Roman Empire Fan loyalty was fierce and at times erupted into sports riots. Racing was perilous, but charioteers were among the most celebrated and well-compensated athletes. One star of the sport was Diocles, from Lusitania (present-day Portugal), who raced chariots for 24 years and had career earnings of 35 million sesterces. Horses had their fans too, and were commemorated in art and inscriptions, sometimes by name. The design of Roman circuses was developed to assure that no team had an unfair advantage and to minimize collisions ("naufragia," "shipwrecks"), which were nonetheless frequent and spectacularly satisfying to the crowd. The races retained a
RMS Lusitania contract with the British Admiralty and other British authorities to partially salvage "Lusitania". The means of salvage was unique in that a steel tube, five feet in diameter, which enclosed stairs, and a dive chamber at the bottom would be floated out over the "Lusitania" wreck and then sunk upright, with the dive chamber resting on the main deck of "Lusitania". Divers would then take the stairs down to the dive chamber and then go out of the chamber to the deck of "Lusitania". Lake's primary business goals were to salvage the purser's safe and any items of historical value.