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“Lusitania” mysteries – is Bemis in search of treasure trove ?
The amazing Mr. F. Greg Bemis Jnr. is back in Kinsale. Once more he’s exploring the wreck of the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915, an event America later used to justify its entry into the First World War. It was fishermen from Kinsale, Cobh and Courtmacsherry who rescued survivors and carried out the grisly task of fishing the dead from the sea.
But, although the sinking is now a curious footnote of history, battles concerning the vessel continue to rage in the Irish courts, the government and among interested parties in the three towns who believe Bemis, a one-time US Republican politician, should leave the wreck alone because it is a war grave. It is the resting place for many of the 1,200 people who perished.
F. Greg Bemis Jnr., on the other hand, argues that an investigation of the vessel will prove his theory that the liner was secretly carrying ammunition to Britain which, on exploding, caused the destruction of the liner. He says the expedition is costing him §3 million and he’s brought a high-tech Florida team to make a detailed study of the wreck site.
He hopes to recoup some of his money by means of a television documentary on the expedition. It’s not his first attempt to exploit the famous sinking. In 1982 he hauled up the ship’s bow, three brass propellers and two bow anchors, as well as thousands of other items such as clocks, spoons (8,000 with the head of General Kitchener), and a complete dinner service bearing the Cunard name.
The artifacts were landed in Wales and Scotland, not in Kinsale or any Irish port, and were promptly seized by the British Receiver of Wrecks. It was the British Government and not the Irish one that challenged his claim to the objects. An Admiralty Court in London later ruled in his favour.
Cobh Heritage Centre would have liked to possess one of the propellers but was unable to raise the money and it was bought by Merseyside Maritime Museum. Another propeller was purchased by a Saudi businessman and, grotesquely, the third was melted down to make a personalised set of golf clubs for a wealthy Yank.
Sotheby’s auctioned the ship’s bell and the ship’s whistle. Not one artefact, absolutely nothing, was handed over to the Irish authorities, nor to any Irish museum.
The ransacking of the liner angered many people, who complained that objects of historical value should have remained in this country and not sold abroad. The Irish government belatedly agreed and brought in the Underwater Heritage Order to protect the Lusitania site. It is significant that on this occasion a team from the Department of the Environment is accompanying Bemis to ensure that whatever he’s up to will be carried out in a non-invasive manner.
TREASURE TROVE
Adding spice to the Lusitania controversy is the assertion made some years ago by American and British divers (acting independently of Bemis) that among the ship’s debris are lead containers that hold a number of masterpieces from the famous Lane collection. Sir Hugh Lane, an Irish patron of the arts, was a victim of the sinking, and according to Miss Polly Tapson, the dive leader at the time, the paintings by Monet and Rubens are still recoverable.
The idea is not as fanciful as it seems. Because of the war conditions in 1915 the insurers, Lloyds, would have insisted on special waterproof lead tubes and, it is claimed, these would have preserved the paintings even after such a long passage of time.
Bemis, however, says that his only motivation is the search for truth about the torpedoing and promises that any durable objects salvaged will be donated to museums – which on past evidence has been taken with the proverbial pinch of sea-salt.
LEGAL WRECKS
Bemis’ claim to the Lusitania goes back to 1969 when he, a Mr. Macomber of Boston and a Mr. John Light formed the Kinvara Shipping Company and bought the wreck for £1,000 from the Liverpool and War Risks Company. Of the 30 shares held by the three men, Bemis and Macomber had thirteen and a half, while Light held three.
The plan then was to recover non-ferrous metals from the vessel, but the venture failed and eventually the company was declared insolvent. John Light, who remained for some time in Kinsale, believed the salvage rights belonged to him and subsequently his share of the company was transferred to his wife Muriel Acton of Kinsale.
She challenged Bemis in a Virginian court on his right to the wreck, observed by a number of interested Kinsale creditors who provided services during the early salvaging. Also involved was a group of American weekend divers, called 50 Fathom Venturers, who also contested Bemis’ claim of ownership. He, in turn, threatened the diving club with a quarter-of-a-million-dollar piracy suit.
A key plank of Bemis’ legal argument was that an American court should have jurisdiction over the wreck because the Irish authorities were unable to patrol their own territorial waters.
Also affecting matters was the government decision in the late 1980s to extend our territorial waters from three nautical miles to twelve – which brought the Lusitania into Irish jurisdiction.
Bemis won in America and was established as the ship’s legal owner but after the imposition of the Underwater Heritage Order in 1995 the site was made off limits to all divers, including Bemis. The State continued to refuse him a licence to dive, arguing that it had a right to all personal effects and cargo – which Bemis disputed. The former American ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, senior US Embassy diplomats and members of the American Congress all lobbied on his behalf.
So it was back to the courts for the millionaire – this time the High Court in Dublin. Finally in 2005 he was successful and he got his licence. What’s more, Mr. Justice Daniel Herbert ruled that the State had misinterpreted the current legislation and that it had acted in an “irrational and unreasonable manner”. He said the State had the right to acquire remains from the vessel for research or public education – but only by purchase from or voluntary donation from Mr. Bemis.
Hence the recent expedition and for the 80-year-old Bemis the possibility that he can solve the mystery as to why the Lusitania sank so fast and what was the cause of the second explosion.
BANDON SOLUTION
Ironically, the answer to that conundrum may well be nearer home – that is if he bothers to read Patrick O’Sullivan’s definitive book on the atrocity, The Lusitania: Unravelling the Mysteries. The maritime historian from Bandon gives a compelling scientific explanation for the second explosion and evidence that the vessel was indeed carrying munitions for the British war effort.
The historian concludes his book with the following poignant lines: “If the Lusitania’s cargo had not included a highly explosive 46 ton shipment of aluminium fine powder, the second explosion would not have occurred, and the liner might well have made it to port in a crippled condition. Loss of life would have been minimal, and the incident would have been recorded as a minor event in the annals of war.”
That was not to be and the controversies, of one sort or another, continue to this day.