SS Central America Sinks: Ship of Gold Lost at Sea
Captain William Lewis Herndon stayed on the bridge after ordering women and children into lifeboats. The SS Central America was taking on water 160 miles offshore in a Category 2 hurricane, carrying 477 passengers and 578 mailbags of California gold. Herndon went down with the ship in full dress uniform. The 13 to 15 tons of gold — worth roughly $2 billion today — sat on the ocean floor for 130 years before a recovery team found it in 1988. The wreck triggered one of the messiest treasure-salvage legal battles in American history.
September 12, 1857
169 years ago
Key Figures & Places
San Francisco
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North Carolina
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California Gold Rush
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Cape Hatteras
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gold rush
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SS Central America
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William Lewis Herndon
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SS Central America
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Cape Hatteras
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North Carolina
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William Lewis Herndon
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California gold rush
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Hurrikan
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Gold
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