Back in 1988, Tommy Thompson, discovered a sunken ship that would later lead to his current incarceration in a on-going battle over the “disappearance” of golden treasure. This ship — the S.S. Central America — would later become known as the Ship of Gold. The story from the start is fascinating, but ultimately the discovery of a lifetime has led to a life in ruin. The whole thing makes you wonder: is Tommy Thompson a swindler or a tragic victim? It’s not as clear-cut as it seems.
The Ship of Gold
In the 1850s amidst the California gold rush, overland travel from California to New York was a 5-month brutal journey where the prospect of survival was questionable. Most of you my age remember playing the game, The Oregon Trail. As kids we would virtually navigate our way across the US by wagon as we tried to avoid a game-over to the phrase, “You have died of dysentery.” The struggle was real!
But, at this time there was another, better way to travel, especially if you were hauling substantial cargo, such as tons of gold. You could take a ship down from the west coast to the Isthmus of Panama, then travel ~4 hours by railroad over the isthmus, to then board another ship and sail back up the eastern coast to New York. But, it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. Cholera outbreaks were a common theme on these trips, taking the lives of many along the way.
The story of the Ship of Gold actually starts with another ship — the S.S. Sonora — hauling a cargo full of gold from San Francisco on August 20, 1857. Upon reaching Panama, the golden cargo was handed off to then be loaded on a 280-foot steamship known as the S.S. Central America — now posthumously known as the Ship of Gold — to make its way up to its destination in New York.
But in early September, the S.S. Central America found itself caught in a hurricane, taking a beating from the wind and waves. As the boat began to take on water, the captain ordered women and children on deck to prepare for boarding the lifeboats. It is said that, as the ship was going down, the ladies “brought out bags and scattered them on the floor, asking all who wanted money to help themselves.” Apparently, a few ladies picked up some gold pieces, but none took more than two $20 coins. Essentially all of the gold was going down.
The hurricane ultimately took the ship down 8,000 feet to the ocean bottom about 160 miles offshore of Charleston, South Carolina. Over 400 people and 21 tons of gold, so they say, went down with the ship. In today’s dollars, all that gold is equivalent to $1.2 billion lost.
The sinking of the S.S. Central America was a serious economic catastrophe that occurred amidst the Panic of 1857. As banks in New York were suspending operations and desperately clutching for gold reserves, this failed shipment of anticipated incoming gold dealt a hard blow to an already beaten economy.
The Shipwreck Discovery in 1988
Fast forward ~130 years, and in enters Tommy Thompson — a scientist who worked in the ocean engineering section at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio.
161 investors paid Thompson $12.7 million to find the ship. The agreement apparently was that ~2% of any gold finds would go to the investors and crew. Thompson was driven to the treasure hunt by his love of science, the prospect of achieving an “unattainable” feat, and of course, by the gold itself.
It was a roughly 2-year search. Once the shipwreck was found, it all went sour and ultimately ruined Thompson’s life. A total of 39 different insurance companies immediately sued, claiming ownership of the gold from paid claims in 1857.
Thompson was tied up in court for a decade until the court ruled in Thompson’s favor for the most part, allowing him to maintain 92% of the gold for a feat that the court called, “a paradigm of American initiative, ingenuity and determination.”
In 2000, with the insurance companies off his back, Thompson’s company sold $52 million of the gold to California Gold Marketing Group. But, the years of litigation took its toll on Thompson. It is claimed that all that money went towards legal fees and bank loans.
But, then the investors and members of his search crew swooped in and sued him, saying they got none of the money.
The Aftermath
2006: Thompson went into seclusion, moving into a mansion in Vero Beach, Florida. He grew increasingly reclusive, refused to use his real name, and purportedly faced threats to his livelihood.
Sept. 12, 2008: Thompson was arrested at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida carrying eight fake ID cards. He was charged with possession of drugs without a prescription with the intent to sell, holding a fake ID, false personation and resisting an officer without violence. Court records show prosecutors later dropped all the counts, but it's not immediately clear why.
2012: Thompson vanishes. He is charged with contempt of court for failing to show up to a hearing … bond is denied. Perhaps his reclusive behavior in the years prior was foreshadowing his eventual disappearance.
2013: An arrest warrant for Civil Contempt is issued for Thompson for his failure to appear as directed.
2014: The same court issued an additional arrest warrant for Thompson, this time for Criminal Contempt.
Jan. 27, 2015: Thompson was found and arrested at a hotel room in Boca Raton, Florida. He was checked-in under a fake name.
April 2015: Thompson pleaded guilty for his failure to appear for the court hearing in 2012. He was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Part of his plea deal required him to answer questions in closed-door sessions about the whereabouts of 500 gold coins he supposedly still possessed.
Oct. 19, 2015: The first hearing as part of the plea deal results in the federal prosecutor calling Thompson's answers “evasive and concerning.”
Dec. 2015: Thompson refused to respond at another hearing and the judge held him in contempt of court for violating the plea deal, assigning a fine of $1,000/day until he cooperated.
Nov. 2018: Thompson agreed to surrender 500 gold coins, but then claimed he doesn't have access to them. He told the judge, “I’m supposed to have the keys to my freedom by telling where the coins are, but I don’t know where the coins are. I put them in an offshore trust. The trustee can put them anywhere he wants.”
Oct. 2020: Thompson appeared via video for his latest hearing.
When asked again about the gold’s whereabouts, Thompson told the judge, “Your honor, I don't know if we've gone over this road before or not, but I don't know the whereabouts of the gold. I feel like I don't have the keys to my freedom.”
So, now Thompson remains in federal prison owing ~$2 million in fines and counting. The next court hearing is scheduled for January 7, 2022. Thompson is 69 years old and claims he’s said all he knows about the “missing” gold’s whereabouts. It doesn’t appear that he plans on spilling any more details.
A book was written in 1998 about Thompson’s discovery, titled, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder. And Tommy Thompson himself, wrote, America’s Lost Treasure. Of course, both of these books were written before Thompson’s incarceration. An update is due.
Part of me sympathizes with the investors that didn’t get their money, but another part of me is cheering for Thompson who seems to have been put through the legal wringer for achieving an “impossible” feat. I hope Thompson keeps his secret (if, in fact, he has a secret) and simply tells everyone to go fly a kite.