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CNN Live Today

Gold From the Deep

Aired August 20, 2003 - 10:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Divers believe that they have found the wreckage of the side wheel steamship the S.S. Republic. This project took a dozen years and covered some 1,500 square miles of ocean, but it did so successfully. The vessel survived the Civil War only to lose a battle to a hurricane in 1865. It was believed to be carrying some $400,000 worth of gold coins from New York to New Orleans. However, in today's money, that gold is worth, some believe, about $150 million.
Well, Odyssey Marine Exploration is preparing now to get down there and excavate this site. We have talked about this task and some of the history involved with Greg Stemm. He is the company's cofounder, and he joins us from Tampa this morning.

Good morning, Greg.

Boy, you've got to be happy to hear all this coming up. This is fantastic. Tell us, from what I understand, this could possibly be the richest excavation in history.

GREG STEMM, ODYSSEY MARINE EXPEDITION: Hello, Leon.

We try to steer away from the superlatives where we can. It doesn't really matter whether it's the richest or the second richest, but we think our shareholders are going to be pretty happy with the results of this particular find.

HARRIS: And it took you 12 years; you covered thousands of square miles of ocean. How much water is all of this under right now?

STEMM: Well, we've got it under about 1,700 feet of water right now. It's fairly deep. This will right now be the deepest archaeological excavation that's ever taken place.

HARRIS: What kind of a challenge is that going to be?

STEMM: Well, we have the technology. We've done it before in a little bit shallower water. But we've got the right team to put it together. The guys are working on the ROV system right now as we speak, and we should be out next month, ready to begin excavating the site.

HARRIS: So you don't think weather is going to be a problem as you move closer to wintertime now?

STEMM: Well, we have a pretty good-sized ship out there, and the occasional cold front might cause a problem. But we have the equipment, they're ready to go and the weather shouldn't be too much of a problem.

HARRIS: You know what, Greg, in addition to the story of you all getting out there and finding this gold, there's the story of the ship itself. As I read it, they call this the Forest Gump of ships because of its history?

STEMM: It's an amazing story. When we first found about this ship about a dozen years ago, we were as interested in the history as the money on it. This thing, everywhere in the Civil War era there was something interesting going on, this ship showed up. It was part of the gold rush. It was part of this amazing expedition by a guy named William Walker, who took a group of ragtag soldiers down to Nicaragua. They took over Nicaragua. He became president of Nicaragua. This ship was involved in bringing those guys back. Then it was a Confederate blockade number, then it was captured by the Union, and then it was Admiral Farragaut's flagship. It's an amazing story.

HARRIS: That's incredible.

So who originally owned the gold then?

STEMM: Well, the original gold was probably owned by bankers and various businessmen, and it's hard to tell whom owned the gold. What we do know is what was placed in the care of the purser, according to the research at the time, and it's a good chunk of gold.

HARRIS: It's pretty much all yours now because it's outside of international waters, right?

STEMM: Well, it's our shareholders. We have a bunch of shareholders out there that have shown a lot of faith in our company for a long time, and we're just really happy that they're going to see the benefit of this.

HARRIS: Well, listen, we want to see some of the products, we want to see some of the stuff when you bring it up. Can we get you to show us some of this when you get a break?

STEMM: We can do that. In fact, can you go to our Web site right now at shipwreck.net, and you can see some of the video of the site and pictures see some of the different things on the site. But maybe we can get you out there on the ship, Leon.

HARRIS: Hey, listen, we'll talk, all right. I promise you that, pal.

Greg Stemm, congratulations. This is fantastic. Good luck to you and all you have your shareholders.

STEMM: OK, thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 20, 2003 - 10:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Divers believe that they have found the wreckage of the side wheel steamship the S.S. Republic. This project took a dozen years and covered some 1,500 square miles of ocean, but it did so successfully. The vessel survived the Civil War only to lose a battle to a hurricane in 1865. It was believed to be carrying some $400,000 worth of gold coins from New York to New Orleans. However, in today's money, that gold is worth, some believe, about $150 million.
Well, Odyssey Marine Exploration is preparing now to get down there and excavate this site. We have talked about this task and some of the history involved with Greg Stemm. He is the company's cofounder, and he joins us from Tampa this morning.

Good morning, Greg.

Boy, you've got to be happy to hear all this coming up. This is fantastic. Tell us, from what I understand, this could possibly be the richest excavation in history.

GREG STEMM, ODYSSEY MARINE EXPEDITION: Hello, Leon.

We try to steer away from the superlatives where we can. It doesn't really matter whether it's the richest or the second richest, but we think our shareholders are going to be pretty happy with the results of this particular find.

HARRIS: And it took you 12 years; you covered thousands of square miles of ocean. How much water is all of this under right now?

STEMM: Well, we've got it under about 1,700 feet of water right now. It's fairly deep. This will right now be the deepest archaeological excavation that's ever taken place.

HARRIS: What kind of a challenge is that going to be?

STEMM: Well, we have the technology. We've done it before in a little bit shallower water. But we've got the right team to put it together. The guys are working on the ROV system right now as we speak, and we should be out next month, ready to begin excavating the site.

HARRIS: So you don't think weather is going to be a problem as you move closer to wintertime now?

STEMM: Well, we have a pretty good-sized ship out there, and the occasional cold front might cause a problem. But we have the equipment, they're ready to go and the weather shouldn't be too much of a problem.

HARRIS: You know what, Greg, in addition to the story of you all getting out there and finding this gold, there's the story of the ship itself. As I read it, they call this the Forest Gump of ships because of its history?

STEMM: It's an amazing story. When we first found about this ship about a dozen years ago, we were as interested in the history as the money on it. This thing, everywhere in the Civil War era there was something interesting going on, this ship showed up. It was part of the gold rush. It was part of this amazing expedition by a guy named William Walker, who took a group of ragtag soldiers down to Nicaragua. They took over Nicaragua. He became president of Nicaragua. This ship was involved in bringing those guys back. Then it was a Confederate blockade number, then it was captured by the Union, and then it was Admiral Farragaut's flagship. It's an amazing story.

HARRIS: That's incredible.

So who originally owned the gold then?

STEMM: Well, the original gold was probably owned by bankers and various businessmen, and it's hard to tell whom owned the gold. What we do know is what was placed in the care of the purser, according to the research at the time, and it's a good chunk of gold.

HARRIS: It's pretty much all yours now because it's outside of international waters, right?

STEMM: Well, it's our shareholders. We have a bunch of shareholders out there that have shown a lot of faith in our company for a long time, and we're just really happy that they're going to see the benefit of this.

HARRIS: Well, listen, we want to see some of the products, we want to see some of the stuff when you bring it up. Can we get you to show us some of this when you get a break?

STEMM: We can do that. In fact, can you go to our Web site right now at shipwreck.net, and you can see some of the video of the site and pictures see some of the different things on the site. But maybe we can get you out there on the ship, Leon.

HARRIS: Hey, listen, we'll talk, all right. I promise you that, pal.

Greg Stemm, congratulations. This is fantastic. Good luck to you and all you have your shareholders.

STEMM: OK, thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com