Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea - by Gary Kinder (Paperback)

About the Book

Ship of Gold tells the story of the sinking of the SS Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, two hundred miles off the Carolina coast in September 1857. Over four hundred lives and twenty-one tons of California gold were lost.

Book Synopsis

Originally published in 1998 and a best seller in its hardcover and paperback publications, Gary Kinder's Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea tells the story of the sinking of the SS Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, two hundred miles off the Carolina coast in September 1857. Over four hundred lives and twenty-one tons of California gold were lost. It was the worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, a tragedy that remained lost in legend for over a century.

In the 1980s, a young engineer from Ohio set out to do what no one, not even the U.S. Navy, had been able to do: establish a working presence on the deep ocean floor and open it to science, archaeology, history, medicine, and recovery. The SS Central America became the target of his project. After years of intensive efforts, Tommy Thompson and the Columbus-America Discovery Group found the Central America in eight thousand feet of water, and in October 1989 they sailed into Norfolk with her recovered treasure: gold coins, bars, nuggets, and dust, plus steamer trunks filled with period clothes, newspapers, books, journals, and even an intact cigar sealed under water for 130 years. Life magazine called it "the greatest treasure ever found."

Gary Kinder tells an extraordinary tale of history, human drama, heroic rescue, scientific ingenuity, and individual courage. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is a testament to the human will to triumph over adversity. It is also a great American adventure story of the opening of Earth's last frontier.

Review Quotes

A National Bestseller

"White-knuckle reading . . . A marvelous tale, with generous portions of history, adventure, intrigue, heroism, and high technology interwoven . . . Gary Kinder has the skill to put it all together, and luckily for us, we get to read it."--Los Angeles Times

"Drawing on the extensive testimony of eyewitnesses and survivors, Kinder has reconstructed the sinking of the Central America in harrowing and often poignant detail."--New York Times

"A twenty-four-carat sea classic."--New York Times Book Review

"Engaging, magnificently researched . . . a complex, bittersweet history of two centuries of American entrepreneurship, linked by the mad quest for gold."--Entertainment Weekly

"An old-fashioned seafaring adventure, awash in time and vigor . . . A ripping true tale of danger and discovery at sea."--Washington Post

"Titanic meets Tom Clancy technology . . . Kinder has lashed together a thumping good narrative."--People

"Kinder makes the shipwreck so enthralling that it seems any later events are doomed to anticlimax. Not so . . . it is a truly great tale, cleverly organized and expertly written."--Atlantic Monthly

"What a yarn! . . . If you sign on for the cruise, go in knowing that you're going to miss meals and a lot of sleep."--Newsweek

"Gripping . . . the pages speed past."--Newsday

"Extraordinarily gripping . . . An astounding and marvelous book."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"An extraordinarily good tale."--Chicago Tribune

"Moving and riveting."--Philadelphia Inquirer

"It wasn't easy money, but it sure is a great story. Kinder tells it in fascinating, exhaustive detail."--Time

"Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is nonfiction treasure . . . The book takes hold of you from page one and never lets go. history and heroics, science and suspense--Ship of Gold has that blockbuster feel."--Sailing

"Worthy of the best fiction and enough action to shame James Bond."--Men's Journal

About the Author

Gary Kinder is the author of the bestselling books Victim and Light Years. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two daughters.