NOVEL DIVING TUBE

Hokitika Guardian, 1 February 1932, Page 3

NOVEL DIVING TUBE

TRIAL ON LUSITANIA AN AMERICAN INVENTION. PHOTOGRAPHING THE WRECK. An ingenious diving apparatus, the. Lake submarine tube, invented by an American marine engineer, Mr Simon ■Lake,, will probably be tried out dramatically by exploring the wreck-of the famous Cunnrd liner Lusitania, torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915 off the Irish coast. Contrary to general belief, the Lusitania is not a “treasure ffiip there is no gold aboard, and ht>; cargo is otherwise intrinsically worthless from a salvaging point of view. She has been chosen because her his tory is so wejl known, and more inerest will be focused on the attempt than would have been the case if some more commonplace wreck was chosen.

Captain H. H. Riley, of New York, will be the leader of the expedition. He first obtained tentative approval of his Man from the Liverpool and London War Risks Association, the body that has jurisdiction over the wreck, and it was subsequently approved by the ■Admiralty.

Briefly Mr 'Lake’s apparatus may be described a s a steel enclosed stairway through which one can descend into the sea to a depth limited only by the length of the tube. Its most important practical feature is that it will enable submarine operations under normal ’tmospherie pressure and free communication with the surface vessel to which the tube is attached. At the submerged end of the tube is an operating and diving chamber which' may be middy filled with compressed air, permitting the divers to have access to the sen without the flow of water eufoi-: iu r the tube. Divers using the tube will thus he able to operate for longer •mriods than is ■ customary at considerable depth. The Lusitania, the pride of the "unard fleet, was torpedoed in 40 fathoms, approximately eight miles south-south-west- of the Old Head of iKinsnle. Ireland, at two o’clock in the afternoon of May 7, 1915. It will be remembered that the Germans issued warnings to Americans proposing to travel -by her on her voyage from New York to 'Southampton. The enemy alleged that she carried large ipiantities of war munitions, but this point, was never cleared up. In Britain it was never thought that'the Germans would carry ouTTlieir threat, as a passenger vessel hafT'never '“previously been sunk in wnrfve. but ,Ute' fterninns carried out their nefarious plans, and when the great 'liner sank 1200 iinlortunnte men, women and children lost their lives. A thrill of horror passed over the civilised world, and tin* Gormans struck a medal commemorating the ieat <>l their sabmarine. Realising that the wreck i s the Imnb of the. 1200 drowned, the Rilev-Lake expedition will coniine its investigations to a merely general survey of the wre,-k, iin ,| probably the only things brought to the surface will lie a few souvenirs. The human remains resting at the bottom of the sea will not he disturbed in any way. The Lake tube is in reality two mors joined, rts depth of submergence will b e controlled by lines attached to a mother ship, and the intention is to