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The exhibition tells the story of the sinking and recovery of the 272-foot long sidewheel steamship the SS Central America, formerly the George Law, which in 1857 was caught in a disastrous hurricane off the Carolina coast and sank. The worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, this tragedy claimed hundreds of lives, and 21 tons of California gold.

Over a century later, in 1989, this "lost" California gold was brought to the surface in a dramatic recovery described by Life magazine as "the greatest treasure ever found." With the ship buried at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, at a depth of nearly 8,000 feet, the project required the most sophisticated marine-recovery technology in existence. Today, a portion of the ship's precious cargo is traveling to museums and other public venues so that visitors may view this historic treasure firsthand.

The ill-fated voyage of the "Ship of Gold" began in San Francisco, but not aboard the Central America. Passengers and gold were first loaded onto the SS Sonora, a wooden two-masted steamer, which left San Francisco bound for Panama City on August 20th, 1857. The ship arrived at its destination without incident on September 2nd. Passengers then boarded the Panama Railroad, taking a three-and-a-half hour ride through the jungle to Chagres. The amount of cargo and number of passengers necessitated three separate trips and as the passengers, their possessions, and the gold arrived, the ship was loaded. At 4:15 on September 3, the Central America, commanded by Captain William Lewis Herndon, set sail with 477 passengers, 101 crew members, and a glittering cargo of thousands of freshly minted coins and hundreds of gold bars.

The ship first sailed to Havana under sunny skies and on calm seas. There, new provisions were secured and a few passengers were exchanged. The ship then left port for New York City, the financial capital of the United States, where the Treasury Department's own assay office eagerly awaited the gold shipment.

On Wednesday, September 9th, a tropical storm arose and intensified. Huge waves crashed over the deck, the ship began to take on large amounts of water, sails were torn to shreds, and panic spread among the passengers. On Friday, September 11th, the fire under the starboard boiler went out. With steam pressure lost, the starboard engine and paddlewheel stopped turning and pumps necessary to combat the flooding became useless. Commander Herndon ordered all men to assist in bailing the ship.

By Saturday, the end seemed imminent. However, hope reigned when the brig Marine of Boston was sighted and hailed. Terrified women and children were lowered by ropes onto lifeboats and transferred to the rescue vessel. One woman remembered: "I was swung hither and thither over the waves by the tossing of the ship, until the boat came under me."

Conditions worsened and the Marine began to drift away from the Central America, having picked up only women and children. Men still on board the Central America realized their terrible fate. Commander Herndon changed into dress uniform and mounted the paddle-box. At about 8:00 p.m., the Central America lurched and succumbed to the sea. Twenty-year-old Willard Fletcher cried as the ship sank: "Boys, let us all die like true Californians!"

Five hours later, the Norwegian bark Ellen sailed into view. Her captain searched the area for nearly twelve hours, but only rescued fifty men from the wreckage. Three more men, barely alive, were spotted nine days later.

Soon news of the tragedy reached the mainland, and on September 18th, the New York Times reported the loss. Three days later, the first survivors landed in New York and recounted the last hours of their terrible ordeal.

It was not until September 22nd that the tragic news reached San Francisco. On that day, the San Francisco Daily Alta California reported the loss of "Four Hundred... Californians," and "$1,500,000 in treasure." The San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin bemoaned: "The heart sickens at the contemplation of the sad fate of at least four hundred human beings, so suddenly launched into eternity . . . nearly all our people will have to lament the loss of a friend, if not a relative.

Americans were anguished and outraged, and nowhere more so than in San Francisco, where most of the passengers had lived. San Franciscans in particular blamed the disaster on the United States Mail Steamship Company, whereas the Steamship Company maintained that the Central America was well-built and in good condition, calling the catastrophe an act of God. In outrage, the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin (September 23) blasted the steamship company, "To the cupidity and heartless inhumanity of these unchristian companies is to be attributed the recent disaster. What care they for the many children made fatherless, or for the wives suddenly thrown upon the cold, heartless world, and the poor and unprotected widows, by the foundering of their rickety, filthy old hulk, the George Law?" In all, 425 souls perished.

Never in American history had an equivalent quantity of gold gone to the bottom of the sea. News of the lost treasure contributed to the already prevailing financial hysteria -- the Panic of 1857. By early 1857, the country was in the midst of a recession, which led businesses to draw against their bank deposits, putting greater and greater pressure on gold reserves. By August, the bubble had burst. The New York office of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company closed its doors and many banks -- creditors of Ohio Life -- failed. A concurrent delay of gold shipments from California contributed to the despair, and when news of the sinking of the Central America reached New York, the financial panic and confusion reached fevered pitch. Historians have estimated that the value of the gold on board the Central America was equal to one-fifth of the gold then in Wall Street coffers. With delivery of the gold, banks speculated that they could withstand any run. Without it, the Panic of 1857 spread, ruining men and businesses.

Scott A. Shields
Former CHS Fine Arts Curator

The following sources were consulted in compiling this article:

Q. David Bowers, S.S. Central America: The Ship of Gold (New Orleans: Blanchard -- America's Rare Coin and Precious Metals Firm, 1999).

James P. Delgado, Murder Most Foul: San Francisco Reacts to the Loss of the S. S. Central America, The Log of Mystic Seaport, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring 1983).

Normand E. Klare, The Final Voyage of the Central America 1857 (Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1992).

Tommy Thompson, America's Lost Treasure (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998).

"The 'Passenger and Gold-Ship' SS Central America Her Life and Death," in Treasures from the SS Central America: Glories of the Gold Rush (New York: Sotheby's, 2000).