Films

Imagine if you had all the prime elements of the great treasure hunting films – the pirates, the shipwreck, the treasure, the research, even the love interest – all wrapped up in a single story. Now imagine if this story was real. We’ve consumed a considerable number of treasure hunting and pirate books over the past few years and have yet to find any that are on par with the mystery of Republic and Capt. Bayerle’s personal story. From an objective view, there just isn’t a real-world treasure hunting tale has all the attractive story elements that his contains.

Captain Bayerle, as Founder and President of MVSHQ, is one of very few people alive (perhaps the only living person) that has been dubbed a “modern day pirate” - in the romantic, complimentary sense - in an official judicial opinion by a United States federal court. The 2005 Memorandum was written by the Honorable Judge Nancy Gertner, a popular female judge then sitting at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The U.S. District Court in Boston is one of the most celebrated maritime courts in the country, hearing cases since its inception in the late 1700’s.

Judge Gertner took over the Republic case from Judge Walter Jay Skinner upon his death. Skinner was a pro-government judge best known for his judicial role in the water contamination case that served as the basis for the legal drama A Civil Action. He went on to take the Republic case at its inception in 1983. Not only was this case one of the first handful of cases where a U.S. court claimed jurisdiction over a wreck in international waters, but it is also likely the longest running maritime case currently in the U.S. judicial system.

Although Capt. Bayerle has been dubbed a modern-day pirate in an official opinion, he also bears his signature black felt eyepatch. When he was only 12 years old, Martin lost the use of his left eye in a small explosives accident in Brooklyn. The eye-patch is a legitimate handicap for those with his condition, even protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act. As we progress toward recovery efforts, any filming or photography will be accompanied by the trademark, which will only work to increase awareness and interest in media aspects of the project.

Martin’s personal journey, the 35-year quest to find the billions of dollars in fabled gold on the Millionaires’ Ship, is the epitome of the tale of the treasure hunter, and will be the standard by which all other treasure hunting tales will be judged. His story offers the flipside of the coin, the fight to overcome adversity just to venture from rags to riches and back to rags again. To quote treasure hunter Keith Jessop, author of Goldfinger and finder of the HMS Edinburgh’s 5 tons of gold, “the first rule of treasure-hunting is that one sometimes fails to find what one is looking for.” As for other famous treasure hunters, Mel Fisher’s illustrious 16 years of searching for the fabled gold of the Atocha pales in comparison. The longevity of this project only adds to the media appeal; if it had been an easy task, the gold would have been recovered long ago. The combination of a mysterious sunken treasure, a sunken White Star Liner, an emotional love story, and a real modern-day pirate makes his story extremely unique, and it begs to be told through books and feature films.

The first book, The Tsar’s Treasure: The Sunken White Star Liner With a Billion Dollar Secret was released August 1st, 2013. The books capturing the personal treasure hunting story (to be adapted to feature films) are in the development stage, with the first planned for release mid-2014.

We are currently entertaining inquiries from both Hollywood screenwriters and production companies that wish to participate in the story. For information on how to get involved, please contact us.