Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-08
.LUS|TA|V|A PROJECT
j. MAY LEAD To ROW
BY BURTON LEE
Ueased Wire Service to The Journal.)
(CopyriRht, 1927


Copyright, 1929
WASHINGTON. June 6.-The bent
and BATTERED hulk of the Lusitania,
lying deep in the ocean bed off the
southern coast of Ireland where she
was sent to her doom by a German
subnnsrine. may be the cause OF a
new international strife.
che American steamer Blakely is
receiving at the Cramp ship yards
in Philadelphia her finishing touches
as a treasure hunter, and the Lusl-
tania is her goal.
But from England comes the an
nouncement that Count Zanard1
Landi, of the Already Salvage and
Towage Syndicate, Limited, claims
to have a contract for salvaging the
sunken liner, and that the necessary
machinery will be ready in rev
months to start the giant task.
"Sea whalers" here in the capital
are a little worried as to the out
come of the threatened clash OF in
terests. Can the Lusitania be regard
ed as a ship abandoned at sea" and
thus the legitimate prize" OF whom
ever may take her in tow? Or do
the rights of the Cunard Line and
the Marine Insurance companies
which lost heavily IN the wreck, con-
tinue in a ship which has lain on
the bottom of the seas for seven
long years?
The lure of sunken gold is strong
and the American steamer Blakely
have launched their treasure hunt
ing expedition with the statement
that they would all be rich by Christ.
mas. Count Landi, in London, says
that he expects to make S5,000.000
out Of his contract.
Treasure Dreams Blasted
Captain A. A. Bestic, third officer
on the Lusitania when she was sunk,
is inclined to punch large holes in
these dreams of fortune. He said so
far as he knows there is n0erurh in
the stories of great treasure" in
the liners cargo. The specie room,
he remembers. was almost empty.
Furthermore, he says:
Taking into consideration the fact
that the Lusitania's length was
roughly three times as great as the
depth Of water in which she sank,
and the acute angle at which she
took the plunge, it is obvious that
her bow must have struck the bot
tom before she was complete sub
merged, and that this impact must
have been sufficient to strain every
rivet, if it did not break her entirely
in two. Her boilers must have tum-
bled pell-mell into the bows, carrying
all before them. I have little doubt
they exploded, as there was a muf-
fled roar, and Immediately afterward
I was flung out of the water waist
high"
A sharp controversy is raging in
London as to the feasibility Of any
of the schemes for recovering prop
erty from the wreck of the Lusi-
tania, but apparently London has
not heard that the black huiled
steamer Blakely is about to sail for
the scene of the wreck while Lon
don talks. The Blakely weighed an
Choir from Hampton Roads, Va, a
little none than a fortnight ago
on the first leg of her journey to
Irish waters and put in at Philadel-
phia to- receive the last Of her equip
mert.
Methods Differ
The skip per of the Blakely, Cap
tain Charley Richards, has been fol-
lowing the tseas for more than thirty
years and she has put the meager
savings of a. life time into the ven.
ture Of the treasure hunter the main
financial support of the expedition,
however, being borne by Philadel.
phians.
81 have told my wife that when
I come homes we will build man.
sion in Paris and another on Fifth
avenue" said Captain Charley, who
has been gold digging" before. for ]
he was with the inter-oce,ln people
when in 1916 they tried to Salvage
the Ward liners Merida outside the
Virginia capes- ..
I'VE failed the but we ought to
have succeeded,'f said the captain.
The methods proposed by the
American and British treasure hunt
ers are entirely different. The Brit
ish outfit propose to send divers
down to close the water-tight COM
partments, force the water out by
means Of compressed air, so that the
ship viii become tbuoyant and rise
Of itself. The Americans have no
such illusions. They propose to blast
a way into the WE eckage and take
whatever of value they may find
out by means of giant graphing
hooks.