Former Island resident Martin Bayerle’s 35-year search for a reputed billion-dollar treasure, sunk off Nantucket for more than a hundred years, comes to life at 10 pm on Feb. 8, in the first episode of an eight-part series from the History Channel.
“Billion Dollar Wreck: The Mysterious Treasure of the Republic” chronicles Mr. Bayerle’s most recent effort to find $3 million (1909 value) in American Eagle gold coins, worth more than a billion dollars today, thought to be aboard the luxury liner RMS Republic, which sank about 50 miles off Nantucket on Jan. 24, 1909, while being towed back to New York after colliding with another ship.
The story of the Republic, treasure aside, is also a rich saga of early 20th century international politics, intrigue, and finance related to efforts to prop up a teetering Russian economy bled dry by foreign war and internal revolution. Mr. Bayerle has painstakingly researched documents in the U.S., France, the U.K., and other countries to tell the story behind the ill-fated Republic voyage. He described the international political ramifications of the Republic’s cargo in his 2013 book “The Tsar’s Treasure.”
The History Channel series is also a story of the price Mr. Bayerle has paid to pursue his life goal of recovering the gold coins, which his research tells him lie 250 feet below the surface.
According to Mr. Bayerle’s website rmsrepublic.com, research and records suggest that, “in addition to a $265,000 U.S. Navy payroll (consigned to the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet at Gibraltar … worth today perhaps fifty to seventy million dollars), thousands of dollars in relief monies destined to aid the survivors of an earthquake in Italy, a several-hundred-thousand-dollar consignment of silver ingots, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal jewelry and other valuables of her wealthy passengers, she also carried to the bottom of the sea a politically sensitive and secret shipment of gold that had been consigned to the Tsar of Russia: a $3,000,000 five-ton shipment of mint condition American Gold Eagle coins.”
In 1987, a dive team commissioned by Mr. Bayerle found and explored the Republic, recovering hundreds of artifacts including dinnerware, silverware, ship’s accoutrements, passenger belongings, still-potable wines, and the Republic’s anchors (now forming the entryway to the Marine Museum at Fall River, on display there with other salvaged Republic items). But the 1987 expedition failed to locate its intended target: the “specie” room, in which valuables were kept. Mr. Bayerle likens the search to looking for nine cubic feet in a skyscraper.
Mr. Bayerle spoke with The Times on Sunday from his Bal Harbour, Fla., home about the History Channel series and his treasure odyssey. According to his agreement with the channel, Mr. Bayerle cannot disclose the results of the latest exploration of the Republic.
Mr. Bayerle, 64, is an affable man despite the presence of a black eyepatch, lending a raffish air to his persona. In reality, he lost the eye in a firecracker accident at age 11.
While his appearance conjures up piratical images, history does not record any pirates with M.B.A.s.
“I have no creative control over the project, and haven’t seen the series myself,” Mr. Bayerle said. “My life’s goal has been to recover that gold. We will have closure one way or another. The book [“The Tsar’s Treasure”] propelled all this [current interest].”
Mr. Bayerle recalled living with his wife and young family on the Island from 1980 to ’87, where he operated a sports scuba-dive business while keeping his eye on his prize. “Those were the happiest years of my life. The kids and I still come back every summer for a couple of weeks,” he said.
Following his Island life, Mr. Bayerle struggled through a dark period with serious legal and financial issues and a failed marriage, re-emerging to start a new company and to continue his salvage work on the Republic.
“You know, I’ve learned that the greatest value is in the struggle,” Mr. Bayerle said. “Money does not make problems go away. You just have different problems. Life is a gift. I’ve certainly had an interesting one.”
“Billion Dollar Wreck” premieres Feb. 8 at 10 pm on the History Channel. For more information, visit history.com/shows/billion-dollar-wreck or rmsrepublic.com.