Gary KinderRezensionen

Nearly a 5-star read. I subtracted a star because the last couple of chapters seemed to drag on a little too long for me, although still very necessary to the story. This is the true story of the sinking of the SS Central America in 1857, but really more about its discovery on the bottom of the ocean floor. You will get behind the scenes of all the troubles that went into this discovery. It's just incredible! The ship was loaded with gold and 474 passengers (plus the crew...around 600 people total) headed home from the years of panning and mining for gold in California. The first half of the book was 5-star. The Prologue, The California Goldrush, really sets the climate in America from 1849 to 1857 before the SS Central America set sail, bound for New York from Aspinwall, Panama. When they headed north to catch the Gulf Stream up the East Coast, they were caught in a raging hurricane for four days. The author did great in telling their story from the early 1857 newspaper interviews from the survivors. You really got to know a lot of the characters, especially Tommy Thompson, who was the key player and motivator in this discovery. I loved getting to know Tommy from his childhood to his college days. The back cover of the 1998 hardback shows a photo of Captain William Lewis Herndon, who went down honorably with the ship; the newly married Easton couple, who survived with the other 149 other people saved; the gold at the bottom of the sea; “Nemo”, the exploration vehicle; and crazy, brilliant Tommy Thomas. I'm sure Google would provide the same photos or more.

Although, I would really LOVE to see the sinking of the SS Central America as a movie, the History Channel has a 41-minute documentary on YouTube called, History's Mysteries - The S.S. Central America "Ship of Gold":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyHO4Obo78
What you don't see in the documentary is everything that went wrong with the exploration

On page 498, it says there was a book called, "Lady Lee's Widowhood", found in the luggage of John Dement. Goodreads has it and shows there are two volumes and was written by Edward Bruce Hamely. Maybe I will look into reading those later to see what they are about and why someone, a male at that, would carry this in their luggage.
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Personal connections to the story:

1. My 4th great-grandfather, William W. West (b. Feb. 17, 1802 – d. in 1856 in California) most likely headed west to California during the goldrush. The Lawrence family of Alabama shows he died there. Where they got that information?...I have no idea. But, their son, Silas Lawrence, my 3rd great-grandfather, left Maine when he was about 13 years old, ditched his father’s surname and took up his mother’s maiden name, Lawrence, and began a whole new family down south in Alabama. I did find in a book where there was a Wm. W. West who boarded the schooner “W.O. Alden”, and sailed for California from Bangor on Dec. 9, 1849. More research is needed to determine if this was my great-grandfather or not.

2. In 1986, Tommy first leased, for a few months, an old 165 foot flat-bottomed Louisiana mudboat, the Pine River, that he found right here in Orange, Texas, and had renovated for their particular use to carry the SeaMARC out to the sight of the shipwreck 200 miles off the Carolina coast, and where a crew of 22 men would reside.

3. While Ben and I were living in Charleston, South Carolina, and hunkering down for Hurricane Hugo to hit us, September 10-25, in 1989, Tommy and his crew were pulling up gold from the SS Central America. They pulled into Wilmington to wait out the storm, me and the kids hunkered down in a shelter closet in Navy housing, and Ben rode it out just up the river in a Coast Guard boat.

Non-fiction account of the wreck of the Central America in 1857 and the search, spearheaded by inventor and creative thinker Tommy Thompson, for her wreckage in the deep water of the Atlantic Ocean 130 years 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 ship’s 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 Thompson’s 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 time (1980’s) 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 wide-ranging disciplines required to succeed in this high-risk high-reward endeavor, including engineering, probability theories, risk management, maritime law, fund-raising, teamwork, communications, and fending off the competition. It also covers the history of salvage operations as of the date of publication (1998). 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 “non-fiction that reads like fiction,” this story fits the bill.

In 1857 the steamship Central America, loaded to the brim with gold from the California gold rush, sank off the coast of North Carolina. 130 years later, Tommy Thompson, brilliant scientist and treasure hunter, put together a team and the technology to locate the Central America and succeeded.
The story alternates between the sinking of the ship and the few survivors and the modern story of locating the ship and the treasure.

Unfortunately, halfway through the book, I looked up what happened to Thompson to discover that his impeccable reputation (as depicted in the book) was in tatters and that he had stiffed his investors and was presently rotting in jail because he will not release or admit to having the funds from the sale of the gold.½

A great non-fiction read about the search for and recovery of the USS Central America, sunk in 1857 in the Atlantic, about 300 miles off the coast of Virginia. The gold coins and bars recovered were the largest monetary recovery to date.

Very enjoyable book, though I felt it was overly long. It was a bit of a slog early on with all the stories of the various passengers. Same for some of the periods spent while Tommy Thompson and his crew were on the sea. Some deeper editing might have made it more enjoyable from that standpoint, but the author did a good job of conveying the feeling of being on the Central America in 1857 as well as being on the recovery ships in the 1980's. As I got deeper and deeper into the story, it was very hard to put down and stop reading. And I loved sharing bits of the story with friends. Tommy Thompson is a fascinating character, and an inspiring one as well. Also, learning some of the history about the 1849 California gold rush and the options people had then to join it was similarly enlightening.

It's a bit surprising that this book and its story have never been made into a movie. To me, all of the elements are there: interesting characters, history, a treasure hunt, good guys vs bad guys, legal drama, battles with the elements, and a good ending. Maybe some day ...

Buried under a morass of details, which others may appreciate more than I, was the saga of the U.S.S. Central America, a paddle steamer bringing folks from the California Gold Rush, in 1857 from Panama with final destination New York. A devastating hurricane sunk the ship and only 159 of the 600+ people on board were rescued. Captain Herndon went down with his ship and there is a today a memorial to him at Annapolis. Also was the story of Tommy Thompson of Ohio, an eccentric scientist and inventor, who was in charge of its deep sea salvage of all the personal objects and gold that had been on board. We follow how Tommy and his team obtain funding, find the coordinates where the ship had gone down, find a suitable boat to use and from it to do their recovery in 1988. Fascinating look at deep sea exploration, not only of old ships and their contents but the discovery of previously unknown species of sea life. It was much too detailed for my taste. There was a drawing of the Central America but no index and no map of the route taken. I regret the lack of both; to me an index greatly enhances the value of a nonfiction book and with the map I could have followed along much more easily.

I think what impressed me most is that while depending on the treasure aspect for funding the whole project Tommy Thompson was excited by what could be learned, both technically from working at that depth, but also scientifically and archaeologically by doing it right.½

This is a fascinating look back to the sinking of the SS Central America in 1857, and then to the recovery efforts made some 130 years later -- from the fascination with its treasure, to the hunt, and finally the development of technology that made recovery possible, as well as the people involved at each moment. Kinder's work is brilliantly crafted, with research that takes readers back to the California Gold Rush and the nearly 600 men and women who boarded the SS Central America, as well as the treasure that they and the craft were carrying and the tragedy that unfolded some 200 miles off of North Carolina. As noted on the book jacket, "It was the worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, a tragedy that remained lost in legend for over a century."

Moving between the resent and the ship and the hurricane that it fell to in 1857, Kinder manages to bring 130 years' worth of history into sharp relief, examining human failings, human heroics, and science and technology with an expert eye that brings all of it to life. The result is a fascinating story which is as unbelievable as it is true, and utterly worthwhile.

Absolutely recommended.½

I'm not an ocean person or a historic-shipwreck person, but this is a really fun read. A neat story that lives in the world of "suddenly possible" in the rapid technologic evolution of the latter half of the 20th century.

Even more interesting is the fate of the main character Tommy Thompson - look it up.

I started this book, but did not finish it. The historical part about the gold rush and the steamship was interesting, but I got a little bored about the contemporary salvage operation.

Wow! What a great book! This book deals with the sinking of the SS Central America and the eventual recovery of it's treasure of gold 130 years later. It's extremely well-written and engrossing. It combines two of my favorite things in the world, the ocean and lost treasure...how could it be bad? I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone.

The author describes the hunt for a deep sea treasure. It is much more than a treasure hunt - more about the temperament of the leader and how is creative approaches to problems solved many of the "impossible" problems of working in the deep ocean. Fascinating story, but, at times, a bit repetitive.½

This book is a real page-turner about the salvaging of a shipwreck filled with gold. This particular wreck was, however, sunk so deep that totally new technologies needed to be developed in order to find the wreck and perform the salvage work. In addition to the technology innovations, the book describes a number of ingenious business innovations as well.

This book is highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book about a shipwreck - both the history of the wreck and what led to it, and the struggle to find the wreck over a century later.

This is a 3.5 star review of the Abridged audiobook version (the only audio version available). The abridgement is 5 hours long, which is roughly 150 to 200 pages of text from a 500 page book, so it's severe. The story itself flows well enough and the sequence of events are clearly described, but it's over too soon and areas of deeper interest are skipped. The story reminds me of Moneyball with an outsider genius using math to beat the old timers and move the field to a new level of expertise. Good book, what of it I heard, maybe someday I'll find a hard copy and read in full.½

This book was fantastic! Floating back and forth between the story of the people and the ship (SS Central America) and the story of the engineer and crew working to recover it was exciting and riveting. I'm not an engineer, but Kindler did a wonderful job explaining the science of the technology and theories behind the work of the recovery ship and crew. A must read for anyone who is interested in history, boats, adventure, and innovation.

Finished 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!

This is one of the most interesting non-fiction books I have read in a long while. Kinder profiles a very unusual, creative mind, that of the engineer who assembled and led a team which revolutionized deep sea studies, and deep water search and recovery technology and law, while locating and retrieving from deep underwater a horde of gold and artifacts from a vessel which sunk off Cape Hatteras in 1857.

One of the things Mr. Kinder does best in this book is create a sense of intrigue and the building of suspense that leads to an exciting climax. This can be difficult to do when writing a non-fiction book. He also portrays Mr Thompson as both very driven and very creative. I'm sure he isn't the easiest person to be around, but it's pretty amazing what he was able to accomplish.

In 1857, the SS Central America, a "side-wheeler steamer" sank, taking over 400 lives--and taking with it 21 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush. The book tells two entwined stories. That of the heroic efforts to save the ship and the struggles of the survivors, and over a hundred years later the tale of Tommy Thompson, a seemingly eccentric inventor, but one with the training of an engineer and the spirit of an entrepreneur who sees the recovery of the ship's treasures not just "as an end in itself, but as a way to learn how to work in the deep ocean" given the wreck was at a crushing depth in the ocean lower than many mountains are high. The author handled both halves of his tale well. I bought this book after reading The Perfect Storm, a truly fascinating tale of the sea. Ship of Gold scratched that itch as a great tale of the sea, of science, of human heroism and tragedy and adventure. It's something else I don't see much of--a tale of entrepreneurship. Of smarts and risks and high stakes. The challenges posed in the enterprise included historical, legal, technological, financial, poaching from competitors--and especially the sea, which many experts considered more forbidding to exploration than the moon. Given just the information in the back cover of the book, I thought I knew how this book would turn out, yet the author managed to make it page-turning and suspenseful, making me more riveted to the page the further I read. Kinder had a great story to tell and it wasn't wasted on him.

The publisher needs to revisit the cover and the title. I thought it would be as interesting as reading the Sunday classifieds on first look. However, Kinder has provided a compelling account of one hell of an underwater adventure. I'd never heard of the sinking of Central America, but the tragedy is unique in terms of size, history and consequence. The book follows the project to find and salvage the wreckage. It's a great read. It reminded me a little of Shadow Divers, both in terms of the story, the way it's told and the enthusiasm and drive of the protagonists.½

The ship sank in 1859 with 600 passengers on the board. The book reveals you the mystery of a horror night and long adventure to found the lost treasures.

A marvelous book; a real page turner. Keep the reader's interest through all the 400 + pages.

This book was recommended to me as a book that was like Titanic. The only resemblance between the two is that they are stories of ships that sunk. I found the adventure of Ship of Gold much more engaging. Being fond of detail, this book does not disappoint. For the business reader, it is a great example of project management done right. Once I started reading, I could not put it down.

3109. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, by Gary Kinder (read 9 Sep 1998). This is a 1998 book about Tommy Thompson's recovery of the SS Central America, which sank off the Carolina coast in 8000 feet of water in September of 1857. The story of the sinking is expertly and breathtakingly told, and the story of how the gold and artifacts thereon were recovered is awe-inspiring. This is an excellent, excellent book. True, there is technical stuff I cannot begin to understand but that detracts not a whit from the merit of the GREAT book. I must quote from page 505: "The rare and beautiful gold aboard the Central America was not bought from a collector or handed down within the family; it came out of the California Gold Rush, a sidewheel steamer , a hurricane, a selfless group of spirited men, a rescue at sea, a couple named Easton, a courageous captain; it came from the dream of a young engineer from Ohio and his story of risks and setbacks and breakthroughs; it came with the opening of 'two frontiers'." I cannot express how moved I was by the climactic ending of this fabulous story... I recommend this book unreservedly...For more detail on the legal aspects of this event see:
http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n16a32.html