1,000 ounces of gold recovered from sunken ship

CHARLESTON: An expedition to bring back the remaining gold from a steamship that sank in 1857 off South Carolina in one of the nation's worst maritime disasters has recovered almost 1,000 ounces of gold - the first gold recovered from the wreck in almost a quarter century.

The S.S. Central America was bringing gold back from the California when it sank in a hurricane claiming 425 lives. In addition, thousands of pounds of gold went to the bottom aboard the 280-foot, side-wheel steamship.

About $50 million was recovered during expeditions to the wreck in the late 1980s and early 1990s before legal disputes shut down the operation.

Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Florida, announced Monday that almost 1,000 ounces of the gold was recovered during a reconnaissance dive last month.

The newly recovered gold includes five gold bars and two $20 Double Eagle gold coins. One of the coins was minted in San Francisco the year that the Central America sank. The gold bars weigh between 106 and 344 ounces.

"While we weren't planning to recover gold so quickly, it did confirm that the site has not been disturbed since it was last visited in 1991 and there is gold remaining," said Mark Gordon, Odyssey's president and chief operating officer.

An expedition that left North Charleston in April is expected to be on the site about 160 miles off the coast until late summer. Gordon said that in recent weeks the crew of 41 aboard the Odyssey Explorer has been conducting an extensive survey of the site and the recovery of more gold will begin once that is completed.

It is not clear how much gold might remain. The ship was carrying gold bars shipped by banks and commercial interests. Passengers were thought to be carrying a lot of gold of their own in the form of coins - perhaps an amount equaling the commercial shipment.

The initial expeditions 25 years ago were halted because of legal disputes.

One of them involved investors from Ohio who staked out the money for shipwreck enthusiast Tommy Thompson, an Ohio native, who led the 1988 expedition that recovered the initial cache of gold.

The investors claimed they had fronted Thompson almost $13 million but never saw any return. Thompson has been a fugitive for almost two years after failing to show up for a court hearing.

A deal approved by an Ohio judge in March cleared the way for the new expedition.

The receiver for Thompson's companies will get more than half of anything that is recovered, to be disbursed in part to the investors who backed the initial expedition.

 

Indian Revenue Department tightened baggage rules to curb illegal Gold Import

Union Government of India (Indian Revenue Department) on 6 March 2014 tightened baggage rules for inbound Indian passengers. According to the step, the passengers will have to provide details of source of funds for importing the metal as well as the air tickets. The baggage rule has been tightened to check gold smuggling in the country and to prevent misuse of gold import facility.

Circulation issued by the Revenue Department circular says that
• The baggage receipt that is issued by the customs will include engraved serial number on gold bars
• The Central Board of Excise & Customs directive has said that the passengers bringing gold in any form, which includes ornaments, will have to declare item-wise inventory that is being imported with baggage receipt

These norms have been revised and tightened following sudden increase (spurt) in import of gold by eligible passengers via airports in the country.

This rule has been hardened as the eligible passengers (Persons of Indian Origin or an Indian returning to India after a period of six months of stay abroad) are allowed to import gold up to 1 kilogram by paying 10 percent customs duty in foreign currency. The passenger should be a passenger who holds a valid passport issued under the Passport Act, 1967.
   
Background
In recent past, the Reserve Bank of India and the Union government have expressed concerns over the sudden increase of import of gold in the country. These increases were also felt even after measures taken by them to curb import of gold to reduce the widened Current Account Deficit (CAD).

Steps taken to curb excessive import of gold to the country were
• Import duty of 10 percent in 2013
• Linking the imports to exports under the 20:80 scheme

Analysis
Tightening of baggage rules have been done even after imposition of 10 percent amount on gold import may be because this step would have triggered gold smuggling in recent past. The eligible passengers have been targeted by the government as smugglers hires eligible passengers or NRIs to import gold in the country.