Detailed item info | Synopsis | In September 1857, the SS "Central America" sank 200 miles off the Carolina coast, taking tons of California gold to the bottom of the Atlantic. In 1989, a salvage crew led by Tommy Thompson rescued much of the treasure, using a combination of oceanography, computer science, and information theory, in what has been described as the greatest treasure recovery of all time.
| | Details | | Edition Description: | Abridged |
| | Size | | Height: | 7.5 in. | | Width: | 4.3 in. | | Thickness: | 1.2 in. | | Weight: | 5.6 oz. |
| | Publisher's Note | 4 cassettes / 5 hoursRead by Bruce Davison"The Central America was as sensational a shipwreck in its century as the Titanic was in ours."--The Washington PostBestselling author Gary Kinder tells, for the first time, an extraordinary tale of history, maritime drama, heroic rescue, scientific ingenuity, and individual courage. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is the riveting true account of death, danger, and discovery on the high seas in the dramatic search for Americas greatest lost treasure.In September 1857, the side-wheel streamer S.S. Central America, carrying five hundred passengers and tons of gold from the mountains of California, sank in a hurricane off the Carolina coast. Lost in legend for more than a century, the tragic story resurfaced in 1989, when Tommy Thompson, a brilliant ocean engineer, sailed into Norfolk harbor with more than ten tons of pioneer old. Using a combination of oceanography, computer science, and information theory to sift through historical records and penetrate the deep sea, Thompsons team had recovered the mint-state coins, antique bars, and sparkling gold dust from 8,000 feet below the surface of the sea - proving wrong everyone who said it couldnt be done and establishing mankind's first read working presence on the deep ocean floor. It was, as Life magazine proclaimed "The greatest treasure ever found," and its dollar value has currently been estimated in the hundreds of millions.This AudioBook is a copiously historical record of the disaster, rendered in chilling detail with diaries from the survivors and eyewitness accounts, as well as newspaper reports from the worst peacetime at-sea disaster in American history. It is a chronicle of the technological breakthrough in which deep-sea robots were developed to perform complex work. Ant it is an incredibly exciting adventure story of how a team of scientists and engineers, the Columbus-America Discovery Group, battled massive storms, technological challenges, and intrusive salvages on the open seas to find the lost treasure. It is a fascinating story both of the power of the human will to succeed and of technological triumph.
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".
| | Industry reviews | "'Ship of Gold' is a marvelous tale, with generous portions of history, adventure, intrigue, heroism and high technology interwoven. Shipwrecks make for enthralling reading; adventure stories have been a mainstay of literature since 'The Odyssey'; tales of individual heroism ditto; and Gary Kinder can join Jules Verne, Bob Ballard and Tom Clancy in making underwater technology thrilling."
Los Angeles Times Book Review - Richard Ellis (05/31/1998)
"Sounds like a great book--peril and death at sea, coupled with a detective story in which a colorful American finds a way to recover a king's ransom from the ocean floor. Alas, 'Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea' is not a great book....The main trouble is that...[the book] is a paradox: a once-over-lightly treatment that goes on, and on....[T]he book is twice as long and only half as good as it ought to be."
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review - Carl Nolte (06/28/1998)
"...Kinder conns his literary vessel admirably, in fluent command of fascinating detail, judicial ramifications and a disparate crew....[T]he author writes beautifully--historical and technological reporting of a high order, as suspenseful and deft about the doomed steamer as the salvage vessels. 'Ship of Gold...' is a 24-carat sea classic."
New York Times Book Review - John Maxtone-Graham (07/12/1998)
"Though the story it tells is very much a testament to Tommy Thompson's pioneering work in deep-ocean recovery, 'Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea' is, at its heart, an old-fashioned seafaring adventure, awash in brine and vigor."
Washington Post Book World - Jennifer Howard (08/30/1998)
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