HOW IT WAS DONE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 28, 14 November 1935, Page 8

HOW IT WAS DONE

I LOCATING THE LUrS'IT'ANIA. . ' u—i iVALUE OF THE} EC‘HOhS‘OU‘NDER. } _— A recent cablegram from ‘London announced the fact that the sunken wreck of the Lusitania, which fell victim to an attack by a German submarine during the Great \Var, had been located by a salvage expedition at a depth of 350 feet. The following report gives an idea of the immense .value of the equipment with which the search was carried out. The. steamer Ophir was. commissioned in June in preparation .for exploring and, if possible, sa-lving documents and valuables from the Lusitania. The Ophir is equipped with two competitive echo—sounders, a Marconi-Lange-vin 'ultrarsonicpattern and a. Huson Admiralty Recorder. . After the ship had“ steamed five miles south and 10 east from Old Head the echo-sounder charted 'a large. wreck lying in 47 fathoms. Those on the bridge, who were excitedly watching the wreck’s outline forming on the echo-sounder chart, had a striking illustration of the instrument’s delicacy. As‘ the anchor chain paid out, its outline was clearly registered on theehart. Bad weather and the loss of an important marking buoy hampered diving operations, but Captain Russell was confident that the .echosounder would be the means of locating the wreck, since its extreme accuracy made its results foolproof. A later message showed that his faith was justified. a . ' .The value of the echo-sounder has been recognised for some time by maritime authorities in New Zealand, ’and steps are being taken (says the “Ewening Post”) to have the possibilities of the apparatus more Widely recognis~ ed with a _view to utilising it in determining the depth of the channel in certain of the more important bar harbours of New Zealand. Such an equipment would provide a quick and very accurate record of the state of the channel, and would; hare a tremendous advantage over the present sounding methods.