SUNKEN LUSITANIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 29 April 1937, Page 9

SUNKEN LUSITANIA

SALVAGE PROPOSALS BULLION AND SCRAP METAL Salvage operations in the former Cunard liner Lusitania, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in 1915, with a loss of 1198 lives, are expected to begin this month. It Is planned to break the ship up under water by explosives and sell the metal as 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 Glasg,*.v, at a point 11 miles from Kinsale Head, Ireland. The sounder recorder 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, but 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 1300 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 1320 ft. The suit represents a different method to that employed by the Italian salvage siiip Artiglio.