THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190603
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
A New Mexico businessman who claims he owns the sunken ship Lusitania, and who filed his claim in a Norfolk court in February, now has competition.
A Massachusetts widow whose husband bought rights to the underwater wreck in 1967 has filed a counterclaim in Norfolk's federal court.
This sets up a new, unexpected battle over the old ship, the sinking of which in 1915 probably hastened America's entry into the First World War.
The New Mexico man had said in February, when he staked his claim that he did not expect a challenge. ``This is just routine, as far as I'm concerned,'' said 65-year-old F. Gregg Bemis Jr. of Santa Fe.
But the widow - Muriel C. Light, 54, of Scituate, Mass., outside Boston - says her husband bought the Lusitania in 1967 for 1,000 British pounds, or about $2,400 in American money.
To support her claim, she filed a copy of the 1967 sales contract. Newspaper reports at the time confirm that her late husband, John F. Light, a former U.S. Navy diver, bought the shipwreck and was planning a salvage operation.
``I've got no financial interest in it,'' Muriel Light said. ``But in my husband's memory, I felt I had to do something. I felt I had to defend the whole thing.''
Bemis declined to comment on Light's claim. His attorney in Virginia Beach, Richard T. Robol, was out of the country and could not be reached.
Light said she will fight in Norfolk, if she has to, to keep the Lusitania where it is: underwater about 12 miles off the Irish coast.
The Lusitania, a passenger liner owned by the British Cunard Line, was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915, a week after leaving New York bound for England. The ship sank within minutes. About 1,198 passengers and crew were killed, including 128 Americans.
``I'd rather leave the wreck alone,'' said Light, a native of Ireland. ``Let's not start bringing bits of it to Virginia Beach. . . This is an historic wreck. This is a wartime wreck. It's close to the Irish coast and I don't see any reason to dig bits up.''
Bemis has said he hopes to raise about 100 tons of copper from the ship, then leave it for scientific exploration.
It is not unusual for major maritime disputes to wind up in Norfolk. The federal court here has a national reputation in maritime law, and several expert maritime lawyers practice here.
That's why Bemis, a millionaire businessman running for Congress in Santa Fe, filed his claim in Norfolk, and why another lawsuit over the Titanic wound up here.
The Lusitania dispute pits two former business partners against each other.
Bemis does not dispute that John Light bought the Lusitania in 1967 from the Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association. Soon after that, Bemis has said, he and another man bankrolled Light's salvage expedition.
In 1969, The New York Times reported that Light ``hopes to collect a fortune by getting the Lusitania's four manganese bronze propellers,'' each weighing 14 1/2 tons, each worth about $100,000.
That expedition failed, and Bemis claims he won possession of the ship when the dive company went broke. Muriel Light, however, says her husband never stopped owning the ship.
Her husband died two years ago, at age 59, and Muriel Light claims she inherited the shipwreck from him. ``My husband did not accept any of the claims made by . . . Bemis or others to the wreck,'' she wrote.
Bemis said he bankrolled a second salvage expedition in 1982, which recovered many artifacts, including three propellers, silverware and the ship's bell and horn. He claims he won title to the sunken ship in a 1985 London court case.
One propeller apparently was put to creative use: In 1990, Sports Illustrated reported that a company had melted the propeller and used the metal in 3,500 sets of golf clubs, with each set selling for $9,000.
Last year, National Geographic sponsored a dive to the Lusitania, which produced a TV special and magazine story.
Muriel Light said she refused to participate in that expedition. She said her husband, who had become obsessed with the ship, was working on his own Lusitania book when he died.
Bemis has said he permitted the National Geographic dive, but was not acknowledged as the ship's owner in the magazine or TV show. ILLUSTRATION: FILE PHOTOS
The passenger ship Lusitania was sunk during a German torpedo attack
in 1915.
John F. Light in 1968.
Bemis
Map
STAFF
by CNB