On manifests, a great subject! Now we're getting into a substantive discussion. First, Republic's manifest has not been found. It's not that it doesn't contain any gold cargo, the manifest itself is simply not available - anywhere. Normally, a manifest would have had to have been filed in the Public Inquiry into the collision, the loss of life, cargo and the ship herself. The ship's plans, cargo stowage plan, and the testimony of numerous witnesses would all be heard in a public forum, and well documented. Fault, too, would have to be determined. After all, Republic was the largest vessel lost to her day and policy questions regarding wireless at sea, speed under adverse conditions, number of lifeboats, bulkhead construction and, in general, how did the unsinkable ship sink? - all issues related to Titanic, were raised by the worldwide press and would have had to have been addressed. But, guess what? No public inquiry was ever held concerning Republic. So, since we can't find the documents there, let's look at general manifest policy. A good example would be the munitions cargo aboard Lusitania, recently located, the "supplemental manifest." See
deadly cargo In brief, cargoes which arrived late or for security or other reasons, special cargoes could be manifested separately. Items arriving late would be manifested separately. The Russian gold was shipped only once the New York banker's were assured that the Russian European Bond issue had been successful and that the collateral existed for repayment. The successful flotation of the 1909 loan was only determined when the Russian loan closed, January 22, 1909 - in Europe, European time. So, since Europe is six hours ahead and Republic departed 3 pm New York time, there was sufficient time to bring the no-doubt pre-assembled gold from the Sub Treasury in lower Manhattan to the White Star Line pier a short distance away, and load the cargo; but that cargo would not have appeared on the main manifest anyway because of its late loading. Furthermore, since boxes or barrels were loaded, there was no need to inform the steamship company of their contents unless disclosure was a requirement of an insurance company. Government shipments are self-insured by the Governments themselves. Finally, we isolated another secret government shipment of $22 million in Japanese gold, shipped to Paris in September 1905. See:
Correlation Analysis - 1914 Gold Shortage | RMS - Republic That gold arrived and shows up both in published French import data, as well as in Bank of France records. But it's no where to be seen in US records. That much gold leaving New York, leaving the country, would have had a negative impact on the New York market. So, it was not acknowledged - and even a cover story was created to account for what people did see - banks recalling short-term loans to gather the money to send to the interior for crops! (But, in reality, to export it, the unseen part).
Finally, no one thought Republic would sink. There is no reason to remove valuable cargoes from an unsinkable vessel. Typical advice at the time was to leave all cargo in place unless there was a perceived absolute necessity to remove it. Republic sank while under tow back to New York. And, there was no practical way to remove 40 tons of gold manually, which was stored on the lower deck and, as a added security measure, beneath hundreds of tons of other cargo loaded in the specie room itself, in the hatchway landing in front of the specie room, and in the hatchway column filling the trunked hatch completely; the specie room was well secured. Remember, the collision occurred in the engine room - the ship was without any power. No winches were available even if they thought the ship would sink!
Again, I cover all of these issues in my book The Tsar's Treasure. Now, we're getting somewhere - great questions!
