ANCIENT GALLEYS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4434, 1 April 1930, Page 4

ANCIENT GALLEYS.

LAKE N EMI OPERATIONS

TRADITION CONFOUNDED.

PLATES OP LEAD, NOT GOLD

Rome, March 25

The Prime Minister, Signor Mussolini, has ordered the cessation oi pumping opera tions at Lake Nemi. The two uncovered Caligula galleys were found to have been built of wood covered with lead plates instead of the traditional gold. Caius (Caesar Augustus Germanieus, nicknamed Caligula from the soldier’s boots (Caligulae) which he wore, succeeded in A.D. 37 Tiberius, whose death he was believed to have caused. He spent the whole fortune of Tiberius, amounting to. £5,050,000, within a year, banished or murdered his relatives, ordered hundreds of his subjects to be executed, and confiscated their estates, and amused himself while, dining by haying victims tortured and slain in his presence. The Rome correspondent of the DailyExpress, writing on March 29, 1929, described the pumping operations at Lake Nemi and the emergence above the sinking water of the poop of the lirst galley of Caligula. It had been submerged since the beginning of the Christian era. He said:—This was the climax of many months of work, during which the waters of the lake have been slowly pumped away by powerful electric pumps. It was the climax, too, of live centuries of attempts to salvage the two Roman vessels on the lake's bed.

Pumping operations will be continued day and night, and are lowering the level of the lake at the rate of 3in. a day. Samples of the timbers of the galley prove it :to consist of resinous pinewood cased in copper. The ancient vessel is badly damaged. Time and tide are not responsible, for the wood is still extremely strong. The damage was done by marauding divers in the past. A number of divers have succeeded in reaching the vessel since 144 b, when the first attempt was made. They removed parts of the vessel, and they secured most of the beautiful bronze decorations, some of which have been preserved in the Diocletian Baths Museum. It is believed, however, that the lower parts of the ship are in bet-

ter condition, and hopes of great discoveries concerning the life ol Caligula are entertained.

The ship is filled with mud, and it is thought that this will have preserved everything as it was in Roman times. No divers have cv< '••• penetrated the interior of the vessel. It was only in 1895 that the Italian Navy ascertained that there were two Roman ships at the bottom of the lake. Tt was also learned that the ship whose poop is visible to-day is 2-1 Of I. long and (ififf. wide. The other ship is about 225 ft. long and 90ft. wide. This ship, being more toward the centre of the lake, is lying deeper. The Emperor Caligula used these galley's as a refuge from the summer heal of Rome. Banquets were given on hoard, and all the masts and rigging were decked with roses. Dancing girls and musicians entertained the emperor’s guests.