The SS Republic was a Civil War-era sidewheel steamship that sank in 1865 while carrying a large cargo of silver and gold coins and a stunning variety of everyday wares essential to life in mid-19th century America. 1The valuation is based primarily on the presumed Gold Eagle cargo, the condition and mintage of the individual coins and their successful marketing. However, she did have some secondary battery power for the use of her just-recently installed wireless telegraph. Could it be that the Republic does indeed carry a cargo that may be worth today as much as five billion dollars1, a cargo if its loss had been revealed at the time would have caused public panic in the world financial markets and jeopardized the very existence of the Government of the Tsar of Russia - and placed the world into war? 6 talking about this. Anchor liner Furnessia comes to near the Florida. List of shipwrecks: 12 July 1909 Ship Country Description John B. Cowle United States The 420 feet (130 m), 4,731 GRT Cowle was laden with 7,023 tons of iron ore loaded at Two Harbors, Minnesota and bound for Cleveland, Ohio, when she was rammed in dense fog by Isaac M. Scott. F. sir[`e]ne.] 1. 4 Syren, Siren \Si"ren\, n. [L., fr. La Lorraine encourages the Republic's passengers by message saying she is only twenty miles distant. She lost all power, motive, electrical, and steam. The Florida struck the Republic almost a square blow port side abaft midships, at the Republic's engine room, knocking out her engines, boilers and dynamos. North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P. : cf. It was carrying approximately $400,000 worth of U.S. gold and silver which sank with the ship on October 25, 1865. A partial listing of these would include2: National Archives - New York, Bayonne, Philadelphia, Washington DC Public Records Office - Surrey, England French National Archives - Paris U.S. Customs Office - Port of New York Board of Trade Investigation - England Citibank [formerly National City Bank] - New York Goldman, Sachs & Co. - New York State Department - Washington, DC Department of Justice - Washington, DC Office of Naval Intelligence - Washington, DC Bank of England - London (4/2002). Winston Churchill, then President of the British Board of Trade, the agency responsible for conducting the Inquiry, would have known. In the early morning hours of January 23rd, 1909, in a dense fog, she collided with the in-bound immigrant ship SS Florida. The Furnessia goes in search of the Republic, leaving the Florida. (Class. With a lifetime of 38 years, the ship was the last of the Oceanic class to be scrapped. No less than seven ships, including several major liners, responded. In addition, an exhaustive search of all newspaper, company and public records has been completed in order to facilitate a book and film documenting the story of the Republic. Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable prices. Ultimately, however, the Republic's bulkheads did not hold. La Lorraine steams on toward New York, searching for the Florida. The Baltic abandons the Republic and steams for New York. A synthesis of all available information enabled Captain Bayerle to develop a new theory, the "Third Theory"TM, the Tsar's gold, that supports the existence of the Republic's legendary treasure. The Florida and the Republic separate in the fog. La Veloce re-obtained the ship in 1909, and it was scrapped in Genoa the following year. Watertight compartments closed on injured ships. One of three sea nymphs, -- or, according to some writers, of two, -- said to frequent an island near the coast of Italy, and to sing with such sweetness that they lured mariners to destruction. ??? Two passengers were crushed to death immediately. Republic Medal Named to A.Baird - Silver, obverse illustrating the crippled S.S. Republic with a large gash on her port side, seven lightning bolts above the ship representing the Marconi distress signal sent by the ship, inscribed "C.Q.D The survivors attributed their deliverance to the steamship company's prompt use of the recently invented Marconi wireless telegraph to call for assistance. The ship’s boilers were shut down upon collision in order to avoid possible explosions. It is decided to transfer passengers of the Republic and the Florida to the Baltic. In many ways, the tragedy of the Republic ironically gave the shipping industry, and White Star in particular, a false sense of security. At nearly 16,000 tons, Republic was the largest ship to be lost to the sea, at that point in The revenue cutters Seneca and Gresham get under way for Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard with Captain Sealby and volunteer crew. RMS Republic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and lost at sea in a collision six years later while sailing for the White Star Line. On 23/1/1909 she collided with the Italian liner "Florida" near Nantucket and sank the following day with the loss of four lives. “Due to dense fog on January 23, 1909, the Italian steamship, Florida, rammed the Republic on her port side. Steamer Florida, of Lloyd-Italian Line, rams the White Star liner Republic two hundred miles from New York in a dense fog. The Florida struck the Republic almost a square blow port side abaft midships, at the Republic's engine room, knocking out her engines, boilers and dynamos. Features [edit | edit source] Republic shared many characteristics with those of the first liner in the Oceanic series, Oceanic, constructed in 1870. Get the best deals on Ss Republic Shipwreck when you shop the largest online selection at eBay.com. --Virgil. When the sidewheel steamer SS Republicleft New York in October of 1865, she was carrying 62 passengers and a cargo of $400,000 (1865 face value) in gold and silver coins. The SS Republic, a Royal Mail Ship (qualified to carry both the British and U.S. mails, hence her "RMS Republic" designation), one of the largest and most luxurious passenger liners of her era, flagship of the White Star Line steamship company's Boston-European Service and one of that line's most prized vessels, departed New York at 3 p.m., Friday, January 22, 1909, outbound to Mediterranean ports. The revenue cutter Acushnet called to the assistance of the coasting steamer Nantucket, aground near Newport. A very conservative estimate would indicate a value today of somewhere between $700 and $900 million, if the cargos exist, and if they can be located within the ship and successfully/economically recovered. Known as the "Millionaires' Ship" because of the number of wealthy Americans who traveled by her, she was described as a "palatial liner" and was the flagship of White Star Line's Boston service. The New York (left) and Lucania passed by. RMS Republic foi um navio de passageiros britânico construído em 1903 pelos estaleiros da Harland and Wolff em Belfast, e naufragou após uma colisão em 1909 enquanto navegava para a White Star Line.O navio foi equipado com um novo transmissor de telegrafia sem fio Marconi e emitiu uma chamada de socorro CQD, resultando na sobrevivência de 1.500 pessoas. The ship was originally built in Belfast, Ireland for the International Mercantile Marine's Dominion Line (a sister company to the White Star Line) and was named ''Columbus''. After two voyages with Dominion, she was sold to White Star and renamed ''Republic'' (the White Star's original SS Republic of 1872 had been s… FOOTNOTES She was headed for New Orleans where the money would be used to help pay for the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. First wireless message from La Lorraine received on the Republic. The Republic took a full thirty-nine hours to sink. The revenue cutter Gresham makes fast to bow of the Republic, while the Furnessia makes fast to her stern. All Digitized Passenger Lists For the SS Roma Available at the GG Archives. What the contents of her hold contains is still a mystery! The Republic's passengers are transferred by small boats to the Florida. Information from a great number of offices and repositories were examined in the course of this research. Bonsor, vol.2, p. 763. He has devoted the past 25 years to the study and research of events surrounding her loss. RMS Republic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and lost at sea in a collision in 1909 while sailing for the White Star Line. Irrepressible rumors from that date and which continue to this day - forming the greatest legend in lost-treasure lore - suggest that, in addition to a $265,000 US Navy Payroll (consigned to the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet at Gibraltar, 1909 value, worth today perhaps fifty to seventy million dollas), thousands of dollars in relief monies destined to aid the survivors of an earthquake in Italy, a several hundred thousand dollar consignment of silver ingots and the hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal jewelry and other valuables of her wealthy passengers (all 1909 values), she also carried to the bottom of the sea a politically sensitive and secret shipment of gold that had been consigned to the Czar of Russia: a $3,000,000 (1909 face-value) five-ton shipment of mint condition American Gold Eagle coins. The Republic's passengers were transferred to other vessels primarily out of concern for their comfort (from the heatless, lightless Republic), with some concern for their safety (the "unsinkable" Republic's water-tight bulkheads were under a severe test, and, because she could not maneuver, with the fog, she might be hit by yet another vessel in the busy shipping lane). She was the largest, most technologically advanced vessel to sink in history to her day; she was succeeded in that ignominious role only by the loss of another virtually unsinkable White Star Liner, Titanic, which was to sink just three years later. The Mohawk, on way to aid the Republic, runs ashore an Tilmer's Island. The Republic's cargos, however, did not fare as well as her passengers. "To the Sirens first shalt thou come, who bewitch all men..." --Homer, "Fair Nymph, if fame or honour were To be attain'd with ease ... " Ulysses and the Siren (poem) --Samuel Daniel, "O cursed lust for gold, To what dost thou not drive the hearts of men?" 2Sources are identified throughout the Report. The Baltic locates the Republic by submarine bell and discovers her in fog near the Florida. These gold and silver SS Republic coins were brought to the surface by Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. of Tampa, Florida. Dangerous shipwreck SS Richard Montgomery lying 1.5 miles north of Sheerness in Kent looked especially eerie this evening in a thick sea mist (August 15). The Republic's passengers were transferred twice, first to the less damaged Florida, then to the called-to-the-rescue White Star liner Baltic. Sections in the Report include background, research, newspaper information, theories, export-import studies, verification and miscellaneous tables and graphs. ], Gresham stands by Republic. The Florida reappears to the Republic's passengers. RMS Republic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and lost at sea in a collision in 1909 while sailing for the White Star Line. In the early morning hours of January 23rd, 1909, in a dense fog, she collided with the in-bound immigrant ship SS Florida. 3A Guide to Sunken Ships in American Waters, Coast Guard Commander Adrian L. Lonsdale and H. R Kaplan, Compass Publications Inc., Arlington, VA, 1964, discussing Republic's cargo. A CQD distress call was issued on the new Marconi radio device, the first recorded, resulting in the saving of around 1200 lives. The required legal inquiry concerning Republic's loss was never held. Legend is what is written or spoken when the truth is too dangerous to tell. A 1909 C.Q.D SS. See: The Baltic asks La Lorraine to follow the Florida. Nothing was listed on the ship’s manifest. 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