The crew of the Arctic Discoverer, employed by Tommy ThompsonÂs Columbus America Discovery Group. (Courtesy of Milton Butterworth, Jr.) |
"An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind." — Ayn Rand
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"FIRST of all, no one knows exactly how to find the SS Central America. Lots of people have tried. What make you think you can find it?" the experts asked Tommy Thompson.
"Suppose you do find it," others said. "It is so deep in the ocean you won't be able to go down far enough to retrieve it. Even a nuclear submarine can't go any deeper than 2,000 feet because it would get squashed from the water pressure. The SS Central America is probably at least 10,000 feet deep."
Still others said, "Suppose you do go down to the ocean floor. You aren't going to be able to bring up the treasure. It's too heavy. Also, the gold coins are fragile. If they get even the tiniest scratch, they will lose their value by thousands of dollars."
Thompson ignored what the experts said. He relied only on his own mind. He organized historians, scientists and investors into a group called the Columbus America Discovery Group. Using computer programs, they got a general idea where the ship must have sunk. But they needed to find the exact location, so Thompson developed a modified type of sonar and shot sound waves into the ocean. The quicker the sound waves bounced back, the closer they were to an object, maybe even a ship!
It was long, painstaking work. But like the pioneers of the Gold Rush, Thompson was courageous, hopeful and very, very smart. He would not give up. But he had plenty of problems. Competitors were following him, bad weather was slowing him down and his money was running out. It was a race against time.
But he did it. In September 1988, 131 years after it sunk, Thompson and his Columbus America Discovery Group, retrieved the treasure of the SS Central America from the deep blue sea.
Friday: How do they bring up the treasure?
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"FIRST of all, no one knows exactly how to find the SS Central America. Lots of people have tried. What make you think you can find it?" the experts asked Tommy Thompson.
"Suppose you do find it," others said. "It is so deep in the ocean you won't be able to go down far enough to retrieve it. Even a nuclear submarine can't go any deeper than 2,000 feet because it would get squashed from the water pressure. The SS Central America is probably at least 10,000 feet deep."
Still others said, "Suppose you do go down to the ocean floor. You aren't going to be able to bring up the treasure. It's too heavy. Also, the gold coins are fragile. If they get even the tiniest scratch, they will lose their value by thousands of dollars."
Thompson ignored what the experts said. He relied only on his own mind. He organized historians, scientists and investors into a group called the Columbus America Discovery Group. Using computer programs, they got a general idea where the ship must have sunk. But they needed to find the exact location, so Thompson developed a modified type of sonar and shot sound waves into the ocean. The quicker the sound waves bounced back, the closer they were to an object, maybe even a ship!
It was long, painstaking work. But like the pioneers of the Gold Rush, Thompson was courageous, hopeful and very, very smart. He would not give up. But he had plenty of problems. Competitors were following him, bad weather was slowing him down and his money was running out. It was a race against time.
But he did it. In September 1988, 131 years after it sunk, Thompson and his Columbus America Discovery Group, retrieved the treasure of the SS Central America from the deep blue sea.
Friday: How do they bring up the treasure?
L.A. for less than the price of sunblock. 
