A Rich Seafaring Legacy

By the time she was lost, the SS Republic boasted a history so remarkable as to seem far-fetched. Built in Baltimore at the height of the steam age, she was christened the SS Tennessee in 1853. She was an industrial marvel, 210 feet long by 34 feet wide with a massive single piston driving two 28-foot iron sidewheels. The stout ship could transport 100 passengers and fit 5,000 barrels of cargo in her hold.

The Tennessee began service with an unprofitable route between Baltimore and Charleston.To test a new market, her owners sent her to England on a speculative voyage. The gamble succeeded, and she returned with cargo from Havre, France - the first Baltimore steamship to complete a transatlantic voyage.She was sold twice by 1856, and then outfitted to transport would-be miners in search of California gold. Her next calling was to carry soldiers of fortune to fight in Nicaragua for the famed filibuster William Walker.

At the onset of the Civil War, the Tennessee was impounded by the Confederate navy as a blockade runner. Union ships were dispatched to hunt her down, but it wasn't until the capture of New Orleans that she fell into Union hands.

The Tennessee was turned into a well-armed fighting machine for the Union Navy and often served as Admiral David Farragut's flagship. She fought vigorously in several conflicts, including the Battle of Mobile Bay, made famous by Farragut's exclamation, "Damn the Torpedoes - full speed ahead!"

Her military career ended abruptly when her hull was damaged in a gale, and in 1865 a New York shipping magnate bought the crippled ship and renamed her SS Republic. After an extensive refit, she was soon making regular runs from New York to New Orleans with shipments of cargo and money to fuel the city's expanding post-war economy.

She steamed out of New York on October 18, 1865, bound for New Orleans on her final voyage. On the fifth day, a gale blew in and by nightfall the Republic was stalled without power in a fierce hurricane. Passengers labored for hours to bail out the ship's hold, but it was a futile effort. Her crew worked feverishly to prepare the lifeboats and patch together a makeshift raft. Discovery of the ship's bell allowed explorers to positively identify the shipwreck as the SS Republic.

At 4 p.m. on October 25, 1865, the Republic disappeared into the sea. Published accounts of the survivors' harrowing tales were accompanied by newspaper reports that "some $400,000 in treasure" had gone down with the ship.

Launched:	August 13, 1853 in Baltimore as the Tennessee.
Length:	210 Feet
Beam:	33 feet 11"
Sidewheels:	28 feet in diameter
Power:	Vertical-beam engine with one 9'6" piston Powered by the steam from a pair of double return flue boilers.
Shipbuilder:	John A. Robb; engines by Charles A. Reeder & Sons, Baltimore
Sank:	October 25, 1865

History:

• 1853: In commercial service - passengers and cargo
• 1855: First transatlantic passage by a steamer from Baltimore
• 1856: Inaugurated steamer service between U.S and South America
• 1856-57: Sailed the Nicaragua route with adventurers - Gold Rush "Californios" and soldiers of fortune following William Walker
• 1857: In commercial service - passengers and cargo New York to New Orleans
• 1861: April 21 - Captured by Confederate troops in New Orleans - pressed into service.
• 1862: April 28 - Captured by Union forces in New Orleans - pressed into service.
• 1862-64: Participated in Civil War naval Mississippi Campaign, Gulf Coast Blockade, Battle of Mobile Bay; often flagship of Adm. David Farragut
• 1864 Name changed to USS Mobile
• 1865: Bought at auction by Russell Sturgis and investment group - ship was repaired and refit, then renamed the SS Republic - returned to a New York - New Orleans run in May.

• October 18, 1865 : The SS Republic leaves New York - bound for New Orleans with a reported "$400,000 in specie."
• October 23 1865: Off the Georgia coast, a storm blows in, becoming a "perfect hurricane" by evening.
• October 24, 1865: The paddlewheels stall and can't carry the engine past dead center. The SS Republic is left powerless - drifting and at the mercy of the elements. Steam is raised on the donkey boiler to start the pumps.
• October 25, 1865: At 9am, the "donkey boiler" fails and water pours into the hold. The crew begins work on a makeshift raft and preparing the lifeboats. At 1:30 pm the lifeboats and raft begin launching. At 4:00pm, when all but 21 people were in the boats, the SS Republic broke in two and sank suddenly. Different newspaper accounts later say either one or two passengers drown while trying to swim through the ship's floating debris; all others swim to safely to one of the small craft.

• October 26, 1865: Lifeboat #1, under the command of the Republic’s captain, is rescued by the brig John W. Lovitt
• October 27, 1865: Lifeboat #2 is rescued in the afternoon by the schooner Willie Dill. Lifeboat #3 is spotted and rescued late on the 27th by the barkentine Horace Beals.
• October 29, 1865: Lifeboat #4 rescued after four nights at sea by the schooner Harper
• November 2, 1865: The raft, which departed with 18 people aboard, is spotted off Cape Hatteras by the U.S. Navy steamship, USS Tioga. Only two people remained on the raft to be rescued.

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