Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
GOLD, ABANDONMENT AND SALVAGE
The Central America
Some 137 years ago the s.s. Central America sank with the loss of 425 lives and a large amount of gold. In 1988 she was found by the Columbus-America Discovery Group 160 miles off the South Carolina coast at a depth of about 1½ miles. The bulk of the gold ($1,219,189 in 1857 values) comprised commercial shipments from California merchants, bankers and express companies to New York banks. In addition, there was gold owned by passengers—worth possibly in the region of several hundred thousand dollars at the time. The commercial shipments were insured; approximately one-third by New York insurers and the remainder by the London market. Contemporary newspapers record the insurers as saying they would pay for losses on presentation of proper proof and later that claims were paid.
In 1991, the Columbus-America Discovery Group moved in the United States District Court for Virginia to have itself declared the owner of the gold raised both then and in the future. Opposing Columbus-America were a number of insurers who claimed to have paid out on the lost gold and another group that alleged Columbus-America had used their computerized information to locate the site of the wreck. This Comment will concentrate on the dispute between Columbus-America and the underwriters as it is here that the major international interest lies and the attention of the court was concentrated. The District Court awarded the whole of
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