NatGeo’s “Cursed Gold” documents the rise and fall of the notorious treasure hunter of the 1980s

Many people dream of finding lost or hidden treasures, but sometimes the realization of this dream turns out to be a nightmare. This is what happened to Tommy Thompson, an American treasure hunter who, against all odds, discovered the location of the SS. Central America Shipwreck in 1988. It has been called the “Ship of Gold” since it sank in 1857 loaded with 30,000 pounds of gold bars and coins – enough money in total to have some influence on the panic of the 1857 financial crisis.

Thompson and his team recovered significant amounts of gold and artifacts to great acclaim. Experts estimated at the time that the treasure could be worth up to $400 million. The euphoria, however, did not last long. 39 insurance companies filed lawsuits, claiming that the gold was theirs by right, since the companies had already paid compensation for the lost gold in the mid-19th century. Thompson finally prevailed in 1996, when he and his team of researchers were awarded 92 percent of the gold they had recovered.

But actually making a profit from the gold proved difficult. In the end, Thompson sold the gold for just $52 million, almost all of which was used to pay off the enormous debt the project had accumulated in the years that followed. Naturally, more lawsuits followed, this time from the investors who had funded Thompson's expedition, accusing him of fraud. Thompson didn't help his cause when he went on the run with his assistant in 2012, living off a fortune of about $4 million hoarded in an offshore account.

Thompson was finally caught by US Marshals in 2015 to face his investors in court. A jury awarded the investors substantial damages and the court ordered Thompson to surrender 500 commemorative gold coins made from some of the Central America gold to comply with this ruling. Thompson claimed he had forgotten where he had hidden them and was jailed for contempt of court until the coins were recovered and handed over. At the time of this writing, he is still in prison and the gold coins have not yet been found.

It's quite a story, so it's no wonder National Geographic made a gripping three-part documentary about Thompson's spectacular rise and fall: Cursed Gold: A Shipwreck Scandalbased on the 1998 book by Gary Kinder entitled A golden ship in the deep blue sea. Cursed Gold Director Sam Benstead read Kinder's book and was immediately drawn to the story. “Not only was it an incredibly exciting story with lots of twists and turns, but it was also an emotional story that made you root for Tommy and his crew,” he told Ars. “Tommy came across as an extraordinary character: eccentric, brilliant, someone willing to try things that no one else had done. When I found out what happened after the book, I knew this was a story I had to tell.”

Ship of Gold

A lot has happened at Thompson since Kinder's book was published in 1998. Benstead and his production team combed through over 600 hours of archival footage from the original expedition, as well as over 700 pages of court transcripts. “We also consulted several people we didn't film with but who helped create the story,” Benstead said. “During the editing process, National Geographic's research department worked diligently with our team to get to the bottom of every fact and every claim. With such a controversial story, that really helped us have the confidence to stand behind the resulting films.”

“One of the biggest challenges was compressing an incredibly complex 30-year saga into three films,” Benstead continued. “There were a lot of legal cases and side stories that we had to exclude or could only touch on. And there were areas of the story that were highly contested by various sides. Sometimes we had to make decisions that didn't completely satisfy either camp, but we did our best to accommodate the diversity of viewpoints while still telling a powerful story.”

The director is still in awe of the original discovery, no matter how badly the adventure turned out. “For the guys on the boat, that time was almost without exception one of the best of their lives,” he said. “It was a privilege to relive their struggles and ultimate triumph in the search for gold. I still find it remarkable that they found the SS. Central America in almost three kilometers of water with the resources that were available to them in the 1980s.”

The experience also gave them “a real respect for the people who shared their stories with us, especially Tommy's family members, who have been written so much about over the years,” Benstead said. “They didn't trust us easily, and I'm very glad they went along with it. When people share the deepest, most moving parts of their lives with you, there's a huge responsibility. I hope they feel we did their side of the story justice.”

Has Benstead come to his own conclusions about whether or not Thompson committed fraud? “Different people have different views on Tommy, even among those on the boat, investors, lawyers and law enforcement,” he said. “We felt it was very important that the series reflect that diversity and that audiences can form their own opinions. In my opinion, Tommy is not a fraud, and that he is serving nearly nine years in prison for contempt of court is a sad reflection of the U.S. justice system. But it is also the case that, albeit under tremendous pressure, he made certain decisions (like fleeing) that contributed to his own downfall. I hope that his accomplishments, which were obscured by the legal circus, receive the recognition they deserve in the years to come.”

Cursed Gold: A Shipwreck Scandal is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.