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Martin Gerard Bayerle (born April 23, 1951) is an American treasure hunter and author, best known for finding the 1909 shipwreck of the White Star Liner RMS Republic. He is also star of the History Channel show "Billion Dollar Wreck."
Bayerle was born in St. Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, New York, and grew up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. [1] His father, Gerard, was a lawyer and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. His mother, Ruth, was a German immigrant who came to the United States following World War II. Bayerle lost sight in his left eye from a small explosives accident when he was 11 years old. [1] He first began scuba diving off the coast of New Jersey and New York at the age of 15 and went on to graduate from Abraham Lincoln High School in February 1969. Bayerle attended Brooklyn College in New York from 1969 through 1972 where he majored in geology. [1]
He taught scuba diving as a student and adjunct professor within the Adult Education Department; during his time there until he opened up a dive shop - Brooklyn Divers Supply Corp. – in 1972. [1] He began running dive operations to local shipwreck sites, such as the Mistletoe, Black Warrior, USS Turner (DD-648) , Oregon , and U-853 , among others. Brooklyn Divers was operated successfully until 1978, when the company’s source of supply and advertisements was abruptly cut off. Bayerle sued eight SCUBA company defendants for price fixing conspiracy under the Sherman Act and reached a six-figure settlement once the case went to trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York (Brooklyn Diver Supply Corp. v ScubaPro, Petersen Publications, Dacor, NASDS ... – and other major components of the sport SCUBA diving industry). [1]
After closing his Brooklyn shop, Bayerle moved to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. [1] There he obtained a captain’s license, pilot’s license, and established Martha’s Vineyard Scuba Headquarters, Inc. (MAVIS) to serve as a base of operations to attempt to locate the shipwreck of the RMS Republic. [1] The Republic was the largest ship to sink in history when she sank off the U.S. East Coast in January 1909 and was rumored to be carrying a vast cargo of gold. After two and a half years of preparatory research to determine the wreck’s location, Bayerle discovered the wreck of the RMS Republic in 1981. [2] He raised investor capital and purchased the assets from a bankrupt Canadian offshore oil rig support company, Wolf Sub-Ocean Ltd., in addition to the purchase of a 285ft Diving Support Vessel, the Oil Endeavor (renamed the SOSI Inspector) in the years following the find. Bayerle also married during those years and he and his wife, Susan, gave birth to two children – a daughter, Tessa, and a son, Grant. [1] During the summer of 1987, Bayerle went out to perform a major salvage on the Republic to try to recover the gold, an event that generated international media attention. Capt. Bayerle was featured on television programs such as CBS Evening News, [3] ABC Evening News, [4] and ABC Good Morning America. [5] The 74-day salvage was also closely followed in international periodicals, such as Forbes, [6] New York Times, [7] Associated Press, [2] Japan Times, London Times, [8] and the Los Angeles Times [9] among many other major publications.
The 1987 salvage effort was successful in targeting and excavating their target area, but failed to locate the gold, however. The crew excavated the target area but ended up in the ship’s wine locker, finding hundreds of pre-1900 bottles of wine and champagne. [10] Once they realized they were in the wine locker rather than the specie room, offered a £25,000 reward for the construction plans of the Republic. [11] No one came forth with the plans to the ship, however, and the salvage was terminated for lack of funds. Despite many years of research and effort, the plans to the ship still have never been found.
Following the salvage attempt, the 1987 joint venture disbanded and any artifacts brought up were sold at auction. Bayerle moved to Clarksburg, West Virginia, to live with his in-laws, the Youngs, on a small farm. [1] He finished his undergraduate education, earning B.Sc. and B.Sc.B.Adm. magna cum laude degrees from Fairmont State College and went on to start his M.B.A. education at West Virginia University. [1] He was accepted into the WVU College of Law in the fall of 1990 but would not complete his legal education there, however, as other personal events intervened. [1]
On April 6, 1991, Bayerle shot and killed 38-year old Stefano Robotti, the 'lover' of his alienated wife Susan, near Clarksburg, West Virginia. [12] After a six-week trial, the jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter; Bayerle was sentenced to one to five years in State prison. He completed his sentence, with good time, in two-and-a-half years. [13]
Upon his release, Bayerle continued school in Morgantown, West Virginia, to complete his M.B.A. education. There, he began an Internet Service Provider business that he ran for five years and established IDEA, the Internet Development and Exchange Association. [14]
Bayerle subsequently started an archival research company specializing in retrieving records from government archives. His old company, MAVIS, has since acquired legal title to the wreck of the RMS Republic and her contents, with the court also barring all future claims. [15] After acquiring ownership of Republic, on August 1, 2013, Bayerle published the bulk of his significant research into the mystery of RMS Republic by releasing a book titled The Tsar's Treasure: The Sunken White Star Liner With a Billion Dollar Secret. [16]
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately three million shipwrecks worldwide as of January 1999, according to Angela Croome, a science writer and author who specialized in the history of underwater archaeology.
SS Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, was a 280-foot (85 m) sidewheel steamer that operated between Central America and the East Coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally named the SS George Law, after George Law of New York. The ship sank in a hurricane in September 1857, along with 425 of her 578 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg) of gold, contributing to the Panic of 1857.
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.
San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park located in 18 feet (5.5 m) of water, approximately 1.25 nautical miles (2.32 km) south of Indian Key. It became the second Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve when it opened to the public in 1989. The heart of the park is the San Pedro, a submerged shipwreck from a 1733 Spanish flotilla, around which visitors can dive and snorkel. The San Pedro, a 287-ton Dutch-built vessel, and 21 other Spanish ships under the command of Rodrigo de Torres left Havana, Cuba, on Friday, July 13, 1733, bound for Spain. The San Pedro carried a cargo of 16,000 silver Mexican pesos and crates of Chinese porcelain. A hurricane struck the fleet, while entering the Straits of Florida, and sank or swamped most of the fleet. The wrecksite includes an "eighteenth century anchor, replica cannons, ballast stones encrusted with coral, a dedication plaque, and a mooring buoy system." The wreck was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 2001.
Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasure-hunting can be controversial, as locations such as sunken wrecks or cultural sites may be protected by national or international law concerned with property ownership, marine salvage, sovereign or state vessels, commercial diving regulations, protection of cultural heritage and trade controls.
The SS City of Rio de Janeiro was an iron-hulled steam-powered passenger ship, launched in 1878, which sailed between San Francisco and various Asian Pacific ports. On 22 February 1901, the vessel sank after striking a submerged reef at the entry to San Francisco Bay while inward bound from Hong Kong. Of the approximately 220 passengers and crew on board, fewer than 85 people survived the sinking, while 135 others were killed in the catastrophe. The wreck lies in 287 feet (87 m) of water just off the Golden Gate and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as nationally significant.
David A. Bright was an American underwater explorer and diver. He was the president of the Nautical Research Group, which he founded in 2003, and an avid contributor to documentaries on shipwrecks.
Edward Lee Spence is a pioneer in underwater archaeology who studies shipwrecks and sunken treasure. He is also a published editor and author of non-fiction reference books; a magazine editor, and magazine publisher ; and a published photographer. Spence was twelve years old when he found his first five shipwrecks.
Robert F. Marx was an American pioneer in scuba diving, a prolific author, and was best known for his work as an avocational marine archaeologist. Over his career, he discovered over 5000 shipwrecks in over 60 countries. Although some accused him of treasure hunting, fellow avocational archeologist E. Lee Spence described Marx as the "true father of underwater archaeology". Marx also helped write UNESCO legislation regarding shipwrecks.
SS Laurentic was a British transatlantic ocean liner that was built in Belfast, Ireland, and launched in 1908. She is an early example of a ship whose propulsion combined reciprocating steam engines with a low-pressure steam turbine. Laurentic was one of a pair of sister ships that were ordered in 1907 by the Dominion Line but completed for the White Star Line. Her regular route was between Liverpool and Quebec City.
Gary Gentile is an American author and pioneering technical diver.
SS Comet was a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes. Comet was built in 1857 as a wooden-hulled propeller-driven cargo vessel that was soon adapted to carry passengers. It suffered a series of maritime accidents prior to its final sinking in 1875 causing the loss of ten lives. It became known as the only treasure ship of Lake Superior because she carried 70 tons of Montana silver ore when it sank. The first attempts to salvage its cargo in 1876 and 1938 were unsuccessful. Comet was finally salvaged in the 1980s when the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society illegally removed artifacts from the wreck. The artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The fate of her silver ore cargo is unknown. Comet's wreck is now protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve as part of an underwater museum.
Leigh Bishop is an explorer and deep sea diver known for his deep shipwreck exploration and still underwater photography.
The Glenlyon was a freighter built in 1893; it was sunk off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1924 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Henry Chisholm was a wooden freighter that sank off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1898 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Robert Pierre André Sténuit is a Belgian journalist, writer, and underwater archeologist. In 1962 he spent 24 hours on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea in the submersible "Link Cylinder" developed by Edwin Link, thus becoming the world's first aquanaut.
SS Egypt was a P&O ocean liner. She sank after a collision with Seine on 20 May 1922 in the Celtic Sea. 252 people were rescued from the 338 passengers and crew aboard at the time. A subsequent salvage operation recovered most of the cargo of gold and silver.
Billion Dollar Wreck is a History series documenting Martin Bayerle's attempt to salvage the wreck of the RMS Republic.
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