Helpful Score: 2
I was at a loss when my book club selected this book, but after I started reading it I couldn't put it down. One of those "truth is more amazing than fiction" things. A truly incredible story, well told... like a good suspense novel, but true.
Helpful Score: 2
Without a doubt one of the best books I have read. I couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of my favorite books of all time. This true story shows what can be accomplished when one refuses to give up in one's endeavors.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a great book. I couldn't put it down. Now I'm wishing for the version that Tommy Thompson, himself, wrote "America's Treasures of the Sea"
Tells the story of the wreck of the "Central America, which sank off the coast of south Carolina, coming back from a gold panning expedition.
This is the exciting story of the SS Central America which was returning in Sept.1857, from the California gold fields with gold and passengers and which went down. And the man who in the 1990's sets out to find her.
Absolutely superb true story that reads like a novel/adventure story. Well-written, fast-paced, exciting and compelling. Can't believe it hasn't (yet) been made into a movie. Would also be a terrific book for teens to read, especially boys/reluctant readers.
very interesting true story of sunken treasure
This is a super suspense-filled nonfiction read. I heartily recommend this author who has done thorough research for this book. It will intrigue you. Enjoy a fascinating read about the deep sea, includes some interesting science and engineering too.
"In September 1857, the SS Central America, a side wheel steamer carrying passengers returning from the gold fields of California, went down during a hurricane off the Carolina coast. It claimed more than 400 lives and 21 tons of gold. In the 1980s a maverick engineer named Tommy Thompson set out to find the wreck of the Central America and salvage its treasure from the ocean floor."
Fascinating story. Worth reading if interested in history.
Fascinating story. Worth reading if interested in history.
In September 1857, the SS Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, foundered in a hurricane and sank two hundred miles off the Carolina coast. Over four hundred lives and twenty-one tons of California gold were lost. It was the worse peacetime disaster at sea in American history, a tragedy that remained lost in legend for over a century.
Ship of Gold begins with a copiously researched historical record of the disaster, rendered in chilling detail with testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses. The book then becomes a fascinating account of the efforts of Tommy Thompson, the young visionary engineer who explodes boundaries of various disciplines--oceanography, computer science, information theory, and advanced robotics to establish a working presence in the deep ocean.
Ship of Gold begins with a copiously researched historical record of the disaster, rendered in chilling detail with testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses. The book then becomes a fascinating account of the efforts of Tommy Thompson, the young visionary engineer who explodes boundaries of various disciplines--oceanography, computer science, information theory, and advanced robotics to establish a working presence in the deep ocean.
If you like history and adventure this is it. Great book
A true story of History, Scientific Discovery, and Adventure
This book gives so much more technical information than I felt was necessary to the story. However, it is ultimately a book about creating a technology as opposed to say man against nature (like Shadow Divers). There was too much time spent on how Tommy set up his meetings, and who was in the meetings, and how he raised every single penny to fund his adventure. Honestly, I could have been fine with not knowing any of that - I wished Kinder had gotten to the actual project faster. In the end, the book just lost my interest.
-Nick
-Nick
I am looking at a copy I ran across today and will take to the old soldiers' home. I also read The Age online and there is a story today (16 December 2016 in Australia) about the scientist/adventurer who figured out where the wreck was and recovered it. The book was published early on but his investors have been in court for years, claiming they were cheated of their share of the bonanza. He dropped out of sight but was found and has been in jail for two or more years and fined $1000 a day. He claims he has forgotten where he secreted the treasure, somewhere in Belize.
Looking closely at the photo in the book of the ingots recovered, I noted one from Kellogg and Co. They were very rare among coin collectors (the SF mint did not open until 1854) as most were melted down over the years. Jim Coffee, a comrade of my dad's at Jack Stout's trailer sales organization, took me to see a display a banker in Huntington Park had of gold coins and ingots from his collection (right in a display case in the lobby). In the late 1950s, Huntington Park and environs was prosperous with major manufacturing plants, not a crowded city of people who came after the Immigration Act of 1965 with a crooked government as most of the SE of LA County suffers from since the turn of the century.
Postscript. I had the book on the shelf at the old soldiers' home for eight weeks and no takers.
"Sigh..." Their loss; I know it will be snapped up when I take it to the lobby of the VA Hospital in Sawtelle next week.
Looking closely at the photo in the book of the ingots recovered, I noted one from Kellogg and Co. They were very rare among coin collectors (the SF mint did not open until 1854) as most were melted down over the years. Jim Coffee, a comrade of my dad's at Jack Stout's trailer sales organization, took me to see a display a banker in Huntington Park had of gold coins and ingots from his collection (right in a display case in the lobby). In the late 1950s, Huntington Park and environs was prosperous with major manufacturing plants, not a crowded city of people who came after the Immigration Act of 1965 with a crooked government as most of the SE of LA County suffers from since the turn of the century.
Postscript. I had the book on the shelf at the old soldiers' home for eight weeks and no takers.
"Sigh..." Their loss; I know it will be snapped up when I take it to the lobby of the VA Hospital in Sawtelle next week.
