RMS Republic

**RMS *Republic*** was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and lost at sea in a collision in 1909 while sailing for the White Star Line. The ship was equipped with a new Marconi wireless telegraphy transmitter, and issued a CQD distress call, resulting in the saving of around 1,500 lives. Known as the "Millionaires' Ship" because of the number of wealthy Americans who traveled by her, she was described as a "palatial liner" and was the flagship of White Star Line's Boston service. This was the first important marine rescue made possible by radio, and brought worldwide attention to this new technology.'

## History

### White Star acquisition

The ship was originally built in Belfast, Ireland, for the International Mercantile Marine's Dominion Line (a sister company to the White Star Line) and was named *Columbus*. She was launched on 26 February 1903, and made her maiden voyage in October 1903 from Liverpool to Boston. After two voyages with the Dominion Line, *Columbus*, along with three other Dominion liners: *New England*, *Commonwealth*, and *Mayflower*, were sold to the White Star Line for use on their new service between Liverpool and Boston. *Columbus* was renamed *Republic*, the second ship under White Star livery to hold the name (White Star's original *Republic* of 1872 had been sold to the Holland America Line in 1889 and renamed *Maasdam*), while her three fellow former Dominion liners were renamed *Romanic*, *Canopic*, and *Cretic*, respectively.

### Career

*Republic* made her first crossing under White Star from Liverpool to Boston on 17 December 1903, arriving in Boston 27 December. In January 1903, she made her first crossing from Boston to the Mediterranean via Gibraltar, making calls at Sao Miguel in the Azores, followed by the Italian ports of Naples and Genoa, and ending at Alexandria, a voyage that often took up to three weeks to complete, one way.

In November 1904, she inaugurated White Star's Mediterranean–New York service. White Star intended this route for two purposes: First, they sought to establish a market for cruising opportunities for wealthy American passengers, as her spacious and luxurious accommodations in first and second class attracted scores of wealthy vacationers, thus earning her the nickname "Millionaires' Ship". Second, and more predominantly on her westbound crossings, White Star sought to tap into the massive Italian immigrant trade. *Republic*, with a third-class capacity of 2,000, proved to be immensely profitable on this route, as when she sailed for the United States on any given trip, third class was often booked to capacity, and sometimes beyond. A vast majority of Italian immigrants who sailed by White Star boarded *Republic* and the other ships at Naples, along with smaller groups of Greeks, Austrians, Slavs, Turks, and Syrians. White Star's placement of Sao Miguel on their Mediterranean services opened them up to traffic from Portuguese immigrants, as well.

Over the next four years, *Republic* spent the winter and spring running on White Star's Mediterranean–New York service alongside the *Cretic*, while during the summer and fall, she sailed on the Liverpool–Boston route together with *Cymric* and *Arabic*.

### Collision with SS *Florida*

In the early morning of 23 January 1909, while sailing from New York City to Gibraltar and Mediterranean ports with 742 passengers and crew and Captain Inman Sealby (1862–1942) in command, *Republic* entered a thick fog off the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Amongst the passengers were some illustrious people, such as James Ross Mellon, his wife Rachel Hughey Larimer Mellon, their daughter Sarah of the Mellon banking family and family maid, Mrs. Sophie Mansfield Curtis, wife of George Munson Curtis (treasurer of the International Silver Company), Mrs. Mary Harriman Severance, wife of Cordenio A. Severance, Professor John M. Coulter with wife and children, General Brayton Ives, St. Louis millionaire Samuel Cupples, historian Alice Morse Earle, and Mildred Montague, Countess Pasolini.  Travelling in first class were also Mr. Leonard L. McMurray, who, in 1915, would survive the sinking of the Cunard liner *Lusitania*, and Mrs. Bessie Armstead Davis, daughter-in-law of senator Henry G. Davis of West Virginia with two children.

Taking standard precautions and maintaining her speed, the steamer regularly signaled her presence in the outbound shipping traffic lane by whistle. At 5:47 a.m., another whistle was heard and *Republic*'s engines were ordered to full reverse, and the helm put "hard-a-port". Out of the fog, the Lloyd Italiano liner SS *Florida* appeared and hit *Republic* amidships on her portside, at about a right angle. Two passengers asleep in their cabins on *Republic* were killed when *Florida*'s bow sliced into her, liquor wholesale manager Eugene Lynch's wife Mary and banker William J. Mooney. Eugene Lynch was critically injured and died as a result of his injuries at Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, 26 January. On *Florida*, three crewmen were also killed when the bow was crushed back to a collision bulkhead. Six people died in total.

The engine and boiler rooms on *Republic* began to flood, and the ship listed. Captain Sealby led the crew in calmly organizing the passengers on deck for evacuation. *Republic* was equipped with the new Marconi wireless telegraph system, and became the first ship in history to issue a CQD distress signal, sent by John R. Binns. *Florida* came about to rescue *Republic*'s complement, and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service cutter *Gresham* responded to the distress signal as well. Passengers were distributed between the two ships, with *Florida* taking the bulk of them, but with 900 Italian immigrants already on board, this left the ship dangerously overloaded.

The White Star liner *Baltic*, commanded by Captain J. B. Ranson, also responded to the CQD call, but due to the persistent fog, *Baltic* was not able to locate the drifting *Republic* until that evening. Once on-scene, the rescued passengers were transferred from *Gresham* and *Florida* to *Baltic*. Because of the damage to *Florida*, that ship's immigrant passengers were also transferred to *Baltic*, but a riot nearly broke out when they had to wait until first-class *Republic* passengers were transferred. Once everyone was on board, *Baltic* sailed for New York.

At the time of *Republic*'s sinking, ocean liners were not required to have a full capacity of lifeboats for their passengers, officers, and crew. On the busy North Atlantic route, assistance from at least one ship was believed to be ever-present and that lifeboats would be needed only to ferry all aboard to their rescue vessels and back until everyone was safely evacuated. That scenario, unlike during the *RMS Titanic* sinking, played out flawlessly during the ship's sinking, and the six people who died were lost in the collision, not the sinking itself.

Captain Sealby and a skeleton crew remained on board *Republic* to make an effort to save her. Crewmen from the *Gresham* tried using collision mats to stem the flooding, but to no avail. By this time, the steamers *New York* and *Lucania* (from Cunard) had also arrived and waited while a futile attempt was made by *Gresham* to take *Republic* under tow. On 24 January, *Republic* sank stern first; at 15,378 tons, she was the largest ship to have sunk until then. All the remaining crew were evacuated before she sank.

### Reported cargoes

Many reports indicate that *Republic* was carrying gold and other valuables when she sank. One report is that she was carrying gold worth $250,000 in American gold coins to be used as payroll for the US Navy's Great White Fleet.

In addition to the US Navy coin-monies shipment, various sources reported on a much larger cargo, $3,000,000 in US gold double eagles ($20). Among these, *The Washington Post* reported, "Three million dollars in gold coins lie in the rotting hulk of the White Star liner Republic, lost off Nantucket in January, 1909. The *Republic*, damaged in a collision, was being towed toward New York by the Coast Guard cutter *Gresham*, when she sank in 240 feet of water. A salvage attempt in 1919 was unsuccessful." And again one year later, "In 1909, the [White] Star Liner Republic was damaged in a collision. While being towed to safety, she sank in over 200 feet of water. At the present, all attempts to salvage the $3,000,000 in her holds have been unsuccessful." The New York Times reported, "The White Star Liner Republic, lost off Nantucket Shoals in 1909, carried $3,000,000 in gold eagles. However, the Republic rests in 185 [270] feet of water."

All of these values are in 1909 dollars. US$3 million in 1909 is equivalent to about $100 million in 2023, after adjusting for inflation. One coin expert appraised the value of RMS *Republic'*s cargoes today would exceed $1 billion.