TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 1

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 12, 2025, Article 12

In January, our good friend Bob Evans began publishing a series of blog articles on the Finest Known website detailing his experience as co-discoverer and curator of the treasures recovered from the wreck of the S.S. Central America. Subject of the book "Ship of Gold", many exhibits, countless interviews and articles, books and auction catalogs feature the legendary haul of gold coins, bars, nuggets, gold dust and more from the 1857 shipwreck. Here's an excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor

It was October 5, 1989, and my crewmates and I had brought ashore over a ton of gold to the dock in Norfolk, Virginia. We were met by US Marshals, since legal activity regarding our find was adjudicated in the US District Court in Norfolk. Local law enforcement was fully represented (of course,) seemingly every high-powered, elite unit of the Norfolk Police. They had snipers on nearby rooftops monitoring the action. Armed Brinks agents posed with their vehicle, right next to the dock, ready to whisk the gold off to secure storage as soon as it could be loaded into the armored truck. There was also a very large crowd of happy investors, family, friends, and the award-winning marching band from Herndon, VA High School.

Our research vessel, the Arctic Discoverer had finished its 1989 season, a very successful season, and it was time to proclaim our discovery to the world. We had located the greatest lost treasure in United States history, and now we were going to show it off.

In the hours as we steamed into Hampton Roads and toward the berth at Norfolk, I was frantically working below decks, preparing the treasure for the dockside transfer to Brinks, and selecting a representative group of gold coins and bars to present to the eyes and cameras of the world. It was 67 hours and 45 minutes from the time we left the shipwreck site until we docked at Norfolk. The task of preparing the ton of gold we had in the shipboard vault, and sealing it into manageable-weight portable containers, entirely consumed my time and focus. I managed to sleep maybe six or seven hours over the three days. Our onshore personnel had arranged as much advanced publicity as they could, and news helicopters (and I assume police aircraft as well) hovered over our ship as we neared the harbor. Local and national media were present. We knew a large crowd awaited us.

I think it is fair to say that our company was necessarily secretive during the 80s and 90s. There were competitor claimants to the treasure. Insurance companies filed suit at the same time we were coming ashore with the treasure. There were rival salvors who had challenged our rights to the site in a landmark legal case beginning in 1987. We used technology employing a whole host of trade secrets. But we tried to maintain the public excitement about the project to a certain degree.

After the big splash in Norfolk, there were television shows. We were invited to show the treasure to the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I was tapped to be the personality for this show rather than Thompson. I had a much greater ease with cameras, and spontaneous answers without pregnant pauses. I could always steer an interview back to science and history, looking to entertain while I informed. The show with Johnny Carson, April 10, 1991, was definitely one of the highlights of my professional experience. I took a number of gold pieces to show, including the largest ingot we had recovered up to that time, the mammoth 754-ounce Justh & Hunter ingot #4051.

Check out the full article for much more, including the traveling "Ship of Gold" exhibit and Bob's appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Bob finished the first episode with this paragraph, neatly summarizing his key role and that of the ship. -Editor

I am immensely fortunate in being connected with the S.S. Central America treasure for the past 41 years. As a scientist, the subject is wonderful and multi-disciplinary: geology, oceanography, biology, metallurgy, along with the roots of math, physics, and chemistry. The historical story is rich and varied as well, and the artifacts we found relate part of the story not previously told in print. The 1850s were pivotal for the United States. The California Gold Rush, the explosive growth of American economic power, and the idea of the steamship route connecting in Panama, brought enormous prosperity, as people from different backgrounds and different localities converged in the California melting pot. With an almost endless storehouse of information and experiences, I look forward to continuing to share my perspectives with others, in this blog and elsewhere. I hope you enjoy reading about it, as I have enjoyed living it.