The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-07-22

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Il magnificent passenger liner of
her day, went down with a loss
of 1893 lives and treasure
variously estimated from $4,000,0 900
to S15,000,000 locked in the
purser's safe. While the German
U-boat commander asserted he
had fired but one torpedo, two
explosions were observed, and the
giant British vessel sank at once.
The British accused the U-boat
of callously firing two torpedoes,
and of sinking a passenger ship
without sanction of wartime
law. The Germans asserted that
the Lusitania carried munitions,
which caused the second eX-
plosion and which made her legit-
innate prey. No one has ever
been able to verify the exact cir
cumstances of the disaster.
This mystery the Orphir will at
tempt to solve.
The salvage vessel is the recon-
structed former lighthouse ship
PoleStar, worked over for many
months by the William Beard
more g. Co. shipyardS at Dalmuir.
She is commanded by Capt. Henry
Dell Russell, veteran of deep-sea
salvage work, and a former Of
flcer of. the British Navy. The
enterprise is backed by the
Argonaut Corp.
1.-TWO of the Orphir's personnel
Il are survivors of the LuSi-
tania disaster 20 years ago. Chief
Oficer j. A. Bestic, from New
York, VIII owas a junior officers of
the Lusitania, is second in COM
mand of the expedition. Chief
Steward D. S. Chisholm was the
steward assigned to Alfred Van
derbilt, who, with Charles Froh-
man and many other American
notables, persisted in the disaster.
Capt. Russell also has the Lusi-
tania commanders chart and The
logbook of the U-boat captain,
together with the private letters
of a former pilot of the subma-
rine. These, with information
given him in private. by authori-
ties, are expected to be of invalu-
able aid in locating the wreck and
it's huge treasure.
The Orphir is carrying two new
diving suits of a unique design
approved by the British admiralty
and fully t-3ted in the deep wa
tiers of Loeb Ness. They will en-
able the divers to work at a depth
of 200 fathoms Q2t0 feet), the
lowest ever attempted. The Lu-
sitania's dapth is estimated at 70
to 100 fathoms (420 to 600 feet).
Salvage work at 70 fathoms mas
already been successfully carried
out by the Aartiglio, which is
still recovering bullion from the
sunken liner Egypt, sunk off the
coast of France at Finisterre.
THE suits will be worn by two
Il youthful divers, Jim Jarret
and Ernest Pope. Jarret, who
tested his suit in Loeb Ness, de-
clares he is convinced he could
work with it at 200-fathem depth
for Is hours without coming to
the surface, even with tide run
ming at five miles an hour.
The suits weigh 1850 pounds,
and cost $4,000 each. They are
manipulated electrically and
made of a special metal called
electron, which is so pliaole and
finely constructed that by using
the tiny pincers which form the
fingers" of the suit, the driver
can pick up minute objects from
the oceans bed. With them he
can even unscrew small washers
from the Lusitania's structure.
Oxygen is supplied to the diver
through cylinders affixed TO the
back of the suit. The air thus
supplied, Jarret claims, is purer
than the air his mates will breathe
on deck.
The Orphir is equipped with
range finder of a new type, so
simply constructed that any one
can manipulate it. but at the same
time capable of bringing into
sharp focus objects many miles
distant. The ships radio will en-
able the Orphir from its post off
the southern Irish coast, to COM
municate with the entire world.
MOST remarkable of the salv-
WI age ships instruments is one
which records on a graph the
exact outline of the ocean bed as
the ship passes over it. This has
been tried out in the Clyde EStu-
airy. 1t proved to be 100 per cent
successful, even detecting shoals
of swimming herring
Capt. Russell expects to locate
the many possible vallables
aboard the sunken Lusitania be-
fore mid-O t Der, when the
weather will probably halt his
operations.
Gilbert McAllister, who will
cover the thrilling adventure for
The Times is the author of Our
Hundred Years" a romantic his
tory. and James Maxton-Por-
trait of a Rebel" which will short
ly be published in the United
States. He is also well-known as
the author of numerous short
stories.