The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-08

Yet the vessel is still In sufficiently good
condition to float.
The second ship was found a a depth
of about twenty-five meters and is buried
for more than half its length in the bed
of the lake. 1t is of larger dimensions
than the first and length of about for
ty meters from the PROV is left uncovered
by the mud. Ii lies on its right side With
the PROV facing the shore about fifty met
ers from the land and 200 meters from che
first ship. The whole ship is so well pre-
served that it can be raised and recovered
entirely. The vessel nearer the shore and
in shallower water appears to be the most
injured; the other, although in better pres
ervaton from having escaped preceding
attempts al recovery, viii prove more diff
ficut to raise, owing to the great depth
at which it lies buried.
In a recent number of the Nouzie degli
Scavi the naval engineer who has the SUI
pervision of the work of investigation, Sig
nor Malfatti, gives a detailed account of
the present condition, position, measure
ments, ETC., of the two Roman ships. He
is of the opinion that the second vessel
was originally as rich in ornaments Of
bronze and terra Gotta as the first, but
that owing to the inclined position of the
ship at the bottom of the lake the orna-
mental objects must have fallen into the
water and have been buried deep in the
mud. This would account for the present
bare condition of that part of the ship
which projects into the water.
The larger part of Signor Malfatts ar
ticle is devoted to the question of the
best method of recovering the ships in their
entirety The principal difficulty lies not
in how to raise the skeletons of the YES
sells, but in making so complete study
of the structure, the ornamentation and
the detached portions, that the ships may
be restored to something like their orig
inal condition. This would require eXca-
vations in the mud of the lake bed to COM
pletely uncover the buried portions of the
vessels and recover detached fragments
1t would also require a scientific study of
all the objects in their present position
Work of this kind could obviously not be
done by divers, even the most expert and
would demand freedom to move about a
condition which can not be attained by any
means short of lowering the level of the
lake and leaving the vessels on the dry
bottom. Regardless of the question wheth-
er complete recovery of this kind is i'm
perative for science, there remain
only two methods by which they
can be recovered at all-either by
raising the ships from the bottom or by
lowering the level of the lake water Sig
nor Malfatt, after detailed study of the
two methods and a minute explanation of
the work necessary in either case. pro-
nounces himself In favor of lowering the
water level as being the only way of Sc
curing complete restoration of the ships.
With regard to the expense involved Sig
nor Malfatti estimates that lowering the
water level would cost about 250OO0 lire,
or $4,000 while the expense of raising the
ships, 1t seems, for many reasons, to be
impossible TO calculate. Fifty thousand
dollars would leave the ships on dry land.
and the subsequent excavation, restorat ton.
and transportation of the two vessels
would involve further outlay. 1t seems
improbable that the italian government
will assume the expensive an undertaking.
and 1t is greatly to be feared that these
two wonderfully ancient ships, built by
the Emperor Caligula, will continue to lie
buried at the bottom of Lake Nemi unless
some public-spirited benefactor comes for
ward to hep the cause of science. The
SHIPS themselves can be bought and be-
come the property of the purchaser, and
the magnificent bronzes are also offered
for sale, and could be transported to this
country and placed in some museum or
private collection should some wealthy
American take the fancy to spend his
money for this purpose