Lost Gold of the Republic: The Remarkable Quest for the Greatest Shipwreck Treasure of the Civil War Era
A seasonedNational Geographicjournalist gives us an excellent history of a notable piece of deep-water archaeology and treasure salvage. TheRepublicwent down in 1,700 feet of water off the Carolina coast in fall 1865, overwhelmed by a hurricane while carrying a treasure in gold and silver coins that was intended to revive commerce in New Orleans. Vesilind covers the history of the ship, which served under both flags during the Civil War, and its crew, as well as the painstaking and expensive search for it by partners Greg Stemin and John Morris. The pair had to make new charts of the Gulf Stream to locate the wreck, resolve the conflicts between the archaeological and treasure-hunting aspects of the expedition, and bring up a third of the treasure from a third of a mile down with a converted cable-repair drone. If not as thrilling as Gary Kinder'sShip of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea(1998), Vesilind's book worthily chronicles a notable achievement by persistent explorers.Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved