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Summary: One of my all-time favorites
Review: It's such a cliche to say "I couldn't put it down!" but in this case, it's 100 percent true. I picked this book up at my friend's beach house thinking I'd read it off and on over the weekend and just leave it there, possibly unfinished. Well, I spent that whole weekend with my nose in the book, and needless to say, borrowed it to take home and finish.The book is fascinating. It has a great story -- really two great stories, connected -- and is well written, too. The earlier part of the book, which deals mostly with the wreck of the U.S. Central America during the "gold rush" period, is a detailed and fascinating slice of American history as well as a breathtaking account of a terrible disaster. It features memorable characters and true human drama as the ship's passengers fight for survival for themselves and their loved ones, and even strangers -- or, in some cases, struggle only to save their precious gold. The later story, the account of engineer Tommy Thompson's efforts to retrieve the ship and the gold that went down with it, is in its way just as fascinating and suspenseful. Thompson is an amazing real-life character, a sort of "mad genius" who drags a whole cadre of smart young people with him on his quest to do things no one has ever done before. The monetary value of the gold truly becomes irrelevant as the team fights to retrieve their treasure in the face of bad weather, limited funding, incredible technological hurdles, fierce and unscrupulous competition, and, of course, the might of the ocean itself. You will not be disappointed by this book. It truly "has it all."
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Summary: A Wonderful Read in Every Respect
Review: "Ship of Gold" is a wonderful read. What I most appreciated was its approach to adventure and science on the same intense level. This is a book that will inspire you- not to go searching for sunken treasure, but to set your mind on a goal and do whatever it takes to reach it. Tommy Thompson had to ask himself a huge question. How can a 150 year old ship of gold be found in 8,000 feet of water, and how can its treasure possibly be salvaged safely and effectivly from that depth? The answer lies in robotics and engineering. Thompson, a trained engineer, had to pull together a team of dedicated workers and invent the technology no one had sucsessfully been able to make before. Throw in a rival treasure hunting team following them at sea looking for the same wreck, and you have a story of unparalelled adventure and wonder, every bit as exciting and page-turning as it is informative and facsinating. On top of that, Kinder has a written a fantastic account of the ships final days and moments, which he splits up and weaves in between chapters on Thompson and his growing ideas for finding the wreck. The paralel stories grow together as the book progresses, placing us inside Thompsons head to understand his desire and iron will for finding the Ship of Gold. This is a book that should not be missed- please do yourself a favor and read it.
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Summary: A Must Read Book for Every Engineer or Engineering Student
Review: The title sounds weird but I really mean it. As a educator of pre-engineering students at a local two-year college I can think of no better book to introduce a student to what a truly gifted engineer does. If you have a friend, child, collegue, whatever who has a bit of engineer in them, get them this book and have them read it. If you are an engineer or love to tinker on old cars, planes, trains, etc. you won't be able to put this down. The disaster and man vs. nature storyline is enough to hook anyone but for those with a technical or mechanical bent, the descriptions of the problems encountered and surmounted in recovering the gold take the book beyond almost every other recent work in the genre.
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Summary: You will surprise yourself with how much you enjoy this!
Review: I don't know which is more fascinating, the story of the steamship Central America sinking amid a violent storm; or the story of the engineer extraordinaire who resolved to recover it's California gold rush cargo that had remained undisturbed for almost 125 years under two miles of ocean. Fortunately, Gary Kinder chose to tell both tales and they are equally engrossing Almost by definition, disasters at sea make for interesting reading, and the foundering of the Central America ranks among the worst maritime losses in American history. She went down in water over 10,000 feet deep, lost for over a century. Kinder relates her final voyage, illuminating the heroism of her captain, crew and passengers in a style that nearly makes the reader weep as her decks vanish into the sea. That alone would make this book worthy of note in any list of ship histories, but Tommy Thompson determined to find the wreck and to recover a treasure that many experts considered to be unrecoverable. It takes a talented writer to make an engineer seem interesting, or maybe the engineer just has to combine an almost Edison-like gift for innovation with a bit of treasure hunter to be interesting. First you have to find the ship, then you have to figure out how to bring it's cargo back to the surface - no mean feat at those depths. But Thompson wasn't content with simply finding and recovering the gold bullion and coins that went down with the Central America, he wanted to bring the artifacts up as cleanly and completely as possible. Where others might have been content to just sink a robot-controlled bucket down to the wreck and scoop up what ever could be found, Thompson and his crew invented new technologies that brought coins up with so little damage that appraisers at first questioned whether they were from a shipwreck. Thompson and company face one challenge after another, engineering problems, technologic problems, financial problems and even the drama provided by rival treasure hunters. You might be surprised how difficult it can be to put this book down.
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Summary: Fascinating true story of 1857 shipwreck off the Carolinas
Review: Fascinating, well-researched story of the SS Central America, a 300-foot side-wheel steamer that sank in heavy seas in September of 1857 off the Carolina coast carrying 21 tons of gold. It's still hailed as the worst peacetime sea disaster in American history Author Kindler vividly reconstructs the harrowing details of the disaster from the eyes of passengers and crew Then he tells the even more stirring story of how, after 130 years in 8,000 feet of water, the SS CentralAmerica was salvaged. Tommy Thompson of the Columbus-America Discovery Group found her and recovered gold coins, bars, nuggets, along with steamer trunks filled with historic clothes, newspapers, books and journals sealed under water for 130 years. Life called it: "The greatest treasure ever found." The salvage effort took several years and was completed in 1989. It was a classic example of the use of scientific ingenuity to penetrate the ocean floor at 8000-foot depths.... a barn-burning story and it's all true.
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Summary: Great Book but No Pictures
Review: I picked up a copy of this book new from the bargain rack in a local store, not really knowing what to expect. Kinder writes very well, explaining clearly any number of historical circumstances, as well as modern engineering and conceptual activities. The ship's history, and that of its passengers and captain make especially compelling reading. The team and the work that went into financing, searching for, discovering, documenting, and recovering items from the wreck may serve as a blueprint for someone interested in starting up any sort of business enterprise - Kinder's writing reveals principles of entrepreneurship as they actually functioned in the Columbus-America project. For me, the downside was the lack of historical photos and images from the search/wreck/recovery-process. Nevertheless, I think this is a book I will keep and probably reread.
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Summary: Excellent Ship wreck story
Review: This book has it all, a treasure seeker, a ship of vast wealth, a set of sympatheic passengers. And best of all an author who can weave the tale throughout the whole book. We get the whole story but the timeline is intricitly intervoven though the book. It's one of those beach reads, or winter by a fire with a hot drink that gets cold before you remember that its there again. The fire dying without you noticing, the sun going down and the kids have run off a mile down the beach before you look up. Its better than any fictional tale.
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Summary: Ship of Gold (in the Deep Blue Sea)
Review: I highly recommend this book as a clearly written, exciting description of the technical aspects of the search for, and discovery of the wreck of the Central America. Gary Kinder has avoided making an interesting story dull by use of a conversational tone, and an interesting juxtaposition of a description of the sinking of the ship,and the description of the organization and description of the Columbus-America partnerships discovery of the wreck 130 years later. I expected a fairly dry recitation of the facts, and was pleasantly surprised to have an almost couldn't put it down book. While a little more space could have been devoted to the artifacts recovered, overall the book is an excellent example of non-fiction writing and enjoyable to read.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal!
Review: This is a truly wonderful adventure, a great read, and extremely well written. What may seem like a simple treasure hunt is really a magnificent journey of invention, dedication, and inspiration. Gives the reader a glimpse into the minds of those thinking outside the box including the inherent professional and personal risks. What a story, rich history, modern invention, rivalry, court shenanigans, secrecy, drive, and a lot of gold. Highly recommended to all, but especially lovers of true adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and inspirational!
Review: I wish I had another one as good waiting!
Think you have problems with some of your projects! Wow! From beginning to end, this team faced and solved huge problems to meet their goal. It's nice to see such an example of persistence and creativity. Better than "Perfect Storm!"
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