The ‘Ship of Gold,’ which had sunk alongside the SS Central America 150 years prior, was successfully found and salvaged in 1988 by a team under the direction of Thomas Gregory Thompson. However, Thompson, who is now 70 years old, is currently incarcerated for a felony connected to the discovery.
Currently, a 70-year-old man is incarcerated for a felony associated with a discovery made more than 150 years ago.
The SS Central America, often known as the “Ship of Gold,” sank off the coast of South Carolina in 1857 as a result of a hurricane.
‘Tommy’ Thomas In an effort to locate the sunken ship and salvage its riches more than 10 years after it sank, Gregory Thompson, a research scientist, led a crew in 1988.
The research scientist convinced ‘171 individuals and corporations to chip in $12.7 million (£10.7 million) to bankroll his ambitions,’ according to The Columbus Dispatch, in order to carry out his plans to recover the ten tonnes of gold from the California Gold Rush that descended with the ship.
On September 11, 1988, Thompson “surprisingly quickly” found the wreck using an underwater robot he constructed called Nemo and a boat called the Arctic Discoverer.
Thompson reportedly didn’t obtain legal permission to pursue it until 2003, according to the Tampa Bay Times, though this isn’t the reason he’s still in jail today.
Thompson was a little reluctant to give it up after discovering gold, which is estimated to be worth about $300 million (£250 million) today.
Thompson sold the majority of the bars and coins he brought up from the depths of the sea to a marketing group, who paid him over $50 million (£42 million) in 2000, instead of giving any profits to the 161 investors who financed his expedition.
