had an off-shore account in the Cook Islands of $4.16 million (~$5.89 million in 2024).[8][9] Thompson went into hiding in 2012. A receiver was appointed to take over Thompson’s companies and, if possible, salvage more gold from the wreck, in order to recover money for Thompson’s various creditors.
Thompson was located in January 2015 by United States Marshals Service agents, along with assistant Alison Antekeier, and was extradited to Ohio to provide an accounting of the expedition profits. In November 2018, Thompson agreed to surrender 500 gold coins but then claimed he had no access to the missing coins. On November 28, 2018, a jury awarded investors $19.4 million in compensatory damages: $3.2 million to the Dispatch Printing Company — which had put up $1 million of $22 million invested — and $16.2 million to the court-appointed receiver for the other investors. Tommy Thompson (now 73) was released from prison on 4 March, 2026 after serving more than a decade behind bars.
Alan said that he hasn’t spoken to Tommy since his release, and he thinks that after over a decade of not revealing the location of the missing gold, that at this point, Tommy probably really doesn’t know where it is.
If You Want to Learn More
If you want to learn more, there’s the aforementioned Wikipedia article, but Alan recommended a 3-part documentary, available on Amazon Prime Video called, Cursed Gold: A Shipwreck Scandal. It details the history of the wreck, the expedition, the legal aftermath and the search for Tommy Thompson. And if you want to really get into it, read “Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea: The History and Discovery of the World’s Richest Shipwreck” by Gary Kinder.
Our Thanks to Alan Scott
Many thanks to Alan Scott for coming out and sharing his adventure with us, and to our own Dauzy Dauzenroth (Alan’s skiing buddy) for inviting him to come out.
May Meeting: Sharks of Washington, with Lisa Hillier
May 28th, Bob’s Burgers in Everett
Don’t Miss the May Meeting: Sharks of Washington, with Lisa Hillier, research scientist and senior biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Washington’s coastal waters and the greater Salish Sea are home to a surprisingly diverse community of sharks—keystone predators that help maintain the structure, balance, and resilience of marine ecosystems. Lisa will illuminate the shark populations that inhabit our region and highlight WDFW’s efforts to monitor, research, and manage these species amid shifting environmental conditions.
Hope to see you there.
