LUSITANIA TREASURE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 265, 5 April 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

LUSITANIA TREASURE.

PROPERTY OF ENORMOUS VALUE IN" HIE LOST SHIP. Secret plans are beiug made both in England and the United States to recover the treasure which went down in the Lusitania. It is believed that the money, jewellerv, and other valuables are wcrth at least JBI.OOO.UOD, and apparently all this vast treasure is free to anyoncwho can raise it. Even the possibility °* salving the Lusitania herself is being considered, but no definite plans for this bold enter-pri-e can be made until the divers have examined her condition, probably next spring. .Even as scrap her value would be very large. The petition of the ship, eight miles off the Old Head of Kinsale has been charted with great exactitude, and she lies 270 ft down. Such a deptii a few years ago would have rendered salvage work practically unthinkable but modern improvement in diving apparatus has made it possible for divers to work at that and even a greater depth for considerable period.-; of time at a stretch. This was demonstrated in raising the United States submarine F+, which sank outside Honolulu Harbour en March 25, 1915 and wae refloated and towed into the harbour on August 29 of the same year. Shs lav on a slope on the ocean led. her bow' 288 ft below the surface and her stern 306 ft; yet divers worked in fair comfort at these depths, and therebv established a world's record. The'Lusitania"s depth of 270 ft does not present the difficulties that the i I did although there is one disadvantage in the difference in the temperature of the water, that oft Honolulu being much warmer than off the coast of Ireland. The 270 ft depth is .-aid to be the maximum, and proper allowance should be made for her height on beam, dependin" upon whether she is lying fairly upright or on her -ide. Her Warn is over 80ft and her height approximately the same This, it was contended, would considerably reduce the depth at which it would be necessary for the divers to work. . , ii If lying fairly upright there would be little difficulty in retrieving the contents of the strong-room, which is near the purser'- office on one of the upper decks. The belongings of the wealthy pa-srngers would present even less difficulty, "as they would be higher up on the promenade decks. The holds wherein are the passengjrs' baggage are on a level with the lower deck, which is above the vessel's water line, 31ft above the keel. Lying on her cidc would offer perhaps even move advantages of operation, as access would be aa-sy to various parts of the vessel, even to the cargo holds.