The sea is full of secrets, and mysteries still unsolved. Old sunken ships that continue to rest on their bottoms, or not so old, forget about historic ships such as the San Sebastián, sunk in 1583, or the San Agustín galleon, in 1540, but in this article I will talk about a ship, specifically an ocean liner whose history has nothing to envy that of the famous Titanic. Its about Republic, a luxury ocean liner that sank in 1909 and has not been rescued from the bottom of the sea.
Now the captain Martin Bayerle, who was the one who found him, wants to rescue him again, to access the fortune that is drowned. And I say he wants to return, because he already tried but failed, which has led to spread the legend of the curse of the Republic, or ship of millionaires.
Facts and curiosities about the Republic boat
I tell you some curiosities about this boat built in 1903 by the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast, Ireland, for the White Star Line.
This was the first ship to issue a CQD distress signal Thanks to this, the lives of 1.500 passengers and 300 crew members were saved from his Marconi radiotelegraphy team. The CQD signal is the distress signal that was used in telegraphic transmissions at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, it is supposed to mean Come Quickly, Distress, but its true meaning is Copy Quality, general call code , to which was added D, for "distress", that is, problem in English.
In the sinking of the RMS Republic, only 6 people died, 3 were part of the crew and the other 3 tourists. The ship stayed afloat 39 hours after colliding with the Florida, which was less damaged. So first the passengers were transferred to this ship and then they were taken to the White Star. Double rescue maneuver remains the largest on record at sea.
RMS Republic, the ship of millionaires
The RMS Republic was the Titanic of its time due to its dimensions and also because the wealthiest classes of Europe and America traveled in its cabins, hence it was called by the nickname of the millionaire ship, or palace ship. I had capacity for 2.830 passengers, They were 173,7 meters long and 20,7 meters wide to move. The cabins were separate, there were 280 people in first class and 250 in second, all superbly decorated.
The dining room, with capacity for 200 people, was finished in ornamental woods and fine tapestries, apart from there was a library, a smoking room and a lounge. The main feature of the dining room was its large cupola.
The legend of the Republic
The Republic sank while sailing on its route between New York and Gibraltar, near Nantucket, Massachusetts. Legend says that before setting sail a mysterious cargo was brought on board, it seems that it would be 150.000 gold coins, which at this time would reach a value of one trillion dollars. When it started to sink the captain stood his ground and refused to allow any of the cargo to be salvaged, then there was no official investigation into its sinking.
Some sources speak that inside there was also a payroll of the United States Navy of $ 265.000 at the time (today it is valued at 50 or 60 million dollars), thousands of dollars that were destined as help the victims of an earthquake that had occurred in Italy, apart from a shipment of several hundreds of thousands of silver bars and the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of personal jewelry and other valuables for its wealthy passengers. Although the most mysterious and politically sensitive thing is if there was gold that was sent to the Russian Tsar, specifically five tons of pure gold coins, those mysterious coins that are not yet confirmed that they came up.
A Treasure Hunter's Obsession: Martin Bayerle
In the 1980s, in 1981, Captain Martin Bayerle found the ocean liner and tried to rescue it, but the frustrated attempt led to his ruin, and from there to jail. Now, in 2017, he tried again ... we'll see what happens, at least this time he has managed to sell the filming rights to a series of National Geografic.
Martin Bayerle has dedicated the last 25 years of his life to the study and investigation of the facts surrounding the collapse of the Republic, and he has written a book about his investigations that includes background information on similar events, journalistic information of the time, theories, export and import studies and various graphics. The question that he has called "the gold commitments", that is to say, the way in which the gold was insured and shipped therein is analyzed briefly. And governments of the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Spain and Switzerland have been asked about it.