US diver plans $4m forensic study of 'Lusitania'

New Mexico businessman Gregg Bemis is confident of raising $4 million (€2.9 million) for a "forensic" examination of the wreck of the Lusitanianext year, following his latest descent to the hull with a group of Irish divers.

The group, led by Pat Glavin of Cork Sub Aqua Club, was attempting to recover munitions it discovered within the hull during the summer of 2006. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered the recent effort, which was supervised by the State's underwater archaeology unit, but another attempt to raise up to 15,000 rounds of 0.303 bullets may be made later this summer, Bemis told The Irish Times.

Late last year Bemis completed a long-running legal battle with the State over his right to dive on the wreck, which he owns. He has secured a five-year licence for a "forensic" expedition to try and establish the cause of the ship's rapid sinking in about 100 metres of water almost 12 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Co Cork, on May 7th, 1915.

The truth about the fate of the Lusitania,and claims that it was carrying wartime munitions, has been the subject of international controversy since some 1,198 passengers and crew lost their lives on the ship off the southwest coast. The ship was en route to Liverpool from New York when it was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine, but there is still mystery over the cause of the substantial and fatal second blast heard by survivors that occurred an estimated 18 minutes later.

Claims that the liner was carrying wartime munitions have been denied by official authorities and Bemis believes the British authorities attempted to destroy the wreck in the 1950s.

International diver and author Robert Ballard suggested that the second blast was caused by coal dust from a boiler, but Bemis, who has made several descents, says all the boilers are relatively intact.

The munitions identified by Glavin and his deep water team last year are listed on the ship's manifest. It records some 2.4 million rounds of ammunition, but Glavin suspects the listing of some 90 tonnes of "unrefrigerated butter and cheese" for a British navy garrison may hold a clue to other potentially hazardous cargo.

The bullets in cases are all within the bow section of the 780ft ship and the cases are "encrusted together", according to Glavin. "We saw 30 to 40 boxes easily, in conditions which were like being in a fish bowl."

"It was just very frustrating that on this year's dive the visibility was like being in a coal bunker on a winter's night," he told The Irish Times. "We could see that the wreck has deteriorated, as have most wrecks in our waters over the past winter due to the severity of storms."

Glavin's team of seven divers were in continuous training for their descent, which involved the use of closed-circuit rebreathers on non-air gases due to the depth of the water. "That gave us the ability to spend a half hour at about 94 metres during each of two days, and the gradual ascent over two hours is then the hard part. It is something you have to be mentally prepared for."

A large support team and members of the State's underwater archaeology unit were also involved and the co- operation was "just terrific", Glavin says. The unit is obliged to monitor all such expeditions under the National Monuments Act. While a small amount of material is believed to have been removed from the ship, much of it is believed to be in situ, including art treasures in lead containers which were in the care of passenger Sir Hugh Lane.

If Bemis's extensive effort next year identifies such material, he will be obliged to give the artworks to the State.

He hopes to display other items in museums, but his main focus is on "solving the unanswered questions" about "Lucy". A saturation diving team using equipment such as remotely operated vehicles will cut a two-metre hole in the port side, opposite where the torpedo is believed to have struck.

"The ship is lying on its starboard side, so this is the only way we can examine it - and identify the location of that elusive second explosion."