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 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.

To read the complete article, see:Treasure hunters recover more than 60 pounds of gold from 157-year-old shipwreck off South Carolina coast(www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2620963/Treasure-hunters-recover-60-pounds-gold-157-year-old-shipwreck-South-Carolina-coast.html)