Correct history is important for the lessons it can teach us.

We all are effectively part of a laboratory, whether the lab unit is family, city, state or nation. Whether or not we learn from the operation of each unit and the results attributed to how each unit goes about its daily life, is an indicator of our willingness to benefit from experience. This directly affects the likelihood of doing better with challenges we face in the present and future.

One of my pet concerns is the consequences from misrepresentations made purposefully by those in power. It is probably wise to use the perspective of time in order to evaluate misrepresentations. Additionally with the passage of time, a lot less heat is created as the investigation is under way.

A good example is the Lusitania, a Cunard ocean liner sunk by a single German torpedo, followed by a massive second explosion that sank her in only 18 minutes on May 7, 1915. The British and Americans claimed it was a vicious violation of the rules of war for the German submarine to sink a passenger liner with 1,198 lives lost. The Germans said, not so fast; she was not just a passenger liner but in fact was an armed cruiser carrying illegal contraband, i.e., war materials including ammunition and high explosives.

These are two very different positions and it became the cause célèbre that eventually led America to enter into World War I and the ultimate defeat of the Kaiser's forces. Sir Winston Churchill at the time was the lord of the admiralty and was bound and determined to get the United States into the fray to save Western Europe. President Woodrow Wilson, on the other hand, was a pacifist being pulled back and forth between opposing arguments as to whether we should go to their rescue. So who was right? Was it an outrageous atrocity or was the Lusitania in fact a highly appropriate target that was breaking the rules of war by carrying munitions to the war zone on a passenger ship?

By the time this is published, I will have spent two weeks in Ireland working on this evaluation where the Lusitania lies in 300 feet of water off the southern coast. We have chartered a 260-foot research vessel to serve as our platform for the crews of underwater technologists and equipment. We will have tech divers on mixed gas along with a one atmosphere diving suit for prolonged underwater work on the wreck. We will be utilizing the most advanced cutting tools for penetrating the collapsing remains of this majestic 785-foot long liner so that the internal destruction caused by first the torpedo and then the second explosion can be analyzed on the spot. We will utilize manned underwater vehicles to provide lighting (it is very dark down there) as well as tool support and continual imaging of the entire effort.

As the whole process will be imaged from start to finish, we will produce not only the historical record but also a film of general interest to be shown on TV worldwide. If successful, this will hopefully provide new insights (no guarantees) into the facts behind this historical event that brought America into World War I, but also will show lay audiences worldwide the incredible advances that have been made in underwater technology and abilities. No longer are the depths of the oceans out of reach for research of all kinds, including the evaluation of historical events.

Prior to launching this attack on the wreck itself there have been years of work researching the archives for clues in support of the various theories of what happened and what led to this ultimate result. It is truly history in depth (no pun intended) and as is so often the case the exhaustive research above water can be as long and difficult as that which takes place below.

This has been a 40-year-long quest with many road blocks thrown in the path of this research for truth. It has taken court actions in British and American courts and for 12 years in Irish courts. Some might question why it is important to spend this much time and energy on an analysis of what really happened. Are we concerned with truth? Do we want to learn from history?

Santa Fean Gregg Bemis is an industrialist/adventurer — his quest for the Lusitania being just one example of the latter — and a concerned senior citizen.