SS Central America, Tommy Thompson, Americas Lost Treasure, Tommy Thompson, New!

Description

Americas Lost Treasure, Tommy Thompson, 1998, First Edition, Hard Cover, Brand New! This is the first edition printing of Tommy Thompson's "Americas Lost Treasure". This book was a national best seller. These 1998 copies are brand new, never used. They were discovered in a climate controlled storage unit owned by Tommy Thompson and the Columbus America Discovery Group. I have a limited number, they are in pristine condition and were found still packaged in the shipping boxes from the distributor. Apparently these books were destined for a store or museum featuring the treasure found on the SS Central America, but it never came to be. So, after nearly two decades in storage, they are finally offered to collectors of memorabilia and treasure hunting artifacts. Please note that these are the hard to find first edition, first printing copies with the original cover (compare to other newer covers to see the difference). This books tells the story of the history of the 1849 gold rush, the SS Central America, the Columbus America Discovery Group and the efforts of Tommy Thompson to research, locate, build the ship, Arctic Discoverer and his robot NEMO and retrieve over 3 tons of California gold after over 130 years sitting on the ocean floor at close to 8,000 ft. deep. It tells the adventure, tragedy and bravery of the men and women of the SS Central America and the drive of Thompson and his crew to recover the SS Central America. Written by the man that started it all, Tommy Thompson. 194 pages, hard cover, large coffee table style book. Dozens and dozens of high quality gloss photos of the ships, artifacts, treasure, the crew and much more.
No lowball offers, I will consider reasonable offers, lowballs will be ignored. These are 1st edition original printings in mint, new condition and worth the asking price.
The R/V Arctic Discoverer, began her career in 1958 as the A.T. Cameron, a Canadian Fishing Research Vessel and Icebreaker. Over the years, her name was changed to the Arctic Ranger. In the winter of 1987-1988, the Columbus America Discovery Group purchased the ship and changed her name once again to the Arctic Discoverer. The Columbus America Discovery Group was a deep ocean research and recovery group founded in 1985 and headed by a man named Tommy Thompson. Thompson was a Marine Engineer who had a brilliant career working at the Battelle Institute. Along with his team of scientists, engineers, historians and ocean explorers, they planned to locate and recover the shipwreck of the SS Central America. After locating what they believed to be the wreck site, they filed claim to the salvage rights in court and began plans for the recovery of the 21 tons of California Gold and numerous artifacts that the Central America sank with in a hurricane in 1857. Along with 425 souls and 160 miles off the Carolina coast, the wreck sat at 8,000 feet deep. The group needed a ship that would handle their vast array of scientific equipment and their 12,000 pound robot "NEMO". They located the Arctic Ranger, a 30 year old ice breaker built in Canada. Over several months, they transformed the weary, weather worn Arctic Ranger into a high tech cutting edge deep ocean research and recovery vessel, the "Arctic Discoverer". They were successful, and late in 1988, Thompson announced to the world that they had located the Central America. They eventually recovered around three tons of gold coins, gold bars and numerous artifacts from the wreck site. Of course, there is never a happy ending. There were lawsuits filed, everyone wanted a piece of the action. Over the next few years, into the 1990's, the Arctic Discoverer spent many months at sea working at the wreck site while court battles waged on back on the mainland. After almost ten years in court, the Columbus America Discovery Group was awarded 92% of the recovered items, gold and artifacts. Unfortunately this came at a cost of millions in legal fees, investors waiting to recover their investment, the crew waiting for their money, one problem after another finally took its toll, and recovery operations were eventually suspended at the wreck site. In May of 2013, the US Federal Marshals auctioned off the R/V Arctic Discoverer to a local salvage company. The ship had been sitting quietly at a dock in Green Cove Springs, Florida for several years. Thompson's find and recovery of the Central America was considered "The Greatest Treasure Ever Found" according to Life Magazine. Christies Auction said that the gold from the Central America was considered to be Americas "Crown Jewels".
To see more items from this ship, visit: arcticdiscoverer.com