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Sunken Ship

Main Lusitania telegraph finally recovered from Cork seabed

The ship sank off the Cork coast in 1915 after it was hit by a German U-boat torpedo.

Lusitania Dept of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dept of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

THE MAIN TELEGRAPH from the sunken RMS Lusitania has been recovered from a site off the Head of Kinsale after an attempt to recover it last year failed.

The owner of the Lusitania wreck, Greg Bemis, and the government gave permission to divers to bring the machine ashore, supervised by archaeologists.

Another telegraph from the Lusitania was recovered from the ocean bed in October last year, but attempts to raise this telegraph were unsuccessful.

On 7 May 1915, six days after leaving New York, the vessel was attacked and struck by a torpedo fired by a German U-boat. In just 18 minutes, the boat sank and 1,198 people lost their lives.

While described as ‘murder by savages’ by the British press, a German newspaper said it was “with joyful pride we contemplate this latest deed of our navy”.

Lusitania 2 A shot of the telegraph being recovered from the seabed. Dept of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dept of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Speaking today Minister Humphreys said she’s been told that the “important piece” of the Lusitania is “undamaged and in excellent condition”.

“I also understand that the owner of wreck, 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.”

Read: New material from the sunken Lusitania discovered off Cork coast

Pictures: Survivors of the Lusitania remember ‘murder by savages’

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