Lost Gold of the Republic: The Remarkable Quest for the Greatest Shipwreck Treasure of the Civil War Era

by Priit J. Vesilind

This book traces the dramatic history of the SS Republic, a paddlewheel steamship that sank in 1865 in a hurricane off the coast of Georgia with a reported $400,000 in gold and silver coins on board. Lost to history for 138 years, in 2003 the ship was located in deep water by Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Florida. The find has led to the recovery of more than 50,000 precious coins, worth an estimated $75 million to collectors today, plus thousands of fascinating artifacts reflecting the reunited nation just after the end of the Civil War. The story of the ship and its colorful past is mirrored by the story of the arduous search for the lost ship and the development of Odyssey, a shipwreck recovery company pioneering a new model for deep-sea archaeology.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2005

About the author

Priit J. Vesilind (4 January 1943 – 3 November 2023) was an Estonian and American senior writer and photojournalist of National Geographic magazine and an author of nonfiction.

Reviews

[Leo Mccarthy]

Great read

[Jon Bradley]

I purchased my copy of this book in hardback at the Dickson Street Bookshop in Fayetteville, AR during a visit there last year. This book is OK but nothing spectacular. It seems to have been rushed into print in 2005, when operations by Odyssey Marine Exploration on the wreck of the "Republic" were winding down. The book tells the story of the beginnings of OME in somewhat breathless terms, gives the history of the "Republic" steamer and details its demise in an October 1865 hurricane off the coast of Georgia while on a voyage from New York to New Orleans, and discusses the discovery of the wreck and its exploitation. The last part gets the fewest pages, and that was what I was primarily interested in. I liked a different book on a similar topic, "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea", much better. It is interesting to note that the book discusses the planning by OME in 2004 to open a shipwreck and treasure themed attraction to showcase their discovery and exploitation of the "Republic" wreck in New Orleans (the ship's destination when it sank). What the book doesn't document is the ironic tale of how the attraction had its grand opening on August 27, 2005, and was open for all of 90 minutes before closing as Hurricane Katrina swept over the city. The attraction reopened briefly in 2006 but it never made any money due to the loss of tourism and was closed down for good. On a personal note, I visited the Jazz Museum in New Orleans in late 2021, which is housed in the old US Mint building near the French Quarter. In the lower level of the museum there is a section on the history and operation of the mint, and they have on display a few of the coins recovered from the "Republic" wreck. Three out of five stars.

[David R.]

A respectable treatment of both the history of the ship Republic and the treasure hunter-archaelogist team that located it off Georgia. Vesilind is rather too wide eyed at the gold specie involved, and the book suffers some as a consequence.

[Andy Anderson]

story of the recovery of the SS Republic and its gold coins.