GOLD-RUSH STEAMER SS PACIFIC FOUND

 

The famous gold-rush steamer SS Pacific which sank as it traveled from British Columbia to San Francisco in 1875 with nearly $5 million worth of gold on board, killing 325 people, has been found at the bottom of the ocean.

SS Pacific, which was carrying $180,000 of gold - around $4.8m in today's money - had collided with the sailing ship Orpheus south of Cape Flattery in Washington. It was the deadliest maritime disaster in the history of the western US.

Two experts from the Northwest Shipwreck Alliance, Matthew McCauley and Jeff Hummel, now believe they have found the lost ship.

Although the team have not made the precise location of the wreck public, a judge has now granted exclusive salvage rights. However the team has given a rough location and said that the wreck lies some 23 miles offshore at a depth of between 1,000 and 2,000ft.

They are hoping to open a museum dedicated to artefacts recovered from the wreck. However, there will be a window of time for descendants to assert ownership in court.

The Pacific was captained by Jefferson Davis Howell, who commanded a rebel gunboat in the US Civil War, and whose brother-in-law, Jefferson Davis, was former Confederate President.

Only two people survived the disaster; he was among the dead.

Some of the others on board the ship included the elite of the Pacific Northwest, gold miners going home for winter and 41 people identified only as 'Chinamen.'

The Gold Rush first began in 1848 and finished in 1899. Due to the mania, people would often move West so that they would be in with a chance of getting some gold.

To read the complete article, see:
Gold-rush steamer SS Pacific is found almost 150 years after it sank with nearly $5M worth of gold on board, killing 325 people, as it sailed from British Columbia to San Francisco (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11511451/Gold-rush-steamer-SS-Pacific-5million-treasure-trove-board.html)

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