Any Recent Activity At The Wreck ?

[Kurt Urbain]

That makes me sad. Empress and Lusitania had embossed lettering. There are images of Titanics name on the port bow but they always look fake. Ken said he saw some ‘Liverpool’ letters on the stern in ‘01, what I wouldn’t give to see that footage.

 

[Itsstillthinking]

Not much, but i have collected these over the years

 

[Seumas]

Have the new owners - "The Old Head of Kinsale Lusitania Museum" - made any announcements on their plans for the wreck ? Dives planned ? Further salvage ? It's the right thing to do anyway, to now have the wreck now under Irish ownership I think.

The Irish press have commented that the Irish Government may now be much more willing to let professional expeditions dive on the Lusitania now that an Irish museum owns the wreck rather than the outspoken Gregg Bemis.

Just one thing though - have the museum's curators commented on whether they believe in the "her hold was packed with high explosives" or the "Winston Churchill deliberately put her into a danger zone" conspiracy nonsense ? I really, really hope they don't and will indeed play their part in fighting these myths.

 

[Steven Christian]

Wow Kurt, those photos are amazing.
I've tried my hand at matching up the debris with ship before she sank.
What do you think?


~Mike

I like those comparison photo's and the corrected one. Good Job!

 

[Itsstillthinking]

Have the new owners - "The Old Head of Kinsale Lusitania Museum" - made any announcements on their plans for the wreck ? Dives planned ? Further salvage ? It's the right thing to do anyway, to now have the wreck now under Irish ownership I think.

The Irish press have commented that the Irish Government may now be much more willing to let professional expeditions dive on the Lusitania now that an Irish museum owns the wreck rather than the outspoken Gregg Bemis.

Just one thing though - have the museum's curators commented on whether they believe in the "her hold was packed with high explosives" or the "Winston Churchill deliberately put her into a danger zone" conspiracy nonsense ? I really, really hope they don't and will indeed play their part in fighting these myths.

Check the provided document for further details. In short, most of what was put in the hold was not "high explosives" and regardless of what was put in the hold, it was still intact in 1993 and 2015, so it did not explode.

 

[Seumas]

Check the provided document for further details. In short, most of what was put in the hold was not "high explosives" and regardless of what was put in the hold, it was still intact in 1993 and 2015, so it did not explode.

Dinnae worry mate I'm no conspiracy theorist.

I know full well that there weren't any high explosives aboard, nor was she wasn't send into danger deliberately.

Squashing this widely believed (sadly) conspiracy theory about the Lusitania is something I'm very keen on. It's an insult to those who died in her sinking and to a beautiful Clydebuilt ship.

Sensationalist TV documentaries and newspaper articles that are very selective with their evidence don't help either.

What I want to know is what is the position of the new owners on this ?

Will they make clear in their exhibitions that they accept the weight of evidence that there were no explosives on board and that the ship was not deliberately sent into a danger zone ?

Will they be ambiguous about the matter ?

Or will they keep repeating Mr Bemis' completely unfounded claims (despite lab experiments that he himself funded proving "the second explosion" had to have been either an explosion of the boilers or else the main steam line) that the hold was filled with explosives and the other nonsense that Churchill basically orchestrated her sinking by U-20 ?

 

[Itsstillthinking]

I think that they honesty will never address it, as there is little need for their situation.

I would recommend reading "Dead Wake" to get the full understanding.

In short as Erik said, if you were to take all the evidence to a court of law to prove that there was a cover up, the Jury would most lilkey not come to a guilty vedict. But if you were to do the the opposite to say there was nothing, one cant do that either. And thats the enduring mystery that will never be solved, unless a huge stack of evidence for either way is found.

 

[Seumas]

I'm just curious as to how the new owners will portray things. I hope they don't just follow Mr Bemis' lead.

"Dead Wake" is a title I have read, it's on the shelf behind me right now. And I would agree that it is a pretty good read.

A couple of things about it did annoy me though. There was far, far too much about President Wilson's love life for my liking and that became rather syrupy in tone.

There were a couple of other things I'd take issue with like repeating the myth that the only way out for the men in the the baggage room as being via an elevator when the ships plans show there was a ladder/stairwell, the author's somehow got the idea that the engine room telegraphs on the bridge are directly connected to the engines and he also annoyingly at least once refers to the north coast of Scotland as being the north coast of England.

But other than that is a good book and deserved to be a bestseller.

My battered second hand (it might even be fifth hand !) copy of Thomas A. Bailey and Paul B. Ryan's excellent work, is still my main book on RMS Lusitania - even if it is stained with someone's old cigarette ash and tea splashes.