Inspect Ship Of Gold In The Deep Blue Sea: The History And Discovery Of The Worlds Richest Shipwreck Illustrated By Gary Kinder Released As Ebook
it this morning. Had a few pages left and had to read it, last night I could not stop reading, That is what is so amazing about this non fiction book, it sometimes reads as a thriller,
At the start you read about the sinking of the ship and learn more about the people on the boat, Then we were in this century and it was about a guy called Tommy, At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to read any more to be honest but Oh I am so glad I did,
Never in my dreams would I expect to like a book that is about technology,oceanology, science and such, but I loved it, I thought it all fascinating, The way he had to get investors, how the machine nemo was invented, but especially I loved the way it felt as if I was there.
Among all those people who kept on trying and how they had to fight! so many things, wow. Highly recommend! Enjoyed this book, Well written, fascinating characters. Kinder needs to write a second edition with the main character cheating everyone else and all, This book provides a historical account of two parallel storiesThe sinking of the SS Central America in, andthe locating and salvage of the sunken ship by the ColumbusAmerica Discovery Group of Ohio in.
Both stories are interesting on their own accounts, and they have one element in commongold,
The SS Central American was carrying,pounds of gold from the California gold rush fields, It was gold that had been purchased by the US Federal government, sent by ship from California to Panama, transported across the Central American peninsula, and loaded onto the SS Central America.
The ship was in route to New York City with its valuable cargo when it was caught in a hurricane off the U, S. east coast and sank.
The story of the sinking is quite dramatic because the crew and passengers were aware for over a day prior to the sinking that water was leaking into the ship faster than the bilge pump could removed it.
The sinking was delayed for about a day by setting up two bucket brigades in an effort to keep the water level below the boiler fireit was a two sidewheel steamer.
Eventually the water level reached the boilers, the fires extinguished, power to the bilge pumps lost, and the ship floundered in the rough seas and sank, Because of the delay of the sinking they were able to savewomen and children in life boats over rough seas to a nearby rescue ship, After the sinking an additionalpeople were rescued by other ships, but a total ofperished,
The twentieth century story is covered in considerable detail by beginning with biographic accounts of the individuals involved in the collecting and assembly of the technology and equipment needed for deep water reconnaissance and recovery of shipwrecks.
An overview of past salvage operations is providedmostly in shallow waters where movement of water during storms disturbs the seabed, These operations are technologically primitive in that they search in random fashion and often use the technique of vacuuming large volumes of sand through screens to strain out objects of interest.
The problem with this technique is that it's often difficult to determine the source of the found objects in shallow water near ports because they often have the remains of multiple wrecks.
A large part of the detail involved in this book is an account of the steps involved in collecting the latest knowledge of Bayesian search theory and the development of remotely operated deep sea technology.
The SS Central America sank in water that was nearly,feet deep, The extremely high pressures at this depth makes all efforts at both locating and recovery very difficult, And then once the location of interest is established, suddenly it seems like the whole world wants to barge in and claim a piece of the action, A part of the story is the precedent setting judicial proceedings which placed restraining orders on the competitors,
This book describes the organizers of ColumbusAmerica Discovery Group of Ohio as heros, and at the end of the book the shareholders are happy, Apparently the story has continued and the situation has changed since the end of this book this book was first published in, According to sitelinkthis Wikipedia article some investors and crew members have sued trying to recover additional compensation, It's difficult for people to remain friends when gold is involved,
The following is a link to a more detailed discussion of the sinking of the SS Central America and the determination of its location,
sitelink columbia. edu/dj/SSCen "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder reads like a Clive Cussler novel but is actually nonfiction,
Kinder tells an exciting wellresearched story about thesinking of the Central America, an American passenger ship, off the coast of North Carolina, Roughlypeople perished, and several millions of dollars worth adjusted of California gold was lost in treacherously deep waters, It was apparently the worst maritime disaster until the Titanic, and until thes, no one knew exactly where it was,
Not that it mattered, because the technology didn't exist to retreive anything from that depth, That is, not until an intrepid and ingenuous engineer named Tommy Thompson an OSU grad, no less was struck by the "treasurehunting" bug and set out on a wellfunded expedition with stateoftheart underwater submersible and artifact retrieval technology.
This is a great seafaring adventure told extremely well, The first part literally grabs the reader and doesn't let up, as Kinder describes the events of the hurricane that leads up to the sinking of the Central America.
Kinder uses firsthand narratives to capture the emotionally draining stories of the survivors,
The second part, equally fascinating although admittedly not as exciting tells the story of Thompson's attempt to get his expedition underway, Rounding up legal teams and scrounging up fundraisers may be exciting to some, but at times these parts do drag,
Thankfully, Kinder knows how to keep the reader engaged and never dwells too long on the boring bits, There are a few scenes of suspense, when rival treasurehunters some not as legalminded as Thompson attempt to horn in on their scene, The climactic "discovery" and recovery scene is well worth the wait,
This book is probably what James Cameron's "Titanic" could have been if it wasn't bogged down by the stupid love story, "Ship of Gold" is just pure manly adventure story,
Nonfiction account of the wreck of the Central America inand the search, spearheaded by inventor and creative thinker Tommy Thompson, for her wreckage in the deep water of the Atlantic Oceanyears later.
The book is divided into sections, with the first focusing on the experience of the passengers and crew aboard the Central America, the second on the early life of Tommy Thompson, and the third on the development of the technology to search for, locate, and recover artifacts.
Did I mention the ship was laden with gold acquired during the California Gold Rush
This book is so much more than a description of a “treasure hunt.
” It is one of the most harrowing accounts of a ships sinking I have ever read, The author has done an excellent job of reconstructing the events from source material of the time, Even though I knew the eventual outcome, I felt invested in the tale and was rooting for them to overcome the elements and stay afloat, This section was outstanding!
When we get to Tommy Thompsons early life, it slows down a bit, It laid the groundwork, though, and I think was necessary to tell the entire story of the recovery, Thompson is a creative thinker, inventor, and scientist, At the times the technology to work in deep water was in its infancy and this book shows how Thompson developed a team, pushed boundaries, designed equipment, and raised funds to do what was then considered impossible.
The section on the search and recovery takes the reader into the wideranging disciplines required to succeed in this highrisk highreward endeavor, including engineering, probability theories, risk management, maritime law, fundraising, teamwork, communications, and fending off the competition.
It also covers the history of salvage operations as of the date of publication, This
section of the book is for people that like details, Kinder sometimes inserts a bit too much technical jargon and extensive descriptions for my taste, taking away from his main points, The author also seems a bit taken with Thompson to the point of excusing some rather questionable behavior, Overall, though, if you are looking for “nonfiction that reads like fiction,” this story fits the bill, SHIP OF GOLD
This was a terrific book about thesinking by hurricane of the sidewheel steamer SS Central America, and the attempt to find and recover it's treasures.
The Central America was traveling to the East Coast from Panama, with passengers returning with immense amounts of gold from their mining efforts during the California Gold Rush.
The descriptions of the actual sinking of the boat during the hurricane are fantastic and devastating, The development and implementation of the planned search and retrieval of the gold by Tommy Thompson and the ColumbusAmerica Discovery Group during thes is extremely detailed and quite technical, but explained clearly for a patient reader with an interest.
And the excitement makes it well worth it!
An extremely fascinating true story, rosado mp
Description: Bestselling author Gary Kinder tells, for the first time, an extraordinary tale of history, maritime drama, heroic rescue, scientific ingenuity, and individual courage.
This is the riveting true account of death, danger, and discovery on the high seas in the dramatic search for America's greatest lost treasure, the S, S. Central America.
Gripping history, and who doesn't like stories of treasure, Fully recommended
There is a significant other wreck to consider in this story:
The Concepción was found again inby Burt Webber, Jr.
, whose divers recovered some,silver cobs, mostly Mexicanandreales but also some Potosí and rare Colombian cobs including more from the Cartagena mint than had been found on any other shipwreck.
Unlike the Maravillas of justyears later, however, the Concepción did not give up any gold cobs in our time, and any significant artifacts found were retained by the government of the Dominican Republic, who oversaw the salvage.
The bulk of the silver cobs found on the Concepción were heavily promoted, even in department stores! The site is still being worked from time to time with limited success.
sitelinkSOURCE
sitelinkSS Central America Chief Scientist Talks about the Ship of Gold Treasure, VIDEO::.
Two riveting books in one: the meticulously researched history of the sinking of the SS Central America inand the, also meticulously researched, account of eccentric genius Tommy Thompson, as he puts together a team to salvage the tons of gold the ship was carrying.
The book published in, cries out for a sequel about the aftermath: lawsuits, prison time and media coverage, that continue to this day, I devoured this book. Coming in atpages, hardback, 'Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea' consumed my weekend, I couldn't put it down,
The book begins in California, with the Gold Rush of, It follows a group of passengers who travel from San Francisco first to Panama, then across the Peninsula, They board SS CENTRAL AMERICA, an American sidewheel steamer, for New York, SS CENTRAL AMERICA, captained by William Herndon for whom USNA's Herndon Monument and the city of Herndon, VA are named, carried more than people: it carried,tons of their gold in coins, bars, and bags of dust, SS CENTRAL AMERICA went down on September,, in a hurricane off the coast of North Carolina, Of thesouls aboard, onlymostly women and children survived,
We fastforward to the lates, when a brilliant young engineer named Tommy Thompson comes up with a plan to find and salvage CENTRAL AMERICA infeet of water.
The plan would require technologies not yet invented, investments from the kinds of hardnosed businessmen who don't invest in treasure hunts, hard work, brains, skill and luck,
And we're off,
Don't care about shipwrecks Don't care about engineers solving engineeringtype problems Neither do I not really, However, author Gary Kindler brings this story to vivid, exciting life, This is a book about a salvage operation, but it reads like an adventure novel, The reader feels like s/he is in the conference rooms where investors are pitched, in the pilot houses where decisions are made, in the workshops where equipment is built, on the bottom of the ocean floor where Thompson's homebuilt undersea vehicle shines its light in the eternal darkness of the deep.
Even though, intellectually, the reader knows this book doesn't get written if Thompson doesn't succeed, the author still creates the tension to keep that reader glued to the page, wondering what will happen next.
Simply put, this book is a joy to read and ranks as one of the most pleasant surprises of my reading year, What a delight.
Recommended for: sailors, engineers, and people who love a good reallife adventure, .