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Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea | 
 enlarge | Author: Gary Kinder
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  195 reviews
Sales Rank: 34260
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0375703373
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.91631
EAN: 9780375703379
ASIN: 0375703373
Publication Date: May 11, 1999
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Amazon.com
The facts speak for themselves. In 1857, the Central America, a sidewheel steamer ferrying passengers fresh from the gold rush of California to New York and laden with 21 tons of California gold, encountered a severe storm off the Carolina coast and sank, carrying more than 400 passengers and all her cargo down with her. She then sat for 132 years, 200 miles offshore and almost two miles below the ocean's surface--a depth at which she was assumed to be unrecoverable--until 1989, when a deep-water research vessel sailed into the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia, fat with salvaged gold coins and bullion estimated to be worth one billion dollars. Author Gary Kinder wisely lets the story of the Columbus-America Discovery Group, led by maverick scientist and entrepreneur Tommy Thompson, unfold without hyperbole. Kinder interweaves the tale of the Central America and her passengers and crew with Thompson's own story of growing up landlocked in Ohio, an irrepressible tinkerer and explorer even in his childhood days, and his progress to adulthood as a young man who always had "7 to 14" projects on the table or spinning in his head at any given moment. One of those projects would become the preposterous recovery of the stricken steamer, and the resourcefulness and later urgency with which the project would proceed is contrasted poignantly with the Central America's doomed battle in 1857 to stay afloat. Thompson, who spent nearly a decade planning and organizing his recovery effort, emerges as one of the great unsung adventurers of these times (the technical innovations alone required for such a task produced a windfall for the scientific community and defined a new state of the art for deep-sea explorers and treasure hunters), and the story of the steamer's sinking is compelling enough to make any reader wonder why the Central America sinking isn't synonymous with shipwreck in this Titanic-happy age. --Tjames Madison
Product Description
"White knuckle reading...with generous portions of adventure, intrigue, heroism, and high technology interwoven."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
This enthralling true story of maritime tragedy and visionary science begins with a disaster to rival the sinking of the Titanic.
In September 1857, the S.S. Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying passengers returning from the gold fields of California, went down during a hurricane off the Carolina coast. More than 400 men--and 21 tons of gold--were lost. In the 1980s, a maverick engineer named Tommy Thompson set out to find the wreck and salvage its treasure from the ocean floor.
With knuckle-biting suspense, Gary Kinder reconstructs the terror of the Central America's last days, when passengers bailed freezing water from the hold, then chopped the ship's timbers to use as impromptu liferafts. He goes on to chronicle Thompson's epic quest for the lost vessel, an endeavor that drew on the latest strides in oceanography, information theory, and underwater robotics, and that pitted Thompson against hair-raising weather, bloodthirsty sharks, and unscrupulous rivals.
Ship of Gold is a magnificent adventure, filled with heroism, ingenuity, and perseverance.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 190 more reviews...
 A Great Book and an Important Story June 28, 2008
It took Kinder ten years to write this book--and it shows. A really marvelous tale, brilliantly written, about an incredibly interesting character: Tommy Thompson. It's great to know that frontiers still exist and that real exploration continues--not just on Mars, but in the depths of the sea. This is one of those rare books that I was unable to put down once I began.
 Not a single photograph! May 5, 2008
Ship of Gold is a well written account of the sinking of the Central America as well as of the search for its remains some 130 years later. It's full of details, sometimes too many. I enjoyed this book but felt really ripped off that there wasn't a single photo in the entire 500 page book. Pictures make a story come alive and I found myself reading along and then wanting to look at a picture or two but there was nothing. I don't know why they didn't include any pics but they were sorely missed.
A Real Life Indiana Jones Saga Of Sunken Treasure March 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book seamlessly blends three stories. Two are adventure related with one begatting the other, that is the story of the sinking of the S.S. Central America, creating great panic due to about half of the U.S.A.'s gold being lost in addition to the death of over 400 passengers, and the subsequent story of how it was found and reclaimed some 130 years later. The other, the third story if you will, is a bio of what I am inclined to call an important yet still virtually unkownn American scientist, Tommy Thompson. I guess if Titanic fever helped in some ways, making Bob Ballard a household name, it somewhat obscurred Tommy Thompson. That fact adds to the mystique Ship Of Gold so wonderfully reveals.
Yes, this has quite a bit to reward the reader with. I was fascinated by the amount first hand documented information availabe. On the day prior to and the day of the sinking we get an almost hour by hour account, so vivid it actually puts the reader in the midst of the unfolding tragedy, during which most women and children were evacuated and the men valiantly bailed in the real hope that their lives as well as the boat could be saved. When the boat did begin to sink the last thing those in the water remember was the renowned Captain Herndon going down with the ship. The imagery conveyed is jaw-dropping. At the time the sinking put the young country in an economic depression due to the tremendous financial loss of the nation's gold, but due to the Civil War it was forgotten in the passing years.
Mr. Kinder has woven the bio of a youngster named Tommy Thompson into the telling of the sinking by going back and forth using chapters as dividers. Just as a series of unknown random events created the conditions to sink a ship so they did to spark a young boy's fertile mind. Tommy Thompson was not just brilliantly inquisitive..He was imaginatively inventive. A bit of a theorist, like Einstein, and a lot of an inventor, like Edison. By the time we get to the adult Tommy Thompson we're still not sure if he's kind of a mad scientist version of Jimmy Buffett, or if he's a "once-in-millenium" brilliant intellectual that happens to be entertaining as hell. Either way destiny will bring the right person on a collision course with the S.S. Central America.
The third part of the story is that intersection. Against all odds, Tommy Thompson was about to make history. Even though he fooled the casual on-looker, Tommy Thompson was a disciplined scientist first before being an adventure seeker. He methodically knew there were steps that had to be taken, including the extremely speculative possibility of finding the S.S. Central America. However, even if that could be done he was still going to have to extend technology to do things that were not considered doable yet. None of this stopped him and this book vividly, with lots of comic relief, tells of this impossible journey resulting in the truly amazing outcome when he triumphed.
This true story can not be equaled by fiction. It should, and I understand, may be turned into a movie. Until then I recommend this book to any armchair adventurer and history buff. It's a first rate true yarn that is entertaining and scientifically significant too.
Engaging true treasure hunt story. Amazing. November 16, 2007
I read a copy I had borrowed from the library and was so fascinated with the story I had to purchase a copy for my library. This is better than a fiction story because the obstacles and challenges are such that you couldn't have made them up. It is a marvelous personal account of the salvage of the treasure of the SS Central America that sunk in 1857. 400 lives were lost in that. Kinder does a good job of reconstructing the last moments of the ship before it goes down in a terrible storm with 21 tons of gold. The salvage effort takes place below 8000 feet of sea water! Kinder himself is quite a character of interest.
 The Science of Recovering Sunken Treasure November 7, 2007
The 'Prologue' tells about the discovery of gold in California after building a water-powered saw mill in January 1848. The United States was ending the war with Mexico; Alta California would become a US territory. The US government provided a subsidy for two fleets of sidewheel steamers. One traveled from Oregon and California to Panama, the other traveled from Panama to New York. They carried mail, freight, and passengers. Stories about finding a fortune in gold created a gold rush. This skyrocketing population made California a state in September 1850.
'Ship of Gold' tells of the last trip of the SS Central America. The second day out of Havana a storm arrived (it was the stormy season). The ship sprung a leak while sailing into the storm (p.31). Burning coal lightened the ballast so the ship rode higher. The strong wind tattered the sails. Water continued to rise in the bilge. All men were asked to help bailing out water. A smaller ship sailed by, women and children were sent aboard. The Central America sank that night, almost all souls on board were lost (p.75). Did the loss of this gold cause the Panic of 1857 (p.158)?
'Tommy' tells of the life of Tommy Thompson growing up in the small town of Defiance Ohio. Young Tommy collected parts from discarded appliances (p.82). He was an unusual character in college and majored in mechanical engineering (he wanted to be an inventor). Submarine vessels go back a long time (p.94). There is an engineering challenge to deep sea underwater exploration (pp.147-150).
'The Deep Blue Sea' describes their search and the problems they encountered. Storms still occur, hardware glitches caused problems, and human errors were found (p.253). Careful analysis produced areas where they might find the Sidewheel ship. The more expensive recovery phase came next. They designed a Remote Operation Vehicle to operate 10,000 feet below the sea. They would need an artifact from the wreck to file a legal claim on the shipwreck in court. Problems occurred (p.325). Legal terminology was important (p.348). The Federal judge enjoined anyone from interfering with the salvage (p.372). The great depth affected electrical motors (p.377). Once the season was over they prepared for the next year. More money was needed, then a new ship was found. They made a new discovery when rechecking their data. This new site best matched the lost steamer. More money was raised and the gold was recovered the next year. Insurance companies filed lawsuits to claim all the gold! [No problem for their lawsuits.]
The 'Epilogue' has the conclusion. The recovery vehicle was far in advance of anything else. It led to new knowledge (p.493). New life forms could have medical benefits. The insurance companies that had no evidence for their claims were rejected (p.499). The other were rejected because they "abandoned" their claim to the gold. Columbus-America was rewarded for its pioneering work (p.501). [Too many pages were spent on inconsequential matters. The events of 1857 are not contiguous. Reducing this book by about 200 pages would make it faster reading.]
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