The Washington times., 1920-01-11

the Purser'
Safe and
Examine
the
Baggage
!. and Mail

AAsSPA A>0Ao AoA S9S 0FSSuy 80
covery Of at least large part
- of the wealth which has lain
at the bottom of the Irish Sea since
that Inflated afternoon in May.
1916, when torpedoes from Ger
man submarine sank the giant. Gu
nard liner !Lusitania, are most en-
couraging.
For some weeks past expert
divers have been prospecting the
position of the sunken steamship, | 20
and their report is SO favorable that +
1t is planned to undertake at once v
the recovery of the valuable cargo, =
the passengers baggage. the bodies
Of scores of victims who went down -.
with the ship and all the rich treas
ure that is locked in the purser's
strong rooms. Very soon now the
news may be expected that men are
actually hunting through the silent At.
staterooms, opening the purser's
safes and examining the huge
heaps of water-soaked baggage and Th>
mail. FL
Eor the present at least no at, - q
tempt will be made to raise the
vessel itself. As to whether this is
possible experts are not as yet
agreed. Some maintain that the Lusitania
can never be brought to the surface owing
to the great depth of water in which she
is resting. If, however, the efforts to sal
wage the steamers contents are as success
full as is now anticipated, 1t is probable
that an attempt to raise the boat itself win
be made before the close of the present
year.
Although the Lusitania carried only a
comparatively small cargo of freight. it
carried so many valuables in the shape of
personal property Of its passengers that its
shattered hulk undoubtedly contains one Of
the richest heaps Of treasure to be found
in the oceans depths.
AS everybody remembers, the Lusitania
had an unusually large passenger list on
the voyage that ended in its destruction.
Included in the list were Alfred Gwynne
Vanderbilt and more than forty other men
and women whose fortunes were rated in
the millions of dollars
Owing to the exigencies of the war, many
of these, as we'll as many Of the other pas
sengers, carried with them large guam
titles of .valuables which they would
otherwise have entrusted to the mails or
express.
Nine. Antoine Depage, for example, wife
Of ho poadical diroctor ~ tho paIpiou Pod
Cross, and one of the victims of the dis
aster, was making the trip to Europe to
carry to, her native land 100000 in gold
which she and her husband had helped
raise in this country for relief work. This
little fortune, with other valuables which
filed the purser's strong rooms to over
flowing, went to the bottom when the
German torpedoes tore gaping holes in the
liners sides.
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, another vic.
tim. Is said to have entrusted to the pur-
ser's care when the voyage began, money,
jewelry and securities worth in the vi.
cinity Of $4,000. Charles Frohman, the
theatrical manager; Ebert Hubbard, the
famous writer, and Charles Frederick
Fowles, the millionaire New York art
dealer. are some Of the numerous others
who had entrusted to the ships strong
rooms quantities Of property too valuable
to be kept in their staterooms or carried
about on their persons.
From all this 1t can be seen that the
purscr's strong rooms alone furnish rich
prize for the divers who are soon to brave
the gruesome interior Of the sunken liner.
II has been said that their contents are
worth s1,000,000, and to those who know
the distinguished character of the ships
passenger list this seems like con-
servative estimate.
Bui this Is not all. There are the trunks
and travelling bags Of the passengers