The Last Voyage of Commander William Lewis Herndon, the Gold of the S. S. Central America, and the Legal Case

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The Last Voyage of Commander William Lewis Herndon, the Gold of the S. S. Central America, and the Legal Case"

Eleanor Clarke
6 years ago
Views:

1 The Last Voyage of Commander William Lewis Herndon, the Gold of the S. S. Central America, and the Legal Case NALS 66 th Annual Education Conference & National Forum October 5, 2017 Presented by: Robert M. Tata, Esq., Norfolk Office Managing Partner Hunton & Williams LLP

2 Introduction Bob Tata (Virginia and DC Offices) Commercial and IP Litigation (Norfolk Office Managing Partner) B.S., United States Naval Academy M.B.A., Old Dominion University J.D., University of Virginia School of Law 2

3 Hunton & Williams Offices London Brussels San Francisco Los Angeles Austin Houston New York Washington, DC Tysons Richmond Norfolk Raleigh Charlotte Atlanta Miami Bangkok Beijing Tokyo Dallas 3

4 Hunton & Williams Offices London Brussels San Francisco Los Angeles Austin Houston New York Washington, DC Tysons Richmond Norfolk Raleigh Charlotte Atlanta Miami Bangkok Beijing Tokyo Dallas 4

5 The Story Commander Herndon was 43 years old when he captained S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA. This was to be his 19th voyage with the ship. Herndon previously had attained some degree of notoriety for leading the first expedition of the Amazon River Valley resulting in his book Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, which Samuel L. Clemens ( Mark Twain ) later credited as a major influence on his life. 5

6 The Herndon Monument at the United States Naval Academy It is a rite of passage to climb this monument to signify promotion from plebe to Fourth Class Midshipman. 6

7 S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA *Note the side wheel and the lifeboats. 7

8 The S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA Route There was no Panama Canal in 1857; it was either around South America s Cape Horn or the treacherous trip across Panama by train. 8

9 The Hurricane All hands on deck except women bailing 9

10 Women and children first! The small brig Marine is able to save about 100 women and children 10

The enormous suction pulled the men underwater for some distance.

11 Litograph depicting S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA S Final moments Engraving showing potential survivors At 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 12, 1857, the CENTRAL AMERICA sank, going down at an angle of 45 degrees, stern first. The enormous suction pulled the men underwater for some distance. Those lucky enough to resurface were tossed like corks in the rolling water, as shown in this lithograph published by J. Childs of Philadelphia. This engraving from Frank Leslie s Illustrated Newspaper was taken from sketch by one of the surviving passengers. 11

12 Finding the Lost Ship and Recovering the Gold Columbus-America Discovery Group and the R/V ARTIC DISCOVERER 12

13 CADG Leaders Tommy Thompson (right) and Bob Evans 13

14 The S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA sinking was big news in 1857 And these news reports would provide a key to finding the long lost shipwreck over 100 years later 14

15 CADG s Search Theory/Composite Probability Map 15

16 Sea MARC Sonar Sea MARC Sonar used by CADG to locate Sunken Wreck 16

17 CADG s Robot Nemo 17

18 CADG Findings Some of the S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA gold found on the ocean floor 18

19 CADG found and preserved many artifacts 19

20 The Legal Case 20

21 The Legal Case Abandoned wreck located 160 miles off the coast of South Carolina under 1 ½ miles of ocean; CADG obtained injunction based on tele-presence and tele-possession (competing salvers); H&W filed an in rem action arresting the ship and seeking award of the gold based on a novel theory, the law of finds; Representatives from 39 insurance companies intervened and sought the gold based on their ownership; Insurers contended that the law of salvage applied and they were entitled to at least 50% award; Discovery battles including intervenors and identification of the gold; After several weeks of trial District Court Judge Kellam awarded 100% of the gold to CADG; 4 th Circuit Reversed and Remanded, law of salvage; and District Court reconsidered and awarded 90% of the richest shipwreck in American history to CADG. 21

22 What Happened to Tommy Thompson and the Treasure Trove of Gold? 22

23 The Rest of the Story CADG began marketing the gold ( numismatic value ); Ancillary cases went on for years with investors and others; Investors were seeing little or none of the recovery even 20 years later; In 2012 Tommy Thompson disappeared and became a fugitive; He was last seen in a Florida hotel room; When federal agents raided it they found it abandoned and found a book titled: How to Live Your Life Invisible; The FBI called Thompson one of the most intelligent fugitives ever sought; On January 17, 2015, Thompson and his girlfriend were found at the Hilton Hotel in Boca Raton, Florida; He had been paying his bill with stacks of moldy $100 bills; He was extradited to Ohio and pled guilty to contempt on April 8, 2015 Most of the gold appears to be long lost once again! 23

24 Any Questions? 24

TECH START-UP CONNECTING ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES

#ML15MayRathon TECH START-UP CONNECTING ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES Andrew Ray, Partner, Washington DC William Perkins, Partner, Boston James Chapman, Partner, Silicon Valley Joseph Statter, Managing Director,