The Lusitania wreck is facing collapse. The race is on to save as many artefacts as possible

As there were American passengers on board, the sinking of the four-funneled ocean liner contributed to the US’s declaration of war against Germany two years later. But for all its historical significance, it is — like so many other wrecks from the World War I era around Ireland — disintegrating.

An elite team of deep sea divers who have gone down to the wreck more than 30 times over much of the past two decades say it is in danger of collapsing fully onto itself. It currently rests in two parts at a 30-40 degree slant on its starboard, or right, side which the torpedo hit.

The top parts of the port, or left, side have already collapsed onto the deck areas above the starboard side. What remains of the port side is now at risk of collapsing onto the starboard side deck areas.

The bow itself is badly damaged, having suffered additional damage when the Royal Navy used the wreck for depth charge target practice in World War II.

Limerick-based Indepth Technical Diving's Barry McGill, who has dived down to the wreck at least 10 times since 2008, believes the Lusitania has not changed as dramatically as other wrecks he has dived to but it is disintegrating.

While he mostly dives the many battleships, liners and World War submarines sunk off the Co Donegal coast, he dives down to the Lusitania about once every two years.

“The Lusitania has not changed as much in general terms, but other wrecks have changed drastically,” he said. “Some of the wrecks in Donegal, for example, have completely changed in the last 15 to 20 years.

“Lots of them have started to collapse, especially the World War I and World War II wrecks, which have really collapsed over the last five to six years. If you look back to early 2000, there has been massive change between then and now.

“The main thing is you have metal corroding, so these ships are losing their integrity, or shape and literally falling apart.”

Mr McGill, whose company provides underwater exploration support and training services, said: “The Lusitania is starting to disintegrate. But every wreck is corroding and falling apart and the steel in them is getting more brittle and deteriorating over time.

“It is a natural process and there is not much anybody can do. As more and more time passes, there will be more and more limited information you can get from them because there will be less to gather information from.”

In terms of what it is like on a wreck like the Lusitania, given its tragic past and how many people died on it, Mr McGill said: “It’s also quite peaceful down there and quiet.

“It is also quite eerie because it is very dark and you know what happened and although much of it has collapsed, you still see recognizable features. Certain wrecks would be more atmospheric than others and everybody knows the story of the Lusitania, and the massive loss of life

“Years ago, when we did an early dive, myself and Stewie (fellow elite diver Stewart Andrews), we came across a lady’s shoe.

When you come across some personal item, like a lady’s shoe, you know it is related to the sinking. It sent a shiver down my spine when I saw it.

“You don’t know the person but you know they would have packed that shoe into a suitcase at some point before they set off from America.

“Then you imagine what that person endured. We all know the history but we don’t know the faces within that history.”

Mr Andrews, who has dived the Lusitania multiple times and recovered a number of artefacts for the State, said: “The wreck is collapsing on itself badly. It’s speeding up. It’s much more rapid now.”

He points out that an illustration of the decline in the structure of the wreck is its boilers, which were upright when the ship was floating.

After she was hit, and sank to the bottom, the boilers lay vertically as the ship lay on its side. But now, he said, they have gone back to horizontal as the metal they were encased in has just rotted away.

“You can now see a few of the boilers from the outside of the wreck,” he said. “The whole wreck is now slumping down under its own weight. The funnels aren’t there any more, because they are very thin.

“Also the winter storms have this surge thing going on where it yanks two or three seconds one way, and then yanks it the other way."

While the wreck is protected by the National Monuments Service, and you need a licence from them before you can dive down to it, the wreck is owned by the Lusitania Museum/Old Head Signal Tower Heritage CLG group.

It submitted a planning application on September 2 for a museum which will display existing artefacts from the wreck, as well as new ones it hopes it will be able to get at some stage in the future.

Secretary Con Hayes said: “(The wreck) is deteriorating very slowly, but it is very hard to put a date on how long it will take to collapse. It could collapse any time or it could collapse in the next 50 years.”

He said one of the group’s aims is to get an official scientific survey undertaken of the wreck to establish what is its exact condition and at what rate it is deteriorating.

“Our ambition is to retrieve as many artefacts as possible while they are still visible and available,” he said. “Even though we own the ship, we can’t just go down and lift anything we want to."

While artefacts could be lost when sections of the ship collapse into itself, they could — Mr Hayes hopes — even reveal new artefacts.

“If it collapses, it might make available other artefacts that are not visible at the moment. But we would like to retrieve artefacts, within five to six years, before it collapses.”

They might also even solve the mystery of what caused the second blast, with one theory being that the ship was carrying explosives — possibly shells — in its barrage and storage areas.

“It’s possible that there are various things that might then become visible and retrievable,” he said. “Because the point of impact is inaccessible, it is very difficult to know exactly what happened.

If the side of the ship collapses, it might well solve the mystery because there may be unexploded shells.

The last of the ship's four propellers is still trapped on the starboard side of the wreck, and while there are other artefacts like brass window frames, millions of Remington bullets, and hundreds of other items of interest, one is the captain's ceramic and brass bath.

Asked what, in his view, will eventually become of the Lusitania, Mr Andrews cited a comment by American underwater explorer Bob Ballard — the man who found the Titanic in 1985.

“He once said the Titanic is going to end up as a rusty stain on the bottom of the ocean,” Mr Andrews said.

“Things like glass, brass will survive for thousands of years but steel won’t. It rusts, bulges and breaks off and ends up in a pile at the bottom, and that’s eventually what will happen to the Lusitania.”