Hunt for Gold in Sunken Ship May Be Over
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. — Treasure hunters seeking a reputed cache of gold on the sunken SS Brother Jonathan will call it quits for the year this week, and they may not be back.
The Deep Sea Research salvage company found some small caches of gold coins and other artifacts, but couldn’t locate the millions of dollars believed to be stored in the ship’s safe.
“We really haven’t found enough to make it worthwhile to the investors, so I don’t know if we’ll do it again next year or not,” said John Ferrar, head of Deep Sea’s land operations.
The Brother Jonathan was heavily loaded with cargo, including gold coins, bullion and jewelry, when it broke up in a gale off Crescent City in 1865. More than 200 people perished in what remains one of the state’s worst maritime disasters.
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