Full steam ahead in dream to dive for Lusitania

TIME and tide wait for no man — except perhaps F Gregg Bemis.

For 29 years, the irrepressible American dreamed of exploring the Lusitania in its resting place 90 metres beneath the waves and now, after 11 years trying to sell that dream in the Irish courts, he has finally got a chance to live it.

The Lusitania has been awaiting his arrival with remarkable forbearance considering all she has suffered. Sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale in Cork by a torpedo strike that cost the lives of 1,195 of her passengers on May 7, 1915, she has endured tempestuous seas, wild currents and raging storms for 92 years, yet still she remains largely intact, her secrets securely protected within.