BROTHER JONATHAN
Despite the fact that the Brother Jonathan sank so tantalizingly close to shore, the ferocious storms, rocky passageways, strong underwater currents, and darkness at the depths held the secret of her location. Although the ship sunk eight miles from Crescent City, technology needed to improve and explorers had to change their assumptions. On the last day of its 1993 expedition, Deep Sea Research (DSR) changed its theory. The men decided that the ship had actually floated underneath the ocean's surface to finally hit bottom two miles from where it first smashed into the reef. Led by Donald Knight and under risky conditions, a mini-sub on October 1, 1993, discovered the ship there at the last-minute. The team over time began to bring artifacts back from a depth of 275 feet.Rare Date 1865 $20 Liberty Gold Found Underwater After 131 Years Indeed, a group of freshly minted $20 Liberty gold coins was on board the S.S. Brother Jonathan which had been struck in early 1865 at the San Francisco Mint. When our Austin Buying Trust heard Coin Photo Closeupabout this rare find back in 1996, we were truly excited about the news. The 1865 "California Gold Rush" date was so rare that only eight were known to exist in mint condition back in 1995. Over the years, Rare Coin collectors waited patiently as the long court battle over ownership of the contents of the S.S. Brother Jonathan was finally settled in the Supreme Court. Last week, the Austin Buying Trust was invited to bid on this collection of some 1,006 Civil War Era gold coins recovered from the famous S.S. Brother Jonathan shipwreck. Next, we’ll show you how these lost American treasures can now become a valuable part of your Rare Coin collection.
The reef the ship slammed into is now known as “Jonathan Rock,” and the St. George Reef Lighthouse was built in response to this disaster. A memorial for the deceased, registered as California Historical Landmark #541, sits at Brother Jonathan Vista Point in Crescent City. The shipwreck is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[12] Despite the gold coins already discovered and brought up, crates of gold from the Brother Jonathan still remain hidden and undisturbed. The large safe with its millions of dollars of jewels, gold bars, and gold was never found. The salvors estimate that 4/5ths of the treasure is still waiting to be discovered—mere miles from land
http://shipwrecks.slc.ca.gov/Brother_Jonathan/Photo_Exhibit.html
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