It was confiscated and held as evidence, but at least was not thrown overboard like everything else, thank God. Life Magazine speculated that Tony Cornero would have to file suit for damages and return of the money. I think the State would have tried to have the civil suit thrown out of state court as California had no juristiction, as the boats and everything on them were outside territorial waters and beyond the reach of the state court and California law enforcement. Didn't I hear of a book like this? Catch-22, perhaps?

I'm curious in what happened to the other approximately $270,000 didn't appear to be rescued and didn't show up in any precinct property book or locker. Maybe officialdom did a private rescue on that money. It's doubtful Mr. Cornero ever saw anything. Might be fun to look up the court records and newspapers.