TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 12.2

 

Our experience in 1987, using the prototype version of Nemo as a towed camera sled, had taught us that pinpointing the exact location of anomalies imaged by the SeaMARC 1A sonar fish towed miles behind the mothership is no simple matter, even if the mothership has precise navigation records. Fortunately, the high-resolution pass that had imaged Site FA had also imaged another fairly nearby anomaly on both that pass and a second reciprocal pass in the opposite direction. The sonar operators apparently had dismissed the importance of the "large geological feature" while focusing on a much smaller and brighter object. But, their chasing of this ultimately unimportant feature gave me additional, comparative numbers allowing me to calculate the "layback" much more accurately. Combining the course of the mothership with the winch-wrap counts and the bathymetry (depth contours,) gave me enough to tell how far the sonar fish was tracking behind the Pine River, and so we had a good estimate of where we thought we would find Site Foxtrot Alpha.

Tommy had Alan Scott check my math. I didn't mind. Alan, our key electrical engineer, C++ programmer, etc., had much better math chops than I did, fluency with calculus and all that. But the current problem was survey stuff, triangles and angles and numbers, algebra and trigonometry, part and parcel of my academic study and professional practice as a geologist. I presented my plot and figures to Alan, and he concurred with my numbers. We drew up a trackline, a path along the bottom over which we would tow Nemo a few meters above the bottom, while we learned the ground truth about Site FA.

It is my distinct impression, reflecting on my years at sea, working on the SSCA site, that the best weather occurs during hurricane season. The calms between the storms can yield smooth, glassy seas.

Of course, the storms can be monsters. We were ready at last to proceed to the FA test site. And then the weather turned nasty.

By evening of the 6th, we were in a full gale. John Patton, the First Mate reported southwesterly seas 15 to 22 feet, with winds of 25 to 35 knots, higher in the squalls. Looking back on this week a long time ago, I must say that it may have been one of the most profound philosophical trials of my life. Somehow, I had invested almost all my hopes in Foxtrot Alpha, which experts had called a geological feature, a pile of rocks that was throwing one last thing in our way. I thought about how we were in a storm looking for a ship lost in those same waters. I waited, and read Melville. Finally, the seas calmed. On September 11, on the very first track we hit the mark. The math I had checked with Alan Scott was spot on.

 

We passed over an enormous paddlewheel frame, the one architectural feature that shouted, "S.S. Central America!" to the six of us sitting in the control room. Whoops and laughter and exclamations of "You know what THAT is!" filled the room.

And yet, although we were 99% confident that we had found the SSCA, I still harbored a small sliver of doubt. What about those shipwrecks lost the October 1866 hurricane, the Evening Star and the Daniel Webster? They were both sidewheel steamers that sank well off the southeast US coast.

The massive engines would provide an answer. Both the Evening Star and the Daniel Webster were powered by enormous "walking beam" engines. Such engines have one giant cylinder propelled upward by steam pressure, then venting at the top of the stroke. This thrust pushes one end of a mammoth teeter-totter (the walking beam) that rocks on a central fulcrum. The other end of the see-saw is connected to the crank that turns a foot-and-a-half-diameter shaft connected to the paddlewheels on either side of the ship.

The SSCA's engine were a different configuration, two inclined cylinders, each with a 65-inch bore and a 10-foot stroke. Our initial pass over the paddlewheel prompted us to circle back for a closer scrutiny of the engines and other parts of this "large geological feature," now transforming into our dream treasure shipwreck. We saw that the starboard paddle wheel had disengaged from the rest of the drive train, along with a length of the shaft now jutting upward from the spokes lying flat on the seabed, topped by an offset that was part of the "crankshaft" of the steamship.

 

In between the two paddlewheels we found two sets of inclined cylinders with crossheads and linkages, their forms now murky and mineralized within an enormous mound, hundreds of tons of rust.

 
Starboard engine of the SSCA

This was enough for me. We saw the kind of engines expected only on the SSCA, and I shared this analysis with Tommy. He seemed surprised that I was even checking such details, because we had seen the paddlewheel! My scientific skepticism apparently was not welcome at that celebratory moment. There should be no question about it; I was excited. I remember it as one of the greatest days of my professional life. My hunch about the "geological feature" had proven true! And my math had been correct! Since I spent four months at sea on the wrong shipwrecks the previous year, I just didn't lose my mind, and my objectivity. My reservations had been justified. Now, I was certain we had found the S.S. Central America.

The 1988 version of Nemo was a step up from the 1987 model. Nemo had acquired a new manipulator, a hand with which to grab artifacts and other objects. Testing our manipulator, with flexible fingers, reaching for a bottle, we accidentally scraped half a liter of sediment, in which I found gold dust. (See Treasure Talk Episode 9)

We already knew we had found the SSCA, but we were looking for flashier proof, and Tommy felt a piece of gold the size of a grain of salt was not worth announcing to the investment partners; not the return they were awaiting.

During photographic surveys we found a bell inside the main shipwreck, up near the bow. We dropped a measuring stick nearby to get an idea of its size. My calculations yielded 24 inches wide at the lower flange, unusually large. John Doering, the crane operator and assistant photographer thought it had to be smaller. 24 inches was huge for a ship bell. John thought it was 12 or 14 inches. How could we recover it? Maybe it had the ship's name.

 
The Central America's bell, as found

This recovery would be very heavy. We could see that there was an inscription on the bell, but we couldn't read all of it. We could all see that the bell was very large, and I wondered aloud if it was even going to fit in our 2-foot basket slot.

The S.S. Central America has many stories to tell, but it hasn't given up secrets easily. And, if the personification of ships is female, she wouldn't give us her name!

We had coal, paddlewheels, the right engines, even gold dust, and now the giant bronze bell inscribed: "MORGAN IRON WORKS NEW YORK 1853"

 

Morgan Iron Works had built and installed the engines as the SSCA was being built.

Full confirmation. Proof beyond doubt of any kind. We had found the S.S. Central America.

On the dive following this discovery by photograph, we landed next to the pile, dusted away some of the sediment with a forward mounted thruster, and were the first to see the magnificence of the greatest lost treasure in United States history, now found.

 

Thousands of mint-state 1857-S double eagles erased all questions or concerns about the shipwreck's identity.

 

Still, she didn't give us her name.

The Elusive Name:

In 2014, we found the cast iron purser's safe lying 28 meters outside the portside timbers of the main shipwreck. In Treasure Talk 6: Part 2, I covered the recovery of the ship's money, including almost 9,000 dimes, from a parcel on the lower shelf of that safe. Other parcels inside the safe were passenger consignments, containing a wonderfully diverse suite of US and foreign gold and silver coins, as well as many bags of gold dust.

In a top compartment we found a bundled, blackened, externally gooey, bundle of what appeared to be paper. It was sent to a qualified laboratory, Northeast Document Center, to see what could be saved.

It was revealed to be the purser's bundle of ticket receipts.

But Purser William Hull also had the outbound receipts from New York to Panama in the bundle.

There, emblazoned in black ink across the top line, we finally saw the ship's name:

"UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP CENTRAL AMERICA"

 

I remember being startled when the conservation lab revealed the nature of these bundled documents. Just to finally see the name in print was such a jolt, a quarter century after we first saw the paddlewheel.

To read the complete article, see:
Treasure Talk: Episode 12 Part 2 – Have we found the S.S. Central America? (https://finestknown.com/treasure-talk-episode-12-part-2-have-we-found-the-s-s-central-america/)

For the complete series, see:
Category Archives: Treasure Talk with Bob Evans (https://finestknown.com/treasure-talk-with-bob-evans/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n12a12.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 2.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n13a17.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 2.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n14a15.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 3.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n15a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 3.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n17a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 4.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n18a13.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 4.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n19a20.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 5.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n22a13.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 5.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n23a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 6.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n27a14.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 6.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n30a21.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 7.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n32a16.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 7.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n40a15.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 8 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n42a21.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 9 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n49a19.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 10.1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n51a17.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 10.2 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v29/esylum_v29n01a09.html)
TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 11 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v29/esylum_v29n04a13.html)

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