Steamboat treasure. X marks the spot.

[Darren in NC]

I'll give a viable target here that I would not go after personally, but I know right where it is. I grew up in the area.

The steamboat Arrow, on her first trip from St. Louis to New Orleans, sunk near Bayou Sara on the Mississippi River in November of 1839. Part of the cargo that she lost was $10,000 in specie. We don''t know if this is gold or silver. Either way, American coins from that era would be worth a good bit.

I had read about the Arrow, but who knew her exact location? "Some distance above Bayou Sara" was pretty generic. Sometime later, I came across a photo of the USS Ozark, and saw the caption "Arrow Bend" 6 miles above Bayou Sara. I connected the bend's name to the steamboat's location in that same area. Turns out in the 1920s there was an Arrow's Bend light for river navigation. It is still officially called Arrow Bend today, though most locals (including myself) have likely never heard of it.

Somewhere in the bend is the steamboat Arrow, and possibly her precious cargo has never been recovered. My cousin visited there at my request during the recent drought when the river was the lowest it had been in decades. But he didn't see any boilers or wreckage indicating her spot. I suspect it would be virtually impossible for anyone to find her, or anything in the MS River without a professional salvage/dredging company. It may have been recovered later, but you never know...

 

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[Red_desert]

Maybe you should check to see if river bend is still the same location. One of those wrecks the archaeologists mapped out the entire site using a handheld magnetometer. Of course, easy enough for them because all of it is located in farm fields.

 

[Darren in NC]

That's a great thought, Red. But that bend is pretty much in the same channel, as we can tell from historical photos and landmarks still there. But there are two steamboats I know of lying in fields due to the river changing course. One had quite a haul of gold on her. X marks the spot on that one, too. But it's 70 feet under the mud and the landowner isn't too motivated. The other should be told to the Arabia Steamboat museum, and let them go after her. They're interested in another recovery.

 

[Crow]

Thanks Darren its refreshing to see some excellent research!!

In regards Part of the cargo that she lost was $10,000 in specie. We don''t know if this is gold or silver. Either way, American coins from that era would be worth a good bit.

The definition of specie is coin money, as distinguished from bullion or paper money

If it is coinage the condition of the coins probably would be in pretty good condition. Since the steamboat Arrow went down in 1839. gold liberties had only been in circulation since 1838.

Depending on quality and grade one sold for 118000 dollars at auction only 7200 coins was made in Philadelphia mint. Liberty Gold Coins $20, $10, $5, and $2½: (Years of issue: 1838-1907) The Liberty design was first used in 1838. Average price is 27000 per coin for 10 dollar 1838 gold coin was is no doubt a lot of money in today's value

A 1839 10 dollars liberty is rare also. 12477 coins produced for that year auction record for mint coin 180000 dollars.

Average price 19500 depending on quality and grade.

5 dollar 1838 liberty 286588 coins minted. Record price auctioned 253000 dollars.

5 dollar 1839 liberty 118143 coins minted. Record price auctioned 80500 dollars. The average about 1200 dollars per coin'

So in essence if worked on just these two gold coin type we could possible have anything up to 1500 gold coins alone. perhaps 1500000.

If we work on just silver coins.

This variety is the 1838 Gobrecht Dollar Original with the name "C. GOBRECHT. F." omitted entirely from the coin - an eagle flying in an empty plain field with no stars - and the Die Alignment 4 (Die Alignment IV) on the reverse. The example image above features the Die Alignment 4 on the reverse of the coin as it is flipped from left to right (medal turn). This coin also features a reeded edge.

There are 4 major Die Alignments for Gobrecht Dollars: (I - II - III - IV). The engravers and the Mint were having problems with the dies wearing out and so they had to periodically rotate the dies (which still resulted in problems). The reverse of the coin was oriented at different angles for different coins. Depicted below is an example image comparing the position of all of the Die Alignments.
All four of these positions depicted are determined when turning the coin around from left/right (medal turn). The coin turn (flipping the coin up/down - the standard procedure for most US coins) results in completely different inverted positions. So we will use the "medal turn" for this example:

Some coins have the engraver's name within the base or under the base in 1836. In later years the name is completely omitted from the coin because of an outcry of the designer's name being far too prominent for a US Coin. The difference between the Gobrecht name on base vs name below base vs omitted name varieties is depicted below in the example comparison image:

A very fine graded coin is about 18000 dollars and circulated is about 3400 per coin. So if we work on the theory of silver coins alone you would be looking at 10000 coins perhaps about 15 million in today's value.

So in short estimate value would be at least around 15 million. if not more depending coin condition are rarity.

So definitely one to research deep into.

Crow

 

[Darren in NC]

Good follow-up, Crow. Of course, if a great number of rare coins flooded the market, the numismatic value would drop. But still worth a search, IMO. The Times-Picayune reported later in Nov that the captain returned and was overseeing baggage removal. Then the following month, an outfit was claiming they would raise her. So clearly there was subsequent activity. Since she was new, the engine and boilers may have been recovered (fairly common when accessible), and the coins may have been recovered also. But I could find no verification of that.

 

[Red_desert]

That's a great thought, Red. But that bend is pretty much in the same channel, as we can tell from historical photos and landmarks still there. But there are two steamboats I know of lying in fields due to the river changing course. One had quite a haul of gold on her. X marks the spot on that one, too. But it's 70 feet under the mud and the landowner isn't too motivated. The other should be told to the Arabia Steamboat museum, and let them go after her. They're interested in another recovery.

Arabia museum I'd think would be interested, don't know since wreck is here in the US.

 

[Red_desert]

Where or what is the name of the Arabian shipwreck?

 

[Darren in NC]

The name of the steamboat is Arabia. The museum is in Kansas City, Missouri.

A Historic Kansas City Attraction | The Arabia Steamboat Museum

The Arabia Steamboat Museum is a unique Kansas City attraction: a time capsule of life on the American frontier in the mid-19th century, and the largest single collection of pre-Civil War artifacts in the world.

www.1856.com

 

[GreenHiker]

The book about the Arabia, "Treasure in a Cornfield" is great but the museum is even better. Superb restoration on many thousands of artifacts. A must see if you're ever close to KC. A lot of her cargo was merchandise for stocking the old general stores out west.

 

[MiddenMonster]

The steamboat Arrow, on her first trip from St. Louis to New Orleans, sunk near Bayou Sara on the Mississippi River in November of 1839.

Turns out in the 1920s there was an Arrow's Bend light for river navigation. It is still officially called Arrow Bend today, though most locals (including myself) have likely never heard of it.

Not to throw cold water on this, but if there was an "Arrow's Bend" navigation light in the 1820s, and the Arrow didn't sink until 1839, isn't it at least possible that there is no connection between the two that would be useful for locating the wreck site? In other words, there may be no linkage between the two names, or the steamboat may have been named for the already existing navigation light.

The name of the steamboat is Arabia. The museum is in Kansas City, Missouri.

Grew up less than 5 miles from where this wreck was discovered. Used to roam the woods and fields 3 miles from the site. Never had a clue, though we were always looking for old cabin remnants, treasure, etc. Back in the day though, had we stumbled on this we might have ended up with a butt full of rock salt.

 

[Red_desert]

The lease for the museum in Kansas City is set to expire in 2026, and there have been plans to move and expand the museum. In 2019, it was proposed to build a larger museum and move it to Jefferson City, about 140 miles from the site of the Arabia wreck. However, in 2021, plans were made to create the National Steamboat Museum at Marshall Junction, Missouri, about 77 miles from the site of the wreck

Didn't realize the Arabia Museum is in the US. If the museum will go national, other steamboat artifacts?

 

[Darren in NC]

Not to throw cold water on this, but if there was an "Arrow's Bend" navigation light in the 1820s, and the Arrow didn't sink until 1839, isn't it at least possible that there is no connection between the two that would be useful for locating the wreck site? In other words, there may be no linkage between the two names, or the steamboat may have been named for the already existing navigation light.

You are correct, if what I said was 1820s. But my post said 1920s - 80 years well past the wreck date.

 

[MiddenMonster]

You are correct, if what I said was 1820s. But my post said 1920s - 80 years well past the wreck date.

Ah, my mistake. I totally misread that. Sorry.

 

[Keg1717]

I'll give a viable target here that I would not go after personally, but I know right where it is. I grew up in the area.

The steamboat Arrow, on her first trip from St. Louis to New Orleans, sunk near Bayou Sara on the Mississippi River in November of 1839. Part of the cargo that she lost was $10,000 in specie. We don''t know if this is gold or silver. Either way, American coins from that era would be worth a good bit.

I had read about the Arrow, but who knew her exact location? "Some distance above Bayou Sara" was pretty generic. Sometime later, I came across a photo of the USS Ozark, and saw the caption "Arrow Bend" 6 miles above Bayou Sara. I connected the bend's name to the steamboat's location in that same area. Turns out in the 1920s there was an Arrow's Bend light for river navigation. It is still officially called Arrow Bend today, though most locals (including myself) have likely never heard of it.

Somewhere in the bend is the steamboat Arrow, and possibly her precious cargo has never been recovered. My cousin visited there at my request during the recent drought when the river was the lowest it had been in decades. But he didn't see any boilers or wreckage indicating her spot. I suspect it would be virtually impossible for anyone to find her, or anything in the MS River without a professional salvage/dredging company. It may have been recovered later, but you never know...

Morning they have a new hand held that would be good for that. It was made to find bodies underwater. But shows other things in the muddy water it’s called Aqua-eye . A friend said we have a interest in the same shipwreck KD And around the river boats would it be easier to find the half ton of gold nugget that was thrown of the boat so it can take on soilders that just lost a battle.

 

[Darren in NC]

Thanks for the tip, on the hand-held, Keg. I won't likely be involved with the KD, but I hope y'all find it. It would be a great find.

 

[Crow]

Thanks for the tip, on the hand-held, Keg. I won't likely be involved with the KD, but I hope y'all find it. It would be a great find.

Thanks for interesting story.

Crow

 

[EPWright]

Darren, what the disposition of your C21 ?

 

[Darren in NC]

We plan to go out again soon, but unrelated to this thread. Do we know each other?