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| A portrait of an American-style woman in ambrotype photography |
In 1857, the SS Central America, also known as the "Golden Ship", sank off the coast of the US state of South Carolina.
The ship was loaded with gold from a race called Gold Rush. A total of 425 people were killed when the ship sank in a hurricane.
It is estimated that when the ship sank off the west coast, it was loaded with 21 tons of gold coins and gold bricks.
However, some passengers on the ship also had personal belongings that sank along with the ship, these were their pictures.
Among the items recovered from the wreckage in 2014 were "dagre type" (the first form of photography) photographs. These photos have just been released.
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| A picture of a mother and her baby found in the wreckage of a plane |
The wreckage of the ill-fated ship was first discovered in 1988, and in the years that followed, professional divers were tasked with retrieving the sunken treasure.
Bob Evans, a former chief scientist and historian at the SS Central America Project, who led a mission to search for the wreckage, said the images were found more than a decade ago but were to be recovered from the shipwreck. A "complex legal battle" over the ownership of the gold was delayed, delaying the release of images that had survived on the seabed for more than a century.
Mr. Evans has been researching the SS Central America since 1983, calling it "an interesting part of the lost history of the United States."
"It's a moment of discovery of an amazing 'time capsule' of our time, especially seeing that these were the things that were most important (to travelers), their money and their pictures," he said. So when it comes to what are the things that are important to me and which I want to keep here? So that was the real thing for them. "
Photography became very popular in the 1850's and people who went to California in search of gold would send their photos back to their loved ones and relatives.
Mr Evans said: "It was probably a brand new trend in some ways. Wow, instead of hiring an oil painter, I could get a picture of myself in a local studio for a dollar or two, and I can tell my loved ones that my condition is very good. I am in good condition, I am well dressed. I'm healthy. "
"There were a dozen photography studios in San Francisco at the time."
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| Picture of a young woman found on a wreck |
The reason why the images are so well preserved is that they were waterproofed in a case (round shell) due to the photographic methods at that time. The shell was made of a variety of materials, including wood wrapped in leather, and as with many things, quality matters, and they were kept in a standard condition.
"It all depends on how well the cases are framed, and how well photographed they are," Mr Evans said.
Although the seabed environment is extremely salty and high pressure enough to disperse delicate objects, another factor that keeps these images safe is the fact that the water levels in the Atlantic Ocean The heat cools.
In the mid-19th century, a voyage from California to New York via Central America could take 24 days, while land travel could take up to five months.
Evans said the invention of the steamship, such as the 280-foot-long steam engine installed in the SS Central America, made voyage easier, but also made the voyage cheaper and more relaxing, depending on the weather conditions at sea. Could
According to Evans, "I think that's the attitude. Now that we have engines on ships, we don't have to worry about winds and waves and the like, because we have such a thing." We can also use it to control bad weather.
And so the idea arose that ships could easily move through their strength despite the storm.
For the passengers of this ill-fated ship, it is believed that a Category 2 hurricane sank the ship as it was traveling from Panama to New York City. About 150 passengers were rescued but more than 400 people, including the captain, drowned.
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| Picture of a boy and his mother |
Evans says that being a fan of history, when he looks at any old document, he gets excited to know more about it, but these pictures add another dimension.
The idea of a robot being able to see humans peeking through their cameras in a submarine that is more than a mile deep in the ocean floor, and these are people from the 1850s, is a mind-boggling experience in itself. That's the idea.
"I mean, this way of looking at it presents the people involved in this accident to us in a way that is second to none."
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