Court
gives OK to quest for gold in sunken ship
By Laurel J. Sweet
Saturday, July 9,
2005
A modern-day swashbuckler has been
awarded the world salvage rights to a sister ship of the Titanic
that he's convinced sank off the coast of Nantucket with billions in
gold in her belly.
U.S.
District Court Judge Nancy Gertner issued her decision last night on
behalf of Martin Bayerle, 54, of Manhattan, after a New Jersey
lawyer and the U.S. Department of Justice both mounted half-hearted
attempts to scuttle a search of the RMS Republic.
``This
will allow some order to the whole salvage operation,'' said
Bayerle's attorney, Timothy D. Barrow. ``I just hope we can go
forward now.''
The
White Star Line's 570-foot luxury liner sank in 1909 39 hours after
she was hit by another ship in dense fog. Six people died.
Bayerle
was in Boston yesterday to get his legal affairs shipshape. After a
preparatory trip this month, the go-for-the-gold will commence next
summer and is expected to take up to four years and cost more than
$12 million. The reward could be a treasure valued at between $1.6
and $10 billion, though he admits he has no proof the gold exists.
But
naval historian Paul Lawton said the legend of the Republic's cargo
``is like a bad penny that keeps showing up. I think you're going to
find 10,000 American Gold Eagle coins in the trunk of your car
before you find it in the wreck of the Republic.
``I'm
not saying he's a fraud or a scoundrel,'' Lawton said of Bayerle.
``But I have seen people lose their shirts over stories like
this.'' |
|
| Herald Columnists |
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In the spring of 1988, Al
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