SUNKEH LUSITANIA

Evening Star, Issue 22632, 26 April 1937, Page 3

SUNKEH LUSITANIA

SALVAGE PROPOSALS Salvage operations in the former Cunard liner Lusitania,-which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in 1915, with a loss of .1,198 lives, are expected to begin this month. It is planned to break the ship up under water by explosives and sell the metal for scrap, and probably, it is stated, for the manufacture of armaments. . , Two obstacles have hitherto: prevented the salvaging of the Lusitania, which, in addition to its value as scrap metal, is believed to contain large quantities of gold and valuable jewellery, said to total between £500,000 and £1,000,000. The first obstacle was ignorance of the position of the hull, the second the lack of suitable diving equipment. The liner is believed to have been located by echo-sounder apparatus by Captain Henry B. Russell, of Glasgow, at a point'll miles from Kinsale Head, Ireland. The sounder recorded an object 780 ft long and 84ft in height; these are the dimensions of the Lusitania. Subsequently a diver, Mr James Jarratt, descended to the vessel and stood on the deck, hut was compelled by rough weather to return to the surface before he had positively identified the ship. He noticed, however, that the rivets were the same size as those in the Lusitania. The great liner lies in more than 300 ft of water, and the ordinary diving dress is limited to a maximum depth of 180 ft. This obstacle was overcome by the invention by _Mr J. A. Peress of an all-metal diving suit capable, it is claimed, of working at a depth of over 1,300 ft. This suit has been tested in Loch Ness at depths of 400 ft, and in a pressure tank at a pressure of 6001 b per square inch, which corresponds to a depth of 1,320 ft. The suit represents a different method to that employed by- the Italian salvage ship Artiglio.