Emily Chan
On September 12, 1857, an American steamer ship named the SS Central America sank off the coast of the Carolinas while carrying a total of 578 passengers and crew members.
The ship had over 30,000 pounds of gold on board. At the time, it was considered the worst maritime disaster in United States history, as only 153 people survived.
More than 130 years later, marine engineer Tommy Thompson from Ohio discovered the wreckage and walked away with two tons of treasure.
He took millions of dollars and had to go on the run after he neglected to pay investors what he owed. Eventually, the police tracked him down, but he still refused to reveal where he had hidden his loot.
The SS Central America launched in October 1852. The 280-foot vessel was built in the Webb shipyard in New York. It was captained by William Lewis Herndon, a Navy commander and explorer.
Throughout the 1850s, the ship traveled between North and South America. On each trip, it transported gold obtained in the California gold rush.
The ship left port in Panama on September 3, 1857. It was headed to New York with 101 crew members, 477 passengers, and a cargo of more than 30,000 pounds of gold on board. Many of the passengers were gold miners.
But on September 9, the SS Central America got caught in a bad storm off the coast of the Carolinas. The ship was battered by Category 2 hurricane winds for a couple of days until it began to take on water.
“It appears that when the sea had commenced with fury, the ship laid down upon one side, causing her engines to labor heavily from the total immersion of one paddle wheel and increasing the difficulty of passing the coal and firing,” stated a report from January 1858, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
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