nickmarch
Hero Member
- May 30, 2009
- 561
- 50
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
The paymasters safe and signal books were thrown overboard; the
guns spiked; elevating screws broken into pieces, and compressor
handles thrown overboard; the magazine flooded, and the vessel sur-
rendered after one and one-half hours action.
Upon examination, I found the vessel to have received the following
injuries: Three of the four hog chains cut; one of the fantail stay
Read page 256 to 259 http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/text/ofre0021.txt
$9,000 in Gold is Dumped Overboard (@ $30/oz= 300oz)
Before the jubilant Confederates could board the U.S.S. Wing however, Lt.
Loring ordered the surviving crew members to throw everything of value
overboard. The "dumped" items not only included weapons, ammunition, and
supplies, but also the gunboat's iron safe which contained important documents
and over $9,000 in U.S. gold specie meant
as payment for horses and feed provided by a local band of thugs and thieves who
styled themselves after the murderous Kansas "Jayhawkers."
A Well-Documented Treasure
Tale
The lost safe full of gold from the U.S.S. Wing is not your typical "will-o'-the-wisp"
treasure myth with little fact supporting it and even less to go on. This
treasure tale is well-documented and includes
statements from Union prisoners of war who, after the fact, verified the safe's
contents and approximate dumping location. Lt. Loring himself wrote a
highly detailed and accurate account of the battle and after actions. This was
eventually published in The
War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies,"
Volume XXI, pages 256-259. Full Text for Civil War Documents
Browse | Cornell University Library Making of America Collection
guns spiked; elevating screws broken into pieces, and compressor
handles thrown overboard; the magazine flooded, and the vessel sur-
rendered after one and one-half hours action.
Upon examination, I found the vessel to have received the following
injuries: Three of the four hog chains cut; one of the fantail stay
Read page 256 to 259 http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/text/ofre0021.txt
$9,000 in Gold is Dumped Overboard (@ $30/oz= 300oz)
Before the jubilant Confederates could board the U.S.S. Wing however, Lt.
Loring ordered the surviving crew members to throw everything of value
overboard. The "dumped" items not only included weapons, ammunition, and
supplies, but also the gunboat's iron safe which contained important documents
and over $9,000 in U.S. gold specie meant
as payment for horses and feed provided by a local band of thugs and thieves who
styled themselves after the murderous Kansas "Jayhawkers."
A Well-Documented Treasure
Tale
The lost safe full of gold from the U.S.S. Wing is not your typical "will-o'-the-wisp"
treasure myth with little fact supporting it and even less to go on. This
treasure tale is well-documented and includes
statements from Union prisoners of war who, after the fact, verified the safe's
contents and approximate dumping location. Lt. Loring himself wrote a
highly detailed and accurate account of the battle and after actions. This was
eventually published in The
War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies,"
Volume XXI, pages 256-259. Full Text for Civil War Documents
Browse | Cornell University Library Making of America Collection
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