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In a message dated 7/11/99 9:40:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time,=20 christina@ch*.co* writes: > Unfortunately, this weekend's RMS Republic trip was blown out. Getting blown out on the Republic might have been a good thing. The followin= g=20 is over on the NBC News web site. Unfortunately it looks like wreck divers=20 should keep off of the Republic until all is settled with the lawyers.=20 Otherwise you could find yourself in court for the recovery of a dish that i= s=20 "Owned" by one of these guys. Pete Johnson N E W A R K, =A0 N.J., =A0 June 22 =97 For over 90 years, the RMS Republic h= as=20 stood under 250 feet of calm waters off Cape Cod. But above ground, a stormy=20 battle has developed over who has the rights to salvage the wreck =97 and a=20 possible cache of coins that could be worth more than $1 billion. A court=20 fight pits William P. Cleary, a personal injury lawyer in Hackensack, agains= t=20 Martin Bayerle, who originally discovered the ship in 1981 in the=20 international waters off Massachusetts.=20 The Last Time Under Water Both men have ventured in the ocean=92s deep waters to examine the wreck. Bu= t=20 Cleary says it should be off limits to Bayerle because he has not worked on=20 the site for more than a decade, after leading a team that explored it for=20 two months. Bayerle insists he is negotiating with the owners of the cargos=20 aboard the Republic =97 including the Russian government =97 to forge settle= ments=20 on dividing the spoils, and then will seek investors for a multimillion=20 dollar retrieval project. Cleary said he is planning a =93very careful=20 archeological=94 approach, mapping the site by sonar, and then carefully=20 removing artifacts. =93We want to recover and restore all the precious=20 antiquities,=94 Cleary said.=20 Trinkets Vs. Gold Bayerle=92s response: =93If the gold is not on board, Mr. Cleary can go get = all=20 the trinkets he wants.=94 The 600-foot Republic, built in England and part o= f=20 J.P. Morgan=92s White Star Shipping Co., sank after colliding in fog with an=20 Italian ship, the Florida, on Jan. 23, 1909, 50 miles south of Nantucket=20 Island, Mass. Only six lives were lost, even though the Republic carried 484=20 passengers and nearly as many crew on its pleasure cruise to the=20 Mediterranean. They transferred to the Florida, which was carrying 650=20 immigrants to New York from Europe. Bayerle has developed the theory that th= e=20 Republic might have been carrying gold coins bought by the Bank of France to=20 help Russia=92s Czar Nicholas II fight the Bolsheviks.=20 Wired and Wetsuits Bayerle, 48, who had run a scuba operation from Martha=92s Vineyard, Mass.,=20 says he operates Internet companies in Charleston, W.Va., but has continued=20 plans for a major expedition. In November, U.S. District Judge John W.=20 Bissell granted Cleary=92s request to =93arrest=94 the wreck. In maritime=20 tradition, whoever arrests a wreck has the right, with court restrictions, t= o=20 dispose of it. In further proceedings Monday, however, the judge refused=20 Cleary=92s bid for an injunction barring Bayerle from conducting salvage=20 operations within a mile of the latitude and longitude specified by Cleary.=20 Another Diving Site Bayerle said that map location is seven miles from the actual resting place=20 of the Republic, and that he has no interest in Cleary=92s site. So the judg= e=20 ruled there is no conflict =97 for the moment. Cleary promised to return wit= h=20 definitive coordinates after further exploration this summer and again try=20 and keep Bayerle away. Cleary said he would seek investors for a major=20 salvage effort next year if he and his team find treasure this year.=20 -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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