The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-16
BIGYACHTS OF EARLY DAYS
PROF. ElNoIlNT TELLS lB0UT TEE
WRECKS OF LAKE NEML
Atlantic L~iueFn-rhe Lake ns Absut n wife
w~tae-Opintons ne 20 Their Intenaea Uses.

nation moro vividly than that OF the Two HnlpS
as big as the old transatlantic linors, which LAY
at the bottom Of tho Lake Of Nemi, seventeen
miles from Rome. The facts are briefly these
There was q tradition current among tn,
local fishermen that two great things" SOC
feet long. and as rich and beautiful as an on
chanted palace, had gone to tho bottom undei
the cliffs Of Gonzano, at the time Of the Roman
emperors; and that these "things" were sC
firmly built and well preserved that all efforti
to bring them to the surface or to cut them tc
pieces had proved useless. The tradition rested
on n foundation Of truth, because three such at
tempts are actually recorded in the history Of
the lake.
The first was made By Leone Battista Albert
at the time Of Eugonius Nv. 0431-1439); the
second by francesca do march, in 1888. the
third by Annesio Fusconi In 1927. The results
were always tho same. BY dragging over the
wrecks four-pronRod hooks attached to n chain,
beams Of hardwood, boards caulked with tar
and sailcloth. and sheets OF copper were COCA
sionally brought to tho surface.
In the exploration of 1885 q diving bell. or
something like II, Just invented by William
Of Marseilles. was brought into action. The
divers alighted on q spar deck, paved with slabs
Of white. red, and green enamel. undor which
ran lead water pipes nine inches in diameter.
They also laid their hands on nails of copper.
the aiming heads Of which were cut In the shape
Of stars. According to their calculation. the
ship on which they had made q descent meas
ured 46s feet between the perpendiculars, 234
feet beam. and % feet depth of hull. These fig.
ones, as we shall presently see, are none the less
surprising, II we consider the difficulty OF build.
ins H w laqf aehel!sh .hs hS Ssiee efffs' LAKE, Il sq Iia, an n
the bottom of a volcano crater-and Of floating
and manGuvring them in such a diminutive
The enterprise was tried for tho fourth time
In 1898. Two divers did the work, exploring
S SHs one 8, Of t the w tSsa Al Ii D. II, they were
and Of tho saw and Ratchet, but the State
officials having objected to the use Of such in
wreck piece by piece. the divers, reduced to tho
help OF their hands alone, were soon obliged to
jects to So recover eSs "' To Il these aseV %oojec aao es nsai HSI
rsPs' aaa on ssAS as % II liSn'' a w prc%IIne nj
place has already been given in the history Of
Greoo.Roman Art, SO beautiful and SO perfectly
point Of view OF history and chronology. was
the discovery of another section Of the same
lead water-pipe, seen three and a half centuries
Rula t37-41 A. d. was engraved. There was also
a pavement Of large tiles from the kilns Of a
certain Marcus, who made bricks In tho second
half Of the first century Of our era.
rious wreck OF Neml had been built at the time
~ Settk W n huu pVOh dhu COUu-
pleted under the reign Of Domitian ls1.96 A. d.,
who owned q beautiful villa close by. AS to its
ietty. or . landing place. lined with mooring
kinda Soatsouss. or bathing or aships lodge.
collapsed. and when its platform slid down the
steep bottom Of the lake to a distance of about
sunk at the same time. Such was the state Of
things when the exploration given up in the
month Of February of last year to allow tho
save the wreck from further destruction.
technically into tho su Jet was intrasted to a
naval engineer. signor Sittorio MaliattI. He
has furnished us with an excellent report. issued
In. the official Notizfe deGti Scaui for 1895. and
with an illustrated pamphlet with tho title,
lie Naui Romano del lago di Menu" reprinted
The following information is mainly gathered
Let me declare at the outset that the. finding
OF an ancient ship In good preservation Is by no
have already been discovered in my lifetime
IRON fps h Bridge in t at PA w Ripet sae 'S %ere sHnt IN IN he
Tiber by means Of compressed mir. The craft
: Sss 90 d sSFsS i isii %issIh in t s,it rand 4nsr @u ID f sSa al. ais
made. The second was discovered at Porto
Flo In 1884 In the foundations Of the Hotel della
Sirene. The mainmast. part OF the rudder. and
part OF the keel, with fragments Of the ribs, wore
exposed xp Q %,5. to y view :, In the spring : n ni Of 1885 5 about
on the Pontlne coast, well known in the history
OF Cicero. Augustus. and Conradin Won Hohen.
shore, which runs there very shallow.
q fisherman discovered the wreck Of g
K ko. a,led sra ai1ss a shiI; the or hull .art 9s w iass.
which were used in the shipment OF wine from
the islands to the continent, Crustacea OF vari.
ries the whole mass into q kind of coralliferous
rock. from which 1t was very bard 70 extricate
and DeFfACt gnpcimAna can he saen in
tho grounds OF the villa sindici at Porto d'Anzio.
In each Of these cases. however, we had TO
mage and hardly atty feet In length. Very dif-
ferent Is the case Of the Lake of Nemi. and you
when feoRmpared the seH vessels sells 8 Witch p 5iesp on snf its
waters in centuries gone by to the liners which
crossed the Atlantic twenty years ago;
taken very ingeniously by the head diver and
BY his assistant. Floaters,, tied to strings, were
the woodwork, care being taken to draw the
string tightly SO as to have the ioater absolutely
perpendicular sboye the point below. When the
to see the form, or horizontal section.
Of a great ship appear on the surface of the lake;
Of q subsequent period BY measurements taken
on the wreck itself. The length between
perpsndiculars has been sssertained to be
about two hundred feet; the beam eighteen and
one-half metres, or about sixty feet. The depth
which fills 1t to tho deck. The PROV lies
twelve and one.half metres. the stern only ave |
and three-tenths metres, below the surface.
The deck must have been q marvellous sight
to behold. and II goes beyond the power Of imag- |
ination for its strength and elegance. That fan |
ciful naval engineer who built these things for
must have thought he was paving q
hall OF an imperial bath instead of the deck OF q
ship. First comes the framework of wood, made |
Of beams ten inches and of boards four inches
thick. On this wooden floor is laid . bed of con- |
crete: and upon it a pavement Of bricks. each
been recovered, and many more have been left
below. Last Of all comes the pavement trodden |
by imperial feet, made of disks of pOrphyry and
gerpentine, not thicker than q silver dollar, |
framed In segments and lines Of enamel, white
and gold, white and red. or white. red. and
green. The colors are perfectly brilliant. Fancy
the deck of Q modern yacht inlaid In enamel!
The second ship lies at a distance Of 400 metres |
due south, about seventy feet below tho level Of
The lake. Exploration at such q depth 10 very |
i%ihicult. because the diver can hardly see at
seven feet distance; and besides, the objects
appear to him, through the glass OF his helmet,
twice as large as they are In reality. One
hing is certain, this second vessel 10 larger |
than the other. One of tho beams brought
ashore measures eighty-fve feet In length, ono of |
ts ends being broken, Assuming 90 feet to be
Tho width OF this ship, and the proportion be- |
tween width and length TO be the same as In tho
frst vessel. the length between the perpendicu- |
lars would come TO about 300 feet. A steamer