RMS LUSITANIA

[barney]

A short video about the life and loss of the RMS LUSITANIA. Diving this wreck was an incredible and moving experience. The dives were cold, not only literally, but moreover, figuratively, due to the knowledge that almost 1,200 lives were snuffed out so quickly due to the sinking. And then the dive team stumbled upon a docking telegraph thought lost during an earlier salvage attempt by the wreck owner's agents, we were tasked with recovering this remarkable artifact. Great memories!

 

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[Mackaydon]

Back in the 50s, I purchased a book entitled 'The Last Voyage of the Lusitania' by A.A. and Mary Hochling.
A tragic story, for sure.
Congrats on retrieving the telegraph.
Don...

 

[Gare]

Back in the 50's I had an English teacher Mrs. Vinton tell us about her grand father was killed on it. I still remember her saying there was rumors it was carrying arms even then

 

[Gare]

The Lusitania was carrying a cargo of rifle ammunition and shells (together about 173 tons), and the Germans, who had circulated warnings that the ship would be sunk, felt themselves fully justified in attacking a vessel that was furthering the war aims of their enemy. The German government also felt that, in view of the vulnerability of U-boats while on the surface and the British announcement of intentions to arm merchant ships, prior warning of potential targets was impractical. On May 13, 1915, the U.S. government sent a note to Berlin expressing an indictment of the principles on which the submarine war was being fought. The note was written by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan,


Did the Germans have a right to sink it. It was carrying war materials to Great Britan

 

[enrada]

Did you have to get permission to dive on it? Did you have a recovery permit for the artifact from Greg?

 

[barney]

Did you have to get permission to dive on it? Did you have a recovery permit for the artifact from Greg?

Yes, you needed both permission from Greg and also a permit from Irish Heritage. When we found the telegraph, we reported it to both parties. Greg demanded we recover it immediately, while Irish Heritage wanted to insure the recovery was conducted properly and not result in the same outcome as the original attempt (that incident and the cover up caused a big dust up). We were asked to tie off the telegraph to the wreck on our second dive (that's the blue line) while they discussed the merits of recovery. With the weather shutting us down the rest of the week after the third day, it forced the issue a bit more and we got a last minute license to recover the telegraph on our third dive. It was an interesting experience...LOL.

 

[devldog]

That had to have been a real honor to be able to take part in the five and recovery on such an important artifact and piece of History. Well Done, and Thanks for sharing this video with us. Most Interesting.

 

[ivan salis]

well sadly if a vessel is carrying war goods like ammo it is fair game even if it has people onboard it … the germans warned folks that passenger ships carried war goods they would be sunk --its sinking and the huge loss of lives brought the USA into the war on the British side