SS Central America, Tommy Thompson, Diving for Dollars, Forbes Magazine, 1991

Description

Diving for Dollars, Forbes FYI, A Supplement to Forbes Magazine, March 18, 1991, First Edition, Soft Cover, New old stock, Brand New!
These 1991 Forbes FYI magazines 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 over two decades in storage, they are finally offered to collectors of memorabilia and treasure hunting artifacts. This edition has an excellent article on the recovery of the SS Central America gold by Tommy Thompson and the Columbus America Discovery Group, with numerous glossy color photos and more. 116 pages, soft cover.
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