Lusitania Telegraph recovered..

Huge thanks to Rez Soheil for sending us photos of the recovered Telegraph from the Lusitania today..

It was feared the Telegraph had been lost as a previous attempt to raise it from the wreck site off the coast of Co Cork last summer ended in failure when a lifting bag punctured.

The telegraph was brought to the surface in good condition yesterday under the supervision of an archaeologist from the Irish National Monuments Service (NMS).

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that a German submarine sank in World War I, causing a major diplomatic uproar. The ship was a holder of the Blue Riband, and briefly the world’s largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister ship Mauretania. The Cunard Line launched Lusitania in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. She made a total of 202 trans-Atlantic crossings.

Its wreck, 11 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, is regarded as a war grave and protected by an Underwater Heritage Order under Ireland’s National Monuments Acts.

US businessman Gregg Bemis owns the wreck.

Irish Minister Heather Humphreys said

I am happy to confirm that this important piece of the Lusitania has now been recovered from the wreck off the west Cork coast. I understand that the telegraph is undamaged and in excellent condition.

I also understand that the owner of wreck, Mr Gregg Bemis, intends to place the telegraph, and the pedestal successfully recovered last year, on display in a local museum, along with other artefacts he has recovered during earlier dives, which is great news for the local community.