But what about the pickles?…

“The Republic …sailed from New York in 1865, just after the Civil War, carrying 59 passengers and crew and a mixed cargo meant to help New Orleans recover from the war. About 100 miles off Georgia, battling a hurricane, it sank in waters a third of a mile deep.”

Now a Florida salvage company has found her and is salvaging her. “‘[The cargo] goes from pepper sauce to pickles to Champagne to mustard to patent medicine,’ Mr. Stemm said. ‘They’re in beautiful condition and they tell a beautiful story of what the North thought the South needed after the war.’

“(He said he was puzzled about one thing. ‘It’s the beginning of Reconstruction,’ he said. ‘In this valuable space, why were they sending down pickles?'”)