Crew Hauls In Ton of Gold; Trove From Ship Could Reach $1 Billion

A jubilant salvage crew hauled more than a ton of gold into port Thursday from the richest shipwreck in U.S. history--a sunken 19th-Century steamer with a trove worth up to $1 billion.

“Gold. Lots of it,” shouted Bob Evans, project director for the Columbus America Discovery Group, as hundreds cheered, snapped pictures and craned their necks to get a view of the gold.

“It’s been a long time getting here--132 years,” Evans said in reference to the Sept. 12, 1857, sinking of the sidewheel steamer Central America during an Atlantic hurricane.

Federal marshals and police patrolled Otter Berth at Town Point Park as the R/V Arctic Discoverer, the ship that led the exploration mission, pulled into port.

Crates full of gold coins and bars were carried ashore and temporarily turned over to the marshals under a writ of ancient admiralty law. The principal director of the salvage operation, Tom Thompson, was made “substitute custodian” to protect the treasure and the site of the shipwreck.

The crowd let out “oohs and aahs” as the shiny gold was held up from a table covered with blue velvet.

The treasure was brought up from the Atlantic floor last month about 200 miles off Charleston, S.C. The Columbus America Discovery Group of Columbus, Ohio, an organization of 120 investors and scientists, organized the treasure hunt.

Not all of the ship’s gold has been recovered and its exact value has yet to be determined. The ship was carrying more than three tons of gold.