Tips for Leading an Adventurous Life

The Discovery

One spring day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering around Oak Island, Nova Scotia when he came across a curious circular depression in the ground.

Standing over this depression was a tree whose branches had been cut in a way which looked like it had been used as a pulley. Having heard tales of pirates hiding their treasure in the area McGinnis hurried home to tell his friends. Over the next several days McGinnis and two other boys worked furiously on the hole. What they found astonished them. Read More →

Estimated Value: $75,000,000 – $180,000,000 (75 – 180 Million Dollars)

Shipwreck

When the sidewheel steamer SS Republic left New York in October of 1865, she was carrying 62 passengers and a cargo of $400,000 (1865 face value) in gold and silver coins. She was headed for New Orleans where the money would be used to help pay for reconstruction of the South after the Civil War.

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. She stalled in heavy seas, taking on water faster than her crew and passengers could bail. The Republic sank beneath the waves.

While most of the passengers were able to abandon ship, the precious cargo of Gold and Silver Coins plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean where they remained until…

Rediscovery

In the summer of 2003 Odyssey Marine Exploration, a commercial treasure hunting company out of Tampa, Florida, discovered the wreck of the SS Republic 1700 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 100 miles off the Georgia coast.

Odyssey was awarded title and ownership to the shipwreck and it’s cargo, including the hull, artifacts and all the gold and silver coins that were on board when she sank. Read More →

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