Captain Martin Gerard Bayerle (born April 23, 1951) is an American
treasure hunter
Treasure hunter 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 ...
and author, best known for finding the 1909 shipwreck of the
White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
r
RMS ''Republic''. He is also star of the History Channel show "
Billion Dollar Wreck
''Billion Dollar Wreck'' is a History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbre ...
." The ''Republic'' was the largest ship to sink in history to her day, only to be eclipsed by the loss of
RMS Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
in 1912. Capt. Bayerle and his company, Martha's Vineyard Scuba Headquarters, Inc. ("MAVIS") were referred to as "modern day
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
" but in a complimentary sense by Judge
Nancy Gertner
Nancy Gertner (born May 22, 1946) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She assumed senior status on May 22, 2011, and retired outright from the federal bench on Septembe ...
of the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts in a 2005 opinion granting exclusive
salvage rights
Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, re-floating a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Today, protecting the coastal environment from ...
to the ''Republic'' to MAVIS.
MAVIS subsequently acquired legal title to the RMS Republic shipwreck and her contents in August 2011, with the U.S. District Court of Boston also barring all future claims.
Biography
Early life
Martin was born in St. Albans Naval Hospital in
Queens, New York
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...
, and grew up in the
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach i ...
neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ''Fatal Obsession,'' August 22, 1993, Vol. 67 No. 22, A:1, A:12 by Mark S. Warnick.] 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. Martin lost sight in his left eye from a small explosives accident when he was 11 years old.
He first began
scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
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.
Early career
Martin attended
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in New York from 1969 through 1972 where he majored in
Geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
.
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.
He began running dive operations to local shipwreck sites, such as the ''Mistletoe'', ''Black Warrior'', ''
USS Turner (DD-648)
USS ''Turner'' (DD-648), was a of the United States Navy. She was commissioned on 15 April 1943 and sank after suffering internal explosions on 3 January 1944.
Service history Commission
''Turner'' was named for Captain Daniel Turner and was ...
'', ''
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
'', and ''
U-853'', among others. He trained about 1,200 people how to scuba dive and became a Master
PADI SCUBA instructor in 1975 (# M1761).
Brooklyn Divers was operated successfully until 1978, when the company’s source of supply and advertisements was abruptly cut off. Martin sued eight SCUBA company defendants for price fixing conspiracy under the
Sherman Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author.
Th ...
and reached a six-figure settlement once the case went to trial in federal court in the
Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New Y ...
(''Brooklyn Diver Supply Corp. v ScubaPro, Petersen Publications, Dacor, NASDS ...'' – and other major components of the sport SCUBA diving industry).
Martin then closed up his Brooklyn operations and moved to
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the ...
.
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 fabled shipwreck of the
RMS ''Republic''.
The ''Republic'' was the largest ship to sink in history when she sank off the U.S. East Coast in January 1909 and was reportedly carrying a vast cargo of gold.
Discovery and salvage of the RMS ''Republic''
After two and a half years of preparatory research to determine the wreck’s location, Capt. Bayerle discovered the wreck of the
RMS ''Republic'' in 1981.
[The Associated Press, June 28, 1983, Tuesday, AM cycle, Domestic News, 447 words. ''Sunken Luxury Liner Identified off Nantucket,'' FAIRHAVEN, Mass.] 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 285 ft
Diving Support Vessel
A diving support vessel is a ship that is used as a floating base for professional diving projects. Basic requirements are the ability to keep station accurately and reliably throughout a diving operation, often in close proximity to drilling or ...
, the ''Oil Endeavor'' (renamed the ''SOSI Inspector'') in the years following the find. Martin also married during those years and he and his wife, Susan, gave birth to two children – a daughter, Tessa, and a son, Grant.
During the summer of 1987, Martin 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,'' ''ABC Evening News'', and ''ABC Good Morning America''. The 74-day salvage was also closely followed in international periodicals, such as ''Forbes,'' ''New York Times,'' ''Associated Press,''
''Japan Times'', ''London Times,'' and the ''Los Angeles Times'' 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. Once they realized they were in the wine locker rather than the specie room, Capt. Bayerle flew to London and appeared on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
and
BBC radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
, offering a £25,000 reward for the construction plans of the ''Republic''. 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.
Post-salvage life
Following the salvage attempt, the 1987 joint venture disbanded and any artifacts brought up were sold at auction. Martin moved to
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. The population of the city was 16,039 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg micro ...
, to live with his in-laws, the Youngs, on a small farm.
He finished his undergraduate education, earning B.Sc. and B.Sc.B.Adm.
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
degrees from
Fairmont State College and went on to start his M.B.A. education from
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...
.
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.
First-degree murder trial and manslaughter conviction
On April 6, 1991, Bayerle shot and killed 38-year old Stefano Robotti, the 'lover' of his alienated wife Susan, near
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. The population of the city was 16,039 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg micro ...
. He argued that he "was protecting his family," although a legal and justifiable homicide defense of self or defense of family was not offered to the jury as an option. Evidence of the sexual exploitation of Bayerle's wife and children by the deceased was presented at trial. After a six-week trial, the jury vacillated between involuntary (a misdemeanor) and voluntary manslaughter, and 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.
Post conviction and release
Upon his release, Capt. Bayerle continued school in
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...
, to complete his M.B.A. education. There, he began an
Internet Service Provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
business that he ran for five years and established IDEA, the Internet Development and Exchange Association.
Recent developments
Capt. Bayerle subsequently started an archival research company specializing in retrieving records from government archives. His old company, MAVIS, has since acquired
legal title
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
to the wreck of the RMS ''Republic'' and her contents, with the court also barring all future claims.
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.'' In 2013, MAVIS retained Etoile Blanc Consulting, LLC to manage investment and media properties related to the RMS Republic recovery. Investment opportunities are made available to Accredited Investors through Lords Of Fortune LLC. ("LoF") Captain Bayerle's personal life is also the subject of an upcoming non-fiction book series, with the first book of the trilogy planned for release in mid-2022. Plans to adapt the series into feature films are also in development.
LoF is currently preparing for a major recovery operation of the wreck planned for the summer seasons of 2023–2024, the delay attributable to the COVID pandemic.
References
External links
Official website of the RMS Republic shipwreckOfficial website for the book "The Tsar's Treasure: The Sunken White Star Liner With a Billion Dollar Secret"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayerle, Martin
1951 births
Living people
Treasure hunters
White Star Line
Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn) alumni
Brooklyn College alumni