National Geographic Episodes on PBS

“Civil War Gold” follows efforts to salvage gold (and silver) coins from the hold of a sidewheel steamer that sank off the Georgia coast in October 1865. The ship: the Republic, which went down in a hurricane enroute to New Orleans from New York. Re-creations of the fateful voyage and passenger profiles supplement the story of $400,000 in coins. That's their face value; their value today could be $200 million, and there are 13,000 other artifacts as well.