TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 14.2

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 23, 2026, Article 17

In January 2025, our good friend Bob Evans began publishing a series of blog articles on the Finest Known website detailing his experience as co-discoverer and curator of the treasures recovered from the wreck of the S.S. Central America. Subject of the book "Ship of Gold", many exhibits, countless interviews and articles, books and auction catalogs feature the legendary haul of gold coins, bars, nuggets, gold dust and more from the 1857 shipwreck. Here's another excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor

The water is very cold at the SSCA site, just a few degrees above freezing. It stands to reason that animals living in such a place conserve their energy whenever possible. So far, I have discussed organisms that barely move, filter feeders, and the clams that slowly burrow through the wood. But there are other animals that crawl and swim through this neighborhood. There is a complicated Food Web (a network more complicated than a simple Food Chain) that has developed around the SSCA shipwreck, as a host of species have found a way to make a living and raise future generations using this giant wooden resource resting in nutritious waters. Let's look at a few important highlights among those who "get around" the shipwreck.

When we first saw the paddlewheels and the extraordinary congress of starfish that had gathered there, we noticed another conspicuous inhabitant.

The little crustaceans shining bright white in our lights are galatheid crabs, also known a Squat Lobsters. They are about the size of the crayfish (vernacular "crawdad") that used to steal my worms while I fished in Big Walnut Creek as a boy. We would encounter them all over the shipwreck, a couple of these white varieties as well as some other pinkish or brownish types. Some of them would show real attitude, a 4-inch crab facing down a 6-ton robot.

We baited two minnow traps and deployed them in a designated "Science Station 3," to see what we might catch. One was baited with lobster tail, the other with prime rib. (Project management and Chef Mickey King saw to it that we ate very well on the research vessel.) We set the traps down and picked them up on a subsequent dive, once we had observed that crabs had entered the wire mesh traps.

We had trapped 5 crabs of 3 different species (interesting diversity for a small experiment in a limited area,) as well as a couple of starfish who had crawled in. There were 4 crabs in the trap baited with prime rib and only one with the lobster. This caused me to quip that they obviously do not get beef very often.

Here's our collection from the traps, gathered in a clear bucket. You can see the diversity.

It seems that every shipwreck of significant size has an octopus, which means there must be at least two, or else they get around. If it's not resting in a hostile environment, a shipwreck provides plenty of nooks and crannies for dens or emergency escape from predators for these soft-bodied, intelligent animals. Even a collapsed or partially buried shipwreck usually has voids suitable for octopod occupancy.

Here is the octopus swimming past an array of our recovery tools, acting like a docent, pointing out features of our operations. On the left you can see the modified plastic tool caddies and storage boxes we would fill with gold bars, coins or other artifacts. A broken washbasin sits in Box #202.

We discovered the shipwreck's ultimate climax predator 7 hours and 5 minutes into the bait deployment. We had Nemo sitting by the experiment for a few hours watching this important science unfold, but it was time to shift back to treasure recovery and broader survey. The treasure was nearby, and we planned monitor further activity at the bait with one of the cameras. Mike Milosh the pilot lifted Nemo up off the bottom, and I lifted myself from my seat, to stretch and visit the head.

I had just exited the control room when I heard shouting back inside. "HOLY SHIT! Get the guys! Get Bob!"

In the passageway outside, I weighed my options. I really needed to go. But something important was obviously happening. Something exciting. I stumbled back into the darkened control room to see a huge shadowy form cruising under our down-looking black & white video camera mounted under the vehicle.

"Oh, that's just Spike." I said, using the nickname we had for the deep cod with the long dorsal spine.

My perspective shifted to accept the reality. I watch an enormous fish pass through the scene again, and I joined in, "Well, Holy Shit!"

It was a Greenland Shark, (Somniosus microcephalus) and it was 6 meters long, somewhere between 19 and 20 feet. Nemo had left a footprint by the experiment station, and this gave us a yardstick to measure this remarkable giant.

At the time this happened, our footage comprised the deepest images ever taken of a living shark. Observing "the habits of the deep-sea dwellers, and see(ing) them in their natural attitudes, fulfilling the hopes Alexander Agassiz's expressed in 1888.

Sharks had been caught on lines set deeper, and cameras have since captured footage of sharks swimming at greater depth. But this was a surprise, and it taught the world of science something more about a truly unusual animal.

We found a well-developed, diverse and populous community of organisms inhabiting the Ship of Gold, a small number of which I have told you about here.