With the window of opportunity slowly closing in 2024 for recovering treasure from the sunken RMS Republic, salvage efforts will likely get pushed to 2025, according to Capt. Martin Bayerle, managing member for the Lords of Fortune LLC salvage project in Miami, Florida.

Bayerle said the target date now for commencing salvage operations is June 1, 2025, while negotiations continue with two unnamed investor groups to raise the necessary multiple millions of dollars to fund the treasure recovery.

Projections

Principals in the Lords of Fortune LLC — the shipwreck recovery company — were hoping to begin recovery in June 2024 of an anticipated nearly $10 billion in cargo from the sunken RMS Republic off the coast of Massachusetts.

The RMS Republic foundered Jan. 24, 1909, after a collision the morning before in a dense fog 50 miles south of Nantucket Island, when the Republic was struck at midship portside by the Lloyd Italiano line’s SS Florida.

The RMS Republic, a steam-powered ocean liner, was originally built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland, for the International Mercantile Marine’s Dominion Line, a sister company to the White Star Line. Its first voyage, as the Columbus, launched Feb. 26, 1903, from Liverpool, England, destined for Boston, Massachusetts. After two voyages, the Columbus was sold to the White Star Line and renamed Republic.

Commencement of the recovery efforts is contingent upon funding, with a minimum of $7.5 million needed in investment seed money to help finance locating the gold within the sunken wreckage.

Ideal weather conditions for salvage efforts are most optimal from June through August, with risk factors increasing in September and beyond.

The conditions for working at the RMS Republic’s location, in the open North Atlantic Ocean, were recognized even in 1909, according to Bayerle. Israel J. Merritt, president of the Merritt-Chapman Company, said in the Jan. 26, 1909, edition of the New York Tribune, “As yet we have not the exact location of the REPUBLIC, but I understand she is about thirty fathoms under ten miles south of Nantucket. That place is absolutely unprotected, and while we might work on her for a month without mishap, the first storm would ruin every bit of work accomplished.”

Bayerle explains salvage planning includes commissioning noted videographer Evan Kovacs to conduct an underwater shipwreck photogrammetry survey from which a 3-D model can be created and updated for historical and archival purposes during recovery.

A photogrammetry survey, according to Bayerle, “involves taking thousands of still photos from the top, sides, and inside of a shipwreck using divers or a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

“The photos are then merged into a large file, corrected for color balance and exposure, and processed using photogrammetry software. The software uses an algorithm to create a photo mosaic that retains the detail of each image and searches for common landmarks.” Additional details on the recovery project can be found online at https://lordsoffortune.com/reference/LoFNewsletter09-2024.pdf.

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