BURIED TREASURE

Search Team Finds Wreck of Ship Believed to Carry Millions Worth of Gold

The long-lost steamer, which sank in 1875, has been sought by treasure hunters for decades.

A private team of explorers has finally found the wreck of the SS Pacific—a paddlewheel steamer believed to be carrying around 200 pounds of gold when it sank in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1875. The lost vessel was struck by another ship and of the estimated 275-400 people on board the Pacific, all but two drowned or died of hypothermia before they could be rescued. Treasure hunters have searched for the Pacific for decades in the hopes of retrieving its valuable cargo, which could now be worth millions of dollars. Now Seattle-based businessmen Jeff Hummel and Matt McCauley say their company, Rockfish Inc., has located the wreck nearly 150 years after it sank to the deep. The search team now plans to recover historical items from the Pacific and display them in a Seattle museum. They also intend to contact living descendents of the ship’s crew and passengers who may be entitled to some of the artifacts.