The Story of the Susquehanna

In October 1837, Boston citizens spilled their tea cups in shock as they read in the Boston “Times” that $60,000 to $120,000 in gold specie had been stolen off the packetship “Susquehanna”.

Within a short time of the robbery, the ship loaded with the stolen gold vanished and it is believed to have gone down with its rich haul near the mouth of the Delaware River. No trace of the treasure has ever been found.

The “Susquehanna” was bound for Liverpool from Philadelphia that brisk October afternoon. At two o’clock, near Five Fathom Bank, off the Delaware Capes, a freshly painted black clipper fore-topsail schooner sailed in close to the packetship. Suddenly grappling lines were thrown and more than a dozen heavily armed pirates swarmed aboard the “Susquehanna. Within ten minutes they had loaded the gold cargo aboard their vessel and set sail.

The schooner had sailed a short distance when it mysteriously vanished for all time, apparently going to the bottom with its rich cargo.