SS Republic (1853)

SS "Republic" was a sidewheel steamship, originally named "Tennessee" (also named USS "Mobile" for a time), lost in a hurricane off the coast of Georgia in October 1865, en route to New Orleans.

History

Early years

The ship, built in Baltimore, Maryland, for the famed War of 1812 Veteran, James Hooper, and launched in 1853, as the "Tennessee". She began her service as a merchant vessel plying the Baltimore - Charleston route. Not long afterward, she was sent on the first trans-Atlantic crossing by a Baltimore steamship, sailing to Southampton, England, and Le Havre, France. A short time later "Tennessee" was used to open the first regular passenger steamship service between New York City and Central America.

During the California Gold Rush, the "Tennessee" transported "49'ers" to the eastern shores of Panama and Nicaragua to travel to California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The "Tennessee" delivered the last group of "immigrants" volunteering as mercenary soldiers for William Walker in Nicaragua, and, after defeat of Walker's forces, took home hundreds of disconsolate, defeated survivors.

"Tennessee" for several years regularly served the Vera Cruz, Mexico - New Orleans route, often transporting immigrants to America as well as large sums of Mexican gold and silver. She was tied up in harbor at New Orleans when the American Civil War began on April 12, 1861.

Civil war service

At the outbreak of the Civil War she was trapped in port at New Orleans, Louisiana, she was seized for use as a Confederate blockade runner as the "CSS Tennessee" in 1861, although she was never able to escape blockade of the New Orleans harbor. After the Union capture of New Orleans, the ship was put into armed Union service, including as the flagship of United States Navy Admiral David G. Farragut for the conclusion of the Mississippi Campaign. As USS "Tennessee", she was not only a fast and effective blockade ship in the West Gulf Squadron, but also a powerful gunship used to bombard Ft. Morgan during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

In September, 1864, she was re-named USS "Mobile" to allow a famous Confederate armored ram ship to carry the name "Tennessee" after its capture. This second CSS "Tennessee" had been taken during a dramatic encounter at Mobile Bay. USS "Mobile" was damaged in a hurricane off the mouth of the Rio Grande in October, 1864, and sent to New York for repair. Upon inspection, the ship was judged too expensive to re-fit and was taken out of U.S. Navy commission in December, 1864. She was sold at auction in March, 1865, re-named SS "Republic", repaired, and soon returned to the New York - New Orleans route hauling passengers and cargo. She was lost on her fifth civilian voyage after the war.

Wreck

When the "Republic" left New York on October 18, she was carrying passengers and a cargo of $400,000 in coins, mostly in gold $10 and $20 pieces, intended for use as hard currency after the Civil War. The city of New Orleans, captured largely intact by the Union in 1862, had been the southern hub of Federal war efforts and was a thriving, busy city - but due to war, "hard money" (or gold and silver coin) was in very short supply.

On the fifth day of her voyage, a hurricane off the coast of Georgia proved too strong for the ship. By evening, her hull was leaking so badly that the fire in the boiler was extinguished, and she stalled in heavy seas, taking on water faster than her crew and passengers could bail her. At 4 pm on October 25, 1865, she sank. The passengers and crew escaped in four lifeboats and a make-shift raft, but 40-foot seas throughout the night made keeping them afloat a serious challenge. It was not until two days later, on October 27 that the survivors, now desperate with thirst, were found by the sailing ship "Horace Beals". On October 29, the steamship "General Hooker" had been sent to look for the "Republic", and rendezvoused with "Horace Beals". The passengers were transferred and taken to Charleston. Most of the passengers and crew survived, although several were lost on the raft before they could be rescued. All the coins were lost.

Rediscovery

In August 2003, the wreck of the "Republic" was located by Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., a commercial archaeology company in Tampa, Florida. She was found about 100 miles (160km) southeast of Savannah, Georgia, in about 1,700 feet (500 meters) of water. A salvage effort recovered about one-third of the rare 19th century gold and silver coins carried aboard, worth an estimated $75 million. Most of the hull of the ship is now gone, but the rudder, parts of the paddle wheel and the steam engine are still present. The search and recovery effort was depicted in a National Geographic Society TV documentary "Civil War Gold". [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1201_031201_republic.html] There is also a book about the search and recovery, "Lost Gold of the Republic."

"SS Republic" is currently the subject of a lawsuit over the gold recovery, as E. Lee Spence claims in a lawsuit that Odyssey Marine used his information in their efforts to locate the wreck. A judge in South Carolina has ruled that the case may proceed in that state, reversing his own earlier decision [http://www.wcbd.com/midatlantic/cbd/news.apx.-content-articles-CBD-2007-02-27-0022.html] .

ources and references

* [http://shipwreck.net/ssrepublichistory.shtml Odyssey Marine Exploration's history of the ship]
* [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1201_031201_republic.html Summarizes the NGS documentary]
* [http://shipwreck.net/ssr-colnichols.shtml Letter by one of the passengers, detailing the ordeal of the wreck]
*Vesilind, Priit J. "Lost Gold of the Republic: The Remarkable Quest for the Greatest Shipwreck Treasure of the Civil War Era", Shipwreck Heritage Press (August 21, 2005), ISBN 1-933034-06-8

ee also

*SS "Central America"
*RMS "Republic"