Odyssey recovers huge treasure
Over 13,500 silver and gold coins as well as gold ingots, Dust, Nuggets and jewelry From SS Central America shipwreck. Odyssey Marine Exploration has released a full inventory of the recovered sunken treasury, which includes a wide variety of silver and gold coins and “significant items of cultural heritage”
everal gold bars with varying weights discovered at the stern of the SS Central America shipwreck.
Some of the historical items founds included, an alabaster figurine, a pistol handle, a Daguerro-type photographic plate and wooden domino pieces.
About the SS Central America
The SS Central America was an 85-meter (280-foot) wooden-hulled, copper-sheathed, three-masted side-wheel steamship launched in 1853 as the SS George Law. Operating during the California Gold Rush era, the ship was in continuous service on the Atlantic leg of the Panama Route between New York and San Francisco, making 43 round trips between New York and Panama.
The Central America was caught in a hurricane and sank 160 miles off the coast of South Carolina on September 12, 1857. When she was lost, the SS Central America was carrying a large consignment of gold for commercial parties, mainly in the form of ingots and freshly minted U.S. $20 Double Eagle coins. Because of the large quantity of gold lost with the ship, public confidence in the economy was shaken, which contributed to the Panic of 1857.