This book tells of a remarkable ship and the equally fascinating story of the search for it by Greg Stemm and John Morris, two modern pioneers of shipwreck exploration. In the tradition of Ship of Gold and Shadow Divers, former National Geographic Editor Priit J. Vesilind has recreated the life and times of the fascinating SS Republic - used by the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War - and Stemm and Morris' arduous modern day hunt for the dual-wheeled steamer that was downed by a violent hurricane in 1865.
 
Stemm and Morris, founders of Odyssey Marine Exploration, were driven by reports that the steamship's cargo, bound for New Orleans after the Civil War, included $400,000 in gold and silver coins. They knew the coins from the mid-1800s, if found, would be of heart-stopping value to today's collectors. In the thrilling discovery of the ship in 2003 by Odyssey Marine Exploration, the adventuresome partners found the fulfillment of their long-time dream: thousands of glittering coins strewn across the ocean floor.
 
More than 51,000 coins have been recovered, creating tremendous excitement for collectors around the world. The total collection is valued at over $75 million - one of the most valuable collections of U.S. gold and silver coins ever found in a shipwreck. The rarest single coin brought to the surface is valued at more than half a million dollars. Now the fabulous tale of this Civil War-era shipwreck, hidden for 138 years on the ocean floor, is told for the first time in book form - in a thrilling nautical yarn of immense risk and even greater rewards.