Brother Jonathan (steamer) - Modern Recovery Efforts

Modern Recovery Efforts

Despite the fact that 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 8 miles (13 km) from Crescent City, technology needed to improve and explorers had to change their assumptions before the ship could be found. 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 2 miles (3.2 km) from where it first smashed into the reef. Led by Donald Knight and under risky conditions, a mini-sub on 1 October 1993, discovered the ship there at the last minute. Over time, the team began to bring artifacts back from a depth of 275 feet (84 m).

No human remains were ever found. In 1996, a mini-sub scooted past a “glint” on the bottom, raising curiosity. On 30 August 1996, divers found gold coins and on that expedition recovered 875 1860s gold coins in near-mint condition. Over time, the salvers recovered 1,207 gold coins, primarily $20 Double Eagles, in addition to numerous artifacts.

Thousands of items eventually were brought up, ranging from 19th-century cut-crystal sherry glasses, white porcelain plates, beer mugs, and terracotta containers (once holding mineral water from Germany) to exquisite glassware, cups, glass containers, and multi-faceted cruet bottles. Wine and champagne bottles, crates of goods (from axe handles to doorknobs), tinctures of medicine, port holes—among many goods and objects—were discovered.

While recovery efforts were being conducted, the lawsuits flew around among the salvers, the State of California, and numismatic experts. California took the legal position that it owned the rights to the wreck and everything located close to its shores. As the state had enacted a broad law granting it these rights to "historical shipwrecks", it fought the salver's claims of ownership. Although every judge along the way disagreed with California’s position, a number of states with similar interests joined in the legal battle. Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998 unanimously held that existing federal law controlled, declared the law(s) unconstitutional, and ruled for the salvors. However, California officials told DSR that they would take the fight up again to the Supreme Court on the facts, and the state received 20% of the recovered gold in a final settlement.

In the first legally-recognized sale of all of the salvors' gold discovered from a sunken treasure ship, more than 500 bidders crowded into the Airport Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles for the auction of DSR's gold coins on 29 May 1999. The sale of its 1006 coins fetched a total of $5.3 million. Later, the finders of the coins once again appealed the Supreme Court's decision and were granted the rest of California gold coins.

Meanwhile, another battle had broken out over the authenticity of historic gold bars secretly recovered from Brother Jonathan in the 1930s. Reading like a “Who’s who” in numismatic circles, these experts viciously attacked each other over these bars in a rare public controversy (the “Great Debate”) at the 1999 American Numismatic Association’s annual convention—a battle that still resounds among collectors and gold experts. This also resulted in litigation.

DSR set up a conservation lab for the recovered artifacts that was run by the local historical society in Crescent City, the Del Norte County Historical Society. The salvors also hired national experts including numismatists Robert R. Johnson, Ronald F. Umile, and Konstantin Balter to work with the volunteers in these efforts. This small historical society has been refurbishing and maintaining the artifacts, as well as having an exhibit on Brother Jonathan's demise and a variety of the objects that were reclaimed.