America's Lost Treasure

by Tommy Thompson

Shows the successful recovery of artifacts from a ship that sank in 1857 carrying gold from the rich California mines

Genres: History, Nonfiction, LGBT, Nautical

191 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[Jill Orr]

History on the shipwreck (and treasure) that my great great great great grandfather survived coming home from gold mining near Sonora. He came to New York from San Francisco via Panama, and then hung in the water for 24 hours after the wreck.

[Chris Lund · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really enjoyable read. It's not super in-depth, but it gives a great overview of a truly fascinating story, with incredible visual aids that go a long way towards really emphasizing the scope of what was found in this ship. I also found the images very helpful in explaining some of the scientific concepts that were hard to visualize from textual descriptions only. This entire enterprise was such an ambitious and monumental undertaking, but I'm certainly glad it came to fruition. A great example of what persistence, ingenuity, and a huge pile of money can accomplish.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The loss of the U.S. Mail Steamship Central America in a hurricane off the Carolina coast in 1857 still ranks as the nation’s greatest peacetime disaster at sea -- 425 lives were lost (most of them passengers from the California gold fields) as well as an unbelievable amount of gold in the form of newly minted coins from the San Francisco Mint, assay ingots of many types, raw nuggets, and dust. Thompson, a multi-disciplinary “research engineer,” spent years searching methodically for the deep-water wreck and finally located it and began recovering materials from it in 1989. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea told that story in technical detail; this is the pictorial version, and a gorgeous volume it is. In addition to all that gold in all its many forms, the researchers used a robot to bring up passengers’ trunks, discovering books and newspapers that were still readable and clothing that had faded but still maintained its structural integrity. A fascinating work in marine archaeology.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a companion book to "Ship of Gold", but both books work well without the other. There is enough text in this to allow the reader to understand the general story, and the photographs are excellent.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun, older gay novel