Steps are now being taken, I hear, to salvage the Lusitania, which lies in very deep water some ten miles south of Kinsale Head. Deep-sea diving has progressed considerably during the last ten or fifteen years, and many treasures have been rescued from the sea. Over seven million pounds was rescued from the Laurentic, which was torpedoed in 1917, and nearly a million was removed from the Oceana, which sank about ten miles outside Dover.
These were all in comparatively shallow water, however, and the Lusitania presents a more serious problem; but the reward is large enough to spur on scientific searchers. Several million pounds in gold bullion were carried, as well as the personal possessions of the many wealthy passengers, such as Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and Charles Frohman, the theatrical magnate.
An even greater treasure is contained in the Merida, which went down in 1911. As well as a large quantity of bullion, it carried the famous rubies of the Empress Charlotte and the crown jewels of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. There still remains, too, the twenty million pounds carried in the Spanish Armada - chiefly in the Pereira, the salvage of which has been attempted at least fifty times.
The Irish Times
March 21st, 1931