The so-called Ship of Gold, the SS Central America, sank in a hurricane in September 1857 off the coast of South Carolina. Of the 477 passengers and 101 crew members, only 100 or so people made it into lifeboats.

A reported nine tonnes of gold in the form of coins and bullion from the California Gold Rush had also been on the steamship, destined for New York to prop up the Big Apple's flagging banks.

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