REPUBLIC COIN SALVAGE REPORT Pubblico Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 51, November 30, 2003, Article 7
REPUBLIC COIN SALVAGE REPORT
Arthur Shippee forwarded a link to an article in today's
New York Times about salvage from the wreck of the
steamship Republic. Here are some excerpts:"It lay in darkness at the bottom of the Atlantic for more than
a century, guarded only by the occasional shark. Now, the
150-year-old steamship has a visitor: a robot bristling with
lights, cameras and mechanical arms that is picking its way
through the wreckage, hauling up a fortune in gold and silver
coins, eventually perhaps 30,000 of them.The ship is the Republic, which sailed from New York in
1865, just after the Civil War, carrying 59 passengers and
crew and a mixed cargo meant to help New Orleans recover
from the war. About 100 miles off Georgia, battling a hurricane,
it sank in waters a third of a mile deep.Its cargo of lost coins, experts say, may now be worth up to
$150 million...""... Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Fla., announced the
find in August and said it hoped to retrieve the coins. Today it is
announcing that the treasure is real and is detailing its findings.
So far, the company has retrieved more than 1,600 gold and
silver coins. None are dated later than 1865, tending to confirm
the wreck's identity, said Greg Stemm, the company's director
of operations."For some reason, even the silver coins are in great condition,"
said Mr. Stemm, 46. "Part of it is surely the physical environment
down there." The icy deep, explorers are finding, can often
preserve objects, even precious metals like silver that normally
corrode easily.""Early this month, the team had the robot vacuum away sand
from where the cache was believed to lie. A few coins appeared,
then more. "They followed it like a trail of bread crumbs," Mr.
Stemm said, "and came upon a cascade of gold coins."To date, the company has recovered more silver than gold.
"That caught us by surprise," Mr. Stemm said. He said Odyssey
expected to find gold coins because silver was scarce in the
Republic's day. Mr. Stemm noted that most of the coins they
are finding now are gold.Once numismatic experts have inspected the recovered coins,
the company plans to release reports on their number,
condition and value."For the full article, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/national/30SHIP.html- 2003-11-30
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